Good afternoon. We are going to call this workshop of the Martin County School Board to order. Um, just a quick note, item 4.04 has been moved to the regular schoolboard meeting on February 17th.
So, we will hear that presentation then. Um, we will now have the pledge of allegiance to the United States of America. Miss Falls, would you call the role, please? >> Mrs. Russell, >> here. >> Mrs. Roberts, >> present.
>> Mrs. Pritchette, >> here. >> Dr. Morardi, >> here. >> Mrs. Powers, >> here. >> Okay, next up, we have public comment. Do we have any public comment cards? Miss >> Perfect. So, I'll read this while we're getting those cards up here. Citizen
input is vital to the improvement of our district. Most times, your remarks may be listened to without comment from board members or s or the superintendent. This does not mean they are heard with any less intensity or concern. Where appropriate, the superintendent and staff will
investigate your comments and report back to you and the board with an answer. We thank you for taking the time and having the concern to make our district better. Your presentation to the board should not exceed three minutes. Letters or statements from others not present can be given to our
clerk who will be sure that each school board member and the superintendent receives a copy. To keep our record straight and authentic, our policy does not permit you to read the statements of others into the record. Okay. Our first speaker is Kelly Robboto
followed by Jessica Anderson. Hang on one second. We're having a little trouble with our mic. It's still Sorry. You'll get your full three minutes. >> Yes. If you'll take them to Miss Balls
right there. Oh, thank you. It's on. Yes. Do we want to just have them come up to one of these microphones? Yeah. Why don't you come up here and you can you can have a seat. Yeah. Go ahead and
sit down. We won't make you bend over. Um, I think you there is a button you push and it should be a green light. >> Okay. Can you hear me? >> There you go. >> All right. Good afternoon, chair, board members, and superintendent. My name is Kelly Robboto. I'm speaking today as a
parent, a PTA leader, and on behalf of many families across our district. Parents want to be partners in creating healthy, supportive learning environments at our ch for our children. That is why federal law requires every district to maintain a wellness committee that includes parents,
educators, health professionals, dis uh administrators, community members, and pol so policies are shaped by the people who most directly impact them. This is not optional. Under federal guidelines, wellness policies must be developed, implemented, and reviewed with meaningful public parent participation.
Unfortunately, that is not what uh what families are experiencing. I attended a district meeting and I was the only parent in the room. The rest of the meeting consisted of food and nutrition service team, one district employee representing the physical education and a representative I believe from the state. There was no active outreach for
parents voices. There was no structured opportunity for collaboration. This is not what meaningful stakeholder engagement looks like. When parents are absent from these conversations, not because we don't care, but because the process does not invite or support our participation, critical perspectives are
lost. One clear example is snack bar. Most uh schools operate, I shouldn't say most all schools operate under the opt out system. Currently, students are automatically allowed to purchase snack items unless parents take special steps
to restrict access. Courts across consent in Knox v Suie and Janice v AFSCME. The United States Supreme Court held that individuals cannot be charged or bound without affirmative a voluntary
consent. In the Planet 49 decision, courts ruled that the pre-checked box or and opt out systems do not constitute valid agreement. In bankruptcy and court consumer cases, courts have rejected and deemed consent based on ina based deemed
consent based on inaction. The legal principle is consistent. Inactivity is not approval. Failure to object is not agreement. True con uh true consent requires affirmative act. Yet our current system treats parental silence
as permission. That is not par uh parent choice. That is presume presumed consent. And in a public school system serving minors, dealing with health and well-being, and operating under compulsory attendance, the standard for consent should be especially high. Most
parents never intentionally choose daily access to chips, ice cream, desserts. They are simply never asked in a meaningful way. We are busy. We miss emails. They join midyear. They assume nutrition policies align with district wellness goals. An optin system would
change that. a simple annual form portable uh portal selection. Thank you. Okay, next up we have Jessica Anderson and then Kelly Bryant. Carrie Bryant, sorry. >> Is this one?
>> Um, hi. I won't take up too much of your time. I'm Jessica Anderson. Um I am here representing as some parents and um community members from Sewind Elementary. Um my kids are right here. They attend. Um I just wanted to voice a
few concerns. We found out today that there were potential plans for um closing Seawind it seems like and um basically moving us into Anderson Middle School as a K through8 school. and um I
work in the ESSE department. I'm somewhat concerned about um plans for what that would look like for our ESC students. We have a pretty large unit um and we do a lot of work. I I kind of love that our school is um a good
close-knit family. Um and I really just wanted to come and say that I well I didn't have a lot of time because we just found out today. So, um, anyways, I'm looking forward to hearing what y'all have to say and then what the actual timeline and plans are. Um, it
was didn't feel feel very transparent to me as both an employee and a a mom with children in the public school system to find out this way. So, that's it. >> Thank you. >> Uh, next up is uh Carrie Bryant.
Hello, my name is Carrie Bryant. I am a parent and PTSA member of Seawind Elementary. And much like Jessica, forgive me, I feel very unprepared as I only found out about this topic in this meeting uh a mere two hours ago. Uh I am actually receiving calls and text
messages from very concerned parents right now with more questions and concerns than I could ever attempt to cover here. Um, as a parent, I'm I'm very concerned about the thought of these young age group, meaning the
elementary school being combined with a middle school of much older kids. Middle schools, you know, known for having a really difficult time in in behavior and in changes. And um, I don't believe that's a um a great thing to to be
merging these. Um, I'm really disappointed in the total lack of transparency. I feel like I I don't even have the opportunity to get together any sort of, you know, more concrete points or even questions and concerns because we're just finding out about this um,
you know, a a day of. So, I look forward to hearing more and hoping that going forward we can have more information about possibilities of things so that parents can figure out what their um, concerns might be and questions might
be. >> Thank you. um for so we do advertise all of our meetings at least one week in advance and if you would like to I suggest that you reach out to Miss Falls then the superintendent's office if you
want to receive notifications in another way or to our PIO. Um but we do advertise them all of our meetings one week in advance. So, our agendas do drop on the Tuesday before a Tuesday meeting.
And we always meet on the first and third Tuesday of the month so that you'll know. And we also do broadcast live on our YouTube channel as well as you can watch them if you can't make the live meeting, you can watch them um after. So, just so you'll have that
information. But I guess we should get a contact and put that up on our or our PIO so that if parents want to get notified that would be helpful. Thank you. >> Yes, Mrs. Roberts. Um, so I'm concerned.
Was notification sent out that Seawind was closing? Was that >> okay? No, that wasn't >> I know we get the same >> okay. All right. Thank you. >> I think it's just in the presentation
there makes some reference to when we do a KA conversion and the same uh situation is with Warfield Elementary as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, we'll hear that in the presentation. >> Um Chad Samuels is next up.
That's it. So, if there's anybody here else that wants to speak, you need to fill out a form and hand it to um our head of safety and security. Thank you. >> All right. Uh good afternoon, school board members and Mr. Maine. My name is Chad Samuels. I'm here today
representing the food nutrition services. I have dedicated the last 15 years to this district and I'm currently serving at the Anderson Middle School. Okay. At the heart of the issue is one question. Who is in charge of students
or who eat? Well, we believe the choice belongs to the parents. Parents know their children's schedules, their metabolisms, and what they know better. Sorry, I'm not really good at public speaking. I'm more of a cook. All right.
All right. Whether a student buying snacks is up to them or up to their parents, I believe it's up to the parents to decide what they should buy and everything. Um, I know that elementary school first, I think VPK
through first grade should be limited. Um, but after that, I don't think anybody should be regulated on who eats and what snacks. All of our snacks are smart smart snacks
and uh they're regulated by the sugar content, the fats and proteins and stuff like that are in those. And uh hopefully our presentation today will clarify all that with everybody.
And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Thank you. >> Thank you. And uh lastly we have Nadia Taylor. >> Hello. Good afternoon everyone. Um so I want to first uh please excuse the lack
of preparedness because as my other co-workers at Sewin just said we just found out about this a few hours ago. So I drafted something. Um my name is Nadia Taylor ordered. I am the prek ESC teacher at Seawind and I'm speaking this afternoon because we were
informed only two hours ago that Seawind Elementary may be closed and absorbed by Anderson Middle School and just that timeline alone kind of raises concern. Uh, Seaman Elementary serves a very unique population of students, including
preK and exceptional student education students whose needs are developmentally, emotionally, and instructionally different from middle school students. These children thrive on consistency, routine, specialized
spaces, and staff train specifically for early childhood and ESE instruction. Absorbing an elementary school, particularly one with a high ESSE and early learning needs into a middle school setting is not a simple logistical shift. It affects student
safety, sensory environments, transportation, staffing, compliance with IEPs, family access, and the overall emotional well-being of very young learners. We are also deeply concerned about the lack of transparent communication and stakeholder input.
Families, teachers, and support staff, those who work with these students daily, have not been given adequate notice or opportunity to provide feedback, data, or alternatives before this proposal even surfaced. So, we're not here to simply just resist change.
We're just asking for due process, uh, time for meaningful community engagement, a clear plan addressing early childhood and ESC compliance, data showing how this move improves and not disrupts student outcomes, and assurance that the voices of educators and
families are being considered before irreversible decisions are made. Our students are not numbers on a spreadsheet. They are like our children with specific needs, relationships, and routines that matter. Decisions of this magnitude deserve careful planning,
transparency, and collaboration, not urgency without clarity. We respectfully ask the board to pause this decision, engage the C1 community, and fully evaluate the educational and developmental impact before moving forward. Thank you so much for your time
and consideration. >> Thank you. And just to be clear, there are no decisions being made today. This is a discussion. And this is the first presentation by the superintendent and his staff. This is completelyformational today and I think you'll learn a lot
more during the presentation. Um in the last meeting we had we are engaging um outside entity to survey parents, teachers, all stakeholders and communities about um any changes that we
made. We have nobody has decided that this is happening yet. So, next up we have Susan Gibbs Thomas followed by Rosa Mendoza. >> Good afternoon, Chair Powers, Vice Chair, and members of this board. My name is Susan Gibbs Thomas. I'm a Martin
County resident. I live out in Indian Town. um being made aware and realizing this is just a workshop. I just wanted to add a little more I guess um information and facts to the conversation as we move forward. Um I'm
sure that this board is very well aware of these facts because you see them at the joint meetings that is held between the school board, Martin County, uh the village of Indian town and Stewart. In it states the residential non-residential projects.
And if you go that by by that alone, the residential development out in western Martin County in Indiantown alone, what has been pre-approved in Indian Town is over 3,000 houses or
housing units. Even if you're very conservative and say just half of those, maybe half of those will have children on. that's the case then you're down to 1500 and if it's just one child that's an extra 1500 kids
out in Indian town now I don't think in preliminary and I don't have all the in-depth information information but preliminary looking it over the numbers that I am seeing on this sheet with the
projected uh campuses is not going to be able to hold an extra even 1500 kids. And you're talking about an elementary school that is the very heart of the
Uptown community in Indian Town. It is the heart that has been there for decades. And to do away with that and then run against up against a whole influx of more students, I think it is uh setting
Indian Town up for failure. So, thank you. Next up is Rosa Mendoza. Good afternoon. I'm Rosa Mendoza and I'm representing Warfield's first ever PTA member. Um, hearing about Warfield is
very sad. Um, especially with what's going on in any town right now. We had a couple of issues already. We cannot mix our little children with the older kids. My opinion, especially with everything that's going on, especially this weekend. That was a very scary
situation. Imagine telling a six-year-old what's going on. Oh, hey, you're going to go what if something else happens, the gummies, for example. I think is as a parent, the anytime kids are special, it's language barrier is one issue. And especially right now, the
parents are scared. They don't they don't want to leave their homes. They don't want to go out because they're scared. They're discriminated. I think um a concern a a pro we should be able to reach out to the parents in Indian town. If we can have a meeting uh hall meeting there in Indian town to reach
out to the parents that don't have transportation, don't know the language, you know, so we can try to reach out to them. That's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Thank you. And last is Christy Cole. Hi, my name is I'm gonna say Miss Kirsty because I've been Miss Kirsty since
1998. But shout out to Sewin. That's my home school. And I don't know what all is going on, but they are wonderful school. Going back to why I'm here is basically just to I guess say my piece about the whole ordeal, the way it went
down with the snack bar. I know that Kelly has where's Kelly? She has a passion to educate our children as so do I. I do believe it starts at home and then after that we can go into the classroom and I think that we could come together, collaborate and share our
thoughts and our ideas and maybe make a video and show our smaller students prek kindergarten and start a whole new world of seeing, you know, healthy snacks versus snacks that you think aren't healthy. But now that we know that our
snacks are healthy, they are USDA approved, they are smart snack. I do believe that we're going to go into that later on. There's a presentation I didn't know about. But for me to feel like that an opinion can dictate
a change in our policy or our program and based on facts that weren't facts given at the last board meeting when we were talking about ice cream. that is not what we serve. And so at Citrus Grove, I continue to sell. I don't know what the
other schools lost in their revenue, but hopefully that can be made up some way because I do think working together and getting the facts straight about what we do offer and that we all are here to educate and nurture our children properly because we love our kids.
Martin County is awesome and we want to continue to do that. But I think communication is key and I think Kelly and I, we could work together in the wellness program. We can do something to get it out there. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, that wraps up public comment. We
will move right into um the very exciting employee benefits insurance update. Okay. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board, Superintendent Maine. I'm Don Calderon, the director of risk management and employee benefits for the Martin County School District.
And alongside me, I have Dustin Keane with the Garin Group, um, senior benefits consultant, and Gabrielle Swain, who is our benefits consultant. Okay. So, um I have printed hard copies for you all. Um you can follow along um either digitally or through your your
hard copies there. But um today is February 3rd, so we're at the February board workshop. And I thought it would be a good idea to just kind of start by recapping where we were about a month ago. So if you recall, Dustin, Gabrielle, and I were up here and we presented the medical insurance claims
with Sigma through November. Um Dustin presented the not to exceed offer um for the 26 27year upcoming starting on July 1st. We do have a 10% not to exceed renewal offer um from Sigma as part of
our um bidding process where we went out to bid last year. Um so there was like five we had a lot of healthy discussions um and and conversations but there was a couple of board follow-ups that I wanted to go over from January uh workshop before we kind of get into our
presentation today. So the first request was to um look at a timeline with the latest possible board decision date. Um so Mrs. Roberts, this was one of your requests. Um so I wanted to let you know um last year we uh were we had a special
board meeting on April 1st. Um, and the reason why we did that was because we had worked with our finance department and our payroll department to see how far along the process in the calendar could we go in order to still make our deadline for multi-checks for open
enrollment um in order to get another month of claims in. And so after our January 6 board workshop, we sat down with those same departments and we had a really healthy meeting that week. Um but one of the things that came to light was um the main reason why we had done that
last year was um if you recall we were trying to get February 2025 claims from Florida Blue in order to help with our negotiations with the the finalists um for the RFP process. This year is a
little bit different. So, um, the way that Sigma is reporting the claims to the Garing Group and the way they're able to access the data, um, is on a much quicker turnaround time than Florida Blue. So, um, by the March board
meeting, um, we will have February claims. So, we don't need to wait till April 1st. Waiting till April 1st does not get us any additional months of of claims. So we wouldn't be able to get March claims until mid April, late April, which at that point would be too
late in order to process a bentech, complete our open enrollment, and get all that information over to our payroll and finance departments for a multi-checks. So I just want to let you know that we did meet with that. However, um the February claims for February 2026 will be the last months of claims that we'll be able to use for
negotiations. Okay, so that was the first follow-up. The second followup was um we had had discussions about ensuring that Sigma knew that it was one of the board's um priorities to have a 0% increase on the high deductible health
plan. Um as you know we have three plans that the board offers. Um only two currently have active enrollment. Um the PO plan which is now the OAP plan um has frozen. No new enrollment. um since
2024. Okay. So, um Garen Group heard that. They're going to continue to negotiate that with Sigma over the next couple of weeks. Um there was also another request to take a look at what a single high deductible health plan offering would
look like. Um we did complete that. Garen Group took a look at that, presented that at the insurance committee meeting which took place last Monday, January 26. Dustin is prepared to um review that with you all today and
tell you about the pros and mainly cons spoiler alert of of doing that. Okay. Um the fourth um takeaway was um to learn a little bit more uh information about the district's wellness program. So, um,
just so you know, our, uh, we have a building healthy lifestyles wellness program that is basically run by our department, the risk and benefits department with some input from the Garing Group. Um, and is funded by Sigma. Um, I know we have a lot on the agenda tonight. So, if you would like me
to go over that, we have those slides at the end of the presentation. Um, if not, if you want to look at it yourself, just let me know what the board um, pleasure is. We can go over that as well. But there's about three or four slides on that as well. Okay. And then the fifth takeaway was to talk about um a
professional employer organization, a PEO clinic self-funding. Um we we had some discussions with the with the superintendent. Um, and we feel like instead of waiting until January of 2027 to to come back and have those
discussions, we staff feels like it would be um prudent to maybe come back in June to have those discussions so we can start that earlier, but then really kind of focus the next couple months on our renewal um because we're going to be
back before you next month um as well um at the workshop and at the uh March board meeting. and then we have to get ready for open enrollment. So, um with with your blessing, we'll be back in June and that'll give us enough time to work with finance to take a look at um
all of those u variables that go into that. Okay. So, um that is mainly where we were, what we've worked on since. Um and then I just want to kind of just give you an overview of how um the presentation for today is going to look.
So, um, very briefly, Dustin is going to go over the claims, um, that have come in since we last met on January 6. So, we have another month of claims. So, we have December 2025 claims to go over. Um, we are also going to go over um the
renewal options um in preparation for tonight's board meeting, knowing where our claims were last month and knowing that we had the 10% not to exceed. Um the Garin Group did do some homework and they have presented several different
options to you. Um, several of these were presented at the insurance committee meeting last week on Monday the 26th. And then we also have two additional ones that were hot off the presses that are um, going to be first taken a look at tonight. Okay. So,
having said all that, um, I'm going to go ahead and pass the mic over to Dustin and he will give you an update on where we are from a claims perspective. >> All right. Well, good afternoon. Um, just to briefly walk you through claims experience, uh, we do have an update of
claims through December 2025. Um, as you can see here, the loss ratio was not what we hoped for. It was a bit higher at 123%. Um, we're targeting 85% just as a a metric. So 123% is one of the
highest we've seen in the last year or so. Um, if you go to the next page, um, you'll see that the HMO, which has historically been a decent running plan, is now running at the highest loss ratio
of the three plans. Um, 143% for December on the HMO, 75% on the high deductible, and 80% on the PO. Um, two reasons for this. One is as you get more enrollment out of that PO for those high
utilizers into the HMO or the other plans, right? They're incurring more cost. That doesn't help. Secondly, there could be a reason due to Sigma's discounts on that HMO not being as deep as Florida Blues discounts, which is
also driving up claims a little bit. So, long story short, um high loss ratios not helping our negotiations, kind of going in the opposite direction. However, good news is we still have that 10% cap on the table. That's not going anywhere.
Um, this page just shows, you know, in medical practice, uh, we use the rolling 12 months of claims experience, which would be currently January 2025, right, through December. Um, that's the rolling 12. The next two months, right, so we'll
get two more months of claims or we'll continue our negotiations. January and February of 25 will fall off of that rolling 12. Unfortunately, those are also decently good months, 88% and and 90% respectively. So, we'll lose
those and hopefully uh the next two months claims are lower than those two months. And that will help. But, um we're we're not very um optimistic, but we're hopeful, I guess, is a good way of putting it. Um the page, yeah, that page
right there. This is just a recap of the large claims. Um you'll see currently through December there are six claimants with claims over um $100,000 totaling 870,000.
to note on the bottom there. Um, there are 29 claimments between 50,000 and a 100,000 that are not showing here since we only pick up at 100 totaling 1.9 million. So, the reason I note that is because we do forecast those claimants
popping over that threshold, which um you know isn't um the the best sign since that is a a large amount of uh dollars that we've seen versus your historical average of these large claimments. Just, you know, from a board
knowledge standpoint, three of the six are cancers. So 50% of these are cancers which has been your highest uh uh diagnosis um from a historical perspective. So now we'll go into your offers. So we
mentioned at the last meeting that the not to exceed is at a 10%. Sigma is showing this two ways. Option A is a 10% per plan 10% HMO high deductible PO. Option B is underwriting the plan
separately, which has been a historical ask by the board and they came to the table and delivered. Um, under this option, the high deductible would be a 5% since that's running the best and your HMO would be 11.5 and the PO 11.8%.
