--------- So, um, did you all have a chance to read the minutes from March? And by the way, I will say I noticed this morning that I had a typo on one word and in the March minutes I also
said um motion to approve the the um Oh, never mind. I was never mind. That was not a wrong thing. Okay, I'm clearly uh still on my first cup of coffee this morning. What can I say? Um so I just corrected
the little typo, but um do you need do uh Marcus and Sabrina, do you need a minute to read the a minute to read the minutes or um if not then we can go ahead and approve those?
>> I've read the minutes. Go ahead and uh yeah, I've read the minutes. Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt, Sabrina. >> No, no worries. I was going to say the same thing. >> Okay. So, um, one of you has to make the motion, the other has to second. >> Okay. I make the motion to approve the
minutes. >> I'll second. >> All right. Uh, all in favor? >> I >> I >> Okay. Um All right. So I am going to share my screen
that has the uh draft um of the that we sent out that will be the draft of our um recommendations to the DDC that we are asking them to recommend to the school board. So let me see
share that. All right. Um can you all see the the draft? >> Yes. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. So this was sent out previously um and you know we basically I took took
our rough draft that we created in the last uh meeting and just words smmith it a little. So it started with a a um indication of what the problem is that we are addressing and um
so then I believe it was Cassandra who had uh I think was a very nice suggested update. Did you all get that or would you like me to read her her suggested change to the problem? >> If you could read it that would be
fantastic. >> Okay. So, so we started with a very short and succinct problem. Some schools are chronically staffed with less effective teachers. And Cassandra sent a very nice change. The problem being,
Palm Beach County schools face ongoing challenges in staffing high need schools with effective highquality teachers, resulting in persistent vacancies and high turnover rates. These environments often place increased demands on
educators without sufficient support, leading to burnout and limiting teacher retention. As a result, students, particularly those in historically underserved communities, experience inconsistent access to strong instruction impacting both academic
outcomes and overall school stability, which to me sounds just um beautiful. Very nice. Sounds great. >> Summary. >> Um, >> would anybody like to make any sh I mean
I suggest obviously we use that as our stated problem rather than our our little short one that we started with. Um, would anybody like to make changes to what Cassandra suggested? >> No, I think I think that's fine to move
forward with. um it at least allows the the board to ponder um what's been submitted and we can anticipate some kind of questions
or feedback along what's been said. >> Right. Okay. So then the next part so that you know our recommendation had a a statement of the problem which we'll now use the suggested one. Um and then
the what we were asking the DDEC to ask the school board to do the three things we had was identify the policies, practices and other conditions that are obstacles to filling hard to staff schools with the most effective teachers
is one. Two, change those policies and practices that contribute to the problem. And then three, adopt practices that will set up teachers for success at the most challenging schools. And that had some sub bullets about
professional development, school culture, resources, and teacher retention. So, what I thought we should do is just look at the the very nicely stated
problem that Cassandra gave us and see if we need to um word smith or add anything to our to our suggestions there based on um you know based on the problem that she did that
she suggested. Um I mean like I think she did a really good job of pointing out that the environments place increased demands on educators without sufficient support. Um now I don't know if we need to go into all that and what we're asking them to do because it's basically we're
asking them to identify the policies, practices and other conditions that are obstacles. Um, so you know, we we don't need to necessarily repeat everything we've said
in the the problem statement. Um, but we might want to do a little word smithing. U, what are your thoughts? I think I think it'll be good to keep things as is.
>> Okay. >> And submit it to the board and that way we can at least get something in front of them that that they can again they can look at talk about. Um sorry I had my camera off. Um >> that's okay. Um, I think it'd be good just just to
present it as is. Um, and then these these are questions that will probably engage the board and have them think about um maybe some follow-up questions because the the dialogue is is what's going to be important for for this subcommittee and we've, as you all know,
we've met for quite some time and just to get to this point, >> right? >> Um, so I'd rather it's not going to be perfect. Um, and I I don't think it has to be. I think it it touches some of the or touches the things that we want it to
touch and and it helps us to um I believe work with the board and help them understand what's needed. Um because each of these questions are going to be things that that's going to challenge them to think about how to meet the need,
>> right? I I I agree. and and also keeping in mind that these are are subcommittee recommendations to the DDEC and then I'm sure the DDC itself is going to talk about changes to these recommendations before it goes forward to the board
itself. >> Agreed. Agreed. That's and that's um obviously that's the goal I'm thinking with the end in mind of course. Um I do expect this, you know, I'm faithful. I do expect this to get to the board. Um but yes, I do agree that that the DEEC
does need to um does need to uh to make any adjustments that it sees fit. Um and and hopefully dialogue will exist in the DD DDC
um to have the DDC think about things of this life. So, um, yeah, I'm I'm all for just just moving it forward as it is. And, um, if we need to rebuild it, then that's fine. But, um, this is I think this is a good
landing place. >> I agree. I like the way that it's stated. Now, I would just maybe suggest and I would like to hear your opinion about adding um another practice suggestion like possibly about working
with community partners to help support training needs and like I guess parents but school culture, however you want to word that. >> Yeah, community partners is definitely important. We want to engage in
community as we engage um our our educators, right? Because that's that's who th those are the key um the key people, you know, the people that on the ground every day with with our young people. >> Exactly. And so if if they have the
support of the community and if if the community has demonstrated um you know just demonstrated consistent interest something to get them engaged consistently I would agree that um that's that
that's forward looking. So it may be something that I thought I thought that there was something in there a question in there a portion in this in what we have now that kind of bro on the subject of community involvement. >> Yeah because I know that it's been
mentioned before. I mean I was thinking more along the lines of training but I like the way that it's worded now. This kind of popped into my head because I work for FAU Center for Autism and Related Disabilities and I know that um recently there has been legislation
passed that something about um like autism related training um and professional development >> will be through CARD um and CARD services. So I was thinking something along those lines like how could we help support professional development in in
some of these hard to staff schools? It it looks like for now that that discussion is is captured in that question. >> Yeah, that's what I was >> sense. >> Yeah. Well, I was thinking because really it's it's a big it's a big
umbrella like you know training certainly would be a big one but then I think of like remember back in our first meetings when I forget maybe it was Dr. Alsworth or Mr. Oswald talking about how, you know, at some schools the community brings in breakfast once a
month for the teachers and right >> uh it gives gift cards and things like that. There's I think there's a lot of ways that the community could really help um help the teachers in those hard to staff schools.
>> 100%. I agree. >> Agreed. >> All right. Um, so do we want to just say this is our recommendation that we'll take forward to the uh DDEC today and um and we're done. >> Yeah, I mean I think it looks good
unless we >> I agree. >> Think of any other >> other suggestions, but I think these kind of encompass all of our goals. >> Okay. Well, I want to thank you both for
uh we've slogged through a long year, year and a half. I think it's been a real learning experience for me. Um you know, be since being outside of the school system, you know, it's learning some of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes kind of
things. But um you know it it it ended up being much tougher than we thought it was going to be. But I'm really glad that we stuck with it. And um I think you know what we have going forward to the board is, you know, basically what
we're hoping really comes out of this is that the board is going to take this on and then be reporting back to the DDC. And hopefully this will be an ongoing thing because obviously it's not something like they just you know do one change and that's it. So um so thank you
to everybody and um and we actually have you know 35 minutes of our time back. >> Awesome. Thank you all. >> Wonder there there's one correction um where it says high need it needs to say high
needs schools. on the um report. >> Yep. >> And then um where the lines are, I would replace those with commas because those
are common with um chat GPT where it says like um as a result student line particularly. It's common with chat GPT Gemini kind of things. So I would put like commas instead. >> Got it. >> Yeah. >> Yep. Or semicolon. Or I would change
that. terrible because I love the M dash and I used a lot. >> I do. I I love it, too. But now the chat the chatty or my my little chatty and Gemini, they use that all the time. So, you kind of have to change that up because people automatically assume that's what you used.
>> Oh, that is very interesting. I never in a million years. Actually, I was thinking, you know how in the problem we call it high need schools and then in the like in number one, we're we're talking about hard to staff schools. Should we change the hard to staff to
high needs? >> Um I Well, I that's up to you, but I just wanted you to change the um and I don't I don't know if you need the uh dash in between the the what is it called? The dash >> I need
>> the hyphen in between. I should know that because my daughter's name is Nina Hyphen Simone. So, I should know I should know what that is because I I named her that um I I'm on my first cup of coffee also, Sue. Um >> the um >> I have to say I I just took it out in
the little the little uh >> Yeah. So, I I don't think you need that, but this is the report you're turning in to DDEC. And so they may make um changes to it um when you turn it turn it into
them. So you guys can discuss that then. >> Okay. Yeah. All right. Um that also gives me a little thing on the school. How does school culture? I think we'll do that. Okay, that sounds good. I
will take out the draft and present this um at our meeting at 10 o'clock. I'll see you all then. Thanks everybody. >> Thank you. See you then. Part: 2
is Charmaine. Um I I am online, but I just also wanted you to know that um both myself and um the vice chair will be online. I actually had a prior commitment today that I totally miss on my calendar. Um so I will be on line
versus in person today. >> Okay, we will make it work. We are flexible. >> Thank you. Um, so I know it's 10 o'clock. Are we readjusting from previous meeting or are
we good to start? >> Um, we're >> to identify quum. >> We're trying to see if we have quorum, but give us one sec if you want to call and then adjourn while we kind of assess it here. >> Uh, at the time now is 10:01. Today is
um, April 24th. um DDEC meeting um Charmaine Postal online as the DDC chair. Um at this time we will sit at ease until we identify if a quorum is present
too. >> Yes, I can admit people. >> Few minutes we'll call the role to establish if a quorum is present. >> Jessica Bean. That's good. Jessica just came. >> Yeah. Um, Miss uh, Chair Posal, if you want to
go ahead and recall, I think we'll do I think we're pretty close, but we got to go by agency. So, Miss Simmons will do roll call when you call back to order. Uh, >> um, thank you. Reconvening at 10:02 a.m.
Um, Madame Secretary or Miss Simmons, please call the role. >> Good morning. Um, adopt a family. Jessica Pagan >> present online. >> I'm sorry, I have to adjust.
