Everyone, we're going to call this meeting to order. Today is Wednesday, May 28th. This is a special meeting uh of the town of Fort Myers Beach regarding the Fort Myers Beach Elementary School. All council members are present, including the town manager, town clerk, and town attorney. If you
please rise for the uh winging version of the invocation by Vice Mayor Adhalt followed by the pledge of allegiance. Yes. I was just notified 5 seconds ago that I will be giving the invocation this morning. So bear with me. Shall we bow our heads? Dear heavenly father, thank you that we can gather here this morning without any fear of repression
or reprisal. Thank you that we live in a free country. We pray this morning for our beach school. We lift up the parents and students who've gone through an extraordinarily difficult time. We pray for you to comfort them and put a hedge of protection around them as they
continue the journey of trying to uh to raise and educate their children in a safe and and uh appropriate environment. We pray that uh we can find a path uh together with our friends at the Lee County School District. We we
pray that we'll find a path to save the beach school to do it in a way that uh that that that honors you. We and we pray that our thoughts and our comments this morning do nothing but bring uh honor and glory to you. And again, we just pray for you to to help us find a
path. And we pray that you'll bring everyone together uh to to walk on that path so we can find a solution. We ask these things in your son's name. Amen. Amen. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Next, it brings us to the approval of the final agenda. Are there any amendments to the final agenda? Mr. Mayor, if I could uh had a request from
the parents of the ad hoc committee. They have a presentation this morning that I think will help inform the folks that are here uh thankfully for public comment and also to set a tone and I would just ask that they could go first with their presentation then have that be followed by public comment. I have no
objection. Is there any objection to that amendment? None. Okay. The other thing that I wanted to bring up is that uh under item seven the the uh moment of silence at the beach school there will be no council discussion at that portion of the meeting. So, uh, don't expect to
hear from any of us. We will just be there uh to it to to uh for the moment of silence, but we encourage you if you choose to speak with the media afterwards uh to please do so. But uh again, be respectful that uh we're trying to find a path to succession, not
to uh be adversarial. Is there any other changes to the agenda? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the agenda as amended? So, second. Okay. Got a motion by councelor Kang, seconded by councelor Safford. Any further discussion. All
those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Hearing no opposition. The motion carries unanimously. Next will be the presentation. Who's going to do the presentation for the presenter? Jenny's gonna go first. Okay. Jenny, come on up.
Good morning. Good morning. Okay. I've never done this before. That's right. Just start by stating your name for the record. Okay. My name is Jenny Tardiff Paradiso. I'm born and raised here on Fort Myers Beach. My daughter
goes to Beach Elementary. I'm the treasurer of the PTO and I'm also on the ad hoc committee. Um let's see. Why are we here? Um, we are here as the parents of the ad hoc committee to
represent our children and our community to educate and to inform and to ask for your assistance and ensuring that the school district honors the ILA that is in place. Okay. I'm going to talk a little bit about the historical and current
status. Okay. The first beach school was opened in 1937. It was held at the Mayhew Page Cottage. It opened with 27 first, second, and third graders. Uh the building was still standing until it was unfortunately destroyed by Hurricane I
um this uh the second beach school was opened in 1938. It was a one room schoolhouse for grades 1 through six. The parents got together. Oh, thank you. Uh the parents got together and donated labor and the funds to turn the tool shed on the
property into a lunchroom. This is also where in 1939 Fort Myers Beach got its first paper, the Beach School News. Um, this building was still into use as a Fort Myers Beach Women's Club until it was also destroyed
by All right. Uh, the third and current school was purchased in 1944 and it opened in 1949. It was one of the first schools in our area to be modernized. In 47, the parents and the community came together and raised $20,000 in nine months for the school to be air
conditioned before it opened. In the 60s, she was touted as being the strongest building in Lee County when she survived Hurricane Donna. The district and the community came together to get her back up and running. In the 70s, she was one of the first schools to introduce kindergarten into Lee County,
mainly because we had enough room and the PTA got together and funded all the necessities for it. In the late 80s and the early 90s, she had a marine science center located in the fifth grade thanks to a partnership with the Osteago Bay Foundation. I know this because I was one of the lucky ones to be in that
classroom. Just imagine if they would have kept it open. It would be pretty amazing to this day. Um, okay. So, the building was added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 99. The architect was James A. Strippling, who's pretty famous
around here. He was pretty uh famous in the 40s and 50s. His signature style you could see when you walk into the school. It's the archway. I believe there's another one at Fort Myers High. Okay. All right. Beach Elementary has
consistently been a grade A school. It's also been designated as a school of excellence according to the Florida Department of Education. We're the top K through five in the district. Imagine these kids, the teachers, and staff riding this roller coaster that's been the last five years. all the while
maintaining the tradition of excellence of Beach Elementary is known for. This is due not only to our low studenttoteer ratio everyone talks about, but also our steam focus and the strong partnerships within our community, such as um FGCU,
Moundhouse, and Lovers Key. They're all creating these unique opportunities that can't be found anywhere else. Not to mention the support of the many nonprofits here on the island. These key features are a big part of what's going to attract others so we could keep increasing our enrollment and decrease
our cost. We have shown significant growth and a reduction in cost in just seven months on campus. And mind you, that's five months when we got to go back in December. That's five months in one year and then two months in this current year. And that's it. That's pretty impressive. We just need to get our
school reopened so we can keep growing these programs and keep inspiring the kids from all over the county. Jenny, you take questions. Yes. I just wanted to ask you kind of because you're giving a historical overview. The mayor and I are have had been on the council
for two and a half years prior to Hurricane Ian. We were never once contacted by the Lee County School District with respect to concerns about cost per student enrollment, etc. Do you know of any formal initiative to the town of Fort Myers Beach that that
that the mayor and I correct me if I'm wrong, mayor. Yeah. We never were contacted in any capacity by the Lee County School District with any concerns until the tragedy of Ian hit. Correct. And then when we actually started looking farther into it, we found out so that's almost three years ago. For six
years prior to that, they were actually turning kids away. They were telling them they couldn't come here even though there was a program in place where they could. They didn't need a waiver. they could just come in and they were still turning people away. As of three years ago, one of our teachers had to actually screenshot an email and send it to them because it was still happening. Thank
you. Thank you. [Applause] Good morning. Not as short as Jenny. Good morning. My name is John Cas. I'm a a local. I'm a business owner and I'm on the ad hoc committee. Um, my
part of the presentation is going to be to give you a brief synopsis of the ILA, the interlocal agreement that uh that you guys, the town signed with the district some years ago. Um, I'll preface that by saying that um we currently have a new administration, a
new town manager just as well as them. They had an election last year. So, the current staff that we're they're we're discussing with this ILA is not the staff that we negotiated with. And um we feel like it's important to go back and educate everybody on what's in that ILA
and uh the strides that we've made to um hold up our end of it. Quick synopsis of the agreement. Uh the agreement was a negotiated process that had time timelines and benchmarks that we had to meet. Um, and I I'll briefly go over some of them, but the
important thing if we did not meet our milestones and those benchmarks that over time that then we would have to make the decision as a town to either supplement our cost per student or we would have to go charter school. Um, as as part of that agreement, the uh
district had agreed essentially for the next couple years during the course of this agreement, it's a bad word, but I'll use subsidize that they were going to pay for the additional cost per student. Okay? So, in our negotiation, everything ended up coming down to the
cost per student, which back then, uh, when Dr. Bernier was around, it was a pretty simple formula. We added up all of our teachers and the staff at the school and we divided that by the amount of kids that we had and then we came up with a number. Back then we were at
roughly just under 22,000 per student while the rest of the district was down at 9,000. The two other barrier schools which are the schools that we were told that we needed to get in line with were Santael and Pine Island respectively. They were at 12 and 14,000 per student.
We were 22. So we were we were a bit above them. Um also in this agreement uh when we started talking about construction and this is important because there's been some misunderstanding at their level. So our building is historical. Well that
created a bunch of a after Ian because they were having a hard time commuting with uh communicating with the uh national historic people and they weren't exactly sure of the timeline. Um they knew it was a must fund. So, with or without us, that they were going to have to renovate that building and bring
it back. Um, they were concerned that it was going to take so long that it may be a year or two before we get our kids back on that island, back on this island. So, they approached us and asked us, well, laid out a scenario to us that
they would renovate that separately. Like I said, it was a must fun, but then they would provide us portable trailers so we could get our kids back in a couple months so we would have our kids back on the island. We discussed it as a town and we went back and talked to them
and um found out what shortfalls would be in that historical building after it was renovated that would prohibit us from having a full-time functional school there. And the main thing was a cafeteria. And then there was some ancillary space that they felt like was needed for the school. So we said
instead of wasting money on portable trailers and we appreciate you guys trying to get our kids back as soon as possible. We will uh come together as a town and we'll we'll have to be okay with our kids being shipped off the island for some time. Why don't you take
that money that you were going to put on portable trailers and why don't you build us some brick and mortar facilities elevated that would then make our school whole at the end so then we would get the historical building which was a must fund anyway and we would get the cafeteria and some other facilities.
That is the agreement that they approved. The budget for that for that uh those additional facilities was around $6 million. It was the exact budget that they were going to spend on the portable trailers. John, if I could, that's that's $6 million. And that
cafeteria, the concept of the cafeteria is reflected in the interlocal agreement. Is that correct? Yes. And it's also it's a four-year interlocal agreement. Yes, it it was. Hopefully, it'll be longer now, but yes, agree given the fact that the school's been closed. Certainly could be extended and
should be. Uh my question is at the most recent ad hoc committee meeting uh you had inquired about when you heard that $6 million when you when you referred to the $6 million uh number for the trailers, the fact that the parents made tremendous sacrifices to save the school district money, $6
million. Uh first of all, a number of people in the room were not aware of that. And second of all, that also matched up with one of their five options that they presented in terms of building us a new school. Can you talk a little bit about what that option and what that option cost and the fact that
the savings on the trailer basically covers the cost of that option? So it it was a little confusing when they presented it just because the numbers were the same. Um so we backed them up and asked them to explain in detail their course of action five I believe it was basically said build a new school
for $6 million. And I had thought when that first came out that that was the cafeteria. Um, turns out it wasn't. Um, they said that that's how much it would cost to build a new classroom facility, one that would just replace the
historical building. So then I had asked them if they had done any due diligence to where if they were going to build a classroom for $6 million, a classroom facility that I believe was already in our budget. And this is in their capital budget this year. It's been approved that $6 million. It's in there. So they
acknowledge that that's in there for the cafeteria. just for the cafeteria. But if if if they were saying that it's 6 million to build an elevated school with classrooms, how much additional would it be just to add the cafeteria to that $6 million building? Is it 7 million? Is
it, you know, what is it? I had asked them if they had done that research and then they had said that the report that they're looking into with their contractor is still ongoing, but they would take a look at that and assess that. Thank you. Okay.
Um, I'd like to fast forward from the I Any questions on the ILA? Everybody understood what the ILA was about? I just want to reemphasize that it is a four-year agreement. Yes, sir. And so if any substantive changes are made outside the ILA, the ILA will
either need to be changed or it would be considered a violation of the interlocal agreement. Is that a fair characterization? That's our understanding. Yep. Obviously, our attorney will opine on that later, but I just I think it's important for people to understand it's four years. It's not four years didn't begin when Hurricane
Ian. It's four years after the ILA was signed, right? And and understand that some of the frustration that I'll get to a little later. It revolves around that cafeteria right now because that cafeteria had a hard date in it and that cafeteria was supposed to be broken
ground by the end of this school year. When we met with them last year, they had told us it was designed, it was ready for procurement, it was going to be awarded this spring. When that seemed to come off the table to us, it started raising some concerns because the other
stuff, as Mr. Adhalt said, we have four years to negotiate to figure out the cost per student. But that was for us kind of the hard line in the sand this year to where this was supposed to be built. It's not being built, and we wanted to know why. And we've had a hard time getting any. guaranteed the
building of that cafeteria at an in-person ad hoc committee committee meeting ironically at the Fort Myers Beach Beach School. Y because we were all there. We c it was very friendly. They were very proud of that. Yep. And that seems to have disappeared from the table, right? Even though it's in the
interlocal agreement, that's that's a a matter of great importance and confusion. In the most recent discussion that we've had with them, they they I believe what they were saying was the reason why they didn't award it is
because the plan could change. That does it make sense to build a cafeteria? Maybe the board members would want us to do something else. Which sounds logical, but on our end, we said as long as it's not changing to go away. You know, if
that's the change, then you know, then I'll let that go. Okay, I want to fast forward to the day before Milton. Okay, John, just be just before you move on back to the because I haven't been none of us other than Vice Mayor at all have been at the ad hoc committee. So, I'm
trying to better understand the numbers and how I know you and I have spoken about this how Dr. Bernier calculated the cost. I got a slide to get. So, when we get to that then I'll ask my question. I I have one quick question John. Um, when you say they, is it is it the schoolboard staff? Is it the school?
