001welcome to the Orange County school board meeting we ask for the courtesy of the board memb staff and those that are participating telephonically that you please silence your cell phones good evening and welcome to the Orange County school board's regular meeting scheduled for Thursday November 9th 2023 because Tuesday was an election day we moved our meeting to tonight thank you so much for being with us this evening board members are intendance member G could not be with us today as a reminder and Madame chair will be in shortly she's just going to be a little bit late but she will be attending this meeting as a reminder board members board members will not be engaging in outside electronic or digital communication during the meeting so we can focus on the matters immediately before us to
002my fellow board members District staff and members of the public when speaking please make sure to use your microphone make sure your microphone is turned on and speak directly into it so our YouTube and orange TV viewers can hear you clearly now we're going to have a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance please stand now for the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all good evening and thank you for joining us for tonight's Schoolboard meeting we are going to start off this evening by remembering a man and those of you from Apopka most certainly knew John Perry who served as the editor of the Apopka Chief was
003deeply engaged with our schools and supported education the school board has a resolution in John's honor tonight School Board member bird will you please share your thoughts and this resolution with us thank you madam chair yes before I get started I would just like to take a moment to recognize our apka mayor Brian Nelson who's in the audience tonight hi mayor you're welcome to say a few words if you'd like sorry to put you on the spot thank you yes just if we're talking about John Perry what a great guy and I tell you what the true sign of how wonderful he was to our community was that obviously he went to a poka high school before wava was even in existence and yet the night you he passed away on a Wednesday on the
004Friday night game not only did Apopka have the JP on their field but so did weava high school and they even had it on their they had stickers on their helmet so it just shows the community could could all you know come together for the membrance of a great individual for the Apopka community in John Perry and so just shows what kind of character he had and that he could he could combine two schools often rivals on the on the field and yet bring them together to to honor his legacy so thank you for having me of course thank you so much mayor Nelson yes that was definitely very moving and this past Friday night those two teams played against each other in the mayor's cup which is a big rivalry in aapka and aapka
005won and the students played placed the a mayor's Cup on his initials as well and took pictures of that this past Friday night so George Bernard Shaw said I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can I feel like those words could have just as easily been said by our dear friend Mr John Perry who we sadly lost last month it's hard to Ely put into words what John Perry meant to all of us and to our Apopka Community as a whole you see John was a man who loved his community he dedicated his entire adult life to enhancing his community by sharing stories for over 40 years in the local paper of the
006Apopka chief his dedication to our community through his work as a reporter photographer and editor and chief is to be admired in itself but for me there's something more valuable in who he was and what he did he elevated our local schools within our community you see if a stranger comes to a popka and they pick up a copy of the poka Chief you will instantly know that this community is a community that values its local public schools and that was no accident that was the intentional work of John Perry maybe it's because he was the son of Educators or maybe it was just that he innately knew how important our schools are to our communities but each week for decades our elementary middle and high schools were featured with stories and his beautiful pictures
007which we've got on the screen tonight many of these pictures were his shots that he took of the fun events the important Milestones the contest winners and of course a whole section devoted to our local school sports if there was something happening at one of our schools you would definitely be sure to see John there with his camera around his neck and taking the shots that would soon Grace the papers of the pages sure this kept our community informed but more than that it sent the message the valuable message that our schools matter our support of our schools matter and that one of the most important assets within our community is our schools but more importantly it let our precious children know that their Community thinks they are pretty darn special I've been thinking a
008lot over the past few weeks about how many thousands of clip newspaper clippings there must be tucked away in moms and Dad's scrapbooks all over our community I know that I had some on my refrigerator as well through the years of my kids so I think everyone definitely appreciated his attention to our schools so I appreciate the board allowing me this time this week to honor this community hero this true Public School Ally and supporter and my friend Mr John Perry through this resolution in honor of John Perry whereas John Perry was born in the Halls ten in Halls Tennessee on May 28th 1956 and whereas his family moved to Apopka Florida when he was 5 years old and whereas John graduated from apka Memorial High School in 1974 and whereas his father James C
009Perry served as principal at leville elementary school in aapka and his mother Maryanne Perry was an educator and whereas he attended the University of Tennessee prior to graduating from the University of Central Florida in 1978 and whereas John climbed the ladder to become editor of the Apopka Chief and the planter newspapers working at both Publications for more than 40 years prior to his retirement in 2021 and whereas he worked tirelessly to cover many positive aspects of Orange County Public Schools in the Apopka area for decades and whereas John covered Apopka blue Darter football games since the late 1970s and was considered the definite expert on high school football in Central Florida particularly at aapka high school and whereas he also covered all three aapka high school state championships in 2001 2012 and 2014 as well
