the Schoolboard work session begins in 2 minutes please take your seats again the Schoolboard work session begins in 2 minutes e the Schoolboard work session begins in 1 minute please take your seats again the
Schoolboard work session begins in 1 minute e e e e e [Music]
good morning I now call the February 24th 2025 administrative briefing and work session of the Maran County School Board to order at 900 a.m. please silence your electronic devices to avoid disturbing others mirroring and modeling how our students
begin each day I ask that you please pause with us for a moment of silence please join me thank you I'm now going to read our board commitment statement we are the Marian 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 good morning attorney Powers would you explain the rules for this public work session good morning yes thank you madam chair this work session is a public meeting as defined in Florida's public
records law the the board is dedicated to full transparency in its meetings and its work in compliance with the Sunshine Law the board has adopted uniform meeting procedures including the right for citizens to participate the board will allow public comment regarding any work session item listed on today's
agenda at the appropriate time speakers must fill out a request form located in the lobby and hand it to the board clerk after the board and superintendent have completed their discussion on a particular agenda item the board clerk will call speakers names in the order received each speaker will have three
minutes as required by the Sunshine Law the board must maintain orderly conduct and proper deorum throughout this meeting speakers May criticize subject matter and decisions in a respectful manner but not people finally speakers must be very careful not to violate the Privacy rights of others especially
students and their family members by mentioning their names or other identifying information thank you for your attention to these important rules thank you for your Miss Martinez would you please provide the proof of publication the notice for the February 24th 2025 work session was published in
the Ocala Gazette on February 14th 2025 proof of publication has been attached to board dock to proof of publication thank you we'll now begin our work session with the superintendent's administrative breed briefing good morning Dr gullet good morning Madam chair members of the board nice to see you today happy Monday uh I
do not have any specific uh briefing notes um as the item the only item here is an item that the board requested so if you would allow me we can move forward and I can provide some context to what we're going to provide today absolutely thank okay wonderful so as a
um as a summary we had a work session board as you recall on January 23d and at that time um my team brought recommendations forward for rezoning and some utilization uh we heard from the board the majority
of the board I will say uh that there were some additional considerations the board wanted to see so what is on today's agenda is purely our information provided back to the board at your request so um Mr SS is here a number of
members of my team you can see um that worked really hard on this as soon as we had that work session I asked my team to gather uh and we worked through it document to provide uh the information the board requested for utilization of schools in a different way so Mr airs is
going to kick us off and work through what we did for each of those uh requests and the information provided there are also additional uh documents provided I know Miss Boston Elis in particular was contacted by a board member who wanted more information uh
than what we shared in the uh posting so that has been added as well um chair so we will um just walk through that and and entertain any questions you may have thank you good morning Mr SS yeah oh it's not on Mr
M good morning can you hear me now good morning Madam chair Madam co-chair Dr gullet attorney hours board members M Martinez what I have in um what I'm going to talk about real quick is the spreadsheet I I'm sorry Mr SS I we
cannot hear your microphone and our monitors up here so if we could just take a pause really quick making sure we can hear that monit your microphone in these monitors testing one two okay that's much better but it could still go up a little louder
can you hear me now hello yes okay that's much better thank you all right good all right I'm going to direct your attention to the spreadsheet that was attached to the board dos on the spreadsheet we list five four um
scenarios that the board asked for more information on a scenario for the Evergreen auxiliary zones to oakrest the possibility of fezan to Reddit CER the possibility of Anthony to spar and a combination Dell and middle Dell
and high there are several columns on here the First Column um after the requested information is the capacity where we talk about current capacity of the schools the fish seats at each School the 80-day count numbers for
those schools and then the open fish seats and then potential needed extra fish seats at those schools the next column is the facility information that talks about the maintenance needs and different facility considerations then we have a staffing
column that talks about the additional staff that may or may not be needed at each school we have a transportation column and then a notes and considerations column for each section for that at this time we have myself we
have Miss bombach from facilities we have M barant from Staffing we have Mr aonic from transportation to entertain any questions on the spreadsheet that you have okay and we have Miss Kayla Johnson
I apologize um from from Finance to talk about the finances okay Mr SS would you mind going through that going through these just in a little more bit more detail just for the public in case they don't have um this in front of them all right well
what I can do is I can go over the capacity and then I'll introduce each person to go over each column that would be great thank you so much again the capacity these are off 80-day count numbers since that's what we use when we're talking about any resoning remember fish seats are what um
Florida Department of Education dedicate dictate what is available at each school then we have the students that are actually in the zone as zoned and then we actually have students that are attending because remember about 20%
usually of Zone students don't attend their Zone school so we need to account for that and then there's also potential seats that are needed if there's extra seats that are not enough fish seats at each school at this time I can introduce Miss
bombb back to talk about the facilities colum chair are you wanting him to go through each scenario yes okay um Mr SS are we just going to do the first then Evergreen and Oak Crest and then we'll come back and do the other or I just don't know that he understood what you
asked chair Conrad is that the board chair's pleasure of how you want how you want to do this um I think that's most logical all right so the First Column for capacity oakrest currently has 831 fish seats at each school at the school
the 80-day count for oakrest was 625 that means that oakrest has 206 open fish seats the zone owned students that are in that zone school um area are 100 or
298 in those auxiliary zones and then the potential extra fish seats needed at oakrest would be 92 fish seats if we did the transfer of those auxiliary zones to oakrest so now I can introduce M bombach to talk about the facilities for oakrest
thank you thank you Mr ears good morning Miss Vach good morning board chair Conrad and superintendent Dr gallet and board members for oakrest um you see the uh color chart that is comes
out from that spreadsheet that you have seen all individual for the priority list so it divides up the needs that we will have that are um right now for the next 5 years 5 to 10 years and and so on
all the way to 20 years the most critical at Oak Crest right now are the roofs and HVAC buildings in the next uh the HVAC Replacements in the next 10 years um and if we need to bring in a
portable the portable list uh need and price is listed there for one needed portable if um the students move over to oakrest okay you have any questions um thank you miss bomach any questions on the facilities
portion um yes sure thank you so um I I think the understanding based on combining your information with Mr SS is at current um we wouldn't have a ton of extra expense because of the 92 students
that are not attending if if I'm not mistaken here so how we have classrooms we have so your your numbers at the bottom in writing in blue is that based on the total number of Zone students or
based on the students that are currently attending that is the anticipation when the students that are right now at the 163 students it would take uh one least portable or at least another portable in addition to the open
classrooms and Portables that are already there I just correct okay all right that that answers the question thank you yes m board from thank you good morning and I was just wondering if these numbers include the anticipated new development that is occurring over
there my understanding there's a couple new neighborhoods being built and more students coming to oakrest in the very near future those numbers do not because those are that's a little far out right now and then this is off the 80-day count so those oest numbers would be
higher appreciate the clarification thank you I chair I had to have one question um also oakrest to date has been available for open enrollment this would remove open enrollment availability from oakrest which means wyam minina Park students who opted to
go to oakrest there was a significant increase this school year when yamina Park changed their um schedule th that that would that availability would not continue to exist for future open enrollment that is correct okay okay Bo any further questions not about
facilities okay yes Miss Morant good morning good morning um for the Oak Crest um scenario Staffing I guess implications are pretty basic and that's adding additional units to oakrest the one thing to keep in
consideration we do have vacancies I think right now probably around seven so that would increase those instructional vacancies there based on the increase units um but not much other impact for Staffing for
oakrest yes there would theoretically be units cut at the schools these students would be coming from so there would be individuals see who would be seeking jobs throughout the district because they would be there would be units cut at other schools like
potentially um the the Fe the three feeder schools we're discussing here theoretically yes so it's it's hard to say so a lot of it depends on the number of students that are coming from each school and then also the grade level because the ratios are different so if I
have to give a yes or no answer I would just say Yes um but saying that if say we are adding eight units to Oak Crest it may not necessarily be eight units that we're cutting around the district it may be seven um but the blanket answer overall
would be a yes okay thank you you okay I think we're good thank you Mr marant good morning good morning uh for transportation in this scenario with with the the Evergreen auxiliary students um we would look to
add then these numbers are approximate obviously um because with Transportation it's hard to until you have an actual route have to have true numbers but we would look to add one to two runs um with an estimated cost for a driver at $225,000 uh fuel for that run
$3,600 and then the total if you had two drivers which would be worst case scenario there you're looking about $57,200 chair thank you yes Dr James is that a net ad or a gross ad because I imagine
we're going to get rid of some runs that's we're that's not the total number of runs we're going to need to service these students that's in addition to um so we're already going to get rid of some runs and be able to add them in but we're looking at another one to two because you're bringing kids from
further out of the attendance zone right now we're taking kids all the way we're taking kids miles and miles away to Shady Hill so my question is and and maybe you answered it but I not I just want to make sure I'm clear on this adding two runs in addition to cutting
all of the runs that are currently going across the county to drop kids off correct cuz right now we I think the runs going to Shady Hill you can fill up a bus there and taking them to Shady Hill and the way um when we went and
looked at this you're looking at the possibility of adding one to two two being worst case um because of how they tie in with other schools okay so you're saying the buses that go to Shady Hill are just going to basically have a shorter run because they're going to not pick up from so far away well they may
pick up at at a a different school because of where they're coming from and where they're going to tie into um these are very approximate I'll just say that um and wanted to give you numbers that U we could say okay this is worst
case scenario that this is where it's going to fall um there good chance is probably only be one but we say two just to uh make sure we're covered okay okay thank you yes board member thank you good morning good morning
regarding Transportation regarding Transportation needs can everyone hear me all right we're good I'm sorry I can't hardly hear you m th her microphone's not loud enough can you hear me now yes ma'am
okay regarding Transportation needs um at oakrest right now I believe there's two units for sure for kids on the autism spectrum that are coming from other areas so is there really a way to determine at this moment in time uh What
uh ESC programs would be at oakrest and where those kidss would be coming from because there I would think that then special transportation and program location would factor in to your expenses yes but well currently that that's a question for someone else as
far as the the programs that are going to be offered at at oakrest U but as far as the transportation you know with the ESC we we currently have a lot of hubs throughout where we're bringing kids across tendance zones uh to certain hubs at certain schools right okay thank you
just want to make sure that was part of the hypothetical considerations yes ma'am I think Rend Cummings want okay Reverend Cummings mam chair thank you um question from Mr stonic um I I see the the the graph but I I also want to know
what's the the increase in time that these kids will be on the bus with if these changes are taking place um cuz I'm sure that there'll be some type of uh increase in the length of time that they'll be on that bus going and coming to school and going
home well I can say currently I don't think there's going to be an increase in time because of th those students now we're taking from we we'll just say the um main compound area uh for um transportation all the way to Shady Hill
um so when you and that's a further distance than going across to Oak Crest okay thank you right thank you Reverend Cummings anyone else not for mran no okay all right
um I just wanted to know we open up the discussion on how everybody is um what what they want to share about the information presented I know um what Reverend Cummings just brought up was one of the reasons that I I wanted to review this information is there was a big concern for me of our students how
long they were they were riding the bus in the morning before getting to school especially our ESC population so um I want to say thank you I know this was a heavy lift um for our teams and so thank you all for the work that you did in gathering and preparing all this
information for us this morning um but how I need to know how the rest of the board feels all righte ahead it doesn't matter oh sorry go ahead Dr James um yeah I mean I I would like to discuss this one and then we'll kind of move on to the next one so um I appreciate the team getting the
information together I think think that overall this is what is best for students these students do not need to be traveling so far to school on our buses and um I do think it would improve Transportation overall they wouldn't be traveling so far um so I I see this as a
positive I think that from a statistical standpoint oakrest having more students are is going to academically um improve or support the overall school grade at oakrest um and I think I think this is a positive for the students and the
community so I am in support of moving forward with this right thank you Dr James board member Thor thank you another consideration I had about facilities um this was probably going back to 2008 or so um oakrest
was it was there was already blueprints for a gym um at least covered play area that was never built because you know the Great Recession happened and so we're talking about bringing you know more kids over there and I don't see
anything in facilities list at least on this graph uh that there is consideration for adding um a gem or covered play something anyone that's visited oakrest and sees you know what they're using for PE when
it's raining they're not really having PE so I think that that's a tremendous consideration we talk about the health and well-being of children all the time um and if we're going to look at adding more students to oakrest and and keeping
it as a school um I think that that's a worthy consideration thank you board member thrower Dr K thank you my my consideration on on this particular option while I completely agree with the
idea of moving all these students an area that isn't on any of this chart or that we have even really discussed is what oakrest school grade was last year and so Dr gullet I don't know if there is a member of your team here or if you could speak to at all what our pm1 and
pm2 data is looking like for oakrest because if we land in the same spot that we did last year then this conversation is premature because if Oak Crust does receive another d-grade like they did
last year this conversation I do think is premature I think we need to have one more year of real data academic data because part of the reason that we even have to have a different zone is because
oakrest had landed in a turnaround status because of multiple years that were under a sea performing and so that that's my concern I completely agree when we had that honestly I think this conversation should have happened maybe two or three years ago when we were
