##VIDEO ID:0xL8wBnjYnI## e [Music] good A little damp Tuesday evening everyone the August 27th 2024 meeting of the Maran County School Board is called to order 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 I'll now ask board member James if she would read our board commitment statement good evening thank you chair we are the Maring 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 we will always put students first we will leave a legacy of success thank you board member James for the courtesy of those listening to the meeting I am requesting everyone in the audience to please turn off your electronic devices or put them on vibrate later in the meeting up to 30 minutes will be provided for individuals to address the board on matters concerning the operation of the Marian County school system or the school board only presentations are limited to 5 minutes and are televised if you wish to address the board regarding a regular agenda item or matters on which the board customarily takes action you 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 please complete a lime green form these forms must be fully completed and received by the board clerk no later than 5:40 p.m. the procedures applicable for each are on a separate sheet good evening board clerk please call the role good evening 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 here five excuse me I was I was concentrating on pronouncing our next student Arisha bani Westport high school bellw high school but I'm here I'm sorry Risha adrial Diaz Westport HIgh School here Dr Diane gullet superintendent here Mr Jeremy Power School Board attorney here thank you m Martinez good evening Dr gullet would you share information about oh about those coming forward to share inspiration and Le the Pledge of Allegiance this evening yes thank you good evening Madam chair members of the board great to see you this evening it's my pleasure to introduce Mr Frasier who is going to come forward and he is going to introduce one of our outstanding principles from from Howard Middle School uh susette Parker who is going to introduce some very special students tonight thank you good afternoon chair thrower board members and superintendent Diane gullet um our HOSA students are here with us today HOSA was originally known as the health occupation students of America and is a Career and Technical student organization recognized by the US Department of Education and Health Science Education the division of the association for Career and Technical education it was established in 1976 to promote career opportunities in the health care industry and to enhance the delivery of Quality Health Care to all people HOSA has consistently held annual National leadership conferences which have become significant events for health science students these conferences provide opportunities for members to compete learn and network with Professionals in the field HOSA has expanded internationally with chapters in countries like Canada Mexico Italy Germany and China reflecting its growing influence in the global health education host's focus on leadership development career exploration and community service has helped shape the future of the healthc Care Workforce many former host of members have gone on to successful careers in medicine nursing Dentistry public health and other health rated Fields the organization's emphasis on practical experience leadership skills and professional development has made it a crucial part of Health Science Education today HOSA is known as the future health professionals and it continues to be a leading organization of students interested in healthc care preparing the next generation of health professionals through education leadership and service opportunities Miss Parker was not able to join us this evening as the principal of Howard middle but we do have Dr Robinson the assistant principal that is here with us today and I would like to introduce Miss yansy which is our health science teacher to introduce her students and after this introduction they will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance thank you good evening I'm Miss yany health science teacher from Howard Middle School and we had seven of my students make it all the way to International hosta competition this summer all seven of them placed in the top 10 in the nation with four of them scoring first place in their category [Applause] good evening my name is Sara chedy and on behalf of the Howard HOSA team we would like to thank you for having us here tonight this past June we earned the opportunity to compete at the HOSA International competition in Houston Texas after we won at the state and District level we represented Howard Middle School and Maran County in the categories of health career display medical math medical terminology medical Innovations and health career preparation I'm extremely proud to say that we all finished top 10 in every category two teams even winning first place we all worked very hard and was a really amazing experience to put Maring County on the map so thank you Howard Middle School Mrs Parker and Mrs yansy for your support and guidance we are ready to do it again this year wonderful thank you would everyone please stand for the pledge to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and jce for all thank you thank you we sure want to come down and take a picture with you so if you would wait just a minute I know you thought I would probably forget but I didn't and and before we do that I just wanted to take a brief moment on behalf of the school board and come on down front you're gonna get a picture anyway yep right down front Mr Christian will show you awesome thank you yes I just wanted to share with all of you on behalf of the school board how proud and grateful we are for putting Maran County and Marian County public schools on the map in such a good way so we're all very proud of you and I think the what I heard the best was um health careers you know the the opportunity to um have a career in the healthc care industry especially to be able to think about it and experience what you've experienced already at your age I'm quite sure is going to prepare you very well for whatever you choose to do next so congratulations again again and and I'm sure you have a great support system of family and teacher and principals and everyone here in the audience that uh wants to congratulate you too so awesome [Applause] job for is sorry I had to give some extra sugar that's right I figured they were probably some former students for yes what a great way to kick off the night and and Dr gullet I understand you have some special recognitions this evening as well I do thank you madam chair if you could tell board from the audience it speaks for itself this is just a small indication of the amount of people in our community that really showed up to make sure that our students were prepared for a great start to their year so I am pleased to have Mr Carlile come forward and kick us off with a A Grateful note of thanks to everyone who really made sure that our students felt that they were heard and seen and could be successful this year so thank you good evening board chair thrower school board members superintendent Dr gullet it is my honor to recognize the incredible impact that our community has when it comes to Preparing our students our staff faculty and our families for to return to school in August there's several different organizations that Marian County Public Schools partners with as we approach the first day of school and I've asked several of them to join us this evening to share the incredible work that they do at the conclusion of their remarks I'm hopeful that we can get a large group photograph with you all first I'd like to introduce Mrs Ashley girds with the Community Foundation of Okala Maring County to talk about the third annual back to school Community give back good evening the third annual back to school Community give back event was a heartfelt Testament to the power and collaboration within our community thanks to the unwavering support of our partners and volunteers we made a significant impact in the lives of thousands of students and their families this year we proudly dispersed over 7,000 bagpacks across eight locations working in partnership with the Maring County Children's Alliance mcps Advent Health oala stuff the Bus and The Rock program at the Maring County Children's Alliance location alone we are able to provide 1,16 backpacks filled with school supplies including an additional 100 specialty packed VPK backpacks for our youngest Learners and 97 backpacks for our our children within the foster care system ensuring that every child had what they needed to start the school year off strong Advent Health oala played a crucial role in this year's event by providing the largest location at their auxiliary Center and educating families on health and wellness their team offered valuable Healthcare information and connected attendees with resources available throughout Mar County emphasizing the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle as a part of a successful Academic Year our partnership with stuff the bus and the Maring County veterans Council was equally impactful they delivered 1,150 fully loaded backpacks to 46 schools ahead of the first week of classes and provided all the school supplies for the 5,000 age appropriate bags that we dispersed at the giveback these bags were lovingly prepared by dedicated volunteers during a community stuffing event hosted by Gil Logistics the volunteer efforts of the fire Cadets also an invaluable in delivering these backpacks demonstrating a commitment to service that is inspiring for us all in addition to the school supplies we were honored to collaborate with his compassion food bank which dispersed over 52,000 pounds of food to families in need and offered a free food voucher for additional food boxing helping to Foster ongoing relationships and provide sustain support for those facing food insecurity team con also played a vital role in the event setting up a water station and providing over 4,000 bottles of water to keep our volunteers and attendees hydrated throughout the day the rock program was a Cornerstone of this event playing a vital role in supporting over 10,000 students Beyond just the provision of school supplies the rock is dedicated to addressing the needs of students holistically ensuring that they have the necessary resources to thrive both inside and outside of the classroom at each location The Rock provided additional school supplies hygiene kits and valuable information about the rock program a safe space where students can receive support and services tailored to their unique needs these contributions were not just helpful but essential as they address some of the more pressing challenges students face ensuring they have what they need to succeed academically and personally the Rocks involvement highlights the importance of looking at education through a comprehensive lens one that considers the over all wellbeing of each student we serve other community organizations enhanced the events impact the Early Learning Coalition provided VPK information and books to encourage literacy Kasa Marian offered resources to families at risk of domestic violence FCA shared information about school huddles while Boys and Girls Club promoted after school programs and the Heart of Florida Health Center provided free vaccinations and physicals across Marian County Marian County Fire the Marian County Sheriff's Office and Emergency Man management Pro provided over 300 bike helmets professionally fitted for safety and shared information on alert Mar and for Community preparedness this event featured over 500 volunteers who generously donated their time including members of local businesses and nonprofits they helped ensure its success and strengthen our network of support the Junior League of Okala also dispersed over 100 packs of diapers to parents with infants providing relief to our young families we at the Community Foundation for o calamary and County are profoundly grateful to our founding Partners Advent Health Okala and Marian County public schools for their steadfast commitment to this initiative their leadership and dedication has been instrumental in making back-to-school Community give back a reality we also extend our heartfelt thanks to our presenting sponsors and Community Partners including the rock stuff the bus Maring County veterans Council team cone the Adam Hansen better communities fund osley construction the Boyd group cell State Next Generation realy Heart of Florida Gil Logistics Panzer medicine priority Pediatric and many others the back to school Community give back was about more than just dispersing supplies it was about bringing our community together to support one another we are incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed to this remarkable event your dedication and hard work have made a lasting impact in our community ensuring that our students are not only well prepared but are also excited for the new school year as we look forward to to continuing this tradition of community support and collaboration in the years to come we remain committed to ensuring every student has the re resources they need to succeed looking ahead the future growth of back to-school Community giveback is incredibly important to us we're excited about the possibilities to expand our reach and impact we look forward to building even more Partnerships to serve our community at even higher capacity reaching more families and providing more resources the ongoing contributions of all of our partners will be vital in this growth as they continue to provide indispensable services that help students navigate the complexities of school life and personal development together we can continue to make a profound difference in the lives of our students and families thank you for being a part of this extraordinary Community effort and we eagerly anticipate the many more years of collaboration and support to come thank you unbelievable thank you thank you Mrs girs if if you're here as a partner with the back to school give back could you please [Applause] stand thank