We are going to call this uh workshop of the Martin County School Board to order. If you would all please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of American here. >> Mrs. Powers here.
>> Hey, thank you very much. Um, I don't have anything on the agenda for board member information share. Um, at this time, we'll take public comment. I do not have any public comment cards. Is there anyone here that would like to speak? All right, seeing none, uh, we'll move
on. Um, item 4.01 01 is our first discussion item regarding magnet programs, K8 schools and specializedmies. More And at Maine, my name is Daniel Moore. I'm your executive director of curriculum and instruction. And today,
I'm going to share a vision with you about transforming our instructional landscape. One that moves us beyond a one-sizefits-all model and one that expands the opportunities we offer our families. What I'm presenting is not a plan for immediate change. What I am presenting is a direction for where we
can go as a district to ensure that every student has access to the very best learning environment to meet their needs, strengths and interests. So first I want to talk about our current structure and why we need to transform. So currently we have the traditional model K5 elementaryaries, 68
middle schools, 912 high schools. This is an old design and for decades it met the needs of the families that we serve. It's not a bad model. It meets the needs of a growing district. It's scalable, but that's not where we are now. It meets the needs of the majority, but
right now we need to meet the needs of everybody. Today's families expect choice. They expect specialization. And when we don't offer it, they look elsewhere. We're seeing this in our enrollment patterns. Charter schools, virtual providers, even neighboring districts
are offering options that we don't. If we want to remain the first choice for families in Martin County, we have to evolve. We have to offer high-quality choices that are just as compelling as the alternatives or better. And while we have some of those choices in pockets, it's only the first step to what we could be. So, here's what we know.
Parents in our community work incredibly hard to provide the best opportunities for their children. But when the only thing we're offering is the same programs school, we're not really meeting that need. And effectively, we're telling parents, if you want something different, you have to go somewhere else. And that is not what we
want to do. This proposal is about keeping students by becoming the provider with the very best options. The vision is simple. An educational system where every family, no matter where they live, has access to multiple high-quality options. K8 schools that provide continuity and strengthen
community magnet pathways within our existing schools that offer specialization and unique programming. And where demand is strong standalone specializedmies that rival what charters provide, only better because they're a part of our district aligned with our standards governed by this board. This isn't about abandoning the
traditional model entirely. It's about expanding and enriching what we offer. It's about understanding what our families want for their children and then building that for them. I want to emphasize that we have amazing schools, amazing teachers, amazing kids. There is nothing wrong with the way
we're doing what we're doing. But the model we have assumes that all students need the same thing. And the reality is that our families are seeking classicalmies, accelerated college credit programs, STEM immersion, unique learning environments. And when we don't offer those options, family go to places where they can get them. And the more
our competitors build these specialized offerings, the more we risk losing students. Not necessarily because they're unhappy, but because they want something more customized to meet their needs. Our families are striving to give their children the very best, and I believe our district should be the one to provide that.
To that end, I would like to start with the case for reconfiguration. K8 schools offers a powerful set of benefits that align directly with our goals. And the research is clear. In our district, the transition from grade 5 to grade six is one of the most disruptive in the K12
experience. Achievement dips, attendance suffers, engagement drops, students leave. K8 models reduce that disruption, and the outcomes follow. Students say stay connected to the same community longer. Teachers know their students better and more deeply. Parents build
stronger relationships with the schools. And across the country, K8 schools outperform traditional elementary and middle schools in both student achievement and parent satisfaction. The research also tells us that students attending K8 schools have a better sense of community, lower instances of
absenteeism, and fewer behavior referrals when compared to the traditional model. K8 schools strengthen the communities they serve, building longer lasting relationships between families and schools, guiding students and parents through the educational continuum all the way through high school and providing an opportunity to
remove the disruption and transition shock that occurs at that middle school juncture. The data is also clear from a accountability standpoint. Combination schools outperform traditional models year after year. What we know in Florida based on 2425 data is that 76% of
combination schools were either an A and or B whereas elementaryaries were 67% A and B and middle schools were 70% A and B. If you isolate K8 schools from other combinations that increases to 86% of
those um K through8 schools turn out to be A or B. Beyond the student level benefits, K8 schools provide notable operational advantages. We see reduced attrition at the fifth sixth grade juncture, meaning fewer students leaving our system. And because we're telling them they have to
make a choice, they make a choice. And sometimes it's not us. We also gain some stability in enrollment. A family who enters in kindergarten is more likely to stay all the way through that natural juncture, which would be the 8th to 9th grade juncture. That makes planning for us more predictable for principles,
transportation, finance, staffing, enrollment. And K8 configurations also can reduce transportation costs and help us balance building utilization, especially in areas where enrollment is uneven. Shifting to a K8 model also reduces administrative and operational staffing costs, saving money that we can
use to fund student facing programs. I want to be clear, I am not proposing any specific schools for conversion tonight. What I'm suggesting is that the board begins to evaluate where KA conversion makes the most sense. We should look closely at neighborhood stability, capacity for growth in
schools where we see significant fifth to sixth grade attrition. They're leaving to charter schools and other middle school alternatives. And if we can keep them, that helps our students and that helps our district. K8 conversions are also in alignment with the needs and wants of our community. Providing strong elementary and middle
grade offerings at a single site and a clear pathway to tailored high school programs, we can give students an advantage and families a reason to stay here longer. Which brings me to the next part of our proposed transformation. We know that the families we serve want the very best for their kids. There's not a single
parent out there that doesn't want their kid to have the very best. They want something special, something that gives their their child an advantage and creates opportunities for them to pursue their interests and follow their dreams. It's not just about academic programming anymore. Mag magnet programs are an
avenue that will help us provide exactly what families want, allowing us to build a specialized program within existing schools. We can create magnets that provide exclusivity and academic focus the parents want without having to build new schools. When magnets are done well, they do three important things. They
bring families back to the district. They stabilize enrollment across schools. And they give students a reason to be deeply engaged in something they love. So the goal with this is simple. Offer compelling pro programs that keep students with us and strengthen our schools.
So while transitioning to K8 schools would take time, embedding magnets within our schools can happen much faster, we already have the buildings, we have the space, we have the personnel and the staff to manage a much quicker roll out of magnet programs to help support our students. There are many potential magnet pathways. I'm not going
to talk about all of them tonight. I'm going to present to you some of the ones that we frequently hear about in academic services. It's not an all-inclusive list, but what we most frequently hear about is performing arts, STEM programs, accelerated studies, and career preparation. These
are the programs that we are asked about the most, and often parents turn to charter schools or other providers for this programming because we're not able to meet their needs. We can offer those programs here. And each of these pathways could include both 68 and 912 magnets, creating a clear, coherent
pipeline for students straight through to graduation and beyond. Parents are already making these choices for their children. And what we have is the opportunity to give our families what they are asking for by building programs that give families a predictable, highquality path from the very first day of school all the way
through to graduation, perfectly aligned to what they want for their children. Embedding magnet programs in our current schools would allow neighborhood students to remain in place while attracting new students who want to engage in that specialty program, helping us balance enrollment across the district. And because these programs
would live inside established schools, we can launch them quickly and we can scale them based on demand. So here I have outlined a couple of the magnet programs that we are often asked about. Families are consistently expressing interest in these pathways for their children outside of the
standard course load. It's not just about academics anymore. It's about interest. Using many of the resources and program we already have, our district has the potential to seed robust and meaningful magnet programs in each of these areas as early as next school year. The work won't be easy. It
will require our teams to do more. But this isn't about what's easiest. It's about meeting the needs of our community and the families we serve. Regardless of the specific magnet programming, we know that magnet programs benefit students and schools by providing pathways that allow students
to pursue their interests and find academic success across the board. We know that magnet programming helps equalize enrollment and can help improve accountability outcomes. We also know that enrollment improves when families are happy and we can make families happy by providing them with what they want.
While I presented a few of the possibilities for magnet programming, what I'm asking the board for tonight is permission to continue with market research. Morgan County is unique. We don't want to emulate what other districts are doing. We want to make pathways that are tailor made to the needs of our families, to the students
that we serve. So, with the board's blessing and your interest, we would proceed with surveying families, engaging with school sack committees to ensure we know exactly what they want as we build our programs out. So this brings me to specialized schools of choice. This is the third pillar of a
proposed transformation. In addition to frequent queries for specialized programming, there is strong evidence of parent demand for standalone specialtymies. Programs like classical education, early college, technical high schools, hybrid virtual models, and medical careermies. We already see this demand in the
offerings of charter schools operating in our district. Families want these programs. The question is whether we want those programs to exist primarily in our charter schools or in the Martin County School District led by our teachers, our leaders, and governed by your oversight.
