##VIDEO ID:c-35vS5n700## okay J great heavenly father thank you Lord for the opportunity to be here tonight to take care of our school business we pray God that have open minds and Open Hearts father conduct ourselves a way that's pleasing to you and each other father we thank you Lord for the accomplishments of these girls that are here tonight we thank you Lord for that pray that you be with them and those playing ball later tonight pray your head of protection upon them Lord we thank you Lord for the opportunity to serve and be in leadership pray God that we always work hard father worthy of the calling school board members superintendents leaders School administrators and teachers and all the staff father may we be found faithful father every every day Lord as we uh ende to teach our kids in Jesus name I pray am I know we got got some girls got to play all about 29 minutes so I'm going to ask coach s we're excited tonight we recognize the uh state champions they've changed it from onea to rural rural class Champions um and so I guess this is the first year of girl class so we won first year we're going to win it for many many years to come but I'm so excited I know as a community accounting we're excited about our girls accomplishments this is two out of three years we've won it and uh it it felt like just taking care of business this year uh I could tell that y'all were ready to play and it was exciting watch but uh a state championship is very difficult and uh there's been uh none one until Co about here back in softball I guess back in 2012 2013 and uh and so we're we're excited for the girls and then the opportunities that come with that I was just told we got a couple that's committed I'll let her tell you I'll let her tell you we got some okay maybe that's not public okay public knowlege St okay so come on coach and come talk about the girls talk about the season real quick quick then we'll get these basketball girls okay I would you do it for season we had fun thank everybody for all their support on cheing the girls on um they're a fun group to coach y be sure I say you know [Music] their Fone group um we have three of the four seniors right now that have committed we got Morgan she's going to the University of mobile and then Cara and M just committed to Florida State College of Jacksonville to play indoor and outdoor beach volleyball so they'll be the first two girl our first RS to sign beach volleyball so that's very exciting and because mobile have Beach so Morgan too are you doing Beach also sogan doing Beach also very excited um to get our RS only I I think I Mr like they're very very beautiful excited about that proud of thank all right coach one rural class Coach of the Year okay and go Ral class Miss Harvey won rural class player of the year so let's give give State that's a big deal and so we're very proud proud of y'all and and the opportunity for some of y'all to keep playing that's a really good thing to keep playing and get your school PID for oh that's really really awesome we're very proud of y'all so anyway I know some of y'all got to go can we get a picture uh get a picture with the board y want to stand in front of the board [Music] let conratulations okay yes this com criminal as the Le president of the Liberty County Education Association I feel it is important to speak tonight on behalf of the Liberty County all Liberty County Teachers as you know Liberty County is once again an any District I would contribute most of that to the hard work of our teachers students included but teachers our teachers work many extra hours so each student can receive the best education possible they do this while dealing with overcrowding in classrooms with little to no tell they face um using their planning time to meet with parents and attend training while still having to after school to prepare for the next day just to do it all over again we as teachers continue to do it because we want to make a difference but unfortunately due to the cost of living many teachers are now having to make a choice a tough choice a choice between staying with a district that they've been with for 15 to 20 years or leave to work in a nearby County for a higher salary just to make end meet this has and will continue unless we find a way to get our salary up to par with our neighboring County Liberty County is currently ranked as 60 number 65 out of 67 counties for the average teacher salaries and as you can just we were just demonstrating we're not used to losing or being last I don't know about you but being near the last in all the Florida counties is not where we need to be um it doesn't help teachers feel like we are a priority or valued and it's just a very concerning issue as you know we are back at the table attempting to reach an agreement in our negotiations but year after year we are told the district can't afford it although what is going to prove the budget for salaries reflects differently we understand the FTE has gone down minimum wage has gone up but so has the cost of living nearly 30% in fact since 2017 yet teacher salaries have only increased by approximately 9% at the same time it just doesn't add up so school board members I urge you tonight take another look at the budget you approved to use on instructional salaries and find a way to remedy this issue at hand many of the teachers in the district are currently teaching or have taught your children and grandchildren so I urge you tonight to please help retain one of the most valuable resources you have in Li County that's your te thank you [Music] I minutes when I was first deciding what I would do what I would say in that 3 minutes my first thought was to just stand here for the whole time and say nothing just silence because that's been the typical response I've got when I text or email some of you I will say that two of you recently replied to an email and I appreciate that you are not acknowledged receiving my message I ditched the three minute of AAL silence idea for three reasons one it was going to be just as awful for me as I hoped it would be for you two I've been told I like talk and three I feel that my 35 years of experience and insight on teaching and working in the school system has enough value that people should listen so now probably about two minutes left I want to briefly discuss the concern that I know represent the large percentage of teachers in our district and that part's important to me I'm not here for B I'm officially retired and INR I'm speaking for teachers and general General many of whom decided for whatever reason not to publicly say what's on their minds about the negotiation between Lea and the district I'm not going to present numbers I trust that you will do your job as board members and look into the budget for yourself ask questions and then follow up with more questions Liberty County's teachers are some of the lowest PID teachers in the State of Florida we should all be asking why is that okay with anybody in this room if not what do you plan to do about it I understand that we are working with a finite amount of money I can and do live within the constraints of the budget we all know who my husband is but I'm going to say there are two separate bank accounts at my house because we have different interests and different priorities mine do not include farming C honey or buying land the school district is always forced to make budgetary decisions we understand that but where you choose to put the money that you do have however limited that your budget may be tells me and every other employee in our district what um what value you place on us and what your priorities are I'm just asking that you make teachers a prority show us what we are worse to you the complimentary speeches at the annual back to school breakfast and the gifts and prizes during teacher appreciation we've can made really nice gestures but we deserve real recognition and fair compensation if you really think that Li be parents teachers are doing a good job this quote came across my Facebook feed this week and I think it's the perfect summary for what I'm trying to say tonight it said truly leadership happens when the team feels supported valued and Unstoppable I hope you'll be that kind of leader for the teachers and students in our districts I personally want to believe we are all Dy [Music] good evening please excuse my nervousness um but I would like to share some personal thoughts and experiences with I'm currently halfway through my 19th year as a teacher all of which have been here in Liberty County over the past 18 and a half years I have attended and participated in countless professional development opportunities which is the document I passed out to you renewing a teaching certificate requires a minimum of 120 hours in service forance each time every five years I have had almost double the required amount to renew I just renewed my certificate this past summer so I'm good for another 5 years until 2029 I still have 224 points available and banks in my epac account yes that's right I'm four and a half years away from having to renew my certificate again and I already have almost double the requirement needed I say all this to demonstrate the amount of time I have put into improving my career as an educator over the last 18 and a half years and I'm not alone with 18 years of completed service I current s is $ 45,7 186 our Liberty County School District base pay meaning a year one teacher with no experience or even with recent legislation paros who are going to school to be a teacher can be hired as a classroom teacher their pays $43,900 $3 more or $11.53 a day is that all my 19 years of experience is worth I understand that V and teachers are not being fairly compensated Statewide or even Nationwide therefore teachers have sought higher paying teaching jobs elsewhere or have even left the profession all together Liberty County has been fortunate enough to not be impacted by this teacher shortage until the last few years unlike other districts we've been able to to not have to take drastic measures to cover classroom teaching positions although we have lost some excellent Educators along the way we all know Li county is different it's special with our small town atmosphere and strong family groups we quote unquote take care of our own however that is starting to not be the case anymore some lby County resident teachers now drive out of counties others have been or are currently looking elsewhere for higher salary employment because they can no longer the cost of living increase to stay here I ask you board members to look at the budget for yourself ask the questions why are you over budgeting over a million dollars each year for instructional salaries why is that money not being spent on instructional salaries and before you hear that those numbers aren't correct they were pulled directly from doe I messaged you as board members personally this question and Mason keber has been the only one to acknowledge and respond thank you Mason [Music] I have like two sentences can I finish thank you of the approximately 90 total teachers in the