all as well. >> Thank you. Secretary, please call the room. >> Thank you. >> And good morning. Adopted family. Jessica Pagan, >> present online. >> Best foot forward. Debbie Elman,
>> in person. >> Best foot forward. Cameron Spanardi, >> present in person. Black Chamber of Commerce. Cassandra Oliver card at FAU. Sabrina De Goes. >> Thank you. Card at FAU. Jack Scott,
Coalition for Black Student Achievement. Dr. Deborah Robinson, Coalition for Black Student Achievement. Gwynette Williams. Compass Rex Barnes, Connect to Greatness. Dr. Cassandra
Corbin Thaddius, Connect to Greatness. Andre Thaddius, District ES Advisory Committee. Susan Rodriguez. >> Morning. Online. Present. District ESC Advisory Committee.
Michelle Bey >> present online. >> Division of Blind Services. Caesar VGO >> Economic Council of PBC. Craig McKenzie El Jupiter. Susan Witbeck Florida Hispanic American Chamber of
Commerce. Juan Pagan, >> Florida Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce. Evelyn Vargas for the children. Reggie Dornese >> online present. >> Gold Coast Down Syndrome. Sue Davis
Killian >> present online. >> Gualamali center. Mariana Blanco >> present online. >> Gualamali center. Myra Cardinius, Hispanic Chairman of Congress of PBC.
Maria Antona, Hispanic Education Coalition of PBC. Hector Pyro, NAACP South PBC, Dedric Strong, PBC Council of PTA, Charmin Postal,
my apologies, Charmaine Postal, >> present online, >> PBC Council of PTA, Marcus Brown, PBC Human Rights Council, Avon Gordon, I know that he's here. >> Hello, this is Avian Gordine. Um,
present online. >> Thank you. Tri city education committee. Eddie Rose, Tri City Education Committee, Mary Evans,
Urban League of PBC. Valins Barbier Volunteer Association of America. Whitland Pierre, Volunteer Association of America. Carlen Paul, Classroom Teacher Association. Gordon
Longhoffer, >> present online. >> Madame Chair, this conclude my roll call. Perfect. >> Thank you. At this time, we'll entertain uh the minutes from the previous meeting.
>> Motion. >> Can uh we have a motion from Juan Pagan in the room. Can you turn your mic in? >> Second. We have a second.
>> A motion. Uh there's a motion and second for the minutes. Any discussions on the minutes? >> Minutes should be filed for the records. Next item on the agenda. I'm not sure what we're >> we're So if we can go back to uh public comment.
>> Yes. I'm not sure what is on this uh on our screen. Is this >> I'm gonna take that off. >> Thank you. It's distracting me because I thought it was something that I was reading. Um that I should be looking at at this time.
>> At this time, we'll open the floor for public comment. Um prior to public comment, if we can have everyone who is in the room introduce themselves. Um if your name was not called during roll call. Keith Oswwell, chief of student health
and wellness. >> Yolanda Morgan, chief of staff. >> Jannina Simmons, manager. >> Taiisha Hicks, executive admin assistant to Chief Oswald. >> Caesar Viggo, Division of Blind
Services. district administrator. >> Hi, I'm Connor and I am a human services program consultant with Division of Blind Services. >> Thank you for being here. That's uh everybody from the room that's not on the committee. >> Thank you. Anyone online um that has not
been introduced or during roll call, please introduce yourself at this time? Hearing none at this time. Um, any public comment? >> I just want to recognize school board member Mr. Ferguson online. >> Thank you.
>> Go Dolphins. >> Go Dolphins. >> Thank you. At this time, I'm sorry, I am driving so I cannot look at my agenda. Um, Chief, if you can just assist with the next item on the agenda. I'm sorry. At this point, update from
the DDC subcommittee, but I don't think there was a quorum. >> So, there's no update there. >> Okay. If I heard correctly, for the record, there was no quorum for the subcommittee. um subcommittee. Do we need staff to work on um having a
conversation with members of the committee? Because I believe if records is correct, this is the second meeting um back to back that did not have a sub that did not have a quorum. >> Um we did have a quorum in November. We
had a meeting in November and we did not have a scheduled meeting in December. Um so I think in general we're okay. But thank you for the offer. >> And Dr. Robinson had a conflict. She did let us know.
>> Got it. >> Thank you. At this time, we will um receive our updates from Keith O Chief Keith Oswwell, chief of student health and wellness. >> Thank you. And again, good morning
everyone. Um happy new year. I guess we were discussing that. So, uh happy new year. And with that, I'd like to start with um some good news. Uh and that would be our uh graduation
rates. So am I sure John? I need to stop sharing here so I can share from the other screen. Um, so those online can see uh how do I do
that because you have it in a different format. Okay, thank you. So start with some good news. um uh graduation rates came out um up here and we'll do a a larger presentation in the future on this, but
I do want to let you know that again the school district uh went up again to 93.5% graduation rate. Um so over five years coming out of COVID, it's a 2.5 change and up 1.4% from last year. um in this
column up here, if you're looking at that top chart, uh I do want to draw your attention when we look across um the other large urban school districts, you can see that um Palm Beach County um Duval had a big big
growth last year, so they're slightly ahead of us, but typically we are leading the urbans um and we have traditionally showed steady um increments of growth. So 93.5 is uh a
great job. Also, when we look at the Florida is at the top compared to Palm Beach. When we look at our subgroups, um for our black students, um did jump
up to 92.4, so a 3.4% gain um right here. Uh so that's fantastic uh to see that jump up uh 3.4%. Hispanic also went up to 91.5 96.4 for white uh English language
learners again another big jump two years in a row we're at 87.8. Um so that's fantastic. Um and then free and reduced lunch and school students with disabilities both just over 91%.
So almost every subgroup uh except for English language learners over 90% is to me just fantastic news. Um so I just want to thank all the teachers who helped support that. So Mr.
