The schoolboard work session begins in 1 minute. Please take your seats. Again, the schoolboard work session begins in one minute. [Music]
Hey. [Music]
I now call the November 6, 2025 administrative briefing and work session of the Marian County School Board to order at 9:00 a.m. We will now take a brief recess for an attorney client session recessing at 9:01. Thank you.
Welcome back. We reconvene from recess at 9:15. At this time, please silence your electronic devices to avoid disturbing others. mirroring and modeling how our students begin each day. I ask that you please pause with us for a moment of
silence. Thank you. I'll now read our board commitment statement. We are the Marian County School District Leadership Team. When we come together to work, we are efficient, effective, and productive. Our three most important
characteristics are dedicated, transparent, and individually responsible. To work well together, we must demonstrate respect, confront reality, and be accountable. We will always put students first. We will leave a legacy of success. I'd now like to ask
the board attorney to explain the rules for this public workshop. Good morning, Attorney Powers. Good morning, board chair. This work session is a public meeting as defined in Florida's Sunshine Law. The board is dedicated to full transparency in its meetings and its work. In compliance with the Sunshine
Law, the board has adopted uniform meeting procedures, including the right for citizens to participate. The board will allow public comment regarding any work session item listed on today's agenda at the appropriate time. Speakers must fill out a request form
located in the lobby and hand it to the board clerk. After the board and superintendent have completed their discussion on a particular agenda item, the board clerk will call 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 or 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. Would you please provide the proof of publication?
The notice for the November 6, 2025 work session was published in the Ocala Gazette on October 24th, 2025. Proof of publication has been attached to board ducks under proof of publication. >> Thank you. Good morning, Dr. Brewer. We're going to start off with athletic
court use and update. >> Yes, ma'am. Good morning. We um we had this conversation was started by a board member a few months ago and there was a request for us to re gather some information and bring this back for a work session so all of the board members
could have input and dialogue on this topic. This is the Reddit call your athletic property that um that the community would like to use and it's on our property. So um I open it up to the board. I think Dr. James um can provide
some information, but also we have Miss Usher here to provide our next steps should the board be interested in moving forward with the request. >> Dr. James, would you share first? >> Yeah, that's fine. Um so, we talked about this probably about six months ago and board member Thrower wanted it to
come back as a work session. I kind of brought it up in comments and so um that's why we're here today. So, to give you context, Reddit Collier Elementary School in theory has two basketball courts. one that is on the back half of campus which the students use regularly
and there is one older that sits at the front of the campus. The one on the front of the campus is not within the black security fencing which means the students essentially don't ever use it. However, no one else can use it either.
Mr. Manning has shared that often they have students jumping the fence on the back of campus to access the basketball courts on the weekends because they want to play basketball. So in talking with the town of Reic and Mr. Manning, a
pretty simple solution was um to let's just move our perimeter fence and allow the community to get access to the front basketball court. Um obviously it's not in the best of condition. that responsibility would lie with the town of Reic to beautify it and make it
usable. Um so legal started having conversations and essentially in in good nature the attorney said we don't want to take on the liability of letting other people use our court. So that got us to well why don't we just have a survey done and in my opinion um this
would be my thought let's just give the court to the town of Reic. It's next to the tennis courts and then they would have both. Um I've had conversations with the town over the last year about working on securing some um north end donors to help revitalize the courts for the town now that the town has the new
playground um probably about a half mile from there and then we could revitalize the courts and really um beautify that corner of the town of Reic. So that brings us here today, which is essentially the town um in conversation
in the past was willing to pay for the survey. So that um that would be no financial obligation of the board and we would have to move the security fencing um just to essentially jut out the basketball court. Uh and then um legal
would do what legal does to make that little parcel of the property go to the town. um and but we need the board to obviously decide that we want to move forward in that direction. So that's why we're here today and that's kind of the history of the conversation.
>> Thank you for the recap. And you mentioned in the beginning of your uh sharing that the fence is outside or the court court is outside the fence. So that's why the Reddit kids aren't using it. But then I thought I heard you say that we would have to move the perimeter
fence to make >> Well, it's outside the black security fence, but it's inside the silver perimeter fence. So, from a day-to-day use operation, the students at Reddit Collier Elementary School can't use it because it it's at the front of the campus outside of the black security
fence. >> We're talking about a difference between a chainlink fence, right? >> Yeah. >> Not not a not a wall guard security fence. That is a a one of our more expensive type security fences. It would be literally a matter of cutting cutting
out a section of chain link fence and pre fence. >> The the perimeter security fence we have on all of our campuses, >> but it's chain link. >> It is chain link. So, but the court on the front of campus is less desirable to play on. So, right now, >> right now students are hopping the back
of campus to play on the court that's more desirable, but that is within our perimeter. And so we are assuming liability when kids are on our campus on the weekend without supervision. >> Yeah, I understand all that. Yeah. Just trying to get clarity on >> Yes. >> the fence that actually does need to be
relocated and who would be paying for that. >> So essentially when you look at um the the perimeter fence kind of just runs all the way down right now if you were looking at like a aerial view of the school and we just have to jut it over and just take out that little notch of the basketball court essentially.
So, >> okay. Yes. Rem, >> you're muted. >> So, Dr. James, is the proposal that we separate this from our property and sell it to the >> I'd like to sell it for a dollar if we sold it for something.
>> I I I I'm I understand your rationale. I would prefer if we could possibly do um something like aundred-year lease or something like that and let them get it for a dollar. um we I want us to get rid of property that we can still maintain because at some point we may need that
property and um let them do a memorandum understand or whatever it is that legal work it out but they have the full use of the of that property. >> Okay. I I mean I don't want to get buried in the legal ease of it all truly. I just want us to be able to have
the basketball court to the town so the town can get some donors to revitalize it and use it. That's that's what I'm looking to accomplish. whatever the legal ease is of all and I really don't want to put a a cost burden beyond what's already going to be the burden of revitalizing the courts because the tennis court needs a lot of love too. So
I don't really want personally want to give them another cost burden because they're already willing to do the survey. Um and so because that will have to be done in theory. Now, I don't know if we do a lease, we wouldn't have to do the survey, but those are things for >> and that's that's kind of why I said
that it will move remove the cost of the survey if it stays on our property and we do that. >> We may still need the survey wouldn't need to be conducted with quite the rigor that we would need for a sale. Um but the transfer of property under a
lease would still um in a memorandum of understanding we could outline that the boundaries of the lease property are that that is enclosed by or or or outside of the perimeter fence that we put up. Um so there are ways to define
that absent having to do a survey. Now a lot of things if you are looking at a lease can be determined by what you put in a memorandum understanding or the lease agreement. For example, leased property we still have liability over um
because if someone gets hurt on property that we own but leased to someone else, we still have some liability. However, you can have an assumption of that liability by the person who is or by the the company or the or the in this case the governmental entity that's leasing
it. So somebody gets hurt on the basketball courts or something like that, we have you know hold harmless clause in which they would, you know, be responsible, not us. So in a lease, yes, there's it it makes things a little more flexible. we just have to we would have
to come up with all of the terms that we and a lot of that's standard. Um but all the thing you know some of them are things which although they're fairly standard like what we just discussed um that may cause conversation among people who don't do this every day and think
well hold on we're getting into liability agreements and we're getting all so it it adds complexity that people may not understand. But yeah there's a lot of ways we can do it in which we say essentially this is kind of handsoff. We're giving you this spot. we're giving
it to you to lease for uh a 30-year period or or whatever duration is best under statute. Um and may take it back at some point in the future if needs need arises. However, here's the terms under which you're going to use it
>> and those terms are essentially what I I hear the board saying we don't want them to be burdensome at all, but those terms are probably for our protection and would need to be non-negotiable. So, >> okay. Thank you, Reverend Cummings and Attorney Powers. Dr. Campbell, anything
to share? >> I think I'll be interested to see if if we proceed with how this works out legally, what uh we come up with is actually is it a lease agreement or is it a um I I understand both sides of of what
we're trying to accomplish. I was trying to pull up an aerial of exactly where we're talking about and and and all. I I don't know that I have a strong opinion either way at this point.
So, that's what I'll say about that. >> Thank you. All right. I would be interested in in finding out about a lease agreement and um what that would entail if that conversation is is open if reic's open to that conversation
because all of those things we discussed correct all that liability if it was their property they still would have to do all that. >> Sure. And a lot of what we discussed previously with uh the town of Reic regarding another parcel of property nearby. um those same things sort of
apply with the exception of there's not a need for water rights and things like that or or restrooms or anything like that. >> And for context, the barrier in when we were talking about the playground was the water the water and the sewer. And so that is not um that's not that's not
a factor here. The town was willing to do all of those other things prior, which is why I think this would be pretty seamless. Um, so, >> so from my perspective, the only thing that I need would be a decision from the board, uh, in order to do my piece of
it. I just need a decision from the board as to whether the board is more interested in doing a sale and transfer of the property for $1 or whatever it may be and just simply say, "Here, it's yours. Do with as you wish, and we don't have to think about it again ever." or
um whether we want to do a lease and then draft up, you know, a series of terms that apply and then have the board review those terms. So, but in order to start that process, I need to kind of know which direction the board's
preference is and then we can pull something up together. And of course, I'll ask for Miss Usher to contribute whatever factors she may have in that process as well. >> Thank you, Attorney Power. Some of this may I'm sorry, let me add one more thing. Some of this may also impact or
affect current or future easements and for for utilities or for any number of things that we would still within our lease agreement need to maintain the ability to uh to utilize. We wouldn't
want for any situation in which uh we needed to grant easement rights to someone or we needed to be able to put utilities through a particular area to be in any way altered or harmed by the transfer. You know, you don't want to sell the front part of your driveway,
right? So, that kind of thing. >> Miss Usher. No, sorry. >> Thank you, Attorney Powers. Um Attorney Powers is right. If we're going to dedicate or quit claim the property per statutes, the board has to vote through a resolution to declare it unnecessary
for education purpose. So we have to do that first and then we could do a quick claim deed and dedicate it to them. Certainly we need a survey to see if there's any not just utility but if there's any access easement that we will still need to keep open and make sure
that is held up. I know you talked about the lease also, but I just want to mention there's also another process. We can do an interlocal agreement forever where they have priority use of the the city, but it's still our property, but they have all the liability, they can
use it. It's all it's all theirs. But instead of deeding it to them, we because they're a local government, we can do an interlocal agreement. So we can do the quit claim deed for dedication, the lease agreement or an interlocal agreement. And usually if it's with a
city, you would do more of an interlocal agreement. A lease agreement is usually with a private entity and not another local government. So those are the options. But if we give them away, we do need a resol resolution declaring that the property is not necessary for
educational purposes. we would have to bring it to the board either way, interlocal lease or quit claim deed with the um the quit claim deed would have the resolution and the survey. The interlocal agreement can have the property description but not necessarily a survey since we're not giving anything
away. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Usher. Attorney Powers, would you be in agreement that ILA would be be a good course of action? >> It would be. Yeah, I would have to check a couple of more recent um statutes regarding um or case law regarding
liability transfer. I believe it is u equal. >> Okay. >> Whether we do it via lease agreement or via an ILA because we are both governmental entities. Essentially, all of the language that would need to be considered would be the same. Um we
would just it's it's really more of a form of titling. What do we call it? You know, so >> Okay. Yes, Dr. >> Well, and I would say whatever gets us to the end works for me. I have I am not connected to any any route there. What I
really am just passionate about trying to make happen is get it get the town access to it. So then we can from a town perspective, I say we as a north end resident can prioritize fundraising to revitalize the courts. >> And and Madam Chair, I I want to be just
like Dr. James, let's get to the end of this. So, um, but I definitely think that at some point we could possibly use that land again. And I don't want us to just give land, you know, give land away. If we can maintain it at some point through interlocal agreement or lease, I'm fine with either one of those.
>> Yeah, I'm of the opinion whatever staff thinks is the best course of action. Interlocal seems to make the most sense. We already have an ILA with them anyways um, as part of the other work that's been done. So, is it something we could just add to the existing ILA?
>> No. No. separate separate for these things. Um, I would have to double check, but I'm almost certain that this property is not uh property that's subject to our coops or anything like that that it would have any existing, but I think Miss Usher brought that up as well that that we need to make sure
that anything that is currently an easement or access or anything that is that that is currently with the land that we make sure that that's factored in. Cool. And >> I'll just say I went up there and walked it, you know, when this came up, but six or eight months ago, whenever it was,
and according to my recollection, that's a corner property on with frontage on the two main roads for Reic. So, I think that it is wise uh to continue to have it in our possession and do it in our local agreement and let the kids play.
>> Cool. >> Okay, >> Dr. Camp. >> Agreed. ILA. >> Okay. >> ILA all the way. Well, so you've got we've got consensus >> like a tear there >> and however I can um help connect all the right parties to the right places so we can further the conversation. Just
let me know. >> I'll work with Miss Usher and um I think that the facilities department should probably be the ones who are able to work with local government, but I'm happy to do that equally with you. So if
you want to just make sure we we know people who are we know which people are responsible for being able to have the signatory authority for the ILA. >> The town's government looks different um as it did a year ago. Um and so but they
have monthly meetings so we can just um I mean I don't mind going out to their next meeting and you know bringing it back to their attention and saying hey this is where we are with this um whatever and no cost to you essentially. Um, and I imagine the town can work through all of the liability.
>> They'll probably be happier not having to expend for a survey. >> Correct. >> Uh, this will require, however, there uh some expenditure of funds just for us relocating fencing and >> items like that. Um, uh, there may be
other associated minor costs and we'll keep track of what those might be and bring them to the board. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. Any further comment from the board? Thank you, Bordon. >> Any public comment? Okay, seeing none, we'll move on to our
next agenda item, item 5.1, north side utilization. And I'll invite Mr. White House forward and Miss Usher. Whoever's going to go first. All right, Mr. White House is going to kick off. >> Thank you everyone. Good morning, Chair
Conrad, board members, Dr. Brewer. Uh we are here to present a continuation of our discussion from prior work session on north end utilization of schools um and share some updates and some of our thoughts as a team that we've discussed um internally.
So, if you're indulge me for just a moment, I do want to provide some framework for this discussion this morning um and share some of the information that I have shared with our directors and our principles last week um to get everybody on the same page in preparation for these conversations
better. So, what I shared with both those groups, directors and principles, is that we all need to be prepared for challenging conversations ahead. Those challenging conversations are are coming. Change is coming. Change always comes, you know, whether we like it or
not. Um, and what we can't always control is what that change is. However, what we can always control is our response to that change. And so, understanding what's coming, understanding the conversations we need to have and being armed with information helps us to be better prepared to meet
those. And it's important that we stay grounded in our core values as well as we address those challenges. So, some of you probably know I teach graduate school classes in my spare time, which has shrunk much these days, but I still do it. Um, and for several years now, I've taught a course on
change leadership and decision-making for aspiring administrators. And I start off each term kind of framing the idea of how we lead change in our schools. And what I tell them is that rule number one about change, no one likes change.
Nobody. I don't like change. You don't like change. It's not fun. Um, change challenges the very hard wiring of our brain. Our brains are wired to resist change. We crave consistency. Um, we crave sustainability and predictability.
These are survival skills that we've adapted since the dawn of humanity. And when we think about consistency and predictability, they lead to feelings of safety and belonging, which are, if you're familiar with Maslo's hierarchy, those two items are just above food, water, and air in terms of psychological
needs. And so, anytime we propose change or ask people to change, we know that it's going to be met with resistance. No matter how simple the change is, you could request to change the tomatoes on a salad bar and somebody's not going to like it and somebody's going to push back. Rule number two, the only way to
guarantee failure is inaction. And that's a very tough conversation to have, but it is a reality that we have as leaders. So, we talked about as with the directors and the principles about what changes are coming, things that we know we need to start preparing for as a group. Um, so one of the things we
talked about is our 10-year growth projection for Marian County Public Schools. So on a conservative level, our growth projection puts us at about 600 students per year, which doesn't sound like a lot in one year. However, across 10 years, that yields about 6,000 more
students in our district in the next 10 years. And they're not asking us where to move. They're all moving to two locations, which is southwest Marian County and the shores. And so we can project with 6,000 new students in two very localized areas that we're going to
be dealing with localized overcrowding very quickly and areas that are already crowded in our community. Uh and rightfully so. That's the way real estate works. People want to live near Publix. I do too. Um and so that's kind of the decision-m that goes with it. So we have to start having conversations
now about how do we prepare ourselves to be successful 10 years from now knowing that that's the type of growth that we're looking at in our in our school district. We also talked about schools of hope and we've talked about that here as well. It's a real conversation. It's a real conversation that districts all over the state of Florida are having. They're
real and they're coming. Um and they pose a financial burden to school districts and so we have to start making decisions and taking steps to avoid that um in the future. We also talked about the state financial outlook, which the state has released their three-year financial outlook. And and the financial
outlook three years from now is that we're looking at a fiscal deficit in the state of Florida, which means that we are going to have way more expenses to run this state than we're bringing in in tax revenue. Um, and so what that means is the state legislature this year is likely going to look at tightening their
belt, and rightfully so, to start preparing themselves for the future. and we don't know how that's going to impact public education, but we need to be prepared for those conversations and start taking steps internally to guard ourselves um in that direction. We also talked about federal funding. We know if
you remember in the summer, the federal government paused title 2, three, and four um funding, which certainly sent a lot of districts into panic because that's millions of dollars worth of funding. And we saw just recently that the release for fiscal year 26, the president and the house have both
proposed eliminating title two, title three, and title four funding. Um whether that actually holds true when everything is said and done, we don't know. But the fact that two of those three groups have proposed it means that we have to have real conversations about what does that look like if that funding does go away. And so we've begun that
internal dialogue. So again, we we can't always control what's happening. However, we can control how we respond and start being proactive in the decisions that we make to make sure we're responding appropriately. Rule number three, change equals loss.
