Clair Elementary Chorus directed by Miss Gan includes students from the 3rd through sixth grades. The chorus meets after school once a week. This even this evening's musical selection is Jingle Drive and featured at their se their singing along concert last week and was
a crowd favorite. They will also perform this and other songs tomorrow evening at the annual Cocoa and Carol's event in Orange Park. Dashing through the snow in a onehorse [singing] open sleigh
over the fields we go all the ways. on making bright. What fun it is to ride and sing
our song tonight. Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh, what fun it is to ride in a onehorse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh, what it is in a one-horse open. Dashing through the
in a onehorse open the [singing] fields [singing] making fun jingle Jingle, jingle. Oh, what it is to be up
jingle jingle jingle. Oh, what it is in a one horse. What fun it is to ride in a sleigh. Jingle all the way.
[applause] That doesn't get you in the Christmas spirit. What will? For our student art showcase. Thank you Montlair Elementary Art and Miss Snyder for the artwork exhibit this evening. On display are various works from
kindergarten through sixth grade artist. In their work, students build their foundational art skills by exploring a variety of mediums using traditional and non-traditional techniques. During the development of their art artistry, students learn about the seven elements
of art, how to apply them, and how to identify them in the work of both peers and professionals. Through their learning, the scholars of Montlair Elementary developed an appreciation and respect for themselves, other artists, their work, and the cultures that influence them. Thank you, Montlair
Elementary. At this time, we're going to have uh Mr. Pastor Matt Pace from the Spring Church in Orange Park. Are you present? Oh, awesome. He's going to lead us in a word of prayer and the pledge of allegiance. Yes, sir.
>> Oh, yes. Sorry, it's brand new information for you. You'll stand. >> Well, join me as we open up with a word of prayer. Father, we come to you tonight, Lord, gracious and thankful for your mercy and your kindness and
your love. Lord, I'm just reminded even in that beautiful chorus that we just heard of the announcement that the angels made on the night Jesus was born, peace on earth and goodwill towards men. And Lord, peace and goodwill does not
only come through the birth of our savior, but it comes in the way that we treat each other, care for each other, love one another, provide for, protect each other. And I pray, oh God, that tonight at this
meeting, Lord, that would be the defining quality, peace and goodwill. I ask you, oh God, that you would give our schoolboard members, our superintendent, wisdom, Lord, that can only come from you. I pray God that you would continue to
undergard our teachers, our administrators, the staff and faculty of every single school. Lord, it's more than a career. It's it's it's a calling. It's more than a professional, God. I believe it's something that you bring
these individuals to for such a time as this. And I pray it's treated as such. And I just pray, oh God, that you would continue to move in Klay County, to move in our school system, to move amongst our leadership, that at the end of the day, you would be honored and you would
be glorified, that it would be for your name and your name only. And we give you all the honor. We give you all the glory in the mighty name of Jesus, the strong son of God. And everybody said, "Amen." Pledge allegiance 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. >> Thank you, pastor. At this time, I call to order the meeting for our school
board meeting for December 11th, 2025. 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 tonight's school board meeting. This meeting is our opportunity as your elected representatives to collaborate openly and make decisions that will decide the
future direction of our public schools and education of our children here in Klay County. If you wish to address the board on an agenda item, there will be an opportunity to speak for three minutes. Please fill out a card located in the side entry door indicating the specific item number or topic you wish
to speak about and turn it in promptly to one of our officers. If you have items that you would like to present to the school board or superintendent, please hand them to the officer who will distribute them accordingly. Speakers who wish to address specific agenda
items will be heard following the the recognition and awards portion of the meeting. Speakers wishing to address non-aggenda items will be heard following the adoption of the consent agenda. No additional cards will be accepted once the board moves to the public comment section under
presentations from the audience. Your participation is welcomed and appreciated. At this time we are going to start with our recognition and awards presentations portion of our meeting. Uh up first is
Mr. Butch Coll But Butch Collier from regional vice president center uh synergistics. Sorry. >> Thank you very much. Good evening. Since the school district of Klay County partnered with Synergistic, which started in January of 2016, almost 10
years ago, a comprehensive energy conservation program, has been established and implemented to address energy usage throughout the organization. Energy specialist Mark Jolly has worked closely with staff to not only reduce energy usage, thus save
money, but to create more efficient buildings. Today, we are here to recognize that the school district of Klay County has been identified as one of Synergistics's best-in-class clients. This is only possible through the high level of leadership support we have
received throughout the 10 years, which has resulted in a 17% reduction in energy usage and a total savings of $14 million over those 10 years. At this time, I would like to present a banner, an award, and along with the best-in-class
award goes a $2,000 donation that will be used for student scholarships commemorating this event. Thank you all very much. >> Thank [applause] you. Next up, we have Miss Christina Thompson, coordinator of district
athletics for the athletics check presentation to American Cancer Society. Good evening everybody. If we could go ahead and get to slide one real quick. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Barski, school board members and valued members
of our Klay County community. Tonight, we're celebrating a powerful victory that goes far beyond the scoreboard. For the past few years, the American Cancer Society, First Coast Making Strides, the Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation, and the Klay County Athletics Department have teamed up for a special mission to
tackle cancer in our community. This October during the Pinkout Games, student athletes, coaches from all around Klay County came together. They showed up, they wore pink, they cheered loudly, and they gave generously. When we started this partnership in
2022, we had one goal in mind, to fight for those who are fighting for their lives. Slide two, please. Since we kicked off this partnership, Klay County Athletics has raised a grand total of 36 thou 36,484
American Cancer Society. Slide three, please. Because of the hard work of our schools and the generosity of our fans, I'm proud and thrilled to announce that this year's Pinkout Games have raised a total of $9,100 and then some. This has been a true community
effort and thanks to the support of the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Oakleaf High School will receive 40 game day tickets to the January 3rd game versus the Tennessee Titans for raising well over $2,000 for this cause. At this time, I'd
like to welcome [applause] At this time, I'd like to welcome Jacqueline Rodriguez, senior senior development manager with the American Cancer Society, and Kaylin Reinhardt, community impact senior manager with the Jacksonville Jaguars, as we present the
check from Klay County Athletics. [applause] >> [applause] >> I just want to say thank you again and thank you to both of you for allowing us to partner to such a worthy cause. Uh but the good work of Klay County athletics does not stop there. Next slide, please.
It's my privilege to stand before you tonight to share some of some of the highlights of our fall athletics and to recognize the tremendous impact athletics is having on our school district. We often talk about the scoreboard, but tonight I want to talk about the metrics that truly impact our
district. Academic excellence, character development, and community engagement. First, let's look how our student athletes are performing in the classroom. Next slide. I'm very proud to report that our athletes achieved a cumulative fall sports GPA of 3.4. And to break that
down further, we had 52 teams with over a 3.0 GPA and an impressive 20 teams with over a 3.5 GPA. Next slide. [applause] I want to specifically recognize our top academic performing teams. The girls
team with the highest GPA is the Clay High girls cross country team with a stellar 3.85 GPA. And the boys team with the highest GPA is the Oakleaf boys golf team holding a remarkable 3.82 GPA.
[applause] These numbers prove that our student athletes are scholars first. Next slide. Excellence in the classroom translates to excellence in competition. I'd like to recognize two of our state champions. They're unable to be with us this evening because they are representing
Klay County on the national stage at the junior winter winter nationals in Indianapolis. From Klay High School, we have Noah Stalter who is a state champion in 200 pre. And from Fleming Island High School, Williams Shuith, who is the state champion in the 500 pre.
Let's give them a round of applause even in their absence. >> [applause] >> Next slide, please. Beyond the trophies, Klay County Athletics is dedicated to building character. I'm proud of the robust recognition programs that have been
implemented to honor our students values and hard work. 56 junior high athletes have been recognized through our character counts program generously sponsored by Chick-fil-A Middberg. So far, we've honored students for demonstrating commitment, teamwork,
respect, and responsibility. 241 student athletes were named to the all Klay County coaches team, and they were hand selected by our area head coaches. 16 students have been recognized as athletes of the week, sponsored by Preferred Physical Therapy and Southeast Orthopedics.
Six students have received the Driven to Excellence Award sponsored by Gordon Chevrolet of Orange Park, highlighting the incredible student leadership happening all around our district. And finally, we have honored three students as athletes of the month and three coaches as coach of the month with our
December winners coming out next week. Next slide, please. Now, I'd like to briefly share the rigor behind our athlete of the month awards sponsored by Northeast Florida Builders Association. This is not just a participation trophy. It's a highly competitive honor. First, our candidates
are nominated by their coach. Then, each of the seven athletic directors submits their single best student athlete. And finally, our leadership team selects the winner. The winners received a frame certificate, a featured social media interview, a quarterzip jacket from BSN,
and of course, this prestigious honor from the school board. At this time, I'd like to individually recognize these exceptional student athletes. First up, Ally Lowry from Middberg High School. [applause] Next slide, please. Ally has a 4.5476
GPA. She's ranked 11th in her class. She currently takes AP courses and dual enrollment courses at St. John's. She's a two sport athlete, volleyball and beach volleyball, a 2023 state champion for volleyball, a member of the Middberg Athletic Leadership Council, National
Honor Society, and Beta. And she's acrewed over 150 volunteer hours in the following areas: Special Olympics, clothes closet, feeding 5000, trunk or treat, nursery work at her church, and coaching at youth volleyball camps. Ally
Lowry, everybody. [applause and cheering] Next up, we have Elias Hernandez from Orange Park High School. Next slide, please. Elias has a 4.51 GPA. He's currently ranked ninth in his class. He's an Ace student and also enrolled in AP courses.
He's an Orange Park High School golfer, a member of the Orange Park Athletic Leadership Council, National Honor Society, FFA, and Link Crew. He's active with his church at St. Luke Catholic. He's acrewed many volunteer hours at OPs and different events such as campus
cleanup, STEM night, and a graduation marshall. He has also spent several hours at the hospital shadowing a physician with a specialty in infecttologology. Elias Hernandez, everybody. [applause and cheering] And finally, we do have one more athlete. Next slide. I'm not sure if he
was able to make it this evening, but I do want to share some uh about Jaden Adams from Oakleaf High School. Oh, perfect. All right, Jaden Adams, everybody. [applause] Now, this exceptional young man has a 4.769
GPA. He's ranked 10th in his class. He's already earned his ACE diploma, and he's currently taking dual enrollment courses at St. John's. He's an Oakleaf High School football player, a member of the district athletic leadership council, a member of the Oakleaf Athletic Leadership Council, vice president of
the ACE Club, National Honor Society, and National Science Honor Society. He's acrewed over 117 volunteer hours through his work with campus cleanup and mulch distribution at the Trinity Church, Oakleaf High School campus cleanup, Clay County walk and roll, trunk or treat,
and coaching youth football camps. Let's hear it again one more time for Jay Kn. [cheering and applause] I just want to say thank you all for representing Klay County and being for being an example to all others. Uh before we move further, I want to take a group picture real quick.