In addition to classicalmies and accelerated studies, we also have interest in technical high schools, virtual and home education support schools or flex schools, medical campuses to meet the needs of our growing medical community. What our team
has done is visited some other districts that have these programs to see how they operate, learn more about their implementation and see how we can um emulate some of the lessons that they had in their standup so that we can do it more efficiently and more effectively. Our vision for transformation allows us
to compete and to lead to innovate. Tonight, we're asking the board to endorse this vision, not to approve any specific conversion or program yet, but to give us direction to continue exploring this important work. Our teams have completed the preliminary research, and we know that these transformations have the potential to position our
district to outperform every other district in the state, both in student achievement and parent satisfaction. There's still a lot of work to do, but our goal is to create a unique instructional landscape that meets the needs of our community, empowers students, and delivers on a world-class
education. Our families want the very best for their children, and our district should be the place where they find it. This transformation will not be easy. Again, it will be hard. There is a lot of work to do, but this isn't about what's easiest for us. This is about what's best for our students. and we believe
that this is the best future that we can give our community. With the board's permission, we'd like to continue to work on this um and the plans we've outlined tonight and in collaboration with the larger district team, we would like to come back next month to share more information about logistics, enrollment analyses, facility impacts,
cost implications, properties, community feedback, and more information. But tonight, my goal was just to share with you what our vision is, where we would like to go as a district as we transform our landscape, and collect any questions that my team can research for you.
>> Okay, thank you very much. Are there any questions from the board? Bridget, >> thank thank you because this was this was very informative and very comprehensive and I think at a minimum we should explore
what what what we can possibly do to bring some of this to fruition. >> Absolutely. And if the board has any questions as you kind of digest what I shared today, please feel free to share. Our team has done a lot of research on what works, how it works, and where it works. and we are pretty confident that
we know the right direction. Our next step is to communicate with families, find out specifically what they want for their kids, work with SAT committees and our school sites to help build out a proposal so that we can implement effective and efficient programs. Um, but if there is any specific questions
that the board has that you'd like us to research or provide more information about, we are happy to do so. >> Thank you, Miss Roberts. >> Um, thank you. It was a very good presentation. I know that I've been
talking to um our CFO about some of the migration we have from students and he has some information for where they have when they have left us where they have gone actually. So we have some of that information that he's been working on. Um so I look forward to hearing your
future thoughts on how you would either be recapturing that back or how we would be looking at where they're going and what they're looking for as they're going there. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Uh, thank you for the presentation, Mr. Moore. So, is it long-term goal to
convert a few one school, a few schools, all schools to this type of what's the long-term vision of this? >> Well, ultimately that's up to the board and so you guys will give us direction on where we want to go. I know that next month Dr. Miller and her team has prepared some information for you about
the cost of those conversions and some recommendations on placement for those. But ultimately with our transformation of our instructional landscape, there's kind of three separate pieces. So one of them is K8 conversions which is critical in keeping our kids and creating a better educational environment. I think
there are several opportunities that we have to create some K8s. The other piece is magnet programming which we can implement at any school across the district and then long-term specializedmies um meeting needs to compete with our charter schools. >> Okay. Yes, I'd be very interested the
budget numbers on that as well. And also the sustainability of middle schools uh that already have lower enrollment. Um, and if you could basically paint a vision of are we going to continue with
a K8 and the middle school alongside of them if if that's the vision or is it would it be taking away from some of those middle schools um that might hurt their enrollment? >> Yeah, I think we can absolutely have some enrollment analyses prepared for
the board for the February meeting. Um ultimately this is about balancing um the needs of our schools, our properties and the students that we have with the staffing that we have. And so there are will be recommendations on which schools are best paired for that
programming and what impact it may have on other schools. >> Okay. Thank you, >> M. Roberts. >> And what are you looking at for timing on this? So, if you're looking at a K8 conversion or are you looking at and I'm assuming what you would do is you would
keep a sixth grade there for seventh grade for the NE for the first year that it happens and then you would roll up until you ended up to eighth. Is that the way that it's traditionally done? >> So, that is how some places have done it and is certainly an option for us. We can either roll up at an elementary and
do 678 or roll down at a middle school and go backwards 5432. Um, ultimately that will be up to you. I know Dr. Miller and her team will be presenting some of the logistics of those sight specific questions. Um, as far as timeline goes, it's not a thing that we're going to implement right now.
This year, there is buildings and constructions that have to happen to to enable that with magnet programs. We could start as early as next year. Um, building them out to be inclusive of a K8 as long as we know which ones you want us to pursue. >> Any other questions? Um, I have Did you
have anything? Go ahead, Mr. Russell. >> Um, are you looking to do a phased approach where we maybe do one K8 and see how that goes before we commit to doing several at one time? >> I think that is an option for the board to consider. Um, I think we have enough
research to know where we could place at least two and maybe three with high impact. Um, but ultimately in February, we'll present what those numbers look like and what those combinations are. Um, and you guys will have the data and information to make an informed decision. >> Thank you. I have a couple questions on the K8
model. You mentioned that that there's higher percentage of those schools that are A or B. Do we know why? >> So, I have theories. The research most recently conducted by Opaga essentially indicates that we don't really know why
K8s outperform elementaryaries and middle. So, there's no like definitive statistical research on what makes them better. Coming from two districts that implement a K8 model and being at a K12 school, I believe it's community. I think that student behaviors are easier
to manage when you have older students who are acting as role models for younger students. When I went to my first K8 school, that was a concern that I had like the older kids are going to be a bad influence on the younger kids. And it turned out to be completely opposite. We had kids who minded their own behavior because they were little
kids around. And I think that that sense of community that's built by having middle school kids who can help tutor the younger kids and provide reading buddies and some of the systems you can integrate through a K8 help create a sense of community that's more focused and aligned to the educational needs of
the entire continuum. But again, that's my opinion. The research definitively says they don't know why. So, um, we should be able to, um, determine if we have certain, if there are certain schools that are good candidates for a
K8, we should be able to determine what the school grade would be if it were right now a traditional elementary and a middle. We should be able to determine what the grade what the school grade would be. And maybe we c we could do our own research and dive into why that is
happening. Why are we Is it the methodology used in the grading system or is it something else that's happening and improving scores in a way? >> Yeah, we we can certainly do that research and our team in preparation for today um began running numbers on what
it would look like if we combined certain elementary schools or our current C schools with various combination of different middle schools. And in almost every case, the outcome was elimination of a C and achievement of a B at that K8 model. I think a big
part of why under the Florida accountability model, K8s perform better is because they have a different grading scale um under the state accountability model. And so I think nationally there's not really a significant conclusion on
why K8s are better. In Florida, the grading model is more favorable for a K8 than it is for an elementary or middle school as a standalone. >> So, less rigorous than standalone schools. >> I don't think it's less rigorous. I think there's more components to balance out. Okay. >> Um,
>> yeah. So, maybe allowing it's letting us >> see that information too on grading and comparing and all that type of thing so we can see >> what's happening. Um, I also noticed that like the magnet programs versus the specialized schools of choice are very
redundant. Like what tell me what's the what is a specialized school of choice? I mean I would consider a magnet or a K8 like that's pretty specialized and our all of our parents are able to choose that. >> Yeah. So, a specialized school of choice
would be a standalone building offering what we could offer as a magnet in some schools. And so, it is just a potential option. But when we look at what parents are choosing, they're choosing TCCA, they're choosing Clark. We have programs similar to Clark embedded in some of our schools, but parents are choosing the
standalone smaller specialty program almost like boutique school. And so, we have families that want something that is smaller. They want something that is more tailored to their students in a smaller closed environment. And so specializedmies offer an opportunity for parents to send their students to
schools that just focus on the specialty of that school as opposed to embedding as a school within a school. So yes, there is a lot of overlap and similarity. Um, and with the board's permission, if there's an appetite, we can do more investigation to see if magnet programs are what parents want or
if it's a standalone separate academy somewhere else. And then I also want to understand and probably you can't answer this right now but what the market research is going to look like and entail. Will we use um an experienced market researcher to give us
that data back or because I know there are ways to ask parents questions and that if you're not experienced in um gathering that type of data, we might not get really good data. So, I just want to make sure that if we're going