Longhoffer uh that support as well is greatly appreciated. But good news on that front. Um any specific questions regarding graduation rates? Uh Keith Gordon, if you if you don't mind for just a second. I'm sorry I
didn't raise my hand quickly. Um is this particular report able to be made available to us in print? >> Uh yes, I will work on sending information this information out >> and whether it's just a link to where it is where it's housed somewhere else, that's that's uh sufficient as well. It
doesn't have to be, you know, any kind of anything special. >> Sure. Absolutely. >> Thank you so much. Yep. Great. Okay. Uh, no other question. We'll move on. Uh, I want to share that the
adult education department has a scholarship program. This is new and this is for our graduating seniors. There's going to be uh 30 scholarships uh also 10 uh scholarships for students who are
currently in adult education and completed their GED. And this is for scholarships in areas of study of the construction trades. You can see it on this flyer and we will send this out to everybody. Uh transportation. So if you want to work on your CDL,
uh business, culinary, human services and healthcare. Um, we offer all these programs and I know we're going to talk more about this in the future and there's been a lot of work done through Dr. Morgan's office and Miss Wyatt
working with those departments to really expand uh the uh the career technical education area for the school district as well as our choice programs in general. And we do hope to bring um to you more around the choice programs as
well um in a future meeting to provide more updates on that because a lot is happening in that space. Um also, uh uh we've received some uh information
regarding um the new requirement for high school athletics for uh participation requiring an EKG. It will affect the incoming freshman class. So, any freshman student
who needs um who wants to play um high school athletics will have to have an EKG completed. At our next meeting, I'll have more of a robust um information around a flyer where families can go as well as some activities that we'll be
doing at the school district. I can tell you that on February 18th in the north end of Palm Beach County at Pal Palm Beach Gardens High School, it's the PDD day. We will be doing partnering with who we play for who helps and Joe Deaggio to organize an EKG event um
where we're going to work with our principles to help uh eighth graders come over to gardens on that day to get their EKG um completed for those who are interested. We're going to try to have more of those events. However, students
and families can currently take their child to number of locations that we've been working with, which includes Joe Jamagio, Nicholas Children's Hospital, Baptist Health, Healthc Care District, um are ones that
we have uh definitely have commitments that families can go there anytime to have it done on their own. um this particular event that we'll have February 18th for the north area, it will be um at no cost to the family in that partnership with Joe Deaggio and
who we play for. So who we play for is a national organization where um a family member lost their child due to a heart defect um that could have been prevented. And so, uh, the whole goal of this legislation is to really work
towards, um, universal screening and to catch these heart issues early. Miami Dade has, uh, been doing this for a couple years and they've caught numerous conditions and students there and saved uh, numerous
lives. So, really important um, step forward and making sure that we protect our students. That will complete my update. Oh, and one other update. Also, on February 18th, um,
Miss Simmons will be hosting our second annual student voice conference. So, we do have numerous schools um throughout Palm Beach County um that have been really lifting that student voice. As some of you may recall that this DDC had
helped support that grant around providing um a stipen for teachers to uh lead that work in their schools and I can say it's been um really taken off. Schools are doing great uh things to really help
elevate student voice throughout Palm Beach County. Uh it's pretty exciting. So if you want more information on that, please see Miss Simmons. Okay. Yep. And that is all I have for today.
And I will just if it's okay because I know you're driving, Madam Chair, leading to our new business which we briefly mentioned around schools of hope. some new legislation that came around that's somewhat controversial throughout Florida and
is that okay? >> It is okay that we talk about school of vote. >> Okay. Uh and then Jonathan, can you assist me with uh the sharing the screen again
on this one now? Sorry, just one second. And then Dr. Morgan, our chief of staff, has been our school district resident expert, probably knows more about it than she wants to know. Um,
we'll turn it over to her. >> Tell the clicker. >> All right. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and talk a little bit about our uh schools of hope. Um maybe you've heard it in the
news or have heard about it in the community. So I just wanted to provide some context and information around what we're dealing with in uh Palm Beach County. Um before I get to the technical pieces, I just want to take a moment uh
for you to imagine with me for a moment. Uh imagine you have been living at your home uh for a number of years or maybe you have just moved into your own home. Uh it's a sizable home. We'll call it a four bedroomedroom home and you and your
family are living there. You you have your uh primary room, your uh primary bedroom. You have room for your kids or maybe even roommates that you have uh in your home. And then you have one room in your home in which um you use it as an
office or maybe you use it as a guest room. Maybe you use it as a place where your children who live with you um can have a place where they have a playroom, right? you have this additional room and then one day you get a knock at your door and a neighbor or someone in the
community comes to you and says, "Hey, you have an extra room and I would like to use that room and I'm going to move in." And the law says that I can do that. I'm going to move into that extra room that you have and not only am I going to move into that room, but you're
also going to have to pay for my living expenses. So, I'm not going to pay for the electricity. I'm not going to pay you any lease agreement. Um, I'm going to move into that room. And also, I'm going to need you to provide me with transportation to work. We we work at
the same place. So, when you're going to work, take me to work with you. I'm not going to pay gas money, though, but you're going to take me to work. And also, the food that you feed you and your family. Also, just make sure that you prepare that for me as well. um please uh make sure that it's you know
good and and um make sure that there's enough portion for uh me while I stay uh in your residence and while you're at it whatever money that you're paying for security whatever money that you're paying uh to go to the doctor pay for that for me as well um I make the same
amount of money as you we work at the same place uh but go ahead and take care of those things for me because you have that extra room uh in effect that is what we have with schools of hope. That is what we have with the situation in the school context. So, I'm going to
walk through uh what that looks like on the state level and then also what it looks like in the context of Palm Beach County and then talk about our current status. Now, there are a few technical pieces in this. So, if there are any questions as I'm going through it,
please feel free to stop me and ask those questions. Okay. >> Sounds more like an adoption. It's it's an adoption um without the the intent or the desire from the adoptive parent, right? Like um it is a um you're
going to do this, you have to do this. Um and there's very little recourse in um not having it happen. So we are looking at it from the legislative piece and I will get into that. Um but just to put it in the context of what we live in our in our lives, right? You may have
that space, you may be using it, you may be um saving it for uh some other intended purpose, but what this legislation does is allow that neighbor, that community member to come in and take up that space while you also provide them services.
