and staff. And dear Lord, I pray in Jesus's name. Amen. AMEN. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. At this time, I call to order the board workshop for February 24, 2026. Welcome, citizens of Klay County. I want to take this 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 question, please fill out a comment card with your question and hand that card to a deputy. Your participation is welcomed and appreciated. Um, I know we've had a lot of presentations
and a lot of stuff going on the last couple workshops, but I wanted to get back to the board being able to um discuss things that they want to see future on our agendas or have anything that they want to discuss openly with
the board at this time. Um, and if you guys don't mind, if I could go first just because I have I know we um talked about well I talked about wanting to present a policy or um
an opportunity for students to include our students. Um instead of creating a policy, I met with um Mr. Broski and some staff and we came up with a a little bit of a different idea and I wanted to run it by the board, see if
you guys have any suggestions or uh new ideas. But um the policy that I was going to bring forward, we have we do not have the structure that other districts have as far as like student governments and stuff. So, we already
have a student advisory committee with Mr. Broski which is already set up and he um he and I talked and and discussed what my idea or what I perceived would be an idea for our students and worked
together. What I would like to do um for our students is they have a president um but each student represents a school and um I would love to get their feedback on this as well. But my idea would be that
we add a essentially an agenda item to our board meetings where they get to come up and speak and have their time on the floor. um what they decide to say I would like for them to all agree on and
vote on but that that would be the students voice at every um meeting. I would also like them to have special seating so that they feel included um to to have insight and be able to speak to
us as board members. Um we have been invited to the advisor student advisory meetings. Um I kind of wanted to make that a committee. I don't know how you guys feel about that. Um, but at the same time, like even with our committees, we're all welcome. We can
all go to them. What I would my vision or what I would like to see is that at least one board member goes every month to hear our students speak and um hear what they have to say. I also would like
to emphasize too that when we go um that we listen strictly listen. Um obviously if they ask us questions or want our feedback that we we give it, you know, um if if we're invited to to speak on that. But
for the most part, I think it's very important that we just listen to the students and not um try to emphasize anything or or sway them or any of that. I I I just want to make sure that we hear strictly from our
students. And then maybe each board meeting have them rotate um from different schools so that we you know like Fleming could speak one month and then Orange Park or you know Clay High whatever each month so that they have
that opportunity if they want to. Again I would love to have their feedback on this and what they want to see. Um, but it gives them an opportunity to feel that they have um influence on policy and what they're seeing in their schools
and bringing ideas forward um and that they're being heard essentially. Um so that's my view. I I want this to be something that is continued um long after all of us are gone. Um because I think, you know, we're here for students
and if we're not listening to them and not hearing what they have to say, um as as levelheaded or outlandish as it is, whatever it is that they're bringing forward, um I think it would be important for us to to hear from them.
So, if you guys have any ideas, if you have any feedback on it, your thoughts on it, um I just I just have a question. I might have missed it >> cuz I was getting organized when my computer wasn't working. But would this be like a student from did you say where
we'd get them? Was it the superintendent student >> since it's already established >> and other districts are so large >> that um have like a student liaison that within their schools they have a
government >> board if you will. It's kind of like a student council in a way set up, but we we just don't have all of that. And to start somewhere, I think this would be >> the last time I attended FSBA, people were kind of raving about an idea. Some
places called it a guest student board member. They made a place for them to sit, but honestly, I was quite shocked at how many people thought it was like the best idea ever. Board members were almost all in agreeance about having student representation,
you know. So I just want to lend my support for your idea. >> Yeah. >> So Madam Chair, if I could, you know, why don't why don't the board discuss where on the agenda? I would make the recommendation that it go before public comment
>> before public comment, >> right? So the so the student can say what they have to say. >> Okay. Yes, I see. >> Yeah. >> School the next day. That's what I was thinking. Okay. >> Yeah. I think this this came up before
um but this time when we delved into it, we only had Dade County and Broward that participate, which kind of surprises me that there wouldn't be more. And of course, they're very different than we are. Um cuz I was going to say we need to probably flip it
to where we attend their meetings and whether we add it as a committee spot, but we can rotate just like they can rotate and and we need to leave that up to them as to who comes and I'm not so sure about a particular spot. You know,
they can be in attendance or generally, you know, the one is generally there at every schoolboard meeting anyway. So, as long as they have three minutes to talk, I think that's and we'll let them decide the procedures. So, but I, you know, I didn't want to go full force cuz number
one, our budget is our priority and it's going to take a lot of your time just to get them in and set up and trained if we went to that extreme, but we don't need to do that. So, anyway, that's the part that I'm in
favor of. Would the board like for this to occur before public comment? I'm just wondering where to place it on the agenda. >> And then the seating where they can leave if they want to, but that they have um designated seating if we can do that.
>> Mr. Alvo, do you have a comment on it? I think it's a good idea to listen from all students and u if each one each of one of those students represent the school that means they probably are informed about what's going on in the in the floor in the schools and and they can bring information to us. We can make
a meaningful change if you need to. >> That's a good idea. >> But I don't I don't want to lose the fact that any student can reach out to us via email. >> Yeah. >> I don't want them to feel like it only has to get through this. I don't want to lose them.
>> So, >> but it could also be a conduit like they don't have one now. They might be able to do I think it opens up a realm where they say hey >> there is a person who speaks where do they come from? I think it gives a boost to the superintendent maybe selections
um causing a little bit of interest. So, I think u Mr. Rosski, like Miss Gilhousen said, it's probably best to put it before the the other comments and give them an opportunity and then we
could respond too if we wanted to. So, >> I think it's a great idea. I don't know if there's a way to weave it into um I know our high schoolers have to take government economics. Is that still a senior level class? >> Yes. >> So, um I don't know if there's a way we
can make it an extension of the ones who participate it's a you know benefit in their government economics class to kind of bring it all home um to help them understand that government closest to the people is uh what we aim
for. So, >> and that's actually in that policy, too, that some of their um some of this is is what you you're referring to, but we're used to >> and I'd really love if our um seventh
and eighth graders who are taking civics could maybe have a field trip to observe government in action and see um the seniors kind of setting an example and something that they can aspire to when they get to high
Is it all seniors or are they >> No. >> No. Junior high and seventh graders. High school. Great. Okay. Well, I would love to hear from some of the kids who are involved in civics class. >> Mhm. >> So, that that's actually helpful because we're thinking like how to narrow it
down to right be so seniors in 8th grade. >> Yeah. >> And this way you get both perspectives and you graduate up to that. Many students that are on there for one year go on to the next year like they they're generally attorneys that come back for more fun.
>> I want to hear what's important to them, but I also want to hear um how this experience is helping them as they're studying government and civics um when they present to us. If it's anything like becoming a new
board member, having experiences like that open a wide or many alleys should I say to different insights. >> I just know as a learner if I can participate in it or do it. I understand it better. >> Um so I would hope the same would be
true for our students that they would see this as an opportunity to deepen their academic studies. And I think also too another thought I had as well is a lot of these people are graduating and are in high school and it would be good resume builders as well. Um that's
another thing that I I my thought process on all that and they don't all have to that's why I said we would leave it up to them if they wanted to rotate if they wanted to skip out on on their time to talk or and and elect somebody else to do it or whatever. I just um cuz
some people don't like to get in front of people to speak and I don't want to force it either. I just want to give them that opportunity and I think that um we hear from parents, we hear from teachers and um
we should hear from our students especially with policy affects them the most and and what's going on. So, I think partnering with our um educators who teach civics and government could be a good opportunity to give some framework to what they might present um
if it's tied to what they're learning in class. >> I think it'd be good start so we can grow grow on it and um but I just wanted to run it by you guys. And >> um the meetings are the second Monday of every month, correct?
It varies and and it's not every single month. So, I can get you the um >> I can get you the schedule. >> Okay. Thank you. That'd be great. Is there anything else that um you guys want to talk about openly? Policy,
anything that you want to discuss further before we start on our agenda? >> I just had a question for superintendent. I know the board um we came to a consensus maybe about dividing the student code of conduct in elementary and secondary. >> Yep. >> Um I didn't know if you had an update
for that. >> We we are working on that. So we'll we'll present that a split >> version of it um the way requested. >> I appreciate >> that'll be uh April. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Any other ideas, thoughts, discussions? I've got two items um regarding revenue since we need to raise some revenue to also a lot of revenue. Um,
initially you okay over there? discussion. >> Um, initially I know we had or I had spoken with some folks that downstate were involved with the cameras on the buses
and I think in other words to get tickets out to folks that uh didn't yield to the stop sign and such. real quick. I the the thought came up to instead with all our um
school zones because we've got plenty of school zones, there's a company out there that will review what the revenue could be for the entire Klay County for the size and recidivism as well. You
know, how how often is it going to continue? And we know we know in the town of Orange Park, it's only grown the revenue. It hasn't it hasn't dropped in the least. In fact, I think the the town is up to over a million dollars now a
year and it's just getting more and more instead of people learning to stop. You know, it's it's growing. So, I think it's something we might want to just take a look at. Um, and then secondly, somebody told me that the southern group
as far as the lobbying, it's basically for a CTE program. Is that correct or do they do all of it? >> All of it. >> All of it. Okay. I just wanted to verify that. >> That's it.
>> Mr. Rossi, do you have an update on I could we could probably talk offline, but I'm just thinking about revenue and whatnot. Do you have an update on boosters? >> Yeah, we're working on it. We're almost finished with the manual for that. So,
>> so we'll be able to go live next year >> for booster she's talking about. >> Yeah, we have an upcoming meeting in the next two weeks, but we we have a draft already done put together. >> Okay. Awesome. Okay,
let's get to here. Okay, good. All righty. Um, thank the Taylor White for bringing together to us. >> Yep. Um, discussion of start times, please.