going to do that and make uh decisions that could be expensive to our school district that we have that really good data. >> Yes, that is what I'm asking permission for. And so, locally, internally, we've done our own surveys. We've gone to SAC meetings and asked questions and
collected some information. I think it probably qualifies as anecdotal compared to what a market research company would provide. And so I spoke to chief um earlier about this uh proposal and that would certainly be a next step, but we didn't want to spend dollars without presenting this to the board and getting
your approval to move forward. >> Um so I also just want to point out that there are many reasons that parents choose another school not necessarily related to programming. So, I don't know
how much we as a school district want to be redundant. If it's just about maintaining the status quo, like trying to keep our enrollment the exact same as it is today. I'm more I'm more interested in becoming the best and that's why a parent wants to send their
student. If we have the best school that's a charter school or another school that's doing something really great, then why why would we want to repeat that? Why would we want to create a program when we should be focusing our
attention on being really great at something? And it's one of the things I think that we don't we're not very good at in government is focusing in on being really great at something. We try to do everything. So, all of our comprehensive
high schools and our middle schools, we have so many programs and so many options that we're not doing any of them excellent. So, um I I would really like to see that more of a focus and you know, just trying to retain students. Um
because if we do a really great job, we will retain students. >> Absolutely. Um, and I and and getting away from balancing enrollment too, like because I know right now we have a lot of excess room in our facilities and I
don't want to start programs that are just to balance an enrollment in a school that would still be underenrolled. So, we have to address the underenrollment issue at our schools and how many seats we have available. Um, because it's still going to cost us
the same amount to maintain a building whether there's 40 kids or there's 400 kids. So, we just need to keep that in mind. >> Yes. And I believe that is on the docket for the February presentation. >> And I'd also like to know if the year
round school model is um under consideration in this discussion. It was not included in this research, but it is something that I'm familiar with and would be happy to prepare some more information for the board about. >> I would like to have a discussion about
the benefits and I think that could be one of the attractors for parents that are looking for that type of model. I mean, it's the same number of school days, but it's just a different calendar. So, I'd like to um I'd like to see that and see the benefits to
students that participate in those programs. Absolutely. >> Okay, >> those are all my questions. Is there anything else from the board, Miss Roberts? >> So, along that line, when we're talking about year- round schools, I know that there have been several other um districts in the state of Florida that
it isn't a traditional year- round school model where you have the Atrack, Brack, Crack. They're doing the normal 180 days from the normal calendar period of um Labor Day to Memorial Day. But what they are doing is they're using that summer piece instead of just doing
the one month summer reading camp. They're using it for enrichment, enhancement, or um additional academics and putting that piece in. And I don't know how difficult it is to look at that, but um I think that that has some
value because the point of that Mrs. powers makes of you know even if you picked a year- round school you're still only going to school for 180 days which just means now your vacations are the time that you have off just varies. So instead of having one week off at spring break you now have three weeks off at
spring break and you're just you know I mean it just rolls the calendar differently. So I don't know what they call that. Um, but I would be interested in at least a little bit of information of what that looks like and what the cost estimate is on that if you added
that piece, that summer piece. >> Yeah, we can absolutely include some research and information about what extended school year looks like and what year round school looks like. I think another area where we can get some traction for families as well is in flex
school options. We have parents that are interested in sending their school their children to school for some courses throughout the year and pairing year- round school with a flex school option I think would be a natural fit and could meet the needs of parents while providing that same continuum on both
ends. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay, seeing no questions. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right, moving on. We have um item 4.02. I think this is you as well, Mr.
Moore. The addendum to the Boys and Girls Club collaborative agreement. >> Sorry, I forgot I was next. So, what was attached with this agenda item was responsive to the request from our last meeting where we talked about the Boys and Girls Club's um offer to fund an ACT
preparation program. And so included in the attachments were the proposal for the plan outlining the specific details that you requested in Miss Powers um as well as the proposed job description. What I can share is that in conversation with the Boys and Girls Club, they are eager to help support this program. It
was developed in collaboration with our team and they're giving us a lot of control um on what this would look like if we implement. The only consideration is timeline is short and so if there are changes to be made, they're willing to accommodate those changes as long as we can get the approval for moving forward
to explore this work. >> Are there any questions from the board? >> Dr. Morardi, >> I just want to say it sounds like a fantastic program. Um, they are financing the entire program. Um,
teachers are going to be hired, so they'll have an opportunity to earn some extra money. Students are going to benefit greatly from from the looks of this. And I just know we're at a a very tight timetable with this because the exams are coming up in the spring and
the date on this is to start is January 2026 and we're still here in January without approval. So, um I would try to push this along so that we can get a win and the students will get a win and uh
we see some scores going up. So, uh I endorse this wholeheartedly. Thank you. >> Miss Roberts, did you have anything? >> Sure. I had a couple things. Um so, I see that your unduplicated students identified as 210 and then I see the
breakdown as 76, 130, and 92. Um I guess my first question is was this discussed or has feedback been received for a need from our high school principles? Did our high school principles say this is something that we
need? Is this or where did this come from? >> So this came from Boys and Girls Club. They secured funding to support accelerated testing for ACT SAT and they reached out to us and asked if if we would be able to partner with them to
develop a program to support the target populations outlined in their proposal. And so as far as who the target population students are, that was presented and prepared from the Boys and Girls Club, I think aligned to the grant that they're using to fund it. Um and so we ran the numbers to give them how many
individual students meet the series of criteria that they have for this proposal. >> So for instance, so the 76 and priority group one, are they primarily at one of the three high schools or are they >> It's a it's a combination of all three schools. So when we ran the numbers, we
we just combined all three high schools because they wanted to target all three of our comprehensive high schools. So, is the 210 evenly divided at 70 at each school or is the 210 strongly at one school as opposed to another one? >> I can send you the exact numbers. It it is a it's not an even split and so it
wasn't like an exact number from each school. We ran the data with the parameters they had. I think that South Fork and County had the majority and Jensen had a smaller number than those other two schools. Um, and the certified teachers that they would be using for this are our teachers who we would
normally be using for other tutoring that they would get paid for, but now they would be going to the Boys and Girls Club and working for the Boys and Girls Club to get paid for this. Is that the thought? >> Possibly. I think the goal is to not pull the teachers that we currently have tutoring for us, um, but people that
have the skill and ability that aren't willing to do this level of work at the ability, the rate we're able to pay them. And so the target number that Boys and Girls Club presented to us is in alignment with what private companies like Kuman and and Touring Advantage are paying for their tutors that are also
our certified teachers and certified teachers from other districts um to provide that specialized tutoring for test prep. And so I think the goal is to recruit the people that are doing that privately to come do it for us for students that can't afford that on their own.
>> So we would not be using our current teachers. we would be using recruiting teachers with this skill set then. Is that what you're saying? >> Yes. And I can't say for sure that there is no overlap. It may be some of the some same teachers. I do not think it is. I think the teachers that have the
specialized skill set to do this kind of tutoring at $125 an hour are doing that instead of the tutoring we offer at our rate here in the district. And so I refer to your operational plan where you talk where it talks about the
responsibilities that we would have. Um the first bullet says that we would develop the instructional framework and pacing guide. So that would be the first thing we would do. Yes. Correct. >> The second thing it says that our responsibility is is to provide certified teachers in professional
learning. So if we are providing the pro the the certified teachers, if our responsibility is to provide the certified teachers, are we going to be recruiting nond district experienced people to come
do this work? Are we you understand my question? >> Yeah, I think the goal is to hire teachers that we currently have. I know it says our responsibility to recruit. What that means is that we will send out notice to teachers about this opportunity. We're not gonna force any
teachers to do it, but we want I think first dibs to be our teachers to have this opportunity to provide this tutoring. And so we agreed that if this was approved, we would share the flyer information from Boys and Girls Club about this opportunity and then provide some specific um instruction to those
teachers on what the framework looks like that we are going to be implementing. >> And then what is the professional learning piece? Is that Heather? agit department doing that or >> that'll be Dr. McMahon and so we um she has extensive experience in doing this tutoring privately on her own and there
is a curriculum for ACT test prep that she will provide direction and instruction for the teachers that are doing it if they're not familiar with that specific curriculum. So it's more familiarity with the tools we'll be using. Um and then
as we identify these students etc. If we did go through with this, um, will we be tracking this? Will there be some level of accountability to say we had 210, we had 76 from priority group one, this was the success, this was the I mean, how are you planning on?