We only communicate with the school board staff. Um, part of our frustration is is right now that we were blocked a little bit from meeting with the school board members. We feel like that block has been lifted. So, I think we can meet with them individually now. But last two
weeks ago, we had received an email um from one of the board members essentially saying that uh they've been advised by legal that the superintendent handles the day-to-day operations of the school um not the board members. So, they were not to meet with us to talk
about any of this stuff. Um, we brought that up in our our most recent ad hoc and it seems like there may have been some miscommunication between legal and there, but it seems like that we're now going to be able to talk to some board members directly. Yeah. Thank you. Imagine that. Getting to talk to an
elected representative. Exactly. Um, and I'll get to the numbers in a second, Dan. Um, I I just want to highlight where we were the day before Milton Hill hit because I think it's important. Although we only had although we had a four-year deal with them, I
think it's important to show where we were in year in month seven. Okay. Uh some of the programs that Jenny had mentioned, our water school and our STEM program, MountainHouse Lovers Key, um they were in their infancy, but they
were we were starting to generate some fruit from them. um our town you guys you know our afterchool program that we have there that was part of our ILA is amazing you know I it's a definitely the cheapest in the area and it gives our
parents a lot of flexibility and not more importantly but just as important it will give our future workforce a lot of flexibility that potentially live off this island to where they can drop their kids off early they can pick them up late after their shift and uh they'll be
taken care of real Well, um we working with the district, we expanded our boundaries essentially. Now our boundary goes out to Summerland. Uh before it did not, we got put into the school choice program which prior to the uh you know,
prior to the ILA, you needed a waiver to come to the island. Now, anybody in the county can choose to send their kids to Fort Myers Beach. It doesn't matter where they live. They don't need a waiver. they can choose to send their kids there, which we think in the future will pay fruit
because as Jenny explained, our school's amazing and our scores are amazing and it's almost like sending your kid to a private school for free. So, you know, we think that's going to pay fruit in the future. Um, as part of what Mr. Dr. Vanessa is going to speak out. Uh we wanted to talk about the outreach that
we're having to our potential developers and our current businesses on the island to try to um try to give them a path to work with their employees to get more children coming to our school from their parents that might not live on this
island but work on the island which has always been a mainstay of this island in that school. We've always had workers kids that go to our school. The other thing, and I'll talk about this more later, that we were at the day before uh Milton was an enrollment
increase. Uh when Ian hit, we were at 49 kids. Um Pat's going to speak a little bit more about their demographer, but their demographer said that this year we'd be at 50 kids. Our high point was 72 and we only had one resort
open. a reduction in teacher staff. Uh our teachers are incredible, incredible teachers, and they're doing a lot more with a lot less right now. Um we've reduced our staff, I got to our our student costs, I'll talk about a little
more in detail, by between five and $600,000. And um doesn't sound like a lot when your budget's three billion, but when you start out at 1.6 million and you reduce it by 5600,000, it's a it's a significant savings. When you say your budget, you mean the Lee County School District's overall budget's three
billion. Yes. 2.9 billion as of yesterday. But but the but the the Fort Myers Beach School's budget was right now it's as I stated earlier, they're they're doing their numbers differently. Now, our teacher and staff budget is
around $950,000. But you're seeing that that there was a reduction as a result of the interlocal agreement of $500,000. Significant reduction. Thank. Okay. I want to uh I want to talk Hey John, do you believe that reduction was in response
to the efforts of the town agreeing to do what it takes to bring those numbers back into closer reality? It was a it was a collaborative e effort. Um Miss Kohler, who's now on your staff, was the principal back then and I think through the district and
great efforts by her that um they took a look at it and said, "Okay, we know we have a reduced amount of students. So, how can we rightsize our staff a little more? Well, we don't need a staff for 100 or 150 kids if we've only got 60 to 80 kids." And they started looking for
efficiencies within the staff. they started looking for um positions that may be able to be handled by two teachers by one teacher instead of two teachers and that's where that generatings came from. I I actually finally got the district to give me a sheet that actually shows everybody.
This was just last Wednesday. I've been asking for it for a year and a half, but it actually shows that breakdown. I didn't want to share that as a whole because it's got personal information in what people make or whatnot, but I did highlight on or I did put on this slide the highlights at the bottom. And if if
you see going across, you know, there's six categories in there, six six boxes. The fourth box, which at the bottom totals $22,158, that's where we were by their calculations the year Ian hit when we
were negotiating with Dr. Bernier per student. And it was a simple their overall their overall cost divided by the kids and we got there. this year now with their current numbers is the last slide. If we divide that by the 60 kids
that we currently have, that brings us down to $15,414 per student. Um, like I said, we were trying to get in range with Santael and Pine Island. They were 12 and 14. And an extra note to this is the day
before Milton hit, we had 72 kids in that school. And what would that cost per student movement? that would be $13,271. So, the day before Milton, we were pretty close to being in line with this agreement. Um, the way that I see the agreement, as I said, they're
looking at student cost in a different way. Now, they're adding some indirect costs from the county and saying these are costs to run a school, but we're still working with them to understand and to, you know, to get to what the spirit of this agreement was. and uh you
know we don't agree with some of the other numbers they put out. We believe that this is the number that that ILA was about was about and that we're getting there. John, just to simplify that further, how many employees what was it what were the number of employees that were let go as a result of trying
to find economies. So I would say that roughly we probably lost it's hard just to break it to employees because now sometimes we have one employee doing doing multiple jobs but I would say probably 30 to 35% in
staff essentially we have some teachers now teaching two grades like our kindergarten teacher also teaches first grade you know our fourth and fifth graders are split up they do get two teachers between them um and then a bunch of the support staff that they had the teachers assistants and stuff. And
then and then some of the ancillary stuff like your bookkeeper, your accounting, you know, we didn't need a full-time bookkeeper or full-time accounting. So maybe we have that person for one day a week instead of five days a week and we share them with other schools. So staff was cut roughly 35%.
Yeah, we went from we went from 1,447,000 to 955,000. So that's just under $500,000 490, you know, in a in a 1.5. So it it's it's pretty close to 30 35%
reduction. And we do believe, not to speak for the teachers, but we do believe we're operating in a uh barebones staff right now. But um as Jenny said, our our numbers came back and our kids are still I believe, and these guys could correct me if I'm wrong, I believe we came back as the top
rated K through five ele school in the entire county this year when our scores came back. So this has been two or three years. John, do you know is were those uh was
that staff let go or they were just shifted to other jobs in the district? So, it's hard for us to tell. Uh we there is a couple of the members uh that well one specifically that that was on the last staff that that is now on this
staff. Um the rest of the rest of the people that we deal with are all new faces to us. when I bring up to some of them that they weren't here. Some of them say that they were here, but you know, we're not sure. Um, you know, I don't like to discuss the the the
personal or the private conversations that I've had with them in the ad hoc, but I will tell you from the new staff from the first minute that they came to the island, it was to look at our library when we were trying to push them to see if we could put our kids in the library, the very first thing that they
brought up to me was, "We need to figure out if the school is viable." And my response was, "No, no, we don't need to figure that out. We have an ILA in place. We're meeting to it." But it it just seemed like that's been the message the entire time. So, I would believe that this is the new staff that's
generating it from somewhere. But that's just my opinion, but you know, but that's how the process has gone. I was just curious as whether they're still on the payroll working somewhere else because that still be a cost to the district, right? Hold on. You have to come up. You're going to speak Monica. You got to come
up. She's going to speak next if you want to ask her. Yeah. You want me to You want to just wait? Sure. That's fine. Thanks, Monica. Okay. I I'll address that. There's Hold on, Monica. You got to get up to the com. Everyone's got to hear what you're saying. My name is Monica Schmucker. I'm also on the ad hoc committee and and um just to answer
your question, Mr. King. Um there's at least one that went into the private sector, but a majority of them then went on to other schools and and other locations, but are still within the district. So those costs are still being absorbed by the district. Yeah, those those costs are but there were needs in
other places. So for example, you know, the bookkeeper um there was another school that needed to share a bookkeeper. So um they you know we we're splitting it with them while uh one of them retired, one of them went into the private sector and the others you know
went to other schools where there was need because there's also a lot of need for for teachers and staff within the district. Thank you. John, before you move on from the the the number calculation part, is it your belief or the ad hoc committee's belief that the number how they're calculating
the cost per student now is different than what it Oh, it's definitely different. And we are at the ad hoc community kind of waging that battle now. And the numbers that I just shared with you on this slide, we just got from them Wednesday. That was through
probably a 14-month effort of of of trying to get back to this number. And what is the number that they're saying now is the cost per student? I don't have the sheet in front of me. It was given to me. Going into the meeting on Monday, they showed us a sheet that I believe had us at 24,000 per student. I
believe that was the number. One of my people could correct me, but that was from last year, not this current fiscal year. Well, that was Monday. Wednesday they came and gave us this spreadsheet and then that 24,000 number isn't on there anymore. There is a little disclaimer they put at the bottom of the
sheet that said this only covers the things I told you can cover staff and you know um some supplies and stuff but this does not uh include the indirect county costs and that's what was explained to us in the meeting. It was like they said this is the cost of
running this building that you're sitting in now. So, is it safe to say that with the 100,000 kids that are in Lee County School District and the $2.9 billion budget that we're well below the $29,000 per student cost? Well, what what we're trying to figure out is they
keep telling us, and I don't say this negatively, this is an ongoing communication with them that alls they get is $8,000 per student and they're essentially telling us that that's what they have to run their budget off of. Well, the problem is if you have a h 100,000 kids in the in the district and
you're getting $8,000 per kid, that's $800 million. Their budget's $2.9 billion. There's an extra $2 billion in there. So, there's other monies coming in that are paying for things and we're having a hard time getting getting the answer from them or what pots of money
are paying for what or you know, some things are listed as grants and we're trying to understand, well, why is this counting against us if it's a grant? and they're telling us although it's a grant, we're really paying for it. But we we just started getting deeply in the numbers with them the last couple months
because we thought we had four years. The numbers don't matter now. The numbers matter at the end of four years. now they'll show your progress going on. But then all of a sudden when we heard they're hiring another uh ser another contractor coming on, we started looking hard at the numbers because we figured
that that contractors being given numbers and we wanted to know what they were be given what they were being given to base their analysis off of. Contractor or consultant? Consultant. I'm sorry. That's all right. Um but back to your initial point, we were well on our way to meeting our agreement that we
entered into as far as a cost per student prior to Milton. Absolutely. And the trajectory was if you use the same uh formula that Dr. Bernier used and briefed to the and briefed to the board that they voted 70 on, we were if you
take our 70s some number before Milton, we were probably within $1,000 per student, which uh I think if we went back in time and told all the council members that we would get that down in seven months that they would have been apopleleptic about it. So, yes, we were we were definitely making headway.
Good. Thanks, John. Continue. Um, just some of the we've already touched on some of this stuff. Um, some of the reasons because I know that there's some people up at the district that probably feel like that we're we're getting a little too loud.
Uh, we have reasons for this. Um, part of it is this third party analysis, this third party um, consultant that they brought on. We we believed that it wasn't needed because we had an ILA in place
that we were already negotiating off of. But even if they are going to bring somebody on because they want to take a fresh look, they went ahead and they gave this consultant numbers that that have been proven over time were bad numbers. They gave the consultant a number of 50 kids this year when we
actually had 72. So why are they were working off 50? Um, we've talked to their demographer and their demographer, you know, and Pat's going to speak to it a little bit more, but basically said, "We can't quantify workforce, you know, so we're just going to give you a number of how many kids we think are going to
live on the island." And we said, "Well, but that's not our plan. Our plan is essentially Santael's plan. 50% of the kids that go to school in Santael do not live on that island, you know, currently." And, you know, that's what we are trying. And I said to him, you know, you keep telling us we need at
least 100 kids at this school to make it viable. Well, if you're admitting we have 50 you think come from the island and we're the 50/50 mixed with off the island, that's 100. This is very achievable. And as everybody knows here, one resort open, how many more are coming down road? So, uh it it's just
been our our uh our communication with them gets a little frustrating. And then also, you know, and try to be careful because I I appreciate them and the efforts that they give, but it feels like that they keep things from us, you know, uh the scope of work
for this consultant. I I'd said to him, hey, or we had said to him, you know, we have an ad hoc. This is a working relationship. So, if you're going to hire a consultant, can we please take a look at the scope, you know, because maybe there would be something we could add to the scope or maybe there's some numbers that you're given are wrong.