010as the high school's baseball basketball and other sports teams and whereas when miva high opened in 2007 John Ensure the school received extensive and Equitable coverage for both its academic and athletic programs and whereas he also oversaw oversaw the newspapers chief chief Junior section which provided ocps schools in the Apopka area with a chance to promote the academic activities and events that are happening throughout the year with stories and pictures and whereas in his role as the Apopka chief editor John's support for ocps continued by providing Schoolboard district 7 members with an opportunity to publish weekly columns so the Apopka Community could obtain information on what was occurring in their school district and whereas generations of students teachers support personnel and administrators at all Apopka area schools were positively touched by John Perry and whereas
011the entire Apopka and ocps communities are mourning the loss of John Perry who passed away on October 12th 20 2023 now therefore be it resolved that the school board of Orange County Florida does hereby acknowledge and declare that John Perry will remain a much-loved champion of education and resident of Schoolboard district 7 who touched many lives and left a legacy of love and faithfulness that will continue for generations to come adopted by the school board of Orange County Florida in Orlando Florida this 9th day of November 2023 Melissa bird Schoolboard member district 7 thank you chair I also want to I also want to express my condolences to the John Perry's family who have joined us here tonight we have his wife Grace Perry his daughter and son-in-law Kristen Martin and Austin Martin and his
012stepson and daughter-in-law Adam Shaw and Angela Shaw thank you for being here and we are so very sorry for your loss now I'd like to turn things over to Deputy general counsel John pal Marini who knew John very well John this is going to try to be a celebration of life for John I will try to keep it together John was my first boss when I came out of school as a matter of fact I went to a high school and I wanted to be a journalist and so I was going to school for that and so between my freshman and sophomore years of Valencia John took me on as an intern at the paper and he had to deal with me at the age of 19 you all get me in my late 40s
013he had me at 19 22 and 23 so you can imagine and John was so generous the very first week I interned there I wrote two stories and he put them on the front page of the paper and to do that for a 19-year-old kid is amazing and so I went through finished off at Florida and when I graduated John had a job waiting for me and he hired me on at 22 and 23 and he said he's didn't have many rules he was a great guy but he's like I want you to be accurate I want you to be fair I want you to treat everybody with respect those rules I live by today and it's because of him and so I went there and I worked there for two years and then I
014told John hey John I think I'm going to law school and his wife Grace has recently told me he still did not forgive me for that but he wrote me a letter of recommendation for law school and I got in and then I went to go intern and so when I was interning I interned here at the school board and John knew Frank hener who was the then general counsel and John put in a good word for me and he said no Frank this kid is great you need to take him and he did everything he could to support me and he always kept me in his thoughts so we go back to 2001 and John would want me to point this out when we won the first of our three championships in state in
015football which is by the way combined than more than any other school in Orange County they still don't match a popus 3 so I point that out for the record John said we're we're going to the state championship game and John said you know John I know what popka football means to you too why don't you come up and cover the game so this is one of Melissa you talked about cherished heirlooms and clippings from the paper this is the clipping of the paper and he let me write three stories covering apopka's Community apopka's First football state championship because he knew how important it was to me and I knew how important it was to him because after that came he was crying and I didn't understand why because I was 25 and didn't know
016any better and now being approximately the same age that he was when he covered that game I know why right so he put in the word to Frank for me he continued to allow me to cover the community when I was in law school and then when I got hired here in 2010 he's like hey you're an apoca kid who did well so I'm going to put you on the front page of the paper so when I got hired at the school board he wrote a front page story on me and it was amazing he didn't have to do that but he wanted to support everybody that came through a popka as as the proclamation said he supported generations of kids and I was one of them and always going to be appreciative of that
017and then so you know we kept up over the years we would always bet on the Florida Tennessee game thankfully I got the better of that most years when I didn't I had to put Rocky Top in the paper when I worked there I had to sing Rocky Top so I don't like that infernal song but I actually sang it for him and then the last time I talked to him was this year's game against Edgewater and he was talking with JC carahan from The Sentinel and so we were talking and JC said you guys seem to know each other pretty well how did that happen so I explained basically this story that I just told up here and when I did that I ended it by saying I love this man he's been so
018much to my career I wouldn't be where I am without him and I was very glad that he got to hear me say it now he smiled because John never wanted to be the center of attention this was not his thing he wanted everybody else to be the center of attention but I was glad that I got to tell him in person how much he meant to me and that I loved him and our community is mourning a loss of a great man who I can I consider him personally to be family I consider Grace to be family Kristen I knew you before you were born Austin you are a great husband to to Kristen I'm so glad that she Ed up with you Adam he never considered you the word step never entered into
019it you were his son and he always treated you that way Angela he felt the same way about you all are wonderful family you are family to me because John was so good to me I loveed him very much and I so glad that this school board honored him with this Proclamation thank you very much thank you for sharing that John I know this I know his friendship meant a lot to you would the family like to join us and Mr pomerini and member bird for photo please for e and now we have two School Board spotlights that I'm proud to share with you each month the school board member honors an exceptional employee in her District these employees have shown dedication and contributed to the success of our students we are grateful for every
020one of our hardworking staff members and this is one more way that we are pleased to honor them for the first one I'd like to invite member Salamanca who represents District 2 to tell us about the ocps staff member she has selected for her school board Spotlight member salamona thank you so much U member Gallo today I am honored to recognize the Lake Nona High debate teacher Derek Anoni hope I pronounced all right I think I got it who's worked for ocps for the past seven years years Derek is an invaluable member of the ocps family he's played a key role in building a really positive culture for his students at Lake Nona and Beyond with the larger debate Community across various Districts The District he prepares the students for college and success by helping
