Heat. Heat. Good evening and welcome to the July 8th, 2025 meeting of the Marian County School Board. is now called to order. Mirroring and modeling the way our students begin each day, I ask that we observe a moment of silence at this
time. Please join me. Thank you. Dr. James, would you please read our commitment statement? Surely. 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. Thank you, Dr. James. For the courtesy
of those listening to the meeting, I am requesting everyone in the audience to please turn off their electronic devices or put them on vibrate. Later in the meeting, up to 30 minutes will be provided for individuals to address the board on matters concerning the operation of the Marian County School
System or the school board only. Presentations to the board are limited to 5 minutes and are televised. If you wish to address the board regarding a regular agenda item or matters on which the board custom customarily takes action, you must first complete a peach
form located in the lobby lobby. If you wish to address the board regarding a public hearing or a student discipline matter, please complete a lime green form. These forms must be fully completed and received to the board clerk no later than 5:40. The procedures applicable for each are
on a separate sheet of paper. Good evening, Miss Martinez Young. Please call the role. Good evening, Dr. Allison Campbell, District 1, here. Mrs. Lorie Conrad, District 2, here. Mr. Eric Cummings, District 3, here. Mrs. Nancy Thrower, District 4, here. Dr. Sarah James, District 5,
here. Dr. Danielle Brewer, interim superintendent, here. Mr. Jeremy Power, school board attorney, here. And I will note that Dr. Campbell's appearing telephonically, and all the rest are present physically. Thank you. Dr. Brewer who will share our inspiration and lead the pledge of
allegiance for us this evening. Thank you. Mr. Chad Frasier will come to the podium. He will introduce our special guest that will lead us into the pledge of say an inspiration and then lead us into the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Conrad, Vice Chair
Cummings, interim superintendent Brewer, and board members. To open tonight's meeting, we are very proud to shine a spotlight on a program that continues to transform lives here in Marian County. AVID, which stands for advancement via
individual determination. Please join me in welcoming Miss Emily Cook, AVID coordinator and elective teacher at Forest High School. Miss Cook has been instrumental in cultivating a college and career ready culture, empowering students to believe in their potential
and pursue ambitious goals. This evening, she is joined by two of her AVID students. Leila Slay, class of 2024, who is already leaving her mark as a proud graduate of the program, and Sophia Leretti, class of 2025, who
recently walked the stage as a proud AVID senior. Miss Cook's work reminds us that every student deserves a champion, and that with the right guidance and support, determination can become achievement. Her story and the stories of her students are exactly the kind of
inspiration we celebrate as a district. Let's begin tonight's meeting inspired by what's possible when passion meets purpose in our classrooms. Miss Cook. Good evening, Miss Cook. Good evening. Thank you for having us today. I know people would love to be
inspired and who better to inspire than our students. Just as uh Dr. Sarah James said, "We put students first." I would like to introduce both of my students who are going to tell you the impact that Marian County Public Schools has had on them and putting them onto a
successful career going through college and local MTC in order to achieve their dreams and passions. Good evening everyone. My name is Sophia Leretti and I am a graduate of Forest High School's AVID program. As a freshman, I arrived at Forest High
School from across the United States with no previous high school experience and no knowledge of forest high school's accelerated programs. Even worse, I arrived just in time to miss the first semester of my freshman year and had to start the second semester with classes I didn't quite want to take. Once I was able to properly choose my classes in
sophomore year, I was placed in AVID and wanted nothing more than at first to switch this class for an art elective. Over the course of one year, however, this class alone greatly shifted my perspective of where my future and my priorities laid. This one year in AVID soon became two and even sooner became
three. As I progressed within this course yearbyear, it gave me the confidence to challenge myself and equip me with the resources I needed to take more rigorous classes. Though I never joined Forest CCAP program, I have since graduated high school with six AP classes and a few dual enrollment credits under my belt. Now, I am a first
generation college student with zero previous understanding of how college operates or how to prepare myself for it. Before this program, I would have never considered college. In addition to this, I lived off one income and have no college fund set up set up by my parents. Lowincome and lower middle-class students like me have been
greatly aided by the AVID program for its extensive coverage of a wealth of college preparation steps, processes, and payment options like scholarships, grants, and loans. If not for AVID, I would have never pursued the Florida Bright Future Scholarship, and a school like UCF would have never been a feasible option for me. AVID started
with foundational skills for success in high school, but interwoven within this curriculum was a foundation for success beyond it. The most crucial aspect of this program is that it not only provides necessary resources to succeed within a college or career, but it also empowers students to achieve such such
success without its help. This program embodies the adage that knowledge is power. And alongside this, it embeds strategies for self-driven independence and success within our youth. From my personal experience within this program, I can say that it has the power to change students lives so drastically for the better. And in turn, it supports a
brighter future for our community. Hi, good evening everyone. Um, so I just want to start off and say that AVID is absolutely lifechanging. Um, coming into my coming into my sophomore year, I had a really rough freshman year and it was
obvious that I needed something to get me back on track and something to really get me in line and really get there because I felt like I had dug myself in this hole that was impossible to get out. And I wanted better things for myself and I wanted to be better. And I just needed something that could keep me
in line, give me the tools, the guidance. Avid gave me absolutely everything. I now am able to go up to anyone and I can help them with just about anything that they would need to be helped with regarding anything with college readiness. It like it's I know
it like the back of my hand is because we do extensive work on these things. I mean from my sophomore year when I joined AVID, I was already learning how to get scholarships and how to apply for colleges. I felt like I was 20 steps ahead of everyone and I was just what 30
steps back and it it really really helped me and I loved helping others and not only with all the skills that it's given me but all the leadership things it's really helped me with what I'm doing in college. I'm now um at my college I am the student government president. I really wanted to get in
somewhere and really be involved. I craved that family and community that AVID gave me at Forest High School. So I really needed for I needed to be involved in something and make change in wherever I was at because that's what I felt like AVID let me do. So with that I
mean we do a whole bunch of things. We go to conferences for FISA which is every community college in Florida and we all go and we do intensive leadership trainings and we do it to get flight certified so that we can go and we can just be better and teach people more
things and enhance each campus to make sure every student has a successful and smooth education journey. So yeah, this inspiration is made possible because you guys have funded Advid at Forest High School. So we look to have more of our community coming back and
inspiring you even more. Pledge, Miss Cook, will would one of them lead us in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, we would like to take a picture board. Would you like to walk down there? Here we go.