>> Okay, Bryce. >> Yep. Okay. All right. We're going to talk about school start times. It's not going away. Um, the laws surrounding it and what we need to do um, as a district and a community. Uh you guys all have a hand
out of the um presentation. A slow cold start with this thing. Okay. Okay. So just just real quick is what we'll talk about. Um just give you a background on it, our options, the timeline, and then we'll go into discussions. So, um, back in 2023,
the law came out that we were going to have to change start times for adolescence. And so, that's the age group of middle school and and junior high and high school that we were going to require be required by July 1st of this year, 2026, to move all middle schools to start no later than 8:00 and
all high school would have to start no later than 8:30. So we immediately heard this and we got together a task force because we thought, okay, this sounds easy, right? Just switch the times. So we got a committee together of principles, district staff, um teachers,
and talked about what is this really mean? Who is this going to affect? Um let's let's make a list of all these things. Well, all the other districts were doing this as well. So legislators started getting phone calls on, hey, this isn't
as easy as just, hey, we're going to switch the time and and everybody's happy with the change and we move forward with it. Um, so in 2025, um, another law came forward. It's spearheaded by Jennifer Bradley. She had received a lot of these calls and said,
"Well, wait a minute. Can we offer a waiver to districts if they engage their community and talk about all the different things it affects and what do the communities really want to do and let each individual district decide on what what they want to do, whether or
not they want to keep their same time or change times or whatnot. Um, so that's where we are today. Um, and I just wanted to walk you through what what the requirements are for that. So we are required as a district to inform the public of why this all came about, the
studies that that started this and then what we want to do and what we found with our task force. So back in in 2014, uh several um organizations uh Academy of Pediatrics and other medical organizations came out
with studies saying that the adolescents need 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Um and that their circadian rhythm is actually they stay up tend to stay up later 10 11:00 at night and sleep later in the mornings. And so this was kind of a
directive from them that this is the best a best practice. Um and and if they don't get their 8 to 10 hours of sleep, they're affected. Mood disorders, um higher traffic um incidents, lower academic performance, tardiness,
sleepiness in general. I mean, I know we all want 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Um, so the idea was if we require them to start later, the kids will have the opportunity to get 8 to 10 hours of
sleep and and everything will will work wonderfully. Um, you know, safer teen team teen driving, positive performance, better academic performance, all those things. So, we met with the task force early on when we said, "Okay, let's
let's talk about all the things that it's going to affect if we do change this time." So, and we'll we'll go over the different scenarios, but when you're talking about um who is this going to affect transportation, right? So, school
starts at 7:20 right now for the high schools. We all know transportation has to start way earlier than that. Kids are out early in the morning, pre-dawn, in the dark. Um, we also have parent work schedules. Who's who's taking kids to to
school? How is it affecting their work schedule? Are they going to have to get care in the morning and after school? Um, what about student activities before school, after school, sports, athletics, clubs? Um, we have a lot of students,
especially high schoolers that have second or that have a job to support their families after school. Right now, they get out at 1:30. They have an opportunity to go and work, you know, an evening afternoon shift to support their families.
Um, also staff work hours. Some some teachers choose to work at a high school because they like those hours or work at an elementary school because they have elementary age kids. um and they want to be with with those students during those hours. And then of course transportation
is is one of the hu one of the biggest impacted areas and the financial impact there. So let's talk about transportation. Um again when you talk about changing times and transportation it's kind of like oh
you just put the kids on the bus and they go to school. It's it's no big deal. Let's just change the time. Well, I want to inform everybody in the public just in general that we don't just have general school routes for our students in addition to our general routes. And
we have a three- tiered approach. So, this means we have elementary, junior high, and high school starting at different times so that we can spread out the routes and the buses and use those efficiently. To do that, we have to have 60 to 70
minutes between each tier. And that allows for all the routes to occur to go pick up the kids, bring them to their school, and then make the transition to the next tier to start that that route. Um, and so just logistically with those
those tiers, we also have our specialized routes, which is ESSE, McKenna Vento, which is our our homeless um population, preK, and our alternative routes. These are longer routes that transfers that we're required to do and
that we support. There also take up routes, bus drivers and time. Um we also have our extracurriculars. So we have field trips happening during the day. Um we have athletics happening after school certain sometimes during school which
also take away drivers and buses and routes from our general school uh transportation. And then we also have contracts with our Boys and Girls Clubs and Pace and AMI. We support those students as well. Again, just taking up
more of the transportation services. So looking at all these considerations, these were the options the task force kind of came up with as the best options we we felt. Um, so of course option A, which doesn't comply with the the law,
but we would be allowed to stay if we decide as a community and a board to do that. We can stay with our current model. Um, and that would be the senior high starting at 7:20, elementary at 8:30, and junior high at 9:30. Option B would we thought, okay, well,
let's put elementary first because to get junior high and senior high to comply, you know, that would really be the only way to do it. Um, and to put junior high at 8:30, senior high at 9:40. And then option C, elementary
first. Just don't don't touch junior high. Just just swip swap elementary and high school. So option A again, minimal minimal changes and impact to the community. Everybody continues as we we've done for years. Um and nobody's nobody's making
any changes. Um it continues to allow senior high students to work after school, have their athletics after school. They can start their um their their games earlier in the afternoon and not finish so late in the evening. and
transportation. When you're talking about high schools in the morning, it's actually really helpful to have uh senior high in the morning because they cover a larger area. Um and so those routes are generally longer. Less traffic in the morning allows for
those routes to run a little bit smoother earlier in the morning. Option B, if we put elementary schools first at 7:20, we're going to have a much earlier pickup time for those kiddos. So, we're talking starting at 6:20 in the morning sometimes. Um, which
is is often still dark outside and we have our very rural communities as well. Um, so you have those kiddos out early in the morning. We actually also learned with our um through transportation that by doing this there would be an
increased cost of almost a million dollars, 932,000 just for additional routes, bus drivers, and having to work with the logistics of moving everything around to work with this um this schedule.
Uh, a lot of things we've heard from other districts, um, with the senior highs coming home earlier, those students a lot of times are able to assist with their younger siblings. So, they're there before the elementary school gets home and they're there to
care for those kids, which is a huge impact on communities and families when you're talking about additional child care and maybe having to pay for that. Um later dismissal times for high school students also would affect I mean we're we're looking at 4:00 um getting out of
high school they less opportunities for work after school it' still be there but it would be it'd be minimized. Um but here you know this complies potentially students would be able to
get additional sleep which would reduce health um health and behavior problems. Is that true or would they just stay up later? You know that's really right. It does seem like football practice might go until you know
>> right I mean everybody's just going to kind of shift. So you know is is that what's going to happen in an ideal world? Sure. It would uh oops. Okay. And then option C would just be keeping junior high as it is now. So they would have min there would be minimal impacts
there. Uh elementary would be first. Again we have the concern with them being out in the pre pre-dawn hours. And also arriving home after the older siblings um which again is has been kind of the biggest um concerns we've heard.
And then um just similarly high school level having athletics run later and after school jobs. So to engage the community we wanted to first have this discussion with you all. Um we have a flyer that we have handed
out that we would be posting on our website and we would also like to put out a survey to the community and this would be to everybody. We would ask for students, uh, staff, parents, and community members in general. Um, they
would select within the survey which um, group they're with and what grade affects them the most and what they what their feelings are on this. Would they just rather stay the same? Are they interested in changing times or not? And
then we would have a short response for if they wanted to include maybe anything we haven't thought about um within our committees and our discussions. And we would put that link on our on our main page and send it out to parents and students as well in their emails um uh
March 2nd through the 13th and um give them a couple of weeks to get responses and then they would we would get the report back. The form from the state just was just released last Friday, the official form that we would have to fill
out to um submit for a waiver. And all the all the form says is um we have engaged our community. This is what we've done. This is what we've talked about and this is what we've decided. And we just submit that and turn it into the state and we would be in compliance
with the law. And this is just the timeline. Um we we're here today presentation. The next step would be the community survey. Gathering that information and we would report back the survey results and then we would submit the report by June 1st.
And that's it. unless uh open for discussion >> and the board will vote on it >> and board the board would vote have the final vote obviously on what what we would decide go back to >> and so you will have access to all the
survey results we will provide an update to you um at the March 24th meeting >> okay >> is the survey going out through API >> yes we will get it through all the different avenues so the website um we're going to send it um to parents
through API G and um students and students Mhm. and even community members cuz they too may be impacted by this if they are business owners who are counting on um the employment of the young people. So we can um we encourage
everyone to share their thoughts and they can decide on option A, B or C and they can provide some feedback and again we can stay with A. The current model um uh even though the the the law has
changed thanks to Senator Bradley um we can still select option A. I saw too um option C doesn't have an additional cost. Is there a reason why that >> there was minimal cost as far as transportation routing? Okay. >> Um again the biggest factor there was
just the kids or the younger kids out early in the morning. >> Yeah. I think all your comments were well taken. Yes. >> As a parent of a elementary school age children,
middle school and high school, uh I would vote for option A definitely. I think that's that's the one that fit the beds on purpose because the early times on the little kids 6:20 in the
morning when the weather is cold freezing is they they're not that equipped to to be around that you know um I would say that keeping the option A will be the best one that fits my needs
>> and I have kids in all all schools considered. >> I think another cost to keep in mind is energy costs and potential costs for installing lighting at the schools for athletic practices. I think about band practice, all of those things that would
have to run later into the evening and need lights on to be able to do it. >> Um, cost me which I don't know. I guess that would come out of the operation budget, correct? Right. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It'd be kind of hard to see the band dealing with a instrument as well
as a flashlight in the dark. Have to be something. >> You give them an extra hour in the morning, they'll take it and then at night definitely. You got to make them go to sleep. That's what I do with my >> Yeah.