On the bottom, you'll see the per pay deductions by plan and on the left is the current. on the right is what they will be on the renewal just so you can kind of get a feel for how that differs per per option. The next few slides we have a few
different options for the board's considerations. Um you'll see anywhere you see a red number is a decrement to the plan. Again, this is the goal to to reduce the premium. um keeping keeping
in mind that right if they go to use the plan they'll have to pay a little bit more out of pocket but they will save in their their paycheck. So it's just some other options to weigh. Um this slide right here, option number one, you'll see um looking at the deductible on the
HMO going from 2,000 to 3,000 and for the family going from 6,000 to 9,000 and then the out of pocket also increasing from 5,000 to 7,000 and 10,000 family to 14,000. That would
bring the HMO increase down to an 8.4%. So roughly a 1.6% 6% savings by those plan design changes alone. Same concept for the PO and the high deductible, increasing the deductible and out of
pocket for each plan. And overall, that would bring the increase from a 10% down to a 7%. From a per pay deduction standpoint on the HMO, that would roughly be a $6 per pay savings. Just in your mind, that's kind of what that equates to from an
employee perspective. Um, option number two is taking those increases in the deductible and out of pocket a little bit more. So, it's raising them from 2,000 to 4,000 and the out of pocket from 5,000 to 9,000 on the
HMO and increasing those a little bit more would get get you to a 5% overall increase. Something to note here on the high deductible, these changes would get you to a 0% increase. Just to give you an
idea of what we need to do to get to a zero, we did ask Sigma based on your claims now, but the 5% is their their best and final based on how your claims are running. So to get to a zero, we would have to increase the uh deductible to 6,500
>> for the high deductible plan only. Correct. Um this next option number three um we are asked to look at a single option plan. So basically going from three to one high deductible.
Um you'll see here that a couple things which why we're not recommending this option. Um, >> if you look at that single rate for the high deductible plan of $68,98,
that's the total employee only premium. That is 15% higher than it would under a triple option. So, the reason that's happening is because all claims would go into one plan, good, bad, ugly, right?
Um, and that kind of shows you if if you were to if they were to rate the plan how it should be rated, 15% increase on the high deductible where it's coming at. So, it doesn't make much sense to do this. Um, we would recommend keeping it as a third option um because it would
adversely affect um your employees in in one way or the other. But if the board wanted to um discuss this further, we're happy to do so. So, I just want to just take a moment um and just just review. So, everything
that Dustin just presented um was presented to the insurance committee on Monday, January 26. And I wanted to just share with the board um that the insurance committee um unanimous
unanimously uh recommended that the board consider the renewal a option which was the 10% um increase across all plans.
And as you as you may know um and for the public um the uh insurance committee um is made up of um members of both bargaining groups, the MCA apps as well as non-bargaining and MCASA
administrators. Um and some of their concerns as to why they wanted to keep it at the 10% across all plans was to um they thought that that would be the most fair. Um, and they also had stated that
they were not interested in um, changing the deductibles and out-of- pocket max on the alternate renewal um, options that Dustin just presented um, because they felt like that they would be paying
more um, twice like they're paying more per paycheck deductions and then also if they need to use a hospital-based service um that they would be paying more for for that when they used it for their deductible and out- of- pocket max. But um as as a friendly reminder to
everybody listening and um to the public um they are an advisory committee and ultimately it's the board's decision on how you would like to proceed. So um that is everything um that was presented at the insurance committee. So
maybe might be a good time to just kind of pause and take any questions or have discussions. And then there was two other alternate options that I wanted Dustin to go over, but we can do that in a second or we can roll into that however you want. >> Any questions from the board, Miss
Roberts? >> Okay, so just to recap, so A is um giving the 10% all the way across. B is siloing the plans um which means that the high deductible doesn't have a 10%. The other two plans have 11 point something percent. Then the options that
you gave us um for one and two, let's ignore three. For one and two are only looking at siloed plans.
So um do we have any numbers if you did one or two and you did not silo the plans? And the same question then for your 1A and your 2A, which I see you did 1 A and 2 A, which had to do with not touching the high deductible, not changing any plan limits on the high
deductible and just doing it on the other two plans. So I think the the question is if you did these changes, if you did either a one 1A or two 2A um and you did not silo the plans, what that would end up looking like?
>> Yeah, we we can go back to Sigma and ask for that. um they did not give us those and and just to make sure I'm understanding you correctly when you say not siloing you mean at equal increase per plan so let's say the overall increase on >> so so the same way you have the
difference between A and B right yeah where A is like spreading the increase among all the plans and B is letting each plan stand independently your one and two and your 1 A and 2 A are all like B letting the plan stand
independently but They're not giving us the number of what the overall, you know, I know we're capped at 10, >> right? >> But do those changes drive it below 10? And I would think that they would mainly because you're at a 8.4 8.8. You're at the eight at your higher end one. So I
would think that it is driving >> the overall number down and you're getting better than the 10% Gabrielle. they would still be close to that 7% just 7% across the board but we can get those exact numbers. Thank you.
>> Any other questions? Okay, next. Okay, so um on your hard copies, it's the one I paper cooked for you. So, if you want to take a look at re alternate renewal 1A,
um, I'm going to pull that up here. I'm going to let Dustin speak to that. So, we went to Sigma and said, "Okay, well, what if you just made plan design changes to the OAPIN and the OAP and kept the high deductible health plan plan design the same?"
>> Yep. So virtually um it's titled 1A because it's identical to renewal number one that we pre presented with with the exception of the high deductible health plan having no plan design changes. And the only difference you'll see is um let
me go to one is instead of a uh 2.1% increase on the the high deductible with plan changes with no changes to the high deductible your rates would be at a 5%. The premiums virtually are the same for the other two plans under other option.
Um it's just a matter of if you didn't want to touch the plan design on the high deductible health plan, it would go from a two 2% to a 5%. Um same um similar concepts with renewal number two and 2A. Um it's it's looking
at not changing the high deductible health plan design. So keeping the deductibles out of pockets identical to what they are now. Um and instead of a 0.2% 2% increase with plan changes on the high deductible, you again would get a 5% increase with no plan design
changes. So, we wanted to kind of show you in a in a various different ways. Um, and this just gives you two more options to consider. Mitchette, >> did the committee discuss the reason why
they wouldn't be interested in the alternative? Um, so these two alternatives that Dustin just went over, we received these after the insurance committee meeting took place. So, um, at our next insurance committee meeting at the end of February, we're going to present this
to them there. >> Okay. Thank you. >> We just didn't want to hold back the information from you all. Roberts. >> Um, so when I look at this, for instance, if I look at one A, just as an example,
um, so what you're saying is that if I, if I, if I'm reading you correctly, if I spread it across everybody and I didn't silo the plans, I'm looking at a seven 7.7 overall, that number, and at 2A, I'm looking at a 6.1 overall. Right.
>> Okay. So I have the answer correct to that question from that. >> And then the only other question would be knowing that both 1A and 2A both end up with um a pre end up with no plan
with a zero premium cost to the employee. Right? So I think then the qu it begs the question of what you would have to do to get that zero cost plan to the employee. Does that make So we can answer that for you. Um so
right now um it's $0 per paycheck for the employee to be on employee only high deductible health plan. If you went with either um alternate 1A or alternate 2A, um your
per paycheck um increase for the high deductible health plan would go from $0 per paycheck to $1357 per paycheck. So yeah, so it's $27.14
um per uh per month times 559 employees roughly about 15,000 that times 12 sorry >> it's 182,000 on if you were to absorb
for um the ones that are $1357 for the one believe it is Alternate. That's alternate 1 A. Then >> that's on alternate 1 A for alternate. Is it 2 A? No.
As is renewal A, which is the one that the insurance committee recommended, it would be an absorption of 364,000 for the board if you wanted to keep that a zero cost. Thank you, Gary. >> So, I don't necessarily expect an
answer, but um I'm just struggling with the fact that our high deductible plan has a 75% loss ratio and we're getting a 5% increase on that plan. When you segregate the plans, it just comes down. I cannot believe that Sigma brought that
after all the conversations that we had about the renewal and having a zerocost plan. A 5% increase with a 75% loss ratio for that plan is just pure greed. It is disappointing. It happens every
time they lower the rate to get our business and then the very next year they up it. And it's just extremely disappointing. And I think we should consider um stopping multi-year contracts just specifically for this
reason. So they get in the door, we go through the whole process, which is very expensive to switch plans. It's a lot of man-hour for our employees and for our district, and then they up our rate with a 75% loss ratio. That is
to me unacceptable. I don't expect an answer that but I just uh they'd have to do better. Are there any other questions from the board? >> Do you you have a little bit more on the wellness plan?
>> Yes, I do. >> Well, and I think it's even less than that, Mrs. Powers. If you look at the rolling 12 or if you look at the summary, you're just taking the 75% from the last month, >> right? >> But the rolling 12 is looking like 46%. So I don't know um they need to explain
>> as to how they can take a rolling 12 of 46 or how they can tell a year take a year to date of 55 and decide if there if the plans are siloed why there's anything >> we should be getting a discount I mean
it should be cheaper at this point then right if we're sil if we're truly siloing the plans and you're just looking at the high deductible by itself >> I I don't disagree and we'll will continue to go back to the table and negotiate. Um, something to keep in mind is that the first three
months of the plan year are considered immature because claims are incurred, but they're not paid yet. So, they are adding a maturation factor to those first three months. So, it's still low. I'm not defending them, but just know we will go back and um negotiate with them
to to get that zero. >> Yeah. And if they want to give us the details on their maturation and what their um estimate is, I'd be curious to see what that looks like because >> we have plenty of historical data on the high deductible plan that they have
access to and they had access to that information when they quoted us the rates. So I I think they have plenty of information and this is just disappointing. >> All right. District wellness program Yeah. So, um I wanted I just put
together a couple slides. Um we had a board member um ask about our wellness program. And so, like I said, we have a wellness program that's been around for many many years. I've been here 10 years now and it's was here long before I I have been here. Um but ultimately, it's
called the building healthy lifestyles um wellness program. Um the last probably six or seven years we've been focused on overall wellness. um the eight dimensions of wellness including um occupational, emotional, spiritual, environmental, financial, f physical,
social, and intellectual wellness. Um our wellness program is funded solely on the funds that we get from our medical carriers. So in the past it was Florida Blue, it's now Sigma. Um we get $200,000 a year from from Sigma um to fund our
wellness program. So um this is basically what the wellness program offers. Um we have kind of corporate wellness agreements with um three main providers. Pelaton, Headspace, and Amada. Um Pelaton is what what you're
could be um used to. Um Pelaton offers a um a $10 monthly fee that the district pays for all employees if they want to sign up for the well for the Pelaton app. Um, and that one is kind of considered the the free um app for
employees. And then for those employees that are um already enrolled in Pelaton or if they have Pelaton equipment like the bike or whatever equipment they have um you get $10 off your monthly bill and that is good for um the employee and
then any other member of the family that want to use Pelaton. Um we have Headspace which is a mental health care program um that we have a contract through February of 2027 um that goes above and beyond what is offered medically and through the AAP program.
And then we also have OMA and OMAD helps employees with um diabetes, pre-diabetes, weight loss and hypertension. Um so those are kind of corporate wellness agreements that we have in place. Um, and then we also do other things out in our community, out
in our schools and and departments. Um, we've highlighted this several times throughout the years, but um, most recently we partnered with um, a local um, acai bowl company. We went to every single school and department, provided benefit bowls, um, talked to employees
about their benefits, answered any questions they may have, and it's it's a good way to get out in our school sites and touch base with our um, employees. Um, another um, program and initiative that we do are the biometric screenings. Um, we've been doing this at every
single school site and department um, for the last six years. Prior to that, we've we did that at our annual wellness fairs uh, pre-COVID. Um, but we found that coming to each school and site um, we get a tremendous amount. We basically
um, have four times the participation. Um so over the last couple years we've had over a thousand um employees that are enrolled in our medical plan take advantage of the biometric screenings there. Um we we also get out there and
we do um other programs. If you take a look at at the next slide there is um we do other programs that are focused on those other eight dimensions of wellness um including um digital detox. Um we do
holiday programs um things that you can do with your co-workers or your family members. Um and then we also bring other um programs to the school site. So we have a wellness ambassador program where employees um that serve as a wellness
ambassador on top of their regular duties can earn up to $500 a year for being a wellness ambassador. and they're responsible for um communicating to their staff all of the initiatives that are available to them through the pro the medical program, through the
building healthy lifestyles program. Um and then they're responsible for doing a couple of um specific on-site challenges to their um school or department. And we also have other district-wide initiatives that we use use those wellness funds for. Um in the past, we
used to do flu shot um clinics. We do water challenges. um we bring the mammogram um to the school sites. So we we do a we've done a lot and we do a lot. Um but I wanted to highlight something that um unfortunately we we didn't have enough time to implement
fully for the 2526 year due to that short um turnaround time from board decision to uh medical carrier implementation. But um we are actively engaged with conversations with Sigma to maybe reshape our wellness program for
the 26 27 year and um focus on putting more dollars into our employees pockets by having them um enroll in the well-being solution um wellness program that is run through Sigma. So, one of
the positive feedbacks we've heard from our employees with Sigma is that they really um enjoy the app um the Sigma app. Everything is in one. It's not like Florida Blue where you had to download this app for virtual health, this app for your ID card, this app for wellness.
Everything's in in one app. So, um, one of the things that we're looking at is, um, kind of shifting away from the building healthy lifestyles wellness program, still keeping the, um, the things that are highly utilized or our corporate wellness agreements, but, um,
moving the most of the funds towards a um, incentive based program where employees can earn points and they can um, turn those points into dollars. Um, we're meeting with um, Sigma um, again in a couple weeks. We met with them
following the board workshop when we heard um some of the um wishes of the board to um promote wellness. So um we're excited about potentially reshaping our wellness program and letting employees control their own wellness health and that they could be
um you know putting some more dollars in their in their pocket um for the next 26 27 year and that would be um funded solely by those wellness funds provided by Sikna. So more information on that >> Roberts.
>> So I know you have it but can you get us at some point the user statistics? How many are eligible? How many are using Headspace Pelaton and um OMA you know and this year last year maybe the year before just so we have some. >> Yeah I have it for this year but I can get it back over the last couple.
>> Yep. I just wanted to say for um specifically for Pelaton and OMAD, we pay that um for only those employees that are using it. So if they're utilizing it um we're paying for it and then each of those
programs have um um like um tracking mechanisms within the app. So if they're not utilizing the programs, then they roll off our um our headcount. Um and so we don't pay for them if they're not using it. It's
typically a 90-day. So if they don't log into the app, they don't use it. They don't use the Pelaton app after 90 days. They roll off and we only pay um on a per usage basis. But I'll get you the last couple years. Yeah. >> Miss Pritchette,
>> how is the biometric screening information utilized? So, in the past, um, when we were with Florida Blue, um, it would run through claims and at the end of each plan year, we would sit down with Florida Blue, we
would have these things called placemat settings because there were huge 11 by7 um, printouts and they would take that information um, and put it through their data and we would get a a really good
look on what our population looked like and then we would use that information um to really plan out our wellness initiatives um over the next year or two um as well as information we received from the insurance committee for what
they like from a wellness standpoint. So basically we were using the information from the biometric screenings on an aggregate level that way. Um but then also when the employees are sitting down with the health screener from by um from
health designs um the screeners are aware of all of the programs that I just went over and that the the board has and school district has provided to our employees. And so they sit down with them and they go over each thing how the programs we offer can help them um
depending on the the uh the data they get back from the fingerprint screen. So, you know, it's not just get your fingerprint, get your numbers, get your gift card. They sit down with them, they spend anywhere from, you know, 8 to 10, sometimes 15 minutes with them. Um, so they use the information twofold on an
aggregate level and then individualized. >> Does it ever lead to identifying some serious issues that need to be addressed? >> Yes. Yeah. We've we've had um we've had a handful probably about close to half a
dozen serious um health concerns um that have come out of those biometric screenings. You know, obviously I can't talk about the individual, but um I've been present when we've had um employees that have learned some information about them. um sometimes they forget to take
their medication and you know it's like that but it has identified um issues um as well as our mamograms as well that we've done the mobile mamograms at our site so um without getting to spec specifics but I can honestly say yes
that we have helped a lot of employees over the years with um some serious medical information that they were not aware of. >> I was just interested that it's helping them. I don't need the details. Thank you. >> Any other questions?
>> All right. Thank you guys. >> All right. Thank you so much. We'll have the um the insurance committee meeting in a couple weeks at the end of February. We'll go over the information. Um Dustin is going to go back to Sigma and talk to them about the high deductible um loss ratio and hopefully
get that down to zero and then we will see you on the first Tuesday in March. >> Perfect. Yes. >> And and just to be clear, we cannot switch carriers this year. This is just a renewal. And when would be the earliest we could switch character carriers if we don't like what we're
seeing from Sigma here. >> And are you referring to next next plan year? >> Yeah. Just when would be the earliest time to switch? >> So next plan year um we would start looking at that in December. >> Okay. December of this year an RFP out
if we don't because like Miss Mrs. power as I share those concerns about some of these renewal options we're seeing. Um, so that's good to know. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Next up, uh, Tyson Waters, the
Arts Foundation. Um, I asked that we add this. It's really just for the board to be able to put your eyes on the first draft of the lease and give Tyson any feedback that you have, any questions, any additions
um that we want to make to that lease as we are in a 30-day time crunch. So, now's the time to talk about things that you want to change, add, delete. Um any board member Dr. Morardi?
>> So there is there an option to buy the building in that lease? Tyson and >> yes um one of the provisions they had actually had proposed two provisions. One an option to purchase and then one the right of first refusal. I've talked to them about deleting the right of first refusal just because I think it complicates things. There is an option
to purchase. Pretty generic right now. Um what we need to talk about is kind of from the last board meeting was defining a period where they had that option and then the parameters of the option. Typically it would be um we go out and we get appraisals and the appraisal sets
the purchase price and then they have the option to elect to purchase it. They they'll basically notify you, hey we want to exercise our option to purchase. You get appraisals that sets the purchase price and then if they agree then they'll close within 90 days after that. But there we we we I think based
on the last discussion we need to set a parameter as to how long that option lasts so it doesn't last the life of the lease. >> Right. Is there a is there a time frame in there or no? >> They didn't propose one because it came out of the last meeting. My thoughts would be somewhere. So um there is a
construction timeline for them. Within 180 days of the effective date of the lease is when they have to commence construction. And then they've got two years from that from once they commence to complete what they call phase one which I believe are the two buildings closest to ocean. And then phase two has
to be completed within four years of the effective date. So my thought would be somehow tie it relative to that construction period. So if you've got four years to complete construction, maybe set that option period to be within five years so that they've got the opportunity to spend their money to
build everything. And again, so you're protected now. you've got improvements on your site, but they've got that fiveyear window to as a outside date to purchase the property, but it would be on or before whatever that hard date is. So, they could sign the lease and then the next day want to buy it, or it could
be you've got to make the decision by this hard deadline. >> Thank you, >> M. Roberts. Thank you. You have your spreadsheet with you, Tyson? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Um so looking at your um your
itemized numbers. So itemization number one term to be based on the capital investment by the arts foundation with a tiered approach. Um so just hold that in mind while you walk down to 3B where you're talking about
two phases, phase one and a phase two. Um, and I noticed that there was something I think it said that once they start they would have two years to complete whatever their piece is. I think that we should be they should or somebody should be specifying exactly what is in phase one. I know that it
says very generally phase one will take care of the two buildings in the front and phase two will take care of the building in the back, but I I don't think that's really specific enough to tell us what they're going to be what the plan is to do for those buildings. Does that make sense to you?
>> Yes, ma'am. we can add that as an exhibit so that because you've got you'll have the legal description and a couple other exhibits and we can have a concept plan. Um and I'll defer to the arts foundation members are here but we can add an exhibit that sets forth kind of a concept plan as to what each phase
looks like and where. >> Okay. Um and then moving on where we're talking about number 10 where we're talking about maintenance and repairs. um they'll be responsible for all maintenance and repairs for the lease premises. We'll commence on the effective date even before they begin any work on the premises. I think we
need to define the standard of that. >> Okay. >> Like what we mean by maintenance and what we mean by repairs so that there is no misunderstanding as to exactly what they're doing. Um and then that goes to 11 where it talks about they may make improvements or
alterations. Um, which is kind of confusing to me if we're if they're going to be doing I guess I would anticipate that is I'm going to make some alterations to the big building while I'm doing phase one and the front build front two buildings
or something, but that's a little bit off-putting. Let's just put it that way. So it would be um so that the idea would be right up front you're kind of approving you're approving the initial concept of what the approvement is going to be but over this hypothetical 50-year term 20
years from now they might want to make other modifications or alterations to it. That's what this provision is trying to capture is is that they still have to come if they want to change the property and what you've already approved. They have to come back to you and get your
approval to make those modifications. >> Okay. Um in 38 um we're talking about how long the option period is open, etc. Who pays the closing costs? I think we should also be saying, and you do say how the purchase price is determined, you know, etc. Um I
think that's obviously needs to be hammered out. I do agree with you that 39 should be deleted, which is the um the first right of refusal because I don't think that as a government entity we can do the first right of refusal like that. Um, but that all being said, I think that
when you're looking at number one, which is the term of the lease, that whether we're looking at a 30-year term or initial term or whether we're looking at a 50-year initial term, I I don't want to get in a position where um for whatever reason, we're reaching the end
of that term or even we're in the construction phase where they've got two years to finish what they're doing and uh it doesn't look like we're going to do that. So, we now need to extend it. Um, I think if we're specifying the the lease term and we're specifying the
lease amount, right, that those two things need to be contingent on strictly adhering to the terms of the contract. And that if you all of a sudden say that, hey, I can't do this in two years, it's going to take me four years to do do phase one. I think that
should be anticipated and the the lease should or the rent should be adjusted accordingly. Does that make >> it it does and so a couple things. One is in the lease there's going to be requirement that they hit these deadlines. So if they don't commence construction within 180 days, they're in default. They're in breach of the lease.
