##VIDEO ID:5wJZLhj3v7g## e good afternoon I call to order the special called Schoolboard meeting on Tuesday October 29th please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Vice chair Carl cook and remain standing until the completion of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Mr Hendrick are there any amendments to the agenda there are no amendments Madam chair board members any amendments to the agenda seeing none may have a motion in a second second to adopt the agenda second motion from Mrs Caine and a second from Mrs long Mrs Hal are there any speakers to agenda items yes Madam chair we have one speaker thank you please go ahead and call the speaker U Daniel amend good afternoon and by I hope you have had a lot of calls because you don't have a lot of participants here um I just want to get two things I know you guys are thinking of extending the the school year I'm urging you guys not to do that I think there's enough in service days and even days of the the holidays what we used to call Christmas and Easter to butress uh whatever instruction hours are required by the state uh although I don't care I've been asked to Advocate the waving of the midterms which I understand is also Up For Debate here and if that is a fact I think the the kids have had a lot going on that's not my default position normally uh but heck we didn't have internet until just a few days ago so uh that's my two cents boy I hope there's more people calling you than are showing up so good luck God bless and you all have a good week cheers thank you the next item on our agenda is the consent agenda may I have a motion and a second to approve motion by Mrs cook and a second by Mrs Meyer all those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I any opposed passes 7 to zero on the non-consent agenda item 6.1 request approval of the amended 2024 2025 instructional calendar May I have a motion in a second to approve this item make a motion a motion from Mrs long and a second from Mrs Meyer Mr Hendrick would you please introduce this item yes Madam chair as we discussed at the workshop last week the uh idea of make up time make up days for the days that we missed from the two hurricanes and so there are two items forthcoming this first one is strictly the school calendar and the days that would change on the school calendar that the board previously approved and discuss to discuss those changes is Chief human resource officer Miss Paula Texel yes good afternoon Madam chair school board members Mr Hendrick and staff I am here this afternoon to present the recommendation to adjust the 20242 instructional calendar the proposed adjusted calendar would include the following utilizing one of the previously approved hurricane makeup days January 6 as a student day where school will be in session to utilize the non-student day of February 17th 2025 as a makeup day and school will be in session and the last day of school which is May 29th 2025 would now be a full day of school and students would not be Rel released 2 hours early additional adjustments that would be impacted by the recent school closures would include first semester exams in high school and middle school to be waved allowing for increased instructional hours at those levels High School graduations will be held at the end of May again to allow for the greatest number of instructional hours additionally I wanted to share with you that last Thursday I was able to meet with the calendar committee to brief them on the the recommendation and to receive any input or or questions and um they were very appreciative of the recommendations being made and are in full support of of these recommendations as a reminder that group and that committee consists of teachers and administrators District staff um parents um and community members uh so we thank you for your consideration of this request thank you board members any discussion Mrs cook thank you uh some of email that we received and a couple of phone calls um alluded to us extending the school year and if you look at the calendar that we approved in December May 29th is the last day of school we're extending the school year by two hours and so I think people need to understand that very clearly we're not asking them to come you know weeks Beyond we could also ask them to come a few days Beyond if we needed to but the calendar committee and the superintendent and staff were able to look at how do we do this with the least amount of disruption I think you did a fabulous job I support this 100% And um when it comes to graduation and things like that we'll find out first of all what the venue will be and then we'll know what day the graduations will be so I appreciate and and need people to understand we are not extending the school year except by two hours exactly so thank you thank you I had a few items I wanted to raise which we um discussed a bit in the workshop last week one is um it is I know very disappointing for teachers to lose that planning day and really a planning day is as valuable as multiple learning days frankly right a teacher to be able to have that day to be able to plan the learning M it makes it that much more effective so I guess so I would just like to ask and I as I did in the workshop that we talk with principles you know whatever it takes to try to get our teachers some time during that second semester to make up for that loss of planning day I don't know how that works I would ask you all as the professionals how how that could possibly be worked in I know it can't be a full day but maybe it's a couple of hours on several different days but