--------- The schoolboard work session begins in 1 minute. Please take your seats. Again, the schoolboard work session begins in one minute. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]
Good morning. I now call the October 16th, 2025 administrative briefing and work session of the Marian County School Board to order at 900 a.m. Please silence your electronic devices to avoid disturbing others. mirroring and modeling how our students begin each day. I ask that you please pause us
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
car 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 would now like to
ask the board attorney to explain the rules for this public workshop. Good morning, Attorney Powers. >> Morning and thank you. >> 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 uniform meeting procedures, including the right for citizens to participate. The board will allow public comment on 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 but not people. Finally, speakers must be very careful
not to violate the privacy rights of others, especially students and their family members by mentioning names or other identifying information. Thank you for your attention to these important rules. >> Thank you, Attorney Powers. Good morning, Miss Martinez Young. Can you please provide the proof of publication
for today's meeting? Good morning. The notice for the October 16th, 2025 work session was published in the Ocala Gazette on October 3rd, 2025. Proof of publication has been attached to board docs under proof of publication. >> Oh, she's here.
>> Thank you, Miss Martinez Young. Okay, we're going to move into item 4.1, compliance inspections reports. Dr. Brewer, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you. Good morning. Miss Cynthia Barnes is here to provide um the report for us. >> Good morning, everyone. a quarterly
safety compliance report. In accordance with House Bill 1473, each district safety specialist is required to share data from the compliance visits from the Florida Department of Education of Safe Schools. Specifically, the language in the bill
states, "At least quarterly, the school safety specialist must report to the district school superintendent and the district school board any non-compliance by the school district with laws or rules regarding school safety. During the 2025 26 school year, the
first quarter for Mar County Schools, we received zero office compliance visits from the Florida Department of Education, Office of Safe Schools. Therefore, the schools inspected is zero. The percentage of schools inspected or reinspected is zero. No
school requirements deficiencies because it was zero, of course. And once again, the percentage would be zero. However, in section 10001 212 subsection 13,
Florida statute also requires that annually during the first quarter of every school year, the school safety specialist shall report to the school board in a public meeting the number of schools inspected during the preceding calendar year. Our results are as
follows. The number of schools inspected by the Florida Department of Education, Office of Safe Schools would have been 29. The percentage of schools inspected would have been 52.72%. The number of schools with no school
safety requirement deficiencies would be 13. The percentage of inspected schools with no safety requirement deficiencies would be 44.82%. Now, they did not capture any reinspections. However, all the schools did receive reinspections. That would
have been a number of 16. And all 16 of those schools once they were reinspected were found to have no safety requirement deficiencies. After having said that, to conclude, I want to take the time to thank the school leaders, teachers, support staff,
and parents for all working together on a daily basis to help keep our schools safe. It takes everyone making safety a daily priority to create a safe learning environment. Finally, I would like to let the
community know how serious we we take school safety. We embody one team, one mission. They are also part of we. >> Thank you so much, Miss Barnes. We appreciate the work that you and your team do to keep our schools safe each
and every day. So, thank you for being here this morning and sharing that report with us. >> Thank you. You have a good day. >> Is there any public comment? >> Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to our next item. >> Thank you. >> 5.1 strategic plan update for for uh for
goal four. Dr. Brewer. >> Yes, ma'am. We have quite a few of our leaders here today that will present, but we will um ask for Mr. White Mr. White House will lead us in this and then he will introduce the presenters.
>> Thank you, Dr. Brewer. Good morning, Chair Conrad, board members. We'll give it just a minute while we get our presentation pulled up. Uh, but we are here today to provide an update on goal four of the strategic plan. We have previously shared with the board updates on goals one, two, and three, and we'll
have goal five coming up next month. Okay, I'll keep talking through there. So, uh, as a part of the 2026 district strategic plan, we have five goals in place. Goal four focuses on fiscal and operational efficiency. Um, I have a team here with me this morning that will
share updates on each of their areas. Um, I'm filling in for Miss Usher, who would normally be kicking this off for you, but certainly we all play a role in fiscal efficiency of our school system. So, you'll note on the slide with the data that we have provided for you,
updates on the outcome metrics that are included for goal four. Um, as a reminder, this document is a living document. So you'll note that the first item on there which is looking at network usage efficiency is actually an
updated item. Our previous outcome metric which was making sure that we had onetoone devices for all of our students at the district was accomplished a couple years ago and so we have uh pivoted to make sure that we are continuing to move our district forward through technology. Uh and Mr. Benoodi
will share some updates about our progress with that. Uh we also have our updates on there for our transportation. Uh we have shown some improvement in the early AM arrivals. We've also seen some
improvement in our PM arrivals on the outcome metrics. One more. Yes, sir. Thank you. Um, so we are getting very close to our goal with our AM and certainly you all are getting those regular updates as we continue to problem solve around our
transportation to make sure we can reach those goals and Mr. Estanic will be here to provide some updates on that. Our school lunch participation, we have actually already met the goal for the strategic plan and we're excited to continue seeing growth in student participation and lunch participation.
Miss Belchure is here to be able to provide some updates in that area. Uh we are working through risk management to make sure that we are reducing the number of workplace injuries that are sustained from visitors um and making sure that all of our facilities are up to date and in good working order. Mr.
Duncan is going to be here to provide some updates on our facilities. Um and then finally at the end uh we have our ending fund balance which as the board is aware we've um had some struggles in the spring with trying to eliminate $64 million shortfall in the budget. And so
this one is still a work in progress and our finance team will share some updates for what we're working on this year to try and reach that target. So at this time I will turn it over to Mr. Benoodi who will provide some updates for you on technology.
Good morning. >> Good morning. >> Technology and Information Services is committed to providing consistent, reliable access to digital learning resources for all students and staff. Currently, our network availability rate
stands at 99.918. Our target is to reach 99.99%. availability. This availability is often referred to as the 59s. The benchmark is extremely difficult to achieve as it allows for
only about five minutes of downtime per year compared to the nearly seven hours of downtime at our current level. Reaching this level of performance requires significant investment in modern infrastructure, redundancy, and proactive monitoring. To
move closer to this goal, we're implementing a series of strategic upgrades and enhancements designed to strengthen our technology infrastructure and directly support teaching and learning. The strategic upgrades and enhancements include the following. Network
infrastructure upgrades. Currently, we're replacing all network switches at schools. Wireless access points have been replaced at high at the high school level and middle and elementary schools are soon to follow once we have -ate funding approval.
These upgrades are essential to maintain reliable high-speed connectivity for the more than 63,000 devices used across the network daily. With a growing inventory of Chromebooks, desktops, and laptops that rely on the
network, improving reliability and security is crucial to ensuring uninterrupted instruction. Our next enhancement is cyber security. To strengthen our digital security, the district is implementing multiffactor authentication to staff accounts,
enhancing user access control within business systems, and conducting simulated fishing campaigns to raise cyber awareness. Each year, more than 50,000 technology support tickets are generated, many tied to account access
and authentication. These initiatives directly reduce risks while improving operational efficiency for staff and students. The software approval process is our next area of enforcement or enhancement, I should say. We have established
standardized operating procedures for evaluating and approving school-based software applications. With thousands of devices in classrooms and a wide range of instructional requests, a consistent and secure approval process ensures that
applications are reliable, compatible, and aligned with district standards before deployment. Our next upgrade is digital classroom management software. One of our major initiatives is the implementation of our digital classroom
management software. This tool enables teachers in grades 6 to 12 to manage student Chromebooks during the instructional time while providing real- time oversight that strengthens classroom control and supports student engagement in digital learning
environments. Professional learning and development is another major focus of the technology and information services team. Professional learning is a cornerstone of our technology strategy. We're providing in-person, virtual, and
ondemand training opportunities, including lead teacher cohorts. As new tools as such as classroom management software are deployed, these programs ensure that staff have the knowledge and confidence to use technology effectively
in the support of instruction. Finally, I want to make you aware of our device management and support. Device management reports one of our largest respon uh areas of responsibility for our technology staff. The team supports
more than 67,000 devices across the district, including 50 almost 52,000 Chromebooks, 2400 interactive flat panels, over 4,400 teacher desktops,
700 over 718 teacher laptops, 2500 administrative desktops, and almost,300 administrative laptops. 4,838 student desktops and 553 student
laptops. Each device requires imaging, configuration, maintenance, and ongoing support. In addition, more than 50,000 support tickets are logged annually with an average of 315 tickets solved a day. This workload highlights both the scale
of our operations and the dedication of the district technology staff. In conclusion, these initiatives include modernizations of networks, enhanced security, streamline approval, classroom technology, integration, professional
development, and comprehensive device management share one purpose. And the one purpose is ensuring secure, reliable, and effective technology that supports teaching and learning across Marian County Public Schools. Okay. And I'll be followed by Mr. Stanic
with the transportation update. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. >> Our goal with transportation is to provide reliable and safe bus transportation across Marian County. Uh that that's our ultimate goal is to get our kids to school on time and get them
there safely. Um, I'd like to take this time as we get started to thank the board for providing my team with the resources and support to meet our goals of providing that reliable and safe bus transportation. The board has once again shown its commitment by approving the purchase of
the 18 buses on Tuesday night, and I'm very thankful for that. Now, as we get in and we start talking about how we meet our goals with our uh we're going to look at our on-time arrival percentages. Uh this data was derived from our new routing software
and tablets which were installed this summer. As as we look to improve and and um reset our goals, I'm going to talk a little bit about why we look to do that. If you look at the percentages here, we've made some pretty nice jumps over the exact same time period from a year
ago. And if we would have put in 2023, you would also see jumps that have been made in that realm. Uh we currently um are trying to achieve and maintain a 95% AM on time arrival and 80% PM on
time arrival. You'll notice in the AM we're making nice jumps. In the PM there is a little bit of lag. And I'll just talk about that for a little bit because if and I always like to look at the positives, but I I seem to focus more on the where we need to improve a lot of
times because that's to me that's where the work needs to be done. Um we've experienced that decline in the PM and some of the factors that have kind of got us in that point is we have a number of students with drop off restrictions in the afternoons and most of those kids
are usually elementary kids. So, if the we get to a bus stop and there's no one there to receive that student, we have to either pull over, try to get a hold of a parent, and get that student dropped off or take that student back to the uh school, which puts us behind for
that second and third tier of the run. Other factors are PM call outs and a lot of our temp workers only work in the AM, not the PM. So, that's why you see the numbers, the discrepancy there. And ultimately, as much as our new
technology and everything that we have in place is really helping us improve our numbers, our backbone is the employees that work within our team. Now, if we look at this slide here, once again, it's highlighting the AM on time arrival. Um, because it I'm very proud
of our team when we look at these numbers. the percentage increases. I'm going to kind of highlight zone three uh because they they're almost a 10% increase over last year. And when you look at zone three, they have if you're looking at outside column, they have 78
buses or 78 routes, I should say. Um in zone three, that's eight more than our our next zone, which would be zone four or 70. within zone three. They also have probably the the toughest area to to
work with traffic and the kind of the overcrowding. There's a reason that we're building so many schools in the southwest quarter because it's such a highly populated area. Well, when you try to drive in a highly populated area, you know, we you kind of run into some issues with traffic sometimes. And if
you've been down that way in the southwest area, I think we've all seen that. Um, so just I give everybody else a kind of chance to look at those numbers, but those increases, um, obviously if you're doing well, it's harder to increase the number. You look
at zone 2, they had a really successful year last year, so their number is a is a little smaller, but the number is going to be smaller when we have less area for for growth. I mentioned a few minutes ago um for us to really be excellent within the
transportation department. All the tools in the world are are are needed and are great and they help us, but the mo the number one tool we have and the backbone of our department is our employees and our team within the within the department. Um and without them, we're not going to be successful. So when you
look at our our driver percentage for um being at work on September 15th this year, uh at that point we were averaging 97% attendance, which is uh very well, you know, that's very good. But they're also, you know, that's without including
some of the FMLA and when folks are out or if there's a um a workers comp issue where someone's on light duty. So those those are the numbers that we're we kind of um causes us to have to try try to make up some uh some open routes and and
fill those areas. So our department our department excuse me our departmental efficiency is directly correlated obviously with our employee attendance and and that's what these numbers are kind of looking at here. Our numbers are going up when our when everyone is is at work. And if we
have less folks at work, our numbers kind of lag a little bit on those days. The technology upgrades that we have here as far as the traversal routing software, um the maximizing our our fleet usage by by increasing the number
of buses that we purchase. That way we we can keep more buses on the road because they're newer and they don't break down as much. Um so they're not we're not having as much downtime. The live view cameras and the tablets that tech those technology upgrades have made
possible through the board's commitment and the collaboration of several departments including safe schools, our legal department, transportation, and the finance department to allow us to increase these numbers. And I think that's why we're seeing these numbers increase and and look better, especially
in the AM arrivals. Uh the technology upgrades increase our efficiency and they help keep our students and employees safe. We have several examples of that. I'll just provide um one we had an incident this morning where uh the a bus had they weren't in an accident, but they were
right there to stop because of the accident. They were able to hit the red button to um get with 911. And we were also able to live view the bus so we could make sure the kids were okay. Even though they weren't involved in the accident, they had to witness something that that happened. So they're able to
live view at that point and see what what's going on or from the office. As we send staff there to assist and get another bus there to get the students because they couldn't pass through the area. So those are just a few few of the
examples. There is one quote that's on here. I'd kind of like to read and this is directly from one of our drivers, Miss Iris McCoy in zone one. It says, "The tablet has been a great help. It makes navigating much easier, especially when I'm covering someone else's route and don't have their paper directions. I
really appreciate how the student names pop up at each stop. It speeds up the loading process. It means I'm not holding up traffic while flipping through paperwork. It's made my dayto-day smoother and more efficient. Definitely a win in my book. So, and I think we see that across the board. If
we can be more efficient, our our drivers can be more comfortable and it's just going to make the entire process better. >> Thank you. Now, I'm going to introduce um Miss Ivonne Bumbok, director of facilities. >> Mr. Oonic, would you mind holding on for
just a second? I think we have a few comments or maybe a question or two. >> I'd love to. We can wait till the end if we want, but I just I >> I think it flows better to to let while that person's presenting. Go ahead and ask the question. >> Yeah, sure. And I don't really have questions as much as I guess maybe one
of them is a question, but you mentioned like temp workers who only work one part of the shift, and this may be part of the union contract, which would be beyond this conversation, but are we able to hire just a part-time driver that can drive mornings or afternoons?
Because that split schedule is a challenge for some people. And so is there a way you could just be a bus driver in the afternoon? >> Yes, ma'am. We have we have um I believe 10 available temporary bus driver positions. Um right now I think six of
those are filled and those drivers they may only be able to work Monday, Wednesday, Friday or they may be able to work or they may only be able to work PM um or maybe their shift changes but they're on you know they're on and work with us. We currently have that. It's
just try sometimes trying to get those get those filled is not the easiest thing. I do know that we have one more that I believe um will start next week. Um that's working with training right now. >> Okay. It's not lost on me that we approve the staffing plan, but I didn't
I don't I didn't know that. So that was something I learned today. So certainly something I can share in the community as I I have conversations. You were talking about the age restrictions for dropping off children. What What is that age? Is there an age restriction for that elementary drop off?
>> If you said it, I missed it. >> If if um if they're a VPK student that that's um that rides, so if they're they have an IEP, >> okay, >> there there's they have to have a drop off restriction. Um a lot of our say Hillrest students have drop off restrictions. There's a lot of students
that ride just from other schools that are that are older, but for whatever reason, they have a drop off restriction. Um, and then for us, we don't drop kindergarteners off without a parent being there, unless a parent tells us that, you know, we're they can be dropped off. There's not a
restriction on kindergarten, but we kind of place that on there. >> So, what is the what is the um I'm trying to find the most appropriate word. Where is the accountability for the adult who is on the receiving end of
the child if they fail to promptly be at the bus stop on a regular occurrence? What does that look like? >> We try to call and and see what's going on, but if it's a regular occurrence, we work with the school and we work with
the parent and they can be removed off of the bus. >> Okay. >> Um if if they're not there. It's just it's one of those things a lot of times it's it's sporadic. Um so tracking it sometimes can be a little bit of a an issue. >> Understood. Okay. Thank you for
explaining that. And then just as a an afterthought for after today's meeting and this I think is partly just of my awareness because we get your transportation report which is very detailed but it does indicate how many of your employees are out on FMLA. Um I
know Miss Brand's not here today. Um, but one question I would have is, is the percentage of employees out for workman's comp or FMLA statistically similar to the other departments that we have throughout Marian County Public Schools? I'm only obviously privy to
this amount because you share it so regularly, but it does seem high. Um, but maybe it's not high. Maybe it's pretty in line with the rest of the departments. But just as an afterthought, and this is totally not for you, but if someone from risk or um HR would share that, I would just wonder
um because if it is if transportation is higher, I'm just wondering if there are problem solving things we could work through to try to come up with some solutions to minimize, you know, those barriers. So, that was the only questions I had.
>> Yes, ma'am. All >> right. Thank you, Dr. James. Any other um questions or comments at this time on transportation board? >> Yeah, M. >> I always want to say thank you because it is a tough beast to wrangle this
transportation and it is so integral to our success. The ontime drop off in the afternoons, you know, I'm not sure what stones are left uh to unturn.
Um but we just have to keep thinking it through and and problem solving and you know even if someone is on intermittent FMLA as opposed to full FMLA you know working with each employee
as individuals to try to accommodate them uh as best we can and support them as best we can so that they can work when they can. Um, and there's so many components that go into it. I guess
another opportunity may be, you know, what can we do to incentivize uh the temporary folks to work in the PM? You know, a lot of people that are retired, it's like, okay, sure, I'm up in the morning anyway. I'll go ahead and
do a couple runs, but then the rest of my day, I want my day, you know, to do what I want to do. So, so I see it from all sides. Uh but whatever we can do creatively that can be brought to us as as a school board that's within the union contract and all
of the other uh guidelines that that we have to live by. And I don't know if there are any other in incentives that we can think about that would help encourage retired employees to come back and and do some PM runs, you know, for us. Sometimes
those doubling up on a run is it's it's great for the driver because they get overtime, but it doesn't help the cause of the un of our on time, you know, issue. So, I realize at a pretty good level how involved this all is, but please continue to bring, you know, the
ideas and and if we can make them happen, this board is committed to doing that. I know. >> I I thought of something else. Um, chair, I don't know. So, have we spent any time connecting with um some of the
plants like FedEx and Amazon and Chewy who do shift work? Potentially individuals who work like a third shift, so they don't go in until the evening time and they would have availability that's not in the morning when they would be sleeping, but it is ahead of their schedule. Um, I I wouldn't see us
as a competitor because they obviously pay more than we do, but this an opportunity for one of their employees to then come and just pick up a couple hours a day for us. And I don't know if we're reaching out to them, um, if they'd even be interested, but maybe if I mean, I know in in today's economy, a
lot of people are looking for extra opportunities for employment, and those drivers all have CDLs. So, just a thought that popped into my head as us to connect. Maybe we could work through the chamber or something to create some connections there and see if they'd want to come in and just give us three or four hours in the afternoon ahead of
their night shift to pick up some extra hours. >> Yes, ma'am. And there are some things in the works. I know one of the things that you guys um passed on Tuesday was with school district services. They have some drivers that we're going to use that we're we're hoping I was emailing with
Mr. lucky yesterday, but hopefully get those drivers in on Friday to do the training we need to do with them so we can get them on a bus and they will they're going to start there. It's it's only going to be a few to start with that he has available, but one's better than none, right? Um and get them on a
on an open route to try to help us fill some of those. So, there's some things in place. I know Reverend Cummings last year mentioned about working with um uh the prison and seeing if maybe the guards when they got off shift. One of the things I've thought about doing is reaching out to because sometimes it's
harder when you shift work every day, but if you shift work 24 hours on, 48 off or something like they do at the fire department, maybe there's some firefighters that may like to um come in and do some temporary driving type of thing. So, uh, there's some some outreach, you know, out of the box
thinking that that we're looking at to see what we can do to try to help. Um, you know, we just we just have to we we can't think within the parameters that we've always thought, right? We have to come up with other ideas. >> Yep. And I would just say if there's any if any of us can help connect with as
the different roles we represent connect our organization with other organizations to try to like just create a bridge and a pathway. Please just let us know because that's I want to see us figure out how to solve this problem as many ways as possible. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you,
>> Mr. Oonic. I just want to say thank you for your leadership. you're always thinking out outside of the box and bringing ideas to us and you know share the same mission and same goals we do with as you do and so just thank you for your continued work. You know I know you're working 247 there's always
something going on with transportation so thank you. >> Yes ma'am. Thank you. Now, Miss Ivon Boom's going to come up. >> Good morning. >> Good morning, board members. Dr. Brewer. I'm here to uh present the priority
strategy C and this is to ensure that our facilities are healthy and safe physical environments for working and learning. our facilities department, the maintenance department, custodial staff, they work every day to provide the best
environment for students, staff and the public. Um we are proud to share that all key activities that we had in the past years have been met. Um some of them include that uh work order software we had. We installed the UVC lights and
all the HVAC equipment um to enhance the air quality and we are working with uh uh a firm Ross EMS um for our facilities assessment data bank I presented uh in
the last update. Um there's lots of information that goes into that data bank. Um we're meeting uh quite often to to to dig even deeper and to get as much information into that data bank as we
can. Um hopefully we are we are finishing up shortly and then we can use this comprehensive assessment to allow us to better prioritize um our projects to hopefully minimize emergency
situations um going forward. And that's all the update I have. >> Okay. Any comments, questions? >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Boom. >> I was just going to give one compliment. >> Okay, sir. >> I It is not lost on me how you all
essentially, Mr. Duncan, yourself, lots of members of the facilities team are working essentially 247. Um, I mean, we received text messages in the middle of the night. Um, and and early in the morning. The Fezden situation obviously was a very early morning and so I just
wanted to make sure that recognition was given publicly to an acknowledgement to just how much you all are available to address issues, facility issues that directly impact student learning and and some of them are health and safety related where we have to address it
before students arrive on campus or we have to come up with an alternative plan. and the foundational knowledge you have about MCPS in your brains and just the ability I mean Mr. Duncan I feel like has a map of every school in his head at some point and so just the ability to really think through to
impact what is this going to look like how can we solve the problem and be solutionoriented is a huge benefit to the district and I just wanted to publicly acknowledge that >> yes thank you yeah Mr. Mr. Duncan is always there for all of us to re like facilities couldn't do the work without
the maintenance department and his leadership. They are they're the boots on the ground and they know the facilities inside out and without their cooperation we wouldn't be in such good shape. >> Thank you, Miss Bloom. M >> I'll just say I concur. It doesn't go unnoticed. It doesn't go unappreciated
and you guys are lynch pins in and everything that we do. So, thank you so much. And it's really been quite a few years, you know, that we've had, you know, with building schools again for the first time and just trying to maintain what we have and and keeping it
all together. So, incredible department. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Boom. >> Thank you. And I will introduce Miss Ramona Belsha. She will update you on strategy number D. Good morning board members and interim
superintendent. The outcome metrics for goal 4D reflect a notable rise in lunch participation. So I'm pleased to report that food and nutrition services has exceeded our goal achieving 82% of participation in lunch
including breakfast, lunch, snacks, and supper meals combined. We served a total of 9.8 8 million meals last year, highlighting our commitment to providing nutritious meals for our students. Food and Nutrition Services promotes healthy eating through various marketing
channels, including Peach Jar flyers, our Facebook marketing, seasonal promotions, and in case you're not aware, it's National School Lunch Week this week, and we have um items on the menu from around the world, so our students can experience new and
different foods from other countries. We also participate in the fresh fruit and vegetable program and our newest initiative is Farm Fresh Friday. Farmresh Friday introduces students to fruits and vegetables featuring a new item each month accompanied by signage
to enhance the experience. These items have included butternut squash, cabbage, honey bell oranges, strawberries, sugar snap peas, blueberries, and corn on the cob. Some items are very popular. Uh,
sugar snap peas, not so much. But we don't know till we put that out there, right? We aim to engage our students in making healthy choices through our partnerships with fans programs, our local farms, as well as our farm-to-school initiatives,
demonstrating our commitment to providing locally sourced produce while actively engaging with our students. Additionally, our taste testing events have been a success. These events have allowed students um have allowed us to introduce new favorites to students that
resonate with them. One standout is um chicken wings on wing it Wednesday where students can customize with a variety of sauces. This is at the middle and high school. Beyond wings, our evolving menu includes a range of new dishes such as
Asian noodle bowls, chicken and cheese empanadas, our pork mac and cheese, lovingly dubbed as piggy mac. We also added chicken kavatapi, fresh mandarin oranges, and garlic pizza topped with dill pickles. Each one of these additions brings its own unique flavors
and variety to the menu. Last year, we were excited that our farm-to-school program received its first major harvest from Amberbrook Farms in Eustace, Florida, which provided fresh corn on the cob to the students. On that day, over 8,000
servings of corn on the cob were enjoyed. We just recently brought in last week zucchini from GP Farms in Hawthorne. While exploring ways to expand our farm-toschool program, we we recently held a successful cultivating
connections meeting with our local farmers to highlight advantages of providing locally sourced pro products to Marian County public schools. We are bringing on more farms and dedicated to offering a diverse range of fresh flavors
and we continue to strengthen this. We look forward to fostering these valuable connections that benefit the students and our community. On November 6 at the workboard session, I will be giving a presentation on our farm to school updates and our progress and our
initiatives. So, I do look forward to that conversation. Thank you. Up next is Mr. Rios Welsh. If you don't have any questions. >> Yes, Dr. Brewer. >> I I'd like to comment. I went to three schools yesterday to see to celebrate
school lunch week and it was so adorable. The students were very excited about yesterday being Japan and yesterday's day was Japan. The day before was China and today they have they're celebrating UK. I think they're doing fish and chips. >> British Isles were doing fish and chips. Yeah. >> Yes. And so it's really exciting and the
students were very bought in. But it was great to see how the cafeteria managers have really bought into the theme and they had globes and flags and it was really a really neat um celebration. So thank you Miss Belchure. >> That's wonderful to hear.
>> Thank you Mr. Wales. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Miss Belchure. Good morning board. Okay. So, uh let's go back to let's see here.
Can we go to increase efficiency? Okay. We're going to jump into well, we'll jump into this one. I'm going to skip around a bit. Um there's two three updates I'm going to provide. The first of which is priority strategy F, which is to provide financial stability, bound
fiscal management, and operational efficiency. Um, and so I'm going to walk through a couple of items that we're working on u this year to accomplish uh our goal of 4.64% or 23.1
million fund balance. And so there's a few examples that I want to give um that we're undertaking. The first of which is sitebased budgeting. Uh this has been brought up as an initiative by the board and it really helps us to provide a more accurate picture of what's going on at
our individual schools and give our principles and administrators greater uh autonomy, flexibility and more so accountability in terms of how they're earning their dollars and how they are spending their dollars. And then of course the flexibility
um to move funds around and really manage their budgets. And so um principles administrators are really taking a more comprehensive role and operating um how the budget uh is managed throughout the year. Uh again,
we really want to focus on uh how revenue is earned for each FTE and how those funds are spent throughout the duration of the school year. The second area that we focus on is providing ongoing budget monitoring and reporting.