you at this time I'd like to introduce Dr Craig ham to share some additional information about their annual stuff the bus Campaign which I believe leave he said earlier is in the 26th year this year Dr Ham thank you evening sir Madame chair thrower superintendent gullet board members uh I'm delighted to be back here again this year to talk about the longest standing backpack giveaway program in the county as Chris pointed out this is our 26th year and it was 26 years ago that the late Colonel Lamar Hunt our own Suzanne Maguire and Hank Whittier with vets helping vets met at a luncheon and thought of an idea to provide school supplies for underprivileged children in the county it has grown every year in its scope and impact on the county this year stuff the bus was able to distribute both through our program and through contributing to the back to school initiative over 70,000 school supply items and [Applause] backpacks uh three of your board members helped stuff backpack so they're familiar with the assembly line process that we use uh in the storage unit uh for the first 12 years or so we weren't in the air conditioning building we were in a metal building outside and uh you can imagine what that was like after a few days in July one out of every 9.3 residents of Marian County is a veteran and roughly one out of every 9.5 is a public school student so it's fortuitous that we have this symbiotic relationship that enables stuff the bus through the Military Officers Association of America and the Marian County veterans Council to pay it forward because we are here able to do what we do because years ago somebody thought enough of us to provide support in our endeavors that's what we seek to do through our organizations and by the way the uh the founding group the moaa group uh we're now average age is 73 years so we're talking about significant contribution by some people that would like to attract some younger veterans to give us a call and get involved because we have plenty of good work to do in the future again thank you for inviting us back here again and I'll see you next year right you [Applause] will thank you Dr Ham on behalf of the Maran County Public Schools mental health and wellness Department I'd like to share about the sixth annual Mission bus Brigade school supply Drive which proved to be the largest to date at this August 6 Maring County Board of County Commissioners meeting it was announced that 18,000 976 items were collected among the participating Maring County departments this was in addition to approximately $900 in monetary donations and additional $2,300 in donations from the Maran County tax collector's office our community also showed their support donating supplies we'd like to take this opportunity to offer our sincerest thanks and appreciations to these Community Partners who took part the Okala Marian County Association of Realtors Staples office supplies Marian County Clerk of the Court First Christian Church of Okala HCA Florida Okala Hospital typ tap insurance company and D Dan Newan injury attorneys lastly the Stone Creek homeowners association is another amazing Community partner in the mission bus Brigade this community comes together each year to collect school supplies and donations to support our students this this year Stone Creek collected over $2,500 worth of supplies and as in years pass they also provided lunch for our student volunteers mental health and wellness department is very fortunate for the Partnerships and generosity of our community the families in transitions team worked alongside an outstanding group of volunteers students and the Forest High School girls basketball team to collect and unload the school supplies they'd also like to recognize the Maran County Public School student records transportation and Warehouse departments who helped with the pickup transport and storage of all these items with all of the Community Partners and companies that participated in the mission bus Brigade please stand [Applause] thank you we're also very fortunate to have strong Community Support at East Marian Elementary School which is one of our Community Partnership schools and two tremendous supporters of East Marian are here tonight and have been instrumental in helping to Welcome Back The Faculty staff and students at East Maran Elementary would Jesse Shabad from inmar CVS and Wes Haron and his team from his compassion food bank please stand thank you thank you now I'd like to invite Megan magal the executive director of the public Education Foundation of Marian County to the podium to share about their incredible tools for teaching pop and drop event good evening good afternoon chair throwers Schoolboard members superintendent Dr goet and thank you Mr carile thank you for this moment of recognition of the public education foundation's annual event and support of teachers through our annual pop and drop which is a part of our foundation's tools for teaching program through the prop and drop event we serve approximately 1,000 teachers at the start of the school year providing bags of classroom supplies I have examples right here of those bags that get filled teachers drive up to the foundation office they pop open their trunk and we drop in the bags of supplies to make it convenient and easy for them during their back to school schedule to serve a th teachers during the month of August in 107 Dee weather from the hours of 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. does take a village and so with me today I do have a part of that Village I'm going to ask that they stand and that includes Foundation board of directors Foundation staff Golden Apple Academy members and our volunteers who are dedicated to the tools for teaching Store Mission thank them for everything they have done to make this event possible and for understanding 15 years ago when the tools for teaching program was first established through the Education Foundation students who cannot afford supplies to go to school is one part of the challenge that our district faces and a way for the community to bring support together and to help those students but part two is the amount of money that our Educators spend out of their own pocket to solve that need of the kids in their classrooms and so the Education Foundation is a part of the solution for solving the need through the hands of teachers to then equip the student who show up in their classroom without the adequate supplies to be successful and our pop and drop event does not end that part of our commitment to supporting teachers because these bags you will see them every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon in the walls of our Education Foundation we have approximately 200 teachers each week who come and shop for free supplies to make sure the kids in their room have what is needed the next day I'd like to give a special thanks to our tools for teaching store clerk Miss Ashley Smith who truly is the heart of making this program work at the foundation thank you Ashley last year we provided $561,000 to teachers through supplies approximately 3600 teacher shopping visits that came through the foundation thank you for the opportunity to partner with Maring County Public Schools to financially and materially support our students our schools and our teachers thank you thank you Mrs magal as you can see we have an incredible Community who supports our faculty staff students and families I also want to take an opportunity to acknowledge and recognize our faith-based community for all they do for our schools as we prepare to welcome back our students activities from our faith-based community r from campus cleanups back to school events donations to our schools welcome back breakfast is and lunch and prayer walks truly have a community that cares about our faculty staff students and families and we we could not do it without them so at this time I'd like to invite everybody up if we could take a a photo please absolutely and then we'll do some thank yous or we can do the thank yous right now and then take the picture and everyone can be on their way because they've taken time out of their B very busy days being very amazing and giving to come here and and be honored and thank tonight and um gosh on behalf of the the whole school board I just want to say thank you for all being part of the the solution we we all are aware of the problems but but being so committed to being part of the solution is what it's all about and this pouring into our community is truly truly unprecedented I believe I would put us up against any other County in the country for what everyone has done to help us in our mission arm in arm which is helping every student succeed and breaking down any barrier that there is to help make that happen so thank you again from the bottom of our hearts will be a joy to take a picture with all of you stay but the rest of it I did pretty good I know how are you doing Tak a deep breath us too we like our new position too [Music] sep let me get in the back of this [Music] thing okay my loveely boy I know I know a lot of people that's ridiculous that's ridiculous come on get in the picture too okay all right we're all in the same boat TR not that one there's no room I know I I would tell you all right thank you [Applause] [Music] I didn't get to see the babies good did I say the name no you didn't but it's okay no no what is it Arisha what did I say I just reallya I think I got the schools backwards and I did that last thing so I've got to fix that thank you for letting me know yes yes I meant to ask you before we got started and I got sidetracked no I correctly you're welcome relax research this week but give me oh okay I heard that we I was out D sweetie she is all right drive safely everyone and have a great night thank you again for coming out all right Dr gullet back to you yes hard to follow that but we'll do our best thanks to everyone again it's how inspiring I am pleased to introduce to staff members tonight I'm going to have them stand as I call their name board you approve this at the previous meeting Tiffany Drummond is the new assistant principal at Romeo Elementary School she formerly served as the coordinator for high school and secondary curriculum department so we're pleased to have her on board she's back there wave wave so we can see you this wave W you see her there she is beautiful jacket very talented I'm also pleased to introduce Josh Howard who is the new assistant principal for curriculum at Maran Technical Institute and as you know he previously served as the principal at Silver River mentoring and instruction on suring another great addition to our team thanks to both of you thank you thank you thank you and congratulations and and welcome aboard what a great start to the night and it continues we're going to now recognize some donations that the school board graciously acknowledges uh made to the benefit for our students schools and staff members and we'll start with $2,000 to dellan elementary school from the Women's Club of dellan Incorporated to be used to cover the costs of the 2024 2025 student planners and agendas next up backpacks and school supplies valued at $ 39,2 47.50 from the previously recognized and still greatly appreciated Maran County veterans Council Incorporated stuffed the bus to all Marian County Public Schools elementary schools middle schools and the forom Early Learning Academy $1,000 to the Silver River Museum from William Willis and family to be used to support all aspects of the Silver River Museum $20,000 to the Silver River Museum from the felburn foundation to be used to purchase a 2024 Ford F150 truck $101 to the Maran County Public Schools mental health and wellness Department's families in transition program for from hasmuk bahai Patel and that is for products and other basic needs items $2,300 to the Marian County Public Schools mental health and wellness Department's Mission bus Brigade program from the Maran County tax collector's office employee fund to help with providing school supplies such as backpacks pens paper pencils Etc to students in need school supplies and books valued at $4,365 from Enchanted backpack to spar Elementary School to be used to enhance student learning all right fantastic donations tonight and we will move on now Dr gullet would you please make a recommendation on tonight's Schoolboard meeting agenda happy to do so thank you I recommend approval of the agenda for the August 27th 2024 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 D 21.1 D 21.2 D 21.3 D 21.4 D 21.5 d 21.6 d 21.7 d218 d 21.9 and D 21.10 that have been placed under discussion and item c17.1 has been completely withdrawn from the agenda tonight thank you thank you Dr gulet board may have a motion on the superintendent's recommendation so move move by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad all those in favor say I I I I motion passes unanimously 5- Z I have a motion to approve the minutes for the July 22nd 2024 special school board meeting motion to approve motion by board member James second second by Vice chair Conrad are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5-0 may I have a motion to approve the minutes for the July 22nd 2024 special school board meeting motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by board member James are there any corrections or additions to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I I motion passes unanimously 5 we I have a motion to approve the minutes for the July 23rd 2024 School Board board meeting so move move by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad are there any additions or corrections to the minutes hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z Miss Martinez uh would you please provide the proof of publication for tonight's Schoolboard meeting the notice for the August 27th 2024 Schoolboard meeting ran in the Okala Gazette on August 16th 2024 the proof of publication has been attached in board duckson to proof of publication thank thank you Miss Martinez we'll now move on to persons requesting to address the board and I'll ask our school board's attorney to explain the rules governing persons who wish to address the school board this evening good evening attorney