tracking in a c status uh we were not building schools we didn't have the funding to do anything three years ago to start really having these kinds of conversations about relocating student and so perhaps that's on me as a board
member to not have had this conversation two years ago whenever we were in consistent um positive grades for oakrest and then moving those students then would have been a bit more ideal but Dr gool I don't know if you have any of that data or if you can access it
I'll have to give that to you okay um and I would just say just as a reminder board with with regard to some of the movement of students we've had to follow the Doe's um guidance for students that were moved so we had to make sure that we were in compliance with
that thank you and but to a previous conversation that Mr a shared with us the numbers of students that were in the old Zone they're third graders now if I'm not mistaken so so there aren't as many of those that we're really having
we've we've gained all of these other K through two students that are still in the zones we created while the third through fifth graders are the ones we really have to track uh because of of necessity of of the previous situation
that we had with Evergreen so um the academic data is something that does concern me a bit um but understanding all of that and if we are tracking to be in a a good academic standing at oakrest um potentially even
better than we have been before I do concur with Dr James that as she continues to say we can change the denominator if we add more people and more students so that would certainly continue to help the Oak Crust numbers potentially and I also am just not
enjoying that all these students are bust so far away and without making some kind of change to that that's going to continue to be the case so those are my concerns okay thank you any followup conversation to comments Dr James um
well my I I guess before we conclude today's conversation would Dr gullets someone from her team be able to provide that academic update I could work on I have I have a scoreboard up here um so I can try to provide it all pull it all together all
right right thank you so is Reverend coming that's re coming sorry I'm good I I hear everything um my concern is is always going to be the length of time these kids are traveling to and from school that's going to be with all of these scenarios so that could be kind of brought up when we have
this discussion I'm I'm I'm paying attention do you need me to repeat that a little bit what was the answer um he uh please correct me if I'm wrong from Cummings um pretty much said that his focus is going to be the length of time traveling to school for the day that's pretty much going to be his focus and so
understanding that will determ kind of how he feels right is that correct Reverend Cummings correct okay so under that current I'm sorry so sorry what did you say Reverend Cummings translating oh than for translating I hang out with
toddlers all the time so understanding that being a primary focus of his then the current scenario actually is the worst of the two options I would assume because they are spending more time on the bus right now than they would be if we move to this different scenario I would agree with that
Reverend Cummings would you agree with that sentiment correct okay okay yes FL member thrower thank you and and just for historical perspective you know we did what we had
to do um with these zones and and the kids had to go to schools that were higher performing and they had to be tracked and and all those things so I think that having all of our students be as close as possible to their
neighborhood schools has just been proven over time you know over and over and over again um to be better for them um so I'll just I guess I'll close um with that all right so Dr gullet what I'm
what I'm hearing is there is an interest um but we would like to I guess we'll come back to this at the end to give you an opportunity to pull together the academic piece um and we'll then then we'll finish discussing this at the end okay all right thank oh yes go ahead yes
you know oh Crest is in my district and I was just there the other day and um they are pulling out all the stops you know to try to raise that grade and I think it's also important for the community to know that
uh they missed the Sea by was it less than two points or something two students less than a point I wanted to say less than a point I thought it was like 8/10 of a point and it was just so so beyond disappointing because of of the work that went in by the teachers
and principal Sandy and you know all these things and and that work is certainly continuing under principal Kemp um you know they they just only have so many days you know before testing begins but it sure won't be through trying um
it's it's I hate seeing the stress that the kids are being put under because they know um what their what their data is and they know even young kids know what that means to the future of this school I don't know that doesn't seem
quite right to put a eight-year-old under that kind of stress but that's the system we're currently working under so my hat is off to principal Sandy and all the other principles before her and principal Kemp now and her team for everything they're doing to support these
kids visit oakrest you'll see thank you board member thrower um attorney powers can I take public comment after each one we have quite a few people in the audience so I just I would if they don't have to stay for every presentation I'd like to give them
that opportunity is there any public comment um on this item okay oh yes ma'am come on on down uh good morning to everyone and hopefully I I'm I'm hearing this correctly can you please can you please state your name for the record oh I'm
sorry Loretta Pompei Jenkins 2200 Northwest 24th Road oal Florida three minutes to to speak okay and if if I'm hearing this correctly busting more students into Oak Crest you looking at that enhancing
their academic performance is that what I'm hearing the formula well um board that I don't believe that's we're not going what what we do is U if you have public comment oh I'm sorry give public comment this is not a
discussion with the board that's what I thought this was yes what we we're happy to hear your comments so feel free yes okay I don't mind explaining my train of thought and that's fine that's within the board memb discretion you like absolutely okay
um from a from a school-based perspective when the number of students increases on a School site the number of units allocated also increases and when the number of units allocated increases there is potential opportunity for an additional special area rotation which
can enhance their curriculum and academic experience but then when we're looking at it from the school grade perspective and statistical um statistical vantage point if there are two fifth grade units I'll use reic as an example um if there are two fifth
grade units that's probably somewhere about 40 fourth uh fifth grade students when we're looking at that and then we change that number from two units to five units the impact of two or three students and potentially underachieving
is significantly less when there are more students in the denominator and so from a school grade perspective of the ability to meet students needs and differentiate their instruction and put them in places where they can have strategic education from certain Educators who are skilled because there
are more Educators on the campus it statistically when you look around not just in Maring County but State and nationally schools that have closer to 800 or 900 students at an elementary level academically are able to meet the needs of their students better because
they have more resources thank you for that Dr James right yes Miss Jenkins you can come back to the podium you didn't use your three minutes you'll have to use the mic because I won't be able to hear you so we're looking at reducing the
pupil uh teacher ratio at those schools so they can have smaller class sizes so that they can probably be able to to uh do whatever they need to uh bring themselves up academically is that what I'm hearing okay again this is a the
discussion is among the board and this is not it's not a question answer session for the board so chair I just for clarity sake because it seems as if there's a little bit of confusion onto what we're even speaking about so a couple of years ago and Miss thrower and
and and board member um Cummings were part of it when Evergreen Elementary had multiple years of turnaround status and the challenges we had with Evergreen and this board voted to convert that Evergreen School into an early learning
academy and it is no longer an elementary school all of the students that were zoned for Evergreen Elementary School at that time because of Oak crest's turnaround status all of those zoned Evergreen students were unable to
go to oakrest they had to be then but to Shady Hill College Park and and other school high Ward Highlands so all the students that live in the former Evergreen Elementary Zone do not go to oakrest which would be the most logical
location for them to go which is part of the reason we're talking today they are going to Shady Hill Ward Highlands and college park because of Oak crest's academic St um status at that time and we have never course corrected that even
though oakrest has been out of turnaround status for several years we never said okay all those students who used to go to Evergreen that former Evergreen zone now all of that Evergreen Zone just goes to oakrest and that's the conversation we're having today because
all of those former students and again there's only a handful 20 30 40 or some odd that are between third and fifth grade of the actual Evergreen students that were attending Evergreen Elementary School when they were kindergarteners they're in third grade now but of those
students stents all of the other students that have continued to move into what used to be the Evergreen zone are now being bust to Ward Highlands College Park and Shady Hill and so that's why we're having this conversation today because as long as oakrest stays out of turnaround status and the hope is that they will stay that
way the most logical location is for those Evergreen students to go to oakrest because of how close it is to what used to be Evergreen Elementary and what Ford forom is now so I that because some of you weren't really fully aware of what we were were having a conversation about today and I want to
just offer that clarification so that's why right now they are being busted pretty far away from where they live and so we were potentially having conversation about fixing that and chair if I can just add one more thought we also are over capacity at every school
that the students are currently attending and oakrest is underc capacity and essentially has all of the space to take the students and so not only would this put oakrest at a fuller capacity but it would also alleviate some pressure points we have at w Highlands where we have tremendous amount of
Portables and and so we would be able to alleviate some of that pressure from those sites as well so that's my last comment on it yes board M th thanks and I have one point of clarification um Evergreen closed after it made the
school great Evergreen was no longer a failing school when it closed it it it made the grade and the reason why it closed is because it took everything that every staff resource officer uh to
to make that happen and frankly they were exhausted the system pretty much crushed them the kids did great and so it was very important for them to go to schools that were high performing to continue that success but Evergreen did
not close because it failed just wanted to make that clear thank you for that clarification U board member thrower if I'm not mistaken now that I'm vaguely remembering the conversation it was in part because of the numbers of teachers that were vacating the school and were not
choosing to stay in that school and so there wasn't going to be enough academic support at all for the number of students that were there um and the also the attendance uh the attendance the um number of students that were still staying at Evergreen had diminished so
much so it was 50% or below I believe if I'm not mistaken again so an underutilized location as well as a lack of educational support available led to the board's decision thank you thank anything yes no I'm good okay uh
Reverend Cummings I'm good all right Miss Jenkins thank you for your question and board thank you um for clarifying uh some of those points because I'm sure she is not the only person that was wondering so with that we'll move forward um we're
going to Mr SS will you lead us in discuss question for fezan and Reddit conversation good morning again all right the next topic um that we're going to talk about is the potential fezan to Reddit CER again the capacity column talks
about the current Reddit Coler fish seats of 686 fish seats Reddit coler's 80-day count was 345 students which means that redit Coler had an opening of 341 fish
seats also fezan elementary students there are 590 living in the zone 395 of those students actually attend fezan elementary school and there are 195 students not attending so if all the
attending students um were to attend r at Coler there would be a shortage of fish seats at this time I'll introduce Miss bomback to talk about the facilities you can see the facility needs for both of the schools um listed Again by year
for the next 20 years and the most uh needs in both facilities would be HVAC upgrades um if only the 395 students from fendon would go to reic um there would be no Portables needed at this
time okay thank you all right I think we're good good morning again again Staffing for Staffing considerations if we're closing feting fident and moving to Reddit CER um one we would just need to
decide on the process if we would go through the regular transfer process or just automatically lift those units specifically I'm talking about instructional and move those to Fed resident I'm sorry to Reddit caller there would be some positions that would not move um because you only have one
per school like your your admin so your principal um probably your AP as well secretary IPC things like that and then also there's a list of other positions that would not move um even if we combine the current ratios that we have
now and combine the enrollment of both schools such as your guidance clerk IPC reception and secretary classroom HCA and so forth they're listed there on the handout so we would need to um consider
what that would look like for those staff um feel confident as far as instructional being able to absorb move whether it's at reic or somewhere else within the district there would be concern for non-instructional um staff specifically
our pair professionals and even some of those clerk positions as um the vacancy counts of those positions um typically aren't as high as others and then there's a note also on
there about the SRO we wouldn't need two sro's okay board any comments um I'm currently pulling up the vacancy report because we I was going to do that um so we if maybe I'll have something in a minute I just want to pull up something great that was my question also I do not
have it pulled up but I we do have I think over 50 non- instruct vacancies across the district so that wouldn't apply the non- instructs that we would so it would depend so when we look at it it's there are different classifications for non-instructional instructional we
have less but your non-instructional you have your pair professionals Esau pair professionals um special needs pair professionals you have clerk generalists your HCA so there's so many different classifications that make up that
non-instructional um count so it's just looking if we have three special needs Paras at I'm just making this number up I have to go grab my laptop at fezan we would need to find three other special needs Paras positions to put them in in
other places now some things we have done when we've gone through involuntary transfer if there was not a position if that position was cut and there was not a position anywhere in the district to place them at that time but this is looking at one or two a year we leave
them at the school at that site until an opening comes and then we transfer them so almost like an overfill we we've done in the past chair yes ma'am every single position you've named I can find on our instructional on our
vacancy true vacancy report on Skyward HCA special needs parah um grounds keeper instructional PA professionals food service worker engagement liaison um cafeteria monitor bookkeeper mechanic food service worker
there's I think a food service manager um a site manager for map I mean they're literally all on this job board so I would find a guidance clerk receptionist um I I would just make the
strong argument that with attrition and retirements resignations we will have no problem finding a job for all of these individuals within this school district in addition to the administrative vacancies we have so that would be my
Proclamation from this board member seat that every single person in this district has a job thank you Dr James and go ahead for clarity I I want to ensure that what I'm saying is
coming across correctly I didn't say no one would have a job what I said was instructional would be very easy what would be a little harder would be non-instructional um so I just want I'm not saying you were saying anyone wouldn't have a job I my testimony is
everyone is going to have a job no one is losing a job in this in this combination um because there are more than enough non-instructional and instructional positions throughout the district to absorb any possible position that's my thought I wasn't
putting words in your mind mouth just a public clarification that's I think yes Madam chair yes sir I'm I'm looking at those numbers from um I thank Miss Mor for that information I understand that that we have a lot of those jobs open on the job
board but even just because they're open it could create hardships for those people if those jobs are greater distances those jobs are um out of the transportation mode of where people can get to that still can create ship for
those people even if they may have a job but what's used to having a job they can't get to or it cost them to get to that job so I I did kind of want to bring that up while we're talking about that as far Staffing thank you okay thank you yes I heard that yes
thank you right any other board comments M Brer you want to add anything I don't have any comments right at the moment okay all right thank you all right thank