One, two, three. Again. Everybody take one step toward me, please. There we go. Here we go. One, two, three. Couple more. Go. Look now at least.
Okay, Dr. Brewer, I think you also have some special recognitions for us this evening. Yes. I would love to bring Miss Megan Magamal to the podium. She is with the public education foundation. She's coming forward to introduce a former
Maring County teacher of the year who has been leading her colleagues around the state in becoming stronger classroom teachers and school leaders. Welcome, Miss Magal. Good afternoon, Chair Conrad, Vice Chair Cummings, school board members, and interim superintendent, Dr. Brewer. One
of the main goals of the public education foundation's Golden Apple Academy is to elevate teachers. In our academy bylaws, it is stated that our academy members, our Golden Apple teachers will serve as community liaons
to promote the visibility of excellence in education. So tonight, we are accompanied by our Golden Apple Academy members. Academy Chair Lindseay Bigalow will be here any minute. You'll see her coming in. Immediate past chair. Coming
back up is Emily Cook. And our 2024 teacher of the year, Miss Jennifer Brown. And she is here to bring special attention and recognition to an extraordinary group of teachers within our district. So, Miss Brown, I welcome you to join me to share the recognition
details. She's coming. Good evening. How are you guys today? Good evening. I learned about this high impact teacher core program throughout my journey as a teacher of the year this year. And when these per when these
teachers were first notified about this program, many of them across the state think it's a spam email, like they don't take it seriously. And so that really prompted me to um find out more about the program and to be able to celebrate and accomplish what they've done. So I would like to invite Cara Brady from
Stan Wearsdale Elementary, Jenny Hosac from Sunrise Elementary, Joshua Joy from Lake Middle School, and we have two others that were in this cohort this year. Kristen Wilson from Stanton Wearsdale Elementary. She's
unable to be here. And Cvette Santiago from Marian Oaks Elementary who was unable to be here, but um these teachers were invited to join this cohort from the Department of Education. And there were only about 200 teachers invited to
join this to apply to join this and there were 50 selected in the 2024 25 school year. Maring County had five of them. Wow. That is incred. Um so this prestigious recognition reflects their ability to make a
positive impact on student achievement. They have demonstrated um significant gains over the past three years with their students. And so that was one of the things that really made the state it stand out to the state. Um it takes talent, it takes passion and an
incredible amount of hard work to reach this level of success and we couldn't be prouder of what you've accomplished. Your commitment doesn't stop at your classroom door. So this year um they have embraced support and coaching opportunities through the state through the high impact teacher core to develop
skills that will empower them to assist other educators in achieving the kind of transformative results that they have seen in their classrooms. Um their impact is felt not only by their students but also by their peers and it's clear that their journey of excellence is only beginning. Thank you
for setting a standard of excellence in Marian County and for your unwavering dedication to our community. Congratulations. And Emily has something to give them from the Golden Apple Academy. All right. Thank you, Miss Brown.
Okay. Thank you, Miss Brown. We would love to come down and take a picture and celebrate with you all. That's all. Oh, she's down there. Somebody's phone. It might be Kevin's phone. Campbell on it.
Yeah, I got a Miss Magum, I'm gonna ask you to go to that side. What that was? Didn't sound like it broke. Everybody, what was that? Okay. Okay. Are we ready?