>> Yes. So, we'll track attendance um data through attendance tracking, how many students come, how often they come. Um for students that are retaker uh students, which is one of the target group, students that have taken the ACT but missed that bright futures concordance score, um we'll use a growth score based on that. The other metric
the Boys and Girls Club will use is how many students hit that cut score and how many students don't. So mixed uh sets of data, some will be growth, some will be achievement. Um we in the original collaborative agreement would provide that data to Boys and Girls Club so they can report that back to their donors,
their funders. Um but as far as you know the data tracking our teachers would keep attendance and we have access to their ACT scores for NW reporting >> and so a third of these students are the near miss students. The rest of them are
>> lacking access to paid test prep or >> I think the majority came from students that haven't taken it but lack the um opportunity and resources. about a third a quarter of them were students that missed the uh concordance score that
they needed or in the appropriate coursework. >> Thank you. >> So, I'm just going to just comment really quick while we're on concordance score. I asked the superintendent this question of how many students by the end of the school year are do we have that
don't meet the concordance score? And because they also get multiple times, not just when it's regularly scheduled. So, our students that get to take the test when it's not like a Saturday test, there are certain days that are reserved
specifically for concordance scores. So, how what what and we have very few students that don't meet that benchmark by the end of the year working with our graduation coaches. So, is that going to be the same cohort of kids that we're going to ask them to go continue the
work of the grad coaches to now do this other program? Are they going to do both? Are we I think this is additional tutoring and support. I think one of the big values of this proposal is the first time they take ACT, we pay for it as a
district. Students that retake it, the cost is ultimately on them. And so Boys and Girls Club is willing to pay the cost of readministration for that test so that they can do it um without spending funds that they don't have. >> Miss Pitchette.
>> Yes. Um two questions. Will this tutoring take place in our buildings or in their building? >> So presently the operational plan is for it to be housed in our schools for equity of access to our students. Um, Boys and Girls Club has offered to provide transportation if that is a need
for students that otherwise wouldn't be able to get home if they participated in this. Ultimately, they are very focused on accessibility for students. And that's why they're offering three different schedules, their Saturday schedule and then two weekly schedules so students can work around um jobs they
may have or sports or athletics they may be involved in, extracurriculars. Um, but the goal is to keep it housed at the schools here so that we can make sure kids can get there easily without having to travel too much. >> Okay. And the second question was about the transportation and they said that
they would cover that as well. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, I'm just going to read off the additional things that I had. First of all, I think there's some discrepancy in the proposal and then it says that in one it says that it's going to
be ACT only, but throughout the other it says it's going to be ACT SAT. So, is it going to be both or what? >> It will be ACT up until the first administration of ACT. Um, the Boys and Girls Club has enough funds to continue
prep after we get to the April ACT administration. There is an SAT administration in May and June. And so we would transition to preparing students that may not be having success on the ACT and see if we can get them up to where they need to be on the SAT. >> Okay. >> Um, then I also think we need to clarify
background screening requirements. So if there are going to be people on our campus ma ensuring that they're level two background screened regard obviously if there are employee already they're going to be background screened but that needs to be verified that every person
interacting with the students on our campuses like that after school are background checked. So I think we need to um add that um the insurance requirements for an outside entity coming onto our campuses. I'm assuming we could probably address some of that
in the use of facilities agreement that um and then like Miss Roberts, I'm just curious who's going to select the instructors and verify the credentials and then of course verify their their level two background screen.
Um then the use of facilities and I was confused about the who pays for materials. There was like the $8,389.50 50 cents and it appeared that we were paying for it but so it wasn't very clear but then when I read on in the
other agreement it kind of inferred that they were paying that. So I think that needs to be clarified. >> Yeah. There will be zero cost to the district. Boys and Girls Club will pay for all the materials, the curriculum, transportation, teachers, so we won't have to spend anything.
>> Okay. Yeah. So we'll just clarify that in the um in the agreement. And then also um as Miss Roberts said, how will particip participation and results be reported to the board? I'd like to kind of understand what we're already doing.
Um I know that very few students are left behind that don't meet the concordance score. that the majority of the students that we the school district handles now are meeting that concurrent score by the end of the
school year because there are multiple pathways um I mean the classical exam SAT ACT maybe hopefully I would love to add be able to legislatively get per in there again but it's not right now but
um I just want to understand if what we're what is this program. When we talk about results after action, was there an improvement? Did no kids get not meet the now that because
>> what we're doing for that cohort is working. >> Yeah. >> Our grad coaches are really doing an excellent job and I would hate to lose those grad coaches because they truly build those one-on-one relationships with those students throughout the year.
If we find something else and we don't know which program is working and our funer says, "Oh yeah, we don't want to fund that anymore because now you have this other program because I believe that especially for that cohort of student that that works
the best is those one-on-one relationships with their grad coach." >> Yeah, absolutely. I think this is more for the bright futures concordance score instead of the graduation concordance score. So you are correct. The majority of our students get the concordance score to graduate. For the bright futures piece, there is a small
population of 210 I think are identified in the proposal. I think this is in addition to what the grad coaches are doing to help support those students. >> 76 students. >> And then I also we need to add um
parental notification and permission. >> Yes, ma'am. Um, so we I'd like to see that in the agreement that we outlined in a data sharing agreement that allowing parents allowing their student um academic record essentially to be
shared with an outside entity. >> We need to have all of that in place and I think we should have that in place in the agreement and double checking that that's all in place before a student is allowed to Yes, ma'am. I can I can put all that
together for you. The data sharing pieces and the parent notification are already in our data sharing agreement with Boys and Girls Club. So, regardless of the project, they still have to get parent permission under an agreement that has already been approved by the board. Um, but we still would get parent permission slips for this specifically
because it involves potential transportation during after school hours. >> Well, and not only that, but I really think that our risk management team needs to address the transportation and if there is something that we would be if we have any liability in that regard
because um if we're we're hosting and we're promoting what's our liability as a district um we're kind of losing then we're not we don't have complete control of the program. So we need to explore
that what that those insurance requirements may be. Right? That's it for me. So, Madam Chair, um, so what would be our timeline for this? Like I said, it is a little timesensitive. Could if
those, uh, what you brought up could be satisfied, could we bring this to the January board meeting since it's in about three weeks, I believe. >> Don't see why not. If if the contract is ready or if we can't reach an agreement, we'll bring a contract forward and the
board can decide either way. >> Thank you. >> Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, moving on. Our favorite topic, uh, employee benefits and insurance Okay. Good afternoon everybody. Um,
Madame Chair, members of the board, Superintendent Maine, Don Calderone, director of risk management and employee benefits, the Martin County School District. And I am joined uh alongside myself with Dustin Keane, senior benefits consultant, and he's added the title vice president. So that's that
sounds good. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. And Gabrielle Swain who is our benefits consultant with the Garing Group. >> Um so as we've done the last several years um Dustin and I and now Gabrielle we've come up before you um to kind of give you a pulse check on where we are
with our um employee benefits uh insurance plans. Um we are at the halfway point of the year for the plan. Um, we just completed our sixth six sixth month of the plan year, December. Um, Gabrielle is going to go over what
the claims look like for medical insurance through the data that we have for the first five months of the year. Um, so we're going to go over that. I'm going to go over the timeline of expectations and then after um Gabrielle goes over the claims experience so far
thus um with Sigma, our new medical carrier as of July 1st, um Dustin's going to present the initial renewal offers um that were provided to uh Garen Group over the winter break from Sigma. Okay. So, just uh as a reminder, uh we
stood before you here about a year ago today and um the board directed staff with the purchasing department um to work alongside the Garing Group to go out for an RFP for medical insur insurance and that's ultimately what transpired. And as you recall, the board
made the decision um to uh change medical carriers from Florida Blue to Sigma. and Sigma presented a 7.7% overall increase with their offer. Um, and one of the key components of the
offer from Sigma besides the um the increase, which was lower than the incumbent, was that those um three plans that the district has be written um separately. And when Dustin gets to his initial offers, you'll see one of those
options um does just that. Um along with the um the plan design match and the um the uh ability to rate those plans separately um Sigma also offered um some some funds that would be available to um