county about 40 are what we would call veteran teachers they are invested in our County in our community in our schools and in our children now it's time for you the board members to invest in your teachers that hold the future of this community and our class thank you last year every quarter have ofs their visits compliance visits we have had 100% compliance visits to each one of the we got one revisit we still waiting for offer we had no compliance issues at County High School and no compliance issues the couple issues that we had atford were one paperwork issue and one Mar Corner both those corrected waiting onit chair um Ron forat very proud of our school athletic programs success they been experience and I was very proud to have those girls come I know we tried to get them earlier we couldn't this was the only opportunity we had but I appreciate that I appreciate them and the postsecondary opportunity they're getting to get scholarship money for for their athletic prow so excited about that um we're we're living now where people are to beat with students can't recruit but kids can go wherever they want to now so we're a draw for academics and many extracurricular activities um our football field house update uh electrical equipment talk Kyle Rogers this week highback equipment lighting all been ordered we had to some of the lighting for that all that's been ordered excuse me um it's ready for installation waiting for dck and rad to come uh set the uh the box and then they everything will be ready to go uh Florida public say this I appreciate James FL helping us on that a little bit his son uh we're able to save us probably $30,000 on that utiliz different Transformer Transformer the thing on P is that a transform got right first time anyway uh that was big help for us to to save us a lot of wi um and Kyle continues to tell me everything to be done by the call softball Fieldhouse update um I talked with Coach Su about doing a a ribbon cutting on the Fieldhouse um and so hope to do that we still have I asked Katie she got this we got $130,000 left um and so you know right now we going have to probably L expansion on hold until figure out what to do there are some ideas about building some platform that put the bach higher where kind of see over the dugouts uh but I don't think that's that's not going to be done for this season but we can still do a rib fing and all that kind of stuff but we still got some money we still got some options for that I just don't think we can get that done before CS um we've reminded our students and parents of everyday counts uh student attendance is still really a challenge and I know that school leadership our school admin are really working hard to try to get kids in school I talked to a parent today you know just we had a bus issue and Kevin was out with Renee and know she said you know we we had come to school but uh one day was PE and and I'm was a bus yeah bus coming by there but you rain you know it's just school's optional and so and it's just a handful but it adds up when it comes to educating kids so we're continuing that trying to push that and make sure kids are School very grateful for Jody's daughter Hannah Bailey I Johnson sorry um who produced The Miss Liberty County pageant over over the weekend on Saturday that was a fundraiser for our our school ppos uh raised 1100 first year that's wonderful that's incredible she's going to distribute that to our three schools PTO programs and Jody and I talked today that thing really has a problem the future I don't know how many y are involved famili with mpal colorage that thing's massive they got people who started businesses down there because it's not just about that one page it kind of spreads to a circuit of sorts and there's preparation things kind of sprung up as little little side hustles for a lot of people down there but uh this thing can grow and be something good for count but also good as fundraiser for our schools gradu graduation rates came out Friday um Liberty County High School 93 if you looked at that link I sent y'all on Monday morning it it looked like it said 82% that figures the camp Liberty veral franchise all that's kind of figure in there the district so it's really not reflected Liberty County high school but Li County High School at 935 we can't control all the other other things but very happy about that state average was 897 so we're we're above State average and even as a district even including those we're up 10 points so uh they're doing a good job down there as well so very proud obviously want to be at 100% did we have some districts at 100% yes there were some districts that were 100% And we Eric and I we we've worked together and there's some there's some things that we can do to help that Co we took a little bit last year we knew that some of those kids who were Virtual School were are said they were doing virtual school not doing virtual school they were they were exiting right into build G province we tried to circumvent that try to get them try at least one more attempt to get a standard high school diploma try to get them in some home education program before they they oper with the GD program and that help that helps us uh tomorrow C Liberty Credit Union rib cut at 11 o'clock a u so if you'd like to be there all I know all the board members are invited You' probably been contacted by Thomas so please be there Jeff's going to go in my St I've got Pac got to be at tomorrow Chipley so I won't be able to be there Liberty the legislative delegation meeting for Li County will be January 