And what that means is anytime we ask people to change, there's an emotional response because we're losing something that is consistent to to our lives, something that is predictable to our lives. And and that leads to an emotional response. And as leaders, we have to make sure that we don't meet an emotional response with another
emotional response. that we are grounded in our values and we stand by the decision that we make because we know at the end of the day it's going to be in the best interest of our school district and so preparing for those conversations. So the question then comes up how do we lead through change?
Well the way to do it is we have to make sure that the reason for change outweighs the discomfort that the change is going to cause. So, is the change important enough, responsible enough, meaningful enough that it outweighs those discomforts that it's going to cause? And make sure that our change is
grounded in our core values. We as a school district have established our core values. They're part of our strategic plan. Um, we stand beside those, our vision statement, our mission statement, which really boils down to a couple of simple facts. One, that we must help every student succeed and that
every student deserves to be educated in a safe and loving school environment. and that we as leaders, as fiscal agents for the school district, we have a responsibility to make sure that we leave this school district in good financial standing to survive into the future. And what I told them was, I
don't intend to work forever. I don't. But I do want to make sure that my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren have the same opportunity, a great education in the school district that I've had. And so I'm going to do what I can in my power to make sure that we make the right decisions that are going to lead us towards future success.
So again, I just close with rule number one, no one likes change. Rule number two, the only way to guarantee failure is inaction. So I'll get off my soap box now and I will talk through some of our conversations that we need to have. >> Like we need to clap for Mr. White
House. Like yes, here here. >> I didn't I I didn't want to interrupt you, Mr. White House. But I want to um just take a moment to thank you um for those words because I
know myself personally um and potentially the rest of this board has struggled um because we are all emotionally connected to this district, but we all are called to be financially responsible. and this district has not
had the kind of challenge facing us now in a very long time and so it is difficult for everyone. Um I don't want to take u too much time here in the middle but again you couldn't have said it better uh and I just want to thank
you for starting off and leading the conversation um with the facts of what we face. So thank you. >> Frame of reference is important for a discussion. All right. All right. So again, our goals for what we started with is one, making sure that we have efficient utilization of capacity at our elementary schools in the northern part
of Marian County, and I think we can really extend that to efficient utilization of all of our schools across the district. Uh making sure that we decrease our operational costs. Again, looking at that fiscal responsibility and ensuring our future regardless of what funding challenges may come in the future that we are taking positive steps
to secure our future, making sure we provide for the needs of students in the north end, but then at a greater scale, all of our students and then of course we know that we still have a challenge of our alternative students here at Bridgeway and and trying to find an improved facility for them to utilize.
So we look at the statutory requirements um regarding efficient utilization. So in statute the school board has a responsibility to make sure that we are demonstrating the utilization of our school capacity is at its best. Um and with our state our school district work plan that we submit to the state every
year. We have identified options in there for what we can do to make sure that we're utilizing our um our facilities efficiently. And one of those includes redistricting. And so that's what we're going to talk about a bit this morning. So because we know we have available
capacity in the northern part of Marian County, we want to propose looking at reszoning those schools as a way that we can address those capacity issues. And we'll spell out quickly how that can be done. So the schools that we started looking
at for this conversation internally are Anthony, Fezdidan, Oakrest, Ocala Springs, Reic and Spar. We know from that group, Anthony, Oakrest, Reic are all under enrollment. Fezdan is pretty near capacity. Ocala Springs is well
over capacity at about 120%. And Spar Elementary is above capacity as well. Here's the map that just shows you the geographic boundaries for each of these elementary schools. just for a visualization. You'll note in the bottom section of that you see a few smaller
colored areas there. Um those, if you recall, are the auxiliary zones for the old Evergreen school that were created when Evergreen was closed. And those auxiliary zones of students were dispersed to higher performing schools. Because we closed a consistently low
performing school, we had to ensure that they were sent to higher performing schools with high quality teachers. Uh the timeline for that has now expired. so we can begin looking at reszoning those students and including those auxiliary zones in that conversation.
Again, part of what we want to do in making sure we're providing the best education for our students is limiting the amount of time students ride on buses. And that we know impacts a student's day the longer they have to ride on the bus. Um, and fiscally makes it much more manageable for us the less
long-distance traveling we have to do. So this chart shows us the capacity and enrollment of each of those schools. As I mentioned before again we're underutilized at Anthony Oakrest and we know Reddit collar is our most challenged school in terms of
utilization. Uh Fzan is pretty close to capacity. Ocala Springs is well over capacity and spar just over capacity as well. So if you take all of those elementary schools and combine the total number of fish sheets that we have available
across all those schools and the total number of students enrolled across all those schools, we're at 82% utilization for that group. Which means that if we are looking at redistricting with the number of students we have available in
that north end, not even including uh the students that are in those auxiliary zones because they're at other schools, we could get all of our schools that we've just shared to roughly 80 to 82% utilization with redistricting, which is a really good number to be at in all those schools. It allows for some future
influx of enrollment of students while still making sure that we're utilizing the majority of the capacity of that school campus. So, how we would like to propose getting to that point is creating a new attendance boundary advisory committee. Uh, this is a concept that a lot of
school districts in in the south part of Florida have utilized for a while now. Um, as they have been challenged with redistricting schools for quite some time um and not something that we have to take on in a regular basis. However, we're at the point now where we need to have annual conversations about redistricting. And so the goal of this
advisory committee would be to review each year the attendance boundaries of all of our schools, elementary, middle, and high school across the district, looking at utilization of facilities across the district and make recommendations to the superintendent each year about what what changes need
to be made to try and balance out our school population. So members would include parents, teachers, other stakeholders um who similar to some of the other oversight committees that we have like IROC and some of those other facilities would provide some community input. So it's not a a Ben White House
or Steven Ays decision. It's a community input decision where we're all coming together and looking at what's best for our students and making recommendations based on that. So, our you will see on the November 11th um board agenda, if you've glanced at it, we do have an item on there for a
resolution for this attendance boundary advisory committee. So, if you all are in favor of that and vote for that, um we can get started on this process immediately um and start having conversations with community members and and really driving this forward. So, here's the makeup of the advisory
committee. So five of the nominees would be from from you all each one from each of you which we do with a lot of our committees from textbook reviews to any other committee you can think of. We we try to make sure that we have an equal representation. Um so if this is something that you all would be in favor
of I just ask you now to start thinking about a name um because if you do approve this on November 11th we'd like to get started on November 12th which would require us to have some names ready to go that we can start having those conversations. Uh, one nominee would be by the superintendent, one from
the public education foundation, one from the C, one from the NAACP, uh, one from our ESSE director. As we know, our ESSE students, the the changing of zones impacts the enrollment of ESC students at schools, and we want to make sure that we're thoughtful about that. And so, having somebody who
represents those ESC students involved. um one from our Hispanic Business Council of Ocala, one from land development industry, and then one from the county commission. As we're looking at all schools across the entire county, we know that any decision we make obviously can have countywide uh implications. And with this committee,
although these are the core members of the committee, understand that all of our staff would be available just like we are for iCrock or any other committee to be able to provide input, share data, share information, help guide the conversation, answer questions that they may have so that committee can ultimately come back with a
recommendation. So, if we move forward with this, a potential uh timeline for resoning, we would like to uh after this vote go ahead and start having some of those attendance boundary advisory committee meetings in the months of November and December to start looking primarily at
the north end schools as that's our first challenge. And then beyond that, we can certainly branch out beyond those schools. um we can look at a work session in December or possibly January at the latest to discuss those committee recommendations and then in January through March start having those uh
community meetings that would be necessary to gather input. Anytime we do um attendance zone change we want to make sure that we are gathering um community input. March through April would then be the rule development process and the rulemaking public hearing. Um, which
would allow us to then get information out to parents before the end of the school year if we do make changes so that they know heading into next school year what school it would be. It also requires a lot of work on the back end for us to update all of our road files in Skyward, meaning that we have to
change the actual address in the student system to say which school it's now zoned for, which takes a lot of patchwork and a lot of labor intensive student by student uh recoding of addresses. Um, so we want to make sure that we've got plenty of time and place for that. And of course, busing changes
for our transportation department would also factor into that. So our goal with this process would be parent and student notification by May um for any of these impacted schools. So a recommendation was made at the last work session to explore moving the the
Fiddler's Floor Diagnostic and Learning Resource System at Fiddler Springs, which is just north of Reddit Collier to building 10 at Reddit Collier. Um and the possibility of that would be repurposing building 10 for office use and which would then reduce the capacity
at Reddit collier by a little over 100 students. We could then look at possibly demolishing the existing Fiddler Springs location and reallocate the capital funding. I will tell you I I spent time a couple weeks ago visiting Fiddler Springs and walking that campus with Mr. Husted. We then went over to Reic
Collier and toured the facility at Reddit Collier with Dr. Manning to really get a feel for what that could look like. Um, and we have several challenges that I see with with this move. Uh, one, when you go into building 10 at Red Collier, the building was
absolutely designed for small people. And by that I mean the restrooms, they are very small and not there's no way to change that for a larger adult because they are fixedsiz bathroom areas. Um, I felt a little claustrophobic as a very tall person
myself walking into those restrooms. So that's a challenge. Um, also we would be reducing greatly the square footage of space that Fiddler has. Fiddler's serves Marian County, but also serves other school districts. We are the fiscal agent, but they service all the surrounding school districts, and they
bring in staff for training on a regular basis. They have a very large training facility at Fiddlers that will house about 60 people. The only place at Reddic that we could accommodate that would be taking over the media center, which then obviously requires some scheduling challenges with Dr. Manning
and Fiddlers. Um, also puts a burden on the front office staff to bring in lots of folks from out of district for a training that then have to be checked in through our raptor system on their school campus. The other challenge with that is that our media centers are also designed for small people and sitting in those chairs for 30 minutes for a
faculty meeting is not a bad um proposition. However, a six-hour training sitting in tiny chairs and tiny desks is not an easy feat for for adults to accomplish. So, there are a lot of challenges that go with that. Um, so in reviewing this, our recommendation would be not to move forward with that shift
primarily because when you look at what we s what we showed with the north end ilization potential, we could get Reddit collar to 80% capacity with building 10 serving as classrooms with redistricting. So the potential is there for us to utilize the space. I will also point out Dr. Manny has done a
phenomenal job with utilizing all the space at his campus. So even though they're quote unquote empty classrooms, they're not empty classrooms. they're alive with learning opportunities for his students. He has a sensory room that's set up in one of those classrooms for his ASD students. He has a PBIS store in one of those classrooms. So,
he's doing a phenomenal job of utilizing the space. Um, and I think our preference would certainly be to allow him to continue to utilize the few rooms that may remain if we get him to 80% capacity to continue doing those great things on his campus that he is working towards.
We also shared at a previous work session the possibility of combining Spar Elementary and Anthony Elementary, building a new elementary school at the SPAR site and keeping the SPAR students in session at the existing Spar site while construction is happening. We still stand by that recommendation and
I'd like to show you how we can make that financially possible sooner rather than later if the board so chooses to move in that direction. So, our proposed adjustment to make that move a possibility, we can delay the Denella Middle High School project by
one year, uh, moving from August 2030 opening to August 2031 opening, which would then allow us to move up Spar Anthony in the process. We approved, you all approved in the 2025-26 capital plan roughly $3.8
million to be able to explore the Denell middle high combination possibility. we could reallocate those funds instead to start building the money required um for us to pull to be able to build the new Spar Anthony which would be an an immediate infusion that we could take right now.
If you look at the dollars by year that we could bring in, the second thing that we could do uh next fiscal year to bring in funds in reviewing our Bellev Elementary and Belleview Santos Elementary project proposal, there are two buildings at Bellev Elementary School that are relatively new um and
don't need to be demolished, which means we don't need to make the new campus as big as originally anticipated and could scale back on that design, incorporating those new buildings, which would save us about $13 million in square footage costs. If we incorporate those two existing newer buildings at Bellev
Elementary School, that 13 million next year could then be allocated towards the building of the new Spar Anthony Elementary School. If we delay the Denell Middle High by one year in fiscal year 2728, we had allocated roughly $ 38.8 million towards
that project. That 38.8 could then be reallocated to the Spar Anthony project. And you'll see the total dollar amount there between those three ideas would put us at $55 million that we would have in a nest egg to build the new spar Anthony combo which is really a really
good price. We're building elementary schools like Winding Oaks and Ross Prairie for roughly $50 million. So we could absolutely make that a reality for that school system sooner rather than later. So here is the campus of Spar. As we
mentioned before, it is a very large piece of property. Um and so you'll see this is a a design of the new school taking that Ross Prairie Winding Oaks model of school and overlaying it over the existing facility. You'll see down to the south of that picture the the
faded current existing buildings. And so you can see we would actually be able to build the new school behind the existing school while school was still in session and then at the end be able to tear down the old buildings and set up the um the new parent car loop and bus loops to be
able to access in time for that school year. So with this uh recommendation certainly we would know we are going to have some vacated sites. So, we are planning to come back in early 2026 to be able to discuss uh some of these vacated sites. The technology information services
current property as we are building the new data center. We'll have to make some decisions on what we do with that property. Um in combining Bellev Elementary and Belleview Santos, we'll have the Belleview Santos Elementary property available um and we'll bring back some recommendations. Fiddler Springs, if you all still want to move
forward with that, we can include that. Again, however, our recommendation is not to move forward uh with that project. Anthony Elementary School and we combine the two new schools. Anthony at that point in 2029 will become an available space and then of course we are starting off hopefully very soon constructing the new Lake Middle School
and so we will have the existing Lake Middle School property to discuss um and potential uses for that property in the future. All right. So that's a lot of information. So we'll open it up for comment discussion. >> Okay. You know we have Mr. White House.
You know we have comments and and questions. So board, would anybody like to open um with what they've got? >> I'll open with one specific question and then I'm going to have more. >> Um what is the do we know the cost of operating the current Fiddler's site? >> My question.
>> Yes, we did work that out. Do you have it with you, Masher? >> We do have the maintenance cost, which isn't a quite a lot. It's like 2930,000. We have the utility costs and Mr. Welch,
you did send me the >> No, we are in a deficit like six something with the fiddler site. When you look at money we get and operation cost, it came up to like 600 and something thousand. I do have that. I'll come back with that >> and that's annually. >> Have that information.
>> Thank you. I'll wait for that. >> Okay. Just just to restate that. So we are operating at a deficit at around $600,000 at Fiddlers annually. >> Yes. Because there well so there's no student stations. We don't bring in any FTE for that school site. So anything
that we operate there we operate at an expense. Um certainly Fiddler gets their own funding as well from the state that operates that facility and we are the fiscal agent for it. So a lot of it is maintained by Fiddlers through their grant from the state but a lot of it is our property and our maintenance. >> Okay. >> I'd like to know that a split of that.
>> Sure. Okay. what we're really on the hook for. >> Sure, >> that'd be great. Thanks. >> Okay, chair. >> Thank you. Yes. Can I can I hop in with one quick thing? Just a clarifying question, Mr. White House. I think one of the challenges um at least that I experienced in talking with the
community is there's um a misunderstanding and I think it's because a lot of people hopped into the conversation um the week before last and they haven't heard any of the other other conversations that we have. So could you take a minute to explain the challenges we face as meeting capacity
but that we also have schools like feezan who are at capacity but they don't bring in enough FTE to support their schools. So that leaves us at a deficit every year that that we're you know subsidizing those schools. So could
you take a little time to explain those two things? >> Sure. So the the challenge of operating small schools is that the the staff required to operate them is still comparable to a larger school. You still have to have a principal. You still have to have front office staff. You still have to have custodians, cafeteria
workers. All those things are established whether you're a school of 300 kids or a school of a thousand kids. You're going to have a roughly similar makeup in terms of non-instructional staff. Teachers obviously are different based on the number of students on that campus, but for the bulk of it, the
operating costs for staff are roughly consistent across them. The fewer the students you have, the fewer FTE dollars that are generated. Um, so we end up with really small schools operating at a deficit because we have operational costs from maintenance costs, utility
costs, um, and paying staff salaries for those schools that outweigh the amount of FTE that are brought in based on the number of students. So our our goal with elementary schools is to ideally get them to roughly 600 students. You end up with much closer to a cost neutral of 600 students. It's not always possible
and some of our schools we just have to accept are going to be operational losses. Hillrest is a great example. We we know we have to provide a service for that school. We're not going to get that school nor would we want that school anywhere near that large. Um and so that just kind of plays into that conversation as well.