>> Um, best foot forward. Debbie Elman present online. I apologize. My camera is not working. >> Best foot forward. Karen Spagnard, Black Chamber of Commerce of Palm Beach County. Cassandra Oliver,
>> present online, >> card at FAU. Sabrina Del Gois online >> 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, um Dr. Cassandra Corbinis, >> Connect to Greatness,
Andre Thatis, >> present online, >> District ESC Advisory Committee. Susan Rodriguez, District ESse Advisory Committee. Michelle Bey, Division of Blind Service,
>> present online. >> That's Caesar VGO. >> Yes, Caesar Vgo. >> Economic Council of Palm Beach County. Craig McKenzie, Els Jupiter. Susan Whitbeck, Florida Hispanic American Chamber of
Commerce. Juan Pagan, >> presented. >> Florida Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce Commerce, Palm Beach County. Evelyn Vargas for the children. Reggie
Dundy's >> Gold Coast Down Syndrome Sue Davis Killian >> present online >> Guatemalan Mayan Center Mariana Blanco >> um person online I'm here on behalf of
Mariana Blanco my name is Myra Cardinas So, so it's Mari Maria Cardinz. >> A Y R A Maria Cardinz. >> Okay. Maria. So, Mariana Blanco is not here. >> That is correct. >> Okay. Thank you, baby. Hispanic Chamber
of Commerce of Palm Beach County. Maria Artuna, Hispanic Education Coalition of Palm Beach County. Hector Pietro Pedro, NAACP, South Palm Beach County branch. Dietrich Straw
>> present online. >> Palm Beach County Council of PTA. Charmaine Postol >> present online. >> Palm Beach County Council of PTA. Marcus Brown >> present online. >> Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.
Avon Gordine >> present in person. >> Tri Tri City Education Committee. Eddie Rhodess >> here online. >> Tri City Education Committee. Mary Evans,
Urban League of Palm Beach County. Vince Barbier, Urban League of Palm Beach County. Terrence Reed, I thought I let Terrence in. Oh, wait. Let me see.
She said, "Wait, somebody's in the waiting room." She said, Okay, check please. Volunteer Association of America. Wooden Pierre. Um, Volunteer Association of America.
Carlen Paul. Is that who? Classroom Teacher Association. Gordon Longhoffer. All right, let me see. Um, if we have quum. One, two, three, four, five. >> Just let it,
>> six, seven, eight. Huh? >> I just let Terrence read. >> 10 11 12 You just let Terrence read in. >> Yes, I'm in. >> Okay, let me make sure. One. I think we
have qu one, two, three, four, five. >> Uh, Miss Alman, I don't see uh Karen in the waiting room. >> All right, wait. Now I have one popping up. Hold on.
>> We have 14. So, we have corn. Here comes Gordon. >> Gordon Longhoffer just joined. Oh, >> Jordan, we have Corum. >> Okay, >> seeing that we have quorum, thank you so much. Welcome. Um and if you have joined um at the time that you've joined,
please and you didn't hear your name call, just um note that the staff is identifying who you are and we'll um put you on the roster as a agency or organization that is present
at this time. Um again, welcome everybody and good morning. At this time we are going to move on in the agenda with public comment. Public comment is two minutes. Do we have anyone from the public that is in person? Mr. Oswald,
>> um, did you want to introduce guests first? >> Oh, I do apologize. Yes. Um, at this time, anyone who name was not called as far as an agency that's represented on the DDEC, please introduce yourself starting with those that's online and
tell us how you're affiliated. >> Hi, good morning. This is Karen Spagnardi from Best Foot Forward. I missed the introduction. I was stuck getting trying to get in. >> Thank you. >> Good morning, Gordon Longaul first president. I think I heard my name
briefly as it was just coming in, but not sure if it got reported. So, happy to be here. Thank you. >> At this time, anyone in the room who um was name was not called, please introduce yourself, including staff for the record. >> I think uh Miss Branch, I believe, trying to see I think you're still
online. Yep. Good morning. Happy to be here. >> All right. In the room. We'll start uh over here. Miss Charles. >> Good morning. Nadilia Charles, Esau, program planner with the Department of
Multicultural Education. >> Good morning everyone. Happy Friday. I am Christian Garete, associate director for the Department of Multicultural Education. Good morning everyone. I'm Dr. Patricia Ordonius Feliciano and I am the executive director for multicultural
education and school transformation. And good morning. Um I'm Dr. Mary Cla Misenic and I'm the director of uh the department of behavioral and mental health for the school district. >> Um good morning everybody. Jannina
Simmons, manager of compliance and special projects under student health and wellness. Good morning. Keith Oswwell, chief of student health and wellness. >> And good morning everyone. Pete Stewart. I'm the health education specialist and
also work on Rethink Ed. >> And madam chair, that's everyone. >> Thank you so much and welcome to all of our visitors and guests from different departments that have joined us today. Um at this time update approval of
minutes from the previous meeting. I will entertain a motion at this time. >> Motion. >> Motion by Juan Pagan. >> Second. >> Second by Mr. Eddie Rhodess.
Any objections? Motion carries. Um at this time, update from the DDC ad hoc committee subcommittee that met this morning if there was a meeting. >> Good morning. This is Sue. Uh we did
meet this morning and we finalized our recommendations um to the DDC that we would like the DDC to take forward. Um I sent them to Taiisha after our meeting this morning about um 30 45 minutes ago.
Uh Tisha, you had said that you were forwarding them to Mr. Alswward for approval. So, do we need to do that before the DDEC discusses it or can we go ahead and do it? >> So, she Let me see if I have them. She
um her nephew is on the honor role and they're having a presentation uh award ceremony at JFK Middle School. So, she's I just um allowed her to go to attend and support her nephew. >> She's nice. Yes. >> Yes.
Um But you can share what was discussed on the subcommittee. I think >> Sue, can you reshare it with me? >> Sure. Give me one sec. >> Sue, did for the sake of time, did you
want them to read what was said or are you able to share what was discussed? >> I would um Yeah. Can It's a It's a pretty short recommendation. Should I just share my screen? >> Yes. We can stop sharing here so that you can share or just go ahead and share. You
should be fine. >> Let me uh Where did it go? Had it on my screen two minutes ago. There we go. Okay.
Okay. So, can everybody can you all see that now? >> Yes, ma'am. >> All right. So, um, I'll scroll down so you can see the the thing. So, um, would you like me to to read it for those I
don't know if everybody can >> That's fine. You can you can read it. Yes. >> Okay. So, um, our problem statement was that Palm Beach County schools faced ongoing challenges in staffing high need schools with effective highquality
teachers, resulting in persistent vacancies and high turnover rates. These environments place often place increased demands on educators without sufficient support, leading to burnout and limiting teacher retention. As a result,
students, particularly those in historically under deser underved communities, experience inconsistent access to strong instruction impacting both academic outcomes and overall school stability.
So that is that part is really just kind of a very succinct um identification of the issue that we were trying to address. And as I've said in the meeting before, we realize that um that the
solutions go way beyond what we could do some recommendations from a small committee that meets for an hour once a month. So um but we did you know identify as as shown in the problem statement identify what a lot of the
issues are. So then the recommendations that we would like for the DDC to take forward to the school board is to one identify the policies, practices, and other conditions that are obstacles to filling hard to staff schools with the
most effective teachers. Two, change the policies and practices that contribute to the problem. and three, adopt practices that will set up teachers for success at the most challenging schools. And then that
number three, the practices has some sub bullets of uh what professional development can support these teachers and administrations? How does school culture affect the problem? What resources could help? How
do we retain effective teachers at these schools? and how can community partners help alleviate some of the challenges. So, you know, as you can see, really our our focus, what we were managed to to
what we did manage to do in our time was to really identify the issues and the the things all the things that impact these issues and we are asking the school board to address
the issues. So, I guess uh I guess at this point, you know, maybe the DDC could could discuss u I don't know if if we go to a vote today or if it needs to be out there for longer with people to read it or or whatever. Um
>> the ad hoc committee have um presented a proposal to go before the board um and it has now come to the full body of the DDEC. At this time, I will entertain discussion regarding this
>> from the ad hoc. >> Gordon, >> Gordon, you're muted. >> Thank you very much, Charmaine and Keith. Um, uh, Miss Davis Killian, I was just curious if during the discussions, um, if there were if there was any
conversation around, uh, teacher compensation being an issue with respect to retention or staffing at high schools. >> Yes, we did uh pursue that somewhat. Um, you know, we are looking at at various
things like, you know, teachers that get incentives for teaching ACE or AP uh courses. uh what compensation and that's you know we came to the to the realization that the
compensation is probably not a major factor that it's more of the other things that are impacting um but certainly I could see um
that that uh adding that to the list of under number three of of looking at uh compensation um opportunities.
>> I am going to I'm going to pause with that one. Um Gordon and and Sue and I'm going to ask that staff um bring back the DDEC and I'm trying to pull it up here. Um the DDEC um
the policies around the scope of work. I do not believe that is in our wheelhouse as it relates to that compensation piece um for the DDEC. Um while that might be a factor, I do not believe that um a recommendation to the board regarding
the compensation would fall under our wheelhouse. >> I'd appreciate Yeah, if that's if that's out there, that document, I' I'd certainly appreciate seeing that. I that's not something I was particularly familiar with uh since starting to to be a part of this committee a couple years
ago, but yeah, I'd love to see that. If that's there, then I can absolutely consider that question to be a little out of the scope, outside the scope, and I appreciate that information. >> Yeah. Um so if through the staff, Sue, Sue, one way, um just to uh address that conversation,
Gordon, through the staff, if we can um just send policy to all of the board members. Um, I know we all are required to acknowledge that we received them um at the time of joining this committee, but if we can just do a refresher and send that um that would be great. >> I'm not
>> that would be great. >> Yeah. But any clarity what you're asking for as far as policies because some I have some concerns around >> 9. >> Oh, the policy for >> for uh committee committees. >> Yes, >> that correct. Okay.
