##VIDEO ID:0VSDibMisQg## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] [Music] [Music] good evening and welcome to the January 14th 2025 meeting of the mar County School Board is called to order at 5:32 mirroring and modeling the way our students begin each day I ask that we observe a moment of silence at this time please join me thank you Reverend Cummings you please read our board commitment statement yes ma'am we are the Maran County School District leadership team when we come together to work we are efficient effective and productive our three most important characteristics are dedicated transparent and individually responsible to work well together we must demonstrate respect confront reality and be accountable who always put students first we will leave a legacy of success thank you Reverend cumings for the courtesy of those listening to the meeting I am requesting everyone in the audience to please please turn off their electronic devices or turn them on vibrate later in the meeting up to 30 minutes will be provided for the individuals to address the board on matters concerning the operation of the Maran County school system or the school board only presentation to the board are limited to five minutes and are televised if you wish to address the board regarding a regular agenda item or matters on which the board count customarily takes action you may must first complete a peach form located in the lobby if you wish to address the board regarding a public hearing or a student discipline matter please complete a lime green form these forms must be fully completed and received to the board clerk no later than 540 the procedures applicable for each of these are on a separate sheet good evening Miss Martinez please call the role good evening Madam chair Dr Allison Campbell district one here Mrs Lorie Conrad District Two here Mr Eric Cummings District three here Mrs Nancy thrower District Four here Dr Sarah James District 5 here Chloe cawi Boris high school here Carson Switzer North Maran high school here Dr Diane gullet superintendent here Mr Jeremy power Schoolboard attorney here thank you very quickly before we move forward I just want to welcome our two student board members we're so thankful to have you both here this evening and look forward to your input as we move through our agenda so thank you both for being here Dr gullet um please share information regarding who will lead our inspiration and pledge good evening Madam chair members of the board I'm I'm happy to do so I'm I'm going to bring forward to Dr Brewer right now and she is going to introduce to us some special guests from Belleview High School who have been involved with Esau parents night and so we really appreciate them being here and they will provide some inspiration and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance thank you thank you good afternoon chair Conrad board members and superintendent Dr gullet I want to introduce two students as we strive to highlight student accomplishments at our schools twin brothers Christopher and Nicholas Rivera are seniors at Bellevue High School they are here this evening with their principal Mrs guest and teachers Mrs figuroa and Mrs Rodriguez they recognized a great need in their school community and with the principal they made it happen they created a plan and I will let them share the details of their plan and it is impressive and we we want to make sure we recognize this because this is something that needs to be replicated in all of our schools and so we're very excited um to share this information with you this evening and then as Dr gullet stated they will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance Christopher and Nicholas good evening good evening and thank you for having us here all right I'd like to provide a little bit of background to the conception of our program B B A was born as a spin-off to a previous program my brother and I launched and piloted in Colombia called laaa project the project aimed to teach a rural Colombian Town nestled in the andian mountain region English and taught sustainable agriculture uh in this coffee producing capital in the world being the coffee producing capital in the world this project aimed to bridge the gap between Colombian coffee producers and American Distributors likewise Bel langes seeks to bridge the language gap between us and America's largest underrepresented Workforce demographic Latinos in our sophomore year as tour guides for our school school's am ambassador program we noticed an increasing number of Hispanic students transferring to our school only knowing Spanish in our junior year we translated for Latino students at our school's NHS induction ceremony thus bringing us here a school conversation with uh our Administration revealed that my high school's Hispanic population had grown to over a quarter in the past year uh once again my brother and I aim to bridge the gap between opportunities at school and at work between students and parents and the administration and the student body to develop to to teach English to parents in the evenings and advise those groups through either enlistment enrollment or employment it's been our pleasure to use the resources we've gained from our learning in Maron County Public Schools and apply them to make an impact within our immediate Community teaching English to promising Hispanic parents with the drive and the ability to accomplish such a difficult feat has got to be the best high school experience I've been blessed with having to experience progress and hope that is that a growing demographic can continue to make strides in in this aspect is very rewarding and for that I'd like to acknowledge and thank all of biew high school for making this dream a reality but more specifically Miss guest Miss Figaroa and Miss Rodriguez for donating their time most importantly I'd also like to thank the parents the students who gave their time to make this idea a reality this wouldn't be possible without their drive and inherently Hispanic characteristic to persevere and to overcome such challenges such as that of learning a new language thank you to Marin County public schools for inviting us here to talk about this wonderful opportunity now it is our honor to lead the Pledge of Allegiance in today's school board meeting you would please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the five 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 Nicholas and Christopher will you Nicholas and Christopher will you wait there for just a minute so the board can come around and get a picture with you e e [Applause] can you hear me now okay all right um we do have some recognition so Dr goet if you'll call um and start with our first recognition I certainly will be happy to and I just have to say thank you again to uh Belle viw and to that wonderful team because that is a growing um group of students body that we have and so impressed so thank you and we we have a number chair of um and board a number of recognitions tonight so bear with me first and foremost behind me are our two newest uh student School Board Representatives I'd like to provide some introduction to you board and to the public I'm pleased to introduce Chloe ctz who is from Forest High School she is a senior and she is in a number of clubs I can't read them all because it would take the rest of the evening but an incredible leader in in a number of those organizations um she also plays a multitude of sports and tennis and um I think she's the number five seed I've heard uh she serves as the wing commander of the afjrotc program and so she does a lot of organization and Leadership I know you'd be very proud of that as well and she is a member of the magnet program CCAP and so a Perpetual learner and very devoted to our community so welcome Chloe also also pleased to introduce Karen car I'm sorry Carson Switzer who's a senior at North Marian High School and um also incredible credentials in many many clubs and Carson is involved in doing his Ace diploma uh which he'll conclude this year he founded North Marian High School's Ultimate Frisbee Club so there's leadership and Entrepreneurship if I've ever seen it he also serves in addition to all the clubs uh vice president of the National Honor Society so incredible leadership there uh member of the government Association and a number of sports including golf soccer volleyball and cross country and uh he is very involved with his church and helping others and also uh hopes to attend the University of Florida go Gators so welcome Carson student representative you to come down and get a group picture with the board please right [Applause] okay our second recognition Dr gullet yes for red women week well I think we're going to do literacy month first okay just because we we have a number of them but we'll have uh Miss de come forward and board you're going to hear a little bit about what we're doing for celebrating literacy which we know is the at the core of what we do um throughout all content areas literacy is critical so miss rle thank you yes good evening chair Conrad Dr gullet and uh board members the ability to read empowers our students to succeed academically think critically and engage with the world around them fostering strong literacy skills prepare students for lifelong learning and personal growth celebrate literacy week in the State of Florida is designed to raise awareness about the importance of reading and to inspire Florida students and families to make Reading part of their daily routines celebrate literacy week 2025 is scheduled for the week of January 27th through January 31st this year's theme is building literacy constructing the foundation for success with this theme in mind schools will be celebrating books related to Workforce education and each school's literacy leadership committee developed a plan to support these efforts at this time I would like to introduce Mrs Heather leira principal at Saddlewood Elementary to share how her school plans to celebrate literacy and to recognize a few students who showcase outstanding achievement in literacy thank you good evening board members Dr gullet thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening to highlight a foundational element that lies at the heart of every successful education and that's literacy this year for literacy week at Saddlewood we have many exciting events planned some of the events that will take place on our campus just some of them are the guest readers in each classroom collaborative discussions on our favorite books we're buddying up with a book bringing our favorite stuffed animal to read with dressing up as a vocabulary word or idiom that's my favorite day and then we're going to culminate that with a parent literacy night that we wrap up the week of events I'm really proud to share with you my students I love to highlight s such great kids and these are the students that we wanted to bring to you today um they're excellent examples of what they achieve when you have a strong emphas on literacy these four Young Learners have not only excelled in reading and writing but they have also demonstrated a love for Learning and a commitment to pushing the boundaries of what they can achieve I would like to introduce first Isaiah Torres come your friend he is our top a prize winner this semester um he was first the first nine weeks he was our top and now in our second nine weeks he is the top he has read over 56 books independently in first grade with a 98% accuracy want to highlight him congratulations and he has been with us since VPK I must say correct right yep okay good job Guadalupe come here Guadalupe Guadalupe Garcia she is um within her peer group she really promotes literacy and she holds the top spot in AR right in second grade I can't and she has read over 60 books this school year independently with a 97% average good job Bryson Simmons he's our third grader we'd like to highlight Bryson Bryson has been with us since kindergarten as well right yep and he is also he's always tackling challenging text he's never forgetting to read his books and his comprehension for reading right now is at a 95% and you know in third grade that's a really good percentage so we're really proud of him congratulations and vion Patel so vion is our top reader for fifth grade I have a lot to say about vion vion consistently scores in the top level of his fast assessments year after year he actually emailed me a couple of months ago right from his school email and he asked me to head up a kindness project he said I really think it's important for our school and so he headed up our kindness project um he has been at Saddlewood since kindergarten and he has led the top reading spot every single year since kindergarten every single year um in our AR he has earned multiple Saddlewood reading shirts right and he has also learned earned level fives both in reading and math earning perfect math scores two years in a row and that just showed you how literacy impacts every subject area not just our reading it impacts everything so I just want to highlight it's just proof that your commitment to education and literacy is going to make you a success so congratulations and I just these students are not only excelling literacy they really embod embody the future of our children they show us what is possible when we invest in developing those early literacy skills from a very early age and they remind us that literacy is more than just about our academic success in life thank you for the opportunity to highlight my students tonight thank you Miss laira will you hang out for just a minute so we can come get a quick picture with your group and I just have to add very quickly my first grade teacher heart is so happy just congratulations to all of you for your hard work um getting those AR points reading your books sometimes you have to read them more than once if you're getting a 95 or a 98% in your comprehension so super proud of all three of you so we're going to come down and grab a picture for ch [Applause] okay Dr gullet we're ready for our next recognition we are chair thank you so I'm pleased to have Miss Delo doll come forward because we're now going to recognize winners from Red Ribbon Week and I think everyone knows how important it is to make good choices and and Red Ribbon Week is a great reminder and opportunity to highlight that so there still no doll thank you good evening chair Conrad and board members and superintendent Dr gullet each year we look forward to sharing information about our collaboration with the Maran County Children's Alliance and our participation in Red Ribbon events Miss Danielle Perez School social worker worked with the Children's Alliance again this year and is here to share information about the event and announc this year's Spirit contest winners good evening and thank you for having me as you know the history of Red Ribbon Week dates back to 1985 to honor the amazing work of Enrique Kiki camarina the Red Ribbon campaign is the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the nation this campaign is set to send a clear message to our community that we do not want illegal drugs in Maring County and it hopes to encourage our families to talk to their children about the dangers of drug abuse this year's event was like no other the kickoff event at the Maring County drive-in theater had 748 of our family members and community members and attendance that came in 172 cars that number included 326 adults and 422 youth many local youth volunteer volunteers helped at the event ensuring that it was able to go off smoothly I would like to take a moment to thank some of the vendors and sponsors who helped make that takeoff event possible so thank you to the Maran County Children's Alliance Maran County drive-in theater Casa Boys and Girls Club of Maran County fwh in Associates celebrate recovery at recovery or at Celebration Church Maring County treatment courts the arnet house tfp of Maran County SWAT picking up the pieces Brazen Safe Kids Maran County Sheriff's Department the Okala police department and the Maran County Hospital District this our schools embrac the theme of life is a movie live drug free on Monday of Red Ribbon Week our schools focused on Mental Health with movie Magic Monday many of our schools created short films or posters to promote a drug-free World Tuesday was take action Tuesday directing your future some things that were seen on this day including write including wri a letters to iconic or favorite movie characters to encourage them to make good choices on Wednesday our schools focus on physical and mental health with Wellness Wes Wellness Wednesday this day focused on creating good habits and some schools hosted Wellness fairs Throwback Thursdays had our schools looking back at Classic films and discussing the positive messages and themes that were found throughout them finally on Friday our schools hosted red carpet days for our finale Friday the grand premiere of a drug-free life some of them also hosted film festivals to showcase the students hard work during this week the schools worked hard to engage and encourage our students to make good choices about drugs and show them the dangers of using drugs many of our schools had pledge banners filled with student signatures pledging To Be Drug Free a big thank you is owed to our schools that participated in this year's red Ren week Spirit contest so thank you to forom learning Early Learning Academy theelen Middle School Oola Middle School yamina Park Middle School okali Charter High School Legacy Elementary School Belleview Middle School Spar Elementary School and Howard Middle School all of these schools went above and beyond on to demonstrate their passion and understanding of being drug free the winners of this year's Spirit contest have outdone themselves so at the elementary school level we want to congratulate forom Early Learning Academy the school spirit that this school showed you could see it even from the [Applause] road you want to come down and get your chat so as they come down the middle school level we need to congratulate Oola middle school after after a tough tiebreaker between the schools this school was able to pull off the victory after comparing student made films and then at the high school level congratulations to okal Charter High School stay stay they put ain't that easy everything into this contest and the students went above and beyond so thank you for so much for allowing us to bring this amazing event into our schools it is an honor to watch it grow each year in the impact it makes on our student population thank you all right board we sneak around here to the front and grab a picture we're just very thankful for the work that you're doing than okay Dr gullet I think we're next ready for our next recognition our attendance winners yes absolutely Miss Delo doll is going to come back and board I don't have to share with you I you have prioritized attendance and thank you for your support of the the whole notion and understanding that we cannot teach students if we do not have them in class and so attendance is at the Cornerstone of being able to teach our students and thank you for your recognition of that an opportunity tonight to recognize attendance winners thank you Miss Del no doll absolutely we are grateful for another opportunity to talk about attendance Miss Sherry Lauria our School attendance advocate in court liaison was unable to attend the last recognition but she is here with us this evening and is very excited to share with you the latest School Achievements with that I welcome Miss laa good evening hello good evening I am excited about this because as a district we just keep increasing with our attendance and this is so exciting so today we're recognizing one Elementary and one middle school that has increased their quarter to attendance more than any other school in