>> Okay. But Hillrest does bring in more FTE dollars. So that helps fill the gap. But that is why there was such an emotional >> um response in the last couple of weeks because we are losing a million dollars at Madison Street Madison Street every
year and we are losing a million dollars at Forom every year. And so if you look that at that as being fiscally responsible, if I had a personal business, I sure certainly wouldn't stay in business if I was losing a million dollars every year. And so I just I'm
not trying to pick on those two schools at all. But I think it is very important for the community to understand where we are financially. Um and and we spoke about having the best education for every student in in Marian County, not
just a select few. And so with that, I'll open it up to the board. Dr. James. >> Well, just to that point, because I have other thoughts, too, but just to that point, I think, you know, yes, part of this effort is balancing to get to 80% at all schools. And so the argument will come, well, you're going to get Anthony
to 80% and and Spar will be at 80%. And so then why do we have to merge? Well, we still have to merge because over the course of 10 years, both schools are going to lose $20 million combined plus deferred maintenance costs that are
going to happen. So, if we put them together in a brand new school, which the North End has not had a brand new school since Reic was built in the late 80s,
not other than a cafeteria at North Mar School and a cafeteria at North Marion High School, the North End has had no new structural buildings essentially. I don't know when Spar's wing was built. Probably about that time as well. That's it. So, we are looking at a brand new
state-of-the-art and Dr. Brewer, one of my asks is going to be and if it's possible ahead of the town hall, which is next week, I would love for our team to do a um what do you call those virtual tours
for real estate of Winding Oaks or Ross Prairie? because a lot of our families may not be able to make it to those schools to take a tour, but I want them to know, and we may already have it, but I want them to know what it looks like to walk into that school and what it
looks like to stand on that second story media center and look out at um well, at Winding Oaks specifically, it's a bunch of plotted houses, but at Ross Perry, it's a beautiful view. And at Spar Elementary, for sure, it would be a beautiful view. So, I would love to be
able to have that. available for next Thursday's night's town hall. I believe next Thursday night's town hall will be the best attended yet if I were to bet um probably due to the timeliness of this conversation as well. But to the point of yes, it is about getting
schools to 80%. But also >> getting them and and the cost of operating and the cost of deferred maintenance and getting a new school on the north end, which I'm not going to beat the drum. Everyone knows how I feel about it. So, I'm going to let you guys talk about that component because
everyone knows where I stand on that. But that is truly to me it's it's both. When we're talking about that, the only question I had about that that I talked to staff about was if we're reszoning students to Anthony Elementary and Spar Elementary, are we then very
clear-cutting three years from now all of Anthony into Spar so that those students wouldn't then experience a second zoning? And the answer to that was essentially yes. So, we would reszone now and in three years all of Anthony students would move to Spar Elementary um because I wouldn't want
those families to get reszoned and then a new school opens and another shuffle occurs. So, obviously that will be a different board theoretically could be a different superintendent. So, you know, we can only make a promise to what will happen three years from now, but I just wanted that point to be heard as well. So, I have further thoughts as the
discussion continues, but >> thank you, Dr. James. Does anyone else want to Yes, Dr. Campbell, >> just weighing in on these two points that had been made previously. Um, first of all, understandably that we have schools that are
going to be struggling when we have sitebased budgeting fully implemented and that understanding of what we're already losing, etc. And my conversations with principles recently and I had this conversation with Dr. Brewer as well
looking forward to human resources putting together combo job descriptions based on principal recommendations. So, I know that we've always done in our staffing plans, we've always given you this and that and this and that based on
ratios and all and we are hopefully are going away from that because now principles will be able to say, I really only need this, this, and this. And these duties need to be picked up by this person that they currently don't have the ability to do. So my hope is
those combo job descriptions are going to be in the works soon and that um yes the unions will have to be involved on the things that are bargained the the positions that are bargained specifically but just because we create a combo job description doesn't mean we wouldn't still have XYZ
position at a different location we just might have in these smaller schools a position that's combined. Okay, point number one. Point number two has to do with fiddlers again and we touched on it a little bit. I guess my question
actually has a bit more to do with operationally what fiddlers has to have and we were sitting with a state representative who is very concerned about how they operate right now and is passionate about why she struggled
finding them and all. And honestly, as a former educator, she was also saying really they need to be in five different 10 different schools throughout the county because anyone from Stanton Wearsdale having to transport all the
way up to the far corners of Reic for an evaluation is just not happening or not in a timely I mean that it's unreasonable. So when it comes to the operations actually of Fiddlers, I understand where they are housed now,
but who oversees that and is it possible that they don't have to all be on the same campus and then could we actually make space for the 10 of them to go two by two in five other locations? >> Yeah. So, good question. And the the
bulk of their staff operate in the field. Um, we utilize their staff for trainings at our campuses all the time. They come out and and lead conversations about how do we do inclusion instruction in our classrooms, etc. Um, and so they typically aren't there unless they're
doing a training on site. So, I mean, yes, in theory you could. However, I think there still has to be some kind of centralized area where people can come for a training and gathering. And again, we not just servicing Marian County, but servicing multiple school districts. And
we are the southernmost of all those school districts, which is why it's currently located as far north in our community as it can get because all the other surrounding communities are coming from the north coming to get down to us. >> Okay. >> I was going to say that. So it just I pulled it up. It's Elatchua, Citrus,
Dixie, Gilcrest, Levy, Marian, and the UF lab. So Reic is really like almost the most northern part of Marian, but all those other counties are essentially north or west of us. And so the the training and I understand what you're asking for as far as the training goes,
but it would always be required that it actually happens in Marian County because they're a part of our budget. I mean, it's I'm just >> we're the fiscal agent. Sure. We have to provide the the space for them. Again, their their staff's out in the field, so they do trainings in our district, but they go into the other districts and and do trainings as well on site on campus.
Um so providing a base location that is accessible for their staff to then be able to fan out in different directions to get to those counties as well. Okay. Again, just the state representative that represents that area really struggled with what their makeup
is and where they are and how difficult it was for her to even find them. U and understanding how necessary what they do is. Uh I understand the rationale of needing to keep them where they are. I suppose I just don't like the additional
costs that we continue to encumber because of it. >> Dr. Dr. Campbell, I have a quick question to that point. Why are we the only ones financially responsible for s for covering this gap when there are seven districts who are listed here? That's a question I'd love to dig into
because it seems like it should be a shared expense if we're losing $600,000 annually on this. Shouldn't that be a shared cost of 100,000 per district or another district is more than welcome to take it on? >> Let somebody else be the fiscal agent. So, I don't know how that plays out >> either. And you mentioned that there was
grant funding, but is, you know, do we charge them a fee to come in and use our services because they're using our facility on a regular basis? >> It's it sounds to me is going to correct something in just a second, but it
sounds to me perhaps we'd be best served bringing a work session back on fiddlers itself. Okay. And I can invite Mr. Husted who is certainly the expert in that area as he has managed that Filler Springs uh center for quite some time now to be able to discuss um the implications of that how it works from the state level and how it works with
servicing all the surrounding communities. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And I I just want to I feel like it's important to say Fiddler does amazing work. Yes, they do. >> And honestly the child find and early intervention is is housed at Fiddlers.
So, I don't want this conversation to seem like we are diminishing the work of fiddlers, but in the in the in the spirit of trying to be financially good stewards, it is a part of the conversation. Sorry, I just felt compelled to make sure we >> No, I agreed. It it just became a conversation while we were in
Tallahassee this week and so perfect timing. >> Madame Chair, I just want to correct something. I said the 600 plus thousand deficit that I mentioned, Mr. Rus Welch said that was for Aala Springs. That was not for fiddlers. So, all I have is the
maintenance cost and the utilities cost. And he asked his staff for the information on fiddlers. So, we'll get that soon. >> Okay. Thank you very much for that clarification. >> That's better news. >> Yeah, that's better news. >> All right, Miss Thrower, you've been waiting. >> Thank you. And and I I do agree that a
work session on on fillers would be important. Um, you know, we're we just have to acknowledge that we are moving into a new era. It's been 20 years since anyone got a school. Um, I believe the new forest, not so new forest anymore,
literally opened in 2000. So, um, that's something to keep in mind. And, and it's something that I agree the community has to begin to wrap their head around, too, because we we have not had these challenges. We always felt and believed
and it was true that federal funding was the most predictable. Well, that has changed within the last year. I mean, we were relying on that predictability for our budgeting a couple of years ago to help us, you know, after ESSER funding ran out. So, this is how fast things are
are moving. And so that's why the community needs to understand that every single program building is up for discussion and it doesn't mean that any are being singled out or or
pointed out. I personally have I I I am really happy that we're looking at 80% utilization at our north side schools. Um, I know that there's strong feelings by some board members that, you know, a new
school is is the only way to go up there and that may end up being true. But I also am very interested in where the community stands, you know, um, as we continue to just talk through this because
for me it's even more important to honor the cultures and traditions that makes us a community while still being fiscally responsible. and I still will maintain that concentrated density
is going to help us. We know what our transportation struggles are. Um, if we can get more kids walking and biking to school and people living in areas where they're not so car dependent and having great programs available, I think we
need to uh look very strongly at that whole block downtown that we have and our schoolboard building. I know that's been part of that first part with the schoolboard property and the data center and that kind of thing. I think we need to take a very strong look at um a street and and oyola and see what the
opportunities are. We can't spread out too much but maybe there's an opportunity to build up um you know as we continue to confront the realities of our current situation and and the the way society is shifting. So those are my opening thoughts. I I know 600 students
basically to break even in an elementary. I'd like to know the numbers for middle and high as well. >> Anything else? Reverend Cummings, do you have anything to share? >> Not. >> This this is um let me say this. Um and and I think board member Thor said it
well. Um we have to look at everything. Everything's on the table. Um and we're looking at it judiciously with um a eye to make sure that we're doing the right thing across the board. Um this is going to be anytime you talk
about redistricting resoning it's a tough conversation because nobody wants to get out of their comfort zone. So I appreciate Mr. White House from the onset of this setting the ground rules that um for for a community conversation. And so I think that needs to be said pretty much at every time we
address this so that folk don't get um too far gone to go to extreme thinking that um somebody's being picked at or somebody's being singled out. This is a conversation for all everything's on the table. Everything's on the table. So um I'm glad that we're having these transparent conversations. I'm glad that
we're um looking at all possibilities in this and I think there there'll be even more possibilities. What I loved about the presentation um the most is that um you brought in the you brought in you put everybody at the same table meaning
the stakeholders those people that that that's going to help form this decision. So when it when whatever happens, whatever we do, nobody can say they were surprised. Nobody can say that it was done under the table or behind this the curtain. It was done out front and we
had representation from a broad spect people from our community. So um but it's going to be a tough conversation. It's going to be a tough and some people you can't please everybody but at the end of the day we have to do what's best for students. we have to be fiscally responsible and um we we want to make
sure that uh that we get the best outcome for best student outcomes so >> thank you Reverend Cummings Dr. Campbell. >> Sure. So I think that we we've all had an opportunity to weigh in just a bit and just thinking of moving us along on
this conversation. So I think we all have had consensus. Yes, we agree with resoning the north end schools. Uh, I am grateful that you brought up the attendance boundary advisory committee resolution that's in our board meeting on Tuesday night because I was planning to ask lots of questions about that and
I think you covered just about all of them. It's item 19.1 on Tuesday night and um I was like I we might actually want to pull it in discussion just so because it felt really odd that the school board was going to have a resolution put forth in the consent agenda that we hadn't actually had an
opportunity to talk through. But maybe we'll have that conversation right now. Uh the the expedience that we need to get those seats in place does cause me pause because based on like when the county commission's going to meet. I know they
just changed chair this week like when and how we would be able to get those other people assigned. We may be able to have the five names right away which based on the resolution five people is all it takes to have a quorum. But if we actually want a 13 member committee, then we we that's the thing that causes
me a little bit of concern about the timeline on that. But I can get behind it and if we want to leave it in consent, so be it. And and just move on if we have consensus on that. Um, so if as we're moving on, I I think the the
recommendation for moving a Spar Anthony combo up, I I do want that to be a part of your community conversations as well, not just about the attendance boundaries because to the point I I did go out and
walk it myself. I I'm curious to know if SPAR could receive a classroom building that would also include a larger cafeteria, potentially even move the media center into the existing cafeteria that would
solve some of those challenges. They have a extremely small media center. You could either knock a wall out in the media center or like I think there's some other ways to enhance the campus and get rid of the portables and make it a classroom building that would even be
much less than the $50 million here. But again, I because there are some I don't want to say historic because it's not historic, but there there are some uh continuing community reasons why parts of that campus may want to stay
intact the way it is in in part because that back field is amazing for those kids to be able to have. And I honestly had concern about how are we getting all these trucks down this little tiny road to build back that way. And so I I see
where it would work. I I just would be interested in in having that be a part of the dialogue that the community has while we talk about reszoning their area because we haven't fully had I know I guess we're having it next week. I the
big question will be that y'all will need to be prepared for and you probably already are. Then what happens to Anthony? I mean that'll be the big question because there's a lot of people that are really tied to that school as well. Uh so um I think just to kind of move the conversation along, I think
that we do definitely have consensus. Yes, absolutely. We north end schools and whatever we need to do to get that done sooner rather than later. Um but I don't think I'm all in on just automatically reallocating $50 million to build a a completely brand new school
in um in that area. Not saying that they don't need things that are new. I absolutely agree. But at one point there was also a recommendation that we actually moved all of the North Marian Middle campus away and made K8s. And so I mean
there's still a lot of movement about what could and and may not happen up on the north side. And with us continuing to struggle with homes being built at least on the northern part of the north side. I mean,
if you encompass down all the way to Oak Crest and even the Forom campus and and then Ocala Springs and you encompass down that way, okay, growth is happening there. But the northern part where this potentially would be for us to build a
brand new school where there aren't homes being built, that that's a tough nut for me to crack. So, >> and can I ask a clarifying question, chair? The reason this conversation is not happening about building it on the
Anthony site is why >> campus is too small. >> So the the not the campus but the land. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. I just think it's important to include all of that as part of the dialogue. So the reason this conversation is not happening for
Anthony is because there is literally not enough land to make it happen really. Um, and the reason this isn't happening for Fezdan is because Fezdan is a historic site that we have elected to preserve.
So, we're not going to build a new school at Fezitin, but I don't know that that's fully been developed. So, I I mean the building there is one building on Fezanin campus that is the historic site. The other buildings that have been built there already are not a part of that historical preservation and they do
have 30 40 plus acres available. So, and if we were to build on the Fezzendon campus, and I mean this is just if we're having that if we were to build on the Fezendon campus, then that could alleviate some of the pressure off of Romeo and College Park and reszone that side where there is still growth happen.
I mean, there's there's a lot of This is brainstorming in public. Allow me to say that. This is brainstorming in public because that's what got us into trouble before. But I I'm not all in on if we're
building a brand new school top to bottom in an area where there is no growth occurring and no potential for growth to occur. >> And so I just I feel like it's what the position I have always taken. And if we go back to where we talked about prioritization, I had I had strong armed
the board into 30 million and the 30 million represented essentially the South Ocala approach to Spar Elementary. I I love 55 million in a new school, but I've told Dr. Brewer, I think also the
South Ocala approach to Spar Elementary is would also be very fitting. I think it creates challenges with building because um there may become we did it at South Ocala and we could do it here, but it becomes a little bit more challenging from a building perspective because you're building very close to student
learning. But the South Ocala approach, which for the community essentially means we freshened up South Ocala to the tune of about I think it was about 20 million back in the day. So for context, but yes, what Spar needs is a new media
center for sure. And I love the idea of putting that in the cafeteria. I actually think that's a really wonderful solution, Dr. Campbell. And then the classroom wing that is the newest is the least functional set of classrooms on the campus because they are essentially on the fish report at two classrooms but
they are impossible to function as two. So they're used as one classroom because they have a partition dividing wall and um which it's just it is so real that an engineer thought that would be a great classroom, not an educator, right? No
educator was asked if a partition wall would make sense in a classroom. Um, but also with the partition wall, they're very small classrooms. So, the fish report reads greater, but those are actually being served as one classrooms for context to the community in this conversation. So, I don't disagree, Dr.