021them improve their reading their writing skills teaching them about conducting research and speaking in front of an audience and public speaking as we do up here every day and for the past 5 years he has grown the debate program at the L Nona from the groundup and this year it now has nearly 100 team members at least that's the last number I have he's conducted a mock trial with 40 Debate Club members and he took the students to the state capital to experience legal and legislative processes firsthand he spents countless of hours on his weekends supporting his debate students at competitions across the district across the state and sometimes even Across the Nation for example he coached senior Gabby ureta who was a inter for me this past summer and reached the semi-finals in her
0222023 national championships Gabby competed in Congressional tournaments Across the Nation and the event was hosted by the national speech and debate Association in Arizona where she did really well and represented dig very strongly Derek is a Florida Civic andate initiative Regional Ambassador as he helps build new debate programs throughout the rest of Central Florida and ocps his hard work has really paid off and numerous academic All American Award winners and state champions under his belt he empowers students to do their very best at school and during competitions to reach their potential and that's why I'm so proud to recognize him today he was one of the first teachers at Leona that I met through the debate initiative as I was one of the judges at a colonial High tournament where he had spent endless amount
023of hours preparing for the tournament and getting the students just to be there and excited to de all kinds of really important topics that are relevant to today and these debate students go on to the real world with amazing skills I was a debate student myself and public speaking and debating anything you want me to debate on that never goes away but it is one of the most valuable skills that I learned in high school so Derek thank you so much for bringing this to our students to our schools and for being such an amazing representative district 2 in ocps we are very lucky to have you and just know that your principal and staff and students are so eternally grateful for all the work you do and we're lucky to have you so thank
024you congratulations Derek and thank you for making a difference in each of your Lake Nona students lives now let's get a photo off if we can get the principals and all y'all up here princip princi e now I'd like to invite District 3 board member Frant to tell us about the ocps employee she has chosen for her school board Spotlight member front thank you Vice chair when we were asked to think of someone that we would like to honor I knew exactly who I was going to pick Miss Lesean Harris is a is the Walker Middle School desk clerk she is the first person that you see when you walk into Walker Middle School she has a smile on her face her warm that warm smile and her kindness it is just it's not lost
025when you walk in and so many people think maybe you're just a desk clerk or you may even feel that way sometimes but when you walk in and you see someone like you who has a smile on their face and who is excited about her job it just makes a difference and I know for our students as well when they walk in and they see you represent everyone at the school you're the first person that they see and so just a little what I thought was really kind of cool she worked you've been there for four years correct so originally she was working in food and nutrition in the cafeteria and helping there and a turn of event she ended up needing to work at as the desk clerk and it was temporary well she
026did such a phenomenal job they asked if she would stay and stay on as the desk clerk because she is so phenomenal at her job your servants heart and just the way that you take your job with pride is just it is a joy to have you as one of our employees at Walker Middle School and your incredible principal Miss Brown I am absolutely thrilled that you're here as well she is phenomenal all I know this is just it's about Miss lean but we just love you I just I am so excited for what is happening at Walker and miss miss lean you have made a huge difference so I wanted to honor you tonight and thank you publicly for your service and what you are doing and all the hard work that you do
027tirelessly every day with that smile on your face so thank you thank you do that congratulations Lesean and thank you for being a friendly face to everybody at Walker can you y'all want to come up and we'll get a picture proud yes right stand up Pooky Edge Water that's crazy oh yeah so I'm many of you may be wondering why we have two board members up here reading or wearing jerseys jerseys I might mentioned that don't represent the high schools that they represent the reason for this and we're going to discuss it before we we do our order of business is the football the school board football challenge so as I'm sure you've all been following each board member has been challenged or has been challenged by a colleague this fall over some of our
028high school football matchups we've already completed challenges for Olympia versus Apopka and Dr Phillips against West Orange yes tonight we settle this year's final two challenges Colonial versus University and Edgewater versus Boon and so we have we have a special treat for y'all but before we start I I want to say so I went to the game I went to the Colonial University game I had a work event so I didn't get there to halftime and when I got there at halftime UHS University High great job boys was up 20 to nothing and I was so excited I started texting Maria immediately letting her know that she was on her way to losing and did and I'm sitting there and the next thing I know halftime comes the boys come back out and then Colonial
029starts scoring and then they start scoring and I looked at Mr a and I said I got to go and he's like what I'm like I'm clearly the bad luck and I can't afford to lose this game so if it means me leaving so that we can win I'm that superstitious I will walk out now thankfully they right after that scored a touchdown and then sealed the deal for the University cougars so I'm I'm so thrilled I want to give a little bit of a backstory on the boot and then I've we've got some special guests they're going to come up so the back story for tonight so when we opened up University we were in a very rural area at the time University was very rural and we were of course splitting from Colonial