>> Okay. Got it. >> Um And I think we what I was gonna say I think too I mean not you know not looking at the policy in front of me or anything but I think also we should when talking about this think about the difference between you know making we're not making
recommendations for like teacher raises or the teacher contract or anything like that but it is um I I think the discussion more around is are there more opportunities to earn additional
compensation at a higher performing school than there is at a lower performing school. So, it's more of an inequity um in the ability to earn extra compensation between the schools as opposed to just
you know what teachers should be earning kind of thing. So I not just to jump in. I do have some concerns around the way some of these are worded um in compensation. I know in some I'd missed today's
subcommittee but in the past we have talked about compensation um regarding um the incentives when it comes to accelerate coursework is probably one of the bigger ones. And when it comes to
pass rates, you know, pass rates for an accelerated course um is uh each teacher is given $50 for every pass. So pass rates will play into that um by schools at the high school level. Um there are
some nuances um there's a lot of nuances when it comes to compensation um for transformation. I know for for different reasons. So uh uh and then just a recommendation around
identifying um policies that so I'm not sure like the school board ask school board to do that or if you're asking staff to really to do that to me sounds to to look at that issue because I'm not
sure the school board or your would be doing that. But that you're asking the school staff to identify perhaps the the practices for number one and >> yeah, let me just address that, Keith.
So really what this means because we know that really almost anything we ask of the school board is actually being done by staff, right? Um, what we really want, and maybe we need to word it differently, is we're asking the school board to take this on as something that
they are interested in fixing. And so then they would obviously put together or direct staff appropriately to, for example, identify the policies, that kind of stuff. So, you know, we understand the school board
themselves are not going to be doing the actual work of of identifying the policies. I think I think currently as the um as the recommendation is written, it does
fall in our wheelhouse. I did find it it's policy 1.0971 is what I am referring to as what we shall do. Um, one of the areas that we I mean almost everything that you say here without going back into the policies um
practices to ensure that the district policies and practices are inclusive, they're appropriate, they're equitable, we have all types of different things that we can do. Um, it's what we shall do. It's it's spelled out. Um, hey,
equity and academic outcomes for all groups of students, diversity and student body enrollment, um, higher level coursework, including choice programs. We go into, I mean, diversity of the different um, placements and exceptional student education, access to
rigorous curriculum content. I think uh diversity and school district employees across and this is specific um and this is article D section seven diversity and school district employees across all levels of employment job responsibility including
leadership position to uh ensure community populations promotions recruitment but um just my that point that I was making was where Gordon had shared about teacher pay and retention I didn't think that was in but was part of
our scope of work or appropriate. I think you believe the way that it's written does satisfy what we are here for and what we do. And uh again, it's policy. We'll get that policy to you, but if you would like to do that research on your own, that's policy
1.0971 on our charges. And that was last adopted in 2023 of April. >> Okay. Okay. And just also because this was not um advertised as a voting item, I think this is where it would come back
next month. >> Mhm. >> Um >> so my recommendation, Sue, is if we can get this um recommendation to the regular DDEC body, um we we take that bring it back to next month. But we
we're seeing this for the first time, right? This is the first time we're seeing this language. um through staff if you can send this language out to all of the members that are represented in this body and then it can come back next month as a voting um agenda item and and
further discussion. So I think instead of continuing the conversation today, um if there are no objections, all of the agencies that are represented in the DDEC will receive it at large and then after we receive it at large, um we
will bring it back next month as an item on the agenda. Are there any objections? I just want to I just want a point of clarification that um all committee members can also make recommendations or changes to the existing recommendations.
So I think >> absolutely that's the purpose of them receiving it. >> Yeah. So it's really important that everybody leans in and understands um these recommendations and if they have questions that that discussion is allowed to occur.
>> Absolutely. >> Great. Okay, that sounds great. I am going to stop sharing. >> Thank you Sue. Thank you for um thank you to the ad hoc subcommittee. Um so for the record um the DDEC ad hoc
subcommittee recommendation will come before the general DDEC body at the next scheduled meeting um to be discussed and for a vote. So any discussions, any um revisions or recommendations to the DDEC
ad hoc committee um that would need to be provided by staff between now and the next ad hoc subcommittee. Remember the ad hoc subcommittee meets at 9:00 or yes 9:00 a.m. prior to the DDEC meeting. And I'm actually going to go even further.
Instead of getting them things at 8:00 that morning, I am going to say within the next um seven days, if you have a recommendation, uh provided that staff provide this language. If you have a recommendation, please provide it to staff within the
next seven days because we are gearing towards graduation and so much other things that's happening. So, if we can please get it within the next seven days back to staff. Any objections? Hearing none, we will go on to the update from chief of student and
wellness. >> Madam chair, if it's >> student health and wellness, >> if it's okay with you, I'd like to just uh reorder the agenda only because we have a couple of the department here represented to do those presentations first. So that
>> any objections with reordering the agenda? Hearing none. Go ahead. >> Okay. Uh again good morning everyone. Um couple of updates and presentations that we wanted to share uh some information.
Um the first one will be with um the multicultural team that you heard them introduce themselves. I'll turn it over to Dr. Ordon as a moment. uh but really when it comes to uh the policy and one of the things that we monitor closely is English language learners and their
outcomes and a lot of great work has been happening around uh their graduation and they're going to share some of the details and um take any questions. So Jonathan if you could switch it over to
Oh, I can do it here. >> Yeah, that one. I think I just All right. So, if you guys want to reintroduce yourself, Dr. again and >> we'll do that. >> Turn over to you guys. >> Thank you. Well, uh, first of all, thank
you so much for having us here. I'm Dr. Patricia Ordonius Feliciano, the executive director for multicultural education and school transformation. Today, I have with me my team and they're going to introduce themselves as well. Um, but we have done a lot of work when it comes to helping our English language learners and making sure that
our that they have access to all the tools needed to uh graduate successfully from Pameish County Public Schools. So, we are very excited to show you this. So, I'm going to turn it over right now to uh uh well, before we get there, um I have with me my associate director, Mr. Christian Garate, and also uh our
program planner, Nadia Charles. So, each one of them is going to be presenting. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Garate first. Good morning everyone. A again it's an honor to be here. My name is Christian Garati, associate director for the department of multicultural education.
And then uh we're going to get it started and then once uh Miss Charles uh gets her turn, she will introduce herself. Um so let me just um uh frame the title that we have uh with all the work that has been systematic over the years for closing the gap for our
multilingual learners to reach graduation by closing the gap in their in their quest to overcome one of the biggest barriers which is passing the English language uh examination by the state which is a
graduation requirement. This is something that uh we do with everyone because our department aligns with the district mission and then we make sure that uh we also educate, affirm and inspire immigrant students, migrant students and multilingual learners a align in the equity embedded
school system that includes and promotes additive language acquisition acquisition models of instruction. Why we do what we do? Because it's the law. We also make sure that every time that I go to the school, we make sure that it we create the awareness that
English language learners need and it is by law access to all these specific programs that we put together in the school district of Palm Beach County. >> Good morning. >> So, very quickly, we just wanted to give you a quick overview of our English
language learners. And this is just a snapshot on time. So, please don't think that this is this is the official numbers because they change by day and by month. But as of this month, we uh looked at the fact that we have 27,738 English language learners that are designated as LY students. Those are the
students that are receiving direct support from an ESOL teacher and from our staff. Uh we also have 8,226 students that are what we call LF students that this two years they already have passed more than two years in the program. So they're between two
and four years. And then the LA which are once that they exit the program, we still monitor their progress. So overall, when you look at all of those three classifications, we could say that we have about 43,000 of our students in Palm Beach County have some um to some
degree and some level of support for English language learners. Every one of our s district operated schools has an English language learner in them. So we make sure that we stress that throughout this. And we also on in our department oversee the migrant education program
which has uh 11 uh 1,11 uh 180 students uh enrolled in elementary and middle school. And just uh to put it in perspective, the the school district of Palm Beach County is the third largest in Florida when it comes to the number of English language learners in Florida. And when it comes to the migrant
program, we're are number two. uh we have students with languages 140 different languages in Palm Beach County and the country of birth that we have recorded at as of now is 190 different countries of birth. So with that I'm going to move on to the next slide and I
think that's good morning everyone. My name is Nadilia Charles. I'm the Esau program planner for the department of multicultural education. So, back in 2022, back in 2022, the school year 2021-22, um, as we reviewed data, we noticed
there was a huge discrepancy. Although our graduation rate was pretty good at 89%, our ELLL graduation rate was almost 20% lower um, at 69.3. This was the catalyst for us to come
together and kind of put together a system so that we could help our ELLL students to overcome all obstacles and barriers and to walk across the stage and earn their high school diploma. So pretty much in 2022
um we decided that we needed to take action to help these students um succeed and graduate. Next slide. before we could do that. Oh, sorry. >> Okay. So, go back this. >> No, go ahead. >> Okay.