Campbell, with what you're saying. And I think if we could figure out how to make it work for 25 or 30 million and do a a new cafeteria and um revitalize a media center and a new classroom wing and make it big enough for 700 because
essentially the number is 700. when we reszone to get everyone to 80% if then Anthony and Spark combined it would be 700. That's the pure that's literally the pure number um at 80%. So I I I don't disagree with you and I I
think that that could be another approach as well while still trying to preserve some of the history behind Spar Elementary. Um but that doesn't obviously take away from the Anthony conversation and what we do then there. >> Okay. any resp.
>> Okay. All right. I do I have a couple of things and Mr. White House I'm going to apologize ahead of time because my notes kind of jump around. Um and some of them are just um considerations. Uh one thing I think that it's important and then I think will help the community is along
with resoning that we the district team provides a stepbystep approach of how we are going to tackle all of these challenges. And that doesn't mean to say that the steps don't may they may change. Um but I think um
there's a sense of relief when you talk about how hard change is for people for all of us when you say I'm not the only one that's going to experience change. Most of the district at some point it may not be this year it may not be next year but in the near future just all the
way across the district there's going to be some form of change. And I think that's the reality of what we're facing. And so I would love to see a step one we're reszoning. Step two, we're looking at um you know combining schools. Step
three, you know, whatever that is because we know I believe we have 14 schools, elementary schools that are under that 650 number. So it is it's a big conversation. It's not just the north end. It's where we're starting, but there is a lot of conversation to
get us to a point where we are really and truly being fiscally responsible. So, um that that was one um suggestion. Um let's see. I did mention this to the team. I do want to make sure that we get
an invitation um to the resoning um committee because Oakrest is a city school and so just making sure that um you know I I feel like this board is working really hard to build and maintain uh
relationships. And so that's that's an important point um for me. So I just want to make sure that doesn't get lost um as we move forward. Another part and again this may be a step in the conversation. Bridgeway wasn't included
at all at all in this conversation and it was you know it was one of the leading pieces of the first conversation that we had a couple of weeks ago and so where does that fit into this puzzle and
how high of a priority is it? Um I love the idea Dr. James, I just want to say about a virtual field trip. I actually envisioned in my elementary school brain, um, you know, us offering
a couple of school buses. Parents show up at Anthony and Spar and we hop on a bus and let's go see what a new school really looks like. Because to me, and I know this may not be a popular opinion, but through traditions, when I think
about traditions within my family and my community, it's with the people. I move houses, change locations, the tradition, the traditions are within the children and the families that attend those schools and within the community
activities they choose to participate. And so I just I share that in that we've not had this kind of change in a long time. And to try to be open-minded about really where where do the tradition stand? They're in the events and the
activities um that happen within school walls, whatever those walls look like. I also real quick Oh, Mr. heirs left, I think. But I just wanted to tell he and his ta team a quick thank you because this is going to be a challenge for
them. Um, this is a year supposed to be a year-long process and we're we're cutting him short on time. So, I just wanted to be sure to thank him um and his team. Also, I just want to remember that as we look at all these shifts, and I'm sure
Mr. the White House. This is already in your plans, but so the community understands other considerations are that academic piece um you know the ESSE piece, kids that were moving, how is that going to affect school grade and the population of the
school and the needs of those schools. And so it's not just a simple number games for us. There are so many considerations that go into each piece of the puzzle. And so those are just some thoughts I had as we begin to move forward.
Anything else you'd like? Yes, Miss Thrower. >> Thank you for bringing up Mr. Ay's office because he really doesn't have a team. It's him and Mr. Jacobs. >> Thank you. >> And it's kind of like the way facilities was uh in the not tooistant past. Uh
they were tasked with trying to operate like it was still the era of not much going on. And I think we learned hard from that lesson. And I think that it would be worthwhile to look into if it's a concentrated project with all
these addresses and cross-checking and and and pinpointing, uh maybe there's quote unquote app for that, you know, some someone that does that on a very strategic project based basis. So especially since we're looking at an
accelerated timeline. So I just want to put that out there. You look you're looking at me Alison like >> Oh, no. I was just going to say, well, we're approving our new planner. I think is on our board agenda on Tuesday evening. And so with the GIS, um I'm sure that the planner will have something to do with some of this zoning
conversations with all the the mapping and such that the skills will be bringing to the table. I I anticipate anyway. Um that was what I was going to but if I interrupted your thought, you may have had another thought. You were continuing. No, >> I did. And I'm and I'm glad you shared that because that is I'm sure they'll
have a role. Um but you know it's live and learn, right? We're supposed to learn and be educated here. So no point repeating past mistakes if we can get ahead of it. Um the the next thing that I wanted to share was I noticed as well
that Bridgeway and um there's so many schools floating through my head right now. forom are uh weren't mentioned um and at the end you know I know our chair will wrap all this together and what is the board providing for future direction but because again
of the new era of programs being able to colllocate with us whether they're invited or not I think that it definitely is something that we have to put on our radar with the conversation about getting to 80% that I would rather
seek if there's is a way to do that through a competitive bid process, whatever. I guess it wouldn't be a bid process because we pay for it all, but try to get try to seek programs that we think would be a match for what's currently on our campus. and and Forom
really came to mind with this um because we knew and I think the thought process was that if they're very well prepared through second grade that theoretically those students should be able to go to pretty much any school, you know, with with good teaching and and succeed. But
wouldn't it be nice if if there was because of space available as well, you know, maybe solving two problems or two opportunities to have a a a program there that that we actually invite in um
and and get ahead of some of this stuff. And I just think that hopefully there's some weight and process to to do that and some appetite for the board to at least agree to to pursue it because you know form is one of our newer older
schools and it's a very nice campus and it would be great to see it fully utilized and and have more opportunities for our students. I guess the last thing I'll say is uh this to me is proof in the pudding that it is a fallacy that growth pays for
itself. >> True. >> That's funny. >> And it has landed square in our laps. And I welcome the challenge because when you have conversations like this, it opens up uh it opens up realizations
that were always there but hadn't really been looked at in a really long time uh to truly improve the way we deliver services to students. Can it be painful? Yes. But I think if we continue to go along the path that we're starting now
with your amazing and eloquent and just so spot-on uh sharing that this is a new era we are moving into like it or not. So how we embrace it and how we take it forward is
going to define all of us as leaders. >> Thank you Miss Thrower, Dr. James. >> So in the spirit of those thoughts um from Dr. Campbell and board member Thrower. And in an effort to not completely go down a rabbit hole, I would just like to say the auxiliary
zones are mentioned on the PowerPoint. Those auxiliary zones came from what is now forom. >> From the past and they live next to Forom,
>> right? And if we look at the map, we are busing them a tremendous distance right now. And I see Mr. Oanic smile and shake his head. So as the attendance boundary
advisory committee works and seeing as the auxiliary zones are included on the maps and what has been presented today, I just want to go on record and I've already said this obviously to staff. My hope is that there is a greater
conversation about auxiliary zones, form early learning, what that looks like because all of those students who are in auxiliary zones have been going to really wonderful schools. most of them are AB schools
um and pulling them back to forom which if you look at the data is comparable to our A school data for um the district K2 and obviously they're prek3 through two but looking at K2 data I would love to see that explored and I
guess I will leave it at that but all of those auxiliary zone kids getting pulled back and creating form into what is more like a full through five, which is what those parents have really been asking for is what do I do in third grade? And if this is if there's an effort to do
that and not just plop those kids into those auxiliary kids into, you know, what Mr. Ays and I discussed a year ago was like basically there's room for them at Oakrest. Well, that is true, but if their zoning pattern was foreom and we still also need to address forom
philosophically from a money standpoint, you know, um I would love to see us entertain the NH Jones approach to forom where there's the zoning pattern and then there's the choice program. You get in either way. Um, so as the team has
those discussions, those are certainly things I would like to see see discussed. So I just kind of wanted to put that out there, please. I won't even say what I was going to say. Just >> Well, then maybe I'll say it. >> Go ahead.
>> Go ahead. >> Again, in the spirit of having everything on the table and that what was what was right in the past and what was mandated in the past. If it's no longer
mandated and it really no longer seems right, then we need to take a look at it. Um I appreciate uh you uh board member Cummings for bringing you know it to the board's attention that
their kids I think it was Poniana right that >> you know should become right >> should be able to attend their neighborhood school and I think that wherever uh things that happened in the past are no longer in in place that we in the
spirit of serving every child to the best of our ability and reducing our costs. Uh it needs to be on the table. There's been, I think, over 350 kids identified uh that are currently being bust all over the county instead of
going to another school, including to an A-rated school across town when they could literally walk to an A-rated school in their neighborhood. if we're talking about adding wings and looking at square footage and things like that and maintaining integrity of programs is
also very important. So, >> and Madam Chair, as I said earlier, these conversations are are difficult and uncomfortable. Um, we just did something a few months ago.
Um, Dr. James, when we went to that um apartment complex behind Sunny's, those were conversations the kids they're walking distance from the school. >> Well, that was like over a year ago. Time just flies. But that was about Howard Middle School in Liberty. >> Exactly. So, the conversations are going
to have to happen across the entire district and um we just have to be ready to to be transparent in those conversations and put it out there and that way you don't uh create a a chaotic situation for us. Um but we want to have
those conversations. So, I I what you just said about Forom and the old Evergreen area and the Oakrest and all those those right in that area. I would have thought that that at some point it would get a walk-in area >> that it would be feasible because
they're right there and and so those those are the conversations we're going to have to have. We're just going to have to have them >> and we just couldn't do it. >> Correct. >> Because they had to be in place for a certain amount of time, but it's a new era, >> right? Well, and if I can add, chair, I think it's important and and I think this is
something that maybe even for the town hall, seeing as it's going to be very it's going to be a very present part of the conversation next Thursday, but we have now reszoned and I would love to know the total in the last two years. I
believe that number is almost 15 schools um between the seven high schools that we reszoned because every high school got a resoning ahead of next school year. And then when we reid when we redid the zoning for whining oaks and
Ross Prairie, I believe that was six schools total all in. I could be wrong because I'm doing quick math in my head. We know how that goes. Um and then we had we had Liberty and um >> Howard >> and Howard. Um as well as the middle
school balancing we did two years before that with Liberty. So, I would love to know as a standing kind of running total, how many schools have we reszoned because one of the we have now reszoned in most of our district. We haven't really touched the east, but we have
done a ton of stuff in the west and southwest. And so, as you know, yes, we've built a lot, but we've also resoned a lot. And not everyone reszoned landed in a new place. In fact, the majority of people reszoned did not land in a new place. you know,
we could we only took on 1300ish kids between the two new schools upon opening. So, we resoned and I'd love to also know the number of how many kids we've reszoned. So, not just how many schools, but how many kids we've reszoned because I think both of those
things are very important to know because only to date um because the the high we can include the projected high school number two, but to date we're probably looking at maybe less than 4,000 students total of a reasonzoning landed in a new school with the high
school included. Yet, we've probably reszoned 10 plus thousand kids. I don't know what the number is. So, I'd love to get all those numbers because it's always nice when you land in a new place, but ultimately resoning is a part of of the conversation no matter what. So, if we could get those ahead of next
Thursday just to have those as talking points, I would love to have that going forward. >> Thank you, Dr. James. Dr. Campbell, >> thank you. Uh I know we're trying to wrap this up. So, you've been staying there a long time, Mr. White House. Thank you. >> Have to do like we do Mr. Do, Miss Boston Ellison. Get a stool.
>> Get a stool. I know. Thank you. Um, thank you, Chair Conrad, for mentioning Bridgeway Relocation because that was something I wrote down just before you said it because I was like, "Oh, wait. I meant to mention that." Uh, still very strongly in favor of talking that
through potentially for next year even and what that looks like. Um, uh, still very much in favor of converting all of the classroom space to offices again on this campus and figuring out what that looks like. Um we
have numbers now at least rough numbers and then as we'll have vacated sites and what that looks like it it will even become stronger. Uh something else was said about growth not paying for itself. Growth can pay for itself if you have concurrency. So I'm using that word
right now publicly concurrency. And if we have that brought up in the technical working group, I encourage whoever needs to do that and know that I know we have our vice chair of the of the technical working group in the back of the room right now. But all in favor
of having concurrency conversations also was something that was brought up in Tallahassee while we were there with the legislator saying something about that. I was like, well, we don't have concurrency in our county. Well, why not? And so, well, >> and that work is being laid. >> Perfect. Wonderful. Glad to hear it. I'm
just publicly saying things y'all are already working on. Um I I heard it danced around, but I'm gonna actually just come right out and say it. I absolutely am in favor of a zone around Madison Street. Just going to say it. Words weren't said exactly that. They
were said close to it, but just like we did NH Jones, Madison Street can have the same thing. There potentially could be additional conversation at some point about them taking over a portion or all of thema Parker. That's just another conversation for another day. But I
understand that would displace other people that we haven't really considered where they would go. But all in favor of having those kinds of conversations as well. Um then two other thoughts. Forom, thank you for bringing up that location.
All interested in at least having a dialogue or conversation about what it looks like act actually to have a magnet 35 that is just a magnet 35. and they would actually be colllocating on the same campus, but forom stays what they
are and then magnet 35 on the back side of that campus. Um, I think that we have enough interest potentially for that. Uh, and depending on what that looks like, I mean, I at this point talking to so many schoolboard members around the state, I'm all in on lots of
conversations we brought up yesterday about reimagining what middle school looks like possibly. And so the group that we're working with, I I texted a bunch of friends this morning and other school districts, give me all your middle school ideas. I need everything. And just the reason that conversation
started was because Breard specifically, their middle schools are either just 78 or 789. They keep sixth grade in elementary. And the reason they do that is because their sixth graders perform the best in the state and they're a part of elementary and not in middle. And so
just throwing that out. So I actually wrote down can Oakrest go to sixth grade? I don't know that that's an answer. I like seriously brainstorming in public, but these are the things that I wrote down and that we have potential and opportunity to fill our own spaces
with our own vision and ideas just like a magnet 35 or an Oakrest going to sixth grade or even becoming a K8 itself. I know it's right across from Howard. I get that. But like what not right across but you know vicinity is close but anyway I I I'm grateful that we're
having these forwardthinking strategic conversations and decisions that are going to impact this district for potentially generations depending on what the conversations are. Um decisions that were made prior to us are impacting us today generations later. And so I'm
I'm grateful that we're a part of the group that's going to help frame where this district's going forward. So based on all the things we have to do at the state because the state's forcing us into some things that we're just going to have to have really tough conversations and I'm here for them.
Thank you >> chair. Just one one final thought. I think it's important as we we talk about I love I love probably 99% of what Dr. Campbell just said and I am I think of things as like a visionary like what is a big what's a decade long two decades
long decision we can make that's going to cause true positive impact in the district and to what to a point she said earlier we have to talk about this right here this is how this has to happen we were not sitting in some private room the five of us at least with Dr. Brewer
we have private conversations with Dr. brewer, but then she has to hold those until we get to this forum to then have further conversation. So, I I would love to explore all of that. I think as we go into this conversation, I would love to see staff separate things
that are for next year and things that are for years to come because the school school choice lottery window opens up next week. So there are things that were just mentioned like a magnet at Forom or expanding a zoning pattern for Madison that
literally probably cannot happen for next year, right? And so I think um before people get themselves all spun up again, it's important to just discuss that some things we're talking about right now like the north end resoning and finding a home for Bridgeway are still
conversations for the 2627 school year is the way I understand them. There are other things that are we want to explore that are for future school years like a Spar Anthony combo as well as potentially some of the other things Dr. Campbell just mentioned which would be
further conversation. So maybe if we can have a little guide, a how-to guide of sorts of what's next year and what's in the future, I think that would be helpful too. It usually makes people breathe a little bit um lighter when they see it a little bit more distance in front of a decision.
>> Yes, and I agree 100%. It's a perfect segue to kind of wrap this up and you know where where are we going with next steps short term because it's been a great presentation and it's certainly opened up the the landscape of of what we will be dealing with you know moving
forward and future boards as well. >> Mr. Chair. >> Okay. All right. I think um what I hear uh Mr. White House is is we're wide open. We're we're open to any suggestions, any dream, uh you know,
what is successful around the state of Florida. Um we're willing to look at it and take it on. What I did hear uh just recapping a little bit. One, when we have our next conversation, um you did such a great introduction today at our next meeting, could you go into detail a
little bit about schools of hope and what that looks like, um and what kind of challenges it faces, the pressure that it's putting on us as a district? Um, I think that's important for the community to understand. Um, we would like some information about fiddlers,
the cost, the use, um, that, uh, options for Anthony and Spar. Several we'll share today. Maybe your team has other ideas. So, looking um, forward uh, to what that looks like. Um, what would be our best opportunity
there? Um, anything else board that you want to add to that hot that hot list? >> I think the hot list that I want to make sure that we're all in consensus on is that to move forward with the >> zoning already on a tight I felt like to
bring us >> Dr. Campbell already stated. >> Yes. The zoning committee is a go. >> Yeah. >> And we'll get our people to you. The one thing I would ask is if it's possible, could we have a meeting schedule set by the end of the day tomorrow? Because
it's hard for me to find people to commit to a meeting that they know they don't have a calendar for. So if it's possible for Mr. Ays or someone in in the team to set a theoretical meeting schedule, that's pretty good. Like that's how it's going to go because I know sometimes a lot of times I talk to
moms and they have, you know, home obligations. So um just speaking for myself candidly. So I think that that would be helpful. Well, and it doesn't actually stipulate, sorry I'm interrupting what you were about to say, but it doesn't actually stipulate in the resolution that each one of us choose someone who actually lives in the zone
that we represent. I'm just making a public statement. I think that would be so district one as it currently stands, I'm going to put someone on that committee that lives in district one. >> That is the same thing I intend to do. So I can appreciate that you are correct because sometimes we just pick random
people who know who are passionate about textbooks, >> right? I plan to pick someone who lives in district five to represent district five on this committee. >> Right. >> Just for clarification, are we comfortable leaving the resolution under consent or do you want to place discussion for more discussion?
