--------- Dr. Morardi >> here. >> Mrs. Roberts >> here. >> Here. >> Mrs. Russell >> here. >> Mrs. Pritchette. >> Uh, yes, Madam Chair. I I saw on the news yesterday that uh President Trump
um was passing some knowledge to the Department of Education about prayer in schools and I was just wondering if any uh one from the district had heard anything or uh if there was any followup to that. nothing officially out uh by way of the
state department of education, but once we receive something, staff will review it and see what is allowable and not allowable and see if we can bring something forward to the board. >> Okay. Thank you. I don't approach
Go to the back when you're done. Uh give you >> I got the form. >> Good afternoon. I've lost my voice so this is not my usual speaking voice. Uh
I am Misty Connelly and I live here in Martin County and I have three students attending Crystal Lake Elementary and two high school students at South Fork High School. Um and I'm glad I made it here because the weather was uh not cooperative. Uh, but I'm here to talk to
you about volleyball, which is one reason why I don't have a voice. Uh, because the Bulldogs took, uh, the conchk championship this past weekend for South Fork High School. Um, and I'm one of their biggest cheerleaders. Um, I'm actually here to talk about boys
volleyball. So with approximately 63 public and high school schools in Palm Beach County uh school district, our neighbors give students and parents a lot of choices and they all have boys
volleyball. Even though we could have made that switch as a family to Palm Beach County schools, we chose to stay in our community. We chose to stay in Martin County. Vouchers in private schools are a big part of the decline of enrollment in all public schools across
the state. And now the Florida uh high school athletic association has amended a law that allow private school student athletes to participate in sports not offered at their own school by either attending a public school or forming an agreement with another private school to
play. But what this really also means is that our students can change from our public schools to private schools to play. And again, our family was made that offer and we chose to stay in Martin County.
There are approximately 239 men's volleyball colleges and most of those teams are found on the eastern side of the United States. Men's volleyball scholarships are offered at the D1, D2, and NIAI colleges. But some
of the most impressive colleges that our students would maybe aspire to like Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Harvard, and UCLA offer boys and men's volleyball. These are amazing opportunities for our students futures. We are now in the
recruiting process for my son, and there are many other boys that travel up to two hours south just to play. But it is an elitist sport and if you don't have money, you don't get to play. And so the only opportunity that a lot of our local
kids would ever have is to play at a middle school or high school. And I think they should be afforded that opportunity. I think that you guys need to make sure that this county, though small, is mighty and offers some of those programs that our competiting
schools and counties are offering. and madam. Chair, Superintendent Maine, members of the school board. My name is Heather Platt. I serve as the director of professional learning. Thank you for having me here today to talk about the strategic plan and scorecard. Uh my presentation this afternoon is centered
around our strategic plan and the scorecard process, two tools that will guide our district's path forward. This work builds on the foundation that was laid last year. As we move into the next phase, the strategic plan moving forward takes
the input that we received when we engaged deeply with our stakeholders to understand their priorities, concerns, and aspirations for our students and schools. The discovery phase informed the development of our strategic plan.
We engaged students, families, staff, and community partners through surveys, focus groups, and collaborative sessions. Their voices shaped the foundation of our work. The insights from this data helped us identify areas where we are strong and
areas where we still need to grow. It also reinforced the importance of aligning our strategic direction with the lived experiences and the expectations from our community. From this input, five strategic themes emerged and are the pillars of our
strategic plan. As you will see today, these are not just aspirational. They are actionable and measurable. These themes continue to guide our work as we refine our strategic plan and will be the lens through which we evaluate our
goals, our actions, and our progress. To share more about our progress on the strategic plan and scorecards and where we are headed, I would like to introduce you to Kathy Oralo from Stutter Education. You're welcome.
Good afternoon board members. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to share the process that we're working on with student uh with student education and Martin County in our partnership. Little bit of I'm Kathy Oralo. I'm a director leader coach for student education. I work with districts all over the
country. Um primarily starting at the executive level and then cascading organizationally all the way through the system from the boardroom to the classroom. Strutter Education is a company that works side byside organizations to help establish, accelerate, and hardwire the necessary
changes to create a culture of performance excellence. We help create better alignment and consistency of leadership practices, engaged employees, and working toward common goals at the highest levels of service. And finally, we address the needs of the entire
organization in a way that's focused and driven by results. And the work that I'm going to share with you today is a little bit about where we are as a as a result of having a completed strategic plan. One of the first steps that we do is we
try to develop organizational alignment. And as you know in many organizations people are siloed and they work in separate separate areas. But the idea is when we have alignment, when we have people moving in the same direction with clear a clear strategic direction, a
clear focus and a clear understanding of expectations, we can accelerate results and work together to achieve those results. Stutter uses a evidence-based leadership execution framework. It's unique. Um many times strategic plans are developed
and they sit on a shelf. Um, this is about really operationalizing a strategic plan in a way that's meaningful and that actually accomplishes what's in that five-year plan. So, if you'll notice in the in the plan, we focus on aligned goals that
have to do with uh aligned measures as well. So, this is a measurable plan. We align leader development to achieve results. So we're doing some leadership development around always actions and behaviors that indicate a high level of
success and a high level of efficiency. And we also work with aligned processes that help us identify the bright spots and and also areas in need of improvement where we work with short cycles of improvement over time in order to measure and know what progress is is
being made and how to make adjustments as a result of that. and we align timing, talent and resources in a way that helps us achieve results. In addition to the execution framework, we have the nine principles and these are the leadership behaviors that we
work with leaders on. In particular, I think one of the things that's unique about this is that we really focus on helping leaders understand the moves that are going to get them to where they want to go in terms of their goals, their actions, and their results. And we
have a saying, people first, culture, strategy in that order so that people can begin, we start and we enter the work through making sure we're engaging people in the process. We want to have shared ownership in the process. So, some of I'll highlight just a couple of
these that I think are really important. Measure the important things. In today's education, we have what the what I call the Costco clearing house of data. And so, narrowing that data down and really understanding, you know, those pieces of data align to what you want to
accomplish is really more more efficient and it helps people understand expectations and work towards that. It also helps us measure it over time so that we know we're making progress. The other is commit to excellence. It's about having high standards of practice
and encouraging others to come from a place of service in their work. And then finally, um, building a culture around service and aligning behaviors to goals and values. Those are really highlighting some of the work that we're engaged in right now.
The other thing that we try to do is here's a portrait of your district. um looks like many districts around the country, but it's a good visual to see like why do we create a strategic plan? What's the purpose of the strategic plan? So, if you look at the top, we're really saying, you know, what are we
trying to accomplish in the next five years? How are we supporting our families, our students? And then as we work, we begin to cascade that work down. And one of the things you'll hear about tonight when we get down to the district and the in the department level is an organizational scorecard that
allows us to have an annual plan to do that. And then as that cascades down, we engage leaders at the site level and at the at the building level. And our administrators also align their goals to some of the overall priorities. And finally, in the classroom and at the
school level with our grade level teams, our PLC's, we're all working again towards that same goal. So this is a good view of what we mean from the boardroom to the classroom. When I entered the picture, we had a strategic plan that had those those
strategic themes, but one of the things we wanted to do was make sure that we had some coherence around some of the levers that were really important to Martin County. So we looked at the Florida leadership standards. We wanted to make sure they're visible in the plan. We looked at the superintendent's
evaluation and your board goals. We wanted to make sure that was visible and also the idea of accreditation and those requirements for accreditation. So part of the work that we did was to make sure we you could see a a clear line through
those things as as we move forward. We also engaged lead teams that helped us get the work done, but they didn't just own the work. They did some of the heavy lifting and then we received input from the rest of the leadership group,
the executive team and the leaders to get feedback to make sure that the goals that were chosen were really the ones that were really important and were high priority for the district. So, so you'll see this idea of of lead teams working
also with the scorecard as we move forward, helping us set some goals around those broad goals and then also helping us set strategic actions and aligning those measures so that we have that. And there's many people in this room that I'm grateful for because they are also part of the that
decision-making process and doing some of that hard work right now. So, what is a strategic plan? And I want to I want to share with you and many of you might know what it is because you have experience with it, but I want to contrast that with the scorecard so that
there's a clear understanding of what it is. Most strategic plans are about five years goals and and they they have a mission, a vision, and goals. And there those goals are approved by by folks like you, the board. A strategic plan
isn't everything, but it is a product of informed decision makingaking by a group who are engaged stakeholders in a disciplined process. So the feedback that you receive from stakeholders is really important in creating a strategic plan. So that it it becomes a
comprehensive plan and not just a plan that's done in one one place or another. It's not about just one idea, one initiative or one perspective. It's an organizational long-term set of overarching goals led by the district's mission, vision, and values. And it sets
a strategic direction for the district and serves as a guiding framework for all decisions and planning across the system. It's not a set of rigid requirements that can't respond to changes in the organization or the environment. So, it is a living document
if we do this well. Some of the strategic theme pieces that um were created as the final pillars of the strategic plan are building a community of adult learners who support student outcomes, positive learning and working
environment, future readiness, deliberate datadriven use of resources and stakeholder engagement and community collaboration. And here are the goals that align or the definition that aligns to those strategic themes. I want to invite you
to take a look at that and um look at some of I'm going to go through a couple of them so that you can see how precise they are. So for example, deliberate data you driven use of resources specifically allocate funding staff and
materials based on comprehensive data analysis to improve student student outcomes enhance operational efficiency and assure quality education for all. And then I'll I'll share with you the positive learning work environment one
just to give you a a broad go from that to specifically to employees. Create and sustain respectful, collaborative and accountable working environment that promotes learning, innovation, and professional grow grow growth. So each
of these themes now have a very clear definition of what they are so that when we're sharing this across the system, people can get an idea of what is the outcome of this work. Why why do we have these particular pillars in place?