you Miss Morant hello again back to Transportation uh for transportation as far as the fezen students going to reic will not change because our Zone 2 compound is uh in reic and all of our um buses leave out of that area so we're
going to go past reic and then come back by reic on our way back to the compound so that doesn't change for us okay what about there's comments under um your notes um about the traffic concerns do you
have that's not him I think that's Dennis oh sorry I apologize yeah the number of buses that are servicing um fesan would still service those students and pick those students up instead of taking them to fesan they would just bring them to reic and then back to the Fiddler's compound which is zone two
okay okay for any comments on that part um just because I know Reverend Cummings is going to ask and um I'll help him out on this can you speak to the um increased Transportation time on buses for those students I think um from fezan
school elementary school to reic is probably approximately five or six minutes so we're talking about it it's six miles so maybe you were speeding like me but it's probably like 10 minutes cuz it's 6 miles 55 miles hour so I mean so we're talking probably
between about 5 to 10 minutes additional on the bus correct okay I just knew Reverend cumings was gonna ask okay thank you right thank you El I heard it's six miles from fezan to
reic yes 6.2 miles from fezan to reic I believe I think y'all need to check that out of here I I can tell you with absolute certainty it is 6.2 mil from fezan to reic
okay well the miles are the miles so it's 6.2 miles and the speed limit on Gainesville Road I believe it's 55 miles an hour anything else Reverend Cummings no I'm good okay okay thank you all right anything else on Transportation
questions or comments okay thank you good morning good morning there are some additional comments down in the note section and that was pertaining to the amount of traffic that will be coming into the areas uh based on the car line as well as the buses for this
particular area here those students or those parents driving to reic they're already parked on County Road 316 um off on the edge they're trying just there one way in basically one way out I don't know how much of an impact
that would cause on the traffic and the parking on the side of the road and where they have to park on 316 and scretch back towards old what we call Gainesville Road and if you add I don't know adding another 30 40 50 60
cars we just have to consider if there's any type of infrastructure that the county may be planning on putting in to get those those folks off the roadway if we can find unless we find some other kind of way of getting the cars off the roadway onto the campus chair yes Donnie Manning the
principal of reic shared with me his plan and actually this is a plan he already wants to address for Carline um I we were having a discourse about Carline um if you look on Google Maps there's a entry um kind of how you would have gone into the old high school off
of uh Northwest Gainesville Road just essentially north of the four-way stop that entry there then has a back gate which we have um which is a back entrance into redit col your elementary school so Mr Manning's intention really
to address this Carline as it exists now but certainly if there were more cars added to the car line they would enter through his plan is to speak with safe schools and figure out I don't think much has to happen because we already
have a double pass gate like we like we have in front of any school Carline so they would just enter off of Northwest Gainesville road instead of entering off of 316 and come in that back way which would create a lot more opportunity for stacking and get the cars off the
road all right thank you Dr James yes thank you any other board members Dr Campbell's thinking remember to she's thinking Reverend Cummings did you say something oh okay okay Dr
Campbell sure I and this potentially is a question for Mr SS because this is something that I've been toying with and I'm not certain who needs to answer it or if even there's an answer to be had but at this point I keep looking at this map at at this point they're potentially
are students in the Far Eastern let's see far Southeastern portion of the fezen zone right now that are actually closer to College Park Elementary than they even are to fezen
is that possible am I I again I'm just because I know we're having conversation about the entire fendon Zone going to Reddit colure potentially that's what the gist of this conversation is but is it not possible that we do have students in that zone actually that are closer to
Romeo and closer to College Park and I'm not saying that we would re but if we were to make this decision and we are talking from fezen proper to Reddit colure proper it is 6 point two miles or whatever the actual distance is would it
warrant a conversation among the board to potentially even rezone a couple of portions of that pheen zone I know Romeo's overcrowded I know college Park's overcrowded I mean I understand that but if we're if we're really concerned about distance then as the crow flies you're probably correct okay
without having to look looking at the map looking at routing and mapping um that would be hard to tell you but the reason that was not considered was because of the overcrowding at the other schools okay thank you just trying to take all considerations
into okay um board do you want to share how you're feeling or where you stand on the information that's been presented so far you're still processing hear Reverend cuming unmuted okay Reverend coming
um I think everybody knows where I'm at with this this I'm I'm not for this um it it looks as if it's going to create a a burden even if that was the case to to move those kids from fezan to re is going to create an overcrowding even out
there I'm looking at the the report that says that uh if only if only 395 kids were moved from Fe to um to reic that they would not need any Portables but we know that there's much more than 395 kids at fean so it this
this isn't this isn't option that I I'm going to get behind so everyone knows that already and chair there's a component that was missed that I asked staff to work on um I know our finance team is here the finance Financial component which was the main reason I wanted to
come back and have a discussion because I I want to really base decisions like this in a financial perspective um there was an attachment added um titled additional information requested by board members I don't know if maybe Miss Martinez or whoever's in charge of the
computer could pull that up but I'd like I'd like for our finance team to share that information um it just dawned on me that we hadn't done that yet that's a very important part thank you good morning Dr Jam are you referring to the the additional
information requested for February 21st yes sir it's the um the word document with the numbers and the numbers on it got good morning School Board good morning Dr gallet So based on the information that was
requested we have a total fixed cost for fesan at 20, 683 th000 and that's actually for uh fixed cost Staffing Etc anything that's uh fixed uh for the maintenance needs we use the 10year mark
number because I see on the list you have up to 20 years so using the 20 the 10e number that we are at 9.6 million for a total cost for feein by itself of 30 million over the next 10 years in terms of cost for Reddit
Coler by itself uh 10e fix cost is 22 million and then we have for maintenance using 10 years as a remark we have $14.5 million for a total cost over the 10-year period of 37
m512 th000 so together that gives us 67,8 79,000 but if we were to merge Fest in with Reddit Coler uh that cost uh would be $41 million $41 million which is
um a savings of 26 uh 26.4 million thank you yes Dr James I got a question what is that it says 26. 800 million for settle what is that what is settw explain that that's what I was gonna ask would you be able to explain
that where that number came from otherwise I can since I was a part of the discussion you settle what as the example So based on the information that I have here uh the fixed cost for uh fesan is $30 million which is the
maintenance and things like salaries and um other things that goes into the instructional program and then for R Coler that cost is 37 million these are Stand Alone by themselves the cost of the schools over the next 10 years that's 37 million but once you combine
them uh once you merge FES and retic the cost for that entire program now becomes $41 million so go ahead the question he's asking is where why use Saddlewood do you know the reasoning behind why we chose Saddlewood is a comparative
example I don't have that answer just I can if if I'm so saddle Wood's population as well as the school type the school type is the same as Reddit CER so from a facility standpoint it was built about the same time and it operates with a similar student capacity
and it actually would have more students which means the overhead is higher so it is like a worst case scenario comparison to the cost to operate fesan and reic under reck's roof does that make s re Reverend Cummings I got it okay thank
you you're welcome thank you for that Dr James all right anything further uh well I have something to say but I didn't know if uh that's it for now okay okay thank you so the primary
reason I wanted these numbers um and this was a conversation that Miss Boston Ellis and I had had uh when I was talking about our facility plan for sales tax this was something I started digging into um I think that the way I I
see this district and our finances is is we are in a it was referenced to me by a few different leaders in the district recently a budgetary crisis the Staffing plans were received and we're we're diminishing units at schools that cannot
be certainly defined because we we just we are in a budgetary crunch time and so we are adding on additional um to the tune of probably $5 million a year by adding on X and W and
we are not we currently are not taking anything out of our Personnel our general fund operating budget and I believe that in this combination which is best for students because they will now have more opportunity for more electives more differentiated instruction and more
opportunity for uh instruction in a greater learning environment and a school that in a facility that is newer and better kept we will also be able to save $26 million in 10
years which is significant and I believe that this is the financially responsible thing to do as a board and once we decide on the delivery
of prek through fifth grade instruction at fezan then we can work with the community and decide what we do with fezan um but what I know is this the people are the most expensive piece to any puzzle
and we are even if um however the community decides we want to move forward with fein's facility I have some ideas maybe they're palatable maybe they're not but what I know for sure is that we will
be cutting significant overhead by not delivering K prek-5 instruction there and so um I think this is the financially responsible thing to do um and so that's the reason I wanted this
information to come forward thank you Dr James sure I'll I'll go next so the primary reason that I wanted this conversation to begin is because of the 50% capacity that Reddit cler is
currently operating under I I know that we have development occurring in other parts of our County I don't think it's happening in reic nor do I think it's happening in the reic zone I don't know how we're ever going to get above 50% capacity a reic caller right now and and that's my primary
concern from a fiscally responsible standpoint so then where do those students come from and that's that's my primary concern I mean the the next closest closest zone is fezen and and the other conversation we're going to have in just a moment is in Spar and Anthony which is
the other locations where kids can come from and I I don't know how we're populating Reddit colure elementary school and it's interesting I've had this conversation in the community lately since all the comments have come out and
since essentially Dr James and I started this conversation in a work session randomly a few weeks ago Reddit CER was built in the 199 90s that may not sound like a new school but when you haven't built a school in 20 years 1990s is actually
pretty new and so we can't close a school that's was built in the 90s ideally that would be the scenario that we would choose to actually close reic it's at 50% capacity but this
District chose to build that school when they could have built somewhere else and again that predates definitely all of us potentially even before you were in the classroom I'm not even sure so yeah right it was built before you were even in the classroom so I ideally that would be the scenario I mean that that we
would actually close the school that's at 50% capacity but again from a fiscally responsible standpoint that doesn't make sense whenever we're comparing Maplewood and Saddlewood and these other schools that are the exact same model and built at the exact same time so that that's that piece of it I
can I can get behind what we need to do about that and how we can fix it and this is a scenario that would help us fix that challenge I'm grateful to see the numbers um doing the Deep dive into the fixed costs and maintenance costs
and all of that does put even greater emphasis on the fiscal responsibility that this board is responsible for and our statutory responsibility as policy and budget so budget being primarily what we
need to focus on I have heard the community and I I understand the history my own personal Elementary School was built in the 1920s and my own personal community in Tennessee my dad went to first grade where I went through kindergarten
through sixth grade so I I understand history not quite as old as the 1800s but but still my own personal Elementary School closed because a newer school was built and a college took on my old elementary school and now it's called the Mayfield Annex instead of Mayfield
Elementary is there still instruction happening there yes is it done by the city school district no uh there there are ways that that fendon as an educational institution can continue on without it being under the purview of
Marian County Public Schools and that's really where I am right now I I know that there are lots of great things that could happen there I would love the opportunity chair to clarify some of my comments I made originally in that work session several weeks ago because I believe that the
rhetoric shifted whenever we had multiple public speakers Come and Talk what my intention was potentially with fezan elementary school if it were to no longer be a Marian County Public Schools would be
this I believe An Early Learning Academy could go there not a daycare center An Early Learning Academy like what we have at forom I believe that could occur not under the interview of Maran County Public Schools I believe there could be a partner that came in and created an
early learning academy not a daycare we heard multiple times we don't want a daycare okay I'm not talking about a daycare we don't call forom a daycare we call it an early learning academy and that's what I'm asking for potentially if a partner wanted to come and do that we heard the words Charter School
absolutely Charter School wants to take that by Statute if this school district chose to no longer operate a school on that campus the first people who would have the opportunity to have that property would be a charter school absolutely not a
marrying County Public School operated charter school but some other charter school fine I mentioned a special need shelter that is not a health care center the rhetoric was we don't want a health care center I'm not talking about a health
care center we learned during the early man the uh Emergency Management meetings during the hurricane that the state out of their own mouths out of Tallahassee needs a shelter location in between Marian and alatua
county you know what land sits between 441 and I75 between Maran and Alachua counties pheasant and Elementary with 150 acres what could be built there could be the dormitories that used to exist the
dormitories could be built back and it could be a state park that runs like an experiential State Park that the state could be a part of running there could be additional Recreation facilities there that the county has a part in that currently I
Heard lots of folks say that they want to have a location they can bring their grandchildren to to show them where they went to school terrific you can't do that while it's operating as a school you can't just come and pop in all the time anytime you want and show people what your experiences were because
there's no way to do that right now unless we have a hundred-year anniversary event and we invite the community it is an elementary school and according to the Jessica Lunsford act we can't let just anybody on that campus at any given time so there are opportunities that
exist beyond what that school is currently serving as that I wanted to be able to clarify what my comments were I have vision for what that location could be it would be up to the partners to help be what that location actually
could be starts at the state starts with the county potentially there is a Maran Technical College component to this their budget is still a part of ours but it operates completely separate out of what we're talking about today because they're a fee based program and so all
of their students pay money as opposed to how K12 education operates in Marian County Public Schools so I wanted to have the opportunity to clarify what some of my positions were because I do believe the rhetoric shifted I wasn't able to clarify that at the time when I
heard multiple community members say what you didn't want and I appreciate that I appreciate you don't want a healthc Care Center I appreciate you don't want a daycare center that's not what I was asking for either so thank you chair thank you Dr Campbell Madam
chair yes Reverend Cummings um just briefly um we we I think we kind of went into this conversation Feen um for me it was Ill advised I'll say that that's that's from
my standpoint however we're we're we're in the conversation now and again anytime we talk about fezen and Anthony and Anthony we have to consider that those two schools are historical schools in in in small communities yet because they're small