The District in addition these two schools are above our District's daily average of 91.9% for quarter 2 but our district average is now even higher than that and these two schools are exceeding that average as well to recognize the schools with the most improved attendance for the previous quarter Maran County public schools has a traveling attendance Banner this Banner is displayed proudly at these schools for the next quarter to recognize a job well done we're going to begin by recognizing the most improved Elementary School for attendance with an increase in attendance of 1.10% this Elementary School is working hard and their tier one ideas are getting their students excited to get to school on time and every day and I wanted to highlight some of their programs so you can all hear the great things that they're doing one is a riddle of the day is announced on the morning show and is conducted weekly students must be at school to participate and all students that submitted the correct answer receive a prize when they're in the cafeteria the next is perfect attendance is recogn recognized quarterly at the awards ceremony in the cafeteria and the students are receiving bracelets and necklaces for their perfect attendance for PBIS events they're conducted quarterly as well and the students must be present to ex um to attend and the buzz from these events has made the kids so excited and they're just getting there on time and every day to be a part finally this school has a spirit day Spirit day Fridays the class showing the most Spirit receives ice pops the students have so much fun with being at school and being a part of showing their school spirit so I love all their great ideas and I want to announce the school implementing them at this time I'd like to invite principal Mrs Tracy wil and her attendance team from Emerald Shores Elementary School to receive the traveling attendance Banner congratulations to this amazing [Applause] team do you want to do a picture just with Elementary or do both of them it's up to you I'm wondering about space with the banner Kevin Will Tell Us Where to stand however Kevin on how are we on Space would it be better to do a picture with each and then come okay we're coming con [Applause] chores next we move to our Middle School attendance recognition this Middle School improved its attendance by 1.40% in Quarter Two this year more than ever they have focused on building positive School culture to be sure each student feels welcomed valued and connected some of the ways they have done this is by using a PBIS token economy where students are recognized for being in class every day and for being on the prowl which stands for students being prepared respectful ontime working hard and being a leader the next thing they're doing is they're striving for clear and open communication between the families and the schools they're doing this with quarterly family engagement events in the evening monthly newsletters weekly sky home and personalized calls home from their family engagement liaison and guidance team these calls help the families understand the importance of attendance and assist them with any barriers they may be facing finally the school has also implemented a mentoring program where targeted students receive check-ins from the leadership team and are provided monthly incentives for both their attendance and grades so it's great to see how the school is really valuing and creating a positive environment where students and families alike feel connected and want to to be a part so to announce the school implementing them I'd like to invite principal Mr Dion Gary and his attendance team from Belleview Middle to receive the traveling attendance banner and [Music] [Applause] congratulations okay we get for e [Applause] get your St okay all right thank you Dr gullet I think we have one more recognition we certainly do last but not least tonight I'm just pleased to introduce two of our new leadership team members I'm just going to have them stand for as we typically do so I can just share a little bit of background about them uh there are no strangers to Maran County I'm going to have the first one is Ivon bombach please stand she as you know is our director of facilities construction and maintenance and Miss bomach has a master's degree in engineering and architecture and certification for state requirements for educational facilities which we know as sref in Florida and so we are really pleased to have her in this role she has served for the last five and a half years as the design coordinator in our facilities department so officially again congratulate and welcome Miss bomach welcome Miss [Applause] bomach and Casey Griffith is the newest member of our team he is standing over here to my right and he is the new director of governmental and community relations he comes to us from a role serving the University of Florida and he worked in the office of undergraduate Affairs and we are really pleased to have him on board he has been in Maring County a very long time don't even know if were you born here not not born here but I know he's lived here for a very long time and so is uh very well acquainted with our community and uh agencies and municipalities so we're really pleased to have Mr Griffith on board yes thank you and and that concludes the recognitions for tonight here thank you Dr G all right we graciously want to acknowledge the following donations made to benefit our schools our students and our staff members including a $1,000 donation to bellw elementary school from Hamilton House Incorporated to be used to purchase items and food for holiday events thank you very much Hamilton house um we have $1,150 to Sunrise Elementary School from the martial arts center southwest Okala to be used at the principal's discretion thank you very much the martial arts center of Southwest Okala um we have $2,622 45 to Westport HIgh School from jost's Incorporated to be used to purchase lard lanyards and ID badges holders for students so thank you very much Justin's $6,000 to Marian Technical College for the summer Glenn veterans um excuse me from the summer Glenn veterans and Patriots Club to be used for student scholarships thank you very much to our veterans group $1,100 to dellan high school from Battery boys to be used for the power generation Academy's class project so thank you very much battery boys for that donation we have lastly a$1 thousand donation to Vanguard High School from Sonia Nasser to be used for the expenses and incentives for the Vanguard academic team thank you Sonia Nasser for that donation of $1,000 we um greatly appreciate it and I know the schools and the students do as well um Dr goet please make a recommendation on this evening school board agenda certainly thank you I recommend approval of the agenda for the January 14th 2025 Schoolboard meeting with the materials in the board packet those materials distributed to board members at the meeting and the audio recording included as part of the official record of the meeting with the exception of the following items d 24.1 d24 4.2 d4.3 D2 24.4 D 24.5 d 24.6 d 24.7 and D 24.8 that have been placed under discussion as well as item C 11.1 that has been pulled and placed under discussion pulled agenda items thank you okay thank you Dr goet may I have a motion to approve the superintendent's recommendation I'll move motion um by Reverend Cummings second second by Dr James all those in favor say I I thank you motion passes 5 z may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the November 12th 2024 school board meeting motion to approve the minutes thank you board member thrower may I have a second thank you Dr Campbell is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes 5 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the November 19th 2024 special school board organizational meeting May I have a motion motion to approve thank you Dr James May I have a second second second by Dr Campbell is there any discussion hearing and seeing none all those in favor say I I motion passes 5 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the November 19th 2024 board of directors leasing Corporation meeting May I have a motion motion to approve second motion by board member thrower second by Reverend cumins thank you are there any addition or corrections to the minutes hearing and seeing none those in favor say I I I motion passes 5 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the November 21st 2024 special school board meeting May I have a motion motion to approve thank you Dr James May I have a second second second by Reverend Cummings thank you um are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing and seeing none all those in favor say I I thank you motion passes 5 z may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the November 21st 2024 administrative briefing and work session may I have a motion motion to approve the work session thank you board member thrower may I have a second second thank you Dr James are there any additions or corrections to the minutes seeing none all those in favor say I I motion passes 5 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the December 10th 2024 school board meeting May I have a motion motion to approve thank you Dr James second by Reverend Cummings thank you are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing and seeing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes 5 z may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the December 12th 2024 special school board meeting May I have a motion second motion by Dr James uh second by Dr Campbell thank you um are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes 5 Z thank you board uh Miss Martinez please provide the proof of publication for tonight's school board meeting the notice for the gener 14th 2025 Schoolboard meeting ran in the Ocala Gazette on December 27th 2024 the proov of publication has been attached in board Ducks under proof of publication thank you Miss Martinez good evening attorney powers please explain the rules governing persons who wish to address the school board this evening thank you madam chair in compliance with Section 286 0114 of Florida Statutes the school board has adopted uniform procedures for public speakers who wish to speak at this evening's me meeting either regarding one of today's agenda items or a matter relating to the operations of the school district these procedures will ensure the public has a reasonable opportunity to be heard on Schoolboard or School District matters a written summary of these procedures are available from the table in the lobby public speaker forms are also located on the same table the comp the completed forms were due to the school board's clerk no later than 5:40 p.m. this evening speakers will be called prior to the business portion of the school board's meeting in the order of receipt by the school board clerk before you begin speaking please State your full name for the record and spell your last name each speaker will have five minutes of time however if there are more than five speakers the board May seek consensus to limit each speaker's time to three minutes when the speaker has one minute remaining the speaker will receive a visual symbol or notice to complete his or her comments speakers may not yield their time for to other people speakers and meeting attendees are expected to conduct themselves in a respectful manner therefore verbal attacks and profanity are strictly prohibited pursuant to the procedures for public comments item six speakers are not to identify specific individuals other than themselves or their child unless a statement is provided 24 hours in advance the board is here to listen to your comments only you may be directed to an administrative staff member following the conclusion of your comments for further assistance to address your concerns if there are matters dealing with student discipline including expulsions they will be scheduled at the conclusion of the televised portion of this meeting parents May address the board regarding a discipline matter at that time to ensure student privacy only a parent or Guardian may use a student's first or last name identifying references to or identification of students or their families are also strictly prohibited a speaker speech does not reflect the endorsement sponsorship position or expression of the school district thank thank you for your attention to the board's requirements Madam chair that concludes my explanatory remarks thank you attorney Powers Miss Martinez do we have any speakers this evening yes Madam chair we have nine speakers okay board um since we have a a limit of 30 minutes would you mind if we moved the um time for comments to three minutes instead of five we have consensus on that LE okay all right Miss Martinez will you set the timer for three minutes um I just want to share a little a little bit of general information um since we're in a new facility there are lights on the top of the podium so you'll see green and then yellow and then when you're out of time you'll see the red um light go off all right thank you Miss Martinez I think we're ready for our first Speaker first Speaker Marcia moncaster Dr gullet board members it's Mara mccaster muu n c s t r I'm here on behalf of the kingdom of the sun concert band we are a 50 1c3 nonprofit organization no members are paid and all performances are free and open to the public Craig Lily former band director at North Maran High School is our current conductor music director in 2017 a 25y year in-kind partnership with Maran County Schools was dissolved and we were immediately required to pay a usage fee for weekly rehearsals and quarterly concerts at the MD high modori at a subsequent board meeting Dr Craig ham assessed our usage fee at $16 an hour based upon the use of only the auditorium as opposed to the higher rate for the entire campus and submitted anou to that effect which was personally confirmed with d ham last week all subsequent contracts have specified the aggreed upon $16 uh fee per hour our rehearsals previously held at MTI are now held at the Howard Middle School band room under the watchful eye of Howard Middle School band director Britney scoffield also a member of the band we were notified in December that our hourly usage fee would immediately increase to $26 an hour an increase of more than 60% % for rehearsal site less than 1/5 the size of MTI Auditorium for which utility cost will be considerably less the current agreements for January and February were previously submitted and signed by our board president at the $16 an hour fee both agreements without our prayer knowledge or consent were altered and submitted at the disputed amount a questionable practice at least just last week we were notified that our hourly usage fees for concert weekends will also increase by 300% from $16 to $65 per hour that increase alone will push our week weekend outlay to M CPS per concert weekend from 780 to 1319 8,396 per year including 40 rehearsals add to that 520 for police security and the annual cost jumps to over $10,000 we include among our ID members ages 13 to 96 some of the finest young musicians in Maring County we have seen in our 35 years students pass through our ranks and several including Mar County's only David Jones director of the Forest High School band have gone on to become public school Educators we currently have 10 to 12 Maring County Public School school public school students in the band and four of our long-term members are volunteering their time this year as from previous years to help local band directors with their programs our financial support comes solely from Patron donations and our involvement does not stop when rehearsals end through the generation uh generosity of our patrons you have purchased our own equipment and in turn generously allow Maring County School bands to utilize it for performances at MTI minimizing the need for them to transport their own equipment for a concert or band Festival you see we lead by example because we all know that participation in the Arts leads to more well well-rounded scholastically outstanding students and young adults Mrs Brown Creet and Cole for whom anti Auditorium was named got her love of music from her family and a father and brother who both played in community bands help us continue her Legacy we respectfully ask that you wave rather than raise all usage fees or alternately wave all rehearsal fees and keep MTI fees at $16 an hour please join us in continuing our efforts with the students and community of Maran County our more seasoned performers share their experience and skills with these young musicians we award annual scholarships to deserving High School seniors and bring in guest artists to perform with the band sorry I prepared for five minutes sorry [Applause] Van Williams my name is Van Williams w l l i a Ms I'm a member of the kingdom of the sun concert band a product of the Maran County Public Schools a teacher at Forest High School where I'm also on band staff and a lifetime local resident I began attending the kingdom of the Sun concerts at the old forest with my grandmother in 2006 at the urging of my band director Mr David Norman a percussionist in the Kingdom of the sun band when I started band class at Oola in sixth grade I attended concerts throughout middle school and high school and as a teenager thought I'll practice enough to be able to play with them one day upon graduating from college and moving back home to Okala I immediately joined the band and have played with them ever since as a fifth generation okalan it is extra special to me to attend rehearsals and perform concerts on the campus of my older sisters cousins aunts uncles and parents with the memory of my now past grandmother it is especially fun for me during intermission to go and find my students in the crowd as well as my four young nephews and hear about their first experiences seeing live music and how excited they are for their Uncle to teach them how to play an instrument when their hands are large enough to hold one this band is an is an increasingly rare example of a multigenerational group of people who otherwise have nothing in common coming together to create art together and bring it to our community entirely free to the audience its membership ranges from current Marian County Public School students all the way in age and expertise to retirees and professional musicians and we all benefit learn and become better from the shared experience as far as I'm concerned if there is even one Marian County Public School student benefiting from this experience then it is a worthwhile use of our facilities this is not to mention the greater benefit to the community or the fact that we have several students in our current ranks and dozens more who have graduated and gone on from our Ensemble to become successful musicians and Educators in the past the board has recognized this value and allowed us to use our public school facilities for free not just for the band but also this body has allowed sports teams to play in various gymnasia and kids and families to play on the now walled off playgrounds in the evenings on the weekends but I digress incre increasing this price on on us yet again endangers the continuity of our nonprofit organization whose presence here in Okala enriches the community as well as the musical lives of mar many Marian County Public School students and teachers for the mere cost of keeping the lights and AC on for a few extra hours per week please recognize this and do not price us out of existence thank [Applause] you jet vies I'm Janet voils v as in Victory o y l s I moved here to Okala exactly six years ago one of the reasons I moved here is because of the kingdom of the sun concert band we were getting ready to retire I am a musician I've been a music educator for 48 years I was reluctant to