The other thing is that we want it to look more like the the left side of this picture than the right side of this picture. Part of part of what we know is to be effective in change is that we have to have crossf functional teams working together and interdependently.
And so we're trying to move away from kind of these old approaches where there's a department here and a department here. And then we have to find vehicles for communication. The way that we do the scorecard and the strategic plan, it allows for those crossf functional teams to work together
interdependently. This is the final version of the strategic plan in a linear format for you. So we have a mission, educate all students for success, a vision, a dynamic system of educational
excellence. We have our strategic themes with their definitions. And we have a set of goals for each one of those. And if you want to just pause a minute to look at that, I'll give you a second to kind of take a look.
These broad goals are five-year goals and then and they're aligned to annual measures. So on the far right side you can see some of the measures that we are aligning to each one of these themes. Those will be helpful in letting us know are we achieving our results or where
are we as we progress through our results. Um, as we move into the scorecard, which is next, you'll see a little a slight difference. These are outcome measures. These are measures that are going to tell us whether or not we've achieved what we're
trying to achieve. With the scorecard, we're going to look at both outcome measures as well as progress measures that will help us know along the way whether or not we're being successful. An organizational scorecard is basically a road mapap for annual execution of the
strategic plan. It will be in the format of a of a summary um scorecard that I'll talk to you about and share with you an example of, but it'll also be in in a in a working format where actual teams will be working around these themes to help
drive execution and monitor whether or not we're being successful. An annual scorecard looks at annual goals and annual outcomes aligned to that strategic plan. It has to be very closely aligned. Annual measures. What
measures will we use to determine if we're achieving those goals. So that'll tell us annually if we're achieving those goals. We're also achieving what we said we would do on that uh on that strategic plan. Strategic actions. These are the how. What are we doing in order
to make that happen? That's a really critical part of the scorecard. And then progress measures align to those actions to help us know whether or not we did what we said we would do. It's part of the cascade of the overall
organizational work that we do with the district. So you have in phase one your strategic plan. Now we begin to develop the district scorecard. That's where we are right now with our lead teams. Um, it'll help us focus on oper
operationalizing the strategic plan. It's also going to identify a strategic direction so that we know what our areas of focus are and it will also help us align both department and school action plans uh as they work throughout the
year. And then eventually this cascades down to the school and department level. And then from that point on those actions at the school level, whether it's a PLC or a grade level team, will also align to
those overall goals. So you can kind of see the cascade here. We're looking at goals and measures, aligned goals and measures and actions and continuing that engagement at the school level. And just to illustrate h how this looks different from each
level. So in this diagram you see at the very top the strategic plan broad goals. Here's for positive learning and work environment. And you can see the broad goal is to create and sustain a respectful, collaborative, and accountable working environment that
promotes learning, innovation, and professional growth. But the smart goal on the strategic or on the scorecard lists by the fall of 2026 will increase the district services survey mean score for timeliness from a
3.96 to a 4.06. And the measure we'll use is the district services survey. So you can clearly see the difference between that high level goal and that broad goal. And the district services survey measures the kinds of things that we look at when
we're trying to define a high quality service organization. And then if you look at the department annual smart goal for that same for that same highlevel broad goal it by 2026 will increase the district
services survey mean for t score for timeliness. Now this is a departmental mean their their score was 4.16. So their goal will be to bring it to a four or 4.06. So they their goal will be to bring it to a 4.11.
and they will also use the same measure. So we have aligned goals, align measures and then align to that overall strategic plan. Why a scorecard? Well, it helps communicate the strategic alignment. I think that's probably the most important
part of it. It helps us know if we're doing what we said we're going to do. It also allows us to choose the measures that matter and that are uniquely yours. It helps us continue to use data to drive decision making in the process
because we have to look at whether or not something's working and then make adjustments. And it allows for accountability and transparency as we go through this process of operationalizing and implementing the strategic plan. The elements of a scorecard It simply
are these. You have your you have your strategic themes. You have your annual goals. What are we trying to accomplish or our desired result and our annual measures to know that how will we achieve success? Those are our
strategic actions. We'll have progress measures as well. How will we know if our strategies and ideas are working? The goals, the annual goals and the annual measures are written in pen. The strategic actions and the progress
measures are written in pencil, which allows the district to be agile and make changes and adjust and adapt to what they're learning along the way. This is a view of what the working scorecard would look like. So you can kind of get an idea of how we're trying
to draw that clear line across all of those levers that we talked about early on. So you have the title of the theme, you have the definition, you have the align superintendent goals and domain and there's an example there.
You have you'll have annual goals with an annual measure that aligns to a strategic plan goal. And for anybody looking at the plan, you can begin to see that at a glance. The working part of the scorecard is really the bottom half, which is those strategic actions,
those progress measures, who the lead team champions are, who are champion in helping drive the work. They're not just just driving the work. They're they're sort of cheering it on. And then those quarterly results will be stoplighted with a yellow, green, or red to let you
know at a glance whether or not we're making progress around those actions and around those goals. Quarterly or midway through the year, the superintendent will present a summary scorecard to you and it'll look
something like this. I just wanted to tie it to your district. I'll show you a few examples, but in this summary scorecard, he will he will be able to present the goals and the measures, the results of where we're at, and a stoplight report some way, shape, or form to let you know where we're at at
this point in time. And that'll be a great time to review and have good discussion around progress. These are just some examples from districts around the country that we work with. Um you can see here this is this is a monthly presentation in their
district of their scorecard and this is this is how they present it at the cabinet level. So it's a summary every month they meet and they look at those metrics and they make adjustments and you can clearly see where their strengths are and you can clearly see
where their challenges are. This is another example that's quarterly presented to a school board. Again, very similar. On the far left is your strategic plan um pillars and then
your your aligned annual measures, your goals, your strategic goals, your baseline data, and then the results would be colorcoded yellow, green, or red. So, it's kind of a working dashboard for everybody to communicate around one one
or more pieces of the work in progress. That kind of concludes um my presentation of the work that we've been doing. I just wanted to pause for a minute to see if there are questions that I can answer. >> We have any questions from the board,
Miss Roberts? >> Um So I'm looking at slide 22. So the measure for a respectful, collaborative, and accountable working environment is timeliness.
Timeliness is about service excellence. So part of what we're trying to define in in service excellence is what does it mean to be respectful and collaborative? And part of part of that is that when you call a department and you ask for a
product or they say they're going to deliver it at a certain time, um are they doing that? Are are they letting you know that they're going to do that in a timely way? There's accuracy, attitude, accessibility, timeliness.
There's five measures that we use to define service. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? All right, that that's all the questions. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much.
>> Okay. Um, we have some discussion items. I'll go through them one at a time. The first one is the superintendent contract. Do I have any comments from the board? Go ahead, Mr. Brian. I'm Dr. Either way.
Either way, we're good. We're good. >> Um, yes. In section four, so when it says renewal options and it says for any year in which the superintendent receives a highly effective rating, is that a highly effective rating from us collectively or
each of us individually? >> Good question. I would say that it is a collaborative from from the total score of all of the board members that a highly effective is achieved. It would not be individual because then it
wouldn't be a decision made by the board collectively. So it would be the number represented by the five of us and how we how we evaluate the superintendent. >> Gotcha. And then if if collaboratively
we all agree he's highly effective then it would be automatically extended by one year without a vote. Correct. >> Correct. If it's highly effective if it's effective we would take a vote or we would do nothing. We have those
options and that would be discussed. But if the highly effective is achieved it would be an automatic one-year extension. So in essence there would be for this purpose there would be a third
year put on each year or a one year that would make it a three. So I want to say it the right way. Currently he reached highly effective. So one year would be added and he would then have a three-year contract that extends to
2028. >> Gotcha. And all of us rated him highly effective this year. >> Correct. >> Okay. I just wonder if in the language it might be better to have um instead of a collaborative highly effective average
if all of us individually rates him as highly effective that would then trigger the one-year automatic uh contract renewal. >> So that's a a perfectly good suggestion. But then that would mean that if three
people or four people ranked him highly effective, that would make it the majority. So how do we combat that? If if if one person doesn't rate them highly effective, that means the four
people who did would then their their belief or what what they ranked would not be taken into consideration. and it would fall to the one person who didn't make them highly effective which then in and I want other people to speak too that would not be collaborative that
would be one person making it so that the per the the superintendent isn't highly effective. Right. >> So can we discuss that? >> Yeah. Well could it could it be could that just trigger a vote at that point and then Okay. Okay. So, if one person does not rate him as highly effective,
but four people do, then we vote. And obviously, the four people who are highly effective can vote for him and maybe the other person would have to think about what they have to do. I'm just I'm just a little uncomfortable with the automatic referral process of
why it's just an automatic thing because the the board is supposed to vote on on on this control. So if all of us rate them as highly effective, I could see that. It just that that's the only nuance that I'm struggling with. So I didn't know if anyone had any thoughts
on that as well. >> Let's I have Miss Russell. >> Yes. I just wanted to say that we are one board with one voice. Five of us collectively make up one voice. So whatever decisions made by the board, it stands. um you know as far as there
being one person if there if there's four that rate him highly effective and one that rates him effective majority rules and that is typically a vote I mean in its own right board in general has spoken saying that he is
highly effective when you average that out and that is the whole purpose of us taking the time to make sure that we evaluate him correctly on all of his measures That's each of our jobs to make sure that we do that correctly. Then they can
take the average and that gives us the score and that score is what we all talked about before when we came up with his measurement tool. >> Roberts. Um, so I think when we did the measurement tool, we had the measurement
tool that took into account each of the five people's ratings in each of the different domains and then those domains coming together and coming up with the final rating. And I I believe um Brian that if there's somebody who has an issue any one board member or even two
board members that have an issue with various domains that when we're discussing the domains for the evaluation for the following year that would be the time to you know like so let's say everybody let's say you and I are down here and we see domain two as
an issue and so even if the scorecard managed to get a highly effective And even if our individual scorecards managed to get a highly effective but in domain two there was an issue in domain two from your perspective and from my perspective I believe that when we are
addressing the measurement for the next year the seven domains for the next year and we're adding that seven thing that would be the time that we would say hey you know I have still have a problem with I know we got highly effective I know we got all that but in domain two I'd like to bring up a couple instances
where I think there was an issue and either incorporate some of that language into domain seven or at least be able to express I think this could have been done differently. I think this would have been something that would have moved the organization forward better. And I think that's the um that in my
head that's the methodology to get from point A to point B because we already have a you know by the same token when you're saying one of the five of us doesn't rate him as highly effective by the same token you could do it with by domains and say overall you end up with
highly effective but domain six is in the toilet. I mean domain six is is rated nothing but it still deserves a conversation about domain six. So still overall which is the same thing we do for everybody else overall you end up with a score that pushes you to a
certain level whether it's our schools whether it's our district whatever it pushes you to a certain level but it still deserves the conversation at some point or the pieces that any of us individually or any of us collectively see. >> So there still be that conversation though if if there was some areas that
were lacking. Okay. Yes. So I think it it what it does is it allows the the mechanism for as far as the contract goes, it allows that to continue and it allows the language for that to continue. But I believe every year every year it is incumbent upon us as the
governance team to come to an agreement on what that domain 7 looks like and what if there's any particular ones in measures in any of the domains that need to be refined or need to be called out. that's the time to do it when we're approving that is.