So, at the time we did some research. there were systematic um input from all high schools encountering and then one of the biggest barriers was a symptom of the fact that the students are learning
English which is that the state assessments in math and reading were of course in English. So imagine a student going and landing in a high school nine or 10 grade and then trying to become a
test that is already um medium to difficult to any mainstream student and met that requirement in less than four years in order to graduate. Also, research has shown that English language learners need at least uh double or
sometimes triple the testing opportunities for this type of assessments in order to meet this requirement. Um symptoms of not meeting the requirement put our families and our students under stress often leading to giving up and
then abandoning school leading to dropout rates to be increased. There's consensus on the research that if a schools do not custom customize this uh priorities then graduation rates for English language learners will be uh
will stay low. So as um Mr. Garate just mentioned the one of the major barriers that our students face was that language proficiency navigating through the school. But not only that, our students also had to culturate to a new
environment when they when they come into this country, learning the social norms, um, learning how to some of our students had never even been in school before coming to our country. And so we had to take all of that into consideration because all of those
things added academic pressure to the students um to graduate and not only to graduate, but to graduate with a high school diploma. Another factor that was um definitely a hurdle for our students is that so socioeconomic piece where
financial limitations for the students and their families played a major role um in trying to obtain everything that was needed for graduation. Um also the parents views often times when the
parents come here um they are they have to work and um they are limited in the amount of money that they're earning. So we found that some of the parents felt that in order to have assistance they would pull the kids out of school
sometimes to go to work. And so we were wanting to find ways to kind of educate the parents on the importance of making sure that the students remain in school and also help the students to be successful so that the parents could be very proud of all of the great things
that their children were doing. Um so we wanted to definitely educate our parents about how important it was for for the students to earn that high school diploma. We also dealt with the wellness part of our students. We wanted to make
sure that we were working with the whole child. So when we looked at the wellness, we noticed that our students had mental struggles, right? Um the culture shock. Again, this is a new environment. They don't speak the language. Um some of them in high school, you're changing classes every
hour. All of these things were stressors for our students. But also, we had to take a look at the traumatic um issues that our students faced when they were coming into the country. Some of our students traveled through many countries before making it here to America and
they saw and they experienced a lot of traumatic things. So, we had to also make sure that we assisted the students and the families in in um addressing those traumatic things that they were they they've experienced. and we wanted
to make sure that they had access to all resources not only just the student but the family in general. So identifying those collective stressors lead to the um birth of project graduation and other programs
under the department of multicultural to specifically create action plans on this. So for the English language disposition the burden of the uh of the linguistic proficiency and the academic pressures for the socioeconomic the same thing that it was mentioned in the
previous slide lead to the uh to the building of this purpose for project graduation that have at its heart the three areas on which we're going to we develop plans of action over the last
few years. One of the main and the first bullet uh that we will expand is the ACT, SAT and CLT prep materials that will be specific for English language learners. Also make sure that we build a school capacity among all of our high
schools to make sure that their staff understands and then takes this knowledge share and then make sure that this is u customized for this population. Another uh another part was the tracking and then make sure that we h we use data to track their um pathway
towards graduation and then we identify early when there is any indication of a possible dropout. Under the socioeconomic also our department engage into uh applying for grants to in addition to the opportunities given by
schools at the time and the district in terms of accessing to these exams. There's also additional funding to support these families to for um taking these exams. Also funding for tutoring in students during a school year also
over the summer. And in the wellness side, we have a small but mighty team of ESOL bilingual counselors that support the bilingual counselors that schools have in order to provide this side of
support for our students. In terms of the school counselors, the bilingual school counselors that we have here at the district, it is very very important that we work with the community and work with our school bilingual school counselors to make sure
that we're reaching these students. We do this by um engaging in family nights with our parents where we give all types of information. We explain graduation requirements to our parents. We explain
the grading system to our parents. We talk about postsecary planning with our parents. We talk about the importance of stability in the home. Making sure that the student has somewhere to study, making sure that the student has all of the um resources that
are needed when they get home to study, talking about the different websites that the students can use at home to study. We make sure that we're visible at all of the college fairs and all of the things that are open to the public so that we're explaining to our parents
in native language the things that they are being exposed to. When we do these family engagement nights, we make sure that we divvy up the presentation. So, we have the presentation in all of the four major languages. We have all of our
um materials that we're giving to the parents in native language so that they can take that stuff home and actually look it over. We also make it a point to contact those parents via if it's a a home visit or a parent phone call and
our district counselors um of course bilingual can communicate with those parents in native language also to help them figure out where all of the resources are. um if you need a dentist, we'll connect you with a dentist. If you need um mental health, we'll connect you
with an agency. So, we are that bridge between the school and the community to make sure that these ELELLL students and their families know the directions for everything that they need for wellness. We also on the academic side work to
assist the students. We talked about the so socioeconomic um lacking that some of our students have. Um through our title three funds, we assist our senior ly students as they need to pay for when they run out of
their waiverss for the ACT, SAT, and CLT tests. the multicultural department does step in and they assist by paying for those students to continue taking those exams to earn the concordance scores um that they need to meet those graduation
requirements. We take it a step further because we know that students lose a lot during the summer. Um we call that summer slide. And so our summer program also is designed to continue test preparation for our students. The
pictures that you see here on the screen um are our juniors, our rising seniors. Um during summer school um actually still working towards meeting that concordance score. So we don't stop at the end of of the school year. We
continue year round to make sure that those students don't lose all of the great strategies that they're learning. So make sure that they're test ready at all times. And in the English language acquisition the academic side uh we mentioned that
yeah it's important of the students to attend uh multiple and they have multiple opportunities for this uh exams ACT SAT and CLT but none of them will none of that will work if the students don't get the strategies the uh specific
academic support in their high schools that is customized to their to their needs. needs in order to prepare for these exams. Again, it is a race against time for them because as they are learning language, they really need to use every possible strategy to close
that gap. We do have an an easel instructional team that has engaged on for many years now to make sure schools attend this training the trainers where we build that capacity on every high school. So they are able to give boot
camps sometimes with a model of bi-weekly 45 minute push um um pullouts or a specific after schools where the parents sign up. This is done in a compre comprehensive and cohesive way because we make sure that schools report
when the students show up and our counselors our teams make sure that student is tracked as they attend these boot camps and trainings. Also we work very closely with the leadership teams at the schools. So we track their
progress from the beginning of the year towards the very end of the uh chances of graduation and make sure that we advise schools and any uh adjustment that need to be made. This is done at all levels at the teacher student and
the leadership level and also at the district level. We track also by region. So we have the support of our uh regional superintendent and then when there is an early um um an early uh uh
observation they jump right in. Um uh we provide all the schools with a PowerBI dashboard where they can track all these graduation requirements for English language learners specifically meeting the requirements for ACT, SAT and uh
CLT. So very datadriven insights for all levels. So we are all looking at the same scoreboard. >> Mr. Garate spoke a little bit about the small group pullouts. At the beginning of this project, we did um we did offer
to the schools an opportunity for our team to come in and do small group pullouts for our seniors. and twice a week we would go in and we would pull these students out of class and we would work with them on test taking strategies. Um some of the resources that we provided for them of course our
staff, our instructional specialists um took on this project and they worked super hard to create lessons so that they would work with the students during small groupoup pullouts. We customized our lessons. We made sure that we implemented all of the ELLL strategies
that we knew the students would need to implement on the test in order to be successful. For example, um in this picture that we have on this slide, you'll notice that we have cognates and those are words that are pretty much the
same in all languages. And we we bring that up with our students so that they'll know that vocabulary and context clues and noticing these cognates when they're reading those passages is very important for reading comprehension. Of
course, we assisted the students with paying for the ACT, SAT, and CLT. um when a week or so before each exam, we would the schools could request what we call a boot camp where we would come in and we would do these power lessons with
all of the seniors that needed to take the test. It's somewhat of a last boost for the students before they would go and take that test. Um, also towards the end of the year, cuz we know that our students would graduate and some of them
would still need to take the test, we would offer when when the seniors are no longer coming on campus, we would offer virtual tutorial classes for our our graduates so that they could still work towards taking that test even when they
were not on school campus. And then our bilingual counselors also came and worked with those small groups not only to review um those strategies and make sure that they had everything that they needed, but they also conducted credit
inventories with our seniors just to make sure that they had all of the credits that were needed for graduation. So if something was missing, they could work with that bilingual counselor that is on the school campus to make sure that that's corrected so that the
student would not be missing anything right before graduation. Next slide. And as you heard, this has been a very comprehensive approach over the years. Every uh the system that was in place has been uh you know adjusted to make sure that we're maximizing our staff.
This has been a collaboration of all the different teams that are in the uh multicultural department. That includes our bilingual counselors, our academic team as well as our regional support teams. But you can see the outcomes in here. This is from FY24 to FY25. Our
English language learners uh graduation rate increased uh 4.4% and as you can see was the highest uh of all the subgroups that are represented in Palm Beach County in in that in this report. And this is the second year in a row where we are the uh the largest increase
in terms of you know when you look at the subgroups uh and the four-year change since we started you can see has it the graduation rate has increased by 18.5%. And right here I wanted to give you an overview how we look to the but remember
what I mentioned we're the third largest English language learner um you know district basically. So Miami Day is the first one. You can see that we're.3 away for their graduation rate in 2025. If they got 88.1, we are 87.8.
And then Broward County is uh a little bit below us, that's the second um and then Palm Beach. What I want to point out though that we are when you look at the trajectory from 2022 to 2025, you can see the increase every year. How uh we were lower than the state which uh
state of Florida is the first row that you see there. the state of Florida was at 73%, we were at 69.3 and over the years, you know, we surpassed the state uh and the last couple of years uh especially, you know, the state move, we were tied from 2023,
but then 2024 and 2025, you can see how we surpassed the state. So, we are very proud of the work. We know that there's more work to do but uh definitely we keep uh looking at the systems in place and how we can increase the graduation rate and support as many students uh to
ensure that they have equity in their education and that they're able to uh graduate from high school and move on to post-secary. So, as we talked about the three subgroups that we worked really hard to make sure that our students were covered with our educational resources, um the
wellness and also um making sure that the students had everything that they needed in terms of testing, in terms of health, in terms of nutrition. We wanted to also um share some of the resources that we
suggest to our parents and our students. Um, these are all free resources that the students and the families can access if needed. Some of it, some of it is health care. Um, some of it is education. We even have the Haitian
Educators Association on here that also provides our students with scholarships, our seniors that are going off to college. We also have our welcome center on here that is a catchall for our parents in terms of registration, in
terms of immunization, any of those things that are needed. So, instead of if a if a student needs to um update their vaccinations, instead of going and paying money to have that done, we do that right here. Our welcome center handles that on Wednesdays. So, we just
wanted to leave you with some resources that you can share with our families um if they need them. Just for not to interrupt, just for clarification. So you're saying, Miss Charles, these resources that were just listed when we send this out, they'll be able to go ahead and
>> Yes. >> access us. >> All of those links are live. Yes. >> Okay. So it's a big ask then for everybody here on your agency take note. Mhm. And then that exactly leads what uh our uh uh last slide uh before QA it's
uh how can you support right so we need to uh also acknowledge that every high school community is unique and then uh because every high school community is unique. The first person that if you're an agency willing to provide resources
or have skills or or or you want to partner with us is to approach the principal. The principal will be the person to to to go and then check hey you know we have uh this capacity, we have this uh resources uh we want to
work with you to support these students and then um we want to point out three three things that uh we encounter too, right? So then we do support funding for uh through a yearly grant that uh support our students to get those
additional testing. Some schools use other ways of support, other ways of funding to provide all their all their students, not only uh multilingual learners to this additional testing opportunities and um having you know I I
know that some high schools use partners, use alases, use uh churches that they come and help with that. So then share that information. If your local high school need that, that'll be fantastic. That is one way to support to make this sustainable. The second one is
that uh which is kind of like uh the good news effect that as a students and multilingual learners achieve that graduation pathway that conversation of what comes next is uh starts in their in those families. So then if you are a
business, if you are an agency and then you can again contacting the principal, consider providing access to scholarships or post-secary employment opportunities and leading career. Remember these students uh many of them earn a seal of bi literacy and then
students are able to speak multiple languages which in turn will benefit lots of businesses. And the third one basic what uh uh Keith and the uh Nadilia um um um pointed out is that uh
in for uh Dr. Don myself and then our staff have been in many uh community meetings where parents didn't know all this all the things that are available in our school district. I uh we we saw uh in some of our uh these committee
presentations uh things about uh acceleration academic academies u and then all these resources sometimes uh families are not fully aware not necessarily because we don't put them on the language but because maybe they only have time to attend your business, your
agency, your church and uh just pass the word, share that information and then uh we are really thankful that uh we had the opportunity to speak today and that leads to uh any questions that you may have. Thank you.