give up my love just because I was retired we found the kingdom of the sunband I moved on January 6th 2019 and was in rehearsal the next day this band is everything to me I'm on the board of directors now uh meeting the young people who are new to music and knowing what it's going to mean to them as they go on has been vital when I came out of that first rehearsal I knew I had moved to the right place I felt like I was home I have since found that Okala is very very giving to the Arts and it's a wonder and a pleasure to be part of that I hope I can continue to be part of that for as long as I live with the kingdom of the Sun concert band and I hope that you all help us to do that by keeping our prices within our range thank you Diana Reid hi good evening good evening my name is Diana Reed re A D like you know read literacy and I have the honor to serve as the announcer for the kingdom of the sun concert band I've been in the band of and on since 2006 first as a flutist then as a greeter in the lobby and now as the voice of the band it has been my pleasure to frequently interact with members of the audience hearing how much they enjoy our concerts grateful that we a that we offer affordable Music Entertainment we happily serve our community and honor our military with our music although the cost in time effort and money are significant to the band and each band member the proposed increases to use the facilities to rehearse and present our music to the community are more than we can afford those who enjoy and appreciate our music will indeed feel the loss but the loss will be greater than that every band member will lose a significant and meaningful part of their lives including the young people who benefit from participating alongside seasoned musicians this is the cost you should factor into your budget and adjust your proposal accordingly so we can continue to serve our community and honor our military thank you David sand green my name is David sandran s n d g re n currently serving as Vice pres president of the board of kingdom of the sun uh been around here for uh two decades now I guess and I'm a retired Navy pilot commander and a retired Delta international pilot and uh whatever baggage and value that brings I bring it to the community via my trumpet trumpet section leader and throughout those years we've had several upwards toward 10 trumpet players from the student realm of Maran County and one in particular I'll just call him Mike for the purposes of the uh was very special disgustingly good is what he was make putting the rest of us wanting to run over our trumpets if we could anyway his mom has written a letter in appreciation for the kingdom the sun I'd like to read part of that at this time when Michael was graduating from his from uh when Michael was graduating and leaving Kingdom of the son he was featured at a soloist at his last concert and then he was awarded a scholarship it was very much appreciated it is wonderful that they give scholarships to seniors who have played with the band for a certain length of time Kingdom of the sun band has so much to offer to the community they provide an opportunity for musicians to play and perform with people of various ages the older members seem to love having their younger members in the band I can attest to that they provide learning opportunities for musicians as well as scholarships for students they meet the criteria their performances are free of charge and they typically have a great number of people attending the concerts oftentimes assisted living facilities bring a group of their residents to the concerts my husband and I still attend some of the concerts even though our son has now been or has not been in the band since 2022 in closing we hope that the kingdom of the sun concert band can continue we enjoy going to their performances and seeing the interactions between the multigenerational band members sincerely she happens to be a teacher in the school system thank you thank [Applause] you Elizabeth Morgan hello my name is Elizabeth Morgan mgan and thank you all very much for this opportunity to speak I have the privilege of being one of the charter members of the kingdom of the sun band we we began our band in 1991 and there's three of us left that are charter members and I'm one of them um I've witnessed our humble beginnings our amazing growth and our current situation we became a part of the community um we joined the school Community back in 1991 I actually have one of our programs where you all are listed as our sponsor um we've always mentored and encouraged school kids to be a part of us we have several students that go on that have gone on to become music educators example and I know van already mentioned him David Jones who's now our Forest High School band director I could never have ma imagined when I was expecting my oldest son in 1999 that 15 years later David Jones would be his man director at Forest High School what how amazing it is well known that we strongly support the veterans I've personally watched this for 35 years especially the World War II veterans who are almost all gone now at the end of every concert we play the uh salute to the Armed Forces of the United States of America where the veterans can stand when we play their song that has been amazing um again most of the World War II vets are gone but so many other veterans come from our other conflicts that the US has been involved in um on a personal note my dad played with us for 17 years what a great privilege that was for me to have that experience with him along with my son who played with us for four years I just request from the bottom of my heart that you all consider the rates that um you've proposed to us and to please consider keeping it at a reasonable price so we can continue to provide this wonderful service and um opportunity for music in our community thank you [Applause] mallerie IV good evening all my name is mallerie Ivers I V as in Victor E RS as a saying goes music speaks where words come out and I found that true for almost as long as I can remember when I first moved to Okala back in 2006 or 2007 or so one of the first things that I did when I uh switched to my new school I started playing the violin and from that point on Not only was I learning a new skill I also found a community a musical community and I found that true as I've continued on in my life from every major life transition whether it be entering Middle School for the first time when I first started picking up the clarinet even to high school and even to college as I joined various ensembles from marching bands to concert bands to even a little bit of Orchestra and choir in there all throughout those I found a sense of community and that Community has been absolutely Priceless and as I've transitioned into another big chapter of my life moving back home and finding work I found this community partly thanks to my own high school band director I would not be here without her truly and every opportunity that I've had from every musical Community from age six to here I am right now has been absolutely Priceless thank you all thank you Diana Williams hello I'm Diana Williams w i l l i a Ms it is my understanding that the school board wants to significantly raise the rates for the kingdom of the sun concert band to utilize the facilities at MTI for their concerts the community band has been around for over 35 years and I've been attending so many of these wonderful concerts along with my 92-year-old mother and my four grandkids as young as two they are so enjoyable and I'd hate to see these wonderful cultural events stripped from our community because the school board set an unreasonable expense hurdle that these musicians cannot overcome the proposed increase is substantial and a shock to the band because they are not for profit it takes time to do fundraising and you have to provide and you have provided no lead time it seems more reasonable to give them a heads up and make the increases in incremental so that they may be better prepared and can build their resources not to mention explore Alternatives my thought is you have these facilities and the auditorium seems severely underutilized as a taxpayer I'd like to see the facilities maximized for the benefit of the community might I mention these musicians ranging in age from teenagers to in their 90s all work TIR tirelessly to present concerts for all who wish to come and we may attend for free I think you underestimate the value that they bring to this community there's a reason so many people are moving to Maran County and one big reason is the cultural events available right here this band is not for profit and what the school board plans to charge and the percentage of the increase is simply unreasonable the fee you get from them is not a drop in the ocean of your total funding budget but what they provide to the community adds great value for young and old alike when we were supporting the school board to get their one-cent sales tax approved one of the contentions of the retired people in the community was that they don't have kids in school and they don't have grandkids in school most of the audience for these concerts are retired people these people are paying Schoolboard taxes and this is certainly one way that they can benefit from the school board in a minim at a minimal expense the band also honors veterans and so many are so proud to stand when they play their traditional salute to our veterans when their branch is recognized this partnership between the school board and the kingdom of the sun concert band is an example of how to make this community a great place to live let's continue to make it affordable and something that we can continue to enjoy thank you [Applause] J Craig ly good evening everyone my name is Joseph Craig ly l l l y I moved down here 20 years ago from New England originally from Ohio go Buckey and just to to let you know how how must really enjoy this band we're actually having rehearsal next Monday during the national championship game so I may cut that rehearsal a little short anyhow uh what the band has meant to me it's it's just awesome I I was playing percussion for 18 years in the band then they took one of my sticks away and made me the conductor uh which I absolutely love I look forward to to rehearsal spend a lot of hours getting Music Ready etc etc so um and what I've seen that do to the community all age groups like they've mentioned we've had anywhere from 13y old to 96 year olds currently playing in the band it's just incredible to be able to be stand in front of front of them I tell them it's an honor to be in front of them and to get all these people various backgrounds eth ethnicities and all that to to come together and in a combination and really perform some some fantastic music it's it's all you know it's really really a pleasure we're going to celebrate our uh 35th Anniversary uh less and I are sharing the the podium it's going to be awesome a 35 years uh celebration of that and um it's going to be a great concert I hope uh you guys will attend either February 22nd and 23rd I believe so I any I've worked with every single high school in the county either uh with a band or percussion and uh my my daughter's a freshman at Westport HIgh School this year and the band Lord help me and um I they asked me to start a actually a beginning band at the Ina colon Academy so I'm doing that part time sixth seventh and eighth grade so I love it I'm going to be 70 years old this year and I'm not looking at uh slowing down at why you laughing they thought I was 55 but anyhow I absolutely love it I it's my passion I tell all my students through the years I hope you're able to find your patient in life and you'll have a a Wonderful Life and uh that's what I'm planning on doing so thank thank you so much appreciate it thank [Applause] you all right um Dr goet we're going to discuss this at the in your board comments you've got some information to share with us is that correct yes yes yes Madam chair as I shared with you um I had asked um Miss Dobbins to share at the end when we have comment section to provide an update to the board of the fee schedule and um open it up board discussion of any items that you'd like to see us do and how to address this okay all right good evening Miss Dobbins good evening chair Conrad board members at Dr gullet so for the facility rental fee scheduled that is a board approved document as you are aware we had some staffing changes in the summer so the rental fee application was moved over to the operations office and since the beginning of the school year we have taken on approval of the rental fees in doing so since it is a board approved document we have to follow that board approved recommendation or not even a recommendation board approved fee schedule so in doing so we have applied the board approved fee scheduled to Kingdom of the sun uh in communication with Kingdom of the sun they had um asked us to research some board meetings and did review a previous board meeting in which it was confirmed in that meeting that they were appropriately placed on the fee schedule there was a work session which was not televised that some notes have been provided on but still nothing nothing has been produced by Kingdom of the Sun and in researching with our various departments noou our board approved letter has come forth that is giving permission for the $16 an hour had I had a board approval to do so we would have applied the $16 an hour so we're just simply staff is simply trying to follow the board approved fee schedule on this thank you I think we have a couple of questions so um Dr James go ahead please I just have some clarifying questions so um my understanding Miss doin is they you the kingdom of the sun has been renting all year they rent is it once a month at the middle school and then there's a performance at MTI I'm just trying to understand what they've been paying for and why all of a sudden uh what has what has prompted the change all of a sudden if can you paint the timeline a little bit I will most certainly try to so the monthly rentals come in waves so so they could have had a monthly rental that span from Summer into December for the auditorium they may have one I know they have one that came up in December for renting in January and February the Howard Middle School band room that's the one that triggered this conversation it was the first one that came across our desk and as we applied the board approv fee schedule that's where we applied the appropriate amount and it changed what they were previously doing unbeknown to us because when we receive those documentations our job is simply to review them for compliance with their insurance look at where they fall on that fee schedule and insert those amounts in there and send it back approved um and it was at that point they came forward and communicated with us that they had been paying $16 an hour for MTI and the classroom at Howard Middle School since I'm assuming around 2017 um I was not aware of that 16 but in researching I have found no supporting board approved document that supported the $16 an hour understood so uh just to be clear so that's every rental of space in Maring County Public Schools is $16 an hour based on the since 2017 no well are you not approved what has been past practice for Kingdom of the sun they've informed me is that they've been paying $16 an hour well we should have invoices that demonstrate that and it has been $16 an hour okay and then at some point this summer then there was an a rental put in and someone on our staff approved it at this $16 an hour rate in December well I'm talking about all summer so the shift in staff happened this summer and so I'm just trying who approved it in who was the person who approved it prior to miss dobins that like it was a person in governmental relations okay okay who has since left our district okay um well I have some thoughts but I can wait until everyone else shares yes go ahead I I have a couple of questions as well so uh my first question is related to the storage space at MTI so is there still equipment and things being stored at MTI and are we charging for that storage space not that I'm aware of as far as charging I don't know what their storage space is being currently used okay because I know we had some movement there right I I know there were some changes that were being made and obviously the room that now houses um some offices and things um has been vacated but I didn't know if there was still storage being used in the front area last I recall the front was offered to them where it was the old concession stand in the lobby area Okay um so it's potential that there is at least some storage that's occurring in the MTI that at no charge to Kingdom of the sun that's my understanding okay um my other question actually is unrelated to Kingdom of the sun because I also heard today from another nonprofit that uses another facility that um Howard Academy and and so this new fee schedule it it appears to me and I know we're going to have some conversation it appears to me that potentially uh with some staffing changes that we've had there were some grandfathered in concepts of who paid what and nonprofits got a different rate and that sort of thing I do see at the bottom of this that the fee schedule was board approved in 2010 so perhaps it warrants an opportunity for this board in 2025 to have some conversation about what that might look like specifically for nonprofits that have student involvement uh we do know that our costs have continued to increase and what that looks like from cleaning fees to utility costs Etc and even putting in new LED lights in all of our auditoriums that they're all going to be able to take advantage of uh that comes at significant cost so I welcome the opportunity to have additional conversation as the board to potentially uh approve a different fee schedule specifically for nonprofits with student involvement board sure yeah okay thank you I just want to start by acknowledging what a treasure the kingdom of the sun concert band has been to Maran County for 35 years so that means the world to me to see see it continue I think it's unfortunate that this has not been reviewed since 2010 because down the line people come and go agreements get made hands get Shook and there's nothing formal that the brief research that I've been able to do this afternoon that really documents the journey with this organization and so my suggestion would be um since all of the nonprofits I agree with board member Campbell it it all merits review it's 2025 and let's take a good look at what we can do to keep the costs down as much as possible because who pays for these buildings anyway the taxpayers of which every single one of us sitting up here pay it too we're we're taxpayers we also have a fiscal responsibility to Maran County Public Schools you know um to make everything work so my suggestion would be to do anou at the current rate freeze it you know for now until this review can be completed let's look at all of it and then come up with a fee schedule that it has been communicated out in a appropriate amount of time so so that all of these nonprofits that are such a huge part of the fabric of Maran County can be prepared to continue delivering the amazing events that they do there's a lot to unpack here and I'm I want to have some time I think it merits review but I think you guys need need to move forward with your planning and your practicing and knowing that this is going to happen and then let's formalize it and get it together that would be my suggestion yes did you have practice on the 6th of January I saw there was a rental for six and was payment made for the sixth practice at the the $26 rate okay okay um well so so this board member um agrees with board member thrower in the capacity of um I don't want to see it appears as if change