to the school board. So there was $175,000 in discret discretionary funds along with a $50,000 techn technology credit and $5,000 in Cobra funds. So, um we are working with Sigma every quarter to
apply for those funds. Um we just um applied for our second quarterly funds yesterday and um we've been very happy with the uh response time from Sigma on um reimbursing us with those form with those funds on a quarterly basis. Um in
addition to those funds, there was a $200,000 um wellness funds. So, just a little bit of a difference on how that's administered. Um, with our prior carrier, we were receiving those funds in a form of a check on July 1st at the beginning of the plan year. We would use
those funds um as we saw fit for our wellness program. Um, Sigma uh up the ante and they are providing us $200,000, but it's in a reimbursement form. So again, we um we submit for reimbursement
quarterly um through Sigma and we did our second one um yesterday as well. Um one of the decisions the board made was to continue uh basically freezing enrollment in that PO. So no new enrollment in that PO plan. Um that is
now the OAP plan. uh with Sigma. Um the the board made a decision to continue providing a uh $750 contribution towards the health savings account for those employees enrolled in the high deductible health plan. So, um
that is a is a great um uh tool to um have employees consider the high deductible health plan um because it does provide them with a nice um amount to have in their fund at the
beginning of the plan year or if they join the district in the middle of the year um it it is in their account um when their benefits go into effect the first of the month. And then the big change um for the 2526 year was that the
board made the decision to go ahead and no longer offer the employee plus family prior to 712020 um extra contribution or subsidy if you will. um they you all decided to
continue it for one more year, but only if those employees went to the high deductible health plan and they would get an extra $250 um contribution towards the board's uh contribution towards their benefits and
so um they pay a little bit less um because they're getting more from the board um for the 2526 year and that will sunset on 712026. Okay. So, we're happy to report that there's only one line of coverage up for renewal this year. The uh Garen Group
has done a tremendous job working with our carriers and negotiating multi-year contract renewals with them. Um so, the only um insurance line of coverage up for renewal this year is the medical insurance with Sigma. you'll see all the
other lines of coverage will come up for renewal either in 2027 or 2028. And then um as you see in front of you is our timeline. So um we always meet with you in the beginning of the year in January. Um we have in here board
workshop dates, board meeting dates as well as insurance committee uh meeting dates. Um, all of the information that we provide to you, we also provide to our insurance committee uh members and they serve an advisory role and make
recommendations that we bring back to you um and the board makes the final decision. And so we have that all set through um basically the end of the the plan year here. April is when we do our open enrollment. It goes into effect um
July 1st and we spend the months of May and June working with Bentech, our payroll department finance, making sure everything is good to go on July 1st. Okay. So, I'm going to hand it off to Gabrielle and Gabrielle is going to give you an update on where we are thus far
um through our first five months of claims with Sigma. >> So, So, as Don mentioned, we have data through November of 2025. As a reminder, we like to have the loss ratio, which is the ratio of claims to
premium around 75% in order to guarantee you would not get an increase. Um, however, this last plan year, so the 204 2025, so that would be June 2024 through July of 2025, ran at a 95% loss ratio.
So that means for um every dollar paid in premium, 95 cents was used to pay claims and there are other costs um that in that case Florida Blue had to pay. Um now you're with Sigma. So rolling 12 month loss ratio from December of 24
through November of 25 was a 92% and in your current year to date first five months loss ratio is 94%. This does include a July 2025 loss ratio of only 53%. That's because
the claims are immature. So you switched carriers and there's a lag between when you actually get your service at the doctor versus when it's processed and paid. Um we look at claims on a paid basis. So the 53% is immature as it does not include all the services that
happened in that month. Um pharmacy is more point of sale. So that would be less of a lag, but the medical does have a lag, which leads to that 53% loss ratio. Um, so 94% including that is a pretty high number from what we would
like to see. Um, note that October of 25 ran at 112% loss ratio and November of 25 ran at 108% loss ratio. So we did have two very high months these past two months. The full um, claims report is on
page 24. I believe it is um for your reference um but this is a highle overview as far as your um enrollment and claims distribution highle summary 65% of your enrollment so almost a large majority of your enrollment is in that
um OAPIN plan which was formerly the HMO plan with Florida Blue it is now OAPIN with Sigma and those 65% of that that population is making up 80% of your claims you have in your high deductible plan
30% of the population and they are making up only 12% of your claims and in that OAP plan which was formerly called the PO plan 5% of your enrollment so a very small amount and they're making up 8% of your claims and at the bottom you
can see that 1,182 um both activives and retirees are in the OAPIN plan 559 are in the high deductible plan and 92 are in the OAP plan.
So if you go to the next page, this we like to look at is how your high deductible plan enrollment has really changed. This looks at all three plans, but you can see um year-over-year we continue to see more enrollment in that high deductible plan, especially with the incentives that the board has been
providing. Um so in June of uh June 30th of 2025 you had 70% in the HMO plan. Effective well as of November 1st 2025 you are down to 64.5%
in the OAPIN plan and your high deductible plan went from 23.4% to 30.5%. So, we do see that continuing to increase. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Dustin.
Busy here. Where do I go? All right, we'll zoom out a little bit. Well, I know you all been waiting for this moment since Christmas and happy new year. Um, so as uh we mentioned, we
switched carriers to Sigma July 1st, 2025. Um, in that offer with Sigma that was negotiated through the RFP. Um, a 10% rate cap for year two was negotiated. Um, we like to do this because when we change carriers, we
don't know exactly where the claims come in. They might have different or they do have different negotiated fees with providers and hospitals, which does change the amount of claims that are paid. um through the plan. So, luckily that is in place. Um claims have been
running quite high, a little bit higher than we want to see, but we got a few more months to really um see where they come in and, you know, go back to the table with Sigma. Um our calculations brings that increase that's called for under a standard underwriting renewal at
about 20% just to kind of give you an idea based on your claims. Um, Sigma is coming out the gate at the not to exceed offer of that 10% rate cap. Um, so that's where we sit right now, 10%. Um, they showed it two different ways. On
this page right here, they're showing it 10% across the board, meaning 10% increase for the HMO, 10% for the PO, 10% for the high deductible plan. Um at the on the next page you'll see what
that means um in response to um the employees contributions. So that 10% if you look at that light blue column on the right hand side of the page that would be the per pay deduction increases per plan and per
tier for the HMO PO high deductible. um which ranges anywhere from 37 to $93 a pay increase for the HMO just to kind of give you a ballpark. Um on the next page,
um they showed that 10% cap in a little bit of a different way where they underwrite the plans separately based upon the claims experience. Um, so you'll see overall it's a 10%. Um, but it shows the HMO at 11.5%,
the PO at 11.8% and that high deductible health plan out of 5%. So this offer would increase that HMO a little bit more than the other offer, which is 65% of your enrollment. However, it makes the high deductible
health plan a little bit more um attractive for members because as we get more enrollment in that high deductible claims are lower, it's going to help your overall renewal. So, that's actually been a very positive trend um over the years. Um on the next page, then you'll kind of
see how that translates to employee deductions. Um the main difference again being that high deductible health plan that 5% increase versus a 10% lowers that per pay increase. Um so this is again the not to exceed this is not the
final um we do have a couple more months right we'll be in front of you in February again in March where we hope to get a final recommendation um but we wanted to give you an update where where we stand as of now. Um, so with that, I'll open it up to any
questions you might have. >> So I have two quick questions. Um, on page three, uh, Mr. Calderon mentioned that some of the um enrollies switched to the HDHP
based upon an increase of $250 that we gave to them for switching. How many employees actually switched to that plan? >> Oh, that's a good question. Um >> give me a good answer.
>> If you give me a few minutes, I can get you that answer. >> You don't have to have it now. I want to know if it's something that we can capitalize on. >> Well, right. So, if you recall, so the just for historical context, um the employee plus family tier was created in
July 1st, 2020 when the board and the district went from a two-tier system to a four- tier system for dependent coverage. So in order um to soften the blow to that employee plus family coverage, there was an extra subsidy for about five years um where they were
getting extra contributions. So, we went through a whole finance thing with the retirees last year and everything and um what the board decided was we're going to do the employee plus family prior to 712020 subsidy one more year, but instead of getting
hundreds of dollars um per year additional contribution, we're going to do a flat 250 um and start phasing it out. But they had to move to the high deductible health plan in order to do that. So overall, um, we had an extra 125 total
overall, uh, move into the high deductible health plan. And then if you give me a little bit of time, I could tell you how many of those came from the employee plus family. >> Okay. Thank you. And just one more. Let me get to the page page six. um
the 6580% on the um the HMO and the claims that's obviously the highest area. Um is this more active or retirees that are making these claims?
