Okay, we are going to call this uh June 2nd workshop of the Martin County School Board to order. Um if you please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
stand. >> Okay, Miss H, would you call the role, please? >> Yes. Mrs. Powers, >> here. >> Dr. Morardi, >> here. >> Mrs. Pritchette, >> here. >> Mrs. Roberts, >> here. >> And Mrs. Russell here. >> Okay. Uh Dr. Morardi, you had something
you wanted to share. >> Yes. Thank you, Chair Powers. Of >> course. >> Um it's that time of the year, unfortunately, where we uh we lose some some great people. Um and our emails are
often blown up with um non-renewals and and stories of of people who are upset about that. So, I wanted to publicly put it out here to Mr. Raymond um Jeff. Thank you. Um to kind of walk us through
a little bit of the generic process. Obviously, you can't get in any specifics, but because we get a lot of emails about people who might be unhappy or maybe not understanding how things work with annual contracts. So, uh, I want to know, can you shed a little bit of light on this, uh, for the public so
that they can maybe understand this a little bit more in, you know, when these tough decisions have to be made? >> Yes. Um, good evening. For the record, Jeff Raymond, executive director of talent acquisition and HR operations. Um, it's a great question that I am
asked frequently, um, from teammates who are wondering what did I do wrong? And um what I will share with you generically speaking is um first I would share I think if you were to ask any organization to comment
they would typically say we don't comment on personnel decisions um and that is to protect um future liability for the organization but with that we're talking about teammates and humans who are upset and want answers. So, what I
typically share in a generic sense is there's a variety of reasons why a principal or supervisor opts to non-renew a contract. Um, the first thing I would distinguish is the difference between a termination and a
non-renewal. Um, starting in July of 2011 in the state of Florida, teachers could only earn an annual contract, which means we're we're guaranteeing you employment for one year. Um, at the end of that contract,
the principal has to consider several factors. Sometimes the school may earn fewer teachers for the upcoming year. That could be a reason someone gets non-renewed. They've done nothing wrong. If you look to our south, I believe
Broward County has a lot of great employees who are not coming back who did nothing wrong. They just earn fewer employees. Um, sometimes teachers uh may have a certification issue. They're not eligible to do the job any
longer if you're not certified, if they haven't done their ESOL endorsements, their reading endorsements. Um, there are times there are performance issues. Um, we look at student data, performance data. Um, we don't talk publicly about
discipline matters, but all of these factors go into a principal making a decision. Um, the board is asked to approve a staffing plan. This year, example, we have, I believe, two fewer assistant
principal assistant principal positions in the Martin County School District because we didn't earn enough FTE. Um, so when I sit across from a teammate who's like, "What did I do wrong?" Um, the answer is often nothing. Um, it's
just that your annual contract has expired and there is a reason why we don't have a place for you. From the HR land, I make every effort to work with principles that if there's a teammate um that is an all-star and they're doing
great things, we're going to help you find another position in the Martin County School District. You are allowed to apply for another position, to transfer to another position. But the hard piece is hearing that you're not
coming back and we can't give you a reason. And that would be my general 30,000 foot view of when we have to inform teammates as to why they're not coming back and they want the reason. Um, you won't find a school district in
Florida that would share the reason to protect the organization, but it is an annual contract that has expired. >> Oh, thank you so much, Jeff, for that transparency. I think he explained it really well just so the public knows and when they email us, you know, asking us for answers, you know, we can't discuss
publicly uh what happened with a certain employee, but hopefully that will guide them at least in in the general process. So, I appreciate you taking the time to uh go over that with us. >> Yeah, you're welcome. And you can also steer them to me and I I can always give that general overview if they're not
tuning in tonight to today's meeting. >> Thank you. And I would just add to that that the board is not responsible for hiring or or even during that contract process. We're not that is not our role as school
board members. That is the superintendent. Obviously, if there's a termination, um we typically would hear if there was an appeal to that, but our role is not to hire. It's the superintendent's role to do that. And
really, we only step in if um the superintendent makes a choice that a person's not qualified. So really and truly, that's the only time we should even be stepping into those personnel matters, but um yeah, it's a tough time
of year. I know. And it's a tough time across the state of Florida. Okay, thank you for that. Moving on, we have public comment. Is there do we have any public comment? Okay, seeing none, we'll move right into
our district presentations. Um, Mr. Raymond, uh, the IRSC PAR toteer program. All right. Well, good evening again from a closer seat in the room. Um, really just want to spend a few minutes with you. Um, some of you were here when the
board invested about $255,000 in the PAR to teacher program with a company called Bloomboard. Um, at a board meeting, we recognized some of our graduates. At a high school graduation ceremony, we grad um recognized some of those graduates. And tonight, I just
wanted to present an alternative option that is uh contract free. um significantly cheaper and um supporting our local um college of Indian River State College. So expanding the teacher pipeline is the name of the presentation. I was actually
asked to share this I think back in April but there were a few um calendar conflicts but to to the first slide um to grow our own teachers is is a great opportunity. Power professionals have firsthand lens into the classroom every
single day. Um are actually getting on the job training. The first bullet of um special education and elementary remaining our number one gap. We send the board our instructional vacancies every Monday. Um 70% of our vacancies
are ESE and elementary. So that that's kind of why we want to target this area to to grow our own from people who are in the classrooms. Um and so I'll go on. So, from the history lesson in 2023, as I alluded to, the
board invested $255,000 that would have afforded you the opportunity to essentially pay the tuition. The only way to get in the program is you have to have had an associates degree. So, we're paying for the second two years of college. So, for
the grand total of 255,000, the max number was 15 par professionals could have become a teacher. That was the investment that was made. There's some lessons learned in that program that I would encourage you to think about if we do something different. So
only 12 of the 15 completed the program. So if all 15 completed the program, it would have been about 17,000 per that would have been the investment. But when the three didn't, we don't recoup the money. It's sort of like you recoup it
if you sign another contract with Bloomboard. It's like a future cruise credit. they're great, but you have to go back on the cruise line to use it. So, that model, they were ahead of their time. Bloomboard was getting a lot of business in the state of Florida because
they were the concierge that did all the work um to set something up with a college who would let paras get credit for their work during the day and earn their degree. So, ahead of their time, it was a great investment at the time,
but it could only get us 15. So on this slide here, when I talk about a partnership, I I just want to emphasize like there's no contract to sign. What I'm sharing with you is just what's available from our partners at IRSC. Um currently, if you didn't know,
they just received a grant um earlier this year where anyone who's an ESC parrofessional who has an associates degree can earn a free bachelor's degree. So from the HR side, we have pushed this out to all of our paras that
are ESE paras. You have the opportunity to get a free bachelor's degree in education. In this one, it's specifically for special education for that particular one. So that's a no cost, no-brainer. Um, and it's up to HR to continue to promote it. I think it's
also a recruitment tool. Come be a par profofessional in the Martin County School District and you can become a teacher, too. Um but we also have ESOL paraprofessionals and basic paraprofessionals. At [clears throat] max, if any one of these uh paraprofessionals that we
approve for a program, at max the cost is 7500 per candidate versus the 17 that I showed you on the prior slide. Um and they offer the same two degrees, elementary or ESSE. Um IRSC's degrees
come with reading endorsement and ESOL endorsement. Sometimes you see a lot of names on our out of field list. Um they're going to graduate with these endorsements. Um in my call with IRSC, many of our paras qualify for financial aid. Um so
7500 is the max number a parro would pay if we invested in them to go to IRSC to become a teacher. Um there is no contract. there would just be an agreement. If you wanted to do something in house, we could fund it.
This is just a visual to probably summarize what I just said. That same 255,000. If you wanted to invest that much at a minimum could get us 34 paras to teachers. We wouldn't need to do that much. You could do 10 of them, whatever
you wanted. But just to kind of give you a visual as to um the comparison of the two programs. Just another visual how much more cost effective IRS versus um the advantages of staying local.
Obviously we could double the output um lower the cost. Now reducing the financial risk to the district would be up to the board to decide. That old model was hey we're paying the bill before you and if you don't finish it
guess what Martin County School District was on the hook or we had to resign with Bloomboard. So, one of the things to consider is would the new model, should you choose to go this route, be finish the program, I reimburse you at 100%.
Um, because the lesson learned was some people started the program, did some of the program, but when they leave, it's very challenging to recoup money from an employee who leaves us. Um, so just something to ponder. Um, obviously a
local partnership is building our pipeline contract free. So I believe this is my final slide before questions. Um the considerations if if this is something the board wants to do again um we could continue prioritizing ESE and
elementary 70% of our current vacancies. um becoming a leader in the grow your own program. Um maximizing our investment because we get more and then the consideration is to consider what would that financial structure look like
so we're not losing on any investments. And that is my five minute or less overview of what could be a partnership with IRSC. I welcome your questions at this time or down the road. questions from the board.
>> Did you push your button? >> It's not showing on mine. >> Oh, sorry. M. Roberts is first. >> Does. [clears throat] >> No, it doesn't. >> Mr. Roberts. >> Sure. So, do we have an active contract
with Bloomorg right now? It expired. So, we're under no obligation to continue. >> Um, and the 7500 is that for two years. >> Two years. Yep. I priced it out. How much would it cost for a college student who has an associates degree to earn the
final two years? $7,500 was the max number. >> Okay. Um, and in this the way you're talking about it, we would reimburse them when they finish, which means we would be looking. So, in the Bloomberg model, there was no
reimbursement. We were just paying it. >> Correct. Um, in this case, we would have the ability to either pay it ahead like we did with Bloomberg or we could reimburse them at the end knowing that and I think that probably some of the
interest that we got with Bloomberg was because they weren't out of pocket anything >> and they weren't waiting for something to come back. Um, and so do we have people in the pipeline now? >> Um, no. There's no one. I I get
inquiries every day. Are you doing a PAR tote teacher program? And I shared that uh the first cohort completed. Um are you an ESSE PAR? Because if so, there's a program for you right now with IRSC. Um will there be interest? Yes, there would be.
>> And so when you're saying it's a 255,000, it's really that would really cover two years of payments. Oh, if you chose I I wanted to just illustrate the prior
contract. The investment was 255,000 paying for two years of schooling for 15 Paris. If you invested that same amount of money, if you just earmarked it and see what we want to use, you could net at least 34 Paris,
>> right? But what that would mean is we would have a cohort that would be going the next two years >> and we would have to reup to have another cohort that was going >> correct. >> Correct. So you wouldn't have a year with nobody and then a year with 34 and then a year with nobody and a year.
>> Right. And and you could decide let's do 15 one year 15 the next. And to me I think the upside is there's zero contract. It's just how do you want to invest locally? like this is their offer to anyone who wants two years of schooling >> and we would just be doing the promoting
of it and I think so I I would be interested in something coming from the superintendent that's and I would be interested in paying upfront for them so that we're not looking for a parah to um come out of their pocket. So if it's 7500 it's really 3750 per year.