Now, we apply that same standard uh to our leaders as well. For our coach of the month, nominees are put forward by their athletic directors. Each of the 14 athletic directors to include junior high submit their top coach and then the leadership team selects uh the top applicant.
These winning coaches received a framed certificate, a social media interview, a quarterzip jacket from BSN, a Chick-fil-A swag bag, and an invite to the coaches roundt, and of course, prestigious schoolboard recognition. At this time, I'd like to individually recognize these amazing coaches. First,
we have Middleberg High School's head football coach, Ryan Wolf. Coach Wolf is in his fifth year as the head coach of Middberg football. Last year he guided Middberg to its first winning season in 21 years. Under his guidance, they have advanced to the
playoffs the last three years. This season they finished 8 and three. Coach Wolf is known to hold elite signing day experiences for his athletes and he gives back to the community by having his team participate in Christmas events at various schools and he also hosts youth football camps. Another round of
applause, please, for Coach Wolf. [applause] Next up, please welcome Lakeside Junior High's athletic director and head volleyball coach, Beth Afflegi. [applause] Coach Afflegi is in her 11th year as the head volleyball coach, fourth year as the athletic director. She's guided both
her seventh and eighth grade teams to the NEPAC championship 11 years in a row. Her volleyball team has won 19 of the last 22 NEPAC championships and that includes this year's team taking uh both NEAC championship trophies home for seventh and eighth grade with a combined
record of 30 and two. She also connects with her team by holding team building experiences at the Ropes course, creating a big sister little sister program to help acclimate seventh graders. and she created an award to thank teachers called the superheroes of the classroom award. One
more round of applause for coach Beth if we [applause] next slide please. And finally, we have Fleming Island uh Fleming Island High School's head volleyball coach Amy Yoder, who's unable to make it tonight due to a coaching conflict, but I want to share her accomplishments anyhow. Amy
is a thirdyear head coach of Fleming Island volleyball. This year, her team was the district runner up, finishing with a 19-8 record. Fleming Island volleyball finished as number 10 in the state for 5A volleyball. She created a big sister, little sister program to help acclimate incoming ninth graders. Coach Yoder and her team have also
helped Thunderbolt Elementary with a campus cleanup. And she and her team have volunteered at Seaggrass Village, an assisted living facility. I want to say thank you all for being exceptional leaders and for your commitment to your school and our student athletes. Let's take a group photo at this time.
>> [applause] >> Next slide, please. Now, our story is reaching more people than ever. And in the age of school choice, I want the public to know what it means to be a Klay County student athlete. Since taking over in August, our Instagram engagement has increased
1,200%. Our Facebook engagement has increased 940% and we are now delivering over a million views a month. This digital growth means 1 million opportunities a month to showcase the hard work and success of
Klay County students. [clears throat] It allows the world to see how special of a place it is to be part of the Klay County School District. Next slide. In closing, the state of Klay County athletics is strong,
growing, and driven by a commitment to excellence in every arena. Thank you, Superintendent Broski, school board members, and the entire Klay County community for your unwavering support of our student athletes. Thank you all and happy holidays.
[applause] All right. Next up, we have Miss Mary Owen, social studies curriculum specialist, recognizing the 2024 Founders Week Art Contest winners. Good evening, school board members. Superintendent Broski and our community.
I'm honored to be here tonight to recognize our students for their exceptional artistic accomplishments in this year's Founders Week art contest. Founders Week is the time we set aside each September to honor our country and the people who have made it what it is today. Founders Week in Klay County
District Schools combines celebrations of both Constitution Day and Freedom Week, which recognizes the Declaration of Independence. Throughout this week, teachers and students engage in age appropriate lessons focused on analyzing primary source documents that form the
bedrock of American government, such as the Constitution and the Declaration. Each year, we select a theme as the focus of our founders week. This year's theme is patriotic places, and it asks students to explore and reflect on the
many historic locations that forged our country's founding and early years. Through district-created lessons, students explored key locations in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City. Some of these locations included Independence Hall, Fort
Ticonderoga, and the Old State House, places where the flame of liberty was first ignited. Students were encouraged to express their understanding of the impact of these patriotic locations through art. The Founders Week art contest challenged them to think
creatively about how these historic sites continue to inspire a deep love for our country and the liberties that we cherish. Tonight, we have the privilege of celebrating seven exceptional students whose artwork stood out for its creativity, depth, and connection to this year's theme. These
young artists have not only demonstrated remarkable skills, but they have also provided us with fresh perspectives on the historical locations that built our country. Their artwork reminds us that these locations stand as monuments to our enduring freedom. As we recognize
our winners, you'll be able to see their submissions on the screen. We've also placed their artwork in the case along the back wall, and those will remain there through January. As I call our winners up, I'm going to ask that they remain standing so that we can get a group picture at the end of
our recognition. Parents, feel free to snap pictures as your student is called up. Our K2 students were asked to tell us what their favorite patriotic location in America is. Kindergartner Savannah Whitaker from
Spring Park Elementary says her favorite patriotic location in America is the Washington Monument. Savannah is unable to be here tonight because she is participating in Spring Park's winter recital. We wish her and her classmates uh good luck tonight.
First grade is Liliana Poe from Wilkinson Elementary. [applause] Liliana says that her favorite patriotic location in America is the US capital in DC. All right. In second grade, we have Laya
Church from Keystone Heights Elementary. Ila says, "My favorite patriotic location in America is Washington DC in the US Capitol building. Our third through fifth grade students were asked to reflect on what the most patriotic location in America is and
why. In third grade, we have Zuri Watson Cameron from Patterson Elementary. Zuri says the most important patriotic location in America is Philadelphia because it was the birthplace of America. That is also where the Liberty Bell is. A very important artifact for
sure. All right, we had a tie for fourth grade. So our first fourth grade winner is Annabelle McGregor from Shadow Lawn Elementary. And Annabelle says that the most important patriotic location in America
is Washington DC because laws and rules are made there to protect the people of America. Annabelle is feeling under the weather tonight, but I hear she's watching from home, so we hope you feel better. Our second fourth grade winner is Hunter
Hos from Patterson Elementary. Hunter says, "The most important patriotic location in America is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, because Philadelphia is where the founding fathers wrote the Constitution." Right. And our final winner representing fifth grade from S. Brian Jennings
Elementary is Natalie Munos. The most important patriotic location in America is Boston because it's famous for its role in the American Revolution. And on the Freedom Trail, you can see places like the old State House. [applause]
We are so proud of our artists. Um, and if you guys will remain there, we're going to get a picture. Superintendent Broski, do you mind taking one with us? >> [applause] >> All right. Up next, we have Superintendent uh Mr. Broski recognizing the 2025 2026 Klay County Assistant
Principal of the Year. >> Good evening, board. It's my pleasure to be here to present this award. You know, great school systems require a lot of people to do great work, right? It takes not only the great teachers in the classroom, the support people that that
support them, schoolboard members, all kinds of folks. Uh last time I was here, we celebrated the principal of the year, who was Martin Afuck of Middleberg High School. Today, it's my pleasure to introduce our assistant principal of the year. Before I do that though, let me
just say if there's ever uh one of the thankless jobs in the school system, being an assistant principal is one of those because most of the things that start uh start on the ground floor and it's usually the assistant principal that's handling it. So, uh this
individual uh is a leader here, Fleming Islands owned Britney Senna. Britney, come on up. [applause and cheering] Let me let me just brag on on Britney a little bit. Britney does an outstanding job here. They got a great team of
administrators. It's always when you when you signal somebody out, it's like, okay, right. There's always a team of people behind them, but some fantastic things that she's involved with that help make uh Fleming Island High School the 33rd ranked school in all of
Florida. That's pretty good. She's a She's a leader in creating master scheduling here. A whiz a whiz kid at that. A leader in creating acceleration points um for Fleming Island High School mostly through dual enrollment. Industry
certifications have tripled um as a result of her and many others. Web crew trained a mentor to new assistant principles. She has her level two certification. and she's going to be a principal here in Klay County for sure and a future leader uh leader in ESC
support facilitation which I know this is a lot of educational jargon just trust me as superintendent a lot of important stuff goes through Britney Sen here at Fleming High School. So with without further ado our assistant principal of the year for 2526 Britney
Senate Fleming Island High School [applause and cheering] All right. Up next, we have Mr. Kevin Liry, supervisor of personal services for human resources, and Miss Carolyn Crawl, president uh and CEO of the Clay Education Foundation. Recognizing the
2025 2026 school related employee of the year and teacher of the year semi- finalist. >> Good evening. Miss Crawl and I are excited and privileged to be here tonight to celebrate the incredible work that our staff does for our students every single
day. It's our honor to introduce the top 10 semi-finalists for teacher of the year and the top 10 semi-finalists for school related employee of the year. 20 very deserving people who truly go above and beyond every single day. This group stands out not just for their
professionalism and excellence, but for the real daily impact that they have on our schools. They lift students up, foster confidence, provide compassionate support, and create the kind of welcoming, empowering environments where every learner can do their personal
best. >> We also hope that you'll join us for the Apple Awards ceremony at the Thrasher Horn on January 22nd at 6:30. Um it's always a special night where we get to celebrate all of our school's honores and announce our district's teacher of the year, rookie teacher of the year,
and school related employee of the year. We'll start tonight uh with our school related employee semi-finalist. And when I call your name, if you'll come up and stand up uh stay up here so we can get your picture. Um first from Clay Hill Elementary, we have Miss Rhonda Samples.
>> [applause] [cheering] >> Next from Grove Park Elementary, Miss Christina Jackson >> from Oakleaf Junior High School. Nikki Romig [cheering] >> [cheering] >> All right, I think we got competition. Usually it's Orange Park Elementary that
has the cheering crowd. I think we we uh you guys might get the top spot. All right, so from Orange Park Elementary, we have Mr. John Carrian [cheering] [applause] >> from Ridge View High School. Jenner Pareda
[cheering] [applause] >> from Ride Out Elementary. Miss Elise Leato [cheering and applause] from Swimming Pen Creek Elementary. Miss Celeste Eileene Depa [applause and cheering] from Spring Park Elementary. Molly Kyler
[applause] And we have two that couldn't be with us tonight, but we wanted to make sure that they got recognized as well. Um, Sherry Domeninger from Doctor's Inlet Elementary and Miss Charmela Mirage Perry from Lakeside Elementary.