Powers good evening Madam chair in compliance with Section 2860 one14 of Florida Statutes the school board has adopted uniform procedures for public speakers who wish to speak at this evening's meeting either regarding one of today's agenda items or a matter relating to the operations of the school district these procedures will will ensure the public has a reasonable opportunity to be heard on school board and School District matters a written summary of these procedures is available from the table in the lobby public speaker forms are also located on the same table the completed forms were due to the school board's clerk no later than 5:40 p.m. Madam clerk do we have any speakers yes we have three speakers this evening this evening speakers will be called prior to the business portion of the school board meeting in the order of receipt by the school board clerk before you begin speaking speaking please State your full name for the record and spell your last name each speaker will have 5 minutes of time when the speaker has one minute remaining the speaker will receive a visual notice to complete his or her comments speakers may not yield their time 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 than themselves or their child unless that statement has been 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'll 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 other students Andor their families is strictly prohibited a speaker's speech does not reflect the endorsement sponsorship position or expression of the school district thank you for your attention in the board's requirements Madam chair that concludes my explanatory remarks thank you attorney Powers Miss Martinez please go ahead and call our first Speaker Miss Tamara Vanderpool good evening ma'am hi looks loud I'm a little nervous so you have to excuse my voice being shaky um hello esteemed School Board I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today my name is Tamar Vanderpool and I am the grandmother of Chad and I'm raising him I've been raising him since birth currently he's in the fifth grade in Fort McCoy school I stand before you today to discuss the school denying me access to the school family access website Skyward and refusing to list any emergency contacts in the system their claim is that I'm not the biological parent but my power of attorney paper is not ordered by the court so therefore I'm being denied access to the system as a sole caretaker I'm the only person who's overseeing his educational development development and medical well-being the school's refusal to grant me access has caused undue harm to Chad and put him in greater risk of falling be falling behind and not having the critical care in case of an emergency one small example is the first day of school the bus was running 30 minutes late and all the other parents were notified of the alert except for me and Chad meaning by this that he had missed breakfast because he thought he was going to school I called the school and they of course went and got him out of class and asked him but being new to the school cuz he's a transfer and the first day he was he was embarrassed so he went with no breakfast that day and it pretty much upset me and I called the school and trying to talk to people about you know why I wasn't on the system that's when I found out that I was blocked from the website and getting emergency notifications and all that kind of stuff so okay being the devoted grandmother I am I refuse to be in the dark when it comes to to providing my grandson the brightest future possible so I did some re review on related policies Maran County school policy manual States the term parent as either or both of a student any guardian of a student any person in the parental re relationship to a student or any person existing supervisory authority over a student in place of a parent then it goes on to say for the purpose of this policy the term family is used in order to include a family's primary caregivers who are not their biological parents such as caregivers by Mar and County's own definition I am the considered parent and should be given full parental rights to this rights and access to the website meing County public school policy 2111 volume 22-1 update parental family parental and family engagement in the school program includes relationship with families effective communication and engaging families in decision-making and advocacy addition relevant codes p211 which I already just said 2024 Florida State statues 102.0 and 102.2 three family and school Partnerships for student achievement acts which confirms the importance of me being involved which Hinds upon my access to the website Florida State Senate cscs hb1 1557 parental rights and education would proh proh hits the school from keeping special information for me and 2003 legislation Act of the family and school Partnership Act which gives me the right to access Chad's records I'm deeply troubled and fearful and the denial of my rights has put obstacles in the past for building Chad's future I'm I'm only trying to do what's right by Chad and to be involved in his academic success yes I face yet I face obstacles after obstacle from the school also my biggest fears at this school is making decisions without my consent as to who can pick them up and whose emergency contact which is nobody he has none I mean that we have one minute remaining thank you okay so the sad fact that today's society is more that is more and more grandparents are raising their grandchildren the US Census Bureau reported 2021 at 3.3% of adults or 6.7 million people are living with their grandchildren and 32.7 are directly responsible for their care you know and it it just goes on to say this is a problem it's a growing problem and I'm getting pushed back from the school because of terminology they're trying to find reasons why I can't have access and that just makes no sense I mean what don't we all want these children to succeed I I just don't get it and I need your help and I do have um contact from Chad who has stopped up to say he's trying to work on on it and they're offering me Chad's your time has expired thank you thank you I appreciate it thank you very much for bringing your concerns to the school board Dr gullet yes um Madam CH members of the board as my understanding Mr Frasier has been involved and uh legal counsel is looking at this and so we'll update the board we have information okay thank you very much um I you heard the statement from the superintendent that she just shared Miss Miss Vanderpool we we appreciate you coming and I know it's hard to see me over here with the screen um we have we have legal council reviewing your concerns to try to assist find stop what I got back terminology let me make it clear to the board since I I don't want to get into the depths of a privacy of a particular issue but I've followed this from the beginning um first of all Miss Vanderpool has not been denied access to Skyward to be able to view she can view through his Port portal she can view all the information she needs to she has that secondly um she what she cannot do is she cannot access the emergency contact info to make changes because she's not the parent under law she doesn't have a guardianship um however the school is trying to work with her to make sure that she has all the access that she needs as far as not receiving um any kind of notifications um we checked our system and in fact she did receive notifications both by phone and email uh one of those um by email she's actually blocked so the everything is there it's just like we had a situation with a a group foster home some years ago in which case the uh the students information as to his grades and everything else is still accessible through the students in any of these situations through the students own uh portal account then as far as emergency contact information she's already listed and then as far as how she can how one can pick up a student um that's something they would need to go into the front office however where there is where there are parents that are in the equation whether or not those parents um are participatory um that being the primary parent also allows you to exclude other parents we we can't do that in this case there are things that in order to be legally acceptable um in order for someone to be in that position of parent in which they can exclude other people or change records they have to have paperwork from the court indicating and formalizing that so that's the information that we've passed forward and there may be steps that need to be taken on her end to make that happen but we strive to make sure that in any case students have their information that if there's any kind of Gap that uh that a guardian or parent or caregiver needs that those are filled at the school level we've been in communication with the principal at the school um with Mr SS so so we're continuing to work on that and of course um Mr Black and and Mr Blackman myself and staff will continue to do what we need to make sure that all the information that any parent needs is given to them with respect to what you saying sir excuse me ma'am we we did listen to you fully and and now we're speaking a little bit and I just want to assure you on behalf of the school board that it is our expectation that staff continues to work collaborative ly with you and you with them in the best interest of Chad so thank you again for bringing it to us our attention tonight really appreciate your time thank you next speaker Jamie Clemens Hall evening hello school board members um I am not a very good public speaker so I will apologize now I am also I will let you know I'm going to give you a little bit about myself um I think it'll help my case um I would like to share a little bit about myself and that education has been my life I have started teaching preschool at the age of 16 then I moved up to Elementary level eight years ago I was also teacher of the year for my school in the past and hopefully this helps explain how much I care so deeply and why I'm bringing these concerns to you numerous complaints regarding Marian County Public Schools have been voiced this year today I'm going to focus on two that are heavy on my heart because I feel that the district is setting us up for failure failure students and teachers alike number one students with eses and 504 or ese students with 504s and IEPs are not having their accommodations met I cannot legally speak on other students but I can speak on my son who is in middle school and I have been in a fighting battle for three years and yes I have reached out to people on the school board and gone through the proper channels and things have not been taken seriously so now a lawyer will be involved in that just so you're aware on that one but it's also happening to other children that I'm seeing as a teacher all right the second complaint that I have as a teacher is our mtss intervention programs in the elementary level our goal is for every student to succeed correct right okay so we buy programs that set a student to teer ratio this is why we have the positive research that backs that program okay but Maring County Public Schools triples the student to teer ratio at this time setting the students and teachers up for failure most of the programs call for one teacher to six students each year that I have taught I've had 20 or above in my group that's not acceptable we need more Staff All right so sorry I kind of added that in a little bit I get emotional I'm very power about this I apologize the origin of many of these issues can be traced back to the district level and it is crucial for parents and Maring County Public Schools to understand this and cease directing their criticism at the dedicated teachers and staff who are already operating beyond their capacities the Marian County public schools has demonstrated a lack of commitment to retaining capable employees and hiring sufficient staff this has led to an an excessive student to teer ratio in classrooms countywide causing undue strength on Educators particularly those responsible for students with special needs that have IEP 504s the Maran County Public Schools failure failure to hire and retain Personnel can be attri attributed to the overwhelming workload that cannot be managed within the allotted time frame many teachers including myself sacrifice their personal time often staying long after their scheduled hours yet still struggle to keep up with the demands of their roles concerned parents and staff should focus their efforts on advocating for change at the district level demanding increased support Fair compensation a manageable workload for employees as well as hiring additional staff if each of these focused Solutions were implemented we would see vast improvements in student learning gains and the two stated problems above would eventually disappear which is our overall goal I have to add that I know that you will say that you cannot find the staff to work and I'm sorry this might hurt some people's feelings but I can pull it up and look it on on Skyward you know there there are no positions open downtown or very rarely are they so I'm going to say this I'm going to say this statement with my whole heart these positions are always F filled so maybe we should treat our teachers and other staff like the employees downtown and we might retain them I hope you hear my plea for help before you lose yet another caring and most important to you guys highly Ive teacher because I have been since I've started with the county I hope you guys have a wonderful night and I hope you really listen to my concerns so that we can help students succeed because that is my number one goal every single day thank you thank you thank you for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us it's appreciated Jamie niswanger good evening hello hello my name is Jamie nicewonger and I'm actually kind of glad I got to go after that lady because I'm also going to be addressing the school board regarding employee pay problem I am employed in the food service department I have been employed in the transportation department I have printed out a year worth of pce stbs on these pay stubs it indicates all of the