29th I'll give you some more information on that Cory Simon Jason CH be there that'll be at the courthouse as usual and then lastly no school next Monday January 20th and observ Department Junior Day sh thank you I appreciate you have a great New Year all rolling New Year [Music] discussion discussion Carri item a motion to approve AG for July 14 2025 motion second discussion car it number seven a motion to approve December 10 2024 R meeting motion discussion say next item eight item item8 be a motion to approve December 202 financial report and transactions have a motion second second any discussion motion car motion to approve January 20125 person table with addition correction have a motion Mo second Mr Mo any discussion all oppos motion carries ceas a motion approve January 2025 have a [Music] motion [Music] discuss TR member keep amount of $733 to attend 2020 feary and 25 moot second discussion car next Item B made a motion to approve superintendent travel expend amount of $99 for attendance to the 2025 as leadership conference in Orland Florida feary 19 to 2 [Music] Mo discuss [Music] motion approve District Chas am $1,194 attend 16th annual Focus users conference day feary [Music] 4 next item a motion toate title three years 2024 to 2027 have a motion motion Mr ke second any discussion me need a motion to approve Chas receive the physical 25 25 have a motion second [Music] discussion a motion to approve staff receive data entry supplement for the phys 2425 title May Carson and have a motion have second [Music] discuss next a motion to approve the following statute received any V service guidance councel from the physical 2425 to be paid title [Music] discuss 102 total La have a motion Mr MO discuss the yeah no this this is okay yeah yeah so now now we can okay so now we can get it correct correct y got to release it okay gotos thank you we're not having correct correct car the motion approve second f grp b 106 between F and Sterling info System Incorporated to Federal mandated drug and ALC tested Service 1st 1st 25 to the 12 31st 27 have a motion discussion [Music] say car next item j a motion to approve agreement between Liber County School Board W PT Ser first 6 25 31st 25 have a motion [Music] second item item a motion to approve the title name change Direct secretary T direct the Food Service secretary through June 30th 2025 have a motion Mo motion m j second Mr Mason any discuss all fav say any oppos motion car next item 11 board member concern Mr ke thank you for being here all of you I appreciate um I know I've been asking a lot of questions a lot of information kle Administration I know I'm driving probably crazy all information I'm question asking so thank you for that for the details for information thank youall for having the to be here speak up def place to do thank you opportunity um love this County love the kids thank you for taking care of the schools making sure they're safe I got four of in the middle so it means a lot that they're safe and it means a lot that they're educated so like everyone knows all people are doing and I sincerely appreciate everything everybody's do take care of my young everybody else's um I'll leave it at that looking forward to you know any other comments thoughts anything You' like to share from meone any way I take everything I hear very seriously so thank you all again app I had children go through the school system you've been right there with my than to um I appreciate you hear you so thank you for coming it takes a lot to get behind that microphone up there I've done it so I understand it we appreciate you know what you do every day again Ricky keep them safe man I I know you're working we have had so many unfunded mandates put on the school system um with no with no money coming in so you know you've done a great job we appreciate you to and Mandy thank you for all you do grants I mean you see right here you know I know what you do you make that put that greas that wheel up so I get it um but thank you all I'm hoping we're going to have a great year rest of Year look forward to serving yall um again I want to Echo about Hannah in the $100 it was not a lot of money raised for our PTO but we now got some folks on board that are excited and they we see the possibilities that could happen and happen in this County and as I explained um to apparent the other night this is not just about a crown this is about representing our County and LCA very high standard um these girls now will go on a path to represent our our County in the legisl they'll be sent for legisl they'll be sent to County meetings they'll be sent to board Mee to represent so we look forward to this and I'm very proud that we can now hand over a check and Hannah does have a Cas check hand over to our PTO so this is a big deal Tri for Liberty County congratulations to all the young ladies it was beautiful um of course I'm a little but it was a very well-run pageant thank you again to my daughter and to all the parents participated forward to working with school in the future okay again say thank yall for coming Shar opinion with us tonight thank everybody for doing a good job [Music] apprciate thank thank for I don't get back to you don't take it I w't get to you I W get back to you with wrong information soate job again say thank you to the girls for doing such a good job of school for continued state championship I think that's the third fourth softb volleyball volleyball nobody else here say that come close to um other than that the U year will be over before we know it and come [Music] make