[applause] >> [cheering and applause] [applause] [screaming] [laughter] >> You're going to bring that energy to the Apple Awards, correct? >> All right. Good. So, next we'd like to recognize the educators who guide, encourage, and
inspire our students. These teacher of the year semi- finalists are experts at what they do. They spark curiosity, make learning meaningful, and help students build the skills that they'll carry into the future. Their impact lasts far beyond the school day. And I just have
to say on a personal note, this is probably the highlight of my job is getting to know each and every one of these people. Not because of all the important work that they do, but also just because they are just good people, right? And I know Mr. Broski always says that's the business we're in is the people business. So, best part of my day
here. Okay, so starting off from Argyle Elementary, Jessica Armenta. [screaming] [cheering and applause] Charles E. Bennett Elementary. Lorie Fedorovich, [cheering and applause] Coppergate Elementary. Lully Thai
[screaming] [cheering] [applause] Green Cove Jr. Emily Shaver, Grove Park Elementary. Again, Dorothy Bailey [cheering] Lake Asbury Jr. Melissa Smith [applause]
Oakleaf High School. Sabel Perez [cheering] And I guess we have to hear from Orange Park Elementary again. Hopefully here, right? And this is Stuts, [cheering and applause] >> Swimming Pen Creek Elementary, Brittany Batten. [applause]
[cheering] And from a Thunderbolt Elementary, Jessica Willis. [cheering] [applause] Congratulations again to our top 10 semi- finalists and again, please bring all that energy out to the Apple Awards here in January. Let's give them another round of applause. [cheering]
[applause] All right, we have Mr. All right, up next we have Mr. Uh, Superintendent Broski recognizing Middberg Elementary for consideration as a 2026 exceeding expectations award
school. >> Okay. Why? Why all those excellent teachers and support people leave? Well, we'll give it one minute. Okay. fantastic board. If you recall last time I was here talking about SBJ being a rising star and what this award
is being a named an exceeding expectation rising star school is that an outside organization actually goes and looks at your data. It's not something you apply for. It's not something that you ask for. All of a sudden you get an email and it says, "Hey, I just want to tell you we're
recognizing you because we've noticed something." Right? When you think about it, that's kind of cool. Like somebody's out there looking at us saying, "Okay, you need to go ahead and and recognize the school." I'm proud to recognize uh Middberg Elementary School as a rising
star, exceeding expectations. This this particular award has to do with the number of students that are on free and reduced lunch but yet the expectations at the school and how the school comes together uh in the area of
student uh student grades. Middberg Elementary School from the previous year advanced two letter grades in a single year which is which is hard to do trust me. Big round of applause for Middberg Elementary School. [applause]
So, it's an increase of 90 points in a single year, which believe it or not was the second highest in Klay County behind Argyle. Huge gains in in both reading and math. Also, 14 points in science. Becky, are you here?
I don't see Becky here, but I just wanted to recognize Becky and the work done at Middberg Elementary School. Fantastic job. The last award for today uh goes to our very own school board member, Michelle Hansen. You know, one of the things that
you ought to do if you're uh in the education field at all is always try to advance your own learning. And so Michelle Hansen is being recognized tonight uh for being a certified board
member. So what does that mean? That means you actually went and took at least 96 hours of training in a variety of different topics such as school finance, policy, governance, bargaining 101, as well as attending FSBA's conferences, their additional forums,
webinars, online training, and really increase your knowledge. So, we we want to uh provide you with this plaque as a certified sat certified board member. And I you can come on down. I want to give you this plaque and also take a picture with you and celebrate your
advancement. So, thank you, Miss Hansen. [applause] All right. And now we have the school showcase Montlair Elementary School with Principal Bill Miller. >> Good evening, distinguished school board, Mr. Barroski and your cabinet for
always being supportive. our wonderful teachers of Klay County and our support staff and community. It's a great honor to be here tonight to share our Montlair story. Um it's a great little story, great little school right there in the heart of Orange Park. Um so if you go to
the next slide, please. All right, we um have rebranded as a school. We are now the Montclair Monarchs. Uh this is a process we went through over the last six months. It's actually taken three years to get to this point really uh because there's a
lot of u steps that we did along the way to do this and we're rebranding as a stream concept school for 2627. Uh our zone is uh the same zone's been there but the enrollment is way down because there's just not people anymore.
There's no growth. Last year when I checked with the uh county office downtown in Green Cove, there was one house being built in our zone. Um, so our numbers used to be 560 and uh every every year and now we're at 380. Um, so
and it's we we have more special pupil assignments and controlled open enrollment than than we have actual kids from our zone. So my goal is to increase enrollment through this new rebranding. Uh, one of the things we started two years ago was the certified schoolyard
habitat through the national wildlife federation. uh they came uh I reached out to the Ottabon Society to see if we can be a bird sanctuary, but they don't do that. So, we got they brought in the uh National Wildlife Federation for me and we did a three-hour tour of our school, 300 little check marks we had to
walk through and we are now a 23 acre conservation piece of property in Klay County. And that's going to be connect Yeah, thank you. That's going to be connected to our rebranding uh and it connects to the concept of stream. You know, you hear STEM, but we're stream.
We add the uh reading and arts to it, and it connects to it more. So, next slide, please. All right. So, this slide here, you're going to be uh sh this this uh pro uh presentation will be shared with you. So, you can click on the links that are in there. Uh I always have the know your school link. One of the best
links that Florida's ever done because you can anybody can go and check your school out from just one link. You know, it used to be you had to go find it somewhere in the website. So, uh, we've had some great celebrations last year. I'm not going to read all those to you, but you can see that that we had several
great celebrations. We're very consistent. Uh, we're a solid B four years in a row, but we want that A grade, and we have the staff to do it, and we're going to do it, and we're going to do it through very intentional practice. Uh, our areas of focus connect to our school improvement plan. Uh, our
instructional practice, ELA, obvious is going to be for benchmark advance because that's our new curriculum. love that curriculum. Best purchase we've ever had in Klay County for for our reading program. Um it is just top-notch stuff. It connects to letters training and everything. So the science of
reading. The next on there is science. Um science was down 10 points. But we've had um the last eight years I've only been able to keep a science teacher in fifth grade two years because of life circumstances. They got married, they moved the had to go up north and so I
haven't had any consistency. Well, I've transferred one of my new hires last year who used to teach science in her other district and now she is really coming on strong in our fifth grade science. So, we're really happy about that. We have some other things I'll discuss in a minute that we're doing for that as well. And then positive behavior
intervention support PBIS. We want to be a model school. Uh we have everything in place for it and that's going to happen uh most likely the end of this year. Next slide please. So our instructional vision first is uh we want to make an impact. That's our
clay model this year. Uh we started something last year called 400 vocabulary initiative. We're in year two of that. And this came from when my assistant principal, Mrs. Harrison, and I went to letters training two years ago. Best training I've ever been to in
my entire career. It's like taking a master's course. It's a long training all year long. Um, but it opened my eyes to how to look at the science of reading completely different than what you would get from an instructional manual teaching reading. And the one thing I
noticed was it said comprehension is number one. If you can't compre you if you can decode your reading and can't comprehend your reading, it doesn't matter. You have to be able to comprehend it. You have to be able to decode it, but that's not the most important. It's comprehending it. And
they that training says that you have to learn 600 words a year and that was almost impossible in our design. So we went with 400 through the Frera model and it's a visual way of learning vocabulary words. We have a Google um
classroom for it for our school. I model it myself through my Monday message. Um and a neat thing about that is is we have a lot of scholars in our school, 53 that cannot speak English fully. Um, we have 10 that are in the, you know, the monitoring stage. So, we have 63 total
ELLs. But, um, they'll come in the cafeteria when I'm doing lunch duty and they don't even know English, but they'll say, "Mr. Miller, be loving." And they'll know the word I taught through my Monday message just by seeing it visually through the prayer models. So, one of the best things we've done
and we're going to continue pushing that our interventions from our school improvement plan, we have um focused on John Hadtie's uh influences and effect sizes. Uh teacher clarity which is you know that that is learning target and success criteria uh class discussion is
engagement and intentional planning leads to it all so that you can integrate all that into your lessons. I've already delivered those three uh PLC's to my staff. Um and the next one will be uh integrating prior knowledge and then following that will be scaffolding and there are links there so
you can see what we're doing. We're doing um total particip total participation techniques and uh Kagan structures and that's something that uh the Kagan we did we started two years ago and the total participation we started this past year and when you go
in classrooms you actually see that you see that practice because you're teaching it you're modeling it as a leader and you expect to see it and it's and it's now visible in the classroom so we're we know we have a pathway to success there. Next slide please. So another thing that I've always believed
in is having systems within my school. U I'm an army captain airborne from the day and in that manner you backward plan for a year six months three months and then the week and so I believe in developing systems that become norms
within your within your system and the one that stands on the top is the Montlair family. That is something that I have been working for over 10 years. Um, we were the Montlair Indians. It was something that we didn't embrace anymore because of just the political nature of
that. We we always embraced the Native American, but the name was not embraced anymore in our community. So, we went with the Montlair family. And it's an very intentional practice to get to that point. All our business partners, our faith-based partners refer to us as the
Montlair family, not not Montlair Elementary. Um, with that you're we have our positive behavior intervention support system with a great team. Our climate and culture team is what we call it because it mirrors the county. Um, the place it starts though is on day
one. It's called MCE 101 and it's Montlair Elementary introduction to our school and it's a class that I give to all the scholars on the first day by grade level in the cafeteria. It's a very busy day. They can rotate through every 30 minutes and it's a class where
they sign a contract on our expectations. Then the neat part of this is every new scholar that comes to our school gets this class in my office with their parents. It's 20 minutes. Then I take them on a VIP tour of the campus, take them to their classroom and their
stu the students, the scholars in the room are already waiting for their new friend. And we we go over all our structures and all our expectations. And the parents always say on the way out, that's the best thing that I've ever done ever done. That doesn't I don't that hap does not happen at any school
I've been to before. And that scholar then becomes part of the family immediately. Not just someone that gets off a bus and goes to class. Not someone that just gets out of a car, bypasses the whole front office, and goes to class. And I you might have noticed I keep saying scholar because we have a
mindset of graduating high school, not sixth grade. We do have a sixth grade graduation, but our mindset is graduating high school. And we started in kindergarten. The class of 2037 is written on the door. And we teach our 5-year-olds, you are graduating high
school in 2037. And every parent who hears that always giggles because they're like, "Wow, that's a long way off, 13 years." But that is a big part of our intentional practice. Then you'll see the bully report system. That is very very important to me because I was a victim of bullying in high school. I
moved into a new Catholic high school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the middle of the year and eight people wanted to beat me up. I went to my principal, he didn't help me. I went to him the next day. He didn't help me. My dad and I talked about it. I had to solve that problem myself out of the nature, out of
my my character that is not me. I had to solve that problem. So, I pledged when I became a principal that I would have the best bully program in any school. And it's not this little piece of paper that you just fill out and and write what happened. It's a I've researched it.