Yep. Okay. I recommend approval of the agenda for the July 8th, 2025 schoolboard meeting with the materials in the board packet, those materials distributed to board members at the meeting, and the audio recording included as part of the
official record of the meeting with the exception of items D17.1, D17.2, D17.3, D17.4, D17.5,
D17.6, 6 and D17.7 that have been placed under discussion regular agenda items. May I have a motion on the superintendent's recommendation? So move. Thank you, Reverend Cummings. Second. Uh thank you, Miss Thrower. All those in
favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 5-0. Miss Martinez Young, please provide the proof of publication for tonight's school board meeting. Notice for the July 8th, 2025 schoolboard meeting ran
in the Ocala Gazette on June 27th, 2025. The proof of publication has been attached in board docks under proof of publication. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the minutes for the May 27th, 2025 school board meeting? Motion to approve the minutes. Thank you, Miss Thrower and Reverend
Cummings. Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. May I have a motion to approve the minutes for the June 5th, 2025 administrative
briefing and work session? May I have a motion? Motion to approve. Thank you, Dr. James. Second. Thank you, Miss Thrower. Are there any additions or corrections to the minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor say I.
I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 5. Informational items. The school district used a construction management delivery method, including a guaranteed maximum price to perform construction work on this project. In order to allow the district to purchase materials through
the owner direct purchase process to save sales tax, the construction manager needs to return the funds to the owner via this deductive change order. The purchase will allow the district to save approximately $13,38045 in sales tax. The superintendent or
designate has signed and approved the change order. Per board policy 6345, the superintendent or designate is authorized to approve and execute any construction contract change order that will be b that will be binding upon executive and executed by the
superintendent or design. The superintendent or design shall report each change order that she approves to the board at the board meeting that follows her approval. the superintendent or designate. Approval of the change order shall be entered into
the official minutes of the board meeting. Board, this concludes theformational items for today's meeting. Good evening, Attorney Powers. Please explain the rules governing the persons who wish to address the board this evening. Thank you, Madam Clerk. How many speakers do we have?
We have one speaker that'll be off air. Okay. So, that will be done at a later portion of the meeting. Correct. I will then uh abstain from reading this now and just allow us to continue on. All right, the 9.1. Thank you. May I have a motion to
approve consent agenda items C10.1 through C16.2 with the exception of items D17.1, D17.2, D17.3, D17.4, D17.5, D17.6, 6 and D17.7
that have been placed under discussion regular agenda items. May I have a motion? Motion to approve. Second. Thank you, Miss Thrower and Reverend Cummings. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes 50. May I
have a motion to approve the special data share agreement with Curriculum Associates LLC? So move. Thank you, Reverend Cummings. Second. Thank you, Dr. James. Dr. Mr. Brewer, you have some information on this item. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. We actually have
coordinator of elementary curriculum, Miss Jamie Brazington, here with us this evening, and she's going to share um some information about this item. Thank you, Dr. Brewer. Curriculum Associates offers the reading and math toolbox for teachers in grades K5 to
support differentiated instruction in both whole class and small groupoup settings. This toolbox provides educators with a comprehensive digital collection of instructional resources including teacher-led lessons, interactive tutorials for previewing
lesson content and assessment that assessments that measure student mastery of grade level benchmarks. Additionally, the diagnostics supplies detailed data reports highlighting each students strengths and learning priorities, effectively guiding instruction
decisions and targeted interventions. Also included in this agreement is Elevation, an all-in-one solution for English learners in English learner educators. This platform provides educators with actionable data, effective instructional activities, and
classroombased strategies that improve language acquisition and content learning for all. This current purchase to totals $369,959.93 leaving a remaining balance of $280,40.7 for schools to utilize with this vendor. Thank you.
Thank you board. Any um comments or questions? Okay. All right. Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 50. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the
independent contractor agreement with SLife Interpreting LLC? Thank you, Reverend Cummings. Second. Thank you, Miss Thrower. Dr. Brewer, you have some information to share with us regarding this item. Yes, ma'am. And like we've done with
similar um items, we have Miss Williams Jones. She's our director of ESC. She's here this evening to share information on items 17.2, 17.3, 17.4, and 17.5. She understands that you have to vote on
each one individually, but she will provide an overview um at this time. Good evening. Good evening, Chair, Vice Chair Cummings, and interim superintendent Dr. Brewer, and board members. Tonight, there are four independent contracts presented for your
approval. Indep interpreter contract with sign life interpreting. Interpreter contract with flag concepts. Excuse Miss William Jones, can I ask you a favor? I'm having a hard time hearing you. Can you try picking up the mic for me? Sure.
So, I'll start with the contracts again. That's much better. Thank you so much. No problem. So tonight there are four independent contracts presented for your approval. Interpreter contract with sign life interpreting. Interpreting contract
with flag concepts. Occupational therapist contract with live tolearn inc. And physical therapist contract with Brenda M. Collins. The total cost to the district for these four contracts is $335,000800
$3358,831. Thank you very much. Board, do you have any questions or comments for this item? No. Okay. All right. Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes 5. May I have
a motion to approve the independent contractor agreement for um with the flag concepts? May I have a motion? Motion to approve. Thank Thank you, Dr. James. Um thank you, Reverend Cummings. Any discussion? All those in favor say I.
I. Any Thank you, Dr. Campbell. Uh motion passes 5-0. May I have a motion to approve the independent contract agreement with Live to Learn Incorporated? So move. Thank you, Reverend Cummings. Second.
Thank you, Miss Thrower. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 5-0. May I have a motion? Thank you, Miss Thrower. Dr. Brewer, you have some information on this item for us.