>> Correct. So in if they dropped out of the program, we would just be into that person for 3750, not for the whole 17 that we were >> correct >> with Bloomberg. But that's what I would be interested in. Thank you. >> Okay. U Miss Pritchette. >> So I I love this, but I want you to tell
me if you see any downside to it at all. >> Zero downside. >> That's the answer I wanted. >> Yeah. upside from our friends at IRSC, upside for our paris. You were at the graduation, you saw the difference it made for their families, for them. >> Watching them
>> was amazing. >> Yeah. So, firm believer of IRC's education, >> I see zero [clears throat] downside. >> I am in 100% favor of this. >> Dr. Morardi. >> So, do we have any kind of a credit with
this Bloom board? I I I use the analogy of like it's a future cruise credit. Yeah. If you if we want to reup with Bloomboard, they're like the exclusive provider of a college experience at Lake Erie College in Payneesville, Ohio. So,
no, we don't we have a credit if we sign a new contract with them. >> So, we'd have to sign like contract at like 17,000 per para, right? And it just doesn't seem >> we can't send like the three that dropped. You can't send like three there and the rest to IRSC and use up that
credit or No, >> there could be the potential to do something like that and I will pursue that to see if if we could go back to Lake Erie. The contract expired and their salesmanship is to reup. >> Okay. Because I don't want to reup the whole thing, but if there's some way
>> pursue the uh >> if there's a way to use up that cruise credit on just the short cruise, >> let's take the short cruise and have everyone else on the long cruise >> uh would be one thing. And then I'm just curious the three that dropped was it academic issues or
>> is the challenge of being a full-time par a full-time para a full-time parent and keeping up with academics. So it it was it was too much for them. >> Okay. >> Um and we tried we had mentors and coaches um
and so they they decided it wasn't for them. >> Okay. But I do like your angle as well. I would agree with the rest of the board with the IRSC uh and making us our grow at home uh workforce development that uh is really appealing to me. So appreciate
that. >> I'll get back to you on that credit. >> Um so I just have a couple of comments. Um are we going to require a contract with the teachers that participate in this program? But do we have a do we already have a degree program where we
reimburse employees for We have um two things. The first thing is the paras that joined the first program signed anou that did say that they are financially responsible to pay if they were to leave. They're also committing
to the priorou was to stay in the Martin County School District for five years. So we would bring something to you to say hey what do you want thisou to say um to this can you repeat the second question because I forgot you asked two things. one was was there a contract and
then what was the second part? >> I think that was pretty much it. But I'm curious about too I mean I don't think we should pay 3500 upfront or 3750 I think >> because at IRSC is a little different
because every question >> every every um student may someone may take three classes someone may take two classes. I think we should reimburse by semester. >> I think so. >> Um there should be no upfront like it so
it should be by semester throughout the year but also based on the number of classes that they take obviously. Um because some people aren't going, you know, are they are we committing are they committing to complete their bachelor's degree in two years or are we
giving them a longer >> Yeah. The uh lastou gave them two to three years to complete and the other part of the question is do we currently have a uh reimbursement program for tuition? >> Okay. >> Currently um we have an opportunity to
pay twothirds of the of the cost of a course at RSC per semester while funds are available. That's just for um anyone in the district. It's a current option. >> So, this would be this group
>> and yeah, you could tar it like >> um we'll pay this semester up front. You got to complete it, but we're not investing. I think the Bloomboard error was we invested all two years um upfront and that's where the risk came in. >> So, my other question would be books. Um
>> yeah, it's included. The 7500 was books and fees included per per the quote from IRSC. >> Okay. >> Um because with um Bloomboard Lake Erie College, we paid for everything except maybe their final transcript. >> Okay. And then um you know, honestly, I
think that if we're using this as a recruiting tool, if they complete it within two years, I feel like we should give them some sort of bonus if they come to the school district. and I don't know what that amount is. Maybe it's $1,000 or um that they come to the
Martin County School District, they commit to work and here's your bonus for doing that. We invested in you. No, here you go. You're committed for now you sign a contract to stay with us. >> I personally love it from a recruitment standpoint. We're you're entering as a
parro. We're investing you to become a teacher. Not only will you have a job, but maybe there's a bonus. So really all for you to uh decide. >> I guess just looking at the you know what that cost would be um and obviously
I think we should set parameters around it. So I think it should be specifically for those paras that are completing their degree in two years. That incentivizes them to complete their degree timely not spread it out too much. And if they do that, then they get
the bonus and, you know, potentially are hired by the M County School District. >> I guess we will bring a maybe a proposal to you and tweak it from there. >> Based upon your >> M. Roberts, did you have something down? >> Okay.
Um, yeah. And I'm all I really think we should pay upfront the just by semester just because I I think that we will encounter people that have um that financial barrier that would prevent them from being able to um
complete the court. What how many hours per semester do you know what it is to complete? Like is there is it 15 >> 15 each a total of another 60 credits? >> So we would give them six semesters. So, summer, fall, spring,
sum, summer, fall, spring, like how would we >> a total of I mean I guess how they want to do it, but it's total of 60 college credits. And I'm sure they could break it up differently, but however you want it framed, like if it's traditional semesters, fall, spring, >> because 15 credit hours, working
full-time, and having a family is a lot. >> Yeah. So, we can present different tiers for how to approach it knowing that it is a lot. IRSC is willing to um approach this model similarly to Lake Erie College, giving the paras an opportunity
to earn credit for coursework done while they're being a parah um because that was something that was very um appetizing with Bloomboard. So when we brought this to IRS's attention like can you do something comparable a portfolio
model they are working towards that. So, when will we know what the final program looks like? >> Oh, I think um I probably have a meeting with Mr. Mine coming up soon and um we'll share a proposal based upon all the things you're asking for and then do we bring it back at a at a board meeting
or you know to let you see it and tweak it. So, >> yeah, we should probably get it sooner rather than later because >> started for the new year that would be >> we would want it to start probably in August. >> Okay. Well, it'll be a priority and we'll send you something soon.
Mr. Roberts, >> quite frankly, I'm okay with three years, figuring that instead of doing 15 credit hours a year for two years while you're working full-time, if you did 10, 10, and 10, >> that might be like the Lake Erie agreement said two to three years
is more reasonable. the par if if you don't have kids I think it's if you don't have a family I think you can probably do it in two with summers but I I think it's hard >> you if you're comfortable we could rate it two to three years
>> well and I'm also the other question not question but comment is what kind of supports will we as a school district give them as students in the in >> I would ask that we assign them mentors the same we did with Bloomboard. Um, so
that would be a part of a financial package we would share with you. It would be the same rate as a Martin mentor. >> Um, so we'll build that into a proposal. >> Perfect. >> Sounds wonderful. >> All right. My pleasure. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on. The excitement of
the day, the overview of our proposed budget for 2627. Everybody has been um on pins and needles. So, Carter, could you start off just letting the public know kind of what
happened today in the special session and um when all of those things like kind of a timeline, the November U ballot initiative and then when it would go into effect if it passes.
>> Thank you very much, Madam Chair. um board me other board members, superintendent and community. Um the information that I'm going to relay um is based on an update that we received this afternoon at 1:30. Um uh both chambers of the House passed committee
substitute um House Joint Resolution 1F, the Senate by a vote of 30 to9, the House by a vote of 75 to 26. Therefore, in November of this year, um voters of the state of Florida will be asked to
pass a constitutional amendment which phases in um an increase in the hope homestead exemption. Um based on the proposals, I'm pleased to announce that during the legislative process that both chambers made
amendments to exempt school districts from um the um homestead increase. Um at the same time however that that's good news for us but for those um counties municipalities that they were not exempted uh we may end up feeling some
downstream effects at some point. Um we do for example have an SRO contract uh with our local sheriff and if his revenues um are reduced somewhat then the his share may may ultimately decrease. So, those are things that
we're going to have to deal with down the road um should this constitutional amendment pass. But I'm pleased to report that the school district there was a carveout made uh for the school district. So, we would um we will be will be exempted from that.
>> Thank you. >> So, moving on to today's budget workshop. Uh my my task today is to provide an update of the fiscal year 2627 budget outlook, some of the funding changes, enrollment trends, and just
some key financial considerations uh being impact impacting our district budget planning for the fiscal year 2627. As you alluded to, um the special session um was called by the governor um
to consider um property taxes and the various exemptions that were proposed. However, the FEFP budget, which is the subject of this um workshop, um that passed on Friday, May the 29th, last Friday, after the mandatory 72-hour
cooling off period. So right now, as you can see on the slide, we're here. We're pointing to the dollars um because we now have a proposed budget for fiscal 2627. Coming out of that process, I just wanted to highlight a few things. The
conference summary that you're seeing on your screen, if you were to pull up any state report, it would not match. And the reason is internally what we try to do is strip out, if you will, the voucher the impact of the vouchers in in the in the budget to see exactly what
we're looking at at a local level with respect to traditional public schools and charter schools. So, just to highlight a few um takeaways um from the presentation in front of you, year-over-year, we're basically looking
at flat funding of $172 million. You can see that at the bottom of the slide. State funding has increased by $9.4 million while the local share has decreased by about 9.3 um $3 million primarily driven by you can see the
decrease in the required local effort which is about.36 mills or 11.8% even although the tax the tax value went up um an average of 3.94%. We also um are predicting a weighted FTE
drop of about a hundred going into the into the year. I will present some slides based that show our trend data over last several years that show um our decline in the traditional public school sector. And at the end of the day, the
per student funding increase um amounts to about $33 for FTE. As we go through the leg legislative session, I like to um just put up this slide to kind of show um the governor's budget is typically the largest
proposal. Um but it really just gives general direction and an indication of the priorities that the governor has with respect to the FFP funding. However, the the actual budget is not final until passed by both chambers and conferenced. So, as you can see in the
um far right bar, you'll see 172.398 million. Moving on to our FTE looking at and again we've been tracking this for several years going back to October actually before October of 2023, but we just chose to show these these
last several years. Um in the yellow bars where I have highlighted, we compared the October of last year to the February of this year. You can see that the traditional public schools including virtual had a decrease of about 80 FT
unweighted FTE. Charters about nine and scholarships a slight adjustment of 11. So overall the um district as a whole lost about 77.42 42 um FTE.
On the next slide is just a graphical representation going back all the way to 20 February of 20134 and the green numbers on top of the bar show um the years in which we actually had some growth. So the last time we the
district's FTE which excluded at that time McKay scholarships um looking at the traditional public school only the last time we grew an FTE was 201617 approximately 10 years ago. So you can see the I've done some sort of
regression line and you can see today we're at 15,823.23 23. As is also customary, we tried to divide and show you the various impacts by elementary, middle, high school, and special programs. Um, comparing October
of 2025 to February of 2026. Um, the the largest increase, which was moderate, m minor, it was at Sewin Elementary, 4.23 FTE and Port Salerna Elementary was your largest loss of 11.23 FTE.
At the middle school level, we still continue to see um decreases in FTE. Uh between October and February, we lost 27.45 FTE with 11.38 FTE at Hidden Oaks Middle School.
At the high school, Martin County High School, um lost 21.64 64 FTE between October which is surveyed through the October count in February of 21.64 and Jensen Beach High School continues
to see increases as about 3.34 FTE. Overall we're down at by 27.20 FTE. Virtual programs um we have not been able to report any FTE at this point for virtual programs um in the upcoming
budget for this year. The superintendent has authorized two two teaching allocations to try to get that off the ground. Working with curriculum and instruction to design the program so we can able we're able to take advantage of students um who want to take virtual
courses. on the next slide with your special programs. Um the largest increase was at Spectrum Academy between October of 25 and February of 26 where your largest loss was at uh Riverbend Academy of 1.81
FTE. Overall, your special programs grew by about 18.03 FTE. charter schools. Looking at charter schools, um essentially flat at hope hope autism and um at Treasure Coast um
classical academy, they lost about 7.02 FTE. Um just for to note that Indian River Indian Town, excuse me, high school um is on a upward trajectory recording um 140.36
um as of the as of the February count. And last but not least, uh we like to keep our tabs on the um FTE that's coming through on the uh family empowerment scholarships. You can see the dip um going from 2,271
in February of 2025 down to 1,025.75 in February of 2026. the final um that is because some mo lot about a thousand of those students switched over to the Florida tax credit or the PEP program. So they're not um taking advantage of
the the um floor the family empowerment scholarship. Uh with that that concludes my overview of the 2627 budget at this point. Um we do have on July the 21st a board meeting
which is to advertise the budget. We will continue to make adjustments within the budget internally to bring that forward to the board with the first public hearing and trim hearing being on July 28th at 5:05 um in this room to
adopt the tenative budget. Madam Chair, with that and superintendent, board members, I'll take any questions that you may have. >> Thank you, Carter. Uh, Miss Roberts. >> Um, Carter, when I'm looking at your 2526 summary of unweighted FTE,
are your updates of your final survey counts that you give me the next three or four, not the next also? >> Yes. Everything here is >> okay. Thanks. because when I add those numbers, I don't get the same numbers
that are on your summary sheet. So just just so you're aware of that. So for example, when I'm looking at the increase decrease for traditional and I have 79 as the decrease, >> right? >> If I add the three numbers, the
elementary at 42, the middle at 27, and the high school at 27, I come up with higher than 79. Just just so that just so you know that I mean I think that I think that your sheet your summary sheet is the one that
needs adjusting for that just but and I want to um focus on because we look at October and February surveys. If I look at the survey two actuals from October to October to October, right? And I look
at October 23 to October 24, we were down about 80. >> And then from October 24 to October 25, we were down about 300. >> Correct? >> And now it looks like from October 25,
if you're giving me a number of 15823, it looks like we would if everybody we think is going to be there actually shows up, then I'm actually going up. But but I think we're really planning to be flat.