They wouldn't give us the scope. Till this day, they've never given us the scope. We've got them through some, you know, through some other means, but they would never share the scope of work with us as part of the this uh consultant. They there people did a a countywide
telephone survey and they're telling us that it was 100,000 people. I have actually run bumped into people that have been called, but then I've asked them for feedback. Well, what questions were asked? Not one question was about the ILA or you know the question was are
you familiar with Fort Myers Beach? Do you think they need a school? Should we tear their school down or should we spend money to rebuild it? And you know and I'm I'm paraphrasing but you know if you had a question in there to where you know would it be fair if we entered a partnered agreement for them to build their enrollment over a couple years or
something along them lines. But that's why we wanted input into what they were doing because then it would have been easier for us to maybe accept the results. And oh, by the way, that survey that that they did do and I think it was worded against this, it came back 50/50 from the county. So they they didn't get
a clear indicator one way or the other way on the county as a whole. And um I was relieved. I thought the way it was worded that it was going to come back worse in our favor. John, if I could just while you're summing up here, I just wanted to ask,
we have two former school principles here, we have a litany of alumni, we have uh policy makers, we have community leaders here, and I understand the survey piece, but the consultant was also doing a deep dive into the
viability of the school allegedly. We've still not sure of that. But I guess I just wanted to take an informal poll of everyone in the room. Could anyone who has been actually aside from this survey which is very generic. Has anybody been consult has been has been reached out to
by the consultant to get their input about the beach school and its viability? Can anybody just raise their hand if if anybody has been consulted count council members as well? So, nobody in this room on Fort Myers Beach who's extremely active in the beach school has been reached out to by this
consultant who's making well, we don't know definitively how much has not no one has been reached out to. And so, let let the record show that no one raised their hand in this room. We're having an emergency meeting about the viability of the of the of Beach School and nobody in
this room was contacted. That seems odd to me. And as you're a former consultant, John, I I think that's pretty odd that the that the folks most impacted are not were not contacted at all by a consultant determining viability. Just seems very odd. To take that a step further, Jim, in our
discussions with them about the scope that they wouldn't show us, um their director of operations went on and on talking about, no, this study is going to be really extensive. We're going to go to um business owners and we're going to go to developers and we're going to go to here and we're going to go to
there. And um we said, "Well, great. Then just let us know because we can make that happen. We can get you in contact with the developers. We can get you in contact with people that are going to explain our plan better to you." Um I called Jackie Leak, uh you know, head of our chambers because she's
pretty in in contact with all of our business owners. As of last week, not one of them, not not one of them were contacted or consulted or asked how many of their uh their employees had kids going to the school or asked about their programs to try to help that happen. None of none of that has happened. So,
like I said, that's just our frustration. I don't mean to bash the school, but um well, I think this is a good time to bring up, especially for the record, Jim, I think is your point is in the in the continued spirit of collaboration, every one of the the board members and the superintendent were invited to today's meeting. They
have reserve seating in the front. None of them have chosen to be part of this conversation. Uh none of them chose to show up, but we still want to work with them. To your point, frustration is very very evident. You can see it in your face. As a parent, we all get frustrated, especially when it comes to our kids. But again, the meet this this
meeting is to provide information in in the fact that the town has been working in collaboration with them and wants to continue to do that to ensure that this school goes nowhere. Yeah. our our our you know real driver of this meeting was it to be educational. Um we feel like
that when we uh when we communicate with their staff that their own staff doesn't necessarily know what was in the ILA, why why it was in the ILA and the efforts that we've made. So we're not sure of what message is then going on to the board members. Um so we felt like it
was good like you said in collaboration. We want to work with them, but we felt like it was good to put our message out because we don't get a chance to put it out. Okay, continue. Um, I think I think that wraps it up. I had one more slide, but I think we basically be covering stuff twice. Uh,
does anybody have any more questions for me? Oh, the one thing I would like to bring up, I'm sorry. Let me see. I think I brought this slide up. So, it seems like in reaction to our last meeting, we get a um a weekly update from them. So, in their weekly update last week, um
they put in there and essentially what they were saying is to be clear, um we've spent x amount of money on the school and we've only gotten this much back from FEMA and from insurance. We spent uh we spent six, we only got 3.8
back. And you know, and maybe we take it a little bit like they're taking a poke at us. We understand that insurance and FEMA, it's been difficult and I'm sure all you know that too from the town, right? And um we don't want to be singled out. You know, if you if you
have a problem with insurance and FEMA, that's a countywide problem and you're having it at every school. And if you are going to single us out, well then let's single us out. Let's talk about how much tax revenue this island generates compared to the other ones. Now, we know they don't want to do that, but if you're going to single us out,
let's take a look at it. And as we all know, we're in a short term here where our property taxes may not be high. Give it five, seven years. If they were getting $25 million, they were getting just under $25 million went towards, you know, the state. You know, it all gets
divvied up different, but from our eyes, and that's probably going to double. You know, I just hitting, you know, we've lost a lot of homesteads and a lot of different things. So, if you're going to single us out, I think it's important to single out how much comes out of our pockets to support the school as a whole as well.
Thanks, John. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Good morning. Uh my name is Patrick Vaness. I am a proud Fort Myers Beach Elementary School parent. Uh I am a
22-year uh resident of the island and also as a day job I do a little planning and zoning and I've worked on uh quite a few proposed developments on this island. So I come before you today with a message of hope, a message of
recovery, redevelopment, revitalization, and uh basically to let you know that we're doing a good job and we've got a bright future ahead of us. So my first slide um couldn't help myself. I had
to I had to poke a little bit but uh slides identified as demographers fallacy. Um so as John explained uh right after Ian we went to work uh the whole community rallied around the
school. We fought very hard to justify our school and to keep our school on this island. And one of the things that we were facing uh after Ian was this this outside demographer that the district had that was telling us that we
had a declining population, aging population on this island. Therefore, with an oversimplistic uh model, they kept saying your school population will therefore decline and you'll never get your numbers up. And we kept telling them that's the wrong
model. you do not understand Fort Myers Beach, you do not understand our community. Help us out here. Listen to us. And they didn't. They kept projecting that our school population would decline. And what we we explained to them, and that's that's what they
were calling the so-called organic growth on the island. But what we said is is we're a lot more than just our permanent residential population. And that your model doesn't work. Look at Santael. They've increased their school
population over time and they attract a lot of families from off island. Um, we also explained to them that the beach community has always been more than just the residents. It's about the employers, the employees. It's about St. Carlos
Island and all the way to Summerland. And it's it's a bunch of people that work here and spend a lot of time here and there are adopted families that choose to call Fort Myers Beach their home and they want to send their their kids to the school. So, we've worked
very hard and we we told we told the the school district, you you've essentially put handcuffs on us for many years and you've restricted our enrollment and if you work with us, we'll get that enrollment up. Uh we asked that they expand our school boundary which they
did all the way up to Summerland. We also asked that while there was a waiver to send kids here that if you were off island we said we want this on the school form that goes to every family. We want Fort Myers Beach Elementary
listed on there and it wasn't and u so they they eventually did that. Um, we wanted a bus hub at Walmart, which they've been providing to help families from off island bring the the the kids onto the island. Um and and then you
know coupled with the fact that we're an outstanding a school that we have a great and affordable afterchool program and that we are working very closely with the chamber with all the the the business owners and with the development
community in promoting and educating um all these employers about this opportunity. Um we've proven them wrong. Um, essentially as John mentioned, they said you're lucky if you're going to
reach 50 students at the school. And within less than a year, we had exceeded that. We were at 72 students. And where we got those students was exactly what we were trying to explain to them. We were trying to explain that we have
businesses coming online. We have resorts coming online. We will work with that community. Margaritavville came online after the hurricane. They brought in a bunch of families. Town staff, uh, we had some new hires and the town staff was educated that, hey, you're working
here. You're driving on the island every day. You can bring your children. We've got a great school. That was a bunch of new families. And also, uh, we've picked up families from the Iona area because it's very close to us and they know they can have a great education and a great
afterchool program. So right now um we we've got about 35% of our families that are off island families and we are positive that we can keep growing that and we can get our numbers up. Patrick, before you move on, I I think since the storm, I think it's been very evident
this council is very much in favor of doing whatever we have to do with future development and working with planners like yourself to ensure that one of the public benefits offered by anyone coming in to ask for something is that they help drive that enrollment up. I don't know that we've really given any true policy decision as to what that looks
like, although we're supportive of it. Would it be beneficial, and not to steal vice mayor's draft analogy, but would it be would it would it be beneficial for the council to give policy direction, call it whatever you want, project SOS, save our school, whatever you wanted to call it. Would it would it be would it
be beneficial to put something in place or give direction to staff that is a policy decision that this council wants to see in people that are going to come forth with people like yourself that are and and have have the people that are coming in to ask for something. Let them show us how they're going to devise
their plan to encourage their employees to bring their kids to school. Whether it's an added benefit, whether it's extra pay because you're bringing your kids to the beach school so that we can show the school board this this is we mean business. We want to be collaborative. We really want to make sure that you understand that not only
are the margaritavas of the world, but the other businesses that are coming in want to partake in this because they benefit from it just like our our kids do. So, it would it be helpful for us to do something that when we get to the discussion part of it? I I think having policies that promote the school are
very helpful. What we've seen, what's been amazing is that um mo all the all the people that I've worked with and the and the development community has volunteerily has voluntarily done that. Uh they are willing to do it. They want to partner
with this community. Plus, they also know that they they have to staff their businesses and if they can encourage good employees and provide a great school on this island, it will help them attract good employees and retain employees. So I think any policy can
help but I think a lot of it is education. Uh and I think the plan that we've put forward is we are going to work with the town, the PTO, the school, uh the chamber of commerce and these development entities to educate uh staff
members. and when they recruit, uh, their HR departments can explain that, hey, we've got pamphlets, we've got a A-rated school. Uh, we also have programs that make it easy for you to pick up your kids and drop them off and and we can provide flexible work hours.
So, those are examples of of some of these uh policies that can be implemented, but we've seen that voluntarily with developers coming in and reszoning their property and then putting those commitments within their zoning approval. Well, and that's that's what I was getting at based on what John
said. He had mentioned that well, we can't really predict what future growth will be when it comes to hospitality and people coming in and work, but I think if we can encourage, again, I say generic, but SOS, whatever you want to call it, if if we can implement that
into planners minds to be able to put that in as a condition of approval that here's exactly how we're going to do it because then it takes away any kind of reviewers. Well, we we can't quantify it. Well, yes, we can because we know they're going to have this many employees. This is how they're saying it's going to be a benefit or an
improvement to help drive enrollment to the school. Now, it's something that you can actually it's tangible. You put your hands on it and you can say, "We've got these projects coming in. Here's what they've agreed upon. Here's how we how many people we we know are going to be coming with kids." I I think that could really help take away that look, we we
can't really tell you what it's going to be or what it's not going to be. Yeah. And we I I think that's a great idea. I think we can provide data to them. Uh we've offered it. We can we can document these things. We can demonstrate these approvals that that have gone through
and show them the commitments as part of the zoning approvals. But again, we we haven't even been contacted. We have been asked to help and we are very willing to do so. We can quantify all these things. But I guess what I'm getting and I keep sorry I keep
belaboring the same thing but much like with the DRA sometimes it gets into approvals where it's just participate in the DRA program but it doesn't really give any specifics of what they're going to do to do it. I know we've pushed a little bit but I think it would be important to have a policy decision that staff can work off of to say here is
what we expect because here's what you were approved to do and and be more definite so that we don't ever have to go through this again should there come another storm and we have to deal with this again. we have things in place to be able to say here's what's in the agreement. Here's what we know is what's coming. Here's where we project things are going to be as opposed to we just
don't know. Yeah. And I think the development community would would embrace that and partner with the I would certainly hope so. Yeah. So, moving on to the next slide. Uh I think on on this upwards trend and and redevelopment and revitalization trend,
we know we have a lot of uh approve and and proposed new projects. I think that's going to be ushering uh in a a renewal, an economic renewal on this island and a prosperous time and greater employment uh throughout the island.