Uh this is done through a couple of different vehicles. monthly financial reports, monthly budget amendments and then of course quarterly and financial reports and analyses that is not only provided to our administrators but also to the board and various committees that
we have in terms of oversightes like certax and referendum. The next area is engaging with stakeholders on decision-making and financial planning. And this is uh really looking at meeting our current administrators uh where they are in terms of the budget challenges
that they may be experiencing uh at that time and how to plan and prioritize uh throughout the school year as things tend to change. Another area is continued um budget and training that we want to make sure that
we're doing on a continuous basis. And this is done through an annual budget training that's offered um to all uh staff particularly those administrators and principles that are really on the front lines of making decisions. And this will kick off actually tomorrow
with sitebased budgeting uh meeting. and it's a kickoff meeting so that we can go ahead and really lay the groundwork for the 26 26 27 school year but also this year and rolling out sitebased budgeting. So we're very excited about
that. Another area is again with sitebased budgeting and really focusing on working with the principles uh so that they understand how the revenue is being earned uh not only from the state level
but also um dollars that are being earned either through eligibility uh or through other uh services wraparound services that students are are eligible for uh because they are more either expensive or they have additional needs
that the district needs to support. Lastly, the projected funding imbalance of $4.64 million uh is going to be a challenge uh this year. Um as you all understand uh this
previous budget uh period we did have some challenges as far as um coming to the end of the year and realizing that we had a large uh projected deficit. And so with that, as mentioned in yesterday's board meeting, uh the board
has directed us to start to really take a look at how we are tracking not only um the instructional staff but also admin staff because this is the line share of where the dollars are going. And so as we move into sitebased
budgeting, it's really imperative that we all work together to make sure we keep our eyes on that $23 million fund balance goal. And it's going to be a challenge, but I'm excited about the opportunities that lie ahead of us as far as rolling out sitebased budgeting,
training, and really continuous process improvement so that we can make sure that we can land the plane at the end of the year. Uh, with that, I will pause for a moment for any questions. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Welsh. I you
touched on several of the things that I just wanted to um mention and I I look forward to further conversation, but we I do think it was a concern of the board especially and we did talk about this Tuesday night just like you mentioned um
when we were at a def deficit of $64 million and we looked at the staff that had been added throughout the year and so coming up with a process so that each board meeting when we're looking at staff and what's needed within our school communities, we can keep tabs on
that. Um, you know, really every two weeks we can see what's being added. Um, because otherwise you just end up with a big number. We have a added 100 people at the end of the year. Um, and so anyway, I'm looking forward to new
processes putting in place so we can can manage that. Uh, also I wanted to comment on because our next conversation uh really that sitebased budgeting is going to impact. We we look at the board has seen numbers on four or five
facilities where the funds that they bring in don't support their actual school. And so we have to fill those gaps in in the amount of millions of dollars. And so I'm looking forward to um getting a clearer picture on each
budget for each school um the money that they bring in and what it costs to run that school. So I just want to thank you for highlighting those today. Thank you. Certainly. And uh just to touch on that a little bit, the profit and loss statements for each of the schools which we're, you know, currently
working on and and sitebased budgeting will help us uh to get there uh will be a challenge. Uh but we're we're rising to the occasion to make sure that we can uh have all of the the variables in place so that we can get a clear picture uh of what it costs. But I' I'd be
remiss if I didn't mention that of course throughout the district there is a certain air of subsidization that takes place between schools regardless of its geographical location or how much each individual school and each student is earning given the complexity of the budget. So uh we certainly appreciate
that and we look forward to the continued discussion. >> Thank you Mr. Welsh. Anything else from from the team? >> Um well I'll just say and then Dr. Kimble raised her hand too. But I I'll just say it was interesting. I think even just last night I was thinking to myself, I wonder when we're going to
start having the sitebased budgeting trainings because we understand building into that is going to take almost at least six months or more of training so that people can be fully prepared to take on that ownership. And I think that the conversation today is timely and we
are going to be leading into pretty complex conversations. And so making sure that we have a full understanding of how much it costs to operate a facility and at any facility how much it costs to operate that facility and then
what the revenue coming in because as a businesswoman myself that's the lens I look at this through it because we are we have two jobs as board members the budget and policy if we really peel back and and look at our sole responsibilities and so managing that
budget and truly looking at how much are we spending on a program, good, bad, and different, and then how much how much revenue is coming in from the students we're serving. And then figuring out how to close the gap to be more financially responsible. And that is a focus that I
have maintained and I will continue to maintain because we need to maximize and in a season where the cup runth over, there is less focus on that because there's a little bit more flexibility. But we had a hard season, budget season last season and I imagine that trend is
not going to just stop. So I imagine the next season will be as um as challenging and so how do we continue to tighten the belt? So I look forward to the continued conversations. >> Thank you, Dr. James. >> Yes, Dr. Campbell. >> Thank you. Dr. James eloquently said a
lot of the thoughts that I have in my mind. I think I think part of first of all I think this board is is also passionate about ensuring we maintain fund balance as our as our strategic plan indicates and as we look to the next strategic plan the 27 to 31 plan
what those key metrics are going to be that we're going to want to encumber and ensure that we enshrine in that plan. Your leadership and guidance will certainly be helpful with that. I think that to Dr. James point and and kind of just the future conversation we're going
to have in just a few moments talking about site sitebased budgeting. So I I have been, as everyone knows, have been a huge proponent of this for the last five years moving toward that in part because I've seen we've all seen the
state legislature has been very focused on dollars following students. And if that's the way our state now funds education and is the pathway that we are not changing from, I I mean it it would take an entire shift in mindset over a
10 to 20 year time frame based on all the changes that have just been seen in the last five to six years from the state legislature funding students. Um, I I believe we have to get even more cognizant of every dollar following
students. And does that mean that class sizes had to change this year? Absolutely. I mean, it's unfortunate, but that's how we balance the budget. And other districts had done it long before we did, but we we're going to have to start getting serious about what that looks like. Does
that also mean that we can't have an elementary school with 300 students anymore? Maybe I I mean I I know that that's a very tough pill to swallow and this isn't necessarily the time and place to have that conversation, but when we're talking strategic plan about fiscal
responsibility and that is our primary goal policy which we'll be talking about on dis on October 31st and budgeting that we talk about as often as we can. Uh I I think that we're going to have to really get serious about what it's going
to take inclusive of a funding referendum that we need to also have conversation about that expires within an 18-month time frame. So we now have all of our art, music, PE, all of those
teachers funded out of that referendum, 100% of their salaries. And if we don't get that referendum or determine what we're going to ask for because we haven't even determined that yet, uh, where's that money coming from? So, inclusive also of at least part of
our SRO salary, all of that. Nevertheless, I I digress. I just I'm grateful that we are moving in the direction of sightbased budgeting and in our conversations. Mr. Mr. Welsh, I believe that you are definitely a leader that's going to help us get into some of these tough places and have real
conversations about where the dollars are and where they're not and where they're coming from and where they're not coming from any longer and um so I'm I'm grateful to have you here and I think it's going to be uh helpful for us to continue this dialogue. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Campbell. Board members,
>> just jotted down a couple of things. um budget and policy are are our main and and you know really only if you want to say only expectations uh and through that you know it requires advocacy and I'm and I'm proud of this board for continuing to make the
connections and partnerships with our legislators to help them understand the impacts of some simple statements such as the money's going to follow the student. Okay, well what does that look like and how is it being managed? And so far, uh, they've been taken by surprise
and they're flat on their heels. And so, as we continue to work through this this process, I think our advocacy continues to be more and more critical. And the relationships that we've built where we're honestly able to say, "Hey, we know we could be doing better in this
area and and that if we work together, we can make all of the areas better." Um because one student can blow a sightpace budget, you know. Um so
being a businesswoman myself is very different than managing public education. It just is. there are some strong similarities that I am excited about, you know, doing better in and just
knowing the the profit and loss of each school is is really, you know, great information and and really interesting and should help us guide in our decisions. But personally, as a board member, I never want to lose sight of who we're here to serve. You know, you
don't just throw out the bad blueberries because it's not profitable. Exactly. So while there are elements to uh both that are really important, fiscal responsibility is huge, but in the end I
I do think we need to always keep at the forefront that we are here to serve students and that needs to be our guiding light as we allocate resources. So yeah, we're move it's it's an interesting time. It's all I have. >> Thank you. Board member Thor. Reverend
Cummings, did you have nothing to share? >> I just thought of one thing real quick if you don't mind before you go. I as we go into the strategic plan. >> Yes, ma'am. Um, I would like to see from the superintendent in your office ensure that we're including strategic. That
seems silly to use the word strategic, but like some very focused actionable steps that are that are not as theorybased like increase the fund balance to whatever, but how like like
the actual the actual strategy behind it because specifically in this sector which is essentially the backbone of everything else. like if we can't figure out the money, none of the rest of it is going
to happen. And so I I would love to see strategic plan sub goals in this category that are incredibly actionable so that we you know when we look at utilization of schools and we say okay well based on
utilization we need to see a increase or a decrease based on growing or declining student population by x amount or we need to see based on P&Ls you know every school needs to look to have an average of at least these 650 kids because that's where the break even is. And just
really having actionable databased information so that we can truly take informed steps to get to that next five-year goal. Um so as we get into this planning, I just wanted to make sure I shared that thought so that we
have um some frame. >> Thank you for those comments, uh board members. And um you know it's not lost on me that when we talk about sitebased budgeting and really as you mentioned Dr. James all of the the various strategies that we really want to look
at um this coming year uh it is really an all the above uh answer. It's not just one particular strategy. And so that's an area that we're certainly uh going to have to look at because
there is no um silver bullet or panacea to solve these issues. It is going to take a lot of diligent work on the the bealf of the staff uh to make some difficult decisions and that's that's why we're here. uh but we are you know out of the woods in the sense of coming
out of the co era with temporary funds expiring and now we have to have a path forward and that does mean that we're going to have uh to have some deliberation and discussion around priorities and uh as CFO that's my uh
primary focus is to help the board and the administration figure out what those priorities are and what they're not and how we can get there. So thank you for the comments. Thank you very much. >> Okay, if there's no other questions on
that particular strategy, I'm going to just go back a bit here. And I did want to touch on one area or two areas. Uh procurement, although this goal has been met um in terms of increasing
efficiency in the procurement of goods and services, which is actually a good segue from our last um discussion. Um, this is an area that we want to continue to focus on in terms of how we're procuring our goods and services, how do we get good value? Um, you know, how do
we make sure that we're getting the best use out of the money, the limited money that the district has? And so I want to just kind of highlight and I want to give a big shout out to our team u procurement, Mr. Rick Collins uh and his
team that work tirelessly to make sure that you know we are getting the best deal uh for the money out there on the street and I I do want to highlight some of those activities. Uh so you know exploring things like a web- based bid and contract management system to
streamline our processes uh something that we've been able to to put out there um to make sure that our vendor link uh application is really comprehensive. It's a really great uh bidding platform and allows us to streamline our processes.
Also reducing the amount of time that it takes to enter into a contract. Uh this is an area where we want to make sure we're having great vendor relations and so being able to streamline that process is is critical to our success.
and also, you know, looking at some examples of various sessions that we can provide out there to get feedback and training to the staff on how procurement works. um to make sure that the district in its entirety regardless of whether you sit at a school or you are in
central office that you're following the proper procedures and that you have the support that you need so that when you're trying to procure uh good or service from either a national or local vendor uh you can do that with ease and that these vendors have been properly
vetted. Uh with that I will pause for any questions on procurement. >> Um >> I just quickly want to say thank you uh Miss Mr. Welch for mentioning I think communication is a big part of that and
and you mentioned training for staff and following procedures and so recently the conversation um that I've been a part of is is we have some improvement to do that at the schoolbased level and so that we make sure that we're going through um when we're acquiring services
that we're going through the correct channels to so that we're covered legally um on the services that we're purchasing. So, thank you for acknowledging that. >> Anything else from the board? >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you.
>> Uh, the next item I'll briefly mention um before I believe we close out uh is just related to risk management, which is which is a goal that we've actually accomplished. So, again, kudos to the risk management team and Miss Cheryl Brown who are leading that work uh and going from 26 to 19 incidents. But I do
want to just highlight a couple of the key strategies that we do employ uh throughout the year. Most of this takes place through meaningful communication uh and meetings at the school uh so that they understand um you know the various guidelines and for example the new loss
prevention uh manual that we just rolled out that that information is being disseminated to the staff and she's going out and meeting uh at the individual schools looking at their plans making sure that if there's an area on school property or any other
risk where there could result uh in a situation that work orders are being put in and that's being handled in a timely manner. So, we're proud of all the staff in terms of being able to accomplish um these goals, particularly procurement
and risk management and notwithstanding the challenge around fund balance. And so, I want to thank the entire um leadership team, Dr. Brewer and the entire administration and all of our our principles and the entire uh district
staff. It really takes uh one team, one mission to get all of these things accomplished. So, that's not lost on me. Um with under Dr. Brewer's leadership, we're going to continue to really focus and look under the hood for all of these areas. And then of course as we move
into the next strategic planning phase uh we'll continue to uh identify those key activities that are really going to move the needle. And I think that's uh what I'm hearing from the board today is that in terms of fund balance uh
particularly u but also some of these conversations around utilization and uh we really need to be looking at how do we move the needle what are our priorities but also balance that with the focus on outcomes. With that, Dr. Brewer.
>> Thank you, Mr. Walsh. Go ahead, Miss Conrad. >> I think Dr. Campbell has something. >> I I was just gonna say something very quickly just because while we're talking about risk, just as that reminder to all of our employees that open enrollment is going on right now, that also happens through your department. uh open enrollment for our insurance is open and
board also giving me that opportunity to tell you next week as um president-elect of Florida schoolboards association I will be attending my first Florida schoolboard insurance trust meeting I am the board representative on that from
FSBA and Florida school board's insurance trust is a collaboration and um consortium of sorts of at least 12 to 15 school districts that use their leverage
to purchase property and casualty insurance together. And I think that Mr. Welsh and I've talked a little bit about it, but as soon as I learn a lot more next week whenever I I'm with them for four days, uh I think it will be an opportunity for us to consider in the future. I know
that they started as a just about eight of them and now it's grown to about 15 different school boards that all participate in that. Uh so yeah, crowdfunding really. So you and they're saving millions of dollars a year because they're doing it together as
opposed to going independently. So just using that as an opportunity because all falls under risk. >> Thank you, Dr. Campbell. All right, if that wraps us up, do we have um any public comment on goal four, fiscal and
operational efficiency? Okay, seeing none, we will move on to item 6.1, north side utilization. Um before we begin, I do want to make just a few comments. Um at the board's request, we have changed up how we're going to
accept public comment. So for all of those all those in the audience, we're going to go through the presentation w which will be just like we did um with goal four there's questions and answers for the board but we are then going to stop excuse me and take public comment
so that the board's discussion um can follow the public comment. So I just wanted to share that with you. Also, we are going to take a hard um we're going to be on a hard stop for 11:30, which we don't normally do. Um but we anticipate this will be a long extended in-depth
conversation and so just wanted to give everyone a heads up on that. All right, Dr. Brewer. >> Okay, wait. We're stopping to break and come back. >> Yes. >> Okay. I don't think that was clear >> unless we're done. >> Unless we're done, obviously. But at 11:30, we're going to take a break and
return. >> Right. Thank you for the clarification. Okay, go ahead, Mr. White House. >> I I just want to say I just and I said this on Tuesday um Tuesday evening's board meeting, but I just wanted to remind the community that the reason we have this topic on the agenda today is
because um in early summer months, I think it was early June, the board asked me to bring a recommendation to the board to discuss um the utilization of the north end with the um with the reality of the revenues that we knew we were discussing. also the sitebased
budgeting. Um we also had the aging facilities. So there were quite a few elements that led into this request from the board. And so I um convened a group that included our transportation department, our facilities, our academics um and all of us came together
to really and of course Mr. Welsh's team all came together to really provide um details and our recommendations and we have Mr. White House here that will lead us in that um presentation today. Thank you, Mr. White House. >> Thank you, Dr. Brewer. Good morning
again, board. U Madam Chair, if it's okay, I I would probably prefer we just plow through the whole presentation and lay all the cards on the table before taking questions and discussing. >> Okay, that's fine by me. Thank you, Mr. White House. >> Thank you, ma'am.
All right, so we are here to talk about the school utization concepts. As Dr. B mentioned this was a request to the board to start looking at this in the summer. Um and so we were able to convene a group to come in and start taking a hard look at what we're doing. I'd like to thank our committee members
who were a part of that work and many of those very smart people are here with me today to be able to answer questions at the end that may come up. Um myself, Dr. Brewer, Miss Usher, Mr. Rebert who's our area superintendent for the North End schools, Mr. Ays, Miss Bumbach, Mr. Griffith, Mr. Duncan, Mr. Oanic. um and
certainly thank them for their help and in really plowing through this. So, as Dr. Brew mentioned, our the request from the board was to take a look at two things. One, we were going to look at how we're utilizing our facilities on the north end, particularly our four elementary
schools, which are here for you, Anthony, Fezdidan, Reic, and Spar. The other thing that kind of went in tandem with this is also looking at our five-year plan for our alternative learning site. um as we know that our students here at Bridgeway really are exceeding the capacity that we have on
our campus here and so looking at is there a way to be able to solve both of those problems simultaneously and how we best utilize our facilities across the district. So the first goal that we had was looking at efficient utilization of capacity at our elementary schools in
the northern area of the county. And I want to pause there just for a moment just to lay out some of the impetus of why this is important not just for fiscal and operational efficiency, but we also had a new statute that was passed last year and also a state board
rule that just took effect um that deals with colllocation of charter schools onto public school campuses. And the way it works is that schools of hope that are approved by the state of Florida have the opportunity to colllocate on underutilized public school property. Um
so they could identify a space like reic where we have a wing available um and could then take over that wing and we as the Marian County Public School System would be responsible for continuing to operate that facility for them. Meaning we pay the utility costs. We would pay
for the custodial crew to clean up the campus for them on that part. we would pay for the additional cafeteria workers to be able to run the lunch service for them. Um, but they would obviously as a charter school would generate the FTE that would cover the cost for for the students. So, we certainly have an
urgency. Um, at this point, as we mentioned Tuesday night, we have not received a letter. However, many districts around the state of Florida have already received letters from schools of hope um inquiring about um vacated or or nearly vacated facilities and how they can utilize those. So, we
want to make sure that in our discussions that we're we're staying ahead of that and that we are utilizing our facilities to the best of our ability to prevent that from from happening. Our second goal is looking at how we decrease operation costs. As already mentioned in the last presentation, we
did have to make a $64 million budget um cut last year when we realized some of the challenges we're facing coming out of that COVID um period with the loss of Esser funding. And so we want to make sure we are continuing to be fiscally responsible moving forward. Uh we've
seen the financial projections for the state of Florida moving forward and they don't look much better than they are right now. In fact, if you look a few years out in the future, the state of Florida is actually projecting a deficit in their budget. Um which that means we're probably not going to see a lot more money coming in the way of public
education. Um and as our costs continue to increase for operation of facilities, for health insurance benefits, etc., We need to make sure that we are being as fiscally responsible as we can in all of our decisions. Our third goal, obviously, we want to make sure we're providing for the needs
of our students in the north area, that we're meeting their academic needs, as well as any wraparound supports that might be available for those students. And then that last goal, as I touched on, how can we improve um facility for our alternative students at Bridgeway? Um they are currently housed here at
this campus. They have outgrown that space. Um, and we would really like to be able to provide a good learning environment for those students as well as they are all Maring County Public School students. All right, so this chart here shows you the current utilization of our four
elementary schools on the north end. This is as of October 2nd, day 38. Uh, you'll see the first column there is the fish capacity. That's the Florida inventory of school houses, just typically referred to as fish. And what that looks at is the maximum capacity of
student stations in a school or how many students we can physically put into a campus um in the spaces that we have. It also identifies what the different spaces on campus can be used for um such as identifying specific rooms for students with disabilities, identifying
where our cafeteria spaces are, um etc. You'll see in the next column over we have our enrollment for each of those four schools and then the percent of our campuses that are utilized. based on that enrollment compared to the fish capacity. And so you'll notice Reic is
the school obviously that is the most underutilized at this point in time, but Anthony also is underutilized. So this slide provides some additional information about each of those four sites. I will call to your attention, Mr. Rios Welsh did send an updated
version of the slide to you all last night that just had a few more dollar figures on there at the board's request uh to make sure we can paint a clear picture for you all of um not only looking at what the operating cost is for each of these f four schools, but also looking at how much revenue is
actually generated um so that we can determine where we are actually operating. And you'll note for each of these four schools, we are currently operating in a budget deficit based on the operating cost of each school and the amount of money generated for each of those schools as they are small
enrollment schools. I do also want to point out um an update to Fezden Elementary. We have it listed as 20 acres. Um, but we actually did a little bit more digging into that and there is another piece of property to the north end of Feezan that is also
ours. Um, that's all trees right now, but it actually increases the total campus acreage to 38 acres in total. Um, and so we just want to make sure we have the the correct information for you all on there. So this slide just gives you a quick uh
attendance zone boundary mapping for each of those four schools. Our Reddit collier and pheasant community pulls the largest attendance boundary. Obviously those are fairly rural areas for the most part scattered through there. Um and so we still only pull a fairly small amount of student population from each
of those large attendance boundaries. All right. All right. So, we have four concepts that we're going to lay out for you that we discussed. Um, also, as a reminder, we did provide a quick one-pager um of those four concepts that highlight that. So, as we're going through um you can certainly compare
back to previous concepts that were presented just for your awareness um and becomes a quick reference point as well at the end when we take questions. So concept one is to relocate the students currently at Forom Early Learning Academy to Reic Collier
Elementary. Uh currently there are 238 students enrolled at at Forom Early Learning and as you saw on that Fish capacity report in the previous slide, we have more than 300 seats available at Reddit collar that could easily accommodate those students um and push
our facility usage for Reddit collar closer to 100%. In order to accomplish that, we do recognize that there are students that come to Forom from south of Forom. Um, and so we wanted to make transportation a little bit easier for those families
that choose to stay with that program. Um, and so we would like to provide a hub transportation stop uh centrally located for those students to make it a possibility for transportation. Uh, one thing to note, and I know this is a question that has come up, we are able to transport students younger than five
on buses. We all of our new buses are now equipped with star seating, which is um accommodated seating for younger students that provides better strap support almost like a booster seat would for a student in a car. Um and we actually got to experience that firsthand when we were moving students
to Fezdan um from North Middle School last week. We had parents that dropped off their prek students at Northmary Middle and we had to bust them to Fezden and Dr. Dr. Brewer got to strap them into those star seats and see how they work. And uh we're very easy to use and very successful in making sure we keep
our youngest students safe on the bus as we transport them. So we would look at providing a hub stop that could allow parents to drop off close to where they currently are and then be able to provide any busing transportation to and from Reic Collier for those students. I
want to point out very clearly here that again the goal is not to close down form early learning. Form Early Learning would maintain as a school community. We would relocate them physically. However, the concept of form Early Learning Academy would continue. The idea would operate as a school within a school. We
could retain the name of Form Early Learning Academy with that site. Uh, as we know that a lot of work went into the naming. We know Mr. Forom was the first principal at Spar and is very important to that North End community and to Marian County Public Schools in general. We want to make sure that we continue
that legacy with that program regardless of its physical location. So with concept one, if we were to move the students off of the current Fort Learning Academy campus, we would then free up that space which could house our students at Bridgeway into a much larger
spot. Um the school capacity for the original campus design where form is located is actually 784 student stations. Uh we have roughly 300 students that are currently attending Bridgeway Academy. So, a lot of room for growth there with that facility that we
could look at some um more unique options for students beyond just what we currently offer at Bridgeway to make sure we're providing support for students not only that have behavioral needs to be met, but also students who have disengaged from education as they get older. We can provide um some unique
supports there with a larger campus space. Um I've also talked with Mr. Smallidge at Maran Technical College. He is looking to really be able to find some more space for his adult learning students. Uh the GED program, adult learning, which are housed now in a cluster of portables at Marian Technical
College. We have a large cluster of portables. Um but we could potentially remove all of those portables from that site. Um if we can move the staff and the adult edge program out of there, which would free up a huge amount of space at Marian Technical College, not only for parking, but for potential future expansion of buildings and
programs and services that we could offer to our students. As we know, our education does not stop at 12th grade. We actually provide more services to our students beyond that. There would be some minor facility modifications required for us to be able
to accommodate some of the older students at Bridgeway Academy. Um, and you'll note on the one pager that our estimated cost for this to update both Reic Collier and the current form site to be able to house Bridgeway Academy is roughly $15,000. Most of that is just
minor improvements to the bathrooms at both of those sites. So with that, we would relocate the administrative staff that are currently at Forom Early Learning Academy, which is most of our mental health and wellness department, back here to the district east site. Um moving Bridgeway
out would free up this entire building 4, which is a three-level um building here right next to where most of us are housed in building three. uh which would allow us to centralize the bulk of our district staff into one location um which would make it certainly easier to
collaborate and communicate as a as a district staff. Uh all the other schools in the north end would maintain status quo with this proposal. Um we certainly would see a cost savings if we are combining two schools together as we can remove some of our redundant services that are
provided at two different school sites. One of those being an additional school resource officer. As we know, we just talked about um cutting back on referendum funding. So, if we combine campuses, we could go from two SRO's down to one SRO between those sites, which again would be a cost savings for
us as a district along with several other positions that could be um placed elsewhere. All right, so that is concept one. With that, we also added in here, this is a heat map. Just shows the current
living locations of all of our students that um are attending form Early Learning Academy. You'll note all of the elementary schools that they are zoned for um and where those students would attend if they were not attending form Early Learning Academy. Um our school
that has the largest population of attendees is Ocala Springs Elementary. Um, so when we explore hub stops, that is one of the places we can explore for a hub stop is at Ocala Springs, which would make it convenient for a bulk of those families that are zoned for that
school and living around that area. All right, that's concept one. So concept two, we looked at converting our four elementary schools into K8 schools. um by converting them into K8 schools, we would obviously retain those students there longer, which would increase the
population at all four of those elementary sites. Um and that would then free up North Mary Middle School as a site for us because the students that are attending North Mary Middle would stay at their K8 schools that are currently elementary schools, which would allow us a space then again to
move our Bridgeway Academy students to. Um that is again a very large space that would accommodate any future growth for those programs of our Bridgeway students. So this just gives you a quick analysis of what it would take to convert a current existing elementary school into
a K8 school. Some of the considerations we would need. One, we would need um career and technical education programs available which currently we do not have skills labs available at those sites. Uh so we would need to be able to include that to expand our career and technical education offer opportunities at each of
those sites. Um science labs and science demonstration spaces. Um a band room, additional admin um suites, and then of course a gymnasium if the school does not currently have a gymnasium would be necessary to have PE for our middle school uh students.
So, the likeliness of each of these sites would be an additional um wing space at each one, which would could be roughly 23,000 square feet to accommodate CTE classes and the need for science spaces and additional administrative spaces. Gymnasiums are
roughly 18,000 square feet at a middle school. And then, of course, if we're expanding the number of students at the school, we'd likely need to expand the cafeteria size at each site. You'll see on the top right there, we've estimated out what the cost is per square foot. currently at about $410, anticipating if
we were to do this a few years in the future, that price would certainly go up. So, we're estimating $430 a square foot for the construction cost. Um, so your addition of a wing would be roughly $10 million, a gymnasium roughly 8 million, and a new cafeteria at any site
roughly $6 million. So, we'll show you each of the four elementary schools and what the potential could look like for converting to a K8 school. So, on the right hand side there, you'll see an an aerial layout of the school campus and spaces
on that campus that we have identified where you could add additional buildings that would accommodate the size space that we need to be able to convert to a K8 school within the existing campus. So adding additional wing at Anthony Elementary School, you can see is roughly $10 million. We would need to
add a gymnasium there. Um their cafeteria could handle the size as it is still a relatively small school. Um so for a total cost of roughly 18 million to expand Anthony again elementary school is our largest campus as we noted 38 acres. So we have
plenty of space there that we could expand and add um a lot more to that existing campus. Uh so you'll see again where we've picked out some spots where we could add some additional buildings to that campus to turn it into a K8. We would need more classroom space as
Fezen is close to 100% capacity already. Uh we would need to increase the cafeteria size. They already have a gymnasium so that would not be necessary for Fezen. So a total cost of roughly $16 million. Reick Collier. You'll see again on the right hand side we have the current
layout of that school. Um a classroom addition there would be roughly $10 million and the gymnasium uh would need to be added. They are as we note about 50% utilized. So the cafeteria would not need to be expanded to accommodate adding back the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students that currently uh
attend North Mariam Middle School. And so the rough cost for that about $18 million. Then we have Spar Elementary, our last school. Again, this is a a fairly large campus that we have at Spar Elementary. It is not quite as landlocked as some of our other schools. Um, giving us plenty
of options for where we could place buildings. And so, you'll see on the right where we've identified some potential spaces to be able to add a classroom wing. Um, expanding the cafeteria and adding a gymnasium, a total cost of $24 million to be able to convert Spar into a K8.
So this gives you a breakdown of how many students that are in grades through six through eight that live within each of the attendance zones for those four elementaryaries. So those would be the numbers of students that would be added back to the prek5 population. And then what the total K8 population would be at
each of those schools. Obviously we would be needing a lot more space at Spars. They're operating at close to 100% capacity. Um and then you can see um our seating needs for the other two schools. There would be a handful of students that we would have to reszone
based on where they live to Fort King Middle School and to Howard Middle School as they do not currently live within the elementary attendance boundaries for these four north end schools. So here's our quick analysis of um what this total cost would be. So $76 million
would be the total cost if we converted all four of these schools into K8 schools. Again, it frees up North Brand Middle School as a site for alternative setting for Bridgeway um to be able to transport those students up to North Mar Middle School.
Here are the current boundaries again for our K8s. If we were to adjust those and not make them just elementary boundaries, we would pull in those students from the elementary zone. And then you'll see that little swath there in the purple in the bottom right. Those would be the students that we would have
to relocate. So concept three would be to combine Spar and Anthony Elementary as one school and build a new school for those two school campuses. uh in that combination. In order to accomplish that, we could temporarily relocate the
Spar students um hold the students at Anthony Elementary School or we could actually do phase construction. You'll see when we look at the map. Um there's enough space at Spar Elementary that you could actually build a school similar to what we built at Ros Prairie and Winding Oaks behind the campus without ever
having to move the students um doing a phase construction approach. So there are options for how we could handle building that. So we would want to design this large enough to accommodate both of those school capacities. So roughly a fish
capacity of 750, which is fairly similar to where we are with Ross Prairie and Winding Oaks. Um so we have the concept design already available to us. Um and then once we do that, we have options of what we could do with Anthony Elementary School. Um certainly the board has
options of retaining the property, selling the property, um demolishing the property, and land banking it. Um and you'll see in concept four that we also put out another idea for what you could potentially do with Anthony Elementary School as well if we maintain that building. The cost to build a new elementary school, as we saw with the
two we just built, roughly $50 million um for a brand new state-of-the-art facility combining Spar and Anthony. So here is the existing site at SPAR and you can see all of the available land space that we have. This one shows the current buildings. You'll note the years
that each of those buildings were constructed. So we have some constructed in the 1960s uh one in the 1980s, one in the 1990s that are relatively newer, and I say relative um just in comparison to the other buildings, but certainly they're still getting up there.
