The schoolboard work session begins in 1 minute. Please take your seats. Again, the schoolboard work session begins in 1 minute. Heat. Heat.
[Music] [Music] [Music] Good morning. I now call the June 19th, 2025 administrative briefing and work
session of the Maring County School Board to order at 9:00 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. Thank you. I'll now 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. I'd now like to ask our school board attorney to explain the rules for the public workshop. Good morning, Attorney Powers. Good morning and thank you, Madam Chair.
This work session is a public meeting as defined in Florida's Sunshine Law. The board is dedicated to full transparency in its meetings and its work. In compliance with the Sunshine Law, the board has adopted a uniform meeting procedure, including the rights 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 the speaker's name in the order received. Each speaker will have three minutes as required by Sunshine Law. The board must maintain orderly conduct and proper decorum throughout this meeting. Speakers may criticize subject matter and decisions in a respectful manner. Finally, speakers
must be careful not to violate the privacy rights of others, especially students or family members, by mentioning their names or other identifying information. Thank you for your attention to these important rules. Thank you, Attorney Powers. Good morning, Miss Martinez Young. Would you please provide the proof of publication
for today's meeting? Good morning. The notice for the June 19th, 2025 work session was published in the Ocella Gazette on June 6, 2025. Proof of publication has been attached to board docs under proof of publication. Thank you. We'll now begin our work
session with item 4.1, workforce housing. Attorney Powers, would you please introduce our first presenter? Yes. Our first presenter uh is Jason Roberts, and he is the CEO of a number of corporations, one of whom is Upward Communities and UC Orange. So would you
please uh feel free to conduct any additional introduction I may have neglected. Um I've spoken to Jason many times and uh um you all will get to know him a little bit more through uh the presentation he has this morning. Uh
thank you very much. Um I'm thankful to be here and u pardon me if I'm a little sluggish. I'm I got in at 4:30 this morning because the weather flying in Ocala. Uh we're happy to be here and um to we've discussed had wonderful meetings with you before, but want to
make sure we're open for dialogue. I've created this program. I'm the owner of this program. And so I just want you guys to know as I go through this, feel free to interrupt, ask questions, and don't leave anything any stone unturned. Feel free to ask me anything. And so I
can thoroughly answer all your questions and concerns and go through this. But I'd like to I'll just start. Um this is the education department. I can assume you can read. So, I'm not gonna read this presentation to you and uh but the point is is I kind of go off script
sometimes and but I want to make sure I don't forget anything and we can kind of go through all these details for you. Okay, great. Mr. Roberts, as you go, if you are referring to particular slide, they've all been provided that, but they don't have a viewing screen up here. Okay. So, if you're referring to a particular slide, it would be helpful if
you just note what page number or slide number that is. Okay. Absolutely. Uh so we're on page two pretty much starting with the summary. Um I'm a entrepreneur that has been a very good problem solver. I'm in the
solutions business. So let me be very clear with the problem that I'm trying to solve. The problem I'm trying to solve is that 17% of the education workforce is resigning and leaving the workforce every year. And the re the
reason for that is because the cost of living uh with inflation, gas, all things is quickly outpacing our ability to pay the staff. And the only way you can pay staff more money is by raising property taxes. And that doesn't keep up
with the cost of living. And I didn't understand that this was a significant problem until I was told about this situation uh by a city manager in Austin, Texas. And as a builder, investor, and developer, I
can't I can't pay them more money. I I don't have that ability, and that's not a solution. But I do have the ability to examine their expenses and examine where can we save them money and why was the staff actually leaving the profession. And what it turns out is is 30 to 50% of their overall income is going to the
cost of their housing. So, they're either driving 60 miles away to live in a more afer house at more affordable rates or they're um living in lesser quality conditions and they could make more money doing a different profession or a different industry and afford to
live in the lifestyle and raise their children in homes that they find suitable. And unfortunately, the workforce really wants to be a teacher, a child nutrition worker, and work for the district because their parents work worked in this space and they just
simply just can't afford it. So, we're focus our focus is is trying to fix the affordable the income issue for the staff member. And to do that is we usually lower their living expenses by giving them an affordable quality place
to live, but also closer to work with all the conveniences of being close to work, something that they would actually own if they just got paid more money. And um also offering stability. You know, we don't want to do this for one year, for two years, seven years. We
want to do this for 45 65 years of offering that baked in stability so somebody can actually work for the school district knowing exactly what their living expenses are going to be and they can retire working for the school district and knowing that their living expenses are going to be guaranteed. So we've spent a significant
amount of time almost two years now uh creating this program. Uh we are 100% privately funded. that is me and our other companies that we operate, own and run stepping up to the plate using our money to support this project to make it
viable. Um, with that said, that gives us a lot of flexibility to make sure that we are creative in offering this to the school district. Um, because of state constitutional laws, I just want you guys to know that if we do a long-term lease with the school
district, the school district at any point in time, at any year at once, can cancel the lease. The only person who's really locked in on the lease is me. And the reason why I'm locked in is because I need to offer you guaranteed stability. And most developers in the affordable housing community don't do
that. We try to get the upside at some point in time. And if all we did was affordable housing, I could understand why. But we do more things than that. So this is what we're trying to offer is that guaranteed stability to the school district. Uh we are not asking the school district for any money. We are 100% covering the school district in
every single facet possible. We are giving you a reserve account with reserve dollars. We are pre-leasasing it to staff and to tenants. So there's no gotchas here. And the fact is I know you're a school district that doesn't have any extra money to dedicate to housing. So, one way you would cancel
the lease really fast on this project is if you had to go to your school board and ask for funds that you don't have. So, that we've spent time with you. We've spent time with other school boards, other school districts, and we understand very intimately your concerns and we've created solutions for each one
of those concerns. Um, but overall going back to what we're trying to do in summary, I'm trying to make one of the largest public benefits for a essential staff member is a house. And I'm trying to make that where a
teacher says, "Wow, I get this amazing house at this amazing price because I work for the school district." Whether it's a bus driver, child nutrition worker, security, any one of those things, the essential staff that you need to be able to operate, that's the only way I'm going to be able to stop
people from leaving the workforce and get them to coming into the workforce where you might get people now that are actually considering becoming a teacher with a college degree because they get this amazing house at this amazing price and get to live in this community. And so that's what we're trying to shift is shift the entire leaving into the to get
it coming in. Um, so that's in summary. I we are not against home ownership. In fact, every home builder should be very supportive of us because we are an incubator. We are the bridge. There is no bridge. 86% of your staff cannot afford to buy a
house today. So, if they can't afford to buy a house, how are you going to convince them to lock themselves into a 30-year mortgage on something they can't afford? You can't. So, what we are is we're a bridge. If we can get them to save money, we can get them enough money for a down payment. We can get them to
qualify and then we might even be able to do a rate buy down with one of the other builders in the area. We're the incubator and we have down payment assistance programs. We love real estate ownership. We would love for staff to have ownership. We'll try to help you and assist you into that. Um, so we're very supportive of people owning real
estate. We just don't have the ability to offer that. Our program is the bridge to get them to be able to qualify to get into ownership. Uh, but it's also not forced. A lot of people are not wanting to have be locked into a 30-year mortgage at $3,600 a month and be responsible for the maintenance. They
can't afford it. So, our goal is solving the employment leaving the industry by increasing their income and offering a better quality of life as an employee benefit for being an employee of the school district, giving the school district authority and the ability to thrive. As you grow and double in size,
you've got the essential staff you need to operate. And so, that's what our goal is. I'll switch to uh kind of gave you already an update on about Upward Communities. Um give you a situation where we're at today.
We were first approved by Hayes CISD in Kyle, Texas. Uh that's 12 miles from my home, so they're familiar with me and they're familiar with who we are and what we're trying to do. Uh we uh were at the city of Uland last night uh getting our city council project
approved on our zoning for our project there. Uh we started with an approval of 300 to a,000 homes. Uh we already have 600 people on the waiting list and I'm already looking at phase two and phase three locations to build up to the thousand homes for the wait list for Kyle. Well received. Highly encourage
you to talk to the HR director or the superintendent for Hayes ISD on how this process has been and what we how involved they've been in the process and and just ask them their opinion of working with this. Was has it been a good one? Uh Lockheart ISTD has already been approved as well. That's 11,500
units there. Um, we've got 20 more school districts, two universities on deck. We've been recruited since we made our public announcement with Hayes to Arkansas, Tennessee. We were recruited here by Mr. Kirk Kelly to come to Marian County. And um, we also are going to be
in Steamboat Springs, the Colorado the first week of July. So, what we're doing is is something special. I think we're the only private individual stepping up in this space right now. Um we wish
there we hope that there were more people that step up and try to do the same thing that we're doing. We'd be very happy to that there'd be more people to participate in solving this problem. Uh this is probably our legacy that we're going to be able to leave behind. Nobody's going to love us for building a gated community of million-dollar homes. So there's a lot
of just really good purpose behind this. And I wanted you to see that in our structure that we have the best of intentions that this is for the district for a long period of time. This is not for us to figure out how to how to get rich. You can't get rich building affordable houses and making it affordable for staff. So
um communities. So there's a lot more to living than just living in a house. Uh it nowadays is communities. So, we've actually employed the best urban designer community in the uh designing team in the country, DPZ, who designed
Rosemary Beach and Seaside, Florida, and multiple other amazing pedestrian communities. Most of their houses in their communities are in the values of two, three, and seven million dollars. And they demand twice as much square footage as money per square foot as the communities that are simply right next
door. And it's because of the design and it's because of the way the communities flow and you walk. And so we've been working with them. They designed all of our communities at this point in time. Um we're amazed with them. And the the key is is a community has to be cool today. It's also going to be cool 40
years from now. And so you need somebody who's got 40 years of experience of designing communities. And you can see the real estate values of those things upholding and standing up. Again, this cannot be an affordable housing project. It has to be a luxury type employee
benefit. It's something that they are receiving because it just has to be substantial in value. Otherwise, they're not going to look at it as an actual benefit. They'll look at as an obligation. Um, we do all the pools, fitness centers. If you go to page five,
community design inspiration, this is some of the stuff where we've taken with some serious professionals. You know, we're back to America with porches. We're back to green spaces. Since it is a rental community, we take care of the yards, the maintenance, the landscaping, maintaining the quality of the look for
the community for the next 45, 65 years. We're not passing that expense on off to staff. Staff has just got to be focused on educating and working. We're going to take care of all those things. There's no then in the 1950s there used to be a yard of the month club. That kind of
disappeared and robots mow our yards now. So, there's all kinds of new things. So, you know, we're just trying to make sure we ensure the quality of the product and it always looks great and always amazing because we want our staff to be happy. We want the community to be happy. Otherwise, if it's not
good-looking and it's run down, nobody's going to want to live there. Okay. Um, if you go on to page, these are just some more photos of design inspiration of Hayesd. Uh, I think I already touched on
differences for renters. Um, you know, we realized the community was not going to be perceived as a benefit if it was an apartment complex with a couple hundred dollars a month cheaper than the other
apartment complex. What we realized is staff felt like they were making a living sacrifice to be a teacher. they were they were they felt like well I would like to be a teacher but I don't get the respect or the pay that I should get by working in any other industry or
profession that I could. So, by giving a staff member a single family house detached, separated with a yard with the option of getting into at an entry level point here and then even making more income and growing into a larger home from two-bedroom to a threebedroom or threebedroom to a fourbedroom or even
back from a fourbedroom house down to a two-bedroom house because you don't need that much money square footage and you want to save money. giving this long-term life longevity of moving throughout the community uh gave them the respect and the pride of ownership was something that that they weren't
able to get in a multif family type product. We're not against multif family, but for Ocala, I want to be very specific. We're looking at doing single family structure. This is important to us. It's also very important for you to understand the risk that we take. If you cancel the lease any year you want, I
have to have an amazing product that can compete with all the other communities in the area so I can pay my debt off, right? Because I'm taking on all the debt, all the financial obligation. So, there's a good alignment of interest where I'm always fighting to make you
happy and I'm always fighting to make the staff happy and that this community is of that quality that I can have that fight and I can always withstand any financial wins. And when you do a 45 a 65 year arrangement, that's enough time to go through a couple recessions, a depression, inflation, deflation, and
all the other different things, right? So, we got to be prepared to have money set aside for reserves to weather those storms for your behalf or one more reason why you need a private real estate professional to do this for you versus you having to raise your own bond
debt and do this yourself. Um um let's see if we flip to this page. Our structure um this is really for the school district.
And the reason why this is for the school district is if you don't use this to recruit the best staff across the country, if you don't use this to retain your existing staff, it's losing at 17% of staff a year. And this is not just you specifically. It's it's nationwide.
If I had any private company that was losing 17% of my staff a year, we'd be out of business. Four years, you're done. You guys have been very good. You got like a boat with a whole bunch of holes in it. You're patching it with substitutes and certifications and teachers and bus drivers. I mean, I could not run any private business in
the country with that kind kind of loss. So, you're doing a great job. I'm trying to help you so you don't have to work that hard and you can actually do the other things that you would like to do with your job, which would be focusing on education and and helping our kids succeed and do other things versus just
trying to fill it with warm bodies. So, um, how do I give you all the rights and benefits of ownership without you getting in the real estate business and taking care of it for you? And that's what we've that's what we've offered here is we're giving it to you for you
to recruit and retain staff for your current situation today and your projected needs that you need in the next 45 to 65 years. Um I think I kind of touched on benefits of the district. Uh I want you know right
now and we're seeing this with Hayes ISD. Uh, you know, Christina Corson, the HR director for Hayes, is at the job fairs and she's the only one of the job fairs will offering housing as a situation. She's got more people at her booth than anybody else. And it's
because it's a need. It is a need. And she's got no math teacher vacancies available, which apparently I didn't know that's a hard spot to fill. She's 100% booked up. And so, we're seeing that it is responsive. It is reactive. And we're all seeing that it is actually
effective, that this is something the district needs. And so they need special education teachers next year. That is a high issue for their program. They actually have houses now to go recruit the best special education teachers across the United States, not just the county over. And in fact, the reality is
you've already tapped your local resources. And there's a lot of between this school district and that school district back and forth. We want to give you some tools to be able to recruit nationally and be able to recruit kids directly right out of these college programs and incentivize them to be able to come to your community versus the
other ones. And so, u I want you to give you tools to broaden your ability and broaden your searches to be able to attract some better more talent. Um cost of turnover. I think we realized with one school district in Texas that
their entire budget deficit at $20,000 per staff member that leaves per year is what it costs the school district. Uh that was their entire budget deficit, $2.4 million. They lost 116 staff members last year. And I'm not saying you have to make some adjustments in there to do that, but the less people
you lose, the more money you save and the more money you're able to keep in house. Um, so there is turnover and that's one of the things that also benefits us as a real estate perspective. If we look at real estate, 21 years of experience, the best tenant we ever had was the essential employee.
They stayed there. They had pride of ownership. They took care of the property. So why not house the best tenant in the country and just make it affordable for them so they can stay there longer. So there are benefits in keeping people and keeping people's turn because it is just expensive every time
you have to train somebody new. revenue neutral. This is probably one of the biggest public sticking points. Um, your staff is paying rent or mortgage somewhere.
We simply are providing the entire house in the community for them here so they can pay rent here. So, we make this completely budget neutral for the school district. So the school district is the one that is doing the lease on the property,
but you're subleasasing it or we as a property manager subleasasing it to your staff to use it first for the recruitment, second for the retention, and then third based off of the metrics that we come up with the lottery system or household income, whatever we need to do to plan for the next 30, 45 years for
the school district. And that's why we work with staff leadership to make sure that we are designing that program effectively. Um, part of the revenue neutral situation is is that we are passing through all of our cost savings down to the district and that's how we make this
affordable. We can't make this affordable and make a bunch of money on top of it. So, we're the sponsor, we're the developer fronting all the capital for the project and your staff paying this their rents here versus somewhere else makes this revenue neutral for the school district.
You got a question? Nope. No. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um big again big issue. We want to solve the problem. We can't solve the problem and have you come out of pocket for it because you don't have
the money to come out of pocket for it. So there's is this is where the private individual investor has to step up in order to actually make this happen. Uh target based rents. This is everybody's favorite slide. What kind of deal are you going to give us? Right. Um
guys, I'll tell you in Texas, which Florida is very similar to Texas, um we are around 55% of AMI, which is everybody uses the A word AMI for affordable housing markets because it's the I think average
moderate income for that level. And so our rents on our single family houses in our communities are lower than the affordable housing apartment complex rents that you have in town. So this has to be discovered. The only way to really discover this is by spending money and I
have to go spend that money. So let you guys understand, we did our research. We've already looked here. We've looked at their listings online. I have an entire schedule filled today looking at more real estate after this meeting. Uh we think these numbers are real estate. We've already gotten real insurance quotes. So, we think these numbers of
what we're willing to offer for rents are extremely attractive. And remember, we take care of the yards and we take care of the maintenance. So, there's no surprises. The rents are locked in for the district. Um, we have more work to do. Just to give you an idea though, we
spent $734,000 for Hayes ISD before we locked in the rents for them because we had to go get property under contract. We had to do feasibility study. We had to find out exactly how far it was for the sewer system to get to the location, the water. We had to do the pricing of the lumber, locking in rates on t. So
there's being a real developer and giving you real numbers cost real money. And in a normal situation, we'd ask the public entity to reimburse us those costs if it doesn't if it doesn't work out. What we're doing, and we've been invited, and that's why our discussion with you was if you want me to solve
this problem for you and your community, I'll take that chore on. And I just want to make sure that you're supportive of us in a meeting like this or the next meeting that you say Jason if you can hit these numbers or we are senior lease structure with Mr. Powers and we understand the obligations you're asking
us to to do. We are comfortable moving forward with you if you come up those solutions. We will then go spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars finalizing the final details which we don't know is two things. What is the rental amount and how long is the lease?
So your teachers can't pay 2,000 and $3,000 a month. So no matter what the land cost or the sewer cost, I know your rents have to be this affordable housing rate. That's that's all they can afford. That's all their pay allows them to make. So what there
is is why the lease, we don't know the term of the lease yet is because I just don't know how long I've got to bake in my equity to be returned, right? Is it going to be in a 35-year lease, 45 year lease, 55 year lease? because maybe the land and the sewer are $20 million and I don't know that yet. But that's this one more thing that we're willing to come up
with as a solution to figure out for you guys. Um all I know is our rents are attractive and if they're not attractive then we we shouldn't do it. If it's not an amazing deal for the staff, we should all save everybody the time, energy, and
money and uh and not offer something that's marginal. It needs to be exceptional. other and that's that's our real big thing is we can't afford a bad deal. We're not going to dedicate all of our money and all of our resources and our energy to doing a marginally bad deal. We want to solve 100% of the
problem and we want to do something amazing and I think we could be amazing here but we just got to go through the exercise. Uh Turnkey Solutions, we do everything. We do not ask the school district to hire one single employee for this. In
fact, we actually do a lot of all the work for you. We actually sit there with your HR department and you say, "Who recruiting? Who are we retaining?" You tell us. We're going to go get them. And we do everything. We do all the phone calls.
So, if a teacher cannot afford to pay rent, it is the normal real estate laws. It is the normal real estate world. If they're paying rent in an apartment complex now, they don't come to the school district asking them for money for the rent. They come to us, the property managers, right? All those things. If a teacher gets fired, we work
with that entire process. the school district does not have to deal with that. We deal with all of that. They don't get to live there any longer for the next year because they obviously are not an employee of the district. So that when their lease is up, they will not be allowed to renew that lease. So there's these all these things of 21 years of
real estate experience and real estate law and behavior. We're very normal just following the name normal laws. You are not garnishing people's wages. You're not doing anything creative or crazy. It's all normal. You do exactly what you're doing now. It's just guess what?
You don't have to go recruit or you don't have to go retain a whole bunch of new employees this year because you're able to retain all of them. Pretty much the point. Um housing market. There's a lot of stuff online unfortunately is not very
accurate in reality. There's a lot of bait and switch stuff. I mean I've saw a lot of apartment complexes like man the rents are cheap. They're not available. That's I mean we'll get together. call this nonsense. I've also seen some of the houses and there's some very good incentives. There's a lot of inventory right now on home ownership. So, if your
staff could qualify to buy some houses, there's some great opportunities. I think Dr. Horton's got like a 3.9% interest rate buy down and locked in for 30 years. There's some good deals if they could qualify to own it. So, hopefully there's some still programs like that here in the near future and if
we had a program here, we'd be able to help them into those programs if that's what they desire to do. Uh, a big thing on home ownership. We're seeing a lot of generation Z does not have the same desire to own things as generation X did. And so that's a a
new thing that we're looking at and encountering with, but just we also recognize home ownership has to come from within. It can't be us forcing it to them. It's something that they have to desire to do, have equity in a home. Um, if you look at page 15, this is a
good slide for home ownership cost. home ownership cost. You know, there's a lot that goes into it. Um, if AC goes out, it's $4,000, $7,000 replace an AC system. Did your teacher have enough
extra income in today's environment to set aside $4,000 or $7,000 to repair the AC to the house that they would own? Probably not. several teachers and several staff members we rode around with, if they had one flat tire, there was on their credit card. They only had
50 bucks left in their bank account at the end of the month. So, this is the entire goal. We're trying to save this staff member 7,000 $9,000 a year of extra income. And the bigger thing we're trying to give them is their time. Most of them are commuting and driving substantial amounts of distances to work
and they're losing three hours of their day one way or the other and driving or not. So therefore they don't even have the opportunity to have a second job because they don't have enough hours in the day. So um the process the process is pretty much
exactly what we're doing. We are discussing we've been meeting with you. We've had talked to local representatives. Uh we have looked at locations of land. We've strategically looked at the distances from your existing schools where your new schools might be where your growth is. Um the process is is
getting you and your legal counsel familiar with our financial structure which is our lease and we make it very very very clear on if something is wrong on how do you cancel that lease through not appropriating the risk and so um we've had that discussion have had a
very Mr. Mr. Powers has been extremely intelligent and also one of the better attorneys that we've dealt with across the country on his background and understanding this process and what we are actually doing. And so I would highly encourage you to have good discussions with your legal counsel.
We've had good ones and I don't think that there's any showstoppers or surprises. Um and so I I say the most generous way. We've dealt with other legal counsel across the country that has been uh not nearly as intelligent about understanding what the offering
is. Um what we're here to do is do informative, give you the opportunity to ask questions, give you the opportunity to address your concerns. We either meet those concerns and create solutions for those concerns. And if we have done that, then we ask you to give authority
to the board and to the superintendent to and the attorneys to then engage our lease or look at our lease. You're not signing our lease. We have all the work to go do, which is getting all the properties under contract and the locations and putting the community together. And we're going to provide you
with the total number of units and the rental amount. And that's the only two things that are missing. And then the but we don't want to spend money hundreds of thousands of dollars unless you're comfortable with the legal structure that we would offer you because that's how we get our financing and we want to make sure that you would
be comfortable of that. Um after that process uh we would it's real simple. We would break ground and then we would have the property management company be working with your HR department staff about going to the job fairs and recruiting your existing staff, retaining your existing staff and then
also doing um surveys internally. We would actually be meeting staff. So for Hayes ISD, we had 800 out of 3600 employees open the email. Do you know how many I have on the list right now? 600. So and that's only 800's open and I got
3,600 employees. So we they're hiring 140 teachers a year. I don't have any more units available to offer this for at this at the job fair. So that's why we're getting two more locations. So what we would do with you after all that with community designs with photos with renderings of the actual physical
product of the house and location is then we would hold faculty meetings at your schools and we would sit down with staff and we would say would you want to do you want to live here? Are you living somewhere else? And so we derisked this entirely. Again, we're the ones spending
probably $390 to $400 million on this project for you. We're not going to take any risk. We're going to completely fill this with your staff right away before we start construction. So, just want you to know you're dealing with 18 players who don't who don't play
games. And so, um there's an entire process of all that that goes on. And that way you also sleep good at night knowing that you've engaged in the lease that your staff is actually going to live in. So there's there's a process that we go through with that. And I just want to make sure you're you're aware of that. Now I'm talking very long so I'm
going to try to cut it down. And that's it in a nutshell. But I'd like to open it for questions. Um and I'd like you to hit me with the tough stuff because I can answer it. Right. Thank you, Mr. Roberts. We
appreciate you taking time to be here with us this morning. And with that, I'll open it up to the board uh for conversation. Sure. Board member Thor. Thank you and and good morning again and and thank you for this presentation. It's great that the community is getting a chance to
hear about this opportunity and and it's exciting. Um, I just have a couple of of questions and I know in Hayes County it looks like a school district that they approved this back in January to get started on a project uh with you guys.