lost time that has not been paid by Maring County this is a common problem for all of your food service problem employees so let me read you a statement from our handbook in our employee handbook under work schedules section or letter letter B let's see letter e every employee shall be on the job in full uniform clocked in at their workstations at the designated start times ready to work for a Food Service employee to be ready to work they have to have a hairnet they have to have aprons they have to wash their hands it involves multiple minutes of work to be prepared to be prepared to be prepared in at your workstation um so we're clocking in at 6:55 if you start at 700 or vice versa 5 minutes go get ready be ready to work we're not paid I have multiple pay steps here one of them I clocked out at 107 I was not paid for that 7 minutes that's 12 minutes of loss time on another pay stub I clocked out at 107 I was paid for those seven minutes I called payroll and they said they round down by the five minutes 107 rounded down okay so I read online online it states that if an employer is going to round they need to round down and they need to round up that way that they can ensure that over a period of time all of the Hours worked the employees will have been paid for over a period of time it just accumulated hours of work I was not compensated for and therefore you have a dozen or more other Food Service employees that have uncompensated time also there have been other things like trainings or orientations that ran over the six hours employees were not compensated for that either I see that to be a problem and I would like for that to be addressed if it is you want employees clocking down at a set time then tell them but change the handbook they will not be ready by the clock in time that is not feasible I call payroll payroll told me that it's by the five minutes and that's due to the amount of people clocking in and clocking out to allow for that time but the handbook doesn't align with that my pay steps clocking at 107 and not getting paid doesn't align with that I was working if I'm clocking out after my work time that's not cuz I'm waiting we have five employees five employees can clock out exactly when they're done that is because that is worked time so I'm not seeing anywhere where Maron county is compensating if I work to 109 108 I'm paid to 109 or 108 according to the rounding practices you would round up to the nearest 15 or the nearest round down to the nearest five there is no rounding up all of the rounding is in the favor of the Maron County School Board and it saves you money everything I read online federal and state laws says that it needs to be mutual or in the employer employees favorite but nothing I found justifies that I have paper after paper here justifying lost time and then I have about multiple that just don't even account there's some where you've paid me exact time I worked 3 minutes extra I got paid three 3 minutes extra none of it adds up you have one minute remaining I was not able to find a single pattern I was also not able to find a round a rounding policy I've also read online that it states that if you have a rounding policy you must notify your employees of that I couldn't find it anywhere payroll couldn't tell me where it's at it's not in our employee handbook nothing to justify that you should be able to round our time of course you can if you're doing it legally and then we're actually being compensated the problem is we're not being compensated but we're expect it to work I would like for that policy to be reviewed and for employees to be properly notified thank you thank you Miss n wonger for bringing your concerns to the school board Dr gullet um thank you madam chair um Miss Boston Ellis is here and and I have her phone number so we'll make sure that she gets it as she oversees payroll and Food Services thank you very much does that conclude our speakers Miss Martinez yes Madam chair okay thank you all right moving on May I have a motion to adopt the 2023 through 2026 policies and procedures document motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by Vice chair Conrad Dr gullet thank you board this document complies with Florida statute 1357 requiring proposed procedures for the provisions of special instruction and services for exceptional students thank you I declare a public hearing is there anyone present who wishes to address the exceptional student education 2023 through 2026 policies and procedures hearing none open it up to discussion from the board any discussion from the board on the exceptional student education 2023 through 2026 policies and procedures hearing no discussion we'll go ahead and vote all those in favor say I I I those oppose nay motion passes unanimously 5 thank you moving on to some informational items the school district uses a construction management delivery method including a guaranteed maximum price known as GMP to perform construction work on the following projects there were unused funds on these projects since the projects were delivered using a construction management delivery with the GMP format unused dollars regardless of the item are returned to the owner the unspent monies will be returned to the owner via change order which will close the financial books on these projects the superintendent has signed and approved the change orders per board policy 6345 the superintendent is authorized to approve and execute any Construction contract change order that will increase the Construction contract by $25,000 or less or that will decrease the Construction contract amount provided that approval shall be in his or her judgment in the best interest of the school board such change orders shall be binding upon execution by the superintendent the superintendent shall report each change order that he or she approved to the board at the board meeting that follows his or her approval the student the superintendent's approval of the change orders shall be entered into the official minutes of the board meeting first one is item 10.1 construct covered dining Pavilion at Fort King Middle School change order one work authorization number two project 23.12 item 10.2 construction of a heating ventilation air conditioning HVAC system for the gymnasium at Fort King Middle School change order number one work authorization number one project 23-12 item 10.3 construction of a new central warehouse deductive change order number three amendment number one project 20-12 next item 10.4 districtwide fire alarm upgrades deductive change order number one work authorization number four project 23-1 125 next item is 10.5 elevator upgrades at bellw High Lake wear high lakee middle North Maran high and Vanguard high schools deductive change order number one work authorization number two project 23-1 127 item 10.6 replacement of building 2 gymnasium roof at Fort King Middle School change order number one work authorization number three project 23-1 135 and previously 10.1 I uh said project 23.1 120 but I believe that should be project 23-1 120 don't think that makes a difference but just wanted to clarify all right we'll move on to our consent agenda items May I have a motion to approve consent agenda items c2.1 through c9.4 with the exception of items d 21.1 d2.2 d2.3 d 21.4 D 21.5 d 21.6 d 21.7 d 21.8 D 21.9 and D 21.10 that have been placed under discussion and item c17.1 that has been completely withdrawn from the agenda may I have a motion please motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z moving on to to our discussion of our regular agenda items item D 21.1 may I have a motion to approve the special data share agreement with aagag learning LLC motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member James Dr gullet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item I do thank you madam chair members of the board uh Dr Brewer is going to come forward with a presentation but I want to mention just a few items this item should you approve um is estimated to be about 1.9 $ million it's a big ticket item it provides support for our Core Curriculum and allows our schools to assign the imagin learning components to reinforce the standards it also has a component for Credit Recovery in our secondary schools and Dr Brewer is here tonight to share some additional information on this item thank you thank you good evening excuse me good evening chair thrower board members and Dr gullet um I'd like to share some additional information about imagine learning we um commonly refer to that as Edgenuity Ed okay everyone sh their head so imagine learning is Edgenuity and in addition to the initial and Credit Recovery courses that are available to our students in grades 6 through 12 Imagine Learning also provides supplemental and intervention resources um and we're so excited about this opportunity because what this is going to allow our teachers to do in the classroom is to provide instructional restorative practice IES so before a student has um been deemed unsuccessful on a particular standard or Benchmark they can actually go to this particular module and receive additional interventions for that to ensure that all students are mastering the benchmarks before the end of the cour workor so we're excited about this addition to our Imagine Learning path we also now have imagine my path which is um an adaptive math intervention that our students will um take part of during their regular classroom time to provide um more assistance with Readiness algebra Readiness so I'm available for any questions you might have concerning Imagine Learning thank you Dr Brewer is there any discussion coming from the board VI chair conr I just wanted to bring awareness if I read this correctly um this goes through 6327 so this contract is that correct yes we were able to purchase a three-year um Grant using Esser funds and so we did purchase the three years and then we will um provide professional development and different um annual grants for funding thank you Dr Brewer I just wanted to um bring attention to that is it's a large number yes thank you thank you for that and if I may Madam chair I would also add title three as well and some of the other funds that come from the state yes thank you Dr gullet yes just to clarify as well while a certified educator is on the other end of the screen with uity we still have to staff the classroom with a certified educator yes yes ma'am Dr James we do not participate in one particular part of Imagine Learning that is considered instructional Services because that require that would allow our students to have solely an online virtual certified teacher so the program that we take part of for Marian County Public Schools we are responsible for the certified teacher um attached to that course thank you for that question and clarification so all of our students who are using this platform are sitting in a classroom with a certified educator yes ma'am thank you board member James any other further discussion or commentary from the board hearing none I think we're ready to vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes manly five votes to zero thank you for the presentation Dr bur all right moving on to item d2.2 may I have a motion to approve the required textbooks and instructional materials for dual enrollment motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Campbell Dr gullet do you have information you'd like to share regarding this item yes I do and Dr Brewer is going to come forward again a board this item is $300,000 and in you you know um very clearly how committed we are to access and choice for our students especially at dual enrollment is one of the ways we do that so Dr Brewer and Dr Hamburg are here to share more about this item thank you good evening chair thrower Vice chair Conrad board members and superintendent goet um th this agenda item brings a great opportunity to share with you and the public um the pathways that we have for our dual enrollment for our mcps students one of those Pathways is offered through our very own Maran Technical College and students mcps students are permitted to take dual enrollment courses through MTC and currently we have about 70 students participating in that particular pathway through MTC another pathway for dual enrollment is the Collegiate Academy which is offered um during the students Junior and senior years and this is through our articulation agreement with the College of Central Florida this pathway allows for students to take dual enrollment courses um in a face-to-face setting at CF and they can either work towards an AA degree program or an as degree um then we also have what we commonly refer to as traditional dual enrollment pathway although all of these are traditional dual enrollment enrollment Pathways but the other way for dual enrollment um Pathways to occur is that students may also take a College of Central Florida course they can either take it in person or they can take it online or they can take a combination of that and currently we have more than 150 students taking at least one online course through CF and we have about 146 students taking at least one face-to-face course and some of those students are taking dual um pathway dual courses as well so you might have a student taking one face Toof face and two online or vice versa so in total Marin County Public School students are participating in um 70 college level courses through CF so the agenda item we're asking for your approval tonight is to purchase required textbooks and instructional materials for the students in the dual enrollment Pathways either through MTC or CF and this would cover the fall term which is the current term it would call uh cover the spring 2025 term as well as the summer 2025 term great thank you nothing else to add Dr Brewer no I'm just here for questions okay great thank you um any comment discussion from the board go ahead board member James um I just want to thank board I was a high school AA student myself I have memories of going to Valencia Community College with my mom and buying a lot of books except we didn't have to buy any of them because they were all free as a dual enrollment student and that is a treasure to the students who choose to participate in the