So this is a proposal of where the new site could go. and you'll see it would fit right behind our existing buildings. We could build out a brand new school there. And then we have options. We could demolish all of the old buildings or if the board wanted, we could also keep the two newer ones that were built
in the 80s and 90s and only demolish the ones that were built in the 60s, which are the ones obviously that have the greater repair costs right now for us. Um, so we have options of what we could do at that school site. So this is an alternative to concept three. Um, we could, if we didn't want
to build a completely new campus, uh, we could just add enough wing space onto that campus to accommodate the students coming over from Anthony, uh, build a new cafeteria. And then you'll see that works out to roughly 26 million. So, it's about half the cost if we wanted to
just expand the existing campus to accommodate both Spar and Anthony. Um, obviously the downside of that is that we would still have those old buildings that do have regular maintenance costs that we would have to continue investing in as compared to a brand new facility. All right. So, concept four, um, this
option allows us to relocate the students who are currently at Anthony Elementary to Reic Collier. Um, again, there's there's enough space at Reic to accommodate all the current students that are attending Anthony Elementary School. Um, so we could combine those
without any additional construction. Um, which would then free up the Anthony campus and what we could do with Anthony campus is use it as an ESSE center school. Um, think of it as an elementary version of Hillrest. Um, talking with our principles and with Miss Anna
Williams Jones, our director of ESC, we definitely have a great need for having this type of school available to us. Um, our students right now in our ESSC self-contained classes are spread out, which means our resources for supporting those students are also spread out. Um,
so we could, if we had this option, provide a place where we could concentrate our support services and wraparound services for the students with the greatest need, looking at our students with both the greatest cognitive need and students with the greatest greatest behavioral needs as well. Um, which allows us to provide better on-site service when we can
localize that. And I think you all have seen the great work that we do at Hillrest and what we can accomplish uh with a much more localized program like that. Again, the cost for this one is pretty negligible. Um $15,000 roughly. Again, just some minor um updates to the
Anthony campus to make it accessible for all of our student needs. So, the we can also look at some combinations of concepts and I think most of you have seen that as you've gone through that you could do a lot of these concepts. um simultaneously or backtoback. Um so you could look at
doing concepts one and three combined which would allow us to quickly address the Bridgeway students the capacity at Reddit Collier and then looking at a long-term project of completing the new elementary school. Um certainly the board has to decide where that would fit
within the timeline of the other school projects that we have um established right now. Some of the other things that we're going to work on regardless, we we certainly want to continue to pursue some grants for Fezden because it is a historic site. There are a lot of
opportunities out there for us to secure some grant funding for renovations and potential additions uh to Feezan down the road. So, we certainly are going to pursue that regardless. Um and then beyond that, we really just need to continue analyzing all of our facility
usage that we have. um trying to figure out which of our older buildings we can really repair, which ones just need to be demolished as we move forward into the future. So, quick summary again, this is what you have um on your one pager. So,
concept one, roughly $15,000. Concept two is the most expensive one at 76 million converting to the K8 schools. Concept three, um, depending which way you wanted to go, with a brand new school, 50 million, or with an expanded SPAR campus, 26 million. Concept four,
again, one of our least expensive options um that could be done in a combination with any of the other options as well. So, our staff recommendation after the team deliberated these four concepts, we we recommend concept one and three
combined. Um, concept one is something that we could do fairly easily, um, with a goal of being able to target this for next school year. We could have the students moved. We could have the facilities updated. We could free up the bridgeway space to move staff over. Um, most of those are fairly from a
logistical standpoint, fairly uncomplicated. Um, and then concept three, we certainly see a need for some new construction on the north end. A lot of our schools on the north end are getting much older. And as you saw in that one-page handout, the amount of money that we anticipate spending over the next two 10 years in facility
management for those campuses gets rather extensive. Um certainly building a new school to accommodate two of those would cut down on those long-term costs for those facilities. All right. And then I will turn over to Dr. Buru and we can answer questions. >> Thank you, Mr. White House. Chair
Conrad. I'd like to open it up to the board for clarification, questions, concerns. Dr. James. >> Um I just have a few um a few clarifying thoughts and then maybe we'll get into opinion after that. Is that okay? Um the
fish I've heard I've heard it back and forth regarding Reddit Collier. Is the fish report and Stephen's in the back so he could just do a head nod, but is the fish report including building 10. Okay, I see a head nod. Um thank you for that. I wanted to make sure because I feel
like we've gone back and forth with that historically. So, I wanted to make sure um I think it's important to point out that option four is presented would create the same scenario that we currently have at other places. We don't have 400 students who need a center school, an elementary. And so we would
essentially just be shifting the opportunity for colllocating from one school to another by putting a what I think would be probably less than a 100 student enrollment allin for a center school for elementary on a campus with a
fish of 400. And so um I think that there is absolutely a need for a elementary center school like Hillrest. Um, and I think I have other ideas of where we could do that that would be
more responsible with the space we have. Um, but I don't think that um, moving Anthony to Reic, there are kids that literally walk to Anthony. So to then put them on a bus all the way uh to Reic, you know, when we talked the Anthony
Spar combo, some of the conversations that we had from transportation were like the the bus is kind of going by either way. And so it wasn't as heavy of a lift. But the bus for Reic is certainly I would imagine not going by Anthony Elementary. And so that's um
that to me is not really feasible. But furthermore, because then it doesn't if we if we continue to use the facility, we're going to continue to put ourselves in the same collocating battle. So, um that is kind of the heartburn I have around that. Um and and
that would be a barrier for me, um because of that colllocating. >> Can I just add to that conversation, Dr. James? Um so, one thing we know, Anthony, part of our FISH report does include portables, which those portables could be removed to reduce the number of student stations. Those portables are currently used for some of our students.
um but could be removed once we made that shift. Um also to keep in mind if we were to identify that as an ESC center school, we would have to re-evaluate the FISH report because the FISH report right now identifies classrooms based on student stations for a traditional K5 uh which could have up
to 22 seats in there. But if we reduce those down to all being ESSE classrooms, you'd really be looking more at like seven, eight, nine, 12 student stations in a classroom, which would greatly reduce the overall seating. >> Absolutely. I think I I still don't think, you know, having some private
conversations with district leadership, I don't think we even have a hundred elementary students. Um, as of right now, at least, unless we move them from other sites that they're currently in an inclusion, like a self-contained, but in an inclus inclusive environment like Maplewood, moving them to a center
school would be a more restrictive environment, which obviously we're very careful about making those decisions. So, that's just kind of the reservation I have with with that. Um, I have some, I guess, recommendations, but I will wait till the rest of the board has a conversation unless you want whatever
you want me to do. >> I think we're going to do public comment before we get into our opinions. I thought that's what we decided to do, but I I do have a question, a clarifying question. >> Go ahead, Dr. Camp. uh because something that we have received feedback from
folks asking about the the expansion of forom early learning. So currently we are licensed for 279 seats I believe is what I saw the opportunities for expansion of that lensure. What does
that look like? Or is that even something that we would do with I mean it would certainly change the depth and breadth of what's occurring on that campus. >> Yeah, you're correct. And I also want to point out we we did have we did anticipate greater student enrollment at
that school this year. We had a number of units that were provided to the school anticipating that, but we ended up having to pull those units back because we didn't get the student interest um generated that we anticipated for the school year. So, but currently licensed for 279 would there
be an opportunity just because we lenture is a big deal and so I I know another piece of that lensure that we've that a lot of folks are really pleased with is the DCF lensure for the three-year-olds for
extended learning and afterare and all. So I mean lensure is a big deal and so to go through an expansion of that lensure would what I mean I don't even know what that would look like but I mean to even make it to go to 350 or something like
that is that even a a possibility like I I just want to make sure because this is commentary we've been getting people nearly every comment I received when I commented back then they said we just need to continue to expand at forom and I'm like uh we really because of the
lensure I 274 is what it is on a campus with 789 fish. So, um, expanding that lensure agreement, what does that even look like? I >> I think we'd have to do a little more research into that, Dr. Campbell, but we could certainly do that. >> I want What do you mean by lenture agreement? I'm sorry.
>> Well, I mean, we we are at the point where we can only I'm sorry, >> like certified. >> Yeah, we are certified to serve 274 students by DCF, by DOE. I don't think the DCF license is for 274. It's not. Right. We only have about
three rooms that are DCF certified in the playground. So I think I mean I'm I could look it up on online, but I think the DCF I mean Miss Beck can give me a head knob, but I think it's between 50 and 100 kids. More than that. Okay. So like 150. Okay. Yeah. I mean she can come up if
she wants, but because I don't think it's for the full 279. >> Okay, that's fine. I just think it's an important clarification because again, a lot of feedback we've already received. Let's go ahead and get something out there to answer a question if we can while we're in the middle of this park. >> So really, it's the space that's licensed and it has to do with the
square footage. So we actually have quite a few rooms at Forom that are DCF certified rooms for the idea of expansion, whether that be through 3K programming or whether that be through afterare programming.
And that to start with was primarily the reason that we did um certified additional rooms so that we could look at spreading students out since we were serving three-year-olds all the way up to second grade. But it is really dependent upon the space they come in
and they measure. And I think going back to that 279 that has to do with the fish report because half of our campus is being utilized for district offices. I think if it wasn't then obviously those that fish number would go back up again. So,
>> okay, that helps clarify the thought in my mind on that. Okay, that's all the clarifying question I had at this point, I think. >> Okay. Yes, Mr. >> I have a couple of clarifying questions that I think just are foundational to
this conversation that I'm still struggling with. What is the definition of underutilization? uh when it comes to this state and and I also want to share, you know, we just opened two brand new schools. So therefore, we have less capacity, which
we did for a reason, you know, to reduce uh pressure on on those those schools down in the south. So I guess what I want to know is I need a better definition of of the the threat
um to be able to manage it. So my first question is is that is there a percent that defines underutilized and then is there a timeline like yeah 25% underutilization for a period
of the previous three years now you're fair game. I just don't understand enough the ground rules. >> So Mr. and I have had some conversation about that. He could certainly clarify more but um there really is no hard fast definition from the state. I mean really
it's um what's beneficial to a charter school company? What's advantageous to be able to come in and utilize? So if you have four classrooms, it's not very advantageous for a charter school company to come in. In a case like Reic where you have an entire wing available, now it becomes advantageous that you
could actually start a program and build a program at that site without having to have your classrooms intermingled with other classrooms of students from the other school campus. >> Okay. And If we're having trouble filling Reic then because of its
location and just not having that many kids out there, I would imagine a charter school would have the same problem, including, you know, out at East Marian too, for example. I sort of made a joke they'd have to go out in the forest and get the fawns to if they wanted more kids. Um, but then also
fish capacity versus school capacity. What's the state, you know, Which one are they looking at? Because for example, Forom now has less capacity because we have district out there. We put a fence there, made an investment in
it. So does that which which definition is the state going by? >> Yeah. And I'll I'll probably turn to Stephen, but I think it's fish for what we're looking at because once we redesate a space is no longer holding student stations at that point, there's nothing available when you pull up a
fish report to be able to say, "Yes, there's seats available that we could utilize." >> That's really important because there's there's a big difference between fish capacity and total capacity. And if through our own efforts as a school board to uh for lack of a better term
fill up those underutilized schools with it's getting to the point where having a central office because we're just so big geographically it's almost better to have satellite areas. And if that gets the state off our backs then this could be a whole different conversation. In
the terms of capacity, there's only one capacity and that's fish capacity and that's the Florida Inventory of Schoolhouses and that's what DOE recognizes as capacity. So, anything that we use, we use fish capacity because that's the official capacity.
>> Okay. I really appreciate that clarification because if if a campus holds 700 kids but we've already shortened up their or reduce those numbers then that's the reality we need to be working with
>> right so what we did is with forom we did reduce those capacities and we can go back as well and put that capacity back >> because it's all on the how the utilization of that is >> right you could Yep you could take down that fence and everything else But okay,
thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Doer. Reverend Cummings, >> you guys are addressing, you all are addressing the questions I I have. Um, thank you, Mr. Dor, for that uh concerning the fish report and what
number the state is actually looking at and that time frame. There was no time frame given, correct? >> For when they could start utilizing, we're asking. So, the I think the official date starts November 11th. there was a cooling off period from when the state board rule is published to
when it actually goes into effect. Um, so some of these charter companies have already started sending out letters have done so prematurely. Um, I think just really to give notice to the school districts of their intent, but they can't officially do anything until after that cooling off period. >> And Mr. White House, you you I think I
heard this number. I'm just making sure. um the concept of the uh ESC school of at uh Anthony you guys have identified only about 100 kids. >> No, I said that. >> Oh, okay. I know I had 100 somewhere.
>> So, yeah. So, in my conversation with Miss Williams Jones, if we went with a behavioral and cognitive support model, we could probably have 200 students in that campus. Hillrest really focuses more on cognitive support for students. Um, but with our elementary students, we also have a pretty strong need for some
behavioral support for those students. >> And right now, those kids are kind of all over the district and it would be more of a central hub where they can put all those services in one place. >> Correct. >> Thank you, Mr. May. And may I just offer
one thing on the piggyback to that? years ago, Maplewood Elementary School was opened because many years ago, Hillrest had students from very young, you know, all the way to they aged out at 18 back in those days. Well, we've continued to grow as a community. We
have a a larger ESSE population. So, Maplewood technically couldn't house all the all the kids anymore. So, then they started going out to different places, different schools, and there's different schools of thought on whether that's, you know, good, bad, or indifferent. But, you know, we've evolved now. It's
what almost 30 years later, so it's it's an important conversation. Okay. Thank you, >> Dr. Are you good? >> I think so. I I think um if if we're actually including schools of hope as a part of the conversation, which it seems like we might be I was just trying to
pull DOE reports because a part of what schools of hope definition also includes is the persistently low performing. And so the Florida law defines persistently low performing as a school that's earned three grades lower than a C in three of
the previous five years. So it's not going to necessarily mean that all of our schools would be in danger of that. Oakrest might be and we're at 60 some odd percent capacity at Oakrest right now. So like if if we're including that as a part of the conversation, I just
want to make sure that we understand all the pieces. It's not just that you have vacant or underutilized spaces. It's also the grade that will also dictate where those schools of hope could go. >> Yes, ma'am. So, the grade is part of it. The new rule language actually included
the lowest, I believe 10% of um schools in terms of ELA proficiency. And so, that fluctuates from year to year. And in reality, you could have CB-rated schools that because the entire state's ELA proficiency increased are in the lowest 10% even though they're not
really struggling. And by definition, a school of hope could move in there. >> Right. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay, Mr. White, I just have really have one question for clarifying on concept two and three. Can we afford them? We were just talking about tracking um
employees, you know, as as they're coming on and we just cut $64 million from our budget. These are great ideas and I love them, but are they something that we can currently afford? >> I think concept 2 is probably the most cost prohibitive, not just from the obvious dollar sign, but because it
doesn't do anything with the aging facilities that currently exist at those schools. So, the projected expenditure in facility upgrades over the next 10 years would still remain for those school sites. Whereas with the concept of Spar Elementary and Anthony
combination, if we were to demolish the old Spar site upon building the new one, one, it's less costly. It's 50 million compared to 76 million, but then we eliminate the ongoing expected expenditures for buildings that were built in the 1960s that would no longer exist. We now have a brand new campus.
So, it could be afforded, but again, the the board would have to decide where within that timeline does that fit because right now we've talked about Belleview Elementary and Belvy Santos combination. We know we have Lakewood Middle School getting built. We've talked about Denell and possibly down the road. So, we'd have to decide where within that time,
>> right? So, there will be a sacrifice is what you're saying. Yeah. It's not we cannot do what we have slated, you know, what is planned for now, what we're currently working on, something else is going to have to give. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you for that clarification. I and I just wanted to add a piggyback to that. If we go back to some data and
conversations we had, it's probably approaching 12 months ago now, but I think an important key thing to remember here is with option two, the enrollment at those schools is still not going to break even. Those schools are still all going to operate at a loss every year. And I'm I'm not the CFO, but I've done
the math and I can tell you a middle a K8 school operating with sub 600 kids is not going to break even. So, we're actually going to expenditure a ton of money and still be losing money. And so, to me, if we're going to expend money,
we need to then save money so that over the course of, let's say, a 20-year ROI, we are recovering the money we've put out, right? We have to look at some point, we do have to start looking longterm, and these are conversations about booster stadium as well, like, you know, is there a potential to recoup the
money that we are spending in the long term? To me, option two is not offering any um any financial positive outlook. I think when we look at um the spar Anthony combination when I sat with our
former CFO and we looked at that forecast essentially 10 15 years down the road from an operating expenditure cost because you are you're relieving essentially the $2 and half million dollars annually it costs to operate a site when you merge them. When you take
that to forecast and include that with the um maintenance costs that are required for both of those sites, you actually put yourself, you you know, you're not making money, but you're you are putting yourself at a net neutral when you forecast out 20 years because
you've replaced an aging facility. you've gotten rid of another aging facility and then you've offlined that two and a half million of residual which is always increasing because we offer raises every year for the cost to operate the facility. So that is to me
the key component there of looking at the forecast of the financial responsibility not just the right now but yes I mean it's going to require essentially revisiting the sale tax prioritization list and having continued conversations. I mean that's where the money is going to come from. um and and
revisiting that conversation. But from a financial outlook, it it does provide I think I mean Mr. Rios would be the expert in this and certainly don't want to put him on the spot because I didn't have the conversations with him, but it provides a net neutral for sure in the
long run for the two schools. So, I just wanted to make sure I added that. But those that option two middle, we're losing it. We're losing our butt continuously in option two. like there's no way we're ever breaking even on that option and we're spending a ton of
money. >> Okay, thank you for that clarification. Are there any other clarifying questions from the board? >> Okay, with that we're going to open it up for uh public comment. Mr. White House, sorry, Mr. White House, you're still at the podium. Is there anything else you wanted to add?
>> No, ma'am. I'm gathering my stuff and I'll step out of the way for the >> All right. So, we're going to open it up to public comment. Miss Martinez Young, will you call one at a time? >> Samantha Cobble. >> Okay. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Drive the mic. >> All right. Is that better?
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, my name is Samantha Kbble as C O BBLE E and I'm a 15-year Marian County resident and also a forom parent. Um, I'm asking you to reject the opinion or the option that moves Forom to Reic
Collier and places uh Bridgeway Academy on the Forom campus. Um, this is personal for my family. Um, my son was about to get kicked out of daycare, a private daycare um because I chose to place him in public VPK and they didn't like that because they weren't going to
be getting that money, right? Um he needed adults that had consistent uh you know consistent routines and positive support. Uh he needed a calm developmentally focused environment um
for his intellectual capabilities. Uh the proposal that you have here would relocate forom's prek to K2 to grade two students direct collier because there's space available and it would move bridgeway to the forom site. I want to be clear. I respect that Reddit call
your elementary school. Okay. Um my concern is disruption and access. Many forom families, mine including included, depend on the location. Uh I wouldn't be driving my son sons. I have two sons and they both go to form currently. I would not be driving them to Red Collier. It's
too far. It doesn't make any sense. I also wouldn't be able to participate in the things that I participate in now like parent conferences, um, activities at the school. Um, there's lots of different things, you know, they call me, they're sick, I can be there in a minute, literally a minute to pick up my
children. Um, so even with the suggested transportation hub near the forom site, the day-to-day reality for parents still involves extra time and extra logistical strain on those parents. At the same time, the plan would place Bridgeway students, a secondary alternative
program uh into a campus design for for very young children. And it's been a lot of great improvements for very young children in the last few years. Um this document describes only minor mod minor modifications, but let's be real, there's a lot of safety issues these
days, and it's only increasing. I know that that metal detector you have out front cost nearly $4,000 five years ago. How much would five of those cost that need to be at every entry potentially in the future? Right? So, we're trading two two uh you know the stability of two
vulnerable groups here and the that you know that number may cover that um like a move order but it's still there's just too many other changes that would be needed. There's also the matter of parent choice. Forom right now is the only school that has a 3PK program and
we're pay like we paid for that. like that's not that's not a free program, but it also has VPK students that can do afterare um which I utilize and need for my career, right? So, I just want to keep that in mind. I support having K through
eight at these elementary schools. >> Your time is expired. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Joseph Schaefer. Morning. Joe Schaefer, SC AFR. I'm a parent at
the of a child at Forommy and uh we elected to send our daughter there after doing the school choice program. Uh if the school were closed, we would not send our child to uh Citra every day. Um so I'll start off with that. Um, as a
facilities director myself, you know, Dr. Sarah James, your comments about datadriven decision-making, they resonate with me. I see some gaps in the data presented. Um, I appreciate that a lot of this information is uh behind closed doors and sometimes not
publicly available. So, I'm just going to bullet point what I observe for the group. Concept one does initially create a year one day one underutilized campus at FOROM which is as you've all said a primary driver for the overall North Marian County school objective activity
chart 10 15k and upgrades details not really shared with group um it stands in really stark contrast to the other options presented for options available I think more options analysis is needed what that 15k represents seems
understated ated concept one doesn't appear to show the relevant data of all the facilities costs for forom compared to the other four schools like average age acreage building space opex uh overall maintenance cost LRP things
like that um I noticed in the data presented that reic and fessed do have the highest long range maintenance costs in the portfolio of the campuses being explored and you know continuing to utilize these campuses in the future doesn't appear to be in line with the
board's driving purpose desire to reduce overall budgets. Uh slide four, I noticed one of the goals and of it's not really talked about, excuse me, is uh effective deployment of capital budgets. You know,
the board's comments are all really focused, as they should be, on budget consciousness. The opex and the capex go hand in hand. So if you increase your capex cost with option three or option two, you know, to that 26 or 50 million that you're talking about, you know, you're going to
pay the same depreciation expense year-over-year for that new facility. And there should be a guesstimate figure shown in the data presented um that takes into account that depreci depreciation expense. But I also don't see any assumptions made for the um sale
of the asset that you're going to be vacating. uh the sale of the land, the sale of the buildings, and then that figure to of offset maintenance and operating costs from the campuses you're going to close. I think that's important to consider when you're closing campuses. Um, and I see that I'm almost
out of time, so I don't have any other uh comments. Thanks. >> Thank you, >> Melissa Nova. Melissa Nova and OVOA. I was here speaking just the other night um and I we talked about some key points
and why form is important. But after chatting with my kids this morning getting ready um I was reminded why a standalone form early learning center is so important and I wanted to share that. Um, we had our normal morning getting ready and my 5-year-old reminded me was
talking to me about her amazing teachers like she always does and she said, "I love my teachers so much, mom." And guess what? They're all they're not just my teachers. They're my friends. It was a sweet moment and and I couldn't agree more. As teacher myself, I know the
value of a teacher and a teacher's impact, but it made me really think about forom and what we're fighting for. Um my son um I shared a little bit about him but he went to his zone school for a
day and when he picked him up and at that time he was non-verbal I I didn't feel like I could send him back the next day. I didn't know anything about his day. So, um, after talking to some of my friends in the district, working in the district for many years, um, they told me about the best prek teacher they've
ever seen, and the next day he started in her class at um, one of our one of our amazing elementary schools. And he did have, I believe, the best prek teacher um, that I've ever met. And he
still really struggled. He still had a lot of hard times. And it wasn't in the classroom, it was everywhere else, in the cafeteria, in the car line, in the hallways. It was very overwhelming for him. And he just really struggled. And
it reminded me that at Forom, he didn't just have amazing teachers. He had the setup he needed to be successful. He he had the atmosphere that focused on early learning where he and I quote because he has the same he had the same prek
teacher at both schools. She she told me she was following her passion to follow a school that was focused on early learning. And when ch chatting with him at conferences about my son, she said he's a different kid at Forom. he's able
to to thrive here and he it's true and I know he's just one child but he's he's he's showing that the statistics are true that at schools focused on early learning eight they have an 8% increase
in graduation rates and an 11% I'm sorry the 8% was on a reduced need for um special need programs and he's he shows that he was in speech and speech therapy, language, he's a language disorder, language therapy, reading
intervent reading, reading, um an IEP for reading and for math and for occupational therapy and those are all on consult now and by third grade those will be gone. If we catch these young learners before that time, it makes all the difference. I hope you'll consider
that. Thank you, >> Jade Dean. Good morning. My name is Jade Dean. J A Y D E D E an. Thank you. I am the proud mother of three amazing children, two of whom attend for him um early learning center and a one-year-old that is
enrolled in the Stepping Stones program. Our journey into the school system began with a challenge. My 5-year-old was zoned for Oakrest Elementary, but there were no VPK spots available for my four-year-old son. The Oakrest administrator recommended forom, and that recommendation recommendation changed everything. At orientation, what
we found was more than just a school. We felt warmth, support, and genuine care. My children, who were terrified of school and being around older kids, walked away smiling. My son even hugged me that day and said, "Thank you for picking this school." Since enrolling at Ford, my children have blossomed. My kindergartner has gone from struggling
to reading full sentences and my VPK student can now spell his full name and speaks about his emotions and tells tells me about his safe space and that has also helped his behavior in many ways. Even my youngest, thanks to the Stepping Stones program, is more talkative and
more social and confident than ever. This growth didn't happen by accident, and it is the result of being in a safe, loving, and nurturing school environment. Exactly what Ford MFs provided. The proposed merger would take that away. It would strip my children of the progress they've made and the confidence
they've built. As a parent, I cannot accept that. I've also deeply I am also deeply concerned about the academic history of Reddit Collier Elementary, which has consistently ranked in the bottom 20% of Florida elementary schools over the last decade. Why should our B-rated students be uprooted and placed
in a struggling environment? If this merger goes forward, I will have no choice but to withdraw my children from the public school system. I would leave college, stay home full-time, and homeschool them. Not because I want to, but because I can no longer trust the system to protect their education. The
concept of hub for transportation is also an issue because now that somebody else, as parents, we have to trust with our children. Um, this decision affects real families, real children. Please don't let this decision force us to sacrifice our kids' futures. I urge you,
please protect form, protect the students who are thriving there, and don't take away the one place where they felt safe, successful, and supported. Thank you for hearing us. I hope you'll choose to stand with the families and the teachers and the students who are already showing you what success looks like if you let it continue. Go for
Foxes. And thank you. >> Thank you. Emma Dingman, Shandra Oats. >> Good morning, board members. >> My name is Emma Dingman. Um, and this is Shironda Oats. And we, um, are both Oh, D I N G M- N. Sorry.
>> Shironda Oats. O A Ts. Um, and we are both um, two of the very first out of three teachers hired at Forom Early Learning Academy before we had a name, a building full of students, or a single child enrolled. I was happy at my prior school, and I took a chance on a vision
that you, the board, agreed to, a belief that early learning should be celebrated, supported, and valued as the foundation of everything that follows education. As faculty members, many questions have arisen among us and our peers. Questions we hope you will consider carefully before making a
decision. Has consideration been given to how specialist teachers will be accommodated in a new arrangement? Will two teachers be required to share one space? What will happen to the clerical and administrative staff currently serving at FOROM? Forom is the only location providing MAP for VPK students, which is a huge draw for working
parents. Will that continue if we are moved? Currently, Forom serves 64 students in beforeare and 119 students in afterchool care. That is 50% of our student population served in before and afterare catering to the working family. We are currently operating four VPK
units on our campus. Can the district confirm whether these positions will remain intact uh following a potential relocation? And since Oakrest was mentioned as a possible relocation site, it was built in 1955. What does retrofitting look like when bathroom and sink access is limited in
the older wings given the frequent and urgent needs of our youngest learners? >> Earlier this week, we conducted a short parent survey asking two simple questions. First, if form early learning students were relocated to elementary school, >> so can you pull the mic down? Thank you.
>> If form was relocated in the survey we conducted, if form was relocated to Reic Collier, I'm sorry, elementary school um to operate for the next school year, would you transport your child to Reic Collier location? The second question was, if there was a hub bus stop at the
current forom early learning location, would you utilize this service to transport your children to Reic Collia Elementary? We received 122 family responses, some of them having multiple students enrolled at our school. Out of those 115 families, about 95% said no to
both questions. That means families overwhelmingly would not follow forom if we moved to another campus to rely or rely on the bus hub for their child's transportation. With that being said, the data clearly shows that our families are not willing
to relocate, which means a moving would not solve the utilization challenge at Reddit Collier. While it might seem the new families could fill those seats, the truth is that part of form success is that we are one of a kind. We are the only school in the district that stops at second grade, the only true learning early learning academy. Moving us onto a
campus that already serves pre-K through fifth grade removes the uniqueness and effect creates competition rather than collaboration. We would essentially be competing with the very site that we're sitting on. And at that point, it's not a partnership or a solution. It's a chess game.
>> On Tuesday evening, Dr. Campbell mentioned her love for early learning and her excitement about moving forward, I'm sorry, forward with the conversation of opening another location on the south side of Marian County. >> Time is expired. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, >> Jennifer Beck.
I want to know what she was going to say about me. >> Good morning, Jennifer Beck, BECK, director of early learning and proud principal of Forom Early Learning Academy. I stand before you today not just an advocate for forom early learning but form early learning on our
current campus. The discussion today has been about northn schools and better utilization. And as the director of early learning, I certainly see the district's vision. I have to look at that all the time. And efficiency and fiscal responsibility are extremely
important. However, in the process of addressing one challenge, we potentially then open up another problem and create some unrealistic obstacles for um or unintended consequences. First, let's consider and and we've already had some
comment about it licensing and compliance requirements. So, although I heard $15,000 being mentioned to retrofit, what I know was not taken into that was that we are currently at a DCF license facility. So, change in location
would completely open up a new application process, application fees, fee inspections, and potentially a lengthy timeline. But that's not really where the cost is because those are relatively nominal. It is in the retrofitting and repair work because any
of those facilities that have been mentioned are older facilities. And when DCF comes in, they are measuring spaces. They are looking at those spaces including sinks, including toilets, including the current condition of doors and cabinets. And when they want them fixed and repaired, they want them fixed
and repaired. And you can't move forward with the process until that work is done. So that potentially causes an interruption to the students that we're currently serving. We are licensed for preK3 and to serve those children in afterare for three-year-olds and VPK.
Beyond those financial and logistical hurdles is something else very important and two words resonate with me and I'm trying to be quick because I'm watching my time. Parent choice. These parents have choice. Parents across the United States have choice where their children are going to school. If they wanted to
go to their base school, they would have already have chosen their base school. Forom was chosen for a reason. From the start of when they come through and they tour our campus and you've heard families say, "We know every child by name." We do know them by name. We know
their family. We know what's going on on the weekend. And that's intentional. That is what we talk about. That is building relationships. Um that is making sure that they are starting strong. The next thing I'd like to talk about in addition to parent choices
going back to that survey that was mentioned what the comments that they didn't see which I saw is they're not going to go back to their base school. Clearly in the comments they're going to go to a private school, they're going to go homechool or they're going to look at charter schools. So I think that gives
us pause to take a look at is that really what we want to do and is that really going to fill Reic to capacity. I think the last thing I'd want to say is reputation because I'm watching our time. Reputation takes time and we've got a great reputation going and I'll
stop where I'm at. Last one. >> Okay. Thank you um everyone who showed up and stayed this morning to share your your comments. We sure do appreciate it. as board member. Is there anyone who did not have an opportunity to fill out a form and would like to speak to the
board? Okay, moving forward. Board will open it back up for conversation. >> I just have a can could we possibly break now because I know you said you wanted to break at 11:30 and it's 11:15 and then so that we don't start a conversation that we then have to end really quickly. I don't know. That's
just my quick question >> if if that's the pleasure of the board. And before before we before we break, I do want to say this because I won't be back on that second part. >> Yeah, just a second. >> Yeah, sorry. Everybody's making eye movements, but Miss Throwward had a
comment to say and then Reverend Cummings will go to you. >> I I think that since we have 15 minutes before 11:30 that we need to at least open the the conversation. I know at least one board member has a time constraint, the input and feedback is really important to me to hear from all
board members. Um, and we have folks here that have been waiting that need to get back to their schools probably and I don't know how long we're going to break for at 11:30, but that'll be another delay. So, I would just assume at least get it up to 11:30 before we break. That's
>> okay. Dr. Campbell, do you have a preference? >> I agree. I did not know we had a board member with a time constraint. So, that changes my thought on that. >> So, um, if it's okay with the board, we'll go ahead and work until 11:30, begin the conversation. Um, Reverend Cummings, I'd like to give you the opportunity to share um your thoughts
first since you're on a tight timeline. >> Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I first I want to thank all of you that thought Robert to come out this morning and to address those concerns. Some of you were here on Tuesday night as well to address your concerns about Forom. We
um when we implemented forom as an early learning uh facility center um we we asked you to do certain things to get that good reputation to uh provide a service that um would make a difference and you guys are making a difference and
you have done those things and Miss Beck you're absolutely right. It takes it takes a minute to build a reputation but in a very short time you guys have done that built a positive reputation. So, I'm I I am I am still listening to uh
all of the comments um and concerns. I'm very concerned about moving forward as well. Um for me, I I would not want it to be moved uh because of where uh is centrally located to send it further north would uh be a hindrance and uh a
potential problem for those parents. When you look at the map that um was on the um the presentation, we have students coming from all over the county. And I think I heard a parent the other night said that they were driving from Marian Oaks. That's almost the
whole county that's driving the length from south to north of the whole county to bring their kids to school. So, I just want to let you know where I'm at with this. Um thank you guys for coming out this morning. I have to leave. Thank you. >> Thank you, Reverend Cummings. Um who would like to go next? chair.