Has that broken ground yet? No. Um, we we actually got several properties that we had originally selected six locations um went to the city. We had a number of issues with sewer capacity and water capacity being available to some of the
early locations that were available. U so we are on actually the school district now has out of the locations we triangulated has chosen for us to use land that they own because they want to move faster because they went from you know 300 to 600 people on the waiting list. That's was at city council last
night getting that property zoned and approved last night at 7 o'clock. Uh we will be breaking ground most likely um probably September. Um and then we're looking at prairie building probably the first models of the houses which Prairie Building is building the houses before
the roads are done and finished. So that way we can use those for pre-leasasing the the folks in. And we'll probably be delivering in January or February. Probably about 25 houses a month is what that'll be looking like. And then the school district's not on the hook to pay
the rent until the trot project is completed, which is scheduled somewhere between 18 and 24 months. But we're going to be delivering houses like month nine well in advance. Our actually Lockhart ISD might be moving substantially faster. So the issue is not the board, the issue is not the
approval, the issue is not the lease, it's the old school development stuff. Is the land entitled? Does it have sewer and water? Those are our normal issues right now. So Lockhart's sewer and water is all teed up and done and was already approved as a residential community. So
it makes us like we're able to start right away. And that's what we've actually so taking those lessons learned with Hayes of how do we move faster? We've already pulled seven developments and communities here in Marian County that are already fully entitled with
water, sewer, electric, and platted into single family home, residential lot communities that we're going to go look at after today's meeting. And that's how we would just reconfigure those and it allow us to move about six to nine months faster. Thank you for that. Yes. Um because one
of the things that I wrote down was local government partnerships. And so it would seem like the the more buyin there is across local government and support um for our educators, you
know, and I say educators, everyone that works in a school setting or downtown is an educator at some level. Um so so having that broad support I'm sure can uh grease the skids and move things forward more quickly that it stuck in my
mind about uh the the the prairie building. It made me think of Little House on the Prairie, you know, like homesteading, but I'm sure you'll get the roads in there soon and that's a hot topic here in Marian County. So it just sort of jumped out at me. But uh truly
you know uh personnel and human resource management one 101 is is avoiding turnover. You know keeping the great employees that we have and and treating them well so that they will stay. You know the short solution would be well just pay them more and then they could
afford to you know uh live where they want to live close to where they work. Well, if we could do that, we certainly would. And so, because we can't, and I don't think any other public
school district can either, I just want to thank you for bringing forward this innovative solutions-based opportunity because it's greatly needed. We we need all the friends we can get in public education right now. and your offer to
partner with us is uh heartwarming, I will say. Um, and maybe you can't share this yet, but I am wondering uh and I look forward to hearing soon if this isn't something you can share today, you know, where you're
thinking of of building. Um because another hot topic in in the community right now is preserving uh the essence of Okala Marian County and it would honestly be my preference to find areas
that are ripe for redevelopment especially if your concept is to be close to you know services. Um so just I wanted to put that out there. I'm sure you're probably already well aware of that, but that's also something as an individual board member um that is
important to me. Uh it also jumped out at me that um almost every Texan considers a housing affordability a problem. While I would offer that Florida is exactly the same. you know, um we just have
wonderful people that would love to come and work for us that simply can't afford um to be in in this community unless they're offered some type of of option. U so I think that covers my opening
questions. Let me help you. Uh so you you need to remember we're doing this for you. So we're building this community. Nobody knows your community better than you do. Nobody knows your staff better than you do. So, it's very important that we build this where you
think is the best location to do it. Not just me. I mean, I could find land that's a million dollars cheaper further out, right? But it might be on the wrong side of the tracks or perceived as a bad part of the neighborhood, right? So, we love redevelopment. We love repurposing.
We love infield projects. We we actually genuinely do the it just we just gota make sure that staff likes that location, right? And staff likes going there. Um I have two daughters on the&m equestrian team. So I've been to Ocala before this several times and so I'm
very much about preserving the the culture of Ocala substantially. My wife is going to shoot me if I do something really bad here, you know, and so I mean I've already been told that. though. Uh so we're definitely all about culture locations. We are looking at
because of logistics probably two campuses you know and strategically placing those campuses that service distance for one set of schools and another set of schools but both being desirable. So, we've been guided to going to more south of town, which has got closer to more some of the newer
services, grocery stores and some of the things that is important to staff to be able to get to Walgreens and to get to Publix and and all those things are important because all those things add to their cost. Um, and and we've also been told there are certain areas of the community that are being really reserved
and preserved for horse heritage type farms areas. So, we have talked to the city of Ocala and knowing that we're probably going to have to use their city and water and the city of Okala has given us indication they want to be in this too. They want to do 300 units for them. So, we don't just evaluate school
district staff as an essential staff member. Again, you guys are all paid the same way. You're paid through property taxes. So, whether it's a public employee for the city, a public employee for the county, cost of living has gone up for all of them. It's not discriminating. It's going up against
everybody. And the only way you're increasing their pay is by raising taxes. And you all can't afford to do that. Otherwise, you would, right? You'd pay them more if you could, like you said. So, we are all about helping the essential staff member. It just so happens that school districts is the
first one that we hit. And we saw school districts were getting hammered by far the worst on the pay scale compared to most. So, uh, we are cooperative and we do want to incorporate more in the community because most likely we will be using the city's water and sewer at some
of these locations we've looked at to keep it close and why not offer the same benefit to them for them facilitating us with the utilities. Um, we have also recognized, you know, the ugly side world of politics. some school districts
and cities don't get along and uh you know we've we firsthand experienced that and it's a shame when somebody's up offering hundreds of millions of dollars to your benefit and you can't get past each other to make it happen. But I've
been reassured by local representatives. Y'all's community, y'all's character, the people that are here and the people I've talked to outside of this have been amazing. They've been very inviting. I've seen at this point in time I've seen nothing but positive people in fact rolling out the red carpet to what can
we do to facilitate this and make this better. We get it. Um not all communities are are that well verssed to be honest with you. So but yes, we are part of this is I'm going to be bringing locations and I'm not and I'm we're going to as a team you're about to be in
the right hand passenger seat with me saying that's a great spot. We love that location. that's gonna work and because you know more than I do. You know better than I do and that's what we're going to talk to you about. Thank you. Thank you. Um Dr. Camp Oh, I was going
to see if if I thought Dr. James already. Sure. Uh thank you for being here. It was a pleasure to have a conversation with you guys when we visited um I don't know a month or two ago now. So, um, I asked some questions, some of which I mentioned when we met together that I think are important to discuss and then,
um, maybe some others. So, um, I love the idea. I think it's wonderful. I think it's much needed. We have a, um, we we keep calling it affordable housing, and I think that's a joke of a term. So, if it was affordable, people could afford it. Um, I think calling it
workforce housing is a more appropriate term because it's it's not affordable and the affordable housing rates that come down and uh it's it's not attainable for most people. And so, um, I would consider this workforce housing.
Uh, with that being said, talk us through, if you can, um, how the rent rates are set and then what does that increase look like if we're talking a 60-year term? um how are we mutually agreeing upon what that looks like? So we'll we'll figure out the rents and
rents are a function of total cost, right? So what we do is we'll figure out the cost of the entire project, the sewer, the water, the land, the houses, the construction, everything. And then we'll amateurize that over like a 35 or 40year type amateurization uh depending upon what the market's available. And the 30-year Treasury
keeps going up. So pray that it goes down, right? Um, and so let's assume all of that averages out and the average monthly payment on, you know, 400 units is 1,600 bucks a month, right? So then that's what it'll be. We've been locking
in in our other districts, the annual rent increase somewhere between three and 3.75%. And the reason for that is because annual inflation CPI index has been over 3.8 or larger. And so just letting you know all affordable housing projects in
central Texas, guess what? Their their rent increase went up last year was 11%. And if you look at theirs on average, I mean, you take it on the 10ear average is like 5.8%. So what we need over time is we need the normal real estate market to continue to
go up, but your stabilization is locked in. So as we go further down the road, your rent incentives you're offering your district are substantially better than what is current. And the reason you have to do a 3 point something increase
is because what what's hits you is not cost of it's the operating expenses. So in the rent is the operating expense. So the gas, the mowing, the weed eating, the labor for the the maintenance, the monitoring. Like we did a ceiling fan switch the other day. It used to cost me a $125$125.
That cost me $9 yesterday. And that's in a matter of two years, right? So the in rental increases are not to generate income. They're really to offset the expenses. And so when you're talking about a 3% annual increase, we lock that in. The only person who's locked in this
arrangement is me. So I lock it in for the full 65 years. Correct. So that's what I was So I wanted you to clarify because I don't believe it had been said. So we're going to set a rent increase rate in a lease structure and then that rate is going to be upheld for the term of the lease, which we're
talking 60 years. Exactly. Okay. So then beyond that question, which thank you for and I do believe I think the math maths there, um that's like a phrase I say, but I I think that makes sense. I mean, the housing market has changed significantly in Maring County um since
I moved here almost 13 years ago. So it is a completely different landscape. The house I first bought with my husband, which was in a very disadvantaged area, we bought for6 $6,500 cash that if you look on Zillow, um it's like $75,000.
It's a absolute joke and maintained for 60 years would put our employees in a in 60 years from now in a very advantageous position from a from a perspective of rental pricing. So that is wonderful. Um, we talked about this in my private
meeting, but talking about zoning and land use, um, a very hot topic in Marian County and probably in other areas that you have been in that are growing is, um, the county government um, and the city as well, but they are, uh, pretty
consistently willing to change land use and zoning um, which our community doesn't love. And so talk us through a little bit about as you find parcels likely they're not going to be zoned or land use as maybe appropriate for this
project. So then what is that going to look like um and those barriers that may be faced with? Yeah. Based on our previous discussion, I I I listened very closely to your concerns uh about zoning and did a bunch of lake work. And uh in a normal situation, we would be going
and finding a horse farm, agricultural land, and we'd be platting it to single Henley residential. Now, as a school district, and since you're going to be considered the owner of this property and exempt from property taxes and all the things like you have Florida law for
this education department is extremely strong. I could swing the hammer and force this situation if I wanted to, but we're not going to do that. We're going to go a lot further with honey, being nice and polite and considerate of the county, the city, and all the things in the zoning changes. So, with that said,
we already found a substantial amount of real estate entitled properties with single family residential individually platted lots with 500 plus water and sewer connections and zones and stuff already approved. Now, their design is not my design, but because I don't think
it looks good enough, but we're going to take all that entitlement and simply redo it around the map so we can avoid a lot of the heartache of the public trying to It was already approved for residential. In fact, it's better that it was approved in individual partially
separated tracks. Now, it's just one big community that is not separated. So, we've got a number of options to look from now to avoid that entire headache. However, if we do see a piece of property that is ideally located best
for the community, best for the school district, best for the things we we're developers, been developers for 21 years, we'll go through that process. Um, and what I've also noticed though, people are very resistant against the word affordable housing. And the reason they're very resistant against the word
affordable housing is because the income qualifier to live in that community means that you have to make a very little amount of income. This is different. We are housing people's teachers. We're housing people's bus drivers, housing people's essential
staff, you know, and those people make more money than those low-income qualifiers. And so these are civil servants that we're housing. And so we get by a little bit better public perception that it is not a lowquality type product and that it's also not a
product that is restricted to only lowincome qualifiers. Um that was been one of our successes with Steamboat Springs Colorado. Steambo Springs was like, "Wait a minute. This is entirely different for a highly active political community that doesn't want
needs needs the people but doesn't want low income." And um and it's natural across the entire United States right now. So, we're working on our sales pitch and our perception to be able to portray the facts of who what this community looks like and what it's
going. And once we've educated folks, we can't beat Facebook. Facebook, the trolls get on Facebook all the time. But what I can tell you, anybody I've ever had show up physically to a meeting, I've won I've won them over because they just know the facts. They're able to see it. So, I think we we're we're aware,
but I think you're blessed. What's unique in the real estate market right now is several home builders have lots of inventory and are pulling back on their purchasing lot, take down the contracts, and I'm the only guy in the area showing up with a cashier's check willing to buy 500 lots ready to go
today. Yeah. So, so yeah, I think there's some I think you have some advantages. There's some opportunities to avoid a lot of that and we'll do our best to make it as easy as possible. Okay. And then my last question, um, this came up and it's not in the PowerPoint, but based on the information
that you all provided, the onebedroom was under 1,000 square feet. Um, is we had discussed that in the county's um, regulations, the county, unless you have a special use, does not allow you to build under 1,000 square feet. So, what would that look like in Marian County? just bump it up to 1,000 square feet.
Okay. I mean, again, we're in the solutions business. So, if that's the solution, it may it means it may we may limit a number of one bedrooms. One bedrooms are the most difficult to fill. Surprisingly or not, what we find is uh
the twobedrooms and if you design the two bedrooms appropriately where they're more Airbnb roommate matching type programs where they're able to have some of their own things in their own room and the kitchen's shared, these teachers are living in these two-bedroom units for 550 a month. I mean, it's just a whole different ball game for him,
right? So, I think if we ran across that situation and it was going to be a major hurdle, we would just have to figure out a way to move the cups around on the table to make them a thousand square feet and maybe do a few less onebs and more twobs to accommodate that. Okay.
Thank you. Thank you, Dr. James. Dr. Campbell, are you ready? Sure, I guess. Um, good to see you again. Thank you so much. Uh, one of the primary questions that I've seen thus far, or at least um
potentially could be a community conversation, I would liken to us building schools and using an outside developer as well. Can you talk a bit about uh using local support, local subcontractors, local contractors? Could
you speak to that, please? Absolutely. So, uh, give you example, Hayes ISD. You know, we we've built hundreds of houses and done developments for years, right? Hayes ISD, Perry Homes, one of the third largest nation private home builder, builds $800,000 million- dollar homes.
Turns out Mr. Perry, the founder of the company, was a former teacher and coach, loved our purpose, wanted to do this for us. So, they are building our homes in Hayes County. We found a local amazing quality builder that was reputable that was able to get bond bond bondable
because we do guaranteed max price contracts and so we are dealing with 18 professional folks and we would absolutely love it if there are 18 builders here in town that can meet those standards. We would use them in a heartbeat. We have no desire and it is
at it is a major risk and expense to bring an outside workforce into a local jurisdiction and try to do construction. There's so many things about the process of building a house that you need a local expert, a local contractor. Um I
would say the only thing we won't compromise on is quality. So if long as we got some good A+ quality builders here in town, we're going to be interviewing. will absolutely use them because anything alternative to that is going to be another element of risk and
cost that we would rather not incur. Okay. Thank you. Uh and I think the rest of my thoughts are kind of a little more anecdotal, so I don't know necessarily that they're going to be questions so much. Uh as fellow board members have already said, I first want to say thank
you to you and to Mr. Kelly. I I believe this is your first public presentation at the state of Florida. So, thank you very much for choosing Marian County um as um incoming leadership to state association of school boards. I'm grateful that this might be something
that Marian County is going to have as the beacon on the hill and be the first one. And um so super grateful for at least the conversations today. I I think that uh I believe what you're probably looking for from this board from this meeting is at least consensus that this
is something Marian County Public Schools wants to have. Uh I can tell you that I believe that this is an innovative approach to a very significant need that we have. I had a conversation with one of our educators towards the end of the school year. the
educator that happens to receive a lot of packages and had boxes just collecting in their workspace because of educators that were about to be moving because of housing. And there was another educator who happened to be in the same vicinity. And I just floated, well, what if we provided housing for
you? And their first comment was, well, as long as it's not section 8 housing. But they were very interested in what the thought would be just to even float the idea. And and we've seen of late there are other school districts all around the state. Even an article just
this past week, Broward County trying to take a former school site that they want to create affordable housing in. But they have 26,000 employees and they're only thinking of building 45 units. That's not feasible or or is even going to scratch the surface of what the need
is. Uh but as we think of these genzers that will be 25% of the workforce in the next five to 10 years and even 50% of the workforce even sooner potentially than that and their transient nature and potentially wanting to not own something
for a long period of time in a specific location at least on the short side. I can see this being a significant benefit to to folks that uh might would wanting to even try teaching out for a few years and see how that goes. And I know that's not the approach that we
necessarily want to think when we're thinking recruiting, but we also have to switch our mindset to the Gen Z mindset and that's that's going to be our workforce and so we have to start thinking that way. So I appreciate that this gives us that flexibility. I also appreciate I I saw some chatter already
happening on social media as you know you mentioned the you use the word trolls. I'll use that too since I'll quote Jason Roberts said trolls on Facebook. Uh but some chatter that's already happening that folks are saying, "Well, it would be better if they were helping us get into home ownership."
Well, my response to that, and you alluded to it as well, but my response to that is this actually helps you get into home ownership. If you believe based on whatever your salary range is and your expectations over the next several years that you can afford a $2,000 a month mortgage payment,
terrific. get in one of these units and have $1,500 a month in rent and save that extra $500 for the next however long it takes you to get that down payment. This is the transition. This is exactly what you spoke to that it helps our uh employees get to the ability to
have home ownership whereas right now they're spending all of that money to rent and all of that money uh is going elsewhere as opposed to where they actually could keep it in their pocket. So, I I appreciate all the the considerations that you're having to locations and sites in our community
that will fit and uh where our schools are being built. I think you're probably understanding where that is happening and pockets of our community where uh where we're going to have the most concentrated areas of employees. But I also have heard the catch to that. Some
employees say they don't want to live anywhere near where they're going to pass their students in the grocery store. So, it might be that they might want to work farther away than than uh where they're going to be living, but as long as you're close into resources, I I think that that's going to be a huge
benefit to employees. And um just to wrap up my thoughts, I I don't know that I necessarily have another question because I I do think that if this board moves forward and gives you consensus today, a lot of the details that we might want to get into the minutia are things you can work out with attorney
powers and your legal team and determining your location. I know I I don't want you to go look at properties today without us giving you a go-ahad. I mean, that's unfortunate for us to say, but if if we don't say yes, then I'm sure you're just going to pick up your
toys and go elsewhere and go to next school district that's ready to take you on because like I said, it's being talked about all around the state already what solutions there can be. Yours is the most unique and innovative and there's really not a ton of risk on
a school board. It's not our property. It's we're not managing it. We're not in the housing business. it it's your private capital that you're willing to invest. And so I'm grateful to you, Jason Roberts, for coming in to Marian County and choosing us. I know that I
will be offering consensus as this one loan vote uh to move us forward today. U and I'm hopeful that we'll hear the same from my colleagues on the board. Well, thank you. And again, I want to reiterate, guys, um
we were invited here by Mr. Kelly. Uh I donate money to some organizations that the same organizations that are a part of saw what we were doing and said please do this in my hometown. Um we are definitely are not forcing anything. I'm not trying to sell you on anything. I we do have money available today to do
this. U we had wonderful meetings. I've had wonderful folks. I agree with you. We do not want to we are extremely credible when we show up to a landowner or a a property owner that we're going to entertain putting their property under contract. We take those words very
serious and those people know that we are real and that we're not tire kickers and that they know that that contract to close on their property is real. So we are extremely credible protect our word enormously and that helps us in our process where we tell people that it's taking three months longer because the
zoning process is longer. They know we're telling them the truth and that's always important. So I do think and I think we've had amazing experience. We're here to help, but we have uh been approached by other local county since you know it's a small world and uh I
gave you my word if you guys you know were leaning in the effort and you're the first one to introduce I would definitely put you priority and and ignore the other ones because it is important for us like we have to spend these legal dollars to get this legal contract right for Florida, right? And
everything we do nowadays cost $100,000. And so that's right to be very clear about what the ask is. The ask is is please discuss with Mr. Powers our first initial lease arrangement and the need if you would like us to provide our
dollars for your benefit to this this problem. If you do and you guys agree to that, then we're going to lean in. We're going to spend the money to make it real. Now, it doesn't mean you can't have questions. It doesn't mean you can't have concerns. It means that we just as a team though just respect that I'm going to spend hundreds of thousands
of dollars. It doesn't come back. It disappears. So, I just want to make sure we address those concerns early so that way we're creating solutions together by the concerns and we're going to get through it because it is a difficult process. Development is not easy and even when you're trying to give somebody
a lot of money, it's not easy. So, with that said, one of the things about Hayes ISD I've been so thankful for. Every roadblock we hit, they're like, "We're in this foxhole together. We're going to get this done." And whether it was the sewer, it was the water, or it was the zoning. No worries. We're we're
committed. We're going. And that's what I'm looking for from you guys. I'm looking for is that commitment to where I can sleep good at night knowing that we're going to run into problems and it's okay. We're just going to come up with a solution together and get through it. That's what I'm asking. Thank you.
Okay, I guess I'm up. I um I'm going to start with a disclaimer. So, my history is education. I'm not super familiar with real estate or building. So, some of my questions are basic and I just appreciate you helping me understand. Right. Okay. All right. So, um I believe
our state statute um states that we can have up to a 30-year lease. So, how are you going to work around that? you can actually have up to a 99-year lease. The issue is in the event of us wanting to donate the thing to you is
where we get into this is it a rent to own contract which then could be considered a debt instrument and you don't need a debt instrument. You need to save your bond rating and your capital rating so you can raise more money to build more schools. Right? That's what your purpose is. So this needs to be off your balance sheet on my
balance sheet, not yours. And so we do everything we can to stay away from this being perceived as a school district debt obligation. All this is a lease real real estate lease obligation that you can cancel any year with appropriations. It's just not
appropriate. So we'll we would the thing we need to discover going forward is the length and the term of the lease. And that's something I can't really figure out until um I see what the costs are.
But as far as knowing, we are fully prepared to give the school district a 99-year lease. And the only people boxed into that 99-year lease is us because you can cancel any year. You're not you're able to cancel it. Um so I think we need to do some more work with our
legal team. Um, and I can get you better clarity on that term if that's what that is for you guys because there's different numbers in different parts in the presentation. When we spoke with you privately, I think we talked about 30 years. Yeah. In our presentation here,
it says 50 years and then I believe in the lease we're looking at a hundred years. So that's a big difference, a big range. And so I to feel comfortable I need to narrow in on that number. Yeah. And I wouldn't expect you to agree to a
lease without the actual real numbers presented to you with real facts. Um the issue gets into is at some point in time the project will need capital for improvements. So you can do a standard historical office space lease which is
oh in 30 years in 20 years we need to do new sidewalks, new roofs, new deals. So you don't have money. I have money. So then therefore I'll put the $20 million into the project, but let's extend the lease from 30 years to now 20 more years. That's the traditional way of operating.
However, some school districts have approached us and said, you know what, let's just set aside more money in the operating reserve each year knowing that we're going to replace roofs in years 15, no matter what. But we don't want the grug to be pulled out from us in 30 years on this property if we're going to
have people retiring community. So, we would rather a longerterm lease of 65 years knowing that hey, if it's we've leased it from you for that long and the propertyy's in great condition, otherwise we would cancel the lease in year 40 or year 30 if you're not happy, then
would you be willing to donate it to us? And so, what we found is by being a good guy saying, "Sure, I'll give it to you for 10 bucks at the end of 65 years." By being a good guy, we got you accidentally into this rent to own contract. So, we're currently working through the language of
we are truly transparent. We don't want to pull the rug out from you ever. We want this to be for you for the rest of your days as long as you can physically use it as a tool to benefit recruit. And if that means that we donate it to you with or my kids don't donate it to you because I might not be around 65 years from now that we're going we're working
on those documents to be able to do that. But as far as the length of the lease goes, um we just got to we got to examine those options. That's things we have to discuss with you. Is your biggest concern that we aren't setting enough money aside and do we want to do
a shorter term lease because if we do a shorter term lease then we got to renegotiate it 20 years from now or do you would you rather me lock you in at 65 years and if you're a very good negotiator you'd say let's take 65 years and we'll just cancel if year 29 isn't working for us and you're you're out on your rear end. But so there's that
dialogue that we have to have and it's there's no oneizefits-all. Um, but it's just simply creating that solution with you and and what you think what you're most comfortable with. And that's really where we sit down and go
through the cost because in a normal real estate transaction, if we were going to box you in for 35 years, right now, if the sewer was $5 million extra, rent went from 2,000 to 2,200 bucks a month. You can't do that in this situation because the people can't afford the rent increase. So, the only
thing you can lever is the length of the lease of stretching it out, which means that we just don't get our money back for a longer period of time. Thank you for that. Excuse me. Um, HOA fees. Um, we're talking about a lot
of a lot of maintenance and I see in the back that is left open. Um, can you give us an idea? Yes. What that looks like? Real simple. We give the school district the rent payment with a projected expenses year.
So your tenant, if electricity is 8 cents a kilowatt and it goes up to 12 cents a kilowatt, your tenant is going to pay 12 cents a kilowatt like they would the apartment complex. So that those expenses, all normal life expenses get offset in the tenants's rental
payment just like it would anything. So any rental increases, your rent, the school district's rent is locked with that annual increase that we spoke to Miss James about. So there on the operating expenses, the school district's rent is set and there's just what they are and they're passed through
to the subtenant. So you're you should have no surprises and we do that with you every six months. Every year we prepare an entire operating expense account for you guys. And we'll do that when we do this lease. will have that in our rental payment for the tenant and for you will be all the operating
expenses projected out. Okay. All right. Thank you for that. So there is so clear there is no HOA. So meaning if we were going to it's like an apartment complex when you pay for your rent at the apartment complex they mow the yard clean the pool and all the things where
if you were doing a real estate transaction or development of a subdivision then you would say oh there's this HOA fee and it could go up and we don't and our mortgage it's on top of your mortgage so then your overall expenses are increased you can't have any surprises your staff can't have
any surprises so that's one of the ways we structure it that way so it's just 100% consistent locked in But and it's a pass through to whatever the the the subtenant needs it to be, which would be normal. Okay. Would there be a possibility um for you
to send board members? We we can do executive content because I know some of this is is tricky what what we can share, what can be said. Um but is is there a way that you could send some information to us on the community that you're working on already? Sure. You
have everything 100%. All right. I I would appreciate that. Um, I would like to see um how that's moving along. Um, one second. Sorry, my my notes are on on the on the slide pages. Um, can you talk a little bit about the the construction
of the um units themselves? Yeah, constructions block. Are they No, I mean, we're going to build everything up to city code. Um, Florida, we definitely got to be use local contractors to understand the
safety of code and the weather conditions you guys deal with here. Uh, because we are planning a 40 or 65 year arrangement. Like we're going to probably pour an extra 6 inches of cement to make it that much higher. We're probably going to take up the brick three and a half feet on the side.