>> You know, you got to go to bed. You got to go to school tomorrow. You let them stay. They stay up until 1:00. >> Well, I mean, I think it goes back to what everybody's been talking about. the cell phones, you know, get them, you know, don't allow them to take them to their bedroom and stay up all night. So,
and like you said, everything gets shifted anyway, no matter what we do. >> Thank you, Bryce. Thank you. >> So, the other thing I would kind of remind the board is anytime you put a survey out, you are going to get people that will give responses different than
the ones that were echoed and were echoed here. Is there a way to tell with the survey how many click on it and actually versus those that turn it in? >> Um,
we can see how many go to our website. we won't necessarily be able to see how many because if by the time they click on it they're click on it they're clicking on the Google form okay >> and it's really only you can submit your answer in two clicks and they will have a link by the way
to this on there so they can be informed of the different options as well. >> Does it prevent them from filling it out more than once? >> No, because we don't we don't ask them to sign in. >> Yes. So if anybody's really passionate.
>> Yes. Yeah. >> Have a long time. >> All right. Thank you. Transportation. >> Okay. Bryce would like to lead this one too. At your at your um your place is a a copy of transportation. It's a
document of transportation trends. And you just given a presentation. Roxan gave a good presentation. I think the last workshop was here and I know this conversation's up again. So then we were thinking as a team like what information will be different. So we tried to
generate different information and put it on a sheet for you to consider as this discussion goes on. So when you look at it um it starts off with salaries because that's one of the things we didn't talk about. We didn't talk about like what is the salary of the bus driver in comparison to other
folks. So you can kind of see that information there and you can see the starting for 1720 for clay and then of course we compete with um Duval St. John's and Bradford cuz they're they they touch they touch our borders and
you can see that while our salary is 1720 it's pretty close to St. John's and Bradford I would kind of remind you that Duvall is kind of different in the sense that it's contracted. So, I think they have five different companies that they
contract out with. So, it would be like um it would be like Kelly Services for transportation kind of kind of thing where you're paying a markup uh to the company itself and then they're paying the drivers because their
drivers are their company employees, not the district. Just a different model. Just want to make sure you knew that when you looked at at that data, >> Mr. Superintendent, that of the 28.90 that includes I think it was a year or so ago the board decided >> to kind of get a steps for experience
they brought in. >> So in the in the next box, the 23 24 box that has the the most words there, it talks a little bit about this. So when you take a look at it, yes it's true that the 2526 year we we were hit with some budgetary challenges, but then when
you look back in 2425 it was 75 uh cent increase and 24 23 24 it was a dollar plus the addition of of um the years of experience. And what you would see is every time it's it's almost
like a little game. Every time we raise ours, they raise theirs that amount plus a little bit more. Right? So when we talk about competitive salaries, that's what we're talking about. And and there's several times in the presentation last month where I talked
about the need for competitive salaries. And this would be an example of that, right? You have to be able to compete in order to get the services that you need for children. So, we're looking at we're thinking what what things haven't we talked about yet. Well, one was salary
and you can see the history of salary increases the last couple of years. Then the next the next >> Can I ask you a question on salary real quick before you move on? >> Sure. So I have I just need somebody to explain this to
me because I don't know if if others are misinformed. But my question when you speak to to certain individuals they talk about how St. John they they do talk about Duval being more but they
also talk about St. John's being more. Are they about to increase again or is this what it is? And if so, do they increase do they move faster towards that 26 than they do the 28 here in
Clay? >> Oh, sorry. >> That's okay. That's okay. Um, I can tell you that since they got their bill, St. John's drivers get approximately $30 a day. So about 150 a week from their
mill. Whereas the teachers get the >> like the fourth whatever the bus drivers because they're hourly employees. They're not salary. They don't. It's they get an hourly and it's like $30 a day. >> It's their bonus. They do their mill like the
>> It's a supplement. Well, >> right. Yeah. They call it a supplement. So that accounts toward the FRS and it's not tax like bonus. It's tax like regular income. >> Correct. So, but they do currently have that. Um, as far as moving up faster on
the schedule, it just depends on whether they get a salary increase when they bargain or are you going to get a step increase. The past several years with the SESA bargaining, we've done a hourly increase instead of steps because they
got more money that way. Like the steps are not a dollar apart. So if they would have done a step, they would have only gotten maybe 25 cents an hour, >> right? So >> I remember that. Now I got a question. So this doesn't include the mill money,
>> correct? Okay. So they're getting an additional how much you said again? >> It's about $30 a day off of their mill now. And that's not reoccurring. So that's not their hourly rate, >> right? And now Duvall is the same way.
>> No, because it's not their drivers. >> Okay. because they contracted. So their mill doesn't go towards their drivers. >> Correct. >> Okay. That's what that's okay. >> They also don't have benefits. The the Duvall people, they don't have benefits like we offer with working with the county to the contract service.
>> Right. Okay. That's what I wanted to make sure. So that when we're talking to people, >> they compare Duvall a lot, but they're I don't think they're seeing the bigger picture. >> Correct. >> On certain things. >> And Bradford doesn't have the mill, right? That's just their range of pay. >> Correct. So our biggest competitor
realistically is St. John's because of the milk. >> Yes. >> Would you say? >> Is that our biggest competitor or is it Amazon and UPS? >> Yeah. Well, at Walmart DDL, >> um, now that changed a little bit and Roxan, correct me if I'm misspeaking,
but I do believe several years ago they changed the CDL training, whereas we did have it was like we would get them rolling and then they would leave because their CDL could go to any vehicle and a dump truck driver makes a lot more money.
>> Um, but now their CDL is only good for buses. >> Correct. Yes, they will. they want to take additional classes if they want to take that CDL that they got with us to go drive with us. >> And we do have a $500
bonus onetime pay that um we used to give it to them when they completed their training, but now once they complete because support employees have a 90-day probationary period. So once they complete their probationary period, they get the $500. Okay. Has there been
an increase in retention based on the CDL for the buses only versus >> I don't get as far as the feedback that comes back down the shoot to us. I don't get a lot of feedback that I'm going to go drive truck, you know, I'm going to go do this. Um we do have some um and we
have we're very clear if you get pulled over, this is illegal. So you have this has to go back and you have to take additional classes cuz there are things that they go through their training where we no longer have to go like under the bus or the engine as much because
it's bus only. If you go to get your full-blown CDL then you have to get more in depth with that piece. Uh one question, do we have any um measure in place to be able to retain those drivers? Like we pay for their CDL
training and uh and after 2 months after they finish their training, they decide to go, they can go just >> really I would suggest put a clause on the contract where they have to stay with us for certain amount of time, >> which we did do that.
>> That was Yes. I don't know where the traction left off on that one. that was a thing. Um the last feedback that I had received was something along the lines of like a small claims court people to have to go right >> in prison and I don't know if that was something that was in
>> I thought we had where if they didn't stay a year they had to pay back the cost of the >> she's saying we did the problem the problem director I when it was during the time of the d um the previous director over but you do have board
approval to do that I don't know if you need to get with Mr. Broski or the attorney, but we all consented on that >> reimbursement. If they want to leave, they can leave, but they have to pay back because that's expensive. You can't afford to help. >> And that's what she's saying. Sometimes
the issue is with small claims court, the cost >> to go to a small claims court versus getting that back is >> the first couple I think would >> you don't always get it back, I guess, is what I'm >> But
that we are serious like hey we're not going to pay for which >> I think that we did a good job by not paying for the whole CDL. >> Yeah. So and they paid for their fees at the DMV. >> Um that's all on them to obtain that.
What we do is we will bring in brand new you know trainees. They get three days of a permit prep class. So we sit down and we kind of show them the ins and the outs of this is what to expect when you go and take your tests. There's four tests for your CDL permit first. After
those three days, you can't come back until we you show us an actual permit. Um, so then after they have the permit, then that's when they get their hourly pay to be in our fiveweek training course and then they go on to be a driver. >> Well, I think the good news is more and
more drones delivering packages when you get home. That's actually like about to be like 2 or 3 years after like it's like right around the corner. >> I just wanted >> So then Amazon drivers might be coming to us.
>> It's true. That's true. I can't deliver with a drone. >> I know. >> So then when you look at the at the hiring data, you can see that we're hiring people not not enough to to have the cushion that we need to fulfill all routes, which is why we have double
backs. You can see from the beginning of the year, we hired 32 drivers. Um, uh, there's currently five in training, but 30 left the district and 22 during that whole time frame were on, uh, extended leave.
>> That seems heavy. Is that >> It does, but the number that's actually on um, FML now is what? >> Well, we thought it was 13, but those are off. So, it's currently 11. >> 11. What is our optimal number for bus
drivers? Is 32 what we would we need? >> We need more. So I have right now I have 12 oh actually I think 18 open allocations um which mean contract which means I can hire on that many and I have 12 open
routes. So that allows us >> in total drivers we have 185. >> Yeah. And for the FML, it is a higher number than other groups, but >> like if a teacher has wrist surgery, she can still come to work. She doesn't need
to take FML. Whereas they can't drive the bus. Same thing like with foot. If they're in a boot, the teacher can go to work. You know, even a custodian can possibly go to work in their boot, >> but they can't drive that bus, right? >> So, they do have a higher rate. And you
have to remember FML is driven by the doctor. So, they're given their job description and said, "Can they do this without restrictions?" >> Right. >> And so, the doctor puts them out quicker than they would another employee. >> I would imagine it's also kind of
generally the people drawn to those jobs. It's a job that you're sitting a lot for. So, yes, there may be issues pre-existing that other groups would. >> That is that is true. And a lot of our drivers are older, >> right? >> They're retired. And this is a good, like you said, it's a sitting job. It's
a good second. >> Yeah. >> Job to get out of the house. >> Yeah. >> You've never been at full full strength optimally. >> Almost never. We We did that at one small point a year last year last year.