Is that what we're budgeting on? Flat. We're not >> We budget. No, we we projected to the state an actual decrease based on the historical trend that we have. >> Okay. Then I'm um then I'm confused with the geographical
representation for the unweighted FTE. your your line your bar graphs that show the orange and then the little bit of green at the bottom, >> right? >> Because that's showing me that my final in 2026 is 15823, >> right?
>> Which is higher than what my October survey is. So I think that um just so you can check those. I think that that's And that's all I had. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Miss Pitch, sorry I turned
you off earlier when I was trying to um learn this new system. >> Sure. >> Um so turning to page 12, update on final survey special centers. >> Yes,
>> bear with me. I'm extracting Spectrum and Willoughby because if those students weren't at those schools, they would be at our traditional schools, wouldn't they? >> Yes. >> So, the gains there are because they
came from another traditional school in our district. >> That is correct. >> Right. >> But for survey reporting purposes, they were at that school at the time doing the FTE count. >> Okay. But we're not really gaining FTE from those two schools
because they would have been in a traditional school and been counted there. >> Yes. >> Okay. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Marardi. >> So, back to what Mr. Roberts was saying on page seven with that graphical
representation. So if that stays as is, that number would be green at 15823 where you have that in orange. >> Yes, I >> would go up from 15762. So let me double check that number. >> So that would be the first increase
we've had. It says in a decade >> if that were to hold it would that would be our first actual going up. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Yes. So I will double check that for you. >> Okay.
And the other question I had was on page 11. So we don't have anyone going through the virtual right now. >> Not at this point. No. >> Zero people. >> Yes, sir. >> But we've had people in the past. We just don't have anybody now. >> Yes.
>> Okay. Thank you, >> M. Roberts. So, um, when you're looking at those the number from the 15762 to the 15 823 and that's going up about 60,
but at the same time that it goes up about 60. Usually from October to February, I believe we lost 80 students. So, those are students who were here in October and then for whatever reason took their buckets and went somewhere else. So, um, Even though it looks like
it's going up, we all when we start the year, we usually have that October to February piece where it it jumps down. >> Correct. Typically October is your highest count and you would have some dropout factor affecting for February. >> Thank you.
>> So I just have one question about um I know we still are seeing the trend in our middle schools where we're losing students in middle school. Um, Jensen Beach High School is the anomaly in gaining students. And I would be curious to know if all of the students that
requested choice were able to get into Jensen. Um, and if they weren't, how do we how do we make some quick changes so that we can retain those students on the Jensen Beach
campus if that's the desire of the family to be there? and were were they out of county? Did we lose them because to not going to another one of our public high schools? Did they go to private schools? So, I just want to make
sure we're capturing all of them. And I don't want if we need to put portables or whatever we need to do on a temporary basis to if that's where families want to be, then I think that they should be there.
My latest I'm sorry excuse me I was going to say my latest data is that we have a waiting list for Jensen Beach High School. I want to say it's 137 is the number in my head. Uh which is why we had proposed using the impact fees to construct the building. Um sort of in
the middle of the courtyard at Jensen Beach High School to accommodate those students who are on the waiting list to get them um at that school. Um, I do also have some um information in inhouse that we use to track the population migration. So, we can take a look at
that, but I'll definitely check in with the choice office to see if everyone who wanted to go to Jensen if we had enough spa. I think it would be a constraint of space at this point. Well, and I want to make sure are that if they are on the waiting list for Jensen, are they
enrolled in another one of our high schools or are they out of county trying to come into because that's really if we're if we're capturing them. Obviously, we want parents to be happy in the in our school system. And if that means that they would be happy at Jensen Beach High School, then that's what we
should to retain them. But I want to know because really the impact is going to be in the number of kids that are coming into Martin County that would not have attended one of our traditional public high schools. >> We'll get that data for you.
>> Thank you. Any other questions, Dr. Morardi? >> I think we've talked about that before with Jansen Beach High School, though. Didn't we talk about some improvements there, Mr. Serest? Maybe. Did we've talked about this before, haven't we? >> Yes. >> Yes. the board, Mark Secrets, director
of facilities and planning. We actually are you the board actually approved a master plan concept and that's being done by the architect now and they're reviewing Jensen Beach High School on how we can add classrooms and labs to that campus whether it be inside the courtyard or outside the courtyard but
that's all being reviewed right now and that's going to come forward in the future like August with the master plan >> and they're actually reviewing Indiantown Middle School at the same time. And what's the timeline on that for implementation? >> Well, we'd have to go once we get the
master plan complete, then we have to get board approval to go out for an RFQ for the A&E and the contractor. And then that's a nine-month process to get the construction drawings done. >> Gotcha. >> And then it's a two two to threeyear project to get it constructed. >> That's Yeah. So that's down the road. M
is talking about immediate, right? >> I'm talking about some portables potentially on the campus. Can we look at if there is a way to um place temporary portables that wouldn't interfere with construction? That's going to be really disruptive in the
middle of the courtyard to build a new building on that campus. That's a >> Go ahead. >> So, right now the only real estate we have is where the building needs to go. So, that's it's a really difficult >> discussion and being that it's June
right now, it's going to be really difficult to get portables in by August 1st. So, um it's it's a really time constraint and real estate constraint discussion. Um but the master plan is moving forward. We're going to know what we can
add to that campus because they're doing the full code analysis to figure out because that campus is very large. I don't know. We we're pushing 400,000 square feet. So based on the code analysis, they're going to know what we can add to that campus and what location it could be in relative location to the
existing buildings. So all that's being reviewed by the architect now and he's going to be able to come back because we we showed two options whether it be inside the courtyard or outside the courtyard because the courtyard itself is very large. I mean you can literally put a building inside there. It's going to be a matter of whether code will
allow it based on the number of square feet we have there. Well, and my other thing that we we talk about a lot is when you drive by any of our high schools during the day, because we always talk about parking problems, but the parking lots are empty because
so many kids are gone. How are we utilizing the space that we do have? Are when when during the day are classrooms empty? Um, I think we're going to have to get away from every teacher has an assigned classroom that they're going to
be moving to a classroom if they if it's vacant to serve students. I I think it has we have to start looking at it differently instead of building 3040 million buildings that
we should be utilizing what we have. >> Madam Chair, >> yes. Um what we can do is let's say if there's a hund there's a list of 134 students if 30 of them just using these hypothetical numbers if 30 of them are
from outside wanting to get into Jensen Beach let the team get with the choice office. We will get with principal Connelly through strategic scheduling. If we're able to absorb those 30 students or whatever the number ends up being, we will work to do that. Um, and
then make sure that the other students that are at the other high schools have first priority should additional seats open if that's their uh school of choice. Um, but I think through some strategic scheduling, if the number is not that high, we should be able to
accommodate some additional students on the waiting list. >> Perfect. Thank you. Any other questions, Miss Roberts? Um, and maybe there's a way for the ones that we can't take that we can promote
the Martin virtual solution with a couple classes that they can take because I think some of those students I did meet somebody who was from Port St. Lucy who did not get in and they sent their kid to Florida virtual was what what their solution was because they
didn't want them going to a St. Lucy County school. So maybe there's a way that we could um build that somehow. So we get them for part of it and they're doing our virtual for the other part of it and we're managed to keep it. And then the other point about the the um
portables, I I I would expect it's almost impossible to get portables there for August, but knowing that the final solution isn't available for another two to three three to four years actually from today, that if we started planning or looking at doing where we would put
portables for the next year so that then in August of 2027, we would be would be have some increased capacity while we're doing the building piece there. I think that would take some of the stress off. Thanks. >> Yeah. [clears throat] And I would really
the strategic scheduling really needs to happen. We've been talking about it for a really long time and I know that um right now we don't just um we have a lot of unused space at during every period of the day. So, um I
don't even know that we need to build new buildings uh for to accommodate that low of a number of students yet. I don't know. Okay. All right. Moving on. Thank you, Carter. We really appreciate it. Thanks for
sharing the good news about the exemption of school districts from the um property tax referendum that will be coming in November. All right. Next up, we have Deb Riley.