So that way the drip and the eaves were I mean we're planning the investment for maintenance, right? you know, we we have to we're not just building this and selling it like another builder and moving on. Like we're we are with you shoulder forshoulder for the next 65
years, right? And so we have to look after you like a parent to a child with 21 years of real estate experience saying these eaves need to be 8 in not 6 in. We need to do gutters. We got to do drainage. We got to do zero landscaping. Right? Otherwise,
if you don't look at this and you look at a sprinkler system and you look at your number one expense of fixing and repairing sprinkler systems and the amount of water bills and loss and water is only going to get more expensive going up. If you don't prepare for all that upfront, um you're going to be upset and all those expenses will be passed through to
the tenants and then the teachers will be disappointed and then we'll be known as the guys who made all the teachers upset. So there is an enormous amount of intensity that is put into the design of the community, the houses and the
construction to avoid uh maintenance and repairs and to build it right the first time. And I would say with many many many communities, many houses and projects like Perry and the other builders, we're going to take all that in account. So it may not be the it's not going to be the most affordable
way for us to build. We could do it cheaper. Um but when you're looking at you have to look at the long-term picture in order to actually otherwise you're going to spend more money in the long run. Yeah. Agree. I agree. Um okay. You know
one of the challenges for us in in that realm is that we have to build I don't I don't actually know what it's called but it's so much more than what a regular builder you know has to do when they're they're building a a structure. And so that's a challenge that we're presented with even in building schools. um you
know the standard is so high for um education you the I would say the the code and standard for residential just doesn't get any higher um I think the you have other governmental issues that you have to deal with on wages labor
unions and other things that um we have municipalities asking us to build them fire stations because we're able to build them as a private individual developer for $4 million less than the city can Again, because we're professional builders for a living and
developers, we're just we're we're better at it. So, I think there there are cost savings, which is one of the reasons our program actually works. It's not just the interest rate. It's not just property taxes. It's it is all the categories of cost savings that make this actually make work. But you're
right, we we build much more efficiently than you do. Yeah. Thank you for that. Also, um on your um let me see what slide that is. The slide where you list it's slide 12. Um do you
have what the square footages would be for each home or an approximation? Uh close close. We have the um the three bedrooms are like at 1,600 ft². four bedrooms, 1,800, you know,
plus. Um, the two bedrooms, we have three versions of two bedrooms, but you have like a the base, limited, and platinum. And that's mainly because some of what you realize in your staff is some staff is just so adamant about the cheapest thing physically possible that
we have to. And then some staff is like the the empty neester who doesn't need a four-bedroom place, wants the two-bedroom place and was wants it for 1,400 bucks a month versus 1,100 bucks a month. So I would say you're looking at on average we're somewhere around 1500400 but it largely depends between
the averages of the two bedrooms and the four bedrooms but uh I don't think we have anything over 2,000 square feet. Okay. Now, we did get asked by one school district
to offer larger, nicer executive style houses because they were having a very difficult time recruiting superintendent and principles and that cost of that turnover of that staff member was substantial. And also that staff member, they needed to recruit that staff member
and they were already had a house and equity. It was difficult because there was no houses in the community that were of the same quality or standard. And so having an executive set of houses, part of the total org chart was houses to recruit those people in those org charts. Um that was hit with us last
week and we're incorporating that into the plan. So that's again one more thing when we go through your plan of designing the community to fit your needs. We could do that where in here if we don't have 2,000 square foot house, we may add 10 or 15 for the executive style to recruit the other staff
members. Okay. um the property manager that is on that will be your responsibility. That's us. Okay. My concern there is our staff, you know, if there's disgruntled staff and then their their boss is also their
landlord and and that. So um yeah, we are we'll do an entire training session when we do the leases and we do the program of what you do in these scenarios. If this scenario, if you're not happy with your rent, you the school district doesn't answer your problem. We
have full authority. You have to discuss with us with the property manager. We'll do a full training program of anybody that does sign the leases of what you do in these situations and who do you go to for those problems. That doesn't mean I can stop everybody from complaining, but
we will be very firm and very 100% legal with the way that we handle those processes and those system. And the key to that is just do the normal real estate law. Don't do anything weird because you're just a school district.
You don't need to be a landlord. Okay. Thank you very much uh for answer answering all of our questions. Um yes. Oh, yes. I just had a followup first. You said something and I wanted you to clarify it. You said um she was
mentioning um quality of housing and you were talking about um improvements that are required and building them to a higher standard so that you can alleviate some of those um some of those pain points that will come with aging structures and you said passed through
to tenant. Yep. How are you going to pass the cost through to the tenant if it's a fixed lease rate increase? So in h you have maintenance. So, in maintenance, we always set aside money monthly in the rental payment that the district or the tenant would pay anyway.
So, you're setting aside $5 a month for roof repair in five years from now, right? If you didn't build the property appropriately, you would then all a sudden be at a deficit on your repairs that you needed, right? So, then you would have to increase rents to the
tenants or to somebody or make a donation to compensate for that. But the what I I think I meant to say on the pass through the tenants is just ordinary expenses. So I can't control in the lease payment what the electricity will be. Right. I can't control what the water will be because those are third party utilities. So those are they're
individually responsible for those as a tenant as they would be anywhere. That's correct. What I'm trying to get clarification on is you're if we have a set rate rental increase in our agreement Yep. for the next however many years, 45, 60. Yep. Then you can't pass
through a surplus of that rate rent increase to the tenant. That's correct. And that wasn't clear when you said it earlier, which is why I wanted to clarify that because we are going to contractually agree to an increase in rent every year. Yep. And if if you build the product or if the builders you
hire build the product to a standard that is not where it needs to be and you have to replace something that is beyond what you expected, you are not going to pass that through to the tenant because we have a set agreement to the increase
in the rent. Exactly. You're exactly correct. I wanted to make sure that was clear because I heard it differently and I wanted to make sure we clarified that. Yeah, you're you're exactly correct. And again, you as the school district have the ultimate authority. If you are not
happy or if we if something happens to me and my wife takes over and she's you're not happy, you have the ability to cancel the lease. I do not. And so or my wife does not, right? They're obligated to maintain that arrangement and follow through with that. And so
that's why I just always make sure is you always remember you have this amazing golden gavvel of control. And just so you know, like it cost us an enormous amount of money if you cancel the lease for us to refinance or pay our debt off. It's it's very lots of
millions of dollars. So I don't want to incentivize you to do, but I want you to be I want to be transparent in the alignment of interest in the structure. But you're right. You know, we could not we have a healthy budget in there and if something if we use a contractor that did something wrong and we had to there
was $500,000 in expenses there. If I come to you, you're gonna say, "Not paying that." And I'm be like, "Okay, we gota we'll have to figure that out." Right. Okay. Um because you're in the for the long game because I think the the ultimate takeaway is this sounds too good to be true. And and when it's it
does it it sounds like there's got to be like something hidden. There's got to be some and and ultimately as you've said the goal is that this is an investment for your children or your really your children's
children years down the road and what that looks like when this is all said and done because eventually your debt payment will be paid off and and then it will just be rental it'll just be doors and it's rental income and that's a wonderful retirement plan and you're a businessman and I think that's
wonderful. Uh, and so I don't see I think that I trust attorney Powers and our attorneys to work through the behind the curtain stuff with you all. I feel comfortable moving forward as a board member. I think there's a need in our
community for this and I would love to be the first in the state to set a precedent for how we're doing this. Especially um board member Thorer just mentioned this at recent meeting. We're one of few districts that actually have increasing enrollment. So, we are not the norm across the state. Marian County
is unique. And so, I think we could really set a precedent for how we're going to handle this as a as a district and as a county. Um, and really, I think it'd be wonderful if um the city of Okala and Marian County government would look at this as well. I think are across
the district, meaning the entire county, we have government employees who are making many of them less than their private sector peers. And I would love to find ways to put them into housing so that they can save $500 a month for three years to develop a down payment so
that they can use Hometown Heroes or whatever to be able to get into um home ownership. So, you have my my approval. Awesome. Well, thank you for that. Thank you for clarifying. Again, it's very important to us to get this right. It's
very and the only way this is going to get wrong is if you have an inaccurate perception of the facts and so we've got to go through the facts several times to make sure we all clearly understand the operation of the program. I understand I would much rather put money into the community that goes first instead of
Facebook ads. So, point being I understand there is certain political risk with being the first. Hayes took that political risk for us. And I am coming out of my skis with extra millions of dollars to make that place amazing for them. I'm going to do the same thing. If you were my first in Florida, I understand the risk that you
take by being first. And I'm going to do everything I can to cover you and make it exceptional. So, I'm adding on top by being number one, rewarding the partnership for doing that. So, I want you to know I'm thankful for you as much as you are for us if you are if you are our first.
I think board member Thrower has some something else. Thank you. Um and thank you uh board member James for asking the clarifying question that I was going to follow up with because when I hear pass through to the tenants, you know, that
uh pricked up my ears, too. So, thank you for clarifying that. Um my sister happens to live in Texas and we've talked about this. I look forward to visiting Hayes County and seeing how things are going uh down there. you know, it's it's always great to be able
to observe um how things are are rolling out and I definitely, you know, wish you the best on that um continued project. It's also interesting that you're getting started, it sounds like in Colorado as well. Is that right? Yeah. I think what's happened is,
you know, the problem is is is a simple problem. There's a problem with raising property taxes to pay government employees essential staff and cost of living across the United States has gone up and real estate values have gone up. They're not going down anytime soon. So
what we've seen is and what we told you guys is we've we have made it too good to be true because we went through problem solvers and so I went through and solved every single problem way ahead of time before I even met you because I knew it was not going to waste my time or energy if I didn't have a full solution. But what we are missing
always is the local champion who is wanting to be first then and school districts are not meant to be ambitious. You're not you're designed to educate and so when we bring a new creative novel idea not every community is
willing to accept it. So what we found is is these local champs. So Steamboat Springs reached out and you know Marian County Kurt Kelly reached out you know uh Franklin Tennessee has reached out Bentonville Arkansas last week reached out with the Walton family you know so
what we're seeing is there's these key districts that have these local champions that are really leaning in to do something and we're not having to we're we're we're not selling something. We're just looking for those people because we understand development is
difficult and if you don't have buyin the first time it gets difficult, you just wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars of time and energy. So that's that's how why we've been looking at these other communities because they've been asking us to go there and if they'll ask us to go there, we'll we'll back them.
Thank you. And and my other key takeaways are that, you know, we're really looking and you are uh really it's you um and not really looking at short-term return but long-term investment and and there's a huge
difference in in those two concepts and the approaches that would be taken to, you know, realize those those goals and and I I see that um this concept, you know, really can be a nice bridge to eventual home ownership or you know
for our next generation employees that may or may not be interested in eventual home ownership in the typical of the past way. It it covers both of those bases and and I really like that. Um I'm
also wondering who's your competition? You know I we don't have any. Um, I think, you know, to answer that, I wish there was more competition. I hopefully we inspire some people to be competition. I again this is a big massive problem. Uh,
and we we just want the problem solved. And if we do that, it's great. I mean, our kids are going to do well. And so, um, I think the issue is is most guys who do affordable housing do one thing
and the only way they make money is making money off of the affordable housing. Uh, I have a long established career of doing many different things. And I think that's one of the things is if we've learned skill sets over the 21 years of building, developing, starting businesses, oil and gas service
companies, all these things that it took all those lessons learned and failures and all those years of running those other companies to be able to develop the skill set to actually provide an all-encompassing solution for this problem. So I I hope there are some I hope some people look at our playbook
and say that they're willing to take the same risk that we are and that they're willing to defer their income for a later day to solve a major need and good. I think it I think some diversity in this space of people providing solutions is competition is great. You
either evolve and compete or you you don't. And so I think it'd be awesome. Awesome. Thank you for that. And um just fortunately uh former board member Kelly steered you to the right board because we're a pretty ambitious board and and we're always willing to listen and we're always willing to take the extra
meetings uh when there is an opportunity uh for us to think through and and provide consensus on which I'm ready to do. Anything else? I just wanted to say again, thank you to to Jason Roberts as well as Kurt Kelly who used to sit in
this seat as well as a state representative. Knowing that we have a local champion um like uh former Representative Kelly is uh just a benefit to our community as well as to this board. Knowing that if he was in this seat, he would be making this
decision and saying absolutely go forward. And so that would have been a generational change that could have occurred many years ago when he was on this board. So, I'm excited to potentially be a part of a board that's going to make a generational change for our employees. So, thank you. All right, you guys have given us enormous amount
of time. I'm very thankful and uh feel free to reach out at any point in time you have questions in the future and we'll just we'll await your guys' decision. Okay. Um I would just like to get some clarification from Attorney Powers. Um it it does sound like the majority of the board um wants to move
forward. What does that look like? Okay. from here what we need to be I've already been in contact not only with Jason but also with uh um Gray Robinson who's representing um him. We've had some initial discussions regarding um terms of the lease because there's a lot
of work to be done. I mean I think everybody agrees on that you're taking Texas law and Texas concepts and and trying to work them into similar concepts in Florida law that are non identical. So, um, that's going to
require drafting, some back and forth, some research, things like that. We've already begun sort of initially that process. So, um, what we will need ultimately, I can continue that process and and and we can continue to work on
getting those items drafted, worked out, shake out what are easy fixes, and then figure out what things present larger challenges that we can, you know, put our heads together on. Now, that's all stuff that can happen behind the scenes. I don't, you know, need specific board authorization for that. It's just what I
do. Um however, ultimately for the long term, this will need um staff is going to have to have obligations as to reporting requirements and things like that. Um their participation and expertise is required for some of these items. So
ultimately, it doesn't have to happen today. It doesn't have to happen until we're closer to getting the lease done, but we're we're going to need a business owner for this to move forward because it can't just be a board item. Um, and that means that as we get forward, maybe some of those things are solved in such
a way that we are able to better see which department it should properly fit under and how we, you know, how how we move forward. And then that's something that Dr. Brewer and I can have conversations about and figure out where that needs to lie because obviously I
don't want to go committing other staff and I need their expertise as well. I mean, we've got we got a we've got a facilities department, we got a finance department, we got people who I'll need to make sure that I'm coordinating with so that uh so that they lend their expertise. Um and then once we're able
to do that, then we can we can move into I don't also want to impose obligations on any other department that I don't control. So, I want to make sure that it's it's well reviewed by all of those all those folks. So, um I will continue
to work um with Ray Robinson on this. I'll continue to work with um with Jason on this and uh and then I'll report back to Dr. Brewer, uh let her know where we are. Uh she and I can schedule meetings as her time allows to to give her some
sort of updates. Um and I'll do the same thing with the board chair so that we can be on the same page. And if we run into stumbling blocks along the way, which happens in a large number of contracts, it's not unusual. Um, then I can report on the progress of what we're
doing to fix them. Okay. Okay. So, am I understanding that as we get close to rectifying the master lease, then that will be brought back before us to to discuss in detail. Yes. and and prior to
at some point prior to that being brought in, that's when it'll need a business owner. So, I'll be working on that lease and and working with the people that I know are heads of the departments that are likely to be in, you know, involved, finance, um uh
probably uh facilities and and also HR and then, you know, trying to get input from all those sources that I can. Okay. All right. Thank you. And I I can't and I'm sorry I should say I don't know a timeline to give you. All I can tell you is I think you can see and I think Jason
would agree that from what we've been doing so far we've been working fast and hard. So um you know the timeline will be what it needs to be but it won't be you know a back burner item. And Attorney Powers I appreciate that.
That was one of my last remarks but I'll go ahead and say it now. um Attorney Powers and Miss Brown have been working tirelessly to go through this um lease agreement and so Lord, I know that you were able to get your eyes on that and you were able to see the work that's
been done um you know to to get prepared for this conversation. So I just wanted to thank you both um for the hours that you put into um bringing that to us. So yes, board member Thrower answered most of it. Um, I really like this how this opener is rolling out. And you answered
my question about an anticipated timeline uh to completion. Uh, you know, being ambitious. If we're going to go, let's go. But all and and you know, government isn't really known for being um expeditious. Uh, we want to be methodical obviously, but we also want
to be expeditious. This is a a really exciting project. And so I do look forward. I think the whole board does now, you know, looking forward to see seeing the timeline and and how we can keep this moving. I mean, if we're going to go, let's go. Yeah. I I I've looked
at you guys in the eyes. I've met with you a couple times now. I've gotten the positive feedback to give me the comfort level to invest more resources. I've had a good relationship with Mr. Powers. He's been very responsive. So, let's just let's just keep going forward. Unless you until you raise your hand and
say stop, we'll keep moving forward. and then we'll we'll get it done. Okay? And then but again, I just this is a partnership. We we are the ones risking all the money. So what I want to say with that is is like if you see something wrong as my partner, I need you to tell me. Okay?
You don't have to worry about that. Okay. Uh Mr. Kelly, um and Mr. Roberts, thank you again for joining us this morning. Before you leave, I do need to ask is there any public comment? Okay. Seeing none, thank you very much
for spending your morning with us. Um board with that um we just had quite a long presentation and we have several long presentations. So, if we could take a quick 10-minute recess and when we come back, um I'd like to
skip code of conduct and we'll do the um health insurance plan and general insurance because they are here waiting in the audience. So, I think as a courtesy to them, we'll um after our our recess, we'll come back and jump into uh the discussion on insurance. All right. Thank you. With that, we'll recess at
10:37. Thank you. at 11:45. I'm going to give you a nod and I'm gonna Okay. Well, hopefully we can um Good morning again and welcome back from recess. It is 10:49. Um Dr. Brewer, I think you're going to introduce our next speaker.
I I will I I will bring Miss um Boston Ellis to the podium and she will introduce our guest. Thank you. Good morning, Miss Boston Ellis. We are glad to see you. Thank you for waiting this morning. On behalf of our visitors, I
say thank you. They really appreciate um being moved up and even though the information is very very interesting um we we just appreciate you moving them up to um pro provide their reviews.
So um uh we began the journey with self-funding about five years or so ago and uh the board looked over and looked over this how do we self-fund and uh
with the help of staff and Gallagher uh you took the leap of faith and moved to a self-funding for our health insurance. Uh we had always been um self-funded for property or general insurance but this was a new endeavor.
Uh so far so good I believe. So good morning Chair Conrad, board members and superintendent Dr. Brewer. Um I would like to present to you today u you've seen her many many times and we
have developed a partnership with her through our risk management department. Um Stacy uh is our representative and she works very well with Gallagher under the leadership of Laura Lingal. And so I
will uh get out the way and so she can present her review for the past year and what they anticipate what the calendar year 2026 will look like. Thank you.
Thank you, Miss Boston Ellis. Um thank you. Yes, Miss Boston Ellis and Stacy and her team. Um Dr. Brewer, board members, attorney powers, always grateful for the opportunity to come and present um on the self-funded health plan and then the projections that we
have for the 2026 calendar year. Um so we'll um talk about our benefits team um those that are kind of behind the scenes reviewing the plan for you. We'll also review the RFP timeline, um some benefit updates that we'll be um requesting for
the 2026 plan year, and then really focusing on those projections for 2026, as well as review some upcoming items that we have. Um so Stacy is the um person that we report to in the risk management
department. She along with her team are an incredible asset um to this organization and the self-funded health plan. Myself, Kelly Davis, um Danielle Marwell, and then Angela Hooper is also with me here today um are the team that
review and analyze your information and um assist in managing to that self-funded health plan. And then Sally Donovan is really the brains behind all of the numbers that I'm going to present today. So, she is reviewing your claims every month. um providing that to us so
that we can make these projections um for the coming year. Um as we look at the RFP timeline, we had two huge RFPs this year. The actual um TPA for your self-funded health plan
was up for RFP and we had the opportunity to go to RFP for pharmacy benefit manager services. Um, I'll refer to that as PBM management moving forward. As a self-funded health plan, you do have the option of keeping that
carved in, which it currently is. So, it's administered by the same um organization that your self-funded health plan is, or you can carve that out to a standalone PBM. So, this is the first year that we have done that PBM
RFP. So, we started both of those in February. Um, anybody that receives a call from Stacy Roth at that time usually doesn't take it because they know they're being asked to serve on that committee and it is a huge undertaking. Um, particularly with two
these two RFPs, they're very technical. Um, there's a lot of time and effort that go into that. So, those were posted in February, March, and April. Um, the committee reviewed and scored those RFPs. We presented to the insurance committee before school let out at the
end of May. Last week presented to the executive um team and then are bringing that information to you here today. Um next month we will be asking for your approval to vote on those RFPs. We are currently um in contracting now. In
August we will start the RFP process for the stop-loss insurance. Um, just as a reminder, stop-loss is the policy that starts paying on the district's behalf once we meet a certain um, deductible for any claimants that go over that number. Um, it is an RFP that we go to
every year and we cannot start that process until August because the R or the um, stop-loss carriers require at least eight months worth of claims to to bid on that. So we'll be reviewing those asking for um your recommend or giving
you our recommendations and asking for your approval in October which is also when open enrollment is and then all of these plans will start for the 2026 calendar year in January. Um just a heads up in 2026
for 2027 we will be doing a vision RFP as well as an RFP for the employee assistance program. Um, on slide four, um, just to review a little bit of the RFP results, we are currently still in the cone of silence,
so I can't discuss all of the information. Um, but for the medical RFP, again, this is the carrier that serves as the third party administrator for your self-funded health plan. Three carriers submitted responses, Florida Blue, Etna, and United. So, the
committee scored those responses. Um the scoring rubric was based on costs. Not only looking at what the um per member per month administrative fee would be, but also any additional costs for certain programs. Um we looked at
network a access and disruption. So if we were to switch to a different carrier, how would the employees be impacted? Could they continue to see their providers, etc. Claims repricing and discounting. This is obviously huge not only for the employees um but also for the district. So the cost of the
claim and then how much discounting are we receiving based on the carrier that we use for that TPA um utilization management administration which includes how the district actually pays for the claims and then wellness services. So
when the scoring came through this is publicly posted information so I am able to speak to that. Um, Florida Blue scored 92, Etna came in at 79, and United Healthcare was 71.67. Um, because of those scores, the
committee did not, um, see the need to go to interviews, that's usually the next process. Um, but because there was such a discrepancy between the first place and second place, um, they did not go to interviews. So, we will be recommending um to you in July that
Florida Blue remain the um carrier for the self-funded health plan. Um for the pharmacy RFP, again, this is a a new RFP for the district. We had four carriers submit responses. Florida Blue and Etna, who again also submitted under the U
medical carrier, and Med Impact, which would be a standalone PBM, and Vivid Clear. So those were the four. Again, scoring was based on cost. Um when we look at PBM services, we're also looking at rebates. So when um they fill
prescriptions for brand medication, then we receive rebates from those manufacturers. So when we look at cost for the PBM services, it's usually related to how much in rebates we would likely um be receiving, the experience and reputation of those carriers, how
they process claims, and if it was a standalone, how that would um coordinate with the health plan, um adverse member impact. So are there any medications that would be covered now that would not be covered on their formulary? or if it
was covered, would there be a significant cost discrepancy? We also looked at member impact as it relates to what pharmacies the members could be using. So are all of the pharmacies that are currently in network would they continue to be in network if we were to change carriers? And then overall
service um and uh again scoring was Florida Blue 88, Etna 69, Med Impact 58, and Vivid Clear 40. So they did again decided to not go to interviews as the discrepancy was enough or they didn't
think the interviews would make a difference. Um so I will be back in July to present kind of final numbers but also requesting your approval on those contracts for both the medical and pharmacy RFP.
As we move to um slide five, some benefit design updates for 2026, we would recommend um an enhancement for the value choice provider. Um some of you may have received emails about this
coming to Marian County. So, this is a new opportunity for Marian County. There's also been some discussion in the past about what it would look like to have an on-site clinic for our employees, and we've gone back and forth. We believe this is a good solution um that does not require any
additional capital or building projects for the district. So the value choice providers employees could go to there are two locations employees could go to those two locations and receive care at no cost. So primary care some specialist
care, urgent care, lab work um and then virtual visits also. So that would be for January starting in January 2026 themselves and any dependents that they carry on the health plan. Um so again we believe that this might be a good solution to some of the clinics that we
were looking into that would not require any additional capital um for the district. And then there is a required benefit change that we're we have to make and that is due to IRS regulations on plan two that is the HSA compatible
plan. Um, the deductible. We have the lowest deductible that the IRS allows on our HSA plan and they change that every year. It's $50 on the individual plan every year and $100 on the family plan. So, you will see that we will be
required to make that update. Um, for January of 2026, it will go to 1,700 and 3,400 respectively. Um, so some updates on where we are currently with the self-hunted or self-funded health plan. Again, these numbers are through March. We did
receive April's numbers, but we um were not able to analyze those and present them in time to have this information to you last week. Um, but we will have both April and May numbers for the July presentation. So, we will be able to update um you there. So, total expenses
through March um just over 14 million. If we look at a per employee per month um based on the number of employees that are enrolled, it's about $811 um per employee per month. We also analyze large claims. So because our
stop-loss deductible per individual is $400, we look at any member who has met 50% of that stop-loss deductible. So anybody that has had claims over $200,000, we are analyzing and watching. Um you
can see that they represent just over 10% of our total medical and RX claims through March. This is not uncommon. Um this we see this across the board is those members that are considered high-cost claimants usually take up a larger percentage of the total claims.
Um we do have two claims that have already exceeded that $400,000 deductible. Um this is through April, so we can pull that information out pretty quickly. So the other numbers are based on March that is through April. Um and we are already receiving reimbursements
on both of those members. So essentially when an employee or a dependent meets that $400,000 stop-loss deductible, then the stop-loss carrier is reimbursing the district for any claims paid um over and
above that 400,000. So you can see that we are receiving reimbursements on those members. We just wanted to point out that in 2024, we only had four claimants over $375,000 for that entire year. Um, I think you'll see in some of the numbers that I'm going to present, we are running a
little bit higher than we have in in past years, and our high-cost claimants are no different. Um, the 375 for January of 2025, we moved the stop-loss deductible to 400,000. um we felt like the the prior
years warranted that move, but that is why we were measuring at 375,000 in 2024. As we move on to slide seven, um I know this is very very small um numbers, but this is the the past two years of
claims. So we are looking at subscribers, those are your employees. We are looking at members. Those are all of the heartbeats on the plan. So employees and any dependents that would be included. We look at medical claims
that were paid. Um capitation. There are some providers that and and hospitals that are paid a flat rate per claim instead of the actual claim number. So that is what capitation means. Um and then pharmacy claims and um then
obviously total claims. So if we look at the prior rolling 12, so that would be May of 23 through um uh I'm sorry, March of 23 through February of 24. And then our current rolling 12, which is April
of 24 through March of 25. You can see that there has been not only growth in our um subscribers and members, but also an increase in the the claims um and total cost. So, if we just look at total
claims for the prior rolling 12 per employee per month, we're just over $700 um at $722. If we look at that current metric for the rolling 12 per employee per month, we're at 876. Um so, we are seeing an increase in the the cost for
our our self-funded health plan when we compare prior 12 to current 12. Um so some funding considerations when we uh when we look at funding we have to include medical trend. So in healthcare world we call it trend you might refer
to it as inflation. Um but medical trend the cost of doing business in the medical field. 8.7% for medical claims and 11.4% for pharmacy claims. So I see some head shaking. We get new medications that are
approved all of the time. if you see a commercial for it, it is probably very very expensive. Um, so these numbers indicate what it is going to cost more, not only because they're approving medicines, but they're approving procedures and just in general, the cost
of doing business increases every year. So when we look at the numbers and projections, these are what we are using to base our trend for 2026. Um you can see that pharmacy spend has increased 35% in the recent 12 months
from the prior 12 months and even when we look back at the 2024 just calendar year that increase was 20%. A couple of reasons for that. One there are new medications available to the market. Two for January of 2024 we changed the
benefit design to add brand medication to plan one which is the board paid plan. it is the most highly utilized plan of the district. Um so we are seeing an increase in the number of employees that have access to brand medication. These numbers are a result
but we also believe that if members are taking care of themselves and taking the medication that they need to to manage their chronic conditions we will see results that are favorable in the end. So for example if somebody is managing their diabetes are we less likely to see
amputations in the future? Yes. Are we less likely to see chronic kidney issues and kidney failure in the future? Yes. So, um I do also want to point out we reviewed plan one to to kind of see where that utilization went to. Plan one
still continues to be the best performing plan in the portfolio. So when we look at dollars paid in versus claims paid out, even though we en enhance this benefit, plan one does still continue to be the the best
performing plan that we have. Um you can also see an increase in medical spend in the last 12 months. And then just keep in mind the historically we see you know more claims in the last quarter of the year because that is when employees have
met their deductibles, they've met their out- of pockets. So the district is responsible for paying those claims. It is also the time when people may have met the stop-loss deductible and our our reinsurance or our stop-loss carrier is
covering those claims. Um but we just want to point that out since we are only representing claims for the first quarter and the last quarter sometimes can can hit the plan hard. Um so rate projection for the 2026 plan year. Um so again with claims through
March if the district did not increase their funding at all um we would project a loss of rough roughly $8 million from the self-funded health plan. Again this is if there is no increase done at all. That is not the position that the board
has taken in the past. We just wanted to present um what that would look like because it is the first year that we are projecting a loss. I know that we have talked in the past the importance of funding appropriately um when you have good years so that when
there is a year that claims are higher, you do not have to absorb the entire increase. As a reminder, you are required to maintain at least 60 days in your reserve of medical claims. So we have that broken out in the chart.