>> Yes. >> Seeing as I asked for this concept to come forward, would you mind if you gave me the purview to start the conversation because I know I'm the reason we kind of got here and I just wanted to kind of share my thought pattern on everything since I was the one who initiated the conversation. >> Go ahead, Dr. J.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um, so I I am a parent who uses choice and when this conversation came up, certainly when I saw the presentation, it never would have occurred to me that form was going to come into the conversation.
When I asked for us to address the North End, never in my wildest dreams did I think form would play into it. And one of the key things that I've said to staff throughout the conversation has been as a parent of choice myself, I
feel like I represent parents of choice. And many of our staff are also parents who use choice throughout their child's K12 experience. And it would be improper to ask a parent of choice to do something that we wouldn't do ourselves.
And so I put myself in the position and I said,"Well," and I've really been spending a lot of time talking through this in my head. Five years ago, prior to my kids starting kindergarten, if Forom was at Reic, would I have driven would I have chosen Reic instead of
Madison Street where my kids go today? Um, and I I I can't say with a definite yes that I would have done that because we do our life in town. And so driving into town every day is a part of what we do every day. And so driving to Reic to
then drive into town would lengthen my day. And I think that there is a lot of value in representing ourselves as we have this conversation today and and maybe beyond today. Would we do that? Because if we would not do that, to expect someone
else to do it is hard. And certainly based on the survey, you know, the in kind of informal survey that was done, it appears that most of those parents are not willing to do it. So, I've been mulling that over and there's there are some things that I as
a unique board member look at and and I try to manage all of the pieces of a board member and the whole student experience, but also with the fiscal responsibility and I look at where are where are our facilities that do not have student
enrollment where they need to be to break even because the reality is a school with 279 students is not breaking even it's just not um and there has to be a balancing act but also Anthony Spar 8th Street Wyomina Fzden Madison and
Reic are probably all also schools because those schools have three and 400 student enrollments are also not breaking even and so I I started looking at this whole picture because one of the things that has been in the back of my head and as a board member we get asked often well would why aren't we why
aren't we addressing Eth Street Why isn't Eth Street enrollment being addressed? Why isn't Madison Street's enrollment being addressed? And I agree. I even said in the very not distant past to executive staff, if we had the money, I'd say put a wing at Madison because
there should be six or 700 kids at every school because that is what's more financially responsible. Mr. Ays would tell me we should never add capacity to choice schools because that's that's just not the best approach. And I hear that in my head all the time when I think those thoughts. So I I think that
we need to address this from a few different perspectives because I think forom has been added to the conversation that was not originally in the conversation but I do think that there is a value in the conversation when I look around at
you know could form stay and a school come to forom um could form stay where it is because ultimately big picture as the board we also have to find a place for alternative learning and that's that is a critical component to this that is not really like the headline of the
conversation, but I feel like is actually leading the charge of of the conversation is where are we going to put alternative learning? And so we have to find a place for them, which means we have to alleviate another place. Um, and so when I look at this list of schools
that have less than 400 enrollment, you know, Spar, Anthony, Reddic, and Fezden, well, they're all a part of the other com part of the conversation. So they're kind of they're a part of this but absent. 8th Street is landlocked and we
can't make it larger and also has a zoning pattern. Wita Park we're doing a year-round school program at and so the only school that's left then is Madison which is a complete choice program and so I don't even know if there's been a conversation about it but as a Madison
parent it doesn't completely upset me for Madison to be on form's campus and essentially everyone prek three through second would be a form fox and in third through fifth grade they would be a Madison Owl. I actually it's because
it's a pure choice program and there is no zoning pattern. I think there's a the plausibility that it could happen. Um I certainly don't know, but I I completely appreciate everything that's been shared and it is
it's hard. I I have a really hard time justifying making a choice parent do something I wouldn't do myself. And I think that is the probably for me the premise of where I'm at with this conversation is would I be willing to do it? Now on the other side of that, my
other thoughts for the North End, to me, I think we need to um it literally was a morning thought this morning. I don't know why we still have the Fiddler Spring campus as a standalone site. To me, Fiddler Springs needs to go to Reddit Collier, and we need to get rid of some fish capacity at Reddit Collier,
maybe building 10, and put Fiddler Springs at Reddit Collier and get rid of fish capacity there. Um, I also love the idea of a center school for our most students who experience the most significant need. Why can't that be put at Reddic for everyone who's north of
City Center or north of 326 or whatever? And put a center school at Reic. No. Should we bus kids from Stanton Wearsdale to Readic? Absolutely not. But could we say that every kid who lives north of 35th Street and needs a center school would go to REDIC? I think that
could be a possibility because it's not lost on me that we have to fill Red Reic or make its fish smaller and do something with the facility because we ultimately have an obligation from our seats to identify and and deal with that. So, those are two solutions that I
would offer for Reic that could potentially at least offline some of the fish seats would be a center school at Reic and then moving Fiddlers. Like, I know we just talked about the roof at Fiddlers, but why are we replacing a roof where 10 people work? Like, we have a perfectly good school. Why can't we
just move them to Reic? Um, and then of course, I have been a champion since the day I got on this board for the North End to get a new school. I was doing outside of the cafeteria at North Marian High. I don't think the North End has gotten
anything new. Maybe the cafeteria at North Marian Middle some point in the early 2000s. Board member Thrower may be able to help me on the on the timeline here, but then we're going back to Reic being built. And so I until I am done sitting at this deis, whether that's next year or five years from now, will
beat the drum that the north and deserves something new. And so I am will continue to advocate that a new school at SPAR is 100% at the top of my priority list and Anthony going to SPAR, but that has been something I've been maintaining. Um, but I think that would be a way to maximize utilization at
Reic, maximize utilization at Spar. we would still need to work at Fezden, but we have had conversations that we probably need to add a wing because as that kind of west part of Okala expands and they go to Feziden zoning pattern, you know, continuing to be able to
absorb that. So, um I feel like that kind of covers my thought pattern. It's a lot to digest and I've really been trying to figure out how to and trust me, it's not lost on me that I'm probably going to start getting text messages from Madison Street parents who are like, "What in the world are you
talking about?" But I said, "I'm a Madison parent. I would have no issue with my first grader being a form Fox. The reason she's not is because we were at Madison before Forom was a thing." And so, and this would also solve where do the second graders go? Well, every
second grader at Forom then just rolls into Madison Street, which I don't think any form Fox parent would have an issue with because then they're guaranteed to have an amaz I mean I'm bleed Madison Street colors. I love it. And so no parent would be mad at Forom and trying
to find a place and we would be keeping these kids that Dr. Campbell has talked about. We've lost we're losing these kids because their parents are choosing another option. So, that's a lot to digest, but those are just kind of as I've been trying to come up with a solution that meets all of the
variables. Um, that's kind of where I'm at. I think I'll lay my pen down for now. >> Well, we're we're almost at our time break. Thank you, Dr. James. That is a lot to do digest um and a brand new idea
um to me. Does anybody have something brief? Brief as in board three minutes. So, I'll I'll say something brief. I completely agree but yet disagree on first of all, I love the new idea. That's first statement.
Second statement is I believe the north end needs new construction. I personally as been mulling this over as well believe it needs to be at Fezzendon and Feezan needs to become a K8. That's what I think needs to happen. We have 38 acres at Fezendon and then we
consolidate some other way. Either we're moving Anthony students to Reic or Spar students to Reic. We reszone all of that north end. We still need to only have three elementary schools or two elementary schools and one K8 is what I
would see in the north side. um that I know that that's a longer term strategy to actually build a classroom building at Fezendon, but I the maintenance cost over 20 years are going to be 20 million there and or excuse me 12 million there and they have the most property and they
already have a gym built and >> with air conditioning that we just put in. Uh so I see because we had such extens extensive conversation about fezond not going away then let's just go ahead and double down on that and say
let's make it a K8 and um then then that frees up the North Marian Middle campus and then we handle some of the other things that we've talked about here with North Mary Middle. That's only the beginning phase of what I'm thinking
here, but you said something quick. So that's So I agree and disagree. I agree we need to build on the north end. I don't believe it needs to be at spar. >> All right, with that um board, I want to thank you for great conversation um this morning as well as the community. We're going to break for recess. It's 11:29.
We're going to take a 30 minute break. Uh and we will be back to for further discussion. All right. Thank you. Welcome back from recess. It is 12:02. We are um continuing the conversation of north side util utilization. Before we
went to recess, Dr. James had some ideas that she shared and Dr. Campbell chimed in. Board, I want to open up open it up to other members. Um, Miss Sur, would you like to share? You ready? You want me to wait just a minute while you try to finish your lunch?
>> It's fine. Um, thank you. Um, you know, it just kind of goes to show that great ideas can come from anywhere at any time. And I believe, you know, board member James, you are in a very unique and wonderful
position to be able to um amplify the positive aspects of relocating Madison to uh the form campus. It's, you know, for me it's always been about
getting the right people in the room to solve the problem, you know, and making sure that by solving one problem, we don't create, you know, three or four others and and challenges. So, I
very much support um that proposal. I hope that staff will look into the feasibility and we can hopefully have uh one challenge that has been concerning a lot
of people uh off the list and have them be happy and you know when again like I said earlier in my comments when we started this conversation when your guiding light is doing what's best for kids and and the families and and the
rest of folks that serve them and you have the right people in the room and you talk it through, then you can come up with some uh hopefully very palatable solutions that that solve a problem instead of creating more. So, I'm happy
with that part of the conversation uh so far. And when it comes to some of the other things, I I continue to focus my mind on, you know, what do we have in our inventory
that is currently kind of obsolete. You know, maybe the conversation just hasn't occurred for a while. The the Fiddler's building is is in my mind, you know, one of those options. Um just like we've talked about with with attendance. And then just, you know, once you discover
that the attendance legislation hadn't been reviewed since 1980, probably the location of of fiddlers hasn't been reviewed in in quite a long time either. And with the clarification of what I
think I know today that if we think in terms possibly of more satellite type district support to uh make sure that our school fish capacity does not look
tempting to charter schools. Then hopefully again that will allow us to be a better service to our kids, our families, our communities and then arguably we're a little more nimble as adults where if for some reason you know we see a big spike in population of
students then it's a little easier I think to relocate staff than it is to upend families and programs and and and things like that. So I would like to continue thinking in in that direction. We have a very historic old school board
beating old school board building that is sitting there. Um, you know, we we know we need money. I don't think any of us expected that it was going to be a $64 million shortfall, but this board, you know, you have to remember now, you know, because we're so student focused,
we didn't want to reduce numbers. We didn't want to, you know, get rid of kindergarten pairs. uh we added things to the staffing plan which added money to the budget in spite of our former CFO saying recurring cost. You know, we all heard the lecture and and it kind of
came back to to smack us a little bit. So, I think in the future, uh it's good to really shift our mindset to really looking at obsolete and underutilized, you know, buildings and ones that don't aren't
even serving students. uh and and our employees are very very important too and I think of their safety. We have that whole block where uh employment services is that is not currently serving students. We have a very popular
and landlocked uh 8th street and oyola and that you know block is probably also lucrative you know saleswise. So, I think that for for myself, um it's I'm going to continue to try to think about
areas like that to to save money and increase services versus uh a lot of other disruptions to students and families and and programs. Um you know,
Hillrest has 161 students. They are never going to pay for themselves. So again, we're not a business. We are a business, but we're not a business. So those are those are some of the things that I have taken from this
conversation uh so far. I like where it's going and I just look forward to, you know, getting the numbers uh in terms of the feasibility and and viability of of the Madison form option.
Um, I'm less concerned about Bridgeway at at the moment. I know that we've talked off and on many years, you know, about what to do with this Old Forest High School. Um, but in the meantime, you know, students, as evidenced by our return to base meetings this morning,
you know, that the program is is is thriving where it is. So, I don't see that as an as as much of a 911, you know, as I do some other things. So, that's what I have for the moment. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Campbell. I want to open up to you because I only gave you three
minutes before we went to lunch. So, do you have anything you want to add to your comments? >> I think I I want to ask a clarifying question on the Madison Forom forom thing because I felt like what I heard was something different than what I just heard Miss Thrower share, but maybe I missed it. Is your expectation or
thought at least be that Madison Street would contain just as the school that it is on the same location where it is be a 35 and then form. Okay, that's what I thought that I heard. So that essentially if I can clarify you mean
please my what I know to be true and Mr. Rios would have to get the numbers is 600ish students on a campuses breaks evens. So Madison continuing to just have 35 Even if you filled Madison back up and offered more three five seats, still
doesn't put Madison in a profit. When we go to sitebased budgeting, Madison is going to operate at a loss, >> right? >> So my I No, we have to find a campus for Bridgeway. Bridgeway would then operate on Madison's campus. Okay, that is my thought pattern. Okay, that's so I don't
know if that wasn't clear, but my thought pattern was that all of Madison goes to the campus of Forom. Every student that's at Madison Street who is a rising prek through second
grade student would essentially live in the form Fox world and half of Forom's campus would be exactly what it is now. and it services forom foxes and it's very developmentally appropriate pre-k through two or pre-k 3 through two and then they have the bridging ceremony at
the end of the year at second grade and they bridge into Madison and essentially if you look at the units right now there would be seven second grade units right now because Miss Beck has three units I believe and then there are four at Madison so you would have seven second grade units that then bleed into seven
third grade units because every form Fox would then be guaranteed a spot at Madison because it's on the same campus which is the biggest barrier I believe in the current retention issues that Miss Beck experiences with boredom >> because there's nowhere to go. So people bail out after kindergarten or first if
they get a spot at Madison or Jones because they they want their they're a choice family. They want their child to be in choice. So, we would eliminate completely Madison's experience on Madison's campus and then Madison's campus which has
460ish fish seats would then which might change because there's their elementary versus secondary. But we do have some significant elementary behavior issues that would then be at a more developmentally appropriate site because
certainly right now there's not a playground here, right? And I mean there's a small one over there by where we used to be, but would they would be in a site that is appropriate, but also the plan as it exists right now is taking Bridgeway to an elementary site.
So there's not much different between Madison and and Forom. They're they were both elementary sites. So we're taking essentially a secondary program and putting it at an elementary site. So there's a level of retrofitting that has to occur with either either either plan.
Okay. So that helps me understand a bit more because I was still like, so what are we doing with Bridgeway? because I I understand that that hasn't been as much of a priority, but that is a huge priority from where I sit because the more we are able to get our district
office staff on the same campus, the more we are able to be efficient in all of our meetings and need for all of that and then even able to look in u more duplication or you know what what's
taking too much time to do certain things, the more you have eyes on every district employee on the same campus. And I continue to say while I appreciate that this was the quick fix for us last year whenever we took on the program
that we did and now have created Bridgeway and all the things that we've seen this morning, the productivity and the success that they're able to have. This campus was decommissioned, whatever the word is, from DOE because students
were not supposed to be here. And that's how we got approval to build Forest High School. We, the school board of the day, 27 years ago, got approval to build Forest High School where it is today because there weren't going to be students on this campus. And today,
there are hundreds of students on this campus. So the more we change that whole narrative and this just becomes district our district offices, not even district east because we're calling it district east. District west is kind of going to be sort of going away a bit soon too as
soon as we get that data center done. So um this this will be the district office and we just continue to figuring out what that looks like here. Nevertheless, today's all about students. Uh I I appreciate and love the perspective that
you have brought to the table, Dr. James, because I was trying to solve a geographical challenge and you being a specific parent that would be impacted by the decision come with exactly why I think it's imperative to have parents on the board, including both of us. And so
having all the diverse perspectives, but that wouldn't been something that I would have considered because I wasn't in your shoes. Um so I love that idea. Um, I I still think that talking about what how we still fill
those seats at Reddit Collier is still needing to be a conversation we try to talk through today. Uh, because I mean we we're too late in the school year to do a whole resoning plan for just the North End. I we have I think we
have to do a full year of that if I'm not mistaken. Mr. heirs uh has to be a full year. Yes. So, we're too late in the game to actually make that if we were to just reszone North End, which wouldn't totally give us what we need
anyway um because we still have Reic is the main one that is underutilized and uh Anthony at their low enrollment as well. Then what do we do? Do we land bank a location? And then I'm this is going to
be the last thing I'm going to say about this right now because I have floated the idea out about the southside early learning. Personally, this is just going to be something I'm thinking about. I like the idea of form Early Learning Academy being what we call all of our
early learningmies. >> Oh, 100%. And so form early learning academy like originally when I was thinking we would put it at Oakrest to be form early learning at Oakrest or form early learning at reic or form early learning whatever I I I think the name form can just this is personal whatever just thinking it through but
then this is what I said to Dr. Brewer and Mr. White House. I said, "Okay." So then Forom early learning, uh, we would we would then have an early learning academy potentially in 2027
when our Lakew Weir Middle students I know I've already said this, but here my whole thought on it when the Lakew Weir Middle students hopefully if the federal government will ever reopen and we can get our letter from the US Fish and Wildlife Commission, we'll be able to actually
break ground on that site in the Silver Spring Shores for Lakewear Middle School. But when that happens, hypothetically, we should be able to be 2027 opening that Lakewear Middle campus that then has the new Lakewear Middle that probably won't be called Lake Weir
Middle, but whatever. And then we'll have that site off of Sunset Harbor Road where we will then need to be moving the Belleview Elementary student students into. But if we can go ahead and also set it
up for an early learning academy there in conjunction with the Belleview Elementary students because it should be fish capacity for 1,200 or so. So, I mean, we should be able to do both simultaneously in 2027 on that campus.
And then we start talking about once those Belleview Elementary students go back to their school, then maybe there's another site in the southside potentially a Stanton Wearsdale that then goes into the Lake Weir Middle campus and we offline the
Stanton Wearsale campus. Uh because I mean, and I know the Lakewear Middle campus is old. I know it is too. I know it needs to have a lot. We we didn't put air conditioning in it. We didn't, you know, I mean, I I understand that, but that's where in my thought process of
early learning, we're saying 2027 state appropriation and federal earmark potentially for that early learning in for 2027 on that campus. And um anyway, the so thinking both sides, I think it's important that we not there were people
in the community that spoke on Tuesday evening that believed that we wanted to close our early learning academy and I am doubling down on absolutely not. We're going to have two if not three or four because everything we know this and this is the other thing. Everything we
know is that families who have choices like that we offer afterare for VPK kids. Yeah. >> So, how do we do more of that and where do we do more of that? And I appreciate the data requests that the board members
have had because we're seeing the spots potentially that we could add more VPK classrooms on our elementary sites right now because that's also something we talked about because that we we know that our early learning in Marian County struggles, kindergarten readiness
struggles and we have been successful at solving part of that. So, let's continue to do that even more and in greater ways that we can. I understand the funding. I I get it. That's the other piece. We're working on legislative requests and try
we're we're trying to tackle this from every end we can. But those people that are willing to pay, those people that are willing to pay, why aren't we offering more services that they pay for? And I know that's a lensure thing. I know that's DCF. I understand all of
that. But how do we do more of that? Okay. I think that covers most of my and I already said about Feezington becoming our K8 and then that would offline the North Middle North Mary middle campus at that's like longer down the line but
that's what my that the K8 would be at Fezendon and we would reszone middle school so that some of those kids in the Anthony area would go to Fort King some in the lower Fezendon might go to Howard and then we would have Fort McCoy
and Fezendon as our K8s that service the north end. Okay, got it. That was a lot. >> That was a lot. Okay. All right. Board, this this has probably been one of our for me personally a fun I'm going to say a fun board meeting. Like it it's been a
great opportunity for everybody to share ideas and the ideas have been so different than what has come before the board previously. So with that, I will lead into my ideas a little different also. Um, so after I had my briefing and and
looked at what the district uh presented, I have a lot of respect for that, the people that put that plan together, the work that went into that plan. Uh, and so with that, I still struggled with us moving forward. Um, a lot of background in early childhood,
uh, a push for Marian County Public Schools. we've already identified that early learning literacy is a priority for us. Um we're lacking that um for the kindergarten readiness and so it just
felt counterproductive when we're hearing that a majority of the parents at forom do not want to move. They don't want to travel any further. So the next thing um that entered my mind after I decided I I really don't
want to move the students at forom I started I could hear Dr. dreams in my head with north north side pride north side pride. So I started, you know, you're looking at numbers and trying because somebody is going to be disrupted, some children, some families, there's
going to be some disruption. And so what does that look like and how can we minimize that? And so looking at our north end schools, my idea would be um let me share the capacity real quick. We've got North
Marian Middle School is at about 70% um capacity and we've already said that Reic Collier is at 46% capacity. North Marian High School is at 72% capacity. And so what if we looked at
for North Maran Middle shifting our sixth graders and making Reic a K through six? That would put us there are 266th graders. Um, and there's 318 currently at RO
enrolled at Reddic. So that gives us a pretty solid number for Reddic. Next, taking our seventh graders from um, North Maran Middle School, which puts us that's 233 students. The eighth
graders, there's 218 students. Moving them to North Marian High School, who was only at 72% capacity. Also, if we made those changes, we're still keeping those students in the north
side. They're still in in their um communities. And that opens up North Marian Middle School for Bridgeway Academy, which my in my opinion I think is a a better move. there's there's better facilities
there as far as a gym and more things that are are productive for the age level that's going to be moving there. Um, that's the short version uh of what I'm thinking about. And so I'll just I'll pause here to see if there's any uh
concerns or or interest in that idea. Well, chair, I guess the only barrier I would think is that um you would have you would have a significant portion of those sixth graders who would attend three schools in three years. They're they're spar elementary. They go
to Reic for sixth grade and then they would go to North Marine High School for seventh grade, >> but then they would stay seventh, 8th, nth. >> Yeah. But why would they would go to Reic for one year? I I just I don't um >> like I said there there's going to be a
group of kids that are displaced no matter what what option we choose. This is one option that I spend time putting, you know, thinking. >> Yeah. I mean, I would I would be more palatable to put sixth grade at all four of the North End elementary schools than I would be palatable to put all of sixth
grade at one school. Um, but I just don't I personally think it is a transportation nightmare to drive a kid from Aqua Waja to Citra. And if you are a kid who is a behavior kid, which is
why you're in an alternative setting, and I put you on the bus in Aawaja at 7 a.m., and you're not arriving at North Mary Middle School until 8:30, that is a really long time to transport
a student who has a behavior problem. We're already, if we only have one alternative school, we're already transporting them a significant distance that they live on the outskirts. I don't think there's a I don't I don't think it is advantageous to make it even longer personally.
>> Okay. Yeah. Or throw up. >> And you know we the brainstorming is so important to try to think this through. I would also encourage Mr. Jones to have some voice in this conversation. Um because one of the potentially appealing
things >> about medicine would be you've got a Kroski right next door. You know, you have that whole park there. >> Absolutely. >> Uh, you know, that's a lot of opportunity. >> Yep. It's a lot of space. It's a It's also an in town location, so it's closer
for, you know, I'll just say Mayor Marciano has been amazing so far. He's been over here multiple times. So, we want access. You know, what these kids need, I would just offer more than anything else is just strong, sane adult role models.
>> Well, and city bus stops. So, something that got brought to my attention on the break was there's city bus stops um at Madison. There is not at Forom's site and obviously not at North Marian. So, we could potentially utilize city transportation for a Madison location,
>> but also it's very close to um Mary Sue Rich as well. I mean, it's very close to Mary Sue Rich. Can we ask Mr. Jones to maybe pop over? >> I don't I hate to put him on the spot, but also I really don't hate it because I think we need to make a decision. If we don't make it now, we're going to have to make it in the November 6th
board session ahead of school choice opening if that's what if that's what the timeline is. And so I'd love to hear his perspective. I don't know if someone Yep. >> He's Mr. White House is going to contact him. >> Thank you. >> Because the school choice window opens November 10th, right?
>> Right. Yes. >> And that would be our request is that we would come back to you on November 6th to have some kind of decision before um that window opens. Yes. Were you finished with your thought? Can >> I was just going to say as we begin to
check things off off the list, it I'm wondering if the board if we have consensus about the Madison Forom opportunity. Can we at least go that far? >> I love it. >> So, I I want to preface everyone by saying as many Forom parents that
emailed us about Forom. Now, granted, I think that is a much bigger ask than Madison to Forom. we were going to have Madison staff and Madison parents reach out. Um, I feel I feel like I've really spent time sitting in this and like thinking and putting myself in the shoes
because I am in the shoes and I feel pretty confident with the decision, but I'm going to hear perspectives that we haven't heard yet. And so, I think we could have consensus for the day, but I I wouldn't want to say that we're making a decision ahead of listening to what the community would have to say about
it. I I think if that's a fair assessment of it, I don't know. But um I do imagine there are going I mean they're all teaching right now, so they're probably not watching the workshop, nor was this on the agenda, so most of them are probably not even you know, >> they're going to say all the reasons.
Anyway, it I what I don't want it to become I'm sorry I didn't mean to just interject there. >> Well, I think maybe I didn't explain myself properly. I would say consensus that this is what the board thinks is the the best idea.
B and we do want to hear feedback. You know, it's not something we're going to vote on. We we just give consensus. It's not a votable item, but we certainly operational decision. >> Yes, we certainly want to make sure we get to hear, you know, from from everybody. There may be a nugget that,
you know, does make us change our mind, but uh I just am trying to bring together where we are and and if we're all thinking this is a pretty darn good idea, then hopefully as we get our
calls, we'll be able to to share that. >> Mr. Jones is here. >> That was good afternoon, Mr. Jones. By chance, you didn't happen to be watching the work session, did you? I did hear uh bits and pieces and I did
hear the last part of it. Um the conver >> Okay. Can you can you get the mic closer to you? It's hard for me to hear. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. I did hear the last uh part conversation when it dealt with Bridgeway and the possible um alternatives um to being here on our
site. Um I do like being centrally located. Uh that's going to be key because um like you say, we come from all over the district and that has been um challenging in the outskirts. So if it's challenging in the outskirts being
here located to get to the north end from Marin Oaks or or someplace like that, that would be even more challenging. So being centrally located uh would be very important. Space is what we need. We need space. There's
some things that the board has X as far as um the non-erregious, the regious and the separation that additional space would allow for us to do things like that. >> Okay. And do you feel that Madison's tree would have that spa the spa give you the space you need?
>> Yes. Yes, it would. >> Okay. All right. Board, open it up for any other questions. First of all, Mr. Jones, thank you for stopping what you were doing and and coming over and joining us. We appreciate you taking a minute to come over and share with us what what is important to you.
>> You're welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. I I don't know that I have any other questions for Mr. Jones. Does anybody else But we just Yeah, go ahead. I think >> Oh, I don't have another question for you other than, you know, thank you and getting over here so quickly because
until we make a decision, this is going to be the topic. >> Yes. So, and I and I want to ensure that we get a chance obviously to hear from the Madison parents and so on, but I would like to make sure that we have this on the list to bring back and and and and quickly and that if the board,
you know, as is sitting here right now and I think uh board member Cummings, his big concern was for forom not to be moved. So, that would take care of that uh objection. and that if we are feeling pretty unified, I think that that's just going
to help move things along. >> I agree. >> Chair Conrad, we have the Neiola day on October 31st. Could we add this to that that day just so we're not waiting so close into the choice window? >> We can. I I transparently it's also
Halloween. So, I know for me personally, I am going to have a hard stop because I am going to trick-or- treat with my small children. So, um, I will work until 5 or 6 o'clock at night, but I am going to stop and go trick-or-treating with >> Well, and can we put that first? >> And I imagine all the parents who would come from Madison who want to talk in
the meeting are going to also be trick-or-treating with their children. So, I just want to make sure that that's on the radar >> because I don't know how long. Sometimes policy goes an hour. You're muted. Sometimes policy goes two hours and sometimes it goes a long time. So, >> we're trying to push two days of policy
into one to get it done. Um, I have seen in the past where two days was barely sufficient. I would not suggest adding anything else onto there unless you can keep that something else very very contained. >> Additional day that Right. I I I would say we would add it add a day. I I think
>> Well, we can't add a day. I looked at the calendar. I mean, we can't add a day at this point except for the work session that already exists. I mean, it would have to be the week of November 3rd >> at this point. >> I mean, for policy, >> right? Because >> Oh, no. We're keeping policy on the >> No, it's on the 31st. He said he may
need to add a that it's a challenge to do it all in one day. Well, I want us to be able to bring this back to the table and so I think that is a priority over um >> over our policies. >> Overall policies. Yeah, >> I'm I'm going to disagree with that. I'm
sorry. Our statutory responsibility is policy and right now we have policies that do not align with the state law that has just been passed. So, >> well, and I'm not asking you to to push it off for six months. I'm asking for a week. >> Okay. So, when are we going to do policies then? >> Could I could I offer a potential
solution? >> Pardon interruption. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, you're good. >> Thank you, Mr. Jones. >> Mr. Jones, thank you very much. >> He's trying to run Bridgeway Academy. Thank you, Mr. Jones. >> Could we just I think what we want to hear is parent feedback, right, about Madison Street.