was made with not a not a lot of notice and well so we we can't really engage back and forth sorry that's just kind of the way of the work but my it appears that there's been well first as a board member I don't ever love receiving information with not a lot of time to review it and be prepared um because I don't think it puts me in a proper position to make an informed decision and so I would like for for all of our nonprofits to continue to pay what they've been paying since whenever that is and then this board can have a proper work session to discuss this fee schedule and ahead of our fiscal year in Ju July 1st 2025 we can adopt a new fee schedule that will be very properly advertised proper grant funding can be applied for um to potentially cover any increase in fees all of those things but I I do not want to see this board and I wasn't aware that there were other nonprofits who were seeing a change um I didn't know about any of this until we received the email at 4:00 today so I would just like nothing to change for any nonprofit until there's proper time and advertisement for this board to have a public discussion about it um and then once we have that public discussion there'll be opportunity for a public comment on it and we can engage in discourse and we can make a decision about how we'll proceed so that's and I don't know if anou requires that because clearly we've just been doing it without anou for the last however many years so I don't know why we couldn't just keep doing that until we adopt a new fee schedule Reverend Cummings thank you madam chair um when I I I too Dr ciml was contacted by another nonprofit today about Howard Academy and the fee schedules that um we're going that we're dealing with right now what I see is that um obviously there's some precedent that's been already set um with the $16 and I agree that we too should leave that freeze everything as far as the nonprofits right now um we can't make a decision on the Fly based on something that was done in 2010 and we need to properly U address all the issues and come up with a a reasonable amount for nonprofits so I'm in agreement I think we need to freeze um the nonprofits put this on the work session superintendent as soon as possible and then we be ready to go for the fiscal year starting July 1 yes board member Campbell I completely concur my only comment is that I recommend that we freeze the nonprofit rate for those that have already been participating for many years with us under a certain schedule but any brand new nonprofit that does not have a relationship with the school system certainly will be using this current schedule and and that would be the only recommendation that I would have so we can't just say we're freezing it for all nonprofits everybody pays $16 an hour no I would say if we've never had a relationship and and there's something new coming um a new church that wants to start up going to have to pay the rate that's been adopted in 2010 thank yes thank you board member thrower thank you and and again I think that that speaks to the incredible need to have it in writing because we're already saying but this so I hope I've seen mlus get created uh in in good time and let's start getting some things in writing because that's what got here okay thank you Miss dobins yes I need a couple of clarifications so first I I want to make sure that you understand that my office was simply just enforcing a board approved document since it arrived in our office and we did seek advice on how we should handle this and in absence of documentation we followed the board approved I want to confirm that what I'm hearing is based on today's conversation and consensus with the board any not for-profit organization that has previously done business with us in the last three years five years infinitely will freeze years so any there should already be a record of those businesses that have already doing business hold on that are already doing business with us and we should have invoices correct but they come and go so they may rent something this year but not next year they may rent something consistently so in other words we could have a nonprofit show up with a rental agreement request tomorrow that hasn't done business with us in four years so I'm just trying to make sure I'm clearly understanding the request from attorney Powers when we have are you muted sorry I'm muted there when we've had some organizations have had m in the past some have not some have had discussions ofus that were never executed from what I was able to find in research for the kingdom of the Sun the prior administration had engaged in a discussion about reducing costs and quite possibly Dr ham or the prior superintendent had allowed a cost to go forward without the board knowing or being without it being approved at a specific rate that it was just sort of a handshake deal this is how it was being done I was unable to note that there was any actual record ofou there was discussion of anou there was also discussion of how uh Community funding could help to um allow Kingdom of the sun to continue um there was a number of factors that were discussed in a work session I was unable to find any document that indicates that any of that was ever memorialized however it may not have been simply because in that case and others people just went ahead and did things without there actually being a paper trail or a record or a documentation of it and people only charged certain rates and then people only had you know it was it was people knew people and they just made it work um now that doesn't speak well for standardizing you know a fee schedule because we don't really know exactly who should have been paying what over time if they say well this other person had told me we get it at a lesser price because of factor x and all those may be very good factors so um I can't speak to from my perspective if I'm looking at how to um what somebody's rate is it would be based on anou that they had up for a period of time whether that period was good for one year two years or three years and upon expiration of theou which is typically at most three years then a new fee schedule would apply unless the re uhou was was um was reworked so any Organization for the future that wants to have anou that makes an exception to facility rentals fees would need to get with the facilities department or the department who is they're requesting that that rental be through and develop anou with them that's not something we generate M us for them to sign off on but that is something that they need to to to to work on whatever details there are if there's any exceptions to be made but in the meantime whatever the board wishes to do I'm just trying to give you a background and history of what we were able to find based on based on what's there what's in the board meetings what's in public record thank you attorney Powers um any mother other questions or comments from the board question question re cmings so attorney po so the record of them paying the $16 an hour that doesn't set a precedent well setting a precedent doesn't it does indicate that that's the way the parties had done business yes okay setting a precedent that any doesn't have any value as to being forced not necessarily precent but that they that they have been paying that for a set amount of time it is good evidence that that was the way it had been done for some time yes so to that point from today until the board makes a new decision I am of the opinion that anyone since 2010 in 2017 and when Greg Ham made the decision and when somebody else made the decision if their historical information that we have in our files says that they're paying this 16 or 12 or 14 or whatever number that was agreed upon in my personal business background The Best Next Step would be to maintain that until we have a proper discussion otherwise and I don't if we've been doing it I don't why we need to go through the rigar roll of all of it let's just keep doing it the way we've been doing it and as soon as the board has a discussion we'll adopt a new schedule with proper publication and we'll move forward but there's no way I mean I don't want to say five years and maybe there's the there's a nonprofit that has an a a bicentennial or whatever every five years event is and so then they don't get to be captured like I don't think that that's fair if if they came to some agreed amount and that's not on this schedule then we should honor that amount until we properly publicate a new fee schedule why don't we go back to the date that's expected yeah that's what I said yes board member thrower I see the value of that but I think it also needs to be able to be um backed up with some kind of documentation and if there isn't documentation then the Fe it reverts to the current be schedule I agree I agree so if there's documentation in our records that indicate that they've paid a rate that is different than the fee schedule historically and they've never paid our fee schedule then they get to keep paying that until we have proper discussion about it that's what I would desire okay agreed agreed agreed all right Miss Dobbins do you feel C so understood we're going to go back on whatever the last history was for them and if there is no history we'll base it off the fee schedule um one one more clarification is since they've already paid can we go back to January 1 for anyone Kingdom of the Sun or anyone else if they've paid as of January 1 and it was different in the past we reimbursed them for that difference but not prior to January 1 because then we're going back to files that have already been paid and cleared why don't we just credit that difference sorry they can just have a credit on their account for future use I don't know why you have to refund all the money just credit for yes and that's typically what we do is credit the amount okay good but I wanted to set it back to January 1 I I'd also you don't mind like to to clarify that there was no altering of a mar of a non-m Maring County document the the document referred to that was altered was our actual Maring County agreement where the wrong amount was written in by Kingdom of the Sun and we simply edited to put the right amount so moving forward though as a January 1 will go off whatever precedent was taken if they had done business with us before if not we'll meet the schedule we'll credit any account since January 1 and we'll get new documents outk you thank you we also have already been in the process of researching other districts and we have been in communication with an agency a vendor that also um does a lot of business with almost half of our districts in Florida in um basically uh providing a service for the rentals for facilities and districts that we're looking into as well so more information on that and Miss gobins um again I Dr Campbell and I both heard today from another agency concerning Howard Academy same situation yes we'll go back and look at those no problem sir okay thank you thank you Miss dobins thank you um All of You Who Came From Kingdom of the sun we appreciate you coming forward and sharing your concerns and we'll look forward to seeing you again thank you I don't think I think you have to wait to the end you got you got it on camera yeah just watch the Youtube you have it in you got it on camera watch the YouTube thank you all thank you okay board we are going to move forward um thank you for the great conversation we're going to move forward to AAL items 9.1 the school district uses a construction management delivery method included a guaranteed maximum price to perform construction work on the following projects to allow the district to purchase materials through the owner direct purchase processed to save sales tax the construction manager needs to return the funds to the owner via a deductive change order the superintendent has signed and approved the change orders per per board policy 6345 the superintendent is authorized to approve and execute any Construction contract change order that will increase the Construction contract by $225,000 or less that will decrease the Construction contract amount provide that approval will be in her judgment in the best interest of the board such change orders will be binding upon execution by the superintendent the superintendent shall report each change order that she approved to the board at the board meeting that follows her approval the superintendent's approval on the change orders will be entered into the official minutes of the board meeting amendment number one to the construction manager contract guaranteed maximum price for labor and materials related to construction of new 16 classroom Edition at Liberty Middle School change order number one amendment number one project 24103 this purchase will allow the district to save approximately 28 ,62 62 in sales tax item 9.2 amendment number three to the construction manager contract guaranteed maximum price for labor and materials consisting of interior construction related to construction of new Elementary School X Change order number eight amendment number three project 24-12 this purchase will allow the district to save approximately 37 ,000 4 and $ 37,4 and7 in sales tax Miss Martinez do you have a a note on there there is we're missing a digit no okay I'm going to go with 37,000 $4 and 07 be 37,40 $40 okay so we're missing a zero thank you Reverend Cummings and seven cents and S cents in salale tax thank you 9.3 amendment number one to the construction manager contract guaranteed maximum price for Mass grading early equipment procurement and building foundations shell and site work related to the construction of new high school CCC change order number one amendment number one project 24-105 this purchase will allow the district to save 7433 $255 in sales tax the total Ral sales tax savings is $88,500 1 the unused funds are 113,877 66 item 9 .5 construction of a security fencing system at North Maran Middle School change order number one work author authorization number 13 project 23- 131 the unused funds are $69512 and 95 the total unused funds $183,300 24 2025 recipient of this Florida partnership for minority and underrepresented student achievement cost reimbursment sub award by Palm Beach State College pass through entity for the Florida Department of Education the awarding agency this grant aims to provide all students with access to rigorous academic coursework and the tools needed for success in these courses by accepting this award the district will receive reimbursements totaling $200,000 during the 2024 2025 school year to include the following selected students at all seven high schools who are taking the American college test classic learning test or Advanced international certificate of Education test that are being administered administered through June 30th 2025 and reimbursement for registration fees for seel selected advanced placement and Cambridge H Cambridge Ace teachers to attend intensive subject specific training outside of the district item 9.6 2024 2025 school year Palm Beach State College cost reimbursement subrecipient award agreement board this concludes the informational items for today's meeting May I have a motion to approve consent items agenda items c2.1 through c2.1 with the exception of items D2 24.1 D2 24.2 2 D2 24.3 D2 24.4 D2 24.5 D2 24.6 D 24.7 and D 24.8 that have been placed under discussion regular agenda items and item C 11.1 that has been placed under discussion pulled items May I have a motion to approve second okay was that you board member thrower motion by um board member thrower second by Reverend Cummings thank you all those in favor say I I I motion passes 5 board we're going to move into student disciplinary matters um before addressing expulsion matters I wish to acknowledge that the board members have received the alternative placement list for students through December 6th 2024 Miss Martinez are there any parents who have submitted a timely Crest to speak on their child's disciplinary matter no Madam chair thank you may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student JD 25-16 JD 25-11 9e JD 25-12 1e JD 25- 133 JD 25- 137 JD 25-39 JD 25-1 44e with services for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year and the first and second quarters of the 2025 2026 school year may I have a motion motion to approve thank you Dr Campbell second second thank you board member thrower all those in favor say I I motion passes 5 may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student JD 25-17 with services for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year and the first and second quarters in the 2025 2026 school year may I have a motion move thank you Reverend Cummings may I have a second second thank you Dr James here yes um due to my relationship with the family of this student as well as additional knowledge of this case that's not presented in the um board packet I'm going to recuse myself from this vote all right thank you Dr Campbell all right anyone else okay feel like I have a question what information is not included in the packet something legal attorney Powers if if there's information that's not included in the packet that this member is aware of then that member should not share that other information with the rest of the board or the rest of the board might also be in a position they would have to recuse so if they have personal knowledge of any facts uh regarding the case that is not relevant to what's been brought forth to the board and the parent hasn't challenged and the district has made a recommendation then the board based on the information it has already received must make a decision if there's information that should have been in the packet that we reive how can we make a proper decision so maybe this needs to be pulled off completely I I was under the impression the only information that I have at this point is that this board member knows more factual information about this particular case than the rest of the board does not necessarily that's relevant to the board's consideration it may or may not be however the board sometimes doesn't get to know personal knowledge of a particular case because otherwise they would have to recuse themselves just as a judge would um a judge would be in the same position if I have specific knowledge of an individual then I would not be able to Res I would not be able to sit on in Judgment of that individual or the facts or circumstances of it um in other words if the question is what do you know that I don't know then she can't tell you because then you would know and therefore you might be having to rec as well if you had personal knowledge what I interpreted by what she said though was that there are facts related to the consequence that are absent from the packet and maybe I read into what you said incorrectly um and that's okay too I think if she's going to recuse it that then she should also I would have to advise her not to further discuss so if the board has reservations about what the board's being presented with I would I would ask Dr Campbell to just remain silent if she's going to refuse herself remain silent as to the facts or circumstances of the case which the rest of the board should not hear if she makes a determination that she would not be able to sit in Fair Judgment of the case based on her knowledge of the case and that's the best I can tell you all right Bo I feel like we will call the vote we vote accordingly all right oh sorry thrower this this feels murky and I am wondering if it's the right decision to just go ahead and pull this based on information that may be forthcoming that would make a difference in terms of what gets handed down for the student that is my concern mam chair and if we are going to proceed with this I will not be voting favor of this if there's information that's possible to make a determination out I agree can we just