>> I think more discussion I I think >> I just think for transparency purposes more than anything for not necessarily discussion but just for the for the true transparency that >> can it be for information? Um, well, I want to give Ben some homework. I want to give
>> because he doesn't have enough. >> Yeah, this is easy. You just need to go home next two nights and memorize what you said at the beginning of this. >> Say it over. >> Say it every time there's a a meeting. You need to say it exactly the same way because to me, that's almost like a
disclaimer, >> putting it out there that we're going to have a conversation and it's going to be uncomfortable and he's going to like some of the stuff. you ain't going to like some of the stuff, but we got to have the conversation. >> I actually think it should be filmed and pinned to the top of our Facebook. And I'm not exaggerating.
>> No, I I think Kevin can record and we can send it out as a >> Everybody hear it. >> I I am not exaggerating. >> Kevin, I said homework for him. They giving you homework now. That's not on me now. >> Um and I >> It's called partner work, Reverend Cummings. Partner work. >> Attorney Powers did whisper in my ear
that the first meeting would have to be bylaws. So something to just keep in mind as you're doing the calendar. >> Okay. >> How many meetings are we anticipating? Because it just said one. >> No.
>> Well, it says November and December, but they're presenting to us in December at a work session. We only have one work session in December, I think. So, >> yeah, it's it's the ideal target, not the guarantee. It may have to be the first one in January if we can't get a really good conversation prior to then, >> right? But I I mean I do think most of
the partners who are listed here um I mean certainly the CA we can get someone from the C very quickly. The public ed foundation very easily. Um Reverend Cummings I'm sure could get a contact at the NAACP very quickly. Um MCPIA we can reach out and have somebody you know I'm
assuming that's through the land industry. >> I I do have a quick question about that. Sorry because Chair Conrad made a very strong point. I wonder if we leave that MCBIA1 almost as kind of the alternate swing one and if the schools we're talking about are located in the city of
Ocala then the there's a representative from the city of Ocala. If the schools are in Dunellan then we have a representative from the city of Dunella. Like I I think that that one isn't as strong as I don't want to say as strong but as necessary as some of the others that we might want to make sure we have
almost like that open seat that can rotate. And I know that's not the way the resolution is currently written, but I was just thinking out loud. >> Um >> I think there's value in that. >> Well, and I would also say that um just my suggestion, I could reach out to him, any of us could, but um Mr. Mlan does
serve on the um Commissioner Mlan does serve on the Early Learning Coalition board already. And so I do think he has some kind of um roots in this conversation. Um and he does have younger children. So I do think he would be probably the best commissioner if he was willing just because of the um roots that he's already kind of planting in
the child childhood development. >> He is vice chair so perhaps that would work. He just got that this week. >> So if we could get a calendar by Friday and then what is our commitment as a board to get you names? >> Okay. And do we have somebody from
transportation on this committee? So, not officially on the committee, but again, our staff would be at each of these meetings to be able to provide the data, the input, answer questions of the committee. >> Oh, they'll be there. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Brewer. I you did you have something you wanted to share?
>> I everything you all have said. We um we appreciate all of the conversations. I just want to recognize Mr. White House and Mr. Ays in addition to their daily duties. They're working late into the evening on this. every request that you all are making, the community is making,
and I just want to publicly acknowledge them because this is it is it is it's a lot of work, but it's needed work. And we appreciate you um giving us consensus to move forward on such a fast timeline so we can make action by 2627
school year. So that's that's what I wanted to say. And I I just to add on to that, I I don't mean this in a negative way at all, but um one one of the board members said, you know, we've got decisions to make and we've got decisions to make. They are impacted by
the decisions made by previous boards. The opposite is also true. The lack of decision making because just as Reverend Cummings just said, these are very difficult decisions. Um, as we talk about change and students moving and, you know, adapting schools, they are
hard conversations. Every person up here has children, grandchildren, um, relatives that are a part of this district. So, it's very personal to us, too. So, um, I just want to say again, thank you, Mr. White House, um, for your great um, introduction and we are
looking forward um, to the conversation moving forward. Is there anything else that you need from us? No, I think we we have kind of the the short run of that is we're going to place the ABAC under um discussion for next Tuesday so we can get moving with that. You all will ponder names that you
can give to us by the following Wednesday if you vote to approve this so that we can get going. We'll get you a meeting schedule um ironed out for that group. We're going to try to do a a virtual tour of our two new elementary schools that we could share at the um town hall next week so we can gather
some input from the north end community regarding uh whether they would be in favor of a brand new school for for Spar and Anthony replacement. Um and then we're going to start the work on the resoning which will include the auxiliary zones, the potential for u movement with uh a new forom if possible
K5 and also making sure we keep Bridgeways a part of that conversation of where they land in the mix of all this. >> Okay, one last question. Um Mr. White House, this advisory board, is your team reaching out or is that the responsibility of the board chair? >> No, we can as long as you all give us
the names, we can reach out for the other >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Yes, Mr. >> U. Just regarding the nominees uh by the school board because the person that I have in mind that I know will be fantastic happens not to live in district 4 and
>> so I would rather not be constrained by >> Yeah, >> that's okay. >> I think it's each of our own purview. That's just >> right. I was just going to say as as a way of work for me, I was going to try and find someone who specifically lives in the area so that way we we would make sure that all areas were covered. Well,
and my person now for this very timely conversation on the north end may look different when we're talking about the south in the future. So, I think for me personally at least, it is very important that someone from the north end who has representation and longevity sits at the table to have the part be a part of the conversation.
>> All right. Yes, attorney >> and board members, you may want to inform anyone you would choose to select that as as they're coming onto the committee or or starting um they will be subject to rules of the sunshine law as
to one another. So, you know that that's you all know how sunshine law works. So, uh any communication between them needs to be conducted at the meetings. So, that's all. >> Thank you, Attorney Powers. important to
be reminded of that at the >> meeting. It is >> okay. Thank you, Mr. White House. Is there any public comment? >> Okay. >> Mr. Houston is here. >> I know. >> There is. It's open for it's open for
public comment if anybody would like to share. >> Okay. I just want to make sure that everybody feels welcome. >> Right. Mr. White House. Is anyone here that would like to share anything about fillers? >> Uh, Mr. Husta did join just because he was watching the work session and heard
some questions about it. Um, I mean, we can certainly plan on the the following work session to bring him back for a more in-depth presentation when he has an opportunity to really get everything together for for public consumption. >> Okay, great. Thank you so much. I just didn't want someone to sit through an hour of discussion and not have the
opportunity to share. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Um, with that, we're going to move on to item 7.1, uh, facilities rental agreement. And that means, Miss Usher, we get to visit with you again.
>> Um, thank you, Chair Conrad. Um, Dr. Brewer, I can proceed, right? >> Yes. Thank you, M. Okay. All right. The um this process has been going on for some
time now. The board asked us to bring back a discussion on it. So this is just to provide an overview. Thank you so much. The leasing has been really formally um or documented I guess applied since 2005.
It has been through several departments. In 2023, it came under operations and so we still have it under operations. I want to acknowledge Miss Carrie Savage who's here with us. She has been implementing it and processing the
applications since 2023. So, she has all the detailed knowledge about all the applications on board policy 7510 was adopted in 2022 and the last revision was in 2023. Now just to highlight some stuff in the
board policy use of district facilities. First of all, all requests for use of facilities must be made in writing. The facilities should be um made available for Oh, I'm not changing this. Sorry. Okay. Be available
for the community use as long as it's harmonious with the district goals. There shall be no charge for use of school facilities and equipment to approve groups and organization related and connected to the school. So this is a no fee category. The only concern we
have with this is that the events group and organization that fall under this category are not defined. So it becomes very subjective when the school is looking at it. So staff is recommending that a list of these groups be brought back to the board for approval so we
know which ones are the school oriented and therefore are not subject to the fees. The policy also allows for non-school oriented organizational groups to um to use our facilities and there is a charge for these groups. This fee was approved
by the school board and um it based upon the facilities and the um the spaces being used and payment should always be made in advance to the school board of Marian County. When a non-school oriented group uses our facilities, they
pay a rental fee but they don't pay utility fee. The rental fee is comprehensive. The policy also asks that the represent of the school shall be on the school grounds during the hours of use and supervisory and custodial fee will be
calculated in accordance with this um the board approved schedule. The school oriented groups activities are exempt from custodial fees. Those are our school oriented groups if the activities occur during the custodial workday or it
does not create any additional impact for custodial needs. The policy also allows for long-term use. These are like a standard agreement that would come to the school board, for example, Boys and Girls Club. If they use a section of our school for um
continuously, then that would be a special approved agreement approved by the board and not reviewed every year on the um under the the um facilities use process. Um now we talk about liability. The
policy requires that anybody who uses our property um purchase general liability insurance. Right now that amount is 1 million. It's also requires that all the users of our equipment must accept all liability for any damage or
any loss to these equipment and responsible for providing proper care, safety and security. Um, no liability shall attach to the district or any of its employees and officers specifically as a consequence of permitting access to
these facilities. And this is verbatim from the policy. The superintendent also has the authority to deny any use of facilities or equipment to any agency or organizations who purpose in using the district facility is considered to be
contrary to our district goals. So, we do have that right. we don't have to approve everything that comes through. The addition for this schedule is not for you to look at the schedule but just to see how many categories we have. There are seven category user groups and
there are 25 listed facilities. If a space is not listed on this, we recommend that it should not be available for use. It has to be called out on the approved um fee schedule. The rental fee schedule was approved in
September 2009. It became effective in January 2010. Um since then it has not been modified. The seven categories it gets a little bit complex. There are forprofit
notfor-profit fees collected. Not forprofit no fees collected. forprofit student participation, not for-profit no fees collected, student participation, governmental with formal reciproc
reciprocity agreement. And for universities, the issue we have with the not not forprofit staff has to look and try and have to find go on Sundays to see if they are really a not forprofit. We would like for them to be able to bring us proof of
certification that they're approved not for profit. In addition to um yes, so the in in addition to deciphering through the different categories, we also have to go in and do additional research to make sure they're truly not for profit.
So when they come in for an application, again, I said it is in writing. They need to submit their insurance with the school board as the additional insured. They must submit sales tax and they must, this is per the policy, submit a damaged deposit of 25% of the total
rental fee. That is required. Law enforcement is required also, but this is not in the policy. This is in the approved fee schedule where licensed law enforcement security is required for events having 300 or more participants.
So, this we would have to add to policy. A copy of that agreement with the licensed law enforcement shall be submitted with the rental fee application and the cost of security is responsible of the tenant to work to work directly with that um law enforcement agency
and they have their own rates. So that's not included in um the fee schedule. Well, in accordance with board policy, the custodial fees are $30 per hour with supervised rear being 32. Again, um
non-oriented group res for for groups that are not associated with the district, a representative of the school shall be on the school grounds during the hours of use of facilities. Um the problem here though that we find
with a lot of these rental fee with is with the fee wave being waved and there is nothing that clearly defines who should wave the fees. Um so I think we need to set up something
who who's authorized to wave fees for certain events. So that designation should be clearly defined. This is just an example of all the wave fees we have experienced. This is for three and a half months from July to October. Some of the lease process
during this time frame which is only three and a half months really go into beyond this time frame in so it might not be like that all these fees are for events that happen within this this time frame. However, we collected 23,000 and
waved 252,000 in fees. So, if we had not waved fees, we would have gotten 276 instead of 323,000. So, we're losing quite a lot. >> I'm sorry. I'm just watching all of your
faces as she said that. >> Well, I'm just I'm just really struggling with the fact >> Yes. that every person that works on this campus is told probably weekly that we are one flush away from a $20 million
plumbing challenge and we are operating in a deficit because we have not chosen to address this sooner. So, I I don't know if that's what everybody else wanted to say. Uh, but this is just
making my heart race. >> What was and I'm sorry, what was the math on that again? What are the numbers? The two numbers you said >> between the three and a half month period we waved 252,920. We collected 23,658. >> So, and um >> about 225.
>> Okay. Yeah, but over the last 15 years when there's not been any fee adjusted schedule, we've lost almost $4 million. >> So, Miss Usher, >> yes, >> there's not a particular person >> that process >> determined to wave the who who made the
decision to wave all these fees. >> And that is our concern because when um Miss Savage receives the application, the fee part would be marked out. So, the school already marks it out, no fee. And that's and that portion of the application said should be completed by
operations. So this is where I need directive from the board where people just mark that out and say zero fee. So by the time it comes to me from Miss Savage and I'm signing it, I don't want it to appear that I'm waving fees because I'm not because the section said
should be completed by operations. So this is where in the direction that we adhere to that and who the superintendent will authorize to wave fees. >> So when I look at this um I'm looking at slide 12 and I'm looking at um $151,000
was waved um for not for profofit. So were those were those not legitimate not for profofits? I mean because according to the rule according to what we have here if they are not forprofit um >> if they're not for profit reverend
Cummings you're correct we're not charging them so that fee is not waved but for not forprofit they have to pay utilities and they don't even pay that so everything is a zero when it comes in >> we're waving all fees >> sorry >> waving everything
>> yes waving everything and it's not just that um we had a big event at one of our schools And they said it cost us so much talking to custodials because they use rolls of paper towel, rolls of toilet paper. So
it really impacting our custodial services. Instead of that custodian doing his or her work on Monday, they spend hours cleaning up the fields, taking away. In addition to that, we don't get any utilities. We don't get
any cost for material. And I ask >> we are definitely collecting fees though. >> So I I personally paid them. I'm renting this exact auditorium on December 14th. >> But you're a forrofit. >> Okay. No, I'm just saying we're definitely collecting fees though.
>> But in three months it's only $2,300. >> But I'm a nonprofit and I rent this place and I paid fees every time. I've paid the fees. I paid the police. I've did all those things, the insurance, all those things. So I'm trying to figure out who's been making the determination, >> right? because nonprofits still are
responsible. I mean they they have to pay their bills and so the use of this facility has a cost. >> That is correct. And um staff the funny thing is staff said I can't believe that the schools are waving all these yet to our board members are paying because
they know that you both pay. So um >> a lot like it costs almost $1,000 for me to rent this for three hours rightfully so. Right. There's a cost for all. >> We know that you all are paying but a the majority of the big events where they use our entire school not I mean
they use all our classrooms or media center fields they don't pay some of them don't pay a penny to us and that's where the cost is um it's not the people that are complying as you and Reverend Cummings um Dr. James. So the thing is
the the concern here is that >> that schools are just waving for these big events. >> Well, and I just want to say that in no way is the board saying there's not value to these programs and these um
activities because we know that they are very valuable. What we are saying is we are not in fiscally in a place where we can take that burden on anymore. >> That's correct. >> So Dr. Campbell. >> So here's my question before we start saying principles you can't wave
anymore. When we collect fees and it say it's a school and a church is meeting in that school once a week and we've been waving everything and they all of a sudden grow to 400 members and what and they're still using the school. Does the
school get to keep the money course >> or does it go to Marian County Public Schools facilities budget? And so that's where they're now that they're going into sightbased budgeting, Miss Usher, if they're able to keep more of that money, they're not going to wave the fees.
>> You're so right, Dr. Campbell. And that is in one of the one of the slides coming up. >> Oh, we cut you off. Sorry. >> Slide 15. You >> It's um Okay. So we talk about what are the required items and um the law license law enforcement.
So um let me move this on the just the different types of leases we have that we um that we see come through. So that's justformational. Um before I get into that we have programs that we can automate the system
that'll make it much easier. Staff is looking into that and probably we can bring back something. it'll make it harder and keep everybody um much more adhering to the policy and regulations because then it will be all automated. So, we're looking at that. Now, in
regards to recommendation, um this is where the school board policy would have to be updated. It does not reflect the the requirements in the approved fee schedule. We need um the superintendent to establish written
procedures that all the schools know about procedures that would support the amended um board policy. And this is the part we need to give the money to the school. We need to give a percentage to the school for them to use how they want. Right now certainly it's under Mr.