Oh, and GMO, who are going to talk about our code of student conduct. Good evening, Madame Chair, Superintendent Maine, board members. Welcome. We're so excited to present the
draft 2026 2027 code of student conduct to you. Um, we will take direction from the board on how you would like us to proceed in terms of discussion. If you want to go through all of the changes or
if you have certain items that you would like to discuss for us to give you more information. >> Board members, what's your pleasure? >> Give us a little view of 50,000 foot view of because there are a lot of changes. So kind of a little over would
be great as well. >> Absolutely. So, I'm going to let Mr. Arasco um give you that to you because he was our lead on this project. >> Uh sure. Good evening everyone. Uh members of the board, Madam Chair, Superintendent Maine. Um so, the 50,000
foot view when it comes to the changes is we wanted to make sure that everything was rooted when it came to um state statute, board policy. Um a lot of the rationale that you see for a lot of the changes are based on that. Um and then there's also feedback from uh school sites and parents regarding some
of the language that is used uh that can be at times confusing. Um so that there's some clarity when it comes to that. Um we're also uh attempting to have consistency across the board when it comes to our schools uh by grade level. Um in other words, elementary, middle school, and high school uh when
it comes to um consequences. Um so that's why there's an addition of the discipline matrix that's there at the end of the code of conduct. Okay. Specific questions from the board. Was that enough of an overview for you, Dr. Mari? Uh, specific questions from
the board. >> Miss Roberts. >> Hi. Um, and thank you. I I appreciate the way that it looks. I appreciate the consequence piece and I appreciate the focus on classroom behavior. I know that um a lot of the comments I've been getting during the year are from parents
who have compliant students that feel that their child's um educational environment is being disrupted by other students and um not being very happy with that. So that being said, so when I start at the beginning, your um
your post whatever we call these the the AB C V or something. Um I I think that I talked to Mr. Shazo about maybe making those a little bit less wordy and more more um grabbing. But then I go to page
eight. On page eight, when you talk about student attendance, in the first paragraph, you're talking about progressive interventions will be initiated by the MTSS problem solving team. Um because we also have
consequences for attendance now. So everything we have now, we have interventions and we have consequences is what I'm reading in your um the document that you've created. So I think besides saying that the progressive interventions will be initiated by the MTSS problem solving team, I think we
need some language that talks about the consequences. And I'm hoping that um that we will be applying the consequences consistently to whether it's by school, whether it's by
student, whatever it is, because I think that when we're looking at those and I think that's where the matrix really comes and helps. But I think there we can add a sentence in there about that. Um, I also think I was talking to the superintendent today about in your matrix where you're talking about
tardiness and realizing that tardiness is different for elementary, middle, and high school. Um, but tardiness in elementary is usually a a parent issue. Um, but at some point I think the tardinesses
so many tardinesses is it is the same as an absence, you know, is the same. that kind of thinking because it looked like in your um matrix for tardiness it was the well we're going to tell you you were tardy and please don't do it again we're going to tell you you're tardy and please don't do it again well we're going to tell you you're tardy please
don't do it again and I think that um we need to figure something else about that if I keep going I think it's page 13 the level one infractions
corrective interventions and discipline consequences. I think in all your consequences for level one, two, three, and four, you should have a bullet that is drawing attention to the fact that if you're a parent, whether you're in county or an
out of county parent, and you have been awarded a seat at a school based on choice, that one of the consequences that you you may be facing is that you will lose your choice seat. So that if I'm a if I'm a student who is
um zoned for Felix and I have choiced to Bessie Creek, but I repeatedly am doing um infractions that I run the risk of I asked to be at Bessie. I you know and if if my problem
is getting to school on time or whatever it is, if I was back at my home school, I would have a bus I could ride, you know. But I mean, I think that in in a parent asking for something, there's a a level of responsibility that needs to come with that that if you're asking for it, um
you stand to lose that. And and that being said, I I'm sure that you all have um the ability to if you have a student who has disruptive level two or level three behavior repeatedly, etc., wherever they come from, we do have the
ability through choice of saying, "You're disrupting our learning environment. you need to go back to wherever it was that you are supposed to be. Um, if that happens to be out of county, you're going back out of county, but it isn't fair to the students that are that are in the classroom for their
learning experience to be disrupted by somebody else in the classroom. On the next page, which I guess would p be page 14, where you have administrative procedures. In all of your levels of administrative procedures, you talk about the corrective interventions being
documented. I think the consequences ought to also be documented so that you'll get an accurate view of what you have. And on page on page 15 I believe is level two infractions and corrective
interventions. Um I think that also needs the choice thing and I believe one of the consequences that you have is that you might have to pay for your laptop if if you have laptop damages. Right. So I kind of feel that we should be
telling them that somewhere both in the matrix and in the consequence piece that if this is happening there's retribution and you have to pay for it. I think it's on the next page that we talk about may result in disciplinary action and a fee for repair replacement
of the device on number 17. On number eight on number 19 for malicious or not it's no longer malicious acts now it's disrespect. When you talk about um any act or acts including oral or written communication with or without provocation by a student
or group that according to social norms causes humiliation, shame, embarrassment or is demeaning. I personally feel you should add the word disruption into that. I don't know how the rest of the board feels about that, but >> I think that disruption is something
they all noded their heads. No, these three down here nodded their heads. Brian did not do nodd his head. He was not interested in adding disruption and I don't know if Amy is or not. The next page which talks about possession of contraband
also in the administrative procedure I think needs a consequence piece. On the level four, I don't know what page it is, but you have infractions and corrective interventions. I think you need a tab that says that the consequences is an expulsion recommendation because that is the
consequence of a level four. So, I think that's missing there. And to your point, and I think we need to address it again, is when we we've talked about this quite a bit about expulsions. And when we when a student
is recommended for expulsion that I don't I don't feel like that at that point they've they've done something so egregious that they will be removed from our school district um that it becomes a negotiating tool.
Um if if we're going to if a principal is if a child or student commits something that is an expelable offense, then it should come to the board for an expulsion hearing. I I I don't I think that oftentimes it's used kind of as a
bargaining tool for parents. It's like, oh yeah, well, if you agree to withdraw your student or you, it's like we no, we need to address the problem so that it's on the student's record if if the child
if the student is found guilty of an expelable offense. >> M Roberts, carry on. Oh, >> Miss Pitchett, did you have something? >> Oh, I thought Miss Roberts was done. Yeah. >> Could I ask a clarifying question for you? On level four under the corrective
actions, um, we do have recommendation for expulsion. Do you want those separated out into two separate bullets so that it doesn't get lost? >> The pages I So, the pages I'm looking have >> which number is it with these other numbers?
>> Is it page 71? Does it look like this? Yes. So, it's page 23. When I look at page 23, I see the infractions on the left. I see the interventions on the right. But unlike level one, two, and three, I don't see a thing that says disciplinary
consequences. Do you? >> So, it >> understood. Thank you. >> Yes. Um on your maybe 33 maybe page 33. >> Procedures for disciplinary alternative educational placement.
>> 32 Just so I understand this correctly, on page 32, um there's an step one is there's an investigation. Step two, the principal or the designate
can recommend that they be placed at an alternative school, but that's just any other school. That's like, is that correct? alternative educational
placement because step three is a recommendation to a non-traditional school placement. So is step two a traditional school placement and step three a non-traditional or what does that
>> Yeah. So I can see there that um we did not um strike through the uh non-traditional school wording on step three. So we'll make sure that we do that. But to answer your question, whenever a school recommends alternative placement, it is just that alternative placement and then student services
decides whether it's going to be at a non-traditional school or traditional school. >> Okay. So that step three would not say non-traditional. It would just say alternative school placement. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. in your matrixes.
So, I'm starting with the elementary school discipline matrix that starts with disrespect, disrespect for others property. When I get to the fifth referral for that,
do you mean that my fifth referral now goes to the level two chart or it says from level one, but do you really mean that I now go to level two? Is that what you're trying to tell me? So, I disrespect somebody. First time I
get a verbal warning and you call my mother. Second time I get a verbal warning and you call my mother. Third time I get a timeout. Fourth time I get a lunch detention. The fifth time
I think I'm going to a level two defiance and insubordination. Correct. >> Yes, that's correct. At that point, uh the behavior escalates to defiance which would be a level two. Um, and that'll have a separate matrix from a typical defiance that may be different that is
not rooted from level one. >> Right? So, two pages later, I see that I see a defiance insubordination from level one and a defiance insubordination. Um, but I think we need to say somewhere that it's it's the matrix either on whatever page it is or in the level two
matrix, you know, because I it it kind of I don't know where I am when I'm reading that. Otherwise, that one and the one underneath it. Um, the ID violation for elementary, elementary doesn't reset
every quarter. I noticed that high school and middle school resets, but elementary does not reset. Is that correct? Is that intentional? >> Um, yes. So, because the the consequence in it of itself or or the action that's taken is the same across the board. It
doesn't necessarily reset. Um, it would reset for middle school and high school because they would reset the consequence that would be given once it resets at the quarter. So a student at the elementary level may forget their ID for say for example the sixth time. The
consequence is not going to be different. It would it would just be a replacement of the ID where for example middle school and high school if it's the fifth time that has happened you would get a consequence for that. But then if it resets at the quarter and it is now truly your sixth time but your
first time now because it reset at the quarter then you would get a different consequence. It wouldn't be progressive from there. >> Okay. Um on [snorts] whatever page this is on the level two infractions for laptop damages
elementary school what is withdrawal of privilege. Uh so at the elementary level that is uh something like a student being given the privilege of uh taking uh the attendance sheet to the front office or there's a substitute um being the uh student
helper in the classroom. Um a lot of times the withdrawal of privilege is uh it goes back to what the behavior was when it comes to the misconduct. Um so if a student is being disruptive and again they have any sort of u uh privilege in the class um as a helper or
anything along those lines, they may be taking that away. Um, but again, it goes back to the behavior of what caused the misconduct to begin with. >> Okay. I think that also needs something about money in that one there. And a
an elementary school child who is involved in a fight is gets sent home for two days. Is that right? >> Uh, elementary school if I'm uh let me see I'm in the >> level three infractions. >> Level three infraction. Yeah, if it's a
level three infraction and then I have a question about that. So if if um Mark Serest is a kid sitting next to me and he starts beating me up, are we both in the fight or is he in the fight and he gets a
two-day suspension? or if you can't decide, do I get one too just because each I just got beaten up and now I got to go home for two days? >> No. So fighting is mutual. Um that's whenever two students engage um in a mutual altercation. So if it's one-sided, then it would be a different
uh uh infraction code that would be just for that student that was being the aggressor towards the other student. Um so at that point, we would consider um other things um such as um let me see. So if Mark wales on me, then it's a
level two. But if I decide I've had enough and I hit him back, then I go home for two days. >> If if a student engages in an altercation, then at that point, everything is weighed when it comes to the evidence, the situation, how things
occurred, and it could be that they're both mutually involved in a fight. Um, if it's a student that again is just being the aggressive aggressor towards another student, um, there's a couple of different infractions that could happen. If we were to keep it at a level three, that would be simple battery. Um, if it,
you know, rises to that level. If it's a level two, then that's where it could be. Um, again, I was looking I was looking for it. >> Inappropriate physical contact scaffolding is a level two. Uh yeah, it would be
>> so it my fifth time of scuffling I would get an out of school suspension. >> Uh scuffling is typically for your like horse play. Um or maybe just like a shove here and there. Um but it's not necessarily a fight. Um that is a bigger
altercation. And the same thing on the middle school and high school for the disrespect level one disrespect and disrespect for other property. I think you need some language on the level five or the altercation fifth referral that explains where you're going with it.
And and so I'm trying to understand the cell phone violation. So, a cell phone infraction and I if I'm in high school, I you it's the third time that I get something more than you take it away
from me. First time you take it away from me. Second time you take it away from me. Third time you take it away from me and I get a one day in school suspension. The fourth time you take it away from me and I get another one day suspension.
No, this is middle school. And then the fifth time you take it away and I get another one. >> Is that right? Is that what we're doing? >> Yes. Yeah. So, um, as you can see, it's different between middle school, high school, um, and elementary school. Um,
if you're if we're speaking specifically to high school, um, you see the progression there with the first time. If it's just a normal wireless um infraction where a student just has it out, it's going to be confiscated and it's going to be confiscated every time. But then it can escalate if it's a third, fourth or fifth time to a
different consequence. Um if a student refuses to give up the cell phone to be confiscated, then that's whenever it turns into a wireless device, uh cell phone infraction defiance, and then that's whenever it would be a different consequence because a student is not relinquishing the device.
>> Okay. Um, and that's pretty much all I had here. I just had one comment that I think that my personal feeling is I appreciate all that was done here, but I feel that if it is something that is disrupting the
classroom, there's there's a difference between behavior that doesn't disrupt the learning environment and behavior that does disrupt the learning environment. Um, screaming at the teacher, throwing something, those type of things, I think disrupt the learning environment for everybody. Um, I think
being late to class or being in the wrong place when you're not disrupting. I I think there's a difference between that and I personally think that if you're disrupting the learning environment of other children that your other students that your consequences
should be um more severe and that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you uh Dr. Morardi. >> Okay, I will have much less questions than that but uh Uh on page 31,
tobacco and vaping and you changed the second offense from 5 days ISS to 3 days OSS. What was the thinking there? Uh so the schools uh gave feedback that
they wanted the second offense to be um stronger. Um just something that uh would deter students from uh wanting to do it again. Um, we whenever we pulled data, we really didn't have uh that many students. I'm sorry, I'm trying to get to the page. >> 25.