>> We're very close, but you never ever seem to achieve that. >> So that's really the challenge really. I mean, I don't want to speak for Roxanne, but but the reality is some of the challenges would all be resolved >> with enough personnel to do it. >> Mhm. >> Right. So, the double backs or double
ups wouldn't exist. The office staff that goes out that of course is trained and licensed goes out and to supplement and goes out to drive and then people get a little bit frustrated because they can't get through as quickly to transportation to answer the questions because they're out driving the bus. So
if you're this is one of the few times where I could actually say oh it's very clear if you have enough drivers all of this goes away right all of the the challenges goes away the problem is you can't seem to retain them and it's no
different in Klay County than the state of Florida or nationally I was up in Pennsylvania visiting friends and saw big buses of advertising going by we're hiring please call this number and and like everywhere you go, you're going to
see that. So, >> have you ever done uh recruitment? >> Yes. On the next page, I'm going to turn I'm going to turn it over to >> I know we have, but I was wondering with retirement communities >> with what >> have we ever tried a recruitment
initiative in some of our retirement communities? >> I don't I don't to attract retired folks. I just wonder if maybe targeting our recruitment to retired folks might. So, I do know every time a parent reaches out
>> and has a question about a bus, we do say, "Hey, if you're you or you anyone you know is interested, please, you know, reach out to transportation. We are hiring." Um, and you know, we kind of say that jokingly, but it's true. I mean, anybody out there might be like,
"Oh, I could do that." You know, and so we do, please, please tell anyone if they want to drive a bus, we'd be happy to take them. Um, but Roxan, yes, if you want to talk about your hiring strategies and just the different things you do. This is not for lack of trying.
We have we reach out, we go to fairs um at the at the uh fair in April. We will have um flyers on our tables as well saying, you know, hey, for you guys, if you're interested, let your friends know. We'll have we'll have information there as well. But um Roxan, if you want
to talk a little bit about the recruitment. >> Yeah. And I think something to just kind of notate, you know, the the bringing the drivers in and then the numbers that we see. You know, often it feels like a one step forward, two steps back, right? I just we just released three new
drivers last week that covered open routes. I had two drivers resigned for family personal reasons. They had to move out of state. Um and one that had to go on an extended leave. So, you're just like, you know, just get everybody back in the saddle. Um, as far as
recruitment, um, you know, we are heavy on Indeed. Um, our job posting is there. We've done two events. We do one kind of in the summer to start us, you know, bring all of our newbies in at the beginning of the school year. Um, and then we did one, I believe that was like
October. Um, and then we actually have one tomorrow. um through Indeed, um it does track a lot of the the analytics to it. So, we can kind of see, you know, who's RSVPd, um they sign in, so that who actually showed up. Um right now, we
have 32 RSVPs. So, um take that as you will. You know, those are people that want to be there, so we'll see who shows up tomorrow. It's an all hands- on deck day. Um we do open interviews for two time slots, a morning and an afternoon. Um and then you know we'll process
through um through HR of course you know once they meet all the standards. Um we do of course you know internal hiring you know we have people that come in as monitors and sometimes they're they're not they look at the bus world and go I'm not sure I just want to be a monitor. And so for those we kind of put
a little tag on them and let them get out in the bus world. And then um our training department is really good at kind of following up with them and go so what do you think about getting behind the wheel? you know, so we also do some internal um of course our job postings are posted on our one clay site as well.
Um job fairs, you know, we've done career source also um with our HR department and you know talking to people. We've gotten some um hires out of them as well. Um and then really um like she mentioned, parents calling uh we have a driver now that was a dad that
called and had a um just you know, I'd love to help. you know, I see where you guys are at and you know, I I this I feel like it's something I can do and he's doing fantastic. So, that does work, you know, so getting out there to the community, you know, talking to the
parents when >> Exactly. >> Kevin also goes to like the tribase and other military career fairs. Mhm. >> So, we go to those and um >> Do you have an avenue to contact um veterans as they're retiring from the military?
>> Um usually it's through the military job fairs. >> Yeah. >> So, any military job fair that's open we attend. >> Mhm. And um the tribase one is the largest one because they hit the the base there, the nuclear base, Mayport
and then NAS are just turning with Penny Farms Haven and some of our 55 plus communities that exist and then we've got um churches would be a great place to recruit too as a ministry opportunity. Yeah.
>> Um did we secure a um a tent or a spot at the fair? Yes, >> we did. >> Yeah. And we'll be there all week, right? >> Not on not on Easter, was it? What day was it that we Sunday?
>> Not on Easter Sunday. We did not want to ask it. >> I think it's kind of crazy that >> What's What's the main cause or the main reason that the drivers need you have the next interview or something like that? >> Um the main reason for the shortage, um it's not a gig for everybody. It's not
easy. Um there are lots of moving parts to being a bus driver and it's you have to have that right personality, you know, that can handle student management, that can handle traffic, um that can handle changes. Sometimes it's a moving target. Um so it ends up not
being for everybody. Um and that's okay. You know, we we'll we get them in there. We do the best we can. Um we lend the support when we're needed. Um, you know, we also have internally there's attendance issues and I don't think that's bus driver specific. Um, I
wouldn't even say that's our county specific. Um, just getting people to show up for work, >> you know. So, yes, we have our shortage, but we also we are working internally with attendance issues as well. >> But, I mean, I skipped ahead. Sorry, Mr. Broski, but it says the state of Florida
short 4,200 bus drivers. Yes. Incredible number. >> This is a This is not a Klay County. And And the >> mind-blowing. They don't show up to work, though. So, it tells me it's not pay cuz if you don't show up, you don't
get paid. >> Exactly. >> So, therefore, >> that's mind that's the biggest question mark above my head because if we're talking about you can only buy four bags of groceries and that's like $200, right? >> I just I can't comprehend that. I think
it's going to be the the people that we attract with a higher hourly rate, you know, people that are not going to just take anything, right? Not saying that all of our bus drivers have that mentality, but I think increasing that,
you know, you you are attracting a different, you know, group of people. Um because the ones you're care are going to be the same ones that are coming in Monday going, I don't have enough money, you know. So you you got to come into work to get the paycheck, to pay the
bills, to pay the groceries. Correct. >> But I think adjusting that hourly rate will also help attract a different, you know, group of people as well. >> And sometimes I don't think it's I don't think it's the pay as much as it is the respect for doing the job,
>> right? and they get to some of the schools and >> you know they're it's obviously not a glorified job and based on how they're treated. >> Yes. It's not for everyone. >> Yeah. >> And I'll say it the majority of the bus
drivers are wonderful and I have the radio on in my office and I can hear them talking to each other and they call them their babies and can somebody help me here? you know, there's just a handful and it's with any industry. I think with teachers, anybody, you know,
um in any industry is there's you're going to have a a group of people that just aren't wow aren't showing up. Um and you know, to continue down the page when you talk about the hiring process, we're like, well, let's just hire more people. Let's get people in the queue and hire them. This isn't something you
hire, you say, hey, yeah, I want to be a bus driver. Let's get on the bus tomorrow. You hop on the bus and go. It's it's five weeks of training and like Roxanne said, it's, you know, if you can think of being a teacher in a classroom, but your back is to them,
you're trying to drive and they're all talking and, you know, maybe out of control depending on the bus. Um, you know, it's not for everybody. So I think it's >> do you think if we increase discipline for
less issues um or address it be a little bit raise the bar on that would that retain people I think so I'd say for majority of our schools we have really good support from them um you know if
>> we do our due diligence you know with you know here's your warning I'm going to move your seat um you you know, if if we do our internal student management and then we're at the point of a referral and it goes through that process, you know, I I would say
majority of our schools are really supportive in all right, 3 days off the bus, 10 days off the bus, you know, or for the instant things, you know, there's a fight in the back of the bus and can't do anything about it when you're on the landing, you know, so trying to find somewhere to pull over
while at the same time everybody wants to stand up and record it and it's it's and you're the adult on the bus, you know, so it gets it gets hectic and you have to be a person that can make quick decisions, logical quick decisions. Um, but I would say as far as the
discipline, um, I feel like we get really good support from from our principles, um, admins. So, >> and our and our shortages, if you look at the next table below that, we're below the national average, um, and and surrounding districts, we're we're short
about 7%. And so when you look at St. John's at 14, Bradford at almost 14, and Florida, you know, we're down 4,000. Um, nationally 9 and a half. >> What about >> we're in a better place?
>> What about um um help with that driver that route that is complicated by putting somebody with that driver? >> I think that's what the bus monitors are for. And we do. So on the opposite side, we're doing great with bus monitors. So,
we had a little bit of a deficit coming into the year, but we're fully staffed and some with bus monitors. So, that um that is part of what we do is we're grabbing some of those bus monitors, putting them on the buses um just to even have that just visual of another
adult on the bus helps, you know. So, >> is there a higher correlation with retention when there is a second adult on the bus or it doesn't seem to matter? >> There can be. It depends on that particular person. You know, I have some bus drivers that get on a bus and just their sheer presence and their energy
will calm down a bus instantly. You have other drivers, different personalities get on the bus and the kids are not paying them any attention. So, it it's about helping them with their student management, you know, getting them trained. And again, it's not for
everyone, you know, and so we have to find those individuals that are not afraid to face the hard things that happen on a bus, you know. >> Yeah. >> So, so Roxan, just so I can make sure the board understands the number. When you look at the chart, it says 13 open routes.