>> Thank you all so much. Madam Chair, back to you for the question and answer. >> Madame Chair, are you still there? >> Yes, I had a question. Uh I did I am still here and I do have a question. Um Sorry. Can you hear me?
>> Yes. >> Perfect. Okay. So, I guess my question is um >> what is happening to all the students that all uh what is happening with the ELLL students that dropped out?
>> Well, I'm going to speak to any student. >> Earlier on in your presentation, you talked about some of the ELLL uh some of the work that you were doing. So I guess my question is what is happening with the ELLL students that dropped out? >> So um there are definitely multiple
factors that we've seen over the years and then we really were intentional minimizing those factors. So one of the factors uh is u the main one is English language acquisition right. So then uh thankfully uh late just to give you an
idea um the state uh put a rule rec not so recently two or three years ago that allow students to earn those um requirements with a specific pathway but still even with that pieway uh coming to a country and learn English in within
two years is very difficult. So once that once that avenue is exhausted uh we do help students to enroll in alternative programs and then what we call sometimes super seniors even though they don't count for our graduation rate they are given the opportunity to come
back to school in many of our high schools they still earn their high school diploma for a second year of the senior year or as they pass their exam. We also uh I know that many of our high schools partner with the chuck show center for the adult education so they
can continue this uh this pathway if what they need is credits and courses. I know that some of these adult uh sites in different high schools offer credit recovery on on their on their sites and then multiple avenues. Now I want to
point out that the English language learner population has also um we we have the issues that there is a uh this is a high mobility uh population. Families often come to our schools
and then they decide to pack and move to another state to another uh county and and then we only find out after they are like absent 10 days or after we are looking at our roles a teacher calls
an alert. So it is it is uh it is also a process of education that we have engaged over the past few years to when the families register they understand how the system in the United States work and then they if they want to move to another county state or go back to their
uh their original country that they let us know so we can we can code that appropriately. There is uh multiple factors again but those are the some of the uh themes that have emerged and that we have seen and we can still working on those uh on those possibilities to
provide the students a pathway >> and also just so that you know when you do when we do have families that don't show up to school uh in terms of graduation we go and do home visits our teams are uh well equipped uh to speak several languages so they go out uh you
know home by home and then make sure that they identify what uh you know, where the family is, what exactly is the hurdle, how can we guide them to uh, you know, come back to school, finish up their high school diploma, or if they're interested in other opportunities, how can we support them? So, we do, we're
very proactive and we work very closely with the high schools um based on like you saw, we have a dashboard where we monitor that data. So when we see students that for X or Y reason, you know, they're uh in the in the uh dropout or not the kind of the withdraw
uh column where we we don't know where they are, we we we go into the with the schools and and we partner up with them to find out how can we uh re-engage them or um uh provide them guidance on other opportunities for them. >> I I just want to add on to that too. So
um so one our dropout rate as a district also dropped it's very low to 1.7%. As a district so our dropout rate is very low. Um in addition to adult education uh mentioned by Dr. Garate we
also have um other programs we have uh graduation alliance. So any student who did not like show up for school um we have a program called graduation alliance who reaches out um to all families. We've graduated a number of
students um over the last few years that wouldn't be reflected in graduation rates but now have a high school diploma. We um as mentioned adult education getting them in those programs. So, we continue to do
outreach even um uh years after if a student doesn't show up again. >> Quick question. >> So, so just just a followup really quickly on that question. Um sorry, Mr. Bone. Um I guess I asked that question. Just a
followup and maybe it's a whole different question, right? Is test prep provided, but not not just test prep. Is there like whether it's a standardized test prep that is specifically for ELLL or any kind of test prep that would be
um designed for ELLL students? Yeah, actually in the presentation that's what Miss Charles and I'll let her add if I have if if you know as needed. Uh we our department uh through through her her and and school counselors they put together and the
academic team put together a um test prep basically boot camp which is is completely customized to you know the type of strategies that will help our English language learners uh tackle those tests and do well. uh and then um either they offer those on school on
high on on the high schools but as we have increased of course the numbers uh what they have been doing is is building capacity at the school they they collaborate with somebody at the school so they can be trained and then they can provide the training as well but uh Miss Charles you want to add anything else >> I think I just needed some clarification
are you asking about the students that still are currently in school in terms of test prep or the ones >> oh the dropouts >> okay so I guess I can speak to that because yes, test prep is um offered to our students who are no longer on
campuses. We have in adult virtual education a test prep program that also assists students that are still trying to earn their high school diplomas and we find that the majority of the students that do sign up for that are are for our ELLL students and they are
meeting the requirements through that test prep course. >> Thank you. Um I guess I'll let Mr. Pan and then I'll ask my other questions. Uh Mr. Pan. >> Yes. Quick question. You know given with the recent ICE rates you know been going on different counties across the country
but here in Florida too you know we have seen have you you seen a direct impact of those because a lot of the families withdraw from Florida they ran away or whatever or some of them were deported. So,
so um I I can speak a bit of that because there are different factors, different effects, I have multiple stories to tell that it will take me till midnight to even start. But what we found initially is that in our families because of financial constraint uh
usually uh female students are used for the parents to in order to go to work to stay right to stay and take care of their children. male students when they are 15 16 they are asked okay well you need to work but that could that also I
heard many stories where the parents suddenly they are sent back to to their home country and then the older student we have many seniors and kudos to them that we have worked with them that they
have to um work with us so they can have a path of graduation at the same time take over their business of their parent so multiple stories like that and then we as a as a department try our best to support that the students and find and work with the school to find pathways
for them and as Mr. also mentioned there are pathways there are virtual courses there are uh different it's it's like solving a puzzle right for the student to be able to achieve that pathway and we have many many success stories on that let's keep in mind that English
language learner students the majority of ling English language learner students in this nation are born in the US >> okay thank you >> I is there any questions in the room any additional questions in the room or
online. I didn't see any hands online. >> Madame chair, this is Reggie from For the Children. >> Yes, Reggie. >> I wanted to give kudos to Miss uh Charles. I have been working with Miss Charles since 2010 at Liquid High School and she is a fierce advocate for the
ELLL students to the point where a few years ago uh we partnered with her and Dr. Lockart on a grant with with United Way and we did such a great job with Liquid High Beach High School um principal heard about the program. Then
they they called me SH Charles and we went again and apply and we extended the the tutoring program for EL specifically because at one time I was in EL kids and one of the thing that we we we noticed that a lot of the kids come here because they never been in school in Haiti and
we place them in 11 or 10 grade. We're playing catchup and therefore the program that we work with Miss Charles at Liquid High in Botton Beach High is really to be a buffer for those kids that need the extra help so that the teacher can not only get them ready for
the fast or the other test they need to to to to go to graduation but at the same time help them to increase their reading skill because they come here with no prior education from their country. But we went beyond that. One of the thing that we noticed that a lot we get a lot of phone call from Bon Beach
High School. Parents um were kicked out of their home. Kids doesn't have clothes or youth doesn't have shoes to go to school. Therefore, we've been working with Miss Charles at Bon Beach High and Liquid High to really fill that gap to the grant from United Way from the Luca
Foundation. But I I just want to say besides the school district, you have a partner who's working to really fill in that buffer. And I'm very happy to work with Miss Charl and I've been working with the multiculture department since um Connie Bay was there and so on. And
you guys are doing a good job and keep it up. You got us support. >> Yeah, I I would definitely say that Miss um I had the pleasure of being one of Miss uh Charles uh students in Boon Beach High School. But here's the thing. Before I got to Boon Beach High School,
I was also a ELLL student. I was born and raised here. I'm a citizen. Um, and that's a surprise to some of you, but English was not my first language. Um, I have my entire family is from Boon Beach and and the only two cities I've lived
in was Boon Beach and Bokeh. So, you know, there's there's one Miss Charles. I don't know all of the other Miss Charles in throughout the district and I don't know if they exist. Right. At the same time, I do think that we, you know, when I hear some of these things, this is great what you're doing and I hope
that it's systemic and it's something that is throughout the entire district because, you know, as a ELLL student and and my niece, my my cousins, they're expected to learn English, learn academic content, pass grade level
standardized test, but at the same time, they're also um their reality is the standardized tests are language heavy. the math and science requires strong reading skills. Um the the cultural relevancy is not there in some instances. Accommodations are limited.