place it under off air remarks for the board to have a discussion about you can place it under off aair remarks however again if a board member is going to recuse themselves a board member should not participate in that voting so therefore it would have to be I mean at at off a marks the board may have questions for um you know for to discuss with each other about the case or to discuss with discipline department but not with an individual board they can't share information that you should know okay Dr henbrook if this student already being placed at MTI will they stay there then until the board gets more information and can make a decision well was my understanding was what you're asking was to push it forward to an off a portion of discussion tonight sure that's what I was saying but I think I'm just asking what happens to the students AC academic Services during this time why the board whatever's I think what she's saying is if we moved it to the agenda in two weeks would something change for the student and their services are going to continue to be provided at MTI as they have been I'm I'm I'm I'm going to believe that that's not going to be relevant in this case but um what's not going to be relevant where the position where the student's placement is yes because they're getting with services and they're already being served at MTI and and awaiting their judgment is that correct yes so no no so it no what if we're getting into we're getting into facts that we can't discuss on air I I can't give you more information on air because it involves a student record so if you want there we're making it seem like it's a much bigger hide the ball game than it is but I can't I can't relate facts as to a particular case on air when it refers to a particular student or a particular case that could identify the student so if you want to move this to an off a portion at the end of these proceedings we can um and I'll allow Mr Blackman to try to fill in the gaps that that he may be able to fill in for you okay let's just move to off yes yes okay attorney prowers we have a motion a second we did not vote do I need to do anything else after just I can move on at at this point we'll table it until the end of the meeting at an off aair portion okay thank you very much and yes that would be one of the few appropriate uses of table of the use of tabling okay thank you so much uh give me the JD number again though it is JD 25-17 thank you Madam chair who motioned in second please on that motion to move it who motioned in second to have it uh that was ran Cummings and Dr James well we didn't actually have a motion to table it so that was the motion in second to approve the item we did not have a motion in second to table the item okay can I have a motion table motion by Reverend Cummings second second second by Dr James okay thank you board thank you for your flexibility there okay moving down to D2 24.1 may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student JD 25-14 without services for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year and the first and second quarters of the 2025 2026 school year may I have a motion chair yeah right right I I I will make the motion but I will make the motion as how has been changed in board docs and not how the script is reading so approving the expulsion with off-campus virtual learning services for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year and the first and second quarter of the 2025 2026 school year for the JD number that you said and I give me one second I thought um I thought this was updated so I apologize could be JD 25114 it got updated on board docs just not on the script yeah okay I I'd just like to reread it because it's a lot of back and forth and this is new language um that we just discussed at our work session last 30 Thursday so I am going to reread d241 may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student jd2 d114 with off-campus learning services for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year and the first and second quarters of the 2025 2026 school year may I have a motion so move thank you rean Cummings second I'll second that as long as it's off-campus virtual learning Services that's missing from the script that's go and just for the record Miss Martinez can you share when did you reive the updated language that is supposed to be reflected in today's meeting later this afternoon it was 3:38 it was 3:38 yeah it was no we talked about it in the work session but no no one wrote out what was expected to be in the script to our clerk until late this afternoon okay so no Direction came to her in an in an explicit fashion about changing so I wanted to make sure that was reflected on the record correct okay all right is there any discussion um I I'll I will sh there so um we've changed the language in the item to reflect our discussion from last Thursday which is off-campus virtual learning Services I would just like someone from staff to recap what the student the next three students we're discussing have not been on campus is that a correct statement they have not been receiving their instruction on campus um they have been essentially receiving an out of school suspension and picking up packets of work that's the way I understand our nature of work up to today has been for students who were pending an expulsion without services so now that we have changed their academic program to be a um expulsion with off-campus virtual learning can someone for the record reflect what will happen tomorrow Dr someone from staff Madam chair would you like Dr hre to come forward yes please um and while she's doing that I just need to provide clarification at the work session on Thursday it was confirmed by my staff that attorney Powers indicated he would follow up with board clerk on language based on what the board Direction was from Thursday last week so that is why Dr Dr henr helped today but just for clarification on airor at the meeting um attorney Powers indicated he would follow follow up with board clerk to be sure the language is updated and then in the board Dock and our board cler did not get information until today this afternoon yeah there it was a community effort this afternoon trying to get some things finished up um from my position I happen to be in on that conversation and so um it was late in the day but everybody was putting their best effort in to get it done before our meeting this afternoon um when I finally um made some phone calls to try to get some resolution everybody jumped in to make it happen so um sorry that it didn't make it all the way to the script um but it is hard uh when we're closing up shop at 4 o'clock or 5 o'clock and the information's just coming in so with that Dr hambrook if you'll give us um kind of a summary of uh what we're doing moving forward so the public is aware in case they didn't see the work session on Thursday thank you great absolutely so these particular students that we're talking about tonight the three that will be off campus virtual learning Services um we will contact those families tomorrow ensure that they're getting enrolled in that uity um and then have the um information that they need to log on and begin access okay thank you thank you very much yes and thank you for helping today Dr Hook yes thank you okay any other conversation or questions from the board mam chair the next few are the same so that language is different on your script but it's the same on okay so you say all right thank you all right all those in favor say I I I I motion passes 5 z uh may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student JD 25114 with off-campus learning services for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year and the first and second quarter of the 2025 2026 school year may I have a motion I'm sorry didn't we just do 114 we did 114 now we're on 124 oh you just said 114 though I I thought I heard you say 124 124 I'm just trying to follow along me too may I have uh any discussion we haven't had oh sorry we move sorry I looked above after I was checking the number for Dr James um may I have a motion Reverend Cummings was that you thank you very much may I have a second second thank you board member thrower yes in discussion um based on my review of this packet I believe this specific case uh does not warrant off-campus virtual expulsion I believe that on campus uh expulsion would suffice so I'll be voting against this as it's been presented I would agree and I'd like to offer an amended motion so I know we have to vote on the motion on the table correct or can I amend the motion you can make the amendment to the motion okay well I would make an amended motion to um and it can if it gets a second I guess we can discuss it but I would offer an amended motion for expulsion with services for the remainder of the 24 25 school year and the first and second quarter of the 25 26 school year second okay so the amend motion was by Dr James the second was by Dr Campbell any other discussion does anyone want to offer thoughts on the amended motion my personal reason for the change was that um and we had this discussion publicly last Thursday but I do believe there's a difference between practicing entrepreneur entrepreneurial skills in our schools and um possession of um a singular Vape second well miss Camp Dr C already seconded it so any further discussion I I concur based on board president that we've discussed um on air and off a related to drug offenses I believe this one should be in expulsion on campus okay all of those in favor say I I any opposed no okay motion passes or all right may I have a motion to approve the expulsion of student JD 25138 with off-campus learning services for the remainder of 2024 2025 school year and the first and second quarters of the 2025 2026 school year may I have a motion motion to approve thank you Dr James second second by Dr Campbell any discussion okay hearing none all those in favor say I I I any opposed okay motion passes 5 Z I just have a quick comment about these packets for the next meeting if it's okay if I sure go ahead Dr James just briefly I know that because we made this change last Thursday obviously the packets the families had received did not reflect the changes that we had made in public discussion um for the next board meeting those packets will also not reflect the changes would that be an a correct statement so the board meeting in two weeks the expulsion packets that we will see as a board will they reflect our former language or new now adopted new language Dr HR anyone she and I are making eye contact I'm trying to decipher uh because we had already created that first letter that said if there's any that are no academic services that first that letter will still be in there but we've done an amended letter so you'll see two letters um in those uploaded yes okay as soon as yeah we're working on that as soon as that's ready for for yes okay I just wanted that's what I just wanted to make sure was the what the what packet that's uploaded is going to show the corrected off-campus virtual learning or on campus what whatever okay thank you okay thank you any further discussion okay um may I have a motion to approve the utilize agreement 24612 p- wh between the school board of Bard County Bard County Florida RSM us LP for internal audities auditing Services may I have a motion motion to approve thank you Dr Campbell is there a second second second by board member thrower um Dr gullet do you any have any information you'd like to share regarding this item yes I do thank you madam chairman of the board Miss Boston Ellis is going to come forward um as you may recall we have you have an internal auditor um and this process began some years ago the cost of this item is $675,000 and and as Boston Ellis will update you on process and and what this provides to you as a board thank you good evening good evening Miss Boston Ellis board chair Mrs Conrad board members and superintendent Dr gullet you may recall Florida statute requires that school districts receiving annual federal state and local funds in excess of 500 million that we have to employ an internal auditor this is in addition to our current three-year cycle where the state Auditors the auditor general comes in does a financial audit as well as operational and then the other two years uh we have to hire and outside audit auditor so this is in addition to that um the scope of the internal audit shall not be restricted and shall include every functional and program area of our school system the Department of Education has ruled that school districts May hire a CPA firm to perform the internal audit services today the business Business Services Department is requesting your permission to utilize the school board of Bard County's contract which will provide internal auditing services that are required by the law as Dr gullet stated the total estimated expenditure is 675,000 and it covers three years uh the 2425 year will be 245,000 uh the 20 200 the 2025 26 year 215,000 and the 2026 2027 year will be 215,000 as well the estimated cost is based on the scope of work that RSM provided to us so again our recommended action is for the school board to approve the use of this Con contract for internal auditing Services you may remember in 2223 they they were introduced to you RSM was and there were three areas chosen timekeeping stimulus money and data protection under the the uh heading of Technology various recommendations were uh recommended to us to improve our systems and some of them have been um implemented and we are still in the stages of creating the documents that they feel we should have so we're we're still in progress on those the for the 23 24 year and the current year uh these areas are being audited uh purchasing and procurement compliance recruiting and onboarding and again a technology area cyber security reports to you will be forthcoming in the next few months on the those areas and I will be happy to address any concerns or questions that you may have in regards to this item thank you Miss Boston Ellis board any comments or concerns yes thank you chair yes I'll just say that um as just having been shared working with RSM has has really been a pleasure and it's a source of comfort to me as a school board member to have uh company of their caliber you know advising us on the areas that we have have decided are of the the priority and then as we go along so just wanted to give them their thanks thank you all right M throw anyone else okay Bard I um I did have cons some concerns um with this contract um if you if you go to page 155 and the what caught my eye is the hourly rate um and in in my mind I was remembering that we are capped at what we hire out for our attorneys um for outside Council and so um these hourly rates were a little bit uh shocking to me and so in further conversation I learned that there is board policy that could come forward we do not have it we did not adopt it in Maran County but there is board policy that limits um this uh hourly rate for um hire hiring for outside Audits and I just wanted to share with you this board member is interested um in looking at that bringing it forward for discussion um to make sure that we we stay in line with what we're paying for these outside Services I I would be interested to know what other companies are charging uh $325 an hour is a lot of money and almost double what we pay outside side Council um to assist us with legal items and so I just wanted to bring that forward and see what other board members felt like if there was any other um concern in this area um to move forward or if not um you know that that's the end of of the discussion but I just again it's on page 155 if you want to take a look at it and um I'm I'm welcoming any comments yes Dr James if I'm remembering correctly my understanding is that historically if it's a niche trade we have flexibility or I I'm not sure I don't have the policy handy but I'm trying to remember like if it's a lawyer that serves in a specific capacity then we have flexibility No No 1 okay but what about specialty counsil Dr Campbell do you have a memory of what I'm trying to think about because sometimes we remember things similarly I I do but here's my question so apart from that my question is sort of a question sort of a comment this is a piggyback contract so we are aware that at least one other school district is is using this rate so my question would be how many other school districts are using the same piggyback because then that would set a level of Precedence that I would be comfortable with I don't know how many other um districts are using that uh what I can tell you is that what we pay outside Council the flexibility uh is not present we we have a $175 cap however that's with Council Consultants we as a the board did not adopt anything to limit the cost of a consultant so you can look at the fact that at least one other District possibly more are paying the amount that is listed here for their services at their at that rate and you can determine that you want to pay the same amount whether that amount is $1 $500 or $1,000 per hour it doesn't matter the board is free to adopt because we don't have the same limiting structure as to outside Consultants so the board was the board can be presented with um with policy recommendations that will allow the board to control the amount that it wishes to expend on its auditor or its uh its outside Council and increase or decrease those amounts as it sees fit but you're not limited in this contract you may certainly under policy vote on it today and vote exactly as it is the expression was that they there's some concern that the rates are perhaps um high and if that's the case the board always has the option to request that it be you know put to a a bid with other you know for request for Proposal with others as well but certainly at least some districts are using it at this rate so so if if I may the recollection I'm having I think that Dr James is referencing would have been perhaps back when we were having impact fee conversations and we had a specialized attorney that was helping us negotiate some things or or someone who had land use kinds of experience and expertise and at that time we we weren't paying more than the $175 an hour for that outside Council support uh I don't believe at the time I believe our board policy drew a distinction between specialized support and and not I don't believe it still does okay again it's irrelevant for this purpose because it's not Council but I think that's consultant what both of us potentially are remembering because there were some specifications we had within policy that we could in extenuating circumstances have additional additional F and I think it was the cell phone to cell phone tow cell phone tow Towers good Lord that was another one that was another one so but anyway for the per I'm sorry yes board M thrower for the purpose of this conversation I would propose going ahead and and vot but I like where you're going with this that you noticed that and that it never hurts to do a little comparison around what other districts are paying for similar services for Auditors um I I will stand on my comment that the RSM has been very very good to to work with hope that's been your experience too and if not I I guess I'll have to do some learning just smiling it's a lot of work I don't know they're very uh professional if that's what you're talking and very thorough but this is an area that staff has it's brand new to staff so um I think what happened is we were going through the AG audit at the same time as the internal audit at the same time as the performance audit for the sales tax you you understand where I'm going so it was taxing to our staff 100% yeah not just Finance but technology facilities um yeah but they are very there old okay all right Reverend Cummings any any thoughts let's