>> Thank you. >> Um, so I um I kind of like the superintendent to weigh on on this too because I know one of the things that we've talked quite a bit about and I can kind of see where Brian's coming from in his concern. I I honestly don't think it
will happen that that will happen that we're not he's not going to be highly effective. I can but I can see where Brian's coming from. If an individual board member has strong feelings one way or the other, those conversations are still going to happen. But one of the
things that I have found in my conversations with the superintendent that he really wants to have five of us supporting him and that's really important to him moving forward. So, I don't know if we have um I don't know if
it spurs something different if there isn't a five all five of us agreeing um how that conversation I I don't know how to word it, what to say, what to do because I think it's really important for us as a
board to be um cohesive in our leadership of the superintendent and I think that is something that's really important to him. I don't know how to say it or to re relay that or if it even needs to be in
in a contract situation. Um but I think that that's really important part of the discussions that we have had. I don't know if there's something. Go ahead. >> Um, I think for me with the
organization, what is most important to me in a contract is the stability of the organization and the consistency in the organization. or me as the your superintendent leading the district. Uh, I want nothing more
for the organization as a whole to understand that I'm here consistent and the way of work that we are trying to uh make sure is happening with consistency throughout with the five-year strategic plan with all of the the the report
cards, moving the district, continuing to keep the district at an A, making sure that we have no C schools and that we're scoring A's and B's. That comes with a lot of lift. It comes with a lot of heavy lift. It comes with a lot of accountability. It comes with a lot of responsibility. If there are members of the board that
are not 100% committed and for me as your superintendent, if I'm being clearly honest and open with you and transparent, clearly committed for me is that we are all in this together. 50, we support you. We want you here. And if we
mark you highly effective, we believe that you deserve to stay on board. That would be a contract extension. If you don't believe in the direction that I'm bringing the district, even if it's individually, then I ask respectfully that you have a one-on-one conversation
with me to let me know that you are not on board with where I'm bringing the district. If there's an area that you want me to improve upon, please tell me because I absolutely want to know transparently. If there's a time that you want me to uh that we believe collectively that we
need to part ways, I ask respectively that you just let me know. Uh we want to part ways so that we can move in a different direction. You do what's best for the organization. I do what's best for me and the family. But if you are clearly behind me 100% and want no C
schools, want to continue our A status and want to continue the consistency that I believe and the momentum that I believe we've created as a school district, then I ask for that if you rate me highly effective, it comes with
an automatic contract extension. Superintendent in the state of Florida are not easy to come by. Um, and what I value as the leader of your organization and what I value with all of our people is that if we're doing right that we show our people that we're not waffling
and that we're all we're committed. Uh, because I can stand up and I can ask staff to move in a certain direction, but they're going to buy time if they believe that you are not behind me and committed. Give them another year. Give them
another six months. The board will move in a different direction. We can wait him out. We can wait the board out. We're getting ready to go into contract negotiations. We're getting ready to finish the budget process. There's a lot of work to be done. And um I'm I do not
want I want the public and you all to know 100% I'm not asking for more money. Now is not the time. I would never ask for more money. What I'm asking for is a commitment from the board that you believe in me and my leadership and where we're headed as a district.
So, thank you for that. And I I I think it is a reasonable ask. Um, you know, when when we first saw the language, um, I think this is, you know, a a three-year contract is pretty standard.
Um, I know that's how uh me, I personally operate on a three-year contract. I do not have an automatic renewal. Um but I you know might have that conversation with my board. But um I think that it's um you know if if it's
highly effective there are or if there is one board member or two board members that have an issue but the superintendent is still there there are other ways to go about um that are outlined in the contract as
well. So this does not um you know I think this is part of the evaluation process. It rewards the superintendent for having an aggregate highly effective score. Um,
but I I will point out to the public that that this by no means guarantees any like there are there are outs for the board. if there were a shift in um who is elected or something happened or
something changed, there are different avenues for the board um in the contract that are spelled out um if something came up and we decided to make a change. Um this does not tie our hands in that
way. This really only I to me speaks to that we all are a in agreement that the superintendent is highly effective and he deserves to be recognized for that work over the the prior year. And it
will only ever be a maximum of a three-year contract. It will not be, you know, it will not build upon. So there will only be a year extension. It will and it will the contract will never be more than three years. So when the board does change because every single one of us are term limited,
it doesn't tie the hands of a future board in their contract negotiations as well because they'll also have eight years of um eight-year term to for the their
um board whatever tenure I guess. So Yeah. And I don't think of it, Marca, as much as one board member um being the issue. I think of it more as with the seven domains that if all of us individually had an
issue with one of the domains, performance in one of those domains, you would still the way that it's structured, you would still end up with a highly effective score. But but yes, I agree with you. a conversation still needs to continue about that particular
domain, about that particular as we come up with the seven domains every year for the next period of time. I I think that's probably more likely to happen than it be one board member who's like the odd man out who doesn't really agree
with everybody else. I can I can see that it more likely happening as a domain specific thing where in one domain you didn't receive the highly effective yet overall it was highly effective and it just means some adjustments need to made with be made within that domain. So thank you. Well,
and I just feel like those are conversations that um I know my my ratings were very different than a lot of board members and but my com my those are issues that I will deal with with
the superintendent. Not necessarily obviously he was never rated um poorly by any of us. Um but you know those are some issues that I have identified that we need to work on together. Not necessarily not necessarily that it's a
collective issue that the entire board needs to work on. >> Oh, I'm I'm good with the language. >> I just wanted to say and um I think we're wrapping this conversation up. If you're having regular discussions with
superintendent, when you get to the part where you have to evaluate, there are no surprises. You have communicated effectively throughout the year, and I think we all do. So that when he does get his evaluation, he's not saying,
"Where did this come from?" He'll already know. And that's why the conversation and the communication is so important. You don't save it up to the evaluation and then go you do it methodically throughout the year. And that's what I think is so
effective about this board because I don't think that you looked at it and said, "Hey, where did where did all this stuff come from?" We had the conversations. So, it's really important for us individually to have those
conversations throughout the year. If something is bothering you, you must tell him. You must work it out. Like you're like you're saying, Miss Powers, you had the conversations and it's something the two of you I myself have
conversations on a regular basis and there are no surprises. So that's my theme. No surprises when the evaluation comes. Thank you. Good. Okay. Moving right along. So, uh,
Diane, would you put this on the, um, agenda for next week to be, uh, voted on by the board? Thank you. Okay. Topics for October 3rd, 2025 joint
meeting. Do we have any ideas for topics from anyone? Miss Roberts? Um, I think that the direction that our millage rate is going and where we land with our millage rate, wherever that is, I think it creates us as an anomaly in
the state of Florida. And I think it's something that as a board we should be very proud of. And I think that that's something that would be a appropriate topic um for the joint meeting because we would be pretty much the only one in the state.
So I think it's something that's >> is that agreed upon and do I have consensus for that? Does anyone else have any recommendations for the >> the rankings of our high schools? How highly rated they are? >> Okay, that would that's good.