Some of the um smaller kind of service industry projects that we know are coming back online uh include the whale, the cottage, sandy bottoms at Santini. We know New York pizza pasta is going to open there. We know South Beach is
reopening. Uh the beach theaters can be converted into restaurants. Um we've got some mixeduse project, residential project, resort projects uh planned and also approved. Meer side is an example, the Neptune Seagate, Red Coconut, Pink
Shell, the Lighthouse expansion, uh the redevelopment of the outrigger by London Bay and the Arches. So those are all uh significant projects coming online that will create a lot of employment and with those employees we will have children and I think when
those uh people are told about this awesome school that we have they will want to send their kids to this school. Um just to give you some concrete examples um some of these projects have provided um economic analyses and
projections. Uh the Neptune for example is pro projecting 75 uh new jobs for the resort and annual projections of four 4.5 million in annual wages. The Arches
project, which is a bigger project, is projecting 227 new jobs and about $12 million in wages on an annual basis. And these are just two uh projects and two examples, but we have many more uh
coming. And what you see here is is an example of those commitments that have been put in uh the zoning ordinances. So some of the projects I've worked on, I've introduced this to our clients. They've embraced it. They've been winging to put this in. But the the the
the first part is promoting the B school, educating their work staff and also creating this collaboration with the town, with the PTO, with the chamber, with the district. uh and also providing uh educational materials and
explaining to them that through school choice they can send their kids to the island school. Uh then another component is providing flexible work schedules. So they can have shifts where um shifts begin before the school day. they can
drop off the kids in the morning and we've got this uh after school care at Bay Oaks and they can have work uh schedules that allow them easy pickup at the end of the day. Um so I think we we
have demonstrated that we can increase our enrollment. We feel extremely confident that we can keep doing so because we're only as mentioned um while the time frame has been a little longer but the actual time that we've been back on island at the beach school has only
been seven months and we've outsurpassed what they projected. We feel very confident with these other projects and other resorts coming online, we will far exceed uh what they thought was possible and that we have a bright future ahead
of us for the Beach School. So, with that said, I'm going to turn things over to Monica and she's going to wrap wrap up this presentation. Thanks, Patrick. [Applause] Back to Jenny's Height.
Hi, good morning. My name is Monica Schmucker. I am also a parent at Beach School. I'm the vice president of the school PTO and I'm also on the ad hoc committee and have been on the ad hoc committee since uh immediately after Ian. My segment is fairly short. I'm
just going to wrap up and have a few uh rap just comments to finish all this. But uh before I do that, I did want to just address a few things that were discussed um a few moments ago just to make sure that we're clear on a few
things to kind of segue into what I want to say. Um one of the things that was discussed previously was, you know, in the in the ILA, we do have this building, this cafeteria building with the stage uh area that was to be built. And I just want to reiterate that that
building per the ILA was to be built by this year. Um not broken ground, not put out to bid, but it was to be built. Okay. And and the wording was this fiscal year, which ends in June for them. Um there were no contingencies on
the cafeteria building. There was nothing stopping them from building it. I know that John spoke to their reason for for not building it that they gave us. Their reason was well things can change but to be clear this was a separate building. Um the building
before Ian was also multiple buildings. There was a cafeteria building before and that was separate from the classroom buildings per the ILA as they rebuilt the school in a phase in phases which is what they were going to do. They were going to add additional facilities. That
cafeteria building was always to be separated separate from the classroom buildings and that's how it was before Ian at there was no sinkhole that land is still there. There was nothing preventing them from building that building. So I want to make sure that
that's clear as well. And finally before I get into my segment I know we talked a lot about numbers and while it's important to understand that our ILA gave us time to reach those numbers and we were making huge headway. So those numbers shouldn't matter. One thing I did want to point
out because John did say that they say they receive approximately 8,000. It's 8,000 something per student from the state. However, it's also important because math needs to math, right? Um when they receive $8,000 per student, they're not taking into consideration
other funds from other sources. And I know he kind of touched on it, but I want to make sure that it's clear. When they tag numbers to us, they include numbers from grants, they include numbers from other funding that they say comes from different things, but they
tag it to us. But when they talk about $8,000 per student that they receive, they're not including those those funds. So, there really is more to what they're receiving. And we have to make sure that when we're comparing numbers either from one year to another or what they receive
versus what they spend, we have to make sure that we're comparing apples to apples. So with that, I'm going to go ahead and just discuss my closing remarks. So a a few things, a lot of very important things we discussed here
today, but importantly, community schools. Why do we have community schools? We have these small schools and we keep our kids close to home because it's important that our younger, most vulnerable children are not on a school
bus for two to three hours per day. 5-year-olds are babies. They just got out of their car seats and we're sending them across town to another school and we're putting them on a bus for two to three hours a day. The reason that we keep elementary
school kids close is because it is very important to keep them close to home. But also important about community schools is that community involvement enhances our education. And that is so evident in our
school. It's not just a matter of we're going to teach the kids to read and we're going to teach the kids to math or to to add. We have organizations in our community. We have businesses in our community. We have so many people that take part in
our children's education and it really truly enhances their education. It is so important. It's also important because it adds accountability to the students. All the teachers know all the parents. All the parents know all the other
parents. My kids cannot walk down the street and do something wrong without me finding out. Neither can adults. True. When when we take put our kids in school, we're teaching them so much.
We're teaching them to be humans. We're teaching them to be good people. We want to teach them these things and we we want to teach them accountability. And by having community schools and our kids know that they're being watched, they're being held accountable. That's why they
have a good education. Now, one of the things that was brought up here was we have we have really good, you know, testing because our teacher to student ratio is low. Well, we combined classes. And when we combined classes, we had the same number of students per teachers in
that kindergarten class that we do in any other elementary school. And our kids still tested higher than anybody else. Why? Go ahead. because we understand that school is more than just the classroom education.
It's everything. It's our community. And that's why we have the best K through5 school because we have a great community school. And we need to keep it here. And not only because this is their home, right? But Lee County should be trying to figure out ways to make other schools
more like our school, not closing our school down. And that's that's the most important thing here. They should be saying, "What are they doing?" You know, because even we send them to San Carlos Park and after everything they've done, right? After everything they've been through, they're still testing high. And
they should be figuring out what we're doing. And that's why it's so important for the educa for for the education of our kids and for the future of our community to make sure that that school stays here. Thank you. So let me move on to my next point which is very much in line with
that. We teach our kids to be good human beings. We teach them integrity, hard work, keeping our word, right? Integrity. These are these are very important points. And the school district right now is faced with this
agreement that they have made with our community, with you, with every everybody on this council who supported this agreement. The school board at the time unanimously voted to enter into this agreement for this phased rebuild
after Ian. This council, I know, unanimously supports it. um also unanimously voted to enter into this agreement and they had we had a deal, right? We're fulfilling our end of the deal and they have hired somebody
upwards of $200,000 worth to try to figure out a way on how to get out of that deal. that goes against the values that we're trying to instill in our children, which is we adhere to our commitments, no matter how hard it
becomes. There were no contingencies on that. We were going to do this phased rebuild. And those are that's what I'm trying to teach my kids, right? And it's important that we instill those values in our in our kids. We've been we've been honest. We've been transparent. you
know, we've we've tried to communicate with the school district and with the staff. Um, and as you've heard, it's been extremely difficult. So, even when those commitments become difficult, it's important that those commitments are met. And that's what we want to teach
our kids and we want the district to teach that to our kids as well. It's a very bad lesson, right? if if a new staff comes in from, you know, in the district and, you know, frankly, they're to adhere to the
agreements that are in place, they inherit those agreements. Um, and again, we were supposed to have four years to fulfill our goals, right, to meet our goals, to make our school normal, costly, or in line with other island
schools. We were going to make our school viable. And as you saw, we were well on our way to make our school viable. In in fact, we exceeded the expectations. Now, we're working to meet our end. We worked very very hard in
reliance that they were going to meet their commitments. The new superintendent and and the new staff, again, they inherit what's in place. We expect them to honor it. and the fact that they hired this consultant at 200,000 and and maybe more. That was
that was the proposal for the only it's mindboggling as to what that study was for other than trying to find a reason to back out of this agreement. The agreement was for the phased rebuild. That was the word that
they gave you. you, everybody here, if this is how the district does business, who's next, right? Who's who's safe? The district can make whatever promises and not adhere to it,
they what can we trust of them, right? To if they're making these commitments and then a new staff comes in and they just don't feel they have to adhere to it. So, these are the folks educating our children and implementing our day-to-day education. And I think that
it's important that we make sure that they adhere to those commitments and teach our kids integrity and also save a very important school within the history of Lee County. So, with that, what we're here to do is ask the council to please do everything in your
power to ensure the preservation and longevity of our school. And we ask that you ask the town manager and the town attorney to look into all possible options to ensure that the d the school district adheres to this ILA for the sake of our kids, for the sake of our
community, and well, everything else you heard here today. So, I also can answer any questions that you guys have. Well, Monica, I I think in fairness, obviously you're you don't shake very often. So, when you see you up there shaking, you're it's very passionate for you,
right? Just like John, just like the rest of us that have kids. My kids grown up, so she won't go to that school, but there's babies back there that will hopefully. No, they will. We won't say hopefully. Um, and it's it's an emotional thing for all of us, right? But I think in fairness, it none of us
have seen the ILA yet. So, we we don't know. I've been told that there is nothing, although it does show some of the numbers and the consultant. The consultant the consultant report, you mean? Yes. The viability study, whatever they're calling it. Did you say I Oh, I'm sorry. I meant I meant to say the study. None of us have seen those that
study yet. So, we don't know that there's going to be any direction in it to close the school. So, I think in fairness to the school board and the new superintendent. Uh that that should be stated for the record. Um I have not seen it, but I've been told you guys have seen at least some of the five options that have been put in the
viability as far as rebuilding the school, but one of those was not to close the school. Um, so again, in fairness, I think it's it's it's it's fair to say that um until we see that, we don't know for sure that that's actually an option. That's not fair to the the school board members that are
going to have to make that decision. So far, all they said is that there are five construction options. Right. But none of those were to close the school. No, there were five construction options. So, Dan, if I may, hold on, hold on. I just want to I just want to finish my point, John, and then you're you're welcome to come up.
I understand the passion and I understand the understanding that we've been through this before. So there's been nothing that leads us to believe that that's not the case, that this is the direction that it may be going. But at the end of the day, there's there's one person that makes a recommendation and the board makes the following of policy decision.
That's correct. Right. Staff can recommend whatever they want and as we've seen in every jurisdiction, the elected officials have the ultimate decision to make. Correct. Um I'm still confident that they see our plea, they see our pitch. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt to allow them
to at least get through the documentation that was not in place. They took over, to your point, this agreement that they made. Um maybe they'll surprise us, maybe they won't. But absolutely, but I think it's important that they hear this meeting and they hear this message. Um which I'm sure they're watching. I'm sure they're
listening. Um but again, I don't want to get too far off track that this this meeting is about we're here to do what we said we were going to do. we will do what we say we're going to do to make sure that we don't ever have to have this discussion again and we're simply asking you to do the same. Is that a fair Yes. That's why we want the the
town manager and the attorney to look at all the options to make sure the ILA is continued to be adhered to. Our biggest concern is that we were to have a cafeteria building by the end of this school year. It's not there. So, we want to make sure that going forward we
continue to move in that direction. Sure. We didn't get a chance to pause our end of the agreement is basically what you're saying. We we still had to continue forward and we were meeting our requirements. Right. So pause is you got to hit play first. Right. Right.
All right. Thank real quick. Come on. Come on. Can I just I'm sorry. John, can can you just give me a quick second, Mr. Mayor, and make a public service announcement. Due to some construction happening as a lot of you are aware of, we don't have water in the building right now. So, if you need to use the restroom, the facilities across the
street, our staff will help direct you to those facilities. Concession stand. Facilities, the concession stand. So, just had to make that announcement real quick. Sorry to interrupt. That's an important one. Okay, John, go ahead. Um, like one would think, why do we think we should have this meeting right
now? Because no decisions have been made. And I agree that they haven't done anything wrong yet. But I think it's important or or why we got concerned is the five construction options that they have. They've been out for months now. I think I first seen them three or four
months ago. In April, they hired this consultant after the construction options were done. In our meeting, we asked them, is there a sixth option that might not be a construction option? Is there any contemplation to not go with
one of them five options to shut our school down? And they would not. They did not say that they they wouldn't answer it. So that's why we felt it was important to get the message out because if they just simply said, "Nope, we're adhering to the ILA. We're going
forward." I don't think you would see the level of frustration that you see now. But we've given them multiple opportunities to say that. And like you're absolutely correct. Maybe they have no intent to shut the school down, but if you follow their messaging, which which we have done, it it it you see the
path that it was leading down. So, we just felt it was important to have this meeting and get the message out there, but we want to work with them. We want their support and we're hoping that this happens. Yeah. And if I may add to that, um we we did trust the process for a very long
time. That's why it's taken us over eight months to even have this meeting because we did trust that they were going to continue to adhere to everything and we have and that's why we want you know now when it's been 8 months after you know Ian and and no decision has been I mean I'm sorry after
Milton and no decision has been made you just to compare after Ian we we were way further along eight months out we knew where we were going eight months out and after Milton you know we had a couple of inches of daughter in the building. It
wasn't anything like Ian. And it's been extremely frustrating process because there's been a lack of communication. And while we could appreciate that there's a change in staff, it's important that the staff educates themselves with what those agreements are that are in place that they should be adhering to. And it's extremely
frustrating that we're eight months out. I do again we do appreciate that there are other folks that need to become educated within the district and this is obviously our our hope to do that because it's it's more than time to do it and we're hopeful that um once all
that information goes to the right folks that they're going to make the right decision as well because five out of the seven ones that were there were there when they voted unanimously to uh the space rebuild. Questions for Monica John? I don't have
any questions, but it it did uh touch my heart when you talked about this community and uh how there were always eyes on kids. That's how I grew up. That's the sense of community I wanted. Uh not only uh sense to report the bad things, but to protect the the children
as well and share the good things. So, thank you for that. Yeah. The only timing we have when we were kids is make sure we were back when the street lights came on. Oh, I didn't mean to touch on a touchy subject, but the street lights you and lights Okay, thank you. Oh, anybody else? I'm
sorry. I'm sorry. I have some closing thoughts, but no additional questions. Thank you, Karen. I don't I don't have questions per se, but um I I think you all know that I have lived with this too since Ian and have been
totally supportive. Um, I've seen the effort that has gone in from the beach parents, from the community, from the council. Um, I just think that we need to have a very driven strategic plan moving
forward here of how we're going to address this very much in the short term um, and with a lot of teeth. And whatever we can do to help in doing that, whatever it is, just say the word. Thank you.