Yes, ma'am. We have director of mental health and wellness, Evette Del Nodal is here. Also, we have Amanda Steckman available um for questions, but Miss Del Nodell will give us an um information on this item at this time. Good evening, Board Chair Conrad, Intram
Superintendent Dr. Brewer, and board members. On the agenda this evening is a request for the approval of the mental uh of the Maring County Public Schools comprehensive mental health plan. Each Florida school district is required to develop and implement a mental health plan outlining the management and
utilization of the mental health assistance allocation funds. Um these funds are provided by the state to address specifically address mental health needs of our students. The plan was presented at the May 22nd work session. Uh and the mental health plan
and framework is also routinely reviewed and assessed to ensure we continue to improve upon current practices, adjust to make sure we meet new needs and challenges and maximize the impact of our services. Thank you very much board. Any um
questions or concerns on this item? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes 5. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the revised school start stop times for Liberty Middle, Oyola Middle, Horizon
Academy at Marian Oaks Middle for the 2025 2026 school year. May I have a motion? Motion to approve. Thank you, Dr. James. Thank you, Reverend Cummings. Dr. Brewer, you have some information on this item. Yes, ma'am. And we have two members um
that will present to us this evening. We have Melissa Kinard, area superintendent and Eric Oonic, supervisor of transportation. They will provide information on the start stop bell times. Thank you, Dr. Brewer. Good evening, Chair Conrad and board members. Tonight,
we are bringing the 2025 2026 revised school start stop times to the board. Included in the changes are Liberty Middle School, whom is going back to a sixth period day, which will adjust their dismissal time by the 16 minutes. Oyola Middle School will remain with a
sixth period day with the same dismissal time that they had this past school year. In addition, the principal at Horizon Academy has requested to adjust the start time of their student day by 15 minutes later than this past school year. The student dismissal time remains
the same. The teacher start and end times remain the same as last year. And this adjustment allows teachers to have a full hour of collaborative planning once every other week together and gives them that full hour to plan with their teams on the other days. The start time
also would allow our buses at Horizon Academy to arrive on time as they would have an additional 15 minutes each morning ensuring our students are in class on time. Thank you, Miss Kiner. Oh, anything else? I didn't know if you
were going to talk about the transportation portion. That covered it all. I'm here just for questions in case board. Any questions, comments, concerns? Um I I'll just make a note if that's okay. Chair, it appears though we're making a
essentially a non-standard change for Howard um Horizon Academy to meet the needs of the community. And it's allowing essentially a buffer of 15 minutes on the front end and then essentially the 15 minutes on the back end. Is that
Yes, ma'am. Um what we have out there obviously that's one of our busiest areas as far as traffic and uh um creates some issues for us with ontime arrivals. Um so when it was brought to our attention that this is a solution
that the principal was okay with, um it seemed like it was a good fit for both sides. Um, next year when the new high school opens, some of our pairings will be a little bit different, but right now our pairings for Marian Oaks are with Dunell and High School and some Dunell and Middles and there's some uh some,
you know, there's some tight frames there when we try to two and three tier that. Okay. Thank you for the clarification. I always appreciate when we while we do try to standardize everything we do to keep it uniform, when there are unique circumstances that require unique solutions, we find ways to make those
changes so that we're reflecting the needs of that specific community. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. James. Anything else? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed?
I motion passes 5. Thank you both uh for being here this evenings. Board will move on to committee reports and concerns. There is a school capital outlay certax oversight committee meeting scheduled for July 9th, 2025 at 400 p.m. The next administrative
briefing and work session is scheduled for July 17th, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. There is an independent citizens referendum oversight committee meeting scheduled for July 17, 2025. With that, we'll both go into board comments. Miss Martinez Young.
No, Madam Chair. Thank you. Um, Attorney Powers. I have nothing further. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Campbell. Thank you. I have just a couple of items I wanted to bring up. First of all, um
July 26th upcoming is the back tochool community give back event and registration is now available at ocala foundation.org. So families can go ahead and sign up for their location of their choice and there will be more than 6,000
backpacks I believe that are distributed that day. Also wanted to say um grateful super grateful to the whole team for everyone's hard work in helping us increase our letter grade as a district as well as several schools that increased or maintained their letter
grades as well. Um I uh texted my children's principles because both of their schools increased letter grades year-over-year and so just really grateful for all the hard work that the team put in. Uh but I would be remiss as
your outgoing legislative liaison to not also mention that it is a great reminder that the legislation that was proposed this year that obviously did not pass but has potential to pass in the future uh where they would be requiring schools
and district grades to fall on a traditional grade scale of 90 to 100 as an A, 80 to 89 as a B. the state department of education would have a grace period to rework the scale scores and the categories um because if we were having that scale
in place today, district grades across the state would be quite different than what they were this time around. So um super grateful again that we've improved a letter grade by state standards and hopeful that we will be able to maintain that regardless of what the formula
looks like in the future. On a bit of a personal note, I just wanted to make parents aware, parents of soon to be 15year-olds aware of the law change that happened on July 1st that will now require a driver's education course before
students can receive their driver's permits. My youngest son turned 15 on June 30th, so we were able to get him under the old law and go ahead and get his permit on June 30th. And my understanding is the month of July is a
grace period for the tax collector's office that they will be able to accept um both of the new law and the old law. So parents, if you have any students that are turning 15 this month, you might want to go ahead and get their permit if they're able to do so and take
the online course or what have you. Um wanting to wrap up with just a couple of things. is looking forward to the progression of the conversations with upward communities for workforce housing and I'm hopeful that we will have updates throughout this summer. I am also grateful for the opportunity to
participate in this meeting telephonically. So, thank you uh to Mr. Christian and his team for allowing that to happen. And the last thing I wanted to say is I saw on our own social media that we are less than 35 days until the first day of school. So that means any
students that have summer reading that they need to be working on like my own, uh we need to make sure we're moving forward on that. That's that's just a little more than a month away. And also that the calendar for this school year is already available as we were grateful to get two years of calendars underway
at one time. So the school year, this school calendar is available right now. Uh so I know that even right now spring break plans are underway in my household. we're planning ahead because we're on vacation and already planning another one. So, it's a great time to start thinking about those kinds of
things because the calendar dates are already out. So, I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed and safe summer and thanks again for the opportunity to participate telephonically. Thank you, Dr. Campbell, Dr. Brewer. Yes, thank you. And thank you, Dr.