Again, these are the 2026 projections. So we take the member headcount by the projected per employee per month. If we had one month of premium to pay claims and administrative fees, we would be looking at about $6 million. So the
requirement is just over $12 million that we must keep in reserves um um as a federal requirement and and a Florida law. Um when we look at what we currently have in the um self-funded
health plans and what we project for 2026, it's about $27 million. So again, if the there was no increase in funding and we lost about $8 million, we would be just above that three months of of
premium. In the past, the board has felt more comfortable with roughly four months worth of premium, and it's been our recommendation in the past to stay around that number to be able to absorb years like this. So, if we were going to
fund to the full capacity that we are projecting claims to be at and have essentially no loss in the self-funded health plan reserve, the board would need to increase over current 11.8%.
If we keep the um reserves at that fourmonth of premium where the board feels most comfortable, we would need to increase over current about 7%. Which you can see board contribution is $63.7
million. When we went to the finance department, we asked what have you budgeted for the fiscal year? So again, there is a difference here because you guys are budgeting for July 2025 through
June of 2026. We are making projections for January 26 through December of 26. But we went to them and we said what has been budgeted. So for fiscal year 2526, the health insurance budget is 63.227.
So 63.2 million. That budget is based on not an increase in the budget, but it is based on one the number or what plan employees are currently enrolled in and the cost that
the district pays for those employees and any open positions and they budget based on those open positions taking the employeeonly rate for plan one. So you can see that what has already been budgeted for this coming fiscal year is
63.2 2 um 27 million. Um so when we compare that to our 7% minimum recommendation, the money has essentially already been budgeted. Um if it's looked at slightly
different because it's not that they're budgeting for an increase, they're just budgeting for open positions, but the likelihood that open positions would all be filled is is very minimal. Um so our recommendation would be that the board
not fund less than the 63 you know.2 our number is 63.7 million for the self-funded health plan. You can see that we are going to have a loss um of just over $3 million. But
again because the board has funded so conservatively in the past the reserves can handle that loss. Um it is the first time that we will experience a loss in the reserves, but again the the financially the plan would still be
where it needs to be with an additional two months of cushions in reserves. Can I ask a quick question? Yes. you made a statement there and I um you may not be as well aware of some of the other scenar situations we're in but we
are not going to have any open positions and so you just said a statement and I hope I just want to make sure the plan wasn't built around um because we're cutting instructional positions and non-instructional positions which maybe this will neutralize itself because the positions
are gone but we will have no open positions probably across the district because we are essentially laying off vacancies is I think the best way to put it. Yeah, I will let uh Miss Boston Ellis maybe speak to that more. Yeah, we just when we approached finance what
they had funded for in their budget for the $63.2 million was not an increase. It was just funding for those open positions. So even if there are no open positions that is what their their budget that they had presented included.
So theoretically because we are are um lowering our workforce it should actually put us in a better position. Is that a correct I see a head none maybe. Yeah. I mean I again I don't want to speak I I know that what the situation
is with the district but I don't want to speak to whether or not there will be open positions. Um I guess my point is that the finance had not funded for an increase if that makes sense. They didn't say we're going to fund 7% over
current. They just looked at the open positions and the current funding requirements and they said we would need 63.2 2 million if every single employee stayed on their same plan and any open position that was there took plan one.
That number just happened to align with the 7% increase that we would recommend based on having four months worth of reserves. Okay, that makes sense. Come right on up. Miss Ellis, you want to add anything to it? I'll step She
answered it correctly. That's we're budgeting on a fiscal year and they're looking and making projections on a calendar year. So any increase we should have in the budget uh because we
budgeted as if every position was going to be filled, we do that every year. Um that's been our process every year and that's probably why the fund balance has grown. Um, and it's is pretty um because
the numbers are close, it it may appear that uh we're looking at two different things differently, but we're not. We just look at the staff that was originally approved, calculate what that would be, and it just ended up being
close to what their projections are. So, just remember that won't kick in. their projections don't kick in until January 1. Um so right now what we are paying will be paid through December under the
current um um body of individuals. U so even though we will have fewer people I think it's been the same always because we've always had those vacancies.
Okay. Does that Yes. kind of clear it up? Yeah. We've always had the large number of vacancies. So I I guess though my my question would be and I don't have to keep harping on this, but if it was budgeted assuming all of the vacancies
were full, which is always the most appropriate way to do it. Now we are essentially getting rid of 250 positions. Vacancies. Vacancies. but their positions that you funded from an insurance perspective as
well as others then that number is not necessarily going to be that number because we're not going to be funding insurance for those 250 positions. Yes, you you are correct. Uh we are looking at the payments through June. We just
did the large teacher payout this week and we will go back and analyze that and then look toward um what that cost would be and adjust the budget. But we will always keep our eye on what that increase that they are projecting for
January would be. Um, in the old days, we would just look at whatever they're projecting the increase to be, and if it's 7%, we would say, "Okay, we only need half of that to cover January through June of the following year." And
then when we come back to do July 1, 26 through June 27, there would be an adjustment to the budget. Okay. So, but I I do hear what you're saying and the salaries as well as all of the benefits will be adjusted
uh based on the the the total number of units. I think we're in a good place if that's what you're looking for. But we do analyze it um after our fiscal year ends looking towards what it will be from
July 1 through December and then the increase based on January one. Okay. I think the the loss that you're seeing has something to do with as Miss Lingo stated we you may remember we enrich the
plans. We sent out a survey, ask employees what is it they wanted. Those were implemented because we had um a a stable fund balance and then also there were additional people in in included as
well. Uh so that's to me that's why you're seeing that loss and it should adjust based on the number of people that we are budgeting and employing going forward. So they wouldn't charge us for people who don't exist,
right? Yes. Got it. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um on the next slide, again, lots of numbers here, lots of small numbers. We like to compare where we've been at in the last several
years. So we started this in 2021. We've kind of run out of room, so we'll be comparing back to 2022. um again estimated where we'll be ending up at the end of 2025 and then estimating or projecting for 2026. So
you can see that we have the medical claims um net of stop loss. So again in 2026 this is what we are projecting based on where we currently are seeing claims and those medical trend numbers that we spoke to. Um pharmacy claims
again net of those rebates that we might receive. We have the fixed cost which is our stop-loss premium. That's a per employee per month number. I do want to point out that we project every year for 15% increase. Um we have not been at that 15% increase in any of the past
years. It is something that we negotiate every year but when we are projecting that is the number that we use. So that could vary slightly um by the time we do that negotiation. the administrative fees that is the Florida blue currently
PEM number um and then some small internal expenses give us our fixed cost. So you'll see total expenses um and then projected board and employee contributions. Um this is if the board
funded the projected 11.8% increase that we need to not lose anything out of the reserves. Again, this is not our recommendation this year, but if the board were not wanting to use any reserves, this is the number
that you would need to fund at. These are the numbers that represent again that 7% recommendation that aligns with what had already been budgeted again based on current enrollment and those empty um positions. So you can see
a slight loss um in the plan, but because the district and the board has contributed appropriately in the past, we can stand to have a decrease in the fund balance. I would also like to kind of point out
that when you're fully insured and the insurance carrier comes to you and says, "We need a 10% increase or you know 5% increase, whatever that is." While that is a negotiable number, you don't just get to choose to fund less than the
requested number. So, that is one advantage of being self-funded and having a reserve that can help you absorb a year where we have had some larger claims. We're seeing some claim increases. When you have the reserves to accommodate that, you can choose to fund
slightly less than what the the plan is essentially calling for and still be in a good place. Um upcoming items, we've talked about that stop-loss RFP. I do want to point out that this year we will be um seeing
if we can include gene therapy reimbursement into that. So gene therapy um we see medications now sometimes hit the plan that are $20,000 a month. Gene therapy is hundreds of thousand dollars, millions of dollars for some of these
gene therapies. Again they are always bringing new medication to the market. There were five gene therapy medications. There are now 15 therapy medications. So this is things for like hemophilia, cickle cell anemia, uh multiple myoma. So there is a rider that
you can put on your stop-loss policy to cover those conditions. So the policy reimbures for the medication for those conditions. It also stops lasering. So on stop-loss policies, stop-loss carriers can pick out employees that
maybe have high claims and say, "We are lasering them out of the policy. We will no longer be paying for their claims." Obviously, the district does not want to have lasers. So, the gene therapy writer would stop any lasering in addition to covering the medication for the
conditions um the 15 conditions and medications that are outlined in the policy. Um, so you'll see the timeline there. Again, we'll be starting soon. I actually just got an email from the the stop-loss carrier to start that process
um early August and we'll be looking to get your um approval in October for the recommendation. Um, as we continue to review the claims and determine where we can try to find savings, um, we will be doing some
analysis on plan provisions. There's opportunities again because you are self-funded to carve out certain benefits. So we've brought to you before surgery plus um that's a program that uses the highest quality surgeons at the lowest price for particular surgeries.
Um there's also a program called Renalogics that deals with chronic kidney failure. Um so we will be reviewing if there is anything that we could carve out from the current policy to yield savings in the future. And then I just wanted to review quickly some of
the executive orders that you may have seen come out. These relate specifically to lowering drug prices. Um we spoke to it before. We see it in our numbers. It is the thing in medicine that is increasing most rapidly. Again, they're
coming out with new medications. Um so pharmacy management, transparency, um this is a a big thing in the PBM space is where is the money, where is the money going? Um, so you know, forcing them to be more transparent. FDA
approval on acceleration. This speaks to generic medications. So we have those brand medications that are extremely costly. How can we get a generics approved more rapidly? And then importation program. So you may see some things about Canadian drugs or imported
medications. That is what this um executive order is having them looked at. And then some pricing things below as well. At this point, there have been no laws put into place. They are just reviewing this information. But we are always analyzing that. At Gallagher, we
have a pharmacy team that is, you know, on top of this. And anytime new legislation comes out that may impact your plan, we will be reviewing that and ensuring that um you meet all of the guidelines as well. Um with that, if you have any questions,
happy to answer those. Right. Thank you very much, board. I'll open it up. Any comments or questions? Dr. Campbell. Thank you. And it's been my pleasure to serve on the insurance committee. So, um, thank you for your work on this, Miss Lingal, and and the whole team. Um,
my recommendation is just that we not go over at all what is already in the budget. And I know even if it's that quarter of a million or quarter to half a million dollars difference from what's currently in the budget to that 7%, my recommendation would be to stay exactly
where we're already budgeted. I I don't think we need any other uh changes to what Miss Boston Ellis and her team are working on right now. So even again if it's just a a slight variation between what you had on the slide as the 7%
fully funded I would recommend at least just keeping it at what the budget uh is already being ne being worked on with the figure that they've already been using. So um that's my only thought on that but I'll certainly entertain other thoughts from other board members.
Right. Thank you. Anyone else? I would just say I agree with Dr. Campbell. Um under Dr. uh under Miss Boston's leadership, whatever is at our budget, um obviously we're still trying to run numbers. So, um understanding that whatever we've budgeted, I think it's going to be important that we stick to
that. Um while trying to respect the things that we've already granted our employees, we certainly don't want to give things one year and then peel them back another year. Uh and so it's a delicate dance, but I would like to find us uh within our budgeted range. Absolutely. Uh seeing as we're in some
bumpy waters currently. Uh, and then hopefully in a year or so from now, we can continue to expand our offerings. Right. Thank you. What? I'm in agreement and thank you for your presentation. Me too. I am in agreeance too and thank
you for being here this morning and thank you for waiting on us. Um, that was a long presentation you had to sit through. Thank you very much and we look forward to our continued partnership. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you. Um, at this time, is there any board uh any public comment?
Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to our next item. Dr. Brewer, would you like to introduce for our general insurance review? Yes, we'll bring Miss Boston Ellis back to the podium to introduce um her guest.
Good morning again. Um, we are also self-funded for our general insurance including property casualty, boilers, everything else except for health insurance. And we been self-funded for
many, many years. Um, when I got here in 1992, we were self-funded at that time. So, um, we, uh, bring a report to you, a review every year. Uh, and this year we
will have a presentation by Ben Fu IVth and he'll bring us up to date on what's going on in our general insurance coverage. Uh, good morning, Dr. Brewer. Um, Chair Conrad, board members, Attorney Powers, Madame Clerk. Uh, I'm Ben F of Ben F and
Company Risk Managers and Insurance Consultants. Um, thank you for having me this morning and also thank you for moving me up on the agenda. I really appreciate that. You are welcome. Um, uh, as we do, uh, this time each year, we're going to be going through the general insurance renewal that is coming
to you on Tuesday as an agenda item. All right. Do you have control as well? Okay. Um, just real quickly in case you haven't heard my spiel before, uh, a little bit about who we are. Um, we are an outsourced risk manager. Uh, we are a
fee only consulting firm. We do not sell any insurance products. Uh, we we do not work for carriers, agents, brokers, um, underwriters, you name it. We we love all of those people, but we are completely independent. We do not sell insurance. Um, and the way that we work with our clients is that we either
function as your risk management department, um, or in a supplementary capacity to the existing risk department. Um, I've listed a number of line items, policy management, exposure management, uh, legislative updates, uh, loss control, etc., and so forth to
include liaison with your your brokers and various service providers and the discipline. um that all fall within what we do um for the board and the district. All right. Generally speaking, as it relates to market conditions, uh this is the 10,000 foot view. Um as property
goes, the last two years have been reasonably favorable. uh from about 2017 culminating in the renewals for 2023 um you saw what was a tightening insurance market uh with respect to property especially as it relates to to
Florida based exposures um to a point in 2023 after the the storm seasons of the previous year involving hurricanes Ian and Nicole uh namely um where many insureds in Florida were seeing at least a 100% increase to
premium they were having their capacity cut and they were being forced to take higher deductibles because that's simply what the market would offer. Uh it was it was truly a hardened insurance market. Um now I I I look at it more
like a market correction. Um and the market I do feel at this point in time uh has has corrected itself because in 2024 and 2025 at least through present uh rates have generally fallen for larger uh Florida based property
exposures. Um if you are if you are coastal property is still unattractive to the underwriting market. They they don't like that. But those that are relatively stable and are not facing um extreme loss experience are sort of uh
riding the the wave down u from 2023 as it as it were. Uh this year's renewal for the district is no different. Um as casualty markets go uh for larger self-insured public entities. The market has been relatively
stable. Uh we really haven't seen much change there. There was a lot of chatter going on uh prior to some legislative changes as it related to cyber insurance um ransomware and all of that. At this point in time, um it's it's a
pretty stable market and the only time you're really going to see any increases or any kind of market fallout uh is if you have uh if you have unfavorable loss experience or simply an increase in exposure, which we'll see uh with a couple of your lines as we get through the slides.
All right. So, this is our line by line. I'll just hit on a few uh few highlights. I have a few slides toward the back of the presentation that really gets in more to the detail. Uh but as far as the numbers go, this is this is the line by line as far as property casualty insurance uh program goes that
you purchase. Um the most noteworthy item is indeed the top line. It's property. Um, it's down $192,000 uh year-over-year, and that is with trending building and contents values up 10%.
And increasing from a $35 million loss limit to a $40 million loss limit. Um, the the probable maximum loss analysis substantiates the increase of the loss limit, and I'll talk more about that later on toward the back of the presentation. Um, but as recommended,
you're down nearly $200,000 on the property side. The other two items of note uh really are under the casualty coverage. This is the package program. That's I that's excess general and auto liability as is written. I refer to it as the package. Um it's it's up a few points. This is
due to an increased um underlying exposure. The same goes for work comp. Um, and that workers compensation is actually a flat rate renewal with a two-year rate guarantee going forward. Um, so really what you're seeing there
is purely due to underlying exposure increase. Uh, as far as the other changes to the lines, a lot of these, as you'll see, they're they're fairly nominal. Um, we may switch cyber liability carriers. Um, that line has calmed down
considerably in the last few years. So, this would be the grand total picture. Uh, as it relates to to premiums year-over-year, you're down four and a half% um if if the recommendations are are approved. Um, I include this last item here because I've
harped on this for a couple of years running now. Uh, maybe not harped on it, but just mentioned it. uh that in order to uh maintain the most efficient program you can, a lot of this is based on um what your you know what your construction costs are, your actual
replacement costs are. Um what this represents right here, and I'm strictly trying to show this as an illustrative point is that the actual cost for replacement cost appraisal at this point in time for the district, and this is real pricing, though I I'll say this is not going to be on the agenda item. This
is separate and apart from that. Um, it's just strictly for illustrative purposes. There's enough savings within the premiums to afford uh a replacement cost appraisal. All right. For the loss fund for a number of years
now, you have funded at the 65% confidence level. You have an actuarial analysis run two uh two times a year. the 95% confidence level here is shown um just to to show but if you really wanted to splash out
what that might look like um I believe since 2012 you have funded at the 65% confidence level um prior to that it was 75% but as we moved to 65% um it's always been enough it's never been a problem it has been reasonable
now for 13 years running um what we're showing here essentially is what the required funding would be if your self- insurance program were to if if all operations were to cease today, what your potential obligation could be um for retained losses to settle up um
underneath your program. And as Teresa said um you've been self-insured on this on these lines since 1988. So, with current fund balance being what it is, um the replenishment recommendation is just over 1.1 million. That's up a few points from last year.
Um but again, what the actuary is basing this on is um slightly less favorable loss development over the coming year. And again, part of what they're doing is using underlying exposures to generate that figure as well. So with the increased underlying exposures that I
mentioned within the general liability auto and ENO or comp uh this is commensurate with that increase. Um typically this this figure is 1.7 1.8 on average. Um so you're you're I think
last year's was the lowest it ever was um since we've been on board. But we're up a few points from last year but you're still in a great position. All right. So, this is the support to what I've been talking about so far. And largely, I think the biggest thing uh for you all as it is the lion's share of
your your premium uh is the the property exposure. Um your total insured value has increased over hund00 million. You've got more new facilities coming online very shortly. Uh and another very large project coming on in the next year or
so. Uh, and if I'm understanding correctly, perhaps even even more property projects that may be coming on. Um, so you're at over 1.3 billion in value right now. And what we use to generate uh our
insurance program, our our our appropriately insured program as defined by FEMA or would be defined by FEMA uh up to 2015 is uh wind modeling software that shows what your potential maximum loss could be uh in the event of um
incremental intensity uh versions of a storm. 250 years is pretty much the standard for all insurance carriers at this point. um and what yours is this coming year given the increases to total insured value is just over 37 million. Your loss limit of 35 million wouldn't
cover it. So we're recommending the increase to 40. Um given the fall in rates, we think this is a good idea. It's a prudent move. Um as I mentioned previously with the replacement cost appraisal,
the district has not had one since 2013. That is an integral piece of the wind modeling that this RMS software utilizes. Um, and what up-to-date replacement cost gets you is the most efficient
modeling that you can possibly obtain. Now, there may have only been a few buildings added, but over the course of 12 years, you're constantly updating. There are inflationary trends. There are changes in construction cost. So, it's essential
that we capture all of the underwriting data via current replacement cost analysis um to generate the most efficient property program um in a in a situation where the carrier or the software just doesn't know, it's going
to default to punitive. So, that's why this is uh this is important. And as I mentioned before, the 92,000 figure is actual pricing. That was a proposal in hand that was sought by the district's broker uh at my request. Obviously, that would have to go through separate uh
purchasing protocol. So, if you eventually see that, please don't be surprised, but I am that is definitely a recommendation that uh that'd be something that's taken on sooner rather than later. Um, as casualty exposures go, this is a
constant review um, of various curricular programs um, contractual risk transfer and it made it to my desk that there is going to be an aircraft maintenance program um, that's new to
MTC. Uh, which is really cool. Uh but when I saw the agreement, I thought they don't have aircraft liability coverage because that's a standard exclusion in most general liability forms. Now, my understanding is that the rotors are going to be chopped off of the
helicopter upon transfer of title. Having other uh clients that have aircraft, I cannot overemphasize that if that is delivered and somebody gets excited and wants to take it for a spin, you can't do that. So, um the the way
the coverage is set up now, it accounts for um for maintenance, for educational purposes. Um I just I just don't want to see anybody. But yeah, let's take it for a spin because I've seen that before. Uh and it doesn't go well. Um the guardian of law enforcement
program is something that that I always like to bring up. This is kind of a unique situation. uh you know, if you were a city or a county or indeed just a straightup sheriff's office, um this would be well known. But um with with sworn officers comes a handful of things
that are unique to the the position um being um Florida statutes out of 112. Uh the presumption laws, it's the hardlong act and then the statutory death benefit um should you should one die in the line of duty. Um your your current program
accounts for all of that. I just think it's an important thing to bring up. All right. So, going forward, um I would recommend we renew property to the $40 million loss limit, replenish the loss fund by 1.1 as presented. Highly recommend engaging an appraisal
company. uh and whether that you know has to go through purchasing separately as its own item. Um that's the recommendation for appraisals is typically about every five years. Uh you can push it at seven. Given that this
hasn't happened in 12 years, really need to make sure that it happens. Um aside from that, we're going to continue contractual risk transfer review. Uh that's that's largely I I get questions every day. I got questions just this morning about what do we recommend for insurance for uh downstream subs. Um
again, as I mentioned, aircraft liability, I have that emboldened. Um that's that's the current one. Um we're going to work with actuaries again for each of the reports this year to develop the loss fund recommendations, further refine statement of values, hopefully in
concert with an appraisal company, and uh prepare to do it all next year. So with that, are there any questions? that kind of blew through that. Um, want to make sure that all questions get answered. Thank you, Mr. F. We appreciate you. Um,
comments or questions? Yes, Dr. James. Um, I I don't know that you have heard this from me before, but um I don't speak insurance, so I'm just going to I a lot of this went like way over my head. Um, my main question is can I can
we afford this? Is it within our budget? Um, and so I see a head nod from our CFO and I'm trusting that she thinks this is the best direction for us to go. So, yes, she's that's that's all I got on it to be completely transparent. I get real
into my acronyms. So, I I I get stopped all the time with doing that. So, I'm sorry. Yes, that's right. All right. Thank you. Yes. So, that was going to be my question as well. Is 1.1 what we've budgeted or were we anticipating something higher or lower than that? Is that
That's exactly what we budgeted and we already knew that coming in. Not exactly, but close enough. Okay. All right. Thank you. You can stay seated. Um my my other question I I appreciate the recommendation to engage an appraisal company.
At what, and this is more of a district question, I guess, but at what point do do we is that something that the district is going to engage in as far as an RFP for that? And then we'll take it property by property, I suppose. I mean,
I I I I remember a few years ago when we did have the fire at uh our tech services building and we didn't have the I mean, we didn't really have an idea of what a replacement of that would have
cost. So, that's I think it kind of threw us all for a little bit of a shock. That's what was the catalyst for this discussion. Absolutely. Um, and that was happening with the prior director of risk before his his untimely passing. Absolutely. Well, I certainly appreciate the recommendation because
one thing I'll also tell you, Mr. F, is that this board is not shy from doing things that haven't been done in more than a decade. So, we we definitely have tackled multiple things that haven't been touched in more than a decade. And so I appreciate that we will begin the
process of appraising our properties and determining really what the cost for replacement would be. Uh because I think that's going to be eyeopening for all of us. I I'm hopeful that it's not going to cause us even greater exposure uh but
would just give us a level of information that we haven't had before. So um and that's the idea. It gives you that level of information so then you can make the informed decision as to what is a reasonable loss limit. Um and that's kind of the the starting place.
Sure. Sure. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you Dr. Campbell. Board member Thor. Uh thank you and thank you uh Mr. Fu for your attention and level of detail including the uh aircraft because that one's kind of hot off the press. It is hot off the press.
So, a great catch. And I guess I was thinking in my own head living near uh the Ocala airport that we're just having more aircraft traffic lately. So, I hope we're covered if, god forbid, a plane goes into an unoccupied building. Well,
yes, that would be a property exposure. Um, and you know, if somebody if it's somebody else's aircraft, that's a different different story. But um yeah, aircraft liability if you're the one owning and flying the plane is a different a different insurance product.
Thank you for that. And also um just as a something to keep in mind for future boards and discussion, I'm not sure what the uh appropriate amount of time is to
have a replacement cost appraisal, but I would think that it might be a good idea to get some sort of mechanism in place, you know, like, you know, simply a reminder of some sort that says, "Hey, it's been been three years, not 10 years or whatever. ever the appropriate cycle
is is what I'm getting at. Sure. Happy to do it. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you for member Thor. Mr. F. We are thankful uh for your presentation this morning and keeping us on track and your partnership um and collaboration with Miss Boston Ellis. Um she tells us what
we can afford to do. And so we um I'll close with that. Thank you for the presentation. Um is there any public comment? Okay. Seeing none board, I think we will
break for lunch. How's that? Right. So, we will recess at 11:48. How long would you like? So, we can tell our staff members that are going to rejoin us. 12:30, maybe. 12:30. 12:30 it is. We will um come back
at 12:30. Thank you. Oh, I just Good afternoon and welcome back to our June 19th work session. Um, Dr. Brewer, I'm going to turn it over for you to for introductions for the code of student conduct.