It's all on a form. It's you can click it there when you open up this slide. And it breaks down categories of types of things that happen, where it's happening, when it's happening, the suspected bully. And I always say suspected because you're not a bully until proven. Because a bully, you have to report to the police. You have to
report to the state of Florida. That's not a very light thing to be done. And so you have to do that right if that happens. And then it doesn't work just because you fill it out. It works because then it's an immediate response from the principal. Mr. Bilbury, my guidance counselor, does it with the
scholar. He calls me on the walkie and we meet in the hallway and he gives it to me and he briefs me on it. If it's something that needs investigation, it starts right then. It doesn't sit in a box somewhere. It doesn't wait till the next day. And out of the years we've
been doing it, we're now down to maybe three or four a year because all the scholars know there's no bullying allowed. Right? That's that's a known practice in our school. And now when it happens, it's usually a new scholar who moves into our school mid year. And I've even given them given them this lesson
and then the next week they're sitting in my office as we investigate. But that is one of the best things of our school. um and it keeps every scholar in the school knows they have a pathway to solve that problem and so it's just a really good thing. Then we have our
Bboard and procedures posted everywhere. There's a sample on it there that's part of our PBIS. The Monday message is part of it too. This is something that came from the uh pandemic actually was I used to go in the classrooms four times a year and give a lesson on character and
I would go to all classrooms over a two-eek period four times a year once a quarter. A lot of work for four lessons. Now I do 38 lessons from my desk with a backdrop with everything about Montlair on a Monday message that I stream to
them and it's 38 times now. 38 messages on how to be a Montlair family member. The first one of the year is be teachable. The one this week is be loving. And they're simple things, but when you teach them of this is how you want to be at our school and that
connects to the BE board, then it creates that culture within the children as well. Um, one of the favorite parts of that is the scholar birthday gift. We say h birth I say happy birthday to all the scholars that week for that particular week. Now, this one coming up, I have to do all the way through
January 5th because we do the breakin this one. And they love it. And they get their birthday bag delivered from the principal. I don't leave it in a box. I don't leave it in in a classroom somewhere when they're not there. If they're not there, I come back and they
tell me their birthday constantly. I'll see a kid that says, "Mr. Miller, my birthday's coming up." And this was yesterday and it's May 14th. And it's just like funny to see the kids where they're telling me about their birthday six months from now. Um, but it really adds to the culture of our school. The
Mont Clair apology is something that we developed about 10 years ago and it's a life skill on how to apologize and it creates this feeling between children of forgiveness. It's it's called the five steps to forgiveness and we teach them
five step not I'm sorry that's not an apology. First, you got to respect the person you offended and you have to ask, "Do you have a moment?" And then you go through this four steps from there on how to apologize. Big part of our community. Um the PBIS principles PBIS
reward school store. When you click on that, you'll see pictures of it. This is something I've done through grants and donations. We have $15,000 in a school store. All it has to be new, nothing used. And every quarter I run the store as the principal because that makes it
important to the child. If you're giving these reward points and the child doesn't have a way to really cash it in and it's not important, it's it's not going to work. So I run the store with help of volunteers and staff members. Another intentional practice, I get to
talk to every scholar in the school four times a year just doing that alone. So I know every name of every scholar in the school through intentional practice and it creates that Montlair family attitude. Um we have a model PBIS unit for our scholars with emotional behavior
disorder. Um and Mrs. Sanders can tell you that we when people visit our school come visit our our our unit. It is amazing what we're doing in that that respect. scholars that were not able to maintain behavior in the regular setting and they come to our school and they
become part of our Montlair family and it's not just a unit out in the corner. It's actually they're part of our school and it's a really really neat thing to see them mainstreamed. Flagpole ceremony I've been doing for 23 years from the very first day I was hired at Montlair.
My principal when I was AP said hey we need to do something patriotic for our school. So, every quarter we have a flagpole ceremony that we uh honor our scholars through awards. We honor our country, we honor our community, we have guest speakers, and it's just a great
way to bring it all together. Travel soup is a little leftover from Montlair Indians. We're going to keep the name because it's something where as a leader, I'm a ser my attitude is servant leadership. I serve my staff a five gallallon pot of soup five times a year
on half days. So the half day comes, we all meet in the cafeteria, no agenda, we come to the table, we eat together, and we become that family even stronger. Um, the Montlair matrix is a way that everybody has a meeting with the principal and the administration without
even having to look at the calendar. Every single per every team in our school h is on that matrix and it makes it run smooth. Talking Tuesdays and Thursdays is something long-standing. We've been doing more than five years now. This is um another thing where uh it's uh John Hattie one is collective
teacher efficacy. If you talk your teachers talk with your administration and you do it collaboratively it's the highest effect size of all influences and we do that every Tuesday every Thursday morning and every second Thursday afternoon or Tuesday afternoon
the first Tuesdays with our PBS unit. It is powerful. Every teacher in our school has the opportunity to talk with the administration about discipline, attendance, about our data, about struggles, about things we need to do. One of the most powerful things we do as
a school. And then we have the Monontlair SOP is written as a it's the military in me. It's written in bulleted forms format, not a narrative, so that it becomes a normal thing in your thinking when you go to look at it. Next slide, please.
All right. We're not going to go over all this, but I just want to highlight a few things. U one is we're a we're a grant type school. I'm constantly looking for grants because you don't get extra money. There's no extra money. I can't buy pizza with schoolboard money.
You know, I have to raise that money. I have to get volunteers for or donations for that money. But we start with Title One. Title One is the most impressive grant we have it. We have two teachers that are total instructors. That's what they do. They're not like just for
people to help run the system. They actually do small group all day and it's a very powerful thing. Community eligibility provision, every kid in the school gets free breakfast, free lunch. Uh that is we're our direct certifications 81% but everybody gets that through that program. Uh boys and
girls club, we have the biggest uh boys and girls club in Klay County with the smallest school. That's pretty cool. We just got we had our meeting today with our our director Beth Davis and we're at 120 enrolles. That's 30 34% of our school comes to the Boys and Girls Club after school. Gets a hot meal, gets help
with homework, and has opportunities from multiple clubs within that. Then we have 11 clubs that my teachers volunteer for. They don't get paid for this. They do it out of their heart. 11 clubs up there. It's amazing that those all those opportunities are at Montlair for such a
small little school. We even have a new one called the emerging bilingual book club. Mr. uh Campbell, he's our um EL teacher that helps with our increasing number of ELLs and he has a club for them to come read in their language but
also in English and it's a pretty cool thing because he's so dedicated to that. So our grant mentality, you can see heroes grant was one I wrote for Lowe's. It gave us five grand to do a community garden. couldn't have that without the um you had to have that to be part of the certified schoolyard habitat. Uh
there's other ones listed there. Our mental health uh licensed mental health counselor, safe and sound protocols. Our PE teacher does them. Uh we're just constantly looking for grants because that's free money that can help our scholars. Faith-based partners are critical to our success. Uh just today,
uh um St. Catherine's delivered, well, our secretaries went and got it, but delivered to us 10 huge bags of presents for Christmas for 10 families and 32 children. And that's just one of the ones we do. First Baptist donates to us
all the time. I'm constantly reaching out to them. Our business partners, Texas Roadhouse, they donate a potato bar for teachers appreciation day. It would have been $500 and they just come and feed us. So, it's these are always things we're reaching out to. and our parent faculty association strong as
ever, always has been strong. We would never let that pass. They they just do things so much for us. Next slide, please. And these are just our celebrations uh that we have as a school. I'm not going to read all those. You can see those, but solid B for four years. Uh we have tons of people going
to trainings, letters, trainings. All my primary teachers, well, not all of them, but most of them have been through letters. The teacher version, which is even more rigorous than the principal ver version. Uh, but it's a constant mindset of we want to get better. We want to learn more. We want to be the
best. We model the lifelong learner concept at Montlair. And that's that's just one of the things we'll never let go. We have book studies on that, too. And then the last slide just shows you some cool little pictures. Next slide, please. Of our campus. And then when you get this presentation, you can click on
any of the links and it will bring you to all the information in more detail. Uh, and thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Miller. >> All right, last call for comment cards. And so far on my desk, there is no um no
comments addressing specific agenda items. So, we're going to move on to our public hearing to approve as advertised revisions to the school board policy 1140, 1140
um uh 01, 3140, 3141, 4140, and 414 uh 1. So, I'm going to open the public hearing. If you would like to make comment on these board policies, you no need to
have a comment card. Just come to the podium. Seeing none, I'm going to close the public hearing and bring it back to the board. Can I get a motion to approve um as advertised the revisions to the schoolboard policies? >> I'll move to approve the advertised
revisions to our policies. Can I >> Okay, I've got a motion from Miss Hansen, a second from Miss Gilhousen. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 5.
And there is no human resource special action. So, we're going to move on to D4 public hearing to approve as advertised modifications to the 2025 2026 student progression plan. I'm going to open that hearing. If you would like to make a comment,
please come to the podium. Seeing none, I'm going to close that hearing and bring it back to the board. Can I get a motion to approve as advertised modifications to the 2025 2026 student progression plan? >> Can I get a second?
>> Second. >> I have a motion from Miss Gilhousen. I have a second from Mr. Alvo. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I >> I >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 5.
All right. At this time, we're going to adopt uh the consent agenda. Can I get a motion to approve? Approval. Have >> a motion from Miss Gilhousen. Can I get a second? I'll >> second. I have a second from Miss Clark. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I.
>> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 50. All right. And now we are going to move on to public comment. Um, remember you have three minutes. Uh, be respectful of others. And first up we
have Miss Kelly. Hold on. Stoutner. Stout. And then up next we'll have Miss Elizabeth Crane and then Miss Michelle Forbus. So if you
guys want to stand behind them so that we can just make sure you state your name and your address. >> Yes, ma'am. My name is Kelly Stabnower and my address is on file. I moved to Klay County, Florida 5 years ago due to due to circumstances outside of my
control. I am from Pennsylvania where I worked as a teacher for over 10 years. Teachers are not treated this way in other states. Teachers are valued and compensated fairly in pay and insurance. Before someone suggests to go back to nor the north, as I have heard in the
past, I say I would if I could, but due to teacher pay in Klay County, it makes it very difficult. There is a law in Pennsylvania ensuring school board members do not get paid. Serving on the school board is considered a civic duty in Pennsylvania, not a platform for personal gain. I have a friend on the
school board from my former Title One inner city school district and showed her the budget for Klay County. She was flabbergasted. The budget is not very different from that of my formal former school district in Pennsylvania. The main difference is the priorities. They
make the teachers the priority in the budget. As I reflect on this contract, I realize that I do not matter to you. My over 10 years experience in another state does not matter to you as I am not included in the measly raise and maybe one or two trips to the grocery store.
Sunday, November 16th, I sent my father, who lives in Pennsylvania and has been battling stage 4 cancer for a year and a half to the hospital. I was up all night taking talking with the ER doctors every hour. booked the 10:30 a.m. flight. I went into school around 6:00 a.m. and
called my administrator to let them know I had put the week into the frontline system. I was not sure what was going on or when I would return. I was at school to print attendance list, try and get sub plans together above the emergency plans I had in place. I was asked to
continue to contact subs to pick up. I was asked what we were going to do if a sub did not pick up. if the students were going to be split between the entire grade level or just my team. How many desks were in each classroom to see if there were enough desks for the
students? I responded I don't know to these questions. And by the last question, I was in tears saying I don't know. My father is in the hospital. My father passed away November 23rd. I did not leave his side this week that
week. But something hit me. I deserve more. I deserve better. I do not need to play 20 questions about desks in a time of a family emergency. I have spent $40,000 to become a
teacher. I spent 15 years in the classroom and I have never thought about leaving teaching. Never until now. This state, this county, this school board has pushed me to my limit. I have begun
to seek employment opportunities outside of teaching. My father always taught me to treat the CEO with the same respect as a janitor. I take pride in knowing that I have always done that. >> Thank you. Up next, Miss Crane.