Ria's Welsh office. I know the money goes to general funds. We don't know exactly how the funds are used, but if there's some incentive in there to get and move and surprisingly at other school districts, they give the majority to the school. They give like six to 65%
and they just keep the administrative stock um percentage for processing and all that. So if we could start with maybe a 10% that the schools are getting back something if I mean that is something I would like to bring back and add to the policy.
The categories are much too many at seven. If we can decrease decrease those, it'll make it much easier when you're submitting an application for school oriented, not forprofit, government, and for profit. If we could decrease those categories because it's really difficult figuring those. We need
to know which partners are exempt uh that are school oriented. We would like the board to approve a list of those partners, make it much easier for staff when they're processing. establish clear guidelines on who are authorized maybe a two-tier in this case I'm recommending
maybe area superintendent can um can wave fees and with Mr. White House or Dr. brew approving but not the principles just anybody who wants to wave fee wave fee. So I would like to see some type of tear approach and um
the designate clearly called out allow for a grace period before implementing all this. So maybe February, March next year, February I have in here, purchase the facility automated system that will really help in keeping track and making sure
everybody adheres to the policy. And maybe what um Carrie's doing right now, we're looking at other school districts. She has a lot of documentation on their uses and their fees. So when we come back to you and and if it's okay with four categories, we will have
recommended fees. The fees have not been updated since 2010. not and we don't even it's not that we really want more money. It's just to implement what we have. So that's why we are not saying anything about additional fees in this presentation
and continue the discussion and another future work session. But now should we my directive right now from the board do we continue implementing the policy and the fee schedule the way it was approved because right now
everything is waved. So >> not waved. >> I just think we really have to be careful saying everything is waved. Everything is not waved. >> Okay. Sorry. You're correct. >> I mean I I'm I literally struggle with it. A lot is waved. >> Uhhuh.
>> I would be of the opinion that we maintain status quo until we reset everything fresh with all of the things that you just mentioned. Like I I don't think we should have hazard if we're talking as early as February, we're already in
November. We already have rental agreements that are out until probably beyond February and we're I would believe we have an obligation to honor those rental agreements as they're already set. So, you know, we could say maybe as a board if we're planning to
get this together by February, then let's just say, you know, we're any new rental agreement that comes to the board after X date is going to be, you know, on a new rental schedule or something and then we're not going to sign any rental agreements until we get get something firmed up. I don't know
exactly what that looks like, but I would I would be hesitant to make a change now that could theoretically look different in three months because then our our people who patron our rentals are going to be confused by that. there's a there's a um grace period
built in anyway you've got in the presentation but my expectation would be as the superintendent meets with principles you know at the next principal meetings this is shared as a huge concern um you know most at least the principles I visit with they're
watching our work sessions maybe not today but they get to them they watch them and watch the board meetings so they know the physi the um facility challenges that we're facing every time we come to the board table. So, this really shouldn't be a surprise to them.
Um, and I just I hope that that would slow the role for waving all of the fees even though legally there are some contracts out there or agreements um for use of facilities. >> Well, may I say we have existing we have
existing rules and one of the problems is that many of these rental agreements are not complying with the existing rules. So just because an agency or a a someone who's identified as a nonprofit or whatever has um waved in the past, it
doesn't it it it doesn't remove them from the necessity of making sure that they're complying between now and February. So, um, also one of the things I think that, um,
hasn't been mentioned yet is there needs to be a clear identification of what of what a nonprofit is. Um, and there it's there are different designations and we need to make sure that that's clearly
identified so that we know which ones we're going to allow or or not. as far as a waiver. Another thing I'll say is we have public utilities for example and as Dr. Campbell pointed out public utilities are those public utilities um
for Ocala Electric for example they don't give their services for free if you show a nonprofit designation. Also, the final thing I'd like to point out is that I'm not there needs to be a central um way of ensuring that if someone puts
forth that they're a nonprofit or a 401c3 or whatever it might be that there's documentation that is kept and provided of that uh rather than just a box check. Um because I if if we're if we're not
indeed saying that they that they have that that they are a 401c3 that they're a nonprofit, we've got a 501c3, right? Uh then we we've we're waving fees where we shouldn't be. So those are all
factors to consider and weigh. >> Thank you. question um board is would it be okay in regards to waving fees that we implement that if any fees will be waved it would be the area superintendent
if we could start doing that now and then come back to you with all the new regulations >> that not anybody can just wave fees >> I um Dr. Brewer, how are you comfortable with that? >> That was our re >> your recommendation. You're muted. >> Okay.
>> Excuse me. Yes, that was our recommendation. Um, and of course, we'll have conversations with the principles so they are aware of the dollar amount. I think when this conversation first began a few months ago, no one really realized how how much money we were
talking about. And so, Miss Usher's team did some work to show that. And that paints a clearer picture, >> right? and also a review of the procedures and guidelines that we already have in place that are not being followed. >> And I would also request that if it's
going to be uh you know individual um area superintendents that are doing it that that they be brought up to speed on some of the a couple of items that they may have considered with their principles but they don't know now. One specifically is there may be insurance requirements. Those need to go through
risk management so the risk management knows because an application comes in sometimes um it's not clear what the activity that they're doing is and whether it may require additional insurance. Um sometimes it is clear but those questions need to be asked. Also
we have certain prohibitions because it's schoolboard property prohibitions against raffles alcohol things like that. Those if those are questions we don't ask we can't be surprised if we don't get an answer. And if we get an answer that indicates those things will be done on our campus, then that needs
to be clarified so that we are clear in our rental agreements that it's not to happen. So, and I think that it's currently in there, but I don't know that uh I don't know that it we have any level of of enforcement even when we know that some of these activities may
go on. So, is there when they when they do this application, and I've done them here, um sometimes those applications can be confusing as far as certain questions that they're asking. Is there a checklist that goes with this that says if they don't do these things, it
doesn't get approved. Um I think the final approving authority should not have to be the superintendent per se, but her design, which would be one of the area directors. um they would I would think that they could be the final approval authority. But um if there's a
checklist and it's in compliance to our procedures, our policy, then it shouldn't be that hard for them to fill out the application and it gets to get gets through the process quicker or quickly without being going through legal and all the red tape that sometimes stuff goes through because
I've had them it took days to get some things through and it shouldn't it shouldn't be that hard of a process but it should be kind of easier but it should still be in compliance with all our policies and procedures as well, >> right? And unless it goes through risk management because it needs insurance for a particular reason. It's those
facilities, rental agreements or things that um typically I believe it just goes. >> But I would want it to be standard across the county, right? >> This school does it one way, this school does another way. If you have that standard checklist, everybody's doing the same thing. And you can hold those
people accountable when they don't do it. >> Reverend Cummings, you're right. And that's Miss Savage job. When the school sends in the um the application, she checks it for the required items to make sure they're attached. Again, with the nonprofit, it's not there. So, she has
to go look up the company on Sunbiz and she has to prove she does a lot of detective work. Um looking up where is she? All the way the back. >> She should have to They should >> Yeah, that's she didn't have to do that. >> Sorry. >> Organization should present everything.
>> I know. Exactly. So by the time it comes to me um for my signature, she has the attachment or she would say, "Oh, this school waved this or this was exempt." And so I would put note that I did not wave those because I'm the one signing
the approval. So I don't want them to know that to know that I did not wave that even though this section of the application said it should be filled out and completed by operations. But Miss Miss Savage checks for the um the required documentation. She works
closely with risk management in cases they do recommend additional insurance and she and she would get that information back to the school to get to the applicant. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it never happens. There are uses that risk management would tell us
that it's quite hazardous on our school site. So those leases are denied. So, we make sure that it's in the um in adherence to our goals, our policies, and if it's anything that's not harmonious, we have the right to deny those.
>> Yes, Dr. >> Thank you. So, just a couple of things. First of all, in the liability insurance, I I just wanted to stipulate if if they are doing the liability, they need to name Marian County Public Schools as the >> additional >> additional and not just the school site. So, that's been some confusion, I think, in the past. So, I think
>> you're so correct, right? Everyone needs to know that the liability insurance needs to be Marian County Public Schools is the name there. Um I I have a comment and then well I'm going to ask the question first and then I have a comment after that. Because this would be a policy revision and we're about to undergo policy revisions. Is it possible
that we are able to get something put together rather quickly for our next work session that we are able to talk through and it can go in presumably our rulem or we have >> we have to have advertised and already on on this section. However, I will tell
you that there are already Mr. Blackman and I have discussed there are already a couple of policies that we're going to need to bring back for relatively rapid revision that weren't and so I would anticipate that we're going to have a pretty >> so we're setting a December date or
something for policies and this one will make the December date just so we can have a timeline so then the rule making and the actual policy of the school board potentially can be enacted in February potentially of of the revisions of the of the policy per se, but a lot
of what I'm seeing is is potentially procedure that doesn't currently exist or needs to be updated. And that's not something that we have to do. If if procedures are built that are going to really lay the groundwork as to what has to be done, that's up to you
guys to initiate and to uh enforce. Um, but when I look at the waved fee schedule, and I I vaguely remember us having a conversation about fees a few years ago, specifically because of a nonprofit that uses this facility on a
very regular basis, uh, that the thing that concerns me the most of this is that the nonprofits as well as the forprofits who are charging fees to attend the events are the ones who are having their
fees waved. That is so fascinating to me, >> right? >> Because they are making money hand over fist at our expense. And I'm saying that out loud right now because we have a nonprofit that uses this auditorium at least several times a year. And they
also use another school several times a month and we are losing so much money. Just charge them the utilities costs. Like if if we're not going to if we're not going to charge the actual space cost. Okay, we can we can get but charge
them the utility cost. We are one flush away from a 20 in this facility from a $20 million deficit plumbing challenge. We'll just leave it at that. And so the time has come. I know that
there will be people show up and want to talk in public comment and tell us all the things they want to say because we're talk. I'm not going to name them by name, but they know who they are and they're listening and they're going to pay attention. The time has come. we are not able to wave fees any longer. So hopefully just at the sound of our
voices that principles who have things that are sitting on their desk that they're they're going to understand that we as a school board are not okay with waving fees anymore. And um there will be a specific procedure in place as to
what organizations qualify and because I just looking at the policy while I understand we do need to update the policy I I think there may still be able to build the procedure around what currently exists that we could you guys
can implement as soon as you want. I mean there's nothing that holds you to whenever that has to be done. That was a good point. >> He Yes, >> absolutely. I mean, there's I I would need someone to point out exactly what in the policy >> needs to be want to be updated, >> right?
>> But within procedure, which I've always said it's it's a much faster turning ship within procedure, um you can do quite a lot in including completely altering with the board's permission the facility rental fee schedule. Absolutely. And not have to go through
rulemaking, development, and all those things. I I think um there's value to that. Only thing I would say was that if we're going to change anything that we go ahead and make sure we notice it ample time so that it's not a surprise if January one we're going to go to that
we need to start posting it now January one we're going to implement these scenes because I think it does allow us to do that now. Yes. >> Without having to go through all that but we need to go ahead and >> get to a point where we can advertise that um and and say it. So I mean the
policy does currently say there shall be no charge for use of school facilities and equipment to approved groups and organizations but to the point on the first or second slide there's no definition of who approved groups are and this board hasn't set forth who
those are so I believe that can be developed through procedure and not really through us and so it would be up I mean that's I I see nods by everybody so I appreciate that you're bringing it forth to us. I think we are all in
consensus to say yes, we need to start charging. I don't care if you're for-profit, nonprofit, there's going to be some fee associated, especially if you collect fees as entry fees, but if and only if whatever. >> Well, I think I think Dr. Campbell, just
for the fact, if if they're charging an admission, and I get I get sometimes their events are fundraisers. I get that. I completely get that. But if they're charging admission by by nature of their admission, they should be able to pay something. I didn't charge an admission and I had to pay for all these
different things, right? And I'm saying, my god. And and then the other piece that's that's that's was attached to it was I come by here all the time and I see groups and groups and groups of a lot of people and then there's not even the police presence here. There you go. >> I had people less than 500 people here
and I had to have officers here. So, so the rules aren't being distributed >> right >> equitably to of course across these organizations that are in our facility. And I'm not just talking about this facility. >> Sure. >> All of them. >> But this auditorium and this gymnasium
behind us are two very prominent and I I would appreciate us to get all of this in line and set forth before we do all those upgrades to Booster Stadium because that's going to come with a big fat price tag. So, uh, if we're able to charge rental fees on all the facilities, but I personally I don't see
anything in this policy that actually says we have to update the policy. You guys can set forth the procedures and go forth and prosper. Literally go forth and prosper. >> I just have two um really clarifying questions. So on slide 10 with law
enforcement, it says licensed law enforcement security um at for 300 or more participants, it has been our practice that we have law enforcement officers. Does that mean they can have a security company which
would be a much cheaper way to go? Is that is that allowing them to do that? >> We want the um the approved fee schedule says law enforcement officer. >> Okay. So, >> and so what does that like as you're approving that what do we
what has to be provided to our team? So, we know that >> city of Kala police department would send us their letter or the sheriff's office that they that this organization contracted with them for the event, >> right? >> Well, that's what we we're supposed to
have. But if you're saying you show up to events and there's nobody there, then where is the >> Obviously, they got waved. They didn't have to have the Okay, that's important to me. Well, and I'm I'm looking at my rental agreement for my rental in December. So, if that helps provide some
context just for the conversation. One, I'm not being charged for utilities. Um, so just for the record, um, the rental fee is $650 because it's for student participation and then sales tax.
There's a custodial fee at $30 an hour for the three hours. So, that's $90. There's a supervisory fee which is seven hours at $34 an hour which is like an admin fee essentially. And then um that's the total cost of 99025 with a
damage deposit that they basically hold a check but don't cash. So they just shred it if you don't use it. At the bottom it says a copy of the signed agreement from licensed law enforcement providing security if number is an attendance exceeds 300. and the
attendance on my rental agreement says 300. So, law enforcement isn't required for my event because the likelihood that there'll be more than 300 people is not high. >> All right. My other my other question, Miss Usher, I have one more question for
you on that. >> Chief McFaden, want to say something about >> Okay, sure. >> Yeah. From the law enforcement piece, I mean, we can work on the language a little bit to make sure that we understand that. I mean, if the board wants certified law enforcement, that's
Okeella Police Department of the Marian County Sheriff's Office or whatever agency of jurisdiction is at the school, whatever school covers. Um, they do have a a pay scale, a schedule based on the amount of people. Me
personally, 300 people at an event is a lot >> person >> to what I'm trying to say is if you're saying a 100 people or 200 people that is a lot to have at an event with no law
enforcement and and I'm I guess what I'm reading is that you don't have to have law enforcement until you reach that 300 mark. That's a lot of people to have on a campus without any type of law enforcement presence. And that again
would be procedural >> that again would be a procedural element that could be >> discussed and and you could change >> let's figure it out >> but I am interested in your recommendation. What would your recommendation be as a number? >> I mean I would have to obvious I don't
want to give a recommendation now because it's you know we have to discuss it with u Mr. White House Dr. Brewer. We will give you some recommendations. I just think that um especially when kids are involved. We're talking about kids and their safety. A lot of these events do have kids.
>> We're talking 100 200 kids in a location and and for us not to have some level of protection for two or 300 kids >> and put that limit the minimum at 300 is kind of scary for me, but we'll we'll sit down and talk further about it.
>> Okay. Thank you for that, Chief. Miss Usher, my other um clarifying question was is you mentioned an event where the staff spent hours and hours cleaning up after an event. So, you know, if if we're charging for three
hours for one custodian, do we have a um a system where we're tracking events that happen over and over again, whether it's monthly or annually, so we know historically? Um, no, it didn't cost us $60 for a custodian. You know, it took
us five people all day to recover and get the campus facility back ready for school on Monday. Um, are we keeping that kind of data? >> Yes. Yes, Chia Con. And that's why I said Miss um Savage is the detective. She finds out everything. She called
custodial. How I mean because in this event that what I'm talking about, there was no fee charge. Nothing. and not just using the facility, but they use all our products. Our custodians had to clean up. So, it was a really big event and it
cost cost us a lot. So, she has a big spreadsheet of every um every agreement and she tracks what was waved and how much it cost. She talks to our maintenance department. She talks to our custodial department to see that how
much it took them away from their job. So, we do have a big spreadsheet with all this information. >> Madam Chair, >> thank you very much. >> So, this $252,000 number really is bigger because we still had to pay staff to come in and clean.