If they don't complete the construction of phase one within two years, they're in breach of the lease. And you've got remedies, including terminating the lease. So that's that's one thing to address to make sure that they they stay on task throughout it unless they come back to you and go, "Hey, we need an amendment because this happened. Will
you grant us an amendment to the lease to change things?" What I would recommend, and I've talked briefly to the Arts Foundation about would be as it relates to setting the term and setting the rent, you kind of set a a a base understanding of, okay, right off the gate, we'll give you a 20-year lease,
hypothetically. However, if you spend X number of dollars in capital improvements, that will go to 30 years and 40 years and 50 years. So, you've got that baseline threshold and then they've got to demonstrate to you that that you've seen some you've seen the improvements and you've seen the
investment on the property that you're willing to extend the lease. So, you're not exposed right up front of all right, here's 50 years. Let's hope you do what you say you're going to do. So, we try and build a few safeguards along the way, >> right? And I think um the piece I'm
sensitive to is I don't want it to be obviously that we're the bad guys, you know, that that oh, you know, so we we thought we it was all going to work out. Everybody thought that this is the way it was going to be. And now when it's not working out, I think if we contemplate that ahead of time, we can
ameliorate some of the bad guy image of the why aren't you working with them? Why can't you? You know, it's kind of like, you know, >> I I do and I think that's why we're trying to spend the time up front to negotiate a lease that we're but we both go into agreeing to the terms eyes wide and open as to what the expectations
are. So, if if a party fails in those expectations, they know what the remedy or what the consequences are going to be. So, it's it's not going to be surprised if anybody comes back in two years say, "I'm so sorry, we don't have the money to complete it or we can't complete in time. can you extend it another two years or whatever going into
it now they know everyone will know you know the arts foundation knows that it's two years we expect this to be done in two years you've committed to that we've committed to you upon that representation so that if something doesn't happen we know that there's consequences we know them now that there
are going to be consequences in the few years from now >> okay thank you >> any other questions from the board um I would just say um I do want a little Like Miss Roberts said, I would like to see a little more detail in what improvements are being made, especially
um and I'm curious on the 180 days to commence. That's included in the two years. So they commence or you're saying two years from the date they commence. >> So we're looking at two and a half years for the first phase to be done.
>> Yes, ma'am. >> Yeah. So, I'd like to see what is actually entailed in that first phase and along with estimate estimated dollar amounts. I'm not keen on the um based on a dollar amount because of an
improvement because unless it improves the value of our property, it's doesn't all improvements don't make the value of your property go up necessarily. So, >> I just want to be careful that that matches
value. So, because if we get it back and we have a piece of property with improvements that haven't changed our value, >> okay, >> but we've tied up our property for 20 years. I mean, it has we have to have some sort of when
>> Yeah. And I think that's why we need the standards and the specification of what that's going to look like. >> And then I also want to make sure when I was I want to make sure that our schoolboard policies are also referenced in the lease um that they're following those policies.
as well spec specifically as it relates to alcohol. >> Yes. So, I've removed everything referring to the sale or use of alcohol on the property. And there are provisions in here that they have to comply with all applicable regulations
which would include federal, state, local, and schoolboard rules and policies. Okay. >> And I'll make sure I'll I'll double check that to make sure it's very clear. >> Yeah. I made a note about just about schoolboard policies. So I want to make sure that that's in there. >> I will make sure that's added.
>> All right, Dr. Morardi, >> one more question. So Tyson said this is the route that the Earth Foundation wants to go is with the lease with an options to buy. They're not interested in just a straight purchase of the property. >> Correct. I think based on and I'll let them speak to that, but my understanding
is just based on timing to make sure they they comply with the intent to lease is to lock down it under the lease. But that option to purchase is is key to that. And that would allow them the flexibility to secure the property under the lease and then address whatever funding, improvements or other
needs within the next however many years to make sure they can purchase it. And again, they they may be in a position to purchase it sooner than later. But it's it's I think the the lease with the option provides them a little bit of flexibility so that they can secure the property, ensure that they can get funding
from donors and then and then proceed there. ultimately with the option to purchase. >> I was just going to say that brings up the point that was made at the last meeting which was proof of their financial wherewithal to actually
maintain the building and to um start phase one. >> Yes. >> Um because it's two and a half years away completion. So is there and and there's a lot of maintenance that has to happen on a very old building. So we I would like to ensure that they have that
financial wherewithal to do that over the period of the lease. >> Roberts, >> I had one more thing. I had a note, but I didn't read it. So um insurance, I think that we should be improving the insurance that is actually there too, so that we there's an understanding of what
that looks like. >> Yeah. So, so we've got an insurance provision in there, but I will lean on kind of your staff to make sure that that the insurance that ultimately ends up in the lease is sufficient for all of your needs and standards. Certainly, >> right? But and I think it needs to have
I mean anticipating say 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, I think it needs to have a clause in there that if our standards change that um that then it would >> change to what you know it would change to what the new standards are. So for instance, whatever our cap is right now
on liability in 10 years from now, that may not be the cap on liability. It may be higher than that. >> Whatever your case, whatever your requirements are from now in the future, they've got to up their policies to make sure that they have at least what you require. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay, I will.
>> Okay. All right. We're going to take a really quick break to get our staff over in the for ready for their presentation will just be a couple minutes. Okay, we are going to reconvene. >> If everybody could take their seats,
please. >> Um, and just to clarify, I did say that 4.04 was moved, but it was actually 4.03. So, 4.04 4 is the item that we're going to hear now. All right. I'll turn it over
to the superintendent really quickly. >> Okay. Yes. Good evening. Uh thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. Uh I just want to directly address the uh parents and the staff that are in the audience that have concern uh over some of the language that was in the presentation, which I believe was a
direct result of uh the some of the reactions that that we've received. Um we are not in a position right now to really want to close schools. Um this is this is something obviously that is a very hot topic across the state. Uh
enrollment is down across the state. There are many districts that are having the discussion and have uh made the decision to close schools. That's not where we're at right now currently in Martin County. Uh but we uh owe the
taxpayers the transparency of beginning the process to have discussions around what we need to do in the future by way of consolidation. Uh properties that we have available that are no longer being
used or underutilized and the amount of money that it takes to maintain these properties and schools that are underenrolled. So with that framework and that context, I want you to know that today, this evening, is the first
step in staff's approach to begin to deliver all of the details necessary to our board in order to make an informed decision. So, thank you for being here tonight and thank you for coming out and speaking up. This process is not going
to be done this evening. This process is going to happen over a period of meetings each month that will allow staff to go deeper into the process and will allow the board to ask additional questions, seek clarification so that we
get to a place where the community at large has had an opportunity to uh weigh in as well as staff and teachers at the schools that may or may not be affected uh and the ability to go through that process. the board chair did allude uh
and she's absolutely right that there was a request for surveys to be done that will be part of the process. You will not hear that this evening. Um but that is going to be absolutely the way we move forward. So whatever information
got out uh today or this afternoon or whatever language uh sparked some some panic uh I will take ownership over that. Uh, as the superintendent of schools, I apologize. That's not the intent. The intent of this evening, and I think you will see that through their
presentation, is to begin a very transparent, open, and honest conversation with the community as well as the board in making key decisions that will set us up on a 5, 10, and 20 year capital project trajectory uh from
a financial standpoint. So, thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Superintendent Maine. turn it over to Dr. Miller. >> Thank you very much, Madam Chair, Mr. Superintendent, members of the board. We have uh put together a panel for you this evening because as mentioned, there
are lots of topics to be discussed. There's lots of expertise required anytime you take on a project of this magnitude and certainly we don't want to leave anything uncovered. We want to make sure that you have all the information that you need. And so for that reason, I'll let everyone here
introduce themselves and the department or area that they represent. We'll start with Dr. Laws. >> Greg Laws, director of assessment accountability. >> Dan Moore, executive director of curriculum and instruction. >> Tracy Miller, deputy superintendent.
>> Mark Seas, director of facilities and planning. >> Renee Tuscilla, PBK, architects. Tyson Waters, Fox McCcluskey Law Firm. >> Thank you. And today's workshop, we have established an agenda to include really
a facilities lens as kind of a part two to the instructional conversation started last month by Mr. Moore and his team. And so this is really from the facilities lens, taking a look at all the current properties. it became evident to us that I don't know that the board has ever been presented with an
entire portfolio of all of the properties that exist under the opice of the Martin County School District. So making sure that you're well aware of what properties are owned, how they're utilized, how large they are, all of those kinds of things. So, putting that together in one place for you, looking
at proposed options or transitions, just the real early stages of proposed options for consideration for how we might better utilize some of the properties that might be underutilized at this point and really looking at some long range concepts so that we can all
begin those planning stages, those conversations, that real deep thinking about what we need to do as a Martin County School District to best meet the needs that we know are ever changing for our population, our students, and our community. Because that's really our
focus is making sure that as those conversations continue in terms of instruction, we want to ensure that our facilities are aimed, and poised to be able to meet those needs that are identified, planned for, and that we're ready to execute and implement when the
time comes. Mr. Secret provides this and I do like to start presentations with a reminder for everyone. You can see indicated in the different colors the school sites that are part of the Martin County School District and you can say see that we're really closely
along the east coast with a few sites out in the western corridor. And if you look at the entire map of Martin County, we're really closely con concentrated. And so as we look at future developments through the county, as we look at growth, as we look at the usage of our
facilities, it's always nice to look back at this map to be able to see where the locations are that we're speaking about. And so the first item on the agenda, the current inventory of Martin County School District owned properties. We do
operate 12 traditional elementary, five middle, and three comprehensive high schools. And then I apologize that last property should be non-school sites and non-traditional school sites are included there. And then we listed the number of parcels because for example
Palm City Elementary, you know, when we built the replacement school for Palm City Elementary, it's not just on one parcel of property. We did have to purchase some homes in that neighborhood in order to be able to put all the services on one campus. So it is one Palm City campus, for example, but it's
five parcels. So, just wanted to make a clarification between the number of schools and the number of parcels because more than one parcel may make up a school. And then for the middle schools, each school has its own parcel. And high school, Martin County High School is actually made up of two. One
is what you would know as the athletic complex and one is known as what you would think of as the traditional school complex. And then the the non-school or non-traditional school sites. Those are properties such as the one that we're sitting in this evening, the school district office. You know, we run the
very unique and very popular environmental studies center. We also have Spectrum U Spectrum Academy. We have the Old Serno Schoolhouse. We have Head Start, Perkins, Gertude, Walden, all of those properties. There are 13
other locations that are not what we would think of as a traditional school site. And so that was provided. There's a link here for the board and I did provide in your mailbox a paper copy that that has um links in there so that you can see exactly where they're
located for anyone who might not be familiar and any member of the public who would like to go on to the presentation. This link here would give you access to everything that is on this slide so that any information that you'd be interested in again as of the location the size of the property and
what is on that property would be available for anyone who's interested. So I do want to pause answer questions um and again the panel is here so the person best able to to give you those answers will chime in. Um, is there any reason, say at Palm
City Elementary, that we didn't do a unity of title and title together? I mean, is that is there a is there a strategy for why we don't do that or is it >> no strategy? I just don't think it was ever discussed or contemplated as a need
to do it. >> Okay. Okay. >> I I don't to my knowledge there's never been discussion about putting all the Palm City or any of the other properties in. I mean, just when we have contiguous spaces like that, it would just >> Okay. >> It certainly would be an option moving
forward to put any of the the parcels that are, you know, a single site together on a unit. Well, and I would just think I would just think is as you're doing if you're doing improvements or you're doing something and you have to worry about water drainage and you have to do that, isn't it easier to do that if you have it all
as one site than if you >> because it's under common ownership. It's not necessary. Again, it certainly could be a matter of convenience just to have a single parcel ID in a single parcel, but not a requirement. >> Okay. Thank you. And just to give a current update of our
facilities and here the we're starting with a focus on the traditional school sites. We are currently um operating at approximately 75% capacity. Now that's an average across all school sites. You will see that some school sites are over
100% capacity at this point and some are significantly under 100% capacity. But if you took the average across the district, put differently, we have about 25% capacity available throughout the district for increased enrollment and increased growth. 16 of our schools are
currently operating under 80% capacity. That seemed to be the the threshold. 11 of our 12 elementaryaries, which are K5 schools, are under capacity, under 80% capacity, with Bessie Creek being our one school over capacity and 100% of our
middle schools. And I bring that to your attention because there has been K8 conversations. And so that shares a little bit about what we're trying to accomplish in bringing the elementary and middle school together because there is are um availability of capacity with
those underenrolled and those with higher levels of enrollment. And then moving on to the properties that are currently what we're calling underutilized. It just means that they are not being used to the maximum potential for the space of those properties available. For example,
building 30, 17, and 18. you know those as the old school board offices. We just spoke about them with the interest of the arts council. That's that northeast corner of Steuart Middle School property. There's also a lot across from Spectrum. Many of you park on it when you go to Spectrum Academy. It is just
that small piece of property with some housing developments next to it. It's um adjacent to Gertude Walden. We also own the old Serno Schoolhouse in Port Serno. The students who were at that site are now on the campus of Port Solerno Elementary. We have the Head Start
Perkins Center in Indiantown and those students who were in the VPK and and Head Start programs are on the campus of Warfield Elementary. Also near the Head Start Perkins Center, a little bit down the road is the adult education center in Indiantown where we do offer courses
to families. And then there's a lot across from Booker Park next to the fire station if you're familiar with Indiantown just right across from the the Booker Park complex there. So those are are underutilized. And then we do have the other properties
that are used by our own departments or some other agencies. For example, portions of Steuart Learning Center, which is some people know it as the old JD Parker building. There is currently one Head Start class there that will be moving to JD Parker's main campus for
next school year. And then we do have a frequent user for use of facilities using portions of that property. Gertude Walden Preschool is located on the property across from Spectrum Academy. We have the Boys and Girls Club located on the that would be the southeast
corner of the Steuart Middle School property. We own New Monrovia Park which is across the street from Murray Middle School and the one room schoolhouse is currently located there. Then we have the transportation maintenance warehouse property. There is the and those are
occupied by current Martin County School District staff. There's the track and old Porterno Elementary School. So when the new building was built years ago on the property on Flyonel Terrace, the old building was kept there and there is a
track at the end of that property. We have the food nutrition office and adult ed at the old Solerno Learning Center. Again, adjacent to JD Parker. There is a migrant center near Warfield Elementary across the street. And then there are portions of the property
behind Indiantown Middle School which are currently leased to the East Coast Migrant Head Start Group. So that kind of gives you an overview of the I mentioned there were other properties that are not traditional school sites and kind of the utilization of those so that you're aware of the places that we
are they're underutilized and then others that have people occupying them. But of course at any time we can for efficiency sake move programs, move staff, move projects from one site to another. And at the last meeting we did briefly
talk a little bit about appraisals. There are four pieces of property that we have being appraised right now and the site visits with the appraiser were completed on January 26. Those properties are on East Ocean Boulevard, the northeast corner. We mentioned
buildings 301,7 and 18. That is the piece of property that Mr. Waters just spoke about for the arts council. The opposite corner where the Boys and Girls Club location is currently. We also have the old Solerno Schoolhouse and the lot across from Booker Park and the district
did receive a offer for sale for the purchase of that property. There is someone who is actively interested in purchasing that. So, because it does cost money to get an appraisal, we didn't go out and appraise all of the properties. We just focused on the four that had been most topics of
conversation now, but certainly at the board's request, we are happy to go out for appraisals for any other pieces of property that you'd be interested in a current appraisal. On the first sheet that I mentioned, the list of all of the properties, there are the
appraisals that are on there just from the the property appraisers office. and and anyone who's done any work in real estate knows those aren't current appraisals, those aren't market value. So, I just want to bring that to your attention that those numbers would need to be replaced with current appraisals.
And I did indicate on that sheet the four that are out for current appraisal and that says forthcoming and then those that would be staff recommendation to be the next in line for appraisals are indicated by or as such. But certainly any piece of property that the board
would like us to to look at would be we'd be happy to do that. So I'll just pause. >> Dr. Miller, when do you think we're going to have the appraisals back for the four properties that >> So Mr. Secret just touched base with our appraisal appraiser. So I'll have him
share. >> So I just received an update earlier this week. Um actually it was yesterday. So they're working on the final report now. while their staff is working on it. It's going to go through an internal review with their staff and then we will they will have the actual numbers and
that's going to be sometime towards the end of next week when we can actually see kind of the concept numbers and then they'll finalize the report. But right now they're actually putting the report together and it's going to be reviewed by their internal staff. >> Thank you, Mr. Roberts.
>> Um I had two questions. One was about when you talk about the 75 and 80% capacity, um, you're talking about K to five. I think in your report to us, you should be getting us also information that includes the preK numbers because even though we may be 80% at a school,
we may be using some of that property or preK. And I think that helps to know exactly what that is. That's number one. Number two is I think you need to include say for the four properties that we're getting appraisals on. Um I think an attorney or somebody needs to weigh
in on what the process to sell is. We obviously as a government entity can't soul source to somebody just because Dan Moore walks up and says I have a checkbook and I want to buy your property. I believe there's a procedure because it's government property of how we have to go through that and what we
have to do. So I think maybe in a future presentation we need that information also. Thank you. >> Well, and I think the one of the properties the interested party is another another governmental entity. So if there's a difference then I'd like to
understand that too. >> And I do want to share Mrs. Gilbride the principal of the prek programs is here and she has been she probably should have a seat at this table. We weren't sure how much room we would have, but she's been involved in all of the discussions and the planning and
certainly and you'll hear in some of the future parts of the presentation that there is definitely the plan to include prek in in the in the classrooms and in the numbers. So, I'll let you know when those numbers do include prek. Thank you.
This is just a a snapshot of projected enrollment. This is the enrollment that if we had a crystal ball using all the information that we have, these are the numbers that we would expect to see at each of the schools for next school year. Also listed is fish capacity. And
what that is is the Florida Inventory of School Houses. This is what the Department of Education tells us is the capacity of the building. And of course, the capacity is actually subject to how you utilize the space. So if every single room in every single school was utilized for the purpose for which it
was designed, which is typically not the case, but if that was the case, this would be the number of students. If you had the exact number that is in each grade band in each classroom, this would be the number that that school could hold. So the fish number is typically
when we share it with the board, we will also look at preK because we know that our elementary schools do hold preK classes as well and those numbers would not be included in the K5 but would be included in the preK5 numbers. M
Roberts, thank you. Um so these projected enrollments, those are beating hearts. They're not especially for high school. Are they FTE or are they beating hearts? These are beating hearts. I do have the numbers that I could give you as well for the
>> especially for high school. I think we need to so in the future if we could also have that number >> on the same number because I think that makes a difference. Thank you. >> We could do that. And just for anyone who's listening what Mrs. Roberts is referring to in the high schools we have students who might have a a schedule
that is not a traditional schedule. We have students who are part of different programs. And so in the elementary school typically a student is with us for the entire day. And so one student would be in a sense one FTE, one full-time enrolled student. In the high school that varies because of the nature
of high school schedules and high school programming. It's also the reason why the high schools are able to operate at greater than 100% capacity as you can see here for the high schools or at close to 100% capacity without having major issues
with with space because of what Mrs. Roberts just mentioned, >> right? And I think it's important because especially if in the same meetings attachments, if on one agenda item we're referring to one number and then when we get to the budget number for the projections for next year, it's
a different number, we're always trying to specify which number it actually is. I kind of feel like if we have a projected number for next year, we should have the we should all be using the same projected FTE number. We shouldn't be one person with one number
and another person with another number. I think that makes it confusing. Thank you. And when we project FTE, we use a variety of sources for information. One of the most important comes from the Office of Economic Growth and
Demographic Research. And these graphs that we receive show that FTE over time is expected to increase slightly over the next five years from approximately 18,000 students 18,300 to 18,900.
So very slight growth over the time frame between now and 2030. However, that includes across all settings. So that is virtual enrollment. That is students with family empowerment scholarships. That is all of the students regardless of where they
receive their education. The second graph here is the brickandmortar settings. What we call the traditional inschool settings. So FTE in brickandmortar settings is expected to decrease by approximately 400 students during that same time period. So that is
due in part to an increase in FTE in the FES or family empowerment scholarship which is expected to nearly double during that time frame. So while we will see more students, you've heard that we have neighborhood developments that are in progress. You'll hear in the
presentation that we do have some significant growth expected in terms of neighborhoods, but because of the shift in the way students are choosing to receive their education, that doesn't necessarily always project into increased students in our seats in our
schools and some of those neighborhoods that we're mentioning some potential impact of new communities. And again, this data is as of mid January. We have Newfield in Palm City. They at the time I spoke to them had closed approximately 130
homes with 90 of those 130 having been moved into. They are expecting to close 15, maybe a few more per month from here on out. And again, that's dependent on all kinds of factors, market factors, sales, all of those things that go into
determining. But that was their best approximation based upon the rate that they've had closings. Their complete buildout of the entire Newfield project would be about 4,200 homes. Currently, of the 130 homes that are closed with 90
moved in, six students attend a Martin County school and those all happen to be elementary age students. And then, oh, please. So back on your last slide that you gave us the EDR graphs if you could also when you update that if you could give us the EDR
physical numbers so we can see those as the estimates that would be helpful. And then just so I understand this correctly so in Newfield out of 90 moved in we have six students. >> That's correct. >> And out of Talago and Indian Town out of
70 closed moved in. >> Yes. They said it was the same closed and moved in. 70 moved in. We have four students. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Also all elementary. And their complete buildout is about
2400 homes and there are approximately 20 again at the time of my discussion in mid January approximately 20 under contract. River Oak and Indian Town is a little bit different. They are single family homes but they are rental properties. They are leased properties.