call the vote okay call and the vote all right um all those in favor say I I those opposed nay nay um motion passes for one all right may I have a motion to approve the guaranteed maximum price for roof replacement of building 1 8 14 16 17 and 19 at Vanguard high school project 24-1 127 may I have a motion motion to approve thank you Dr Campbell uh may I get a second second thank you Dr James Dr gullet do you have information you'd like to share with us regarding this item yes thank you madam chair members of the board this is a very large dollar amount at approximately 2.47 million and Miss bomach is here um with us again tonight at the she's coming to the podium this time and is going to share some context with the number of buildings that are needed for their roof replacement at Vanguard and their age thank you good evening board good evening chair conr Vice chair Cummings Dr gallet um I'm excited to bring you another roof project um the current Roof System at Vanguard High School um we're going to replace buildings 1 8 14 16 17 and 19 the range all between 23 and 25 years of age and they have outlived their projected lifespan and they need replacement there are several different Roof Systems um just like I explained last time with Lev high school so many different roofs and buildings um we have a colar roof system over lightweight concrete deck we have shingles over plywood we have modified bitumin over parite um at buildings 1 eight and 14 all the material that is there that includes also the insulation has to be removed all the way to the Decking at build building one and8 we will replace it with new insulation and a modified bitumin membrane over a coverboard building 14 will receive a metal panel system at Building 16 17 and 19 a new roof will be installed over the existing roof um we will add insulation as it is required by code but going over the existing roof will save us some money um some mechanical equipment will also be needed to be lifted so we can get to the curbs and we can wrap the curbs code also has changed that the curb Heights um increased so if if the existing curbs don't um fall within that height they also need to be uh replaced that's why you see a line item in there for hvc and electrical cost um we are including a 20year manufacturer warranty and construction is uh Slater to start uh March 4th with a substantial completion date on June 10th thank you Miss bombate yes board are there any questions or concerns okay just one comment that's a lot of different roofing material cobbled together over quite a number of years so all I have okay board all those in favor say say I I I motion passes 5 Z do I have a motion to approve the guaranteed maximum price for Brick remediation at Westport HIgh school project 24-11 Reverend Cummings thank you do I have a second second thank you Dr Campbell Dr gullet you have information you'd like to share on this item yes thank you board as you can see Miss spon has not left the podium and she can Pro do a better job than I can of providing the details this is about the brick remediation at a cost of about 935,000 so I'll turn that over to miss Boon boach thank you thank you um last board session I brought to you the phase one of that uh project um as you know Westport HIgh School had some extensive water intrution from the roof during The Heavy Rain events um we performed a study to locate the areas where the water enters the building and we established a mitigation plan to correct the issue this is phase two of the mitigation work uh brick pointing and flashing from the original construction has delip dilapitated in multiple areas which is causing the water intrusion additional deterioration of the fleshing along the termination bar over time has allowed water intrusion causing erosion to the mottar joints and clogging the cell vents this work will include removing and replacing all of the damaged brick to include a new stainless steel drip edge termination bar fleshing salent and mortar traps it is a very labor intensive scope since uh the existing brick will have to be um removed in in small sections we don't want all the rest of the Breck to fall down um the remaining brick also will need to be supported with an angle iron during the repair work that's why the dollar amount is quite High um we were looking for very skilled um um Mason to be able to do that work um the project will start on February 10th and substantial completion is slated for May 2nd this work will be done during regular work hours and we will coordinate with the school on special testing uh days that we don't interrupt School operations okay thank you Miss pach Board is there any discussion or questions none okay I'll just say I've been out at Westport I think we've talked about this a couple different times and they have had a hard time finding how that leak was getting in and so it it's a very tricky situation yes stumped us for a while all right um board since I don't see any discussion all those in favor say I I I any any opposed motion passes 5 may I have a motion to approve the amendment to agreement for purchase and sale of real estate and buyer petition for release or of reserved mineral rights and Schoolboard resolution 25-01 may I have a motion motion to approve thank you Dr Campbell may I have a second second second by Dr James um attorney powers do you have any information you'd like to share on this item I do uh you have been previously introduced to our outside Council uh John mcra and Alexander scales uh this is an amendment to the agreement for the vacant land sale um the purchase agreement for the vacant land sale needed to be amended to revise the warranty deed and title policy restrictions and to release the mineral rights as requested by the buyer once the amendment and petition resolution is approved tonight I would recommend the board take a brief recess uh so the board chair can execute the closing documents and I'll allow Mr mcra to pick it up from there good evening hey good evening how are you good thank you uh so exactly as Mr power stated we've got a buyer who's asking to have the mineral rights released we don't think that's a big issue at all and in exchange for doing so um they've agreed to pay the documentary stamp taxes on the transfer which I think is around $700 million so we think that's was a little give a nice give and take on this one and it just will uh prevent him from having problems moving forward in the future on any development he does now that he has the rights if the board approves so that's what we're looking at here on this change okay thank you board are there any questions or concerns yes board member our attorney thinks it's a good idea because I I approve Florida has a law that requires uh that the districts can retain I shouldn't say requires it allows districts or governmental agencies to retain their uh mineral rights on properties if we were in Texas that might mean something quite a bit more uh here I I think they can have the Limestone with the lot so um I'm I'm I'm confident that this is a that this is the right uh way to do business thank you attorney Powers it doesn't sound like anyone's going to be wild catting this property yeah no fracking over here any other questions or concerns all right seeing none all those in favor say I I those opposed right motion passes 5 Z now we well we we do have one other item that that Mr mcra is here for tonight so if we can just if we're going to take a recess take it right after that okay um we'll allow him to continue on with that one okay terrific okay all right may I have a motion to approve the central warehouse listing agreement so move thank you Reverend Cummings may I have a second second thank you Dr James Attorney pow you have some information uh for us regarding this item yes ma'am as to the approval of central warehouse listing agreement um the expectations of this item being on the board's agenda for tonight was to have the board select a listing agent once the board has selected a listing agent attorney McGraw will negotiate the terms of the listing agreement in the best interests of the district to avoid further delaying the sale of the central warehouse uh the board chair the board would would need to give consensus to have the board chair sign the negotiated listing agreement alternatively it would be brought back before the board for the full board's review again um after it's done uh my recommendation would be that once you've selected a listing agent allow Mr McGraw to uh work with that listing agent on the price uh and to do whatever details need to be finalized to S to finalize the contract um the primary consideration for tonight would be selecting the listed a listing agent based on the information you re received in their packets which is the primarily to do with their rate their reimbursement rate so I'll allow Mr mcra to pick it up from there all right thank you turn Powers um so initially when we came on the instruction appeared to provide me with the authority to go and obtain a real estate agent to list the central warehouse building um we put the bid out to three agents in town um two of the three knew each other and then basically came to me and said hey we know we're putting the bids in we think the school board would get the benefit the biggest benefit if we put ours together and so they submitted their joint listing agreement together and Alex and myself went through in Red Line and made the listing agreement the most advantageous and beneficial for the school board and so that's what was previously submitted since then we we' been um requested to go and obtain additional listing offers and so we've done that now the listing offers that you have that you're looking at we have not gone through to do a an extensive red line on those agreements so as attorney po was saying it's going to be basically just the amount that that agent will charge for listing is what we have to compare and so Alex has a quick little sheet little cheat sheet what each of the Realtors have proposed and then we can talk about all of those if you have any questions uh could there's some distinctions on whether they're offering some um a commission to the buyer side or whether they're not offering to the buyer side and so I think we need to talk about those if you have any questions we'll be free to answer those questions after Alex gives her we'll okay thank you thank you Mr McGrath as Mr McGrath said we have six listing agreements before you so I'm going to run down the list the first one is Sanden wein with wein realy he is proposing a 5% commission with a 2.5 split between the buyer broker he has no termination fee in the event that the listing agreement is terminated and there is a 50% retained deposit the second one is that joint listing agreement with wein and boy reality this is the one that we have gone through in Redline it does have a listing price of1 1995 that was based off of the two brokers looking at the property and determining based off of the appraisal the price that they felt was fair to list the property at their commission would be 4% with a 2% split to the buyer's broker there is no termination fee there is a 50% retained Deposit they have a 1% commission that will be paid if a prior bidder from our closed bid process becomes a purchaser so we would have to supply them with the names of those biders our third listing agreement is from Nolan Galloway he proposed a 5% commission with a 2.5 split to the buyer broker his termination fee was $750 with again the 50% retained deposit Van Aken the listing agreement gave a 2.45% but he did not mention compensating the buyer's broker he has a 25% retain deposit and no termination fee fox fire reality with Bobby Matthews as the broker was 4.5% commission gross with um a $298 fee that must be paid by the owner there's a 2.25 split between the Brokers and should the school board transfer the property for a nominal amount the school board shall pay a $500 $500 to the broker at the time of transfer if least broker will receive $2,000 there's a 50% retained deposit and the termin fee is $500 the final listing agreement before you is from evm Total real estate they propose a 4% um broker's fee with a 2% split to the buyer's broker there's a $500 termination fee and a 50% deposit retained okay thank you and the distinction between the agents that are giving you a flat fee for their services is putting one together is they recently came out with an Nar settlement whereas the real estate agents can not offer to another agent and so you can enter into a contract with the agent and agree that you would pay 4% two and two and so you're you're making accommodations for a buyer's realter they wouldn't necessarily be able to list it on the NLS but they have other ways to list it and that is that dangle the carrot for the buyer agent so you have a bigger pool of buyers um if you're not offering anything to the buyer buyer would have to pay the buyer fter and until additional buyers from coming in if they know they have to pay or their offer could be reduced based on the fact that they would filter I just have a um Mr mcra could you share what you think would be the in the best interest of the board which which of those would be in the best interest of the board in your professional opinion yeah so um I I believe that the Realtors who has have submitted these listing Agreements are all quality real estate agents and I think they would all do a good job I think it's going to boil down to pricing as the biggest factor I think the pricing is is a major factor um initially when I was engaged to go and hire a realtor um at that time The Best of Both Worlds seemed to be the a sand and we listing um just because it was a when sandon had applied and put his offer in for 5% when he came on board with Aon Krill and decided to submit a joint it came in at aon's initial bid which was 4% so it was a 1% off the top and you have two agents basically working and doing the job for you which seems that you could cast a wider net um and sandon's got a pretty good track record on Commercial dealing in Maring um but again I I like everyone on this list if this is purely a Money Motivated decision making process then I would say go down and go to the person who has the lowest one and that be your winner right but you've also got to understand if you do take that one that appears to be van aen because he's not paying a buyer's agent need right his is for two 2.45% for himself with nothing for a buyer's agent so he will list the property but there's nothing there to entice a buyer's agent to come and show the property and after that one what would be the next lowest so the next lowest one would be the joint listing agreement and the reason I'm stating that is because evm also has a four 4% purchase price right but they have a termination fee of $500 versus The Joint listing agreement does not have a termination fee okay and the only thing with the the jointless the agreement that I would want to see changed which I've had the same thought since the beginning but didn't have an opportunity to share it the last time this came up I don't want to pay 1% commission for an offer that for someone who previously offered um on the property so um I'd be interested in maybe paying 1% for the difference in price so the highest bid we got prior was 1.4 I believe so if if they offered 1.7 then maybe I would consider paying 1% on the 300,000 difference but I do not think we should pay 1% on 1.7 because that's not they didn't bring that new person in that person was still there so that's just my thought board that um that would be something that I would want to see changed if the board would be agreeable to that um on that particular listing agreement yesin Dr Campbell chair thank you my question about uh The Joint offer was also going to be on the 1% commission so was the intent that uh that there wouldn't be the 4% going to either it would just be the flat 1% on the total purchase price like that's the intent of what that caveat is in additional terms or yeah the way I interpreted that caveat was it was 1% period okay on on someone who had previously so they would get something for their time AG sure so that's apart from there's not going to be a buyer agent commission there's not going to be a seller agent commission it's just a 1% and that essentially is going to the person the listing agent he would go listing agent listing agent want to share buyer agent right well I I actually concur with Dr James I'm not comfortable with paying a 1% Commission on the entire sale price because we already know what we have we already know what the 1.4 looks like and and if if there was additional overage and and so it came in at two or whatever that then paying the 1% on the overage okay but I'm not okay with paying a 1% Commission on whatever the sell price ends up being just because may I may I yes5 so what my question for you then Mr mcra would be is that I mean the primary purpose for us tonight is to select a listing agent um secondarily would be also you know having Mr mcra giving Mr McGraw enough guidance to go back and and negotiate or request any any terms that the board has seen that it wishes to have altered so what I would like to be able to do is reflect to Mr mcra or have Mr McGrath reflect to the board to some degree what what he thinks the likelihood of of being able to negotiate such terms or or what options there might be I mean in his professional experience he can probably tell you well they're probably going to stick firm on this or they you know there's another alternative or another route but otherwise we're going to have to do this again so um so I just ask for his input as to as to that request as to whether he thinks that's a reasonable request and whether it's likely to be or if there's another alternative that he believes likely to to make them interested yeah and and so what I would say to that is these real estate agents are going to put a marketing campaign on in a marketing they're going to uh take professional photographs they're going to um put up signs they're going to start trying to reach to a broader audience of not just necessarily downtown oala um all of their time and so they're going to spend money in doing so um in the event that someone who has previously made an offer comes in and comes up with an offer that's going to be accepted to the board um they will have expenditures so if we take that off completely the real estate agents May wind up with nothing and the board actually sees a nice incre based on marketing efforts the ability for clients to look at the property to come and walk through um the professional photographs professional videos anything marketing money they're spending um so I think there needs to be some incentive there for the real estate agent so there's not left holding the bag if someone makes a higher offer that was on the table when we did our restricted bid um so I would I would think that you want to pay them something I don't know if one% to to great I don't know if we want to talk about going into saying anything over what their prior bid was get paid on that and we could still pay instead of 1% we could still pay 3% or 4 I'd be comfortable with this the the 4% agreed upon amount anything over their previous offer I just I don't want to give I don't want to pay for no work was done to get them to 1.4 and we're just talking about that because that was the highest offer but theoretically anyone there was there was five different however many were so theoretically any of them could come back but I would be comfortable with the 4% o any over the difference of what they previously offered I just don't want to necessarily pay for the work that was not captured in getting the original bid yeah I think that's fair so would that be something the board would agree to for the chair to work with Mr mcra because that's essentially what we're doing