Thank you, Miss Conrad. Cynthia Lugo Hampton come to the podium now. She is going to provide the presentation of the recommended revisions for the code of student conduct. There are for those following there are quite a few items
attached to board docs. So I encourage um those to l click on those links. She will refer she will explain which document she is referring to but it might be helpful for those listening to open board docs as well. Thank you, Miss Lugo, for being here.
Good afternoon, Chair Conrad, board members, and interim superintendent, Dr. Brewer. Thank you for the opportunity to present the revised 202526 code of student conduct for your review and approval.
For today's presentation, please turn to the blue tab in your binder. It contains the revised elementary and secondary code of student conduct along with a detailed change log. I invite you to follow along with the change log as I review the revisions to
the code of student conduct. As we redesigned the code of student conduct, we focused on several key goals. First, we ensured legal compliance by align aligning the code with Florida statutes and local board policies.
We also prioritized clarity, streamlining the document by removing unnecessary content and changing the language to more userfriendly language. Another major goal was consistency. We wanted to ensure that discipline
practices are applied fairly and uniformly across all schools. At the same time, we preserve school autonomy by giving leaders the flexibility to respond to student behavior within a clear and transparent framework.
To further promote transparency and uniformity, we created a new discipline reference guide which combines offenses with their definitions and appropriate mandatory actions and possible corrective actions all in one
place. Finally, we focused on fairness and support. The new code strengthens the connection between discipline and interventions, ensuring we're not just punishing behavior, but supporting students in making better choices.
The revision process was designed to be collaborative, thoughtful, and inclusive. Approximately 42 professional volunt professionals volunteered their time to serve on the committee. This included administrators from 17
elementary, middle, and high schools, administrators from the alternative learning school, as well as district personnel from key departments such as student discipline, mental health and wellness, student information and state reporting, safe schools, and exceptional
student education. Members from the Maran Education Association attended, parents, staff attorney Blackman, and Vice Chair Cummings, whose participation added valuable insight. Our work began with a combination of
whole group and small groupoup discussion to establish the priorities guiding the revision process. As we moved into deeper review, particularly of the discipline section of the code, we transitioned into small work groups. These work groups analyzed
and revise the offenses and definitions developing the discipline reference guide. Another group proposed procedural updates, and the last group worked on the layout of the code itself.
This work began January the 16th, meeting weekly until its completion on the 24th of April. The committee selected Mr. David Stapyra, assistant principal of discipline um at North Marian High School to serve as chair. Our workg
group leaders included Mr. Stepyra, Miss Gwen, and myself. Their leadership and collaboration were essential to moving the work forward in a timely and thoughtful way. When looking at the current code in comparison to the revised code, one
significant change you'll see is the focus on prioritizing discipline and conduct. In the current code, discipline began at the fifth section kind of towards the end of the document, while in the new code, discipline begins in
the second section on page five. This reflects the true purpose of the document and makes it more functional for users. The committee grounded its work in Florida statute 100006.07 which outlines the required elements for
a district student code of conduct. We use this statute to ensure legal compliance and to guide our decisions about what should be included and prioritized. We streamlined the code by removing sections not required by statute as well
as particularly lengthly descriptions and full policy text that often made the code um difficult to navigate. But instead, we now reference key district policies through direct links. This keeps the document clean and
userfriendly while still providing families and staff with access to supporting details. We are also working with technology and information services to ensure that all policy links are f fully accessible in the online version
of the code. We also reorganized the structure of the code into clear userfriendly sections. If you can please turn to page one of the secondary um code of student conduct.
So you may review the new sections of the code. As you can see on page one, the introduction includes foundational content required by statute such as in locus paris the authority of administrators and teachers, the
responsibility of principles and staff and the and the district's commitment to being an equal opportunity school system. The second section begins on page three. This section summarizes student and parents rights and responsibilities.
This includes attendance, academic honor code, athletic, extracurricular and in intercolastic activities, code of civility, free speech and expression and assembly, parents rights, right to learn and
participate and safety and security. Each subsection is presented in an abbreviated paragraph with a link to the full district policy or state statute. Now, if you can please turn to the third section that begins on page five.
This is the heart of the code, student discipline. It starts with expected behavior and proceeds through our new discipline reference guide on page seven. This outlines offenses, definitions, and
responses in a transparent and practical format for all stakeholders. Right? If you follow the discipline on to page 33, the code includes essential information for families such as bullying and
harassment, substance abuse consequences, and the dress code. The next section is on page 38 that details critical procedures parents need to understand including suspension, alternative placement, expulsion, early
re-entry and return to base eligibility as well as the appeal process available for each one of those. The code include um includes all mandatory notices on page 45.
Anywhere from bus conduct expectations to the list of weapons and firearm category A which is on page 50. Now, some administrators provided feedback after the code was finalized that they missed some of the sections that were omitted. And so, we have
created two companion documents. The administrative reference manual, which houses detailed internal pro um procedures and compliance guides, guidances, and inserts that will be provided to schools electronically to include with their school student
handbook. Now, let us explore the new quick discipline reference guide. If you can please go back to page seven. Again, that's in the secondary code of student conduct. Most of this switching back and forth in the pages is going to be in secondary
only. All right. So you will see the new secondary quick discipline reference guide. When looking at the discipline reference guide, there is now an offense title and the code that corresponds with that
title, the definition of the offense, the levelbased severity descriptions, and then you'll also see mandatory. A little further down, you'll see mandatory action and possible corrective actions. Now, please turn to page 10 of the
secondary code of student conduct and please look at disruptive conduct as an example of a change of a change that we made to the code of student conduct showing the progression through the levels. So if you look at dis at disruptive
conduct, it begins with level one. It's a minor momentary disruption that are easily redirected and progress but then as you can see it'll progress to level two which is repeated disruptions. A level three disruption con is conduct
is defined as actions that cause significant disorder or safety concerns across the school at an event or on the bus. Finally, a level four is a widespread serious campus disruption such as a large-scale riot. Aligning the
definition along with level-by-level descriptions that dist that distinguish how the same behavior escalates makes the guide more functional for administrators and more understandable for families while supporting consistent application of discipline across the
schools. The chart located under each offense and definition is a new feature of the code. It enhances clarity by showing how a single behavior can escalate in severity, helping staff understand and apply the correct level.
Under offense, you'll see a one to threeword descriptor that summarizes how the behavior progresses from level one to level four. This helps users visualize the progression of conduct from minor to severe and support
consistent decision making. To the right of that column, the school level response identifies the expected level of behavior. The next column shows the mandatory actions. It's important to note that the discipline reference guide is not a
discipline matrix. The committee was strongly opposed to a discipline matrix. They felt that consequences should not be based solely on the offense. They advocated for the ability to consider the full text of a situation and the need of the student when determining a
consequence. To strike a balance between the committee's desire for professional discretion and the board's need for um clear expectations, we created rec created mandatory and possible corrective actions.
The mandatory actions column reduces inconsistency by clearly outlining what must happen when a behavior occurs. This may include interventions, restorative practices, disciplinary action, parent contact,
and cessor related requirements such as notifying law enforcement, offering a hope scholarship, or contacting DCF. Under possible corrective actions, a range of corrective strategies were created helping staff determine other
interventions that can be used for this offense. Please take a moment to look on page 29 through 32 of the secondary code of student conduct to see the possible corrective strategies that can be used in each level.
Now across all levels parent contact and an intervention are mandatory. Level one requires parent contact and a restorative practice to retach expectations, rebuild relationships, or model accountability and empathy.
For level two requires a disciplinary action and an intervention. If there's a victim or ongoing conflict, a restorative practice is required. For level three, always requires a disciplinary action. the student returns
to school, a restorative practice must be implemented. Safety related offenses require a mandatory recommendation for alternative placement. For level two requires disciplinary action and the mandatory recommendation for either alternative placement or
expulsion based on the severity and threat to school safety. Can we take a pause for one second? Absolutely. Yes. So, I want to just to clarify a few things. So, there is no al there um there is no alternative
placement option for a level four. Um no, there isn't not for a level four. Okay. Wanted to make sure that was clear. And then I know that we've had a variety of conversations in the last 18 months or so about and I've heard Dr.
Brewer say this before, mostly in her previous role, an alternative placement um should really be used for placing a child at MTI as from a language perspective. MTI is an alternative
placement to a different school setting. And an expulsion is really what we're doing when we send them off of our campus to virtual learning. And so we haven't we continue to use the word expulsion to place them at MTI,
but when you look across the state at the ways other districts use the language, that is not necessarily the common way the language is used. And so I didn't know if there was any conversation about correcting the way we identify
what each of those is. So from my perspective is that alternative placement the difference between alternative placement and expulsion is really the time period in which they they serve at MTI.
Right. But that's not actually Do you know what I'm trying to say, Dr. Burr? Because I know that you and I have talked about this before. Yes. And we and I think this will be she will share more information as the presentation continues. But the committee did meet. I
was a part of it. The committee did meet and discuss and expulsion really is not even our virtual students. And expulsion by a lot of other counties and states is no services. We know that that hurts our students in the long run when we are responsible for those students for
graduation rates and their well-being. So an alternative placement can be determined for a range of days. And I think she Miss Lou Hampton will share that um in a little bit, but we did discuss that in the committee.
Okay. I just I think it's still in my opinion a bit of a nuance or confusion. Um because because then an offense could get a 45day out
placement or it could get a 360day out placement theoretically. Right. Correct. maybe school days, but whatever. You know what I'm days, correct? But with our code of student conduct, we're being very strategic or very conscientious of
what does get you expelled and what does get all placement. I think to add to that, we are using expelled or expulsion as a simple term, but it's really it's an expulsion with services. So that's how we are different
from a lot of counties that just use an expulsion. So we simplify that term but really every time we say it should be an expulsion with services. So I think from the board's perspective I can speak for myself uniquely. What the board has struggled with is
that there is a lack of consistency when with what comes to us. What one princ what one principle determines is desirable is different from another principle. And there's a variety of context that can go into that conversation. And I don't want
to diminish that that context has value. My issue as a board member though is I have to look at the whole picture, not at at what one school is doing. Our job is to look at the entire district. So when we're looking at recommendation for alternative placement at for a level
three behavior on page 31 and then it's not listed on page 32, meaning that any level four offense, you're not going to have an alternative placement. You will have to get an expulsion. And then those are pretty standard frameworks of time. based on when you offend. We've already kind of predetermined that, but we have
no level of predetermination for alt placements. Unless I'm missing it, do we have a framework that says this offense gets this many days out placement? We do have a framework as to which
offenses um receive mandatory alternative placement um and expulsion with services. We do have that um the time period yes is I would I would say that yes it's set in stone alternative placement you
would serve um the the quarter that you're in plus one expulsion would be for a whole year. So then the set days for an alternative placement is the quarter you're in plus one. Yes ma'am. Because I think the
definition of an alternative placement is is that it can be a variety of day periods, not just the quarter plus one. Is that not true? We h we have used 45 days as our number.
Um, and I think the and the committee felt strongly because I brought this up and I think they were really they were doing really well until I brought up the idea of should we remove the expulsion with services language altogether and only use alternative placement as our
consequence. Um, and so then the committee went back and they discussed that. But it it does it um it's confusing to parents and the community when some students are alternatively placed for 180 days and other students
are alternatively placed for 45 days. And so the committee felt strongly that we needed to keep the expulsion with services as a year at a year length and then to differentiate the alternative placement for the quarter you're in plus
the 45 days. Okay. Did that answer your question? That does answer my question. Has an alternative placement always been the cordier and plus plus one or is that I would say in general that is I have had principles that have requested
um more they've asked for a semester or more um and that is on a case by case basis but the standard is 45 days which is current quarter plus one but I'm sorry if I'm like really beating
a dead horse but 45 days is not equal to the quarter in M plus one. Correct. So, we like to have it aligned with the return to base so that we don't have kids all over the place outside of uh Wyomina. That's how we've just logistically done it. Um I'm not against the cordier plus one. I just think we
should drop the 45 days language then because those two are not synonymous. I mean, I agree it's not a 45 day. If you offend on January 10th, you're getting the better part of 80 days. You're not getting or right. I mean, you're not getting 45 days. is you're getting the
cord you're in plus one which is going to round I'm assuming to closer to 80 days. Yes, ma'am. Right. We can definitely, you know, put that language in the code of student conduct when we come back for revision and we can definitely look at that. I just think that that would be helpful to clarify
because I certainly wouldn't want a parent thinking that an alternative placement is 45 days when unless you offend on the last day of a quarter, it's not. So, I'd like to clarify that, but also clarifying that every alternative placement is the
cordier plus one unless there's an extenduating circumstance because the board doesn't see alternative placements. Um, and so, but we hear about them. Um, it doesn't mean people don't talk to us. And so, I would like to be able to feel very confident that
we're staying pretty consistent in that delivery. Yes, ma'am. Okay. I think I'm good for now. And just for clarity, the um board is notified by policy of alternative placements, but you're right, the board only takes action for expulsions. Just for those listening.
Yes. Sorry if that was unclear. Yes. All right. I will continue. There are some key um updates that we've made to the quick discipline reference guide to improve clarity, consistency, and fairness in how we respond to student behavior. We
did add a level two and level three offense for arson recognizing that not all fire related incidents rise to the level of expel expelable conduct and allowing for a more proportional consequence. We retitled criminal gang related
activities to gang related activities to remove the legal threshold and make the code more practical for school-based discipline while still addressing serious concerns. We added level two and three to the existing inciting violence level four so
that we can now appropriately address students who provoke or escalate conflicts even if the behavior doesn't result in serious injury or riot level disruption. The consequence the consequences for sexual offenses have been revised. The
first-time offenses may now be addressed through sex diversion while repeated incidents can still result in alternative placement or expulsion. This change supports early intervention without lowering accountability.
We made several title changes across the guide to ensure consistency and show clear behavioral progression from level one to level four. Finally, we revised several definitions to improve clarity so staff can apply
the codes more consistently and students and families better understand expectations. And as I stated before, there is a complete list of changes um included in your binder for reference under the tab rationale. Are we saving our questions or she Well,
I was letting her go through. Um, I think it would be best if if you um held your questions and let her finish everything and then because she may be able to address some of your burning questions. Okay. Right. This year we also developed
a separate elementary code of student conduct. It mirrors the secondary code in structure but is developmentally appropriate and reflects the unique needs of younger students. So to highlight I'm sorry to highlight
um it's required for level one students to have restorative practices to retach expectations just like in the secondary code. Level two um also requires disciplinary action with autonomy for school-based decisions but still allows for interventions and supportive plans
for both the student and victims. As part of our effort to create a more consistent and supportive disciplined process for elementary students, we've made significant changes to the consequences for level three and level four offenses. For level three offenses, any behavior
that compromises the safety of students, staff, or the school now requires a mandatory recommendation for alternative placement. These include repeated substance use, fighting, threats, and violations involving weapons, contrabands, or safety procedures.
While school continues to have flexibility for some level three incidents, these specific offenses are mandated to result in a recommendation for alternative placement. In the past, all level four offenses were considered expelable. We have redefined this
approach so that only the most serious safety related level four offenses remain expelable. This includes selling or providing alcohol, drugs or inhalance, arson, battery, force of violence against a school employee,
hazing, inciting violence, robbery, sexual battery, repeated sexual offenses, sexually explicit material, threats and threats of mass harm, firearms and repeated weapons, major safety procedure violations.
All other level four offenses may now be addressed through a recommendation for alternative placement rather than expulsion. We're moving away from the one-year expulsions and instead working with students through interventions. Now let's consider the par
I'm sorry. Now that we have taken some time to discuss the changes, allow me to walk you through how an administrator and a parent might use the code of student conduct during a disciplinary referral. Our scenario is for harassment offense.
If you can please turn to page 17 of the secondary code of student conduct so we can explore this offense together. In our scenario, an eighth grade student was referred last month for mocking and name calling a classmate. At that time,
the behavior was investigated and treated as a level two harassment. It was the student's first offense and wasn't directed at a previous target. The administrator contacted the parent, held a restorative conversation with the student, and put a supportive
intervention plan in place for both the student and the victim. Now, just two weeks later, the same student has received another referral. This time for insulting and targeting two other students both during lunch and on the school bus. A bus referral and
two teachers reported this behavior. The code of student conduct is critical in guiding the administrator's response. The administrator first reviews the definition of the harassment and reviews the mandatory actions. According to the code of student conduct, a harassment
investigation is required. After conducting the investigation, the administrator returns to the code of student conduct and confirms that this qualifies as a level three offense due to its repeated nature. At this point, the administrator must follow the actions specified in the
code. These include immediate parent contact, notifying law enforcement, providing the student with a hope scholarship. Additionally, the creation of an updated intervention plan that incorporates a no contact contract and a restorative conversation with the
student. The victim will be provided with a support plan which includes assistance from the school counselor. The administrator also decides that a recommendation of alternative placement will also be made. Now let's consider the parents
perspective. Guided by the by the same code of student conduct. After the administrator concludes the investigation, they contact the parent for a meeting. During that meeting, the administrator presents the findings from the harassment investigation, explains
the rationale for identifying this as a level three offense, and shows the parent the definition of harassment directly from the code of student conduct to ensure transparency. They walk the parent through the required actions for a level three offense. The administrator then informs
the parents of the consequence, a 10-day out of school suspension, and a recommendation for alternative placement. The parent, understandably upset by the severity of the consequence, chooses to dispute the decision. They turn to the code of student conduct, which outlines
a clear dispute process on page 40, step four. The parent must make an appointment to discuss the reasons for the dispute with the principal. The principal upholds the referral and the recommendation for alternative placement. The parent may then schedule a meeting with the student
discipline coordinator for a final review. The parent follows this process and meets with the coordinator. And at this at this stage, the coordinator reviews the facts, confirms that the behavior meets the code's definition of repeated harassment.
And based on this review, the coordinator upholds the recommendation for alternative placement. The decision is then communicated to both the base school and the parent. From there, a school follows the internal procedures outlined in the administrative manual to
complete the placement process. This scenario demonstrates how the code of student conduct is not just a list of rules. It is a guide for due process, consistency, and fairness. It ensures students receive interventions, parents are included and informed, and when
disagreements occur, families have a clear path for appeal and review. Now that we've walked through how the code guides both administrative decisions and the parent experience, let's shift to how we ensure this process is implemented consistently
across all schools. The implementation plan focuses on making such sure administrators understand the revised code and feel confident applying it. The goals are straightforward. Builds clarity around the updated policies and procedures.
Strengthen the use of restorative practices and interventions. Promote consistent application across all schools. Training will will be rolled out in phases starting this summer with a mix of in-person sessions, virtual Q&A, and
support from program specialists. We're also creating a feedback loop so we can respond to questions and make adjustments as needed. I'll present the revised code at the leadership summit on July the 15th to give district leaders a clear picture of the changes and what's
expected moving forward. As we wrap up the presentation, I'd like to briefly share the main benefits we expect from the revised code of student conduct. This new version is clear and easier to use. By removing unnecessary
content and organizing the information into logical sections, staff, students, and families will be able to find what they need more quickly. It also supports more consistent discipline. The level-based definitions and required actions help reduce
confusion and how to respond to different behaviors while still allowing schools some flexibility. We've also added support that reinforces positive behavior like restorative practices and interventions particularly for lower level offenses. This helps
schools focus not just on consequences but also on addressing the root of the behavior. Overall, this version of the code gives schools a more practical and structured tool to support student behavior and school safety. Thank you for your time.
Thank you. That was a lot of information for us. Um, sorry. Yes, board member throw. Mine's just super quick. Um, and I can see the level of work and attention that you put in. So, um, page 31, uh, both elementary and secondary level three behaviors, and this is just
a easy fix. Robberies listed twice on both of them. Okay. Robbery. Robbery. Thank you. In case you didn't catch it the first time. Easy. Yeah, that is an easy fix. I just didn't want to lose track of
Yes. I I just want to also acknowledge um we have some committee members here with us today. Mr. Brent Johnson spent quite some time as a community member advocating and working on the code of student conduct. So, I want to recognize him and thank him for his time. Also, Mr. Jones and of course, Attorney
Blackman also is here with um Miss Lugo Hampton for support. So, I want to say thank you to all of them for their work on this project. Mr. Stapyro was here as well, but unfortunately, he did have to leave. So, we're she's available now for questions and also Mr. White House can
answer additional questions as well. Okay. All right. Uh, sure. Thank you. Um, so last year I believe we had discipline develop like a offense consequence one
pager that we shared. Um, is that intended as we as the code is updated? Is there an intention to send that out again at the start of the year? Um, yes I absolut Yes, I absolutely can. And I believe that in board docs there's also the mandatory possible um for elementary
and as well as for um secondary. Yes. So you can see exactly what you know all the codes are there what's mandatory what's possible. Yes. I think last year we kind of I we'd have to look for it, but it kind of just did a quick uh consequence in a glance
of like our highest offenses and then what kind of consequences come with it as kind of like a hey reminder if you get in a a twoon-one fight, it leads to this kind of I that's kind of what I recall. So, I would love to see that go out again as kind of one of those first
week of school papers that we send home, even if just for secondary so that we're reminding families and students what our expectations are and what will occur. Um, I can't every single time it seems people come before us for a consequence dispute. They're shocked that the
consequence is the consequence. And so, I love to be able to say, "Do you recall when you got this paper and when you got this paper?" And really make sure we've covered our base. Okay. Email It won't be a paper, right? No. No. I No. I believe last year we disrup we distributed a paper. It wasn't an email.
It wasn't like the click and skyward to acknowledge the code of conduct. We distributed a one pager. Do you guys remember what I'm talking about? I do. Go ahead, Miss Con. We made those. Yeah. Go ahead. Do you remember? I do. It was like a single pager and it
was just it was passed out. It wasn't It wasn't an email. I thought we we used that um we gave it to deans. We also gave it out during parent partnership Saturday events and it was really just to educate, hey, these are our top offenses. These are possible consequences. So, it was for awareness.