Superintendent, do you have anything that you want to brag about >> other than we're an a district? We're we're going to hold off until the state of the district this uh this coming end of this week. >> Okay. >> Uh there's lots that I'd like to brag about, but I'd really most love to brag
about when we have no sea schools. So, we're focused, we're locked in, and we'll keep we'll keep pushing forward until that happens. >> Um are there any upcoming projects that people are not aware of that may be we want to talk about
from Mr. Serest? Yes, Mr. Secret Mr. Serest will definitely give an update on the latest projects. Um, we can we can do that. I think that's always good to do. I also do think to uh Mrs. Robert's point. Uh,
we need to discuss uh the millillage and and the opportunity that we kept spending or discussing keeping spending at the 2425 levels for for all of our capital projects and things. Uh that's very important for the public to know because you all uh right now are are
saving upwards of $23 million uh in being able to do that and so that's that's a big deal and and I think some time needs to be spent on that. >> Okay. So I think we have three solid topics that we can discuss.
>> Anyone else? No. Okay. >> Okay. Scheduling executive sessions. We we are aware that we can't have any until the hearing this evening. So, I'd like to propose something a little
different for next Monday. I've had requests for having an AM session, 7:30 a.m. on Monday. I believe that's the 15th. Do we have um consensus on
perhaps having it at 7:30 a.m. >> How long would this be? Anybody have an idea? >> Um, honestly, maybe an hour if if that. I mean, it's the first one, but I feel like I'm aware that a lot of provision
has been made ahead of time so that when we do walk in, we're not being hit with, well, what do you want to do? we kind of have some good information how we can proceed. So I think that's going to
eliminate a lot of um the downtime. So I I think is an hour fair? Does that sound Mr. Morrison? Do you think an hour works? >> An hour will be fine, man. >> Okay. Um, and do we want to schedule any more at this point or do we want to wait
until the first session is over? Because >> we we need to get TSIA agreed upon and wrapped up so that you all are in a position to put an offer on the table to the union. >> Uh, we need to make an October 1st deadline.
>> Yes. And they're meeting on the 24th, I believe. >> Yes, ma'am. So that is what the discussion is going to be the TSIA um allotment and I believe Mr. Morrison has lots of good information for us. So um at that time I guess we can discuss
moving forward with any any more executive sessions. How's that sound? Okay. So we we will we will have a September 15 7:30 a.m. in superintendent boardroom. Okay. Should we should we just go ahead and
put it on the calendar for the next Monday as well just so that we in case there is additional information or questions because I don't want to miss >> if we have to if we can if we cancel it that's fine but okay >> we may want to just put it on the calendar because
>> I don't want to get to then trying to meet before the 24th. >> Okay. So we'll we'll do two sessions uh consecutive Mondays 7:30 a.m. >> and staff is prepared to present MCEA and ASME. >> Okay,
>> we'll do both in an hour >> and and be concise. >> Okay, sounds good. >> Let me just say I like the morning session. So I even have I even have a conflict, but I'm going to move it. But I like the morning sessions for some of us working people. So, I appreciate that.
>> That's that was the how it was presented and frankly I'm the most flexible because I'm retired if you will. So, I want everyone to feel accommodated. So, if we can move to the 7:30 a.m. then then that would be wonderful and it
frees up another evening for for us during the week. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Thank you everyone. That was very pleasant. Okay. Um, so now we're going to go on to schoolboard policies. Uh, do I have any
uh members of the audience who would like to uh say anything about any of these policies? Okay. So, and do I go over each one individually or didn't do do we have any questions on any of
these board policies? Yes. >> Um I do on policy number 8210. Um I think it should under length of the standard school year. So we have the language in the second paragraph that talks about the MCA negoti negotiated
collective bargaining agreement. I think less said is better. So in the length of the standard school year, I think that should just say the school year consists of 180 days of a typical school year consists of 180 days of class for
students knowing that sometimes we don't have a full 180 days because we have the minutes and drop out that part about the 196 days of employment. Um the opening date for schools in the district may not be earlier than August 10th is in statute. So that if that got changed by
the legislature and if that was changed then obviously we would be following the law. I don't believe that the first semester ending prior to the winter vacation is in statute. So I think that that C should just be the school year shall be divided into two semesters
approximately equal in length. If the calendar that we get has it that way etc that's fine but I would hate for us to be bound by a policy where we have to end by a certain date. um because it's in a policy where it might not work out
calendar-wise. So, those are my um three suggestions for this policy. Adding the word typical in a deleting the and 196 days and deleting the with the first semester ending prior to winter vacation on that. Everyone all right with that?
Okay. Thank you. any of the other policies. Okay, now we're open to the board. Do I have any announcements from anyone that you'd like to hear?
Okay, seeing none, meeting is adjourned. Thank you. And we have only 11 minutes. >> Yes. Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome everybody to the school board of the
Martin County special school board meeting trim. I'd like to call this meeting to order and ask for approval of the agenda and addendum. >> So move. Second. >> I have a motion by Miss Roberts, a second by Miss Powers. All those in
favor? >> I. >> So, approval of final budget amendments for fiscal year ended June 30th, 2025. Mr. Carter Morrison. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. What you have before you is the results of the final
operations of the 2425 school year and the budget amendments there attached thereof. There too. >> Move approval. Second. >> I have a motion by Miss Roberts, a second by Miss Powers. All those in
favor? I. Motion carries unanimously. >> We now have the report of financial data to the Commissioner of Education, ESC 348 for fiscal year 2425. Mr. Carter Morrison. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. What you have before you is a compliance document with
the superintendent's annual financial report that is required to be submitted to the department of education by September the 11th of this year. Um subsequent to that we'll be working on the annual comprehensive financial report which may include any audit adjustments or any um adjustments that
we'll make subsequent to the superintendent's annual financial report that will be due out sometime in December or so forth. But today before you, you have the compliance document that the Department of Education needs. >> Thank you. Move approval of ESC 348. >> Second.
>> I have a motion by Miss Roberts, a second by Dr. Mario. All those in favor? I. Motion carries unanimously. >> We will now recess special meeting to conduct public hearing on millage rates and budget. Do I have anybody
from the audience who would like to comment? Seeing none, we will now have a public hearing to adopt 202526 final millage rates and budget. Discuss the millage and budget for fiscal year
2526 including the roll back rate. Mr. Carter Morrison. Thank you, Madam Chair. Let me just tee up the present. Um will the technician in the room um please display on the Thank you.
Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, board members. Good evening. Um this is the final hearing in the series of two hearings that is required by Florida Statute 200 whereby we discuss the proposed U millage rate and budget for fiscal year 2526.
um before you on the slides you you will see uh what we've done is we've um did a comparison for you of the adopted 2425 millage rate which is at 5.75 mills. Um on August the 5th at the first public hearing the board adopted tenatively a
5.720 mills and as board member um board members have discussed uh we are poised now to um um recom the implement the superintendent's recommendation um of a millage rate of 5.177
mills which is uh recommended which is 9.96% less than the 2425 adopted u millid rate in comparison to the roll back rate. Um a rate a a roll the millage rate of
5.177 mills is actually lower than the roll back rate by 1.47%. Um which is 0077 mills um less than the roll back rate which is the superintendent's recommendation. Um, as previously discussed, uh, we have gone in and we've
cut the budget by about $23 million in capital, making taking great pains to ensure that we have not, um, disturbed or harmed any named projects in the five-year capital plan. That will be coming to you um, hopefully on September 16th. We we're doing some work behind the scenes to just clean up a few
things. Moving on to the proposed 2526 budget. um before you at your places you should have a copy of this year's 2526 uh beginning budget book um on the in the budget book um on page 23 just to navigate the book a little
bit you'll find information related to the general fund debt service on page 217 capital budget on page 211 food service on two 219 federal funds on page 225 extended day
at um on page 233 233 page 233 for a total budget um contained in the resolution that is forthcoming of 588,981,339. With that, Madame Chair, I think it would be appropriate at this time to
sound the halls for any public input on the final mill rate and budget as proposed. >> Do I have anybody from the audience? I do not. So now we're moving on to approval of superintendent authorization and
resolutions authorization to ensure compliance with truth and millillage. Carter Morrison. >> Yes, madam chair. what that is to make sure that um we will be then sending into the department of revenues that revenue, excuse me, all documentation um
that has been um advertised and adopted by the board to ensure that we're in compliance with Florida statute 200 as well as complying with the the Florida Department um of Florida Department of Education budget checklist and the checklist requirements that they have
with respect to this evening's proceedings and the budget and trim process. Move approval of 6.01. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Miss Roberts, a second by Miss Powers. All those in favor? >> I I motion carries unanimously.
Moving on to resolution 26 2026-04, adoption of final millage rates for fiscal year 2526, ESC 524. Carter Morrison. >> Yes. As previously discussed, um the board is poised to implement
particularly in the capital area um 0.95 mills, which is unprecedented um and reduces our budget to live within our means with in comparison to last year's proceeds. So we recommend the approval of the resolution um 2025-26,
the ESC 524 document. >> Move approval of item 6.02. >> Second. >> Have a motion by Miss Powers, a second by Dr. Mario. All those in favor I. Motion carries unanimously. 6.03
resolution 2026-05 adoption of final budget for fiscal year 202526 and the FL DOE district summary budget form ES1 139. Carter Morrison. >> Yes, Madam Chair. for you. Again, at at
your places, you will find a detailed um document, our budget book for 2526 containing revenues and expenditures by fund. Um a an entirety and revamping of the dis of the budget book, which adds in FTE data. It adds in a lot of data
that is very uh useful for making information going forward and the initial budgets as will be approved by by the board tonight. And therefore, we recommend the superintendent's recommendation to adopt the budget. I've moved to approve 2026-05.
>> Second. >> M. Roberts has >> So, in the resolution, Carter, you're ending with $339. Should that be 339 or 399? >> 339. >> Okay. Because in your >> on the PowerPoint, it's 399.