Yeah, it's a true testament to to you guys. Um my daughter's in education and you know they've seen that the kids that that weren't in school during COVID that were kindergarteners and first graders are having problems now four year four years later. And for what your kids have
gone through, not only the pandemic, but then the effects of Ian, it's a true testament what great parents you guys are and how good our school is. So keep keep it up. If I could add just one thing um in asking for your help uh also
if um you can direct your your your staff the town manager uh attorney to to really work hard to try to accelerate things and and I'll give you a perfect example. We we've been out of that school for eight months. We've seen very little progress. But moreover, u some of
us have kids at Cypress Middle School. Cypress Middle School is been torn down. They're going to rebuild the entire middle school within one year. And what we are told is most likely our kids will not be at the beach
school for the next year. That's what they told us to plan ahead for and to anticipate. And we're talking about mere renovations. And when you compare that to an entire middle school that can be built in one year, um we we definitely
think this can be accelerated. A much larger a much larger school at that. Well, and I think the important message that needs to come out of this is, you know, if I were sitting in their seat, I suppose they're looking at, oh, you know, we've been through two of these now. Do we want to do it again? Just look at everybody in this room. Look at everybody sitting up with this DAS.
We've all been through it, but yet we rellandscaped our yards. We built our houses back, not once, not twice, but three times, many three times. So, the commitment is here from the community. They need to see that. They need to step up to the plate and do the exact same thing this community is doing. This this
school's been around for 90 years. Looking in the audience out here, there's four different generations of people that have been here. Brand Myers is here. You know, there's four generations, five generations of people here that have either been to that school, supported that school, or went to that school. So, the fact that we're
staying, the fact that people like Patrick was talking about that are investing in this community and willing to be part of this program to get those schools back, I think that needs to be very much driven home through your ad hoc committee, that that is our commitment. The commitment is this island. It's the community. So hopefully we can continue that message and and you
know we're going to do whatever we have to do, right? And and the buildings that they were had in planned or in place to build were going to be elevated buildings. Had they built them, if we did have another hurricane, we wouldn't have to move our kids off island. We can
just put them in that building that they would have given us. So that's another important point, too. Yeah. Exactly. I mean, I would I would turn it around and and ask any one of the board members if they're listening, if these were your children and you had to take them three hours on a bus to
school, would you be having the same passion that everyone in this room has today? Right. Thanks, Monica. Thank you. All right. Next is public comment. I have two signed up. Okay. Who's first? Uh Jennifer Rusk. Sorry, Jennifer Rusk.
And following Jennifer will be Ellie Bunting. Ellie, good morning, Jennifer. Good morning. Good morning, everyone. Um, I am uh not a parent. Um, but I am a
community member. I'm a taxpayer and I, uh, have met many of the children in this community. I have been part of the education process uh with being on MURF and I am thinking of something that happened
to me when I was a child and I'm about to share something. It was disturbing and it uh is difficult. I was sworn to secrecy as a child. So, it's very difficult to talk about this, but I think it's relevant uh to the school or
getting back to school. When I was 5 years old, I my brother was sentenced to prison uh in California. I um and uh for drugs and uh the three strikes are out.
I grew up going every single weekend uh to uh maximum security prisons uh Vakavville and Fulsome prison. My school was right down the street uh from where I lived. So on Sunday nights those the
Sunday nights and Monday mornings I really needed a safe place. Um I needed I craved normaly. So my school was very important to me. Um when I was about 10 or 11, again uh for many years uh I
would spend every single weekend going to this prison to these prisons. And um when I was 10 or 11, my uh brother had made friends with a high-profile uh inmate uh and I would sit next to this
person for um many many uh months and maybe even a couple years. Um that was Charles Manson. when I was the highlight of my weekends were to go to the vending
machines and get popcorn and candy and that was my highlight for the weekend. Um, unfortunately one day I was uh my hair was grabbed by him and uh all I remember are inmates coming and uh
taking him down and I was pulled uh out by a guard and uh and it was traumatic for me but um I looked forward to going to school because again that was my safe place. Now, there's going to be Charles
Manson's, there's going to be uh Ians, there's going to be Milton's, there's going to be trauma, but what I believe is really important for these kids is that they have a safe place to go. And uh I believe that the beach school is a
safe place and a safe place to go and learn and to have a meal and to be taken care of and cared for. Um, I really really hope that the school district um um you know makes sure that this school
is available to our community. Now, we are a residential community first and foremost. Yes, we're a tourist town, but it is really important to take care of these kids. I know many of them and they're amazing kids and they deserve a
school. Thank you so much. make good decisions. Thank you. Thanks, Jennifer. Ellie Bunting and after Ellie will be Alexis Cooper. Good morning, Ellie. Morning. Thank you for the email, by the way. It was great. Got to pull it down so you
can pull it down and get your stool, right? Yeah. I'm bunting. I did go to the beach school. My kids went to the beach school. My mother taught at the beach school and my daughter interned at the beach school. So, I've got a really good
connection with the school. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'm going to read this anyway because other people are listening. In 1937, a small group of Fort Myers Beach parents came together to open a school on the island. Because they understood what we all know to be
true. A local school is a heart of a community. From humble beginnings in a bar of cottage with just 25 students, our school has grown into a cherished piece of island life. Over the years, enrollment has fluctuated, affected by seasonal residents, housing,
affordability, and more recently devastating storms. But through it all, the school remained a place where children learned, families connected, and the community gathered. After Hurricane A, the school was repaired, and for a brief time, students returned.
Then came more storms, another closure, and renewed uncertainty. Still, parents, educators, and supporters have been working non-stop to meet the enrollment benchmark set after Ian. What we need now is time and continued support. We
know the town council understands the value of our online school. You've stood with us before and we thank you sincerely for that. Your leadership has meant everything during these challenging months. As a district re-evaluates the school's future, your voice remains crucial. We respectfully
ask you to continue fighting for our school to help us secure a commitment to reopen this this fall. That's a little bit. Anyway, we have that assurance that is nearly impossible to encourage families to enroll. But with your support and a clear path forward, we
believe we can meet the district's requirements and preserve a vital part of our community. Our school is more than a building. It is a symbol of resilience, history, and hope. With your help, it can also be part of our future. Thank you,
Ellie. Who else you got? Uh, Alexis Cooper, and that's all I have signed up. Okay. Ah, you're bringing the future student. One of three future. One of three. Well, there you go. Look at that enrollment skyrock.
Keep up the good work. Um, I'm Alexis Cooper. I'm currently a parent of a kindergartener who is at Fort Myers Beach Elementary. And I just wanted to take a moment to let you guys know how much the school means to us. So my daughter Paisley going into Fort Myers Beach had never been in daycare. She'd never been with a babysitter more than
maybe five times with her grandparents. And Fort Myers Beach took the most amazing care of her in those first two weeks as she transitioned into school. And I really don't think that she would have done as well if she had been anywhere else because they care. They have the small community to support her.
They made her feel so loved, so welcomed. She went from crying every day when she went into running up and hugging all of her teachers. She went from scoring zeros on the very first state assessments. She's scoring fours and fives. She's reading fluently after not knowing how to read. She didn't know
how to spell her name going into kindergarten. That's my fault. But Miss Catlet and all of the staff, Miss Skipper, all of them have poured their heart and soul into that school. And I just know that she would not get the same education anywhere else. I don't want to send my kids to another school in Lake County because I don't trust
them to give my kids the same education. And I have three kids, one of which he's not going to start this school year. He'd start 2026. He'll be a kindergartener. And then I'll have a third grader. And then I would have a fifth grader, a third grader, and two kindergarteners at the school if we can keep it open. And I just know that
allowing them to stay there is going to propel them so far academically, much more than any other school in this county would. And I just ask that you guys please fight for our kids and fight for our school because they really are just a needle in a hay stack of the school in any school district in this
country. They really care. They really are doing such a great job. Thank you. Thanks. That's all I have signed up. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in public comment? Jackie. Good morning everybody. Jackie Leisac, president of the Fort Myers Beach
Chamber of Commerce, also a beach resident. And unfortunately, I never had the chance to attend the Beach Elementary, although I was here in the winter. I would have loved to have gone. But um I'm here standing in front of all of you to let you and the entire school board and the superintendent of Lee
County School District know that the beach community, business community, is committed to this school and to this community. I know that our beach businesses will do whatever it takes to make sure that this beach school stays intact, stays whole, and stays
functioning far into the future. We are now making decisions in this community that are going to affect four to five generations to come. People will never know. Our great great grandkids who are we're making choices for them now that will affect them and their families.
This is a critical critical part of our community. This beach school is our heartbeat. You take this away from us, then you take away our heartbeat. And listen, we've all been through enough. Every single person in this room has lost something because of these storms. And guess what? We're all still standing
here, aren't we? We're here committed for the school. The business community on this island is committed for this school. And we will do whatever it takes. The the Chamber of Commerce has a plan in place. We actively talk and recruit employees, children, and I think that's going to be a critical component
to the school staying open and staying well into the future. It also drives jobs. People bring their children here because they're working here and they come to work here because their children can go here to an A-rated top tier school in the state of Florida. So, I'm
imploring the school board to hear our plea, to work with us, to honor the agreement and the commitment that you made, that you signed with our town and with our community, uphold your end of the bargain, and show our children that when you make a promise, you make a word, you keep your word, and you
fulfill your promise. Thank you so much. Anyone else? Anyone come on up. [Music] [Laughter]
Hey, good morning all. Um, I'm Kathy Young. I'm with Fort Myers Beach Kids Foundation and um, you've heard all the nuts and bolts. You guys know what's going on here. And I guess what we're asking you to do is
because it seems like the district is just kicking the can down the road. Um that viability study. Seriously, they've already got commitments made and promises made to us. Let's follow
through with that. Like you say, let's find a path to rebuild the school. We know what the problems are. Let's fix it and make it work. So now I guess what we want from you guys is as electric
elected help me out Dan officials. Yes. To speak to the district, you know, and hear our voice because as you heard, we can't talk to them. They're not responding to any of these people here. And we need an
elected board to go speak to them. They'll go hear our voices. Let's make a plan to fix the problem. We know what the problem is. That's all I got. Thank you. Anyone else like to speak in public
comment? No one really. Okay. Oh, Fran, come on up. Tell you, I'm not going to miss that poll in the middle of I mean, it's a great clock holder, but the other one is I know.
I I really did not plan to speak today, but um I have a few things. Fran, just for the record, state your name in case anybody doesn't know who you are. Fran Meyers. Um can I say Fort Myers Beach? You can say whatever you'd like. For 50
years. Thank you. Um you know, when I moved to the island in 75, it was like the Wild West out here. I don't know if any of you know that, but there was some things going on that
shocked me. And I lived in the middle of Time Square with three kids. And um we had things like I don't know if you remember the beer garden over the top of the Dairy
Queen, but I saw the college kids tear that down. saw him turn over the police car and the sheriff's deputies uh cars in Time Square. It's one of the times we decided to close the square.
Um, but I really couldn't believe how much the community was involved. And the very first thing that I did when we moved here was to number one go to the Chamber of Commerce and number two go to the beach
school because I knew without a school, you know, you had nothing. And I met and I want to say his name is Bob Bob Brobecker. Larry, am I right? Do you remember? Was that him?