Campbell, for sharing our data and our highlights. I I do have quite a bit I would like to share. Um we did receive our student achievement results this um last week and then of course our school grade was released yesterday and we are
incredibly proud to um be a B district. Um so I'd like just to highlight a couple areas if you don't mind. We um we recognize that we will not be completely satisfied until all students can read and all students are graduating. So, we
recognize that, but we have to celebrate what we have and we have to continue our to encourage our teachers and our students um to continue to work as hard as they are already working. But every year with English language arts, we have seen um every grade level improved over
this past year. Every student cohort moved up a grade which showed progress. We also had um our seventh graders showed our largest grade level growth with 11 um points. Our strongest cohort growth is our ninth graders. They showed
an eightoint growth which is great. Um in mathematics, our seventh grade showed the biggest gain with 10 points. And um we had the more we had more students that scored level three in math from 23
to 24 by one point. So, we're excited about that. Also, with biology, we outpace the state, and that's what we have to do when we know that we are in the um when we're behind the state, we have to outpace them. And so, that's
what we're recognizing with biology. Biology scores have continued to improve over the last four years. And this um from 22 to 24, they've increased from 53 to 66 percentage points. So, that's a huge growth. Um and our growth which was
six points outpaced the state which was four points. So those are highlights um for biology. Our civic scores which we have already shared in the press release but our civic scores rose 10 points which doubled the states. Um so that's
incredibly um impressive for our seventh graders that are taking civics. Also, our US history scores improved for the fourth straight year um from 63 in n in 2022 to 68 in 2025. So, those are great.
Um these results show that we're moving in the right direction. There's more work to do. Um but and our focus remains on every student every day. I also have some exciting eight advanced placement scores that I'd like to share. These results were received yesterday and as
you know, Mr. White House was very quick to um retrieve the data and share it. So, I'd like to highlight these um scores. Marian County students took 3,557 advanced placement exams this year. That's almost 300 more than last year.
Um we had 8 1,811 students took at least one exam and 132 more which was 132 more students than last year. So, we continued to see um growth with students enrolling and participating in our advanced coursework. Maring County
students um scored three or higher on 69% of all exams taken, which is seven points higher than last year. And this is the fourth year in a row that Marian County students increased the pass rate um and the number of exams taken. So
those are that's really impressive and we continue to be proud of all the students that take that risk and um add that advanced course to their um schedule. So I have a couple other upcoming board meeting dates I just want
to share with the community um so you're aware that we have our achieve 26 updates beginning in um our next work session. We begin with our goal one which is student success on July 17th. Our goal two which is safe in our
positive environments that will be um updates will be provided during the work session on August 21st. Goal three which is talent management will be will take place on September the 18th. Goal four operational efficiency on October 23rd.