We still had to use our >> products, >> our products and equipment. So, actually, we're looking at maybe $300,000 that we lost in those three months. >> You're correct. >> Or significantly more. Yeah. Okay. Well, and and I think it's important there's a balance between we are a government
entity and so this gets brought up and I would say brought to my attention often because I am one that mentions it a lot is we need to at least take mine to operate like a business and it's a delicate balance because we are a government agency and so you know should
we be losing money on the deal? No. But we also, I don't think, need to be making money on the deal. At least not significant money on the deal. Um, it I think at least covering our costs and breaking even on the usage of our facility, including what that what that
use, you know, a cost ratio for what that use is long-term creating for us, I think has value. But I don't want to see us get into a position where we have an exorbitant cost to rent our facilities that as a private business I may say, "Hey, I have
a wonderful facility, but if you want to use it, um, it's going to cost you a lot of money." So, I just think it's a balance that I want to make sure we continue to frame our mind around as we have this further discussion. >> Thank anyone. Anything else from the board? Yes, Mr. >> Thank you. Thank you always for the
presentations. Very informative. Um bottom line, I'm on slide 13. We had the potential to collect $276,578. And we collected in that same time period 23,658. And in terms of covering costs and also
providing security that we all know has become top of mind, it's uh very clear to me that something needs to change. And so just to pull it all together, it's right on slide 16 what the recommendations are. Establish written
procedures to support board policy. The board policy has has been there. Um but the but what's happened in real time has has been different. So I I think that getting the procedures in place and well
communicated and the rationale behind it, I'm of the same mind. As you know, we're we pay we all pay taxes to have these places. We need to make it as available as possible to the public, you know, to use those for great events, but at the same time, there is a cost
involved and that's been made very clear. So, >> thank you. >> Ready? >> I just had one further thought as a after as a going forward some followup. I would love to understand um what was the evaluation of the 28 rental
agreements that should have landed at $151,000 um for the non not for-profit fees collected. Um because on average, if you take 28 rental agreements divided by the what we waved, that's over $5,000 per
rental agreement. And so I'm just kind of curious what what what are we renting that would cost $5,000? Um, and so if there's a way, you know, maybe I'm just thinking one of these is like a big heavy hitter that we just are
waving. I don't I don't know. But I would love to know more under the hood here of of how 28 rental agreements equals in three months a theoretical collection of $150,000. >> Certainly. I know that Miss Savage has this information, so we'll get that to you.
>> That'd be wonderful. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, M. Miss Usher. I feel like the board is in full support and looking forward to the procedural piece of this. Um, and so we look forward to that coming for us soon. >> Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you very much. Is there any public comment? Okay. Seeing none, we'll move on to item 8.1. instructional calendars for 2026 27 27 and 202728.
Mr. Ays, welcome to the podium. Good morning. >> Good morning, >> Dr. Brewer, board chair, board members. Before I get started, I just want to say that there's been a lot talked about today and um a lot of what's talked about comes out of my office as well.
And I just want to say thank you to Dr. Brewer and Mr. the White House because before in the past I've been on sort of an island. I've been given instruction, produce it and go forward. But the current
administration really embodies one team, one mission because there are lots of conversations that we have, check-ins that work. So I just want to thank the current administration that we have because it's not an island anymore. It's truly a team
and so the stuff that comes forward. So I want to thank Dr. Brewer and Mr. White House for that. >> You're muted. Stop muting your microphone. Mr. >> Thank you. Well, we have a sickness over here, so we're trying to minimize the cough. But no, we thank you, Mr. Ays. I stated that earlier. We know that the
work that you're doing is way late at night in addition to your regular duty. So, we're very appreciative of this expedited timeline that you're about to begin. >> Yes. And there were several kudos that went out from the board, but you had stepped out for a moment, so you didn't hear, but the board is very
appreciative. We know this is you there's important work going on and so we appreciate uh your commitment to the task >> and I take all the the the blessings and the curses, but I also Mr. Mr. Jacob Stan Jacobs so I know he's watching right now um is instrumental in a lot of
this work. I could not do it without him. So all right, planning for the 2627 and the 2728 instructional calendar was done by the instructional calendar development committee. The committee consisted of
district personnel, union representatives, member of the school board, and parents. The proposed calendars were modeled after the last two years of instructional calendars. The proposed calendar were posted on the MCPS website. they're currently still
there seeking stakeholder input. There were 688 responses from parent and guardians, MCPS employees, and community members. Most of the feedback was positive and supportive of the proposed calendar. The feedback was emailed to
you and will be posted to this board doc after this meeting. The proposed calendars are aligned with the MEA contract, schoolboard policy, and state statutory requirements. The calendar includes 180 student days, 196 teacher days. The instructional de
calendar development committee reached a consensus on maintaining six early release days for professional development. The proposed calendars also maximize the number of days allocated for state testing. The instructional calendar development committee selected three weather makeup
days. The first is the January professional learning day. The second is to eliminate the remaining early release days. And the third is to extend instructional days as necessary. Thankfully, knock on wood, I think we're still in season, but this year we have
not had to utilize any of that. But in the past, we have. And so this actually lays out in order the days that will be used. And the last one, we've done a good job with this, our bell schedule and with the calendar of building in
enough cushion so that we don't actually have to make up days unless we extraordinary events. So that is the presentation of the calendar and I'll open it up now for comments. >> Okay, board. I open it up for comments
and questions. >> I'm I'm going to be brief. When we get emailed the feedback, I would love if that was not in a PDF because we get it in the 11th hour, which I appreciate because we're trying to leave surveys open as long as possible, but then as a board member who
is mildly good at Excel, I can't manipulate that PDF at all. I have no way to sort or find for keywords. Um, I guess I could technically find on a PDF, but yes, but it would be much easier for me to manipulate if it came to me in an Excel document. um because then I could
and I think Dr. Campbell and I have talked about this before because it would just be a little bit easier to kind of sort, filter, etc. Um overall, I think that we have essentially maintained what we've done the last two years. Um and two years ago it was a little spicy
getting to where we are now. Uh, and I appreciate that and I certainly will not start any rabbit hole conversations today to take us down roads which we wound up landing in the same place essentially what you presented two years ago. Um, I will say in some of the
comments from the community, um, there was mention of early release days being on Fridays. Um, the main reason we don't do that is for the reason you want them to be there. So, I'll just leave it at that. But, uh, the reason they're not on Fridays is for exactly why people want
them on Fridays. um for staff and student attendance. Uh and I think our our schools have done a tremendous job of incentivizing attendance on early release days. We've seen a really good stabilization. So, that's a positive. Um I'm also happy to see that because of
the way the calendar calendars, not next year, but the year after, we will be back to school being out before Memorial Day. So, everyone can be happy again for about five years. And then after that, it will change again because that's how it generally works. Um and the 10th is a requirement. So, you know, we are not
starting before the 10th no matter what. But I think >> Memorial Day >> Memorial People want school out before Memorial Day. >> Oh, want school after Okay. >> Yeah. Getting out before Memorial Day has just be kind of become a tradition in Florida. Um, and it's funny because, you know, in other in the north, they go
well into the middle of June or late June. So, they think Memorial Day is so weird because Memorial Day is almost like their midterm break like we do for essentially Good Friday. Um, so, uh, anyhow, I think the work is great. I think, um, we we preserve the week at
Thanksgiving, the two weeks at Christmas, the week at spring break, all the things. Um, and so, let's rock on. >> I will I will You brought it up, so I will briefly. There is a religious holiday that occurs around the spring break time. We've tried our best to be
able to honor that, but unfortunately the church calendar does not coincide a lot of times with school calendars. So the calendar committee has made a commitment to honor that day as much as possible where as possible. So whereas there are certain times a year that we
do have it, there are certain years that we're not going to be able to have it land on that day, but we are committed to that midterm break. >> Okay. Um I'll jump in there because that is one of my questions. So, so for the upcoming the 26 27 calendar, we're un it
it's showing that we're not off >> uh the 26th uh and the up in the 2728 it does work. So, can you just explain that what challenge that presents instead of having spring break the week
of the 15th uh and having it the 22nd, what challenge did that present to the team? challenges present that is aligning the the seme not the semester but the nine weeks so that we're equal nine weeks and we don't have a break right as the start of a nine week right now spring break always falls at the
break between the third and the fourth nine weeks and then being able to push if we did honor that date next year it's in March so the last Friday in March versus the following year it's like two weeks into April and so that's where that date floats all the time
>> and it's not in Okay. I will just say um as a teacher and a board member, it I I would not mind it being the next week. Um you know, starting this semester off um and then having a break. I I don't I
personally don't see that, but I'm also not a high school teacher, so I I just share that as for input. Any other input from the board on that item? >> Um Dr. Campbell, how's your hands up? >> Oh, sorry, Dr. Campbell. not specifically on that item, but I did have a couple of things because I did read every comment last night before I
went to bed. Um, so a a couple of things that stood out to me and I'm not going down rabbit holes either to share a comment from a fellow board member. A couple of things to say. There were two different comments specifically that mentioned there actually weren't any
choices. So, we sent out a survey to get feedback, but we didn't have as we did in prior years where there were two choices for this year and two choices for the next year and give us, you know, the your feedback on which one you like the best. And so, I I read two comments specifically saying there aren't any
choices. What are you asking feedback for? But we clearly received 600 plus comments back. So, people did give us their feedback. Basically, the comments I saw, it's already been alluded to that families don't families don't like early release
days, except um they were grateful that we have an early release day on the last day of school. So, we did get positive feedback about that. So, that was kudos to the committee on on coming up with that idea. Lots of educators I read, and again, can't sort by exactly how many.
I'm just using the word lots because if I read at least five times, I'm considering that lots. Um, lots of educators don't like starting school on a Monday. So, I I found that fascinating. I because obviously they noticed that in the second year of these two calendars, we're starting on
Tuesday, which because Tuesday's the 10th. So, potentially in the future, we might want to consider that first. Granted, now families wanted us to always start on the Monday, but educators that in that regard, I think their voice would be powerful to hear.
Is it easier to start school with a five days or to start with three or four days? >> I can address I I live with one of those educators. >> I know you do >> and I can share. >> So she is very you know adamant you know about that. Yes, >> the more I have conversations with her
about, you know, her single issue per se, not to say that single issue is not important, but all other things that are things because needing to start as soon as possible, closest to the 10th to get enough days in >> to maximize the days in case weather happens, right? In case things happen.
So yes, I agree as a as an educator myself, >> it is that one year that we started on Wednesday, >> right? >> Everybody >> and then we had three days and then we got the weekend to regroup and then hit Oh, that was awesome. >> Right. >> And would that be the preferred method?
That would be the preferred method and we recognize that. >> Sure. >> But we also have several other influences, >> right, >> we have to maintain. >> Understood. So, I just I the comments that were standing out to me, I thought it would at least let me give them their due because not everybody's going to go
through and read the 660 comments or whatever it was. Um the another note that just that we're acknowledging is that teachers don't get a break. So, educators are not getting a break from Labor Day to Thanksgiving. So, we do
have teacher work days included, but as far as actually having like that mental break to give them a from Labor Day to Thanksgiving, there really isn't one. Now, granted, we're giving them a week at Thanksgiving, and the reason we're doing that is because the educators want the week. Understand that. So, that's
kind of like that balance. So, just acknowledging the comment is what I'm doing right now. We hear you. We see you. Let's talk about why. And it Yes, students are getting it. Families are getting it. So, it's kind of a fall break for families, but not for teachers
because they do have the work day in October. And the other thing that I wanted to bring up was Veterans Day because there were multiple comments about Veterans Day and I know previous administration was doing some research to determine if our veterans groups
still feel the same way as they used to. I know that that is a big day for Marian County Public Schools. I know that the students that participate in our veterans 3,000 plus I think will be the number that you share or it may have
been in the press release already but and I know that having our students participate in that is a really big deal and the transportation on a school day all of those things I I understand that but for the students that aren't the
more than 40,000 students that aren't participating in that day at least when My students have come home, especially in secondary, they're not doing anything from a coursework perspective at all to talk about Veterans Day. That's a
challenge that because they have a story that they always can share about their grandfather and or great-grandfather and all all the things. And I ask them every Veterans Day, did you get a chance to No, we didn't. We didn't even talk about Veterans Day. That's happened for a couple of years. So, I'm I'm telling the
team that now. We've got a week or so before that happens. Uh, but there were lots of comments about Veterans Day. And I think it's important to say that several years ago, and I don't know necessarily what the most recent research said, but several years ago, our veterans groups wanted our students
to be in school. They wanted it to be a day of education about what has happened and those that serve and and uh respectfully serve and and what that looks like and potentially even having our military folks on the campuses during that day and and really make it a
day of education more so than a day off where that might not be something that happens. The thing that does cause me pause about all of it is it's also not like a field trip day for students to just go and watch the
ceremony. So maybe are we broadcasting it and live streaming it? Probably not. That's a lot to ask. But I'm like, is is there something that that can be done that actually makes what those 300 students are doing for Veterans Day available to everyone to see when it's
happening in real time? It's a lot to ask in a week's time. I'm just I'm I'm just asking just kind of philosophically talking through that because there were there were a lot of comments about Veterans Day. Some from those in the military and some not. And so just
wanting to again to acknowledge the comments that really stood out to me. Um and then just not trying to go down rabbit holes, just wanting to acknowledge thank you for the feedback to the community. And I'll I'll chime in because um I
haven't been sitting on a committee uh veterans committee asking those specific questions, but they do come up in conversations within the community frequently and I'm still hearing that our veterans are happy that our students are in school on Veterans Day. Um I know
in elementary school because that's where most of my experience is. We, you know, Veterans Day is almost celebrated and learned about all week long. like it is a huge deal in elementary school. So, it sounds like from what Dr. Campbell is sharing, we have some room to amp up
that in in our secondary classrooms. And so, I think, you know, that's something that's easily addressed with our teams um so that they do have the opportunity sometime during the day to do something in honor of of Veterans Day. And so uh
that was actually one of the questions or comments I had also um just acknowledging vet veterans day and every year it does come up in in conversation. So thank you for that. Yes. Other board members. >> You have anything board member Cummings
because I was on the committee. Okay. Um what you said your statement all the other things are things >> and serving on the calendar committee has been a great journey. When I first got on the school board, I was thinking there has to be a way where we could
start after Labor Day. You know, how about we just get back to that? And then it became very clear to me that our colleges and universities also mirror what we do. So, what we think might be a simple ask and change always seems to have about as many legs as a as a
caterpillar. Um, but we've evolved along the way and I'm really grateful that we did have spicy conversations because that's what happens when you give people choices. When you give people choices, they give you back a lot of input. And
we were able to glean from the input and then refine the calendar options we were delivering and then still asking for the feedback. And as I read all of the comments, what was the biggest recurring
theme to me was that there is a lot more positive support than there has ever been. So, I know that we're heading in the right direction. I know that we continue to publicly share uh the constraints that you may
want this, but but here's the reality of of why no. Especially since in the old days we had complete local control over when we started and that made life so much simpler because then we could our school calendar could reflect the values
and traditions of our community and we weren't held to well you must start no earlier than August 10th and or you know there there's just so many different things. Veterans Day I had the same concerns. Um elementary seems to have it
down. In fact, I'll be at Maplewood tomorrow morning for an event. And I and I can't wait when we get into Middle and High. And we talked about this that there's two things in play. First of all, if you come from a veteran family, which I do, there's always the opportunity to have an excused absence.
So, if you want to celebrate privately with your family, just do what you need to do to make an excused absence. And in the meantime, it's up to us as a district to make sure that the schools understand that we are in school to
amplify, honor, and teach about um those that have served and given their all. So, I look forward to the continued evolution of our school calendar committee. Um and it's it's been an honor and pleasure to work on it. Um I I
think well, let's see. It's already after November now, so who knows? Maybe maybe I shouldn't be the one to be on the next upcoming committee. And and if that ends up being the timing, then I'll say my sad goodbyes because it's been an honor and a pleasure and and and truly
an opportunity to learn and grow as a leader. >> And we appreciate your commitment to that committee, Miss Thrower, because I know it's a a lot of work. Um Mr. I have just a couple other things. Year round school is why I made a movie. I was going to bring that up at the end.
>> Okay. All right. We'll go to the We can wait to the end. I want to very quickly tell you thank you for the early release on the last day of school. Years ago, I couldn't tell you how many, but at the end of the year, we had several half days. And I know this is one of the things that's so different between
elementary and secondary. Winding up for the end of the school year for elementary is a really big job um because we have a lot of stuff. So there's just a big challenge and so um this this um will be a feel-good for
our staff and so thank you for taking that into uh into consideration and then also I just want to comment on Miss Thrower's about all the positive comments because I agree lots of positive comments but that really I think a lot has to do with our team
because when I came on to the board I certainly learned a lot about what goes into the calendar and so you all have done a great job of sharing with the community all the challenges that we face putting together, you know, a solid, efficient calendar. And so, I
just want to say thank you to everyone for that because really that's a full circle um moment. I feel like it doesn't happen very often. So, anyway, I I was afraid to open it. >> Yes. Yes. So, it so that's good. And we're doing a better job at telling our
story and even what the challenges that we face and how we're trying to overcome them. And so, with that, Mr. Mr. Royers, I'll let you finish up. >> Um, so to touch on the thing, my goal now that the calendar is back falls under me. Thank you, Mr. W House. Um, that we're going to have another meeting
next year for a two-year and advanced calendar. So, now that we're on a two-year cycle, I don't want to wait >> for two years, then do two years at a time. >> Correct. We'll do an annual calendar approval but for two years in advance so that families can plan and families can
say and obviously things can happen between then and we can adjust or need to do what we need to do but that's the goal to do one calendar each year but for two years in the future to get on that cycle. The other was mentioned we do have a school that's on an altered calendar. Um I was waiting to get
consensus on this calendar. I've already got one made and built that I'm working with that school and that administration to develop, but I wanted to get through today to get consensus on these calendars before we move forward with that. So, I have a second work session
already scheduled for this calendar, but I what I'm hearing I think is consensus. >> I may utilize that work session for the altered calendar one school that that way they can both be approved in January when we get them approved. That sounds good.