>> So, that would mean you don't have a bus driver for 13 open routes. So, you start the day 13 bus drivers short. That's not including the people that call in sick. Correct. >> Correct. >> So every day you're trying to manage that. That's why I said I've never seen
a problem where the answer is so clear to me, >> right? Is is have no bus drivers. That's the answer. and then trying to explain why that's more difficult than it appears would be uh so you would have no double backs, no double ups, uh no need
to have the miscommunication of the of either the rooc caller or the app or whatever because everybody's on time if you had enough bus drivers. >> And the sad part is unless the economy is really really bad, we'll never have
enough bus drivers. There there there hasn't been enough bus drivers. >> Well, I remember when my husband went on it, he was a year before he was really on standby cuz there were that many people because the economy was so bad.
But he did it when he retired from programming. Um but yeah, it it took almost a full year. So there were enough at that but the econ that was you know 2007 2008. So but we don't want a bad economy. So >> yeah, >> there you go.
>> Then the then the chart on page four is kind of like I call this the Dawn the Dawn chart, >> which is you can see how much it costs to run transportation, but then um how much they give us for for transportation, but how much it
actually costs. So you can see it's virtually double what they what they allocate for transportation as to what it costs. And then you can see the whole statewide average for those and say it's a common complaint of school districts and
superintendent is why don't you fund it at what it costs not you know um cuz then that money has to dump from somewhere has to come from somewhere. >> And then the oh the all famous chickmunk app I'm going to turn it back over
give us your chipmunk app. Oh, okay. So, the Chipmunk app, um, and to Mr. Rossky's point, if we have all drivers in the seat, the Chipmunk app works 100%. So, it's it's due to all of the changes that we have to make daily. Um,
is to why a lot of this with the Chipmunk app is so frustrating to the community and internally. Um, so the open routes of course, um, learning curves. So I was able to make an adjustment internally with a software
where it gives the driver more um I guess availability to control hey I am me and I am on this bus or I am me and I am on his bus. Um so that has really helped with giving visibility to the parents. Um but in doing that there's a
learning curve because there's certain buttons and clicks that they have to do on their tablets before they start up their route. um if they come back to a school for say a double bag, they have to remember I may I may have been here for a long time and I know how to run Sally's route but I need to come over to
the tablet. I need to log in as Sally's route so that her kids or her parents can see, right? So there's a learning curve of course. Um now we do have bus planner so they were out visiting with us last week. um their director of
customer success was there for two days for us and we kind of dug real deep into the weeds of our program um bus planner itself. So bus planner is kind of the big umbrella and they have all these other pieces like the chipmunk app that they offer that we do partake in and we
have realized there's a lot of clean up with the data that needs to happen on us with our routes. So some of the timing is off. So, a parent may say, "Well, my bus is supposed to pick up at 7:35." Let's just say that, but the bus never shows up until 7:40 or 7:45.
So, that has to do with the routes in the system being calibrated appropriately. So, just like anything else, when it's clocking time and speed, um there has to be a calibration to it. So, we are working on that behind the scenes. That is a bit of an overhaul, but we will get it done. And so, that
information will mirror and match now. So, >> does that real quick does that calibration take into effect that all the roads are under construction and additional time? >> Yes. So, the really cool thing I'm going to try not to bore everybody with it, but the really cool thing about when they get into the calibration piece is
it will take a stretch of a road. So, say 218 who's has some construction, it'll take a stretch of that and you give it say a timeline. It may look at it over the next two weeks, the last month, and it will pull every GPS ping for every piece of equipment in that
area. So, if the average speed is 25 or 30, but originally it was showing 4550, that's where our that's where we're off. So, you have some counties that if they're more rural and not a lot changes, they may calibrate three times
a year. If you have a more dense population, um you know, maybe more cityike, they're going to run it maybe once a month. So, >> um we have to get on that cuz that has not been done in quite some time. >> So, that is part of the
>> that is part of the parents seeing the difference in the timing. So, what the Chipmunk app is showing and what's actually happening in real life. So, >> that would be good to >> Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Um and then in the last uh workshop I talked
about they were rolling out the student scan. So when a student scans on a bus the parent is getting a push notification on their phone that has rolled out that is working fantastic. Again learning curve enforcing hey you have to make sure students scan on and
off the bus four times a day. So that's another piece that works but we have to enforce it internally to make it happen. Um so your next piece um is about kind of where are we moving forward? Um like I mentioned the more accurate stop times
that's calibrating the system. Um our IT specialist is also running a report every morning of buses not reporting. That's probably some phrasing that you're hearing from parents um that you will see on the app. There's a couple of reasons why that could happen. we may
not be using that bus for the day because it's in the shop for monthly maintenance and it's in a spare bus. Um, it could be that that person did not show up to work, so their bus is not going to be used that day because now the route's going to be doublebacked. Um, that can all also be changed by I
need to log into the route that I'm covering. So, yes, my bus may not be reporting because I didn't they didn't come in to work, but if I'm going to cover it as me, I need to make sure I log into that route so the parents can see it. Um, we have had some kind of
technical bugs on some of our buses as well. Um, even some of the GPS pieces not reporting properly. So, those have been handled as we've discovered those. So, we're looking for a repeat offenders uh for our buses. Um, Bryce has got some on her Chipmunk app. I have at least 10
on my Chipmunk app. And, you know, it kind of gives me a good snapshot when I look for the day to say what buses are not reporting. Um because I >> I guess there's no way to have an incentive to do you is there incentives for people who do log on every day for
like a month or >> uh not it's a daily call right now. Okay, if this isn't, you know, they have to on the back end find figure out why is it not reporting? Is it because they're not there? Is the bus in the shop? is the but yes the getting the
learning curve of logging in every day you know it's a new it's a new program and just getting used to the daily daily grind >> yes yeah and we you know there are I think in every parts of society there are you know sections that are not very
keen to technology so there's that piece of it as well to you know don't be scared of the technology you know it's going to help us it's going to help our community so getting everybody you know on board for doing that. And sometimes we have to hold hands and that's fine. You know, we'll hold your hand until you
understand it and get it right. Uh so let's see. Of course, you know, filling our open routes as Mr. Rosski said, that is that is going to eliminate a bunch of the headaches that we are experiencing for sure. Um the dispatch module, so that is another piece
underneath that um bus planner umbrella that I spoke about. that will ultimately be a fix for when anyone is out and we have to do a double up. So that means one driver hauling two routes at that one time. Um the tablet function, the
chipmunk app part of it, that is not a thing. You cannot represent two routes at one time. Um here comes the bus app. Can't do that either. It's it's just not a thing. But in this additional software piece, the dispatch module, you can manipulate the route from the desk. And
that information is to push through to the tablet. So when I log into my route, if I was given a double up, it's already set up for me. I don't have to figure out how Sally's kids are going to get home. I don't have to go remember to log into it. I've already pushed it through
from the desk to your tablet, um, which also connects to the Chipmunk app. that piece is still being developed. Um, so we're hoping as we roll into summer, um, that's going to be our soft roll out is our summer school drivers. So, if you guys learn anything about me, I am a
cautious person when it comes to rolling something out. I want to make sure all the bugs are worked out and that is my intention for this dispatch module. I think it'll fix a lot of our issues as well. Um, because attendance issues don't go away. So, we are going to have some double up setbacks. um but we'll be
able to control from the desk. Um and then notifications of course um so right now we utilize Thrillshare which is what the district offers um even from the classroom perspective uh through bus planner that is another piece it's called alerts and that gives
us more control of what what we can send out and who we can send it out to than we kind of have at Thrillshare. So that will be coming down the pipeline this year too. >> Any general questions? I >> so we were looking like okay we wanted
to talk about what do we what do we bring that's different we try to bring different information to you today related to transportation you got nothing else from it you have enough drivers all of the issues go away that's
the bottom line seeing the difference between the counties matters because when we're comparing a lot of people like to compare here to compare apples to apples and and making sure that >> yes, >> you know, you may get this here, but
also know this is what we have here. So, >> even speaking with St. John's County, I learned that they do not have tablets on their buses. Their students do not scan on and off buses. So, even kind of in the technology world, you know, we're couple of steps ahead. And I think that
is some of when we're comparing county to county, we do have some of our stumbling blocks that we're doing because we're learning this process and trying to roll it out. Um, so that was intriguing to me to learn that we have less head over there, but
here in Klay County, that's just another safety feature I think implement that others don't. Now, if we can just get it >> working, we will for some >> we will get there. Absolutely. We will get there. >> All right.
>> I I wanted to say something. Uh what support do you need from us to be able to take care of this situation? >> Um I think for me personally, just know that I'm working on it and our group and our team is working on it. Um, you know,
we are trying to, um, you know, fan the fire down, you know, when parents call. Um, you know, as far as support, I think if at some point we do look at more competitive salary, that will help. Absolutely. Um, and you know, any type
of I think, you know, um, extras for the drivers like you've mentioned, incentives, you know, I think that's always attractive to people that want to come work for a county. I know like in the teaching world when we had to all of a sudden take attendance every period it
was a really big learning curve. I mean the front office would have to call 30 out of 60 teachers and ask them to put in their attendance. >> But I do know that some schools did like at the end of the month whoever did it the most often their their home room
would get a pizza party right and so them teachers would rush in there and they'd be like how many times did you get caught this month? Like just what I meant by incentive is not something really expensive, >> but I feel like um Mr. Broski that's we could do something competitively fun
with very relatively low amount of money >> that might inspire that friendly competition. >> Sure. >> To remember to log in. So I I don't know if it's something we can think about. >> Sure. Sure. um come up with some ideas that aren't real expensive. That might
help with that because I do know it was fun. I remember I went two months without missing and then I missed one and I didn't get it that month. But it's >> and we can work with our business partners on >> Yeah. kind of a fun way and maybe business partners like you said could help with that.