>> That is what we want to hear. Could we not just have a town hall where none of us talk and we all sit kind of like we did for Oyola when many of us were in the audience and we sat in the a I mean I think the three of us were there that day when we talked about Oyola and I don't even remember what that was about but we had a meeting in OciOla's okay
maybe the combination right okay I couldn't remember so could we not could we not just have a I I dare even mention that again could we not just have a town hall where our staff facilitates answering questions from Madison Street
parents and the board is able to sit and listen so that we have we can gather all of that information and then we can go into the November 6th work session having all of that information and then information from staff to then make an informed decision. >> I I think that we could could absolutely
do that. Here are the questions that would need to be answered in that town hall for sure. They would want to know if their name is going to be able to stay intact. They want to know if they're going to have separate administrations. They're going to want to know if they get to have two art classes and two music classes and all
the So, so as long as all of those answers can come out in a town hall and y'all will have those answers ready to go. Absolutely. Because we I can tell you based on the feedback we're getting right now and based on the feedback we received from 8th Street Oyola Combo, which fiscally still makes the most
sense, just throwing that out there. Uh, but based on the feedback that we received, those are going to be the primary questions that we're going to get. Are they going to get to keep exactly what they have? Are they going to get to keep their school name? Are they going to get to keep their same administration? And if we can answer all those questions,
sure, town hall sounds good to me. >> Miss Beck has volunteered to have that town hall at the form campus. >> I think that would be a perfect location. Be very nice. >> Terrific. Can I comment on something else? So, I wanted to say
that while it's possible that it may not be the direction that we go today, if we were to do a 612 school, which I am not in support of in Dunellen, I I
think I've said that a few times. I am not support of a middle high in Dunellen. I could be in support of a middle high on the north end. It's different. People on the north end stay on the north end. They have north end
pride. It's north end is is a large land mass that everybody considers themselves north end. Very different than what we have happening in Dunellan. So, I appreciate you're bringing at least the idea of that forward and perhaps as opposed to the pheasant thing that I
brought up making that a K8, we do go a middle high at North on the North Marian High campus or I don't know how that even work, but somehow like that. Um, maybe that's the new con. It still doesn't solve our elementary challenges, but I appreciate you're bringing that
forward. I I don't know that it's completely the direction with the sixth graders going to Reic. I do think that is a little awkward. Um, but making a middle high in North Marian, I would I would support that if that's a direction we want to move in. >> Literally said the idea to Dr. Brewer in
our meetings. I said I I I just really just had a lot of disdain for option two. I didn't like option two. Um, but I said if you're looking to try to do something with that, I would say make North Marion and North Mar High. But again, that's costs money and it's a
it's a longer out conversation most certainly. But I think I I think to remember Thrower's point, we need to I think make a decision about Madison and Forom for now and what we're doing next and then we need to move on to the next chapter because I'm committed to sitting here
today until we finish talking about the North End concepts because that was actually the purpose of today's conversation. We've obviously in our own conversations derailed that a bit, but I would like to get into what are we doing with reic, what are we doing with Spar
Anthony? And so to board member Thrower's point there, I'd like to do that. >> And we can't really make that decision till we know that the Madison form bridgeway is going to fly. You know, I I
heard from we all heard from uh Principal Jones that, you know, he's would be good with going to Madison Street, so that takes care of that. Uh but then it's it it all connects, you know. >> So, well, but I think we can say as a
board, are we against forom going to reic? >> Yes. >> Yes. Okay. Okay. So then I think we can move forward because respectfully we all agree that that is not sol that is not how we want to solve reic. So we can talk about other ways we're going to solve reic because we know forom is not
going to solve reic >> and I think that provides some reassurance uh to to forom that that is now officially and publicly off the table. Now it remains to be seen whether or not Madison Street will be joining
you. Um, but if I'm hearing things correctly, that appears to have that option appears to have strong appeal and and support from the board and also from Forom. It sounds like you'd happily welcome them. It's it it solves problems
instead of creates problems. So hopefully once Madison Street parents have a chance to ask their detailed questions, which they totally need to have the opportunity to do, then we can bring this together completely. But but that conversation needs to occur very soon. >> I would agree.
>> I mean, I would I guess as a Madison parent myself to give some context and perspective, fall festival is next Thursday. So until next Thursday, the PTA at Madison's very busy. So I would say that the PTA, which is a very um involved PTA and fund raise
a significant amount of money, I think they're going to want to be very involved in this conversation and to advocate on their behalf. Um, uh, it's actually next Friday. It It is next Friday. And so they I would say that it would not be appropriate to have a town
hall prior to next Friday because they're going to be consumed with focusing on fall festival because it is what the PTA does. I mean, that PTA, I don't have the exact number, but I mean, we're talking north of 40, 50, $60,000 a year annually it raises for Madison
Street. And so, I want to respect the work that they do. Um, that being said, I would say that we would have to look into the week of the 27th at earliest to schedule a town hall personally. >> Well, and in the meantime, like uh Forom
did, you know, you did a quick survey. It was two questions. >> Yes. >> How about sending something similar out to the Madison parents? And as a result of today's conversation, we wanted to at least start to take a temperature and that then we'll hopefully have a date.
Um, I again I I want to just clarify. I know that I had asked a clarifying question previously about the idea here, but would the idea again because I I just want to make sure I'm sure on this that the students that are currently Madison
Street students that are VPK kindergarten first and second potentially they would become forom early learning students. They would be Forom foxes till their second grade and then third third through fifth grade would be called
>> Madison Street >> Madison Street at Forom or whatever we're gonna call them. >> Well, I think >> because Madison Street Anyway, go ahead. >> Well, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I think and I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Madison Street would still
carry the school grade because Madison Street is the third through fifth. >> Okay. I do think there is some leg legal logistical that if all of a K2 rolls into a 35, they get a school grade. But the school I think would still be Madison. Like I
think it would be especially to your point because I agree and I actually have an idea for Reic. I think it would be form early learning at Madison Street and Madison Street's new address would be where form is and then when we do one in the south it would be form early learning at Stan'sdale and if we did one at the north form early learning at
Reddit Collier and forom would be essentially a program that we have constructed >> that lives at a at a school site that carries the grade. >> Okay. I I mean I just I for again trying to say all the things that all the
Madison Street parents that watch this back are going to be asking they're going to want to know does my child still go to Madison Street if they're in first grade right now and they're going yes >> second grade next year is it still called Madison Street >> they are in in the form early learning >> in the form early learning academy at
Madison Street >> Academy at Madison Street. >> Okay I see Mrs. Beck is nodding so I think we're good. Okay, just again I think all that clarification is helpful so everybody gets the full picture of what it is that all the
questions they're going to be asking us because they're going to be asking them. >> Yes, one more. >> Just keeping in mind and I and I think it's I agree with what's being said but just keeping in mind that it is a tremendous honor you know to Mr. forom and I see that continuing if as we move
along in this the the succeeding schools will also be called forom early learning% >> and and I would love to hope that the that the f form family >> agrees as well I think that that's just as a courtesy >> yeah I I mean I actually I mean because
one of the conversations Mr. the White House and I had at our lunch break was like, well, there's a lot of families on the north end not using VPK and there's a lot of obviously a lot of preK3 not happening on the north end. Why wouldn't we do forom and duplicate forom at reic?
We have a capacity issue at reddic. Why would we not soft start a small forom program at reic foromier you know for form cure form early learning at reic collier and do a soft start of a small program. It's not going to address
all of the fish capacity at all, but it would start and then we can piece in a few other pieces which I want to get into. But I I actually I see this expanding the form name and creating a model program and school for how we do
early learning in my opinion. >> Couldn't agree more which is why I was saying form early learning academy on Southside in whatever to be named. love. I don't know if I said it, but like that whole I mean to me Stanton has got to come up and and it could be Yes. All
that for another conversation at another time. >> Yes. >> And that is on the list. We that is on we that's coming. It's coming. >> It's coming. >> There's a lot >> there was a big there was a big push and a lot of effort that went into what we're seeing today. And so that same
sort of effort has to go into the southside. >> So we could then schedule a town hall for the week of the 27th. >> So Dr. >> Yes. Um, also Forom has their trunk or treat next Friday as well. So this the same as Madison, so that works out well. >> Okay.
>> Dr. B, what will your calendar allow? >> We have a board meeting on the 28th. >> Oh, we'll get comment that day. >> We also have a town hall gathering tonight that we may >> and we also have an iRock meeting at >> Could I offer that we would do the town
hall on the 27th ahead of our board meeting on the Monday before our board meeting? Is that what you're saying? >> On the day before a board meeting, I think it might give opportunity for people to really get lots of questions asked and air concerns ahead of a board meeting.
>> A great idea. >> Can we ask Miss Beck to come to the podium, please? Since it's her facility. >> Since it's your school, >> Miss Beck, thank you for staying. >> No problem. Happy to do it. I'm invested
in our schools and obviously in Forom. So yeah, we are happy to host. Love the idea of a town hall meeting and although obviously I just have a few parents and grandparents left with me. I think that it would be a great sell uh to our
families. It would certainly answer that direct connect question. So as far as days, we agree not wanting to do it next week with some big events coming up at both schools. We would be open to Monday the 27th if that worked uh with
everyone. Um, I see that fine with us. Um, also you guys have a board meeting on that Tuesday. Wednesday also would work for us as well. I don't see anything major on our calendars.
>> Our publication date for the 24th Ocala Gazette would be yesterday >> 24th >> or the 24th. It's next Tuesday, right? Or next Wednesday, right? No, >> it was the week after >> it has to be it would publish on the if next >> but a town hall doesn't follow the same
>> a town hall doesn't have to be published >> but I mean if we were to publish >> if we were to publish it >> okay yeah >> but still we'd meet the deadline because we could publish on the 29th um we could publish on the 22nd for the >> I was asking about the Ocala Gazette we have different deadlines because so it's
not the same as >> but we don't have to publish a town hall >> perfect >> and we wouldn't be participating the board would just simply go and sit in the audience like we did for the Oyola. >> We wouldn't sit up at the front. This is an operational town hall. >> We're simply there to listen like we did
for our oyola. >> Okay. >> Are we saying the 27th? >> I think doing it ahead of the board meeting >> is wise. I agree. >> Would theoretically >> it could relieve a lot of pressure. And so um 5:30ish, Miss Beck, what would
would be a good time for you and your team? >> What time does your map end? I was just going to say map ends at 6. Um, so if we could I mean we can make 5:30 work. We can make some adjustments into other rooms. So really it's whatever you think
would bring out the most families. Um either 5:30 or 6 would work for us. >> You do you have a lot of MAP students left when you get to the the end? Like what does that look like? >> Well, it dwindles down and we we do have other DCF license rooms that we could move kids into. We have classrooms
licensed so we could move them into those spaces and just communicate early, you know, where they're going to be. So if 5:30 works, then we'll just work around that. >> Families, what do you think is better, 5:30 or 6? >> Well, I imagine there are forom families who would want to potentially be a part
of the conversation. if they're not picking up until after 5:30. Traditionally, it would be a barrier for them for sure. As well as parents who have kids in MAP at I think doing it at 6:00 would just be more appropriate, but that's just >> Well, the other town hall gatherings
that we've had are all scheduled at 5:45. >> So, it might be a good 5:45. >> I was thinking that too, Dr. That's what's the standards been. >> Yes. Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. So, 5:45. Okay. >> All right, Miss Beck. 545 works for you
>> on October 27th, correct? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay, that sounds great. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Beck. >> Okay. Okay. One decision halfway down. >> I would like to firm up either in individual conversations,
maybe we could all send Dr. Brewer some guiding questions of things we would want to make sure are answered um ahead of that town hall. I don't know that we need to hash that out publicly, but questions I know as a parent I would have just to make sure that we're leading in with a PowerPoint and some answers, you know, operationally um to
put some and I think it's important too that ahead of a survey that survey encompasses some information like you're guaranteed to have this spot. You know, we kind of hash out some of those heartburn questions that would come. So, we don't have to do that now
necessarily, but we could certainly all communicate with you all privately about that. >> That's May I speak? >> Yes, >> that's that's if you know we think getting a survey out sooner than later would help relieve some pressure, too. >> I would put money that the PTA is going to do their own similar to forom if we
do not do it. So, if it does not come from Mr. Christian's office. I would put money that um the school will do one internally and they may still do one internally, but it would certainly show foresight from operations if we were to be proactive in trying to get something
out um in a timely fashion. >> We, you know, in the spirit of wanting authentically wanting the feedback, >> yes, >> we can do that. Okay. Seeing a lot of >> But I was watching I was watching Kevin's taking notes and so We can do that and we would rather do it
than it be an informal survey just to right >> ensure it's valid >> and then whatever doesn't get asked or new questions that they can be asked at the town hall. >> Yes. >> New opportunities. >> All right. >> Okay. So then on to reic.
>> Yes. >> Okay. >> Or sorry. So, I would like to maintain I don't know and Miss Boombach could share where are we in this roofing project for fiddlers. Um I know I think it's in the plan for this year maybe or there's but
I really I this I call it a shower moment but I just realized like why are we putting money into a facility that has like 10 or 15 adults in it. So there is certainly room at Reddic even with any other programmatic decisions for these adults to come work. I actually
think building 10 is a great place because they do have children come to fiddlers to do evaluations etc. Um and the fence is already there to kind of separate building 10 from the rest. So I would offer the the suggestion that we move Fiddler's springs to Reddit
Collier's campus. That would be like my first request or recommendation. Um, I don't know if facilities has anything to chime in about that, but I think in the spirit of trying to offline facilities that are not maximizing our resources, maybe could we could we stop their chair
and kind of just go item by item or I don't know how you want to go about that. >> Um, sure. And I I honestly don't have I don't see any information on fiddler. So I >> there isn't we don't have any and um so I really can't I can't make an educated
>> comment on that. >> Dr. Do you have any information about fiddlers you could share briefly? >> So I I know a few things and of course Ivon is here and Mr. Ays can also answer because I've asked him um a couple questions today. So building 10 has 113
student stations. So that that's kind of what we're looking at if we're um speaking of students in that area. I also asked and I sent all of you um through your work cell phones a um a a
clear definition of what they're looking for for the school of hope and that's coming from Brian Moore the general counsel for fads but something we need to be um just cautious of and Mr. erys can elaborate is any possible audits if
we're looking if it looks as though we're hiding fish spaces. So I think that's just something you can read the language to deter to interpret it yourself but that's something we should be just aware of. >> Yes ma'am. Yes, I've got that pulled up.
And at the very last paragraph, it finally gives a little bit of a definition. For purposes of this paragraph, the term underused, vacant, or surplus facility means an entire facility or portion thereof which is not fully used or is used irregularly or
intermittently by the school district for instructional or program use. Well, fiddlers is certainly a program. We certainly evaluate kids with it and so on. So, I wouldn't say in this particular scenario we'd we'd be hiding anything. Um, I
think it could be potentially a nice fit. >> And for context, it's 1.2 miles away. So, the Fiddler Springs office is 1.2 miles away from Reddit Collier Elementary School. >> It's very rundown. >> It is very rundown. It is a very old
facility. And so moving into doing a little bit of retrofit. We'd have to do some toilet and sink additions, changes uh in building 10 because there was tiny people in building 10. I don't know when the last time you all were in building 10 at reic. Um I was telling at the break I was sharing some with some of
the forom families. It is if the door is closed in a time capsule in building 10 truly like chalkboards and chalk like very just um it's it it has been preserved well but it it looks old because there are just very old things in there. The sinks are very short and
the bathrooms are very small. So there are some plumbing things I'm sure Mr. Duncan would say we'd have to address for adults to occupy the space. But I'm sure that would cost less than a new roof. He he shakes his head. Yes. And so
we've already budgeted a new roof at Fiddler Springs. So if this costs less than the new roof at Fiddler Springs, to me it's still a win. And then we're not paying to electric bills because right now we're paying for electric and other maintenance at Fiddler Springs.
>> Okay, I can get on board with that. >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. >> Okay. How Dr. Brewer, do you have a thought on it or? Um I I think the only the only thing we'd want probably legal advice on is just that language just to
make sure that um moving forward our language meets um that we could put office spaces in that building to remove the student stations and we would not be in um we wouldn't fish capacity of the school that
>> which is what we currently have at forom with all the offices any >> correct >> and at MTI I mean respectfully MTI Hi >> here >> here right I mean yes Ridgeway whatever but like >> district >> it's hard to keep up with the names >> all the names >> so um then my other my second component
for reic seeing as if forom is not going there I would like I have essentially in my opinion there are there are two next steps we either reszone some of spar to go to reic and then move Anthony up to spar and eventually rebuild at spar and
then you're offlining symphony because almost all of SPAR could go to Reic as it exists right now truly. Now, Mr. Ays and I have hashed this out because I said, "Well, why can't we send some of those Spar kids to Fort McCoy?" Well,
hardly any if you look at the Spar zoning map, the the number of students living west of never east of Spar is not a lot. Most of the kids live right around Spar or to the west of Spar. So,
reszoning kids to Fort McCoy because Fort McCoy obviously has capacity as well, but there's not a lot of kids from Spar that we could push to Fort McCoy school. Um, a handful, but not significant. But there are more that live closer to
Reic and they can all fit at Reddic. Um, I still think though Anthony can't take on a ton more kids because its capacity is still pretty low and I would I am disagreeable with the capacity at Anthony. I just don't think it's ideal
um from a budgetary standpoint. So I I still wouldn't really be on board with then taking the rest of the Spar kids and bringing them to Anthony. One, because Anony's facility has significant needs still, but two, it's still not at a capacity that is going to be
financially stable. So to me that's option one is some of Spar kids go to Reic and then Anthony kids go to Spar with the hope and promise that we're going to rebuild somewhere up there for elementary or we put a
um a Hillrest type program for K5 learners, preK5 learners at Reic for everyone who lives north of 35th Street essentially. So if your child is north of 35th Street and is experiencing
um an educational journey that needs a most restrictive environment, we would put them at the program at Reic and then we would put another program at Oakrest >> where >> at Oakrest because Oakrest has 25% capacity. So theoretically Oakrest is on the hot list for for this for this
cohabitation. So unless we fill Oakrest as well, which again we can put up what we've done here, what we've done at Forom, you essentially separate the spaces and we cohabitate our own spaces. That's how I look at it. Either someone's going to come co cohabitate
with us or we're going to cohabitate ourselves. So we put a a school similar to Hillrest at Reic for everyone north of 35th Street. And then we put a school similar to Hillrest at Oakrest for everyone who's in the middle of
town. And then eventually in theory if we take talk to impact what Dr. Campbell has talked about with Lake Middle, we could then even talk about then on the south end of town finding space then for another. So then again kids are not riding the bus for an hour to get to a
specialized program. And we have essentially a north, a central, and a south opportunity for students who are experiencing some of the most significant delays that would fill that would at least give effort to filling reic. It would give effort to filling Oakrest and eliminate the barrier there.
It would solve some of our programmatic issues that we're experiencing with students who are still in a self-contained setting, but at a base school and are experiencing behaviors that are just not reflective or appropriate for the environment. I think that is the most appropriate next step.
I would prefer not to reszone spar, but I think I just wanted to make sure that I threw that out there. But I would love to see us programmatically put a center school at REDIC house reic house fiddlers and
theoretically expand reic's offerings to have a start of affordom early learning at reic and offer some prek3 programs. >> Go ahead Nancy. >> Okay. Um, [Laughter]
it's actually went. >> All righty then. >> All right. Um, couple things that popped into my mind right away was I I really think that there is a need for the type
of ESSE program for our youngest learners that is north of of of town. Um, but I think that it's going to be really important to get both transportations and uh Anna Williams Jones, our ESC director, if if they believe that that
that Reic is the right spot or do they have another idea? But but I from what you proposed so far, I like it. I agree with it. Um, as far as Oakrest is concerned, I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. We have a brand new principal there that is in the
midst of trying to turn that school around. Uh according to my understanding, she is committed. She attended Oakrest herself. So that's a big old monkey wrench to throw into that uh deal. So it would be my preference to take that under adisement at the moment.
Yeah. >> And Okay. Be a little more just step by step. Getting back to the idea of a of a traditional central office. Um, I believe there's no such thing anymore. Central office folks used to spend
pretty much their whole day at the central office. Wasn't that our complaints? >> It was. It 100% was. >> Yes. And I see a huge shift over the years to a very dynamic school connected central office. If the south end is your
zone, then and if we are able to use the the capacity that that is available to have the district supports closer to those schools whose zones they're in and then they can all come together at some central place to, you know, have
meetings or whatever they need. But I think that we due to our the our geographical size and the fact that our central office folks are very connected in our schools now that it would make much more sense when there is capacity
available at a zone school to have our some of our folks be housed there. Again, it makes it a lot easier to shift than than upending parents and reszoning and kids and and that kind of thing. So, I'll just I'll just stop there. In
summary, I've loved the idea of reic, but let's get ESC input and transportation input. I've loved the idea of keeping Orest in mind, but letting that uh principal do her thing. And I would love to see the concept, you know, the mind thought of of a central
office go away because that doesn't fit what I'm seeing currently in the field. >> Great. Dr. Campbell. Um, so I I echo the sentiments about REIC. I I think that having center-based
uh ESSE services at Reddic in addition to a form early learning concept at REDIC both would be potential for filling those hallways um or classrooms, so be it. So I somehow I
think that works. I I also agree with um member Thrower that I don't want to put something else on Oakrest at this point, especially if those students uh have more significant needs and impact that
school grade even more so depending on uh the grade levels and so forth. So, if we were exploring options for Oakrest, I think it would be to do a magnet program of sorts at Oakrest. I don't think that we're quite ready for that for a
November 10th roll out, but I would be all in on determining a magnet program for Oak. >> It used to be it was an A school back then. >> Well, I mean, I'm saying we something is going to need to significantly adjust
the potential for school grade capacity at Oakrest. And so, uh, so that's that thought. In reference to a centralized district office, I completely support all of our schoolbased district support
being as school-based as possible, but we have lots of operational members of our staff that will never go to a school. payroll, finance, uh, >> HR, uh, I mean, there there's lots of
central office that can come here eventually or sooner rather than later that will never go to a school. And so that's where I'm thinking we need to have more people here as humanly possible as we can. The closer everybody is, the easier
it makes all the efficiencies operate better. That's where I'm going >> for that group. I I don't disagree. >> No, that's that's and and I mean and if our if our mental health and wellness folks aren't schoolbased necessarily, I don't know what all those folks are doing over at Reddic or if they just
have an office space, then then we need to have four people share one office if they're really not ever there that often. I I don't I haven't been there on the back side of of um Did I say Reic? I meant at um Forom. Thank you. I said Reic and I meant Forom. I know all the
things I'm thinking. Y'all just got to follow along with my brain. But yes, but I I haven't been to their physical office spaces to know specifically what they're doing in those office spaces. But if they are predominantly sitting vacant, then you don't need an office space necessarily
um other than just something that can be a shared workspace. So, yes, that was my thought on we still have to have central office, but specifically for those folks that are not ever going to be school-based um to get as central as we can get.
So, um I don't know that that still fully solves our reic capacity issues. I think it would begin to give us maybe 55 to 60% capacity possibly. So, that just still doesn't fully answer the question.
and the Anthony Spar. I mean, I just I reszoning we have to do a year out. So, we have to figure out what it is specifically we want to reszone and and and what if we are willing to offline a campus on that north side?
>> Yes. And if we are, then we need to say now that the intention is we want to offline blah. If it's offline Anthony, so be it. Then we're reszoning all of
the north end. We we only have space for those Anthony kids right now to go to Reic. >> Well, unless there's a a quarter shift essentially, like a rotation. >> There's a what shift? >> Like a rotation. Okay. >> Yes. >> Like what? I don't I can't I will I
can't get behind Anthony driving to Reic. Like that just seems wild to me when Spar is closer or Fzdon is closer. >> I agree. But there's also zero capacity at both schools. >> Well, that's what I mean is like similar to what you've said is like an all elementary reszone. It has to be a reset. It's not just a you go here. It
has to be and I think this is what Mr. Ays often says when we have these conversations. It's not pure. It's not just A goes to B. It's the entire alphabet gets shifted and redistributed to maximize utilization >> because then also a part of just below
the spar zone would be the Ocala spring zone which is also bursting at the seams. So, uh, I I think it is an entire north end rezoning and potentially some of it also has to do with I I think we did just course
correct the former evergreen zone that forced the students in that area to go to one of the hyper I think we just course corrected that >> to the best of our ability at this juncture, but we >> we couldn't get them to Oak Crest still yet. Well, anyway, >> they had to be at they had
>> they had to be at a high performing school. Those kids have all aged out, I think. >> Yeah, I think I think we're in that last round of that. So, um Okay. So, did that get us anywhere? No. So, are we saying that we want to
offline Anthony Elementary School? And I don't know if we're willing to have that conversation today and really settle on it, >> but I mean, that's part of what this conversation is about. And that was one of the recommendations that came before us. So, I think that is appropriate to have the conversation, but one of the
recommendations was to combine the schools. >> Can we roll it back there real quick, Dr. Campbell, to your Reddit capacity conversation? >> Yes. So, if we take out building 10, that takes our capacity. What? >> I have it. >> Yeah. Thank you. I >> 686 total number. If we remove 113
seats, that's 573. We currently have 320 enrolled. So, our capacity would be 56%. >> Correct. So if we add a hundred students, I I heard 200 all in was what Miss Williams Jones said across the district. So >> for behavior and cognitive,
>> if we presume that 50% of those live on the north 50% of the district, if we're just guessing, then that would be about 100 seats. So if we took a hundred then of those seats and gave them to a a center school on the north end, what are
are we then at closer to 75% capacity? 573, >> but 423 got out a 573. It's just a math problem. Let's figure it out. >> And then if we added some preK3 seats,
>> we added we have the best VPK program pretty much in the state there. So if we added another VPK program and added some preK3 to the school, we're then also filling some seats that way. I'm just doing the math.
>> Why is that? >> Watching us right now. >> I wasn't trying to >> see transportation really factors into this, too. >> I agree. That's what I'm worried about, too. >> You know, again, I I'm glad we're having the conversation, but in terms of making decisions, >> well, I agree. We have to come back to like a we need to give some guiding
stones to come back for November 6. >> Yes. If we're really going to focus this on reic, then also with their school grade and and so on, how might that impact because kids >> I think a center school would have a separate it's it's cohabitation. So I mean and I could be wrong from a
programmatic perspective, but I would think a center school has a different um school code than Reic. >> Yep. Right. So they would not impact Reic school grade. >> That's correct. Okay. That's what I thought.
>> You just confirm that. I know that would be true with a like an outside school, but it's still one of our >> It would depend on how you approach it. So, um the potential you could take Marian Success Academy, which already has its own school code and is already designated as an ESC site school, and
you could move that out there and operate two MSID numbers on the same campus. Um, but I think part of the challenge there would be if the state considers them colllocation, the center school would earn the the base school
grade, which in Reic's case is not a problem right now. Um, but that would be the only way. Otherwise, you would use the same MSID and then all those students that are taking alternative assessments would then factor into the school grade. That's was >> yes
>> but if we did it two collocations then the one is going to then the center school would take reic school grade >> correct >> not the other way around >> right >> which I think was the concern you had >> correct >> yes >> I like option one >> I'm sure the principal would too
>> yes so I mean I would like to understand more maybe for November 6 from Miss Williams Jones and from Mr. Oanic about I mean right now essentially we're taking those kids and they're probably on some level of specialized transportation and they're being bus to 18 different schools. So is it easier to
pick them all up and take them to one place or is it easier to take them to 18 different places on specialized transportation? I don't know. >> Yeah, I believe it's one place. Uh but it's is that should that place be reic up there in the north end? Should it be Fort McCoy? You know, I have no idea.
>> Come on down, Mr. Oanic. you are the next contestant on the prices, right? >> When we talk about busing students, it's easier to keep them in their geographical location. Uh because I we can double up routes easier that way. If I'm take if we're taking students from all over the county to one centralized
location, it's harder to tier those routes. Um, so if if we have if if I have shorter distances, quicker turnover, and it it makes it a lot easier if if you're moving from I mean basically Umatillaa and you're taking a student all the way to Reic, well that's
that's that route's done for the day. >> Right. if if the North End kids that have pretty extreme special needs didn't have to be brought all the way into town or south of town to get to their program, you know, the young children. Would
would that be a help to have a location at at Reic or or >> if we keep them in their geographical location, it's helpful for us transportation wise. So, what I'm So, if if it say a kid lives in Citra and I only have to take them to Spar or Reic, that's a lot better than bringing them
all the way to town. >> Um, and it it allows us to tier that route easier for for another tier um or another run. And then building on your idea, uh,
board member James, would it then be a good idea to be trying to identify a school south of town for our, you know, elementary age kids with significant disabilities so that, you know, we would have like a north end location and a
south location. We'd still have Maplewood. Um, and then Hillrest would continue to be what it is. >> Yes, baby. And I'll kind of use an example here. Um, we have students that attend Hillrest from all over the
county. And it's a long ride for a Hillrest student to get on the bus and they always have the most challenges and run a route all the way to Dunellan. >> Um, and and it it it creates challenges for us. It creates challenges for our drivers and aids. Um, serious challenges
because they're on they're on a bus and they don't have the same um they're on an island basically. They don't have the same support system you have at a school. There's no resource officer. There's no uh behavior specialist. There's no behavior tech. They don't have there's none of that there. So, the faster we get those students home and
and get them off the bus, we we're we're creating a lot less issues that way. The longer they're on the bus, the more issues that are created. even within all the innovative accommodations that I know are being made and and it is just Murphy's law that the kid
that has the most difficulty riding the bus is always in the furthest furthest place. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. >> It's something to at least consider, right? Maybe the team can work on it and bring it back for for a topic of conversation. Ultimately, the goal here
is to like fill reic as best we can. So we're just trying to kind of come up with some solutions that are alternative to option one that was presented today to put butts and seats at REDIC, >> fill REDIC and meet a need for for kids. >> Absolutely. I mean I feel confident the
north end principles alone like if you were to just look at all of the principles in you know district five and some of NY's district like if you were to really talk to those principles they they could pick out a few friends that would probably benefit. And so,
yeah, I don't want to drive from Aqua to Reic. That doesn't make sense. But if we're talking 35th Street North, you know, and maybe we do a northsoutheast West situation, we put you because it's true, we do have room at at East Marian
and at Fort McCoy. So, theoretically, we could do something super far east. We could do something super far west, something north, and something south. Um, as well >> here it comes again. >> If I may interject, that one thing just
came to mind. We all already work with our ESSE department on where to how to route students, right? If a student's going to an ESSE hub at a school and there's multiple, you know, usually there's two schools that have that. We try to, okay, where one is there
capacity that school for the student and two is how can transportation, what's the shortest route, right? what's what's going to be the easiest way for transportation to get that student to the school. So, some of that's already being done in the current system. Um, so I think there's there's a path there to
talk through and see, you know, how to make it work. >> And in theory, we could then alleviate potentially some of the self-contained, but really should be even more restrictive environments off of some of our centers where we're already specializing. Like I think about MO. MO has 10 units right now, specialized
units. Potentially some of those units at MO, those students would even maybe benefit from a more restrictive environment, but we just don't have it right now. So could we theoretically even make more space at a school like MO, which really needs space for gened as well, and and move things around
because we're already transporting those kids to MO. We already are doing it. So just making it more centralized. Okay. Right. Anything else on North Side that you want to cover, Dr. James?