and we will finish our goal five updates which is community engagement on November the 6th. Um so those are some upcoming board dates and then last but not least Dr. Campbell shared the community um event which I'm thankful she already shared but that is on
September 26 and on I mean July 26 and on July 22nd we um the I will provide an update to the C Belleview um group and if anyone is interested in the community
they have encouraged me to encourage you all to register online for that breakfast event. It's $10 for breakfast. But those are all my comments this evening. Thank you very much, Dr. Brewer. Um, Miss Thrower, thank you. And I hope everyone is
enjoying the what seems to be a rapidly passing summer. And um, also looking forward to returning. It'll it'll be here before you know it. And it continues to just uh humble me how much the community pours into our kids and
our schools. the the number of school supply drives and not just school supplies, but you know, clothing. Really so many so many supplies that kids really need um to be able to be ready
for school every day is just I would put our community up against any community when it comes to doing their best to reach out and help pour into our kids. So, that is so appreciated. And Sher Conrad, thank you again. And I just heard today around town that we'll be uh
having the opportunity whoever wants to participate, I think it's Sunday, right, the day before school starts. Yes. And you'll probably mention that I do more. But I I wanted to share it because that was mentioned to me when I was at a chiropractor appointment today and and it just made me feel good about
our our neighbors and our our community and that people are really interested and I've had so many questions about the information that's been put out there regarding school grades and um just education in general in Florida. it
seems like, you know, one is gloom and doom and the other is more positive and and and what are people really supposed to think and and what I would say from my years of experience in Marian County is that, you know, climbing the mountain
is is what you have to continue to do to get to the top. And you hear all these saying, slow and steady wins the race. No gimmicks. Uh take responsibility for what still needs to improve. celebrate
what is is going well and continue to provide our community with accurate information and some startling information that that I have learned and I think this explains why it's so
difficult to to get to an A. We have kids that are in the 97th percentile when it comes to proficiency and we tend to see them here for our recognitions. kids that are just doing amazing and there are a lot of them not just in the
college prep courses although those are super important too but in career and technical education getting industry certifications. We know that they're going to walk out of here prepared for whatever next step they're going to take in life and hopefully their education
will continue through the years and they have positioned themselves to not have to go into debt and mountains of debt to do that. So that's great. And then we have kids that are at 12%
proficiency. And so with my love for children, I start looking into that more deeply. You know, where are these kids and and what seems to be the some of the top issues so we can address them and and we're doing that. But when I look at one of our
highest performing just regular elementary schools where the kids get bus there and the parents can take them if they want to, but it's just a regular elementary school and it is a consistent a their average daily attendance is well over 90%.
the kids that are struggling far and away. The attendance in the schools that they are attending rarely beat the mid 80s. And if kids are missing that much school
and they're already behind because maybe they didn't have some great start in prek or didn't get the great start that they needed at home for all kinds of different reasons. they're already behind the eightball and being able to make that up is such a challenge and
that's truly where climbing the mountain happens. That's truly where we have to lift our teachers up and everyone that works with our kids, which is everyone in our school system one way or another, especially on social media. Hey, we know
what our problems are, but what are each and every one of us doing with our actions, our words, and our deeds to lift up our children, your family's children, your friends family's children. There's so much that can be
done, little things. And if you want to know more, call any of us. We're we're happy to talk. There's so many opportunities to give a little time, give a little money, give some of both. It's it's continues to take the whole
community to help everyone rise and the districts that are making those A's consistently year after year after year. Don't don't be lulled into thinking that every single one of their schools is an A because they're not. They have schools
that are underperforming as well, but they have managed to close that proficiency gap. So, it's a lot narrower and it just makes it so much more um to celebrate and so much better for our
kids because public education, it's their their option to improve their circumstances over anything that they've ever been faced with. So, those are the stakes. The the stakes are high, but the rewards are great. And that's what makes
it feel so good to celebrate the winds that we are having while continuing to acknowledge the mountain that we're climbing. So don't lose heart because if you lose hope then you'll have nothing. And let's just all think about what we can do individually, collectively, and
as a community to continue to move us forward. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you, board member Thrower. I appreciate and and agree with all that you shared this evening. So, thank you for those uplifting comments. Was really great. Dr. James,
thank you. Uh, I don't have a ton of comments tonight. I want to give um board member Thorougher did a wonderful job articulating I think thoughts shared probably by all of us. Uh, parent involvement is the key indicator to student success. Um, that that is
unequivocally proven in all data. And so, the more parents are involved in a student's education, the more successful the student will be. And so we encourage uh parents to get involved. And if they have questions about how to get involved or creative solutions to getting
involved, uh we are we're a team full of solutionoriented folks and we'd love to figure it out. But lots of success across the district. We also have areas that are going to need continued improvement. I'm I'm grateful with Dr. Brewer's leadership uh along with Mr.
White House and the rest of the executive cabinet all the way to the custodians that are supporting the school staff every day on campuses. We're going to continue to focus on student success and meeting students where they are and identifying our shortcomings and our shortfalls and
working towards being solution oriented and making sure that we're closing the gap where we need to close the gap, but also letting people fly that are doing amazing jobs. You know, it's wonderful to just a principal that's been consistently an A. Let them rock and
roll. Let them do what they're doing for their students and their teachers and their staff on their campus. Uh because it's working and let's find creative ways to make sure that we're giving everyone an opportunity to find success. Uh I'm looking forward to uh next week we have leadership summit uh with Dr.