>> Uh mostly activives actually. Um a lot of your retirees are in the Medicare plan which is completely separate. >> Yes. Um, and one of the trends we've been seeing is as we've kind of increased the deductibles in the PO and made it more expensive over the years, people have been trickling out of that
plan into the HMO. So, some of those people, we've identified higher claims with those individuals now in the HMO, which is increasing the claims in the HMO. So that that's kind of been a trend we've seen for the past >> and and is it normal medical stuff or
are these seriously ill people that require extensive medical uh care? >> Yeah. So and it's a good question. Um about 20% of your population on average makes up 80% of the costs and that's
typical of any plan and that's high cost claims. >> That's cancers. Um we see a lot of rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, right? High medication, high costs, >> premature birth. Yes, >> premature babies. That's a big one as well. >> All right.
>> Thank you. >> Questions, Miss Roberts? >> Um Gabrielle, first. So when I'm looking at the the numbers um the loss ratios on page 24 and 25 and realizing that July of 25
um deflates the number and you came up with a 94% year-to date which is that 53 to 108 right correct >> if I compare that on page 26 with the same fivemonth period I come up
with a 99% correct And then if I eliminate the um at July from both of them, my difference in numbers is this year's 103.75 and last year's was 100. Correct. And I know that we do this every year where we talk
about um Don comes and he shows us his um calendar of this is what he he dreams about at night of how we're going to do this. and and we always talk about well obviously you know there was a lot of claims that come in in December which hasn't rolled out yet but January and
February tend to be lesser um periods of time and lower pieces. So the more we can push that calendar out to getting a final number, the better off we are. So, I I'm asking again, Don, as you look at your calendar that you've given us on
page five of your what your your dream calendar, if you could also be supplying us with a calendar that's not your dream calendar. That's the let's have to work harder calendar to add the extra months back in there to be able to um see if we can drive that. I know it's going to be
really hard to drive 20% down to beat the 10%, but but I think it it serves to at least have some conversation going. Um I also had one more comment. If I look at um I'm now looking at page
10 and page 12 and I'm looking at the asis renewal on a and the cost of the the 24 pay cost pieces and I know that one of our goals as a board has always been to try to
provide something for employee only that um is a zerorost option. So, what I did was if I take the the um the third so I'm going to page 12 and if
I take the $1357 and that's using the that's siloing the plans and allowing the high deductible to have less than 10% not giving 10% across the board but letting I think the other two plans would have 11 and this one would have I think it was five but
if I take that 13.57 if I multiplied it times 454 which is the 433 employees plus the 21 retirees and then I multiply that times the 24 pays. It looks like the cost of that the cost of
thatundred or $1357 for the whole year is $147,858. And I'm just throwing that to the board so you know that as we look at this, if we do end up out not making any plan
changes, etc., and this ended out where we were, that there is the ability that you could we could buy our way out of that piece. If we bought our way out of just the employee piece, which that's my question that I'm ending with. If the employee piece, and I only use 433 and I
don't add the 21 in, I save about $6,000. But I have a feeling you're going to tell me that's illegal. not illegal. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. And then we also um I invited uh Dana D'Angelo here, our
client manager with Sigma um so she could hear um from the board um specifically how important that zero cost um high deductible health plan for employee only coverage is to the board and that is such a priority. So, we're
hoping not to buy down, but to maybe um negotiate that over the next couple months. Um just want to circle back to um getting that extra month of claims, which is what we were able to do last year when we worked with Carter's team and and the payroll department and
Raquel's team in finance. Um and I'm looking at Diane here. Um, we had we had held a special board meeting on April 1st in order to get March claims from our previous carrier, Florida Blue, to see if that was uh put put us at an
advantageous position to negotiate. So, um, we'll work with Diane to see what we can do. Um, April 1 would definitely be the latest we can go based on what we were able to accomplish last year. Um, but we'll we'll take a look at the
calendar and we'll meet um in the next couple of days um and bring back a revised calendar that shows that extra month of claims coming in um when we see you again next month in February. >> Sure. And I think and I thank Sigma for being here that it really is appreciated. But I think if um Sigma
recognizes that what we're trying we we recognize that when we can't give you a complete year of information, you're having to extrapolate and come up with um inventive numbers for the months that we don't give you. And so we're trying to give you as many months as we can knowing that the claims the loss ratio
now does appear really high and that the 10% is the is way below what the loss ratio is. I mean, I think that's going to my feeling is that that'll improve because that's where we usually are at this point in time. Um, because that's because we have limited information to
give you. >> Just really quickly, I want to thank you all for the faith you've had in Sigma for making this move. We know that is not made lightly, that decision, and we will do everything we can to continue to work with you based upon how the experience comes in. Obviously, it's
very immature. As you just mentioned, we have five months of experience with one month that's not really experience. We've tried to factor the historical blue cross experience to the best of our ability, taking what we like and looking away at what we don't want to look at to
blend that loss ratio. So, we will continue to work with your team. Excellent team, by the way. We love working with them and um we'll do everything we can up until your due date. >> Thank you. >> Decision. Okay. Any other Dr. Morardi?
>> So, I'm trying to remain positive here looking at these numbers, but uh it doesn't look good. I'll be honest with you. It doesn't look good. The 94% loss ratio. Thank god we have that 10% cap next year. Thank you.
You're going to lose money next year on us, just so you know. We really need to be looking in the future past that year because it really I mean a fair offer would be like a 20% increase. We're going to get it for 10, but the year after that we don't have any cap. Correct.
>> Correct. >> So the only avenue I see that's helpful is what Miss Pritchette brought up, which is getting people in the high deductible plan. that seems to be a a a better avenue for us where we're we're getting
less money spent through that avenue. So, it might be up to the board to incentivize people like we did last year, but maybe in a larger way to go to that route. And it's not that bad of a route. I mean, it's less money in your premiums and we gave them 750 and they
can get taxfree money put into there as well for their HSA. So, I think we really need to get the word out on on how positive that plan is because I think that's the only way we're going to get some of these numbers to drop. Dana, what do you have to say? >> I would agree.
Um, there's decision making that happens in a high deductible health plan. You start thinking about what your costs are going to be. You start comparing what costs are from one location to another. You look at pharmacy costs. there's decision making and and they are part of
the the process in how they use their benefits more so than when you have a co-pay in place and then the hospital just applies for a deductible. So there's more decisions made. Those people tend to be more engaged in their benefits, understand them ma better um and use the benefits to their advantage.
So you have a lot of um chronically ill people sitting in your OAPIN plan where they have a co-ay and they're used to that plan. But the more you can educate them to move to that type of um structure, a high deductible help plan, the lower your claims will come in.
>> Great. And then the only other thing I want to add is I guess we have some kind of a wellness plan with this that we and maybe we could understand a little more about what we're doing for wellness to hopefully become a little healthier that
we don't run these numbers up so high. Um and what kind of efforts we're doing on that front would be helpful for me. >> Sure. Yeah, we can we can give you an overview of the programs that we offer through our wellness program. Um, and we
do subsidize several programs in in order to have um our employees be as healthy as they can be. However, you know, like Dustin and Gabrielle have said, you know, they track the high claimants uh every single month. And
it's my opinion that the majority of our claims are coming from those high claimments like like Dustin said and Mrs. Powers has stated. Um so we we do see quite a bit of our actively engaged
um employees that are in our wellness program. They love the high deductible health plan because it doesn't cost them a lot to use it because they're fairly healthy and active. Um, but like Dena said, those that are chronically ill or they have conditions that are um
constant trips to the doctor, they do like that OAPIN plan because it is a co-ay type system and they know what they can expect to pay and they have a lower deductible for that. But I agree. Well, I can be more than happy to >> Yeah, if you could share that, that'd be
great. And Dana as well, when you're thinking about renewals, I know 10% across the board would would sound pretty fair, but if the high deductible plan had a lower increase, that also might be attractive to someone who was uh, you know, for a renewal as well, even though it might not be the best
number up front for you guys, it could be long-term helpful to have more people in there, >> right? And I I think that's why we tried to show the increase different on the other two plans with the five on that plan because it's a lower increase. It's a lower premium um for the employer and
you know if experience were to come down in the future that comes down as well. We will rate it by plan. I know you had a problem where they wouldn't rate by plan before. If the experience justifies it, the plan should be rated forward. >> Thank you.