there they're historical School small communities they have a rich Legacy that we need to make sure that we're always considering the uh Community um often times we want to uh tell someone um or or give someone
else our vision yet without getting the input necessary input from those stakeholders so I I just believe I truly believe that anything that that's decided concerning Anthony or fan that there be initial Community input input
um so that we move the right way and not have a a a a hornest n knocked out of the tree I think um we can come up with all the ideas of what we think it should be but if that's not what's going to be supportive of the community or those of those communities
then this then that's just our idea um so I think um you have people there in the in the in the building that are going to I'm sure going to share how they feel about this and true we are supposed to be we are we have to be
fiscally responsible but it's not um this is this is an ill advised um step in my opinion in my opinion we just had this conversation a couple years ago with Fe and with board member U throw around down the board and um we know
where this went and it didn't go anywhere there so thank you thank you Reverend Cummings board member thrower thank you um I'm noticing a distressing pattern here it seems like
every few years when the school system says they're short on money the first finger always seems to be pointed to pheon and you know I've lived through a few of these
iterations I think it's very important for the community to understand the potential cost savings you know at least on paper we're looking at $26 m480 th000 um money only goes so far in
quantifying the actuality of what this would do potentially to the community um I look at other Schools Enrollment and how well some of these
low enrollment schools are performing you've got Madison Street 462 kids I think they perform pretty well you've got forom which is one of our newer schools 213 kids they're
kindergarten Readiness their uh their scores compared to other schools um they're doing great A Street 378 students they're perennial High
performers AA colon 540 they're doing great so the denominator argument in my mind only goes so far it's it's commitment and having the right people
in the right places for the right reasons and supporting the schools that mean the most to you you know come heck or high water and so I would like to see more conversation around every time I guess the other thing that bothers me too is
that we just asked this community for a half penny sales tax which pass with a really good majority and now all of a sudden we're saying we're in a crisis and we need to close fendon that dog doesn't really hunt with me um so I would love to see more
conversation around how can we enhance preserve and protect this Gem of an historic school that is fee in and also Anthony for that
matter I think there's beautiful floors under those nasty old carpets feeed in I think there's probably a lot of not very expensive plaques could that could be put around that talk about you know things that have uh the successes and
and the challenges of that school and looking at you know during the school day of course the attend public access is limited but it wouldn't certainly have to be that way on the weekends and I agree with board member Campbell the conversation with the state
and the county you know I point back to uh Fort King there was never a conversation about repurposing Fort King is anything other than a fort and it appears to be really um important and and well supported by the community so
instead of every time you know we're we're hurting for money we keep pointing back at fezan I think that we need to be a little more Visionary and a little more respectful of of the history that this
county has that makes it so special you know history is history some of it's great some of it's not so great but it all deserves to be illuminated and Amplified when it's sitting in your own County you know I I think that that to
me is education at its finest that's what I have thank you board member thrower um I I agree with everything that's been said here today um each board member has um very good
points and I think um each of us is passionate about the job that we're doing um I do believe that that we are called to be fiscally responsible and I believe that this conversation keeps coming forward because it's a very hard
decision to make um and people before us have not wanted to make it um I believe that we can do all of the things that were mentioned up here today I think that we can be fiscally
responsible and still honor um the heritage of Fez and Elementary School uh with Community Partnerships and several board members have mentioned that the community
conversation um needs to be part of this decision and for me personally um as a newer board member this piece the financial piece is what I wanted to see
first um so that that I was sure we were heading in the right direction uh making a decision that is based on fact uh with that the numbers are are in front of us um and
so I feel that we're at a point I I think that we have at least three board members that are interested in moving forward in this conversation and so what I would like to see next Dr gullet is for us to begin to set up some formal
Community conversations um I know we have the opportunity here and we will have more in just a minute um for community members to share but it's it's hard to do question and answer from here and that's not what we're really supposed to do so we take in your concerns um here and listen but when we
go into the community then you get to share um and um we can try to answer questions and so I I think that what I'm hearing is that's going to be the next step um in deciding and making a
decision on on how we move forward and I know that board member thrower was mentioning we have a lot of schools that um we have several schools that aren't at the 800 or 900 um number for
students but this this is unique in that we have another school within six miles that is sitting at half capacity and so that is costing us and and it's been costing us for for quite some time and
so our responsibility is you know how do we how do we write that how do we be how are we being fiscally responsible and I think um I'm so grateful for the half cent sales tax and I think it requires that
we are even more responsible um that we have our eyes on each um item or entity uh school that that's operating here in Maran County so that um we can meet the needs of our
students um and that our staff have the opportunity um in their placement you know so that that everyone has has a spot um we don't lose any positions so with that being said I don't know if anybody wants to comment on on what I've
shared Dr James I would just ask that after public comment if Mr SS could come back up to um review a a future timeline and what that looks like that would be my request I see Dr Campbell's hand though yes Dr Campbell thank you I I
just I also would like to ask for a little bit of clarification not at this juncture but from Dr gullet on a few of the things that we've just heard from board members so I a couple of things I I heard comparisons to some of our
smaller schools each of those comparisons in my opinion is not fully valid because we have a magnet school we have a school with only one bus um predominant walk Zone schools
were all the comparisons that I heard a fellow board member use so because one of those is a magnet I would be interested in knowing additional magnets or additional programming that might be available at say a reic with more space there I know we're about to add an equin
program there uh or we already have somewhat of one um and that will be continuing to expand so I'm I'm interested in knowing from a school choice perspective what the district's future plans are because certainly if it
becomes a magnet like a Madison Street which was one of the comparisons that does not have any transportation to it apart from families so again forom does not have any transportation to it apart from families so those were two
comparisons that we just had that's that's not those are not apples to Apple's comparisons however if we were to have school choice options open at a Reit Coler with future magnet capacity and ideas how does that impact the
current capacity at the school I'm hoping we're already working on some of that but I don't know if reic was open this year for um in the and okay then having the number of actually how many families applied to the program would be helpful to know if there are families
that are choosing a Reddit call your Magna and ecoin studies for their Elementary student those are in that those are pieces that I would like to hear the the other um there was another recommendation potentially to have the school open on weekends if we were to
open it up even more so than and it currently isn't open on weekend so I would be curious to know what that kind of cost would look like if we were to open it to the community to create it like its own museum of sorts that we ran I I be curious to know
what that cost would look like and finally the other comparison that we heard was Fort King having extensive knowledge of Fort King and the nonprofit community and how the Fort King Heritage Foundation operates I can assure you the
amount of private dollars as well as State dollars that have gone into the preservation of Fort King cannot go unnoticed in this conversation so that again would lend itself to the conversation I've had multiple times when we've talked about goal five is the
district going to propose that we bring in a staff person solely responsible for partners in education where we are really seeking those high dollar private investments in any of our facilities uh and any of our locations
because all of those pieces need to be a part of this conversation as we move forward because I I I heard you loud and clear board member thrower on the comparisons that you would like to see but without knowing what the district's operational plans are for magnet
programming as well as a partners and education person um those arguments fall kind of on deaf ears for me if neither one of those things are going to be happening for the district so um yes board member Thor thank you
board member Campbell for uh being Visionary that's all I'm really asking is that instead of looking at shuttering a an historic
gem that has always been dedicated to education that we take a more Visionary approach to preserve it there's I don't even know that there's any such thing as a as an Apples to Apples comparison every single school that I
mentioned has their own appeal their own system and yet they're successful and walk zones seem to be coming a thing of the past I mean you know I've been downtown enough to see the Carline and I'm thinking those kids
should be walking you know I I hope that we can be Visionary with the state and the community including over in you know Maran Oaks and places that we're building schools let's get some bike pass and convince the parents that it's safe and let's get these kids you know
know um to school in a different mode of transportation other than a car maybe they'll be a little calmer in class um so again I I just want to thank you for thinking about a more Visionary approach to this I 100% agree that because of our
ongoing budgetary struggles and it's just because of everything we're asked to do and tasked to do and mandated to do in the old days we didn't have all this stuff you know we didn't have SRO everywhere we didn't have technology we didn't have all these you know high
stakes testing Big Ticket items but now we do so it's just finding a way to to balance that with the the needs of the community um because it's the community that elects us and then we are about
representing our districts so I thought and and hearing our districts and hearing what's important to them and then finding a way to balance that with with the dollars that are available and and if they're not available when the community outcry is strong then that's when you get together and start looking
for for options um instead of using money as the spear straight to the heart of a of a very historic School while in Anthony as well um so again great points board member HL and I
appreciate you bringing up because you brought this up before and I couldn't agree more that I think that finding the right person person to help us bring in that private investment um would just be a win across the board financially and also just for
understanding in today's Times what it really takes to publicly educate children and provide them the opportunities that they need want and deserve thank you board member thrower um with that I'm just going to uh wrap us up a little bit before we go into public comment and I just um two things
I want to highlight about what the last round of comments were is first I I wanted share that I don't believe that any board member anybody really in the district um wants to close fezan I think
we all um we all know the value we all um believe in the heritage in the story The History um so so I just wanted to reiterate that um that that doesn't get lost uh in all of the discussion that
it's a it's a tough decision that does not mean in making a difficult decision uh that we don't honor um and highlight uh the campus at fezan so I wanted to say that and the second thing
I wanted to note is um in Dr Campbell's comments just Dr G if we could make sure um if we move forward in community conversations that we hear um from the fezan community what type of magnets
would they be interested in what um what is important to them for their children and their grandchildren what can we pull into um to meet the needs and interests of that community and so with that I'm
going to um wrap up our comments and I would like to open it up for public comment because I believe we have a couple Miss Martinez Martinez do you have I do
okay good morning good morning Tanya Hanks 9668 Southwest 52nd Court here in noala um first thing and I'm glad this budget is still up uh but first thing as it relates to Staffing two of the positions that we didn't hear um or
having concern expressed was that of our the principles of both Anthony and fean um as it stands now from what I'm understanding with new Staffing in place with with the new schools they only have a downward position I don't see or hear
anything where they have a lateral transition to another administrative spot um additionally I think um many of us are concerned with the increased anxiety now of both the uh staffs from
um Anthony and Fez and especially with testing season coming so it's easy to say that they're going to have jobs but what about those who have worked D diligently and did all the right things to get to those levels of administration
only to have those places removed from them and now they've got to go either back into a classroom or something that's not even uh compatible to where they are now secondly uh as it relates to the budget that's up one of the things that I wanted to take note of um
and strictly talking about the budget and let me preface we agree that we don't want to see any schools Clos so I want to preface this um as it relates to this budget that's presented um our perception on my perception the
budget rationale in this resoning C conversation is flawed and I'll tell you why it was already mentioned we talked about I understand what you saying about Madison Street um and forom but there's another
school on 441 or off of 441 um School C or a street that has a smaller student population but yet a bigger budget than fident so now if it's solely about the
budget then there needs to be a bigger scope presented to your constituents the people that are buying into to all of our schools the parents your District staff your District team because right now fident and Anthony to
us they're the loow hanging fruit that gets picked on every time there's budget considerations happening so if it's strictly about the budget as it's solely presented now uh 2022 data 2023 data um
shares with us that you had 8 street that had a huger budget than feent and probably still does you have 30 seconds remaining with with lower kids lower B kids so if it's strictly about the budget widen the scope and put everything on the
table thank you Miss Martinez do you have papers or do you want to you know I had Bobby James Bobby James James 803 Southeast 21st place you know I bring 40 years of
experience working with you guys in your capacity but I didn't get here on the back of turnup trucks uh we're going to need to have you uh pull your mic toward you and we'll have to well I wanted to make sure you understood that I didn't get in j i uh I can't I'm having I had trouble hearing you so thank you for adjusting
that's good now we've talked about everything but the kids we you we've talked we we've been playing with these peanuts and all that these little nuts and bolts things but we didn't talk about the kids
now I'm going to take you a little short history do you know how long it took for us to get the north Maran cafeteria enlarged because it was on the other side do you know how how long it took for us to
get Anthony Elementary improvements there you just tow down the redit car school with a gym that could have served those kids in the afternoon we took it down with the idea
that we would provide something for those kids in the in the afternoon we have a perfectly good school up there fezer in school with a gym that will provide activities for kids beyond the school day music and art festivals was held
there because I bought them there we have to try and educate the the whole kit when I look at a person telling me that it's only six minutes from fezan to AIC when I know the houses in Okala Park
is stay further out and we have kids going over to Willison to go to school in that by County area so let's think about all of this look at the numbers of kids and how the makeup of those kids do y'all know that the majority of the kids
that go to school at these two schools are minority schools and we are recreating we creating a minority school again did you look at the number of minority kids that you will be putting together again let me talk with you I
don't see my time on the thing I know chair can we make sure the time is up next time well y'all leave me give me some extra time because I need it okay now you have 1 minute and 6 seconds remaining well you got to put that up there then what I'm saying to you all these people that sitting here