So, um the schools of hope statute is not a new statute. It was actually adopted in 2017. Um it was a state push or initiative to help schools that um had persistent low achievement. Um these
schools are schools that with the intended purpose if you look at the bill analysis from back then um was to help schools in which districts were having trouble enhancing the achievement at those schools. Uh what has happened in the latest amendments to this statute is
that some of the guard rails or parameters regarding schools of hope have been taken away. And I'm going to go through what those guardrails uh look like as they've been changed uh from the 2025 legislative session. So just to
level set make sure that we're all on the same page. Um, schools of hope are um they are uh Florida specific in that these hope operators are given the latitude and opportunity to uh set up charter schools in a district. Now there
are parameters around a hope operator. So at the top part of the graphic you'll see that a hope operator must be a nonprofit. Uh, a hope operator must be a um a charter school operator that has at least three or more charter schools that
are already in operation. And those charter schools must have a proven track record of success. Um, this hope operator also must serve lowincome students in order to even be considered by the state to be a HOPE operator. So
once a hope operate or once a charter school operator meets those requirements, the state is then going to look at that demonstrated track record of success, the uh college attendance and success rate of students who go to those charter schools. They're going to
look at um whether that charter operator uh provides services for students who are on free or reduced lunch. They have to be in good standing in turn in terms of their financials. And then the state is also going to look as at whether the
charter operator has received a USDOE grant um for replication and expansion, meaning that they're getting federal funds in order to expand, as well as uh whether they are eligible to receive funds from the state in order to expand. So in um you can't just be a charter
school operator and be a HOPE operator. you have to meet these minimum requirements and then the state has to identify you or designate you as a hope operator. So currently there are seven uh hope operators that are charter school operators who are eligible across
the state. You see that uh along the in the yellow box along the bottom um these are the ones that the state has said you meet this criteria. You have that proven track record of success. if you wanted to open up a school of hope, you have that ability to do so.
All right. So, the statute um and these are the guardrails that I'm talking about. The statute allows or requires that in order for a school of hope to be opened, there are certain requirements that are met. So, uh, previous to the
2025 amendments, if we're looking at the left side, the persistently low performing schools, there were two criteria that had to be met in order for a school to be deemed persistently low performing. The first was uh for that school to have earned a D or F in um at
least three times in the last 3 to five years. Also, they couldn't have earned a B or an A in the last two years. This speaks to the fact that if the school is making progress, right, they may not be in a school consistently in the last five years, but they're at least making
progress. That shows that the district is doing the work to uh help the students be academically successful. So once again, that parameter was that um it was the schools of hope are supposed to be set up to serve students who are in persistently low performing schools,
those D or F schools. Uh the other criteria was that if the school was closed within the last two years before a school a hope operator put in an application then they could be turned into a school of hope. What has changed
in the 2025 legislative session is this additional criteria that if a school is in the bottom 10% for achievement in either third grade reading ELA or fourth grade math, they would also be on the
persistently low performing list. What this has done, um, and I'll speak specifically to Palm Beach County, is that it means that there are now schools that have earned, uh, A's and B's and C's on this list of persistently low low
performing schools. So, prior to 2025, uh, we had a two schools that could might have been on the persistently low performing list and that has now increased to 34 schools based on just this single additional criteria. Uh we also have schools in Palm Beach County
that we have three schools that were A-rated last year. We have two schools that were B-rated and then the rest uh of the 34 are C-rated schools um but are on this persistently low performing list. Um the other uh criteria for a
school of hope or for a hope operator to come in and serve students in in a school of hope is that the school could be in an opportunity zone. um meaning um this is a fed federal designation that uh is looking at the um wealth of that
area looking at lowincome communities. The federal designation is one in which there is an incentive for uh developers to come in and to um you know increase the wealth in that area. So there's tax benefits to those investors as well as
the benefit to the community. So if the an area in the in the district is designated as an opportunity zone, then a school of hope could put in an application in order to or sorry a hope operator could put in an application to
open up a school of hope. Now what the legislation did last year in in changing the parameters again is that originally the uh statute required that a school be persistently low performing and in an
opportunity zone. If we go back to the original purpose of the statute, it's to help uh academically low performing schools that are in um lowincome communities. Right? What this legislation does or did is that it
opened that parameter up and now allows that you could uh be serving students who are either in a persistently low performing school or in an opportunity zone. Um we know that uh in at least in Palm Beach County, you could be in an opportunity zone and not necessarily be
persistently low performing or or be in an opportunity zone and not be um academically struggling. Um, but what this does is allow that uh hope operator to come in and say regardless even if your students are high performing, even if your students ha are your schools
have earned A's or B's, we're still going to come in and um uh service those students. The other key change that happened with this legislation is um the removing of the uh parameter in which the hope
operator would have to pay the district for whatever services are provided to um that school of hope. So what it requires or what it allows I should say is uh for a a hope operator or a school of hope to be established on a school district
property. So if we go back to the analogy that I gave with the house, this is where that hope operator can come to the school district and say you have a uh school that is underenrolled, meaning you are not using it at its fullest capacity. And so we want to open this
school of hope on uh elementary A's campus or high school B's campus. And while we're doing that, you need to provide all of these services. Custodial services, maintenance, security, food service, transportation, nursing, and
the statute also says other services without limitation. Um, now this was in the statute before, but what has changed is that the statute now says that the district cannot charge the hope operator or the charter school for these
services. So, it is at no cost. So, let's say that every um students FTEE comes I'm just going to do a round number $10,000. Um the each student that charter school services, they would get $10,000 for that student. The school
district also gets $10,000 for a student that is on their campus. Uh what this allows is for the charter school to continue receiving that $10,000. the uh school district would not receive the $10,000 for that student, but in effect
still have to provide these services. So, some CFOs from across the state have come together and they've done a very rough calculation uh and determined that for every student that a hope operator services, the district would have to
spend on top of the 10,000 they receive, approximately $1,700 uh dollars per student. Now, in Palm Beach County, we know that we invest in our students. We know that we um we take care of our students and we want to make sure that we are providing the best services
possible. So, we actually spend over and above the state allocation in a lot of these different areas for our students. So, we've estimated at approximately $2,000 or more per student um depending on how we look at the numbers that it would cost on top of um the money that
the charter school receives. So, as you can see, there's a great impact in a school of hope attempting to open up on a district campus um that really takes away from the students that are still in the traditional public school classroom
or school um because of the um cost sharing or cost allocation that comes along with the opening up of the parameters. Before I continue, I just want to stop to see if there's any questions on the pieces that I've gone over.