030we were the relief school from Colonial High School the FFA teacher at Colonial was Mr Dietrich and he wanted to establish a rivalry between Colonial high and University High School and have a trophy that could be passed back and forth so he donated his boot for the trophy and that's how it stands today so if you look over here to my left your right you will see the boot that Mr Dr arm Brewster is holding up thiser and this boot belongs to University high for the next year so now I it was 18 to 26 you know we fought we fought hard well I almost left the game I I thought I mentioned that I know that's kind of unfortunate CU you know you're the board member and you're I don't know what kind of
031charm of luck you are I listen I I was getting nervous I getting nervous Andie will be leaving all half time I was I was looking at Mr OT and I was like I can't lose this game you don't understand how competitive I am so I want to ask the twirlers we have some twirlers that are going to perform for us so I'd like the tlers from University High School these are University High School majorettes they're a very talented group of girls and they're going to come do a little just a little celebration dance for us good loading and now can we get the we have the mascot and the football players can you all come up with the twir with the twirlers twirlers stay up for a picture sure we got to get the
032boot I'm just grateful that part of this bet and challenge I I did not agree to twirling okay that was part of the initial deal have twirlers it was it was I stopped at the Jersey but I said no twirling and now I'm glad I did oh my oh my God it's hilarious yeah I think try the Baton not the boots Angie Jesus down there yeah it's going down there baby girl yeah that beautiful you're part of the team absolutely come down I she's taking like eight pictures tonight in the cougar e Maria Maria didn't she want fire twirlers thank you so much thank you Mr a thank you for everybody who came down and made this celebration so fabulous I do want to say I the twirlers we have them at several of our
033high schools and they actually twirl on the field with the cheerleaders at the football games and it would be great if we could get them at every High School I mean they're just so talented so twirlers at Jones we got twirlers at Jones so now because it's not just all about me in University High School we have already oh so now I need to go over to Edgewater versus Boon that's right you're up Ken that's right that's right thank you member Gallow and just so you know we were going to bring our twirlers but our they have fire twirler fire batons and it's not code so for safety we asked them to not come tonight but but they are celebrating but yes there was a wonderful football game at Boon last week and and the
034people at Boon the principal the admin the coaches the players they were so hospitable and so welcoming and I just want to make sure everyone knows how great Boon is and it really was a wonderful evening and then when we got the football game started Boon scored first and I'm like oh no this isn't going to work this but I didn't leave I didn't think that I was the best bad luck charm I was just really rooting them on a little bit harder but it was an amazing game and Edgewater remains undefeated and there is a yes I'm so proud of Edgewater of of the eagles they left everything on the field and they the then the score was 42 to 14 Jesus oh you have and as far as the history the of the
035barrel there we Edgewater won the barrel it was the Battle of the barrel I don't know what the history is of the barrel I just know that Edgewater has had it for the last four years and we have it again so but anyway thank you Edgewater for such a great win and for Boon for being so hospitable and thank you member Fant for wearing the Edgewater Eagle Jersey there it suits you okay I do like the color red so it is it's a nice color Yes Boon really was they were up in the beginning oh I was like yes I am their good luck charm so great and then it all went South but it was so fun and the team spirit and I mean the way that edge turned out at an away game
036was amazing and just all the I don't know the bands the whole thing is amazing I love the community just being out there personally I'm not really like sports aren't my thing but the whole thing was super fun I love just being there and so win or lose I don't like to lose but you know at Le you got to look on the bright side I like the color and yeah it looks great and you're wearing it proudly and I appreciate that okay I don't know yeah I don't know about proudly but I am wearing it so I think we should get a picture of member Salam Mona and member front standing together with their sad faces cuz their team's lost I'm just wondering where chair Jacobs is today who let Angie have all the
037power it was I know it was divine intervention this was payback for Colonial I smell conspiracy Bridget are you paying attention where's Bridget Bridget where's Jacobs J where's Jacobs let's get a picture it says come on in because we're offing at of and you're blocking the logo with your hair we go good hold on and now sad faces for those of you that need them good thank we all right now we're going to get back to the order of business at this time I would like to call Nat hay president of the Orange County Association of school administrators up to speak please Nate oh sorry Nate it says Nat here and said I changed it to Nate I'm sorry no worries member Gallow we were supposed to do appoint administrators first jeez sorry Nate Nate
038can you just hang on one second I got so excited I must have skipped over a part of the script oh Dr Vasquez do we have any newly appointed administrators to present tonight yes Madam Vice chair I do I have one so Nate it's not too long of a wait okay it I am so proud to announce that Chasity Sanders who is a staffing specialist at Ivy Lane Elementary is now the new assistant principal at Wolf Lake Middle School congratulations wonderful is she here oh there she is there she is here you get good evening everyone I would like to thank Dr Vasquez and Dr AR Brewster for this opportunity as well as my principal gorcha galbreth and board member Melissa bird in addition to Dr Bailey I'm eager and excited to start my journey
039here at Wolf Lake Middle School I'd also like to thank those that I worked under before Dr hton Miss Young Miss Anderson Miss bid and oh I think that's it sorry but again I'm welcome and eager and excited to be starting this opportunity and continuing my career at Wolf Lake Middle School thank you so much congratulations we're going to get a picture would you like to come up bring your family anyone else you'd like to bring come on bring the flowers and the flowers bring the flowers oh beautiful oh my goodness those are beautiful there's I know I feel like well there's two of them there's two of them you got all right Nate you're up Vasquez and Orange County School Board my name is Nate hey and I the proud principal of Lake Silver