telling me about all these great ideas you have you have not looked at how we could impact the lives of those youngsters be beond the school day the school is a center of what go on in a community buildings if we talking about
buildings out of straight brick and mortar you got the numbers all I'm saying is let look at how the purpose of fezer and the purpose of reic are we putting all these schools together simply because it's saving us a
dime the impact fees I was there when we we discontinued those impact fees now is the time for us to reinstate those fees what about the tax the tax revenue that we just had for art music and PE do
y'all know I was one of the people that went out and talked to the community about the fact that we need to have this now we want to tear down gyms some people will say well we tear down the reic gym I want to put a playground there come on guys we need something
where we can address time is expired thanks give me another minute what I'm saying to you more your time has expired yeah what I'm saying more than anything else we need to look at what we have to stop now because we only allow three three minutes have to be fair for everybody
James Johnny Grimes good morning Schoolboard uh morning I'm Johnny Grimes 5701 West Highway 326 oal Florida 34482 I'm now serving as president of
President School alumni association and Corporation where we have been in business this will be our 55th year since 1970 uh when when the idea
hit the community that the school board was visiting closing feting that vibrated throughout the state and the next state up through Washington D cross over
to Seattle Washington and down to California these are people who have attended this great school and and they would like to see it not closed most of you know the history of
the school this year being 157 years in operation since 1868 uh there's much that can be said about the history because I'm more than sure that most of you know the history
of that school and if you don't know the history if you visit the school just take a look at the brick work that is there and it will give you the history of the school because the history of the school is on those Bricks now when it come to closing of
the school uh I I think that there are so many other things that you can do this school with now being on the national register of historic places
uh Mr Robert James and Mrs Jenkins who were at one time principal of this great school I think they were aware that the school should not be
closed now uh that is one this is probably the the third time that we have entertain this particular subject and the last time it was all about the maintenance of the school yes
the maintenance probably is high simply because the school is old but the school is on the national register of historic places and it deserved uh attention for its status in the
community so we appreciate the fact that you all did give it some attention you put on a new roof there which was a cost to one great but there are other things that you can do you are your time has expired
owner of the school your time has expired thank you Mr Grimes we appreciate you uh three minutes is not enough but I hope that you all get a chance to visit the community and give the community
your time is expired thank talk to the community to the school board thank you okay thank you miss igler good morning to the school board Dr gullet and team my name is Audria Coleman
islar and I wanted to address um the potential closing really of both schools I'm reminded of the the scripture Proverbs 2 to verse 6 passage that reads start children off the way they should
go and even when they are old they will not turn from it it takes a village to train up a child or start a child off in good and sustainable way as we all can attest to even if they depart later in life they will eventually be compelled
to return to that way laced with values safety courage critical thinking skills and even dreams and vision part of that Village is the neighborhood School the neighborhood school provides familiarity to the children and
allows the parents more flexibility in being involved not having to drive miles away even if it's just six miles that's six more miles away for meetings events and visits busing the children out of
the neighborhood hinders and brings obstacles that to that close connection also less travel time to get home to begin homework and get a decent meal to help get kids to bed sooner and also don't forget the lessons
in local history American history Marian County history and certainly black history as these schools have been long-standing structures in the community built by hand of many of those who farm that land yes that can be captured in a museum but the traffic
flow even would not be guaranteed for high way Travelers my mother Nancy green Coleman recently deceased at age 97 was one of those teachers at fezan High School in physical education health and
coaching girl Sports and she also taught life skills and counseled many boys and girls who up until she passed away honored and cherished those skills and sacrifices that she and other teachers made to help Ensure that those students
would have a good start there are many many who have come through those particular schools as Mr Grimes mentioned who have been very successful because of the neighborhood school and I know that you're aware of
the history but I'm not sure that you're aware of the impact of that particular neighborhood school and so as you begin to think about ideas please also consider working with the commission uh to require perhaps developers to
contribute um to also invest into those schools as some developers have invested in other schools in the community I live in the community with Ana colon Academy time has expired thank
you Mr Martin Smith Smith Mr Martin Smith Pastor Brian McIntosh good morning Brian mtos 7900 Northwest 145th Avenue Road Morrison Florida 32668 born and raised in the community
uh part of the church family that started the school uh back when fezan Mr fezan came and um saw that there was African-American kids taking part in the school um of education at that time I
like to read from a book very quickly U that was written by Lis Brown Miller uh who passed away at 104 years old who was a graduate of that school of fidan in the year of 1932 if she would have been living today and if she was in a bed they would have
her will in here because that's how passionate she was she wrote about it just very quickly the Union Baptist Church School was where Mr Ferd Ferdinand Stone Feen discovered their negro children being taught after slavery he was a millionaire and in
rather poor health and found Florida a very pleasant place to be particularly Central Florida he was so impressed with the effort the people had made to obtain a measure of education for their children that he decided to establish an
institution on the adjourning Hill that could accommodate the needs of the ambitious community to read a little further the school was sold to Maring County um in the 1950s um during these early days um the tombstone
of Mr fean was moved from the hill where he uh where it rested after his death to a spot near the railroad so it could be seen by all and fezan was spelled out in the grass on and on Arbor Day okay going
down a little bit further just to close out um in the 1950 the school was sold to the Maring County School Board the price to them was reduced from a possible 300,000 or more to a m 100,000 with the
stipulation that black education would always be considered in its operation thus making it mandatory as far as she was concerned and stated that this policy will always be carried out
and the site will always remain an education a facility if we're going to talk about history and and and so forth I think that is very important to first of all understand how the school got started someone saw that uh African-Americans was taking interest in
education last thing in my last 20 some seconds my grandson was Eng gifted from Fez from Feit into reic carer he was jumped by kids from reic I think when you start mix and too many communities and too many kids from different
communities unfortunately in the time that we're living in you're going to also see some more vience even among elementary kids he was jumped by two or three other kids at that time thank
you okay that is all for now thank you um I I'm sorry do you want to just ask if there's any oh is there that's a great idea Dr James is there anybody else in the audience that would like to speak that did not sign up to speak yes ma'am would you please come forward good morning good morning my
name is sandre Henderson I do not live in Maran County however my parents who are deceased own property in Fort McCoy okay uh I'm a Burbank girl and the reason I'm here today is to just I know
you have an awesome job to do you have to do it in the best fiscally responsible manner you have to also remember that you're dealing with children I have 30 plus years in education my training is psychology it's
School counseling and I've worked from elementary school up through Community College and my Foundation First nine years that I was educated was at fingon and then the first St
to feon and I appreciate the young lady in the red up there right and talking about the history of feon and she seems to get it and I and my I implore you all to get it when you don't communicate
properly when you don't say okay we're going to do this this and this and this is what we're looking at and we're going to look at the fiscal numbers and all of that then misconceptions young lady in in the beige up said that you know her words
were misconstrued I heard about them and I don't live in Maring County actually I live in puton county and and spent all my years in alacha County I'm saying don't forget the
students don't forget the kids I've worked with thousands of kids some bright some not so bright kids on the Spectrum you name it because my first job was at Lake Forest Elementary School where we had every exceptionality in the
books including deaf and heart of hearing each kid is different I was very different the first strike to vzan it was in my time we were told during the summer you've got
to go to North Maran High School let me tell you something the young man that talked about his kid was jumped his grandson was jumped yeah I weighed 120 lbs and went to wash my hands in a bathroom and all of a sudden these girls
were coming up behind me didn't know at the time it was because I was wearing my brother's uh football sweater and they were a little jealous didn't think that I was his sister okay kids when you mix kids together they're not like adults
that can think the way they should and and and and act the way maybe Mom and Daddy told them to act there was all kinds of stuff now if you're going to move these
kids from feon to Reddit kou which I saw on the data at one point wasn't after school expired okay um but ma'am um since we didn't get you signed up can uh the board members occasionally like to reach out to people who have spoken okay
we do have uh the speaker forms anyone who did speak we tried to ow as many people as wanted to speak today anyone if you wouldn't mind putting down contact information because board members do sometimes to reach out with i' be happy to talk to anybody got 30
plus years of experience in all kinds of settings including High School Duel enrollment was my last job thank you thank you they're all out front you pleas sorry all right anyone else and those forms are outside on the on the table by the lobby and a staff member is
going to bring some perfect okay all right board I'd like to I'd like for us to recess for about 10 minutes um take a quick back backro bathroom break um I just are we concluding this item yes the one thing I asked for when
public comment was done was Mr SS to provide a scope of next steps since based on your comments chair you you asked for us to proceed seeing three board members are interested and so I would like Mr SS to capture what that looks like if that's that's great I see
um I see Dr Campbell leaning forward sure I before Mr SS I I would love the opportunity just to say three things that I heard from Community thus far one of them was based on the cost to run other schools in this District you have
just made a case for site-based budgeting currently this board does not have full access at all times to the information and the data that we've now just received on two schools as far as the long range planning and how much it does cost something we're piloting this
year for the first time so to say that one school costs more to run than another currently this board doesn't use that data yet because we don't have a site-based budgeting model but we're working on it and that's something that I know from this board seat I've been advocating for for four years we also
heard something about prioritization where certain schools it took a very long time for North Maran High to finally get their cafeteria to me that's advocating for the position of an appointed superintendent versus an elected one when you have an appointed one you've got five people up here
advocating for positions you don't have one person dictating how things happen and that would be from an elected superintendent seat so I believe that position was advocated for with having an appointed superintendent versus elected finally another comment that I heard specifically was that Builders
need to contribute that is an advocacy position for concurrency it's not something that we currently have with our County Commission but I encourage you if you believe that Builders need to contribute and have the ability to actually offset some of their costs and some of their developments that they
could help do things on our facility campuses rather than pay an impact fee they actually could help us specifically in specific projects that's concurrency that comes from your County Commission and your county commission's talking about updating their comprehensive plan right now so you can go and advocate for
concurrency thank you thank you Dr Campbell Mr aish thank you you're going to wrap us up yeah just to be clear um from Dr James it may be a little premature to talk about a timeline right now I know
we would need to schedule Community meetings going forward but I can't speak to any timeline at this time because I think that's a little premature right now so can you explain why you think it's premature because we don't
have I don't have clear direction from okay can maybe I I've heard three board members maybe do you need Dr gullet to weigh in on it or so Madam chair so on my list to add to the end was going to seek some clarity from the board uh I
made a couple comments timeline Community um meetings and some school choice options we create options based on the schools that we serve and yes Ric Coler is one of those as we've talked about the last several years developing
Pathways for from elementary through high school which is what we've done at Reddit Coler um I would agree with Mr SS my question for clarity would be from the board when you're talking about a timeline Community input absolutely I have said this many times over the years
how we do what we do is the most important thing that we do in serving all of our students in Marian County how we work with the community is important um like the board I'm not I'm not afraid of tough conversations I think I've proven that over the last four and a
half years um but I think how we how we move forward is is the most important so when we look at Community input sessions which is actually what I've recommended repeatedly over the last several years when this topic has come to me I have said um to board members who brought it
up and others we we should have Community sessions we can have roundtables in the community we can engage stakeholders Business Leaders people that that we all don't even know collectively might be part of innovative solutions
and how we best serve our students is what we're committed to doing so um my question for the board is what does timeline look like to this board to the majority of this board so um happy to and I think we I think we absolutely
must have Community sessions um as those difficult conversations continue to come but I would like to seek clarification from the board I'm sorry I'll wait yes board member to I'm no I was there
was answering we have to statutorily have we have to statutorily that's a part of all resoning conversations is having Community meetings right I mean we we just we have some coming up I think this week so if I can continue so uh I don't
disagree but what Mr Aris and I both know is we have one tonight I mean we have a a number of community meetings already for the for the other items that are that we're addressing board that you've already approved to move forward so in terms of timeline are you it's
February are we looking at something now for August because when we met we talked about Community sessions through the next year so some advisement on what that timeline looks like in terms of backwards mapping end date would be really helpful for us thank
you thank you um I will say that we are just getting started on this and and please let's stop saying as a board that you know there's there's three of us there's five of us on this board and we're all engaged in the conversation we
all know that reic Coler elementary school has been a very low enrollment for a very long time there needs to be a lot of conversation around what to do with that school what I do know and what I do observe is that parents will travel a long way to take their kids to a
school that they think is going to meet their needs so to me this conversation is just starting I think a speaker shared and the point was very well taken with me is that it is now February we're on the cusp of testing season we need to
get some reassurance in this community and that these impacted potentially schools of what we're going to be doing the rest of this year and and what our timeline is uh personally Jus this board member I don't think we're anywhere
close to ready to making the types of thoughtful conversations and potential changes or not um by August that's my input have you heard from Madam chair yes sir I was just
asking go ahead Reverend Cummings I'm I'm I'm sitting here watching and listening to this this work session and I'm hearing I'm hearing the community say something but then I hear total disregard by um the to say we want a
timeline we're going to push forward and we say we want to have Community input yet we're we're we're basically saying um you know we're g to do what we want to do anyway and so I think we need to kind of pump the braks a little bit on this thing and have a real