So we are generating many more students from that neighborhood. There were approximately 15 homes rented and their entire buildout will be three phases of 50 homes. The first phase is complete. We currently have 10 students attending a Martin County School District school.
Six are elementary, one middle, and three high school students from that rental or leased community. So, we do do see more students coming from that neighborhood from fewer homes. We're seeing more students. >> So, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead.
>> The students that are um attending the schools from River Oak, are they all going to Indiantown schools? >> I can get that information back to you when we move on to another slide. It's probably here in my notebook. I can give that to you. I do know for the high
schools, uh there are students obviously who are going to South Fork. >> That was actually going to be my question. Are they going to um a school located in Indiantown. Are they going to Crystal Lake because of school choice? Are they going somewhere else in the
county? Just curious what that pattern looks like and probably also the pattern for Newfield and Terago as to where those Thank you. >> welcome. Okay. We did at the last workshop in
January have some board interest in learning more about K8 models and how the school grading system works, how the grades are calculated. So we do have our resident expert Dr. Laws here to share a little bit of that information for you. >> Thank you so much. On this slide, you can see how a K8 would be scored based
upon accountability measures for school grades. There are 10 components scored for a K8 school. Traditionally, elementary schools have eight components and traditional middle schools have nine components. The accountability measures we instituted were from the 2425 school
year since that is the most current data that we have published from DO. As indicated on this slide, K8 schools have shown higher performance than traditional schools. The additional components for K8 schools and the school grade accountability measures provide more opportunities to earn points.
Whereas 80 86% of the 108 K8 schools in the state of Florida earned an A or B in 24 and 25. The next slide shows results when we combine the specific middle and elementary schools. Again, this is just for example purposes. Dr. David L.
Anderson Middle School, which was a B, and Sewood Elementary School, which was a C, when combined results in a B school grade, as you can see. Indiantown Middle School, which was a B, and Warfield Elementary, which was a C. When combined, results in a C school grade.
Special note, Warfield had a low C at 42%, which was 12 percentage points away from a B at 54%. When combining Indian Town Middle and Warfield Elementary, the 54% is only three points away from a B.
We derived all this information from the individual file, so it delineates student by student. So, we did not just mash up percentages. We took it student by student and put them together so you could see exactly how it would come out if it looked together.
>> Is it the um is the 10th one the middle school acceleration piece? >> Is that the 10th metric that gets added in a K8? >> Right. So, you would have all the middle school components and that third grade elementary is the standalone as well. Okay.
>> Thank you. So, as mentioned, one of the options, there are many options for ensuring that our landscape in Martin County is meeting the needs of our students, making sure that our facilities are primed and ready to meet whatever instructional
programming and um all of the things that we've been hearing about from the instructional team. And so one of those strategic conversation opportunities really wraps around the K8 conversions. Again, just one option, one discussion.
And we focused on three combinations to bring to the board for discussion purposes. Again, our goal is not to evenly distribute our population among the schools that we have and make everyone the 75%. We're looking to fill
to capacity the schools that we have. Making sure that we have room for projected growth in areas and making sure that we are really utilizing to the best of our ability what we have in terms of facilities currently on in your portfolio and then
looking to see what would be needed based upon new developments and projected growth. So our goal is to strategically position seats and schools where they're needed to meet the changing needs of populations. And again, these K8 conversions are one way
that we could look at doing that. >> One question, go ahead first. >> I thought I caught you. Did you have a question, Dr. Maria? No. >> Um, so Dr. Law, this is for you. And um I understand what you did and how you
combined the two in order to get what the grade is, but I think of interest to a parent is going to be their individual child's performance. So, um I'm wondering if there's a way that you can drill down on say a recent conversion
somewhere, somebody who's changed a recent consolidation or a conversion and looked precisely at those numbers um based on their grade bands, you know what I'm saying? So when we have the levels inside those bands, what they
looked like prior to the conversion, then what they looked like after the conversion and then take into account that they've moved, they've transitioned up. So you've had fifth graders that you know what their normal transition would be, but you have fifth graders that are now in the sixth grade cohort,
etc. So to see whether um it imp whether to see whether there's an argument or whether there's any data that supports individual student acceleration because I I know that there's a lot of um I'll call it distrust for lack of a
word and and there's a feeling that a lot of districts are chasing a grade and trying to you know like figure out which points to get somewhere and but at the end of the day they're concerned about their individual student. So, I think that if we had some information or data
about individual students or classes of students, you know, and what their acceleration looked like, I think that would help to either just give more information as to what that looks like. >> You're referring to the continuity of if a student was in fifth grade and make metriculated to sixth grade staying at
the same location. >> Yes. So if if the K5 became a K8 and now that fifth grader So if you took the normal prior to that, you know, you took two years prior and what a fifth grader normally looked like. You know, here's the level one, level two, level three,
level four, level five of a fifth grader and what they did in in sixth grade, what that looks like and then what it looked like when they were in a K8 and their sixth grade scores were Does that >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank Are there examples of recent conversions like that that we can
draw upon? Because I think I brought it up the last meeting that just because it's the conversion cannot just be chasing that number um what is acceptable for A B C whatever. But as Miss Roberts pointed out, like
really looking at what those cohorts are doing as they move along and it doesn't matter fifth to sixth or how did those kids do in first grade at a traditional if they transition to I would like to see it across every grade level, not
just that key fifth grade year. >> Yeah. And I think you would see that if you looked at what the all the data is in a K, you know, all the levels in a K8, say the ELA levels for a K8 by grade and then you looked at what it was
before when they were a K to five and how they transitioned over a period of time based on >> correct you could look at the cohorts longitud >> well and if it's as far out as you can go obviously we are going going to have different data points because of the way
we're tested now PM1 PM2 to what didn't exist years ago. So I don't know how you >> Madam Chair, >> you work your magic. >> So they did just recently and Gus and Katie were able to provide that data for
me. Uh so it is ready to go and I can share that data for you K5. They'll obviously have to work uh actually it's it's through middle school as well. Uh they'll have to work on a few more specifics to Mrs. Robert's request and your request. uh but I believe based on the data that I can share with you as
early as tomorrow uh you will see that the elementary growth and the elementary cohort to cohort longitudinal data is much stronger at the elementary level uh than it is at the middle school level just based on on the you know the the
makeup of the middle school itself. uh the continuity from fifth grade to sixth grade, sixth grade to seventh grade would absolutely um be stronger with that just like down the hallway move,
but we certainly can provide that data for you. >> And I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but I believe that um different districts have handled K8s in different ways. some of them where the the six to eight are
in a different spot, different principles, segregated out from the lower grades. There's other ones where they kind of integrate it all together. Um, but I think that when I first glance through this, that's probably something that in the future we would need to know
what those different models look like and what those different and then going back to Greg, if you look at what those different models look like, which of those models had better educational outcomes, not so much from a score standpoint, but from an indivi individual student standpoint. So, you understand what I'm saying, Mark? So, I
was going to have Renee speak to that because he's done Kates across Florida and he can kind of give you a general model. >> So, you're right, M. Roberts, there there's some districts that have Kates that are essentially two schools under one roof. Um, and they they even design
the facilities so they stay away from one another. There are other districts that sort of recognize that we don't necessarily want eighth graders with first graders. Um, but they don't limit the fact that they're going to interact
somewhere in the facility. Um, case in point would be St. John's County School District, which went to the K model probably in the early 2000s. Um, they've probably have a dozen of these things
working. Um, it's a difficult thing because the ones that keep it separated are doing it out of, in my humble opinion, out of fear. And I say this as a a parent of three kids, so I, you know, I get that. Um, but there was a
time in Florida where we also designed junior highs that were seven to nine. And when we started talking about middle schools, everybody was sort of freaked out. But we went to that because a lot of eighth grade parents didn't want their kids going um into the next level.
So we're kind of in the same situation. There's a lot of examples of it being successful. Um, parochial schools are generally K8. Um, and there's a level of responsibility between those things. Historically,
when you're chasing grades by doing the combination, um, you combine them and then keep them separate because you don't really want them together. You just you just want a place to put all of those kids at different ages together. Um what I've seen is the districts that are not
chasing grades are not necessarily keeping them completely apart. Um in the case of St. John's, just as an example again, um they are one building. Um cafeteria is on the ground floor. The only thing that happens is the sixth and eighth is on the top floor. Um there's a
wing for the little kids, but there really there's a wing for the little kids in most elementary schools as well, right? So it's not necessarily for that. They have stairs that are designed so that most of those middle school kids use those stairs, but they're not limited not to. They're coming to a
media center that's in the middle of the facility. Um, other school districts are putting everything in the middle and then keeping two halves essentially. Um, frankly, I my experience has shown that
that's a lost opportunity. Um, because smaller kids also aspire to be the bigger kids. And there are times when you can by culture teach the bigger kids responsibility for the younger kids. And that's something they carry forward as
well. >> Okay. Thanks. And I think we also need to keep into account when we're thinking of that is our prek classrooms and how those integrate into a K8, whether a K8 um the K8 conversions that have happened
recently or K8s that are in existence, how they're handling their prek classrooms, whether those are just completely off onto the side, whether they're non-existent on that campus or how that what that piece looks like, too.
>> Thank you. And I would also like to look at demographically um equivalent schools because I love St. John's County. They're amazing. They're, if not the top, the second highest performing school district in the state. However, their demographics um are not
the same as the schools that we're talking about. So, I just want to make sure that we're comparing apples to apples. Along the same lines as what Mrs. Roberts was just speaking about concerns I heard today from parents were also busing. I don't want my elementary
students riding with middle school students. I don't want them to learn all kinds of extra things. So, I understand that that's a concern. How would we address that? I know obviously we're a long way off, but just to be able to address concerns that are floating around. >> So, certainly the district can handle it
however we see fit. What we've seen in other districts is that the students do ride the same bus. And what's been reported is that they do positively model more than anything else. The older students take most most of them they're the siblings of the other students.
They're the neighbors of the other students. And so they really do take extra care for the little ones who are on the bus. Of course, that also does alter the number of students we can get on a bus. We put more elementary age students than we do middle or high school based upon just their physical size. So that would be a little
consideration that we would have for transportation. But if there were concerns that the board, the community that anyone had, we can certainly look at any model. But the the typical is that they would ride the same bus. >> Thank you. And to that point, as we're
talking about transportation, um I had a note just as we look at if there is a possible conversion and we're, you know, consolidating schools, what will transportation costs be? Because in
the end, we're looking to utilize the campuses that we do have and, you know, capitalize on those that were underutilized. But if the the transportation costs um overshadow that then it's you know we need to know that
it's not fiscally responsible thing to do and I'd also be interested to know along this Russell's line um if there are districts that are busing two buses on the same route just to keep the ages
separate and and as we're going through all this I think it it also begs the question of um how you downsize a a district, you know, I mean, I don't want to get into the schools of hope, etc., but but how do
and I guess maybe Renee has more information than that, I would think. Um, but how you take a a district or a building that say pick a capacity at 60% capacity and how do you separate that out? I mean, are there ways that they
can separate out part of that building and okay, we're not going to use this part of the building. That will be used for, let's say, an early learning center or something along those lines, separate entrance. We'll deal with that on the other side and we'll keep this as a and I guess that goes to a custoaldi. I guess that goes to a whole list of
things, right, Renee? >> So, yes, um, it goes to a whole list of things. most of the I I have been in part of conversations of several districts who are having this same conversation because
for them outside of the conversation of is K8 a good model educationally they're also looking at what it costs to operate these campuses that are so underutilized. Um I've heard seven figure numbers for
campuses that are underutilized. And so it's part of that um equation of how much more is busing, how much less is busing compared to having a half empty school. Um so some districts are talking about that because of that. If you close
a school like that, um technically um yes, schools of hope or anyone else could ask you for that. But where we're seeing some of these conversations, the charter schools aren't growing either. And so what
happened with the charter school growth before and everybody was trying to not empty anything because they were going to take it. Um, now everybody is suffering from the same lack of student count. Um, so they're they're having the same situation that you're talking
about. You can't get rid of a school or turn down a school without going through DOE. Um, Castaldi is a require custody analysis is a requirement to knock it down. But, however, you still have to go to the district to say, "Hey, I want to
mothball a school." Um, so I'm I'm sorry. You still have to go to DOE to to be able to mothball a school. Um, neither one are difficult. Um, they are kind of the secondary issue of of what happens to a school that gets emptied.
And and one of the considerations obviously for these districts, at least one that I'm talking to, is not just what does it cost to operate, but what do we project that we have to do to this school coming up because of its condition, because of its age. Like
normally they're not talking about mothballing new schools, right? So they're saying, well, in five years I got to replace the roof. What's that cost? And in two years I got to do this and I got to do that. um how much does it cost to technologically, you know, move the school forward? What's that
investment? And so it's a it's not just a today what does it cost issue. It's a long-term cost issue. Um and similarly, there's proper sizes for K8 schools. That's that's another conversation altogether. If you ever have if you ever move forward with this, um there are
instructional issues related with having a sixth grader in a fifth grade school and teaching certificates and program availability and all of those things. So, um you have to when you make this decision, you make this decision as a
long-term this is what we're going to be because your interim steps are going to be a little more difficult until you get the right teaching. until you have all the programs available, you obviously don't want a a child attending a K8 to have less than a child staying in middle
school, right? And so what's that balance and what does that cost again to Mrs. P's point in that interim step to get there? Miss Pitchette. >> So, currently our elementary schools
start in this 7:30 area and the middle starts two hours almost two hours later. Would they both start at the same time? Because that would combine transportation. There wouldn't be
two routes there. There'd be one route unless you were staggering the times. So that's also, I think, a consideration about transportation. If they're all starting at the same time in the morning, you have less of an issue with transportation.
>> So, if I can uh just jump in on two points here. One, uh to Mrs. Russell's point with the with the bus transportation, um utilization of specific seating charts was always um a priority. Uh at my former K8, uh all of
the elementary students sat up front starting with kindergarten. Only the middle school students were allowed to sit in the back and they had a strict adhered to seating chart that was followed. In addition to siblings were allowed to seat ride next to uh uh an
older or younger sibling if that's what the parent requested so that there was a partnership there. Um in to your point uh our K8 students use utilize the elementary times or school start times. So any K8 school was on an elementary
schedule >> for that purposes >> perhaps >> if the decision was made to combine. >> So just one thing as I'm sitting here and this is ex as the audience can see
this is extremely complex. This is not a decision that obviously we're going to be able to make quickly, but one of the things that I'm I'm I'm more familiar with the EDR for early learning programs. And the early learning programs, not just VPK, but all early
learning, is seeing a decline in enrollment as well across the board. And one of those factors is birth rate. And I'm curious to see what the projection is over time. But for us here in Martin County, there's not just birth rate.
It's the number of families having um moving here with children because of the cost. There are a lot of factors that are limiting are limiting to families, new families coming to Martin County. So we need to take all of that into
consideration as we plan A8. Um, obviously western Martin County is the most affordable place to be in Martin County right now. Um, so what's that going to look like with, you know, as far as housing wise and will our
numbers be more because we used to have um our student generation rate, how how we calculated um impact fees and student station costs and all of those things. So how obviously that generation rate I think
at the time it was like 2.1 children per household. It was in of all like we had those huge apartment complexes that were going in a few years ago and we based on our student generation
we projected 15 kids and one showed up to school. So, our projections somehow we we need to get some better projections because um we're planning for 15 kids and then only one shows up.
So, we just need to be more I don't know how we get those accurate numbers, but we need to get the data. And you're exactly right. the projections, the the formulas that we had used in the past and those that had been given and had been tried and
true for a while for the last several years have not held true even close to your point. And so that's why we if I if you don't mind I'll move on to the proposal for Indiantown because we are in a very fortunate
position where both of our schools have capacity right now. We don't have to make any moves quickly. We have plenty of capacity at both schools. So, should there be a population explosion in Indiantown because of these new developments, we have plenty of seats
right now for all of those students. If we had hundreds of students moved to Indiantown tomorrow, we can we have space in Indiantown to accommodate that. And so the proposal is, as you know, in the five-year capital plan, there is a proposed new front office and classrooms
in that proposal. We would obviously not continue with that on the current Warfield location, but we would move that project, obviously tweak and adjust it to fit the needs of a K8 and move that money, that project and all of that to the current Indiantown Middle School
location. So, we would reallocate the planned Warfield new construction project to build a new elementary building on the Indiantown Middle School campus. You can see on the little chart on there the proposed or the current enrollment, the projected enrollment, and the
capacity. And these are preK to five numbers for Warfield. And those numbers looking at preK to 5 and looking at 6 through 8 that total enrollment projected is 1100 students. Yet we have 1,900 seats.
So there are today approximately 800 available seats in Indiantown. So if you when those two schools are combined, we're looking at Warfield as about 75% capacity and Indiantown Middle. So we talked about efficiency. We talked
about cost of operating a very underenrolled school. You've got one underenrolled by 30% and one underenrolled by 55%. So we're looking at some significant space available in Indiantown and planning for the growth. We have seen as mentioned the number of
students a good number of students coming from the rental properties the new properties in Indiantown. And then these are just initial this is the initial buildout in Talago. So it is, I don't believe, typical for many children to move into the first homes on the
block, so to speak. But as the neighborhood takes off, as it becomes, it becomes very much more child-friendly and parents feel much more comfortable moving into a neighborhood as it gets established. So we would expect to see greater numbers of students as the properties build out than we are seeing
from the initial first hundred or so homes. >> Um, there's a prek at Warfield Right. Right. So I'm I'm questioning why on the projected 2627 enrollment by site
which is K12 the projected is 694 and your projected for prek to five is the same 694. I don't know which. So that goes back to the what number
we're actually using. So when you're you know the longer chart that said projected school year 26 to 27 enrollment by site and you have the elementaryaries and the middle and then the high school. On that slide for next year you've got 694 and on this slide you also have the same 694 but this is
adding prek. So >> we'll double check. I believe the first one also included prek because they're currently on that site. >> But we'll we'll double check, >> right? But but my question is that when we're coming up with this capacity number for all of these schools whether
all of these on the projected enrollment by site when we were saying it was K to 5 whether that's actually preK to 5 to that's >> we'll clarify that >> in some and not in others. Thank you. Yes, we will do that. >> So looking at this project this would be
the the projected enrollment and the capacity allow both schools to remain open in their current configuration. do during any construction project. So, should the board decide to move forward with a K8, both Warfield Elementary and Indiantown Middle would remain as they
are through the entire construction phase. Upon completion of that project on the Indian Town site, Warfield would then close and move prek to 8 open as the K8 in Indiantown and with the feeder
pattern would then be the Indiantown prek to 8 and then Southwork High School High School would be that feeder pattern for the Indian Town community. The current Warfield site would be available for repurpose or sale allowing time to determine the impact of the new construction. And so in other words,
during this time frame when we get some better numbers, some tighter numbers as to how many students are actually moving in to the Terra Lago community, moving into the rental community and any other community that would serve the Indian Town population, we would then be able
to decide, do we still need uh an elementary school on the current Warfield site because it will still have been an active elementary site, or is that something that we can see that our population could be fully supported at the Indiantown prek to8 site on the
Indian town campus. So it does give us time to make decisions before any talk about the sale of property or what we would utilize that property for. We would have time to see what's actually happening. And then again just to um remind
everyone that there is the property that is at the help me out Mark the the north west of Indiantown middle where the Indiantown adult education there's the um we have some buses staged out there
and then we have the east coast treasure coast >> east coast >> east coast migrant thank you >> head start program there. So all of that property is also Martin County School District property that could be utilized for services such as the family resource
center, the migrant programs, anything that we would like to utilize. So the vision of having a one-stop all-inclusive prek to 8 plus adult learning available for the entire Indiantown community in one central
location could actually be a reality in Indiantown because that parcel is large enough. So, I'll have Mr. Secret share a little bit about what that might look like. So, good afternoon. Mark Sris, director of facilities and planning. I want to
back up a little bit and give you some residential numbers. Um, Chair Powers was discussing residential units. Currently, based on our student generation rate, it doesn't matter what size a residential unit is, it's called a residential unit. So, it could be a house, could be apartment, could be a
condo. Interestingly enough, I looked at the data that Martin County provided our last joint meeting in October. So, I ran the residential units from October of 2021 to October of 2025. Um, we were only we were supposed to
increase by um 3,8 residential units. The generation rate is.1987. So it takes almost four houses to create a student. We were supposed to increase
by 599 students between 2021 and 2025. When you look at our date certain enrollment counts from the same October to the October of 2025, we actually dropped 659 students.
So, >> but Mark, >> can we tell exactly from those 38 units if those 38 units generated students? Do do you understand what I'm saying? So,
when even though we had a decrease, did we get an increase from those units and was the decrease from people aging out in their current home? meaning and and the importance of that is if you get
students from new units but you lose students from existing units but if you're adding new units you probably need to take that into consideration >> yeah there's well there's a lot of factors so we have people moving out
>> and I'm looking at just the pure data >> yeah yeah >> of what because we have date certain enrollment and then we had we have real residential units Right. >> And I just looked at over that time period. Um the same with the village of
Indiantown as of October 2025, they they reported last year they had 1528. That was their residential units. So we're supposed to get 303 students from that. And then they're projected over the next five years to have um basically 4562
units coming forward that are either in approval process or going to or in sight plan process. they're in that stage of being approved and that would generate basically 960. >> So I'm just looking at it from an impact fee and a >> Right. Okay. Thank you.