>> Yeah. Okay. Just so we have the right one. Thank you. >> Okay. I had a motion by Dr. Mario, a second by Miss Powers. All those in favor? >> I. Motion carries unanimously. So am I adjour I'm adjourning this meeting on the 202526
final mill rate and budget and reconvene regular school board meeting. >> Madam chair if I may. >> Yes. >> Thank you for recognizing me. I just want to give thanks to staff um who have participated in this long journey of this of of preparing the budget the mill
rates. Uh there's a lot of um hard work that took place late nights weekends. I want to thank everybody from the facilities team in particular when we went through and was able to reduce our budget to try to live within our means. I would be remiss if I did not give thanks to everybody who participated. Thank you.
>> And thank you. We appreciate it. >> I' I'd like to say thank you as well. I know that these are not easy times for um the public that we serve and I really appreciate everyone uh tightening our belt at the school district and making the right decisions uh for all the
people that we serve in our community. So, thank you all very very much. >> And the community is thankful as well. I'm getting lots of input thanking how are you doing it? How come how come the district can do it but nobody else can? and I just say, "Well, Carter,
>> we have amazing people." >> Yes, everyone. Thank you. Not minimizing anyone. >> I'd also like to chime in and say that just for the public, for them to be aware that because the some of the feedback I've heard that this does not affect the operating budget. >> So, the pieces of the budget that have
to do with um services to students, running the schools, teacher salaries, all of those pieces are still intact. the way that the formula for the state has come out and the FEFP those places pieces have stayed the same and so those are still at the high level the highest level that the state is allowing those
to be. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, moving on. Uh approval of resolution 26-03 for 2025 2026 tax anticipation note. Approval of resolution authorizing the
issuance of not to exceed 32 million in tax anticipation notes. Ard Morrison. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um just like to recognize the presence of Miss Laura How from PFM Asset Management and your bond council, Mr. Mr. Retesh Patel from
Neighbors Giblin. Um the district experiences cash flow variations due to the time when we levy levy the taxes not received until um November. That's when we get the bulk of it. And so we kind of need that cash flow to bridge um between
the time that we because we have continuing operating expenses such as payroll etc. And until we can get those tax revenues in in November, this $32 million will bridge that that um that divide. Thank you, Madam Chair.
>> Thank you. I move approval of item 7.01. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Miss Powers, a second by Miss Russell. All those in favor? I. Motion carries unanimously. And if we have no further discussion, I'd like to adjourn this meeting.
Thank you. Part: 2
Education Association MCA. It is a public hearing to legislate the impass between the superintendent of Martin County School District and the Martin County Education Association. Please rise for the pledge of
allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Miss Falls, will you call the role,
please? Dr. Morardi, here. Mrs. Roberts, here. Here. Mrs. Russell here. Mrs. Bridget, here. This is a public hearing conducted by the Martin County School Board, MCSB,
pursuant to Florida statute 447.43 [Music] to resolve an impass in negotiations between the superintendent of the Martin County School District and the Martin County Education Association involving unresolved issues for the 2425
collective bargaining agreement. The MCEA declared impass pursuant to chapter 447 of the Florida statutes after the superintendent rejected the special magistrate's recommendation regarding article XI.2I
unpaid presidential leave. Pursuant to Florida statute 447.434, [Music] both parties submitted to the school board their recommendations for settling the impass issues. This public hearing is now required pursuant to Florida
statute 447.4034C. So each party can explain their positions to the school board with respect to the impass issues. This proceeding is open to the public. However, this is a labor proceeding with specific statutory requirements and only
the two parties, the superintendent and MCEA will make presentations to the board. Each party will be afforded 30 minutes to present their positions on the disputed impass issues. To allow each party to fully make their presentations, schoolboard members will
hold any questions until after a party's presentation. As the MCA declared impass, the MCEA will present first and the superintendent will present second. Mr. George will be the timekeeper and he will let you know when your time has
expired. Please respect that. After the presentations by a party, the schoolboard members can ask questions of the party. The schoolboard members then can ask any final questions. Following this, the Martin County School Board will deliberate before the parties
without interruption. After deliberation, the Martin County School Board will then vote to resolve the impass issues. The school board intends to take brief breaks approximately every 90 minutes or as needed.
So I would like to now ask the MCA to make their presentation. Thank you. You can use the front mic. Good. Good evening everyone. My name is Martin Powell. I'm here representing the Martin County Education Association. Thank you for your time this evening and
your consideration. There are no no doubt many people in this room, many people on this board that are very familiar with the concepts we're talking about here today, unions, uh, presidential leave and impass in general. But I want to make sure we're talking about the same thing, right? I
think it's very important we use common common uh common language when we talk about this, right? The union we're talking about, Martin County Education Association is your employees, teachers that work in Martin County. They're your neighbors. They're parents. They a lot of them were students here. That's who
we're talking about. A union is made up of these employees. Um it's not some secretive group. They're here. They come together. They join together to bargain collectively for terms and conditions of employment. They seek agency in their life and in their employment. That's
what they're here for. That's why they join their union. Right? And the president is that mouthpiece. The president is that person who those complaints go to and the person who delivers those concerns, complaints, issues, needs to superintendent and to
the school board. Right? That's who that is. Mr. Theobald, the president, product of Martin County Schools, is here as well today. and we'll address you as well. Now, presidential release is something that some people get confused about. It becomes complicated, but essentially
what it is is a process by which the person elected president is placed on leave, but doesn't lose any of his rights that he's earned as part of an employee, right? Still remains an employee of the district for purposes of retirement, for purposes of credit, for
service. Um and and the the presidential release provides this individual protection, right? Protection that when they step down from their presidency, they have a job and a position to come back for. That's what presidential release is all
about. We're going to use the word unpaid presidential leave. We're going to use the word presidential release. Uh we're going to use lease time president. They all mean the same thing. Now, the Florida law requires that this be at no cost to the school board. It is a requirement of law and therefore the the
way that the contract is laid out, the Martin County Education Association would prepay any cost of the president's salary and benefits to the board so that cost then be remitted back to them. This is a process that happens very commonly,
right? Very commonly when I say common, I want to be very clear about that. Teachers in Elatchua, Brevard, Broward, Collier, Day, Duval, Escambia, Hernando, Hillsboro, Indian River, Lake Lee, Leon, Manatee, Marian, Monroe, Okaloosa, Orange, Oyola, Palm Beach, Pasco,
Penellis, Pulk, Sarasota, Simol, St. John, St. Lucy, and Valuchia. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm I thought I was being recorded. I didn't realize. Um, but I but I want to I I don't need to belabor that point. Just to say that the colleagues across the state and nation
share this same practice. It's very common and it would clear up any concerns that it may not be. Finally, the impass, right? Collective bargaining laws in Florida can be a little complicated, but in the simplest form, the school board and superintendent set priorities for the
district. The teachers set priorities for Martin County Education Association, and the parties join together literally at a bargaining table to try to work this out, right? Usually it works out fine. many sessions sometimes, but that's part of the that's part of the
process. Multiple sessions, multiple discussions. That's how the process is supposed to work to ensure that the teachers get what they want and that the superintendent continues and the board continues to get what they need to ensure that the students ultimately get the education they need. Right.
When when we're not able to agree, we come back before the school board for impass. One step that's very important in that process, very important to Martin County Education Association and very important to the superintendent as well is the magistrate, right? That's a third-party unbiased opinion that gets
to review the evidence, listen to testimony, and make a recommendation that comes back before you, which is why we're here, right? that that third party, that magistrate is very important to this process because it cuts through the dynamics
that exist between labor and management. It cuts through those histories that come between the parties sometimes and it reviews the facts, right? This person reviews the facts. And in this case, uh, we had a magistrate, James Mastriani.
See if I can make the slide deck work. All right. There were four items that impass. I'm not going to belver this point because we're really here to talk about unpre unpaid presidential leave, but the western zone salary supplement there. There was $28,000 remaining in what was identified as the as the pool
for raises for money. Um an unpaid campaign leave provision and finally the unpaid presidential leave. Right? That's what we're here to talk about. Um the unpaid presidential leave. Now, um, again, quickly, the magistrate
recommended the rest zone be set at 3100. This was consistent with the superintendent's position. U, the magistrate recommended that the $28,000 be spent for medical insurance supplement. This was kind of splitting the baby. We were consistent in how we asked this. Although the the
superintendent and the school board's team um wanted that to be contingent upon accepting all other positions, which we could not do. Um although so we were on on the same page with the medical insurance supplement. On campaign leave, the magistrate recommended striking that language
completely. That was the superintendent's position. And on the presidential leave, the magistrate recommended maintaining that language in the contract status quo. That was MCA's position. Right? That's where we stand. And the reason we're here today is because when MCA came back to the school
board after that opin after that opinion, after that recommendation and set forth a a concept of accepting this third party's recommendation, moving forward, moving on to the next year and trying to come together on some terms with some wins, some losses. Everyone
knows that's how any sort of bargaining any sort of bargaining takes place. You don't get everything you want or everything you don't want. There's some mixture in the middle. Uh but the district's position was different. It was accept the things that we brought forward, our positions, and reject the things that were your positions. Right?