040Elementary and the president of okasa the Orange County Association of school administrators as we approach the Thanksgiving break it is a fitting time to express our gratitude to this esteem board I want to say thank you so much for your unwavy support of our schools your dedication and commitment to our students and Educators do not go unnoticed and it's has a profound impact on our educational community so thank you tonight I also want to acknowledge our exceptional student education department under the leadership of Wendy Ivory want to say thank you for your proactive efforts to develop a plan to support vacancies in our ESC classrooms this is a much needed in initiative that will provide invaluable support to our schools and most importantly to our students with unique needs your commitment to ensuring that every
041child receives the education they deserve is commendable on this note I would also like to make a plea to our local businesses as we celebrate a season of giving I encourage our local entrepreneurs and Community leaders to reach out to their local schools and ask how they can support whether through mentorship programs donations of resources or volunteer opportunities or even providing a meal for a staff your contributions can make a significant difference in the lives of our students and Educators and together we can create a stronger more vibrant educational community in closing I want to re reiterate our heartfelt thanks to the Orange County Public School Board for their dedication and support Dr Vasquez and your team doing a phenomenal job and thank you for your support as well your work positively impacts the lives
042of our students and strengthens our community we wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and look forward to continuing our partnership and creating an even brighter future for our schools and students thank you thank you so much for that Nate next I will call on Dr Vasquez to introduce Horizon High School students from her superintendent student advisory Council Dr Vasquez thank you and I am so excited to introduce U the members from Horizon High School and I am going to try and pronounce your names if I if I mess it up please correct me all right so I have Shan shandana hu Kumar McKenzie Lin e arushi mraa Raa P baretto DeFranco how' I do good evening everyone and thank you so much for having us my name is chandana homar a junior at Horizon High
043School I the founder and president of the Beta Club and a member of Science Olympia and Indian Student Association at my school I would also like to take this time to introduce my other members of the of the superintendent council at Horizon Junior Risa Franco who is the president of the French Club vice president of the Premed club and president and founder of the neuro Hope Foundation senior arushi mitry are student body vice president of organizations interclub council president Indian student student Association president and school advisory Council secretary and lastly senior Mackenzie Lenny who is our student body president and sgaa District 3 secretary representing 12 counties across the State of Florida our council is comprised of students who represent very various groups and organizations on campus and truly embody what it means to be
044a horizon Hawk at Horizon we strive to promote a collaborative and Innovative environment through student-led efforts as we are a new school we would like to take this opportunity to set precedents of connectivity and growth that our students can carry forward for the next several years although we were just established a few years ago in 2021 some of the efforts that we have taken have already created of lasting impact on our students and faculty members alike which simultaneously greatly promoted our school spirit a few examples of this are our annual Club Rush Battle of the classes and our hwk Squad program i' would now like to transfer the stand to mckeny to further elaborate on these events thank you Shan Donna one of the strides we have taken to promote the sense of community in
045our school is our annual Club Rush this is an on-campus event that strives to promote the various student-led organizations on our campus our entire school is able to attend this event and 66% of our student population signed up for a club this event allows for students to connect with their peers in a setting that circulates Community engagement this event is also to Unique to our school due to the way the schedule was created we hosted watring Middle School on our campus for the first two years and because of this we were the only High School in the district granted an alternate bell schedule with this we were able to host club Rush during Flex time without lessening instructional minutes additionally we also host Battle of the classes during fast testing for our upper classman this
046event promoted academic engagement as well as United the student body it is a friendly competition between the Junior and senior class including a presentation regarding College and Career related topics to this activity we plan to continue hosting this event during every fast test and possibly during the junior sat day our next Battle of the classes will even include an industry career fair to subject our upper classman to the wide variety of opportunities they have in the future lastly our school created a program called Hawk Squad which the motto is don't be shy let us help you fly this program aims to reach out connect and help transition incoming students wintergarten is the fourth largest growing area in the nation and since May 2023 our school has enrolled 320 students not including incoming feeder schools our
047squad has helped 105 students since the second week of school with 43 of them not speaking English as their first language if you have ever felt disconnected wouldn't you have liked to have a warm smile and a helping hand Hawk Squad does exactly that as well as answer any questions pertaining to academic or College and Career related topics going forward we're in the process of implementing this program and a few of our local middle schools as well we would also like to take this some time to appreciate the immense support given to our student body by our amazing principal Mr Jackson our superintendent Dr Vasquez Mrs Zer and the rest of our student services team our SGA adviser Mr durksen all of our staff Aly and all school board members without you all this definitely
048would not be possible and we appreciate the endless encouragement and opportunities you provide to us every day and as always in the word of our spirited principles even you can have opportunities on their Horizon thank you thank you so much that was fabulous that was fabulous we have we have the cheerleaders from Horizon West and we have the mascots can we can we can we bring them down Hawks we got the Hawks don't be shy yeah we're going to I'm going see if they have are they going to perform for us do do you all have a cheer we'd like to hear let's go Horizon let's go let's go Horizon let's go hor h a w k s let's go h a w s let's go h a w k s let's go hwks good