Brewer and the rest of the team. So I know as a board member I will be there in the morning on Tuesday uh just to be a part of learning and growing with the leadership team. Um Miss Usher hasn't had the opportunity to share updates but she shares them privately with the work
getting done on some of our campuses this summer in OciOla Middle School and seems to be going really well. And so we have lots of stuff. We have two new schools that are getting finished up. Uh, and I did want to know, I imagine we're doing a ribbon cutting at some point for the two new schools. So, I
would just wonder if we could get that on the calendar because I know as we get to back to school season, it gets very busy. I have personally never been a part of opening a new school. I don't know if the rest of the board has. So, um, do we do the ribbon cutting before school starts or not? Just kind of
understanding that. If you have an answer now, that's fine. Otherwise, we have um we have a plan, but I don't have specifics. So, I'll share that at a later time just because the calendar gets so busy as school gets started. And I know personally, I start really trying to schedule school visits and visiting with
staff. So, my calendar fills up. So, I want to make sure I prioritize those opportunities to do ribbon cutings and really celebrate the beauty of our two new school sites and what we're doing there. So, um lots of really wonderful things are happening this summer. We only have less than five weeks, I think,
until school starts. time goes very fast in the summer. And so I'm looking forward to getting all of our kids back onto our campuses. I know for me as a as a parent and an educator, there are so many students who are so much safer and their bellies are so much more full when
they're on our campuses and we can ensure they're getting fed and they're getting all of the safety and health things that they need. And so I always look forward to students returning to campus so we can ensure they have everything they need. So I think I'll close with that. Thank you, Dr. James. Reverend Cummings.
Uh thank you. Good evening everyone. Um this has been a fast summer so far. Uh things are moving at a rapid pace. Um Dr. James kind of brought up something that I was going to ask or address. Um she brought up about the ribbon cutting
ceremony. Um in the past it wasn't a ribbon cutting ceremony. It was a cornerstone laying. And um I didn't know if we were planning to do a cornerstone ceremony or whatever, but I think that's what it was done in the past. So, I'm hoping that we'll get some information. You don't have to give us
Well, Mr. Mr. White House can provide some if if you would like it to happen right now. Great. Welcome, Mr. White House. Oh, it's it's not it's not on yet. Good evening. All right, let's try that again.
Uh so we will not be doing a ribbon cutting in the sense you would typically think of for a business opening. Um primarily because we did a groundbreaking ceremony and our timeline is really tight now with getting everything set up in the school and ready to start before we get going. Um, so we're going to work with the
principles to set up a celebration of the start of the year for our new schools, which is what we've typically done with our prior openings with Legacy, with Marin Oaks, some of our other schools that we've opened recent decades um planned within the first month or so school where we can actually have students present um and make it a
more exciting event for all those who can partake and and be a part of the celebration, the start of that school. So, we're going to get some dates lined up with those two principles uh that will work with their schedules and and make sure we share that to you as soon as possible. Thank you, Miss W. Yeah, thank you very much.
Thank you. Um and with um us being on summer vacation first, I I want to I want to start somewhere. Um I want us I want everybody all our students to please be safe during the summertime. We we got so many things
that happen, accidents happen, and it just seems like at some point, I think I shared this with someone, it's like every summer or every so many months, something tragic is happening with our students. And I just want to encourage our our families, our kids to please be
safe. Um don't take unnecessary chances on things and and just just do the right thing. um accidents happen, but um I I um I I I hate to hear about tragedies that
happen with our students and our our school family and it seems like it's getting to be very routine within our district that we're dealing with those. Um so please please be safe. Tonight, um, we saw some of the reasons or some
of the things that are helping us to become a better district and our, uh, inspirations with the AVID and with the, uh, the high impact teachers that showed up tonight. Let me say this, there's a lot of people that would say that we're the worst
school district ever and we're this and we're I always hear the negative stuff. I actually, frankly, I get tired of hearing all the the negative stuff. I I love that's why it's important Dr. Bureau that we do have the inspirations and the the positive things that happen within our district because there is a
group up there as people that feel that we are just the the bottom of the barrel and we're not and we never have been and I don't think we ever will be. Um it is our goal. I believe that this go this this board since I've been on the board whether faces have changed I believe
that the the goal of the board is always for us to be successful for not just the board to be successful but for our students and our schools and staff to be successful I haven't met u people in our district that want our schools to not do well that don't want our kids to do well
I've always sensed that everybody's that come into this this business that comes to these schools day after day that they're vested in making sure that we make a difference in the lives of these kids. Avid shows that these two young lady, one young lady said that that you
know uh from uh some challenges in life, she's doing some things and and to be getting the leadership skills that that we need. That's important. And so, um I I want to say to the community, don't believe all the hype on all the negative
stuff because it's just not true. There are so many things that are happening. Are we winning? Are we winning? Have we won the war? We haven't won the war, but we're winning the battles because we're in the trenches every day. We have teachers, we have staff, we have pers, we have people, bus drivers, everybody's
on the same page working to do this. So, Mr. Thor, thank you for for starting it off because you're right. You're right. Our community and and I I I would prefer to hear the negative stuff. I don't I don't care to hear the negative stuff. I if I want to hear solutions. I want to
hear you came to help. I want to hear that you're a community partner. I want to hear that that you're investing in in this district into making sure that every kid succeeds just like we are. Um so um know that we has we we made some improvements and we're making
improvements. Dr. Brewer just gave you a list of areas where we're making improvements and becoming proficient. We're not there yet, but we can get there. I believe that we have the people in place and the people doing the right things to help get our get us there. So,