And when he told me what was going on at the beach school, I really couldn't believe it. I thought, "Wow, I came from Ohio and we had great schools, but this has got to be something really really really special." And so we we we called it we
started calling it a community school instead of Beach Elementary. We started calling it a community school. And I don't know how many of you remember, but we had our own school board and um you know, we had no power, but we had our
own school board and we would do everything the school board downtown did, but of course we always had to have their permission to do everything. But um it worked it worked really well. We did that for about 15 years and it worked. It worked really really well and
it kind of made it more of a community school. Um, when I say the community school, yes, the Beach Kids Foundation certainly, but just the really community. I mean, the things I
remember, and I wanted to bring some of these new things in case you didn't know, were parents that had no money or had no means of support, and I can recall a single lady, had four
children, she was being kicked out because she couldn't pay. And um am I on a time limit? I'm sorry. Well, give me just a second. Does anybody have any issues with Fran taking as long as she'd like? No.
Oh, you guys, thank you. Thank you very much. Um, but you know, all we had to do is go to the community and the community came up with the money. We paid her rent. She stayed and the fire department, as you know,
has been all along has been our partner. And a lot of times, well, I can remember one child who had no bike. Her her car, she was a single woman, too, and she had she had no she had she had a car, but it
got ruined. So, we called the fire department and they came with all the fire trucks raring, blowing. We thought, "Oh, we can't embarrass this kid." And so the fire department brought a bike and they had the mother and the two kids
there. And I can remember at least five years she rode that bike and she had one kid in the basket, one kid on the back. So I mean there's been so many things and one really nice one was a little boy who had a huge growth on his
face and his parents couldn't afford his parents couldn't afford to get the growth taken off. the operation and the doctor finally said, "Am I telling that right, Larry? I think I'm telling that right." Um, the boy couldn't get the growth off
his face and the kids tended to make fun of him. All we had to do is reach out to a few neighbors and the operation continued and the little boy looked great. That's I mean, I think that's what a community school really is. So, I just wanted to tell you some of
those things and some of the things that the community has reached out with. You know, yeah, the school board could have bought Chromebooks, but they didn't. So, we bought them. You know, they they they they could have bought new desks for all
the kids because God knows they need them. God knows they needed them. And so, we bought entire new desks for the whole school. um part of the aquarium material we helped with and all the camera they had
no sound equipment for their stage so community reached out and bought it and um the playground I never had a hammer in my hand in my life and the playground they said we're going to build our own
playground and we all said yeah right and so we built our own playground with an architect who supplied brought everything in and um I mean what a time that was. It lasted for weeks. So, you know, we're all very emotional I think
about the beach school. My kids went there, my grandkids went there. That's a long time ago. And so, I just want to tell you that it's an island. It's an island that the only place I've ever felt that I could walk out of my house without my
purse, maybe forget my purse or forget my money and I could go into probably any business there was. I think I still could do that. And I'd say, "Gosh, I forgot my purse today. I don't have any money." And they'd say, "We'll get what
you want and bring it back tomorrow." There's not very many communities that you can go to and and you know feel that love. So I don't want to preach to the choir. You guys have all been you guys have all all been very emotional about
this and have done your job and thank you Jim for being the person that went to the meetings. But um we're all praying very hard and thank you very much. Thanks for anyone else like to speak. Larry,
come on up. I didn't see you back there, but now that makes sense that the two the two principal I didn't see him back. I'm Larry Wood. I was the principal for 10 years at Fort Myers Beach Elementary
and retired about 10 years ago. Um, I just want to say that uh I hope that the school board and the new superintendent, I'm familiar with her, extraordinary, good, good person, but I hope you're watching because this is the
personification of a community school and community schools, all the schools are trying to become that. They we have uh pep rallies and they want school spirit. We have not only school spirit, but our council people and everybody
here, the staff are totally supportive of the school and the parents of course are very supportive. They could just let it go away. They're not. Why not? It's because of the community feel and you are all the people in this room are generating that feel for a community
school and I thank you all and the children thank you especially and don't give it up. There's the school district is trying to get this feel everywhere. We already have it. We want to keep it and we want to make that our kids give them the opportunity to live through
that. So, I'm totally in support and whatever I can do to help, let me know. Thank you, Larry. Is there anyone else that'd like to speak in public comment? Morning. Good morning. Deborah girl, uh, island resident since 1980,
two graduates of the Beach School and president of the Beach Kids Foundation. So, thank you for scheduling this meeting. You can see how passionate we are, how important it is. And I just am going to make a couple comments that
over the years we've um done many things for the beach school and we know where these kids come from. Many came um as everyone has said here from service industry and that will build up and we
believe in and I hope you do too. And I also have a daughter that lives here, owns real estate, has a three-year-old. She's hoping to attend the beach school. So, and I also sell real estate here for years and years and it's very hard to
attract families when we don't have that as a community with the beach school. So, um hoping for the best outcome and really support us. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause]
Come on up. Hello, Rosanna Riley, business owner, mom. I've been here over 24 years. I've raised several children that went to the beach school. My grandson that moved back in with us who's going to be 22, he went to kindergarten at the beach school. Um, and I don't have a lot to
say. Just it's just really important for our community to have um a school for the residents. I mean, these these children are children. They should not be on buses for several hours. They need to be here. It's It's our home. Thank you. Thanks,
Roseanne. Anyone else think about it? No. Okay. We'll close public comment. That brings us to our administrative agenda, the discussion on the school. Nancy, you'd like to start us off? Um, I
can. Um, first of all, um, I think Jason has a couple slides he's going to put over on the overhead. Um, when you say Jason has a couple slides, who are you referring to? Uh, Jason Freeman. Isn't he also a graduate of the beach school?
He is. And he knows how to get those slides up there. Just wanted Just wanted to state that for the record. So the um I think what these slides are going to illustrate is that in the past um there has been a very cooperative uh
relationship between the town and the school board and um it'll be illustrated by the various resolutions and actions that have been taken by the town um over over time. It begins in 2020,
Jason, with the adoption of um resolution 20-45. And this was an interlocal agreement that provided for the exchange of some real property and uh the commitments to make some improvements
um between the uh property that had been owned by the school board as well as property owned by the town in the Bay Oaks Recreational Center. Um that that agreement as far back as uh 2020 did create some obligations on the town to
do some improvements uh to provide for um basically playgrounds and um other amenities that would augment the um the programs that were administered by the school. There was also a requirement as
far back as 2020 to adopt a shared use agreement. And the shared use agreement was for basically the um ability for the school board. These are the various parcels um that were going to be um exchanged
um to allow the school board to use the town's facilities and the town to use some of the um schoolboard facilities as well. So that was in place back in 2020. They anticipated Nancy, before you move on real quick, you mentioned the the playground was one of the improvements
that was required to be made under that in a local agreement if memory serves me. Correct. When we aren't right, is that playground in operation today? It is. Is this on? Sorry. It is in operation. However, we're not able to uh access it. I've reached out numerous
times as as our uh our Bay Oaks manager. Um I did get one response saying they'd look into it and she'll still should be part of it, but that was I mean we probably reached out reached out to who? Ch uh Dr. Adam Mallaloy uh the district
and I think um I think Neil Matthysse reached out to maybe Ken Savage as well. So, um, so even after So, and I even offered to or the town, sorry, even offered to to put up a a fence to keep
it secure and and separate from the school, but I didn't get any response um on that, you know, after the we'll look into it. And it is part of our uh LA and you know, this that playground is just sitting there empty. Um it was part of
the agreement that we would we would put it up there which we we fulfilled that agreement twice actually after Ian. Um so we you know we fulfilled our our our part of that as well. Um as long as well as us actually cutting the grass over at the school too for them to guess that's
my point I was trying to get at even after Debbie Adalia Helen and Milton the school the beach school elementary playground is still operational could be operational today. Yeah, it was it was uh put after Ian. Ian kind of wiped it
away. We're ready to to install it uh for them. The Ian wiped the equipment away before we're ready to install. So, we repurchased it. Uh and it's installed and it looked beautiful. I just wish our community could use it. Just another example of the community stepping up
additional cost to fulfill our requirements of the unilocal agreement. So again, even as far back as 2020, the the notion of having a shared use agreement in place, that was one of the conditions of that exchange. Um there
was a first amendment and because uh we were not able to get for whatever reason the closing wasn't uh proceeding as scheduled. So they extended it for 60 days. That was in 2021. Um thereafter we did adopt a formal
agreement uh that is the shared use agreement for the proposed redevelopment of um the Bay Oak School. That particular one in 2021 was not executed by the school board because the closing had not occurred yet uh regarding the
exchange of the properties. There was a second amendment um to the exchange ILA and what that did was basically u made some minor well I shouldn't say minor because they're probably not minor but it they the parties agreed to amend um
some of the legal descriptions of the properties that were going to be swapped um again extending the closing date for 60 days in a cooperative manner. I think it's it's important to point that out because for the members that weren't on council at the time, I I know
vice mayor could can attest to this, that was very difficult negotiations. It was a lot of back and forth almost to the point where the the town management at this time was willing to back out of the agreement, but the council kept pushing to make sure that that we got
that done because we knew it was important. But it was very very it was a very painful negotiation that u I think Jim I'm not understating that by any stretch of the imagination, but eventually it did get done. And so in u the closing
occurred for the exchange of the properties in um August um I think it was August 1st of 2021. The next day u the shared use agreement became effective which I believe still is in effect today. It has an exhibit C on it
which talks about how um they'll be able to use some of the town's facilities for their programming. Um and then Hurricane Ian came and after Hurricane Ian that precipitated the need
for the ILA that has been the topic of discussion for u of today. Um, you know, many of the comments that were made regarding the provisions of the interlocal agreement I I agree with. Um, it's that's set forth in your agenda
materials. The school board's responsibilities begin approximately page seven um of your materials. Um there are provisions as has been stated um regarding
the timeline for the renovation and the rebuild of the the school. And phase one does include the uh responsibility of the school board for renovating the historic building uh with a deadline by
the fall semester of 2023. So needless to say that that deadline was not attained. Um the next item in phase one of the rebuild is by fiscal year 202425, the school board shall build
additional uh Fort Myers Beach Elementary facilities to accommodate a permanent kitchen cafeteria. You've heard comments about that. And also by fiscal year 2024 25 in compliance with applicable law regulations um building
code they shall improve the historic building with additional additional classroom space to accommodate the growth not to exceed 80 student stations. Um and then it goes on in the agreement to have a phase two that
identifies some benchmarks for the subsequent years. Again, as has been stated, it is a four-year agreement. As all our contracts do, there's a provision in there regarding default. So, in the event a commitment
is not made or kept, um there is a notice requirement that you give to the other party saying that hey, you know, you're not fulfilling what your responsibility was. And there's always the opportunity to try to resolve that.
Sometimes it is a um issue of bad communication, bad information that's being provided which I think you've heard um comments made today as well. In your agreement, the parties when they um approved this in 2023, some of you I
think all of you were here um in paragraph 7.3 does talk about unavoidable delay and in that section um it's basically saying that either party is unable to meet their deadlines that have been established
uh due to circumstances beyond the control then then the uh the parties can basically extend those deadlines as needed um due to such occurrence or circumstance and that could be um
related to these subsequent storms that we have arguably uh providing for some of the basis for the delay. Um there also is a section um 7.4 that talks about um either party can enforce the
agreement by court proceedings and the parties can agree that they would pay their own attorney fees and costs. So that is the I would say the legal framework as far as um where the town
finds itself at at this point. Um, you know, I was asked if I would be giving a recommendation. Um, and I didn't I don't think I will, but I would take direction from you. Um, however, I think it's already been said by members
of the town council that um, really to move forward, you do need to get a copy of this consultants uh, report and have the opportunity to look at it yourselves and come up with um, some direction to
to provide. I have had conversations with the school board attorney. Um I am under the uh it's my understanding that that copy of that report will be available very shortly as early as possibly tomorrow. Um the town does have
a pending public records request for a copy of it. And I think once we get that and we can look at it from our perspective um we would then be in a position to um to take additional um additional action.