>> Um, I mean, sure. Are we building a new school? >> Not today. >> Not today. >> I mean, I still don't know that it it filled. So, part of part of the goal today in my mind's eye
was still to talk about consolidation in a greater way. Yes, >> that does start reducing operational cost. I mean, good, bad or indifferent, it's the land we're in. And essentially what
we're doing is we're just shifting things around, but we haven't offlined anything. >> I agree. And I think that the thing that no one has talked about yet is like does Reddit close? >> Yeah, you're not I mean, you're not wrong. Actually, I think we've made a
lot more progress than we're giving ourselves credit for. >> Progress to stop operational costs. >> Well, if if the fiddler situation happens, then eventually we can get a number of how much that's saving the district. So, that's a good start. And
it also fills a need, you know, for serving kids. Um, again, I would really like to continue to pursue looking more at instead of just looking right to schools to to save money, let's look at buildings that are sitting, you
know, vacant. We've got the the schoolboard building to talk about. You know, that could bring us some good income. You know, the warehouse took a while, but we got a nice little infusion there. >> And I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> We've got that whole block. Well, the data center is going to be moving into
their spot. Uh, when is that supposed to happen? >> At Christmas of next year. >> Christmas of next year. Okay. So, we have a little time. >> Yes. >> We can't talk about the downtown. >> Yeah. We can't talk about that elementary school until >> Well, we can talk about it and say that it's a priority because we're we're
talking about, you know, reducing cost and getting rid of obsolete. Not getting rid of because that's such a traditional historic school and and we're going to have feedback on that as well. I I guarantee you about what to happen should happen with that property. But then we have that whole downtown block
too that is that is old and it could be more secure. Uh, and if we're talking about bringing people that will uh be better suited not to be uh out out in other places downtown, then that's a whole another possibility that that
>> all here. >> Well, and if that's what we're going to do, then I I don't disagree that we should be talking about that. I guess that my point is why why don't we go ahead and talk about ways that are much less disruptive because we've already got Forom and and Madison Street
that we're going to get feedback on and hopefully that'll go through which is great. You know, uh we're talking about making some fundamental changes to how we're serving our youngest, most significantly needy kids with special needs. That's great. And now,
>> I mean, I do think if we put if we were to put a centralized center school at Reic for the North End and we were to offline building 10, we're going to put ourselves at about 75% capacity at Reic. Is is that an accurate statement? >> 78. >> So, or excuse me, 73.
>> But I feel like that is very in line with >> a lot of >> of all the schools I kind of wrote down and then I circled who was three and 400. And then I mean when you look at it that is then in line with Romeo and Denellan and Bobby Santos and and Stanton and East Marian and so it's much
more in line with where we are now. Is that where I want to be? No. Because I think 600 plus is the happy space number financially but also understanding to board member Thorougher's point there there's going to be es and flows and concessions we have to make based on population and the type of student we're
serving etc. So I do think if if we move forward with the center school model and offlining building 10 for fiddlers I do think we've that is a significant step in the right direction for capacity addressing capacity at reic >> plus what are we going to do with that
old uh fiddler's property would that would then that be something to lamb bank or sell or >> I'd say sell but I think ch uh chair so I agree with the progress that we've made. When I pulled this presentation up
last week, surrounded by some other schoolboard members who happened to glance over from other districts, their first thought was, "Wow, your fish capacity is really low because other districts who happen to be high
performing have ensured that they are breaking even in all their locations. So, we are making headway today." Yes. I don't think this conversation is far from over. >> Oh yes. >> Because having any school with a capacity of 400
or in that range, it it's just not going to make fiscal sense in the day and age that we're living in. So, I know that that's not what people want to hear, but in a district where we have fish capacities over uh a thousand for some elementary schools and then other fish capacities
at 414, that just it's not making fiscal sense. I understand that there's history and that the school was originally a high school and I understand all of the things and I appreciate all of that, but
we're living in 2025 and beyond and we have to ensure that we're thinking as fiscally as we can with keeping student focused as well. So originally when I presented the concept
for something new on the north end, the idea was about 30 million at Spar and 30 million at Spar would give capacity to absorb Anthony. It would also address the cafeteria cafeteria. I think if we're doing it, we need to address the media center as well. I don't know if you've been in the media
center at Spar, but sweet baby Jesus, there's a lot of room for improvement there. It is very old, very small. It feels going into like Winding Oaks Elementary Media Center and then going into Spars just feels like a completely different country. >> That's because it is.
>> It is. So I can totally get on board with the 30 million which is what we had talked about at Spar and essentially then we're doing what Dr. Campbell's looking for which is putting more butts and seats in one place. That's offlining
Anthony. That's putting about 750 students at one location at Spar. That's putting some money towards the north end for new facilities, which has not really been done. And then I think we still look at addressing some grant funding to
add a wing to Fezden to to do some reszoning at Fzden as well and like moving because as Ocala Preserve and OPE continue to expand and grow, those kids are all zoned as it is right now for FZden. And so
I think that that conversation is going to have to happen. But what I would ask is for the board to at least when we come back on November 6th give consideration to still looking at the 30 million for spar and and saying because that essentially Mr. Rios maybe can work
on the numbers and I can show him what Miss Boston had given me but in a 10 or 15 year outlook I think it was 10 year it literally pays for itself quote unquote because of the cost to operate Anthony and the cost of the operational staff.
It might not in a in a decade improving SPAR and putting everyone in a better school literally pays for itself because we're going to spend the money either way. We're going to spend the money operationally to the tune of two and a half million annually over 10 years which is $25 million just in operations.
I mean just alone in the operations cost we would that would be enough to pay for the the addition essentially at SPAR just in the operation cost alone to run Anthony. And then you have the delayed maintenance at Anthony. And in addition to that, what we added in was the the
cost to run, right? The the electric bill and all of those other things that go into it. So I would just ask if that can stay on the table for the conversation when we come back in on November 6th because I think it is a piece to the puzzle that
Dr. Campbell is rightfully addressing, which is we we still have the bigger pieces to the puzzle to address. Agreed. Yeah. Go ahead. >> I I don't mind it staying on the the table. Um I think we do need to talk about it, but I guess I just feel like
we need to also focus on getting our own, you know, district facilities in in order uh almost first, you know, if we're if we're looking for ways to save money and reduce maintenance costs and things like that.
I guess the other thing to keep that we need to keep in mind is that and every district has its own unique, you know, culture, tradition, issues. You know, us being the geographic size of Rhode Island creates its own issues, uh, and
has resulted in creating its own traditions. And, you know, as an elected official, we're we're here to serve the people that that voted for us. And, and so that's what makes me really struggle with Anthony. I don't have a or what to to share right at this moment, but what
I do know is that there is a strong sense of community up there. And I don't hear them clamoring like saying tear down Anthony and build us a new school because that's more important to us. You know, I think what they would probably say is if you have spaces that kids
aren't even in that don't really have the tradition and history and culture, take care of those first and then come talk to us because we'd still be saving money either way. >> Not as much. >> Maybe not as much, but but at least we're showing good faith and honoring,
you know, if it has to happen, then at some point it has to happen. But I'm sure that they would rather see it happen a lot further into the future than than now. Um especially since we have our own house cleaning to do. You know, I loved what you brought forward about fiddlers. I literally forgotten
about that building and we really I I think there's way more upside than downside, you know, and hopefully we can again that whole city block that doesn't directly support kids that's in a very lucrative place now. Maybe a street and
oyola would have some ideas for it for expansion or something. I don't know. But if we're talking about centralizing central office, let let's get them there and um do something with that downtown location before we take on the moving
kids around and disrupting families. That's just But I see I do grudgingly agree that there's a need. I do. But I'd just like to see the order be a little different. >> And and I I'll add from a from a from an
academic achievement perspective, we like it or not, the metric in which we are evaluated is school grade. And school grade is one big math problem. >> And the bigger your denominator, the easier it is to work the math problem.
And schools that are small have limitations with the manipulation to the math. They just do. And you know, five fifth graders when there's only 45 fifth graders is way more impactful if those five are really struggling than if
there's a hundred fifth graders. And so, and that's just an example, but we a small school has its perks, but a school that is a moderate size also has perks because it allows flexibility. If you're a parent and you only have two
options for a grade level and your child and there's only one inclusion teacher, so you really only have one option if your child has any level of unique abilities, that isn't always the best option for a parent. And so we just it is a delicate it is delicate and I agree
with board member Thrower. I think it's an and both. Yes, we need to be addressing all of the stuff downtown. If there's room to bring them here, let's bring them here. I don't know that Mr. Duncan's going to say the toilets are going to keep flushing here if we keep moving adults here. But I guess that can
be another work session in and of itself because at some point I think the plumbing here is going to cease to exist and we're going to have to financially address that as well. But I I do I I am totally on board with anything we are not utilizing to the
capacity we should that is not serving students. We need to be timely addressing because we need to show parents that we're all willing all parties involved in MCPS are willing to address this issue and have a
level of uncomfortability. a moving adults cheese being moved is probably more uncomfortable than children's cheese being moved. Adults love where they are. And so there are adults that if they get their office moved, they don't love that either. And so there needs to be a shared level of uncomfortability. We shouldn't just put
that on children. That needs to be something that we're all taking on to board member Thor's point. Like those offices, HR and payroll and all of those, if they can come here, absolutely. I would love to see us have a discussion about all of that space downtown. I would love to see it sold. I
would love to talk with the city about their comprehensive plan for downtown. And um they have lots of grants that they can partner with people who are purchasing land downtown to essentially incentivize um the people they want to come, you know, be downtown to come. And
so I would love to have those conversations, but we got to find a place for them here or somewhere else, >> right? And I would rather see the density downtown than bleeding out into the farmland preservation area. >> Yeah. I mean I I would agree. >> Yep.
>> So I I mean I I agree with all of that. I I think that that is a separate work session for us to talk about how many people that actually is to move to this campus. But if we do move forward with moving all of the Bridgeway Academy students off this campus in the 26 27
school year, then I want as many people filling those offices that will become offices. And yes, I understand the plumbing capacity here. Mr. Duncan stayed with us all day today. appreciate the the plumbing challenges here, but right now we have more than 300 students here. So, I don't know that we're going
to have 300 employees maybe. So, I don't know what those numbers are that we actually have that are in that space uh right by Oyola right now. But I that's what I'm all for that we figure out how to and then if it comes to okay, what is
it actually going to take? We know it's expensive to do the plumbing upgrades here. We know that. Uh, I mean, we know it's going to be outlandish and it's not going to be able to be something that we put in the sales tax because it sales tax was all about student safety and all about student
capacity. We did I pulled up from our website what we had as our potential priority list for potential halfcent sales tax revenue because I wanted to see where some of those dollars. Obviously, the first one was Belleview Elementary. Second one has to do with Dunellen. Uh but we did have in this 15
million for Marian Technical Institute capital improvements for student safety is how it was worded. That's not what it is if it becomes district offices. So then that means we have to start using I don't know what we use to the money we use to um fix the plumbing here on this
campus if this becomes district. Um but nevertheless I I am all for that that centralized space here and just continued conversations. um looking forward to November 6th. >> Okay. Thank you. I my one ask we look at
as we we talk about um central office staffing is I'm kind of in line with Miss Thrower when we know when you when you come from the school setting and and you pull up and there's several hundred cars sitting here at um at MTI. It is a little it is a little salt in the wound.
Um, so I just I would like for um there to be thoughtful planning on who is going to be at the central office campus. And then really almost think about hubs for our staffs and out in
different areas in the community where we have room for them to be on school campuses. you know, almost like setting up teams of staff members in different areas around the community. Um because I think that's important. The support um
needs to be available to the students and the staff. And if they're sitting here in an office all day, that's not happening. And I know that just like Dr. Campbell shared that that is some people that that's your position. You're in your office all day, but it's definitely not everyone's position. And so where if
they're supposed to be working with students and beyond campuses, that's where I'd like to see them. Okay. Right. I'm going to ask for public comment just because we did have a lot more conversation after our first public comment. So is there any other public
comment? Okay. >> Would we possibly be able to ask Dr. Brewer to recap our next steps just to make sure we're all at least moderately in the same book. >> Maybe um could you send that out in an
email because I do you have pages of notes. Do you want to send that to us in an email? >> Um yes, but I can I can let me summarize what I >> what you got >> like the big picture stuff. >> Okay. Big picture. Um >> and then you can correct me at this point. But um big picture, the board
came to consensus to have the conversation um further conversation about Madison moving Madison Street in its entirety to Forom's campus. um with the also the bigger picture conversation with getting permission from the forom
family of kind of um re-imagining early learning across the district using that as a program model >> their blessings >> blessing um taking the fiddler's office space location and don't know what we decided about the
property but moving that office space to reddit cure building 10 changing those 113 seats out removing those from the fish report. So it would change to 573 at Reic um town hall meeting at Forom on
October 27th at 5:45. Also, do you want me to talk about the K8 conversations or I can email those out? >> Just with a survey a survey ahead of >> the town hall. >> Yes, ma'am. >> When would we want to send out a survey by?
>> Tonight. Well, >> we have quite a busy afternoon. >> Oh, I'm kidding. Yeah, I'm just kidding. >> Could we say by Monday? >> Because Monday's only a week ahead of the town hall. >> Tomorrow is a teacher work day. So, district staff works tomorrow.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Christian, >> as Dr. Campbell knows, the most difficult part of a survey is coming up with the questions. >> Questions. So once the questions are determined, the survey is pretty quick because we
already know the intended audience, >> but it's just the questions that >> I think what I would me >> I think if the board could commit to um delivering by like noon tomorrow any questions we feel like would be representative of what we are going to
we get we get a lot of emails with a lot of questions and we have there's trends in those questions we get and I'm sure operations gets them too but I feel confident that I certainly by noon tomorrow could send an email to to operations to say these are certainly questions that I would love to be able
to get an answer about in some capacity. Word it yourself certainly, but things topics that I want to make sure are addressed. >> Keep in mind those are questions coming to you, >> right? >> These are questions coming from the district to the parents.
>> No, I understand. So, so what I'm saying is I think from the as a board member, I'd like I can I feel confident saying these are questions I think could be in a survey and these are questions I want to make sure that we're prepared to answer when the when people have questions from an operations
perspective. So, say I'm sorry if you're going to say something. I I think those are two totally different things. So, I think a lot of what we're wanting to find out we'll find out in the town hall if we have the town hall set up so that we're coming with answers before they ask questions. If we are surveying them,
are we simply just asking if the district moves forward with this plan, will you continue your child in this choice program? Is that what our survey is? Because essentially that's because that's kind of what I was asking when I was rolling out to these folks. I was saying, if we were to move Forom Early
Learning to Oakrest, would your child still continue there? And I asked that to every person that emailed me because I was just like, so so I think that's all we really want to know in a survey is if Madison Street Academy as it currently stands moves to the Forom
campus, would you still have your child a part of that choice program? >> Yes, I would agree. I think the the question needs to be framed that to say philosophically the programmatic perspective of Madison is rem integrity remains. So I mean I think that's the
only question we're having on this survey. Is there additional because again I I think we elaborated a lot on what all will need to be covered in the town hall. But to Mr. Christian's point like what is it actually we want to know? I think the answer is will your child still stay in a choice program if we choose to make it look this way? it's
located on >> if it's located >> if the address moves from one address to the other address. >> I mean, I think that's about the only survey question that we would have unless you guys can come up with anything else. >> Beex was only two questions. >> I would agree with that and maybe just
an open-ended question for them to write questions. So then we can have those questions to then try to frame and answer ahead of the town hall. >> Okay, >> we do that. >> Yeah, that works. I think that's it. >> Question and then opportunity for feedback. >> Okay, thank you. Kevin, that might have been your easiest ask that you've got a
response. >> Kevin, you might even want to include in the survey a link to the today's workshop if you want to see more information. I mean, and I know that that's a lot for them to watch, but like if if you want to really know why or where this has
come from, here's the link >> and and you can go to our you know, whatever >> our whatever. It's whatever. We we talked about this for >> and he's the expert. started at 10:30. >> We'll let him do this, but maybe it's something that even in the town hall
flyer that we create that there's a QR code on that flyer that the parents could give answer the survey on. >> Yes, that's a great idea. >> That's good. >> Are we married to the term town hall? >> No. >> No. >> Okay. Thank you. Because we already have
town hall gatherings >> and we have the second tonight and we still have two more of those. So just for non-confusion purposes, >> we may call out something else. >> That's just what came to mind because I was like, why don't we have a workshop to listen to public comment?
>> Call Miss Beck fast because she probably has already communicated that out. >> What are we going to call it? What would the fox say? >> Public discussion. The the >> You could call it the school community. What would the fox say forum? School community forum. Okay, that works. Yeah,
school community forum >> because it's it's specific to the one school. >> It is. >> It is. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Christian. >> Miss Miss Conor, I have a couple things. So, for November 6, these are some these are the items that we are presenting to
the board. Um the feedback from Madison and that will be a quick turnaround. >> Actually, we're going to present that. that we'll be able to share that during the board meeting >> during comments, but then we'll reserve the November 6 um because we may still have to have that conversation. Also,
>> I'm kind of unclear on what you want in terms of numbers for the Anthony Spar in it other than what we've already provided. So, can you just elaborate on what the board is asking for numbers for that? >> I don't know that I needed specific numbers as much as well. I mean, I can get with Mr. Well, specifically to just
recap what Miss Boston Ellis and I had discussed because that's really what I'm referencing in my frame is this the work Miss Boston Ellis and I did about a year ago about basically a 10-year performer I guess is the best way to put it
between the two schools and how the math there. I'm just asking it for it to stay on the table until November 6 for the board to at least have continued conversation. That's all I'm asking for. And really with with the updated slides, you can really almost figure that out yourself. I mean, each board member, not
you specifically, Sarah, but um when you look at the school deficit and you look at the maintenance, you you'll see what the challenges are just in one single year. I know the public can't see that item right now, but millions of dollars
each year, our our small schools. Well, if you if you consider the two and a half million to operate the auxiliary staff plus the deficit of a million plus a year, we're talking three and a half million annually over 10 years is $30 million. >> Right. >> And we do have an updated slide from Mr.
Rios Welsh. Um because the one that we had received yesterday updated had a typo on the Anthony deficit. >> So, yep. >> Okay. So you're also asking for all the district or the central office staff
basically where they all are located because remember we have federal programs, we have mental health, we have over 100 employees in that location that they are already grouped into multiple people into rooms. Um, so you we want kind of a big picture of where all the
central office staff people are located to bring you back >> and and if you could break it out by location like the downtown ones and and knowing that technical or technology is going to be moving to their data center, you know, those kinds of
>> as we know immediately with this Madison plan, we're the mental health staff will have to come here. So that's something we already um are aware of. So >> that's what you were planning on anyways even if even if form gone to reic that was your plan because Bridgeway was going to
>> correct. >> So we'll bring you those numbers. Um and that's those are my notes. >> I would just love to know how many adults can fit here. >> Oh right. Right. Yeah. >> Like what is the allin plumbing issues aside
the allin of how many adults can be here >> and then the maintenance cost for the plumbing repair which I think Mr. Duncan has shared 20 million 20 million for this central for this campus to have the plumbing repaired.
>> How much >> How much is a plumbing portable? >> That's what I was just going to say. How much for just a nice concert >> plumbing portables? >> Yes, >> Mr. Duck. I like I seriously when we get into that conversation am going to want to have a lot of out of the box talking about that because we don't have the
money for a new district office right now and like if plumbing portables is what it takes for right now. I mean I want I want to be able to have a very out of the box conversation about that. the uh the portables that we put in at Belleview High School, Denellan High School, and Denella Middle. They were
right at 300,000 for a plumbing portable >> and they just tap into a septic or they would tap into >> We would find a location that we could tie into the septic. >> All right. >> But here we would have to we could have a septic tank or we'd have to go to city sewer. >> No, we're we're on city sewer. >> Okay. >> We would tie into the city sewer.
>> One portable has how many seats available? >> Excuse me. >> What's the fish for one plumbing portable? Um, it depends on which layout we go with. They're they're group restrooms, so it would probably I really I couldn't tell you right off for adults
how many that it is capable, but quite a few. >> Okay. Certainly, we could purchase >> absolutely >> four or five of those >> if need be >> to put in the big field over here or whatever >> to address if if we got to a critical component of plumbing being an issue on
this campus. There are some ways we could more responsibly address the needs in the short term. >> Yes. >> Is that ideal for the adults? No. However, >> now unfortunately they take approximately eight months. >> Sounds like we should order. >> They're available. But
>> you got to hold it along. >> You might want to order. If they are a long late item, >> I think >> by November 6th, we have to have a decision made so they will be here in time for July 1. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Which I think is the intention here is if we're really going to bring all those people over here, we need to have that discussion because you're right, we
should probably preemptively plan to purchase a few of those. >> Yes. >> Because the plumbing situation here is dire. >> Getting wor Yes. Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. Good point. I mean, good point. Thank you, Mr. Duncan. Yes, ma'am.
>> I am impressed. I remember 20 million though >> probably because it's shocking >> because everything they touch has to be upgraded as they undo it. >> So, can can I ask another question about this campus? So, since we are talking Bridgeway leaving this campus, there are
other students on this campus right now. Marian Technical College, culinary and so forth. And those programs will still remain here. Yes. >> Yes. We're not quite ready to um Okay. We've moved everyone off that can be moved off. >> What What is it going to take though?
So, if I remember call and we're really rabbit hauling now, but the the the kitchen at MTC because we stopped using it a while back. >> Do we know what the issue is with the MTC kitchen and why Chef 9 can't be over there?
>> From what I understand, a a a lot of repairs in that space. >> What does that mean though? We're talking 20 million for plumbing. What is a lot? I mean a lot a couple hundred thousand. >> Can we roll it into our appropriation request? >> We probably need Mr. Small Ridge input
because he has there's been a big reason >> 500,000 for it or something like whatever. >> I mean that's what I'm saying like what is a lot because we're talking millions and millions and millions right now. So is a lot a couple hundred thousand or is a lot millions and millions and millions. But if that's the barrier for Chef Nine to get off this campus too
then I just think we need to >> I I think that's a great idea Dr. Campbell, >> what else is here besides Chef Nine in the culinary program after this year? >> Auto and welding. >> Welding. >> Auto and welding. >> Oh, I forgot. >> Welding is so good. Um
>> Okay. >> I mean, appropriation requests are due. What? When? Next? It's next month. >> Yeah. And it's being we're about to be able to move all of the welding students. That's part of it. >> But the auto is still back there. We've already moved um barbering.
>> Yeah. and technology moved last year. >> Okay. >> So, we're getting there. >> We are. >> We are. >> And that also means that where barbering was, we also can have office spaces now. Yes. >> He's us um that space is where our work study students are taking part in. So,
where would work study go? Would they just go over to Bridgeway >> for right now? But our big our big goal for work study is to move those back all those students back to their own base schools so they can partake in community assignments jobs in their own communities.
>> Okay. >> But we were waiting we didn't have any space right now until we resone >> to all the students. Yeah. Or resone. >> Yeah. So when the new high school opens, then we should have some high school seats to be able to move work study to their base schools, which would also be
next year, freeing up even more space for offices. >> That's I mean the hundred people at mental health that the hundred adults at at Forom is pretty hefty. I mean that's a lot of adults that are there, not in
Forom, but obviously on the site. Well, that's really why why I made my comment because when I think about mental health and wellness, I really think they should be at schools. >> Yes. So, why do we have 100 people? >> They are they are assigned to schools, but they they have office spaces, too.
They do all of the evaluations and things like that. So, I don't have the exact numbers, but we will have it for November 6. >> Think of it like a workplace collective that >> that's exactly what it is. >> That's exactly what it is. Because a lot of times when I call a social worker, you know, they're out in the field and then they may or may not even come back
to their office that day. I think they have one day a week that they're at the office and uh and they that's when they have their staff meeting and they're writing evaluations and doing, you know, certainly stuff. >> Thank you, Mr. Throw. That paints a much better picture. >> Yeah, it's very different than what you were.
>> Yes. Thank you. Yes. I also would love to reimagine the use of the space because if they're only sitting in their desk for eight hours of a 40-hour work week, >> do we really need to have a desk in a a place? I don't know if that's contractually or an expectation or what that looks like, but if there's a way we
could reimagine the workspace to be most efficient, >> especially for individuals who are not at their, you know, they're only in the office one day a week and they're in the field the other four. There does need to be some privacy too because of the conversations that they have that are confidential and things like that. So
yeah. So but okay future room for conversation. >> Yep. >> The only other thing I didn't um say out loud was the ESC numbers for the north and the south what that would look like >> and so we'll have that prepared as well. >> Okay. >> Not maybe not I also would like kind of
a heat map on that. Is that is that possible? So we have just not just an >> it's possible. >> Well, it's nice to be because I'm visual. It's nice to be able to say, you know, if you've got 316, we can see where they are. Um, you know, in
relation to Reic or >> Well, and isn't it more based on the ESC number we would be looking for would be students that are on special transportation. uh also students that with extreme special needs, you know, because there's plenty of kids with a with a special
needs label that are doing fine in inclusion and shouldn't leave their campus. >> Absolutely. Yeah. These would be the ones that would need that would be if we had this location would be served in that most restrictive setting. >> Okay. Yes, ma'am. >> All right. We're all good. >> Yes, ma'am.
>> Okay. Thank goodness. Board, we're going to move on to item 7.4 7.1, workforce housing discussion. and I'm going to turn that over to Attorney Powers. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. Um, we've had a productive couple weeks there. We
had most recently been in contact with doing a lot of coordination with uh both Upwards um council as well as with our bond council um on some financial questions. um of close to a hundred comments and questions that were generated initially by the legal
department uh after several meetings with all parties, none of those red lines or questions remain. There were two other however broad areas and I believe I reported this to the board before after the last meeting with Upward. We indicated there were two items remaining. That Upward would
submit a P3 application um and that they would finalize the draft memorandum of law describing the bas the basis of the taxation advantages that are central to the plan. I don't want to get into details about that because I wouldn't do that for any party that we're contracting. I wouldn't make that
largely public. But um I did coordinate with Upwards Council. They've indicated their draft review um will be supplemented soon. So, they've given us a draft review. Mr. Blackman was designated to review that and he has um still has a few questions and we're
looking for them to sort of finalize it. Um and so I reached out to Upwards Council this week and we've communicated and they promise that that will be finalized quite soon. Um a P3 application was submitted. It's
been forwarded to the facilities department. Um, now facilities indicates that there may be questions regarding how to proceed, whether there might be an advertised invitation for alternative bids necessary. Um, some example documents from Poke County were provided to me. Um, as this is an internal
process, um, I have to rely on facilities to coordinate with purchasing to find out how they want to do that as I'm unaware what existing operations procedures are now in place. I don't want to run a foul of whatever those procedures are. So, operations may need
to designate someone for management of the P3 application if Miss Usher needs that assistance. And do we want to advertise it as a as a um invitation to bid for other parties? Those are questions that I would feel more comfortable making sure that
purchasing's been consulted, that the the people on staff here certainly help. I'm willing to give legal advice and legal opinion, but I want them to also be able to be part of that. I don't want to be telling them how to do things. I'd like for them to look into how they uh
how they already have address this problem or address these sorts of issues in the in the past. For all I know, there's a manual that has all of their procedures and says follow steps one through seven. And I don't want to mix them up. Dr. Brewer has requested um she and I have talked and Dr. Brewer has
requested Mr. Welsh be included. Um, which is consistent with my earlier view that it's a multi- department consideration. I've spoken briefly to Mr. Welsh. Um, I have coordinated with our bond council about some of the things that Mr. Welsh and I had briefly spoken about. So, George and I have been
on the phone quite a bit more. Um, uh, and I've retained him to review and offer specific expertise on some specific questions. Luckily, um, bond council is already familiar, so I've included him in the review of our red lines and the general proposal for several months now. Even going back to
the last FSBA conference, George and I were sitting down, taking a couple hours to go over uh things that I had questions for just professional to professional. Um, so there are some there are some issues, three broad identifiable areas that we'll get into,
but Mr. Welsh and I will discuss that also. And uh in the meantime, the timeline at this point uh is whatever time it takes to review three things. The memorandum from Upland when they finalize um
the P3 review by facilities, whatever advertising needs to be done, um if if we're going to um if we're going to advertise for invitation for bids, um and process elements, whatever needs to happen there. happy to work with um operations if if they want me to just
create and develop the process for where we need to go, but I want to make sure that that that purchasing is able to to let them know what they what their thoughts are on this first. Um and then bond council's report, which every time I've worked with uh with George Smith,
our bond council, he and I work quickly and well together. So I don't I would anticipate that the since we've narrowed down some three specific areas for him to review. I wouldn't think that would take too long. So um I would request
that all parties work to achieve and have asked all parties to work to achieve um sort of a clear plan by the end of October if possible. Certainly some things are going to need to go out a little bit past that because there's going to be next steps, but uh I want
everybody working to try to have some have some wrap up and strategy by end of uh end of this month. And um anyone that is working on this project, if they have a need for us all to get together or get together in
subsets, I stand ready to use my office conference room or or get together with anyone to try to make it happen. >> Okay. Um Attorney Powers, I just have I have one question. So, it was mentioned that
um there was a visit at Westport High School and then there was a mention that there was a survey and that that went out by upwards or that was an informal conversation. Do you have any um do you have any information on what what does did survey mean?