[applause] Good evening. Good evening, Liz Crane. You have my address on file. At the impass hearing, I kept hearing the word cuts, that the legislature cut your funding. Well, that's not exactly true. When I look at the FEFP for 2526, it
says Klay County received an increase of funding over 2%. To break it down, the K12 total funds per FTE student for 2024 25 was $8,838, which is an increase which was increased to $9,22.
I do agree that this funding is abysmal and those in Tallahassee should be ashamed of themselves. However, let's be clear, it's not a cut. You had a transfer of funding to the
local charter schools. That's not a cut. That's a transfer. For the last several months, we've heard from our superintendent about the funding transfer to charter schools. Some of you have mentioned it. Mr. Deetsson mentioned it at the impass hearing. He even quoted our President
Andrew Spar about what the real issue is. Charter schools and vouchers. Charter schools and vouchers are receiving that funding and doing whatever they want with it. We heard just this past month that the Florida Auditor General with of the misuse of
the funding. I understand that even locally some of our citizens are making a great deal of money from charter schools. I was at a neighborhood event recently and a father who knew I was a public school teacher made a point to speak to me. He told me that his daughter was doing well in school. I
inquired where she went. She went to one of the local charter schools. He went on to say that he was so thankful that he could get her into that charter school because the public schools were bad. He said that he was told by this charter school that the public schools would not
allow his child to read above her grade level. I looked at him in disbelief. He was lied to. I explained to him that nothing could be further from the truth. By statute, teachers are not permitted to apply limits on reading choices. At the end of the impass hearing, I each of
you spoke from prepared speeches. I heard a cry for help. I heard that we should join together and fight for more funding. I agree. The board and the union should work together and not fight with each other. The message, however, is not to beg for pennies. The message is to stop funding charter schools in
the voucher program. We're an a district, an aid that was earned by the students from the instruction and the work of the high performing educators of this district. If you would like to work together, please let us know. I would very much like to stand with you on the steps of the Florida Capitol and
publicly denounce charter schools and the voucher program. >> Miss Forbus. Following her will be Shannon Hubie and Miss uh Patricia Schaefer. >> Michelle Forbus. You have my address.
It's on file. Good evening members of the board. I am a product of the Klay County School District. My military family moved here when I was two and they have never left. I will be 49 next month. I have been an educator for 27 years. I want to begin by acknowledging
something many people in the district feel but may feel hesitant to say aloud. Klay County School District used to be a family. It was a place where people generally cared about each other, students, teachers, staff, leadership, working together with respect and shared
purpose. That sense of unity has been eroded. What once felt like a supportive community now feels disconnected and morale among educators has suffered as a result. As one of the presenters at the impass hearing, I must also address my
deep disappointment and how the impass hearing was conducted. This board was supposed to be an impartial decision-making body, one that would listen carefully, evaluate fairly, and consider the perspectives of the
educators who serve our students every day. Instead, it became clear that responses and decisions had been drafted before the educator's presentation was even heard. That is not impartiality.
That is a predetermined outcome. and it undermines trust in a process that was supposed to be fair and transparent. In addition, I want to speak to the raises the board accepted. My concern is not about the money itself. It is what
accepting those raises symbolizes. At a moment when teachers are working 60 plus hours a week and only being compensated for 37.5 hours, your approval of increases for a
part-time elected position sends a message that sacrifices of the educators are not valued. You are now earning nearly as much as a firstear teacher who was trying to survive on a salary that barely meets the cost of living. This
decision feels less like leadership and more like a dismissal of the very people who hold this district together on a daily basis. We cannot rebuild the sense of family this district once had. If teachers feel unheard, disrespected, and dismissed. Decisions made at this level
set the tone for the entire district. If educators do not feel supported, the entire system suffers from morale to retention to the education that our students receive. I am speaking today because I still believe that the Klay County School District can do better. I believe the board can choose
transparency over pre-planned decisions, partnership over division, and respect over optics. But that requires acknowledgement, acknowledging the impact of these recent actions, committing to do better. Our educators deserve leadership that truly listens and stands with them, not above or
against them. Lastly, a comment was made at the impass hearing that in the business world, there are some years when raises are just not there because the money's not there. Going along with that train of thought, I would like you to tell me of one successful company in
the world where someone with 27 years of experience makes about $5,000 more than someone with no experience. I'll wait. Miss Hubie. [applause] My name is Shannon Hubie and my address is on file.
Good evening. My name is Shannon Hubie, a teacher, a parent, and someone who has spent years inside Klay County classrooms. Before anything else, I want to acknowledge the people who keep this district moving every single day. the teachers, paras, bus drivers,
custodians, cafeteria workers, office staff, and administrators. Every person in every Klay County school, they are people who show up early, stay late, support kids through crisis, and fill gaps that no one else sees. They deserve more, and it's heartbreaking that so
many still aren't getting it. Now that the impass has ended, we listen to hours of testimony, data, and lived experience. And after all that, the war board voted with the same exact offer that we started with. That made one thing clear. The voices of the people doing the work weren't enough
to move even one vote. Only three board members here have ever even taught. Yet, all of you had a why when you ran. You asked this community to trust you. You chose to lead. Tonight, we're asking you to remember that why and to take steps
within your control. Be present. Really present. Not a quick walkthrough, not a photo op. Spend real time in these classrooms. General education, ESSE, middle school chaos, cafeteria duty, dismissal. Honestly, sub for a day. Take
the keys, the roster. Feel the weight of the work. Understand that optics matter. This year, the staff needed to feel solidarity from their leadership, and they didn't. Nearly half our teachers were offered zero. Support staff received nothing. And yet the
superintendent and the board received statemandated raises from the general fund. To be fair, one board member, Mr. Albero, chose to donate his entire raise to create a scholarship for Klay County students that is meaningful and I respect it. And we need to talk about
efficiency and consistency. This isn't an accusation, it's an observation. We have pl patterns of avoidable waste that drain resources long before salaries are even discussed. We have seen curriculum purchased district-wide that teachers didn't want, ask for, and many cases
begged not to receive, only for those materials to sit unused before being replaced again. I myself have shelves of textbooks that my boys bring home at the end of the year that have barely been touched. We have seen inconsistent district investments,
including safety related tools where schools received different systems, short-term solutions, and approaches that are already being replaced in under two years. It [snorts] is not misconduct, but it is short planning cycles, limited educator input, and money that could have been spent more
strategically. With a district budget exceeding 650 million, employees and taxpayers deserve confidence that spending decisions are intentional and efficient. Efficiency builds trust and trust is what's missing right now. We're not asking for miracles. We're asking
for leadership. You miss [applause] uh Miss Schaefer. By Miss Schaefer is Miss Rager. Uh Miss Jean and I'm sorry I'm trying to read handwriting. And Greer Yakavan
Yakbon. If you all will line up behind them. Schaffer. Good evening. Um, Patricia Schaefer. My address is on file. I see what's going on in this county from a different perspective. I've been
coming here for years asking this board for open, honest, transparent accountability. With what has happened during the impass hearing for our teachers and our budget,
optics matter. They matter to the taxpayers. They matter to the parents, your employees, and you guys. You guys state to our teachers there's no funding,
but no one understands completely the budget. We've asked for line item budgets so we know where the funding can be spent and can't be spent. We've asked for
accountability on the one mill line item budget so we as taxpayers know where the money's going. During the hearings or bargaining sessions, it was brought up that we could use the one mill to pay for
teacher salaries or raises. Well, folks, the one mill almost didn't pass last time. Most taxpayers in Klay County don't understand that the majority of that money doesn't go to safety and security.
People need to know honestly what's happening because we're going to continue to lose people. Taxpayers can't afford to be hit with more taxes. Now, the school district is being hit
with the possibility of these Hope Charter Schools coming in with basically a free ride on our taxpayer money. That means if there's extra space in a school, these New Hope schools can come in, not pay our district for
electricity, busing, upkeep of the rooms, and the list goes on and on. I have not seen one public discussion about that from you guys. We need to prevent that from
happening. Duval is getting hit hard with notice after notice after notice that they're coming in. Well, we just had a wonderful presentation of a school here that they only have 361 students. So, how many classrooms are open that a
charter school could come into? you know that affects all of us. Instead of being reactive, it's time that our district become proactive. Work together with the teachers, the taxpayers. We all have a stake in this.
These students are this county's future, and it's time we get real, open, and honest. [music] Thank you, Miss Jean. >> Hi, I'm Betsy Regger. I am uh my address is protected.
I got a lot to say. I got a lot of words in my mouth. It's been a long time since I've been here. Um but I'm a fifth generation Floridaian. I'm a registered Republican. Shouldn't matter, but probably does to you guys. I'm a Clay voter. I've lived here for 13 years. But
most importantly, I'm a mom of five kids. three of whom have graduated from this very school and one left at home who is still at Green Cove Junior High. These are the best schools my kids have ever attended. The best teachers, the best bus drivers, the best pair of
professionals, the best food service. This is a great school district. Has nothing to do with the folks that are sitting up there. I've been watching your schoolboard meetings even though I don't always have time to come. I've been watching and I am disgusted.
How dare you accept a raise that is twice what you are offering to your teachers and only half of them and leaving the half of them with nothing. Nothing offered for ESPs yet. I am so tired of my kids' teachers having to
work second and third jobs to make ends meet. So tired of that. tired of watching this board show zero respect, zero respect for the folks that make this school district so great. I'm heartbroken that I'm hearing from my
ESPN teacher friends that they can't afford prom dresses for their daughters, that they can't afford graduation gowns for their kids, that a class ring is just a pipe dream, and you should be ashamed of that. You sit here fat and happy at a
part-time job that pays you almost as much as a firstear teacher when you have worked less than they have worked in first two days of their month. It's obvious from your prepared and
advanced statements from the hearing that you had no interest in following the law, no interest in being fair and impartial, no interest in doing what is best for the children of this community. None. There is no evidence of that.
You viewed that as theater you had to sit through. The last time that a school board showed this level of disrespect to the teachers and the staff of this community, the next school board election, the citizens of Klay County voted out three of them
and flipped this board. And we can do it again. And I will do everything in my power to make sure that that happens. Do you even know how many of your employees have their personal children on angel trees in this community? Do you have any
idea you should be ashamed of yourself? Merry Christmas. Miss Jean. [applause] Good evening. My name is Dunia Jean Baptiste and my address is on file. Greetings to all.