the opportunity to um continue a cooperative uh relationship with the school board uh to go in and look at the existing ILA and um review it and whether what timelines perhaps need to
be amended um or other changes that need to be made. um creating more benchmarks um putting I think the words were more teeth into it um and uh accelerating it um as well. That's another option you
have. Um, the other option that I heard discussed today was possibly an SOS, uh, which could be a resolution, um, stating that it is the town's policy to promote the school, um, enrollment in
school and asking for any, uh, businesses and developments that um, choose to um, come to the island to be part of that effort. And the last one which we really at this point don't want
to go to would be some type of um litigation. Um I will advise you that under Florida law there is a separate uh statutory section in chapter 164 that basically requires a mediation to occur
uh prior to actually litigating um between two governmental entities. So that that those would be my comments um that I wanted to share with you for your uh direction and your further deliberation. That was me. I tried to
trying to not off. Scott, would you like to start the discussion? I was already looking that way. So I I think we need to, you know, it's it's sad that those chairs are empty right there. Um, you know, all the
signals I see aren't good, but I think we're so close that we need to see what that report says. I mean, I I I have a hard time believing that we've asked for it multiple times and we haven't gotten it. and even the the their version of
the MMP next week, that document's not one of their the attachments. So, what's really going on? It's really really disappointing. I I think the you they need to look at examples where interlocal agreements
worked after the the tornado in Joplin, Missouri. The the the town and the school board worked together. Everything was open, transparent. It was a su success story and I don't want this to turn into a Katrina where there's a lot of promises that were made or after the
hurricane in Puerto Rico, same thing. You know, promises were made, promises weren't kept and the end result was the the most vulner vulnerable people, the children suffered. It's just a
shame. Karen. So, the meeting um the next upcoming meeting is June 3rd and that my understanding is not an actual school board meeting but a working meeting. Is that correct? Or it's a workshop
discussion workshop on just this or does it include a lot of other things? Okay. We've been told that meeting. We can't be up on the mic. Just listen. So, there's a there's a there's a a school board workshop at 1 and there's a
meeting at 6 p.m. the meeting at 6 will not be a decision brief. There will not be discussion about the path for the school that that will be followed up at the end of what just so I don't have to repeat all of that. John, come up and and state what you Sorry, I shouldn't be asking the questions, but I'm trying to
get a framework here of what our next steps need to be. So, our understanding that we found out in the last day or so is there'll be a workshop on June 3rd, um, in which they will discuss Fort Myers Beach Elementary, that will be in the middle of the day, 1:00 or something
like that. That evening, they will have a standard school board meeting, but our understanding is that Fort Myers Beach Elementary will not be on that agenda. We're being told at this time that we think the decision point will be at the end of July, July 29th maybe into which
that would be the decision point. Now, this has been a moving target with them. As of the other day, they couldn't commit to us what was going to happen on June 3rd, but that's been the latest that we've been that we've been told. So, John, at that workshop meeting, which is at 1:00, are we or are we are
we invited? Are the parents going to be there to present anything? What what is that workshop entail? We're going to through our ad hoc. I I don't know if they have a a parliamentary mechanism for that, but we're going to ask if we can speak at that. At minimal there will
be public speaking there. It's tough sometimes to speak publicly because of the the you know the restraints or the time restraints that you have. But through our ad hoc, we're going to ask if we could give a small, you know, streamline presentation that would, you know, cover some of the information that
we put out today as far as numbers and agreements and stuff like that. You know, if they only live limit to public meeting, everybody could take their part for three minutes and just keep going going going to present this. But I think
for that what I'm trying to get at is we need to have a plan. We need to have a packet. We need to have a strategy. I know you guys are all working on it, but and we need to have people there at that ad hoc meeting at
1:00 to show the determination. And I think if they if they don't listen to this meeting, they will truly understand the determination on June 3rd. Um, and so whatever we can do with that ad hoc committee. Well,
that's not the ad hoc. That's the the workshop. This is No, I mean, but I mean our ad hoc committee to prepare for that and be present for that and anyone else that can be there for that. Well, we generally have uh a month or two ago
when we started to get loud uh um Miss Carden had assigned a weekly meeting to where we have like a phone conference, a teleconference with them. um today's has been cancelled. So there we don't have an official venue with them before the
workshop. So we're just going to send the ad hoc committee members are going to send them an email requesting that okay thanks no I mean go back and forth I'm sure. Yeah. Well, we'll go back. I'll wait
till we go back and forth. And Monica, just briefly because I did pull it up. Um, we are 30 minutes on that agenda. There are 11 items for that workshop. Okay. Just just to So, we do have 30 minutes. Well, they have 30 the topic
they have. Frankly, I'm not sure if there's public comment at the workshop. They're not seeing anything on the agenda. There is time for public comment during the workshop. So, we're one of 11 items to answer. Okay. Is that where it
says public content? Is that what they're meaning by comment on? Um, you know, letter C in the workshop agenda. If you pull it up on the Lee County School District website, does say public comment during the board workshop at one o'clock. Okay. Thank you.
One of the things that might be helpful is that uh the town request uh time um to speak publicly. Um the way their rules work is if they have more than 30 speakers signed up, they limit every
speaker to one minute. Uh so we have sent in a request asking if we could seed time to each other. What we'd like to do is is again we can bring uh a lot of people, children, we can seat time to each other and we can have an organized
presentation. We have requested that we have not heard back from them. So maybe if the request were to come from council rather than the parents, uh we might be a little more successful there. Thanks, John.
No. Uh, frustration has been the word of the day today, and I think I'm personally beyond that. Um, especially when we find ourselves in this position less than two years after, uh, the hard work of Jim and the and the parents, uh, to get to the interlocal agreement. Uh,
then find out they're spending at least $200,000 on a consultant really irritates me. Um I spent 10 a decade in radio and uh from time to time radio stations would hire a consultant and those of us that were professionals working would always say those who can't
do those who can't consult. Um, so, um, I think I'm going to try and limit my negativity, I guess, or my frustration, but, um, Monica touched on it for me, too, is that, um, what are we teaching
our children, uh, if we're not going to honor agreements? So, uh, that's that's a big issue with me, Vice Mayor. Well, I I couple quick things. I I don't want to be redundant. I have sat on this ad hoc committee, proud to serve on it with these amazing
parents, the school principles on this, the one of the teachers, uh Jackie Lisek from the chambers official member. Uh and then there's a litany of very high rankings uh Lee County school uh administrators who are on this uh uh ad hoc committee and there's a lot more who
come and attend these meetings. And recently we were meeting weekly. We we mess we last met in person on the 22nd of May which sort of solidified the concern of everyone involved in that. Uh
Dr. Savage was there who I believe is the deputy uh superintendent, maybe assistant superintendent. He was asked directly uh and and they've posited five options for us to consider on rebuilding or re refurbishing the school. and reasonable people can agree to disagree
on which which of the five is the best but Dr. Savage was asked directly, is there a sixth option? And he could not give us a straight answer and and and and again and he may may not know or may
not be able to, but just that that inability to give us a direct answer as to whether the viability of the school is on the table in and of itself is a direct violation of the interlocal agreement. Now, if they have changed
course and want to amend the interlocal agreement as John had said earlier and maybe build a new school and maybe add the cafeteria to that school, boy, let's leave with that instead of uh leaving everyone out here hanging uh by a thread
wondering what indeed is happening. Uh on a much more positive note, we have an elected school board who who has consistently been very supportive of the school. So, I would instead of waiting just until June 3, I would encourage
folks individually to reach out. Everybody has the facts today. The ad hoc committee parents have done an amazing job of laying out the groundwork. I'm hoping some of our schoolboard friends were watching um because there's a lot of misinformation out there. There's a lot of new folks
involved. I just encourage you to reach out to the school board members. Some of it may be uh data driven with facts. Some of it may be of your passion for the school, but I think it's important that the school board members hear from us. We now have an elected
superintendent of schools who ran on the premise that the beach school is critical to Fort Myers Beach. Um, we want to take her at her word. uh she needs to provide direction to her team and her staff and her attorneys
uh that could give us some peace that the interlocal agreement will be agreed to and be complied with. If not, uh let us know what changes you're thinking about and and and there seems to be a lot of lack of communication and
maybe it's because they don't know the course. If that's the case, tell us that. Uh we're confident and we remain confident the elected school board if given the facts. We keep talking about this consultant report. We just learned today that no one in this room probably
the largest advocates for the beach school are in this room today. Uh no one was consulted by this consult. I'm a consultant. If I was a consultant, first people I would talk to are the people impacted directly. It's bizarre to me. Uh I'm a little more than a little
annoyed. I've always tried to be polite, but this consultant piece, particularly when we were not told the scope and there was a lot of mystery around it, a lot of taxpayer dollars going to it as a tool to me thus
far seems ineffectual. So, and the inputs are are as we heard from John in terms of the cost per students and enrollments etc. Dem Patrick talking about demography the inputs to this consultant reports are flawed. So we have to be very careful when this
consultant report comes out that we don't accept the premise of the of the consultant report because clearly they've not looked for a balanced uh uh input for particularly for people who are knowledgeable and impacted. So that
that's odd. So I I just think we need to stay positive with respect to the school board because they have they have been clairvoyant with respect to seeing the big picture, what we've been through. Uh, and I think the school
board, they hold all the cards. So, as we reach out to the school board over the next few weeks, I think that's critical. We have a superintendent uh who is an unknown. Although she's publicly expressed support, we want to believe her. Uh, I I visited with her
numerous times. She seems like a very honorable person, but it's time for her to lead and provide some direction to her team and make sure the inputs that the coun that that the elected school board are getting are are solid and fact-based.