Uh so I I appreciate hearing all of these things that you're doing to prevent these barriers or or to um assist with these barriers that ELLL students have to happen. But I I really would love to learn a little bit more and definitely um we'll dig into the
resources that you have. So, thank you for being here and sharing those resources as well. >> Miss Postel, I just wanted to add, I'm glad that you mentioned that and yes, like you, I'm an English language learner, too. So, I can definitely identify everything you said. Uh, one of the things that we have done district-wide because we have been
really taking a systematic approach is to deploy throughout the year uh what we call the five strategies for ELLL success. and we literally uh took that training to every single region and as many schools as we could uh to make sure we created that awareness and that
support for the our teachers. So, we're really proud of the work that our teams are doing because this these are people that are very passionate uh to help our students. So, and Miss Charles of course is a great asset for us. Yeah, I I I I I want to jump on the the
Charles Bang way, too, because uh I was her principal for for a while and I don't know, she's got some kind of secret sauce when she went back in there cuz she would get kids who were really behind and she would catch them up and I
tried to get her to share the recipe. Um but to no avail, it's just somehow she connects with those kids very well. It kind of goes back to the to the some of the recommendations before there certain teachers and that really can perform some miracles and she's got a lot of
kids to be able to walk across that stage. I know when I was at Boon so kudos to that to you um and and I did I don't see hands raised but please any questions I did
hear from the team here some some ask and recommendations. So, a lot of you have influence with your agencies and organizations around the students we support. Um, I hear one of the big things when you're working with kids academically and especially if a student
knowing whether or not a student has um passed the reading and the math portion for graduation that if they have not um ACT, SAT are the pathways we typically use for these students and to address it through those type of resources versus
just a basic tutoring homework or supporting to be more strategic and how you're working with those kids um with your respective uh groups is really really um critical for them being able to walk across that stage. Also using the other resources
this team shared that will be shared out with you um is critically important um again with your respective um agencies and uh support. >> I I'm going to ask um is there a way that we can have a one pager? I know we
say this all the time. Please share this with your agencies and your um your different organizations. But I I think I may be challenging the district or the pres presenters um for a one-pager that we can bring back because sometimes you
know for me I can I forward the video like hey this is the presentation this is the mark this is what we talked about and if you want to refer back to it here's where you can find it. But I also think that, you know, something tangible, whether it's a broken record of hearing me talk about it, they can
see, hey, here's a one pager that, you know, whether it's a one pager that is created by um the presenters or the the sta the district, here's what we can do. We need to get this word out. And regardless what topic it is, right, this
topic, absenteeism, behavior, whatever we need from our agencies to get the word out, that's a quicker way to get that word out, get that message out. We can share it, you know, on our social medias. We can share it on our um websites that like certain
some of us have resource bank websites, but is there a way we can do that for this group? I start in with with this group. Madam Chair, >> Jake, >> I would ask the F Jake Pay. >> Okay, we we'll work on that.
>> I'll be a P. >> Madam Chair, I would ask to add on to that, especially the resources last slide that they have um that is often missed on when we send out information that there's automatic resources listed on that one page or especially if they
don't remember who they got the flyer from after some time has passed. So >> yes, if they could add that, please. >> Yes, I I second that. So is there any objection from the presenters or the staff? >> No, that's fine. We'll work on that.
Okay. >> Thank you so much. And you can um send it to us through staff. >> Thank you so much again. Thank you so much for um this presentation. Great presentation. Um, and we'll be we will
definitely be looking uh to hear more from this group and um I I know personally I'll be watching this group. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you guys for presenting today. Appreciate you being here. >> Thank you. >> Thank you guys.
>> Great great presentation. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, um, uh, madam chair, I'm going to go ahead and move on to, um, the next item. >> Oh, thank you. >> Yes. Um, I I'm not sure how you
rearranged it. There was no objection for you rearranging the agenda. So, I'm not sure which area is the next item. I I don't know if it's your update or if you have another um, >> so is there. >> Um, Dr. Misanic from the Department of Behavioral Mental Health, the director
is here. There's something that she and I um were kind of made aware of and we weren't really sure if it was an issue here in Palm Beach County, but we were quickly schooled. Um you may even see it's kind of timely. I don't know if you've seen the news. Um
yesterday breaking news regarding um a US uh special forces uh soldier was arrested um for betting um on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and he ended
up he was actually involved with that capture and did some inside betting uh and was able to get $400,000 out of that that. So, um, the it's interesting the temptation when it comes to to gambling and and and
gaming is out there and it has some effects. So, so part of this Dr. I'm going to turn over to Dr. Menic to talk through um something we've learned about recently. Dr. Mennic. >> Yes. Good uh good morning. Thank you for
having me. Um like like Mr. Roswell said we this kind of was raised on our radar and we weren't really sure what was going on in our own district. So we we we did some investigation and I'm I have to put it out front that I don't gamble
and I'm not on social media much. So this was a learning curve for me. Um but it is a huge crisis. Um the gambling industry and the gaming industry has really ballooned to 165 billion industry. It started I think um a year
or two ago was like at 19 billion. It's now at 165. And we really wanted to bring this is really about awareness um because it is an emerging issue. When my kids were little, they're big now, but um they used to play the games online
and you would um you know when you won something, when you did something uh in the game, you earned points and with those points you could then get uh gear, you could get a new outfit, you could get a new sword, you could get stuff. um
that has really evolved into now um you can purchase those items and not just a direct thing. Let's say you you have a um you know you have a a race car and you don't like your race car, you want to change the paint on your race car. So now you can purchase something called
like loot boxes. So you can't purchase the orange color that you want. you purchase the opportunity to get a color that you may want. So, you you buy a loot box, but then it's only green and brown, and that isn't the one you
wanted. You really wanted orange. So, then you play again, and you and you spend more money trying to buy a box, so you get the reward that you're looking for. Okay. Um, also if you've been um I'm seeing it more and more the social
casino ads, you see it in between Netflix podcasts. Um it's all over social media uh where they're just uh they're really emphasizing these casinos and they give you free um coins to play
with and then they have a very addictive cycle to them. So then you end up buying coins and playing and playing and playing. And the other is the in influencer marketing is they're really promoting the games to youth um through the free apps that then later require
payment and they're very they're extremely addictive. So, um, they're really finding, this is new research. It's just coming out in the past two years, um, that the harm patterns really align more with a gambling disorder versus a gaming
disorder. Before there was gaming disorders, kids would be very social isolated. They would only want to play their game. You couldn't get the game away from them. They had, you know, they would have behavior outbursts, etc. Now, they're really seeing it's really more of a gambling disorder because they're
chasing that financial win. So, there's just some data up here. 32% um regret spending. Um 41% report overspending. They have feelings of torment, anger, regret, and shame. They prioritize gaming um by and they miss deadlines and
uh you know reduce productivity for their academics. It does promote social isolation, neglect of relationships and social withdrawal and it very much affects their quality of life. So, um it is it's really blurring the
lines. It used to be gaming and now it's really looking more like gambling and it's starting very very young. even in preschool years, even the very um very younglooking games, they are kind of getting them in the mood and
understanding that if they keep playing, they're going to get the higher level. They'll get the an opportunity for a loot box. Um that it's just it's becoming very apparent that this gaming atmosphere has changed more into a
gambling atmosphere. So, um, according to the researchers, one in six parents, um, really don't know that they're betting online and, uh, 63% have seen gambling ads targeted at their children.
So, we brought this because, you know, Keith and I heard about this. We were um, doing, we were on a panel and we heard about this. Another district presented this and we looked at each other and we said, I don't think this is happening in Palm Beach. do we haven't heard anything about this? And I, you know, being the director of um
behavioral and mental health, we're dealing with a lot of kids in crisis. Um, you know, we're really out there and have a a pulse on on what the kids are complaining about or having issues with. And this really hadn't risen to the top. So, um, I brought it before the
Superintendent Student Advisory Committee on April 6th to put it out there just like I'm kind of doing to you to say, "Have you heard of this? What's going on? do you have knowledge about this? And really all of the students said that yes, they do. That they have been gaming and gambling since they were
very young and that it's absolutely normalized. They talked about their purchases that they made online. One um stole their mom's credit card in the second grade and to buy the things on online so they could get what they wanted. Another youth said that the job
income, their job, all that money is being redirected to online gambling. This is a high schooler, a very high achieving high schooler um that is going to an Ivy League who is involved in sports and clubs and everything, but their second
job really goes to online gambling. Um, especially with the boys, they said the sports gambling is reported to be very popular among their peers. And we we did discuss this. You have to be 18 to be able to place a bet. So, there are 18 year olds that they know that really
place the bets for them, kind of like their bookie, so that they can um and then those people take a cut if they win. So, that's going on as well. Uh, and they said that that it's just very normal. They started playing games like blackjack during lunch as early as
elementary school. And of all the students, I think every one of them um indicated that yes, this is something they do. One young lady said she gets gift cards for her birthday and she doesn't count it as gambling because that's not really money, so she uses her
gift cards to buy this stuff online. Um a young young woman. Um and she they really really thought it was very normal. Um so for us we were we were really um shocked actually uh that it
was so prevalent. So I'm bringing this to you so I can um raise some awareness of what's going on with our kids and this is an emerging um issue. They there's been a couple articles out. NPR had an article, the
New York Times had an article and like ke uh Keith just mentioned it just came up on the news. So, if you look at this, you really will see it coming um you know, you'll see it more and more and you'll be made more aware. These
pictures here are the kids games that have gambling in it. That the top one on um with the with all the bright colors is Minecraft. Roblox is extremely popular with the kids. Fortnite. And the
other one is Gotcha, I think. Uh G A C H A. So, you know, you can see it even has like a many of them have like you spin just like a gambling game. And um so I just really wanted to bring this as
awareness as an emerging issue with our youth. Um there are so many issues that the youth have to deal with, but this is um a huge we're finding a a very big issue with them. So I'm going to just stop talking at this point and see if
you have any questions or >> I just want to add a couple more comments. Um, and Dr. Men really kind of summarized a lot of what the students were saying. I I have to say I was kind of shocked at how many kids just that that how they kind of felt like it wasn't really an issue, that it wasn't a
problem that they were doing this. They didn't see it as wrong. um until after we kind of talked about um the addiction and then they started reflecting more about some of the kids who have lost money and how that kind of
really played with their mental health and um some of them going back to try to win back their money. So, so they then had to really kind of reflect that, yeah, I guess maybe they could see how this is an issue and how it could
become, you know, pretty problematic, a bad addiction. Um, and especially when the temptation is just so easily um at their face all the time. Now, the temptation is there just as uh we see what happened to this soldier, right?