>> All right. >> That was a much easier calendar conversation this year, Mr. Ays. >> Yes. >> All right. >> All the time. >> Yes. Thank you so much. Is there any public comment? >> Okay. Seeing none, um it's my understanding
that item number nine, workforce housing housing has been withdrawn. That's correct. >> Correct. Okay. No new updates on that. So, um let me move on to meeting reminders. A schoolboard organizational meeting is scheduled for November 11th at 5:00 pm,
followed by a board of directors meeting and a regular school board meeting at 5:30 p.m. There's a school special school board meeting scheduled for November 20th at 7 a.m. The next administrative briefing and work session is scheduled for November 20th at 9:00
a.m. And with that, we will move into board comments. Miss Martinez Young. >> Attorney Powers. >> Nothing from legal. Thank you. >> All right. Dr. Brewer. >> Okay. Just have a couple things for you. Um I want to comment on that. We w we
had to withdraw the item today from the agenda which was the farm-to-school initiative. That item will be placed on the November 20th work session agenda. We um had some difficulty with some of the links and the presentation and so we wanted to we postpone that presentation.
Um, I want to comment on the sitebased budgeting and the combination of positions. And um, since Dr. Campbell brought that up, our HR team is sending a Microsoft form link to our principles this week to just gauge some interest before we start combining job
descriptions. We want to know what what are they even considering? Will it be an attendance and a guidance clerk position? Just some just some ideas. and then we will take that information to begin the job description um process. Um
Dr. Kimble already shared this but we this does not mean that all schools I just want to make sure this is clear this it does not mean that all schools are going to eliminate certain positions. It means that some schools have the option to possibly combine some
positions and do dual roles. And so I just want to make that very clear but m um Miss Morant HR is sending that to principles this week. Um, also on November 20th, we're bringing back the gifted education part two conversation. Mr. White House will lead us in that
presentation and um, Mr. Christian and the team will provide the updates to the goal five community engagement and communication um, goal which is our last goal of the strategic achieve 2026. So um, and those are all my comments.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Brewer. Um, Dr. James, >> thank you. Um, a couple things. Um, just to piggy back off of what Dr. Brewer shared, um, it came up when we started having conversations about Madison Street a couple weeks ago. Uh, and I
would love even as a board member, although I think it would be great to be a forward- facing document because it's not a secret. It's just something people don't have handy. When we merge sites, which we are talking about very publicly for a variety of locations,
what happens? who goes, who doesn't have to go, what is the hierarchy for within our already bargained agreement because it's all bargained. And so I say it's a public information because it is, but it can be a little bit cumbersome. So if there was a way HR could make um a
one-pager flowchart of sorts even just for the board to have, obviously it'd be a public document, but I would even just love to be able to articulate to someone or even just disperse the HR information directly to them. um which would help get rid of some misnomer about what it
looks like when um schools or sites potentially merge. So um or if we go to sitebased budgeting and principles decide to get rid of a guidance clerk for instance in that thought pattern you just shared of an attendance clerk shared with a guidance clerk that may mean the elimination of one or the other
on their site. What then happens to that person? So just something that talks through those situationals. Um, I think that'd be helpful, at least for me as a board member, to share. Uh, where are we on the new strategic plan? I know that the team is working on that. When can
the board expect to see some projections for the next strategic plan? >> Mr. White House can respond. He has been hard at work at this project. >> So, we uh kick off our first meeting on November 17th, so it's coming up really quick. Um, and we'll certainly start
sharing some things in the spring. The initial meeting is really just our foundation to go back through and and revisit our school vision, our district vision and mission and core values. Starting to lay the groundwork for what um some of our key goals will be, understanding key terminology like our
key performance indicators and making sure that we're all kind of on the same page of that process as we move forward. Um, and then we have a lot of surveys and data analysis that will go into the work of developing the strategic plan, um, with follow-up meetings for our focus group in March, um, with the
ultimate plan of having that plan delivered to you all by the end of the school year, but certainly engaging you in the work in the spring. >> Cool. Okay, thank you for that update. Um, board, this is really um, a Dr. James thing more than anything, but I would love to get a calendar invite for
the Christmas parades that we're supposed to participate in. I feel like we've said dates and maybe some of us put them on our calendars. So, um I don't know if we have them handy and can give them to Miss Martinez Young right now or if we can email them to her, but I would just like get a calendar invite of what time I'm supposed to be
somewhere. Um that would help me a lot. >> Sure. Um I will get with Miss Martinez Young and we will work on that. That's a good idea. I'm sorry that I didn't think of it sooner. >> Okay, wonderful. And last but not least, the FCA breakfast is coming up in January. Um I sent Miss Dr. Brewer an email with Miss Martinez Young. We will
have a table for eight for the school board. Um I would like to get an RSVP from board members. Miss Martinez Jung has all the information so maybe she can forward the email to the board. Um please just let us know if you're going to need a seat and then Dr. Brewer can fill the table with staff um
accordingly. Students will have tables too, but I just wanted to make sure we got that on our calendars as well. Um and other than that um really productive conversation today. I'm looking forward to the continued discourse in the community. I will be at the town hall next Thursday uh ready to
answer any question the community has for me. Thank you. >> Thank you, Reverend Cummings. >> Very productive meeting this morning. Um I think we've said a lot. I think we've gotten some clarity on a lot of things, especially with the U facility usage um
with Miss Usher. Great presentation. And um it's lunch time. That's all. >> That's it. >> Okay, that was really fast. All right, Miss Thrower, >> thank you. And yes, we always open our meetings with our uh board commitment
statement. And I think today's work session and conversation is a great example of confronting reality and confronting the current reality. And uh so I I look forward to the continued conversations and and planning that continue to elevate us as a district and
move our kids forward because that's who we're here to serve. Um regarding the Ocala Christmas Parade, I this is just for Miss Martinez reference as well. I don't know, it was over a month ago. I shared with the board that it's December 13th. That's the Ocala Christmas Parade.
It's Saturday, December 13th. Um the organizer usually likes to have everyone there by three, but uh she said herself that school board are not the ones that we're worried about that she's worried about because we always are there in plenty of time and we're not going to hold up the parade because the Yokoa
Christmas parade will start on time. >> Yes. Um, and I think the last thing I want to say is, um, I'm really looking forward to getting an update on the booster stadium conversation and where we are with that. Uh, for a few different
reasons. Um, I continue to be very concerned about the proposed uh, entertainment complex that is next to and within, depending on who wants to argue about it, the farmland preservation area. Um, I I I resent that it's being presented as a great
opportunity for our local kids. Uh, it's hard enough for our local kids to get out to fast and to make it all the way out there for events with, uh, no transportation, uh, you know, no bus service, nothing uh, to me is a fallacy.
I'm also really concerned having uh participated, observed, and witnessed through the years uh going to horse shows down in Palm Beach, which is now known as Wellington, because they car carved out their own village and it's their own tax base. And I can completely
foresee going down the road that people will be coming off I75 and flying into the Ocala airport and turning left and not ever coming into downtown Ocala. So I would encourage anyone that is
involved in the decision- making and also advocating for or against uh this proposal um to think very hard about about the future and what makes Ocala Ocala and as school board members we're uniquely positioned because our task is
to create opportunities for children uh to advocate for um for facilities like booster for enhancement of the rotary facilities which are already you know really well
uh appreciated and used. Um and also uh be looking at opportunities for land we may already have not the school board necessarily but I enjoy the Mary Seich Community Center. I think it has been a complete completeness of of
councilwoman's vision to have that come to fruition and be so successful. There's a lot of land around there and to me that would make a lot more sense to put a basketball complex where students could actually and children could actually access it and families
where it would be on the public transportation line and just make it a whole lot easier uh for for families. And that goes along with my line of thinking of, you know, uh, having development be condensed where development should be occurring, which
is in town within the city limits, uh, and not sprawling out everywhere and, uh, putting a gigantic smear on what Ocala is famous for, what generates billions of dollars in economic development, and then trying to call it
something else. So those are my comments for today. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Thrower. Dr. Campbell, >> here. Here. Uh, we have an urban growth boundary for a reason, but then it doesn't take but three votes to change the lines anytime
they want. Okay, moving on. I do have a couple of things. Um, first of all, uh, thank you for asking the question about the strategic plan. um was grateful to be a part of that process in the past and so I'm looking forward to the board having our role once you get to the
point that and I'm just going to say it now say it loud and say it proud I still believe that what we're going to have with goal five and I appreciate Mr. Christian coming and sharing still believe communication is the foundation of the whole plan and not its own pillar. It's the foundation because it
is interwoven in every one of the other goals and it should be and can be done anyway just saying that but we'll figure out what if we even have pillars who knows what it's going to look like. Okay. Uh I also wanted to just mention notice that board docs is having a ton
of issues and as you all are aware board docs is a 20 to 30 year old program and so there is diligent community that's being rolled out and I know other boards are doing that and I didn't know if we were exploring it what the cost is what
the timeline could be. I know it'd be a huge undertaking. Uh even some still have policies over on board docks, but they're rolling everything else over into community. Anyway, so I know that Diligent is working on that, but just wanted to bring that up and would be
interested in learning more about our transition uh just because board docs is so old it's really difficult to even maintain itself. So I mean that's what we're seeing. Um also wanted to acknowledge that we did receive because we had talked about having a public work
session about it. We did receive the elementary the updated search procedures uh that included elementary. So we as board members received that because we received it the way we did and we had individual briefings. I don't think we're having an actual public work
session about it now because it is a procedure. It's not a policy. So just wanting to acknowledge that we have received it. So there may be people that are interested. It was out on social media last night. There was a lot of positive feedback. A lot of positive feedback from those elementary families.
I was shocked, honestly, very, very shocked. But at least 60 plus comments when I saw it, and there may be way more now, but of elementary families that are very pleased with those procedures. Um, for those of you not paying attention on social media, we were I was at least looking. >> I I was just
>> I was very shocked by that. But anyway, that's just acknowledging again. I'm I'm about acknowledging things that people may not have been aware of. And then two other final things I wanted to say. Um board, this happened in the summer as well, and I I find it funny a little
bit, but also somewhat ironic that it comes to me because I would be the one to bring it up. Uh Tuesday, I received from the Ocala Metro C our annual invoice for uh actually it's our semianual invoice. And I know the last time we brought this up, we asked Mr. small ridge and it was in the summer
that they sent it to me and I don't know why they're sending it to me but it's coming to me. So, u he said that in the summer we were unable to change it but in the December is whenever we could change it if we wanted to. So, I don't know if we want to have a work session about it. I don't want to go into a huge
conversation, but November 20th if we wanted to add that. The invoice is for December 1st. So, that's whenever our rollover happens. We do pay $10,000 a year to the C. And so I know that we've had recent conversations about membership dues and in a budget crunch,
what we need to be looking at everything and what we're getting for it and all of those things. So, um I don't know if we want to if we have consensus to add it to November 20th to have a conversation about a little more. Maybe we can learn the difference in a $5,000 and a $10,000 membership. Uh I know that the city's
had conversation, the counties, they they give way more money than our than we do. Um, but it it still is one of those things like we're providing the workforce that you're trying to put into every so it's interesting that we pay to play in my opinion. But I that's that's
the thought on that. If if we want to have a work session topic on it and everybody would think that's a good idea, then maybe we can just hold our comments to then, >> right? And I just want to share real quickly that I think it's great timing even even though it is delayed uh you know with new leadership coming in the partnerships might look a little
different. So I I think it's an appropriate time. >> Yeah, I don't mind. I think the perspective that we should probably maintain is that the C did run now, trust me, I have heartburn about all of it, but the C did run our campaign for a sales tax, which will get us about $400
million in 10 years. So now, would they run that without our partnership? Um I I don't know the answer to that question. Maybe yes, maybe no. But I would say that $10,000 a year is worth four for four for
what's the number? >> Three to >> what are we getting? 40 million a year. Sorry, I was I had too many zeros for a second. So, I would say there's a trade-off there. So, yes, some things cost money. It cost money, but would they have run our sales tax campaign for us had we not been a member? I don't
know. Um, but we were a member and we did get a sales tax which is giving us about $40 million a year. Well, and I respect that. I think all of that can be brought into if we have it as a topic on November 20th because in other communities like the Realtors Association manages the whole sales tax
thing for Orange County. So, it the C has assumed that responsibility. They don't know and but the Orange County Public Schools isn't a member of the Realtors Association. So, I mean it I I think there's just ample time for conversation. So, if November 20th works for everybody, perfect. She already has
the invoice. We can have the presentation. Last thing I wanted to say is just a thank you to you guys. The the six of you uh five of us all of you know whatever five of you, six of us that were in Tallahassee this week. Uh our
efforts were fruitful and and it's exciting. the community doesn't hear and see what we see and and what we hear and when we're sitting with Senate President's Education Zar I'm going to call her and and she
loves meeting with Marian County because we always come in with fruitful conversations that can really make change uh when we sit with House Education Committee and they're saying wow you know that this is yeah I I wouldn't say any of this is bad policy
and so I mean that's that's strange way of saying you're on the right track. And so I I'm just grateful that we took the effort. I know it is a lot of effort, especially if you drive up and back in one day. Um it it's a lot of effort to to be there for those
conversations. Uh but and today uh actually I'm missing it right now, but the Florida Schoolboard Association Legislative Subcommittee is meeting to approve potentially that very kindergarten language that we we were presenting. I don't know that it will get approved by FSBA as their platform,
but we already had it ready to go. So there there's a lot of good things that came out of that. I'll also tell you because I was there a little bit later and and did go into the education the Senate Education Committee meeting. Uh Craig Damon of Marian County Public
Schools product, you know, he uh was there with the Florida High School Athletic Association and they were the presentation. So just for information sake, nobody paying attention to what's happening on the Florida channel, probably in committee this week, but the whole presentation for two hours was
actually talking about bringing coaches stipens out of the collective bargaining agreements potentially and what that looks like. I don't know that they'll be able to do anything legislatively honestly because it's never going to supersede a collective bargaining agreement unless the the uh union agrees
to it. Anyway, uh it it was just interesting to be present because that that's some conversation I know that I have thought about in the past of what that looks like. Um and how coaches stipens, athletic coaches stipens have stayed the same for 30 plus years when
teacher salaries have continued to increase, but it was anticipated that coaches were also teachers and that's just not reality in a lot of our sports and in a lot of our schools now. So anyway, it was it was really interesting and fascinating conversation. And if you're interested in that topic, you can
go check it out. Florida Channel from um what was that? Where were we? Tuesday. Tuesday's education senate um meeting. Uh but yeah, thank you board and and Dr. Brewer for being there. It was time well spent and we are on the forefront of
making real change not just for Marian County Public Schools, but also for the state of Florida and education policy. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Campbell. And with that in my board comments, I also had a thank you for the board because I was unable to go um this week. I had a
commitment with the public ed foundation and teacher of the year interviews, which is a pretty hefty um lift. And so um I was with you in spirit because I was following your journey as the day went on. And I too think there is so much value in that work, Dr. Campbell.
And so I appreciate you leading the charge and I'm I'm sorry that there was a conflict on my part. um this year. But I do appreciate I don't want to say a sacrifice because I think it's a it's an investment also, but it is a commitment for you all um to take that time and be
up in Tallahassee advocating for what you believe and what you experience to be the best for our students. So, thank you all for that. Um just a quick reminder that Friday is tomorrow, Friday's already here. Um the leadership conference for John uh John
Maxwell leadership is tomorrow at Church of Pope if you registered for that. Um I will see you in the morning. Um next oh Saturday we have a funeral for Miss Rushing 9:00 a.m. at First Baptist Church. Um she has there's been a
request that we wear lavender um her favorite color. Um hope to see you there. um as we reme remember that uh amazing young lady. And also next Tuesday uh the Veterans Park is having a Veterans Day program with Dr. Campbell
mentioned earlier. Um I hope to see you all there. And I think that is all I have for you today. So that being it and there's no further business. as your
chair for the final time. I will adjourn us at 12:30.