>> Well, moving forward now to this slide. Um this is this is actually an aerial photograph of Indiantown Middle School. Um and the reason we bring this forward is it relates to the next slide. So if you see the the highlighted area in red, that's the gym and and band room. um
that area would be renovated similar to what we did at Steuart Middle School and what we did at um what we're doing what we're proposing to do at Murray Middle School. I label building number two because that's going to come up in the discussion as we move to the next slide. That building is actually 27 years old.
So in our discussion, we have to decide what we're doing with that building. And then I would propose the green area, that new building would be we have real estate there to create basically the elementary school if we propose it to do a K8 and that building would be similar to size of Palm City or Jensen Beach
Elementary, the media center and the admin um to what? >> Yeah, plus space for prek. I don't want to leave out prek, but yeah, we would generate prek through um five in that building. So that just gives you a
general location of where things could happen and where they can be planned. I also want to preface this is a conceptual plan on my part. Um so it's more or less a bubble diagram of what can be done at each site and kind of the a budget number of where where we would
be at if we look at a project. Um the next step if you desire would be to hire um Rene's firm to do the actual master planning and fine-tuning my numbers. Um, I took I took the first step, but he would take the steps two, three, and five to get us to the final numbers, but
I just want to preface that. So, this is basically a conceptual plan for you. It's not in stone. It's just it's just to give you an idea of what it'll cost and what the conceptual layout of the site could be if we move forward. So, we can move forward to the next slide. Or do you want to
>> So, so Mark, your 34.5 is that just for the green new building >> when you're giving >> You're talking about the next slide. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Is that just for the green building or is that for the green building and for
the building too? Knowing that Palm City and the other one were in at 3132. So when you're saying yeah, we would be building a Palm City Elementary or something and I know prices have gone up from that. Oh, what that 34 number is is a new
elementary school building. >> Okay. >> Without building number two. >> Okay. All right. Thanks. >> Building number two is not being utilized. It hasn't been for many years. >> Correct. >> That was that wing. It's a separate wing. >> And I I do apologize. There is a misprint. It says new 12 classrooms. It
would actually It's supposed to be new 28 classrooms. So, if you actually do use building number two, it's that building plus the 28 classrooms to get to 38. So, you're either building a new 38 classroom building or you're building
a new 12 or 28 classroom building depending on how you want to use building number two. The issue we're having with building number two is we're right at that teetering point where it's at 27 years and we have an estimated cost of 1.7 million to do the mechanical
in that building right now. Um, I did an estimate of 6.8 to renovate it, which would mean flooring and bathrooms, um, to bring it up to current standards. The problem is when you put that kind of money into that building, you've just extended that life with DOE on an older
building. So, I just want you to have all the puzzles, but that 34 is based on building a new building with 38 classrooms and then doing the site work and actually working on the mechanical systems. So um well we can talk specifics about
the the site but when that new front office building library that the old building that was actually built in the 50s is still there. The original what used to be the front
office is still on the property. Well, we actually So, if you see, it would be just to the left of the red box, that green space. That's where the old admin building was, and it was approximately 70,000 square feet. So, once we built the new building one, that building got
tore down, but we did leave the gym locker rooms and the band room there, which are similar in age to what you're talking about. >> Back the back part of the admin building. >> Yeah, correct. >> They were tied together at one point. >> Yes.
So, in kind of in reference to what Renee was speaking about, there is a there is a economical size to sizing these K8s. I'm basing this K8 size based on the current capacity we have at Warfield and what we
have at um Indiantown Middle School. Now, if we went into the master planning phase, we would fine-tune those numbers. But Rene Rene can correct me, but you want that K8 to work between 1,200 and 1,800 students. So, we would have to work on these numbers and see what that
should look like. Should it be based on attendance or should it be based on capacity? I just took a ballpark number based on what we're looking at currently. Um, just so I could throw some budgetary numbers at it so that you could see what it would look like today. Any
questions on Indiantown Middle School? So, to give you next steps, this this actual project is different than the others that we're proceeding with. Um, in order to look at building number two, there's a, you know, there's a probably a six week process where we'd have to
generate the custo report with the architect and then there's like a 60 to 90 day process to get it approved with DOE, which is different. than the which we wouldn't have this phase in the other projects. So if we were actually looking at doing something with building two as far as custody or raising it, we would
have to go through that one extra step. Now the steps for the the A&E and the seam at risk, a lot of times those are combined. So it's not eight months and another two months. It could be combined where you're doing it all in four to six months instead of a uh you know a
10-month period. We like to combine it. Now, the next two phases where you're designing six to nine months and then building 24 to 30, that's not going to change drastically. It might change a little bit depending on what we fine-tune the program, too. But that same timeline is going to occur on the
next two projects that we propose. Um, and it's it's playing true right now with Murray Middle School, and it pretty much played the same with Palm City and Jensen Beach Elementary and Stewart Middle School for that matter. If I could add one other thing because Mark touched on it. Um he's talking
about 1640 I believe on that previous slide. Mark. >> Yes. >> Based on the current numbers, but if we divorce again the idea of we're doing this for financial reasons for we're doing this for instructional reasons. Um
that number should be flexible and and I know St. John's is different. Um but in Valuchia County, in Pulk County, um in St. John's County, um we're building K8s in 1500 range. And I I think
particularly in the case in these cases where you're looking at all your projections and the numbers just don't seem to work no matter how you who you ask. Um, our experience has been that kids in the
1500 range from VPK to 8th grade function better than 1,200 student ones and 1,800 student ones. When you start to get to the 1,800, you find that administratively they're harder to not keep separated as running two schools
just because schools gotten so large that administration is struggling to have these two huge components. So, I I think I think the whole idea of the study is to kind of figure out what those numbers are, but I just didn't
want to walk away from whether it's $34 million or not kind of depends on what do we think educationally is the right size for the school. Um because he had to pick something bas and he just used what the two numbers were. But ultimately, you have to decide what you
want it to be educationally if I if I may. and and and then the rest of the stuff is kind of figured out because we might not need 34 classrooms if you're doing 200 kids less.
>> Then just to add on, if this concept moves forward, there are other properties in Indian Town such as the Perkins Center, which could be a property that we might put consider putting up for sale. There is the lot across from Booker Park that you may be
interested in selling. The lot across from Warfield that currently houses the parent resource center and the migrant center because all of those services would be under this one roof would be on this same property. And so therefore those other properties throughout Indiantown may be sources of revenue
that other entities would be happy to have and that we would be able to take those revenues and put it into a project. So I just bring those to your attention at the at the bottom there before we move on. So Indian Town PreK8
concept other thoughts, questions or direction for us for moving um forward for more information for you. >> Like to add that as we were in our gathering information mode, consider maybe having a hall meeting with the
residents there. Just have a translator to make sure that everybody's aware of what's going on. They understand how this is working, have their questions answered, they feel that their voices are heard. I think we'd host a regular advertised
board meeting there. >> Very good. and we'll just move on to the next u proposal, the next concept for Citrus Grove Elementary. Again, Citrus Grove is the school, the elementary school closest to the new development in Newfield in western northwestern Palm
City. The current capacity of that school is 785 and the current enrollment is 63 with projected enrollment of about 600. There are currently 40 applications right now with the majority 32 of those
40 for school choice being for kindergarteners, new kindergarteners coming in. And yes, so that was 40 I'm sorry, 46 applications, 40 for prek and then the majority of the
46 being 32 for kindergarten. >> Share the project. So, just to give you the concept of what that K8 could look like, um, essentially just running the numbers of the enrollment, we would look at 21 new classrooms, which would be grades six through eight. We would have
to do a new gym, probably some new restrooms, um, just based on the pure numbers we have now, it would run around 1,200 students, and that could be fine-tuned once we do the master planning. So you're looking at a cost of 29 million
to $32 million depending on which direction we go with the number of classrooms. Um and what I didn't mention on the last slide with any town funding would be local millage um LCIF or impact fees. Uh and I do want to preface because we've been looking at the
finances and what we have moving forward. Essentially, right now we have enough funds to probably do two K8 projects. Once we get beyond that, then we have to look at other fund sources. And I would have to work with Carter and I will still have to work with Carter to
to basically get the funding for the two K8 projects. But we do, it looks like we have we're in the ballpark of two K8 projects right now. If you decide to select two projects, other now we would have to go for bonds and or other means.
Um again the gym is estimated around 10.5. I use current numbers >> and Mark that's not considering any revenue from sales. That's just considering correct. Right. Okay. Thanks. >> That's just pure funds. >> We can move to the next slide and I can
discuss the site layout. So essentially what we've done is give I've given you a conceptual bubble diagram of where these buildings could happen. Um the new gym would be proposed there on the north side of the site next to the current building. And that way you could gain access from the existing parking lot. Um
and then on the on the east side of the property you would put the new building and that building would actually do two things. It could be possibly part the middle school part we need and then if we decide based on um future growth or residential units, we may have prek or
not pre-k but elementary in that building and maybe do prek in the existing building. And then we'd also look at maybe a covered dining area to the existing covered uh to the cafeteria area. And then we're going to have to expand the chiller plant once we add all these buildings.
>> So I can take any questions you have on Citrus Grove. >> And Mark, does this this takes into account not just the new development but also school choice, the number of people that are uh requesting school choice at Citrus Grove. It's a ve very popular one
>> and we would have to I would have to sit down with Dr. Miller and Renee and we would have to generate that capacity that we want to reach um because right now it's just a concept and I think we just have to fine-tune those numbers
again. If we go to the next slide, the >> Oh, sorry. Had a quick question then, Mr. >> Um, so in the previous Warfield Indian Town Middle, nothing would be disturbed. Things could happen while the building was taking on. What happens at Citrus Grove?
>> Same scenario. You would keep the elementary school. Yeah, you would keep the elementary school running. >> Okay. >> And then like we did at Steuart Mill, you would fence things off with a construction fence and then you would build build the new buildings. The idea would the ideal situation would be to
build the buildings and then open it up. Um because it gets very complicated if you try to do it in stages. >> And just one other thing I would also check with Newfield, the developer at Newfield, because in their conversations way before going through their approval
process, they had two sites for schools located in their community. So, I would hate to build um and spend all this money building a new school if they're going to put charter schools or whatever they're going to do inside their community that are out of our control
and then all those kids are going there and we have empty space. So, we probably need to have those conversations and that's also the reason that Mr. Secret mentioned the building, the green new building on here in Indiantown. We'd be looking at a a prek8 building here. He
mentioned we might be looking at instead of just the middle school building, maybe have it be more flexible where it can be elementary depending on what we need because the Newfield is a large community. It's expected to generate a larger number of students than we've
typically seen. We did look at Canopy Creek which is um similarly priced um and also located in the same general area. They have about 338 homes in Canopy Creek and right now there are 85 students attending Martin County schools
from those those homes. So half of them are elementary age. The majority of those are going to Citrus Grove and then we have a quarter of them going to Hidden Oaks and then a quarter of them going between Martin County High School
and South Fork High School. So we are seeing older students there and again the neighborhood is more established. is a little bit. It's not old by any stretch, but it's older than the brand new Newfield community. So, we do expect if we're going to look at something as a as a comparison of what we might expect,
looking at Canopy Creek being the similar type, similar size, similar cost of home, that we may generate the same kind of numbers of students and maybe the same proportion. But again, with only a hundred homes moved into and a
few sample size, we don't feel confident in that each hundred will generate six students. We don't believe that will hold true as the neighborhood develops. >> Um, Citrus Grove, no track, no fields, longer carline
thoughts, Mark. So, yes, we would generate a longer car line. We'd have to reorganize this whole parking area and and and loop. Um, >> no tracks. No,
>> no track. Um, >> um, obviously the site is as large as it is. And I I think what's important with these green boxes is that Mark is just giving you a sense of scale of what's being added. There are more efficient ways to do that. So there's more green
field left over and and there's fields to the top side of the page. Um I've seen everything done from a traffic standpoint. Like I've seen um parents that have both age kids can drop off at
say you're 7:30. Parents that have elementary kids can drop at 7:30. Parents that have only middle school kids can drop off at 8:00. Um as a way to not have a 30 mile long bus or parent loop. Um, >> yeah. But saying that, we heard that
same thing with Treasure Coast Classical with the we're going to stagger the pickups based on your last name of your last initial and all that before they came down the street and that turned out to be a disaster. I mean, >> like everything, it's a matter of how um
how much you stick to your plan, right? Um, so but but I have I mean I there are schools that I'm familiar with that are cades that don't have too much more of a parent loop than what's here um with
1500 kids. Um so I I mean there are administrative ways to make that work. Um there's all kinds of creative things. Um everything from double stacking, stopping car lines, all kinds of things that can happen. they they sort of break the mold, but they're all different in
different places. Um because more parents come, less parents come, some have buses, some don't. Um ideally, you would get to a point where here again, educationally, the athletic side of this, the PE side of this, um wouldn't
be minimized either. And and maybe as you get creative with we're disposing of this side or we're disposing of that side, maybe there's arrangements to use that top part of that page to a greater degree, which just means that you lay out the school differently, right?
Because we that means we're talking about having kids go to a track offsite. >> Um, so from a security standpoint, that means different things, but but there are ways to accomplish that. >> Thank you. including and I have to say
this including the idea of three-story schools which happen in many places including Kates um that minimize that footprint that give you more air available area >> and just for a little bit of clarification our current middle schools
don't all have tracks they they do all have gyms but um with K8 they don't necessarily have the track but they usually have the gym portion And you do have the park to the north of it. So I'm not sure how that plays in. Thanks.
>> So again, the timeline for this project is very similar. Um we which I didn't me actually mentioned in the last slide. The master planning phase of this would be three to four months depending on how big this project gets. Um, and then the rest of it, again, the RFQ for the
architect and the RFQ for the seam at risk, that's probably a six to eight month because we try to run them consecutively. And then the A&E design and the in the construction phase, you're looking at 6 to9 months or 24 to 36 months to construct it. And then the last proposal we just want
to share as a concept is looking at a middle school and the potential of making a middle school, turning a middle school into a K8. So we looked at an elementary and Citrus Grove and expanding. We looked at Indiantown combining two schools. This would be
Anderson Middle School taking a look at their capacity. They have 1,200 student capacity. Current enrollment is about 874 projected to stay right in that range for next year. And currently we have seven students who've requested school
choice for grade six. The new capacity for a concept at Anderson Middle would be just under 2,000. The K5 students would come from Seawind which the current enrollment is right
about 500 students and their capacity is just over 600 or 750 students that they can hold. The site could close or could be repurposed again depending on what we see for growth in the south county. And
Mr. Secret, do you want to share what we'd be proposing there? So again, with the elementary portion at Anderson, we would we would put it around that 750 student stations. We can work that out based on what we see on the development numbers. Um because
right now our standard elementary school is 750 student stations. That's what we built. Jensen Beach 2. Um Citrus Grove was built to that. JD Parker was built to that. Um, we would essentially add
um roughly Yeah, we're looking at that 1951. I would have to work that out with Renee. It may be too large. We would just have to work out those numbers to see where we end up with a K8. If I could add I mean the 750 number for
example at Jensen or the other schools is because that's probably as small of an elementary school that you could operate efficiently. But when you now convert it to this K8 with more student numbers then theoretically that 750 is not necessarily applicable anymore just
because you've done that. You could decide it's a 600 student school which we used to think was too big before everything went crazy. Um, so that even that number is something that you can work with because you you sort of change
the rules when you change it from an elementary school to a K8 school. >> And in this example, we just gave some a different perspective. We talked at the last workshop about the the prospect of of creating a school of the arts, for
example, and just giving a for example here. So if there's going to be a theme or a magnet of some sort at a school, we would look at if it was a a school of the arts, you would need separate spaces such for example, a theater if it's going to be an art school, a dance room,
music room. So these would be the things that we would be working in conjunction with the instructional programming to make sure that the facility would match what the school will offer. So again, not saying that Anderson's going to be a school of the arts, just giving it as an example that you could put in at any
point, but all of that would be determined, again, as mentioned in the master planning phase, based on whatever the instructional design and instructional program would be determined moving forward. In the case of this middle school, they already have a gym. They have fields. They do not have a track, but they have fields in
the back. And we've got some projected costs again with funding options being local millillage, local capital improvement funds, impact fees, and then again if there were any properties that the board was interested in selling, that might be another source of revenue that you could look at. And then Mr.
Secret has made a nice diagram again. >> So just to go over the bubble diagram, um, essentially we would add these buildings to the it' be the southwest section of the site. it' be the opposite side of the site where the ball fields are that we um have an interlocal
agreement with the county. So we we would look at um possibly a new academy building. We would have to work with instructional and and the superintendent to see what that building needs to look like. Um there's a possibility of renovating the existing classroom
building number two and using that as part of the elementary wing. Um, and then I propose doing a covered dining area in the courtyard which is attached to the cafeteria building. And then we would have to look at modifying the chiller plant.
And then again, the time frame is similar to what you've seen. And again, the reason Seawind is being looked at for where the students would come from for this K8 is based on the proximity in South County and considering the two main elementary schools that are in the
most southern region. We have Hope Sound Elementary, we have Seawind Elementary. Both schools, their enrollment has been flat over time. Seawind has been in the last five years between 54 515 students.
and Seawind about the same right about 500 students and flat enrollment over time. Anderson Middle has gone from uh just over a thousand students and in five years has decreased to about 900 students. So the concept would be to
transition one of the three main classroom buildings at Anderson that are for 68, turn that into a K5 building, bring students from South County to that location, and then some of the students from 68 would then move to Hidden Oaks
where there is available student station. So you would basically just be moving the population so that again we're not keeping some schools um over capacity. We would be making sure that we are getting as close to capacity with the schools that we have knowing that Hidden Oaks obviously needs to reserve
seats for growth in that western zone of Palm City. So some of the Anderson 68 and again this would depend upon the conversations. This would depend upon the the numbers of students. And then again, I just want to
bring up the fact that in South County, we do have story, which is about a 4,000 residential community that is planned. We would obviously have time with any of these to be able to really see the impact of any planned residential
neighborhoods. And if a large uh community, if a lot of students were to be seen coming from those developments in the south county, then obviously we can alter and adjust at any point. And then for future planning, we'll very quickly share with you
something that may be a 10 or even 20-year plan out as these neighborhoods in the south develop. And again, Seawind, and I do have a little I can open it if you'd like just to show Seawind is approximately 2.2 two miles down Sea Branch off of US1.
The area around Seab Branch is really non-buildable. They've built up the the community. There aren't going to be new homes there just because of the the I'll call them marshlike conditions there. They're not optimal for building. Where South County closer to Hope Sound, we
are more likely if there are new residential neighborhoods, they would be closer to that Hope Sound. So when looking at the two schools in South County and determining which would be the one that we would potentially move those students to another location, that's the reason that Sewind is topic
of discussion. >> I'm assuming there would have to be some sort of redrawing, redistricting um to utilize Hope Sound Elementary, too, because they're under capacity as well. So parents would still in South County have a choice between a K8 an
elementary school in Hope Sound. A traditional elementary school, traditional middle school at Murray. Um, before I talk about Anderson, I want to go back to Citrus Grove just for a second and say that what impact does
this have on Hidden Oaks? Because if the if you're gonna right if you're going to if your plan is I'm going to keep the students at Citrus Grove or 6 through 8, I would normally be sending those students to Hidden
Oaks, right? So if I keep them, what am I doing to Hidden Oaks then? >> So two things. You're going to have expansion. We expect expansion from the neighborhoods, Newfield in particular, so increased
numbers of middle schoolers. And by moving students up from Anderson into Hidden Oaks, we will then be able to any students who would be lost at at Hidden Oaks for the K8, we could we would repopulate with the students moving in
from a little bit south. >> Okay, let me wrap my head around that. So, >> new boundary committee. >> So, we would think that we're going to get some students from Newfield that are going to go to the K8. We think some of the K8 students for Citrus Grove would say, "I don't want to go to Citrus
Grove. I want to go to Hidden Oaks." So, then we're not going to zone them for Citrus Grove. We would zone them for Hidden Oaks. Or we would zone them for Citrus Grove and say, "Figure out your own way to get to Hidden Oaks." we would h how in your and then we have some kids
that okay they don't want to be at a K8 at Anderson. So we're going to tell them either you got a bus to get you to Hidden Oaks or figure it out on your own or I don't. So I think those are all things that we
would information we would gather from the market research that the team is looking at putting together to see what it is that parents would like. where are they interested in attending? Looking at those numbers of students and then making some of those decisions based
upon which if any of these K8 models are selected and then taking a look at what the numbers actually look like. Okay. So, just um off the top of my head that looks messed up. Okay. um to think,
well, I'm gonna get some kids from Newfield and some of those kids that are at Citrus Grove are going to go to Hidden Oaks and and some of them are going to stay there and now I got to figure out the transportation for them and now I got to figure out who I'm going to try to get from Andrew. I mean,
I just that's messed up. I mean, I just think that's that's got a whole lot of um issues to it that I think um because of the impact on Hidden Oaks, I think you've got some some moving pieces there. So that's one comment. Um your
Anderson Middle School. So right now you have a current capacity of 874 or you have a current capacity of 1201 and an enrollment of 874 which means you're down about 326. If the intention is to make that into a art school or arts
magnet or some type of magnet, um why wouldn't we just try to do that as a middle school and say, "Okay, I want this middle school to be um so just follow the thought. What if I made that into a middle school magnet?" Because if
I've got 300, if I've got space for 326, I've obviously got some classrooms that I can put some mirrors on and convert into dance things or whatever and do something along those lines to transform that campus. See what that happens with.