>> I know of nothing. I heard the same thing that you did when we were having a meeting. They mentioned having pulled or surveyed people from a school. I'm not I I it's not something that I directed them to do or authorized them to do or anything. So I I don't have any
knowledge other than what may have I mean perhaps Dr. Brewer can >> I don't know. >> I can speak to that. So I um worked with Jason and Keelin trying to schedule site visits for them to gauge interest from different school communities. Um the
first visit was at Westport High School. It was a couple weeks ago. They um did a brief presentation and they stayed throughout the day. They gave a flyer out. In that in on that flyer there was a QR code that the staff members if they choose to do so they could select
whether they were interested if they owned a home. What I what I shared um publicly so this is probably where it's coming from. I shared that we could do a survey to our own staff members to determine if there was a need because that survey that they did did belong to
them. So I did express that. I also have um another meeting scheduled for them to come to Howard Middle School and these schools are selected based on availability with faculty meetings and large staff. So that's why they were chosen. So they're coming on October
29th at 2:30 to again brief to meet briefly for 15 minutes just to provide the um a presentation and then to gauge interest. >> Okay. Because you know originally when we talked about a survey I thought that would be something that was mutually
shared between both parties so we could receive feedback you know on in on if our staff was interested or not. And so I am definitely interested in and I'm just one board member, but I would like to know I guess we'll need to send out
our own survey to see, you know, what their thoughts are. Yeah, >> I can tell you that during during the meeting that um I last had with Upward, um uh Jason had some specific examples
of or or description of what they had asked and and how um what the general flavor of of of what employee opinions are. So, you know, I mean, obviously, in any case, we're
trusting what what uh someone who's trying to engage in contract with us is saying, but um I think at least if having him summarize what they've found may also be useful to whatever efforts
that we take besides that also. So, if you'd like, we can also ask them to summarize whatever their findings were because I I'm not privy to them. I don't I don't have them other than what was briefly mentioned in the meeting. >> I think every any little bit of
information you have is would be appreciated. >> But an internal survey would have value. >> Yes. >> Right. Our own internal survey. >> Yeah. Our own internal survey. >> Again, it would come down to the questions and how we ask them and the information we provide to them in
advance of asking the question. uh because I can speak to last week at again school board there was a presentation from Orange County showing all the different various housing options they are providing for their employees currently they are working
with multiple developments that are coming in that are setting aside 10 apartments here 10art because they have I mean they have >> 26,000 employees but just the vast numbers of people that are interested in
it and anecdotally hearing at least there were a staff member or two at the Westport conversation that said, "Well, hey, if you can do that, I would sell my home and do that because I wouldn't have to do my lawn and you know, all the
different things that would be coming in to play with what Upward potentially is going to create. So, I I do think it would be valuable to know what our full employee base would like to do, but I think it also would be valuable to know
exactly what's going to be built because if they're going to do something that also is with the city and county and this is kind of an intergovernmental thing that's a 50 500 unit for all three of us to start or if they're wanting so
there there's still some extenduating thoughts I think that haven't been nailed down just yet. Um, but some of that we're just waiting on information back from them, I think. >> Well, in the first round of surveys may we may not get all the answers we want. I mean, my vision was that after they
give a presentation, say at at Howard Academy, then we get some feedback after that presentation, you know, after they've seen the information that's available at that time, you know, then when they're able to go to another school and then we get closer to the finish line, then yes, absolutely. You
know, you're going to send it out to the whole staff. But right now, we're just hitting pockets of of people who are being able to see the presentation. And it's it is really challenging just for me to schedule this one meeting at Howard Middle School during a faculty meeting for 15 minutes. It's it's just a
challenge. So something that we might want to consider is hosting hosting them. They're willing to travel and then just seeing which faculty members come. But I agree with Dr. Campbell. We need to put something out there first to even invite them. Right now it's it's hard to
even give that invitation. And so if you just say, "We have a two-bedroom apartment or a home for you for $1,500." 99% of people would say, "Yes, I'm interested." Just because that's less than you can rent anywhere else. So I think that's really going to be
important to get real feedback. Um, we need to know what the product is >> and we don't have that information yet. Correct. >> Not yet. >> Right. And it's it's also really really difficult to to say here's what this is an opinion that I'm going to share. I
I'm I love that they're going out and gauging small pockets of feedback just to see if this is a project that they want to bring to Marian County. Completely respect that because this is a lot of financial investment they're willing to put in to our community potentially. What I don't want to do is
us to get really aggressive is the wrong word, but we've been here a long time. I don't I can't come up with another one. Really get ambitious in sharing a lot of information right now for something that is not coming for two years. I I don't want employees to be thinking, well, I'm
not signing my six-month lease because the school district's going to have this and we have they we're gonna have land purchased. Like, we don't have an agreement. We don't there's no. So while I love the idea of surveys, I think the small pocket meetings are going to be easier for them to determine if they
want to bring their investment to Marian County. And now if we enter into an agreement with them and we're unable to fill the however many houses, then they just put them out on the market and they just become a regular development just like any other development out there at fair market value. And they just do what
they're going to do. And anyway, I I just I I don't want us to be sending out a districtrun survey until we are really sure on the timeline of when we will have the units available
because that will impact people's decisions of saying yes or no. >> I agree. I just think whenever the time is right, we need to do internal surveying as well as them. >> Okay. Okay. All right. Anything else on that? >> I I agree that we don't want to jump the
gun, >> right? We don't want to jump the gun, but I do like my feeling was is that they're collecting some information. I I would like to at least have the same information that they have. And so >> going to share it with us, >> right? I know. And I don't know. I mean, that's what attorney P said. He would get a try to get a summary. Yeah.
>> And so that that solves that. >> I ask them. They don't charge legal fees. So I'll ask them. >> Right. Right. Mr. Powers, will you just elaborate what my role is on this RFP? Are you contacting Ruick or am I >> No, I that would be something that I
would I would prefer that you >> Okay. >> coordinate with and it may be that it may be that um Miss Usher already has. I haven't communicated with her about this. So, it may be except that she had sent me request. Do we need to do an invitation to bid? And that's a question
I'd rather not answer because there may be purchasing operational rules that I don't know about. I want to make sure that those are followed because I don't want to be, you know, I don't want to be designing the way that you should respond. >> Okay. >> So, >> I'll follow up with >> and I it would strike me that most
likely purchasing would know about those. So, the people that I would call if I were coordinating it would be call Miss Usher, call Rick, find out what do you need to do and how do you how do you want to proceed forward? That's all. >> Okay. >> Thank you for the update. All right.
Anything else? >> Um, I do have one other request if I may be recognized. Nothing else has to upward. So, if we want to have any public comment, we can. >> Right. I was going to do that next. All right. With our vast audience, do we have any public comment?
Okay. Seeing none, do you want me to go ahead and do my announcements and then I'll go to you for public comment? That'll be great. Okay. Moving on to meeting reminders. There's an IROC meeting this afternoon in a couple of hours. So, it's coming soon at 4:00 right here at MTI. There will be a town
hall gathering this evening at Ocola Middle School at 6:00 p.m. There's a special school board meeting scheduled for October 28th at 7 a.m. A schoolboard meeting is scheduled on October 28th at 5:30 p.m. Um, and there's also an administrative briefing and work session
scheduled for October 31st on Niola policies. Um and with that, attorney Powers. >> Yes. Um I have board members, I am notifying you that attorney Suzanne Green or design of the DGH legal law
firm has informed me that advice is needed regarding case number 23CA 2512 styled Chris A. Handley versus the school board of Marian County, Florida. Pursuant to 286.011 101 Florida um
Florida statutes known as the government in the sunshine act. I'm requesting an attorney client session with the board for the purpose of discussing the evaluation or compromise of that matter. I have asked the board's clerk to cause reasonable public notice of the time and
date of this attorney client session um and the names of the persons attending it to be published. It's suggested that the attorney client session be held beginning at 9:02 a.m. during a recess of the November 6th administrative briefing and work session scheduled or
as soon thereafter as may be heard. As required by this statute, only the following individuals will be present. Lori Conrad, board chair, Eric Cummings, vice chair. Dr. Allison Campbell, board member. Nancy Thrower, board member. Dr. Sarah James, board member. Dr. Danielle
Brewer, interim superintendent. Daniel Blackman, staff attorney. Jeremy Powers, schoolboard attorney, and Suz Suzanne Green, Esquire or designate of the DGH legal law firm. I've also asked a court reporter to record the session as required by statute. Her notes will
be fully transcribed and filed with the board clerk. Upon the conclusion of any litigation or settlement of all claims arising out of the matter, the transcript will be made public record. Okay. And um Madame Chair, I would need for
you to I I gave you a little item there. We'll have something to in the second page of that. >> I couldn't hear you, Tony Powers. I'm sorry. I couldn't hear. >> I'm sorry. Um did I did I hand Did I leave one of these on your desk on your map there? >> Um you did not. >> I did not. Okay. Um I will ask you to
recommend that the board hold that attorney client session to discuss that pending matter. Will you do so? >> Yes. Can we have a board? Can we have an attorney client session on November 6th shortly after opening the administrative briefing and work session? >> And then if there are no objections, the attorney client sess session should
occur during that recess at 9:02 a.m. or as soon thereafter is may be heard. >> Okay, everybody's in agreeance. >> May I ask a quick question? November 6th is also currently scheduled for a 7 am
>> and if we continue that could we move depending on what happens at 7 am could we actually have attorney client at 8 a.m. Uh it really it depends on scheduling of our uh I mean I can call and try to get our
>> but if we could do that >> if we can if we can I can shift if I can get the the um transcriptionist here then yeah there's no reason why we couldn't >> let's have it in that window that we just had an hour and a half break. I mean if we could >> Yes. I would love I would love if we
could do it at 8 a.m. >> That would be efficient. >> Yes. Do we is our November 6 still our 7 am still going on the 6th as of now? >> As of right now? >> Yeah, we won't know until tomorrow's >> I No, I think didn't um she say this morning we had a one person >> but I I canceled that.
>> Oh, >> because it's past it's past the >> All it requires is for me to get a hold of um both Suzanne and uh the the reporter. >> Then we should just gavvel in and gavvel out. >> Right. There still could be disputes. Even
though that early re-entry won't take place, there still could be disputes for right that are due. >> So, if we could schedule it for 8 a.m., we would still give us an hour to handle whatever might happen, right? >> And regardless if 7 a.m. gets canceled, then we're just here at 8 a.m. for the attorney client.
>> That works. >> Yep. And for the formality of scheduling, as I'm required to do by statute, I'm scheduling it for 9:02 a.m. However, given the fact that I the only parties present, if they can start earlier, I will be making it happen. Okay. >> Very good. >> Fantastic.
>> All right. Thank you. Um, Miss Martinez Young. >> Yes, Madam Chair. Um, FSBA 39th day annual legislator is January 28th and 29th in Tallahassee. I will send out an email to see who would like to attend so I can make reservations. Um, I would
need a response back by November 3rd. Um, they did tell me yesterday that the session starts at 1:00, so you don't have to be there bright and bright and early. >> Okay. >> On that. >> So, we won't need a hotel that first night for sure. >> Okay. >> Just respond to your email if you plan
to attend. >> Okay. And you said by November 3rd. >> November 3rd. Yes. >> Okay. >> And what? That was for the legislative day. >> Day in the legislature. Yes. >> Which we're just spending the day on the 4th. We are going up for committee weeks. Yes. FSBA has their day in the
legislature in January. >> No, I know. But what Miss What were you were just talking about? November. >> No, I was to respond by November. >> Oh, for January. >> Sorry. I heard November 3rd and I'm like, okay. >> Sorry. Got it. >> Got it. >> Okay, good.
>> Anything else, Mrs. >> No. Okay, thank you. All right, Dr. Brewer. >> Um, I only have one comment to make. We had um Mr. heirs led the technical working group yesterday. We had a very productive meeting and um it was really
nice. It was my first meeting attending and it was nice to see how much data that the JB Pro team was able to present and um what I also learned is we actually they turn that data over to the different um groups. So the county
receives it, Belleview receives it and so then they can do as well you know as they wish with that data. So, it's really it's going to help all parties and so it was a great meeting. Um, but I just really appreciate Tracy as the chair of that meeting that she was voted back in as chair and Mr. Ays is the vice
chair. So, it was a great meeting. >> It was. Thank you, Dr. Brewer. Dr. Campbell. >> Um, I don't have anything other than I'll just say yes. I I think we've said publicly a few times uh grateful that the school district on our dime is taken care of making sure that all of the
municipalities have all the data sharing that they need so that all of the permitting and um things that have happened separately for years now have some consolidation mechanisms in place based on what we've paid for. So I'm glad it's going to help us all but
thanks to the school board and I think that'll be all I'll say today. Thank you Dr. Campbell. Dr. James, >> thank you. Um, I feel like we've had a pretty extensive day. I will just say my door is open figuratively. My email, my
phone is available. I texted Miss LaR and said if she wants me to come tomorrow to just take the hits from the firing squad, I'm more than available to do that. I understand that there's I'm already getting it apprehension and
I I am an open book and I'm willing to have any conversation um that is solutionoriented. So I'm available understand that the next few weeks are going to be full of conversation and I'm prepared for that. So that's all I'll
add for the moment. >> Thank you Dr. James, Miss Thrower. >> Thank you. And I really don't have uh much else to add. We've gone through a lot today. I think that we are well on the track of globally assessing and
making some really important decisions uh that will have some really good financial impact to the positive while minimizing u you know any negativity that that we can foresee. And I continue
to just be really uh grateful to have these conversations and that I am also you know prepared whenever you look at changing anything there's going to be some apprehension but I hope what the major takeaway from today's meeting that
people will see is that we're here to solve problems and mitigate creating any new ones as a result of those decisions. So keep the faith people. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Thrower. And I don't I don't have much to to add. Um either
we've had a lot of conversation today. Good conversation. Um and I will just tag team a little bit with what Dr. Brewer said, a technical working group. It was one of the best um meetings I've attended and actually felt that there
was some gratitude in the in the room yesterday, which is um just to be honest, a first. And so I I was really grateful uh to be able to be at the table. Um, Dr. Brewer, I'm thankful for your leadership. Um, and
thankful that things are moving forward. So, we'll just leave it at that. All right. And with that, >> one more thing. >> Yes. >> Um, I was just checking my scheduling and the thing that I neglected to mention is that an attorney client session by law must be held during an um
a recess from a work session. >> Okay. because of that, we can't start until that's that was why I always schedule them for 9:02. >> Whispered that over, but I I >> So, yes. So, we will have to start at 9:00 unless we readvertised the work session to start earlier. >> All right. Thank you for the
clarification. All right. And with that, board, there being no further business, we'll adjourn at 219. Thank you. Part: 2
[Music] Okay. Well, I'd like to welcome everyone to the meeting of the Independent Citizens Referendum Oversight Committee uh this Thursday, October 16th. Um as is
our habit, we will start with everyone please standing for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and >> to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all. I'd like to start uh by welcoming all our members and guests. Interim superintendent uh Dr. Brewer. Um I saw board chair Conrad and all the rest. Uh, thank you district personnel for being
here. And with that, let's do the roll call for those of us who are present. >> Um, mic on would be nice. Um, Angie, if you wouldn't mind just starting at us off and I'm just gonna have us go. >> Angie Lester,
>> Diana Williams, >> you >> Jennifer Edgars, >> thank you. >> Ken Osley, >> you Melanie Lyster, >> Floyd Magwood, >> Maryanne Collins, thank you. And I believe that is a quorum. Correct. >> Should be. >> Okay. So, uh, minutes from the last
meeting. Uh, if everyone has had a chance to look at those minutes, I would entertain a motion uh to accept those minutes. >> I'll make the motion. I second that motion. >> All right. We have a motion in a second. All in favor say I.
>> I. >> I. Any opposed? All right. That motion passes. So, uh, district overview, Dr. Brewer. >> Okay. Good afternoon. Thank you all for your work and taking the time to be a part of this wonderful oversight
committee. Um, as you know, we could not do what we are able to do in our school system without this referendum funding. So, we're so appreciative of your time. We have Mr. Robert Rios Welsh with us this evening afternoon. He is our chief
financial officer and he is going to provide um the presentation and then of course introduce you to many of our district staff that will elaborate in the different areas where the funding is um so supportive. So thank you for your time.
>> Thank you Dr. Brewer. Committee members, good afternoon. I'm Mr. Robert Rios Welsh. I'm the new chief financial officer here for Marian County Public Schools. I've been here for about two months, but I'll be honest, it feels more like two years. Um, but here we are and there's a lot of work in front of
us. So, we're going to we're going to delve right into it. Um, so we're going to start with a uh overview of referendum. But before I jump into the details, I would like to just introduce all of the various presenters who'll be joining me tonight. Uh, Charity uh,
Cornelius, coordinator for physical education. Katherine Oti, coordinator for career and technical education. Reagan Hughes, coordinator for media related instructional services, Brooke Hudo, coordinator for visual and
performing arts, Cassie Busha, coordinator for professional leadership and learning, and Mr. Dennis McFaten, executive director for safe schools. Mr. McFaden's a back row Baptist on us today. We see you back there.
>> Yeah. Great. So again, good afternoon everyone and um want to start off by saying that uh you know we we take this very seriously in terms of making sure that we have a clear look at how referendum dollars uh are being used responsibly, transparently, and with the
greatest impact for all student, staff, and the community. I'm going to go through and share where we stand with current funds, how they've been allocated, and the positive result um with your support that this has made
across the entire district. So, for an overview, let's just start off by providing a a recap as a reminder. one. Oh, there we go. There we go. Okay. Referendum dollars um are a 1 mil avalor
property tax on real property and was approved by voters November 8th, 2022 and became effective July 1st, 2023 and runs through June 30th of 2027. So, um this is this is coming back up
for a refresh here pretty soon. And so, it's very important that we like to highlight how things are going. These funds can be used for very specific purposes like reading, physical education, art, music, library and media
and other vocational programs. They also help us meet our class size class size uh requirements in terms of retaining certified teachers, pair of professionals and support our school safety initiatives.
These voterapproved F fundings, excuse me, these voter approved funds allow us to show our commitment to the community and our doubling down on quality education to provide safe and enriching learning environments.
From the time the referendum funds began, including this year's budget, as you can see in the presentation, uh we have expected to collect $260 million in total. Our current projected expenditures are about $250 million.
So clearly a sizable investment from the taxpayers here in Marian County. The next slide are two pie charts that go through and um really highlight uh where the funds are being spent so far.
And so at this point in the year, first quarter, we've received 19% of total revenues with expenditures tracking closely behind at 17%. This reflects solid, reasonable management and keeping funds aligned
with planned priorities. The next slide shows our general fund referendum expenditures by program. For the current year, we've budgeted $42 million in total expenditures. From those dollars distributed across
all our program areas, you'll see on the next few slides, we're going to be supporting our teachers, our students, and the essential programs that make a difference every day. The next slide again has a graphical representation of the
general fund total expenditures by program from 2020 through 2021 through the first quarter of 2526. It's helpful to see how the funding has been used over time providing stability, consistency, and sustained support for
critical instructional areas. I'd like to also point out that the vast majority of these dollars is going towards class size reduction at 39%.
Which is to the far left of the screen. Next slide, we're going to talk about fund balance. So at the end of 202425 school year, we had an ending fund balance of $13.3 million which rolled into 2526.
For this year, we've budgeted $41 million in revenue and $42 million in expenditures, leaving a fund balance of about $12 million at the end of 2526 projected. Any unspent referendum
dollars will carry forward into the next year, ensuring that we can maintain program continuity. And just as a reminder, these funds are restricted. They can only be used for the purposes approved by the voters.
Now, let's take a look um a little a little closer at our general fund programs and then we're going to talk a little bit about the charter school allocations separately. So, we're going to talk about kindergarten pair professionals
and have a nice slide here with some children there. That's great. So total budget for kindergarten pair professionals is $5.7 million and we've spent approximately $785,000
so far and this helps to support 158 pair of professionals. Pair professionals uh are an allowable uh expense under referendum because they uh certainly and directly support our student learning and our classroom instruction, both
which align with the educational purposes outlined in the referendum. Referendum dollars can be used to make staffing positions uh excuse me to fund staffing positions that enhance instructional support, improve student outcomes, and maintain manageable class
sizes. PAR professionals play a vital role in the areas of assisting teachers with instruction, providing individual and small groupoup support, and helping meet diverse learning needs of our students.
With that, I'd like to turn it over to Miss uh Charity Cornelius. She's going to walk us through how some of these funds are supporting physical education this year. Miss Cornelison. I'm afraid to touch it because if I do,
it may get temperamental. Good afternoon everyone. First and foremost, I want to thank you on behalf of all of our MCPS physical education team. Your continued support of referendum funds allows each and every one of our teachers, frankly, to have a job. Um, you are directly
impacting thousands and thousands of students every day by supporting this initiative. What you're seeing here are highlights and just one piece of what this investment makes possible. our educators dedication to ongoing professional learning. This summer,
hundreds of Florida educators in every subject area gathered for the Department of Education's summer resiliency training, including our own Marian County PE team. The focus was on strengthening student resiliency, helping students develop the confidence, perseverance, and coping skills that
impact not only the physical health, but also academic success. Our teachers didn't just attend. They actively participated, presenting ideas, collaborating with peers, and bringing new best practices back to their schools. These experiences directly shape, excuse me, how they design
lessons that promote both physical fitness and mental health. While the referendum doesn't directly fund attendance to these types of trainings, it does fund the employment of dedicated professionals willing to invest in their field. That's the real return on investment of this funding. teachers who stay at the forefront of evidence-based
practice and who continually adapt to meet the needs of their students. This second slide highlights our district back to school training. It brings together every PE teacher K through 12 in the county. Each August, they gather together to participate in
hands-on professional learning that integrates technology, engagement strategies, and student data tools into PE classrooms. Here you see our teachers testing new heart zones technology which measures real-time heart rate data to help students set and achieve personal
goals. They also explored new equipment designed to increase student engagement and ensure every child, regardless of ability, has a way to participate and experience success. Our PE staff takes these tools and lessons straight back to schools where they become a part of daily instruction,
helping students connect movement, motivation, and measurable progress. And it all starts with investing in our educators. Every training opportunity, every piece of technology, every innovative lesson you see in our PE classes begins with the support this referendum provides. On
behalf of our educators, our students, and our families, I want to sincerely thank you for investing in physical education as an essential part of our total student education. >> Yes. Yes, ma'am. >> I don't know if we're supposed to ask questions now, if you don't mind. Uh I
think I might just need a refresher. I see on the general fund slide five uh last year 2425 we spent nine and a half million on PE uh which is higher than everything else
I see. And year to date it seems in the first quarter that we're on the track to do that again. Um, I think the it's outlining 10 million for the year. And I need a refresher to know how we're
spending that much on PE because it used to be just some equipment, you know, 2 million or so. And then all of a sudden it jumped up to nine and a half and it looks like it's going to be 10. I didn't know if that was, you know, I'm reading in the newspaper about uh police officers at the games and all that kind
of stuff. So maybe you can just clue me. >> Well, that wouldn't have anything to do with physical education. I was wondering >> I can answer that for you. So last year the board made a decision that we were going to trade out some of the units that we had funded through our regular
general fund versus referendum. So in the past we had a handful of PE teachers that were placed in the referendum funding. Last year what we did is we took all of the PE art music and moved them over to referendum. took all of the basic classroom educators that we were
funding out of referendum and moved them over to general fund. So, it was an even swap in number of people's, but it's going to offset some of where you see the categoricals. >> Yeah, I love to see that it's decreasing the class size amendment requirement. That's wonderful.
>> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. I'll give that some thought. Okay. All right. Any other questions u on that previous slide? If not, we'll move forward. >> You know, while I'm thinking about it and while it's that subject. >> Yes, ma'am.
>> Sorry. Um I don't know what the vocational and library he just said that everything is lumped under the PE for as far as class size amendment for vocational library art and so we're not
seeing those in those other columns then is that right? >> No you you would see that. So again we we had a limited number of PE teachers that were funded through referendum. They were ones that we needed to add when we were sharing PE teachers between
schools many years ago. Same with media specialists and art music PE. So what we did was instead of funding some PE, some arts, some music, and some basic education teachers like um English, math, science teachers that were helping us with class size, we took all of the
basic education teachers out of referendum, moved them to the district side that we pay for out of our state revenue, and then took all of the PE art music teachers, move them over to referendum. So it was an even swap in number of teachers. But you'll see the PE number goes up because we have more
PE teachers. The class size goes down because we have fewer basic education teachers in there. >> So, we didn't split it equally. It's starting to sink in now. Thank you. >> Great. It just makes it cleaner on our end that we're funding all the people from the same pot of money. >> And I believe a big factor of that is
there's um at least two teachers to a lot of campuses. So I if correct me if I'm wrong I believe that there's more PE teachers being funded than say like one art teacher one music teacher that type of thing. I believe that's the case.
Correct. >> Yeah it depends on the size of the campus. So the number of students dictates how many PE teachers or PE techs that we have on a campus. So as the size of the campus increases we do increase to two PE teachers. So, a lot of our larger campuses um including our two new elementary schools that we just
opened this year that we've added two PE teachers at both of those sites that we did not have before. So, those would be additional units that we've placed in referendum. >> But for clarification, too, and I don't know if this is maybe what you're asking, the PE teachers are in the physical education, the art are in the art. You place them in each of the
categories. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. So, that just Yeah. So, they're reflected in each one of the categories. >> Correct. all funded through referendum, but they'll be reflected in each of the charts based on what they teach. >> Thank you, Mr. White House. Uh just to
underscore that, you know, that movement of staff to uh general funds also helps with the long-term stability of making sure that in the future uh in the event that referendum funds uh were ever to end, we could still be able to provide
uh the support for the teachers in the classroom reduction uh effectively in perpetuity by putting it into the general fund. whereas those uh additional uh or you know arts PE related type um staff members are funded
through referendum. So I just wanted to underscore that. Uh thank you Charity by the way. So, let's just talk about again uh as uh the committee member uh pointed out in terms of the physical education um budget at
$10 million with the current u spent to date at $1.5 million or about 15% which is uh pretty much on par with what we'd expect to see at this point in the year. Things tend to start slow and then gradually ramp up as the school year uh
progresses. Um, again, these funds are used to cover salaries and benefits for 106 uh full-time PE teachers uh and 22 PE techs. And that's an important uh point to make. Um, plus it also includes some of those capital uh outlays for
equipment, materials, uh, and supplies. Next, I'd like to bring up Miss Kathy Oti, who will uh share some updates on our vocational programs. >> Good afternoon, everyone. So, today I'm
excited to share with you some of the amazing things happening in our CTE programs. This year we have over 14,000 students enrolled in CTE courses throughout middle school and high school. And those are um unduplicated numbers. So of those 14,000 students,
many of them actually take more than one CTE program. So we have about 21,000 actual enrollments in our courses. Um we are in our third year of implementing the program Zello. Zello is a career exploration platform that helps students explore career choices and
prepare for the workforce or college after high school. Um, and as part of the Zello platform, we start by surveying our seniors to see what their plans are for after high school. So, we ask them what their E is going to be. And this is our current senior classes
um, beginning of the year choices on their E. So, as you can see, 55% are planning to enroll in some form of post-secary education. 27% are planning to go straight into the workforce. 8% are planning to pu pursue entrepreneurship
and 10% are planning to enlist. Um and just something I found interesting, these numbers have a little shift shifted a little um compared to last year. The employment um number has gone up by 5% since last year. So many more of our students are planning to go straight into the workforce this school
year. We have also had several business and industry interactions this year already and we expect to see the to see these numbers continue to grow as the school year goes on. But already within the first quarter, we've had 90 students who have completed their shadowing at Advent
Hospital. We had 550 students participate in our first two nextworking events. At those events, students within their CTE area get to interact with business and industry members and roundt conversations and ask them about the actual do jobs that they do every day.
We had 78 digital video students mentored in the Ocala film derby. At the culmination of the film derby, students have nine hours to create a 3 to six minute short film. Those films are then judged and then played at Maran Theater
for community members. We also had 75 FFA members participate in our first Marian County Federation Field Day. That's an event they've started to try to get our FFA members to create some relationships amongst our different schools. And we had 70 CTE
instructors attend a TIGBY career exploration training. TIGBY is a new career exploration um platform that has come out. It's um promoted by Space Florida. And what it does is it has short um video clips of people in STEM
careers talking about what they do and then students can interact with those professionals, ask them questions all week and then at the end of the week um that professional records another video of themselves answering the students questions. So we're excited to start using that in our programs.
All of these programs are supported by referendum whether it's through the teacher unit, through equipment, through travel for our students. Um without referendum most of these opportunities would not be available to our students. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you Kathy. So let's jump into some of the numbers here uh behind that lovely programmatic information that she shared. So right now for this year's vocational budget uh stands at $2.4 $4 million uh
and it funds 17 vocational teachers. Uh so far about 14% has been spent and this covers um as similar to uh physical education uh covering salaries, benefits, capital outlay and purchase
services. Purchase services include contracted work to expand programs like our new uh avonatics program uh for our new high school. And so it's important to really emphasize um that these dollars are really being used to support
uh the men and women who are actually on the ground, you know, really really on the front line helping our students. With that, I'm going to kick it over to Miss Braen Hughes and she's going to share a little bit about what's happening in library and media programs.