Okay, I'm gonna get into the Palm Beach uh context context. Um so, um I've talked a little bit about the the impact. Um these are the pieces that across the state districts have been looking at in terms of the impact that
could happen if a school of hope were to open on one of our campuses. Whether it be the financial, the services, there's also operational, right? um taking the time to figure out how to have two very distinct schools on the same campus, um
two governing bodies, two uh decision makers, two um responsibilities to our students, right? At the end of the day, they are servicing students that would be in Palm Beach County. How do we make it all happen on our campuses? um the
sharing of the facilities and the collocation. Um the statute requires that the charter school or the hope operator receive contiguous space. So that would mean that you would have to reconfigure how you use your campuses.
Um making sure that they have their space and and the traditional public school has uh their space and that um it is all you know in one area per school. The other piece is that there are um the statute does require shared spaces. So
you have to figure out the schedule to be able to share the cafeteria, to be able to share the gymnasium, um even the front office. So any communal technical communal spaces, think about your living room, your kitchen, um having to share that space with uh another school that
once again is their own entity. They are not necessarily family members. they are their own um community members and and get to make their own decisions for their schools. Um and and as the statute and I'm I'm sure we are all aware that
the law doesn't always say exactly what is meant or or what can be done. Um there are some broad categories that are left open. So what does that mean in terms of custodial staff and sharing of custodial staff? What does that mean in terms of materials and technology in the
classrooms? um that is not immediately clear in the collocation of the schools of hope on districtrun campuses. And then of course the impact is a is a time drain, a resource drain. Um there is lots of time I I will very candidly say
these uh and I'm going to get to this in a moment. The notices came out November 11th. You have 20 days to respond. So that meant that I as well as uh some others spent our Thanksgiving break uh working on the responses that had to be done um based on the statute, right? So
um there is time that has to be allocated to responding to and and going through the steps and process of the statute. So lots of intended or projected impact um lots of uh intended and unintended consequences of the
changes to this statute. All right. So then when we think about the uh school district of Palm Beach County, there were statewide impacts with the changing of this statute. Um specifically in Palm Beach County, we
received uh over 50 notices uh from these hope well from charter school operators. I'll go into a second what I mean by that. Um, so the rule came into effect November 11th, November 11th at approximately 12:02, 12:04 and uh um 12
12:06 in the morning, we received building notices from these charter school operators um that started the clock rolling in terms of our timeline in responding to them. Now, the first two, Bridge Prep and Somerset, these two
um charter school operators were not on that designated list of hope operators. So going back to that chart that I showed, they are not one of the seven that the state has uh said are eligible to be hope operators. So we immediately responded back to them and said because
you do not meet that eligibility um uh your um your notice is rejected. Now Mater Academy is one of the hope operators and so we had to walk through the process of our response to Mater Academy. they um did building notices
for 15 schools. Uh and so the statute requires that you have to al you have to schedule time with the hope operator to go and visit that campus. They are allowed to see how you're using the campus, see what and envision what their
use of the campus could be. So, we had to schedule 15 facility tours and then we also by statute have to allow them building layout access so that they can once again see the layout of the the school building to see how they could potentially use that space. So, we
responded to Meter Academy for these 15 building notices allowing them the opportunity to tour our facilities as well as look at the building layouts. They did not respond. Okay. So, we by statute, we met our deadlines. We gave them the time to do that. We even uh
gave them the opportunity because it is a quick turnaround. It's a five-day turnaround and a 10-day turnaround. If they wanted to um schedule uh a time after that that we they could do that at a mutually beneficial time. To date, we still have not heard back from them.