049job we're going to take a picture okay come on guys guys and girls girls and guys and girls we all did great yes that was fabulous and I love that we have two mascots cuz one is never enough I love the color really cool those are super cool I like those colors the colors are fif yeah those are purple and orange solid can you can you explain explain at the podium so the people at home can hear as well yes the Wolverines and the Hawks oh I'm I'm suspecting the Hawks might have won oh The Wolverine windir wind thank you yall did a fabulous job all of you thank you so much how about our cheerleaders one more time they were great the cheerleaders were fabulous which one in the mascots loved it so we're
050a brand we're kind of a brand new school this is our first year without middle school and we have the same school board member for our rivalry game so it's it's disappointing that Miss gold isn't here I'll talk to her later I'm sure she actually saw this in the summer before it was done orange Technical College actually took this smudge pot and those of you who don't know a smudge pot is a heater and we would put thousands of them out in the Groves whenever it froze to try to stop this the fruit from freezing and not being good and so I actually lit some of these in 1989 when I was like 12 years old and this was donated by the Beck family in case you don't recognize the Beck name that's where windir
051High School was built and it was a ruby red grapefruit Grove so the Beck family donated it OTC gave it to us or did it up and our goal was just to have a really cool something that meant something to our community connect our kids to our community and we're really proud of it and we got the first one so all right Hulk got the smudge pot congratulations job well done that's such a unique story I I will say all kiding aside the football challenge between the board members have been so much fun just not only just for the board members to have fun amongst ourselves but the talent and the cheerleaders and all the people that got to come down to the ELC and the public that got to got to see see all
052the great fun things that we do in our schools every day to hear of the traditions and the rivalries that exist is just so cool and I don't think without the Rivalry love challenge that they would have known about it so that was a great idea thank you Dr Vasquez that was that was so much fun all right so next I would like to call yes what I would like to call Clinton Ken president of the Orange County classroom Teachers associ Association to the podium welcome Clinton thank you good evening members of the board and Dr Vasquez thank you for the chance to speak on behalf of our teachers I'm excited to share that CTA is growing every day because teachers know we are advocating to improve this profession and we're there for them when
053they need us as Thanksgiving is approaching I wanted to share some thoughts of gratitude we should be thankful for all our Orange County Educators who dedicate so much of themselves to this career we have teachers making magic happen for our students every day even through difficult circumstances working conditions and a workload that seems to grow each day we're also thankful to our community who supports our teachers and understands how dedicated they are to our students and our families the support our parents Guardians and Community ensures the strength of our public education system I also want to thank the principles and the assistant principles who are create creating environments that support teachers and in turn our students it is easier to see results in a school where relationships are prioritized however ever we also need to
054take an honest look at how teachers are feeling in this career right now our gratitude matters but it doesn't pay the bills and our gratitude doesn't take away how it feels to dread going to work or feel completely unsupported we have we have got to understand that teacher retention is being affected by how we treat our teachers we need to address the workload we need to respect their autonomy professionalism and expertise we don't need to micromanage them if our reason for micromanaging is to increase student performance we need to take an honest look at all the things that affect student performance micromanagement stifles creativity and it hampers the very essence of effective teaching by empowering our teachers and granting them the freedom to innovate we can unlock their full potential and ensure our classrooms are
055spaces of innovation forcing teachers to roleplay their lessons for their peers won't create better teaching it creates resentment and distrust and will cause teachers to look for another career where they are respected and paid better as our teachers representative voice I'm telling you there is no time to waste on this their messages voicemails emails are clear to us I can't take this career like this anymore thank you also to chair Jacobs and members bird Gallow and Castro Dental who have scheduled School visits with me so to our teachers I thank you for the amazing work that you do every day in the face of so many obstacles and I thank you for your dedication to our students CTA is here advocating for you for our students and for this profession that we love thank you
056thank you Clinton next I would like to call on Ron Pard president of the orange educational support professionals Association wow it's such an honor to come up here behind my coworker Clint McCracken as a representative as the sole representative of our support staff orang County Public Schools I came to be seen because they are working they can't be here all the time I want to kudos to member Fon I didn't catch her name the young lady huh Miss lesan Harris Miss Lesean Harris and you did you said it the support staff we say classified but the support staff are so important to this whole process the teacher just can't teach without the and I don't want to go down the whole list of support staff but I do want you to know that every one
057of them do their job with pleasure I actually had bargaining this morning and my bus drivers transportation workers they were like no we went and did our picked up our routes got our kids to school before we came here whether they had to or not so just remember we want to keep this energy and there's a lot of energy I don't want to get ahead of myself but let's keep this energy moving forward for our employees I've been in schools for the last couple of weeks visiting like four three four a day across the county and the recognition of respect for the work they do is even more important than the cents or dollars that we can give them as a raise now don't miss out they do need the money but they need to