>> Okay, it says 31 of mine. It might be different. >> Uh, we really didn't have that many students that had a second infraction. We actually only had um three students that had um three infractions for tobacco and we had uh 10 students that
had two infractions for tobacco. So, um it's really not not too many students um that uh really engaged in a second offense, but uh given the circumstances, they did want to increase the consequences to try and deter students from doing a second offense of of
tobacco or vaping. >> Was there any that had a third offense? >> There were some. Yeah, there were two students that had a third offense. >> Okay. And do you think that 3 days OSS is stronger than 5 days of ISS? Uh so at that point what we looked at too was
time away from classroom. Um even though ISS is uh still in school it's still away from the classroom itself. So we were also thinking about instructional time trying to find a balance. Um so typically for from a student perspective from what they've shared out of school
suspension is uh seen as something that's tougher harder right as a as a consequence um on them than it is for in school suspension. So again, we were weighing the um uh what students uh perceive as a consequence with also t
time away from classroom. >> Okay. Okay. I mean, just as someone who's served in this committee before and have talked with parents and stakeholders and students in this um it the opinion that I had gotten was it was the opposite that basically five days in
school suspension you're in school and having to go to school versus three days out of school away from school that they thought that the five days ISS was tougher was the opinion I got. So, I I see the change you're trying to make
that to make it stronger. I I think a lot of people could argue it would be the opposite. >> Yeah. And and I would definitely uh leave it to the pleasure of the board to decide what you know we would put there as a consequence. Uh this was just a recommendation from uh from the school sites whenever we met with them.
>> Okay. >> I would just say that it seems like it's working. five days of in ISS is working because you don't have repeat offenders. I I know I've heard from parents too that
it's really difficult for them to to manage their child if they are working families and their child's just home doing whatever they want to do for three days. It's I don't think that's much of a
punishment. Yeah. >> I don't know. I mean, maybe it is with their parents, but I mean, Miss Bridgetette, did you have something? >> Yeah. I just wanted to comment. Um, Miss Roberts had made a comment regarding uh
moving a child out of a school choice school back to their other school. That's not going to change the behavior of the student. So the intervention is more appropriate than putting them in a in the in their zone school because
they're going to have the same disruptions in that school. They they have a problem if they get to that level. So I don't agree with changing language to move a child back to their uh zone school if they are have repeated
behavior problems. Um, Miss Roberts, >> that's in our um choice policy now that that if you have I mean I think it's on all the choice forms that if you have
behavior issues, you can lose your choice assignment. So, Miss Bridgetette, I don't know what >> then it doesn't really need to be put in the code of conduct, does it? Well, we put other things that have to do with our um policy so people know what it is.
>> Yes. I I think there has to be a lot of discretion for removing a child, especially younger kids from because if they're I'm thinking of tardies and um absences when they don't necessarily
control that. Um, and would the problem be remedied? And that's what I I think you have to make a judgment call. Would the problem be remedied if the child were plucked out of the school that they've been going to and put into a brand new
school? Would that remedy the problem of them being tardy? So, I think there has to be some discretion um on the part of the principal and who's making whoever's making that decision. um what's best for
the child and sometimes I think it's you know an attempt to punish the parent as and then the child's the one who suffers so I think we have to use a lot of we have to be delicate in those situations which I know they are
any other questions >> madam chair I just I just want to get clarification on the ISS >> um My thought would be to keep at it the ISS if the board has consensus with
that. Uh the out of school suspension puts us in a situation where I agree the kids are at home and we have no control over the students when they're not with us. So, uh, preference would be to go back to what it was with the five days
ISS, um, because we can do work with the students when they're with us for those five days. Um, and what I would like >> and I just have one additional comment
about especially for high school students is really pushing when they're truent for that number of days. I know of at least three students that were in the very first semester over 40 days absent
and they were 15 years old. Like they are 16 years old. they I think we need to start pushing the driver's license issue, not the losing their license because it's it's rampant since co I
mean kids are just not coming to school and you know teachers I know are trying to be accommodating but it's it's a real burden and that's the other thing I think about out of school suspension for extended days at least in in school
suspension their work is coming trying to monitor it and they're they're not as far behind when they get back because they're not doing their school work while they're out on out of school suspension. Um, so that's just some things to think about, but I really
think we should start pursuing more students that are of driving age and revoking their license. If we don't start making some examples, this is this problem is going to continue and we have to use the tools that we have and we
have that tool. Um, and I think we should start using it more inconsistently, obviously, um, across the board. I think once kids know that they're going to they may lose their license um
they may turn things around and I those but those conversations have to happen leading up to so there has to be a consequence early and here's what's going to happen on I don't how many days is it in the 90 days they can't miss
more than 30 days something like that >> yeah it's 15 days um at that point they're considered And then at that point, if it's within the 90 days, we can move forward with uh revoking a driver's license. >> Yeah. So on day five that they're
absent, they need those parents and that student need to know that on day 15, we're going to start this action if this behavior doesn't stop. >> Yes. All right. Any additional questions?
Thank you all very much. I know this is a huge task. >> Mr. Rosco has done a great job. Um, lots of kudos to him. He's spent a lot of hours and months and time with our administrators and and working on on the final product. Um, we would like to know direction from the board. Do you want
this brought back with all of the updates to the next workshop or updates and then put on for the next board agenda? It is your pleasure. Um, so I think you should, this is my personal opinion, I think you should, um, make
the updates and get a draft copy to the board as soon as possible because I think sometimes seven days when it go hits the agenda if we get it for the first time, that's a very short time to review the entire agenda plus a very comprehensive document like this. So, if
we could get the changes in advance of that as soon as they're ready, um board members will have a time to look at it, make any additional recommendations to you all, which we can then incorporate at the next meeting. So, I think this comes to a regular meeting. Is that okay
with the board? >> I'm just going to ask one more clarify. June board meeting or July? >> I think it needs to come to June. Don't don't you? >> Just wanted to make sure. I do. We do. July is cutting it close.
>> Okay, we will have that done. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> All right. Next up, we have our medical insurance health plan and funding strategy, Mr. Calderone.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board, Superintendent May, Don Calderon, director of risk management and employee benefits, the Martin County School District. And alongside me from the Garing Group, we have Gabrielle Swain, benefits consultant, and Dustin Keane, senior benefits consultant and
vice president um with the Garing Group. So, as you may recall, um you saw us quite often between the months of January through March, we were here at each board workshop and board meeting to discuss the medical insurance renewal with Sigma. Um and over the course of those meetings um there were several
topics that came up um that was outside of what we were there presenting for and uh there was a mutual agreement between the board and staff and the superintendent that we would come back as soon as um that medical insurance renewal was complete, open enrollment was complete and we would um come back
and have a presentation and a discussion on those topics um that we would going to be revisit for uh future consideration. And uh this is the future. We're here living in it right now. So, um this is mainly going to be Dustin and Gabrielle's um presentation.
And what we have done together as a team is um written down all of the different um topics and thoughts that have occurred during those months of January through March. And we've kind of done a brief presentation. Um and so the first
topic if you want to follow along you should have handouts is um going to be covered by Dustin and that is going to be the topic of a professional employer organization also known as a PEO. >> All right good afternoon. Um I'll stay very high level but if you have any
questions happy to go in further detail. So as Don mentioned um the first topic is professional employer organization other known as a PEO. What is this? This is when an employer outsources certain parts of their operations to a
third-party entity such as paychecks. So, this is where you would outsource your HR services, your benefits, and your payroll. Typically, this is done by smaller employers. The reason is because
there is a fee involved in this. Typically, it's a percentage of payroll. So it makes sense for smaller entities because they save on the personnel costs, but as you get larger, it often makes sense to do it in house from an
efficiency and a cost standpoint. So some of the things um that you would lose in a PEO would be one, plan design control. So you would outsource your benefits package, which would be can programs with a certain carrier. Um so you would lose control on the design.
Um, you would also need to be accepted by a PEO. So, they don't just allow everyone to come in. They would look at your risk and um offer you to come in. Um, the bigger uh thing that you would you would lose to take into consideration is customer service. So,
right now employees if they have questions on their benefits program, they reach out to your HR team and they get that concier type of feel. under a PEO, it would be calling into the PEO um communications to get um answers and
questions uh dealt with appropriately. So that's the very high level. Typically, it's smaller entities your size. Um we typically don't see it's typically a 100 employee size groups or less.
>> Any questions? I'm I'm going to disagree with you a little bit because yes, do I I think Paychecks is a smaller company, but the ADPs of the world um do service large companies and that it's more of a
hybrid model where the companies maintain their HR function. Um I'm I the plan design control is what we um what we are currently doing is we're
plan designing because we can't negotiate a reasonable rate for our employees and because of our loss our losses and the benefit of this is that you're going into a pool with lots of
different people. So I I kind of I disagree with you. So, I know there are some drawbacks to a PEO, but I do believe that um it can work for because of how our loss ratio, what
we're experiencing is I mean, we can't we cannot get out from under a consistent rate increase and our employees are suffering because of it. and it's because of the pool that we have and to be part of a larger pool I
think would benefit us but um I can see there are definitely um the larger companies do also maintain their own HR department they don't use an ADP or a pay they do outsource payroll um which
is not a bad thing um but it is HR functions typically do remain in the larger employees employers. Uh, Mr. Roberts, >> is there a way to um test the water to see if there's any PEO that would be
willing to >> accept >> accept us so we would at least have some idea? >> Yeah, we could definitely ask around and do some due diligence and and test the market, if you will, on um interest, >> you know, and see what that looks like. you know, here's one that would, you
know, in this model, here's company A, and you would maintain your own HR department. They would take over your payroll piece. Um, and we shared your claim information with them. This is what their plan looks like. This is what their health insurance plan looks like. whether they said yes or no or what they
but I think if we can do that I think that would be >> I mean I think we should explore it enough not just look at the downside of what we think it might be and what I can tell you is that you can negotiate with
paychecks and you can negotiate with ADP you do not have to accept just what a traditional PEO might be um you can keep your HR internal You don't h you do not have to go full into their computerized
system for evaluations and all the HR services. You can maintain that and still get the benefit. And I will tell you just from my personal experience with the PEO, the biggest benefit is the insurance.
And when you can and I don't know because we do have we might not be acceptable because of it, you know. I don't know. >> We won't know till we ask. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Next up, self-insured 101.
>> All right. Self-insured 101. So, as you know, some some of the board members know, we've been talking about this for uh probably over 10 years, maybe close to 15 years. >> Um, and what I'll kind of start off the conversation with, there's no rhyme,
there's no right or wrong answer here. It's really a fit. It's really a risk tolerance um conversation. Um we have clients that are 30,000 40,000 employees that are that are that's fully insured. We have
clients that are 100 200 employees that are self-insured. So again, there's no right or wrong reason. High level the differences of fully insured versus self-insured. Fully insured, which you are today, you pay a uh premium to the carrier, which is rates times your
enrollment. Whatever your claims are, doesn't matter from your perspective because the carrier pays those claims during the year. Now, at renewal, they they underwrite the rates. Again, it might go up or down based on your claims. Self-insured, you would hire a TPA to administer your plan. You would
rent their network. They adjudicate the claims. You hire a stop-loss vendor to protect you from any large claimment activity, which we would set the threshold based on your risk. And then you would pay the claims as they come in
bi-weekly or on a monthly basis. So the big differentiator there is you pay your claims as they come. So beginning of the year an actuary sets your rates based on the risk. If claims come in better than expected, you save. If they come in
higher than expected, you pay the the larger amount. So the biggest differentiator again is the claims variability during the year. If we look at the pros and cons of that, the obvious one is cash flow or you save
if claims are bad or are good. The obviously con is if the claims are bad, you pay more than expected. Under self-insured, you would have to implement a reserve which is under the state of Florida OIR office of insurance
regulation equates to a minimum of 60 days of claims. So that will obviously go up and down based on your risk. What would our s on in a typical year what 60 days of claims for us? >> I believe it's around three million. I don't have the exact numbers in front of
me, but that number is in my head from prior meetings. Um, so looking at the past decade or so, the reason the district hasn't gone the self-insured route is because of how you currently fund or budget for your your
health benefits. So currently, as you know, you budget 6,500 per employee per year. Under a self-insured arena, there would be the risk that in a given year, you would have to pay more than 6,500 per per employee per year. If you do pay
more, then you got to take it from your reserve. So the conversations that we've had in the past is if you were to go this route, we would try to build up more than 60 days to give you more of a cushion just in case claims were bad.