>> You know, absolutely. I think kind of the biggest piece is that um you know when we started to do this trends page we're like okay we'll do a one pager kind of quick to like help out >> it turned into five pages you know and so >> I think communicating out to the public
is >> there's a whole lot more involved than just oh hey just hire more people you know um it's there's just a lot of moving parts and again it's not for lack of trying it's just it there's just so much more involved in it, I think, than
anybody realizes of just you put the kids on the bus and they you take them to school and they come home. Like, what's the problem? What's the big deal? Um, and so just the support from you all of, you know, hey, we're we're looking at all of these things all the time. Um,
is is, you know, helpful. something something has been on my mind since um since we we had to restructure everything last year because of the budget situation and um I want to bring this up. That's
why I asked the chair to put it on the workshop agenda. We still had to cut 1,200 students from that mile and a half to the mile mark, right? And uh one of the things that I
was told when we were working on that budget situation was that no student was going to, you know, victim of whatever we call a cup and we still had to because we don't have any other way to do it. go
to the two mile mark. I want to be able to get between all of us and try to see if we can re take the one and a half mile at least for elementary age students. The little kids the walking two miles
for them is hard. The little kids, they're not responsible enough to walk for 2 miles to school. I know we have to fix the situation first. for drivers. I'm not saying we can do it right now,
but maybe next year, you know, working on it. Protecting those childrens that can be dangerous for them to walk to school for 2 miles on a cold weather, 30° or hot weather.
You know, I'm not saying that we can do it for everybody. I'm not even saying that we can do it for elementary, but at least brainstorming and trying to help those young kids. We did it for a long time. We did it for
years and I think I believe we can still get it done at least for the little ones for their safety. 13 year old kids, 17 year old kids, they can drive a bicycle, they can walk to school, but some some little kids the parent cannot take them to school because they have to work.
They have to find a way. And uh I think we can help them out if possible. >> I think it's also concerning though you're not even supposed to be at home by yourself at that age either. So I'm hoping that somebody's actually taking them to school that they're not walking by themselves. A 5-year-old should not
be walking to school by themselves. I know circumstances are different, but we're going to have children. We have to make sure that we can um we as parents are responsible for those children as well. I would never let my six-year-old or 8-year-old walk no matter what shifts
I had to pick or or what I had to do. And I and I get it. Things are are strained. But I would encourage um all board members to go look into the life of uh transportation. I'd encourage you to go out there, see what um what they are
doing. um how many people are um are there and how many people are not because they are riding buses. Um they're they're doing multiple jobs. >> I'm not saying they're not doing a good job. I'm I'm I'm saying that we can offer the support she needs to take care
of the situation we have right now and maybe work on some of those routes like Kingston Heights. They don't have the safe the the the infrastructure the the sidewalks, you know, like Oakleaf right now is full
of traffic. Like they don't have the infrastructure either because there's a lot more vehicles in the streets. Well, I think we're we we kind of fixed Oak Leaf a little bit on as far as traffic is concerned and I know that we're working with the county to talk about sidewalks and um especially Miss
Hansen's district um and the importance of with the new growth, we need to have supported infrastructure if we're going to request these parents um to follow state statute to do the two-mile mile um
requirement that um we do have infrastruure We do have sidewalks to to protect the >> I think it's important to remember that community safety, child safety is not just the school district's responsibility. >> Correct. Um that it's got to be a community effort.
>> I agree with that. But >> it just to add on um so when we first started talking about the 1.5 to 2 miles, I think operations will tell you that I probably talked to you guys 3 months straight. I know that I won't mention any names that someone actually
went down 218 and saw the bike walking routes on the side of the road operations went out down the side roads. They didn't do the direct line. They started looking at the way the kids actually had to walk to school.
And I will tell you what made my heart rest a little easier is that operations not only listened but when parents called whole kids on who when you had a need on a street were able to get on a bus.
I'm not saying in an ideal world it wouldn't just be great to do what we used to do. But I can tell you that this department of people over here helped me become at ease with it. And the amount of emails that I received
went from 10, 20, 30 to zero over a period of 3 months. So we have helped an immense population of kids to get to school safely when there was a need. And it's not something I would have given up
light-heartedly. I worked at Wilkinson all those years and I saw kids going down the side of the road. So basically I was overly impressed with the concern they had and the ability they had because the county commission since I
was out there in 2003 has never put the sidewalk in like it needed to be. So waiting for that to happen wasn't really an option. But Klay County actually went above and beyond. And if if I ever find out, I know Miss Skipper went out there
one time and saw watched with her own eyes. If we were concerned at all at this point, or if there's a parent that is concerned, I just send them to them because they have made immense progress in the safety of those kids. So, I'm not saying if we were dropped $10 million as
a gift next year that it wouldn't be great to do that. I just want to say that I am proud of what the board has done to make sure our kids are safe and the extent that operations has gone to make sure the kids in need were on a bus. So, >> and I'm glad you brought that up because
I did I didn't forget, but um to address the many other things that we are doing um that is one important thing that I think we do need to emphasize that if a child was in danger, if there wasn't an instance um like myself, I jumped out of
the car and I was like, "Who told you to drive down this road like this?" out the the mama bear came out to me and I immediately called and I was like this kid should not be on 28 like I know. So
um anyways they your department you guys took that serious um sent people out um sometimes didn't even need to cuz you realized that um the way that the path was was being directed was not accurate. So, I think that that's another another
thing that we should talk about is those who were in danger, we made sure that they were covered and they were routed. Um, and Miss Clark was able I mean, she worked with the sheriff's office and we got a new crossing with lights out there.
I I agree that maybe with community help, we could get more people, maybe volunteers. I mean, I think the schools would have to collaborate having people along a busy road if kids were h um elementary, those people were great. You guys worked out that whole situation.
>> Yeah. Thank God we've got the four-way stop there. Yeah. >> Because that is a nightmare at times. We just need the county commission to bump up >> the additional turn lane. >> And so when it comes to buses and safety, I really when I talk to fellow schoolboard members in other counties,
we have gone above and beyond. And I know that all of us are willing to help where it needs to be helped. I just know under our certain constraints that it is really difficult to do what our heart would love to do, but we've
done the best we can in a a worse off situation. And I do appreciate the efforts of everyone to make um my district in particular safe. If there's ever any emails that you guys get from student or from parents and you
know they're walking, definitely send it to us because some of the ones that you guys have sent, we actually were able to identify as a hazard and then we do get state funding if they're identif both both pockets. Definitely there there was a situation where um a student
had to cut to somebody's property to be able to to get to school. The situation is that they measure the way they measured my thing wasn't to the the path that he's supposed to take safely and he's supposed to go through somebody's property to be able to be safe.
>> Yes. >> If not he would have be qualified to get the bus. Those things I think they need to be >> we had the system was taking a child like through a parking lot. Yeah. >> Um that we're like it's not it is a parking lot now. Like it back then it probably wasn't but to go out and put
eyes to we can't see all of them all the time but if they're brought to our attention we definitely go out there. Um and even in cases where I worked with one of the elementaryaries in Keystone um just kind of unaware of some of the neighborhoods there. um and the struggles that some of those
neighborhoods go through and you know the children not being able to get on a bus resulted in the attendance issue um because they are getting themselves ready in the morning. Um so we were able to do a courtesy ride and make it a double back and then eventually merged into an actual just route. Um we were
able to help with like attendance issues as well helping those students get to school. So >> I believe you also did something in the system right where they were measuring from a house to a school as a crow flies. Mhm. >> You were able to go through and make it look at the actual road routes >> like the road the way. Yes. Absolutely.
Absolutely. >> And that helped a lot as well. >> Yes. Yeah. So, definitely send it our way. Um don't please don't ever hesitate for that because there are pieces that we may be unaware of. Um or as we talk about calibrating the system, um pieces that we need to find. Miss Skipper,
bouncing off of your infrastructure comment, just to let you know, any new development that applies to come into the district or the county, we have a say so in DRC and we we require we require we look at their plans to make sure in their plans they have safe
routes to school if it is necessary and that they are meeting the statute for that for that infrastructure. Okay, >> good. Especially for future. >> Exactly. >> I know a lot of our problems are already existing. >> Yeah. Yeah. try to make sure it's not built on that.
>> All righty. Is that it? >> Okay. Uh, next up, uh, the review of schoolboard policy 5520. I want to talk to the attorney's office. It was under my impression that you guys needed additional time when reviewing this policy.
>> That is correct. uh we'll need a little while to make sure that there aren't any legal issues that might you know that might occur unintentionally if we move forward around policy change. So our office will need a little more time uh to look and look at I believe this is Sarasota's
this might um believe this might be Sarasota's that we are looking at their policy but we're going to need more time to do an in-depth review uh of that policy. And just to be clear, just so that we're covered, we already have a current policy for this in place as a
school district. >> Policy 5520 was our grading policy. Is that what we're talking about? >> No, it's a uh protest polic. >> So on our agenda, it's policy 5520. If you look in our >> polic Yeah. >> Because um
>> so I just want the public to know what you're talking about. 5520 is disruption of school and school sponsored activities. >> I Well, we were going to have grading. >> I'm sorry. I'm looking at 5420. That's my mistake. >> Okay, >> you're scaring me for a second.