conversation because right now I don't think we have a real conversation I think we we we're kind of putting out there what we want to do or what some on the board want to do without legitimately looking at this from the eyes through others eyes so I'm asking
that um I I agree with Mr S I think we're premature I think we're not there yet I think um u m Thor is right we we're nowhere close to anywhere making a decision on this so as a board I'm I'm asking this board to to reconsider
trying to move so fast on this issue thank you Reverend Cummings thank you the other thing that distresses me is that these types of of proposals and recommendations generally come from um operations from the
superintendent from staff and to my knowledge that did not happen um and there's likely good reasons for that and I don't think it's shying away
from opportunities for students and opportunities for school when when it hits a flash point is when people that have been in this community a long time just interpret it with good reason as a
pattern and more of the scene so that's why I would like to take a deep breath on on this we have a lot going on already we we are finishing a contract for the a new Middle School we've broken ground on a high school we're building two elementary
schools uh that was a very thoughtful process and it wasn't need jerk reaction it wasn't just what someone wanted it was a combined effort and I agree that we need to have conversations about all
schools um it's just all in how you do it and this Trail is really crooked right now thank you board member thrower Dr Campbell thank you for waiting thank you so uh while I am I guess if we are saying three of five if while I am one
of the three that is in favor of moving forward my timeline if we are creating one would be for this conversation to continue with considerations offered through the school year of 2026 2027 and not the 2025 2026 school year
in part because if there were directions this board wanted to take as some of the recommendations I was saying from State appropriation State conversations Etc I believe that would be best serve in the fall of this year potentially for
consideration for the 2026 um legislative cycle just to gauge interest from legislation at that point which would mean a 2026 2027 timeline doesn't mean we need to begin the process in 2026 2027 means we need to
potentially begin the process in the summer after some of these other things right now we have behind us and so we we start looking at having those Community meetings in the summer and the fall and then move from that point so that would be the proposed timeline that I would
offer any changes or potential changes that I would see this board doing in my opinion from this seat is that it would not be for the August 2025 2026 school year thank you Dr Campbell um Mr awood it appears I'm hearing from the majority
of the board is timeline wise what we would like to see moving forward is the lineup of community conversations so if you and Dr gullet could work on lining up um some dates uh I know that the calendar is full but
I do um I do disagree with Dr Campbell just a little bit uh the community is engaged right now in in what is going on and so um at the earliest convenience I would at least like to schedule a First Community conversation uh so we can get the ball rolling and then they can be a
part of how we move forward from that chair yes Dr J um because I didn't really get a I just kind of answered your question I didn't really get a chance to engage Age and what what Mr Air's Department committed to doing was every January bringing forward a
rezoning conversation for 18 months later and when we go back to that conversation this piece to that puzzle was not included which is why Dr Campell and myself brought it up and then M uh chair Conrad engaged in that conversation and then obviously the
board had further discussion the reason this conversation started was because January forecast the January conversation forecasts for the following Year's August resoning that is how the way of Mr A's work has been that
is correct and the fezan was not part of that presentation correct so not a recommendation two board members brought it up and so the timeline that would make the most sense and I agree with Dr Campbell is to start the process which
is why I've asked what is this process going to look like because we're having rezoning meetings for a high school rezoning that's happening in 15 months from now so we're having those resoning meetings now ahead of a school year 2627
so my my asking about a timeline is backed by the work we're already doing for rezonings for 2627 okay I think that just solidifies what we've what we've asked for okay anything else further from the
board okay Mr s thank you um to your and your team for all the information presented so far this morning um those of you um that are here in the audience I want to thank you for coming uh this morning and and advocating for what you think is best for your community and
with that um board will'll take a brief recess um time is it 10:03 let's reconvene at um 1010 okay thank you for
you a to questions that right good morning good morning good morning e so yeah e for for
e e e e okay we are going to reconvene at 1011 and continue um our conversation uh Mr SS uh you GNA open us with uh some
facts with Anthony and Spar yes ma'am all right thank you sir all right now we're going to talk about um the potential Anthony to spar resoning again that First Column talks about the enrollments again it has The Spar fish seats of
414 spars 80-day count is 434 so there's actually a deficit of 20 seats at spar right now Anthony Zone students in the Anthony zone are 311 the zon students that are attending
are 230 and then the not zon are 83 students and so there would be a deficit of seats for that and again now I'll introduce M mmuk talk about the facilities good morning again good morning you can see the U maintenance
needs for both schools Again by years um in fiveyear intervals um we would need 14 Portables to absorb the students um anticipated from Anthony to go to spar and you have the costs associated with
those Portables chair could I ask a yes I was sorry I was just getting my um my power point up to speed in the sales tax plan the board prioritized one of the priorities was $30 million for Spar
Elementary which facilities had shared was the essentially doing kind of what we did at South Okala keeping pieces expanding and then revitalizing so the Portables would not be needed if the merge did not happen
until we built the the $30 million structure is that a correct statement that is correct I would I would assume um but it's on the priority list it V below the uh funded correct but the board would have
to rep prioritize right yes yes but if we did the $30 million structure at Spar then we would not need Portables correct okay I wanted just to make sure that was clear I think that's a great point of clarification anything any other
comments or questions not yet okay all right Miss Boom buug that was quick and easy morning again I think I will be quick and easy as well because it pretty much mirrors the same um information
that we discussed with the um fezan ttic haer so again looking at how we would move the units over and then placing those folks that would not move over so when we um look at um I think it was brought up even the principal the HCA
things like that so it's the same exact conversation and consideration from fezan to that we would have for Anthony tpar okay thank you Miss Mor my comments are the same as they were for the right y
okay good morning again good morning again for transportation is very similar um our buses will depart from the Fiddlers compound Zone 2 um and they would pass in that same area of Spar Anthony to be able to transport our
students from Anthony to spar and then back back to the zone 2 compound um we currently have capacity on our buses that we use for Anthony so um I don't think there will be an addition um to the kids we need to transport
they're with the capacity we have because you're going to be adding students that are currently in the um walk area for Anthony that would be going to spar and be outside of the Walk Cara at that point okay yes
okay or I guess I'll open up conversation Mr mcfaden had a Callum but he might be busy at the moment I just saw him actually I just I might have stepped out Bor do you want to if you wantan to emergency vehicle okay
sure um we'll go ahead and uh I can just add a thought to that sure based on conversation um the the third column there speak to stacking well obviously we would be using the 30 million to revitalize and rebuild oh here comes Mr
mcfaden oh perfect timing Mr mcfaden you're up yeah we're on the your column I we saw yes thank you I'm sorry it's hard to
be in two places at one time isn't it I don't know what that is either well good morning if uh we're basically the same thing we just have um the um traffic concerns the influx of vehicle traffic coming into the area of the uh
Spar school zone right now we just got one interest going in so we really have to think about adding some type of infrastructure to help with that uh County Road 329 is really congested similar to the others and adding those other students in we just need um some
some help in trying to make sure that we are able to funnel this the vehicles in and out plus the bus area is a little bit smaller than normal but we'll figure it all out if this um if this pushes forward okay thank you Mr
mcfaden yes and my my only thought was that um in redesigning the school structure we can redesign the stacking pattern and the the parking it's obviously very close to the 329 right now but as we have seen with South Okala as we Revitalize and and readjust we can
make movements as needed to adjust and when we built these schools years and years and years ago we didn't have this this stacking issue per se and so we will just be able to I I my my belief is that facilities would be able to design
and adjust this so that the stacking is more appropriate um I know that that is a concern when you talk with the county and the County Commissioners and my goal would be any school that we are revitalizing and or spending significant money on we are designing it so that we're getting traffic off the roadway as
much as possible so I imagine we would be able to figure that out thank you all right board um anyone it looks like Dr Campbell is ready well can we have the finance conversation because that was the other component we talked about for Anthony and um for fezan and
reic okay um the right Dr G totally fine thank you so the the other document um if someone by I'm sorry I keep forgetting that we have we have so many documents up here yes ma'am that's okay okay yes we're ready for the
finance portion I think the word document is that what we want to we're looking at yes good morning again I believe is the other document if you're looking at the cost for Anthony and Spar yes so looking at the
cost looking at the cost for Anthony over the 10year period That's the fixed cost and that's $21 million 71 79,000 and the fixed cost includes things like Insurance salaries benefits contracts Services Etc and then we have the
maintenance cost um of $5.7 million that brings us for a total of anony for $26.8 million for Spar we have uh $19 million for our fixed cost and maintenance cost over a 10year period would be
$3.4 uh million when we combine both Anthony and smart we have a combined cost for $49 milon 657 th000 if we were going to combine both schools Anthony and Spar moving them
into The Spar location and again like before with fesan and Rod Kelly Coler we are using Sandalwood as our base uh base model here um and with the amount of students we be have to add a wing and we have that cost included $30
million uh using sand Sandalwood as before that cost fixed cost would be $26.8 million which brings the total of the merge School for6 $6.2 million and we see that this cost for merging these two school is actually higher than the
two schools when uh we looked at their cost separately and that cost is $10.6 million uh combined versus when they are separate okay thank you chair all right yes Dr Campell so and this may be a
question for you as well as Miss Mor in tandem so hypothetically you would assume that because they have 100 less students at Anthony that their cost should not be higher but it would I'm believing that the ca the reason that they fixed costs are higher is because of the number of es units at Anthony
versus Spar but maybe that's I'm mistaken in that I'm I'm just curious as to why the fixed cost of Anthony again is higher than Spar over a 10-year period when we're hypothesizing that the student population is 100 students less
one second let me see if Miss Johnson has any additional information she can add okay thank you good morning um so when we looked at the fixed cost for Anthony and Spar I could go back and get the specifics but it would be any of those fixed positions your principal AP Health Clinic
assistant um just the list that we have kind of outline Miss Maria had in there so it could be that maybe one of the schools didn't have a position or two comparative ly going across but we could give you the exact list of what positions were included and then the fixed costs are going to be their
electric water utilities so depending on the type of utilities they have there there could be a different in price I'm not sure if one of them's maybe on gas versus electric but I could go back and get the details of those those two items that we looked at for the fixed cost if you guys want to know why there is a
difference there between the two thank you I'm not sure that it's completely necessary but it there is a discrepancy there and it it honestly whenever we get to site-based budgeting we'll be able to see it very clearly um because again if you have 100 few your students hypothetically you shouldn't have that
much more cost um in one school over another okay thank you thank you all right board yes Dr James thank you and thank you for elaborating on this um I think it's important to note that in this combination it would cost the district
$10 million but it would include $30 million in New construction um paid for out of sales tax so the actual operating costs are the actual operating costs are less so when we look at the operating
cost in the maintenance it's 49 million and the operating costs for a like school would be 26.8 million so from a staffing perspective we're definitely going to save money from a staffing perspective and then we're going to prioritize um a significant facility
need at Spar which would then also allow us to address some of the other facility needs in that in that vicinity and for the purposes of the conversation spe uh fe uh Anthony to spar is
4 4.6 I think Miles I think that's right um so I I wanted to highlight that thank you Dr James yes Dr Campbell thank you so there's there's two pieces to this one of them that we have not
discussed uh that it was related to an earlier conversation when I was explaining to the community the number of Evergreen students that were being transported former Evergreen students being transported to Shady Hill they're also going to South Okala they're also going to Ward Highlands and they're also
going to spar so we had not included that as a part of the conversation so perhaps and without having Mr SS give us the exact down to the detail number it may only be a couple of students but we understand that currently we are over the number of fish reports I'm trying to
get to the right spreadsheet we have here so in The Spar uh conversation we currently are at 20 students I believe over the fish report however it's possible which it might not be all 20 but it's possible that at least a
handful of those 20 students actually are former Evergreen students that if we chose to do what we are talking about earlier then and and Dr James is telling me no so well they would go to Anthony because Anthony was the closest the closest school for those North End
kids and so that's why I my understanding with conversation with Mr SS the reason they got left out of that initial conversation for oakrest is because they would go to Anthony and then if we did this then they would go to spar so why move them to Anthony if they would just go back to spar and I completely agree with that we haven't
decided we're doing any of these things yet so I'm just talking hypothetically about where we're looking right now so those students right now are zoned as former Evergreen students going to spar currently I can't say that there's 20 of them but if there are that's the number
of the overfish seats and it's they're not actually technically zoned for Spar if we chose to go only with the first conversation we're having and create the former Evergreen Elementary Zone students going to somewhere else than they currently go
okay so that that just for conversation sake because we're talking about the whole big picture here and all of this in tandem the other thing again based on former School Board member Bobby James com M was how long it took us to get a North Maran cafeteria in this particular
scenario it actually changes that whole argument because we're talking about building brand new in spar right now and that negates part of the consideration that happened in previous years again under elected superintendents where
there wasn't an emphasis on the North side at all um or at least for a really long time so um in this particular scenario because it involves brand new construction that I believe is imperative for enhanced student learning
on a lot of different ways inclusive of potentially a new Bus Loop potent there's a lot of land at Spar potentially a new entire traffic pattern as what we're building in other of our brand new schools um this one I have a
much um enhanced appetite for greater conversation for even more so than previous conversations that we've had today so again I am all for building new uh because that's part of the reason we're having the reic fean conversation
is because of the newness or however you want to feel that uh about the reic buildings and so if we were to able to build something new at Spar that would then be able to Encompass the needs of all of these students I think that would only further
enhance their educational opportunities all right thank you Dr Campbell yes Dr James I was um wondering if Miss bomach could share so um going back to January rezoning conversations are for a 2627