Um, so again, not a right or wrong kind of discussion here. I think the 6500, the fully insured model has worked for you well in the past because it gives you the confidence to budget elsewhere, right, and fund other things that you need to fund and it gives you the uh
flatline 6,500 per employee per month. >> Oh, Miss Pritchette. Miss, >> so if we went to self-insured, we would no longer be giving employees 6,500 a year. Correct. >> You could still budget 6,500. >> We wouldn't be giving our employees
6,500 a year on top of their salary. We would be using that money for self-insured. >> Do you want to answer that? >> Um, I'll do my best to attempt to answer. It might be more of a Carter question. Um, so right now the board contributes $6,500. That's part that's
their board contribution to the overall medical insurance premium. The rest of the premium is made up through employee deductions. Okay. Um, that's something that the board has to bargain if you were to do more or less
than 6,500 per year. Um, but there still would be a board contribution. Um it's just like Dustin said, how the claims come in, the board is responsible for paying those claims monthly. So for example, um March claims came in at 122%
loss ratio. So um the bill was due, the the board will have to pay that that amount. >> So we would typically only be collecting enough for 100%. Correct. >> But we would be on the hook for the 22%. >> Yes, ma'am.
Correct. And that that um loss ratio is just claims to premium. >> So on top of that, you'd have to pay admin and stop loss, >> right? >> So right now you're paying the lower amount. Self-insured, you'd have to pay the higher amount. >> M Russell, >> I just wanted to know, and you probably
do not have this answer now, but over the last five years, if we would have been self-insured >> and with all the high claims that we've had each year, would we be in the black or the red today? you would be in the red. And I could say that confidently because you've been over 100% on average
more so of those five years. But we could give you an exact answer if you want. >> And I guess at that point, what reserve level do you feel sufficient enough to absorb a high claims year or if you have multiple claims year? >> So we typically like to recommend twice
the minimum. So 120 days. So roughly six million based upon your your claims experience. So, I know Highlands County was self-insured and they went from a surplus to a negative balance forcing the district to transfer approximately $8 million. Then you had in 2016, Indian
River County also dealt with the same thing and they had to take out of their general fund approximately about 7 million. So, I just want to make sure that whatever decisions we're making, if we're in a constant loss ratio, how is this going to benefit us long term? I
don't want to put us in a bad financial position because We're trying to cut costs because at the end of the day, we won't cut costs. >> It's a fair question. >> Well, and Carter can school us all on what happened in Indian River County since he was the CFO at the time. And um
I mean it is a it's a it's a gamble. Dr. Marardi. >> Uh yeah, I think M. Russell kind of hinted at where I was going as well was was a reserve. You know what? But what number could you really put out there? 10 million, 12 million. regardless of what number you put out there, we're going to cut into that number and go
down from that number. So, and I know that people want to are looking at a self-insured as possibly an out, but in our current situation, it doesn't help us at all because let's say we have 20 million in reserve. We're still going to cut into that reserve and work it down
to next to nothing. So there's really no reserve amount that would be safe for us unless we change the overall health of our employees to stop going over 100% more times than not. We will just continue to lose and eat away at whatever reserve we have under the
current situation. Now if the health changes of employees then that could be a discussion, but right now there's there's really no reserve that's a safe amount for us. All all great points and I would just add typically looking at some of our
clients that we've transitioned to fully insured to self-insured the best timing to do that is when there is a negative increase on the table under a fully insured arrangement because in that instance you can keep rates 0%
builds a buffer employees are typically happy with a zero and you get that buffer and a head start and I would say you're far from that environment. So, our recommendation would be to again kind of, you know, leave this to the future, reassess it. Maybe when your
claims loss ratio gets a little bit better, we can have that. >> In all the years that I've been here, we there's never been a time that's been a good time. I mean, and we do have years, we do do have
years where we're not 100% or more. Um, but you're It's it's a not enough. Not enough. >> Yeah, Mrs. Powers. And and I I think you're right. We had we used to have years where um we were below the loss
ratio um that would have called for an increase and we actually got a decrease. Um, and then part of the ways that we have been able to build that surplus at $4.3 million I think we have is through those those good years where we were in proshare agreements, we were getting
money back. Um, things were good. Um, but we we haven't been in that situation the last few years. Um, and we've gotten two months of claims in from uh, Sigma since we we last saw you here on March
24th. And like I said, March was 22% loss ratio. April was 105. Um so year to date we're at 102 with two months left um for for this 12 months. So >> next
>> any other questions? Okay. [snorts] Um >> did you have one, Mr. Roberts? I'm sorry. >> I I gotta get used to looking at this thing. You go ahead. >> Thank you. So just so I understand this correctly. I think I do, but correct me if I'm wrong. So, if you had a reserve
and you ate into the reserve, right? So, let's say you had a $20 million reserve, great reserve, and because the amount that you're collecting in premiums is less than what you need to pay the bill, you've eaten into the reserve by $2
million. What that means is that the next time you set your premiums, it's whatever the premium was plus the $2 million. Correct. >> You would have that flexibility. You
could build in the reserve accumulation or >> Right. But I mean, you would have to I mean, you would not start with a $20 million reserve and eat it down to nothing. You would if you were if you said as a board, we want to try to maintain a $20 million reserve. you would be passing that back and saying,
"Okay, well, we need to recollect the reserve. We ate up $2 million of the reserve. It needs to be added on to the premiums that we're collecting so that we can have that back." Correct. Correct. >> Okay. >> Which is what happens every year when we go out to bid with our insurance companies. That's exactly what they are
doing. >> And um and then we >> All right, let's let's find another strategy. >> Come on. That goes into the next slide. Cost mitigation strategies. [clears throat] >> Yeah. So, so when we look at kind of the
three main buckets of how to lower costs, right? You have obviously a healthier population what Dr. Moratti mentioned um which you can generate from uh wellness targeted approaches managing chronic conditions um as well as you
know on-site nearsight health centers which we'll talk about after this. Um second is plan modification. So the obvious one is changing deductibles and co-pays. Not popular but it is a a a lever to pull to to reduce costs. Um certain network steerage, pharmacy
changes, um things like that. The third bucket would be employee funds. So giving employees funds to help offset their medical expenses such as what the board has done through HSA contributions, wellness incentives, and there's also other types of um sir
charges. um for tobacco, spousal carveouts, things like that. Um that would also incentivize employees to choose healthy lifestyle conditions. So these are the
10,000 foot level um kind of uh strategies. >> So let can I so I I 100% think we should go to a tobaccofree, you know, workplace. The city of Stewart does it and they saw a significant
decrease in their medical insurance. I believe that the sheriff's office does it as well. And but I'm curious about I think we should do that. I think that we and then we can offer tobacco cessation
programs as part of the roll out and people can quit smoking because so many of the chronic illnesses are caused by smoking and vaping and all the things and any kind of tobacco product. And so
I I'm a fan of that. I think we should offer the support to our employees to stop using tobacco products. But again, that's a life choice. If they choose not to, then maybe I don't know what the consequence. They can't be on our
insurance or there's a search charge. >> Search charge. Yeah. Martin Sheriff and Stuart, they both implemented a search charge or a discount depending on how you look at it that if you are a non-tobacco user, you pay a lesser premium. >> Yes,
>> they both have um access to a clinic. So, they can do testing. Um, without a clinic, I'd recommend an affidavit type of process where they sign a form stating they're non-tobacco. If they're tobacco, you have to make them or you
give them the option to go through a cessation program in order to meet the incentive as well. >> Um, now did how do they test their employees? They do it annually like do they just do like a oral specimen swab like that kind
of >> you could you could do um blood you could do oral you could do many different ways. Um >> yeah there there's there's different options. >> Okay. >> The cotine test is the most predictable.
>> Say that again. >> The co I think it's cotenine is the chemical that uh tests for all types of tobacco. I would be weary of the affidavit, but I mean some people do. Back in my underwriting days, I remember if you put that you had a Oh, no. Do you
smoke? Well, I had a cigar when my baby was born. Smoker. It's like, so I But I'm be ler without being able to prove >> a cost. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. So we could generate a proposal if you will on kind of what it would cost, what it would look like, all the different moving parts for your consideration. >> Okay. >> And then spousal search charges, what tell me about that besides smoking?
>> Yeah. So tobacco, >> this is mostly in the private sector, but it's working its way in the public sector. Um, and how this would look is if a spouse had access to an employer plan through their employer. So, a health plan through their employer, they
could not join your plan. >> Um, it would also be an affidavit type of arrangement. So, if they didn't have access, they can join your plan. If they did have access, they can't join your plan. >> Well, I have noticed just from my own personal experience, my husband is
self-employed, so he's on my insurance, but they insurance companies are before they process claims are asking, "Do is your spouse employed? does he have access to insurance before they will process the claim.