>> That's my mistake. Sorry. Sorry. >> But just so that we're covered, we already have a current policy in place for this issue. >> That's correct. Um, that's correct. depending on what the nature of the protest if it's a walk out or something that's something that would involve uh potentially CCSO as well if they're if
someone's impeding traffic for example. So >> I just want the public know that we're we we're covered. Yes, this is just additional >> that is that is correct. There are uh um if there is a disruption the school or school activities there is a mechanism within schoolboard policy um that I
would discipline uh people that that do that. So, can I ask the question? If we've already got a policy, what are we looking at changing and why? >> I I I think they want more time just to before they present it to us and ask us,
>> right? There is if there is a request regarding the policy. So, you know, uh if there is to be any change, one, we want to make sure that we look at other counties, specifically Sarasota, but we going to need to deal with Neiola. >> Who asked you to change the policy? because I don't remember the board
having that discussion. >> I remember Mr. Albero, did you bring it up? I think he said it at the the school board meeting that when the education commissioner sent a letter out regarding there might there could be
some rumors about kids. >> This was at our last regular >> protesting during your board comments. >> Yeah, I think you wanted us to make sure we just looked at our policy and gave an example, right, of someone's policy. We do currently have a policy in place. Um
I know that I spoke with Mr. Broski about this because I don't know if it was last year at some point there was like a walk out scheduled at one of the high schools and I remember talking to Mr. Broski. So we have a very effective way to hit that nail on the head. Right.
So the administrators at on local campuses have a lot of authority and how they can handle and every campus may handle it differently. So, I understand how we'd have to look at the policy carefully to make sure we weren't the legalities of the policy, but we do
currently have one in place, but the concern I think came when the uh Commission of Education sent a note out to everybody about possible disruption. >> Um, also, and I think I would be really concerned if we didn't have a policy in
place. my concerns, but also if we I guess I want to just state to keep in mind that if we do change and go against Nola's policy, like a major change within Nola's policy, that doesn't um protect us legally anymore. Correct.
Is that >> right? It wouldn't fall under their insurance or guarantees, >> right? >> I'm comfortable with the policy that we have. I think it covers any like we've had lockouts in the past. That's not new. That's something we've encountered as a school district. So, I think making
knee-jerk reactions in policy based on current events is usually bad practice. >> Um, when we've paid a lot of money for Niola to make sure that we're sound, I feel like it would be kind of foolish to do anything different. Just my two cents. >> So, the Sarasota Pal is not Neiola.
>> Uh, to my knowledge, it's not. We haven't gone a full dive deep into it. We'd have to talk to our Neola reps first of all. Um yeah. >> And is it an actual policy? >> It's not right. >> Do they have it as an actual policy? >> I believe that they drafted right now. >> It's drafted. Yeah.
>> Or they didn't we didn't know. >> Like I said, we have had this in past president. Our policy has stood the test of time, has been effective in managing disruptions on school campuses and handling free speech fairly. Um I just don't see a need to spin our wheels on
this one and potentially get into murky water. >> That's my two cents. Do do we want to give a consensus to see if it's necessary at this point for them to do all this research? >> Right. I feel like from my perspective that's a a waste of our legal time.
>> If we are if we're bound to Niola and we do pay them money, I agree with Miss Gilhousen. She has the most experience over the years too to see how we have dealt with such disruptions. And so personally, I know I fought for Niola and there's reasons that we went with
them and one of them it does make us legally sound and there are protections that come with our policy. So I agree with Miss Gilhousen that we don't need to look further. Maybe we could make changes within Eiola if we needed to, but to look outside of our policy with
Eola, I'm agreeing with Miss Gilhouse and I don't think we need to do that at this time, but I don't know what the other board members think. important also to do other comparison and see if we're missing anything on on our own. >> Oh, the Neola does that for us. That's
the point. They've done all the comparison >> and they do state statute alignment. So, like minor changes are essentially okay. um like if we want to change some verbiage and and like we did um but if
you restructure the whole policy then we are not then we are open to litigation and we're open to being sued and and all the things that come with that. So if we already have one in place like if if there's minor changes or something like
that that you would like to suggest. No, it was exactly to >> but if it's a whole >> between all of us to make sure that our policy covers everything that was all it wasn't like like he said an example where we can compare and see if we lock
them anywhere and then make the the small changes much easier for nobody else >> and I think Mr. So to your point as Nola will look at that like so we have a new circumstance a new climate where this might have happened all over the state of Florida and I think their team of
lawyers will naturally give us updates if that needs to happen. So they will compare what the commissioner said cuz that's what they do for a living, right? There's a whole bunch of lawyers. So when the commissioner sent down that directive, I'm almost certain that
Niola's lawyers took that directive and they make sure that we're legally sound and they will offer changes for us. Um, periodically the district gives us a packet of those changes and it comes out once or twice a year. >> So it's twice a year. >> So there may be changes in the Neola
policy based on the uh commissioner of education's suggestion. And I'll tell you, Niola is much more on top of it than than this board has been in years past. We we we had a hard time keeping on top of managing our policies and keeping them up to date, which is what
led to the discussion of going with Miola so that they could help us with legislative updates and requirements from the DOE and all of that. >> Sounds good. I guess >> Clark, did you want to >> I think I talked over you. Sorry. We
don't need to go any further. >> Yeah, that's consensus. Um, >> we're majority. >> So, if I could just just to kind of reassure the board, your current policy says that students do have a con have constitutionally guaranteed rights.
However, they can't disrupt the school environment. And if they do, the place for the consequence is the code of conduct, >> right? And so it's important to remember that even within one grouping, you know, five students can be involved in a quote
protest, each one of them do something different within the protest deserving a different consequence. And that's outlined within the code of conduct. So getting into policies that are very specific make it harder to actually administer
the policy, which is probably why the old is structured that way. So I guess um with the direction of the board to our legal team um there's no need to move further on this issue since we already have a policy in place.
>> Yes ma'am. >> And we'll wait to see if Neil does an update >> and I mean we can maybe reach out to Neil and ask him but I I don't I think that they'll with the legislation about or with the session about to end here shortly. I think that if there is
anything that would be in that time that they would open open it up but I don't. >> Yeah. So at the direction of the board don't don't proceed any further on this. >> Thank you madam chair. >> Thank you. All right Mr. Broski cheers.
>> Okay. So so before I review the agenda itself I thought one of the things that we said from last time is that we should do a quick budget update each time. So I'm going to give you a quick budget update. Just a reminder, you know, we started uh it's almost Dawn's oneyear
anniversary. >> What day? >> March 10th. >> March 10th, she'll be here a year. So, so she probably got here and said, "What? Why did I take this job?" >> Right. Because you realize we were kind
of put up against the eight-ball. We We won. Didn't get our last payment from the state. FRS went up a million dollars. There was no forth calculation. Uh vouchers at $30 million. A lot of things happened at one at one time
creating a financial challenge for the district. So we immediately took action which was we we had canceled some contracts particularly I penda etc. We cut uh our district budget as well as school budgets by 20%.
Okay. and conducted return on investment uh studies for each and every program within the district. um paused at non-essential travel the personnel we wound up repositioning 252 I believe positions uh district wide all
of this happening in May to say that that causes stress to the system is a huge huge understatement right and so uh we kind of we we gave a little bit of a report card last meeting
and we said we're about 50% through and a lot of those metrics are on track. Whether it's payroll, whether it's our uh our Kelly subs um contract, we're about where we should be, but then you
remember me making a big deal, a dramatic pause to say, "Yeah, I'm covering all of that in a 10-second time frame, but this is painful every day." Like, please know that it's painful every day. There's not a day that I
don't discuss the budget with somebody. Not a day goes by that this isn't a thing. So, I think you kind of maybe get a little um insulated from it because you're not living it every day in that way. But very very proud of the work
that's been done. This sat in a 2-hour budget meeting yesterday, right? And and every budget. We're now to the point where we're starting to budget for next year. believe it or not. And so we're already starting next year. And so we sat there line by line in efforts to to
reduce um very proud of that. Remember we we introduced financial renaissance plan. The goal was to provide competitive staff compensation, increase fiscal and operational efficiency as well as strengthen our fund balance. So we kind of provided a
big picture of that. We said that there's three pillars involved. We want to decrease expenses which you can see all of that is occurring. We wanted to increase revenue and also increase enrollment because funding is tied to enrollment and how to do that through our family and community engagement
folks and the things that you've seen. Uh within that pillar two we talked about increasing FTE and how to do that more efficiently so that we're getting paid for all all the dollars that we deserve. as well as we talked about the
renewal of the one one mill and um I I think I speak with great clarity at least I'd like to think I do anyway right about that so when when talking about the one mill the board kind of weighed in on that if you recall from
the meeting and in I think that two things came to the to the top one is we should continue to provide safety for our students through the use of law enforcement offic officers. That means Klay County Sheriff's Office, Orange Park Police Department, Green Code
Police Department. Uh, as well as we should provide competitive salaries and compete, right? We just talked about the bus drivers, right? And competing against the folks that are around us. We need to do the same for all of our
employees and compete. when you look at it really I I think as a parent I think it's a winning hand as a parent to say I want my kids safe and I also want the best and the brightest around them and and that's really what we kind of
brought forward and I thought I um expressed that clearly but maybe I didn't express it that uh pinpoint uh and so I'm trying to uh to recapture that here this morning so everybody can hear >> So what you're saying Mr. Superintendent, we can do both.
>> We can do both. In fact, other districts have eight or nine things on ballot language. Remember, no ballot language has been brought forward. >> Can you say that again? >> No ballot language has been brought forward. >> So, we haven't discussed ballot language. >> We have not. >> This board has not met and discussed.
>> We have not. >> That will occur on March 24th, I believe, according to your timeline. >> We believe that's time frame, the 24th. So we we've had much discussion including uh discussion with our our attorney about language related to that.
There's very specific criteria. For example, you can only have 75 words by statute in this in this area. I can promise you you're going to see two things on the potential language for the board to consider. You're going to see law enforcement officers in our schools.