right is we're coming up with some terms and right allowing the chair and Mr mcra to make decisions yes board M um I just have a couple of clarifying questions um obviously this list that that you who gave us are folks that want the business and are going to do all they can to sell it and they know how to sell things so I think that it's a pretty Level Playing Field as as far as that goes from my eyes um one thing I was noticing was that not all of them had um a price on it and is that because some time has gone by now and maybe it's going to be worth a little more I was wondering why so so to answer that question when I was listing agreements from these folks was we we mostly going to be driven on charging and it's not necessarily where that price is going set Mr mcra can you you it's not going to be necessarily uh where the the real estate agent sets the price it's going to be where we tell them we want the price um as the board um we are going to listen to their suggestions and so the one joint was a suggestion by them we could always change that number that that number that was included on there can always be changed and so I just instead of wasting anybody's time of going through and trying to analyze what they thought the property would be worth it was please get your listing agreement to me with your commissions so that we can take a look at this based on just a dollar figure of what you would charge and we can kind of cross that bridge later for Value just said Thank you and and so it makes me wonder um about you mentioned M uh they have the lowest um commission price and but yet that $500 I think was for termination well that's not really very much money but then you also mentioned something about um the buyer you know that the buyers agent would then have to come up with the the commission because there wouldn't be anything going to the buyers that correct well no no so evm is a 4% it was a a 2% split to the buyer and a 2% split to them and that actually matched The Joint listing with wein and Aaron frill they were also going to do 4% with a two and two okay okay now the difference there was that 1% that they were going to have on there so Ernies would actually the evm would actually pay 4% on any deal even somebody that previously submitted an offer okay whereas The Joint listing the 4% wouldn't be paid if it was a previous previously submitted offer it would only be 1% but maybe I was thinking about van Akin it was one that you mentioned van Akin was 2.45% and that that was it and that would would offer nothing to the buyer agent at all which is interesting because you know they're in the business to sell property so you would think that just interesting yeah well interesting I mean you know try to get your foot in the door and have a low commission is not a bad not a bad move to put the two 245 on there it's just a question of can you generate active buyers that want to come in but with this whole Nar settlement most buyers agents are having buyers sign off on contracts before they'll even go show the property and it basically says that if the seller is not willing to pay my commission you the buyer will pay my commission and so that could affect pricing and offers that come in if a buyer knows they had to pay three% of their own money to their agent okay anything else board need to make a decision okay attorney Powers is it possible to have to for the board to select a first choice and a second choice so if we don't come to an agreement uh and something can't be worked out then I we don't have to bring it back to the board we'll have something a back up yes okay um now I I will say um my understanding though is uh and this was something that I wanted to make sure the board is aware of Mr McGraw is is the 1% the one that gives us a reduction for uh if it's someone who's previously bid only one of these has that that's correct okay so any of the others we select we will be paying now 1% of at the 1.4 million is what 14,000 so so right so we'd be paying 14,000 in in that case any other we'd be paying 28 or 32 or minimum 2.45% right okay so um I if that is not a an an area that is to be negotiated if it can't be negotiated then we can move to the second but I'll need some clear criteria from the board as to to what degree the board is comfortable continuing to leave it in the hands of attorney McGraw and the board chair myself or does the board want us a final approval process again to bring it back because this is normally something that just you know the legal department would handle for you but if if the board wants the to have the the ongoing involvement we need to I need criteria to know when that's acceptable so yes you may choose one with a second backup um and you may then allow that to be within the discretion of your attorney and the board chair and outside counsel um but that's going to be I just want the criteria that you want used board member ceron chair in light of the conversation that we've had extensively on this so far uh and understanding that all of the offers well all five of the other offers would require us to pay the full commission if we do have a previous buyer come to us I recommend that we move forward with the joint agreement that is before us and leave it in the hands of the chair and our attorneys if they are able to negotiate down terrific if not then we can still land on that 1% understanding that is still less than everybody else is offering us so I'm comfortable with the joint agreement that we have before us I I concur okay R Cummings con okay sorry I think you might have spoken I missed you for wither yep okay Mr M I think you have consensus very good and Mr MRA that means that I'm I'm not going to be hanging you quite as much as I have you and Alandra so I appreciate it so much so thank you um and if if if we are if if we're concluded that we have board consensus but now the board would actually be voting on on the listing so once that's concluded we'll I'll ask for us to go into a recess we're voting on not the listing agreement we're voting on the on the listing agent correction all right was original motion was coming and Dr then second by Dr James because we had a motion in a second on the table for us to have that discussion right motion motion and second to select a a listing agent and now we will need a motion and second to select um you've selected a listing agent now you need to you we can I make an amended motion to approve the joint listing agreement as presented by Mr mcrath there you go thank you Dr James May I have have a second second second by Reverend Cummings thank you all right all those in favor say I I any opposed motion passes 5 Z okay we want to go into a brief recess please just because there are people waiting is this going to be two minutes five minutes five minutes or so I mean you get want a restroom break long enough for us to sign some closing documents I just would like to be it's already have for right okay or we can or we can hold to the end whatever you thank you can we go to the end yeah absolutely let's keep let's keep going I'm okay okay all right all right um board we're going to discussion pulled agenda items May I have a motion to approve first approve the First Amendment with cut different may I have a motion motion to approve thank you um board member thrower second by Reverend Cummings um Dr Campbell you pulled this item to have further discussion I did thank you chair um under the existing agreement cut different mentors 82 students weekly uh for 200 $20,000 this amendment adds another $42,000 and because even federal grants are taxpayer dollars I believe there are other ways these schools could utilize that 21,000 this semester that could impact more than just the 12 students per campus and so for that reason I'm voting no on this contract okay board is there any further discussion call to vote board member thrower are you good good okay sorry my head was turned the other way way as I was looking for acknowledgements all right if there's no further discussion we'll call the fa call the vote all those in favor say I I I those oppose nay all right motion passes 4 to one all right uh we're going to move forward to board committee uh reports and concerns um board I have a couple dates for you there's an ioc independent citizens referendum oversight Comm committee meeting scheduled for January 23rd 2025 at 4 P.M meeting will be held here at the board of County Commissioners Auditorium the next administrative briefing and work session is scheduled for January 23rd 2025 at 900 a.m. um during the month of January all board meetings and work sessions will be held here at the board of County Commissioners Auditorium the next school board meeting is scheduled for January 28th 2025 at 5:30 p.m. we'll now take um board comments and concerns uh Miss Martinez thank you uh attorney Powers nothing further from legal thank you very much okay thank you Dr gullet thank you I'll be brief because a big po part of mine was going to be Miss doin sharing and updating the board what I've learned about just recently about the um facility and the fee schedule so thank you for that and to tag on to that board if I could just get uh confirmation as that was going to be one of my um requests for work session to do a work session on that so we'll add that to the list um to bring that back to you but I also have two others as I understand from a board member request from recent weeks uh one is the resoning of the zones for board members for representation board wants a work session on that no that no that was the recommendation based on our prior conversation and the documentation I brought forth showing when we add new schools we're going to continue piling them on into one District as opposed to us having conversation about the schools we represent I'm just not sure any other board member wants to have the conversation yeah I didn't I unless I'm mistaken is there anybody that was interested in furthering that conversation okay and I I wasn't at that in that meeting and this has come up several times and we get the same outcome well don't know we keep bringing it up so I'm not interested in that conversation okay board member thrower um before we get into board member comments were we going to be coming back to the one off air portion yeah we're not even in board member yeah we're in okay I was in the back of my mind I'm sorry when you said Dr thrower I thought I'm sorry when you said Miss thrower I thought you were now moving it on into her comments my apologies I'll I'll just say that I keep hearing from the board member who would be affected that you know there's there's not an appetite there to have the conversation so far be it from me and now my my concern about is why it keep coming up if if the board member hasn't complained about it or um the constituents aren't complaining about it when it I just don't see why we keep bringing it to the tables I'll make one final statement about it chair that's okay it it's basically because our live-in districts now do not reflect the schools we represent and so because we made that change um there are potentially parents in the schools that we now represent that would not be able to run in the seats of those that are representing the schools and so that's one of the primary reasons uh because our live-in districts changed and the schools we represent never did so that's why thank you okay thank you I just need clarification so the the other one was um the request I think Dr James made we as you know board we've just applied we we issued a notice of intent to apply for consideration from the state for um an associate and science degree for radiography radiography is a program we already have an MTI that is a brand new process we'll be the first in the state to do that it's new for all of us um we're working on the timeline Mr smallridge um is um he he knows how this process works but it's new so I was going to add that to an upcoming work session just to provide timeline and and next steps it'll probably take most of the semester and Into Summer um but that process has started so work session is that correct I'm just I'm just making sure I have Clarity on our topics as that my team goes through and adds items yes okay um and and then finally this is just to say thank you um to our community remember that school and district offices are closed Monday January 20th in observance of Dr Martin Luther King Jr day and we are very grateful and uh the opportunity to recognize the amazing Legacy that that he left us so just we are closed on Monday thank you board yes thank you um board member thrower thank you um where to start um do we still have one more item of business to take care of however well we can do that before we conclude the meeting right well we're moving into board member comments are we doing that are we doing it off air after board member comments I just want to make sure it doesn't get okay that way everyone can leave understood right yes that's what I was thinking okay okay all right sorry um I'm going to truncate this because it is moving into a long evening but I will say in the spirit of honoring perfect audits we had a couple of them and I'm only going to talk about the one in my district because it's kind of a big deal um and I know everyone else likes to acknowledge theirs too but at Hillcrest School it was the same school secretary for for many years Miss Peggy so she was a tough act to follow I mean perfect I see you miss Boston time um you know it was perfect audit after perfect audit after perfect audit but I'm I'm making this point because of the fact that it just goes to show you when you lift people up and you provide the training and the encouragement and and the wherewithal you know to keep going and not feel bad about it that this is what you get you get a perfect audit and I thought it was wonderful what the principal said and I'm going to quote her she said a perfect audit is difficult to achieve I will be congratulating you and I said that I will be congratulating you and Hill Crest during my comment time at the end of this Tuesday school board meeting and the response I got was thank you for noticing um Miss Slater has learned a lot in a short amount of time no one else I would rather have by my side to manage what she does she is amazing in so many ways see you soon and I thought if that doesn't exemplify the way we want to nurture each new employee that we get in each new position and it's really easy to tear people apart but lifting people up that's where the rubber meets the road and the name of the game in my opinion for everything that we do so I just wanted to share that with everyone I thought that was so cool I appreciate um the kingdom of the sun concert band members coming out tonight their testimony was was passionate it's it's clear that they absolutely adore what they do so I have no doubt that we'll be able to come to a good solid um fee schedule that that honors that and and our other nonprofits um while still making sure you know that we get what we need to keep the lights on um and there's a lot more that I could cover but I think I'm just going to leave it like that for tonight and I'm grateful for everyone for the work they continue to do on behalf of Maron County Public Schools so thank you and welcome aboard again Mr Casey all right Dr Campbell thank you I will mention perfect audits uh but if we want to stick with that then I'm not going to acknowledge College Park and Reverend Cummings can do that um but I'll acknowledge Forest High School for their uh perfect audit because they are in district one and my note on that was they manage more than $650,000 in dispersements and so having a perfect audit in that kind of financial uh positioning is even more exemplary uh than than what we could imagin in some of our other settings so uh also in consent tonight we approved contracts for our employees this school year I continue to believe that we need to enhance our systems and processes board to get us to where we're bringing those contracts up much sooner than Midway through a school year so whatever the team needs for us to get there I would love for our employees to start the year with their new contracts and so we continue to work towards that but whatever systems and processes we need Dr goet your team this board member welcomes knowing what that would look like for us uh we also in consent approved the modification of the old girl's locker room at Oola Middle School to now become a rock room because Oola is getting their new gymnasium after 100 Years of a building uh and that girls locker room that was not even near the gymnasium I love that uh new plan we also approved the timeline adjustment on Stadium lighting and with good reason because we had dellen high school and Vanguard High School both in football playoffs and so that delayed the timeline on us getting that lighting up those lighting upgrades uh this evening the Marian County boys basketball tournament started and that our our teams all play other surrounding districts often but this week they're playing each other in a Maran County tournament and our JV boys basketball tournament is upcoming later this month as well last thing I'll say we were having fun just this um week talking about the teachers that have had all three of my boys and Miss Avery is one of them and she was here tonight with Oola Middle School there aren't very many teachers in all of Maran County that I've had all three Mary or all three Campbell boys but miss Avery is one of them so just wanted to acknowledge her hard work in that red ribbon video that that her um students were able to put together so Oola won that award and with that those are my comments oh and Welcome to our student board members again yes want to make sure we acknowledge you um welcome we always enjoy having you here yes and with that we're g we'll just slide right into Bo um student conduct comments excuse me so Carson would you like to share comments with us yes first I wanted to say thank you guys for having me here and getting help just letting me experience what happens at these meetings and I'm honored to represent North Maran and my other fellow students who are there uh on behalf of North man I just want to leave a couple comments uh will we our FC will be joining the FCA breakfast on January 28th we'll get to speak there and our windows are finally installed after a long and quite exhausting process so we're very grateful for that and just waiting for the blinds which I'm sure will be there pretty shortly and like you guys mentioned the mar County tournament is going on and I was watching that before I actually came here so that was exciting to get to see everyone showing up to play basketball uh and and then I also just wanting to discuss some of the things you guys talked tonight it's really cool to see how you guys facilitate funds to help us uh where we are uh the cost reimbursement reimbursement given by the Palm Beach State College uh our school uses that for the classic learning test and it really helps out a lot of those students there and um also just all the things you guys do to figure out where the money goes and how it helps us as students we appreciate it and I'm excited for this new year and to see how God blesses this second half and I'm honored to learn so much from you guys thank you Carson we are just blessed to have you here with us Chloe hi I'm Chloe um thank you so much for having me here today it has been an honor to be able to be a part of this board and just see what goes on behind the scenes and be able to help with you guys and give you guys student input um again I'm so grateful uh it was really interesting getting to see you guys make decisions today I appreciate you guys taking the time and really being very thorough with what you're doing and making sure you're making the best decisions for the people you represent especially with