058know that we appreciate what they're doing so as I stand here today I want them to know I appreciate them I don't know if they're in the room or not but I appreciate them and I hope you do too thank you thank you Ron and don't go far I said don't go far because we're getting ready to do the proclamation so we're going to Pro claim November 15th 2023 as National Education support Professionals Day in Orange County Public Schools I would like Mr par to please read the resolution for us is there was not you weren't giving a copy let's get no I was not giving a copy of it let's get that up thank you Mr paline my good friend John Pine and homeboy APK they left they left but I got to say
059it too okay Mr Pard and I spent many evenings at the Apopka Pop Warner Fields watching our his granddaughter and my daughter doing stuff so that's wonderful all right sure yes I did yes and it's with my pleasure to read this National Education support Professionals Day November 15 2023 whereas public schools are the backbone of our democracy providing young people with the tools they need to maintain our nation's precious values of Freedom Civility and equality for all and whereas Orange County Public School is home to more than 8,500 education support professionals who serve more than 28,000 students across 210 School sites and whereas education support professionals are integral to the education process and where as education support professionals contribute to a safe and healthy learning environment for students and whereas education support professionals work tirelessly
060to serve our students and communities with care and professionalism now therefore the school board of Orange County Florida does hereby complain com Proclaim November 15 2023 as National Education support Professionals Day in Orange County Public Schools and I like to say as assigned by chair Teresa Jacobs and superintendent Maria Vasquez we are greatly greatly appreciative of this and I speak for them all thank you all so much thank you Mr Po Dr Vasquez are there any changes to the agenda yes Madam chair I have one change to the agenda I am thrilled to be able to add item 18.02 requesting the approval of the orange education support professional association contract for the 2023 24 wage increases health insurance changes that would be effective June 30th 2024 and contract language changes for educational support employees subject
061to ratification by the bargaining unit thank wonderful I find calls to amend to amend the agenda as requested therefore I will ENT entertain a motion to amend the agenda as requested by the superintendent motion made by member front second second made by member Salamanca all in favor say I I motion carries unanimously from everybody present I will now entertain a motion to adopt the amended agenda moved by member bird second cast Dental seconded by Dr castra Dental all in favor please say I let the record show that it passed in the affirmative by all members present in order to provide government trans governmental transparency as well as reason reasonable opportunities for the public to access and participate in the decision-making Pro progress there are various methods by which the public can provide input to the
062school board on an agenda item those include coming to speak to the board in person and via email in advance of the meeting those methods are all published on the district's website and in board docs Mrs invol do we have anyone who has come to speak to the school board on an item on today's agenda Madam chair we do not thank you seeing that there is no member of the public who wishes to provide public comment we will move on to the consent agenda all right we're moving on to the approval of the consent agenda I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda motion motion by member salaman second second by member Felder there you go all in favor I any oppos let the record reflect that everybody voted in the affir affirmative
063of all members present now we're going to move on to the non-agenda public comment period in which we invite the public to provide comment to the school board on items not on the agenda this time is re reserved to hear about items that are relevant to the work of the school board for those members who have chosen to attend in person to address the school board during the non-agenda public comment period they were directed to fill out a blue speaker request card located in the lobby outside of the board Chambers and turn it into school board Services representative by 5:15 p.m. we have allocated up to 45 minutes for the non-agenda public comment period so it is possible that not all speakers will have the opportunity to speak Mrs invol do we have any speakers
064that wish to address the board yes Madam chair you have 15 speaker cards so under your pilot program if there's between 11 and 20 speakers each speaker will be given up to 2 minutes to speak wonderful to our videos services staff we will now be starting the with the non-agenda public comment period please note that this portion of our meeting is not live streamed or televised to our speakers there I am M again I'm for Bo high school over the custodia services I've beening for Bo high school for 16 years we here to serve and get the job done we also have fun while we doing the job I love my family here this my second family outside of my own very good positive attitudes Good Love Good SP ship so it's a good place
065to be from top to bottom the ladies come in while the guys taking the front of Y they do the dusting when they finish the guys go back and we start scrubbing the room getting the room ready for the fun to be returned back inside treat people with respect if you want respect you got to give respect to all so after this we going to the gym to start scrubbing and waxing the gym it's a good feeling to know that we know we taking care of the kids and the teachers and the parents our principls and our AP so it's important to me to make sure they look good as well for the community my dad had been in for so long and I asked about the position and he told me to apply and
066I did and got a call and I've been ever since I wanted to make sure I make him F like he don't re me so today we surprised the teachers and staff at o high school with what we're calling back to school dream boxes 3 2 1 we partnered with a souls for souls and a gift for teaching and we selected five local Orlando high schools to benefit from these dream boxes it's important for our teachers St to feel appreciated and I think today went above and beyond that expectation of that goal thank you teachers thank you so much at the coach Foundation we have a mission called dream at real that is around creating opportunities and removing barriers for the next generation of young people who have the courage to dream it real and
067we know that the next generation's dreams wouldn't be possible without the support that they get from their Educators it is not a secret that sometimes teachers and educators are a little undervalued so feeling like the community is realizing that we are important so it is fantastic to see that they're actually going out there and they're doing their best so that we can feel appreciated and have reasons to keep going and keep doing what we do we hope this brightens your day a little bit and gets you off to an amazing school year so thank you for everything you do these young people could never achieve their dreams if it wasn't you Riverdale Elementary School welcome home 10 months ago this all happened can you believe it 10 months ago and those 10 months were everything