Okay. All right. All right. So, um, also required in statute is a response to the building notice, excuse me, that, um, speaks to, um, whether you are going to enter into agreement with the
hope operator or whether you are going to object or reject the uh, building notice. So for each school that the uh that Mater Academy submitted a building notice for, we responded to them uh as to why we were were rejecting their
notice or why it was as a statute calls a material impracticability for them to colllocate on one of our campuses. So starting at the top left, our first uh um reason for why they should not be even one opening up a school of hope but
definitely colllocating on one of our campuses is that we are an A-rated high-erforming school district. Uh none of our schools uh earned below a C uh last year. And so our argument is that we are not in need of the services of a
hope operator because not only are we performing well, but our schools that have maybe in the past been uh not high performing there are making progress and they are on their way to performing um uh much better. And so our argument was
we're doing what we need to for our students. This is a school of hope is not needed. as well as the fact that as a high-erforming school district we should be exempt from the school of hope statute. So that is something um that is one of the arguments that we made. Now
specifically in the statute the um uh the only reason that you can reject a building notice is not just because you don't want to adopt as Mr. Pagan uh made the analogy. It's not just because you want you have to show that it is not feasible. you cannot uh have a school of
hope open on one of your campuses. And so then the rest of these uh reasons are the reasons that we said it is a material impracticability for Mater Academy to open on one of our campuses. So insufficient capacity. Um the state
has a uh it's called a fish report. The state has a report that they put out that tells um publishes to the uh public as well as to the school district what the capacity of each school is and how much is unutilized. Um some of those numbers are inaccurate. Um they are they
are lagging a year behind and so they don't account for things like uh the um improvements that we're making on our school campuses. They don't account for changes in numbers. And so one of our reasons for rejection was you have that that school is at 40% uh utilization but
actually it's at 80% this year based on the improvements that have been made on that campus. So it was a correction that was needed there. In terms of IRS restrictions, uh some of our schools are built with um uh funds using it's called cops. Um, long story short, uh, there
are restrictions in how you can use that, uh, campus based on where we got the funds to build those campuses. And so there are some IRS implications that, uh, could restrict a, yes, nonprofit charter operator coming onto that campus, depending on how they use the
campus. If there is any for-profit um business or that's being transacted, it would it would mean um more conversation that is typically had in terms of how a uh charter school uses their funds. Um I'll go to the next one, the CTE choice
program enhancements. Um Mr. Oswald alluded to a presentation that will be made to this body uh in future meetings, but we have a very robust plan in which we are expanding and enhancing our choice programming. Um that also means
that we're using our space effic more efficiently and differently. And so in order to implement that multi-year plan, we need to be able to have the space on our campuses to um enhance our choice and technical education. And so if we
have a charter operator who comes to our campus, then we can't use the space as we have intended. We also have some amazing community partnerships that utilize space on our campus um and as well as some projected uses um over the next five years and how we want to use
our campuses. One way or one example is Childfind. we have on our a few of our campus child has um uh is using the space for their operations in partnership with our school district with that um that does not show up on
that report that I was talking about in terms of capacity. it doesn't show up that we are using um uh that space to work with our community and therefore to the um charter school operator it may look like we have um 20 classrooms that
are not being utilized but in in effect we may only have five that may um be open and available. Um so having a school of hope colllocated on a campus could impact those partnerships that we have. We also have existing
programs that don't necessarily show up on that same report in which we h we have uh for example our um uh ESC units. Um you know a a school capacity or a classroom capacity may be that you're
supposed to have 18 students in that classroom. Um but for some of our ESC units we may only have five depending on what um you know the students needs are for that room. um because of that, you then use more classrooms that does not
show up on that um that capacity report by the state. And so if a school of hope were to come onto our campus, it would mean that um we would have to change how we have those programs laid out on our campuses. Um and then of course security
and uh safety. having two uh different schools on the same campus could be uh logistical issues in terms of um one of the requirements by statute is that we have a um single point of entry on our campuses. Now imagine running two
distinct schools ha at the same time and um you know having parents of of both schools coming onto your campus or having or exiting campus or having different programs on your campus. it could be a logistical nightmare um in that once again both of those schools
are their own entity and so they get to dictate how things happen on that campus and then another issue that arose was incompatible student populations. So uh some of the schools that Mater Academy identified were they have elementary,
middle and high schools um but they identified them for different student populations. So they might have identified, for example, a middle school and then said that they were going to open a K8 or a K12. Well, in our district, we are very um uh intentional
about the facilities that we have for our different um students. Uh our K3 bathrooms are very different than our middle school bathrooms, for example. And so to put students in um all of these age groups without taking that into consideration and the charter
school doesn't necessarily have to take that into consideration. We said that it the student populations being on the same campus could um lead to some issue. So these are all of the reasons um we went school by school very specifically. We looked at the we worked with the
principles. We looked at uh how we're using those campuses and for each school we sent a letter back to Mater Academy um identifying what the material impracticability was and why it um we were rejecting their building notice um
for collocation. All right. So where are we? So um we sent our rejection notices to Mater Academy. As I stated to date we still have not heard back from them. Um, I'll go back statewide. Um, the governor,
Governor Dantis has stated on a few different occasions. Our legislators have stated on a few different occasions that um, the outcome that has happened thus far was not the intended outcome. Um, it was supposed to be limit limited
applicability. Um there was a celebration of sorts that happened in Miami Dade for the five schools that success academy uh identified as wanting to colllocate on. Um multiple uh legislators have said when we you know when this was making its way through the
legislature, we didn't think that it would have this widespread impact across the state. Um but the wording in the legislation allows for that. And so what they are looking at in this legislative session 2026 is to look at the wording,
look at uh some of those unintended consequences of the legislation from last year and see if there are any fixes. So, at a minimum, what our school board has is lobbying for has asked for
um is that the requirement for the school of hope to compensate the district for whatever services are provided at least restore that at a minimum. Let's not um you know uh sponsor these schools of hope at the detriment of our students who are in our
traditional um public schools. at a minimum. Um the bills that you see here are actually looking to eliminate the provisions that were put into place in 2025 uh and um uh not allow the schools of hope to colllocate. So, these go a
little bit further than even the minimum that is being asked for across the state. uh to tighten those parameters back up to um restore it back to the um intended purpose of working with schools that districts have traditionally had
difficulty uh moving achievement, bringing in models that have been successful not only in Florida but across the nation with some of these uh hope operators and to put those parameters in place that does not have such a significant impact on our
traditional schools. So, with that, that was a very quick uh run through of where we're at with Schools of Hope. Um, I am happy to take any questions um and do my best to answer them. >> Yes.
>> Um, those um letters of rejection look like they might have taken quite a bit of time to they're very in depth. I was curious, what is the threshold to determine that a school is considered underenrolled and how many do we have in the county? >> That is a great question. So, and sorry
um uh for those of you who don't know, I'm a a lawyer by profession. So, um when I make jo jokes about the law, know that it's uh coming from the heart. Um so, the law does not specifically state what is underutilized or underenrolled.
Uh so there are um different thresholds that have been looked at across the state. Um when we looked at it, we you know very um peripherilally looked at it at 50%. Um but it that there is no
distinction, right? So it could be that a school is at 80% utilization and a hope operator says, "Well, we want to come in and use your 20%." uh it could be that a a school is at 40%. And that uh hope operator comes in and says we want to use that uh other
60%. um across the state. We saw that particularly for the Mater notices um the Mater Academy basically said whatever um by that fish report that report that comes from the state whatever um utilization that is is not
being you or whatever capacity is not being used we're going to say that over the next 5 years we're going to fill up that capacity. Um but there is not um a threshold. Just a quick question. >> M uh chair postal.