People trying to make that quick dollar. So, um, it it was enlightening. >> That was a I mean, what Keith is saying, we did bring it up and they kind of looked at us like, "What? What are you talking about?" And as we had the conversation, it was like the light bulbs went off and they really they're
like, "Oh, wait, I know a kid and wait, this happened in my school and I have a friend and wait, this happened to me." So, they started to make connections like in real time because they really didn't when I first brought it up, they just kind of looked at me like, "What's this lady talking about?" But then they
they really we had a very robust discussion about it and they were able to point out many examples where it's been harmful to themselves and the people they know. >> And I just want to add something as simple as Tik Tok. Um one of the
students said um he just gets on Tik Tok and plays music and kids pay for coins and just sends coins to him. He is basically >> just plays music. He sits there and plays music and people pay him just to
sit there and play music and he'll sit on there for two to three hours and he makes money off of that and it and it's just it's mindboggling that um these things are going on. Um, and one of the students was talking about how he um
would make this money from his like lawn lawn maintenance and he would look up and before he knows it all of his money is gone um from playing these games. So um it really is um a dynamic that later
on in life it can impact the students because what you call it gamblification. Is that what you called it? gamblification because it's setting this mindset now for later on. And you got to realize that some of our 11th and 12th
graders are 18, right? which means that they can sign up for Hard Rock Betting on their phones and they can participate in betting on sports gambling as well as
they have um the betting where you can um like your >> like the slots >> the slot machines. So you can deposit money they can deposit money if they have a a checking account or and if you're 18 you can have a checking
account. So these this is an issue. >> Um it's funny. Um some of them even talked about it on the cruises as well like in you know the casinos on the cruises >> about her her how their family all go to the casinos
>> and and if you look at the NPR sto we can share that. Um, if I recall, um, one of a mom who came out, uh, that they interviewed talked about how their family would do did it as kind of a social activity, like they were big into
sports and they would do bedding. Um, on Sundays, whether and um her her middle child after he uh he graduated from high school, went on to college, they the family kind of knew he kind of started withdrawing
himself. He kept asking people for money that he had a very true addiction became his mental health was at risk. He he kind of went bankrupt. Um and because the addiction became so bad. Did she reflect that? Wow. Did I instill some of
this, you know, thinking as a family that we weren't really doing anything wrong? >> The the other important part is the instant gratification. So, it used to be you could place a sports bet and you were betting on an event. Okay, like there was an outcome. Now you're betting
on every little thing like are they going to wear red socks today? Are they going to wear a white sock? Are they which tennis shoes are they going to wear? Is it going to be the first pitch or the second pitch that this happens? So um there it's like micro betting for
every little movement, everything that happens um people are able to bet on. Now, >> you know, it's like what she was mentioning about about the Tik Tok, right, with the music. >> Well, >> we get we have a M >> jukebox. That's a jukebox, you know. So, they're getting rather than put it on on
a machine, they're giving it to somebody. >> Yep. >> So, I'll turn over to chair post for questions, comments. Curious how the committee >> Yeah. feels. >> Yeah. I think I just have a question. um
or maybe I don't know if it's a comment, a question, um a challenge, but the more that I hear about it, I mean, I I remember going to a a sports it was a sports um panel or summit and it was
with young adults and there was some doctors, there was it was all about sports and but it was more on the addiction side. And so it just reminded me and it's bringing it back um that summit where that doctor was talking about you know addictive behaviors and
the more you talk about the bedding I wonder if there's any correlation between the bedding and the increase of drug and alcohol use as well. So, you know, I I do know that there is also an increase in young adults vaping,
increase in young adults using drugs and drinking and um I wonder if there's any correlation between or if it comes from the same um you know part of the brain that dopamine I I don't know. I'm not a medical person and I don't even want to
get into all of that. But I do I'm curious if there is any correlation between um the addictive behavior and the betting because I mean betting and and gambling is an addictive behavior >> or it becomes a an addictive behavior.
>> Absolutely. So there's um new brain research on um the very young children and how their brain structure is actually being tra um changed by going online and using these games because
it's so instant. Um there is an there's an instant there's a dopamine release that happens when there's the bright lights and there's um some action going on. So they keep doing it and doing it because they get this this dopamine dump. it makes them feel good. Uh so it
is extremely addictive because that's the same dopamine dump you get when you um have do other addictive behaviors. So there is some early research out that it's really changing the structure of young people's brains um and the
architecture while because of this game playing. So they had a um there was a an article about a um you know parents think oh it's just the age like when you take away the tablet it's just their age when they have a meltdown. Oh it's you know it's just their personality it's
just you know it's just it's okay all kids are like this. What they're finding out is that it's the lack that dopamine is helping them regulate their emotions. Okay. So it's they're using the tablet and the games as self-regulation. they're not learning how to do that
themselves. So immediately when you take that away the tablet um it is a withdrawal right there. So that is the meltdown you're seeing. Uh it's not oh I just you know it is addictive. I want to play one more time but that tablet is
regulating those kids and so they don't know what to do with themselves. You know you take that tablet away and they are in a puddle on the floor and the parents are saying well what is the big deal? you know, you can play this in another, you know, ne tomorrow. And they they're not really understanding all those tantrums.
>> Thank you so much. So, I want two things that I have to say and then I don't know if anybody else have any questions. One, thank you for reaffirming that I am not the worst mother ever when I take away tablets and when I say no. Um, so that's number one. And number two, do we
currently have or you know any communication that is currently going around like we have preventative like I know I see a lot of the vaping messaging that's going around in this high schools um preventing you know students from vaping and um harassment. Do we have
anything regarding bedding um in the schools or is that open? >> We're certainly I mean it's certainly something to look into. This is so new. We um Keith and I just really um kind of this kind of floated up and and came to our attention in the last month or two.
Uh we just had the superintendent's advisory April 6. So we are we're right here on the cutting edge as to um identifying a problem, seeing you know the magnitude of the problem and how we might be able to intervene with the students. And so to my understanding, we
don't unless somebody is doing it schoolbased um that we're unaware of. I don't believe we have anything um districtwide that we're pushing out. Um but that's part of the research we're doing about, you know, how we address this, but also just kind of educate people, too. So, I
see you have a hand raised. Uh >> yeah, Miss Bey, I think it was >> Hi, I just want to um congratulate you guys. you did an amazing job bringing this to the forefront and sharing all of the data and information around it. Um to um Miss Postol's point of the
connecting and dovetailing um concerns with this um there the same platforms that you guys highlighted as being a primary concern where kids are engaging in gambling also have chat features where um a lot of predators are engaging
in communication. So the kink might be going there for this purpose but then accidentally be brought into other circles often switching from one platform to another moving over to Discord and others. Um a lot of times
those situations lead to extortion, sex tortion, grooming which can lead to more acute mental health crisises um which we sometimes see on the inpatient unit. So there definitely is a correlation for the kids who are engaging in one area of
this online engagement that can easily become connected to other areas of concern through the same platforms. But thank you guys for bringing this to the forefront. >> Thank you for sharing that important information. Chair um board member Branch,
>> I can tell you as a uh I can tell you as a substitute teacher subbing every day in guidance K through five, I discuss this with them all the time about gaming and gambling and money and predators trying to pray and they're looking at me like what do you mean that can't happen?
We talked about it all the time. So this it's it's coming to the forefront for you guys and maybe you're just recognizing it, but it's you're not just recognizing it, but you know, it's been in sports forever. I mean, it's on TV saying, "Oh, the guy got hurt automatic,
you know, on purpose in a basketball game so his friends would win the bet." So these kids are seeing these adults Yeah. >> doing stuff on purpose betting. I mean, it's everywhere. It's, you know, it's unfortunately social media has just it's just another world for our students and
we have to be, you know, aware on all fours. But I can tell you and these kids, I would ask them, how many hours and what do you do on the weekend and how many hours do you play the games and why don't you go outside? It's addicting. We all are very aware. So, I'm glad you're bringing this up. But
these kids see a whole lot of stuff in the world on social media with their parents in sports for a long time now. So they think it's okay, >> right? >> Thank you. >> No, thank you. Right. And the whole predator piece um I know the FBI often talks about um
>> when it comes down to mass shooting, a lot of it goes back to some of those as as Michelle said to to roadblocks and I'm getting connected to these dark areas of the uh the web.
We have a a hand in the um room here. So I first of all want to thank you for bringing this to our attention and um I did want to comment and ask have you seen a cultural shift in your research
in in the spaces of in real life we have things like blind boxes and open up opening up packs of cards and so on and on social media we have influencers who are doing so trying to get that really rare one. Um and in those spaces that
has spurred uh more gambling. >> Well, a couple there's a couple of different things. One is um there's always been gambling around. Um that that goes back. Um but the nature of it has changed and social media has changed over the last 10 years and our and the
way our kids are interacting with social media has definitely changed. So, in those micro betting has changed because now, you know, they're really um the I think the federal regulations kind of opened up the the gambling um to you
know, we're able to do a lot more online than we were able to do before. So, uh I think that it's the the environment has changed and our kids are changing. you know, they're these are kids that have um grown up from the moment they are born with uh tablets and social media
and things that they've um we haven't had in previous um generations. So, all of those things together and the culture that yeah, it's okay. We see it everywhere like um like Miss Branch said. So, this is um it the attitude around it has changed. So, we're really
slipping into it more. Board member Branch, >> I did just see something. It's kind of interesting because I think some teenagers are recognizing their smartphones are taking up their whole world and they call it dumb phones now. So they're
getting flip phones so they're not on their phones all the time and how much they're doing and reading and spending time with their friends and actually talking. So, some there is some awareness with kids um that, you know, they're trying to make they're realizing that, wow, I'm on my phone way too much.
I should be, you know, outside or playing a sport or, you know, whatever it is. Just just actually talking. So, they're calling them dumb phones now. They're they're going back to the flip, which I of course love. >> Um, so I just saw I literally just saw that either this morning or yesterday, last night. So anyway, there are there
are kids that are are are becoming really aware of it because that's all they knew. I think about it like supposed, you know, they're talents all the time and people take them away and they're like, "Oh my god." BUT THAT'S ALL THEY'VE KNOWN. They haven't known anything else. So, bringing it to their
attention, I do I do see some students are aware um and talking to my my my daughter's friends and stuff that, you know, we need to like step back from the phones and actually communicate and enjoy life and get outside and whatever it is besides sitting on your phone, you
know. So, just they're they're calling them dumb phones now. So, maybe we can bring the the really good flip phones back. >> Yeah, I've seen some of that, too. um that the flip phone movement with some of the kids on the news. So yeah, that's >> maybe something we can look into as
well. I agree. That's great that some of these >> Oh, can we look at it for adults as well? Because that will cut down on all of these um mobile meeting. >> We need to bring back the rotary phone. That's the one we need to bring >> the rotary. Well, have you seen the phone that you
can cook, you can actually hook your phone, your smartphone up to where it's a regular phone. You pick it up and actually talk on it. You have to dial it. It is an app and it is still connected to your phone, but they are bringing back those phones where it sits on a counter, a desk or whatever and you can talk on that with an actual handset.