>> So I just want to talk about that education piece and then M. Roberts has another question then I'll f I'll finish up. Um so we did that education piece um of you
know trying to get pe people to understand but I think there is a fear of the unexpected there is a fear of what if what if my child gets sick or what if I need surgery or what if you
break a leg and I think there is that it's more than educ educating about the coverage. It's more about that financial planning for your future. And I don't know that we as a school district are going to really get into that or we're going to maybe offer those services or
have those services available to our employees because um it is a scary thought if you have um I don't even know what the deductible is. Um, now I >> 5,000 5,000 for >> employ dollars if you have one thing or
what if your family were in an accident and two of you had to meet that and you're you're out of pocket of $10,000, >> right? >> Or whatever the deductible is. That's the scary part um for for families and putting away the additional money in
your HSA might not be an option, especially for people that are insuring their entire family. Um, it's I just don't I I'm all for keeping that zero cost, but oftent
times what happens is the other people just start paying more. And we see that with the tiered system. I mean, it's doesn't matter if you have one child or if you have five children, you're paying the same for a family. So, a husband, wife, and children, you're paying the
same if you just pay husband, wife, and one or husband, wife, and five. So, um I have a real problem with the premiums that are the expectation of families kind of discouraging people to have children, all the the costs that are
accumulating for families. So, I just I have a problem with it. But that's my personal thing. That's why we had the subsidy for families in the first place um when we moved to that tiered system. and um they're
have a huge burden on on their backs as well. So, Mr. Roberts, >> yeah, and I just wanted to thank Sigma again for siloing the plans and giving us rates and showing us what those look like when we do take it by plan and not do 10. So, you gave it to us both ways,
the 10% across the board and the three plans each with a different increase so that they're the plans are kind of maintaining themselves. And I do appreciate that. That's something that um Florida Blue was never willing willing to talk about, willing to do um and it became a difficult problem for us
and I do appreciate that. Thank you. >> You're very welcome. >> Um I also like would like to understand if we went to a single plan, um I know that there are school districts in the state that actually only do offer a high
deductible plan. What would it look like if we went to what is um what would that cost? Um, but I I been on the insurance committee for many many years and I'm back this year. >> Um,
and I'm just curious too about a PEO um what the benefits would be being in a bigger group um not being rated based on our um own our just our experience, our claims experience and being part of a
larger group. What would that look like? Have school districts done that? I know um for me personally in my work um we saved approximately $250,000 for an organization with 28 employees.
So that's a huge savings going to a PEO versus being underwritten as a small business. So, I think we need to look at all of our options and see um you know, we also we talk about it every year. We
bring it up as going self-insured, but also uh a a clinic and we have been saving money over the years. What does that look like? When are we ever going to be ready? Because we have been doing this for I don't even know. I think Miss Roberts
and I are the only two on the board when it started. um when we started that process of building up to self-insure and we always we never do it. We never pull the trigger. Um and so I'm just wondering what that looks like. So I
think we need to have those discussions about all of those things. Um because we never have insurance, we always have insurance companies that come and seek our business when we have um when we put put it out to bid. Nobody is not saying
they don't want to insure us. Um so we're not having trouble getting coverage. It's the cost of coverage that is really driving um the burden on our employees. So um I'd like to explore all those. Miss Roberts.
>> Yeah. Um and so I I think based on the discussions we've had in the past about self- insurance, the the problem of making that leap is that you don't want to do it in a year when you have such high um expenses because then your set aside piece is so high. So we've been sitting for knowing that it comes in
waves. We've been sitting waiting for a while um at least I have to see when that piece goes down so that we would be able to do that. But I would be interested in the clinic piece. I mean I know that we've talked about that before. I think um and I'm curious as to whether any of the wellness dollars
could be used towards the clinic piece. I mean, I know that um maybe that's a way and maybe that would be some way that Sigma would like to um talk about that, but I mean I think that that may have some benefit, too. >> Yeah. And we're happy to talk about clinics. Um typically 99% of our clients
with clinics go self-insured first. Um, the reason being is as you shift usage to the clinic and away from the health plan, right, being self-insured, you realize an ROI immediately, being fully insured, the carrier kind of reaps those benefits since rates are locked in for
12 months. Um, on top of that, you could build enough surplus, hopefully if your claims run good, being self-insured to afford a clinic, which for your size, um, because we do the county Martin Sheriff, St. St. Lucy Sheriff, we we have vast data on how much it would cost
for your size. It'd be right around a million, give or take. Um, but without that funding piece, being fully insured, you could do it. Um, just fiscally, you got to have that that bucket somewhere. >> Yeah. I think the problem is, as you
know, and as you have told me repeatedly, that um, if we go to self-insured, when we're in a period of high claims, it's going to be a higher number. I guess um I probably wasn't precise enough in in explaining what I was thinking. My thinking was that as we know that we're this will lock us in for
the next year, whatever this comes out to, whether we're at the 10%, whether we work something else out. Um but knowing that and then knowing that in the summer of 97 we would be up for a renegotiation piece. My thought is that if you know that that's coming in the summer of 97,
if you can >> 27 >> in 27 if you know that that's coming that what you can do is if you started a clinic so that you had some clinic. >> Yeah. >> I'm sorry. >> I'll be in the ground. >> When you said 97, we thought we'd all be
dead by then. >> Oh, okay. Um anyway, what I was saying was that if we could get the clinic open and have a period of time and and you would be best to advise us of what that period of time looks like. So, if we did a clinic prior
to going self-insured and we had data from the clinic that was showing us that yes, I realize that during the period of time that we're locked into a rate and we're also doing a clinic that the benefit is going to the to say Sigma or
to whoever it is. But knowing that that's happening puts us, I think, in a better position to negotiate for the new rate >> for a new period of time because you've now shown something. Is that is that thinking correct or am I >> It is thinking correct. Um, as you shift
claims away from the plan to the clinic, your claims will go down. So, when it comes to renewal, right, hopefully your loss ratio goes from 90 whatever to, you know, 80, 70, whatever, depending on the usage. Um my recommendation however it would be to just think how you would
fund that clinic not just for the first year but for the second year and being self-insured you could bake in the cost of a clinic into the actual premium equivalence just like it's a claim. >> Yes, you could. But the problem is that if we're sitting here with really high
claims, that bakedin cost in order to have to build up the reserve you need based on what you all have told me, it's going to drive that cost up because those past claims and creates the amount of reserve that you need to have. And by
creating the amount of reserve, that drives what the premium needs to be. And so since that's driving the premium, you're already, which in my head is why we haven't made the leap or gone to the discussion of self-insured because we're sitting here with all these multiple
years of of high loss ratios where we you can't pushing it to the employee and saying, "Okay, we're self-insured now, but by the way, you have to pay X number of dollars, but don't worry, it's going to the the reserve." Nobody's going to understand that. They're just going to
see, oh, my rate just went up by $100 a month or $50 a pay period because we're going self-insured. This is ridiculous. And that's the that's the piece that's hard. So, I can see what you're saying, but at the same time, I think that Yeah,
but it's the reserve piece that's going to end up driving the overall premium. So, your premium's here, but we still have to add that reserve onto it, which is going to make it so high, >> right? And 60 days of claims is the minimum. um OIR safe harbor requirement. You do have a piece of that already um
saved up. So it would just be the difference at the time to calculate that we would add in and the clinic would not be included in that calculation solely on the the claims of the self- insurance plan. But we're happy to put in front of a in front of you a timeline and um you
know a recommended uh plan of action. Well, based on our history, we're never going to get there because our our claims data does not change drastically yeartoear. We have in all the years that I've been here and I know long as Miss
Roberts has been here, we have not seen a year or any kind of consistency where our claims data dropped significantly. So, I mean, we just need to know like, do we look I want to see the data? And
if it's not feasible, then we need to stop putting that money and and figure out how we're going to invest that money if we're never going to be able to go self-insured because we have literally been talking about this for 12 years, >> but we're we're not adding any money in
the last few years to that. I mean, we have a lump sum, but there nothing based on our numbers, nothing's going in there. But did Dustin did you say we need 1 million in reserves to consider self-insured or no? >> No. An average clinic cost would be right 1 million based on your
population. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> I would million per year. >> Yeah, we have Yeah, but I I think the number for reserves is probably in the what 10 to 12 million range. >> Um 60 days of claims which take the last two months of claims and that's not the
precise actuarial calculation just to give you a benchmark. looking at our data guru here. Putting her on the spot >> about 3.5 million as a ballpark. >> 3.5 million now in reserves. >> Yes. >> Okay.