I think that that planning day is extraordinarily important and acknowledging the work that happens with that time is important yeah I can comment on that Madam chair you know you can't get put more minutes in a day right and I can't put more days in a week and so short of adding a Saturday day to someone's calendar um you know we did pay employees for nine days of not working and one of those we paid for them to come to school and plan and so we did give an an additional planning day back um our teacher contract outlines the rules for planning and what is and is not and there's a lot protected probably more than than you realize in terms of during the day and after the day um and so I agree with you and that's why we wanted to keep at least one of those planning days uh but honestly beyond that there's also the business of having to run scho school and to have a faculty meeting and to keep people up to speed on communication so I think our principles do a good job of that normally and I think they'll understand the stress of that for the second semester um but I I cannot find hours or days to do that other than the normal ways that principles do that and some of them have creative ways to do that using substitutes team teaching doing it during a field trip there's lots of other ways that you can do that and they do that now but I I don't want to put on record that oh and here's the specific way because that's just you can't squeeze that into a calendar that doesn't have any flexibility at this point right I wouldn't ask you to do that Mr hendrik um but I have heard about those creative ways over the years as I've visited schools and um so I guess maybe sharing some of those creative ways and encouraging that we find some of that time if we can using those creative ways in the second semester um I do lament the loss of district-wide training is also you know also I'm sure fellow board members have been to some of those sessions that are extraordinary both for the profession Prof development that is gained during the actual training sessions and for the fraternity that is gained with being with one another um again I know we can't create a day I know we can't create time um so but just that professional development and I know you do this Miss Texel you know we we we encourage the PD we encourage that professional development um so I just wanted to mention you know ensuring that we're still going to encourage somehow to find that PD in the second semester if I comment on that too if you don't mind um because we've just looked this up we have professional development that goes on in this building every night and in schools across the district every night so last year um this is woodf I think it was $3.3 Million we paid to teachers in stiens to attend training after hours so that's an enormous amount of training that happens outside of those District wide training days anyway and um you'll see that each and every night the rest of the the school year well maybe not the last night but most nights um I think um and I I wanted to highlight what Mrs cook said about the graduation schedule we're working on those venues and we'll get that um schedule out we did a great job making up for lost days I feel like the uh reducing the midterms right gains probably four days or so of instruction that's a great deal of time and a great deal of instruction and then also with the graduations really shifting from what would have been early miday to later May gain it's another five six days of instruction so so we really are picking up those days of instruction even it doesn't look like we're adding much and so with that said I would actually suggest that we consider allowing the last day of school to remain an early release day um I feel like if you look at the hours that were provided to us in the workshop you know the 900 required hours and then where we are with the 9:30 9:34 9 you know we're we're we the time it's itself the two hours itself on that last day of school I don't feel like is substantial instructional time that's going to be used to make up for learning loss from this first semester I do think that right now it is tough first semester is going to be tough I mean when you're talking fourth grade math standards you know I mean every geometry I'm watching eighth grade geometry from my kitchen table trying to make up those standards right so it is first semester making up those days is tough I think come May 29th those two hours our teachers our families our students are used to having that kind of celebratory early release do we want to on the last day of school say oh remember those hurricanes that was awful we're we're going to actually stay until the very end um so but I you know I don't mean to spring it on you but I have just been noodling on it in my mind and I wonder if anyone else would consider that idea Mrs edman superintendent Hendrick yes we had the workshop and there was information provided about for the rationale of extending the day um do you mind sharing the intention around extending the day yeah you know at the end of the end of the day um you have to look at 900 hours and we talked about is you know what's enough is it 900 even is it 910 is it 930 how do we plan for unexpected you know other events I won't mention the other name but right any other weather event or unknown event and so you plan around that to make sure you have enough uh we certainly discussed internally or the last two hours of the school Day on May 29th going to be academically no they're going to be exam time just like the rest of the that day in a secondary school and in