Um I'm also interested in what if we had a classical magnet school. I mean, is the appropriate place if we did a classical magnet school to do that at Seawind maybe? So instead of closing Seawind to say, "Okay, we're going to make this into a classical magnet school." You know, I mean, I think
you've got some >> Well, you're playing this same shell game moving kids around because when you do that to >> to Anderson Middle, what happens to Murray? So, it there is it's a shell game. we're just moving kids around
>> in >> and that's why I think in my head um maybe the trick or maybe the answer for the Anderson Seawind issue is for Anderson to um be become something
different and maybe the answer is for Seawind to become something different or if Seawind doesn't become something different maybe it's Hobound Elementary that becomes something different and if you don't want your child to go to the magnet school then you will be going to Seawind maybe that's you know so so
instead of you know and I know that messes with the transportation um audit and people and everything but maybe to say that hey if you're in the magnet school that's if you get into the magnet school if you apply do whatever process you need to get into the magnet school that becomes your zone school if you
don't get into the magnet school um then this is where your zone school is and so you get transportation to either it's not just the I drew a line in the sand and now you have to go to the magnet school and if you don't get your own transportation to go somewhere else because that's choice that we're um
doing something along those lines. But just I just think that that's that's my comments on Anderson, but my comments on the um Citrus Grove is is the face. Yeah. Thank you. >> I mean I think that's all good and
great, but we also need to know how much that's going to cost to have a U magnet school open countywide and providing transportation. That's that's a big uh additional expense that we need to consider if that's even a really good
idea or not. >> I mean I like the magnet school idea. I think that but again we need to input from parents. What do they want? >> Sure. >> Madam chair. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I just want to add on to that about if you look at the projected enrollment here, Bessie Creek 663,
Citrus Grove 600, Palm City Elementary 579, quick maths is at just over 1,800. And then we go to Hidden Oaks Middle and we only get 930 there. So we're losing about half the kids there. And and if you look at overall as a district, it's
similar things. 6746 projected enrollment and then our middle schools only get to 3515. I think when we're doing these K8, it's about retention and giving them an option of whether it's a magnet school gives them a classical option, whether
it's just the fact that instead of going to somewhere else, they would stay at Citrus Grove and it would help our retention because I think that's where we really we're going to benefit from a model like this is keeping students in at the middle school level,
>> right? That's when we lose them and then they come back for high school. Um just a thought too, um Mrs. Roberts, I think, um in looking at Bessie and Palm City Elementary, strong possibility
that those students at both of those schools once done with fifth grade may not want to go obviously to the K8 at Citrus Grove. They're still going to go to Hidden Oaks um as as their feeder pattern school for middle school. So, we can certainly that's going to be part of
the data collection that we need to come back and that >> and I think there's students that are currently going to Citrus Grove that want to be going to Hidden Oaks. You know, even if you gave them an option of a KA, they're not going to want that. >> That's not what they're looking for.
So, because we're talking about projects, we wanted to just give you a quick update on where we are with the current middle school project at Murray. >> So, yes, I'll give you a quick update. Um, we are currently in the middle of design development. So, we just passed
schematic design. Um, we actually have a building floor plan now with classrooms and media center. Um this is a little bit of a hybrid for Steuart Middle from Steuart Middle School. We actually for the um economy of building because it's
it's more economical to build one building versus two buildings. We um we worked with Renee and his firm um and he came up with a concept of actually combining these because we weren't building so many classrooms. We were just building a few labs in a few classrooms. Um, so the front of the
building actually looks very similar to Steuart Middle School. And then as you move south, you get into the labs that are actually in the existing building nine that will be demolished. Um, and then as you get to the far south wing of the of the blue building, that's the
actual coral and van wing. Um, so this is progressing very rapidly right now. Um, and we will have a submitt for the design development on it's March 2nd. So that'll be on March 2nd. Again, I can't show floor plans because
of safety and security, but you can actually see the bubble diagram of where it's going to happen. >> And then again, we're talking down the road future planning should we need it based upon enrollments and new
neighborhoods. Should we in the next 10 20 years need additional capacity in South County, there is land, there is space available. You can see where the building would be demoed here. There's some space here as well. Portables that
are here. This could at some point if needed become a um a future K8 should we need space in South County. So this is just again highle overview of what could happen in the future. And then again, just bringing back the concept that we
talked about prior about Crystal Lake Elementary again, both in South County. Should Story or any other neighborhood be one that would bring us many new students? There's some options and just some thoughts for the very
much more distant future. And then just circling back, so stopping from K8 for a moment before we transition a little bit. Any other thoughts, comments, data that you're interested in? Okay, we just want to share a little bit about Jensen Beach High School. We know
that they have been over capacity for um a little while. Their current capacity is 1554. Their enrollment, this is heartbeats to Mrs. um Robert's point, these this is not what we'd call FTE where it's a full-time enrollment because some
students are not there full-time. We are projecting with school choice. There are currently 91 students who have requested school choice for next school year, varying grade levels,
most frequent and nth grade. And we project that they will be again over capacity next year. So the question then becomes, is there a availability to increase, add classrooms, add anything at Jensen Beach to continue to increase
enrollment and meet those needs. >> So what I'm about to show you is what land we have available around Jensen Beach High School. Um, essentially right now in this lower southeast corner of the site, you could essentially add
portables or you could add um, CTE buildings, but this large portion of land right here is actually a reserve and it's wet. Um, to the north, these are the practice fields for all the athletic events. So essentially we have this little this corner right here where
we could develop um expanded classrooms or portables depending on which direction we want to go in the immediate future. So, we would look at surveying this property to see exactly what is available, what's buildable, and what area is not buildable to be able to
bring forth a recommendation as to what we might do to increase capacity, thoughts or feedback. Okay. So, we are going to turn it over to Mr. Moore. We are definitely, as you can see, taking the conversation started about the instructional landscape,
talking about what that might look like and how facilities and operations can support it and wanting to go back, of course, to our mission, providing the instructional opportunities that students need and now looking at another option, moving away from the K8, but
another strategic opportunity that we have to meet the needs of students. So, Mr. Moore, >> thank you, Dr. Miller. Good evening. Thank you for having me back again this month. So, as you will recall at our last workshop, I shared some information
about K8 schools, um, magnet options and specialty programs, and also a flex school. And so, today I wanted to share a little bit more about what a flex school is, what it means, um, in general, what it would look like for Martin County, and how it's different from what anybody else is doing right
now. So, what we would like to do is build a proposal to introduce a hybrid campus, a flex school here in Martin County. It would house multiple different programs, one of them being Martin County Virtual, which we could then leverage to provide course options for homeschool students, students that
need credit recovery, um students that may attend other schools but want to take advanced programming outside of a normal school day. Combining that with live instruction for all those virtual programs, which could then service homeschool students that are taking more complex level uh courses through Martin
County Virtual that may need additional support. um students that are credit deficient that may need some additional credits but struggle with the content of the um curriculum and need live support. In addition to housing those programs,
it could also house career programming that both uh overlaps and double utilizes our adult education programming. And so, as you know, we want to offer robust career, technical, and workforce options. Currently, those things are separate from adult ed. And so as we navigate meeting the needs of
the students we have looking at what um we can utilize on both sides of that spectrum. And so having career programming for 912 during the day and then in the evenings having opportunities for CTE and workforce certification programs for adult ed that then our students who need flexible
programming may be able to push into after hours where we can get instructors that typically are not available during a normal school day because they work in the trade electrical welding uh aviation engineering manufacturing is difficult to get the people who are doing that
full-time to be on site at a school full-time during the day, but having opportunities um in the evening that our students could push into as part of this vision. And then pre-K programming supported by an early childhood career pathway. Okay. And so we would also propose including a early childhood or
VPK prek programming that could be a demonstration program that not only um sets the standard for Martin County, but also is used to provide uh career certification pathways for students that are interested in working in early childhood. Where we envision placing
this flex school would be at the old JDP Stewart Learning Center. I think as we um navigate this concept, we would build our programming around the space that we have there. We have not yet done any work on building layout or any of the
actual facility use. We wanted to share with the board first to get direction from the board on specific programming that you'd be interested in. Um but it is something that we could use to combine and consolidate several different flexible pathways that meet the needs of our students. And so if we can go to the next slide, I'll talk a
little bit more about that. And so flex schools um essentially are to meet the needs of the students that your traditional high school doesn't meet. And so several other districts do have a limited flex school option compared to what we're looking at
for our flex tech here in Martin County. But traditional high schools, they really are designed to meet the needs of the majority. And as our county seat evolves and changes, we want to make sure that we are meeting the needs of all students in our vision for excellence. What we are learning is that
our students needs are changing. They're growing. Students are looking for flexible and blended options. They're looking for opportunities to pursue high level athletics. Um other academic interests or career interests outside of a traditional school day environment.
They're looking for nonlinear pathways to graduation, meaning that some of our students want to accelerate and go faster. Some of our students want to be able to pursue soccer or gymnastics or other things during the day. Um, that really makes the traditional high school model difficult for them. And I know we
have tried to adapt in the past to create some opportunity there with offblocks, but having something truly flexible that allows parent parents and families to choose what their students get, when their students get it, and how their students get it um is what we are trying to meet the need for. We do know
that parents are interested in this. they're already seeking those part-time and hybrid options in other districts or peacemealing it themselves through sending their kids to virtual programs or private providers outside of our district that offer them that flexibility. And so by moving to a flex tech model, we can meet the needs of the
students and keep them in our system so that we can maintain those high academic standards and meet the needs of all students. Speaking of those students, I wanted to share the student profiles that would really be targeted by this type of programming. So the first would be graduation at risk. We have students
that are in need of credit recovery due to academic deficiency or just struggle academically. We have many students that have competing employment or um our teen parents themselves have family support struggles. We have some migrant populations that have students that
struggle to adhere to the normal, you know, traditional high school environment. We would also target career and adult ed um programming. So students that are in high school seeking industry certification that want to be ready to work coming out of high school with lure
or ready for the next steps to accelerate lure. We also want to help support students on the adult ed side of that lure. We currently have room to expand our adult education program and creating workforce
and certificate programs to help empower the community that we serve through adult ed um through also high school equivalency and workforce development. So we have a subset of students that when we say students, we're including adult ed, right? 912 and adult ed students that want to create a path for
themselves, find success, and they look to us to do that. And this gives us the opportunity to build something that works for them. And then the third profile I wanted to target today is part-time and virtual students. And so there is a lot of opportunity in the state of Florida currently with our
ability to build a scholarship um for students that are taking the voucher. Families are taking the voucher. Currently we have a lot of homeschool students in home education programs that are seeking their programming through Florida Virtual. There is no reason that we cannot offer that programming here
with additional inperson brickandmortar support. we can supplement that virtual instruction with tutoring and have a site to do it. We also know that many of our our home education families or part-time students also need want to engage in statewide testing for academic
purposes for college and university admissions, giving them a place to not only engage in test prep, but to have that assessment done um in a dedicated site. And then of course part-time students looking for a choice scheduling. Um similar to the students we talked about on the last slide that
are looking for something that's really, you know, pieced together to fit their their real life outside of school depending on what their um pursuits are. It gives parents and families the opportunity to either do live and in person or virtual supplemented with live inerson instruction to provide their
students with what they need. And so tying it back to our vision for excellence, superintendent is clear that we want to meet the needs of every student that that lives in Martin County and be open for students that lives somewhere else. And so as we build our
proposal for developing a flex tech, we are currently focusing on a hybrid model for full-time part-time enrollment that blends both uh career and workforce programs at the 912 level with opportunities for adult ed to pull those resources. We also want to capture the
needs of students seeking dual enrollment, credit recovery, acceleration options. Our goal is to fill the gap with students that are not yet meeting those needs for graduation, not yet able to attain the certification or lure they need to move into their chosen career of interest. Um, and
capitalize on the resources and teachers that we have here in Martin County to support our home education families, to support our students that are currently uh seeking other providers for their education because we don't offer the flexibility that they're looking for. And ultimately, as our district evolves
and our community evolves, we need to make sure that we are providing services that meet the needs that our traditional high schools are not really built to serve. Thank you. >> And you've seen this before from Mr. Moore that our vision for excellence
really is providing high quality choices for every family which are supported by the appropriate facilities. So having a coherent portfolio of schools and programs that meet the needs of the communities as we shift to identify those through our engagement in feedback
cycles and market research to really find out what it is parents in our community are looking for. Shifting potentially to K8 schools to capture the instructional framework that is can be strengthened and provide stronger academic outcomes for students. We're
looking at options as presented tonight or other options that the board would like us to investigate the flex school option that Mr. Moore just shared and then strengthening and expanding our specialty program pathways that have been very popular at our high schools. And so really we're looking for right
fit schools, flexible pathways and strong outcomes supported by facilities that meet these needs for our community. >> Wonderful. Thank you all very much. Are there any questions for the panel, Mr. Roberts? >> Sure. Um, so let's talk about the flex
school for a minute. Um, I understand academically what you're saying. Okay. I think you've got a lot of um empty or gaps. One is what the space configuration looks like, what your
projected FTE generation is. um knowing how much our virtual school now is generating, how we expect that to change and how we're expecting whether we're convert whether we would be converting existing FTE to being in the flex school model or whether we think we're going to
be picking up new FTE, how what that looks like, what the actual usage of the space is going to be. Because if we have all this empty space, say in middle schools, you know, middle school areas or even elementary schools that we're not using, um it would kind of seem that
maybe we have space that we can refigure, reconfigure without having to I mean, it always looks kind of interesting to say, oh, we've got this space, we can go in and make it exactly what we want it to be, but not knowing exactly
we we are unable to operate under the principle of build it and they will come. you know, we kind of have to um do things a little bit differently. The next question I have it would be about staffing, like how we would staff for something like that with such an unknown
as far as um who's exactly going to come and how that piece is going to work. Um when we're talking um the Dr. Miller's last slide about the specialty program pathways and industry certification, I believe from our and I want to think um
and I look to Mr. Morrison, I think it was in our budget book that shows what our CTE growth is over the last 10 years. Um, and our our CT growth, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe is pretty much flat. I mean, I don't think that it's Is that correct, Mr.
Morrison, am I misspeaking? >> Yes, it's fair. It's roughly flat. Yes, that's >> okay. So, I I think as we're talking about industry certifications, etc., And as we're trying to um strengthen and expand those um I think that needs to be
drilled down to another level of where the demand is and if we have demand that we're not filling for example if there were um whether it's welding whether it's child care whether it's you know whatever the piece is whether it's the nursing piece I think we need to
capitalize on demand instead of capitalizing on what we think we should be offering. ing. So, and I want to follow that same train of thought with the flex school that instead of saying we have a vision and this is what we
should do, we've spent a whole lot of years building a vision of what CTE is going to look like um and adapting that year by year and it's not generating anything new. I mean, that kind of just stays flat. And I would hate to put all this money into a flex school thinking
that, well, we know that this is going to work and we know that this is what's best and um and have it be that we just dumped a whole lot of money into something that didn't work and didn't do anything that was best. I know we have money set aside for early learning um
child care space over there. So I would imagine that your thought is that we would nyx that and we would turn around and repurpose that back into this flex school or whether we would be doing both at the same time or what we would be doing. But I mean I think we need the same way that you give Mark gives us the
bubble things that show us that this is what the vision is. I understand from an intellectual standpoint of what the instructional vision is, but I don't understand from a classroom standpoint
or a space usage standpoint what that would look like. >> So, thank you for going there. I did not ask staff to prepare that yet to that extent. So, I appreciate, you know, the additional data that you'd like or the additional I think right now it's just
getting the board warmed up to the idea that we need to move in this direction. That's certainly something that we can bring back to you. Um, we don't currently offer anything like that. We are losing students and we can bring that data forward to you uh through those profiles of what students a lot of
those students are sitting at spectrum right now that are purely academic. They are not there for for for behavior reasons. So I do think that there is a space uh but I also understand and respect the the costing and the staffing and all of those other pieces.
Personally do not care whether it's at Steuart Learning Center or whether it is utilizing space that is available in other places. It's just the idea and concept that we would have an alternative uh flex option or a
homeschool cohort sort of like a lab setting, the ability for students to come in and just get a welding certification and go and we would be able to bill them for that, not necessarily your traditional high school
uh student. And the Steuart Learning Center has that early learning center already there. early learning center uh enrollment is down or early learning is down. So I don't know that we'd be able to convert that entire space to an early learning center and get the numbers that we would
need to generate for that to be worth it. However, a component of an early childhood center that could be used to train high school students as a pipeline to teaching and or there is the test kitchen already there for food nutrition
that could be repurposed as some sort of a culinary training prep program. um it just seemed like that space had options as well as our adult uh our adult ed is already on that campus and so we need to
combine or do something differently with adult ed and it's already there. Uh but we can certainly bring some additional data back for you. >> Right. And I I go back to the um through the years the discussions we've had about virtual and having somebody in charge of virtual and we're going to do
all of this and these are going to be the classes that we're going to offer and this is going to be you know and and and it doesn't it hasn't done it hasn't yielded anything for us. I mean, that's been, you know, it sounds real good on the surface when we talk about it and it sounds like this is something and sounds
like everybody's going to sign up for it and, you know, um, but it it hasn't materialized and and I would hate for the the flex school to have the same kind of ending result of the, you know, that we see it, we can see the vision,
we see where we want to be with it, but it doesn't materialize. That's my only Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, thank you all very much. We really appreciate it. It was very Dr. >> Oh, I have I have asked very few
questions. I've been very quiet, but I wanted to absorb all this data. But a couple of things that I wanted to kind of touch on. >> When when we've looked at these elementary schools that we've converted to that we're talking about converting to K8, it seemed like there was a lot of
excitement. Crystal Lake was excited. Everybody seemed to be on board. Citrus Grove I know is very excited. And then we've talked about converting these middle schools to K8s and rumors of schools closing and it seems like
we're getting the opposite reaction from the public where they don't want to see their school closed and there's not a huge draw of, oh, I can't wait to leave this school that I grew up in and move over to the middle school. And I'm wondering what what the draw is to
making a middle school K8 where if it's an elementary school, they're just staying there. Okay, so let's say we're losing half of the kids, okay, from elementary school to middle school. I see the draw. Go to K8, they can stay
there. Maybe we can retain them more. But if it's the opposite, it seems like the public's giving us the opposite reaction where they're outraged that how dare you close our school. And I know that we're not talking about closing schools right now, but if you look down
in there, it's definitely one of the possibilities that these schools could be closed. So I I think you have to have buyin from the community to to be able to make a move like this. Otherwise, I think you might have people where they just say, "Forget both your schools and I'm just going to go somewhere else. Go virtual. Go private. go charter. There's
so many options these days. So, um that's the buyin that that I need to to hear more about is why is this such a great concept for a middle school? I get that the campuses are obviously ideal because they're bigger and they have more stuff with it, but I don't want to,
you know, have a huge unrest in the public, which we saw people come out today and speak about um in that scenario. >> Thank you. Um we also have to consider the financial
um piece of keeping schools open that are at half capacity. So there's um the cost of fac you know maintaining facilities um that are not at their full capacity and what what is that value and
there's a lot of questions and I'm all for smaller schools. I think smaller I as a parent I think smaller schools create close-knit communities and it's good for kids. Um I don't know that I'm
concerned about 1,800 kids out of K8 is concerning to me. Um, so I think we have a lot of things that we need to talk about moving forward. And maybe it's not even the schools that we talked about today that we want to make changes or we
need to consolidate or um that as we have those conversations, we gather the data, we get the surveys out to parents and understanding what the community wants. Um, obviously want there's some
things that we can acquies to and there are other things that we're going to have to make hard decisions based on our budget and a lot of other factors that go into it. But of course, we're always trying to number one um provide a good
educational opportunities. So, thank you all very very much. It was a really we probably created more questions um than we had going into it, but we really appreciate your time and everyone being here. So, thank you.
All right, moving on. We're going to do the food and nutrition. We're going to take this out of order a little bit. I know a lot of people were waiting and I think we may have lost some people. Um, but we'll do the food and nutrition presentation next.