So it's um interesting that it's it is shifting so that we're not over covering I guess or >> Yeah. What I would kind of highlight here and caution the board is we would probably want to do a a survey on
neighboring entities on who you recruit against because if you're doing it but the entities you're recruiting against don't, you know, that might be a differentiator. >> Well, and I believe like St. Lucy County only they have the high deductible plan
employee only, right? Or do they have the option to cover? >> They have options. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. >> But these are all like Oh, I'm sorry. I I was just going to say these are all great um conversations to have now because we could come back, you know,
throughout the early part of the 26 27 year. Um and the Garen group could come back, bring you your options. Um so that way we have the opt opportunity to discuss this with the insurance committee and then also to do proper education so we don't just you know dump
any decision on our employees during the twoe period of open enrollment. So the fact that we're having these conversations early on I think will be beneficial whatever the board decides to do. >> Perfect. Vice Chair Morardi. >> Thank you. >> I'm gonna [clears throat] read from my uh screen now. Sorry. [laughter] >> Thank you for seeing that I had my hand
up. >> Just just hit me. So guys, the the number one thing on this page that I want to really drive home is the wellness incentives and getting more people to participate in these incentives because we can have every
creative opt out and but we need a healthier population and we need more people to participate in these wellness programs and whether it's I don't know if you can give a credit for people for different weight loss goals. Uh, Chair Powers had mentioned the smoking. We
have got to get a healthier population and get them active in their exercise goals, things like that. >> Yes, I'm in agreement with that. And um, we've had these discussions um at the workshops and meetings um, January
through March and our um, our staff has gone ahead and made a big change in our wellness program for the 26 27 year. So, we're kind of um prioritizing Sigma's well-being solution, which will give the opportunity to all employees that are
covered under one of the districts um three medical plans the opportunity to earn up to an extra $350 through Sigma by completing these wellness goals. So, um we are still going to be um using those wellness
funds to help pay for Pelaton and AMA um and to wrap up our um contract with Headspace. But the priority of our wellness program will be the Sigma Well-being Solution program. So, we just dotted all the eyes, crossed the tea. Superintendent signed the agreement with
Quest Diagnostics to have biometric screenings there any time of the year rather than waiting for us to come out in the spring. So, we hear that. we've made a a big change. Um, and so we're doing everything we can on the wellness side to do that. >> Okay. Because participation
traditionally has been somewhat low in these programs, right? >> Well, it's tough to say. We we we have offered over the years so many different type of um wellness initiatives throughout the year and through our on-site wellness ambassadors, we've incentivized them. So, we're really
putting the onus um on the employees. Like, if you want to be rewarded for being healthy and to go through the well-being solution program, you're going to earn up to $350. Um so, you know, there's only so much that we can do. I mean, we can't force people to do
a wellness program. It is voluntary, but we can incentivize it as much as we can. Um this year, we chose $350. We'll see how this first year goes, and we can go up to more. I mean, we're doing everything we can to try and get people more engaged with their lifestyles,
>> right? Okay. Thanks. >> How do we how do we see what you're doing? Like where those incentives are because I don't get them in my email or anything like where do I find like the programs that are happening? >> Sure. Um, so we have we have dedicated
in the past we've had dedicated wellness ambassadors at each site and department. So, so you probably rece may receive the emails um from Joyce topping. She was our SDO district building um wellness ambassador for um the 2526 year, but
each school has their own. And so we communicate to those ambassadors um a couple times a month and they're responsible for doing that and sharing that. But then we're also out and about at the school sites. Um so this year once the teachers come back in August,
they're going to be welcomed with the um information that the wellness program has changed and we already have plans with our HR um leaders to go out there and to make sure that they're welcome to back at school and to let them know of all of the options that are in front of
them. So >> So I would like to appoint Dr. Morardi as our wellness ambassador for the board. So, if you could let him know so he can share with us. >> Sure. >> What what's going on? >> I graciously accept. >> Just so you know, for the 26 27 year,
uh, it's going to pay zero dollars, but you'll do it just to [laughter] feel good. >> What? All right. Next. >> Okay. So, the next topic is carving out the high deductible health plan. Um
before I um let Dustin talk about that, I just wanted to let you know that the last two months of uh claims have been very strong for the high deductible health plan. Um and we are at a 55% loss ratio year to date, which is very strong
for the high deductible health plan. Um and then last month we had presented an HR board update and up uh an update with regard to our open enrollment. So um overall um 89% of our employees did stay
in the same plan. However, we did have 119 employees change their elections to the high deductible health plan. So we're almost at a 6040 split now. So for those that have been on the board for many years, you know, we used to have 5 10 15% of our employees on the high
deductible health plan. Now we're up to about 38 39% almost 40% which is great. Um and then we typically see additional um enrollment in the highdeductible health plan around September and October when those employees that are hired in the summer come on board and their
benefits go into effect um the first of the month following a 30-day waiting period. So we we anticipate um additional enrollment in that high deductible health plan. >> All right. So, one of the questions from the board was, you know, would it make
sense to carve out the high deductible health plan to a separate carrier or a separate plan? Um, and how would that compare to our current arrangement? So, this is more a kind of an exercise of visual on why we wouldn't recommend doing that. And the reason is because that high deductible health plan running
at a 55% is bringing down your total combined loss ratio to 100%. So if you were to carve that out on its own, yes, that plan would be rated very good. However, the other two plans, those loss ratios combined would go up to 113%.
And you would lose leverage with the carrier. Those premiums would go up while the high deductible down. Most of your enrollment sits in the HMO. So most of your employees would be adversely affected there. And then big picture
combining those two, you'd probably be where you are now combining them. It would just be more spread out. So again, we'd recommend keeping the high deductible in because that is your leverage in negotiations with um your carrier each year.
>> What about getting rid of the um PO altogether? >> Yeah. And this is also an exercise we've done over the years. The board has asked us to to kind of run this exercise. Every year that we've asked the carrier to remove the PO, it's actually increased the premium on the other two
plans because those claimments go somewhere and typically they're higher claim claims activity. So the recommendation has always been keep the PO, grandfather it, doesn't adversely affect these people, but raise the
premium as needed over here in the PO. So, we're happy to run that exercise every year, but we are kind of at the mercy of the carrier to underwrite those plans. >> Did I answer your question there? >> Oh my gosh. >> All right, last topic. If there's
>> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Any other questions or >> My gosh, Miss Pritchette first. the 92 that are in the grandfathered, can you kind of guess how many more
years before they're gone, meaning gone from the plan. >> Does that make sense? >> Or they make the decision to move. >> No, no. What I'm saying is we're not accepting any new PPOs.
>> Correct. >> Correct. So, >> but the people that are on it can stay on it. >> Is that for a very long time in the future that >> Well, when Yeah. So, the board um decision in March of 2024 was to
grandfather those already in that plan and allow no new enrollment as of 7124. Right. >> So, the employees that are still in that plan were in it back in March of 2024. We didn't even allow any ch any people to enroll in it for open enrollment that
year. >> Right. >> So you're down to we're down to about 92 people. So as those >> like will it end like those 92 people I'm guessing are of more of a senior in
in the um district. >> I couldn't tell you that right now. I could >> I guess I'm trying to figure out if we come to a place where there are no longer any one in the PO, are we still going to be tagged by the insurance
company that we have to have a PO? So, the only way we get rid of the PO is that those 92 people either switch to something else >> or they leave the district >> or they leave the district. And I was trying to figure out how long before that could possibly happen.
Um, I could what I can do is I could I could come back and let you know what their average year of service is. Um, we could probably do that. That that's feasible, but I wouldn't have a a crystal ball as to when they would leave the district. But, um, anytime an employee in one of
those in the PO plan makes a change in open enrollment, they can't come back to the PO. And then same thing if they leave the district and then they come back a year or two or five months down the road they can't go back to that. So it's really just as they leave employment here with the district they they fall off.
>> Vice Chair Vice Chair Morardi said >> it says 559 lives is below most standalone minimums. What's the standalone minimum? >> So what that is is the number of employees in a plan that a carrier would write on its own. >> Yeah. How many is that? It's differs by
carrier but typically to be fully creditable it's around 600 700 employees but it differs by carrier. >> Okay. >> Maybe we can just put this group in the PEO. >> All right. So we only need like another
100 employees in the high deductible plan to be able to be at the minimum to be carved out. Right. >> Potentially. Again, it it would have to be asked at the time of a RFP per carrier. I did survey some carriers um including your incumbent and they would
not quote on standalone how it is now. Might change in the future, but as it stands now, >> why wouldn't they quote on that? >> Just because it's below the minimum. >> Okay. >> All right. We're close though. So, >> all right.
>> Okay. Topic four. Oh, Miss Roberts, >> thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> Um, so we've taken the carriers's recommendation to not get rid of the PO. That doesn't mean that we can't get rid
of the PO. Correct. >> Correct. >> So, we could say we wanted to get rid of the PO. Um, and that brings up another question, but knowing that, and let's assume that everybody's about the same, that the um the PPO's running
at 116%, but the HMO's running at 113 and realizing that yeah, they would have more claims, but if they were in the HMO, if their claims were similar, it would really just be a penalty for the
first year when they're projecting their migration. Correct. >> Correct. >> And then we would really know what it looked like after the first year. >> Is that right? >> Correct. >> Okay. >> And then my my second question is I know that um because we do multi-checks
that we are in a position where when they're doing their computation of what they think the claims is are going to be for the year. They're estimating several months because we've got to get our ducks in a row. We've got to get open enrollment done so we can then do the
multi-checks, etc. And we have some months in there that we don't that they're guessing what our claims are going to be. Um, and we don't really know what our claims are going to be. So, they're basing their premiums on that. Correct. So, can you explain to us
the multi-check? Is everybody else doing multi-checks in the world or is this just a is this just an anomaly in Martin County? Um, I would have to defer that question to our, um, HR department, Jeff Raymond,
who probably not prepared to be on deck here. Um, >> uh, thank you, Don. Yeah, I mean, I could research it. I've worked in other districts. They do the multi checks, but I have to give you concrete information as to how, um, unique it is to Martin County School District.
>> Carter, does Indian River do multi-checks? >> Yes, ma'am. For several years. And um Gabrielle, can you figure out for the last couple of years when they've estimated whether their estimate has been right or wrong?
Just so we know, you know, when they're saying, well, based on our estimates for the months that we have in there, we think your loss ratio is going to be 114%. And did it really turn out to be the 114% or was it something else? >> Yes, we can list their projected
actually. >> Thank you. >> Okay, thanks. >> Okay, topic four. >> All right, topic four. Um, and this has also been discussed for for many years. Um, and it is something that is a very
viable model in the healthcare world to try to bend that curve of inflation. So, there are multiple models, if you will, of a clinic. um high high level they're the two main ones is on-site and nearsight. So on-site clinics are those that are as the as the model the name
describes on-site. That's where you would have your own building. You would build it out medical grade to house um staff um to perform medical acute chronic type of procedures as well as dispense medications and you could also
do X-ray and lab draws and things like that. Near site is where you would either rent um or purchase um a building or participate in an already established provider group to
tap into the model um for those services. Now typically um these these health centers pair well with self-insured. The reason being is because any uh medical procedures and prescriptions that are avoided out of
the health plan, right, those under a self-insured remmit, you would save those claims in real time. Fully insured, since the carrier is paying the claims, any cost avoided is really being worked into your renewal calculation, which you'll save in year two, year
three. So that is the typical model. That doesn't mean that is the only model. So I know this might be discussion on its own. It is possible in a fully insured arrangement. We would just have to get creative and discuss strategy on how it would be funded
yeartoear so that we ensure the longevity of the clinic. >> Mr. Roberts, >> so um I have two things. So, can you give us some idea that if we
let's say if we if the board decided, okay, forget the self-insured thing. We're just not going to do it. We've got 4.3 sitting over there. So we'll we can utilize if the board agreed you could utilize the 4.3 to pay your clinic costs because your clinic cost not just the
cost for the clinic but the cost for everything that comes with it. The utilization of the clinic um is something that you're not going to see a an advantage of in the current premium structure because the premium structure is set without any history of a clinic. So they would assume that there's no
nothing happening with the clinic. So you wouldn't see anything. you would have to absorb what that cost would be. I would imagine that you can look at what the claims have been. Somebody can look and see what the claims have been and figure out, well, okay, if you had a clinic that did X, Y, and Z, that you
would have it would cost you X number of dollars, then Gabrielle would be able to say, and it would make your your um loss ratio change to this if I took those claims out of it in order to do it. I would then assume that if you moved
forward after that first year and they give you the renewal thing that you could take the renewal rate and you could add a piece and let's assume that renewal rate is down now okay because you paid all those pieces that you were during the year that were happened at
the clinic and if you said okay well for use of the clinic I need to take your premium and I need to add x number of dollars to it so instead of your your um your bill being down. Instead of your monthly payment for your insurance being
down, it would maybe stay the same in order to keep to capture that piece in order to do it. But I'm sure that you can do that at some point. And then the second point is um so do can you give us any information? I think the county is building something and what that looks
like with a shared facility. >> Sure. Yeah. So currently the county, the sheriff, the city of Stewart are in an interlocal agreement with um employee wellness treasure coast urgent care primary care. That's an already established practice the general public
right shares in that model. They just tap into it. Um there is a plan from the county's perspective to build their own clinic. Um I believe they have the site. They just haven't approved the plans and the cost, but they're close. I would say
they're two to three years out on building that. Um the hopes in talking to them on that is to bring in the sheriff, the city if they participate. Um I know they'd be willing to um talk, I'm sure, with the board. But in that
model, you can arrange many different pricing models. You can arrange it where um your employees, if they go to the clinic, you're then build per visit type. For example, a medical visit is $100. Ancillary visit, which would be
like lab draws, prescriptions would be $50. That's just one model. So, it's clean. It's predictable based on utilization. The other model would be pro rata share of the bills. So, based on your enrollment and the overall share
of the enrollment. So, let's say you're 25% of the total enrollment. essentially you would share 25% of the monthly costs. So there's different models that would all have to be worked out, you know, in different arrangements, but just know that is something coming in.