elementary is what it is so honestly we we could take or leave either one we didn't want to send a message that well let's just do the minimum and figure that out um but we were also protecting against what happens if something else occurs um you know Mrs H did share with me that she was going to bring this up we're fine either way it's not it's not a make or break thing until we have to come back to you and say oh we missed another day you know so so where do we find that time um but we we put forth a proposal that we thought captured enough and also um did not interrupts families teachers to the point where we're asking people to come in on days that they otherwise would not have worked which is what we tried to avoid because that from an HR perspective becomes very problematic thank you Mr Hendrick and I just would like to cosign your um opin your thoughts about the half day and some of the emails we received were exactly that you know some kids will be taking exam Elementary School would be different so what would be the the point of extending it to to additional hours so I am in support of Mrs hines's recommendation this Maya um I certainly am I mean I'm open to the to the idea I just and I know Mr Hendrick you already touched on that but to to your point my concern is you know what if there is a need for another day that we have to take off I mean we're not I hate to say it but we're not through hurricane season yet and so would we be kind of pre I don't know if we be prematurely you know I just think it might be better if we keep that day as as you mentioned as a full day just as like an insurance policy in case we have to take another day um you know if if the group wants to not do that I I I understand I just I think there's a reason why why you know Mr Hendrick and staff made that decision I think my just my thought on that is we'll cross that bridge right and then we have that time should we so we'll we'll cross that bridge when we get there Mrs K Mrs long yes Mr Hendrick will you please clarify the state gives the number of hours that we have to build back because of the hurricanes and if we don't do it exactly as they say in the time frames there's a huge um Financial requirement I don't remember if it was us or one of the other counties where they had to pay a million dollars back it wasn't us years ago okay this was a long time ago um and I I don't want to see us in that predicament because the state really they're the boss Florida Department of Education I just don't want to get hit so we do you know we get audited every year um on the number of hours that we have in the schedule and the calendar and if you don't meet those minimum number of hours you do have to pay back a portion a pro-rated portion of FTE and there have been even as recently as this year some districts that have had to do that for things that happened three years ago the piece that is not public yet is when are graduations right um we're not finalized that schedule yet we are almost there and we hope to have that out in about a week um in that graduation schedule there could be a school or two that graduate a day or two early because we're we're Limited in venues um and so those two hours don't help there right um but it does just continue to protect everything honestly we can make it work either way but if there's any hiccup along the way we will have to come back to you with with a you know adding things um and at that point our choices may not be the same as the choices we have today thank you very much um I appreciate the recommendation from superintendent and staff I have to say I agree with Mrs Meyer uh that I feel that having that extra insurance policy should anything else occur in the school year we're well prepared for that and I do think it's um our responsibility to look ahead to the ifans and whats and make sure the decisions we're making are sound uh moving forward and it really is all about balance um I think that what was proposed was about the best balance we could have hoped for we really could have had students going to school through June and I remember a time in pelis we went well into June for our school year so being able to only add those couple of hours is really undisruptive it's it's very balanced for our employees for our families they're already planning to go to school that day an additional two hours is not distrupt them but if we have to come back later and say we need to add another three days of school or we need to add an additional day to the school calendar that you previously didn't plan on it's going to be disruptive for them to try to find child care to try to cover rides or whatever it is that each family is going to need so in thinking ahead to all the possibilities that might be before us I do have to agree with miss my I think having that little extra insurance policy on time is a good thing um and it's just healthy decision for us see I remember how to do it um I I agree with um with miss my and Miss Kane as and the recommendation brought To Us by our district I know it's very well thought out and I appreciate the comments too about keeping the school day as originally intended but I think changing that now and having that plan in place now will allow everybody to go ahead and just know what the day is going to be know what the rest of the year is going to be it's already been disruptive enough we already have our schedule graduations are still to be determined so I think that I personally think that it's better to just go ahead and put the the plan in place as as recommended by superintendent staff based on all of the work that