>> Chair postal, you had your hand up. >> Yes, I did have a question uh regarding I I I missed my question, but I am here. Um >> I'm I'm at the front desk. I I forgot my question just that quickly. You can come back to me. Okay,
>> Mr. Bean. Just a quick question. The way this was born was more political motivated than anything else because you see unfort unfort unfortunately it's not about education. It is about the political drive that is behind the scene
and then behind that the funding that is available is coming from where is it federal funds that normally you cannot touch or is it state funds that is easier to get. So it is all of the above. In order for a hope oper in order
for a charter school operator to be designated as a hope operator, they have one of the requirements is that um they have to have received a federal grant or one of the ways that they can become a hope operator is to receive a federal grant. So there is money there. Um but
the um in terms of the funding, the funding is coming from the state and it is that FTE the same FTE that the school district gets that hope operator would also get for whatever students that they enroll. So depending on the county whatever
county it might be is a drive is on one side Democrats or Republicans it's going to go depending what this force is moving it >> there is definite um uh advocacy uh in
the current administration for uh schools of hope not necessarily as it has been implemented um because of the fact that it the their intent as it's being stated was not for it to be so widespread across the state. Um if we
look at the headlines, if we look at what has been stated, um the intention was to allow um this to happen starting in Miami Dade and then to move across the state. So um specifically success
academy which is a um hope operator out of New York um New York actually has this same model in which um they are able to colllocate on the campuses in New York. Um and that is where a lot of this wording and a lot of the opening of
parameters came from was the New York model in which success academy has seen success in uh colllocate. They have seen success not necessarily the public schools there uh in colllocating on those campuses. So the intended outcome was to allow success academy to open up
in Miami Dade and then probably to see where it would go from there. But there is definite support um from the current administration on this >> and their argument and I think you stated this is that it's a good use of taxpayers dollars to to do this
>> right so that is you know a a point that is being made out there that you know if we have underutilized or underenrolled campuses these are buildings that are already being paid with taxpayer dollars. charter schools are uh technically public schools. So, it just
makes sense uh for a charter school to be able to use that open space. But for all the reasons that uh I went through in terms of the impact of the collocation, but also the what is not necessarily being put out there is that
it's not a one for one just come onto the campus. If I go back to the house analogy, it's not just because you have an extra room open and available. So it just makes sense to allow somebody to come into that space. There is a cost associated with that person or that
community member coming in and using that space. And so you know as you all are out there in the community and and these conversations continue, it's important to um identify the fact that it's not a you know no cost situation.
there are costs associated with a school of hope colllocating um in on in one of our campuses. So good morning. I finally made it on in the room. Um I guess my question in
respect to the locations in hearing about the school of hope which the parent teacher association I got to say in Palm Beach County and as well as the state of Florida throughout the state of Florida we are we have someone more than one we have at least a minimum
of two people every single day um during session who will be walking the halls we're following this bill along with several other bills including SP 318 um the scholarship. Is it true that it's not just a space
where hey because when you hear what's the problem with kids having a space where they can you know utilize or can be educated. It's not just a space for education. It's also we have to f find a space for their whole administrative
um >> processes or their whole administrative group as well. It's not not just not just a room that they're getting educated. >> It's not just the classroom. It is the the front offices. It is the um as I
said the gymnasium. It's the cafeteria. It's the um you know the playground space. It's all of those pieces. Um whereas you know if it's if it's a even if we were to say two district-run schools that were wanted to be on the
same campus that's very different than two separate entities being on the same campus and you know following their own uh rules following their own standards following however they um you know want to educate students on that campus. it
is managing two very different systems in that same space but also having to provide um space that is already being used whether it's the front office or those other communal spaces um that would lead to some difficulty. I remembered my other question. So, may I
have a followup? Um, the question that I previously had, >> you're the chair. >> The question that I previously remembered was it um to the district take into pers into perspective or did they take into
consideration the pullouts like the students who need extra time to um take testing? And from the other respective side, they have also a commitment to additional testings and pullouts. My my son benefits from that, right? Did we
take into consideration of those aspects? And well, the statute doesn't take that into consideration because the statute only is looking at numbers and space. And so yes, one of the arguments that we made is that a collocation is going to have a negative impact on our
existing programs and our existing use of that space whether it is our um ESC units or it is um you know the pullouts or it is using you know those spaces for our choice and career programming. We
use our space um to the best of our ability and for the benefit of our students. And so, um, what doesn't show up on that state report is how we use it. Um, and, you know, one of the reasons it was welcomed for the operator to come and, you know, tour the facility
so that they would see while it may look like, you know, we have all of this space, this is actually how we're we're using that space. >> Okay. >> Just another quick question. Has there been any independent third-party organization taken a look at the
benefits or not benefits of a program like this that could be independently evaluated without being party lean you know or just money lean you know that is going why what is the real benefit of this
>> so not at this time that I am aware of there could be organizations that are looking at it this is new right so there is not um technically a school of hope under this new um or these this updated statute that has been established yet.
Um but we do have the example from New York in which if you talk to um those who are in education in New York, they will tell you very quickly that it has actually had either a negative impact or has made no difference. Right? So the students who are attending these schools
of hope, the New York version, um aren't seeing any um technical uh more success than the students who are in the traditionally operated schools. Um but I mean that's you know the New York model. I don't know of um any research that's
been done in Florida >> and I can tell you that just from my because I worked in New York and in New York City and the Bronx and school within a school was a common practice but that was under the New York uh DOE
board of eder operators. I think is the evolution of charters in New York where kind of school within a school had those kinks were kind of worked out over time that this evolution well let's just push the
charter in. Um, however, when it was a school within the school when I was there, you still had to share those costs >> of the overhead. >> At at minimum, that's what we're asking for, right? If this legislation is going to stay how it is, at minimum, the cost
should be shared um rather than simply because it takes that funding away from the student who is still uh enrolled in the traditional public school. And I got to give credit to um Miss U. Morgan. she
did attend a statewide webinar um alongside uh the president and also she she does wears several other hats um from New York um and some other individuals and it was well attended and
some of the parents that were in that comment from the same system the New York system echoes the same um nuances regarding this school of hope or collocation Any other questions for me?