Good evening, board chair powers, board members, superintendent Maine. My name is Laura Hallmadell and I am the food nutrition director. I have a presentation here. Um, the first slide kind of goes over our
current landscape. And I'm not going to read all of the affiliations and everything. Just a few uh little things I wanted to point out is the price of our meals are still a$185 which has been
that way for about 11 years in secondary 210 and we are probably the cheapest in in the um state of Florida and our
typical Um amount of meals served is 15,500 a day and alle cart sales average 8,300. Next picture shows in our test kitchen
um we have a trainer showing our homemade um pizzas. We are going towards more, we call them homescratch items um for our menus. The next one is our
fresh eats um we rolled it out at Hidden Oaks um in January. It's going over very well. The next one is our educating parents on choices. We attend all of the
open houses, the kindergarten kickoffs, and it's not that we're just present. We have a lot of information, neutral slice, um we have business cards, we have bios on our managers,
and um nutritional information about what we sell and our menus. On the bottom we have our farm to school items. Um the red bliss potatoes were
harvested in Palm City and we had them on our menu the next day. We have green fresh green beans. Um, we have fresh fruit and vegetable programs at our title one schools and we also do a lot
of student testing where we evaluate new products. So, a question came up at the last board meeting regarding some of the things we're selling. Um, and I just wanted to
clarify what a smart snack was. Um, this was created in 2014 by USDA and it is a standard for food and beverages sold outside of the school lunch and
breakfast program. So, it's all the alle cart items including those in vending machines that students have access to. The first ingredient must be one of the following. a fruit or vegetable, a dairy
product or protein or whole grain. Um, here is a a rundown of the amount of co uh calorie, sodium, fat, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, and sugar. And these are
all um getting stricter and stricter. We're kind of easing them in so that the students get used to them. Uh, I remember the first year that we had them, there was a revolt, but now it seems like they're getting used to them
and and they are accepting them. And also the distributors, manufacturers are doing a much better job with um flavors. Um, I did want to do a comparison of
what a smart snack item looks like. um uh versus what a retail example is. And you'll see that um we currently are our vendor is Hershey's. And you know, it's
20% lower in calories, six uh 40% lower in fat, and 19% lower in sugar than what you would typically buy from Publix or from Well, the ice cream man might have a little bit more stuff, but anyway. And
here's all of our alle cart items that we are selling. That does not mean that those are the exact things that were are at all the schools. Some are strictly for secondary.
Some um secondaries might be short staffed, but my rule is at least try to have five alle cart items available because there are some students who come and um they're looking forward to something or their parents want them to
be able to have a choice when they get to school. Um they might have brought a a lunch from home and they just want to have a snack. So, a lot of people are thinking what, you know, why does this matter? Uh,
smart snacks or healthier versions of of items that students are already familiar with. So, um, added sugars. You see that, uh, I don't really want to go over all of
this because you can read it, but basically is the school lunch program has all these restrictions and they also have um strict restrictions on portion size. So the portion size, it also
teaches a child what a an appropriate um portion size is. How allocart sales benefit Martin County School District. I mentioned before no meal increases. Um and we've we've
experienced some major increases in food costs this year. Um I'll just use one example. The romaine lettuce that we have on our um fresh eats was $39 a
case. It went up to $79 a case, but we did not say, "Oh, we're not going to do fresh eats or we're going to take the Roma lettuce off." We continued to use it and that's, you know, our bid price. That's our cheap price. But, you know,
the these things all affect us. So, um the ability to offer meal services in emergencies. Um uh I think Superintendent made made it clear that the expectations in Martin
County are higher than any other county and when there's an emergency, food is a big part of that. Um he instructed us not to charge for meals. Um after we had hurricane
Matthew, he instructed when the government shut down, he could see that there were problems with our students and we went out and did a supper program and all of these emergencies. Um, and us not only relieving that
pressure off of parents, but it also gives students the ability to learn. They they're not affected because we know that they're going to get that food. And um, so
that's very important. emphasis on fresh foods like fresh eats, speed uh speed scratch cooking, daily fresh fruits and vegetables. It would be so much cheaper for us to buy a little carton of orange
juice, iron, and natural sugar, but we would we would make, you know, a 17 cent juice on the line instead of a um 49 cent um one of these special oranges
that Aman gets, but Cara Cara orange or whatever. She likes to put special things on the menu, but we can afford to do it when we do it for our kids. And not only that, but we have a lot of those choices. Emphasis. Oh, I'm sorry.
Self-sufficient with no reliance on the general fund. And why don't I see uh Mr. Morrison smiling about that? All right, there's a smile. Additional support staff. Um, we do have
some in finance, one in the warehouse and one for ET that work in food service that help us out. We um hired 11 special needs employees um and trained in their working in our
kitchens. their Martin County School District graduates and you know some of them aren't up to speed where they can do what other employees can do but we make jobs available for them and look at
their strengths and and actually we do love them. They're wonderful. um cafeteria upgrades and I'm very happy to say thank you uh because our Murray Middle School was approved last board meeting and that will be I just talked
to Kern that will be done. He's placing the orders. Um Jensen Beach High School, South Fork, Martin County IMS and um Hidden Oaks were all done. Um, we provided the AVID planners and I gave
everyone a copy and I do this went to every single student and we paid for them. It was probably close to 100,000, but it's worth it because we put all of our information in there. We we have
information about uh where they can find uh menus, where they can um do free and reduced applications and how they can join our wellness policy committee. How
they can be involved uh our smart snacks in schools. What does that mean? and and how to place spending limits on your child's uh smart snacks
and um I'm sorry I'm saying um so much I'm tired. Birthday celebrations. We give uh parents the options so they don't bring in the public's cupcakes. We do
birthday parties for them and parents uh love that option. So they they're not in. I think principles and secretaries love it because we don't have people coming in and out. And the other really most important thing is our food
allergies and menu uh modifications. When I spoke to Ivon Pasco, who is our registered dietician, um we have we have uh 800 um notices of people who are on special
diets. some lifethreatening and and some are, you know, not just uh something easy like substituted milk for a lactose uh intolerant milk, but it's it's different types of um textures with
dysphasia and uh so it they get very complicated and uh meal payments, meal charging policy, we never ever ever deny a child a meal. However, we do deny
a snack because you cannot charge a snack. And if the parent says no snack, they don't get a snack. But we never ever deny a child a meal.
Okay. Oh, and we do have qu uh top-of-the-line equipment. Um the combi ovens, which uses steam and and heat, and I won't get into it. F I went over the fresh produce offerings. Uh our summer meals currently
uh it it is running at a financial loss and that's because we have less and less students going to summer school. Uh but we still go to all those schools and we still go out in the community. And right now we're in the process of writing a
grant for our summer bus so that we can provide weekend meals for those most vulnerable students that are in Indian Town. So and our bus goes to two locations in Indian Town so that they
don't have to show up at the schools. So part of our part of our fund balance um supplements that so we can provide those meals um and we covered
unreimburable meals. In other words, we didn't get any money um using our fund balance to ensure students did not go hungry. Okay.
So, here is a description of AMS. No. Yes. AMS. If Chad's still here, I don't know. But anyway, um this is what this is what the screen looks like. Parent can can there's all different
ways a parent can not want their child to get a lunch or a a snack. They can call us and let us know. We check it off. um we don't allow them to charge them. So we just say don't put money on the account. That's one way of opting
out or opting in would be putting money on the account. Opting out would be not putting money on the account. Did I say that right? Good. Um, so, so anyway, that's
um that's how uh easy it is for our our our cashier that will pop up and she can't finish the transaction unless she hits that green. Okay, once she does that,
then we can finish it. Okay. Um, and here are some consideration on ice cream sales restrictions. Uh, the goal here is to provide necessary
uh provide in information necessary to make an informed decision that best supports the best interest of the district. Smart snack ice creams are a healthier version of student favorite items and they have nutritional value.
Martin County School District complies or exceeds USDA smart stack snack standards. Food nutrition meet with uh we met with PTA four times last year to address
concerns. I did invite them to my office and and we did take some action steps and a lot of their suggestions were very valuable and this is one of the things that came about it. Parents are
responsible for the decisions related to their individual children including spending choices. Food nutrition provides software to support parent restrictions and dietary requests. Like
back in the day, 20 years ago, I'm I'm sure you know probably where most of you were in school, it was just a register and you know, and so they would say, "Okay, ice cream only on Friday. Um, we're going to have cookie day this day. We're going to have
this." We don't need that. I give parents choices. Children these days, students these days are much more savvy. They want more. They demand more. And if we
have the resources, we spent a lot of money for this software. If we have the resources to be able to give that to them, we want to give that not only to the students, but for the parents. um restricting uh sales risk losing and
I call them customers for life. I've always used that expression from um when kids are I call them the the littles, you know, the head start in kindergarten kids. I always try to get them to start
eating in our cafeterias and then they continue and they keep going on. Even though this year we have a decrease in enrollment, our um participation is up nearly 4%. And I attribute that to that getting a
customer for life. Uh this decision may set set a precedent that influences future restrictions such as certain food items which you know we hear sometimes sometimes I hear no peanut butter my kids allergic and then
it's more on education and teaching sometimes it's grade level access or product offerings I've had uh environmental groups saying no you can't sell water and it because it's in a plastic bottle. Don't do it. You can't
do it. Or you have to go with the paper straws even though the paper straws are, you know, 10 times the cost of a plastic. And then we find out now anyway that they're worse than plastic ever
were um for student health. Um action steps taken after the meeting with PTA. Uh we we are going to step it up with kindergarten kick off open house
social media and our ask FNS outreach. Um we listen to what they have to say and I think it's more important that we get this information out. So um they kind of gave us some more information that we can we can um
highlight. Information on limiting alle cart purchases has been added to our web page and in the avid student planners which I hope you saw is on the first four pages of those uh planners. Parents
can restrict or modify alocart purchases by contacting our department or manager. Parent can also limit purchasing by not or by providing cash on specific days. We accept cash. I've heard that rumor
that we don't accept cash. We accept cash at every school. I do ask that they go through the register first because that's where our notes are and we need to know if they have an allergy. Parents can view student purchases on my school
bucks. A lot of times that brings up good uh discussions with children in teaching nutrition where you say, "Hey buddy, how come you bought three bags of chips?" Sometimes the kid is bullied. Sometimes
the kid eats all three bags, but it opens that discussion. So, it's a great tool for parents to use when having discussions with their kids. FNS provides tokens for ice cream sales and this was one of the things that the PTA
mentioned that the ice cream was melting and you know the kids weren't eating their food. So they get a token, they purchase a token, they sit down, they eat their lunch and then they bring the token to um the it's usually a
volunteer. They don't have to go through the POSOS again and then they can just give the token and bam, they get their ice cream then and it's not all melted. FNS managers monitor student purchases,
purchasing patterns to identify potential concerns. And we've unfortunately, you know, we see things, you know, Monday morning we see a kid in the garbage can um looking for stuff. we see kids looking and we know there's
something wrong. And we've had occasions where um or kids stealing food or and and it's not, you know, or a a child getting punished and the parent saying he opted in to say, "My kid cannot and
will not have school lunch or breakfast, yet he didn't send his child into school with anything." And then we realized that child was being abused with the help of the principal and we got involved and um of course that child was
taken away. So we also offer healthier um birthday celebration alternatives to discourage non smart snack offerings on campus. And once again, our goal is,
and it kind of goes with your goals of high quality um options for parents. We want to provide the resources to nourish student success. Student health and nutrition
provide healthier meals and snack options that meet or exceed the um guidelines. Parental control and choice. Very important that a parent decides what
they want for their student. And we need to be financially responsible because um I know um su that Mr. Morrison will not give us money. >> It is all your fault. No, I'm only
kidding. But um yeah, we need to be we are self-sufficient. We are separate. We are our own entity. So, and we do take that very uh that responsibility. We take that very seriously. Any questions,
>> Dr. Morardi? >> Well, thank you, Laura. Thanks for being here and for hanging in there so long with us because it is late and um I appreciate your presentation. There's definitely some great highlights of it. Just a couple of questions.
First with the parent choice portal. the there were the PTA and many moms have reached out to me and even given uh public comment today about how that system needs some work and how they
would like an optin versus an opt out option because they they think that um by default probably a lot of parents aren't aware of this and we want to make sure that parents have full control and are able to
uh make those recommendations. I did go to the school and and ask some staff about opting in, you know, about how many people there's a lot of comments in there about dietary restrictions that will pop up, >> but not as much. They actually said very
rarely about just opting out just to opt out. So there may be a number of kids who are probably getting a lot of snacks that maybe their parents don't know they are. We've seen reports where kids are
dumping their lunch in the trash and going right for the alle cart snacks. So what about the opt-in? Any thoughts of maybe switching to that system so that parents are fully aware? Um my first concern is when people hear alak cart
they think oh it's just you know ice cream or chips. It's not. It's water. It's extra fresh fruit. It's a second entree. It's anything in a vending machine which
we really and in the secondary we don't have control over. But we do have quite a few people who purchase those items. And if we say opt out of or opt in, um I
feel like we have enough resources like we like the the uh not giving money like one of one we have some schools that are C schools and uh we did have a parent
say well you know I'm upset that my stu my child is getting snacks And I said, "Well, they get a free meal. Did you put money on the account?" And they said, "Yes." And I said, "Well, why did you put money on the account?" So they can
buy snacks. And it's like, you know, how can how can that work without Yeah. They can't buy anything if they don't have money. They need to have cash. what we're looking at
and um this was another PTA suggestion was putting separating when people put money on their account because there's a there's a that's a lot of information when people put money on their account
of saying I want this money for meals only and if I choose to give my child a snack I'm going to opt in by giving giving you a dollar and they'll go to school and be able to
buy a snack. That's an optin version of that I think would work and it would be a parent decision. Um and uh also it would probably lead to maybe more conversations looking
at the menu and saying, "Hey, here's all the things that we can get. Let's look at the menu. What do you think you're going to get for lunch tomorrow? Remember that you can get a fruit with this. And maybe you don't, you know, you can get five components
with your meal. Maybe let's just do the fruit. They got a choice of like six or seven fruits instead of getting a snack after. And um I've I've heard a lot of successful
things and in our title one schools, we do have a fresh fruit and vegetable program where we're teaching kids that we I don't know if you're familiar, but we we send like a bin to the classroom
and the classroom then passes out and it's we our goal is to try to do things that they normally wouldn't get in the cafeteria, something new. Um, you know, we we tried a kiwi. Yeah. Starf fruit. We tried things that and then, you know,
I'll get a call from a parent saying, "Oh my gosh, I was at the grocery store. My kid asked for Starf fruit." And and it's to introduce those items that they normally wouldn't get in our program, but since we applied for this fresh
fruit and vegetable program, we're able to do it. So, that's that's our goal. I think if we did an opt in um should we do optin for for school lunch? Should we do an optin for school breakfast? Should
we do an optin for after school snack? There's just too many too many variables there and too many choices. And you'll see on that one slide of all the different things that we offer as
alleart and I'm willing to work with PTA on on trying that verbiage. Um >> but in terms of a school lunch being healthy nutritious you showed some really good options there. But on the smart stack slide that you're referring
to there's a lot of options that are not healthy. I understand they're under that USDA compliance, but that really those snacks are slightly better than unregulated junk food, which certainly doesn't put them in the healthy category. I mean, if you look at this
list, um there's a lot of junk on there, and I think that's why they're pressing so hard for an opt-in, a simple form at the beginning of the year. You could still buy lunch. There's no reason to have anything with that. But for this extra snack that is pretty much unhealthy, if you look at this list,
slushies, brownies, cookies, pretzels, >> that if you would like your kid to do that, >> just check a box. I think that's what they're saying as an option. So, I just would wonder your answer to that. >> Um, for instance, like our our brownie,
you know, we've had a product that is made from dark cherries. tastes absolutely delicious and you wouldn't and it's but it's a healthy version of what a brownie a true brownie
is. So, um I don't consider all of those junk food and they must by law have nutritional value to be served in our program. So, um, I've been around for a long, long time, 37 years doing
programs. And when I look at Martin County, uh, I am so impressed by how you guys run everything. Um, it's
and the and the school lunch program is a very important part of that. And if we were to privatize, you know, I I've worked for food management companies, two of the best in the in the world and
you know they Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. >> I just want to share something that I learned when I attended with Laura the state food surf service food service conference. We had many state award winners as you know. So, I was able to attend with them and they brought me
through the the conference hall. You would not believe the numbers of vendors and foods and options that are out there. And of course, everyone's wanting you to sample and telling you all about everything. And Laura will be like, "No, no, no." And she's pulling me away. We don't do
business with them because their food isn't high quality enough. Oh, no. We don't do do we don't do business with them because our standards are higher. That is okay, but ours are higher. And when our food service managers joined and I kind of asked them some questions, I'm like, "So, tell me about this. What
does this mean?" They said, "Oh, no, no. We're very particular. We're very careful." And it's not the same way in every other district because there are some And Laura flat out tells them like, "You don't meet our standards." And she'll just keep walking >> and she will be very specific about in
Martin County, we hold ourselves to a very high standard. We do offer snacks that meet the Smart Stack comp snack compliance, meaning they have to have um ingredients that would make them
compliant. And we also learned and and Laura shares with me all the time that these are constantly getting even better. So, as much as they are less salt, less sugar, less calories, less of all of those things, every year or often
they are made even healthier. So the sodium content is being decreased, the sugar content is being decreased. So that we're we're teaching students to make better choices and better options. And we do hear from families who want these things available because they
don't have an option to go to the store and buy some of the snacks or buy some things for kids and they say, "Well, I'd rather have them get the snack from you. It's better than the snack I was going to buy at Publix and put in a little baggie and send with them." So we definitely have parents from all
different schools, all different mindsets and and our mindset has always been let the parents make the decision. Each parent knows their child. They know their particular needs and even if you have two children in your home, you may have different rules around things for
your children based upon what their unique um their unique needs are. And so that has just kind of been the philosophy that we've gone by, allowing parents to put the notes in as you saw, so that every day when children come through the line, they make sure they're
getting things that they're not allergic to. They make sure they're getting things that parents have agreed to. And that has been the standard that we have used. If there's something different that the board would like us to do, we would like the opportunity to take whatever the the thought or concept is
back to the food service managers because I can tell you I'm in cafeterias often, but not like our cafeteria managers who this is their work. This is their passion. This is what their expertise is and they are much better equipped to share the day-to-day stories
and and all of the what they see and hear and learn from parents on a day-to-day basis. So whatever decision or thought of the decision again in a workshop we understand there won't be a decision made this evening but if there's a tendency to lean towards something we would like to take that information back to the cafeteria
managers food service managers to value their expertise and input to give them an opportunity to share things that we may not be thinking about. >> Well and I think that's the point Dr. Miller is I I think that the parents are saying that they are are being caught off guard and they're not having that option and that's why they're looking
for the opt-in. And I mean I could tell you how these smart sack options are not the greatest of options. And we can go round and round about how we think that they're healthier than other foods, but if you look at the ingredient lists on
them, they're not great. Okay, just this Hershey's Strawberry Shortcake Bar. I've looked up the ingredients and by the way, it's Hershey's, which has no relation to the Hershey's chocolate. So, don't let that name fool you. But I can read you the 50 ingredients that are in
it. And um there's nothing that looks great in there. So, I think that's why these parents are so up in arms is that they they we need to figure out a way to get better buy in there. they suggested
opt in. I'm open to any way to uh to make sure that they're feeling heard there, but I think that the system needs some revision and that's the point they're trying to make as well as myself. >> Miss Roberts,
>> thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation. Um, I I want to say that I heard from another source that the bowls that were at Hidden Oaks Middle School are to die for, and I think they're coming everywhere, but it's like everybody should be lining up to get
those. So, I did have a couple um questions. My first one before I start is what happened to the Styro Genies? Did they all go away? >> We we currently have some at um I think nine or 10. Okay. >> Styro Genies. And um
>> so we still are using some of those. >> We used to get like remember we used to get >> Yeah, we used to get the picture frames and everything else. >> Yeah, we did get an a u yeah suggestion from PTA to some schools aren't using them and um and I think
it's if Lisa's still here, Lisa. Yeah, we were we worked together on getting those and getting ESC kids involved and >> it was like stack it whack. you know, whack it, stack it and something or else and put >> it was a really good way to um take care
of environmental waste and um I just didn't know whether I hadn't seen them recently. Um does my next question does every child get a planner? >> Yes, every child got a planner. >> Okay. Um >> although Mrs. Williams, if we could a planner was provided for every child. We
have heard anecdotally that not every child may have gotten one in their hands. So I just want to be clear. We did provide one from food service for every child. I cannot attest, we've had parents say that they did not receive one for their particular child. So, I just want to put that out there. That
was something that we learned today that we have some investigating to do. >> Okay. All right. Um, so I've got a couple comments. Number one is on page three of your food allergies and menu modifications. It appears that if I have a medical
condition requiring a menu modification, I would submit a form, etc., and you would give me an allergenfree meal. Um, what if I'm a parent and I don't want my child to have milk? It's not an
allergen. My child is not allergic. I don't want you to give them a substitute. I don't want you to do anything. I just do not want one of the five items that they get to include milk. >> Yeah, they have um a choice of um >> I understand that the child has a
choice. My question is if I as a parent >> tell you in a cafeteria >> Yes, I understand. Yes. >> I don't want my child to pick up milk. How do you handle that? >> Uh we would make a um a note in in the POS.