program and I'm proud to be able to support the Alternative Learning that occurs through it so thank you thank you board member James any other comment or discussion from the board it's well said Dr James because experience yes that's exactly what I was going to say what she said um and the fact that career dual enrollment is also included is is a big one for me so thanks again um yes go ahead please um I just want to say as a current dual enrollment student I go to Westport HIgh school and I am actually enrolled in this program I also started my junior year and as the chair member pass said uh these textbooks are extremely expensive I'm currently in a Spanish class where my textbook would have costed me $135 and through dual enrollment it is free these are amazing things and resources that we need as students to be able to achieve our AA and to be able to actually understand how colle works because again these are very expensive textbooks and as a student who comes from a title one school these are very very incredibly gr incredibly grateful sorry and it is really expensive and we are very very happy to have these resources be free for dual enrollment students thank you um student board representative Diaz for your great comment um is there anything else yes so I would like to say that I was a dual enrollment student by in my um old school back in Miami date and I'd like to comment on what Miss di said that it is very expensive the textbooks are very expensive so it is great that du dual en rment students get it for free and I know they range from like about100 to $200 and not a lot of people can afford that especially people coming from lwi income or like from a title one community so it is very appreciated that we get these resources for free and yeah that's basically it thank you thank you student board representative bani um is there any other comment or discussion from the board all right I think we're ready to vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously five votes to zero thank you all right moving on to item d2.3 may I have a motion to approve the expenditure increase for bid 4024 ah fresh produce for Food Service term contract motion to approve motion by board member James second second second by Vice chair Conrad Dr G you have information you'd like to share regarding this item yes thank you board U you will recall that we've had several presentations recently and Miss beler is going to come forward and share some more information tonight obviously we've switched gears into Food Services here for a moment um and the cost for this item is $750,000 and uh Miss beler is going to share a bit about why we have the increase in in costs and also how we're um really working hard to increase access of the um fresh produce to our students in our schools so thank you Miss Belcher good evening Madame chair thrower Vice chair Conrad board members and Dr goet thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight meal participation is on the rise so this is a good thing but we're also seeing an increase um in produce prices due to some labor shortages poor harvest and fuel cost but even with these challenges we're gearing up for exciting and a fun school year this budget does support the national school launch program the supper program and our fresh fruit and vegetable program we've already seen about a 5 to 6% increase from the the numbers from last year so it's a little higher than I was anticipating it does support our Partnerships with the USDA DOD fresh program pik's produce the hospital district and the fans club CL and our most recent Community partner Crohn's cradle conserve these Partnerships aim to bring in locally sourced fresh produce and through the collaboration with our partners the food and nutrition department is integrating a Florida Harvest of the month initiative this initiative aims to encourage students to eat more fruits and vegetables through promoting seasonal eating healthy diets and agricultural education so in October beginning October which by the way is National Farm to school month we're going to highlight a fruit or a vegetable that is locally grown in Florida on our menu we're going to display educational information uh via our signage and post interesting facts about the produce and where the where in Florida the produce was grown and which um Farm grew it and harvested it what's equally exciting this year is Maring County public schools has eight 18 schools participating in the um ffp programs which is the fresh frt vegetable program this is a 50% increase from last school year so this is a it's a huge deal as you can see we're preparing as best as we can to meet the demands of all of our nutritional programs our farm to school initiatives and our nutritional needs of our students so we thank you for your continued support thank you all right is there any comment or discussion from the board regarding this item yes please go ahead thank you I just like to say that all these uh collaborations and partners such as fans because I know there was fans in my school this is very critical for students to be served fresh quality produce because it is very crucial for them to be growing and developing at this age because this is a very critical time period for them to be growing and their nutrition is very important in that Cas so it's especially very important for their academic mental and physical performance throughout the school day I know a lot of people don't really eat the school Lear sometimes because they sometimes say like oh it's like this or it's like that you know and I feel like having fresh produce and more healthier choices for them will really help them perform better throughout their day and overall have a better academic uh school life thank you thank you student board representative bani did you have something to add board member Diaz okay thank you I made a a great statement um the student on your right and I I'm glad that you spoke to this because I do often wonder you know what the tremendous efforts that are being made to improve our school lunches and the nutrition and the whole thing we all know we are what we what we eat and sometimes what we eat makes us what we are um but your your input is appreciated thank you anything else yes go ahead board member James I will just add my um kindergartener started school I guess 12 days ago and she wants nothing to do with the lunch I pack she is all about the school lunch line everything about it she wakes up on Friday so excited apparently pizza every Friday maybe I don't know but she comes home breathing about the school lunch so I just wanted to give a shout out because Willa James is very excited about the lunch line good to hear that's right that's right yeah the consumers are liking it yes all right anything else from the board okay we'll go ahead and vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z thank you all right moving on to item D 21.4 may I have a motion to renew bid 3881 ah New and Used Books educational materials and other related materials term contract motion to approve motion by Vice chair Conrad second second by board member Cummings Dr gullet you have information you'd like to share regarding this item thank you madam chair just just briefly this item cost is $400,000 uh if needed it's a third renewal and we're just bringing awareness to the fact that I think not everyone understands that we our purchasing department is committed to utilizing our funds uh very efficiently and we um utilize used books and materials and not just new ones so that's what I wanted to share on this item thank you thank you Dr gallet is there any comment from the board um I for one did not know that and I actually do remember a time when used books were were discarded and I was hopeful that they were going to some places where they could really be you know repurposed so that was really great to hear thank you all right if there's no more discussion we'll go ahead and vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 moving on to item D 21.5 may I have a motion to approve the First Amendment to the school resource officer agreement with the city of Okala motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second by board member Cummings Dr gallet you have information you'd like to share regarding this item I do actually board the next two items Mr mcfaden is going to present some items on uh they're related I know you have to vote on them separately the first one 21.5 uh pertains to having an additional SRO at Westport HIgh School which would increase the numbers from 2 to three at a cost of about $84,000 Mr mcfat good evening chair thower board members Dr gullet this particular contract or this item deals with two different um topics the first is the crisis intervention training that was required uh as you may be aware the we had an audit recently and that audit found that we were we had a finding where our school resource officers was not in compliance by having the crisis intervention training we work with the College of Central Florida the Sheriff's Office okal Police Department B Police Department to get all of those officers in a training class at the College of Central Florida and it was a three-day class that was mandated and we were able to get everyone every school resource officer that had not received a training trained over the summer so that finding now has been complete and and we're we're in good standing uh the next part of the um contract deals with uh the amendment deals with the adding additional SRO at the schools as you're aware the state mandates that we have a school resource officer or safe school officer in every school as a district uh there's there's four different ways you can meet that mandate one is school resource officers better known as Sr the N the school based police officers guardians or school security guards our district has chosen to meet the Mandate by Contracting with the mar County Sheriff's Office the city of Ella police department and the City of bellw police department each school has at least one SRO with several schools having two and now most recently with this addition Westport will have three uh we renewed our three-year contracts with these three agencies in 2022 but they will expire on June 30th of 2025 and here's a breakdown of those current cost with the mar County Sheriff's Office in 2022 and 2023 we had 39 school resource officers at $75,000 each totaling 2,925 th000 with the addition of the SRO this year at one of R schools 2024 we'll have 40 school resource officers at $75,000 each totaling $3 million again that's with the one additional Sr Ro um in the county the city of Ella Police Department in 2022 we had 18 sro's at the cost of $887 totaling $1,597 th000 and 2023 we remain at 18 Sr but they lowered the cost because of the vehicle cost that was taken out of it so that cost was $843 66,000 for a total total of $1,518 th000 in 2024 which is the amendment to this contract um we will have 19 SRO but keep in mind that one that was added at Westport because of the alt placement uh uh program here at MTI we had to add a second SRO so that'll bring our total Sr RS uh for the city of okel to 20 at $843 66 each for a total of $1,687 uh $887,000 so the city of bie they have one SRO and in 2022 that cost was roughly $65,000 and 2023 was roughly a little over $68,000 and in 2024 $71,000 827 so for 2022 the total SRO cost was roughly $4.6 million and 2023 it was roughly $4.5 million 2024 it'll be roughly $4.8 million and what we did was in preparation for the two new elementary schools that will open in 2025 we added those costs because we have to renew this contract for 2025 so we're estimated cost for SRO will be roughly 5 over 4 million roughly $5.5 million we're anticipating a 10% increase although they haven't given us the number of what it's going to cost when we renew the contract historically it's been anywhere from 10 to 12 15% increase so we're we're looking at roughly 5.4 to 5.5 million so this investment ensures that every campus in is meeting the state mandate and has the necessary safety measures in place to create a secure environment for our students and staff if you have any questions need any clarification please let me know thank you we start with questions um board member Campbell then board member James sure um just for clarification so the item we're voting on this evening actually the contract does just say 19 SRO so I anticipate that we'll have another amendment coming forth which you won't necessarily have to speak to because you've given us all that information right now but just for clarification for the public we're approving 19 SRO with the city of Okala this evening and then the 20th will be added at a later Amendment yes ma'am that amendment is being approved by the city and once it gets to us we'll bring it back to you for approval thank you thank you board member Campbell board member James thank you um at a at a later date that's not tonight I as a board member would love to receive information that compares how we fund SRO in this District compared to what other districts that are like size how they fund their SRO because I do know that in other districts um it is more of a shared Community cost and not just a cost on the Schoolboard and I would love to have a better understanding and be able to articulate that better in the community as to how districts that are in similar like size to us are navigating the cost because I do wholeheartedly believe that a good guy with a gun on a campus is is always the best decision and I tell I I feel this strongly for myself but I I tell people all of the time your child is safer in our schools than they are at Walmart at our schools they're behind a locked multiple locked doors and there's an armed guard um multiple probably depending on the campus if it has Guardians so I believe in the way that we are protecting our campuses um but I would love to understand a full picture of how across the state like-sized districts are funding this yes ma'am thank you thank you board member James Vice shair Conrad um just a just a quick um highlight um Miss Boston Ellis has spent a lot of time going over the budget with us recently and I just wanted to say thank you to the community because