>> And another thing to think about is it it doesn't necessarily have to do with where your claims are. It has to do with where your premium to claims are. And what I mean by that is right now you should be at a 20%. We're getting a 10. If you were to go self-insured, your
cost would be more around 20%. Just to kind of give you an idea after that rate cap, right? Depending on in my opinion, it depends on fully insured and self-insured quote of that year side by side and how that looks. Um, so not this year, but the
next year we can look at based on your renewal data, we can get a quote from Sigma or whatever carrier we're with fully insured and a self-insured quote and kind of give you a sidebyside comparison on what that might cost because, you know, it will differ year
to year if if that makes sense. >> Do does Sigma offer the hybrid plan? We've been presented that. >> Yeah, they do. >> Hybrid minimum premium. Yes, >> they do. Um, which isn't a bad step um to kind of bridge the gap between self-insured, you pay the claims as they
come in. Um, but it gives you a a maximum liability so that if your claims go haywire, you you know, you have some protection there. Okay, that maybe that could be an interim step because I agree with Miss Powers that if we're not going to ever
do that, which I love the idea of a self-insured plan or or something to help with this, then that money could be spent elsewhere. So, Mitch, I think 13 years from now is when it's going to
be easier because we won't be making those payments to stopping, right? 2038 is probably the year it's going to be able to happen, >> right? So, I think uh Mr. Per, you're
referring to the health insurance subsidy essentially. Um, yeah, >> we're paying we're paying about one million to$1.2 million a year in retiree health insurance subsidy. I'm not going
to relitigate everything we went through last year. But there is a cost that is present to those retirees um that they're getting every single month and over the annual uh plan year. That's what we're we're going to to spend. And then eventually those as you recall
those that retired once they get to 65 they're not getting anything anymore. So >> those costs are going to go away, >> correct? >> Permanently for the district and that money will then be available
where isn't now. That's kind of what I was saying. I don't know what that amount is, but I think it's substantial. >> Right. By 2038, all of those that were retired prior to July 1st, 2025 and who were under 65, they'll stop getting
something. And then unfortunately, as retirees pass away, those health insurance subsidies end as well. And we've done the life expectancy charts and you kind, you know, we could bring them back for you. But there's relief in the future. It's just not immediate.
>> 2050 Are there any other questions or comments? Okay, seeing none, thank you very much. >> Okay, thank you. See you next month. >> Okay, moving on um to our schoolboard policies. We have um policy 0155
committees. Are there any questions or comments? Okay. >> I had one comment on the wording and I've been really trying to use AI and I do appreciate that committees of school board members shall
I I feel like it should be committee appointees of school board members. committees of school board members sounds I don't know maybe maybe I'm I'm wrong on that but I think it's we're appointing
members as school board to these committees I don't know what anyone else thinks I just thought there should be like committee committees that are appointed by the school board members shall something like that but I'm that's just my comment
Does it change? Superintendent Maine. Does it change anything? Do we I I don't have a problem with it. But >> I think we're getting to the same place. Um so it's just the pleasure of the board.
>> Yeah. Then it's >> or maybe it should just say committees of the school board take out members shall when specifically charged. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Uh and the committees of the school
board. Are we adding the >> of the school board shall >> they got members and the before school? >> Before school. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Um next next up we have
um policy 2125, school advisory councils for school improvement and accountability. Any questions, comments? Miss Roberts? um on page three of four underneath the school improvement plans. I talked to um Diane Falls about this
earlier today um but didn't have a chance to research how it ended up this way. But if you read number four, number four sentence says, "If the school advisory council determines that the board suggested changes are not consistent with their goals and or does not desire to modify the plan, then the council and board are asked to mutually
agree to use a dispute resolution process." That next sentence that's in green, I don't think belongs there. The board is strongly encouraged to involve representatives of all stakeholders in developing such a dispute resolution
rule and to offer the broadest range of options. If you look down further on that page, B is the process. I think the sentence was probably added before um in one of the other girrations of this policy before they added the
conflict dispute resolution process. But I think when you've already printed a process to then tell us in our policy that we're encouraged to develop a a resolution I think is kind of redundant or so I would be interested in removing the
this board is strongly encouraged to involve representatives all the stakeholders in developing such a dispute resolution rule and to offer the broadest range of options. It insinuates that we don't have a dispute resolution rule which we are adopting in this policy.
All righty. Next up we have policy 2423 career and technical education workbased opportunities. This is a new policy. M Roberts. So I just had one question and I believe I have this question. um
when we saw this policy last time, the second sentence that says the board shall provide that each student enrolled in grades 9 through 12 has access to at least one work-based learning opportunity. Do we have the capacity to offer every
single high school student access to at least one workbased learning opportunity? You're good. >> I'm Lana Baros. I'm the coordinator of college and career readiness. To answer the question, do we currently have the capacity if we had every single high
school student in the school district request a work-based learning course? We would have to have more sections offered of work-based learning. So, the courses are designed, they're planned after
course requests come in. Does every student have the opportunity to request it on their schedule? Yes. >> So once they request it, they are given that then we don't ever let somebody request one and then say, "No, it's full. You can't." >> Correct.
>> Okay, that's fine then. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next up, we have policy 20. Did anybody else have any questions on that one? Sorry. Um, policy 2540 audio visual use. That's we
are rescending that. Um, policy 30. Oh, Miss Roberts. >> Um, yes. So, Miss Falls um looked this up. This is not a Neola policy that we are rescending. This is a Martin County policy. Um, it's mislabeled by Niola.
This is the policy that says that we're not going to show Rrated, X-rated movies, etc. The language in Niola's thing where it refers to policies 2520 and 2521 are the instructional materials and selection of instructional materials
policies and this isn't the policy that Miola thinks that they're telling us to resend. So I think we should leave it there. >> So not resend 2540. >> Yes. We're good with this like all good.
Okay, we are not rescending that. Uh, next up 3430.03 which is sick leave compassionate leave. Are there any questions or comments from the board? Miss Roberts? No, I have none. Thank you. Oh,
>> you looked at me in a way. I just thought >> I almost did. Um, but I'm not going to. Thank you. Okay. Um, policy 6105, authorization to use faximile signature. Questions, comments?
Okay, seeing none, moving on to policy 8475, criminal background screening for contractor access. Any questions or comments from the board? Okay, seeing none, that wraps up our policies. Now time for open to the
board. Does anybody have any comments, questions? >> Question. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Um, as many of you know, human trafficking is a major issue here in Florida and um I was contacted by the uh head of the
Florida Faith Alliance, and I know that they're working with the district uh to do a a program about human trafficking. And um I just wanted to know if there was an update on where we are at with that because they're rolling this out in other counties. They're based here in
Martin County and I think that they are about to be implemented in Indian River County. Um so I just want to see where we are at with that so that hopefully we're not behind. >> Good evening Lisa Estz. Thank you for the question. and I've been working closely with um Mrs.
Barleta and we had started out by working together to do the presentations through the schools and trying to get ownership with parents and facilitate that. Um her and I are set to have a well we're not set yet to have a meeting to discuss that because we do have some
other educational or curriculum items that come from the state that utilize that are addressing the human trafficking. So, we just kind of have to make sure that we're on board. And I'll work with um Mr. Moore in curriculum and instruction so that we can look at the co those components and make sure that
we're not duplicating already what we what we currently have. Right. >> Okay. Great. And yeah, any kind of a timeline update once you have that would be wonderful. >> I will get that for you as fast as I can. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Pritchette, do you have anything?
>> Just happy new year everyone. It's good to be back. I hope everyone is is having a good new year so far and stay healthy and uh looking forward to a great year. M Roberts, Miss Russell. Okay, wonderful. Happy new
year everyone and this meeting is adjourned.