On a positive note, consist constant and consistent praise to educators is what you do. The $800 pay increase does not reflect the values you claim to place on educators. Teachers with less than 10
years of experience were excluded. What is the real value of a Clay County teacher to you? Because $800 divided by the 25% taxes equals about $600.
Over 12 months, take-home is $50 per workday. $3.33. I could not afford to pay for school lunch [snorts] $3.33 per day. $50 does not cover utility
bill. home internet or gas for most vehicles. We ask you to move past hollow praise and vote for a competitive compensation plan that shows you believe educators are worth more than $3.33
per day. This is not about math. This is about priorities. When the school board prioritizes a $1,400 increase for themselves, an
increase that is 75% higher than the maximum amount offered to a veteran teacher, you are sending a clear and undeniable message. If you believe by acceptance your
service is worth $1,400, how can you look at the person, the people educating the children and say their service is worth less than $600 or zero dollars compared to you.
Again, I have to say I can't believe what you say because I see what you do. You are responsible if we are a family to set a tone that fell on your shoulders when you decided to become
school board members. How are you going to elevate the the the path of educators? How are you going to elevate the outlook that others have on educators when you do what you do on a regular and consistent basis? The fact that we have to come
before you to ask for what we have earned, not what you hope we will do, it has been earned over and over again. To have to come before you to ask for what is earned is a disjustice to the career field [clears throat]
to everyone who has taken on the role to become an educator, a giver, a provider above and beyond what others are willing to do. We are first responders. >> Thank you, Miss Greer. You're up. >> Following her, uh, Miss Nikita Copelan,
Bruce Freriedman, and Mr. Harris. >> Okay. Can you reset the clock since you started it while you were making announcements? >> Can you turn it back to three minutes, please? >> Thank you. Uh, good evening. My name is Greer Yakavone. [clears throat] I've
been teaching in Klay County for 28 years now. And in that time, I've actually gotten to work with and know several of you that are sitting on the board right now. U Mr. Barski and I go way back. Um first you were my boss at Orange Park Jr. and then you were the
principal for both of my children at different times, one at Middberg High, one at Oakleaf High, and now you're my big boss as the superintendent. I voted for you. I respected you. And I think in all the years that we've worked
together, you Kelly Watt, Michelle Hansen, Brenda Troutman, I think you all know me well enough and would agree when I say that I have worked tirelessly to dedicate myself to my students and
ensure that they learn everything they can and help them live to their greatest potential. Several years ago, Mr. Broski, you even offered me a job at um Oakleaf High School. Unfortunately, my daughter said no cuz she was still going to school there
and I didn't want to ruin her senior year. So now I'm happily continuing to teach, moved on from junior high to high school. Um in all this time, my concern is after 28 years, I've seen
board members change, but no change in action among the board. We work really hard as teachers to help our students be successful and we've earned the A rating for CLI. But do we get the respect we deserve for that? Let
me answer by quoting my own mother. Your actions speak louder than your words. Let me um see if I can share a few things that might help you rectify the situation. And if you haven't already started
planning to make this right next year, do it now. For example, you can cut out um a lot of our administrative overhead. I did a comparative analysis of Klay County to St. John's County and we spend
an average of $150 to $548 more per student for administrative functions. That meaning more principles and so forth. If we can reduce that, we would have better operational efficiency.
We could reduce the $20 million budget for administration, school board. How much of our money is being spent for your needs for transportation and your facilities when I can't even get markers for my classroom so that I can do
collaborative discussions and have cheap dollar store hack dry erase boards so my kids can answer and show me the electron configuration for neon. save us money from yourselves and put it
back into the teachers so that we get what we deserve. I don't know if I can ever retire. >> Thank you, Miss Copelan. >> My name is Nikita Copelan and my address is on file. Please remember my face, my name, and my voice because I'm sure
you'll be hearing a lot from me moving forward. The last time I came in front of this board, I was short, sweet, and to the point. But today, I'm going to address it from a different perspective because I was at the last meeting, the impass hearing, and we seen what you did
there. We all seen what you did there. I'm coming as a taxpayer, a community leader, and a mother of three children in the Klay County schools. three kids that sit in your classrooms every school day of every year and their futures are being shaped by the talented people behind me and those who couldn't make it
tonight. Those are the same people you told that mo most of them that um they weren't worth a a raise, they're worth 0%. those same individuals that made you
able to brag about your A-rated schools. The vote amounts to more than just an insult to the teachers, but to the community and to the collective futures of everyone in this room and in this county. [sighs] To make the message clear and understandable to the masses, your math
is not math, but the message that you're sending is loud and crystal clear. That vote was essentially you unleashing a Trojan horse. But you didn't send it across enemy lines. You sent it directly through the front doors of every Clay County school. It's essentially dismantling
the cogs that make your system work. The lack of respect you shown the teachers and the staff with not considering them for a raise while accepting one for yourself has major consequences that you all don't seem too concerned about. And what's crazy is the raise didn't have to be much, but something fair to show them
that you really do care, that you value them, and that the respect is there. Our teachers are in the trenches, and they're doing the work. And you all are sitting part-time in the seats preparing your vote well before the vote was even cast.
Your statements before the vote was even cast. That doesn't equal whisper or scream of impartiality. It screams scripted from a community standpoint, a common sense standpoint, and in the words of
the youth of these wonderful, talented, capable, and worthy individuals that we serve, you're cooked, and y'all are handling the hot pads. All that to say, you cannot claim
excellence while refusing to invest in the people who are actually producing that excellence. Our full-time teachers and staff work weekends, weekdays, holidays, and breaks preparing, planning, and executing the very lessons that have our children reach that prideful A rating. As a parent, a
nonprofit director, and someone who engages with families and educators on a daily basis, the ripple effect is hitting. The moral of the story, members of the board, we all know better, we expect better, and it's time that you aim to do better. >> Thank you, Mr. Freriedman.
>> Mr. hear us. You'll follow him. >> Hi, Bruce Freriedman. Address on file. Um, just to finish up with some of the earlier comments, Robert, thank you for creating that scholarship fund. I think your respect for optics is worthy. And
it's also we call you a mch a gentleman. [snorts] Um we're watching the natural tug of war when there is no more money. Why there's no more money? There's a lot of reasons, but it's been mishandled. [snorts] Not necessarily by any of you in particular,
but overall the system has been exceeding its budget and losing its grip. So you have a growing community. There's more houses here than ever. You [snorts] have more students than ever fleeing the system. The availability of
vouchers, charter [snorts] schools is a threat to the status quo and any threat to the status quo is going to cause strife. But in this case, what's happening is the
competition [snorts] has got some advantages because they don't have to cover the burden that the system does like paying the lights, paying for security. So, you're going to be replaced by vouchers and charters and
other options and homeschooling and all of these other things are going to ultimately drive more students away from the public schools and further reduce your budget. So today, there's no money to give these people who work hard a raise. I don't know anybody who doesn't
think they deserve a raise. We all deserve a raise. [snorts] You're not going to be able to give them a raise unless you address the inherent waste in the system. Whether it's administrative bloat or buying porn for our kids' libraries, I don't really care
where you scrape the pennies from. find some pennies for these hardworking people and rescue this system from itself. Tonight, I'm submitting one book challenge. Back on task. [snorts] I went to the Destiny system, typed in the word adult. How many adult books do you have
for the children we keep sending you? There's many. I don't know why you haven't figured out how to look for them yourself, but apparently you haven't. So, this adult book that's on the shelves in one of our high schools has the F-word 250 times. It's got some
other really fancy choice words. It is not a literary masterpiece. It should never have been purchased. It's one of over a thousand books have already been removed because they violate law. Who's watching all of this go down? Mr.
Broski, that's on you. I'm going to continue to keep the pressure on and clean up the mess you've left for our children. Do better. Have a good night.
>> Mr. Harris. >> All right, Chris Harris. Uh, my address is on file. Um, my plan is to keep coming as well, but for different reasons. Um, I just wanted to say a couple of quick things. A lot of them have already been mentioned. Um,
the the raise that was accepted, I don't know the ins and outs of it. I don't know how it works, so I'm not going to pass judgment. I'm just going to say what you've heard before, which is the optics of it are very bad. I don't know if that was the intent. I don't know if you're surprised by the optics being
bad, but they're not good. Having pre-prepared statements at the impass hearing, not good optics. Um whether or not you were going to change your vote, that's a moot point. Um even if you knew or talked about it
beforehand that you were going to vote for your proposal, that's fine. But I would have come in um and not made it obvious that you had already written statements. It's just not a good look. Um, I certainly appreciate all the
people who have spoken uh this month and last month, but again, I'm going to try to focus on the future because what's done is done and we can't fix anything that's been done. So, um, I've been more involved recently. I guess that's a good thing. I've been a teacher for 21 years
and I uh I guess I have not made the time to be more involved and um, you might not like that I'm going to be more involved moving forward. Um, but I've been watching all of the meetings and watching all of the workshops which have
been helpful and I would like um for every single workshop if possible for you to address the plan moving forward for teacher pay. What's the plan? What's the next step? What have we done in the month since our last workshop? What are
we going to do next month? I want open and honest and transparent communication from you to us on what the plan is. Otherwise, we're going to continue to be in the same situation 2 years, 5 years,
10 years, 15, 20 years down the line. I'd also like to ask that you have more transparent communication with our legislators. Uh I I hear that you communicate with them. Let us know what that communication is like. Tell us what
you say. Tell us who you speak to. Um, so that we know. And lastly, I would like for you to have more transparent communication with our parents and the other staff hold uh the other stakeholders in the county because I just don't feel like they fully understand
what's going on in our county budget-wise. Uh, the plight that we're dealing with with charter schools and vouchers and Tallahassee and all of those things. To me, you're supposed to be the mouthpiece for us as teachers, but also for the school board as a
whole. And I feel like it would help you to not get so much anger towards you if you could communicate to everyone what we're having to deal with and what you're having to deal with as a school board. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Uh, is Miss
Kidwell present? Good evening. This year has tested Klay County District employees in unprecedented ways. More than 200 educators were displaced through repeated riff actions. Some left the district and many began the year in positions they never chose.
Now we end 2025 with a compensation offer rejected by 92% of educators and imposed through impass. Educators have consistently shared their financial strain, their low morale, the toll these decisions have taken on their families. Many feel the district's
actions have been insensitive, disrespectful, and dismissive of their dedication and expertise. Clay's educators are missiondriven. Their instinct is to serve students, not to advocate publicly for fair pay, not
to stand at podiums, not to fight to be heard. Their effort that they are expending just to remain in this profession and in this district shows how deeply these issues are affecting them. Words matter, but rebuilding trust
now requires action. Klay County District Schools cannot thrive if its educators are discouraged and leaving for better paying jobs. Strong leadership safeguards employee morale and invest in the long-term stability of the organization.