>> But there's several years out in doing that. >> And so based on what you're saying, there is the ability then to go to say um urgent care or something and make an agreement with them where you would say, "Okay, we want to utilize you as a clinic. For these type visits, we will
pay you x number of dollars. For these type visits, we will pay you this number of dollars." Correct? And then we would be able to push out to our people um hey if you use this this is the advantage for using that. Is that right?
>> Yes. And I I think that would be an attractive um option for our employees because it has nothing to do with who the carrier is. Who the carrier is really doesn't matter. It's getting a doctor getting to see somebody getting to see a provider. It's part of the reason why our um our [clears throat]
Teddoc uh program and teley medicine has uh the engagement has risen over the years is because people can't wait 10 12 days to see a doctor and having the ability to possibly partner with a local partner um another public entity um have
that synergy there with the Garin Group because they are also their broker um as well um I think would be an attractive option for our employees and their cover dependent um that they would have somewhere local within Martin County, within Stewart to to go see.
>> So when when you push it out and they're using their loss ratio numbers, is it possible to say to whoever's bidding the plan, um we're going to take away we want you to bid on this insurance, but we will take away all say just pick one blood draws. We'll take away all blood
draws. So all the information you have from blood draws from last year, you will no longer have claims for blood draws because we will contract separately for those on the side and we know we've had x number of them in the last year, the year before, etc. So we know what our cost is then turn around
and go to a private provider and say can we buy some capacity for this? Is that >> potentially I mean we could always go to the table and negotiate it whether they come or not would be you know but we we could have those conversations. Yes. >> Why wouldn't we just negotiate with our
insurance carrier to accept the reimbursement rate of the for certain things at this clinic, blood draws, whatever. >> Sure. >> And then they just pay.
>> Yeah. But I have a feeling I have a feeling they like to lump it all together because then it gets lost in the >> minutia and they're not But we're managing the cost. We're still managing the cost because it's an an agreed upon
reimbursement for a set number of services like >> Sure. But so like right now when they're saying we will pay X number of dollars for a blood draw, right? that we don't we haven't said to anybody, hey, I'm
gonna go to the Serest Clinic and make all my any blood draw that goes to the Serest Clinic is 50% of what it normally would be because he knows he's getting my volume of business because right now since they can go anywhere to get it,
>> there's there's no negotiated rate for that, >> right? But if we if we went to that model, we would negotiate with our carrier to say this is it's going to be this blood draw is going to be free to the employees and this is the negotiated
rate that it's that you're going to be reimbursed and that would all be taken into account into the premium account amount. Right? >> So fully insured arrangements, they won't do custom networks. Self-insured, they they there is the opportunity for that. But fully insured based upon their
contracts with provider groups. They have to keep everything fair. >> So I can go to any one of six places to get my blood draw that have six different prices. >> You can go anywhere. >> Yeah. Yeah. But I mean that I mean in the network there might be six places that I could get this done with six
varying prices. Whereas if I did a bulk arrangement at the serest clinic, I might be able to get a discount. Right. One of the things we did not talk about was the hybrid self-insured kind of that hybrid, not self-insured but not fully
insured because I know years ago we did consider that I but we at the time we were not in the financial situation. I think we were new to the board. It we were building up our reserve because of what had happened previous boards. So we
were never in the financial position I don't think to go that route but um are we now could we like what would be our investment our reserve to do something like that and would it h would it be impactful for our employees?
>> Yeah it's a it's a great thought um and I would say to give you real concrete data to kind of make that call we would request an option at renewal. Sigma has a really good option. Um they have a minimum premium option where it's a hybrid. It gives you the max liability
as fully insured, but if your claims come in better, you save real time. So it pairs well with clinics because as you save money, you're paying more claims. Um Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office has that arrangement. They minimum premium with clinics and it
works great. So we can explore that at renewal and do the pros and cons. >> Dr. Oh, Vice Chair Morardi. >> Um anyway, um yeah. So, so basically with the fully insured model, this
on-site or nearsight model really doesn't save us much because we're going to be paying out for to utilize that urgent care or whatever. Um, but if we have a hybrid model or a fully self-insured model, then those savings could actually benefit us because people
would then have a place to go and rather than going to like the ER, if they have, you know, I can't get into a doctor, I'll just go to the emergency room and rack up a big bill there because I'm on an HMO plan that it won't cost me, you know, all that much. So, but we need to be either a hybrid or self-insured is my
question, right? >> You could go fully insured. It's just you won't see the savings real time. You won't see the savings because would be lower, >> right? >> The loss ratio goes down, renewal gets better. >> Okay. So like the chair powers, I would
be interested in knowing more about the hybrid model then. >> And I I just think Dr. priority that I think we should explore all of our options for cost mitigation strategies and even if it is possibly a fully insured clinic that we have access to.
Um while like Dustin said it wouldn't save immediately, it could put us in a little bit better of a negotiation stance with the Garing Group um with carriers for renewals because you saw like in the first year like we you know after year one we had a 10% not to
exceed. Okay, thank god we had that not to exceed because we really should have had, you know, 19 20% increase, but whatever we can do maybe to chip away at an increase, I think it would be smart to just consider it down the road. >> All right. And then we'd have to put out
like an RFP to clinics to see about who would want to participate with that? >> You could or you could piggyback. I mean, there's a lot of different ways to do it. We kind of know who the players are. We would first identify the model you wanted to use, right? So, if you didn't have your own space you wanted to build out, you don't have that. We
needed to tap into an already established practice. That narrows down the players in your area that plays. >> If it's down to one, piggybacking, direct contracting is easiest. But if there's multiple, we would do a an RP >> and ensuring that they have the capacity
to take on um 1300 or 2,000 employees. >> Absolutely. >> 1,800 on the plan. 1,800. >> Typically, you would make the clinic available to employees and their dependents as long as they are on the
health plan. That would give you the biggest ROI. And just a a last note on the hybrid account. Um, under Florida Blue, you were technically hybrid. You had a ProShare agreement. >> Yes. We could always negotiate with Sigma, whoever the carrier is, that same
arrangement where if claims run better than expected, you get the share back. I think is it 100% now? >> We have we negotiated the 100% with sign. >> So it is baked in. It's just not at the forefront seeing that just yet. >> We're just not getting it
>> correct. [laughter] >> But but that would give you that share, you know, just in case we did see savings through the clinic. >> Yeah. That's kind of how we got the insurance money. >> Yeah. That we have. >> That's primarily how you got up to the
4.3. Yeah. Okay, summary >> unless you want did you want to go over any of this other stuff? We kind of went over >> a lot of words. Summarize this. Um PEO, you know, we'll explore it a little bit
further um to get some some market checks and some feels out there. Um self-insure, not a recommendation at this time. Same with carving out the high deductible with the health center. I think it warrants more discussion and we talked about some things that will develop uh behind the scenes and come
back to the board for um some more data. So when will we go out to bid again to get u next year ne for next fiscal year right we'll go out to bid and we can get the hybrid model >> if if
right so staff depends on the board to uh provide direction um in the previous um renewal um excuse me in the previous bid um the board allowed the Garin Group to do the bid on behalf of of um of the
district. Um I believe we we still don't have a purchasing director in place. So I would recommend letting the Garing Group do that. But um moving forward um as long as the board directs staff to do that, we can go ahead and and go that
route >> or get I when I say go out to bid, I didn't mean bid out everything. I mean bid do a full RFP. I meant get a bid for the hybrid, understanding what that's
going to look like, getting that getting a cost for us to consider and also the pros and cons obviously because I I think that's probably going to be our best our most realistic option
if we are going to make a change. >> Right. So, just to make sure I'm understanding correctly, I think what you're asking is for the Garren Group to go to Sigma um a little bit later in the summer, early fall, and start getting those quotes back. Um, typically at that
point, October, November time. Um the we we will come back to the board, give you what those um options are and then if it was um you know to your liking, we you could direct staff direct staff and the Garing Group to continue negotiating with them. If it was something that you felt like
needed to be put out to bid um for the medical insurance and pharmacy um then they would take a look at other carriers. Um, can we also take a look at our claims and tell us um all of those
things that people would be going to a clinic? Obviously, those big claims are probably not going to be popping in at the clinic. Um, but what what would that look like? You know, how could we what percentage of our claims are really
would we benefit by having a clinic, I guess, is what I'm saying. people going to an emergency room instead. >> That would save us money. >> Yeah, we could definitely look at that. And you know, something else to keep in mind is we look at utilization a lot
with new clinics and typically there's a year ramp up before we're fully optimized. Um, we look at 75% capacity utilization as like the optimal you're getting the most ROI. What that means is out of the available appointments, 75% of those appointments
are being used. So you're getting your money's worth. Typically when you start it's 30 40%. And it gradually grows over time through word of mouth. So we'd have to kind of take a look at that because day one you wouldn't get full usage. You got to get employees used to it and
incentivize them. So there is a ramp up so we can look at all those moving parts and give you a forecast. And then what I guess I would also want to know the timeline when we would need to start if we did decide to contract with a clinic, a lo someone local that
is already doing offering these services. Um what that might look like. Can we maybe talk to the county and the city and the fire rescue to see what they're doing? because I know the county
I do know the county uses a local company and they're expanding. I guess they just moved into a new building >> today actually. >> Yes. >> Yes. So kind of what that would look like and how much time would we need if
we were going to do something like that? Would would is that one year out? Could we initiate something maybe not this this year but next plan year? Um, is that feasible? Um,
but we would have to when would we need to start that process? >> Just in case we want to, >> we can put that together >> so we don't miss a deadline. >> I'd say it's a little bit more flexible when you're tapping into an already established because you're not having to worry about recruiting staff and it
would just be more of a conversation of do they have the capacity >> to absorb a group the size of you? Sure. >> Um, Vice Chair Morerti, >> and I just want to talk about RFP one more time because if is it true if you
go out for an RFP too quickly, like too often, that's actually also a negative thing as well because we just did it a year and a half ago, so we don't want to just keep going out for constant RFPs. Like that makes gives us a weaker position. Is that correct? >> Typically correct. >> Okay.
All right. Changing carriers every two years is expensive >> and it's very expensive >> and labor intensive for our employees too. >> Um, M. Roberts, >> so um, and as you get us this
information back, can you also talk about as far as a clinic goes the timing of a clinic? So knowing that we have the rates in place for this next school year, if we did strike a deal with the clinic to do something,
say starting in January, what it would do end up doing is it would drive our loss ratio down. So even though we're paying the higher number, it we're going to I would imagine that we would see a a better law. Is that right, Gabrielle? eventually that the
idea is that it would be a lower rate than yeah the rate that you're currently at. It would take some time for that to actually >> some time for it to trickle down, but I mean at least you would start to see some utilization and maybe drive. >> And when you're fully insured, you don't get as detailed information as we could
for selfinsured, but we can get utilization on your current labs and >> kind of see if we can get some average cost of what it currently is. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Well, and if we could do it something like that in January, it would be nice because then we could start the ramp up that that instead of waiting a
whole another year to to do that. But um and also like a really good marketing campaign to our employees, letting them know what's available where, and yeah, savings. >> Okay. Thank you all very much. We really
appreciate that presentation. Um, we have no school board policies open to the board. Miss Russell, do you have anything? Miss Roberts, >> Vice Chair Morardi? >> Uh, I just want to congratulate all of
our graduates uh and uh a great job by all of the staff and the superintendent and his team uh putting on some great uh graduations. It's always a fun time of year to participate with and uh with our school board members and it was a great
grueling week and uh a big congrats to all of our graduates. They did a great job. >> Thank you, Miss Pritchette. >> Um I just will say happy summer everyone. I hope you all are able to enjoy some well-deserved time off and a
little bit of downtime. And um we'll see you in a couple weeks. Thank you.