Yes, it was. Okay. And just off the top of my head, I'm thinking it could definitely be on the website as well as in the student handbook. Yes, for sure. It was just it was sent out as a way to really educate people on some of our top offenses and the consequence the mandatory consequences that come with them. So, I'd love to be able to do that
again. Yes, ma'am. I think Miss Thorough had a thought on it. She does. Yes. As a followup to that and and I love the idea of being proactive and continuing to do that and that's what I'm seeing as this whole code of conduct, you know, evolves. Um I just love the introduction. You know, we are really uh
moving in the right direction. So, thanks again. My point that I wanted to make was at least in my school visits, first couple days of school, teachers were busy, you know, going over the code of student conduct with kids. I I think, you know, most principles were requiring that. And I would love to see that
included, you know, that that quick reference so that it goes to the kids and teachers and can, you know, they can do their graphics or whatever they want to do. You know, they're so talented at those kinds of things because not only do we want to be able to just say we deliver the information, but wouldn't it
be great if they really said, "Oh, yeah, I I remember that." They may not ever admit to it, but yeah, I agree with you. I mean, there's usually like two slides period in secondary. Everybody hits a certain slide type of deal. So the way any way we can embed it and include just those high offenses that would be
helpful. Um my other question is we had a couple different offenses that came before the board and off air in the spring regarding sexual offenses which is what brought back um sexual diversion which I'm grateful to hear that we're bringing back. But some of those
offenses in my opinion should have qualified for amnesty. Um and I went back through I was looking for the code on page 49. when we talk about weapon amnesty. And so I understand this is maybe an odd concept, but I'm thinking
of a specific scenario where hypothetically a parent reports to a guidance counselor concern about their child having had sexual experiences on a campus and we then try to expel that student. I'm
sorry, but I think that is hypothetically very inappropriate. So, I would love for there to be some kind of sexual amnesty so that if I am a student who either willingly or not participated in an event that then I I I want to talk
to my guidance counselor about, I have regret. I felt I felt coerced into it. I told my parent and then my parent came to talk to the counselor. There should be some protection for self-report so that we can ensure that students who are
trying to get help, we can help them. But when they come forward like this hypothetical parent did and then we try to provide an expulsion, how is that helping the student? So that is the it was slide 11 that that sexual offense um
was mentioned. And so um that's my thought on that. I'm not completely comfortable with how those scenarios would have gone hypothetically and if they were to come before the board again, I would stay maintain my same feelings as I have now unless we come up with a way to um
approach it more uh supportively, I guess would be the word I'm looking for. So, I'll definitely bring that up to the um committee so that we can develop something if it's a pleasure of the rest of the board. Certainly, not just for me, but if if it's something the rest of the
board is looking for. Okay, Dr. Campbell. Um, thank you and and thank you Dr. James for mentioning that. I I think that that was a very unique unusual
situation, but if if I'm looking at it, I don't believe the principal had any choice other than to recommend for expulsion, I think, at in prior cases. So understanding the
uniqueness of what we've seen and knowing that in years past when we have had a unique disciplinary infraction that has occurred in a year prior then we fix it in the upcoming code of student conduct. I recommend something similar and whatever that looks like. I
I certainly don't want to revictimize a student who has come forth whether they willfully chose to act in a moment's notice um and then later regret it or or not. I I think there has to be
some level of grace that can be given in those typical scenarios that happen with hormones raging. So, okay, that's what I'm going to leave with that thought process. if you guys can take that back and figure it out. I I'm looking at uh a couple of things. I'm I'm struggling
with the the heading known as notices. I I don't know how I feel about that. It feels like these are more definitions as opposed to being notices. And the reason that it came to my thought process is I'm looking on page 15 of the secondary
code of student conduct. It's probably 15 in the elementary as well. the most prominent disciplinary infractions that come before this board for expulsion. I I mean I'm I may be using this generally, but the one of the most prominent I'll
say is fighting. That is a twoon-one. It you know that that kind of thing. We see those frequently. So one of the areas here it says self-defense is permitted in limited circumstances. For more information see self-defense definition. So, I was looking for a heading that
said definitions, but self-defense is listed under a heading called notices. And so, it I honestly went through every single word. It's not in the introduction. It's not in the student and parent rights, and it almost feels like self-defense is a student right, but I I kept going and
kept going and and then found it in notices. So, I I think you guys have done an amazing job of getting this much more organized than we've seen before. I love that it's in alphabetical order. I love that you can find things in alphabetical order in every single
category and so that's spectacular uh for the you know for the most part there but I'm just I'm struggling with that or maybe you even in a scenario like that where you say see self-defense definition on page and at least give people the opportunity to find it. I I'm
going to say something two different things similarly to what has already been stated. Uh, one of which I am still of the mindset and I have said this I think in this board seat ever since we did away with it. I'm still of the mindset that we have to come up with
some mechanism that prompts andor forces parents to at least acknowledge that they have received this document. Whether that is in SC Skyward, whether it is in the former envelope that we all used to get that I had to
send back with all if if and only if or if and only when that student specifically wants to participate in an extracurricular activity. So, I know it's difficult to make it a part of like the packet that you have to do as a as a parent of a student athlete that is so
intensive and all the I'm not saying necessarily to put it there, but I do think if a student makes a team, makes the band, makes whatever that the parent needs to acknowledge that they have seen the code of student conduct or something to that effect. But I think all parents
need to be obligated and required to acknowledge in some form or fashion that they have received a copy of this. And I know I was guilty. I was the parent who used to rip out the paper ones for all three of my kids and sign it without actually reading it. I'll admit it. I
definitely did that as a parent. But at least my signature on that, if my if my child had committed some offense, I would then still say, "Okay, yeah, I do have a copy of it." because I acknowledge that I received it. So, I'm still definitely of that mindset. Not
sure how we overcome that entirely, but I think that that's imperative and we haven't had that for quite some time. Another thing that I think is imperative is that we make this document. I know we're doing a great job with technology to make it on our website where it's all
electronic and fun and you know, whatever plugandplay hyperlinks here and there. We have got to put this as a PDF, as a link so parents can download, students can download so it can be searchable because if you don't know
what you're looking for and you just start typing in words, it's difficult to do no matter how well technology does what they're doing on our website. We have to have a searchable PDF. Um, so I think that that's imperative as well.
think most other issues that I had I think have all been covered. I I appreciate I I think it's going to cause folks to really be have a keen eye towards what
really is a level four. I I think that it's going to force a a shift in mindset as has already been stated as well. We see variations of things at this level based on principal tolerance and what is
tolerated in one school is not tolerated in another. And removing that subjectivity to the best of the district's possibility at this level is always something that I want to move towards. And I also understand it's
mentioned that this is the part that the school board is going to approve because this is the policy. Then you have separate procedures that admin staff is going to receive. And so those are things we won't oversee. We just have to
kind of express up here what we want to make sure are in those procedures if it's not already stipulated in policy. I continue to say and I know that there's a difficulty in including this. Again, I'll go back to the fighting. I have
said multiple times, I struggle with when siblings are engaged in two-on-one fights. I think there's a level of premeditation that comes versus walking by or hearing that your sibling is being in, you know, being jumped down the
hallway. natural instinct is absolutely to try to help that person. And so I just continue to struggle with not finding a way to spell that out in language. I've said that I think since day one of becoming a schoolboard member
and the first expulsions I started noticing that were sibling related. They aren't as common as I think it's made out to be perhaps or maybe they're more common than we actually see them. So, I I don't really know that, but I can't imagine, you know, I don't have a
sibling that would be involved in that sort of thing. But if my children are in the same school, and they have been for a couple of years and will be again this next year, and for some reason one of them is involved, even if it's a self-defense, and they are backing away like they're supposed to, I still could
see a sibling jumping in because they're wanting to protect that family member that is in that kind of scenario. So, I don't know how we make that in here. I I think other than saying premeditated versus not. I mean, I think those are
knee-jerk reactions oftentimes, those two-on-one things, but I do feel like there is a difference when it's a sibling interaction than not. And people may disagree with me, but that's how I feel about it. And that's all I'm going to say about that. So, thank you. Thank you, Dr. Campbell. Board member Thrower,
did you have specifics? Maybe a lot. Well, here's the thing. Schools are schools and it is a fine line between obviously as a
school board member it would be great if every single case that came before us was like 100% cut and dried make our job really easy right you know it's it's plugand play kind of thing well humans aren't like that and I would never want to minimize the role of the
administrators on each individual campus and They're I mean we hire them I think for their impeccable professional judgment and and until they prove otherwise I think that we really need to be mindful of
providing some some latitude as long as it can be justified because every individual situation is not the same. you know, some of them have commonalities and patterns, but there's
also some real intricacies that just makes it hard to, like I said, you know, plug and play. Um, you know, humans are not just robots where so
and I'm I'm thinking around to the the the sexual offenses, too. Obviously, if if it can be proven that there was a forced act that occurred, well, that is a huge law enforcement issue. you know, something that happens behind the bleachers and that's a
I don't know, you know. Um, so I'm not going to pretend that I have all the answers, but I think that there just has to be respect for the people that are with the kids every day and trying to do the best
they can, knowing that we want all the kids to be as successful as possible and graduate on time and all those things. And so unless there's something that's proved, you know, otherwise, it's just hard for me to uh be too to to specify
ourselves into such a box that we end up doing a a disservice. So those are just my musings. Thank you. Thank you, board member Thrower. Um I want to thank you for your work and the committee for their work um on this document. I I don't know how
many months you guys have been since January. Okay. a long a long time and and a lot of people have provided input. Um and so thinking about that and the time that's gone into this um code of
conduct for our students and thinking about the amount of time we spend dealing with misbehavior on our campuses, on buses, um on field trips. The roll out of this is so important. It
has the potential to save us so much time and energy um and money um and resources. Um and so I'm just going to speak from my previous experience and that is that
this document doesn't get enough attention when you guys finalize your work. Um after this is rolled out at the leadership summit, what is the next step? So after the leadership summit, that's when I start um working with the deans.
I have several um presentations scheduled with assistant principles, with the deans. Um in addition, I do professional learning with the deans throughout the year. So, as they're a as they're learning the code of student conduct, um, you know, I'll be teaching
them that the nuances of it and how to best apply it and make sure that we we're unformed throughout with all the schools. Okay. So, my question, I guess, is at what point are the teachers uh and other staff members provided an overview
of of this document, this new document? As soon as it it is approved as policy, then it will be rolled out brand new. um at the summit at the leadership summit and they will be given instructions as to how they're going to do it. Definitely am um taken into advisement. I think it's a great idea to provide
them with um with those slides so they can give to the teachers and so they will be given instructions on how to roll it out in um in their schools for that first and second day. Um in addition it will be on the website um
and um I'm working with it on that and it will be you know then we'll create a um a plan for it to be disseminated to parents as well. And so some of the things that you brought up today will also be part of that implementation such as creating an acknowledgement um
creating kind of almost like a cheat sheet for them to know exactly you know which um which offenses will give them a level three and level four. Okay, thank you for that. So, does that look um when you're rolling that out, does that look like an online training? Does that look
like a faculty meeting? Um when when the deans are passing that information on to staff, what what is your vision for that? So, I have scheduled right now the principal's meeting, the assistant principal meeting, and the deans meeting. So, rolling it completely out and then giving them instructions on how
to give it to the schools. And then um I will open up um a two-way communication so that they can ask their questions. So throughout all of that and then finally then throughout the year I have the deans meetings where we'll continue to
learn. Okay. And and I think that's I think that's great. I just um as I vision the kickoff of the school year and I think about uh preventing some of the situations that are brought forward um we have the opportunity to arm our
students and our parents to not get in these situations if they understand what the consequences are going to be. So, I guess my request is as as this rolls out um that we just uh your team takes time
to reflect on what that looks like and how important it is and how it really and truly this is something we do in our district that impacts every single student because if your student is not if you're if you're not be misbehaving, you're affected by a student that's
misbehaving. Um, it affects our teachers, our bus drivers, our non-instruct, our cafeteria. This document right here impacts every single person in this district. And I just feel like in the past this has been neatly
packaged and then dropped on the front desk. And I think that we have room and I think I'm hearing from fellow board members the same same concern that all of this work we're not meeting the potential of positivity that it it has
it can have. Um so I guess I would like an update as you get further you know um into finalizing this and looking at how you're going to completely roll this out. how we can better equip our parents, our teachers, and our students
to understand that their actions have consequences and what those consequences are. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you for that. Yes, ma'am. I'd like to share something. So, during um and Mr. White House can elaborate, but during the pre-planning week when teachers return,
it is it's customary that every principal or assistant principal do rotation sessions with teachers, and the code of student conduct is always a rotation. Um, and so what Miss Luga Hampton's team can do is provide a summary of this because it's a lot of
content. Um, so that can also be added to those rotations during the first week of school. Okay. But I have something else. Okay. Sorry. I just want to say Dr. Brewer, I I really appreciate that. I just in some situations, you know, this is just dropped on the desk and so my elementary teacher brain
is like if it was a scavenger hunt, if it was a, you know, this is an interactive activity that our staff has to use and that our kids have to use. Um, so they know what's in this document. Um, I that's what I want. I want them to know. And in the past, in my experience, this is just handed off.
And that was when it was in paper. And so now that we're relying so much on digital, nobody's looking at it, nobody's reading it. And so too much work, too much time and energy has gone into this for it not to h positively
impact our schools. Yes, Dr. Brewer. Yes. Um so I need to clarify a couple things. I want to make sure. Um one, do we we have a scheduled work session two of two on August 7th? Do we need to continue with that work session? and or
let me tell you the items that I captured that I believe you want us to take back to the committee. Um I have that the um se self-reporting for sexual offenses be reconsidered. I have the
sibling um sibling I'll word it better but the sibling situation situation that involves some of our fights be redefined or considered in our code and um and then the other
things are not changing in the language but the request for a flyer to simplify or to showcase the top offenses and the consequences and the addressing of bringing back that skyward notification to include family access like a push out
for family access to gain more email addresses. That was our barrier before. Uh know when we did that, we had less than 20% of our families actually acknowledge this um code of student conduct, but we can do um we can include that in our back to school sessions to
um try to capture more of our families with their email addresses because that was our that was the limiting factor there. Um, and I want to just touch on what Dr. Campbell shared about the principal tolerance. That's that's incredibly important to us for
consistency across the district and that will be shared during our leadership summit on July 15th. Yes. Okay. So, the question I have with that is, do we need to return for the second work session or can I can we provide an update to you through email?
Um I feel like it needs to be included in a work session just because there may need to be some discussion and that's the only opportunity. I think it doesn't it hopefully won't be okay robust as long as this and it's robust maybe we can just hit um you know the things that
might be changed um but I do feel like because otherwise we can't discuss it. Absolutely. Chair. Yes. I just had a few other things that came to mind as other people were discussing. Um, with regard to the siblings, I think that the challenge is um, and I I was watching Mr. Jones, but I think it opens up a can
of worms. Um, understanding that we felt that way about self-defense and we've kind of been able to neutralize the use of self-defense with a very clear definition. So, I think if we were going to do something with siblings, it needs to have very crystal clear definitions
because um, we open ourselves up to, oh, what is a sibling? And then we've just kind of expanded upon opportunities there for violence. So I would just really look for a very crystal clear definition there. Um if we were going to
walk into that territory. Um I noticed something as I was listening to other conversation on the code of conduct the one of the addendums the mandatory possible discipline actions the three-pager. Um I think if you could do a rolling header that would be helpful.
essentially the header is only on page one and then as you scroll to page two you're missing that information. So I had to scroll back up. So if you had a rolling header that would be helpful. Um uh a thought popped in my head Dr. Brewer as you were just sharing about um
ways to capture that acknowledgement. If there was a way we could engage the community foundation and the other backpack giveaway programs because they have to register online for community foundation. I know for sure backpack giveaway. So, if there was a way because they have to put in the student number. If there was a way that we could we
could have the community foundation somehow have like a agree to like a terms and conditions with the accept it be the code of conduct and essentially when they're acknowledging picking up the backpack, they are then subsequently
agreeing to the student code of conduct. Like that's a condition of getting the backpack is they have acknowledged receipt of the code of conduct. um because I know they give away thousands of backpacks. Certainly that's not going to capture all of our students, but it was a thought that popped in my head as
a way to possibly um get that to happen. Um I would love to see videos, student le videos, PSA videos on social
media. Um, I think that we have amazing studentled media programs from elementary all the way through high school and we see them make all kinds of sitebased videos all of the time because when I come to the media festival in the spring, there's tons of really cute
videos done and they're making those year round. So, as those schools start rolling out, let's is there a way that we can fine-tune through our um media programs some directed videos on different topics and then we use the
ones on social media. That is what I want to see. I want to see these videos student developed on what is a what how does a one-on-one fight go to a two-on-one fight? And there is a a high school that does a video about what is the difference because it seems like
everyone is so surprised. Well, he when he jumped in, the other one jumped out. Well, that's doesn't matter. It was a it was a one-on-one that became a twoon-one, right? So, let's have student directed videos created that we then put on social media so that everyone can see
what we're talking about and it again continues to spread that messaging of what our expectation is. Um lastly, I've shared it every year, maybe not from the day, but certainly with discipline staff. I would love to see in the trainings done at a district level
tabletop activities where we take previous referrals, get rid of student name, get rid of student any student identifying information, people who did the referral, all of that. and then put the student discipline history for that year
and put it on the table. Every single adult that's sitting at that table should give the same consequence. It will not happen because it is not happening. Which is what is fundamentally I think for me and I I hear often from Dr. Campbell, it's our
it's our frustration because there is not consistency. But if we remove student name and the person who wrote the referral's name and it's just the offense that the summary of the offense and the student discipline history and then obviously including whether they're
ESSE or not, right? Every every adult at that table who works for us should be giving the same consequence if we're following a matrix and we're all using the same toolkit to come up with the consequence. Because if we have the student history and we're using that as a way to context what the
consequence is, it should be crystal clear. And that's not happening. Which is why then when we see the expulsion packet and school A is making this this consequence and school B is this consequence and we look at the kids like we've had kids up for expulsion and
they've never had a disciplined consequence in their entire career. And then other schools have a kid who has done many offenses and it hasn't even made it to the expulsion yet. And so that is what I continue to struggle with. And I think as an area of
professional development is taking it down to Jane Doe, John Doe's, but actual real referrals that we have done and really seeing what is the consequence supposed to be. I think that would help me as a board member feel more comfortable as we get into approving
expulsions next school year. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Williams. Yes. Attorney Powers. Mr. Please. Oh, I'm go ahead and then me. That's fine. Um, just two items I want to add for the board's consideration. One is, um, you know, we've been much more aggressive in
dealing with Office of Civil Rights complaints over the past four years or so. um and frankly looking at ones that we don't agree that we've, you know, in any way failed and uh and and deciding that we're not going to enter into mediative agreements with those. Um, we
do have one from 2017, I believe it was, in which, um, there was an agreement regarding code of student conduct and lack of clarity that we would have at every school the ability to have printed copies on hand for anyone who requests
them. So, we have to maintain that, not just it's on the internet, so it's fine. We have to make sure because that's part of an Office of Civil Rights um, uh, decree that we have to have that available. somebody walks in and says, "I need a copy." We need to be able to reach in a box and say, "Here it is."
Um, secondly, I would urge the board also and anyone working on it as we go into discussion of the worthy, you know, sibling um issue uh that yes, definition systems do need to be clearly defined uh specifically
because we need to have a distinction between siblings and just a broad friend group. And it and and that's going to be siblings. What if they're not siblings, but they're cousins? What if they're not? What if they're unrelated, but
there's a close familiar connection? What if they're unrelated, but there's a close community connection? What if they are just a friend group? What if they know each other from neighborhood and call each other uncle, brother, friend, nephew, whatever. And then also, what level of proof can we demand of that?
because it may be that in some cases it's quite clear these are siblings. They actually are siblings and in other cases it may be much much broader. So we're going to have to define that so that we're able to do that. So um I have a response to that if you don't mind. I
just mean for for clarity purposes that's what we need. No, I completely I completely understand and agree with that. Just like we have in a packet we had today. Their Skyward information lists their siblings. And if their parent indicates that they're a sibling to another child in Marian County Public
Schools, those people are siblings. Anybody beyond that, I mean, it it seems like a pretty clear-cut definition to me because we can look right now in any expulsion packet that we have and our front page shows who their parents are and who their siblings are. And that answers that question as far as I'm
concerned. Okay. Member Thor, I have a comment that goes along. would you mind me stepping in with that? Um I would just like to add um thinking about growing up, thinking about years of teaching. Another way to look at um the issue of
siblings and and fighting is to make that something that's covered on that one pager. That when we're covering fighting, it means whoever. It means you can't fight with your sister or brother. You can't jump into a fight with your sister
or your brother or your cousin or your neighbor or anyone because when you are an adult, it doesn't matter. You will be charged the same. And so we I just want the board to consider consider that we may be doing a disservice to our students if we lead them to believe it's
okay to fight with your relative because we know that it's not. So just another way um of looking at um a challenging situation. Yep. Thank you for that. Board member Thor. Thank you. Um I'm thinking about data and and communicating the message out to the
community bec that our schools are actually pretty safe places. You know, we've been sitting here for a while now talking about, you know, this very thick document and all these things that that can and do happen. But in the grand scheme of things, I would like to see some hard data out of 45,000 students or
however many we have now, you know, and that gets put out every once in a while, but but how many are we actually seeing? And let's break it down a little bit to repeat offenders. You know, at some schools, you have a very small handful of kids that are creating 99% of the problems. Um because I think it's
important for the community to know that, yeah, while we have some bad things that happen, they certainly are not the norm. and and it's important for families to feel comfortable that sending their kids to our schools is is
a safe choice for them to be making. Um it's always great to have uh board member James go before me because I had written down creative presentations by students for students. Those are the ones that that resonate and and kids are just so creative and
they get a lot of assignments like that. So, we might as well have them be the ones doing the communicating. I think it's been known to be the most effective. So, I do think there's a lot of room there. I do remember back in the day, we did some calibrating at at deans meetings, like, you know, how would you
do this kind of thing and just trying to find some some common ground. And I agree with common ground as much as possible. I guess my point earlier was, you know, you're going to have outliers. You you just are that are pretty situational. So, you know, I I think I
made it pretty clear that I just don't want to hamstring our schools either. Uh it's it's such a delicate balance. Um but I'm just glad we're having the conversation. You know, we're definitely on the right track as far as
I love that suggestion about the registering, you know, to get a backpack and saying that you've got the code of student conduct. There's probably other methods that we can use, you know, to get that in there. here and I have one in my head and I just forgot it so I might have to say it in my comments but
just some creative thinking you know like that to where then fewer will be able to say no you know I I didn't see this but in the grand scheme of things even the lowest functioning kids at some level know that it's not okay to hit somebody pull their hair spit on them it
it's just not so I I feel like what we've done with attendance is that we've made it very clear what our expectation is and that we're going to support you and we're going to work with the families, but there comes a time when we are
we're done now. And I think that there's some dovetailing that can go on. Hopefully, the more kids come to school, the more engaged they'll be and the less likely, you know, they'll be to to act out. But I I know that we've made a lot of headway with attendance. I think we can do the same, you know, with with
discipline. I mean, everybody's crying for it. you know, we want our kids to and our adults too to have them be schools be pleasant places to be and in classrooms. So, that's it. Okay. Thank you very much. Um, I have two other things I wanted to just share because
there's really not another time. It's it's the closest it's going to be related because this is one of the only times we get to talk about um the code of conduct. So, I just had um a question and then a comment. Um under no cell phone use there is um one of the
consequences is ineligible for extracurricular activities. Do you know is that used? Like do principles use that consequence? Oh, I see Mr. White House is nodding. Yes. Okay, good. I didn't I didn't know that. It was something learn I knew I learned um
going through this document because I think that is a great strategy. Um when I visit uh high school campuses, um I will tell you when you do observations in classrooms for Golden Apple teacher
of the year, when you go into high achieving classrooms, nobody is on their cell phone. Um it's just an observation that I've made the last couple of years. um students that are doing really well. They're on task.
They're listening to what the teacher's instruction is. Um they're working on their work. And I will say I in the several years that I've done this, I've only seen one cell phone come out and it was a young man. I felt like he was answering his mom or something about pickup because he literally did boop
boop and put it right back away. So, I just want to make um that acknowledgement. There's a lot of conversation about whether cell phones should be at schools or being able to be used, all of those things. And I just wanted to share my observation in being in classrooms and the impact um that
they have. Um so, thank you for that clarification um about cell phone use and oh, I I think I switched topics on you here. I was talking about dress code um and I got sidetracked. So, dress
code. Let me go back. I'm sorry cuz I confused myself. I'm sure that I confused you. Um, talking about dress code and thus ineligibility for after school activities. Mr. White House is nodding yes that that gets used. I would what I would like to do is really see um
some improvement in that area. When I visit high school campuses, this is where I got turned around. Um, there are just students not dressed for school. And I I guess I'll leave it at that because I'm not
trying to put anyone down, but I think if we raised our expectation that children would show up to school um in regular clothes, jeans and a t-shirt, whatever whatever that is. Um, I think it's um difficult to manage. I know our
principles have a lot of other things to do and I've spoken to a lot of them about it. Um, and the challenge is is if they do a corrective measure, they go home and don't come back and so they're losing instruction. But when I read this that they may not be able to go to a
football game or a basketball game or whatever, I thought, "Oh, that would be a great incentive." So anyway, um, I just wanted to highlight that consequence. And now I'm going to go to cell phone use. I'm sorry that I got so mixed up while I was talking to you. Um,
just to highlight again that students are performing and participating when their cell phones are put away. And I think um I know that's by class, by teacher by teacher, but those that enforce it
um get better results. So, I just wanted to share that. Actually, if you turn to page 47, there is a student use of wireless communication device. They've recently changed the Florida statute and elementary does look a little bit
different yes than um than secondary and so that is reflected in the code of student conduct exactly your sentiments I think many people felt the same as you I'm sorry what page were you on 47 and this is the secondary
one second I'm almost there. Yes. And so, elementary and middle are prohibited from using these devices during the school day. It says here in including instructional time, lunchtime, and during transition from period to period. Um, where there is a little bit
of latitude for high schoolers. So, high schoolers are also permitted from using these the devices during instructional time except when expressly directed by a teacher solely for educational purposes and and I agree with that 100% and I
read that. Um, what I'm saying is the roll out of that is different. Just like we were talking about, you go into one classroom and all of the phones are put away and nobody's on them and you go into another classroom and every single kid is on their phone playing music. They have earpods in. like there's not
it's it's not the same. And so I think as you roll this out, that's a a great area to have conversation even if it is administrators sharing their experiences. You know, what's worked in using that kind of technology and what hasn't. Um so I just wanted to highlight
that. Okay. Anyone else? Well, since you started on dress code. Okay. I was I was kind when I was talking about dress code because I have more to say, but I'll let you jump in. Well, and I um as a former
high school administrator, what I will say is, and I think I would speak for most high school administrators, uh the dress code has been the dress code similar to this for a very long time. And as a high school
administrator, we didn't really follow this dress code. We followed the three Bs. and you can guess what the three B's are, but we didn't want to see the three B's. And so, as long as you had those three parts of your body covered, we were glad you
showed up to school to learn because ultimately, my fingertip length and your fingertip length are different. My me and board member Thrower in size are very different than Dr. Campbell and Miss
Conrad. And so if we do our fingertip length, it's going to look very different. And so I think as a high school administrator specifically, when you're grateful that a student has come to school, if they're wearing Nike shorts and they are respectable,
not up their booty, but they're respectable. I'm glad they're at school. Am I going to get into the weeds on are they fingertip length or not? And so I think what this says is mid thigh, fingertip length. And those two are not
synonymous. And so they it either needs to be better defined as an and or or both because they're not synonymous. Mid thigh and fingertip length are not the same on my body. I can tell you that with certainty. So, I don't know if that needs to get
clarified, but I can tell you as a former administrator, the ambiguity of it I have appreciated because then I basically say, well, she's really tall, so it is mid thigh for her, but it is not fingertip length. So, if the intention is for it to be ambiguous,
then I think it needs to stay exactly as it is written. But to expect fingertip length, I think is a lot. So, and as a college student, they wear gym shorts and a t-shirt to school every day. So, I think that if that's what
they're comfortable learning in and it's not distractive to others, then they should wear what they're comfortable learning in. That's just my personal opinion on it. Okay. You can see we have this is why we have a hard time sometimes because we have differing opinions. Okay. Um, anyone else comments? I'm not going
there. Okay. Nancy is gonna NY gonna pass. All right. Any other comment? All right. I just want to end with a positive um thank you so much to you and the committee for the work that was done on this document. I love that the definitions are in blue. I love the the quick um quick guide that's included.
And so I I think we're leaps and bounds ahead of where we were before. So, thank you um for all that you did to prepare this and get it in front of us so we could review it. Thank you very much. All right. With that, is there any public comment?
Okay, seeing none, we will move on to our next item. Dr. Brewer, would you like to in Sorry, I thought attorney Powers was talking to me. Um, Dr. Brewer, would you like to introduce sales tax project update? Yes, ma'am. She's been waiting all day. Yes.