rezoning and Miss bombach could you provide a estimated um perspective or or timeline whatever of it how long it's going to take if the board if it's the board's purview how
long it would take to to get a new $30 million structure done at Spar yes so that that would not be a prototype because it would be so specific to spar um we would have to advertise it find an architect and then
start design I would look at least at a 12 months process to get a really good design um maybe give us a little bit longer on that to really iron out the facing of the project um how we can fit and
then what will be new what will we keep how do we face it in in construction as well um you know while we start construction which buildings um need to be demolished before we start constructions things like that so we're
talking a 2728 opening of a new structure then so if we would start a process now um design till next summer um get the contractor right on board while we
designing to get their input and then at least a 12 to 18 months um construction time so 26 uh 27 28 27 that sounds possible
okay thank you for sharing that I wanted to understand that perspective and for the community too this is not something that ever was going to happen unless we put Portables at Spar which was never my intention um I don't want to move students from a perfectly good facility into Portables that was that's never my
intention so um and I perfectly good is I'm it's working for them so I want to see this priority of new construction at Spar and so this is a multi-year plan but we have to get started now if we would even be
available for August of 20 2027 yes okay Reverend Cummings um I can hear you I have I don't have any comment right now okay thank you all right thank you
um it's all about the citizens input you know I do see and understand um that there's been longstanding need in in the north side and that's probably where some of the deeply rooted mistrust comes from uh not
everybody knows this but but many years ago under another funding crunch um it was basically related that you know only in town kids if you could get to school then you could come to school you know all of that outlying area according to
my historical understanding was on their own so you you bring this thing up because it is important to know the history it is important to know you know what what bothers people it's important to understand understand their hesitations
about what's being brought forward and the communication piece is is just everything you know on on paper this to me I understand it it I can see how it would make sense but then in my mind's eye I think about okay well
we have a lot of kids that are in the trailer park right next to Anthony you know that that walk to school and their parents actually come and it's easy for them and they can volunteer you know there's not everybody in this world that has a good car you know to get places
with so anytime you move kids further away from a neighborhood school there are repercussions and having before I moved to Florida very long time ago having grown up in the Cleveland area I saw what busing did to communities and the
decimation that occurred that had they had never recovered so I just it would be my ask for us to continue to be very thoughtful and very considerate of making sure that the conversation I think you said it
best chair Conrad that right now you know we do have the community's attention so having these conversations start sooner than later is really really important um and we're never going to get 100% approval I understand that but
at least you'll probably get more approval even if it's grudging approval if everyone understands you know the why and the why is about doing doing what's best for the kids the families and the communities and being able to afford to do that um I'll piggy back off um board
member throwers comments and I think that the um well let me back up just a little bit for me personally it was important to get um this data in for front of us the factual pieces before we started moving forward with Community
conversations and now that we have um some factual information and front of us I would like even though this this would be a long way out several years I would like to also initiate Community conversation right away because um
similarly as fezan and Reddit conversation I would like the community to have input before we talk about designing um you know what we're going to build so that we know what the needs and wants of that Community are I think we have a great
opportunity um to to have a new structure in the north end of town I think that's very exciting um I just think it's also extremely important uh just like board member thrower said that the community has um the first
opportunity to share with us what they would like to see what are their children interested in um all of those things that we we spoke about earlier so um I'm excited about this opportunity um I I think most of the board we didn't hear from Reverend Cummings yet so I
want to give him an okay let let let let me stop right there and U and hear from RE ran Cummings thank you thank you chair um we we we we know that different schools fit different
niches and different types of people I think we we we we keep talking about new and new and new sometimes new isn't always better um sometimes um we need to look at the fact that um these schools could hit a certain niche of people
that that's their that's that's what makes them successful U we talk about Community Schools we talk about having those schools in our community where everybody gets to to know the teacher the teacher need and know the community and I think we we're talking about
Anthony and president and and those schools of such where there are neighborhood schools there's a value there is a value in those schools being neighborhood schools and and not just the historical value but there's a value of being able to know um the community
so I don't want us to take that aspect out of it I want to continue to have that aspect with our conversation but again and I'll say it again and again the community the stakeholders have to have a part of this process of this conversation and we can't just Ram
anything down anyone's Str so again my consequence is saying that we have to make sure that we get community input complete Community input on this and not just tell people what we want to do but find out what what they want to see what we want to see as a community so thank
you thank you Reverend Cummings yes re um board member thrower I've been elevated yes that's right Reverend um yeah with that and and speaking of including the community you know reic I think there's 341 open seats
um and I would love to see some connection with with with families say you know why aren't they attending you know um because in some recent memory you know reic was pretty full and it was
an a school and sadly you know the reic high school was was torn down so there's Ling there um again it's that Visionary aspect it is a newer older school that was once
thriving how about looking at the root cause you know why isn't it thriving and and there's and I know some of the answers um you know you have this this gradual kind of drop in in school grade and and so on and then people go elsewhere but I do know the parents will
travel a long way um they'll drive past multiple schools to take their kids if they can to to a school that they think best meets their needs so I don't think that you know that's out of the question um for for reic and and wouldn't it be nice if we just got reic filled up again
yes and then we wouldn't have to be doing all these Generations quite so much maybe and and on top of that there is a lot of Focus right now on these micro schools um you know smaller schools trying to get that Community
Connection you know back into place and and I agree wholeheartedly with Reverend Cummings that that has so much value you know if you distance the parents even more away from school and they're typically busy schedules these days or
just not having the access then you're going to have less and less parent involvement probably more difficulty with attendance you know you have this Cascade effect so those are some of the things I'm thinking about even at feon there's 195 that aren't attending that are zone for f why you know let's let's
talk about that and contact these families if we can and and see what we can do to get people back in the schools you know that are that are theirs and rebuild some of that Allegiance just some things on my mind thanks yes um so
I think um you know Reverend sharing about Community Schools I think there's Great Value um in a community school but I really my experience has been uh working at NH Jones for um over 25 years is it is the
people um the families that attend the school that really give you um that Community feeling um and so even though these schools are these two schools are 4 and a half uh miles apart um I know
that they they do work together already um in in what and some of the things that they do and both of those active communities I I think will be successful um in working together it will still feel like a community school
um at least that's what I visualize yes Dr Campbell thank you so I know I'm I'm taking an another piece that we don't have in front of us right now but I know that prior conversations this board had regarding the sales tax also included a
wing at Okala Springs Elementary and as I look at the current Anthony Zone there are some of those students in Anthony Zone that actually are closer to Okala Springs than they would be to spar so I would say potentially if we
were going down this pathway not just to consider asking families would you go to spar but also say if we were in tandem building new building in Spar as well as actually adding that classroom building at Okala Springs that we know we
need if we built two new structures on the North side and okal springs isn't fully North but it is still in this conversation because of zoning um if we were building two new structures then that Anthony Zone may not mean that every every student goes
to spar now I understand Okala Springs is overcrowded right now but part of that overcrowding is because of the number of Portables that that we're using and that's how we're currently filling that need but if we're using 11 Portables and we built a 16 classroom Wing we may actually have the ability to
move some of those Anthony students also to Okala Springs again this one of this board member's priorities all along was to build those classroom wings at Maplewood Okala Springs and Ward Highlands and get rid of those portable Villages at all three of those campuses
that continues to be a priority of mine I'm so grateful the community has supported the sales tax we'll also need to know over the course of two years exactly how much sales tax we've brought in which if we're thinking a 2728 opening we'll have two years plus worth of sales tax that we would have already
brought in and so potentially the next conversation we're going to have is about Dell and middle high and if we remove part of that as a priority right now then that frees up a lot of money in that 10-year plan that we could build new classroom Wing at Okala Springs
while simultaneously building new buildings at Spar and that Anthony Zone actually split does that change the community school conversation absolutely not and I'm hearing what that is that's why this is a community conversation and we do need to hear from the community specifically there and Anthony and and
that's I believe what we're asking for we're saying especially if we're talking a 2728 that timeline while we could talk to folks right now and we certainly could that timeline is even further extended than what we were talking about
in the previous conversation so um that's where I sit uh chair I I believe that this is a much larger conversation again because of that Anthony Zone and because of the new construction we want on two campuses that potentially could
house those Anthony students thank you uh Dr Campbell anything further from the board I guess I just have a logistical question um how do we
certainly facilities I imagine would have hesitation with moving forward with searching for a architecture and then paying money to an architecture for a new facility at Spar if we aren't making a decision about what we're doing
because if they build it they will come except they won't come unless the board makes a decision by vote I believe is the way I understand it and so I'm looking for Dr gullet or staff to give guidance as to how the board I I've
heard the board say we want to maybe switch up our priorities on the sales tax but do we have to make a decision about Anthony's prek-5 delivery model for education
for the architecture to go forward that's the question I have and maybe if I'm way out of line tell me but I just I'm I'm causes me pause to spend money on an architecture if we if the board doesn't
have yes so chair actually I was going to wait till you all we're finished because I've been noting a couple of comments that are not on the prioritization list so if we could review that for a moment because if the board wants to change that I we need to know that I've heard a couple things Miss boach will come forward I'm going
to share what I have go ahead miss bomach you can come forward um I have East Maran Elementary and doola those classroom doors I have uh Belia Santos at bellev elementary replacement DaNell and middle high potential replacement
the Capital Improvements at MTI for student safety uh potentially new K8 and Mar and Oaks instead of the wings that was if you remember that came up about in terms of that long range study that we had Ward Highlands Wing Maplewood Wing uh that helps to address the 15
Portables and then maintenance and and construction overage Miss bomach did I miss anything and I I believe it was in that order that the board provided guidance to anything I missed yes I don't have the list with me so
I I don't know which one wings were um on the list but I know they were on the end of the T timeline of the priority and uh we have to have a discussion with Finance how fast the the money comes in and when we can start the sign yes it
does not make sense even if we don't want to build it for the next 10 years to start the sign now um we should do that closer to the time we can fund that project so we would have to go back to the priority list and the timeline when
we want to start each of yes Dr James I didn't hear Dr gullet say Spar Elementary is $30 million it's not on the priority it is not on the priority list that inher not not under funded uh portion hence well that was
the well that was because the K8 got put in but I don't think this board ever came to conclusion that we were not addressing something at Spar Elementary okay I missed that part of
the memo and so if I may Madam chair to be clear this was the fiveyear that uh the team pulled together from that work session that you all had and reprioritized if there's anything that's incorrect I'm I'm I'm asking for clarity from the board that's what we had that the team had from that last work session
when you brought back and had further discussion about some of the items for for the potentially for five years correct but farar was on there for the 10year plan no yes I'm I'm looking at the document from our from our website again with all
of the the details and and in the exact order that Dr goullet gave us that was the prioritization that staff had given us with an approximate cost of $335 million page two of Staff recommendations included Spar Elementary at 30 million and Okala Springs Wing at
15 million and then Fort King Middle at 15 million which obviously takes us over the potential that we're going to have for the sales tax this is what the board had talked about the next conversation we're about to have is that Dell and Middle High conversation which is $150 million of this we have to have that
conversation before we can land on this in my opinion um and so and and certainly the K8 and Marion Oaks was also included because of the Benish study and what that had said um but we were not fully aware we were
going to have this greater conversation about all of rezoning of the north side so all of this was done we have to keep in mind the timeline of what the board has had talk about all of this prioritization was completely done before there was ever conversation about
fezen reck Spar Anthony all in tandem together what does that big picture look like or and inclusive of what we would do with the former Evergreen students and what that does with the Oak Crust and none of those conversations happened until today really where we've really done a deep dive in some of that so we
prioritized things just hypothesizing that the community might support our our sales tax before we ever even knew we were going to get it and so now that we have it now we need to get really serious about what these dollars look like board I I'm sorry U board member
thow just one second um I'm hesitant um for us to re prioritize until we begin to have Community conversations and so I I just wanted to share uh from my seat um I feel like before we we change up
and and begin making decisions that we need need to engage in particularly the two conversations that have come forward first um this morning so I just I wanted to share that um as we move along in the conversation board member thrower thank
you chair and I don't disagree uh with you at all and I'm also uh thinking now that we did get the sales tax that's no longer hypo hypothetically which is awesome uh we now we need to start seeing some numbers of cash flow estimates you know we can sit up here
and talk all day about what we want want to do and how fast we want to do it or slow or what the process but until we know what the money flow is and what we have available then it's kind of moot so projections is what I would like to begin to see whenever they're
available to help us plan right Dr James and I just to confirm we did give the green light to proceed on East Marin and OA Middle School yes and that is already happening yes okay and so we are already starting to move in a direction to provide safer schools for two different
schools um that are in completely different parts of the community and I agree I want to see operations Start Community meetings and start moving forward so that we can make informed decisions as a board and then operations from a facility side can
then make informed decisions based on board action but I don't think facilities should move forward as Miss bomach said with with hiring an architect for a theoretical school that the board has to decide upon what we're going to do so I want to see Community