It's pretty funny. >> Yes, I've seen that too. >> I have we have a hand raising here of Mr. Stewart. >> Yep. Go ahead. Go ahead. >> No. So just thank you to superintendent uh committee for bringing this forward. It is an emerging issue but it's also
been around for a while in addition to the prestige of NPR and the New York Times uh last week tonight just did a a presentation on predictive markets on Sunday just before these arrests. Uh but they mentioned some other predictive betting on some things having to do with
the war in Iran and so forth. So very timely. I just did want to me and and lots of great research Dr. Musen and thank you for bringing this to our attention but just to add one more uh the youth risk behavior survey that's performed by CDC they've also looked at gambling they have a gambling question
uh and as has been brought up of course uh there is a strong correlation between gambling and smoking and vaping and drinking and alcohol use uh as well as a correlation between mental health issues particularly anxiety. So, um, we've got that research as well from CDC, not in
our county, uh, any longer, but but at the, uh, national level. >> Yeah, I have to look at that. Also, I had to look at the the new survey the state's doing if there's any questions in this space. It's been a minute before I look. So, good, good. >> I I I have a question for this body. I
know we're getting closer to the end. Would this committee um I I certainly personally would, but um don't want to do silo work. would this committee um seek to with the help also of other committees like Dr. Musk um and of
course this is Mr. Oswald staff committee would this committee be interested in you know chairing a convened crossf functional task force or some form of um assessment so that we
could establish a you know statement or resolution that goes before the board. Would this committee be interested in something along those lines? I mean, because I I I think it's a predatorous system that we're currently looking at when it comes to this system. I think it's we talked about I believe I heard
the financial harm that it's doing both Miss Simmons and Dr. Muc mentioned. Um, but would love to know what what impact does it have on our students and where does that impact lies? you know, if it's disproportionately
in one area versus another, if it's, you know, I I would love to know a little bit more on how it's um I know it's impacting our whole entire community, but I would love to see us do something more actionoriented
um just not just awareness. Yeah, the awareness is great, but what are we going to do as a district? Are we going to embed it in existing policies? Um, I know for sure that there is betting that goes on in little league for the little league football or little league sports.
Um, you know, are we going to look at this in a a higher scope and embedded in some of our policies that currently exist? I would look like us to take a look at this in a greater scope and not just awareness.
and chair postal I don't see hands raised right now but we could always put it um on unfinished business for next meeting to bring it back and let digest >> let's do that >> and >> let's do that let's bring that back and also let's bring back the action item from um DDEC ad hoc committee
as well as unfinished business for next week next month Oliver >> um for your suggestion madam chair it seems because This area is getting a lot of attention when it comes to gambling on the adult side and children are aware
of gambling but because they embed it so well in the design of the apps. There's a little bit hard um it's very hard to distinguish for the children what exactly is gambling and especially how it affects their mental health.
Moreover, how does it affect the agencies that we represent in this margin marginalized community? There's a lot of pending research already out in the communities, but I think if we need to make a recommendation to the board,
we have to gather a whole lot more information because this is still an emerging space on how to detect it. not only for the adults, their surrounding adults like everyone mentioned that um I think someone mentioned an anecdote about their parents taking their children to go gamble but because these
things are readily available on their devices um I don't know if there's enough research to show the distinguishing patterns on how we can identify it as adults much less how children identify
it between their apps because it is that dopamine high because it is so well embedded in apps because it is so well affected to them in their normalized behavior. I'm really wondering how will that be
tracked through the professionals and how we can make sure that it's effective when we make a recommendation to the board from our committee to protect not only all of our children but the vulnerabilities of the agencies that we represent and our students in that
space. I'm just not sure I I I was more so stating instead of making a broad statement or instead of saying you know hey we want to raise awareness about gambling um first define it. Many adults or students don't even
realize uh what gambling look like. Um many don't don't look like don't understand addictive behaviors. Um personally me when I'm online and people ask me to do the stars and they say you're eligible for stars. That's an addictive behavior because it's going to cause you to be online more to get stars
and for those who are not on social media. So if you're on social media and people just the same um it's the same format as the Tik Tok uh antidote that was shared earlier. If you're on Facebook and you are constantly on Facebook and sending messages and
delivering messages, these particular messages allows you to get stars. people have to pay so that you can continue to deliver those messages. And I I think that's an addictive behavior in some instance because people stay day and night making content just to get more
stars, more money, more stars, more money, repeating that cycle. So, um there are some things that are addictive behaviors like, hey, you don't see that this is an addictive behavior. Well, it starts here and then it goes and it goes and the next thing you know you're addicted to this and then you're
constantly chasing that next high of addiction. And so my my thing is if this is where we're identifying the bare minimum, you know, where we're losing money, I I know there are family members that the the addiction start with it
starts with addiction. It start with, hey, oh my gosh, I want to place this bed. Now I'm losing. Now I'm doing alcohol. Now I'm an alcoholic. Now I'm doing drugs. Now I'm a drug. Now I'm dead. Like it it's a complete cycle. And if we're saying, "Hey, we identify a
problem. It's a problem. It's a impact, but it's a minimum impact. Let's stop the bleed before it gets to we're having addiction problems beyond our control. um you know and so not just bring awareness but what are we going to do to
stop that bleed from what we observe as a starting problem to what it can scale to >> Mr. RHS you trying to >> Mr. girls. >> No, no, I was just just listening and uh
that's that's a very very touchy subject especially when you deal with the privacy and the the things of it's utterly impossible to stop it be because the system have have geared this is they this is their go baby now and and making
it much more discreet than it ever been. So to to even find the entities that that these kids are doing these things on is be a major issue you know and and I agree with you it need to be made aware of it but are are we an entity
that can do that I mean do we have the resources that we can do that with with this with this modern technology that's going on now >> only well um madam chair only because we've lost numerous agencies um that had
to for other meetings. Um I I would recommend that we put it on maybe unfinished business. Let people kind of digest it >> as you mentioned earlier. >> That that works for me. >> Okay.
>> Kind of lost you for just a second. >> Yeah. Okay. And I I I don't know if you heard, but we lost a number of agencies. So, just just to kind of wrap up, just to go to the last um for for my updates. I I'll I'm going to wait till next uh
month to go over the school effectiveness questionnaire um data for FY26. We have updated data. So, some good trends, some areas that still need improvement. So, we'll go over that next month. Um we are in the midst of about uh testing, so a lot of
testing going on in our schools. Um and about to tip off to graduation. So I know board member Branch saw but no she's got uh I want to congratulate her. She's got her daughter is graduating this year. Um as well as many other employees and lots of people are
graduating this year. So >> where did this year go? I >> I don't know where it went but it's here. It's over. It's over. >> It went fast. And um um >> we had another successful EKG event um out at Wellington High School for
Western Communities. We had 370 approximate students get tested. We have one more at Bokeh High on March 9th and then we'll be sending out >> Oh, did I say March? Yeah, May 9th. Thank you. Saturday 9 to1. We're going
to send information out on that. We also hit the Glades um Pokei and Glade Central. We also hit on last Friday, the day before Wellington. We did uh went to the actual schools due to
the uh distance and we've got I think about 50 or 60 kids eighth graders at least uh done at that point. So it's going well on that end. And
um if you're interested some of our curmies and school choice know Dr. Morgan was on, but uh she and um Miss Wyatt will be doing presentation to the board on Wednesday on some of the updates on choice and career uh education. If you're interested, tune in to that into the board meeting. And that
will conclude my comments. We have no unfinished business. And >> what is the DDC agency presentation? That was what you and Minex did or did I miss something that's on the agenda?
the >> which which item >> um DDE under new business DDEC agency presentations. I don't believe we're doing any agency presentations today.
>> No, I don't see that on my agenda. >> Oh, maybe I can see >> I don't see it on the agenda. >> Sorry, it was on the online um uncharted business. I'll have to check that what was set up.
Um, >> no unfinished business. >> No unfinished business. Okay. At this time, um, if there's no unfinished business, any announcements, the only announcements that I have, we, um, there is a domestic violence walk,
um, that is hosted by the 15th judicial um, south uh gosh, what do you call it? Um, my goodness, I can't think of the office. Um, Alexia Cox's office. Um they're hosting a domestic violence uh walk tomorrow. Um we have our brunch uh
the Bold Foundation is hosting a um scholarship brunch at the arts and cultural future and cultural center in Boon Beach. Anyone is invited. We'll send I'll send information on both events tomorrow from 10 to 11. And I believe two of the superintendent
um students are being awarded scholarships. Uh so it is a nice event and so Jannina thank you for your students and they have been wonderful um partnering in partners in the community. So um two of the students will be
awarded some scholarships and so we're going to have a great afternoon that's uh or a great midm morning. >> Thank you. That's awesome. >> Yeah. >> What time is the branch again? >> Um it's from 10 to 1 and we are going to be out of here by 12:30 but it's 10 to 1.
>> Okay. Yeah. So, thank you so much. And if there's any there's nothing else for this body, I will entertain a motion. >> Motion >> motion by Mr. Pone. Any objections.
Have a great evening. Oh gosh. That have a great afternoon. I'll bring it back up next month. >> Happy weekend. >> Um Doc Mr. Oswald, before we hang up, it the meeting is adjourned, but I just wanted to ask if you can send an email to all of the committee members and ask
the committee members to come to the next meeting um ensuring that they have their um alternates and so on and so forth because I know we did send that out to the committee. >> She did. Oh, I did see her. She did send
that out. So, can we also um remind that you know for the calendar next month? >> Sure. I'll put on the agenda as well >> or put the agenda next month. Thank you so much. >> All right. Thank you all. Have a good weekend. >> All right. Sound good.
>> The only two permanent things we used to death. Now we have death, taxes, and gambling. >> Truth. >> The truth. So good to see you. >> Thank you for joining.