The unpaid presidential leave being primary amongst them. And so now we're here to talk about that. So the unpaid presidential leave article uh XI2 I right that's an I not a one. Um I don't need to belabor this point but
the concept remains the same. The president has given leave unpaid by the board but to ensure that they remain those maintain those protections of being a continuous employee maintain those protections of being given credit for service and maintain those
protections of continuing their FRS their retirement service that money passes through the the school board. So the check comes from the school board although the money comes from the Martin County Education Association. And again this is how it's done across the country, right? U been done that way for
for many many decades and that's Martin County is no different in that. So this has been in the contract for 25 years. 1999 is when it was um bargained into the contract although it was not used for much of that time. The first time it was used is
2223 school year and that's when the dispute started. That's when this started to become an issue. Uh pres former president Karen Riseniti uh requested and was approved for presidential leave. Um, she took one year leave and continued
all of her insurance, all of her benefits through the board with no expense. She was able to be present at work sites. She was able to assist with communication, clarifying miscommunication. She was highly available to administrators during the day. Her testimony at the magistrate reflected a
number of calls that she would get during her time before she was released time in the classroom from administrators saying, "How do I interpret this contract? How do we make this work?" Now, she's available to them. She's available to work through these things during the day. And really importantly, and something a lot of people in the audience will probably
remember, is she worked very closely with the payroll department to work on the overpayment issue. Essentially providing them spreadsheets and work that that she helped figure out to make sure that that issue was taken care of on behalf of the school board. And remember, this this whole thing is
the idea to protect her, to protect that person that's coming back. As you might imagine, labor and employment can get on different sides of things and people all of a sudden find themselves coming back to a job that is in a position they don't know how to do or they can't do. And the unpaid presidential leave is a
way to make sure that that person comes back to a position that is consistent with their with their abilities, consistent with their prior function, and doesn't result in any sort of issues with with taking that job back. And obviously we're not here to talk about those issues, but just establishing what
the purpose of unpaid presidential leave is, I think is important. Now towards the end of that year, right towards the end of that year, um Miss Miss Rristani, uh one of her detractors, someone running against the um against her for
union president, brought some issues and there was a conversation at this school board about unpaid presidential leave. And again, this concern wasn't brought by the district, not by the superintendent at that time, not by HR or labor relations, not anyone concerned
with the actual functioning of the presidential leave, but by somebody that had a bone to pick, for lack of a better word. And they brought some questions and I want to start to answer some of those, right? One of those questions was, "What about the liability?" Well,
MCA doesn't want the school board to have liability they don't have. We don't believe that that's a liabil liability issue. It's always been covered by the union when the president's working on behalf of the union and all the other counties in Florida. And so we don't believe that's a problem. But we we made sure to be very clear that we would
endnify the district and dimmnify the school board. Right? Make sure that the liability rests with the with the MCA, not with the school board. Right? We we talked about some questions that were raised again the about no other place. I
believe it was stated at this school board. No other place that does this. I mean, I've listed some of these things, but I want to make sure it's very clear what I'm talking about. So, I put a few language in here. Not to belver the point, and I don't expect anyone to read every word that I'm about to play, but the school board of Bard County sets
forth the process that allows four people to take this sort of lead, right? Four teachers and four officers of the Bvard Federation of Teachers. The school board of Broward County has the president and the vice president, Broward Teachers United, um as well as
executive officers of of any affiliate take the same leave, the same setup. Klay County very similarly, right? Um an a president, another officer, and an intern allows to do this, right? There's a there's a common theme here in that many of the school boards across the
state across the country frankly many other public employees police and fire this is highly common much more common even than education there's a rec recognition that there's value to be had here there's value to be had with the president with the representation of the
employees available to the management to the administration Collier County very similar temporary duty assignment they call it Duvall County has a maximum of seven uh seven uh staff and um uh sorry staff and
officers who can take this type of leave. Skip through here. Escambia County gets the president of both the teacher and the and the support staff. Hernando County also uh another relatively small district that provides
that. And finally, Indian River, one of our neighbors here, um that theirs is a little different because they provide a halftime release, which means that president spends their mornings in the classroom and then our afternoons answering concerned calls from the employees of the school district. Right?
And they even put in their contract that should a grant become available to support full-time, it will automatically become full-time. Right? And again, I'm not belaboring these points because I know Martin County School Board is a different board. But just to answer that concern that I've seen brought up a number of times that this doesn't happen
elsewhere, it does. It's very common. So, uh, Mr. Resiniti retired after that year and Mr. Theobald uh took took office was elected in May 2023, you know, and and that la the end of Miss Resiniti's year was the beginning
of of what we what we saw as some kind of for no reason or we didn't understand the reason animosity towards the idea, animosity towards the the president, animosity towards the employees representation. Um and we thought, okay, we've answered these
questions. We've provided them indemnification. We've provided some examples of other places that did this. Um, so Mr. Theabald was elected in May 2023. He applied and again instead of negotiating a similar agreement to Mr. Risseniti with the school board's actual
involvement, I believe in that process, Mr. Theob was told, "No, you can have unpaid leave. You will have no pass through of your salary, right? No payment of health health insurance. You can take COBRA at the ex the uh the increased costs. um no F FRS credit, no
credit for service on the salary schedule. So we're back in this position again where we're feeling, okay, we have this contract language and for some reason which we don't understand, this is becoming a problem in Martin County, right? And so we file an arbitration to enforce these terms. Again, we're not
here to talk about that arbitration, but the history is important because it sets it sets a pattern. It sets an idea of how we got here. And I think we can get off this road, right? this road where it looks like the the district and the school board do not want their employee representative to be available to them,
do not want this person to be in the rooms where the conversations are happening, do not want this person to be available to administrators um during the day. And I I don't think that's obviously I don't think that's good for the district, but I think we can get off that path, right? Okay. So, the
arbitrator rules uh in our favor in that case um telling uh the district that they can and this is what the contract requires to provide this sort of leave and Mr. Theol was of course made whole. So, we're back again. Now, we have the
language uh back in third party has come in and said no, this language is viable. And so, we come into the 2024 2025 school year and we spent significant time. We spent five, six bargaining sessions trying to make sure all these
questions were answered. Who's the supervisor? What's the indignification going to look like? Um, what's the job description going to look like? Right? Every question that was brought up, we tried to answer. And ultimately, we came within a signature of coming to an agreement for Mr. Theob. We had the
document drafted, ready to sign. But at that same time, we were getting from Tallahassee a whole bunch of new anti-UN um legislation, right? We had the new law that that you guys are probably familiar with that if you don't have 60% of the members, you might be descertified or you have to have an
election. We didn't at the same time no longer could do payroll deduction. So MCA starts getting concerned, not because they think they're going to get descertified, but they're not sure what this impact's going to look like, right? how this is going to impact their finances. And because this president is
going to be paid for 100% by them, they want to figure out what happens if in six months from now, you know, we we haven't figured out this new payroll system. We haven't figured out the the educ system. And so we we took that to the question. We had everything worked out. We said, what happens then? Is
there can we have an exit pro process? I the idea continues to be protection, right? If somewhere down the line something comes up and it's just becomes an impossibility, Mr. Theobble needs some protection to ensure that he can go back into a classroom, assuming there's one available, right? Assuming there's a
job opening, right? And unfortunately, that's where it fell apart. We were we were right there one yard line and it fell apart with the idea that if something unforeseen happens, um, then then Mr. Theold's on his own, right? And that's a risk that that he wasn't
willing to take. the MCA wasn't willing to take um you know young family and all those things go into those decisions and unfortunately we were right there but again we were very close. So we come back in the fall to begin
negotiations on the full book salary everything and one of the proposals from the district is to cut that language entirely. So one through six, we're negotiating how we how we implement this language. Bargaining session seven, we're cutting it entirely, right? And
that's that's why we're here. We're here because of that. Um so that brings us brings me to the magistrate's decision. I don't know if I get a warning, but um the magistrate decisions, he heard this evidence, right? Um, Mastriani heard
this evidence and recommended to the school board to the superintendent to leave this language in there. Right. According to the testimony from the then president, no problems were presented or experienced from implementation of the leave during the year it was implemented. No contradictory testimony.
No problems. The utilization of this section provided benefits to the parties in terms of employee employer relations stability, dispute avoidance and support for educational program. Right? Again, no cost to the board. But all the testimony
revealed that it was supported and that this agreement is is is not a departure from the norms. Right? This is a very common type of provision in contracts. Right? So, so this is this is where we're here uh to talk about that, right?
To deal with this this dispute. We get this third party. We feel like we've resolved some things. Some things not in our favor candidly. Some things we thought we we should have won. We should have won or gotten the recommendation that we did not. Some things we did. And we're hoping to move forward. But we're here again. And before I before I kind
of close a little bit, I want to make sure that you actually get an opportunity to hear from Mr. Theob. So, I'll take a little pause to turn to him uh before I close. I'm not sure how much time I've got left, too. They're sitting at 11 minutes. Oh, great.
I think I could definitely do this in under 11 minutes. Um but yes, as as Martin said, uh and and well, first off, uh I I want to thank you all for the opportunity to speak. Um Matt Theald, president of the Martin County Education Association. Um, and as Martin said, I
am a proud product of of Martin County Public Schools. Um, as a matter of fact, I was born and raised here. Um, I think maybe outside of Mrs. Powers. I think she may be the only one on the day who's been here longer than I have. Um, but I was a junior in high school when this
language was implemented into the contract. Um, and for 25 years, it existed there with without issue. Um, I I am president of the union. But first and foremost, um, I'm an educator, 17 years in the classroom, uh, the same
classroom, um, at Martin County High School that I that I graduated from. Um, my parents, who who are also happen to be in in the audience tonight, uh, they they instilled in me uh, a deep passion for helping others. Both of them were in the healthc care field. Um, and it was
my desire to help others that actually led me into the classroom. Um, and it's that desire, um, and that passion that that inspires the union work that that I do. Uh, helping members, doing representations, collective bargaining,
um, meeting, uh, meeting with district staff, uh, performing school site visits. Um, all of these things I I do um not because I'm part of some outside entity that's coming in and trying to
screw up the way things happen in Martin County. I do these things because the people sitting in this audience, they're my friends. They're my colleagues. They're my co-workers. Some of them were my former teachers. Some of them were even my former students. um when I leave
here and when I leave the union office every day, these are individuals that I have to pass on the street that I have to look in the eye and that I have to be accountable for. Um and they're the reason why I do what I do. Um my goal was to make a difference in my life. I
feel like I've done that in the classroom and I feel like my union work allows me to do that for the teachers who serve others in the classroom as well. Um while I was on uh full-time release as a union president, um MCA's
membership grew. Uh we were at 46% membership density after the anti-UN bills went into effect and payroll deductions were lost. And in my year as union president, we grew from 46% all the way to 61%.