um I'm I'm happy about the um the improvement in our school grade. Um of course, there's always going to be places where you got to make some uh do some improvement. That's that's anywhere. That's in any business. That's in any entity that there's going to be somewhere you got to make some
improvements. And we'll make those we'll make those adjustments. we'll make those things happen so that everybody can be um moving in the right direction. So we have we have moved forward. So I'm going to celebrate the small battles because those small battles going to help us win
the big war. And uh I'm grateful for every staff member in our district that is making a difference in these kids' life. That um that come to work every day with the mindset that they're going to make a difference in the kids' life. That they're going to send a a better a better kid home every day because that's
what it means to come in education that you're going to send a better kid home every day. That they're going to go home better than they were when they came in that morning. So, uh congratulations to our our district. Uh we got to celebrate, but we got to celebrate fast because we got schools starting in 35
days. So uh so we can't we can't party too long, but we can celebrate those small victories knowing that we're going to win the war in this battle. And and and as Dr. Campbell said, um one of the things, two things that I know that will help us to be very successful, and I'm
not a I'm not a traditional educator as you guys are, but I do understand that you got to know how to read. You have to know how to read. If you're going to be successful in school, you have to know how to read. So parents, I want to say
this and encourage you. Please get the kids to reading. I don't care what it is. Let them read. My parents let me read every They let me read everything. Stuff that I probably shouldn't have read, I read because reading was the key. if I can
read it, if I can understand it, if I can comprehend it, then that that open up the world. So, parents start early reading with these kids. There's so many resources out there um for these kids. I was in BJ's the other day and I was just like I was in the book section se
section and I'm looking at all these amazing books, these little books for kids and I'm saying to myself, where were these when I where were these at that made the noise and did all that kind of stuff? Why we had a little thing was that you had to turn it around and this is a this is a this is a duck duck go quack you know where are all these
good toys and stuff good books with built-in toys you know so there's so many there's so much stuff out there that these kids can get that we have to invest in we invest in $100 sneakers we invest in in them looking good but let's invest in them reading and if they can
read uh I think that opens up the door for them but then the other most important thing is they got to be in the seat they have to be in the seat. Not being in the seat, you cannot you won't get to the level that we need to
be. And I and I I was looking at the numbers as well, Mr. Throw. Um we we're we're making a dent in attendance, but attendance got to get much better and much better and much better if we want our district to be so community that's complaining about it.
Let's help get these kids in school. Let's help get them to the bus stops. Let's let's help get them to where they need to be. Let's help do those things. Let's create reading camps or whatever it is that that we can do to make sure that our kids are see if we I think I really believe I really really really
believe if we can if they can read and if they can get to school they'll be successful. Those the two fundamental things I just truly believe and if that happens um all the other stuff I believe discipline is tied to all those things because when kids can't read when they can't when they can't uh they become the
class clown because they can't read and so we got to make a difference. We got to start stop looking at just penalize we got to figure out what's the root causes of things. And I believe that once we as we continue I won't say once as we continue to to make some implementations of different things and
different strategies, we're going to continue to grow. We're going to continue to close that gap and we're going to continue to be a better school district. So those are my comments for tonight. Thank you, Reverend Cummings. um real quick. Uh my fellow board members have been very insightful um this evening and
said a lot of great and truthful things and many of them were on my mind too. So I'm not going to repeat them all, but I I do want to start with just a few things. Um we talked a lot about um dedication from our families, our staff
members, but we also have our staff. um you know, they're they're here this evening here to answer questions, help help move the challenges um that we face every day forward and and to conquer them. So, I just want to say thank you to the to the staff that's here um
spending their Tuesday evening um working with us. So, thank you for that. Um and board, I I do again want to say thank you to you. Um I I'm just grateful to be on a board where every single person truly cares um
about the education of each child. And so I'm very grateful uh to be a part of this team. Um and I agree, Reverend Cummings, I think every every staff member um every person that is a part of the district is is working to help our
students um achieve more and to do better. Um, Miss Thrower, I want to thank you for your statement. It it was just perfect. I don't need to elaborate, but thank you for sharing what was on your heart this evening. Um, and
Reverend Cummings, you touched on safety. Um, and that's something I I struggle with also when we take our moment of silence at at the beginning of our meeting. Um, it is for me it is always in prayer. And one of the things that I always pray for is for the safety
of our students and our staff. Um because it is uh hard on the heart um as kids do silly things uh and sometimes don't make make great choices and so um it's just hard. It's hard on families.
It's hard on community and so continue to be safe. Um have fun but do it safely. Um, also, Reverend Cummings, I wanted to tell you thank you. He I saw that you signed up for the advocacy advocacy committee for FSBA. So, he will be taking that on. There was some
discussion a couple of weeks ago about that and we had that spot to that spot to fill. So, he's taking that on. Um, it's official and Miss Thrower is going to be our backup um our alternate. So, thank you all for stepping up to that.
Um, also for the IICROC committee next week, um, I have two commitments. So, Reverend Cummings is going to come for the beginning of that IROC meeting. Um, as I have a teacher of the year celebration that's near Orlando. Um, so anyway, we're we're going to tag team
and and make sure that we get all of those things covered. Um, and with that, um, I will wind up my comments for this evening. and board. I believe we need to go into a recess because we have an off-air item um to address and so I will
recess us at 6:35. Thank you.