>> I the last question that I have, what do you recommend from a parent standpoint? What should we be doing? What do you recommend for each uh community member that is here today? What should they be doing? Um because I can tell you not
enough administrators, teachers know about this. It's probably starting to beef up. A lot of parents don't know about this and it's starting to beef up, but um how can we get this out in one, how can we get this presentation out into the community so that more people
are educated and not biased education but factualbased education. And then the second part of the question is um what would be your whether it's a oneliner or um ending closing final thing for
everyone in this body to take back? So, a great question. Um, I would say one definitely getting the word out there. Um, there are lots of sound bites uh in terms of schools of hope. One of which being well, you know, it's all publicly
funded, so you know, we should be able to use the space just like any other. Um, but not necessarily the piece about the uh costs that are associated with it. Um, you know, I think the argument of um, you know, it's all tax taxfunded
property, it's all taxfunded education, so it shouldn't matter is um, not only disingenuous, but it doesn't show the whole picture. And so getting that information out into the community of how um, a school of hope uh, collocation
not only impacts the district as a whole, but also impacts the the students on that campus. Right? It's one thing to say that the district is going to have to spend between 1,700 and $2,000 per student for a colloccated school, but also what is that impact at the school
level for your children who attend that traditionally run public school. Um whether it's the safety and security, it's that sharing of the spaces, it's changing of, you know, the the schedule to accommodate for having a a whole different school on that campus. Um
there are significant impacts uh at the school level. And then, you know, you see these these two bills that are running right now. Um, you know, we're we are unclear as to what will be picked up by the legislature because there is a
at least base level of support for schools of hope in um the current legislature and um administration. And so, just advocating like I said at a minimum that the cost be shared at a
minimum if nothing else. um uh ideally to not have schools of hope uh colllocate on our campuses, but at a minimum that advocacy is super important. Um and just making sure that the community is informed as to what this looks like real time. It's one
thing theoretically to think about um schools of hope and and having the opportunity to help um students who are um you know academically struggling or are in um lowincome areas. But the school district of Palm Beach County, we
are doing a good job and we are um you know moving to doing an even better job as we work through this. Um and so there is opportunity there. There always is opportunity for us to be doing better and that's what we're working toward. This is not necessarily the answer at
least in Palm Beach County. I won't speak for the whole state, but this um this is not it for Palm Beach. And from an advocacy standpoint, I urge um all of you that are here and on the call um you see these bills, take a look at and I I
will probably do a followup um through staff and share the contacts. Take a look at these bills. So on the Senate side and on the House side, we at a bare minimum, if you are not for this particular um legislation,
I urge that you definitely reach out to the education committee and the subcommittees that could possibly um and voice your concern. Whatever way you feel about it, reach out to the education committee and subcommittee and voice your concern or your comments or
whatever the case may be. I'm not telling you how to, but I am saying from PTA, we certainly oppose this particular uh legislation because it does impact our children and there is so many nuances and not shared, you know, we
would definitely take into consideration as we um are advocating the shared costs, but as a mother of four, I personally can say I don't support any of this legislation because you can't tell me how you're going to keep my
children safe uh from you know nuances that could be happening on a different school within our school. You can't tell me how you are going to you know um monitor what officer is over here and we have our school district police over there. You can't and you know we barely
have police officers in in our case right we barely have mental health staff and now I have to we have to share it with another group who is not going to provide the funding for that additional mental health capacity. I think it's it's certainly a nuance and it is um
totally against everything that we do as a outsider who have to pay the cost to rent the facilities um as a parent but also as a nonprofit who have to pay for facility costs when I want to use a building. I think it's a slap in our
face to say that we can have another entity come use the facility at no cost and I have to pay for an officer. I have to pay for the janitor. I have to pay as a community a nonprofit that support the students here in this district. I have
to pay all these additional costs. And now we're saying that a an organization can just come in and don't have to pay. >> I just have one more question. As an agency that could be impacted by this, we provide services in the school and finding space is always a struggle. The
thought that there is extra space everywhere is mindboggling to me. Um, so we are very interested in spreading the word because at um, if you just look at this overall, it probably sounds really good to a lot of people. I thought it
was until you went to that big slide. Um, is there an easy way to find a list of the important um, emails and names to Can you make that easy for us so that we can >> we can we'll we'll make that easy and we can also um share a way that you can
track these bills and see exactly where they are, how they're happening at no cost. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Just another quick comment. You know, obviously this is going to take education to the parents, >> but it so happened that you have quite a percentage of parents that do not speak
English. So therefore the information has to be available at least in three languages. >> Absolutely. >> English, >> Spanish, Creole. >> And Creole is the fastest growing third language in this county. >> So it have to be available so that the parents know because the kids are not
going to tell them, >> right? >> You know, but the parents said, "What's going on? What is that?" >> Absolutely. >> You know, so it is something that definitely education. Education. >> Absolutely. Now Keith, this might be a staff question. >> No. Um, with the staff question, is this
something that could happen where we >> This can be maybe a town hall, educational town hall or something that's in the community to share this information or Miss Morgan. >> Uh, I think we'd have to probably take that back to the superintendent >> leadership. Yeah.
>> Okay. >> We could talk. >> I mean, I think we have to be cautious. we are, you know. >> Yes, >> madam chair. >> I'm sure other events could definitely hold there. >> I heard madam chair I don't know where it's coming from. >> Hey, this is Reggie. Um, yeah, it is a
good idea to share the information. However, I would suggest that we have like a one page of the pro and con of this bill and that way when we send it to our parents when we're talking in public, we have that information to share. That would probably have to go for
someone else, not from the school district. >> Okay. >> Because >> we can share perspective, but to to create that kind of information put out, um, you know, >> Okay. >> We we've got to be cautious.