During that time, we won an arbitration over this very same leave language, as Martin pointed out, and we won several grievances on behalf of our members. We also settled another grievance regarding the Western Zone, which is part of of this impass proceedings. Um, now I'm I'm
back in the classroom and in the years since I since I returned to the classroom, um, MCA's membership has dipped below 60%. That's not a trade secret. we file with the uh state public employees relations commission. The district is aware of those numbers. So
that's that's not a surprise. Um but it's it's dropping below 60% um is a result of these of a cumulative effect which started with these anti-UN attacks that came from Tallahassee in the form of
this legislation. uh it came from these anti-UN groups um that have infiltrated Martin County and that are actively working to undermine uh the teachers union. Um but what's really surprising um is that
these union attacks are also happening from from within and and from our our very own school board. And to me that's where that's where this problem where this problem really lies. Um because this is not an issue that's designed uh
to be or the the board's position or the superintendent's position is not intended to be in the best interest of of teachers. To me, it seems like it's a political issue. Um it's a political issue that extends the attacks from Tallahassee and outside groups right
right here at home. Um and and we don't have to look very far to see um those attacks happening. you know, when our when our own school board chair goes on the radio and claims that she's waiting and waiting and hoping and praying for
our union to fail. Um, it's no wonder why they're trying to remove this language. Um, I want to be very clear though, this is not just an attack on our union. This is an attack on all teachers. I'm a teacher
first and foremost. I'm a member of this community. and taking away the voice of teachers hurts them. It hurts our students and it hurts our community. And at this time, I'm gonna yield back to Mr. Bell. Thank you.
You're at five and a half. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you, Matt. So, we're trying to figure out why why we're still here over this issue. feel like we've answered every plausible question and the thing we're left with is that
the school board is not supportive of the teachers having a voice in the room. Right? None of the justifications for removing this language either presented to the magistrate discussed at the board meetings when this was a topic of conversation
are related to the actual function. None have been related to the cost. Right? None have been validated by actual review of the facts. And what we're left with is is a questioning the motivation of this, right? The opportunity for the employees to have a voice in the room.
And so we expect some new arguments today. The challenge of filing this single position, right? If the president requests leave, how are we going to fill this one position? Well, the school district has a practice of filling positions daily is my guess. People resign, retire, are fired, or
non-renewed, are on leave constantly. one extra person for that I don't believe is justif just justification justifies taking employees rights the idea that the challenge of the implementing this language justifies we
had to have bargaining sessions over it we had to discuss it here at the schoolboard meeting well this is the role this is the job right bargaining is is a function of what the superintendent of school board does it's not a problem doesn't justify taking away a right of
the employees The idea like we've answered this the unknown liability not only has not been a liability identified but MCA has offered to indemnify right from the board from that liability
and in the the recommendation you received they mentioned that FRS has approved this but it could change this has been an FRS accepted policy since 1982 at least and that's what that case they cited says
it's approved by the FRS to do this since 1982. So, it's been answered. And finally, we expect them to say there's other types of leave that that could be taken. And again, I remind you that this presidential leave is specific to this individual because this
individual has specific threats, we'll call them, and this language protects this individual, right? So, other unpaid leave gives you an opportunity. It's May instead of Shell. I think we've seen even with Shell language how hard we've had to
fight to get it. It requires at least five year services. Fortunately, Matt has that, but it won't always be the case. There's got like you're terminated if you don't notify by a certain date by certified mail. You get fired. So, there's no protection to come back. The school board will endeavor, right, which
is a great goal, endeavor to place the person back in field, but endeavor is not a guarantee. they don't receive a year's credit and they'll only be eligible for COBRA. Other types of leave do not provide the same benefit. So, the argument doesn't work. None of the arguments hold water. And so, we're left
only with the idea that this is about hoping and praying that the union goes away, right? Unfortunately, the audio is not working on that, but um when presented with that conversation,
the board chair herself says, "We're hoping and praying that this union gets descertified, that these employees don't have a voice, that don't have agency." So, I'm I'm asking you, we're asking you, the MCA is asking you, Mr. The ball is asking you, all these teachers are
here asking you be motivated by your stated priorities. Be motivated by stakeholder engagement and community collaboration. Something you've championed. That's what this is. Ensuring that the teachers have a voice
in the rooms. Building a community of adult learners who support student outcomes. Building capacity of professional staff. That's what a union does. identifies the needs of their employees and delivers those to the president so they can deliver them to the school board and to the
superintendent. Fostering positive learning and working environment. The teachers standing here today, their working environment is the students learning environment, respecting them, giving them agency. That's what everyone wants in their life. And these teachers
in Martin County are no different. This is just one mechanism that allows them some amount of agency in the decisions that are made that impact their day, their year, their week, something they've devoted their lives to. So, we're here with a recommendation.
We're recommending that the school board accepts the position that was laid out in the recommendation by the special magistrate. Adopt the continued inclusion for this article unpaid presidential leave. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Powell. Mr. Theurbolt, do we have any questions from the board to MCA? Okay, we do not. Therefore, Mr. Slanker, you have 30 minutes. Thank you, Madam Chair, school board members. I apologize for that brief
technical uh issue, but it looks like we're uh set up and running. So, I will uh proceed on. U I want to thank first start by thanking Mr. Powell and President Theo for that uh presentation. My name is Jeff Slanker. I'm here to
present to you all the recommendation of the superintendent as to uh this remaining dispute in impass issue. And Mr. Powell kind of gave us a background. He gave us uh some information about how we got to where we're going. And I'm going to cover a little bit bit about
that too, but I'm not going to uh I'm not going to go over what's already been over. Um just a brief overview of what we're here to talk about today. I'm going to walk us through a little bit of the bargaining history and the issue that is at impass. I'm going to speak to the
special magistrate's recommendation and speak on our uh the superintendent's recommendation uh as to the remaining disputed issue and impass which is that presidential leave article article 112 I
bargaining issue is uh or the bargaining history here uh I think Mr. Powell covered it uh in a in a fair way. Uh the ultimately ultimately what we're here to talk about is the provision of uh
presidential leave and uh that provision provides for unpaid presidential leave. in a scenario where the president on leave gets to continue to uh enjoy benefits as if he were or he or she were
any other uh employee. There are no other uh issues in dispute uh before the board today. As Mr. Powell relayed, the special magistrate's recommendations as to the other issues have not been rejected.
This is the presidential language in the contract as it exists now. It's X1.2I. And again, I'm not going to read it. Mr. Powell already had it up here. I won't read it word for word, but it speaks to a mandatory
uh provision, a mandatory initial provision of leave for a period of one year uh from the union president upon request, which is renewable subject to the discretion of the superintendent. Thereafter
during bargaining, the superintendent at the bargaining table proposed striking that language in article 11 uh 2I. The Martin County Education Association
rejected that proposal. Uh did not engage in in bargaining or discussion on uh on the topic and ultimately declared impass in the negotiations. Special magistrate of course was selected and
this issue was part of that uh special magistrate process that proceeded. Special magistrate as Mr. relayed, held a hearing, accepted evidence, accepted testimony, and he issued his decision. And the decision was to ask to
presidential leave that that language should remain in the contract unless the parties mutually agree to remove it. And this was what he talked about. He said the provision had been successfully implemented in the past and that it provides benefits to the parties in
terms of employee employer relation stability, dispute avoidance and support for educational programs. He did recognize and this is something that I want to make clear and point out and something that I do take exception with Mr. Powell's presentation. He did
recognize that there were administrative burdens placed on the school board by virtue of the exercise of this provision in the contract. He called the testimony as to those administrative burdens credible. He just found in his view and in his opinion that those burdens were
not outweighed by the benefits that he foresaw with that language. On June 9th, 2025, the superintendent rejected that portion of the special magistrate's uh recommendation.