the taxpayer money you guys have I really appreciate that as a citizen um I'd also like to congratulate Miss Aver's class again I was a part of her video production team when I was at ala and she really is an awesome teacher and does some great stuff uh talking about Forest High School I am honored to be able to represent such a great school um I think we have one of the the greatest student bodies I so many different leaders and they all come to me with crazy ideas things to bring forward I've been asking around um as you know I'm a proud leader of the ROTC program at Forest High School and our location at the school is in Portables um that has been several students have come up to me with safety concerns regarding the Portables uh the walls I don't know if you know the age of the Portables at Forest High School but the ROTC ones are from the original Forest High School um they are old than the actual school they sit at right now right um the walls are paper thin um oh it's a safe schools concern in general um Thea Gazette claims that they are supposed to be temporary um I would consider them ancient at this point um so they've had to have ceilings replaced all of that but according to the Maring County Public Schools website um replacing all the Portables that Maran County Public Schools owns would cost over $50 million my suggestion would be to start small and May start with building a wing of Forest High School as of right now we are already over capacity with the student body I know we have like 700 something freshman came in um which I'm happy to have more wild cats but uh I think it would be wise to start looking into developing Forest High School sooner to modernize it um because Portables I just don't think in this day and age are safe for students as well as a viable solution I think they're outdated but um those blue arrows you guys installed show safe spaces and rooms uh ours are installed in your cabinets because those are the thickest part of the portable so just putting that out there but um other than that I am honored to serve on this court and I hope to keep bringing forth concerns that students around me have brought to the attention of because I want to make sure I'm using this position to best represent my student thank you thank you very much right Reverend Cummings um Let me let me start first with Chloe well let me SP Carson thank you for being on the board um being a representative of North Maran um you guys are going to obviously you are paying attention to all the things that's going on with this board um as you can see it can get lengthy conversation get lengthy and sometimes monotonous you can shake your head and say yeah um but uh I appreciate you Chloe um I almost stood up gave you a stand Novation I'm a wild too and so by you being a wildcat you brought forth the right issues didn't come with uh some outlandish came with real legitimate issues concerning um and and advoc advocating for the wildcast so I appreciate that and we look forward to hearing more comments coming concerning for us go wildcast um I do want to do some other comments as the other board members talked about the the audits yes College Park was one of those as well um shout out to miss foresight and the the folk over at College Park I was there yesterday for their their graduation um it was um once again it was another great graduation for them I appreciate um all that they do at colge Park it is a chang School compared to the college part that I um the college part I attended was actually at the College of Central Florida so that is relatively a new school um in my in my mind in my mind it's a new school so um it is different the demographics are different the challenges are different um I I I um appw the staff there um and some of the burdens that they are overcome um at College Park I do um I do have a question and I guess it's a comment and I I kind of was seeking some information um we had looked at um list came out not too long ago I guess last P of holidays about some schools that were doing their recruiting and retention bonuses I think that list may have left off a couple schools MTI Hill and U supposed to get that on the board bom as well and I'm looking forward to when that's going to get put on the packet because um those folk are doing some great work we want to make sure that we do the right thing by those um and then finally I'll and I'll close um because I've already set enough out for us so um Monday and Dr go already mentioned Monday is the holiday the MLK holiday is a day on not a day off and I've already sent a copy of the activities to um attorney powers and board clerk Martinez to share with the other board members um Saturday is the prayer breakfast at maryu Rich um actually this this speaker just left it's um Pastor Gilmore not Jamie Gilmore but his dad actually speaker he just left and um so the prayer breakfast is Saturday morning as well as the refl ceremony as well as the Youth Day activities which is going to be at Mary suid so I encourage you all that can make it to come and then Sunday is The ecumenical service at the new St John Missionary Baptist Church Dr Tommy Brooks p and then um Monday is the actual March and the day in the park um council member they requested that we be on this as board members by no later than 8:30 Mar will start promptly at 9 o' you know it's a it's a quick walk because y'all walk fast and it's cold and it's normally cold and it's supposed to be cold Monday so um we look forward to that in the activities and celebrating um the holiday but again remember that it's not a day for um chilling out and sitting at home it's a day of service with so look forward to seeing you guys in the morning thank you Reverend Cummings and Dr James oh oh sorry and you guys are welcome to join us you want to join us at 8:30 on the Square on Monday morning yeah instead of sleeping in wear your jacket yeah it'll probably be cold it'll be cold yes me um thank you uh I wanted to start by thanking everyone for still being here it's been a long evening so I appreciate everyone's presence um board recently we talked about committees it's something we always talk about um usually after we have a chair election um and I'm I serve uh on the code of conduct committee and I have done that since I got on the board two years ago the prior two years but the participation well first I don't know how frequently other committees meet but code of conduct meets a significant amount um usually between six and eight times to kind of hash out all of the different components um I don't really serve on any other committees for the school district so I I don't have a reference as to how frequently other committees meet um but historically that particip has been um you have been allowed to participate virtually and so you can log on on teams or whatever and participate in the discussion and be a part uh because the meetings are held after work seeing as the committee is made up of Administrators and Deans who primarily serve schools um however that virtual participation is not available this year and so for that reason I'm not going to be able to participate in the manner in which I should participate as a board member um because I with uh less than a week notice am not available to serve six night sessions from 4:45 to 6:30 over the next um six weeks or so so I wanted to let the board be aware that my participation was not going to be what the expectation is and if someone else wants to take on that role um and have in present um participation I wanted to afford that opportunity to someone else but I was made aware of the not virtual option um I sent an email Sunday but would have been responded Monday but I didn't receive a response so when I saw Dr hembrook tonight I asked her um which is why I'm not bringing it up to you board so this is the code of conduct Yeah the code of conduct so it's uh 4:45 to 6:30 at MTI on January 16th January 21st January 30th February 4th February 13th February 18th and then a virtual session if needed I believe on the 27th so um I I cannot make that level of commitment M yes I would love to because you know I'm one of the ones that have concerns with our Board of by cor of condo as well um I've served on it before but if any other board members are have to have it back and I would prefer to really have that one right I see Dr Campbell checking her calendar real quick you said February 13th yeah uh January 16th 21st 30th February 4th 13th 18th yes um does it necessarily have to be the same board member going to every meeting only because there's been such a tightened um focus on and just in discussion you know it might be nice for each board member to have an opportunity to sit in but maybe that would just muddy the waters I think because we offer our input and then it would be pulling if they take our input to change the code of conduct if if if they heard from one board member and then heard from another and then they made decisions I think that's why it's always been just one board member since it's a votable item is my the way I have understood it and attorney Powers is nodding his head yes ma'am that's accurate I knew there was a good reason why it wouldn't work yeah so I could be available the only one that is a little tricky and it could be for more than one of us is February 13th because that's the day we'll be coming back from Tallahassee if we're spending the night on the 12th and then driving back on the 13th right now I'm not certain if we're having meetings on both the 12th and the 13th that was kind of my hope um but until we have that meeting schedule and what committee schedule looks like might be a little challenging to get back on the 13th but I could be available the other days but certainly if Reverend Cummings can be as well I I'm fine either way okay all right Reverend Cummings would you like to take that on okay all right so Reverend Cummings are going to take over the committee for um student code of conduct the first meeting is th Thursday 4:45 MTI I can I'm sure Dr henbrook staff can forge you the you know correspondence in the calendar invites um okay thank you for hearing me out on that um board and then I have a statement I'm going to read because I want to read it into the record um it is an email that I will be sending to attorney powers to then forward to the board members as well this email is being sent in response to the lack of information from mcps staff in regard to my ODP request which was originally sent on 116 2024 I will note at no time since my original request have I received any questions or comments from any staff person of mcps during board comments in the January 9th board meeting I shared my discontent with the information we received regarding purchase orders from July 1st 2020 to November 2024 I made a formal request to receive all of the data that had been shared from our CFO to facilities as well as all of the POS throughout that time my request was not not acknowledged by the superintendent during the meeting or any time after nor did I hear from any member of Staff since January 9th on this matter until the email we received from Miss Boom boach this afternoon now I making a formal public records request as not only a taxpayer but also a board member I want to receed the 127 purchase orders that were processed through facilities from 71220 to 111 2024 and indicated in the email we received this afternoon from Miss bomach I expect this public records request we processed expeditiously as you have already had two months to collect the data originally requested on 116 2024 and if there are no further questions from the board that concludes my comments thank you Dr James um I have a short list um to run through because we have been here a long time um I just want to thank uh the board of County Commissioners for allowing us to use this facility it is lovely and I also want to say thank you to their teams Reynolds is back here and Manning the the sound um it's Alysa Alicia and so she's in the back uh doing video and so just many of you do know don't know I have a lot of um hearing concerns and uh this is just been a dream for me I can hear everybody and ev Everything um so well and I'm just really grateful um for the opportunity so thank you for the time and energy uh that the team here has put into helping us um have our meeting so thank you particularly I'm looking right at Reynolds because uh you know he's working with all the audio so thank you um to those those teams of people um I did want to ask this this um discussion happened during our meeting but is the board interested in having a meeting um about or a work session about discussing policy for um cons consultation and fees for outside council is that something you're interested or no is do the way I heard Dr cable say there might be legislation coming down is that or did I Consultants yeah or did I not hear that correctly no I was just stating that it was uh because it was a piggyback contract that okay I I believe that there are multiple districts using that same rate and so that was but I did not me to my knowledge there's nothing coming down for legislation I'll bring back if the board would like me to I will will get the um proposed policy that uh had some Neola structure in it already as to uh consultant fees that can be paid as well as the attorney fee policy and present it to the board as an item for uh during a work session just for you guys to discuss talk about we wouldn't likely be doing it as an independent Standalone update even if we chose to Al it but there's no harm in allowing you to see what options are there um both for consultants and for attorneys because it may be that it's appropriate for us to update um the attorney's feed policy as well to some degree or at least to allow some bifurcation in there so I can at least bring it to you and uh just give me a little time to put it together okay that'd be great and I appreciate it and that that you know leads me to think that other districts if Neola has picked it up um you know in addressing it it leads me to believe that other districts are struggling with the um the amount you know that companies are charging you know when they're they're getting around a law lawyer fee by doing a consultation fee and so um I appreciate that attorney Powers so thank you thank you board um for that um I just want to say thank you I really enjoyed the literacy presentations um this morning board I don't know if you've got a few emails or a few calls about participating in literacy week but I get to be a mystery reader at a few schools so I'm super excited about getting to be a mystery reader so just really excited you know our teams at on at the school level do a lot of work um to get our kids excited and motivated um and engaged in literacy week so just excited for that opportunity and I I hope you are too a quick announcement um the golden apple Gayla is February 1st I am not able to attend I will be out of town for a wedding but um Vice chair uh Cummings is able to attend so he will be representing us there I know um Sheri thrower you were unable to attend also you will be out of town um all right Dr Campbell is going to be there and Dr James very good all right I just you know it's near and dear to my heart and so I literally if I could be two people at one place I I would do it for for that occasion and so I just hate to miss it so thank you um for those that are able to attend make sure you take some good pictures so you can share with us just really looking forward to that also um you may have received an email that the public Foundation is opening um the Nook uh and so the grand opening is Thursday afternoon at 3:30 if you're available please feel free to stop by and check out the space um and see it's something um they've been working on for over a year um as a space for um our teachers and our staff so if you have the opportunity please stop by um I did have uh when I looked on our agenda today uh there were placements for our students at MTI and when I looked in that I was really concerned there were a lot of students and a lot of the um notes on the spreadsheet looked um were noted as egregious and so I called Mr Jones to see how he was doing and and what his numbers are and then I asked him from the seat what can I do to help you I you know I haven't been in his position I you know I personally feel he has one of the most challenging jobs uh in Maran County right now and so one of the things he shared um was some incentive for the teachers and staff at his school and so that he would really um that he has a um a presentation he submitted some ideas and so I just would like to see where we are on that because his concern was to get that in place before the transfer period because outside of what's going on um with the challenges he has with the students on his campus is also retaining teachers and guidance counselors and he is losing staff um because many of them took a pay cut to come there some of them took a pay cut to come there and so I'm just interested in supporting him um you know in his mission uh to meet the needs of the students at MTI and so would just like if someone there's no emergency but um someone can get back to me and share Where We Are and um if that's doable Miss Boston Ellis I didn't get to call you today the phone was really crazy busy but you're next on my list to check because I know we have to see if we have you know funding to do that any sort of um yes Madam Cher um I it is emergency I think it is well we're on a very time tight crunch I know that we are but I want to give our staff a little time um because I just called them this afternoon and and I want to say that because I hear a lot of the the the things that are going on with um trying to have staff there and the losing of Staff um I'm hoping that we can get this to a work session very very soon um sooner than later um giveing the staff the time to pull it up and Mr Jones the opportunity to present it because um we don't want him to miss that opportunity to get good staff to come there and um that's kind of what he started out behind the eight ball and we don't want to keep keeping behind so I think we need to kind of put a little urgency I agree I agree I just I I wanted to afford our staff the opportunity um to gather the data that they need um Miss Maran mentioned that Gathering data from surrounding districts and what they're doing what's being offered and so I understand um all of that Madam chair may I comment just provide some update in context to the board um with with the request and that uh Vice chair Cummings brings up we've talked about that too and and just as a reminder there are Grant funds associated with that so the team's looking at what those Grant funds are what the availability is because those would require amendments whenever we do grants just I wanted to bring that to your awareness so okay it it it often doesn't just happen overnight and there's planning involved with Grant funds so I know that U Miss Boston Ellis is overseeing um grants as well as Miss Harris are are looking at that okay and I appreciate that but I I still really would like us to see you know to try to get this across the finish line for him before the transfer per period which I believe is after spring break and we'll provide an update I'll I'll make sure the team gets that together with a timeline and and what we can do and provide an update to the board okay thank you very much um and with that um I think that concludes my board comments attorney Powers we need to go into a recess first is that correct no we don't we can close we do not need to go into a recess uh you can sign the closing documents now that we're done okay have the one off for the off air correct yes so you want to do off air first and then we'll just finish up Recess Recess Recess let's write recess correct all right board we're going to recess at 8:43 thank [Music] you e