Thank you. Miss Usher and Miss Boomach are walking up now to provide this presentation. Um, and as they're walking up, they we appreciate you all wait for waiting all day. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Brewer. Good afternoon,
Chair Conrad, board members. Today, we Miss Bombak, she's our director of facilities and myself will be presenting only on those projects that you all recommended to be funded by sales tax. In July and August after we work with
our finance department, we will come back with the entire capital plan with funded from funding from the millillage, the sales tax impact fee and capital outlay debt service. So it does not include all of those projects. The projected revenues for sales tax over
the 10 years was 335 million. The projects Miss Bumbck and I will present today total the 335 million. But to date we have received 17.3 million. So you'll see that only the first three projects
have money allocated to them. And the objective of staff today to get from you is to see if this is still your priority so that when we meet with the sales tax committee on July 9th we can tell them that these are the board priorities or
these have changed. So we um we we plan to do that in July 9th. So to start off with the first three projects that are funded, I'll ask Miss Bumbach to go through those. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Like on the first slide you see and it's
really small there but you probably recall that those were listed in the order that uh were the priorities and I will go through the first three of those in detail. The highest priority or the first priority for you was East Marin
Elementary School. Um you know it's an it's a large building and there is no walls in the building. um very high security concern. Um so we started with that, we visited the site. Um we evaluated internally. Um our maintenance
department is a huge help in there too. They know um what to look at and what to see. So we developed a detailed scope. We sent it out to the architect. Um the architect has visited the school already. They put together a proposal.
um they received a notice to proceed after we received the the first sale tech sales tax funds from finance and um the architect is starting to work on the drawings. They already were there. They're scanning the building and taking
a good um take off of the building and creating the drawings. There's $4 million of funds allocated for this project. Um and I wanted to mention the uh architect is Monarch Design Group. They have been with us under continuing
contract for a few years. They are working on the MTC auto diesel aviation building. Just to give you a p perspective of that. Um we are planning on bringing on a CM uh a construction management firm um very early um so they
can help during constru uh during the development of the construction documents um to look at um how construction could could happen. Do we need a phasing plan? How we can plan it? Um the goal is uh that we have
construction documents by December so we can send it out for pricing so we would be ready to start um as soon as students are out next summer and get into the buildings. And uh the design um also focuses on the
um single point entry. Right now when you enter the building you are free to go wherever you want. Um so we need to secure that front entry and provide that uh first layer of protection. The next um priority was uh or is Oyola
Middle School. We're talking about building two there as well. Um that's the library building. There are no doors. Um so when you get into the building um you are open to go to all the rooms and the rooms are divided by
some weird panels. They are not real walls as we as we know them. So the noise is is a problem. So just to put doors on I don't think uh would do anything to the noise. So we are planning on taking these maybe they were temporary walls. Well taking them out we
want to put u new doors and new walls in. So that also includes then also the wiring uh whatever is in the walls for all the outlets um needs to be um you know put back inside the walls and some soundproofing. We have $2 million um
allocated and we received the funds. Um we have finalized the scope. Um as you know there was another project at Oyola that um um we were focusing on uh first uh but we finalized the scope. We send it to the architect. We're waiting for
the proposal. They will come out and evaluate the current uh situations. Um one thought in there is as well the air conditioning system is quite old. Um there's a project upcoming at Ocola that was already approved in the five-year
plan. We might need to look at that that we can maybe um bundle that together. But we will evaluate that and bring that back to you at another time. We have reached out to Walker Architects. Um they are under continuing contract as well and they are working on the Oyola
gym at this time. So they are familiar with the campus. Miss Bach, I'm sorry to interrupt. Would you mind if we ask questions as we went along or would you prefer we wait toward the end? Whatever you prefer. It doesn't matter. Okay. I think we'd like to ask questions as we're going along. Okay. Go ahead. Thank you. I just had a quick question. The
way I I if I'm remembering correctly for a building two at OciOla Middle, it has a buzzard entry because essentially once you get in to that door, you're then in the entire space because there's no doors for the classrooms and then no door for the library. Is that correct as it exists?
Yes. So, is the intention to put walls around the library space and an entry door to the library so then that exterior door can be unlocked for easier access to the space because it's a I
would imagine it's a bit of a pain for students because we're doing the key card, right? And the key card is the pass, right? And so is there an intention on changing that access to that building since there will be walls and doors and then putting the library
behind a wall and doors or are we going to leave the library open and just put walls and doors for the classroom? Yes, I think that's a discussion. Then when we get into the first stage of design, we will talk with the principal. We also
talk will talk with safe schools and we will all meet and see what the needs are and what is preferred um for the school what would work best for their rotation and student traffic and I don't need an answer today. It was just kind of something that came up into my head
because it's the way of the the the flow in that particular building will change once there's locked doors for the children to be behind in a classroom. And so just trying to understand and also if the library was enclosed with a wall then the noise theoretically from
the classrooms may seem different and and that kind of stuff. So thank you. I in in this situation too we need to bring the CM the construction management firm on board very early. Um it's a large undertaking for one summer, but if
they are on board early and they can start planning, we can um consider that in the design and make make a plan how construction could go next summer. Number three on the priority list was Bellev Elementary School and Bellevia
Middle School. uh Belleview Centers Elementary School um replacement and combining both uh schools together at the Belleview Elementary School location. Um we are proposing and you will see um the layout a little bit
later in the slides a three-story building um for,220 students. And our plan for that is to use the Lake View Middle School, the current Lake View Middle School after the students move from there into their
new school as a holding school for Bellev Elementary School during the construction um on that campus. that would allow us um to demolish the entire campus, place the school exactly where we wanted to
allow the flow of the traffic and the students on on the side at the most ideal uh location. So for that the timeline would look like um liquid middle school in
August of 27 will move to their new location and at that time we will prepare that that school to receive the Belleview Elementary School students for the 2728 school year and during that time we will
construct a new Bellev elementary school on that camp on that existing campus and uh give it 12 months and by May 2028 construction should uh wrap up and we can prepare for the students to come
back for the following school year. Um we have 65 million uh allocated for that at that moment. At as of today we don't have those funds yet but we are accumulating those sales taxes over the years and by the time we have we are
looking to receive a GMP we should have the funds collected. Um at the moment we have funds ready to start design so we can um engage the architect and um have time to really uh fine-tune the
design. Um as you um mentioned earlier, you are interested in using the same prototype as we have right now for the elementary schools and Hepner architects has a version with the third floor already in there. So it would be the same prototype as we have used for
school X and W and the design will include also all the preliminary testing and the surveys that are needed. So we have just a little over $2 million already um assigned to that project where where it would allow us to get the
architect under contract. So the t the timeline is for design to reuse the prototype. We will make modifications to make it fit the needs of our district. Um we could start with uh contract negotiations once we get uh
approval from you um in June, July and then can bring the contract to you at the at another board meeting and start maybe with the design in August. uh the construction manager, we should get on board very early as well because it's a
tight timeline of constructing an elementary school in 12 months on that side. But if the contractor is included right from the beginning and they they can anticipate that tight timeline, I think it is possible. Um so if we could
start the selection manager process in August, it takes us about 3 months. You you know it's a lengthy process. we could probably have it um for board approval to you by December by the end of the year and then next year they can
start um as soon as the construction documents are ready sending it out for pricing by the end of 2026 we should have a GMP ready so we could start early procurement and maybe already plan for the what needs to be done to the old
Lake Middle School to receive the elementary school students And we are looking to start con construction then the end of May in 2027 with a completion date in May of 2028.
We have to watch the sales tax uh coming in now over the next few months um to make sure that we have all the money um collected um before we can issue a APO for the GMP.
And I want to show you the layout. This is the existing site at Belleview Elementary School. It's a 15 acre site and we have an overlay of how the school would look like and and you see um the
parent loop is always the biggest um problem. We need to get those um parents off the road and try to loop as much as we can on site. Um so we would still have the main entrance um out of 484 and
we loop them around the buildings. Um so we get them off the road and they can line up for pickup and drop off and then the buses would come on the side road. Um and also the the deliveries and we could have a site um entry as well then
for staff so we can separate um parent and staff traffic as well. Sometimes that's a tight point at the entry. Dr. James, and I just want to make a highlight here. With a completely new site, these schools will get exactly what we're seeing at Winding Oaks and
Ross Prairie. So, they're going to have covered play. They're going to have multiple playgrounds. They're going to have a um essentially a cafeterium with a with a true stage and and really
top tier facilities. and this is essentially the only way we will be able to provide all 1,200 of these students that level. Would that be a pretty appropriate statement? Yes. There's
there isn't really an approach where we would be able to deliver this quality to both of those sites separately with this amount of money. It would be it would we would it would cost us more to address these needs on two separate sites. Is that an appropriate statement? Yes.
Okay, I would say so. Yes, you're focusing on one site. You can house all the students there. Um, and you provide all the new state-of-the-art. Yes. And 1,200 students is a lot, but we have 1,200 right now at at Marin Oaks. We have more
than that at Sunrise, which we're addressing this year. Um, but we we built the prototype at Weining Oaks and at Ross Prairie to essentially be able to take a wing, which would take them out to,200. And while it isn't an ideal number of students, I think it is the
reality in some of our communities. And we need to address where we are uh and then continue to in other parts of our community address where we are there and do things differently to maximize um our fiscal responsibility. So, I just wanted to highlight that. Thank you, Dr. James.
Okay. Miss Mach, I that that was my update on the first three points. Any questions on on any of them? I have a really simple question um just because I noticed and um in the pictures. So, when we build the new
school, there's not a track um for the kids to to run on, but we have that great big car loop. So, do they use the car loop for for PE or No, they don't. Car loop would be outside of the fenced area. For elementary schools,
we we provide play area and no track. No track. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Excellent. And if I could just add, I think that a track has been created at some of our elementary schools due to the lack of other things
to do for recess. I would agree with that. And so some of our schools like Belleview Santos has no play equipment at all other than the no fixed play equipment. And so we've created these like creative scenarios and tracks at
some of our schools and because there's been an absence of other things for kids to do and so they walk the track. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Bombck. Go ahead. Um the next slide relates to the cost that we
got from the finance department. Um with the millillage we have 10.966 million. We paid the debt service and I know Miss Boston and Miss um Johnson they're here. We paid for the
remediation project at Oyola Middle at 6.2 two with that 10 mill 10 million 966 with the 17 million sales tax that we have we have 4.3 million at Ross Prairie still 4.9 at whining oaks as as
Miss Bumbach mentioned 4 million at East Marian 2 million at Oyola Middle and 2.1 million at um Bellev Elementary for the total of 17 million which we have right now.
So hopefully by um 27 we'll have the money needed to do our Belleview Elementary School with sales tax. The projection is right now about 35 million that we got from the finance department. That might change.
Other sales tax priority um the K8 in Marian Oaks. I understand that money was taken from the wings at Hammet Bowen uh Marian Oaks Elementary and Horizon and put towards the high school. We do have a new K8 as a priority from the board.
However, um Hammet Bowen was relieved by Winding Oaks. It went down 284 students. Marian Oaks, even though it's still at a high utilization, was relieved by Ross Prairie, but Sunrise students were um reassigned to there. Even though it's
going down, it's not going down much. So, we really have to monitor the enrollment there. Um, Horizon Horizon is just like at about 93% and we're hoping that Lakeare Middle can provide some enrollment relief to
Horizon um to Horizon Academy. So my first question to you, I mean this is for 65 million. Do we want to keep this here or do we want to push it back or do we want to look at possible other funding source such as impact fee because it's new capacity? So those are
things that we can look at but it was 65 million. The next one is Dell Donellan Middle High School and the projected cost in the projects from sales tax 150 million. We believe as staff that this high school um um or middle high school is
really needed. Talking to our maintenance supervisor we spend like 600,000 a year in these two schools. The sewer at Dana Denellan Middle needs to be upgraded and Dan Nellan High we have quite a number of work orders there. So
um this it's 150 million. It will take probably until 2032 to accumulate that amount of money. Another question for the board. Do you want it bonded so we can do it or do we want to wait until
2032 or 2033 to start it knowing that it has all those maintenance problems? The next one is where we are here MTI. MTI talking to our maintenance director he said to really fix up this place would be 60 million. However, right now
in the sales tax we have 15 million. We got the plumbing is in bad shape. lighting, windows, doors, HVAC. What I would like to see or staff would like to see and Mr. um Duncan if we can move up some money so we can start
working on these maintenance issue as soon as possible at MTI if we'll continue using it as offices and as a school. The next um one on the sales tax list is Ward Highlands Elementary. And yes, this
is needed based on utilization. It does have portables. The portables are old. So without the portables, it's at 111. With the portables, if we count them, but we we really haven't been counting them, it's 78. So it does need additional capacity.
The next one is maple wood. And the same thing here. It has portables on it, but we do not count. It has 17 portables. We have zero capacity associated with that because the portables are so old. Without the portables, it's 109. With
portables, 77%. So, I think we do still need this wing. Now, going back with some numbers that we received from our finance department to date 17.3 and that's like midyear and that's why the the really really draft
estimate is 35 million. Hopefully, we'll get more than that, but I'm not certain. Um so what I'm trying to get from here is the directive from the board on these sales tax projects and then on July 9th there's a sales tax um oversight
committee and the committee is responsible to review expenditures and revenues to provide written report to the superintendent and chair regarding expenditure and report any inconsistencies between the ballot language and the use of the sales tax
and the ballot language. which said it can be used for renovation, security, replacement, new construction, technology, and of course a certain percentage to charter schools. So the next meeting is July 9th and my intent there because we don't have all the
finance piece and I don't have the entire CIP and I won't bring that back until July August is just to tell them what you all tell me today if these are the projects we want to continue with. um just me we well we mentioned our
solola middle at 4.7 and I'm happy to say that that is on schedule and um we're able to save some ODS there also so I'm happy about that the other page is accomplishments we have a whole lot we couldn't put on everything we have the ad upgrade at residence we have
covered dining roof HVAC upgrades so we're quite busy and like almost every day we're starting new projects and closing out projects the new schools. We, as you all know, Ross Prairie and Winding Oaks will open this um August, the new high school next
August. And I'll bring back to you the schedule for the new middle school DD. At first, we had said January, but I think we'll push that back to August 27. And that will still work with Belleview because then Belleview can occupy the vacated lakeear in 27.
These are the revenues just draft. I kept pressing finance for some revenues. So this is just they made sure to tell me it's just draft. It says 107. I really wish we could get all that but I know they have to take out different things. So that certainly is not all for capital and understand the money is for
charter that have not been taken out. Now if we take out that um K8 then we have $65 million. On your list of priorities beyond the 10-year sales tax, you had three other
projects. You had Spar Elementary Facility Upgrade for 30 million, Okallet Springs Elementary Wing for$ 15 million, and Fort King Middle for 15 million. These three projects total 60. Do you
million, do you want me to move those up if we push back the K8 or if we find another funding source for the K8? So just looking for some direction from the board. Again, we'll come back with miss with the finance department in July, August with the entire capital plan and
hopefully we'll have some projections there too. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Usher. Um board comments, questions, concern. Board member Thrower, thank you. Thanks for the uh presentation. A lot of information in a short amount of time and you know we have some moving
targets as revenue uh continues to come in. But I guess I feel like what I heard was that MTI I'm interested in your recommendations. You know, your team has been going around and and looking at all of our priorities
and I feel like I need some help repprioritizing the priorities based on what you're seeing on the ground recently. And if it's MTI that needs to be moved up the list, then the board needs to make a decision. You know, are we going to remain here? I mean, you
know, this place was supposedly condemned 20 years ago, but yet here we sit. So, I don't know that we are going to see this need diminish anytime soon. Um, and if we're going to be here and make a commitment to being here, then we need to be able to take care of the
people, you know, that are here. So, I'm interested in in your uh revised list of of the order of the priorities. They're all priorities, right? um board member throw if at least I mean if we can't give them the entire 15 million I
would like for us to start um allocating money to MTI um Mr. Duncan said the sewer system is so bad the AC line so and according talking to him u Miss Bumbck and I had a meeting with him he's afraid the sew the sewer will go any
time so we have to really address that that is a priority it might not mean 15 million or the total 60 million but if we can shift around and prioritize and put some money toward that project instead of it coming in after all those projects.
Thank you. Okay. Yes, Dr. Campbell. Thank you. Um, again, a lot of information and I I opened my own Excel spreadsheet so I could kind of keep track of some things. A couple of comments. First, we
idealized that there would be a combo Dunell and Dunell and Middle, Dunel and Middle, Denell and High. The community does not want that. So I understand that from a facilities perspective because of the aging facilities we need to do it but the community does not want to combo
Denell and Middle High. Okay. So how we solve that might change um that priority of 150 million. I I don't know the answer to that just yet. Uh, but I believe that at least I I'm not sure if you had gone out with the mayor or um
and and had spoken out there in Denellan, but I think there might be some opportunities for us to explore that could change that thought process. Um, so that's point number one. Uh, another point uh that I'm just curious if we are interested in exploring at all
is the design build model. So that especially on say Ward Highlands or Maplewood where we're coming in to a campus that they're essentially replacing all of these portables with a new something that is not going to be able to look like the uh choice that
we've made for these elementary schools that are Ross Prairie and Winding Oaks and potentially in Belleview as well. but is something totally new added on and then it's just the one cost one right design bill is quicker indeed and you have one person overseeing the
project the issue we find we have to get a lot of permits and we get input from all our departments from food service from the arts and when design bill comes in there they're designing and that's just it building so we don't get the
input um I have worked with design bill before and we built an elementary school in 9 months. I had a lot of problems with the water management district. They were all complaining that we did not get our permits and the academic staff said they did not get enough input into the
process because the bill was moving so fast. But it is something we can certainly look into. Well, I I wouldn't say it's the end all beall for every scenario, but I think in oneoff cases like what I'm mentioning, again, going on to a ward Highlands campus. I think
potentially a design build might be the way to go and in something like that, I don't know that it's going to completely save us money, but I I'm at least interested in exploring it. Uh talking with some folks at Florida School Boards Association. lots of districts are doing both simultaneously doing a design build and an architect CM and so they're
they're weighing pros and cons but certainly in certain scenarios I think that that would be unique and interesting. Uh another couple of comments that are not listed here and I understand this is based on sales tax projections. Just two things that I want to ensure that as we're talking about
the five-year work plan that we are looking at the data center. I know I alluded to that the other evening whenever we had the money that we're selling, excuse me, the money we're going to be receiving from the sale of this old central warehouse property, but what it's going to take for us to
actually fund that data center that then will potentially release an asset for us that will then also add to the coffers if we choose to dispose of that property at any given time. The other thing that I want the board to continue to explore, and this isn't necessarily sales tax money, again, even though I might be
able to determine that it would be safety related, um, is upgrades, significant upgrades to Booster Stadium. The reason I'm going to say that is anytime we can put dollars into something that will then be revenue
generating for this district, that's not an asset that we're currently utilizing for revenue generation. We have the opportunity right now, right? While our community is talking about a sports facility that may or may not be approved at the county level, we have something
in a gym of Booster Stadium that is not on a school campus that if we put the significant upgrades at that location inclusive of new rubberized track, field houses, etc. that could be revenue
generating for us on a continual basis. It would never interrupt a school. It would never interrupt a student day. Uh but we're not thinking that way. Uh I mean, obviously, we're we're in the business of educating students. I understand that. But as we continue to
have revenue sources pulled from us from one way or another, we're going to need to come up with things that are creative for revenue generation. Just like lighting upgrades in this auditorium for example or any of the lighting upgrades that are happening in all the auditoriums. I think that that is only going to enhance that revenue generation
for each of those campuses. So as we continue to do that on our football field certainly those kinds of things are going to impact school days when they're on a school campus. But that is a unique piece of property. I just want to make sure we are allocating resources to boost that revenue generator. Thank
you Dr. Campbell. I have a meeting with Mr. Tucker next week to walk booster stadium, he gave me an update on it and the possible funding from other sources. So, we'll definitely work on that. When we were preparing um for our presentation today and we had our meetings, we did talk about the data
warehouse, but I know based on our estimate there, it would not be sales stack. So, hopefully it could be millage. Um we have we need we're working on more playgrounds, more cav covered pavilion. We're in Florida for the people to play, athletic upgrades,
and we do need to allocate more money for major major maintenance. We are deferred maintenance, 1 point something billion. We have to put some money into maintaining our schools. So, I'm glad you brought up the data warehouse and the um booster stadium. Those are two
projects we're working on. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Yes. Um I want to start by saying I completely resonate with Dr. Campbell statements. I think the data center needs to be prioritized because essentially we are locked into an asset that we could get rid of um if we had
the data center and the data center wasn't the plan until we essentially underbudgeted all of the projects that we're doing right now and we ran out of money. So I fully support finding a funding source and getting the data center done. It needs to happen in my opinion and I am in agreement with Dr.
Campbell on Booster Stadium. I think we need to address it and I think especially if the community is willing to support us in a level of a match so that we can create a rejuvenated Vanguard high school stadium that also serves the district in other capacities.
I don't disagree with her. I think we need it's going to be it's going to have to be a grand plan because we have to figure out a rubberized track there. We have to figure out if we're going to do it, we need to do it correctly. So, we're going to need to really truly identify the best way to maximize our dollars. But this community right now is
having conversations about a major athletic facility. And I think most of the community doesn't love where it's located or proposed to be located. And what's great about where Booster Stadium is is that it is not in any of those
things and is already that purpose. So, how can we capitalize on that? I am in full agreement on. I would love to continue to see us try to provide improvements at all high schools as we identify. We're we're essentially now going to have Westport High School with
a rubberized track. We'll have the new high school with a rubberized track and then if we address booster and so how are we going to continue to equitably help all of our high schools across a variety of sports um see improvement? So, I want to continue to really see
that. Now, on that note, I'm I just want to make a really clear picture to the whole board and to the community. Between the loan and the projected sales tax across 10 years, we're at north of $700 million.
$4 million of that is for district 5. four million dollars of over $700 million as as as the plan is presented with the new schools and wings and MTI and all of
the things $4 million and I am not okay with that and my community is not okay with that. And so I felt like I fought really hard for 30 million, which we had said was for Spar,
but at this point 30 million north of 326 would work for me, too. I don't even care where it goes. But the fact that the community, the county voted for a sales tax and the county pays a sales
tax and none of that money essentially 4 million of it of a projected while Miss Bostonellis we were using the 335 number the presentation we had around Christmas time was a projection of $400 million which would mean 1% of the money
would go to the North End. I just have a really hard time with that. And so I need to see a better equitable distribution for my community because they are taxpayers too and they are paying into this sales tax too. And for there to be essentially a complete
absence of acknowledgement of improvement on some of the oldest campuses in the entire county is just not going to work for me. Um, and it's going to I'm going to it's going to be the thorn and in the battle that I fight as we address this. Um, even if we include the
30 million that I fought so hard for, which is now below the line unless we cut the K8, that's still not nearly coming close to an equitable distribution across the entire district. And I understand that there are growth pains and needs in other areas, but that
doesn't negate the needs that are up there as well. So, um, we've talked about finding creative solutions and match opportunities for Fezden as a historic site. I would love to see us put the 30 million at Fezden and let's find a match and let's make FZDON larger
and let's figure out how to do that. But we have to come up with some creative solutions to improve those sites as well. Dr. James, the the um 30 million for spore was on the sales tax list but
beyond the 10 years. So if we do not do the K8 then that 30 million would be able to be funded out of the 335 million and we can put in a line 30 million for the north area schools. But I want to know if that is the directive from the
board so that we can make the changes there. So whatever whatever changes I want to make sure that it is consensus if we're going to move up MTI if we're going to move put 30 million into the north area schools if we're going to push back the K8 or maybe find another
funding source. I just want to make sure that's consensus on the board so we can go back and adjust our priority list. And so I guess to summarize my statements and then I will kind of pass the torch to someone else to talk. What I would like to see is um two things from Dr. Brewer and staff. I would like
to see a plan to utilize maximize the utilization of the north end schools. So what that looks like from coming from the superintendent, we obviously just went through a season where the board essentially brought the recommendation forward and understanding that that was
controversial. So I would like to see coming from Dr. Brewer a plan to maximize our utilization of the north end schools. We have one school in particular which is significantly underutilized and we have all of the schools, well three of the four at least
that need significant upgrades. The other thing that I would like to see come from Dr. Brewer and staff is the plan for alternative learning because on the 11th hour last summer we came here and then we've been pitching this idea of well maybe we send al the extreme
offenders just back to SERI but we don't have the money for CER. So, what is our long-term longevity plan for alternative learning? Because if students are going to continue to inhabit this site, then I think my perspective of what we do at
MTI changes slightly. I will say um I don't think it changes drastically, but I do think I would have a different approach to the prioritization if I thought we were going to truly continue to utilize this campus. So, I need to understand what
that five-year 10-year plan for alternative learning looks like for Maring County Public Schools before I'm willing to commit to millions and millions of dollars of improvements on this site. Um, as a board member, I am not truly in support of prioritizing
fixing our office space until we have really addressed some of our classroom spaces because there are students who still get wet on the inside of a school when it rains. And so I'm just not comfortable with fixing our district office until we've truly addressed some of those needs throughout our district.