I am asking you to take their concerns to heart and respond with clear tangible steps. show employees that Klay County District Schools has a plan for their future. One that prioritizes retention, respects their expertise, and makes
clear that Klay County intends to remain a destination for high quality educators. Teachers need to know that this board is committed to their future in Clay. As 2025 closes, we must find a way forward together. Educators want to
stay and they want to believe in this district again. In this season of hope, we have a responsibility to begin the healing. You can start by giving employees confidence in the path ahead, especially a 2026 budget plan that moves Klay County District Schools towards
competitive salaries. Our educators want to shift their focus back to what they do best, serving the students of Klay County. This is the moment to recommmit to our values and the impact we can make in our community. Let us move forward together with a shared purpose. Let us
rebuild trust through meaningful action, not statements alone. And let us work together to ensure Klay County District Schools is not simply known as a great place to teach and learn because it once was, but simply because this board chooses right now to take the steps that
will keep it strong, competitive, and worthy of the educators who serve our students every day. And I do want to definitely comment and acknowledge and the appreciation for the recent action that showed both respect and solidarity
with employees. Three three days ago, the Klay County Education Foundation posted a new scholarship. It is now available by the generous donation of a school board member, Robert Alvo. This $1,500 scholarship is made possible by
his donation of his 3% salary increase. Thank you, sir. That is appreciated and will not be forgotten. >> Is Mr. Roberts avail or here tonight? [applause] >> All right, Superintendent Broski.
>> All right, before I get started, just Kelly gets that um the clicker. Just a couple things um a couple clarifications if I could. I I'm certain board members are going to want to comment about some of the things that they heard during their comments. I will pretend to to comment um on behalf of the board, but I
will address the uh the collocation. I think you're right. We should probably talk more about collocation. Collocation is is when a uh charter school can come in and take available um available space within a school.
It's when you look at it, if there was a vacant school, you would say as a taxpayer, I think you would say, "Hey, you can use the vacant school, right?" The problem with colllocation, the way the law is currently written, is that it could be part of a school, partial
school, but the cost to run the school is incumbent upon the school district if that were to happen. So, imagine imagine a um a school of hope taking over I'm not even going to say a school's name because then that'll be like a news
event or something. Half a school and we would have to pay for the custodians on the other half of the school for uh the electricity on the other half the uh the cafeteria for those students like the whole thing. So the so the issue
really that's not being told to the public is simply that collocation the cost of colllocation goes onto the school district not onto the school of the school of hope. So, in Klay County, just a little clarification,
uh our utilization rate is very high. It's over 85% in all of our schools, which doesn't make us a target like uh I think 26 other district. I think there was like 6 uh 50 letters put out. In
other words, schools of hope attempting to take over 650 different schools. We'll see how that all shakes out. Um, I actually agreed with with Mr. I don't don't write this down or anything. I agree with Mr. Friedman for the first 30 seconds of of his we talking about
schools of schools of hope and about vouchers in the area of vouchers. Let's be clear, the the issue with vouchers is is not school choice. The issue the issue with vouchers is that private uh public funding is going
to support folks that go to private school. I say proudly that I went to Catholic school through 8th grade and then went to public high school. There's 10 in my family. All 10 of us went to the same Catholic school. The issue is not the ability to have choice. the re
the issue really is to use public funds in order to pay for private private schools. So in Klay County that amount is just shy of 30 million uh dollars and growing. So that that's really a a big
issue. I agree with um with Mr. Harris, not the single Mr. Harris out, but plan and and being more transparent and kind of showing that. I would I would just say just from my own art and I'll let board members speak for themselves. Of course we want to we want to do that. So
um that you'll see that at at the workshop. So on to the the other stuff because I never know what I'm going to talk about after after listening to you guys. So on the schools of the month, superintendent advisory councils, Bannerman Learning Center, Lake Asbury Junior High, our
schools of the month, fantastic schools. Both of them was just at Bannerman today. [applause] Bannerman Learning Center does an amazing job under very difficult circumstances and so does Lake Asbury Jr. Uh don't forget for January, it's
reading resolutions. We hope that everyone votes there. Just want to highlight the advisory councils. Our student council has about 45 students from from all of our secondary schools. Their focus was on mental health. Let me tell you, mental health for young people
is a real thing. So, for those of you that don't realize that it is the the uh the increase of social media and the need, I I thought uh a student was going to bug out when I said to her, I said, "Why do you care what other people think
about you online?" For old adults, it's easy to kind of shrug that off and say, "I don't care what people think." For young people, it's not that easy. And it's big it's a big issue. uh great group of students with great ideas for
teachers that were focusing on strengthening the family engagement. You know, you hear me talk about this all the time that parents have have their students 86% of the time of a year, 86% of the hours. We only have them 14% of
the time. We got to engage parents. Parents need to do their their their part. Yeah, there's parents rights, but there's also parents responsibilities. And so, uh, this group of teachers, we we're tackling that particular topic and very proud of their work and their
teacher voice. Uh, November family engagement month. There's a little competition there that you can see that these are simple things that families can do to engage in the educational process of their child. Uh, we're seeing that from a very early age. For Veterans
Day, a lot of celebrations out there, a lot of pride. I that was at Patterson um that you see in there. Uh very proud of the programs that we bring forward. Steam grant to Lake Asbury Jr. One of our community based partner gave a
$30,000 um grant to Lake Asbury Jr. through the Clay Education Foundation. That's National Gibson out of Green Cove Springs. You know, we also need the business partners uh to to to rise up. I I do think that one of the things that I
that I did hear from all the speakers was the need for everyone to unite uh for folks, you know, on I 10 a little west to hear and kind of bring our voice there. And I would agree wholeheartedly. While it is true that if you do the math
and you say that the budget did go up, the amount that went up is probably about 38 million short. Um, when you look at it over time, uh, the Boys and Girls Club. Oh gosh, we're going to be able to play this.
Let's Let's do it. So, while you're watching that, I'll simply say 22 teams, different districts. Three out of the four winners for Klay County. Orange Park Junior High, Keystone Heights Elementary, Wilkinson Junior High. I'm very proud of
that effort. Anytime we can beat others, I'm happy. Hate to say that I didn't mean it that way, but you you guys in a competitive way for students, of course. Uh so, just want to remind everybody last day uh of the second semester is is
December uh 19th. Uh Christmas break is the 22nd through the 1st. Teacher planning day is the 2nd. The inservice days on the 5th. Students return to campus on the 6th. Uh I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas or any other
holiday that you might celebrate. Uh this is the time I did hear some some talk about healing, uniting and moving forward as superintendent. I would encourage that to occur. I I recognize I think we all recognize we we hear you
in other words. But you know to to have heal have a plan that does require trust and and both ways. And so I appreciate that and I hope everybody has a great uh a great holiday and a great break. Thank you.
>> All right. Uh any school board attorney remarks? >> All right. So we will start with uh board members. Miss Gilhousen tonight. Merry Christmas. >> Mr. Albero. I want to congratulate the the coaches
that got awarded today. Also the student athletes that got awarded today. They're doing a great job. It's uh very impressive how far they can get. Still so young. Um
congratulate also the little uh the little kids. They got uh awarded for the artwork. Thank you to Principal Miller for the great job he's doing in and his uh Monontlair Elementary School. It seems
like he had a you know under control. It's pretty good. Also, I wanted to share something. a a week before uh our the day we made the decision I did wrote
a statement but I wrote a statement of support to the teachers that statement that I wrote didn't meant the decision was made it was a statement understanding the situation understanding that you guys do deserve
the race and that you got my support as you know as much as I can do That was my my my statement. Did it have anything to do with the decision being made ahead of time and thank you. Merry Christmas.
>> M cl [clears throat] have a voice. Hopefully I will. Um, FSBA, the Florida School Board Association, sent us an email today, and I read it a little quickly, as I usually do, till I have time to go through it
thoroughly. Uh, it mentioned in one of Governor DeSantis's comments, it mentioned that Florida ranked number one in education. And that kind of blows my mind because I'm going in what way is Florida number
one in education. I think about our level in all the states across this nation as far as funding goes and Florida could do so much better, but apparently it's number one in school choice.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The pendulum has swung too far regarding vouchers and we've got to get back to a balance. The fact that I can drive down Kingsley and pass Grace
Episcopal Day School and knowing that they are now getting a check for going to that school, it's taking away from our district. And unfortunately, it's like our college tuitions. It only allows the colleges to
go up on prices and our district has to do everything. We offer ACE, we offer ESSE, athletics, uh dual enrollment opportunities that many schools, private schools don't
have. And we have to do it all. And I think Clay for many years is why so many people came to Clay was for the schools. They didn't want to be in Duvall and St. John's had not grown yet.
But we all already recognize that we have to work together. We've already made plans and we will be transparent. But the hostility on all sides has to end. We don't win with hostility.
There were a lot of personal things that that could be said, but I won't. It's petty. Um, I would like to mention that I'm going to send to the seven high schools
an opportunity for $1,000 scholarship that the D group, uh, Sophia Fleming chapter that I happen to be a member of will be giving to a high school student. And
I'd like to see as many students participate as possible because there's no sense in leaving $1,000 on the table when when they can have that for their education. Uh last thing, I made a bet when school started that we would have no hurricanes
and hopefully we will have no snow days. So I'm happy to say that we won that bet. We had no hurricane days and maybe we will get lucky and unlike last year, not have a snow day. But merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah
and just be safe and come back. Thank you, >> Miss Hansen. I'm going to talk about why I became a teacher. I became a teacher because of my overwhelming need to serve. I was a
military wife and I wanted to serve. What could be more noble than helping a child learn to read? I too worked myself to death as an English teacher. 60, 80 hours a week, missing my kids
grow up. But when I put my name on my contract, I knew how much I was getting paid. We have 2,700 teachers in Klay County, and believe it or not, most of them are happy.
Most of them are happy. I visit schools all the time. They do it because they love kids. I can also tell you what a blessing it was to have summers off with my kids, my family.
Christmas, Thanksgiving, three-day weekends, every federal holiday, spring break. I always felt it was a blessing to be a teacher. and make my money in 196 days.
There's a lot of me out there. There's a lot of teachers that love their job. 1% maybe show up here, but you talk about board members going into classrooms and talking to teachers. I do that. We have thousands of teachers.
Should we pay everyone more? If I had $10,000 per teacher right now, I would gift it to you. I would gift it to my own daughter, a single mom with two kids. I also decided tonight I'm not going to sit up here and be a punching bag.
There was three things I'd like to address. I'm not sure if you know the uh difference between disinformation and misinformation, but disinformation is when people deliberately
spread untruths or facts that are not correct. Misinformation might occur when you talk to one person to another and the the facts get a little construed or confused.