>> Well, through staff, we'll we'll figure it out. >> Yeah, we'll figure it out somehow. >> I have a question. You mentioned that there is an school open already in a Miami or is a prospect at this point. >> So no schools have no schools of hope have actually been opened yet. Um the
statute requires that the building notice or intent to open be submitted at least a year no more than two years prior to a school actually opening. So November 11th was the uh first date at which these building notices could be
submitted legally. Uh and so um that's when we saw across the state there was over 600 building notices that were submitted. Um Miami Dade seems to be one um if not out of a few that is actually
um having the conversations with their um hope operators to potentially open the schools. um across the state, a lot of rejection notices went out. Um but Miami Dade seems to be the county that is entertaining it, but not for all of
the ones that they received specifically for success academy at this time. >> So I have a question. So I know in Broward County they supposedly shut some schools down, right? So if a school of hope decided to open one of those
schools, would Broward be still be responsible for the capital operation of that school even though they are no longer capitalally operating that school. >> So not speaking on behalf of Broward or
any other school district, uh I have to give that disclaimer. Um uh it is likely that Broward would say no they don't have to provide those services. On the other side of that um I am sure that the charter operator would say you
must provide us those services because that's how what those are the services you provide districtwide. The statute >> is not clear uh as to h what has to be provided. Right. So I mean I we could do a a deep deep dive into
uh what that you know what specifically um is meant by the services and what has to be provided but I'm sure as would we if it came down to that Broward would say because we are not providing services at this school we don't have to provide those services the charter
school would say something different >> all right well thank you for the time glad I could bring uh some information >> Morgan thank you so so much. That was very insightful information. Um, mind-blowing actually. >> Excellent presentation.
>> Excellent. >> Thank you. Were there any questions online at all? >> You're right. >> I don't see any other hands raised online at this time. >> At this time, we'll um go further under our agenda to the unfinished business.
Mr. Oswald. >> Yes. I have um the request from Mariano Blanco to be removed from the subcommittee. Um so we would just need a a motion and a
second to approve that and we would just go with who's currently in. So that will help for quorum also in the future. >> Okay. >> Could I make the motion myself? >> Sure. You're a committee member. >> Okay. I I motion to remove myself from
the DDC subcommittee. >> It has been motioned um and sec it has been motioned and second to remove um can you tell me >> Mariana Blanco >> what's the organization >> uh Guatemalan Mayan Center
>> um Mariana Blanco from Guatemalan Mayan Center from the subcommittee meeting or subcommittee of the DDEC. Are there any objections to that motion? Sorry, this is sorry this is just a question. Are we talking about the the teacher quality
subcommittee? >> That is the current the only current >> only current active subcomittee. >> Um we um I'm sorry. Did you say currently on here? >> What what is the um organization?
>> Guatemalan Mayan Center. Mayan center. Sorry. >> Yeah, that is not a member of the subcommittee. Okay, thank you. >> Well, then okay, >> I think she was it could just in case >> well in the in the future overall
subcommittee um because I think the the teacher was an ad hoc committee of the subcommittee but overall subcommittee Mariana Blanco I'm going to accept that motion as it is uh because she said subcommittee and not the um
not the ad hoc committee. So um with the motion we'll continue. Are there any objections to the motion that has been moved and second? No objection. Motion carries. Any other unfinished business to come before the body?
>> None. >> Hearing none at this time. The only item that's on the agenda. I do have an announcement. Any um any announcements? Okay. Uh this week, this weekend, Florida parent teacher association will be having their ledge con which is the
legislative conference in Tallahassee. We have made Palm Beach County side have made several um appointments with our legislators. Um so if there are any burning desires that's happening here in Palm Beach County um through staff if you send them to me by Friday, we'll
take a look at them and um see if we can include them in our talking points and our positions as we go up, especially if um they align with our mission. >> So Mr. Pot, >> just a quick question. want to thank the school district for participating in the
biggest multicultural event >> that we've been doing in Palm Beach County for the last 17 years. Totally multicultural representing 32 countries that are legal residents of the county, you know, and in this occasion at Fiesta
de Pueblo, you know, we had Venezuela and was represented by Mr. Frank Torres and Mrs. Diana Schneider from Spanish River High School. We have Fiesta Deo Puerto Rico represented by Miss Mariel Aosta from Royal Palm Beach Community
High School. Fiesta Devokua represented by Mirththa Chaparo from Forest High School. And I don't want to keep the list too long, you know, but it is about thank you. Let's keep moving. This is about growing education. education, you know, and you don't
forget where you came from and you still move forward and contribute to the community. That's the whole idea. Thank you. >> I'm sorry I missed it. It's a just absolutely fun event. >> I got to make this year. >> If you've never gone, please put on your calendar for next year because it's it's amazing.
>> It is. Thank you. At this time, I'll entertain an announcement. >> I I should probably said earlier, but just one uh announcement I want to make. Uh just we had a a number of passings unfortunately um at the school district this you know
end of the school year. So just um if you could keep their families uh in your thoughts and prayers. Um school board member uh Matthew Lane lost his wife um unexpectedly. Uh in addition uh some of you may know
our director of planning and uh intergovernmental relations uh Kristen Garrison. Um uh she also ran the ABC committee. Her team she unfortunately passed as well unexpectedly.
Um there were some others as well some spouses and stuff of principles and significant others. Uh but those are two that you you may have known. So um life is short. So please enjoy yourself in
this new 2026 year. >> And that Thank you. That's all I have. >> Thank you. That concludes um the DDEC meeting. Uh may I have a motion? >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second.
Reggie >> 11 11:37. Yes, he's fine. Yep. >> Uh motion adjourned at 11:37. You get to take back um roughly about 20 minutes of your time. >> Thank you. >> Thank you all. Have a great >> Have a great day.
>> Thank you everyone.