both um of these are come from general fund and also are referendum dollars and so as many of you know the state mandates many things for us to do and then does not pay for them and so I'm just very grateful um for the referendum dollars that we can have our um officers on staff and we're able to add officers where need needed um they keep us moving forward so thank you for that thank you Vice chair Conrad student board member Diaz um yes I do attend Westport HIgh School and unfortunately we have had a recent incident where we have needed additional security from our PR from our SRO um we recently had a fight where it escalated to injuring an administrator and this is something that should never have happened to begin with this fight had just escalated completely out of control and I do believe that having an additional SRO especially for my campus is a way better thing to have uh Westport has 700 seniors and that's an estimate um and this is like it for every class we have around 700 Juniors 700 sophomores 700 freshmen it is a lot of students and there is not enough security to rational or rationalize I guess the amount of students that we have compared to SRO to administrators there's just too many of us and not as many protection and these SRO are here to protect not just administrators but us as students unfortunately the world we live in is a very dangerous place but as sh members had mentioned our schools are safer than a Walmart and I believe that is a true statement where we do have SRO who are good people to protect us rather than out there in a Walmart where we just have a random person who could possibly have un hopefully not but a gun and I believe that this having an additional SRO would be able to help us on campus yes thank you any other discussion or comments from the board okay hearing none we're ready to vote all those in favor say I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z thank you moving on to D 21.6 may have a motion to approve the First Amendment to the school resource officer agreement with the Marian County Sheriff's Office move moveed by board member Cummings second second by board member Campbell uh Dr gallet any additional information you'd like sh I think he did a very thorough job thank you yeah y I agree anything else from the board all right hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z moving on to D 21.7 may I have a motion to approve the agreement with CE Mendes Foundation Incorporated you skip skip 21.7 I have 21.7 as the agreement was e Mendes Foundation no no ma'am Board of Directors for the public education foundation and I have Board of Directors for public Education Foundation as D 21.9 nope the script is wrong so we're going to do it as listed on the published agenda so we shall shall move on to D 21.7 which is the 2024 2025 Board of Directors for the public Education Foundation of Maran County May I have a motion please so move move by board member Cummings second second by Vice chair Conrad okay um Dr Gull do you have anything you'd like to share regarding this item I don't have anything additional on this item thank you here okay we'll open it up to discussion from the board is there any discussion from the board regarding this item all theote uh go ahead V sh comrade um I just want to start by saying thank you um we were Megan thank you Miss magal for um this beautiful outline for all of the things um that the foundation provides um for our students for our staff um for the district and so um I continue to be amazed at all of the work you're able to do and um the reach that you have within Maran County so thank you for all the work I see your your team is still here and so thank you to all of you um I think it was mentioned at one time that the public Ed Foundation is the most effective Foundation um around I don't and so I just I can't tell you thank you enough so thank you for the work that you do thank you Vice chair and any other comment or discussion from the board all right I I do have just a couple of um quick questions if Megan you might be able to come up for a moment thank you good evening good evening chair thrower school board members superintendent Dr goet and appreciate having you tonight and appreciate celebrating um you earlier this evening and uh I don't think I could have said it any better than Vice chair Conrad what a tremendous partnership uh we do have and and tonight we are looking at uh approving board members and uh how long is their term threeyear term with the option for Renewal and vote again from the board of directors for a second term of a total of six years okay great and just for the public um knowledge how do the nominations occur how does one become a member other than we say yes and vote them in great question and wonderful to share with community members as well um we have a board currently of 27 but our bylaws do state we can have up to 30 so uh during the year if there is a vacancy then the board can choose through the executive board and committee to um consider nominations for replacement of vacancies but standard process is that during spring of each year nominations are accepted through a nominating committee our executive board which would be comprised of our president president-elect immediate past president Treasurer and chair of committees so that would be our investment committee finance committee as well as fund development they would be the governing body to accept those nominations from community members uh really anyone who would like to be considered to serve obviously up to 30 in total can be considered and once that process goes through the nominating committee and executive board it then moves to the full board and it does require a full board of directors vote um the executive director of the public Education Foundation while serving on that board list is not a voting member of that process and that includes from nomination uh acceptance or any other regarding a board member uh we do have three addition ex officio members who serve on the board and they are our golden apple Academy chairperson elected by our golden apple teacher leadership team our teacher of the year as indicated from our annual teacher of the year Golden Apple process and then the school board you have Schoolboard chair or Schoolboard Vice chair as design to serve on the foundation's board of directors so that we ensure that you are a part of our conversations and the work that we are doing that position is non-voting though the superintendent of schools a permanent seat per our bylaws is a voting member of our board awesome thank you for that because I'm I'm not sure you know we all know the great things that you do but we don't all know the the background of how that all happens and and how people are selected and and what qualities and attributes um you really look for um it it sounds to me like the the nominating committee and the executive board uh work on that piece and that you stay kind of arms length from from that as the way your bylaws are written is that correct yes ma'am okay all right thank you for helping me understand that and then I guess the my last question would be because there's up to 30 members that um can be on the board what would be some of the qualities and characteristics that you would be looking for and would insist upon um for someone to be serving the public Education Foundation they would be qualities that we would look for in community members who are involved in philanthropic organizations who are committed to fundraising and helping support the students and teachers in Maran County and that can look quite different depending on each board member but of course we want to see a strong showing from our business Community our Civic organizations and also community volunteers we have a good amount of retired Educators and retired business individuals who now at a later stage in life have the extra time to commit to give back to most likely the school district who helped them achieve success at the time of their employment awesome and you guys have certainly done an amazing job with the with the fundraising and directly benefiting our our children and also getting business partners for for each school it it really is commendable and something that I've always admired about this organization and respected is the level of of integrity and and honor and ethical behavior um that each and every board member has demonstrated in the past and it would definitely be uh my expectation and also prayer that that will continue um for many years to come uh we have so many wonderful positive things to celebrate and we can't have enough good people out there representing that um in every way every day so thank you very much appreciate the background you shared thank you our board of directors are champions for our school district and the teachers and students we serve and so are the amazing staff members who stayed back after talking about our annual pop and drop event and wanted to to be here of support so thank you thank you Miss magl and and thank you again for everything you and your team does it's greatly appreciated all right anything else from the board all right hearing none we're ready to vote all those in favor say I I hi I next Mo oh okay um I said all those in favor C I thought I heard five votes uh to zero but we have four votes in approval and one dissenting which is board member Campbell all right thank you you have that Elena all right thank you all right uh moving on to Let's see we are now on item D 21.10 eight uh Mendes back to Mendes okay all right so it's D I have it as on on this anyway D21 um7 correct 21 21.8 D 21.7 agreement with c as Mendes Foundation the confusion is as published on board docs the numbers got switched between 21.8 and 21.7 and 21.9 so D 21.7 is listed as 21.8 on the agenda that is agreement with CE Mendes Foundation thank you for that clarification all right may I have a motion please so Move Motion by board member second by Vice chair Conrad um Dr gullet did do you have anything on this item I I do thank you madam chair the cost for this item is $105,000 Miss Delo doll is here to provide some specific information uh as we look at how we're serving our students and conflict resolution um in in our classroom so Miss D Noll will provide additional information and context to this um this item thank you good evening board chair thrower board members and superintendent Dr gullet the CE Mendes Foundation brings us the two good programs curricula through this agreement we seek to purchase the to good for violence program this is an evidence-based curriculum designed to help students develop the social skills and emotional regulation needed for Effective conflict resolution bullying prevention anger management and respect for self and others the program uses a variety of engaging and age appropriate lessons to teach skills and offer students opportunities for practice the lesson support and reinforce our current character and resiliency education efforts emphasizing the importance of building positive social skills and supportive relationships all schools will receive great appropriate kits to use as additional intervention resources on their campuses as will MTI and our past programs professional learning opportunities have been tentatively scheduled for our school-based Mental Health Providers including our school counselors School social workers and school psychologists we also are including our students student service managers as with each intervention we will be devising intervention guides to support implementation on campuses as well as providing additional support and coaching as needed according to the data for the 2023 2024 school year inappropriate behavior and disruptive conduct were the top two disciplinary infractions however physical altercations accounted for 7% of all infractions and disrespect for others accounted for 6% of all infractions a total of 6,329 students received at least one day of out of school suspension and 5,620 students received at least one day of in school suspension leading to missed instructional time and opportunities in the classroom our suspension rate for offenses of disrespect disruptive conduct and mutual fighting were higher last year than the year prior it is our hope and goal that the implementation of a program to support positive social interactions respect for others and effective problem solving and conflict resolution will decrease the number of discipline offenses and suspensions improve our attendance rates and further promote a positive and safe learning environment thank you is there any discussion from the board regarding this item all right hearing none thank you for the presentation and thank you for providing the um context and and information for our challenges and everything that we're um committed to doing you know to help students succeed um academically and behaviorally thank you thank you all right ready to vote all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously five votes to zero thank you moving on and I'm going to take a chance here D 21.9 all right may I have a motion to approve the agreement with turn it in LLC motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by Vice chair con R Dr gullet you have information you'd like to share thank you yes this is the last item I have for discussion um from my seat board $54,000 this is software that we would we are asking for our schools to be able to utilize as we identifies potential plagiarism and artificial intelligence it also provides feedback for improvement for our students and Dr Brewer had some additional items she wanted to share as well thank you thank you good evening again Dr Brewer good good evening thank you Dr gullet um turn it in as a software just like Dr gullet stated that allows our teachers and students valuable information when a student submits the work to this software the work is then um matched with this enormous database and then from there the teachers and students receive a report that shows what could possibly have been plagiarized and hopefully it was um not intentional but then the student is able to take that feedback and make make adjustments um this is crucial with our Advanced coursework especially with our IB and