That's just my personal opinion on it. So for this board member to get on board with moving MTI up, I need to see a strategic plan for what MTI's utilization or where alternative learning will be housed in in the future. So those are my two requests to
Dr. Brewer um as we proceed forward. I guess Dr. Burr, is that the directive then from the board? Well, that's just me. So, yeah, that's just let's hear from the others. Okay. Yeah. Board member Thrower. Uh, thanks. And, you know, I
sure uh sympathize with everything that um you shared, you know, board member James, here is where it gets tough because once again, we have a a plethora of needs and only so many finances. and a lot of our needs are concentrated
into certain parts of our county. So, we're having to invest down there. Um, MTI, I brought that up from the beginning because it kind of grabbed my attention when facilities share that, hey, you know, this place needs some work. Well, this place has needed some
work. It was the justification for opening the new, now old Forest High School. I mean, there wasn't even supposed to be people here anymore, you know. So more than 20 years later, here we are. Here we are. And there is that
costbenefit ratio of when when does it become more cost-effective to just raise it and and start a new with a building that is easier to maintain and you know all of those things. Um, I guess what I
would say about Well, it's hard because yeah, you know, everybody pays sales tax and and everybody benefits from improvements that we make in my mind no matter where the schools are because we have kids in some areas that don't even
go to their assigned schools, you know. Um but at the same time we were also just talking about offlining fees. So it just goes to show you what a moving target this is and why further conversation and a consolidated plan um is so important and that dove does
dovetail quite nicely with the conversation that I'm waiting to have. Uh and thank you for you know continuing to coax it towards the front burner. We need to know what our plans are for these historic schools because we're not going to get money from grants and other
entities unless there is a commitment in writing that we intend you know to make this happen. I'm worried about reic because if it continues to be underutilized then with the way things happen to be with where funding is
flowing and who it's flowing to for opportunities to share co coexist colllocate that I'm worried that we're going to run out of time and the decision is going to be made for us. Um so
yes to everything you said. Um, we we need to continue to really have this it's almost like the ongoing superintendent superintendent search item that that keep it on the the front burner as as we move along. So, that's I
know we've been here a long time today, but I guess that would be my next suggestion is let's continue to add this pretty much as an item for updates and let's get some answers on what we're doing with these historic schools and keep the flow going because the last
thing any of us would want would be for any particular district to feel like, you know, they're they're being slighted. And that certainly isn't I don't think anyone's intention at all. Um it's just the process that we're having to go through as we prioritize
and think about the long long-term future which is what historic schools require. Yes, Dr. Campbell. Thank you. So, you know, my Excel spreadsheet with the utilization of fish and and the number of students and then I also have a Google map with each of the five north
end schools and how far away they are from each other and all the fun things. So, I refresh my memory and maybe Dr. James, you can if we were to put 30 million at Spar, what does that do? Is it just a classroom building? It's not replacing the SPAR. Is it combining SPAR
and Anthony? What does 30 million do? So, I don't actually want to digress into I feel um I am going to I think in an effort to not digress into where we were six months ago, I would like to go back to requesting Dr. Brewer and staff
to bring forward a plan for maximizing utilization for the north end. To to go back to historical conversations I had with facilities, 30 million at any elementary site does a pretty good job with revitalizing
most of the campus, potentially adding on either a cafeteria or a library, redoing covered play. It's not going to completely demolish the site and rebuild, but it's a very good facelift for an elementary site. And so that was
the intention with the 30 million was to add some space so that it can take on more students and then provide a pretty nice facelift for the facility. Um, what facility that is at this point since we have closed the chapter of conversation
from before I don't want to digress into today. I think that would be inappropriate, especially since my request has been for it to come from the superintendent. But I do believe outside of Reic, three of the North End schools could all really use expansion to take
more students and a facelift. And how we go about that, I want to leave to the superintendent, but I do believe that probably the way to maximize the dollars is actually to do it at Fezdian. If we could get historical grant money to to match it, that would be the best way to
um maximize our the most fiscally responsible way to go about it. If we could get money to match. So, but I I don't know if that answers your question, Dr. Campbell, but I mean, it's somewhat it does. I I'm just I'm looking at the number of students total
on the north side right now. And I know this is a a snapshot in time. Uh but I mean combining three of those five schools is the same size as Mo or or the
proposed Belleview Elementary Belleview Santos we've just talked about. So and and I understand part of the thing that we've heard from the north side is they like their small schools. I understand that. Um, so I I I get all of all of those
issues. I'm just I know that Miss Usher today was trying to walk away with some directive. I unfortunately I don't think you're going to have it. I I think that we might have consensus potentially on booster stadium and have consensus on data center and things that are not on your list today. What about the K8, Dr.
Campbell? Um, so here's how I am on the K8. We already have the land and I know that MO has got to have some pressure alleviated and we thought that was going to happen with Ross Prairie and it is not. I believe they've had additional portables. Uh
they call them cottages, excuse me, Mr. so mad at me. So the additional cottages added to Marian Oaks Elementary School. We have to relieve uh alleviate pressure there. Same thing with Horizon. And I understand the idea that Lakewear
Middle, but it's going to be even further away. The new Lakewware Middle is going to be even further away than her than the current Lake Middle from Horizon. So I I see that being a need and and we know that the
urban growth boundary and what is happening with the expansion of Marian Oaks and all that's happening out there and just that southwest quadrant in general. I I can see that being a huge need. What I don't want to do is completely put Denellan on the back burner just because
they don't want what we had proposed because I know that Denellan is also a need. I think there are other ways to explore that potentially and if you haven't already met with the mayor in Denell and he has some ideas uh has proposed locations of of things that could potentially happen there and uh
potential partners that could assist in that community and what they might want in their community for us uh with us I should say. And I I completely respect though the idea right now that even Ocala Springs
is also on the back burner which is also district 5. So and Ocala Springs is operating at 119% capacity right now. So I we have so much need it's really frustrating. Do we move the Ocala
Springs wing in place of Maplewood and move Maplewood over? I mean that well and I know Miss Usher shared using impact fees where there is impact fee collection to address and so you know and maybe Miss Usher you can speak to I got to meet with her privately the other
day too because I had some questions about these some of these nuances but like understanding that maybe we use impact fees for wings in some of these places where where it is most necessary so that we can then use sales tax money in other places. Right. And again, I
have to um I know the finance department is working on getting a handle on our impact fees, but for example, the new K8 that is growth related because of all the growth happening in Marian Oaks that could be funded by impact fees if we
receive the impact fees and that will free up those sales tax money so we can add those other three schools under sales tax. I know that they have to use the impact fees to pay back our debt service, but hopefully if we get enough, we can you build a school with impact
fees. So, that's an option with the funding. When we come back in August, we can look at that where we'll have a better handle on funding. And that way, because um we can't use impact fees for just renovation or upgrade or
replacement capacity. we have to use sales tax. So when there is a new cap new need for additional capacity, then we could look into impact fees. Yes. Dr. While we're on the impact fee conversation, Attorney Powers, can you
remind us uh at what point we can start asking for additional when we can change or do we have to do a whole different study? Can you hear? I think I've prepared that um before, but I' I'd have to I'd have to double check because
there are some um alterations in statute that were made right around the time our impact fee went in. So, if if we could I mean add that to the list of a million things you're working on, but if if we could at least get an analysis of the timeline because it did take us 18
months before to even get them in place. And in light of what the county has just done funding their own impact fees at 100%. And and I right typically it's four years. I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt. No, that's fine. I for some reason I was thinking it was three but if it's four so be it. Well at three
year at the three-ear mark we need to get started on Bes study and get everything done. And remember the whole point is once again that we will be in the position of only being able to increase by a certain amount unless
weary go to extraordinary circumstances test. And frankly because we never when we only went with 40% of the total funding in the first place. That also means that any increases are going to be reliable reliant on data number one. And
then whatever the data shows um if it's going to result in a net increase of more than 25%, we're going to still have to show the extraordinary circumstances. Understood. Just wanted to keep that top of mind. Yeah, there's it's it's it's a it's it's always on my burners as to
which burner it's on. That's a well Oh, sorry. I just one thing those some of those students who are in portables at Ward Highlands, Maplewood or Cal Springs and not specifically those particular students, but we have had portables on those sites for 20 years. Yes. And so I
want to keep in mind while yes, we have lots of cottages at Marian Oaks and I love Miss Dreer, they've only had cottages for five years maybe. And so
why I feel a sense of pause to continue to prioritize that growth when other parts of our district have been utilizing portables for 20 years. And I think there comes a time when you're in a brand new school essentially with some
portables, which is really unfortunate, but they're in an older school and have been in portables for 20 years. And so when I think about how we prioritize, I'm looking at also a timeline perspective of how long these schools have been operating the
way that they have been operating. And so for me, I would like to put the K8 at the bottom of the list for now so that we can continue to try to identify some of our other issues because also 15 million is a lot more attainable. 15 million we could do two wings a year
easily, right? And so we could and the other thing that I would like to because what we had been presented with when we decided to pay as you go was a very large amount to borrow. I would love to know kind of like a um 18monthl long
loan, right? Just to bond fast enough to get the money to secure the contract and then by a year after we're coowed, we essentially are able to pay it back kind of deal. And so we're not taking a loan for 10 years, 20 years. We're really
just bonding for a short period of time so that we can continue to work forward on projects understanding that that revenue is coming forward. Um because when we looked at bonding the $400 million, well, it was whatever the number was, but essentially we were going to spend like $40 million on
interest, which I think we all felt was fiscally irresponsible for the taxpayer dollar. But if it's a shorter period of time, the interest is obviously going to be less. And so understanding an opportunity to potentially do that I would love to see too.
Yes. Thor getting back to priorities and um something to be sharing at the next uh sales tax you know meeting maybe from everything we're talking about and and that we need to more information and some recommendations and some cons
consolidation. Maybe this upcoming sales tax uh meeting of the committee needs to be more focused on updates of what's happening right now with the projects we're doing right now. You know, how our projects are coming along. Are they on time? You know, what are the maybe the
next one or two priorities? I I think the board was really great to focus on the the buildings that needed the most safety related uh updates and upgrades, but to go any further than that for a
meeting that's coming up in the next couple of weeks, I just don't know that that we're there because the the booster stadium is is another great conversation that we have yet to have with a lot of exciting things potentially going on with that. And that door was open well
over a year ago. Um things just take so much darn time and I feel comfortable with the three the first three items being presented to the committee. I feel comfortable with East Marian Oyola and Belleview Santos Belleview Elementary being our first three. We essentially
have a plan through 2028 with the money and I I feel comfortable starting there. Okay. and and that's from this board member's seat. And I think then we talk about these are some of the options. The board is still trying to prioritize them. These are all of the options. And
then we continue to have this. I agree with board member Thrower. I would love to see this like maybe at the second work session of every month. This is a topic and we get to continue to have conversation about it until we until we get to a really solid understanding understanding we're going to get new
numbers in the next month. um and and fig hopefully figure out where all the impact fees are. And so then maybe we can continue to have productive conversation as a board to really get our our feet um solidified where we want to be. That's my take on it because what
I see is Oh, I'm sorry. Just piggybacking on that. What I see also is OciOla Middle School sales tax funded. So that's there for the walls and doors installation and that's you know safety. Uh we have East Marian. Um and
what was the other one? Belvie Santos Elementary. Yes. Yes. Okay. So we can give them an update on those three if that's the board. Um yes direction and and other things that are still in the hopper but nothing's been
decided. Okay. Okay. All right. Miss Usher, do you feel comfortable with that feedback? Yes. Is that enough feedback for you? and we have to get back into and I'll talk to Dr. Bur about some other directives and tasks that we have to get done.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yes. Thank you, Miss Usher. Is there any Oh, sorry. Yes. Sorry. I I just don't know that board member James wanted offered up needing this these recommendations, but I don't know that we got 100 consensus. I mean, are we all in
agreement? I I missed what you said. Are we all in agreement as far as getting these recommendations that uh board member James suggested? Yes, I agree. And I have a list in my my I will get with you Dr. Brewer is what I thought. Thank you, Mr. Thrower. That would be my question, but I do want to share I had
these for my comments later, but we have on the August 21st work session already scheduled. We have the booster presentation coming to you. Okay? So, please know that's coming. Also, we had the graduation um topic for the class of 2026 on the August 7th work session. But
I I'll share other things later. Okay. So, that is the consensus. Then, yes, I will um bring back the recommendations for maximizing the utilization of the north end schools as well as our long-term plan for alternative learning um in the in the near future. And and
can I add to that if you all are in agreement also the reimagining the Denellan middle Denellan High I I think that and literally calling that reimagining because as I think if you actually speak with the Dunelan community we know the buildings are aging but what they want versus what we
might have on the list look very different. It's different. Yeah, that sounds great. Okay, thank you. Thank you. I'll add that to the list. Okay. All right. Is there any public comment?
Okay, seeing none, uh we will move on to our next item which is the superintendent search procedures and board. I don't have any updates at this time except for things are going smoothly and the search. So that is all
I can say there. Timeline and the time everything's good so far. I checked in with uh Mr. Collins yesterday and he said all is well. He said, "Word on the street. Everything's going well." So, we appreciated that update. Um, I'll next do meeting reminders. The next You have
to do public comment because Oh, I should without an update. But is there any public comment on the lack of update? Yeah, on the lack of update. There you go. Thank you very much. All right. Meeting reminders. Let me just say I'm sorry. um with the superintendent uh selection um case when
that when when we do initiate our actual uh RFP, there will also come a time at which the board will have to recuse or have to uh set aside and not speak to anybody who would be on that. We're already in that, right? and and and so I
want to ensure that as as that relates to FSBA, if you have any questions or anything like that that you reach out and contact me. Okay. So if I mean it just nothing nothing about the actual bid can be discussed. Understood.
Thank you. Okay. Ready to move on? Uh meeting reminders. The next scheduled schoolboard meeting is scheduled on July 8th, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. There's a special school board meeting scheduled on July 17, 2025 at 700 a.m. And the next administrative briefing and work session
is scheduled for July 17, 2025 at 9 a.m. With that, we'll move into board comments. Miss Martinez Young. Madam Chair, thank you. Attorney Powers. I don't have anything additional. Thank you very much. Okay, Dr. Brewer. Hey, thank you. I just shared some upcoming
work session topics based on some board requests. I um Miss Boston just left, but I do want to share with you that her team is working very hard to try to give us a clear update on the state's budget and what how that impacts Marian County.
We do know that overall Marian County had a total revenue increase of 13 million over what she was estimating. However, the majority of that is for family empowerment scholarships, which we all are aware of. Um, so she will continue to keep us updated um with that
information. I do also want to share that Mr. White House is still here and he is going to provide an update based on a board member's request on the Yamina extended year cost. So, he is here to share some information with you. Okay, thank you. Good afternoon,
everyone. Good afternoon, Mr. White House. So the question was brought up at the last board meeting about the cost for operating the extended school year at Wyoming Park Elementary. So we did some research and want to bring back those numbers for you. Um so really the only added cost to that calendar is
operating the three weeks of interession that we have um that we have provided adult coverage at the campus for beyond normal staff contracts. and that was to provide options for parents uh to have their students attend interession activities at the school. And so those
three weeks were two in the fall and then one in the spring um offsetting the normal spring break. The budgeted amount for that this past year was $65,000 out of our general fund and then another $55,000 out of ESSER and title 4.
Obviously, we do not have ESSER anymore and title 4 does not have room to cover that for this coming year. So, we would have to look at budgeting about $120,000 in our general fund to cover the inter session weeks for this school year. There may be some opportunities for some
alternative funding um in the near future, but at this point in time, we we would have to budget that into our general fund. Okay. Thank you, Mr. White House board. I just wanted you to have the opportunity um to provide input on
um that cost since we really have been dialing down and looking at things closely. Um I know I know we're not getting into um the academic conversation of that yet. Um but it did leave room for discussion
conversation. Yes, board member Thor. I I just have to say that until we know the academic outcomes and that we we know what we're talking about there. It's hard to make a a decision because we know that the school has struggled academically and
that was part of the reason well a big reason for probably the primary for for trying this. Thank you. Yeah, Dr. Campbell, I concur. I I think that you can't have one without the other as far as the conversation goes. And so we have to have one piece of that conversation drive the other piece. understanding the
cost associated with it. Uh but it is my understanding also that of the three pilot schools that were the only one left. Yes, ma'am. We're the only one left. Okay. So, the others do you know if the others chose to no longer continue the pilot because of academics
or funding or both? I believe one of the schools backed out before they even started if my memory serves me. And the other school gave it one year try and did not feel it was beneficial academically to them. And so they made the decision to back out for this coming school year. Okay. So certainly
understanding that we need to make that decision sooner rather than later because those families would need to be informed if we were to make a change for I don't want to get us in another MTI scenario where we decided then late in the midnight hour that we're going to have to back up and punt. So yes, ma'am.
And I would also point out that by the time we reach our next work session, we would be about a week away from staff reporting and students reporting to Wina for the extended school year. So at that point, it would be almost impossible to make any other type of decision. So in light.
Sure. So in light of that, I think this conversation is premature because I understand the reason why we're trying to have it because we've been talking so heavily about funding. But if we know that there's not something that could happen in the 2526 school year, then let's wait a little bit on this conversation.
Thank you, Dr. James. Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, this board member at this point is not comfortable changing what we're doing for next school year. And to be honest, it is so part for the course for education to give up on something before we give it time to work. I mean, it is like K. It is like
classic education to give something one year or two years and then be like, "Oh, look, it didn't work." when we really haven't had time to even appropriately track the data to truly see if there's impact. And so, um, I'm not ready to give up yet, but I do
want to be the incredibly diligent with our data and tracking it and ensuring that we really are paying attention to what we're doing and seeing if it has impact. Attorney Powers, did you want to chime in? I just wanted to say that because this was B during board comments, not a noticed work session
item, and because each board member then commented on it, even though I believe it's low likelihood, I believe we should ask for public comment. Thank you. All right. Um, Mr. White House, I think what I'm hearing is we're going to move forward uh with your round school for
Wamina. Everybody's concerned about lack of data at this point and the timeline is tight. So, thank you for your update. I appreciate that. Do we have any public comment? Okay, seeing none, that concludes my comment.
All right. Thank you, Dr. Brewer. Dr. Campbell. Yes. Thank you. So, um thank you to Dr. Brewer because while we've been sitting here for uh I said 7 a.m. like honestly, uh she also has sent me all of the names and email addresses for
our 2526 student board representatives. So, I have emailed them all while we've been sitting here and uh grateful for that. And uh ironically, I also know several of these moms because having a child around this same age and so I was texting the moms going, "Oh my goodness,
I can't believe this. I'm so excited." And so moms are super excited and and students hopefully will check their email over the summer and get the email notification as well. Uh, but I also wanted to make the board aware, I know we had brought this up and and Chair Conrad, you may be planning to talk
about this in your comments because you had talked about it before, uh, but the advocacy rep for the Florida School Boards Association is a spot that I have held for the I think the last four years. And I am because of my new role
with the Florida School Boards Association, it's recommended that I not serve as that for this board because I will already be on the advocacy committee as well as every other committee of the Florida School Boards Association for at least the next two years. So, um, not serving as your
advocacy rep. I wanted to say that it will take board consensus certainly to determine who that needs to be and we'll need to have an advocacy rep and an advocacy um, alternate as we have because um, board member Thrower has been my alternate the last couple of years and has served a couple of times
whenever I have been unable to do so. But I also wanted to make you aware the other piece to that that there are only 15 members of the advocacy committee. Let me back up. Florida Schoolboards Association bylaws state that every school district has a voted upon
advocacy rep. So there are 67 school districts. As long as there are 67 school districts participating in FSBA, there are 67 members in the advocacy committee of the Florida School Boards Association. Of that advocacy committee, there are then 15 people chosen that
become the legislative subcommittee. So just because the person would be chosen from our board to be the advocacy rep does not necessarily mean that we will then have a subcommittee member that participates in the platform development. However, I will already be
a like exopicio member of those subcommittees and will be uh able to share with you any information as it comes forth and uh we'll just may have to wear a little bit different hat in those kinds of committee meetings. We have taken a really strong position and
our issues usually make it onto the whole schoolboard association platform. I don't know if I'll be able to be quite so vocal in my new role, but I did want to make that um known that we will need to have an advocacy rep and that will be due in the next couple of weeks. It's
pretty quick. So, I don't know if we want to choose that today, who the rep will be and who the um who the alternate will be, but the other piece to that is if that person then also wants to serve on the legislative subcommittee, they will have to apply to be chosen. So that
and I can talk you through that whoever that person becomes and that's all I'll add. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Campbell. And I do have some comments along that but I'm just I'm going to wait for my turn. Perfect. Board member thrower. Thank you and congratulations again on on being um selected for uh being uh
president um starting next year. So that's that's wonderful. Remind us again so the community is aware what is the what's the succession? You are the president-elect now, but you begin serving as president. Sure. So, starting
July 1, I've already been sworn in, but starting July 1 of this year, so just a couple weeks, I will officially become the president-elect of the Florida School Boards Association and will serve in that role from 2526. In next year's conference in June, I will then be sworn in as president and
serve as the president of Florida School Boards Association in 2627. So through the first four years of the 2022 folks who will be transitioning determining if they want to run for their second term and second and only other term it we're going to have term
limit conversations a lot over the course of the next couple of years and then as is uh traditional fashion then in 2728 I would move into the immediate past president which is currently also an executive committee role.
Great. And it is wonderful that you were willing to throw your hat in the ring to be considered because we've certainly as a board been very vocal and effective, you know, with FSBA with our advocacy and getting things as part of the platform. So, uh, thank you again and congratulations again. My pleasure. And
the only other thing that that I'll have is that I'm really looking forward to the booster stadium conversation. It becomes more urgent feeling to me because of the conversation in the community of uh some very potential uh
largecale non-horse related uh event venues um in the farmland protection area. And if we can do something to help the community feel comfortable that yes, SoCal is going to continue to evolve, but we're going to protect as best we
can some of the really great traditions that Booster Stadium has and then also have it become a potentially a revenue generator and using land that is already there and and and designated. uh I think
would really be something that the community would would get behind. And so I hope the timing works out so that uh more people feel like gosh, you know, you wouldn't be missing out completely on opportunities that that that venue,
proposed venue would would offer. It was just that some of them at a smaller scale would be offered uh somewhere else and which is really cool. So sometimes things come together and I hope in this case that's very much the case. It's all I have for today. Been a long day as usual, productive, covered a lot of
ground. Can't wait till next time. Right. Thank you board member throw. Dr. James, thank you. Um real quick, Miss Martinez, I saw the Ocali visit was cancelled. Okay. Is it planning to be rescheduled? I just saw that on my calendar as as we were sitting here. Um I received an email. They're asking for another date
in July. They didn't give me any specific dates. They date in July. So we don't have that on Monday board. just so everyone Okay, I guess we'd all see it eventually. Yes. Um, so lots of productive conversation today. I really appreciate the work that went into code of conduct. Um, I am looking forward to
a completed document and I know we just had discussed it, but I I guess am old school. I love having a PDF that I can download and control F. I don't honestly understand how to use all those fancy tools on the internet. And I always say if I can't figure it out, other parents
can't figure it out. And so having the old school approach of just downloading it would be great. Um but it is it looks so much better. It's easier to read. It's easier to understand. And I know a lot of work has gone into that. And so I'm really appreciative of the work. Um
especially because that has been uh an under staffed department for quite some time and very few individuals have been doing a lot of work and so um props and acknowledgement to that entire department and the work that they're doing. Um I am uh we we were at
conference for FSBA this last week and um board I just kind of wanted to bring up something that's been on my heart as we are acknowledging budget. Uh as this board member I think that I am comfortable um our FSBA membership is 20
just south of $25,000 a year and it's basically per board member. So, it's like $4,600 per board member and essentially that's access to the membership. But then we pay for conferences, we pay for the hotels for conferences, we've paid for master
board, etc. And um seeing as at least for the next year we're essentially going to have our interim superintendent and we're going to have the board as it exists right now because we don't have an election for another year. I feel pretty comfortable taking a break from FSBA seeing as we are cutting funding
across the entire district. Uh and I I see it as a opportunity um for me to do my part. We have two board members who serve as executive directors um on executive committee. Dr. Dr. Campbell and Reverend Cummings and I think they do a tremendous job representing us and
I I don't feel like I will be missing anything with their leadership being there and being able to come back and report back. So, that's this board member's um I guess request. I'm not sure if it has to be a board decision or not, but I don't know how long the board
has historically all been a member, but I think that in the spirit of trying to acknowledge that all of our departments are having to cut back, um, I see it as a way for this board member to try to acknowledge my effort in that. Um, and
so that's kind of my two cents on FSBA and what I could do to be a part of a budget cut. So, I wanted to leave that to the board. It can be maybe open discussion or Miss Martinez Young can just maybe talk to Miss Sanders about it, but that is a decision this board
member feels comfortable making. And Dr. Campbell. Oh, Dr. Thank you. And thank you for that thought. I I think it it will take a little bit of conversation because I think that we would le lose our master board status and that that's fine if if that's um fine. What what I
also can say is an advantage to this district of me serving in this role is other than the membership, there will never be another charge for me to be at day in the legislature or at the conferences. You won't have to pay for
conferences, my hotels, my travel, any of that any longer, at least for the next two to three years. So that is an advantage to the district beyond all of the other pieces of of serving in this executive committee role is that Florida School Board Association does pick up
those costs. So if if we're speaking of my part as a board member, then that's my part as a board member that there won't ever be a cost at least for the next two to three years um on the district for all of those meetings and events that are professional development that are incredibly valuable. So
thank you Dr. James. Did that conclude your conver? Um yes. I don't have anything further. We'll be in a meeting on Tuesday and so if I think of anything, we'll chat then. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Last but not least, um I just want to thank everyone for being here today. Uh much
of our staff was here for the majority of the day. Few of our staff were here all day. Um just always appreciate you being present and available uh to answer uh questions and help us work through um situations and and conversations. So,
just really appreciate that. Um earlier in the conversation we were talking about code of conduct. Um I just I just wanted to finalize a thought that that really kind of summarizes how I was feeling um as I went through um and was reading that document. And that is as we
begin with um a new interim superintendent and the refresh of the code of conduct and the opportunity to elevate or raise our expectations. um for students on campus, their behavior,
the um their how they dress, how they present themselves, having pride in themselves, having pride in their school. Um I wasn't when I started that conversation, I really wasn't trying to be negative. I just looking with a fresh outlook um because it's kind of how I feel at the beginning of each school
year actually. And so um I just just wanted to say looking at expectations um and increasing our expectations because we know many times when we do that our students will meet uh what we expect out of them. So I wanted to share that. Um I
also had FSBA um on my list for today um for two reasons. One because we did just get back from conference but to so much discussion um on budget and budget costs. And so, um, I also would like to refrain from having
a membership this next year. I think renewal is July 1. Is that right? Do we renew in July 1? Okay. Miss Martinez Young is um nodding. Um, part of the reason is I do find um that conference valuable, especially as a new board member. Um, it was extreme extremely
valuable. Um, but I also have um great faith in Dr. Campbell and Reverend Cummings who are both serving uh serving us and do a great job of reporting um what they learn and what they find. And so, um, moving forward, I I don't look
this as a final final step, um, for FSBA, but I do think for this next year with so many cuts coming forward, um, having two board members represent us well at FSBA, um, that I too would like to step back from that role and save
that money at this time. So, that was something I wanted to address, too. I don't know that it it's a again a whole board conversation. Um, Miss Elena, if you'll let me know as you find out how we Sorry, Miss Martinez Young, if you will let us know how we proceed with
that um in in figuring out a partial membership um with our board. I will get with Miss Carolyn Sanders and see what the process is. Okay. Thank you very much for that. All right. I think that is the final thing on my list
today. If there Oh, the the only other thing we probably could come to consensus right now. Um that Miss Thrower, would you mind being the advocacy rep for Florida schoolboards because you certainly have to be a member of FSBA in order to be the advocacy rep? I feel like we need to have that conversation when Eric is
here. Okay, that's that's great. We'll just wait then. Thank you. He he should be back on Tuesday, I believe, for Tuesday's meeting. So, is that enough time? When do you have to have that? No, I mean that that's fine. I believe the last meeting you indicated when we had to have it. I
can't remember the exact information. I think it's a little ways off still. Okay. No problem. Okay. Any further business? Okay. All right. With there being no further business, we'll adjourn this work session at 3:17. Thank you, board.
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