And let's also remember some of the history. I know we have a new team there at the Lee County School District and God bless them. It's a hard job, but let's remember some of the history. After Ian, these parents sent their kids off island for a long time at great
hardship to save money for the school district and that seems to have been lost along the way and that needs to be remembered, that needs to be built into the calculation. So, I've talked long enough. I just thank everybody for being here today. Hope everybody sticks around to walk over for the school. But I do
encourage you to proactively reach out not just to the schoolboard members but also to the electedu uh superintendent and let's make our case. We've got some time to do that and we're hopeful and history has shown that they've they've honored those that input and and
certainly we hope that that continues. Thank you. [Applause] Excuse me. I I know we're wrapping up here, but um I I have small request that we have our former principal here and um um I don't know if if she's allowed to
speak or we can ask her to speak, but I think she can shed some light on some of the the additional funding and the additional community support that are that that we received on behalf of the school that the the um the district did not need to pay for. I think she has
some figures on that. I don't know if that's helpful to you guys or not. Thanks, John. You know, I I won't reiterate a lot of things that that Jim said. You know, I'm a benefit of the doubt type of person. I was fortunate enough the superintendent met with me on
Friday. Um she felt it was important that the two of us meet as well to discuss. Um she like Will is is new to her position. U there's a lot of information. She's got a lot of people to cover. Uh I firmly left that meeting feeling that she was open to any
discussion. Um she was very honest that she did not have all the details that a lot were pres presented today but that she was going to spend the weekend getting caught up on those. Um I think it's important to note that what Jim said every one of the the people that
are listed on those cards in front of us have been very supportive. I've spoken to many of them, if not all of them, about the beach school since Hurricane Ian, who remain to be supportive. They understand that not everything is about dollars and cents as long as both parties are trying to make it so that it
doesn't have to be a policy decision, which I think is exactly what we were doing before Milton hit. Um, I left that meeting feeling encouraged. Um, I did ask the specific question that you you brought up about a sixth option. I was
told very bluntly um and I'm not trying to disclose anything that I think she wouldn't say or or to to say something that you know is outside of what has already been said is that there have been five options but she was very clear that the she has not seen at the time she had not seen the full study or the
viability viability study report whatever you want to call it but was going to spend the weekend to do it. Um and I believe her I mean we haven't seen it. Um, I I think allowing the people that are going to make the decision the opportunity to look at it before
everybody else does allows them the opportunity to answer questions should we have questions. Um, she also understands that, you know, where we're coming from on this side because we've been through this before. Um, there was a push to close the school. We all know
it. It's not a secret. Um, had it not been for that building being a historic building, I think they would have closed that school. That's my personal opinion. Um, but the school was saved because of that designation. But I think since then, the agreement that we've entered into them
with them, we have shown them, whether it's the the park for the kids, whether it's the after school programs, whether it's getting the enrollment up, whether it's encouraging businesses to invest in our island, we've done our part. At this point, I made the message very clear. All we're trying to do is ask you to
honor yours. And at the end of the day, the recommendation only comes from one person, and that's her, just like Will in our case. Staff will give him input. He will make a recommendation to us or Nancy will make a recommendation to us, and we will make the policy decisions. So although we really want to focus on
what this person said or that person said, at the end of the day, it really only matters what Denise as the figure head of that department says to their the people that they work for and then they make the policy decisions. I agree wholeheartedly. Send a letter out, I think, as long as we continue the
message that we're not here to fight. We don't want to fight. We've all fought enough, but we're not going to quit and we're not going to give up. So, don't push us into a fight because we don't want to fight. We want to make sure that we get the kids back in the school. No
one wants to transport their kids. Cuz when I heard three hours, I was like, geez, if someone told me I'd do that to my daughter, I would be out there, but I'd be much more angry. I don't like to fight, but I will if I have to. And I don't think we'll
get to that point, quite honestly, trying to talk to you guys out there. We won't get to that point. I don't think so. I think Denise means what she says. She's got a job to do, just like the rest of us. She's got to make sure that it's fiscally responsible. And I think the more that she knows that we're willing to continue to make that decision easier for her, the more she
will fight for us. That's my opinion. That's what I believe she will do. I think a good recommendation would be to have Will and Nancy work with Denise and their lawyers to get to a point of discussion before June 3rd to uh make
sure that we don't have to stand up there and reiterate all this stuff that we went through in the past. We don't have to replant our bushes, no pun intended, you know, we don't have to redo our yards again. We don't have to redo our basement. We don't have to buy new furniture. We don't have to buy new refrigerators again. So, whatever that
takes, if that means, you know, we've shown that we're willing to step up. You know, I talked about this SOS thing. It's maybe a bad pun, but it's truthful. Maybe we call it something else. But I think if my fellow counselors are on board, I think it's important to to direct staff to say when when new
development is coming in, we need to get concrete, not just a simple line that we're going to participate in the program. Here's what our program is going to look like. Here's what we are going to do to not only continue to drive up enrollment, but to make sure that that we're not going to just meet the expectations of what the cost per
student, we're going to try to supersede it. And here's how we're going to do it. And I'm looking at you, Patrick, because I know you've I mean, you've only had one or two projects that you you've represented in the last two and a half years, but um uh going forward, I think that's an important message. If I can get the support from from my fellow
counselors to to direct staff to do that, I think that will show again another step the town is willing to do to say it's not just about the, you know, the land swap. It's not just about the um the playground, and it's not just
about the school. To your point, Patrick, there's absolutely having a construction background, I know John has got a there's absolutely no reason that school is not open. Zero. And I don't think there's anybody out there, even if they were sitting there that could tell me to my face that there's any reason
why that school is not open. Why our kids are going to have to wait another year to go back to school is unacceptable. Um, so I think you've heard I won't continue to ramble on, but I think you've heard enough information up here from staff or from from the council to let you know in the public that we are
standing behind you. I think if we continued down the path of of communication, which which the superintendent agreed communication is key. Um, giving her the benefit of the doubt to get caught up. I think going into that June 3rd meeting if if if Will and Nancy are willing to have those
conversations that I think um we can get to a point where we can all kind of breathe a little sigh of relief. Um if it means speeding up the school, I think that's an important note to bring up the the replacement of that school. There's certainly enough people out here with enough uh background and enough uh
resources to to assist if that's something we can do. If in the past the prior administration was not very keen on allowing us to help uh for whatever reason, I I don't know. But there's no lack of willingness in this community to help. Whether it's financially, whether it's physically, whether it's swinging
that hammer. Um who said they weren't good at swinging a hammer? I don't remember who it was, but we've got time to teach you, Fran. Don't worry. Tool belt. We're going to get you the Fran tool belt. Or we can borrow it from the dolphin from the early days after the storm. Um
but but I think that that that's important is the communication. We we don't know we don't know until we see that study. Uh but once we do, I have no doubt that staff will will get behind it very quickly. Let us know uh get it in our hands as fast as we can so that if we have to go on June 3rd, um we're
prepared to say exactly what we need to say. But I, you know, again, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I think the communication between our our staff here and their staff will be key in lowering the temperature in the room, if you will. I think you guys did a great job today in stating what you
wanted to say, but keeping it without being too frustrated. It's hard. I saw everybody shaking up there. It's hard to not get frustrated because of past events, but I'm I'm a believer. I think I think we'll get this across the finish line so that we don't ever have to worry about this again, even if we have to deal with
another storm. God forbid. But it's about all I have to say for now. But is everyone in agreeance that we can direct staff to to come up with some plan? You're really good at acronyms. Maybe you can come up with an acronym for it because I don't want to
that's kind of cheesy SOS, but you you know what I you know what I was trying to get at as far as cementing something that is a true public benefit, not just for us, but you know, Fran's been here for five decades. five decades from now, I hope I'm sitting out out in that same seat, but talking about here's what we
did in 2025 to make sure that now our grandkids are going to that school. Mr. Mayor, if I may, if we could have uh our tech IT person put up the last slide that Monica had up there and then I would make a motion based upon that slide because I thought that was a
reasonable request to ask of the town and I think we could move that appropriately if you could find that slide. It was the last slide that Monica had. No question, Jason. Requesting the town manager and the town attorney to take some action. And I thought that was well
worded and appropriate. There you go. Okay. So, Mr. Mayor, I would move that uh that the uh that we do everything possible as a town to preserve I'm sorry to preserve longevity the longevity of our school and that we ask
and direct our town manager and our town attorney to look into all possible options to ensure that the school district adheres to the ILA. Second. Motion by vice mayor, seconded by councelor King. Any further discussion on the motion? All those in favor signify. You
know what? Let's do a roll call vote. Can we do a roll call vote? Yes. Vice Mayor. Hi. Council member King. Hi. Councelor Safford. Hi. Councelor Woodson. I. And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously. [Applause]
Are we planning to do something then? We've been asked to set aside some time as a town at the at the meeting on the 3. Uh we're involved now because of this interlocal agreement. I believe we should be allowed separate time that would not detract from the parents or
the ad hoc committee that wants to do a presentation that we should be allowed to at least address the school board uh on during their workshop regarding this issue. Well, I guess that would be a question for Nancy. Nancy, if if more than one council member was to attend, would that be something that we would
have to notice if we were We could notice it. Um Amy could take the microphone. Um I'm not touching it. Um Amy can take care of that. Uh providing notice to the public that more than one of you would be present um and uh make
you know comments and uh to that public meeting that the school board is having. I don't think that that would be um illegal to do that. Um the other question I did have is you do have a meeting on the 2nd. Um, do you want an
update from Will and I as to hopefully that report comes out tomorrow and then we would be able to come back with some constructive comments. Uh, we could report to you on June the second and then you could give us further direction. Yeah, I think that's
important. I I think I would, you know, time is of the essence. I would encourage you both to reach out as even if we don't have it, they've they've had a chance to read it now and try to get a feel as to where they're at based on Yes. And we've also amended our public
records request to request any drafts. Um so even though it may not be the final report, we would have more information um on where they're coming from. Did can we have we asked what exactly his scope of work was?
U we have not made a public records request for that. However, we did receive um a copy of a scope of work um which appeared to be more orientated towards um let me let me back up. The uh initial
consultant their scope of work was very broad. However, there is a second component to that which was very narrow that appeared to be tailored to the building itself. the rebuilding of it. We can provide because what what I'm
thinking here um is if we have the scope of work and then we get his report, we can see if he was directed to make that report the way it looks or he went outside outside the scope of work and did a report. I mean, I think it's
crucial that we know what what actually the purpose of this report was and they be transparent about it so we we can then once we get the report say okay well his scope of work was this this is what he came up with. I agree with you.
We'll we'll make that request. Okay. Thank you. Anything else? Well, Mr. Mayor, I acknowledge all and we'll take forward those actions. Uh if if the council wants, I'll yield some of my time to Tracy Kohler if you do want
to hear any of her feedback on her time as principal as well. Okay. I if you're okay with it, I'm okay with it. Tracy, no pressure. Thank you, mayor, and council members. Um town manager, I appreciate the opportunity to speak a little bit about
my time as as principal of uh the beach school. I think one other fact that we haven't discussed um or at least had the opportunity to celebrate is the fact that we had an international grant from the Rotary Club. It's it's a big deal
because the Rotary Club, as you know, oh my god, now I'm getting nervous and I never get nervous. That's crazy. The emotional aspect, I get it. Um the Rotary Club as you know is a is a major civic service group um both in the
United States and internationally and and most international grants go to third world countries um specifically water quality. Um Haiti has a large international Rotary grant and through the help of the Rotary Club of Bonita Springs Sunset program. I happen to be a
former member of the Sunrise program, but through the sunset program um at Bonita Springs, we were able to secure nearly a $200,000 grant that we awarded. And it's a big deal because nobody gets those in the United States. And
um and through that grant, we were able to purchase the sun shades over our basketball courts that you see. um very thankful to that vendor that when they were damaged after Hurricane Ian that he was able to come in and replace those as part of his inind donation back to the
community. But most importantly, when we tout the water school, marine environment program, and and their steam approach, the science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics programs that we're able to attract students and families to at the beach
school, um the Rotary International funds provided for field trip fees, for transportation fees to like FGCU to talk about a drop of water as it begins in the forest and goes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. It talks about water
quality um and monitoring systems. Our students were involved with that. A great partnership with the Moundhouse and all the professional learning that surrounds that piece. We had some great professional learning at the beginning of the school year with our staff to
talk about how we approach things as a scientist. Um and that created some great educational opportunities for our students when they were in the classroom. it it purchased our um our interactive sandbox. If you've ever seen that, it's you have an overlay of a projector and
you move the sand around and it creates kind of a topography and then put your hand over it and it simulates rain that falls and it shows like water runoff. Um, it created opportunity opportunities for us to buy things like ozobots and Bbots, which are little robots that you
learn to program. And it really talks about that logical sequential engineer think that helps students um go through the reiterative process of of you know failing forward. So you try something, you run it, it doesn't work, where do we
go back, where do we collaborate, um, and fix the problem and and push forth with our engineer thinks. So a lot of that equipment for our STEM school, for the playground, for professional learning was part of an international Rotary grants. And I think it's
important to acknowledge the Rotarians who helped make that that grant come true for the school and is a is a great attractor for Fort Myers Beach Elementary. Tracy, can you I know there was several people that stepped up to help in other
ways, residents of the island, and if you want to touch on that as far, I mean, the Rotary obviously was a tremendous tremendous gift, but could you talk a little bit about some of the the donations that you received from the school or for the school from just residents? Oh my goodness. So, we we
would have people from the Arts Association, the Beach Kids Foundation, you name it. any kind of foundation on the island has come forward with checks to support our STEM program actually since day one um when I was able to take the the role of principal um and those
funds would come you know focused on STEM or focused on student supplies um focused on experiences for students where we could go out into the community um hopefully you've seen some of the pictures that have been posted through social media our students are out in the community our parents are volunteering
to be part of those field trips. Um the current principal there is continuing all these great programs um for the beach school. So our students are immersed in the environment and through the continued donations we're able to supplement those experiences for our
students and continue to buy those supplies and things that are consumable items. And you could choose to answer this if you wanted and I I since Will was nice enough to grant some time to allow you to talk to us. you there was a lot of talk out there about some of the decisions that you had to make when you
were still there as a principal that I know were not very easy for you. No, they weren't. But they were done out of need and could you just talk a little bit about what those needs were and why you felt you needed to make those those decisions? It's a hard question. You don't have to answer. I don't mean to
No, it was it was a really tough time. Yeah. Um, so as our budgets came in and we had to make some decisions to continue to make the school viable, some personnel decisions had to be made and they were
tough. Um, but we wanted to make sure we kept the school focused and we kept the school able to operationalize. And so we I had to make some tough decisions. And so, um, I'm happy to say, and and Monica had
mentioned this as well, that individuals were able to continue employment with other schools within the district. Um, we had some some great people be able to move into the private sector and open up their own businesses and pursue their passions that way.
But it was those hard decisions um that needed to be made so that the school budget would come into compliance with what was given um to me at that moment. And we were able to make it work. Combining grade levels has been a challenge, but our our staff is is a
seasoned staff. Um they come with a lot of skill sets and experiences that that make it work. Um, we're very fortunate to have the very best educators um, on the island and well maybe off island at the moment, but within our island school
and they're they're able to make that work. And I think one of the the best things that came out of it was in our combination classroom, students really get to see some some models, right? Because if you're a kindergartener coming in and you're not really sure how to sit in your seat and you're not
really sure what you kind of look around to your to your fellow classmates and you see others um behaving in certain ways um interacting in certain ways so they have those role models and then our our first graders have the opportunity to be those leaders in the classroom.
So, you know, it's a give and take both ways. And so, yes, hard decisions were made, but our our staff was up for the challenge, and I think they've done tremendously well. Right. Thanks, Tracy. Does anyone else have any questions for Tracy?
John. All right. That will move us to our next item, which is moving across the street to the Fort Mars Beach Elementary School. For those that can attend, we welcome you. Uh, from there, we will adjourn at the school. Is that correct? Um, that is correct. Um I don't
know Amy how you're going to record it. Um or would it make more sense saying a word over adjourn and then yeah I think I think so you could adjourn and then um just meet over um again as you announce there's going to be no discussion among
council members u of any topic that may come back to you like the ILA. Okay everyone okay with that? All right then I'll see a motion to adjurnn. So move second. Motion by councelor King, seconded by councelor Safford.