What we're dealing with is a lot of disinformation. We talk about transparency. My husband and I have a standing joke. Workshops. All three of us watching the workshop. My husband will say to me as I
drive home forums, people don't show up. They don't watch workshops. They don't take notes on what we're doing. Board meetings. 26 people watch a board meeting. Do you know how many people watched the impass any of those
hearings? I was one of the 15 or 20 people that watched negotiations. I watched Brenda Troutman say the same thing for four months. We have $1.2 million. $1.2 million. The union found
money. What they don't tell you when they found money is that money is committed in categoricals that cannot be spent anywhere else. We found $8,000. That money belong to ACE programs, IB programs. There is not
a dime in our budget, and you can buy the school finance book or go online and read about it that isn't obligated to something. Period. there was no found money because if there was this board and our
superintendent would 100% given every dime of it like we have for the past three years. I asked myself, did it dawn on anybody that we're actually telling the truth about the $1.2 million?
It is frustrating to sit up here and be talked to like we're a bunch of liars who aren't trying to be transparent when in fact many people do not engage with anything this board does. And I said this to my family yesterday.
If you pretend to pay, if everybody was paid till their heart was content, would we no longer have conversation? Shouldn't we be having conversation about 43% of our students can't read on grade level?
Why is it that the absolute only thing that means anything and it's important surrounds the whole topic of just money? I go into schools, I'm not hearing teachers talk about how the kids need
support at home, how the parents need support at home, how we need better curriculum, how half our kids are struggling with reading, how we're afraid they're not going to become good citizens. We are not even talking about the most important thing,
our students. Number two, I write what I speak as I sit up here and listen. I have never pre-written anything and I'm going to read to you about that right now. How disappointing that the dialogue
the dialogue had to convince everyone that this board a bunch of drones with no brains had to preontrive or go to chat GPT to say something. Let me explain what happened. I watched every
one of our um hearings, our negotiations. The board has been engaged in shade meetings for four months. $1.2 million. That's what we had. $1.2 million. We had an outside auditor come in, looked at what our proposal was,
tried to find money. That auditor said, "Looks like that's all you have, $1.2 million." But the narrative, the negativity, the imposing ill will on other people
with misconceptions and disinformation, 13 posts on a page with Grinches and unfairness. I'm going to tell you right now why this board didn't have to deliberate. Our minds were not made up.
CCA did a presentation with fabulous ideas, great speakers, well planned out, beautiful powerpoints, everything was perfect, an enthusiastic vision that we would all love to embrace. But what they forgot to talk about was money.
When the district got up, who had done a cost analysis on these ideas, things like leave buyback. When the district got up after this cost analysis, the board finds out that the
union wishes would cost over $5 million. They couldn't get up there and say, "Hey, we need $5 million for these beautiful ideas." Why? Because they know we don't have the money. We had $1.2 million.
The board struggled in shade meetings. We tried to find money. In fact, when you wanted to know where the materials money went, they went back through and looked at it line by line. And guess what? It wasn't found money. It was spent money.
And lastly, we talk about solidarity. I want to talk about that for a second. I was unaware that I'm supposed to make a public announcement about how much money I earn goes to charity. Wow. I thought being humble and giving
heart was what we were supposed to do. I was unaware I should post it up somewhere so everybody knows how many Thanksgiving baskets I bought for poor kids with no windows in their trailers. Excuse me for not understanding the rules,
but I will talk about solidarity. Did CCEA give a discount of 20 or 30% to all of its members because they're struggling this year? Just asking, do you think in the name of solidarity that every school that was just awarded funds from the state of Florida for
being a school, in the name of solidarity, we should just take that money away and give it to all the teachers so everybody can have something? How about the teachers at the hard schools like I was always at that could never be an A? How about that? How about we take the money and we divide it
up evenly for the sake of solidarity? How about I know Miss Kib will you talk about solidarity? Did Did do you take a pay cut and give it back to the teachers? I'm just curious at this point because you are unaware what this board
does with their money. unaware. In America, people have opportunities. We have choices. I was proud to sign the line to be a teacher. That money did not matter to me as much as it did to rescuing students.
We talk about how we should be ashamed of ourselves. Money was not the most important thing when I walked into my classroom. was never the most important thing when I walked into my classroom. This board and this superintendent over
the last four months has said repeatedly, "We are making a plan. We have given out more raises in the last three years than all the rest of the years combined." You don't hear anybody talking about that. Do you think when I retired at a top salary of 50,000 that that was a
mistake? Now it's 57. Not exactly, can't be quoted, but it has come up. You cannot undo 30 years of miss salaries. I don't even know how to explain it. Not sure where the union was those 15 years when
I was making the same. I retired four years ago making 489 in my 20th year with a master's. So I am not ashamed. I owe you nothing except to work as hard as I can. And I
want everyone to understand that this district and this board and all the personnel understand that not just teachers need raises. Because as a teacher, I was nothing without my staff. I was nothing without the lady who gave
out free peanut butter and jellies. I was nothing without a counselor, a custodian, an admin. In fact, when I was at Wilkinson, we were an A school for eight years and we gave up every penny of our A school money to the students
the entire time for eight years. Not a single teacher took a dime. That's solidarity. We will continue to work for not only teachers, but every single person in this county. If you ever want to get
together and talk about the 50,000 things we've done right in the last three years, not only to redo policies to help teachers, listening, raising pay when we can, when we have every dime we can, keeping our
health insurance costs low. We don't want to talk about that. It is much easier to be divisive and divide us in a time where we should be standing together. And I went to uh Bannerman today and I
was proud to serve those kids their Christmas dinner. And it's the first time in a long time I can remember almost every single one of them said thank you. Because for me that's what it's about, the kids.
Madam Chair, >> thank you, Miss Hansen. Um, thank you for that. Uh, a part of me wants to say something and a part of me doesn't. Um, you give you an amen on a lot of those things, um, that you said and I I could sit up here
and reiterate it. And I feel like you're dinged if you do. you're dinged if you don't um you you you want a reply and then you get up and and clear a room um we give a reply you don't listen sometimes not all of you I'm not this you don't go all in one one compassed
group I want to be very clear on that but those who have reached well some have reached out not everyone has reached out um I want to be very clear on that too because when they do reach out and I actually have an adult conversation with them um and they want to listen
They don't like the answers, but they understand. They understand where our heart is at because I don't I I don't I don't know. I feel like I have to sit up here um and repeat myself a lot. Um and I get today alone actually I spent
probably and this is no exaggeration probably six hours on the phone with different people. That is zero exaggeration. Uh not complaining about it. Would love to speak to any of you. give me a call. I would I would love to sit down with you. You want to have meetings. I have always been open,
transparent, you could always pick up the phone, call me. I have never been um if I've ever given you that reason uh or are feeling I I apologize, but that has never been something that I personally
have been um meaning to, I guess I should say. Um, and maybe I was raised differently, but what disgusts me is unprofessional behavior. When your board wants to communicate with you and you
don't receive the communication, when I ask you to reach out to me personally, uh, instead of via comments through Facebook, call me, email me, invite me to your classroom. I would love to come.
There are um several several times there has been um I don't want to say a message, but a um I don't know the word I'm trying to use, but uh we're not welcome in in certain
uh classrooms or or people want to avoid us or they get a little nervous. But uh there are several board members that do visit schools and would love to come into your classroom, would love to sit down. If you want us to stay longer, what we don't want to do, what I personally don't want to do is get in
your way. That's what I don't want to do. I don't want to infringe on learning ever. So if you want to invite um us as a board member and well, I would love it would have to be individually. I would almost uh say just because of sunshine
and see there's all these rules and laws by the way on everything. Um I would love love to come to your school. I would love to come sit in your classroom. I would love to help you out. I would love to come stuff Tuesday folders. I would love to do any of that.
Cut out paper. Every opportunity that I can get if I am available. If I don't have to go uh make gingerbread houses with with my two little girls, I will be there. I have family who work in this
district, a mother who has taught for 36 years. 36 years and is still actively working. I have family members who are are pair professionals. I have family members who work within
the district in various different ways. I am a graduate of this county. I have children in our schools. I am vested in Klay County. I make several trips,
several trips around the state of Florida speaking to anyone and everyone. And I know it's like a broken record. We say this the last four months, several meetings, but you're still asking for these explanations. And I'm hoping you're
listening because anyone and everyone who will listen to us, we let them know that Klay County is going to be a county that struggles and bleeds out with certain changes and certain things that are going on and and
ideas that are going on in Tallahassee. We are constantly in contact. Constantly. They're probably sick of answering our phones at this point and and every time they see us, they pro probably want to run. Um, but I say all of that because I want all of you to
know that we are working our butts off. We may not put it on a Facebook post. Some of us are better at posting than than others. But I'm telling you right now, we are doing what we can. We're we're we're collaborating behind the
scenes trying to to to throw off ideas to see if these are great ideas or is this going to hurt us even further because another commitment that we have committed to the taxpayers of Klay County is that we would spend your money wisely and we wouldn't put ourselves in a financial strain where we're hurting.
I had several people come up to me and ask me, "Well, what will it hurt to be under 3% with a fund balance? What why is that a big deal?" I'll tell you why it's a big deal. The state of Florida will come in. You want to talk about no pay raise?
They will come in and take over our finances. You won't have a pay raise. That's something that I I promise that I would not do as your board member. This is a off year. This is not the year that
we wanted. We literally had 1.2. That's all we had. And we wanted to take care of our veteran teachers because you all, Miss Kiddwell, came in month after month after month and asked us to retain our
veteran teachers. Are we going to hold our salaries to catch up our veteran teachers when we do finally get money with our plans? Our veteran teachers have suffered for several years.
I know this personally. This board the last three years, not your endorsed candidates, not your previous board. This board the last three years
has paid out the highest historically to catch up for the lack of those that came before us. Three years. That's what we did. We put our teachers first.
We did that and we will continue to do that as long as the money is there. They will get it every time. All of it. That's what we do. We take care of our people because that's what leadership is. And we will continue to do that. And
like Miss Hansen said, you will probably never know what we do with our funds, but the teachers, the admin, and those who who have who have felt those impacts will know. So, I want all of you to know that this
board will continue to stand with our teachers. We're not playing on emotions. We're not we're not selling misinformation to get numbers up. That's not what we're doing here. We're not propaganda and we're not CNN news. We're telling the truth and that's what we
have on our side. And and if any of you want to come and speak to us oneon-one, you want to call us, you want to email us, invite us to your classroom, we are there. We are there to hear you and we will continue to fight for you
guys. Like Miss Hansen said, I could name several things you've asked for. Focus, communication, new websites, ask where the funding went, transparency,
auditors. We are answering everything you have asked us to do because we serve you. We serve the people. We serve these kids because that is what's important. And I would really appreciate all of
those who left to reach out because if you truly cared about teachers and you truly cared about what was going on, you would instead of splitting up and not uniting and and solidarity. I I love the word that Miss Hansen used. And I again, I
wasn't going to say anything. I sat here back and forth because if I do say something, I'm going to I don't even know that I'll get an email. I won't get even a phone call. I'll get it next month in a comment. I'll get it on a Facebook post and a and a with a Grinch face or
something. I I I don't know. I want adults to be adults in the room. And I want us to figure out how we can continue to move forward because we are for the teachers. We are this board.
This meeting is adjourned. Merry Christmas.