>> Okay. So when they get to the checkout system, the person who's looking at it, >> we would say no fluid milk. >> No, no, you can't have the milk. And I don't have to. We're not giving them a allergenfree milk substitute or something. We're just saying doesn't want you to have that. No. No. But I
mean, if you didn't want to go there, >> you just remove it from the tray. Correct. >> Right. Or so by the same token, if I said I don't want my child to have um any grain, and if I put that down, it would be on my profile, I would guess. So that when
they're checking out, whoever's checking them out would look down and say, "Oh, no, no, no. You can't have this and take it away." Is that correct? >> Um there's some um special diets that we >> It's It's a preference. >> It's not a special diet. There's no
allergy. There's no I'm talking about >> we would put it we would put that in the >> I'm talking about the way that we handle it. Yes. >> The way we handle a parents choice of what their child is eating. You're absolutely right. >> Um
it appears that oh before I go to that um I notice on page four you can charge two days worth of meals, two breakfast and two lunch and then you get an alternate meal. What is what do we call an alternate meal? um it's something
that's on the menu for that day, but it might not necessarily be what exactly you want. However, I always tell my managers, and I think there's two still here. I always say, use your very very
best judgment. It's written down here, but you know your kids. if your kid is going to have a meltdown or if your or if the mom usually pays or if mom's in the hospital because she's having a baby, dad just
lost his job, whatever it is, we do make exceptions for that. Okay. I just didn't want like if Marsha was my daughter and I forgot to put money in, I don't want her the third day to be given the little strange little embarrassing box lunch as an
alternate meal. No, it's not a cheese sandwich. It's a complete meal that's on the menu so that when she sits when they sit down, people aren't like, "Oh, she's got the cheese sandwich. She doesn't have money on her account." >> Okay. >> And which by the way happened to my own
daughter. I was testing my crew one day and they took her meal away and I was like, "Oh no." But >> okay. So now let's talk about this alle cart thing. It appears that um if I have money on my account and I'm allowed to
have alle cart, right? >> Correct. >> That I can pick anything from the alle cart menu. That there's no way to say Marsha can have alle cart but no ice cream there. Is there a way?
>> No, you can say no ice cream >> even on the alle cart. >> Correct. >> Okay. So then it would seem that um it would it would seem that it would work to give parents the choice to say instead of having instead of having to
expect me to give money to Marsha only on Thursdays and I'm going to give her cash which she's probably going to get mugged on the way to school for but if she can hold on to the cash she can go and get her alle cart item >> and I can specify which alle cart item she can have.
>> Yes. >> Okay. So, if I'm allowed to do that, um, and knowing that when we do the registration for kids at the beginning of the year, it doesn't seem that big of a stretch to say here's the alle
cart items. And whether you want to say my daughter Marsha can have everything except ice cream or if I want to say she's limited to one alle cart item on you want Wednesday on Wednesday she can
have one alle cart item on Wednesday and my other daughter over here she doesn't get any alle cart items I'm not going to sign her up for alle cart sorry I'm not going to give her any alle cart items I don't care if she has a dollar if she walks over there with a dollar or
something, you need to be able to say she doesn't get any alleart items. >> That's why they go through the point of sale. Yes. >> Okay. So, it would it would seem that it's not that that big of a stretch to say you need to opt in. And the same way
that you can say you're opting in whether you're going to get your picture taken at school, whether you're going to get anything else, it if I can say that she can only have one item on Wednesday and I can say that she has nothing. I understand your point of a customer
for life. I understand your point of you want parents to have discussions. I am too busy a parent to discuss food with these two because these two are just off the rails and they complain too much. So, but you're you you said a phrase that resonated with me was let the
parent make the decision. So, if my decision is to not tell her why she doesn't get anything and not explain to her why she only gets one thing on Wednesday, I should be able to just make the decision and say on my form, on my opt-in form, however many choices you're
going to give me, either no alle cart. Sorry, you don't get any allocart. if I want you to have something, I'll send it in with you. And this one only gets one item on Wednesday. I think that I I think that's that's letting the parent make the decision. That's letting the
parent when they're filling out all the other forms, if they want to say, "Hey, it's a free game. Take as many alleart items as you want. You're going to take three bags of chips." I just signed something that said you can have three bags of chips. But to do it the other
way where I have to opt out, >> I do agree with the speaker earlier today that opting out is really not making a decision. It's letting a decision happen to you. >> That you have to physically make a choice for it to truly be a decision.
And if we're going to let the parent make the decision, I think that's the direction we need to go. Thank you. And sorry about your one snack a week. And sorry about your no snacks. I agree with that. She just said it a
lot longer than I would have. Love you. But I am looking I'm with Mr. Mararti on the quality of some of the snacks. I would
ask that we look toward weaning some of those things out of there and putting in more nutritional. Just because it's a smart snack doesn't necessarily we can go above and beyond.
We can look for healthy popcorn. Uh, I know nuts are a big thing and we try to stay away because of allergies and stuff, but there are lots Pop-Tarts aren't healthy snacks. They're just not. They're easy and they're quick, but
they're not healthy. So, I would like to see us rotate some of the things out that are not nutritionally valuable and look for more nutritional snacks, if that makes sense to you.
>> Yeah, I appreciate that so much because when we're at a conference and uh when Dr. Miller stated that she saw that, that's only like a thumbnail of what you see at a national conference. and they have the latest and greatest, not only
equipment, but food and new items that we have to physically try. I'm not going to um have anything that we didn't try. Um and then of course we have a lot of brokers come to our office with new and
exciting things. And then once we try it and we like it and the nutrition nutritionals are great and it goes through Avon, then we will bring it to student testing and then we'll get some
feedback from the students on what they would like to see in our cafeterias. And this may be a stretch, but maybe invite the parents to come and select
from your vast menu of alocarts and see how they taste to them and and kind of get them involved on that level. I know it sounds >> Yeah. No, I love I love it. We we did something similar where we almost did a
a mini food show and I a I asked um Gordon's who is our new vendor this year that maybe we can do something like that but um you know set up all these stations going around and giving
information to uh parents and and showing them that physically what the snacks are and the nutritionals and uh I think I think that's, you know, like I think that's a great idea. >> Pop-Tarts, but he can have this,
>> you know, I just I just I think parental parental involvement here is the key. And as many that don't want >> the unhealthy snacks, we have parents on the other side. And I think we have to
represent all of them. So that's kind of how I feel about it. I think we we can provide more nutritional snacks and oops have parents say at the beginning of the year this is this is where I don't want them having anything. Thank
you. >> Thank you. Love that idea. >> Are there are there any other board comments? Okay. Um let's just talk a little bit here on what the direction is that we're
giving staff. So your optin version that you explained, Lee. Um >> very >> I wouldn't say that. Um
so that is something that parents will do when they go in and they're going through the process of putting money on their child's account. They at that point will be able to enter very specific guidelines and notes that will show up
at the point of sale and they can they can put parameters on what's next. That is their optin. Okay. And that's clear parents know how to do that. Do we need to send out a quick
video or something for parents to let them know maybe we should would love we could probably do it sooner than that and then introduce them. Uh we would love to do a video. >> Do you like the screen um you know how you do the screen share and do like a little YouTube video and then post it
out there and show parents what to click on and how to make those choices. >> I think you need >> but I think Kirsty can probably help you um and put that together and she can probably film it and push it out. Yeah. And I think you need frequency and items
is the two things you need. So like if I say chips, you know, it's it's like it doesn't mean Marsha can get if I say Wednesday, it doesn't mean she can get three bags of chips on Wednesday, >> right? >> You know, so quantity, item, and
frequency. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I appreciate you letting me. >> Are there any other things that directionwise that we need to give to staff before they leave? I don't necessarily think that this is something that we need to vote on. Um I think you
all everyone's in agreement that that's a good idea. Um I do think we need to push it out to parents and let them know that they have this capability. Many of them might not even know they have the capability to make those in what that looks like. >> I spoke to several parents this past
week who didn't realize they kept paying the bill. >> Yeah. >> They were wondering what was going on and finally I mean they were getting walked through once they principal and there's you know I think we just need to make it easy for the parents. They're working and a lot of times they just pay
the bill just to move on to the next task. And so it's really important, I think, that we educate them on how to to opt out of things. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much.
Okay. All right. Next up, we have um the operational performance audit. >> Miller. >> Um is that Dr. Miller? Superintendent Maine who's doing that one? >> I am, Madam Chair.
Okay. Um, tonight, uh, I'm going to be reviewing our facilities audit at the request of the board and what the auditors found and what we've, uh, corrected, what we're going to be doing next to prevent these findings, uh, from reoccurring. Uh this was for the audience and those watching an
independent uh fiscal year 2025 performance audit conducted by Cherry Beckard to ensure compliance with Florida statute 1013.35 which requires school districts to have an audit of educational planning and
construction activities at least once every 5 years. Uh the scope of this audit covered the last five years from 2020 to 20 through 2024 and the report organizes the findings into four themes. Governance and oversight, policy and
procedures, monitoring and key performance indicators and communication and reporting. Um, we are correcting the underlying conditions through tightened controls, clear ownership, routine monitoring, and system changes. So, we
do not see the same issues again. So, I'm going to walk you through each one of the findings and what specifically staff is doing andor has already done to correct the issue. The first finding was a district educational facilities plan. The audit makes clear that the statute
requires an annual board-f facing facilities plan that included long range planning for 5, 10, and 20-year periods. It's important to note that we have all of these documents, but they're in separate locations, not in one location,
one um manual as or one comprehensive plan as the the statute requires. Director Secrets has reviewed the required components and is compiling them into a single document. Uh these components were reviewed with deputy superintendent Miller on January 28th as
part of student uh excuse me director secret's midpoint review. Our completion timeline is May 2026 where we will bring that forward to the board for approval. Uh this part of modernizing the facilities department processes and making them transparent so that we have
an electronic file accessible to all staff, the board and the public so that the deliverable is not fragmented into separate documents but in one document that can be accessed by whoever uh is in need of that document. Finding two is the current work order system school
dude which we currently use was missing required fields. It's important to note that the audit identified our current work order system that we put into place in 1999 requiring configuration to ensure key fields are consistently captured as data
integrity and reporting depend on them. Currently, because school dude is so old and not the appropriate system, it does not support or have the capability to add the required fields. Therefore, Director Deso is collaborating with coordinator Hall and others to vet an
updated modernized replacement work order system. We will have a selection ready for the board presentation in March, professional learning completed by the end of June and a target for July 2026 implementation moving forward. Operationally, this is a broader process
improvement. The new software will unify multiple systems into one single platform. Currently, we are going back and forth between multiple different platforms, reduce reliance on enduser tools, standardize workflows, and support our SOP compliance, and enable
reliable reporting, active monitoring, and customizable reports that we will be able to bring forward to the board uh should you have specific data you're looking for. Finding three was segregation of duties in work orders, also an issue with school dude. The
audit found instances in which the requesttor approved work orders and the entire and the criteria is clear. The system should not allow the requesttor to be the approver as well. Uh this was corrected immediately. Training and implementation occurred on October 22nd
and the item is now complete. Staff were explicitly notified that a requesttor may not also approve their own requested work order. Training ensured that staff entering work orders did not also assign work. Monitoring is now routine. Both the director and the coordinator are
randomly checking work orders weekly to ensure duties remain segregated. Finding four was safety inspection reports with incorrect identifying information. The audit found that sampled safety inspection reports contained incorrect work order identifiers preventing
reconciliation and timely verification of closeout. This also was corrected immediately. We now require maintenance staff to open each work order attached to the safety inspection report. Ensure the correct work order number is displayed. Training and implementation
occurred on October 22nd and the audit indicates that this item is complete. The work order specialist checks the reports for accuracy and we are now having two separate people review and verify the data to avoid errors after each inspection throughout the year.
Finding five was again the 10 and 20-year planning periods not being in place. The audit states plainly that while we had a five-year planning, we did not have a 10 and 20-year planning periods in place despite statutory requirements tied to the annual
facilities plan. Director Serest is working with our contracted architect to update the current plans to include long range planning uh with board workshops scheduled for spring to guide and align the work for the 2627 budget process.
You're beginning you got a lot of that tonight and we'll continue to get that information. We will share the 5, 10, and 20-year plans with the board during the budget process and bring a finalized draft to future board agenda for formal discussion and approval.
Uh, finding six, preventative maintenance completion not tracked as key performance indicators. The audit recommended that we design, track, and implement key performance indicators to measure the completion of preventive maintenance over time, leveraging software to support performance
monitoring and reporting. Our corrective steps are both uh have been immediate and structural. School dude is still in place. Therefore, the operations uh is team manager is reviewing all preventative maintenance items to ensure completion and closure and providing
additional professional learning. Uh mentoring to ensure expectations are met. Uh monitoring is now conducted routinely through schoold dashboard. Plan operators are reviewing outstanding preventative maintenance items. Safety inspection work orders are being
independently monitored and staff now hold bi-weekly facilities change request meetings to ensure issues are scheduled and being addressed. Professional learning has been scheduled for March. Key performance indicator revisions will be completed prior to April and the new
work order system including preventive maintenance schedules and controls will be implemented uh in July for the uh next school year. Finding seven, preventive maintenance plan deficiencies with roles and frequency. The audit found deficiencies across multiple
maintenance categories in which the responsible party and inspection frequency were not being documented, creating accountability gaps. The preventative maintenance schedule is being updated to explicitly list the frequency and the person who is responsible. We are monitoring via the
dashboard with a monthly review of outstanding items supported by operations and maintenance leadership. Professional learning for plan operators has also been scheduled for March. In addition, the replacement work order system planned for summer will provide not just reminders to staff but reports
and data for decision-making and planning which is the real fix for a long-term compliance and accountability. uh finding eight capacity planning process not being aligned to projections. Uh you heard a lot about this tonight. The audit noted that expansion of student capacity was
proposed uh despite historical and current student data not supporting it and stated that the district had not yet conducted a long-term student projection as of the audit date. It was also noted that the plan was proposed but not adopted by the board. Our corrective
action is already in motion. Following the audit's closing, data from the Florida Department of Education was received. Long range plan data are now available, and a synopsis of expansion options is being developed for the board to take into consideration. Long-term
facilities needs and usage projections will be determined and discussed at the spring at spring workshops. Using the Florida Department of Ed projections along with local housing trends and expansion, renovation, rebuilding decisions will run through the capital planning process as a component of our
annual budget process. Using current data on housing trends, planned communities, FTE, and projected space available. Uh going forward, you will see this work in a disciplined cadence, not as a one-time corrective action. Specifically, immediate controls are
already in place where we could close items quickly. We did segregation of duties and safety inspection report accuracy were addressed through training implementation uh where it was not being implemented and ongoing checks by more than one staff member. System and
planning upgrades have clear milestones. Now the March board presentation for new new work order system selection, June professional learning, July implementation and May completion of the consolidated district educational facilities plan which Mark will present
and you all will uh take into consideration for approving. And the facilities planning and capacity decisions will be projection driven and budget aligned with the spring 2026 workshops and annual sharing of long range projections and plans. Um we are
taking a no excuses approach uh with staff. Uh we've had these discussions with them. We're defining the standard. We're building the controls. We're monitoring these things routinely. And it is my uh expectation to staff that we keep the board informed in a predictable
cycle so that these findings uh do not repeat themselves. This time madam chair this concludes. If there's any questions, anybody questions? Yeah, please.
I appreciate the time that was taken to explain this. While it's not good that these things happened, I think it makes us a better district because we are working toward moving the needle to excellence. I mean,
what you described is how things should be run. So, I do really appreciate that >> and I I appreciate the transparency as well. I think uh you know, it's it's easy to hang your head on accolades, but it's
very difficult to admit fault and where we're lacking and that there's a plan of action and that we will make this uh a better district. So, thank you for that comprehensive report. >> Um I I'll just say thank you to everybody that worked on this. I know
this is um getting audits like this are very very frustrating. We deal with it too in my work and um rules and statutes are changing so quickly. it's really hard to keep up with and I don't know if this is something that Niola can support
but also um you know just the requirements it once you get to know your auditor it gets easier but when they start looking at something we've never had a 10 or 20 year plan in all the years that I have been on this school board we've had a fiveyear plan
every year and now 13 years later they decide that that's the important thing that they're going to audit. So, I get the frustration. Um, I agree it will make us better because it makes you um really look at your
processes more clearly, but um I don't know if it's something Neiola can support with rule changes um as well as statutory changes because if there's a statutory change related to this, they should be able to notify the district
because then rule making starts and then you should get notifications on that. So, first then you can have input into the rule that you're it's going to create this process, but then you know how to modify your own processes in the >> it's it's it's an unbearable task
sometimes. I get it. >> Um I appreciate you bringing that forward. That is something that uh Chief Desazo has put in place as we get the Neola updates and the legislative updates and changes. As a matter of fact, it just went out today. She does it frequently so that tra staff can keep
track of all of the changes as we go through policy revisions as well as any statutory changes. It goes out to each individual director and department chair. They're responsible for reviewing those changes and making sure that uh we are implementing them or updating
manuals and policies. But to your point, it does put us in a situation or position to review internally what we're doing uh well and what we're not doing and fix what needs to be fixed. staff has worked significantly hard on this. Um, I've been hard on them. This was not
an easy process. It's embarrassing uh for the district, but at the end of the day, they understand what the expectation is. I believe in all of them. Uh, they do incredible work and uh we're just going to continue to get better. >> I'll share with you our 45page internal
control questionnaire that we do for every audit. It's really extensive, but it makes you think about it and it really pushes you to compare what you're doing to your policy and making sure that they align. I'll share that with you. All right. Thank you all very much.
Okay, moving on. We have um our budget workshop number one. This is a discussion item. We're not voting on anything tonight. Carter, do you want to give us something really quick overview on um the import very very high
level important things and um and then we'll just we will be coming back for workshop number two. But if are there let me ask first are there any questions about um the present Carter's presentation
from the board? M Roberts. Um, the only thing I want to be clear of is that we need to make sure our FTE numbers are aligned with each other across the district. That's the only piece. Thank you. And >> I know he has >> Oh, go ahead. I I know you have a 20
page report here obviously, but I I think the legislative stuff is definitely a highlight since we're in the session. If you don't mind touching on that, that would be great. >> Sure. Um, knowing that, um, I'm the only person standing between you and dinner, I will give you the reader digest version, um, on slide number three, if
you would be so kind to put it on the monitor, um, is where we are currently in the cycle um, that we're working on FTE projections. Um, internally, we will be um, convening our um, ACE team to meet with the principles and to work on
allocations. I believe a staffing plan will be coming forward shortly. Um that reflects some changes that we're making, the superintendent's recommending internally. On slide number four, um again, we put the Senate legislative sess calendar um on there for you to
review. We're somewhere between the January 13th and the February 28th um meeting dates. um key legislative issues affecting school districts. Obviously, property tax reform, that's been a hot topic in Tallahassee and how that's going to shake out. Um thankfully, we're
seeing um from from our perspective, most of the proposals um exempt school districts, so at least we know we'll have um some semblance of continuation of funding under the current model. um scholarships, excuse me, and the accountability with respect to um how um
the family empowerment scholarships are tracked and accounted for is important. Sovereign immunity continues to move um with updating the uh sovereign immunity cap levels and as well as Senator Simons's um uh administrative efficiency
in school districts legislation continues to move um Senate that will be Senate Bill 320. Um on the next couple of graphs and charts are just some screenshots from the FDOE's database. Um looking at the projection models um as
you can see Martin all overall you can see a dramatic drop in the FTE um or over 2425 to 2526. Um we'll touch on that a little bit later as we go through the presentation. But more importantly on the right hand side you can see that
Martin traditional continues to forecast um at a decrease which we did um on a further slide project a further loss um going into next year. On slide seven the charter schools u moderately increase as well as virtual remains flat and we've
talked about some of the strategies that we'd like to employ going forward in that. On slide eight you can see the fees. Um when we reached out to the DOE against why is that dropping um they have switched most of those students
over to the uh Florida tax credit scholarship or the PEP which the board approved a policy last month and we're meeting internally and discussing how to roll that out. Um on the unique abilities on the UA that's essentially your ESC population again continues to
rise. On slide number nine um is just a screenshot of the projections that we sent in to the DOE. We're very limited in the way we can adjust the models and you can see traditional um again we've projected a further loss going going through to next year.
And then the next couple of slides just break out the FTE. Again just just for those who are watching um these are not the count of noses or bleeding hearts as Mrs. Roberts likes to say. This is schedule and minutes. Beating hearts, I'm sorry. My apologies. Beating hearts.
Um, it's late. Uh, but this is the count of schedule and minutes that have been converted into student attendance hours based on fractional FTE. On slide 11, again, just a bar graph to show the um historical unfortunate decline um since
around February 161 17 where traditional continues to to to decline in our in our FTE. on slide 12 shows elementary schools. Um, of note in u February of 24 we went from 68.94
to October 706991 which was very encouraging because that's an actually an increase of 175 FTE but then we saw start to see the trend of the um FTE at elementary in particular starting to decline. Middle
schools um essentially remain flat as well as high schools virtual programs uh we're predicting some projecting some FTE for next year. Um special centers again um of note um Spectrum Academy you
can see that we we um are encouraging those students to go back to their uh regular zone schools and that's a decrease. Charter schools again moderately moderately up at 54.32 on slide 17.
On 18 just a um line graph looking at the fees and the dramatic rise once the um McKay scholarships went away. You can see up to $25 million is what our essential pass through is. And on slide 19 is just the governor's recommended
budget for next year. But just a little history to show uh where the recommendation came in for 2526, where we ended up for 2526 in the last calc. And looking at that tall bar graph, uh hopefully we will be able to come in at
the final um legislative conference report close to that um orange bar. And with that, thank you very much, Madam Chair, um and board members uh for allowing me the time to give you a quick write reader digest version. Thank you very much, Carter. We
appreciate that. Are there any questions for Carter? >> Miss Roberts. >> So, bottom line is last year we were down 238 and this year the projection looks like we're down 186. Correct. >> I believe the projection is actually a little the the actual loss was a little
bit higher. Um it's on slide 10. You can see the traditional U. Uh, we went from October 16062 to 15762. So that's about 300 down. >> I'm using your trend your page six trend data for the projection. >> Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, any board member comments? We're wrapping up. All right. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you all very much.