everybody put in up to this moment so and I appreciate all the discussion leading up to this and thought but as a parent I don't have kids in school anymore but um I know you do but I would rather just know now be like oh man but oh well it's done and and then it's done that's just my thought originally when we um decided to go to letting people out two hours early it was at the request of our bus drivers so that they could get things taken care of on the buses get everything um worked out that way uh at the workshop I asked if the bus drivers or um people in transportation were aware of this and were they okay with it and um you know nobody's thrilled to death uh about it but they were okay with it and they said it would work out just fine so um I support leaving the two hours in there as as Miss Meer said a an insurance policy but I think it's important that we make sure that it's it's there um just in case and um you know it's not a punishment to have to go two hours or to go the whole day so I don't see it as a negative consequence so I will support the original proposal that was brought forward Mrs edman thank you than you Mrs cook for your your comments I was going to mention the the bus drivers and the rationale for the two hours um previously I think it's also important to clarify that um superintendent Hendrick said it could work either way um and I do appreciate the work that has gone into making this uh proposal so I will support it good okay so we'll keep it as is and we'll just go go ahead when was that when did they change the 2 hours early for the bus drivers how long ago was that how long maybe 10 years ago at least yeah there's been different iterations and and some other things to consider we used to have more days at the end of the school year for teachers to clean up than we used to um there were also a couple of years with hurricanes where we did extend those because we used to have a requirement for what was called the L300 schools for reading um and they had to have a certain number of minutes reading every day and that actually used to be our biggest challenge was to capture the minutes in the Elementary schedule not the high school schedule because they had to have so much reading um so it's it's varied a couple years I remember we didn't do it and then then there was a year it wasn't on the calendar remember that and then we came back to the board and ask him to do it so it's been varied in different ways but I I do agree with Mrs cook it's not a punishment um we're not saying you can't enjoy the last day and have a field day and a picnic and all those things you just get to do more fun now in those couple hours yeah yeah for sure I guess since my oldest is an eighth grader it's all I've known so it is the culture it is the celebratory end of the year so um okay so we'll leave it as is and any other discussion you need to vote on it we'll yes ma'am any other discussion before we take a vote okay good so all those in favor of approving item 6.1 say I I any opposed all right passes 7 to zero item 6.2 request approval to wave portions Within policy 54202 reporting student progress middle school and 5420 point3 reporting student progress and class ranking high school for first semester 2024 25 school year M moot motion from Mrs cook and a second from Mrs Caine Mr Hendrick would you please introduce thank you madam chair as I mentioned before the first vote was about the calendar only this is about the waving of exams that policy and then creating the rating policy if the board approves the waving of those exams and so to explain that as she did at the workshop Chief academic officer Mrs denica Jones Miss Jones great afternoon Madame chair Schoolboard members Mr hendrik and staff I am here today to bring forth consideration of item 6.2 approval to wave portions of policy 54202 and 5420 point3 reporting student progress middle and high school this request would allow four additional days of instruction or four more days might I say of instruction rather than four days of assessment if approved final semester grades will simply be determined by averaging the unweighted grades of the two quarters quarter 1 plus quarter 2 divided by two we are working as we continue to discuss this the finalizing of graduation schedules during the last week of school tentatively Thursday through Sunday all of this is for your consideration thank you thank you board members any discussion Mr just a question did you mention the last week of school Thursday through Sunday those are tentative dates so graduation would come after the last day of school possibly but those are tenative days we the last week of school thank you any other discussion I just have a question what f is it fast right fast fast okay will that happen before the holidays or could we start the semester with with it where's that period of time fast for you you mean before the December holiday or can it wait till January so the period opens early but you have the window from late December usually January on any other discussion okay we have a motion in a second to approve item 6.2 all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to zer new business items introduced by the superintendent I have no report today Madam chair thank you items introduced by the school board attorney it may surprise you to hear that I don't have a report either thank you Mr kerski items introduced by the board and I don't see it on here but Mrs Woodford I'm going to ask anyway did you hear any requests no requests noted okay um okay with that and seeing no other business will'll adjourn this meeting thank you