meetings get engaged in all of these facets so we can have informed decisions and make make and this board make decisions and I would also say Financial projections because before we get the community all involved there's no point having a conversation if we don't have
the money yet or we can't say Hey you know we expect to have this amount of funding next year the year after you know three years out otherwise it's just a pipe dream and and also upsetting nobody a lot of parents don't like to talk about zoning so if we're
gonna if we're going to do it let's have some solid numbers behind us and have a strong idea of what we really can deliver on yes Dr I would just um I know that Dr Campbell I can I offer a suggestion
because we're not making decisions other than a do email that we got from Dr gullet about oakrest data we're not making a decision about denell middle and high today so could I ask potentially for like a part two of this and and um maybe Reverend Cummings would
he would be able to be in person um and then we can like in in a timely fashion button this part of it up but we can decide as a board about oakrest and um Evergreen auxiliary Zone maybe that was just kind of my offthe cff recommendation being that it's 10:50 and
understanding some timelines for is that a hand to it is okay yes Dr Campbell I um I I agree with that that we can potentially button this up and extend the conversation into Dell and middle he High another time what I can tell you is what I've heard from the community members and dellen and maybe Reverend
Cummings would agree with this that's a community we have not engaged about our vision of the middle high they are not in support of that decision the community members I've spoken with inel and I don't know if Reverend Cummings wants to speak to that s it since it is the area he represents the folks I've talked to and dellan are not in favor of
a combo Middle High he's unmuted Cummings yes I I agree that we we need to continue this conversation so I'll I'll make myself available okay thank you um all right so Mr SS I think um just to summarize we
are ready to have we want some projections we want some numbers um and we um also want to start talking about lining up some Community conversations some dates um for that that sufficient
board a question about oest and the Evergreen auxiliary zones um about how that would look you know for our older kids I would prefer them if the parents if that's what the parents want to for them to be able to stay where they've
been you know and as long as they're being successful and then start gradually you know pulling the other ones back in um you know the the younger kids I guess I just need more clarity on how that's going to look and work pause
that for just one second okay um just wanted to make sure that we give direction for Mr SS um with Spar and Anthony and then I also wanted to offer up is there any public comment um on
this portion of our talks yes ma'am good morning again good morning again do I need to State my name again if you wouldn't mind okay Tanya Hanks 9668 Southwest 52nd Court in Okala um even a reference I stayed even because Anthony
is just as important to me um as well I I still go back to a couple of things one in looking at Staffing um our my concern is that of of of the team that's there and Anthony um um when someone has
an opportunity we would like to know what is going to actually happen with your lead administrators at those schools Anthony and and fesan where where are they going to go secondly I still go back to the budget and I stand by what I said and uh previously even
with looking at and I'm looking at the I was thinking of the other spreadsheet there we were just looking at with um Anthony and and and Spar what would happen if if if that 30 million was spread out over
that North Side that's one statement secondly I want to encourage the board I'm a woman of faith and a woman of deep prayer I encourage the board to consider the development trends that are happening in Maran County to save 26 or
30 million over 10 years only to have to turn around and spend a 100 million in 7 years to build a new school because we Clos two schools down doesn't make sense to me if you look at the development Trends between 27 326 I can assure you
bues won't be the only thing that gets built off of 326 the development is going to happen as far up to the Farmland preservation uh boundaries and if we're Downing that then we're setting whoever the next generation of board members and leaders and administrators
we're setting them up to have to carry a daunting task of putting together a whole another school on this north side when we we can start investing in Fez and and Anthony in preparing for the future that is coming with
development thank you okay with that um we're wrapping up our conversation um on Spar and Anthony board we are in agreeance we're going to hold off on the Dell Middle School and High School conversation and we want to regroup and go back um to our opening
conversation is that correct correct all right I just have to find the correct paperwork here where did I put the spreadsheet there it is sorry okay um we'll start with Evergreen
and oest who would like to open it up Dr gullet do you want to share um I I know that Dr James just said that you sent us information I have not looked at it yet yes I did thank you madam chair I sent you a document and I want to thank
Mr Frasier who was working behind the scenes to help me we had a document already and we were trying was asking for it to be amended to include all the information the board asks so um it shows you from last year and this year pm1 through pm3 data and then a
comparison from last year to this year so with um Ela and Mathematics so that's the document you should have received on the bottom of the of the document this is the enhancement as well the summary of growth this is third through fifth
grade of course with um progress monitoring um of those of those different items through third through fifth grades Ela again mathematics last year and this year so information you requested on o Christ
all right any concerns any comments on the information um Dr gallet just shared with us Dr James I would say that my position maintains I think it's going to be in the best interest of the students
to be rezoned to oakrest and we would have to have Ru making rule making meetings are part of the I see Mr Eris nodding is a part of it and um to board member throwers point that would be the time we have conversation about who
stays and who goes um and you know we have I think 19 was the number if I remember of students who were a part of the Evergreen rezoning and so um you know we had this board had had discussion about those students getting to stay and then um you know we have all
of those discussions in the rul making work session um is the way I recall the process going so to me that I think is the is if the board makes a decision to today that's the next step is to talk about those rules attached to the
rezoning all right Dr Campbell um these math scores are just as concerning as I thought they were going to be they are and I believe that this conversation is premature based on this data that I'm looking at right now academic data um if students are being
successful in their schools that they're currently in while I understand asking those families to move in this upcoming school year would potentially help data in the future I do believe it's the direction we need to go I am not in support of
doing it in 2526 thank you Reverend Cummings I'm good no com okay thank you all right board member throw um I tend to agree with um board
member Campbell um in the end you know we're trying to help every students succeed we have to be mindful of the challenges that oakrest has had uh through the years and you know with the with the change in leadership I mean it
was a heavy lift before it's a heavy lift now uh I think maybe we need to see how this school year pans out and just say our biggest prayers that they're going to um
make it happen because I know they're doing all they can and I know that that they've all been doing all they can it's just it's it's not easy I also understand where board member James is coming from you know with adding more students in and the the piece about kids
that were you know showing good progress that will help oest um and get them back to where they belong I I I understand that I I but I would say that the timing the timing is delicate based on what I'm reading
um I would tend to agree board member um thrower Mr SS I have a question um the 19 students um that we were we were talking about would there be an option to ask those since there's since it's not a huge number would there be an
opportunity to speak with each of those families um and let them decide uh what would be best for them because I'm personally I'm just I'm struggling with the concerns that were brought forward from the community about the length in the timing of the bus rides for their
children I'm also looking at academic data going um I don't know that I'd want to force someone to do that right now is that is that opening up a can of worms I don't I'm just asking again going back to my original recommendation that this not occur for the 26 27 school years for
a lot of issues that have been brought up but yes before any resoning would have to happen we would have to have Community meetings where not just those students there but all students and family stakeholders have to have input okay and chair I just want to clarify
the 19 students are the students that were rezoned from Evergreen that are left there are there are there's hundreds of students that would be rezoning yes okay I just wanted yes I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't confusion about what I
said yes Dr go I based on what Mr aers just said just wondering you know I just want to make sure I understand definite recommendation when it comes to oest what would be uh thank you um soard we we've had a lot of conversation staff about this and looking at doing what's
best for students let those students finish out uh and conclude their Elementary years and and there's a time to do this I don't think the time is now thank you I appreciate that direct statement all right Reverend before I move forward I just Reverend cumin I
wanted to give you one more opportunity if you had anything you wanted to add okay no oh I'm sorry enough said is that enough said okay all right so uh Mr s what I'm I'm hearing is the majority of the board is not ready um to
move forward uh at this time even though I think all of us have an expressed um concern about the transportation part um the majority of us also have some concerns about taking students out of a successful um
environment and moving them at this time so I think we're going to correct board and hold off on making any move in that in that area Okay
um does that conclude our discussion for today oh yes Dr Campbell only thing I wanted to add is I I believe based on the conversation we're having today specifically about this rezoning of the Evergreen former
Evergreen students and what that zone used to be my position is going to be not for 25 26 I want us to revisit this conversation in the summer when we have academic data from oakrest to see what that looks like and potentially we consider this for 26 27 it is what's in
the best interest of students to not have them on the buses long if we can fix that and I I think there because right now again we have students that are in that former Evergreen Zone that are going to spar I mean there there are long distances that some of these students are traveling not just to the
southern portion of the county but also to the northern so again I'm I'm looking for academic data to be a part of driving this conversation thank you Dr Campbell I think that's a great recommendation um okay uh with that being said I have a few reminders um
that I want to share um tonight at 6 pm. there's a community stakeholders meeting at Westport HIgh School uh and we also have a school board meeting scheduled for tomorrow right here at MTI at 5:30 um taking board comments Miss
Martinez no Madam chair thank you attorney Powers nothing from legal thank you okay thank you um Dr gullet thank you madam chair W I just I feel compelled to just comment that as you see today from all my team members here and all the work that happens doing
what's best for students is not always a simple straight line and we will always um dive in deep to do what's best for students and consider all of the impact so uh appreciate your feedback and comments um but please know on behalf of
my entire team not just those here today but always all of those in the field that we work really really hard um incredibly talented team of professionals that consider all factors to make recommendations to the board um
it's not that things don't need to change and sometimes they do and we've seen that over the years but but how we get there is what's important we will always when it comes to those really tough decisions um work to at this time what's best for students but there's a
process so just wanted to again thank all of our incredibly talented team members who work so hard to have tough conversations as we bring those items to the board thank you thank you Dr Campbell I'm going to go to you next because I know you're on a tight timeline thank you uh just very briefly
again thanking the community for the sales tax because of the sales tax we can actually have these creative conversations and if we had not had it we wouldn't be having this conversation at all there would be no potential for building no potential for uh enhancing
facilities Etc so super grateful for that grateful that we are continuing the community conversations Beyond just standing in front of us for 3 to five minutes but also actually having dialogue in the community so I'm grateful that that is the direction we're moving forward I believe each one
of us was elected to make tough decisions and to have tough conversations and sometimes what's best for students requires tough conversations and tough decisions so grateful for the dialogue and the ability to have those thank you thank you Dr Campbell Dr
James um I would Echo those sentiments I'm looking forward to community meetings and continuing to move forward in proactively trying to address the needs of our community and I will be an active participant in those Community meetings and I I look forward to those
continued opportunities thank you um Reverend Cummings thank you guys I appreciate the um ability to be able to be participate in the meeting telephonically I want to thank the community for coming out this morning as well as our staff for um the
presentation Mr Aris and his team always does a good job uh the conversation has to continue the conversation has continued this is not no one and done it hasn't been set in stone but we have to make sure that we're being judicious and Equitable in our conversations and making sure that we are doing what's
best for the kids again that we're doing what's best for the kids so thank you thank you Reverend Cummings board member thrower and I was just writing down my statement which I don't normally do but based on what I heard from everyone else I just look forward to continuing to honor our past while we work to improve
the future of each and every child that was very good very good way to wind us up thank you board member thrower um I I I'll finish up um for us today I I too want to thank our um our dedicated staff um for the work uh that not only went
into the preparation for today's um work session but also for being here this morning um presenting information and clarifying um facts for us um as you continue to help us move this District forward and um I also want to say thank
you to my fellow board members I um I feel extremely blessed uh to sit on this board with each of you um it's a privilege because I don't think there's very many people that can honestly say every day they get to show up um to work
and each of you are invested not only in the children of Maran County but the community and so even when we don't see eye to eye on a decision um I sure do value uh your input and and your
dedication to um the decisions that that we make make each time we meet so thank you I just I'm really grateful for all of you um I also I had a couple of things I wanted to um bring up I I really would
like to see us and I brought this up a couple of times before a timer that our speakers can see um it it is uncomfortable for me as the board chair if I have to cut someone off it feels very disrespectful and so I really would
like to see us um have something that will assist our speakers when they get their time allotted so they can see how much time they have I think um it would really help the flow I know attorney Powers it's hard for you too you're giving a time and counting down and someone's talking um I I would like to
talk about some options um for that um just to help with the fluidity of the meeting and more respect more respectful interaction um between our speakers and the board um I also um wanted to just bring up briefly not really for
conversation at this time but um I know there were some meetings um last week um in the procurement process and um I found out from a Community member and it reached out to attorney powers and I was just concerned because I I wasn't
notified and so if a contractor had reached out to me I would have unknowingly broken the cone of silence and so um you know we just went through through um a big effort to improve our procedures and our processes so I just
would ask that we take a look at that so that each board member is notified when we begin that process so that we can make um good and just uh decisions uh moving forward so just want to make sure that um we all are in a safe space and
and um when that happens and so that uh we don't don't get stuck in a tricky um situation so just wanted to bring that forward I also um wanted to share a couple of things this Thursday uh fezan has Legacy Day uh in the
evening so I want to make sure I think that's at 6 o'clock wanted to make sure to announce that and also this Friday at The Client Center there's a black history program um and they are honoring our the leadership uh uh African-American leadership here in
Maran County so I just wanted to share that with everyone and and we hope to see you there and there being no further business at this time we're going to adjourn our session at 1111 thank [Music] you e for