our Cambridge programs because they have an endof the- year cumulative project that this that requires this um partnership with turn it in so we're asking for a $54,000 each school is responsible in that um fee and they earn the fees from the Cambridge and the IB students passing these exams so the funds are coming directly from those weighted FTE dollars thank you Dr where is there any yes not a comment just I mean not a question just a comment to say colleges already using this so we're preparing our students to know what that looks like whenever they get to the next level because every piece of anything that they turn in will go through turn it in so uh grateful that we're bringing this to our students here thank you thank you any other comments or discussion from the board all right hearing next all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously five votes to zero thank you thank you all right moving on to item D 21.10 may I have a motion to approve expenditure increase requests for bid 4051 GM tree trimming services motion to approve motion by board member Campbell second second by board member James chair yes ma'am yes I'll be recusing myself from this item thank you okay okay thank you Vice chair Conrad is there any other discussion from the board okay hearing none all those in favor say I I I motion passes unanimously four votes to zero with Vice chair Conrad recusing all right moving along I think we've covered it to board committee reports and concerns we'll start with a few meeting reminders the next administrative briefing and work session has been scheduled for September 5th 2024 at 9:00 a.m. there is a special school board meeting scheduled for September 10th 2024 at 5:01 p.m. the next school board meeting is scheduled for September 10th 2024 at 5:30 p.m. the following administrative briefing and work session has been scheduled for September 19th 2024 at 900 a.m. all right moving on Miss Martinez anything from your seat no Madam chair thank you anything from legal all is well nothing from legal thank you thank you Dr gullet thank you I'll be very brief tonight board tomorrow is our first early release two hours um for professional learning and collaboration I was in a school today and the teachers and the principal were having conversation about sending home reminders to to our families so I thought it was important to go ahead and do that here as well so looking forward to having our our team have time to collaborate and and plan for instruction for our students so just a reminder that is tomorrow the first one of the year and appreciate everything everyone's done to make this a successful start of the school year thank you thank you all right Miss Diaz anything from your seat no thank you we appreciated your participation tonight um miss bani anything from your seat no ma'am thank you thank you and we appreciate your participation tonight board member James thank you good evening uh to followup Dr gullets comment Labor Day is very early this year so we are closed on Monday because Monday is Labor day which is hard to believe because I feel like it shouldn't be Labor Day already but it is so campuses will be closed uh it's a 3-day weekend so everyone remember that as well um I just have a few little nuggets I want to share uh earlier tonight one of our student board members spoke to the incident at Westport HIgh school and I I just want to say from my board seat I and and Dr G and I talked briefly about this earlier I I want the community to understand that this board member and I believe I I reflect all of the board but I will speak to myself right now in saying that I fully expect our staff and I know that our staff will Implement our code of conduct to the full extent that it is able to be implemented and the consequences for students who assault our Personnel are going to be as strict as they possibly can the violence in our schools has got to stop violence is never the answer less than 5% of the students on our campuses are causing the majority of the disruptions and the students who are videoing it are going to be found and they are also going to receive a consequence it is not that hard to figure out who made the video and our teams work very diligently to figure it out and videoing a fight also receives a consequence and putting it on on social media where then people who may very well not want their their self on a social media platform like an Instagram page that was brought to my attention today which just shares fights at Westport HIgh School it is it is not okay those students that are in that video who may have just been a passer by are now on potentially able to go viral on a social media site and it's disrespectful to their personal autonomy so I just want the community to know that from my board seat I fully intend to to do whatever is necessary for students who choose to bring violence to our campuses uh something else that has been speaking of social media going around is this discussion about homework and I jokingly I was earlier I wrote this really long post is like I would call it a blog post and then I didn't post it because it was I was full of passion but I want to say this I did my Sarah math and 177% of the day during the school year the student is in front of the teacher receiving instruction that's 6 hours a day 5 days a week 180 days for the school year 177% of 180 days if you take it to 365 days the whole calendar year it's only 12% if you work in the fact that they sleep we're still looking at 30 to 40% of the day is spent with the educator the rest of the day is spent somewhere else our families have to begin and continue to participate in the educ educational experiences of their children if it's taking your child two hours to do two pages of math homework you need to contact your school and have a discussion with your guidance counselor and your teacher because there is a greater issue that we need to address to help meet your child where they are but 20 or 30 minutes a night to help make sure that your student is getting support at home to continue to grow and enrich their experience is in my opinion absolutely appropriate so I I just want our community to come together and support our Educators our Educators cannot make miracles happen with 17% of the day they just cannot and as a community I want as parents us to come together and support our children and I know we have all have so much going on I'm not unique in that but we have to find 20 or 30 minutes A Night to read with our children we have to turn the the TV's off we have to step away from our phones and we just have to engage with our kids so that is my prayer for this community that we will continue to believe in education and support our Educators in our homes that is all I have for my seat tonight thank you thank you board member James and I can say as board chair I concur I'm seeing head nods from everybody else too it is truly a shared effort and we'll all benefit remember Cummings good evening um just a few things um one let me start with one um there we're we're in our third week of school and I I continue to look at attendance reports I continue to look at the tennis reports y'all I don't like leaning to a microphone I talking the microphone all the time so but anyway um I continue to look at the tennis reports I continue to look at uh certain schools that have parties um parents and this is to the to our community we need our kids to get to school we need to get them get to school on time because it's it's is becoming an issue when these kids are not getting on time because then we start getting these emails saying that they're not eating breakfast if they're not eating breakfast then they're sitting in class hungry all day so we want to make sure I I want to I want to stress the importance of getting them on time so they can get their breakfast and even if they get there late there are supposed to be we uh I guess uh pick up a snack or something and and and and grab and go and continue the class that should be happening at every school um especially at elementary school so parents I understand life happens but we got to get the kids to school on time um and with that expectation of the students being on time there's also expectation of the staff being on time as well um recently um I got some pictures of of Staff being getting there late after after after um after the Bell is wrong if we have to leave from the front we have to leave from the front we can't leave from the back so if there's expectation for our students we need to have that same expectation for our staff that's number one number two and Dr James you kind of hit on it um it's disturbing to know that our student population some students in our student population are are enacting these acts of violence against each other and it's draw is rolling over into getting to to the staff um our student representative mentioned yes mentioned earlier tonight about the incident that happened at Westport on yesterday uh there's another incident that happened today um there's fights every I I don't understand how you come to school to fight um and why what is what is what is so what is going on so bad that you got to fight at school I understand people have disagreements but apparently um we haven't um giving them some other skills rather than fighting and these fights are extremely violent and I I'm in I'm in agreement with Dr James there has to be a punishment so parents know that if your kids are getting involved in these situations um these violent incidents where there's two and three people on one and their their blood is being drawn there has to be a consequence um for this so don't don't come and try to th those things should not be happening and then when staff get involved and staff are accosted and staff are are are battered that takes it to a whole another level and then with that being said um we we currently have the alternative school here at at MTI so there those kids are going to be moved from out of the regular school they're going to get sit here I got an issue with what's going on here because I'm concerned about um the support here and I I think I've said it several times I mentioned it in meetings Dr gullet I'm concerned that we make sure that this school and and Dr camel this is one of your schools I'm concerned that the we made sure that this school has all the supports that it need to deal with this student population this this is a different type of student population all the all of them are different these students and so now you have a large number of kids that are having issues on one campus that exacerbates the problem we have to make sure that we're doing what we can and we're in the neighborhood um these kids are are can walk off campus our campus is is kind of a open campus they can walk off campus at any time um and being community and and gone we have to make sure that we're doing whatever we can and I know this has kind of came about on a short notice I truly appreciate the staff here at MTI and all those who have been doing a Yan's job on trying to make sure they maintain um this this campus but if we don't deal with this very very very fast something's going to happen and I'm I'm I'm not a prophet but I can tell you I can see Common Sense things when when staff are are are are dealing with fights and dealing with things every day here at this campus um I appreciate what Mr Jones is doing and he he's an educator he believes that all these kids can be educated I do too but we got to make sure that the environment is conducive for education and the environment is not conducive for education so I have a couple proposals and um and I'm just hoping that someone would listen and take some of these proposals and consider them um one U we have the um Dad's on duty over at Fort King we need them here we need them here so Community um parents volunteers dads whomever we need those gentlemen here on this campus uh to help with this student population and then Dr G there's another thing that we can have on this campus we also have a large body of Administrators male administrators and this is not to sound chauvinistic but it is what it is um we know that these kids are going to change class we know they're going to be moving out and about Mr Mr P is here other males are here at those times we may need to have those gentlemen step out and be in the hallways while these kids are moving around this campus because sometimes just seeing a person can be a deterrent and I'm thinking that if we we if all the men stepped out of their office two or three times a day when these kids are moving about this campus maybe some of this stuff could be curtailed um we got to do something different every staff member on this campus needs a walkie-talkie or something because if Jimmy's running and and Mr Jones is way back there he can't get to Jimmy but he could call up front and say hey Mr whoever he's coming your way we need to stop him there's there's things that we have to think about common sense things that we have to think about into stopping this stuff and then I want to say this too and I I was talking to uh uh y'all ain't going to like this re you definitely ain't going to like this one uh I was talking to someone the other day and I'm like y'all need Hazard pay because y'all are getting whooped every day basically this this staff is getting they those other schools those um those there were some schools that got like some type of stiens and stuff these people are you we're going to lose some staff I I've taught the folks that say if I got to go into the classroom with these kids again might be my last day so we got to start thinking about what's going on here at this campus it was dropped on us at the last minute we working it out the best way we can but we got to take a serious look at this and I'm praying I'm asking not praying I'm asking that we come back with some Solutions in the next uh the next work session very soon to know what we're going to do here at MTI because we can't continue to go down this road um we got little little kids and we got big big kids on the same campus something has to be done those are my comments can I I just want to say one thing as a former High School administrator Reverend Cummings your