Good afternoon. >> Afternoon. >> Media specialists from across the county came together on August 5th, 6th, and 7th for a day of learning with their colleagues. During these sessions, media specialists had opportunities to collaborate with their peers, dive into
weeding reports to better support their community of students, and learn more about the Gail platform to best support practices for research on each of their campuses. All media specialists have completed the library media training. This is a which
is a requirement by the state. In this training, media specialists learn about state statutes that mandate resources made available in our media centers as well as our classroom libraries. This training is required before media specialists can review and purchase new
materials for their libraries. In our elementary schools, our media specialists are hard at work providing required instruction regarding internet safety. During this training, students learn about how to stay safe when on the internet. At this time, all of our
elementary students have received this required instruction. Along with completing required trainings and instruction, media specialists also use their space to highlight state observances. Over the course of the last two months, media specialists have highlighted
Constitution Week as well as Hispanic Heritage Month by creating different displays that include both non-fiction and fiction books about US history and Hispanic heritage. In August, we opened two new elementary schools, both on the southwest end of
Marian County. Winding Oaks Elementary and Ross Prairie Elementary include beautiful state-of-the-art media centers. These sites provide amazing learning opportunities on their campuses. While the opening day collections at each site are essentially identical, the media specialists at each
school will have the opportunity to curate a collection that is built off student population needs and interests. At Winding Oaks, Miss Brady is a recent transplant to Aala from Naples, Florida, where she worked for Collier County, excuse me, Collier County Public Schools
for 16 years. During her time with Collier County, she served as a classroom teacher teaching fourth and fifth grade as well as a math coach for five years and one year spent as a media specialist. As the proud new media specialist at Winding Oaks Elementary, she hopes to instill the same love of
learning with all students. Miss Brady feels the library should truly be the heart of the school where students, teachers, and parents can engage with reading in a meaningful way. Mrs. Lanza is the media specialist at Ross Prairie Elementary where she
supports learning and reading across her campus. With 853 students, she keeps busy throughout the day. She has been in education for 25 years and as a media specialist for the past three years. As a bilingual media specialist, she is
able to support her Spanish-speaking community of learners with ease. As a teacher, Mrs. Lanza always knew how critical reading is and more so a love for books. She values teachers greatly and as the media specialist she is able to serve her teachers and impact
students love of reading and books on a much larger scale. English is her second language which created great obstacles for her learning how to read. With these personal experiences learning to speak and read English, she connects well with the community of learners she serves
each day. Both Miss Brady and Miss Lanza are excited for their new experiences that they have had in the media center this year. So, thank you for everything that the referendum does for our media specialists across Marian County. >> Thank you, Brian. With that, I'll jump
into uh some of the numbers. Uh so again, this this tracks very similarly to the other programs that referendum dollars uh support with median library uh budget coming in at $4.4 million with a current spend to
date of $630,000 or about 14% which is pretty much on target for where we'd expect things to be this early in the school year. Uh we currently fund 49 media specialists across all of the schools. Uh and again,
these referendum dollars are crucial uh for our media centers uh to operate as hubs for learning, creativity, uh and research. Uh and so with that, I will now uh move on to the next area and invite Miss Brooke Huto to come up and
she's going to speak about visual arts and music programs. Good afternoon. >> Thank you guys as always for being here. You know, I always love getting to come up and share all the great things we are doing in fine arts. Uh the 2526 school
year is off to a fabulous start for our fine arts programs. To begin the year, we do focus on fundamentals across all of our grade levels. In our visual arts classes, that means learning about the elements of art, which includes line, shape, form, value, space, color, and texture. And as you can see, the
students at South Ocala Elementary were focusing on line. They were learning about a variety of line types such as wavy, curly, dotted, zigzag, etc. At View Middle School, our students served up a role of creativity by making faux food sculptures using none other than
toilet paper. They focused on the shape and form of the piece, as well as creating the appropriate color and texture for their faux foods. And then finally, we have Westport photography students who were studying the use of lighting to enhance the subjects of their compositions.
In the world of performing arts, we also have a focus on fundamentals as well as recruitment. Every high school band program hosts a eighth grade middle school night during marching band season so that our eighth grade band and color guard students can get a glimpse of what high school band is like. And it also helps to encourage recruitment for our
band and color guard programs at the high school level. These students have the opportunity to not only come out and play at a football game, but they get to march typically on the field. They'll usually come out for the national anthem and perform on the field with their with their cohorts of high school students. Um, and it gives them a really
incredible opportunity to to know what it's going to feel like when they get to high school. At Westport High School, our theater 1 students are just starting their journey in theater by honing their pantoime skills. Groups had to create a skit using only the skill of pantoime, which is the art of telling a story
through bodily movements only. They then perform their skits for one another, providing constructive critiques to help them improve. Learning and growth, though, is never limited to our students. Pictured in the middle are some of our elementary music educators at their August inservice. They were learning about something
called the ORF Schulwork approach which is a child- centered music philosophy emphasizing active participation, creativity, and the integration of music, speech, movement, and drama. And since I am mentioning oral work, I am thrilled to announce that we just found
out that five of our students under the direction of Miss Naoko Wickline at Dr. NH Jones Elementary have been selected to represent Marian County in the Florida Allstate ORF Ensemble. This is an incredibly prestigious auditiononly ensemble and they will perform at the
Florida Music Educators Allstate Conference in Tampa in January of 2026. So, we are super excited for those students. Finally, I wanted to personally invite you to some of our upcoming events that are taking place in the next few weeks. This weekend is the 21st annual Ocala
Marching Band Festival at Westport High School, which will begin at 2 o'clock p.m. and it will feature marching bands from our county and also within the surrounding counties. The Ocala Arts Festival sponsored by Fine Arts for Ocala is going to be next weekend in downtown Ocala. We will have student art
on display and student performances happening all weekend at Citizen Circle. We're also excited that we have some theater groups that are going to come out and do a musical theater um performance. And we also have a middle school band from Fort McCoy that is coming out for the first time in a long time. November 6th, we have our middle
school allcount band concert held at the Riley Arts Center. And November 11th is the MCPS Veterans Day event at Veterans Memorial Park, which will begin at 11:00 a.m. That night, we will also recognize our Superintendent Choice Award winners for the art show during our schoolboard
meeting at 5:30. I invite each of you and the Marian County community to come on out and join us at any or all of our events and see what the referendum brings into the lives of our students and community. I remind everybody that this is only possible because of referendum and the teachers that are
supported through the referendum funding at every school. For those of us who have been around for a while, we remember back when our teachers were shared amongst schools and so our music and art teachers were one for every two schools. and that was something we don't want to return back to. So, we are very
thankful that our students have this incredible support from the Marian County community and that they are able to partake in these different events and be able to fulfill their their passions in life through art, music, and the performing arts. Um, so thank you again for the continued support and thank you all for your service.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you, Brooke. Now, let's uh delve into the numbers a bit here. Okay. So, with visual arts, uh the budget is 5.2 million um with a spend of
about $8,000 so far this year, uh which is low, but we do expect that to uh ramp up as the school year uh progresses. These dollars are used to support 55 art teachers, uh 12 paraprofessionals,
and one half of a coordinator, uh position. And so we certainly appreciate the work that they do. And I think in our last board meeting, we had a lovely presentation of a a film that was produced by some students so we can see some of their hard work and what that
actually looks like uh on the big screen. Let's go back one. Okay. Next, we're going to talk about um the music program and how those referendum dollars uh are being invested
uh to support students in music. The budget is $5.7 million again with a spend of about $9,000 to date, which we expect to increase um over time as the school year uh progresses on. Now, we we
support 54 music teachers, 12 par profofessionals, and uh again, one half of a coordinator position uh to support the music program with referendum dollars. These funds help replace instruments refresh supplies
and sustain creative programs that enrich learning and inspire lifelong appreciation for the arts and accessibility to music and the arts for the entire district and all students. With that,
I'll invite Miss um Cassie Busha to come up and she's going to talk a little bit about professional uh leadership and learning. Thank you. >> Good afternoon. I'm not sure that I can follow student art projects made from
toilet paper, but I'm going to try. So, in professional leadership and learning, we're very grateful for our referendum funds because they allow us to support and grow our new teachers in the district. Currently those funds are centered primarily for our firstear
teachers who we call our novice educators. We have 147 teachers who fall into that category. And then our early career teachers of whom we have 238. And in that third column you'll see the different supports that are provided to
those two different categories of teachers. And those supports are shared between uh school and then the district office as well. So on schools, our novice educators each receive a one-on-one mentor. So this mentor is a
fellow educator on their campus in most cases. We do have some unique situations like with our art teachers or with our social workers where they get a mentor who is serving very specifically in that field and we've got something set up for that. So they get that unique
experience. Otherwise, it is someone right there on their campus. These teachers also receive monthly opportunities on their campuses as well as through professional learning opportunities in our department. Our secondyear teachers get that ongoing
mentorship through a site-based lead. So there is a lead teacher who then supports those secondyear teachers. We have additional um sessions offered by our department that's called new teacher academy 2.0. So during that first year,
they have the opportunity to attend new teacher academy and then we differentiate the second or the second year teachers so that they're receiving different supports, but they're ongoing. And then on that next slide, we wanted to break down for you some of what that
looks like for these teachers. So I kind of already addressed those sitebased meetings. So the monthly professional learning is going to address what we refer to as our FEEPS or our Florida educator accomplished practices. These are the standards that guide our
teachers and what they're instructing upon. And so every month on their campus, their site lead is hosting a professional learning session that they can attend and learn about that individual practice. Additionally, there is a monthly what we call technical assistance meeting. And so these are
those things that teachers need to know that aren't necessarily covered by the FEAPS. So things like how do I work my gradebook? What does that look like? How do I use Canvas? So those systems that we have in place that teachers need to learn and be able to navigate but may
not necessarily be part of our FEPS. In addition to that, we have some things we were able to fund as well through our department. The first of which was very fun and that was our great beginnings teacher store. So I believe at the last
session you may have heard a little bit about our great beginnings. That is our kickoff event for our new teachers where they're invited to come in for a two-day session where they can learn all about Marian County. They get to meet supports that are here in place for them and it's a wonderful time. One of the things we
were able to fund using those referendum dollars was a Great Beginnings teacher store because it is not cheap to set up a classroom. When you think about all of those pencils and crayons and markers and name plates and bulletin boards, it
adds up. And so they had the opportunity throughout those two days, we were drawing names. And over the course of the two days, everyone had an opportunity to come and visit and shop and get their classroom stocked for children who were coming in. So that was a wonderful opportunity.
Uh beyond that, we have our new teachermies which I mentioned previously. Uh teachers do receive a stipend for their attendance at those sessions to help honor the time that they're investing. And actually, as I was leaving the office to walk over here, two of our program specialists
were getting ready. We offer both a face-to-face and virtual option for each of thosemies again to try and meet the needs of all of these teachers and their schedules and really just honor that. The other thing and you'll see a little um a t-shirt for our mentor world tour.
So when our program specialists were beginning our professional learning for our mentors because that is also ongoing professional develop that we offer. They did a kickoff by meeting at um regions so that teachers didn't have to travel quite as far. And this is professional learning that is offered to these mentor
teachers to enable and empower them to support their new teachers and the work that they're doing. So those are just some of the things that we're able to fund through these referendum dollars and we're very grateful. So thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Cassie. I'm going to move on
to the next slide here. And uh just to underscore um what she mentioned, just vitally important uh that uh the staff have the support that they need. Uh now we're investing in referendum dollars about $624
uh,000 which is the smallest portion of the referendum dollars but again as she pointed out critically important to the success of the teaching staff that they have the training, mentorship uh and collaboration opportunities uh that they need and are afforded through the
referendum dollars. Uh these ongoing investments help to strengthen teachers practices uh supports innovation and ensures staff uh and the leader have the leadership skills and tools that they need to succeed uh every day and help
our students succeed every day. With that, I'd like to uh move on to the next area, which is school safety, and invite Mr. Dennis McMadden uh up to speak. >> We have uh quickly a question before that. Just one question and this this
may be the same answer we had before but in 23 24 professional development increased significantly which I love. I love this program. I wish we could throw millions at it. Um but now we've decreased back down both last year and
projection for this year. Do we know what what the difference was in that year that it doubled? >> Uh we can't speak to that at this moment unless Mr. White House wants to try to opine on that. Good point. So, um, as you recall when
we were doing our budget for this year, one of the changes we had to make was adjusting the class size ratios in our classrooms, which decreased the number of teachers that we needed, which also decreases the number of firstear teachers that we would hire that would then be supported by this professional learning. So, um, it was good that we
didn't have as many vacancies to fill. We don't have as many teachers to support, but obviously, you know, we'd love to get our class sizes back where we want them. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Quick question about class size then. Are we not in compliance right now? >> So, uh, we just ran our reports for FT2.
Most of our schools are still in compliance even though we increase those ratios because we do have at a lot of our sites classrooms that are traditionally smaller that offset because we do a schoolwide average. It's not class by class. We calculate the average for the entire school. Um, and so most are in compliance. We have a few
that are a little bit above um the class size average, but the the rule changed with the state that there's no longer a financial penalty. So, most districts have started shifting their class size because there is no financial penalty. We still have to provide a corrective plan and we do always strive even with
um our times this year. We're still striving to meet that schoolwide average for all of our schools. Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to provide this quarterly update on school safety and security spending. While this quarter has seen
minimal expenditures, our primary cost has been maintaining our school resource officers on every campus, which continues to be a critical part of our safety strategy. There have been no major purchases during this reporting period, but I want to emphasize that
this does not reflect a lack of progress. Several planned projects experienced delays due to vendor scheduling, delayed arrival of previously ordered items, and the need to coordinate around existing summer facility projects to avoid operational
disruptions. Despite these delays, we have maintained actively engaged behind the scenes finalizing project plans, coordinating with contractors, conducting site assessments, and preparing for significant roll out of
security hardening measures. For context, in previous quarters, we've invested in several important safety improvements, including door buzzer systems for control access, upgraded surveillance cameras both inside our schools and on school buses, and door
hardening projects aimed at slowing or preventing unauthorized entry. These investments have created a strong foundation for the next phase of our security enhancements. Looking ahead, we anticipate a much more active quarter in both project
implementation, training, and spending. A key driver of this activity will be our response to newly revised access control requirements. These mandates now require that access control measures be in effect from 30 minutes before the start
of the school day until 30 minutes after the end of the school day. Gates and access points may remain open or unlocked only if another locked barrier prevents direct unimpeded access to students. Additionally, common
instructional areas such as cafeterias, gyms, media centers, and auditoriums must either remain locked or be actively monitored when in use for instruction and student testing. Um, this picture here shows a reunification training that
we done over the summer. Uh this is required by the state to have a reunific reunification plan in place. And basically what it means if there's ever a need to evacuate or reunify, move students off of campus to an offsite location, we have a plan and the
training to make sure that kids are safely returned or reunified to their parents or to their guardians. And this is one of the trainings that we put in over the summer. Okay. Although the financial activity this quarter may appear limited, the work that has taken place in positioning
us for a significant increase and security related upgrades next quarter. As always, we remain committed to using the referendum funds responsibly and transparently and to ensuring that every investment we make directly supports the safety and well-being of our children,
our students, staff, and visitors. We appreciate your continued support and welcome any questions or feedback from this committee. >> Thank you, Mr. Any questions? >> Got a quick question. >> Okay. >> Um there has been news lately about the
cost of the um law enforcement at our football games and such. Is any of that being funded by the referendum or are the sports activities funding those officers? >> No, ma'am. Those um funding for those
Football games are directly paid by the schools by the schools not the referendum. The school's internal budgets pays for those SROs at um at the football games and all absolute events. Now what we did um we have as a safe
school department graduations are a big part of this here whole security. So we do have to provide security for graduations, but the football games and those afterour events are not paid for by the reprim. Those are internal school funds. And what we do for the
graduation, we pay a a small portion of that because we had to increase the level of security at our graduations because they have gotten so big and so many thousands of people show up. Um the schools themselves just can't afford and absorb that total cost. that we have
from a safe school standpoint through our our some funding that we have helped support that need for security at those graduations. >> I have a question. How many resource officers do we have? >> We have right now we have 66 as we get
ready to roll into the new high school being built in um um which was South Marian. South Marian um No more CCC um South Marian that'll increase by
two and we'll make some adjustments depending on how many students that we have at Westport and Dunellan to make sure that we have enough SRO to cover um both of those schools. And just keep in mind sometimes in midscreen we may have
to add an SRO to a school because of what they call for services and the amount of activity that's going on at a school. You may have a school that's uh increased student population. There's just a lot going on and the SRO are so consumed with the daily activities that
we sometimes have to increase that number. You know, add an SRO for the safety of the students and the staff. >> Also, Mr. McFaten, I'm assuming that those schools that were newly built, those are very up to date with the safety measures. I'm assuming.
>> Yes, ma'am. So, do we how many SRO's do those schools require? >> So, for our two elementary schools, we only have one SRO each for each elementary school, but the new high school that's coming in um with the anticipation of well over 2,000
students, it is a best practice that we internally feel as well as the district that we have to have two SRO at all of our high schools. It's just not feasible with the amount of stuff going on there to try to run the security side of a school, especially a high school with
less than two SRO's. >> How does the um the adjusting and potentially adding an SRO based on need, how does how does that impact the uh the budget? Is that factored into it? Is
there a little wiggle room there? >> Yes. So what uh obviously we know that the schools are being built ahead of time. So we prepare for that uh increase as we prepare our budget and the contract with the sheriff's office and the Okella Police Department. So prior
to signing the contract for this new uh 23 25 through 26 uh school year, we anticipated for the opening of the high school come August of 2026. So, we added that into the budget for those two extra SRO's.
>> I was um speaking to the comment where you said if there's an uptick on >> Oh, yes, ma'am. >> Yes. So, how how does that extra SRO coming in mid year affect the budget? >> It it affects it. Um obviously with the
sheriff's office, their cost is a lot a lot less than the city of Okellas. It affects it. It's usually a 75 to $90,000 increase depending on whether it's in the unincorporated areas of the county or the city limit. So, it will increase
it if we have to add an SRO. But like I say, so far um we don't anticipate, and that's what we say, we don't anticipate having to add any more SRO to any of our high schools because we already have two at every one of them and we prepared for that in the future. And far as our
middle schools, we've got two SRO's at a lot of our middle schools as well. >> Thank you, >> Mr. McFaten. I think you've addressed this in the past, but are expenditures related to the guardian program come out of the safe schools out of this money?
>> Yes, sir, it does. >> That's great. >> Any other questions? All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McVen. Uh, with that, you see a uh pie chart and graph here that represents
worthy investment of referendum dollars uh for school safety uh at a total of $6.7 million with $1.5 million spent so far or about 26%. And as Mr. Mcbaden pointed out um these
dollars are used to ensure that the schools remain safe and welcoming environments where our students can learn and thrive every day. If there's no other questions on um these previous slides, I'm going to move on to our charter schools.
>> I'm sorry, I do have a question. Yes, ma'am. Um it's showing the total budget as 6.76.8 million on slide 31. Mhm. >> Um, on slide four it's saying it's 7.1. >> Let me see.
>> So, I just want to make sure I'm understanding correctly. It's probably me. >> There's probably a typo there. I do apologize. The correct number would be the 6.7. >> 6.7 is correct. Okay. >> That's correct. >> Thank you. I wonder if that's showing
like what is on pace. >> Okay. Okay. >> Okay. >> So slide Oh, actually there's a correction there. So slide four does include the charter schools >> and that's why so it's a little higher.
Thank you, U Kayla. Okay, any other questions or observations? Okay, with that we'll jump into charter schools and charter schools is going to track
very similarly to what we see uh in the district. Uh and so you're going to see a lot of parallels here except the numbers are going to be significantly smaller. Um, per statute, we are required to share in
referendum dollars with charter schools. And the charter school referendum funds budget total expenditure budget is $895,000 with uh actual expenditures to date of $317,000. Uh again tracking very similarly to the
district. We have a physical education budget $158,000 with $44,000 spend. Art at $53,000 budget $14,000 spend. Music at $80,000 budget and $21,000
spend. and professional development, $234,000 budget and $123,000 spent. Safe schools making up uh the lion share at $368,000 with $114,000
spent. All charter school programs are on track and aligned with the referendum guidelines. Next slide. And so we'll go into a couple of more slides here uh to help put a pin in it. So we're talking about physical
education and again at $158,000 at about almost 28% and you can see there line here again salaries and benefits for charter schools art referendum
expenditures by program. You'll see a total budget of $53,000 and 26% again almost exclusively going for salaries and benefits. On the charter school music side,
$80,000 and a spend of 26% mostly towards salaries and benefits. and professional development at $234,776 at 53%. Again, salaries and benefits
making up the lion share of the spend to date. Last but not least, safe schools. Again, the lion share of charter school referendum funds at $368,76 with the spend to date of 31%.
Again, the line share going towards salaries and benefits to support staff at those charter schools. Uh if there's not any additional questions, um I'll pause there and if not, I will continue with some closing remarks. But
I think we have a question. Sure. question. >> Um, are the charter schools getting the same amount per student as the public schools do? >> Uh, that's a really good question. Let me see if uh our budget director Kayla will come up and maybe elaborate on that
a bit. >> Yes. So the calculation is actually dictated by statute and we have to calculate the amount of referendum random referendum dollars per student and then they get their share of that. So if it's $500 per student and the
charter school has a,000 students they would get 500 times the thousand students >> and they're all brick and mortar. It's not anyone being homeschooled. >> These would be all charter school students. It's not We aren't required to
allocate any of the referendum funds to homeschool students. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh any additional questions from members of the committee?
Okay. Well, hearing none, uh before I wrap up, um again, just give you one last opportunity. If there's any questions, comments, of course, you can uh catch me or the staff, uh after the meeting, but I do want to thank you all for your time, uh your partnership, and
your continued support. The referendum funds um really make a difference, a real difference in strengthening our programs, improving safety, and exploring opportunities, excuse me, expanding opportunities for our students and staff. Together, we're ensuring that
these investments continue to benefit our schools and continue for years to come hopefully. Thank you for your time. >> Uh one last thing, I knowed questions, >> the submitted questions. >> Yes. Yes, I have those submitted
questions here. Um, and I think we we addressed most of them uh during the course of the meeting, but I will recap them. Uh, so Chair Osley did submit a few questions in writing to us. And the first of which had to uh do with the
impact uh state change budget impacts on programs specifically uh if there's any referendum dollars being moved to cover uh something previously covered by another source. And I think we talked a little bit about that earlier when we talked about class-sized uh teachers
being moved to general funds. Um and that all the art, music, and PE teachers, library, and media uh would stay in referendum, which was about an even swap. So that's the uh major major impact uh on referendum as far as state
changes go and things that the district has decided to do in order to stabilize uh those class size uh reduction and putting them in general fund. And then as referendum dollars continue to be invested and then looking into the future, uh hopefully that continues and
we'll be able to um have that those dollars supporting PE, art, media, uh and the like for the foreseeable future. The second question uh that was submitted, excuse me,
had to do with uh let's see here. uh funds being allocated for new classrooms coming online, specifically uh the teachering uh mentor programs. Um we did talk a little bit about that and just to kind of help um provide a little bit more information, most of the uh
teachers that are coming into the system who are participating and working in these programs are not new teachers. Most of these teachers uh are seasoned. But for those teachers that are novice teachers, we are providing one-on-one mentorship and additional supports to
help them uh have the professional development that they need as we open up uh more schools. And that that, you know, that kind of tracks a little bit in terms of um new folks coming into teaching maybe who have chosen to uh have a change in career versus those
teachers that have been around for a while and have chosen to work with Marian County Public Schools. The last question had to do with school safety uh and really uh was was really uh speaking to it looks like whether
referendum dollars um were being used for any one-time type expenses uh for school safety and those type of construction budgets. I think Mr. McFaten might be able to to speak to that, but from my understanding, we really don't have too much of an
investment in those one type of uh onetime expense type areas uh at this time. >> Yeah, that yeah, I think that question was was the safe school safety stuff built into the construction budgets or
was some of it shifted to referendum? Was all built into the construction budgets? >> Yes. I guess. >> Yeah, which I thought that would be the answer. >> Another quick question if I can. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Yep. Yep. Thank you. I just confirmed
that's the case. Yep. >> Yes, ma'am. Um um help me understand what percent of the salaries and benefits in the in the public school calculations here are for
class size amendment and what p it just baffles me that for the charter schools that it's pretty much every dime is going to salaries and benefits. Is that also for class size? uh for class size generally. Uh yes, as
you can imagine, the the 70 to 80% of the entire district budget is going towards personal services and benefits for um instructional uh staff. And that that does track uh at the charter schools, but probably even more so, but the numbers are significantly smaller.
>> They are smaller, but they're I I'm puzzled what their class sizes look like then. Well, I don't know if it's necess and correct me if I'm wrong if somebody I don't know if it's necessarily class- size amendment. I think in each category like art, one of the ways in which they can spend the money is to hire art
teachers. Correct. So, so if you look at the breakdowns in each category in all almost all of them in the public school, a vast majority of the resources are going to personnel and then we have other capital outlay and some others. But it looks like in the charter schools, they're spending 100% on
personnel, which they're allowed to do as long as it's within those areas of art, music, safety, all those kinds of things. So, >> yeah, that that that is correct. And, uh, just to underscore that that, you know, the charter schools um have a lot
of autonomy uh via the state statute. And so we don't necessarily control um we don't control uh their budgets or you know they're not required to provide uh audits to us and we do act as a pass through for those funds and uh we can
certainly provide additional information um if needed. But that that is correct. They can spend that money as they see fit. Uh and you know they operate again similarly to what we do. They have to abide by the same guidelines. U but the particulars uh may change a little bit.
I do have a question. Um, you know, we have a school board and a central location where all the budgeting for the entire county happens, but is that's not the case for the charter schools. Correct. They're each individually receiving those funds. >> That is correct. They have their own
charter um they are are their own legal entity. They have their own set of financial statements um their own audits and so we we serve as a pass through and provide support to them. Um but they do operate um in a very autonomous manner.
>> Who does the oversight? >> The state does the oversight. The state department of education. >> And again there's I think there's a lot of autonomy even within the public school system like how you allocate the dollars is really an operational decision.
um that you allocate them within the the language of the referendum is really our responsibility just to make sure these dollars are being spent within the language of the referendum. How you do that is a budgetary and operational decision on their part. So I mean
technically I guess you could spend 100% of it on safety if you wanted to. Um but that of course I don't think that meets necessarily the spirit of the the referendum. Um so >> and thank you Charles. That's a that's an important point to to mention. Um I'd be remiss if I didn't also add that, you
know, charter schools may decide to transfer funds or maybe that's the way it looks right now in the first quarter and second quarter it looks a little different. Uh so we just have to monitor it and we get those reports from them and we'll be happy to provide an additional update if there's any changes. Um we'll make sure that uh
they're being transparent and providing that information to you. >> And I suppose each school is getting their percent based on the number of students that they have. >> Correct. Yes, >> that is correct. It's a complicated formula. We get the we we we get a schedule from the state and basically we
plug in numbers uh and it tells us exactly how much uh the total allocations are going to be for all the charter schools at the individual and aggregate level. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much for your time and thank you to the staff for being here
and putting this together. Uh we appreciate your time and oversight. Thank you. So, uh, by the way, thank you to this board for being very engaged and asking questions. I think that's what we're supposed to do and, uh, I appreciate it. One thing that we also
were supposed to do per our bylaws is, uh, have a section in this meeting for public comment. Uh, I make it a point to try to review the bylaws every now and then, and for some reason that has not been on the agenda. And so, I'm going to read directly from them. Uh we will open
it up now if there is any public comment for uh no more than three minutes. And uh it says this within the uh within this uh within the our bylaws. Um that uh IRO shall announce to the public
before receiving public input that IRO does not receive or act on any individual complaints or requests and does not act as an appellet body to review any decision of the school board, district or school administrators. So with that, is there any public comment?
Oh, wow. All right. >> And oh, >> usually I'm on the other eye end of not being able to hear. Um, I just >> three minutes is up. I'm sorry, Mr. >> Okay. Um, I just want to take uh a few moments
as I as I sunset on my position as the chair. Um, the referendum comes up in conversation many times throughout our board meetings and so I really can't put into words my appreciation
uh my gratitude for the work that you do um to manage and watch over and provide oversight for these funds because when I think about what our public schools would look like without these programs,
it is a totally different picture. Um, some of the pictures that were included today, the film festival, um, the art show. The other thing I love is it just gives an outlet for all different kinds of students, you know, in things that
they're interested in outside of reading, writing, and math. Um, so I'm probably close to my time limit, but I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you um for taking time to be here to be part of this um committee and for
your voice in the community about how these dollars are spent. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Chair Conrad. I appreciate that. Okay, a couple of house cleaning items. Um I and uh Dr. Brewer. I I talked with uh
Jeremy today about this. So it's you not you don't have to worry about um I we usually have our organizational meeting uh in January during our first meeting, but our bylaws actually technically say we have to have it by January 1st.
So I've asked um Jeremy to uh it's not we can't change the bylaws. The board does. So, he's going to bring uh at the appropriate time to the board um to change the bylaws to say instead of by January 1st, by January 31st of each
year that we have our organizational meeting. That that allows us to have our first meeting is the organizational meeting. That's how we've been operating. So, we'll just make the bylaws work for how we've been operating. So, that that request is coming formally. If everybody is okay with that, that that's coming formally
from us and it will come to you as as the board. So, um, are we Another thing I wanted to touch on real quick is we did school visits last year. Uh, we haven't done
any this year. Um, before this calendar year is out. Is there any interest from this board to go see some of these programs in person? >> I was able to make two of them last year and thoroughly enjoyed them.
>> So, I know it's very difficult. um they are during the day, but uh if they do get set, I would highly encourage you all to clear your schedules because it was very enjoyable and very enlightening. >> Yeah. So, if it's possible and again,
maybe just a couple of programs, let's not make it too I don't want to put too much stress. You guys have a lot going on. I don't want too much stress, but just for us as a oversight committee to put our eyes on it would be I just think another layer of of us doing what we're supposed to be doing. >> Yes, certainly. and we can we can make
that happen for you. Um would you like us to put out some date options for you and and just see what we can make work? Um probably best option would be go to a high school. You can see a lot of our career and technical education programs that are funded through the referendum and then maybe one of our elementary schools so you can see some of the art,
music and media services. >> That would be perfect. Yeah. I will have to say I think Miss Brooke out there. I got a chance to see uh Howard um Howard band play the jazz and a regular band because my nephew uh plays on it. Even
had a little solo part on there and they were great. I mean they it was amazing to watch. I'm like I don't know how many hours they spent practicing. It was it was amazing. So they did a great job. >> My grandson participated. He did the solo, too.
>> Okay. I'm so proud of him. >> Well, thank you guys. Um, the last thing for us, an annual report is required. Um, I will work uh on doing on getting the first draft of that together in the
fourth quarter, send it out to everyone for comment, and then uh I'd like for us to be able to submit that before you're in to the superintendent. So, um uh that's forthcoming. We'll try to keep that going as well. And then lastly for meeting schedule for next year, I mean I
think at the very least we need to schedule organizational meeting um and the schedule that we've been on has been working. >> Uh which Thursday is it? Each the second Thursday or the third >> third. So the third Thursday of January,
if that if that is doesn't fall on a holiday, then I think we'll work to schedule that for our organizational meeting and our first meeting of of next year and then um look at that third Thursday each quarter moving forward.
Does that work for everybody? >> All right. So I think if there is nothing else, uh I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Okay. I'm sorry. Uh just looking at the calendar, I just wanted to clarify on the agenda it says 16 for the
organizational meeting. If we want to hold to the third Thursday, it would be the 15th. >> Okay. >> Is that 15th? Okay, >> that works. >> Okay, >> we'll make it happen. >> Okay. >> All right. Great. All right. So, if there's nothing else,
uh is there a motion to adjurnn? Second. All in favor? >> Motion. The meeting's over. Thank you. Meetings journed.