>> Mhm. And you're going to see that we want to retain and and uh and attract the best and the brightest individuals that work within Klay County schools. And um this is no different than other districts. You can't compete. Let me
just let me say it again. You can't compete if other people have different rules that they play by than we play by. We need to we need to level the playing field for a couple reasons. why I want to compete, I want to win. Two, this is
good for employees. They're the people that do the work within the district and so um I'm very passionate um about this. My recollection is that it has unanimous support among the board. They both
recognize that both of those objectives are very important uh to Klay County schools and the long-term future of Klay County schools and the students that we serve. So, so uh that's all I have to say about that. I
guess you have something else related. I just want to make sure that I was abundantly clear this time related to that. We want to decrease expenses obviously and I don't need to tell you that um uh vouchers and that issue particularly concerning to me because I
think there's a lack of knowledge and a lack of understanding by people related to this particular issue. So, I'm going to try a little u a little analogy here just to kind of pose it a little bit different to you so you can kind of understand this a little
differently because I think that people confuse school choice with with vouchers. Uh first of all, I'll go on the record and say I'm a school choice advocate. I myself went to Catholic school. All 10 of us went to Catholic school, right? So, it's it's
not really a school choice issue. What we're seeing is the movement of public funds, public funds going to private entities and whether or not that's right. So here's here's my example.
So let's pretend and I'm going to use law enforcement as a way of just providing an example. This is just an example. All you Facebook people out there, it's not not meant to be a truism. It's just an example just to kind of illustrate this
for you. The sheriff's office protects the 644 square miles of Clay County and they're given a budget to do that. We'd all say that the sheriff does a great job and our sheriff's department does a great job. They do a phenomenal job,
right? So, and let's just pretend that their budget is I have no idea what their budget is, by the way, so don't take this as a Let's just say it's 300 million. I don't even know what it is. Let's say it's $300 million. Then let's pretend that a community, let's say, not
to pick on any one community, let's say the residents of Eagle Harbor say, "We want additional uh safety and security measures in Eagle Harbor. We're going to put up gates. We're going to put up armed guards. There's several entrances in Eagle
Harbor, by the way. So So we're going to do all of this because we want additional safety." As an American, I say, "You go for it. go right ahead. You know what? Who am I to stop the people in Eagle Harbor from wanting those things for their community? Do it. Where
I draw exception is where you say, "All right, we're going to take money from the sheriff's office to pay for that." You have to pay for it yourself. It's no different than the residents of the town of Orange Park paying
additional in order to have their police force. Why is it that you take money from public school and give it to private school? That's the equivalent of taking the money from the sheriff's office and
giving it to the residents of Eagle Harbor in that example. Now, let me ask you, what do you think happens to the services that the sheriff provides if you took the money from the sheriff in order to do that? Do you think the service went up or you think the service
went down? So, my big beef with vouchers is you can't continually take money away from public education and then turn around and say, uh, you see there you go.
There's a problem there. I I don't think I can say that any clearer. I'm just trying to come up with a different example or a different way of explaining that uh to everyone in the room and everybody that wants to listen on on video. It's very disturbing to me.
In addition, they found uh roughly uh over around $300 million in fraud in the program. That's not me making this up. This is the auditor general filing a report and saying, "Hey, there's fraud here. We can't determine where this
money was supposed to go." Why this is not a big story? I have no idea. Why is this not a story? I would think if you're missing $300 million, somebody would be upset. >> And then do >> then when you take maybe you should
bring Doge into that, right? So, so then when you look at it, right, you're taking money away from public school, giving it to private school, the system by which you're doing it by the auditor general himself is is fraud with with fraud. Okay. Now,
>> he said literally the report said the worst roll out in the history of legislatively funded ideas. I mean, that's how bad it was. So, just to kind of, you know, you
can see the uh the passion in my voice. It's because when I when I look at this situation, I and um there's not a day that that I don't think there's a day that I don't talk to Miss Posie and she probably doesn't probably wondering why she took this job again, right?
>> An incentive party 10th of March. You know, I'm kind of frustrated by the fact that uh that the system is the way that it is because when we're talking about compensation for our employees, we're
talking about all of those things. Boy, you can't stack the deck against us and then say, "Oh, okay." You know, go figure it out. Let me repeat, not a competition thing. Nobody's more competitive than I am. So I feel like we
not only will compete but we'll compete with excellence in Clay County schools. I think the issue is when you tie your hands tie your hands behind our back and don't let us compete. That's a whole another story. So um
that's my update. As far as the actual agenda itself, there's only a a couple things that I will call your attention to >> just real quick. You had a really nice slide up at the last workshop and it showed like the actuals where we were and it just said like electricity,
right? And it showed us if we were up or down. Is that a real hard thing for you to do maybe each month just to show where we're at? >> Yeah, we can we can do that. >> It was just a easy slide to see like payroll where we are at maybe where we
might be in a little bit of a >> sort of like a a tracker for a couple key data metrics. It was a nice chart. Do you remember it, Miss Posie from last year? >> Would you want that monthly or quarterly? >> I think it's really easy for people to understand that like outside of maybe
this room because it basically said we allocated this many dollars to electricity, we're right on target, but maybe has some concern that we're going to be under, you know, at the last quarter. I don't know if it's a monthly thing. Maybe nothing changes from month to month, which I know is not true in
your department. Everything's always changing. a little bit of timing of recording of things. So if the only >> the record the timing so I mean >> quarterly quarterly >> quarterly would be >> it would be easy. >> It would be easier and then it kind of
would make sure that we have that quarter wrapped up. It's difficult when you have revenue expenses going out and acrals and stuff to get it all where it needs to be at that exact time. >> So quarterly >> because it was a great visual. people could literally see, look, we've paid
too much out for electricity versus budgeted. So, >> okay, >> that's always confusing the actual and where we are. >> Also, I have a question really quick. >> Do we get paid for s uh services quarterly
like uh never mind, I'll ask you offline reimbursement? >> Yes. Yeah, I'll ask you. Well, I thought that was >> So, so on the agenda, for for sake of time, I'd only call your attention to a couple things. >> One of those is, you know, as we prepare
for next year, we're right now doing uh allocation reviews and that we brought to the board in April a new allocation package. You'd see a restructuring of business affairs on this month's agenda. uh because two employees had retired and
left the organization, it made sense for Miss Posey to restructure her department right now. So, you'll see it in there. It's a cost savings of 70 grand um related to it, but at the same time builds the capacity for the work to to
occur within her department. Everybody else would happen at the April meeting, but because we need those people now, her department was kind of going first. And you'll see the the document on there
and the cost reduction of 70 of 70 grand. Other than that, uh there is a document in here called the complete salary schedule. By statute, you have to have what's called a complete salary schedule, which is basically taking the
teachers contract, the support contract, and uh and the admin piece and putting it into one document. It's called the complete salary schedule that's there. So, you could see that all of the um negotiations and changes are all are all
documented in this one in this one document. Uh we didn't really celebrate it because we were kind of quiet about it, but you know, we did of course sell our contract with SESPA and so um that's all that's all complete and that's also contained within this particular
document. And other than that, most everything else is routine, but if you need any um any help or any questions, I'm always thank you so much. >> Um school board attorney comments. Uh
there's nothing from the school board attorney's office at this time. Uh it's a pleasure to be here as always. >> School board member comments. Miss Gilson. >> Um I'll just highlight the time we had in
Tallahassee. I felt like it was um a good showing for encouraging to be around people who are passionate about what's best for the folks here in Clay. And um despite the challenges that we have at the state level, we have great partners
in our legislative delegation and um I had a warm reception from them and great conversations about um what's needed here in the school district going forward. Um so I was encouraged by that visit and very proud of our county and
how we were represented by the state. It's quite um would agree with that. It was nice to see many many more people from a few years ago. I think we have a band concert at Oakley tonight. Anybody aware?
>> No, I was not aware. They usually send a new >> or not at 6:00. >> I can double check on that for you. >> Appreciate it. >> That's it. >> Yeah, cuz usually you and I go to those. >> Yeah. >> I'm sorry. I don't mean to interrupt you. I did want to highlight Fleming
Island High School basketball. Boys basketball is knocking it out of the park right now. We went and watched saw plants there. We went and saw them. My family took my voice um to see them play Saturday and they won. Correct me >> regional semis. They are in regional
finals this weekend at 7. >> Um they're good. I highly suggest you go watch them. They're really good. Yeah, watching the college basketball. They are phenomenal and I I believe they'll head to UNL. >> I think so, too. I think so.
>> Well, the one just scored 51 points. >> Points. Yeah. Carson Crawford. >> Carson Crawford. He's a >> 51 points. Um I think it's a record. >> Record breaking. Yeah. >> What grade is he? >> 11. >> He's highly recruited.
>> Highly recruited. D1 uh prospect. Uh 68. >> Yep. >> 68. Yeah, >> he's we have a 610 freshman Dil so fast. I was tired just watching them up and down the court >> and fullourt press the whole game in
their defense. It's an intense team. Where are they playing Saturday? >> They're hosting. They host it last Saturday. They're the number one seed. So they'll play at home throughout the tournament until they go to if they win. >> Okay. Super impressive.
>> Go watch him. >> Y >> um Mr. Alva, >> Miss Hansen, good. >> All right. Yeah. Miss Gilhousen spoke on Tallahassee. It was a fun time. Always
productive. Always um always interesting. And and like you said, we have a good relationship with our delegation. They're they are listening. They hear us um loud and clear. So, if we can get the rest of the House and
Senate to hear, we'll be uh we won't hurt as bad, I guess, I should say. Anyway, uh with that this meeting is a journ