points are are very valid as a former High School administrator what you do on a high school campus is you somebody comes over the radio and says class changes in two minutes everyone take their post if you've been at a a school where Ken mcer is a leader you hear it right because he is he is very conditioned into that even danella Middle School oh time to everybody get up take your post this this campus is full of current and former administrators and leaders I wholeheartedly completely agree that there needs to be a way because students make way less poor choices when they see lots of adults so if there's if every administrator if they're not in a meeting or honestly if they are in a meeting because when we were at when we're at at a school it doesn't matter if you're in a meeting the meeting ends with and class change occurs so I would love to see a plan for how that's going to be implemented thank you board member James board member Cummings that conclude that concludes my comments okay thank you sir all right board member Campbell thank you I completely concur with what you've just said Reverend Cummings thank you for coming not just with the problem but with the solutions I love that thank you um I want to reference something that Miss nicewonger said tonight in her public comment she talked about payroll and um I believe some of her comments further validate why we have to get automated payroll and timekeeping if employees are giving out information that's inconsistent because of our non-automated processes that is not acceptable and so I implore this board to work with District staff this year to make this happen we did just have the internal audit that identified all of the challenges we have and that is all because of no Automation in that department I know it's going to come at a significant cost board we need to know that's coming at a significant cost but we really have to do better by our employees and get this fixed and my hope is Dr gullet that it can be fixed this year okay moving on I want to say congratulations to chair thrower and Dr gullet because they gave an amazing presentation at the C breakfast last week and it made me so proud to be a part of this team because there are so many great things happening in our district so thank you for representing us well I know the superintendent already highlighted this partner in her weekly wrap-up last week but I also want to give a shout out to the College of Central Florida they had a great careers in colleges Expo last week my high school senior and Junior had lots of productive conversations and for that I as a parent am grateful but also grateful for all of the hundreds of people that were there uh working in addition to the hundreds of students and families that walked through it was it was an amazing night uh attended the Boys and Girls Club luncheon with several of you and that also was a wonderful partner that we have that is making such a difference in our students lives and so many of our students are impacted by the good work they do the service Academy event I believe uh Vice chair Conrad referenced the other day that representative cat cik and representative Michael Waltz put on at Forest High School and honestly what I wanted to say about that was just continuing to be amazed at the discipline and dedication that is required for those students who are applying for West point and Air Force Academy and Naval Academy and all the others just really grateful for those students that have chosen that pathway of service because it is such discipline that it takes for those students even in their application process it is not easy and hearing all the things that were required it was kind of astounding and just knowing that through graduations over last year and the previous years the numbers of our students that are going into these acmis these service cies um it it really is just amazing and I'm I'm just grateful for the life of service that many of our students have chosen tomorrow is the takestock and children kickoff tomorrow evening and next week Mentor meetings start back and I for one can't wait because my minty is like why do we have to wait until after Labor Day so we're really excited she and I are that we can start our meetings back tomorrow and looking forward to seeing her tomorrow evening as well and I'm certain there are still students that need are in need of mentors and since we've had public Education Foundation here so much this evening they're still here they're nodding their heads yes so if anyone is hearing this at the sound of my voice if you're in the community and interested in giving back just 30 minutes a week to a student who desperately could use your support and your mentorship please reach out to the public Ed Foundation trust me is much more rewarding for you than it will ever be for them it really is an awarding experience uh acceleration Academy graduation is also this week so I'm looking forward to celebrating with those students I know we've already had one of those but looking forward to another one because it was really spectacular the last time and the last thing I wanted to mention Bard is I'm currently in the process of registering for National Summit on education it will be held in Oklahoma City November 13th through the 15th I attended a couple of years ago in Salt Lake City and it was a spectacular um conference and opportunity to talk with legislators and around the country including in the state of Florida as well as just School leaders and Statewide leaders it was fabulous and so I encourage you to check that out if you would be interested through Excel and Ed so all I had thank you chair thank you board member Campbell Vice shair Conrad yes so going towards the end there's a lot of repeats but I'm going to say them because I think they're very important um I'll just try to make it quick um I just wanted to give a shout out to Maplewood Liberty Middle and Forest High School for their Improvement in attendance um it really was um great a great pleasure to visit those schools and celebrate with their staff um and their students and so we're looking forward to the challenge of who is going to earn that Banner this next nine weeks so a little friendly competition I'm very excited about that moving forward um and looking forward to it um I also wanted to say a thank thank you to our ioc committee uh last Thursday I believe um we met and again just another team of people uh working together um so that our referendum dollars are accounted for and spent correctly and so I'm just really thankful for the time and the dedication they give to doing that for us uh and having that committee to ensure our dollars are going um to the things that they're supposed to um and we discuss some tonight about safe schools um so anyway just really grateful for that team of people I also wanted to um point out um at Forest High School the service Academy and and really it was a great event and not only is it was it great for our students with Dr Campbell mentioned but it was also really great for the staff that was there afterwards um even in the days that followed there were there were quite a few staff members that reached out and just said you know that process is so cumbersome and so complicated it was great to have someone walk us through the process and start that timeline a little earlier because there are so many requirements the students have to meet um you know to get to that end game so uh that was a great opportunity for not just our students but our staff members as well in helping our students um succeed I wanted to highlight um also the Boys and Girls Club they did have their annual luncheon and it was great they had a great speaker very very inspiring speaker but um especially with what all that was discussed um in the the beginning of our meeting and our celebrations just another group of people who lifts up the children of Maran County um that they have somewhere to go after school um to get homework help and to be supervised um in a loving and caring nurturing community and so I just wanted to say thank you for the work that the boys and girls club continues um to do in our community I'm very grateful Reverend cumins mentioned some concerns about um MTI I too that was on on my list as well and I wanted to ask Dr gullet if there was a way that we could get um a more detailed discipline report um of of what's kind of Happening Here uh at MTI either on a weekly basis or a monthly basis I don't know um what would be best for your staff but I know um there was mention of a student that eloped this week um and that was of great concern to me just because of where our where we're situated here with Fort King and in the Boulevard and those types of things and um Reverend Cummings I think you had some great suggestions um in helping our students because I do know those transition times tra traditionally are our most challenging times and so um just want to make sure that we're covering all of our bases this was put together very quickly I feel like we may have a few holes um that we can improve on and so I'd just like to stay updated on where we are um um with discipline and how we can assist um as a board Mr Jones as he works on moving this program forward because I know that he has very it was such a pleasure to hear him the other day share um all the expectations and the positive things that he's doing with this group of students and so uh just looking forward to furthering those conversation and meeting the needs of the students that are here I also um a couple of weeks ago I asked about a transportation update and uh Dr gullet I'm very grateful for the um briefing that you send us but I would also um like to get a transportation update this board uh we made a lot of changes um to the bus schedule and I'd like to see if we're making some gains um with our three-tiered bus route and so if we could get that added to our update so we see some percentage percentages of on how many buses are arriving to school on time um and how many are being dismissed on time I think she added that last week yes it was it started last week yep cuz I asked for the same thing I yeah I did I did not see the percentages I did see it was there okay and it's an improvement from last year it is okay where is it I mean in that same graph okay I apologize I I completely missed that so thank you for those of you that have already done that work that I did not see there's always one more thing in this life yes yes so anyway um with that my apologies U for bringing that forward and it's already been taken care of I'm just continue to be thankful for the work that goes on within this community um today we saw a lot of Partnerships that are helping every student succeed right here in Maran County so thank you thank you to all thank you Vice chair and yes that is there's a lot of uh pleasures and honors to being chair but one of the difficulties is that by the time you get a chance to share something unless it's you know a monumentally different um you just try to help wrap it up and and end on a positive always because we start and and finish with kids and one of my favorite things about this board is that we have always acknowledged the challenges but we have always almost always cheerfully taken them on along with um the rest of of the staff and and the community and I do believe and thank you for the um acknowledgement board member um Campbell about the C presentation because that's largely uh what was shared back to Dr gallet and I that gosh you know there is a lot of positive things going on but you also have so much going on um but it was a pleasure you know to to share um that last week and it also is always a good reminder um to me to keep my own accountability mirror polished um you know we we must must practice you know what we preach and and I completely agree with the rest of the the board you know and any number of great adult Role Models the more the better and some of our uh most well managed schools I think of Liberty Middle School and I'm sure it's happening now too under different leadership but when Miss H Connor was there it's just like board member James said when it was time to go to your post you know um everything stopped and that's where people went and um you know kids deserve as many chances and support as we can give them um until they put themselves in a situation where sadly we we can't be of assistance for a while um so that's one of the things I thought was so great about placement on this campus is that it does provide a lot of opportunity for contact with with uh pretty cool adults and and some possible mentorship that mentorship can take place in three seconds or less you know um so I look forward to continuing to evolve and grow and and support um the program here and once again I'd like to thank thank our student uh board representatives for joining us tonight we know it makes us a late night and that you have a lot going on when you get home uh we were talking about homework earlier and I'm sure in the classes that you've chosen to take and the way in which you've chosen to challenge yourself that you have a lot um to work on when you leave here tonight so thank you again for dedicating you know time to us and time to our school system and time to your fellow students by representing them so well so there's nothing else for the good of the cause I think we are probably ready to adjourn and I will entertain a motion motion to adjourn motion by uh board member Campbell and uh second by board member James and before I asked for all those in favor I did forget one very important thing and this is to everyone that ran for public office for the primary congratulations board member Campbell um on your win and thank you to everyone who ran um if it was that easy many more people would be throwing their hats in the ring and it does distress me that a lot of races are being decided in the primary with very little competition so uh take that as a hint you may want to start thinking about serving on a board and doing what it takes to get yourself elected one day all right all those in favor of adjourning say I I I motion passes unanimously five votes to zero and we are adjourned at 7:48 p.m. thank [Music] you [Music] e e e