And this leaves that issue, that disputed issue before this board. Tonight I want to break down the recommendation of the superintendent as to this issue and I'm going to address some of the the
uh the points that Mr. Powell, Mr. Theobald raised in um in their presentation. This is the standard that we look to to that the board looks to under Florida statute
here. The set forth in uh chapter 447 4034D and it says that this the legislative body shall take such action as it deems to be in the public interest including the interest of the public employees involved to resolve all disputed impass
issues. What the union of course obviously asserts is that language should remain in the contract. superintendent asserts that it should be removed and that removal that recommendation is in the best interest of the public welfare and in the in in the interest of
the public employees involved. Mr. Powell focused on an alternative provision of leave in the contract for employees and it was something that the special magistrate did not focus on at all. It
was not part of his recommendation. and it was not part of his analysis, but it was something that the district put forward and it's this. There's another provision of the contract that provides for leave. It provides for leave for all members of the bargaining unit. And that
provision of the contract, it's article 112G, that is a perfectly acceptable alternative that can be utilized by the union to allow their president to have
to work in a capacity full-time for the union. The union president can choose to exercise this leave provision. An article X1.2G speaks to that provision
and speaks to that availability to the union president. And I want to point out that in subsection five, it talks about um that the employee will be returned upon the conclusion of leave to a position in the school district and that the school
board will endeavor to place that employee in an infield position. Now, there's some things that Mr. Powell pointed out that I think are true as it relates to this provision of the contract versus the provision of the
contract that we're here to talk about today, article 11.2i, and that is that the union president in this leave is not in this role or this uh
I'm trying to think of the right way to to to say it, but in this is not placed in this position where he or she is able to continue to be afforded the benefits of a full-time
employee despite working for an entirely different employer. The arbitration that Mr. Powell mentioned interpreted the language of the collective baring agreement and that language in 11.2I I to essentially
require the school district to maintain a fiction to maintain that the union president was an employee on leave or some special designation
to continue to participate in the health programs, in the retirement programs, in um all of the benefits and leave programs. as if he or she were a continuing full-time employee of the district. And
this presented some administrative problems and it presented practical problems and concerns. And these are concerns that again the special magistrate found to be credible. Potential liability is the first one
listed there. I don't think that there's any doubt that this scenario or this situation certainly poses a potential and I say scenario situation I'm meaning a scenario where the union president is still technically
designated as an employee of our school board but is in actuality doing work for an entirely different employer. I don't think that there's any doubt that there could be potential liability concerns arising from that relationship that are
due back to the board. And while it's true that the union has offered an indemnification right and that the special magistrate mentioned that indemnification possibility. At the end of the day,
an indemnification needs to be backed by something with force. has to be back with something by substance. I respect the union for relaying that uh uncertainties caused them to
um choose not to exercise the provision of presidential leave this past year. But if those uncertainties cause enough doubt to lead them not to exercise a single year
of presidential leave, it makes an indemnification offered by the union, I think, questionable. I think at least something that this board needs to consider in a liability scenario. Staffing uncertainties is
another one. Something that is part and parcel of article 11.2I is that the initial request is mandatory and must be granted so long as the application is made on a timely basis.
And what we pose to the special magistrate and the evidence that we presented is what if we've got a scenario where that person has a critical endorsement is in a critical shortage field
where they're needed in the classroom and that's that's their best and highest use. That puts the school district and the superintendent of course in a bind in terms of how to negotiate that staffing issue. That's a very real issue
and a very present issue. Mr. Powell mentioned FRS uncertainties and I don't want to get too legal ease but I think it's worth discussing to some extent. We cited to the special magistrate a
decision of the division of administrative hearings interpreting this notion of is someone that is on full-time release but doing work for a nonfrs employer
are they still entitled to have that year reported as being an FRS year? And it's interesting because the statutory language I'd submit and this is what the administrative law judge found to me it doesn't read that way. To
me it doesn't suggest that that is a permissible uh interpretation of the law in terms of when someone is in FRS credited employment. The Florida Retirement System though
initially issued an opinion and they said, "Yeah, it's not allowed under the statute." Then came back a few years later. Mr. Powell said it was sometime in the 1980s, I believe it was. I don't remember when, and said, "No, we changed
our mind. You can do it this way." The administrative law judge pointed out that this is a strange scenario. And in Florida, at least as of very recently, meaning a
few years ago, the courts in the Supreme Court has abolished the notion of agencies, meaning state agencies that interpret statutes are due any difference. It used to be that an agency that was
interpreting, you know, a regulation or a statute was entitled to deference because of their expertise. That is out of the that is completely out of the case law and jurist prudence. Now, courts look to the statute and determine
if something is permitted. And I think that's something that needs to be pointed out. Mr. POW was pointing out a number of different uh districts that have presidential leave provisions.
Kier counties I think is interesting. Kier counties what it says and I don't have the language here. I apologize but Kier County says that they're not going to approve the leave or the leave the presidential leave is
not going to be permitted until the attorney general and the retirement system renders an opinion saying that is permissible. So I think the FRS certainties are absolutely uncertainties I should say, excuse me, are absolutely worth talking
about and absolutely something that is of concern to the superintendent in terms of making sure we are legally implementing um the provisions of our collective baring agreement and the administrative burdens. Mr. also talked about, he's
right, we spent six bargaining sessions working out the provisions of unpaid leave for one employee because of how unique the situation is. How do you treat an employee that is
employed by the district but not doing any direct work for the district? What does that job description look like? Who does he report to? how is he evaluated? And then the practical administrative burdens of payroll and benefits
administration. These fall to our folks in the district office that have to process and reconcile uh the payroll each month, make sure that funds by the union have been prepaid in order to cover the costs
of payroll and benefits. And that's vitally important because Mr. Powell recognized it's against the law for school boards to fund union activities and that's something that's very important obviously but that payroll
burden that administrative burden that falls to our folks in the district office and takes time and energy away from other matters that benefit everyone in the school district including public employees.
And I want to make clear. I don't think that it's fair of Mr. Powell and Mr. Theel to suggest or to say that the superintendent doesn't want the teachers of this school district to have
a president on full-time release. I don't think that's fair. The union can still have its president serving on leave, can still have its president serving full-time for the
union. The cost though of this benefit to the union members, the uncertainties that we've talked about, the practical exposure
and the liability concerns, those are something that the superintendent believes that should be cost by the union directly and not of the Article 11 2G
completely stops all of these issues right now. It removes all the administrative burdens. It removes these uncertainties. The union president can take leave on terms as every other member of the
bargaining unit can take leave. And if he wants to use that time, that leave time to serve the union in a full-time capacity, then that's his prerogative. But article
11 2G is available to him like it's available to all members of the bargaining unit. And this is something the special magistership, for whatever reason, didn't address. He talked about a weighing of the of the
benefits and the burdens, but he didn't address this practical alternative in the collective bargaining agreement that ensures that the benefit that the union has stressed before you today, which it's not in the super recommend
superintendent's recommendation that that isn't legitimate or worthwhile. But that that benefit can still be afforded under the collective baring agreement and all of these issues, all these
administrative burdens that the special magistrate said were credibly testified to, those are absolved. They're alleviated. And for that reason, superintendent uh rejected that recommendation of the
special magistrate and has submitted the recommendation uh to the board today. And that is to uh to strike the presidential leave language in article
112i from the contract in its entirety. And that's what we the superintendent uh would request school board uh today. Thank you. I appreciate all time. Thank you, Mr. Slanker. Do we have any
questions from the board? Seeing none, we will now deliberate. Thank you. Um, so I appreciate hearing both sides and I I kind of um and I appreciate the Martin
County Education Association and recognizing the value that the board and that the school district has for the teachers and appreciate and understand that um I know I'm speaking for all of my colleagues that We do want to hear from
teachers. We do want teachers to have a voice. And I think this all comes down to how that happens is where we're looking at. From my personal opinion, I um I cannot reconcile in my mind an employee that's
on leave being and having that same person being combat compatible with remaining an employee. So those two things together just don't seem to mesh. So whether that has to do
with the pieces that Mr. Slanker said, the F FRS, participation uncertainty, I go more to workman's comp, the supervision, the evaluation, that when you have an employee, that's what you have as an employee. You're the
employer, you have an employee, and you have those components of the person as an employee. when you have somebody on leave, those components don't come in. Those components of of the supervision piece of the um evaluation piece of a
workman's comp piece. I don't think those pieces fall into a person who is not designated as as an employee at that time. I mean, I think that's the the piece that I go back to as to how do you reconcile those two pieces together? Um
and for that re and at the same time I appreciate what you said about indemnification and the ability and I can understand what you're saying on the other side about indemnification at the same time that you know yeah indemnification is real easy to say and everything's fine until it's not. I
mean, we all know that. And I think there there is some issue with indemnification that you don't have when you're dealing with somebody who you're not trying to maintain as an employee. There's a difference if I go out on leave and a diff difference if I remain
an employee. Um, I do think when I read it, when I read 112G, I do see the ability under 112G to meet those requirements and to to satisfy the things in my mind that are
the issue that you would still be able to have someone, the union president or whoever it is, to be able to be on leave, to be able to do all those things, but not have the issues that I'm identifying.
of workman's comp, supervision, evaluation, indemnification, all those pieces and add the F FRS participation in there if you want to. Um, I think those all go away. So, that's just my
feeling. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Roberts. Anyone else? Miss Powers? Um, I was just going to say I agree with what you said, Miss Roberts. I I was very much involved in the um the presidential leave um for Mr. Theabald
and those are all the issues that were brought up at the table and the liability that it presents to the school board. Um so with that I would make a recom I would make a motion that we reject the special magistrate's recommendation and remove the language
from the contract article specifically article 11.2I. knowing that leave is still available to the union president um in the contract as it is to every employee and and teacher.
Mr. George, Madam Chair, you just need to see if there's a second and then you all can discuss. Okay. Oh, I'll second that. Thank you. Okay. Now we can discuss it further. I would like to just say that I believe
in special treatment for none and equal treatment for all. and having a presidential leave set forth in this current contract belies that we're asking for special treatment for one employee as opposed to what is available
uh as unpaid leave in the contract that's been there and I recommend that that is what the president uses for his unpaid leave. Thank you. So, we have a motion by Miss Powers, a
second by Miss Roberts. All those in favor? I I motion carries unanimously. And with that this meeting is adjourned.