068wrapped up into one okay they were hard they were amazing good morning welcome they were Bountiful as far as what It produced in our students and teachers so nice to see everybody hi it helped us create new friends that we didn't have before all these things wrapped up into one thing and what it reminds me everybody here that when bad things happen and they always happen good people come together and we make it work and then good things happen 3 2 1 yeah we're back home look how beautiful it looks so awesome I can't wait until these students and these parents walk through those doors and just so they enjoy what I did or what we just saw and I it's going to bring so much joy to my heart today was just it was
069something we're looking forward to you know something we're anticipating wanting for so long you have to home for us I know and we knew this day was going to come okay so that's kind of kept us hopeful and when things got were a little testy here and there and people you know and it just rough we said it's coming we'll we're we're moving home don't worry when you can stand back and watch the smiles on their faces as they're carrying their boxes in and unpacking their boxes I just walked over to couple classrooms and the teachers are so grateful and so thankful that's why we do what we do that's why we work for the district I mean to make sure that the students can be in their seats the first day of school and
070be happy and safe in a clean environment it's really nothing more important than that to us in facilities this is the biggest small District in the nation and when I say that and I say it a lot to people who are talking is that it's all made up yeah there's a lot of us but it's all made up of people who know each other and have worked together in different capacities over the years and so when something like this happens you know everybody has an educator heart they just want to help they just want to reach out and make sure you're okay and that's what people did hi my name is Pamela Johnson I've been a school bus driver with Orange County Public School almost 30 years we're going to check the bus we checking
071all the seat belts and everything make for sure they're correct me what is your main objective every day here safety make for sure I get the kids to and from school safe because the parents put them in my hands I'm their mom now dash gauges I check lighting indicators I check fuel gauge windshield wipers heater steering in two-way radio horn Works radio is on tablet is on okay we're going to start driving we're leaving the compound my day starts at normally between 4: 4:30 in the morning and it ends like 6:30 in the evening I have a break in between that normally starts about 10 10 to 1:00 my morning run consists of all ESD kids all my stops are door to door normally through the school year I'll have like 20 23 slots good
072morning Delle Michelle good morning good morning Miss P you going to say good morning say good morning good morning good morning say Che who's that it's Sam and is she your favorite favit you never know what the kid has been through that night before so just the kindness and caring sometimes a child that's having a bad day you make them have a good day just knowing that you care I tell some of my kids or I tell all my kids have a good day but this our future these are the ones that's going to be running things so you just never know so you should never put a child down or anyone down bye sweetie see y'all later have a good day March is arts in our schools month in Orange County but in some
073ways every month means arts in our schools in Orange County so arts in our schools month is a way to celebrate all the amazing Arts education opportunities that happen throughout our district every every day to over 145,000 students the district has reputation for delivering Quality Art and students in the Arts as part of that a Lake View middle schooler just won the district's art in the capital project meaning her artwork is now on display at the state capital but for her the real beauty is what her art has given her art like helps helps me also in real life too like in classes to be more patient and to keep going not to like give up on something like the process to keep moving forward on any given day in the district there are multiple
074artistic events from theater shows to Gallery exhibits all accessible for you to see through the district's Visual and Performing Arts calendar part of the reason the district has such an emphasis on Arts is that for students artistic expression can be well peaceful it comforts me like it's it makes me more calm it's like a stress relieving and yeah I feel like I personally I just really like art the other perk is that in Central Florida the Arts can also mean a job so we know that Arts education in the schools provides students with the opportunity to be competitive in a very robust Arts entertainment industry that's right here in Central Florida and across the country so while we're wrapping up March the official designation of Arts in our schools the real recognition happens every day
075all year long in classrooms across the district I mean it's amazing what our kids do and that's because they have incredible teachers that guide them through that process of learning about artarts education it's also because we start them in kindergarten so our students are excelling because they have the Arts education all the way from kindergarten all the way until they graduate available to them and that's why our kids do such an incredible job here in Central Florida and Beyond this is the stem spark event at the Rosen Plaza where 130 students from Edgewater Evans and Dr Phillips got to see where a stem career can lead we are here to inspire and excite students about stem careers give them an opportunity to engage and interact with local Professionals in the stem area and students got
076to meet a who's who of bigname companies all putting stem degrees to use Disney Engineers first robotics EA Sports and others all here to inspire the Next Generation meeting new people and getting firsthand opinions and experience from people who actually work in the field has been helpful and give me advice on what exactly would look like what I would be doing if I were to get into this field but this is more than just coding or engineering there is a bigger lesson being taught to come here and see Disney employees who are females or who are minorities and again they're the ones presenting and they belong in the room they're able to hear their journey and for Edgewater freshman Venus Mahia that is a different kind of spark for me it means there's more hope
077for other women and let alone minor like me I'm Hispanic I've heard there's some numbers out there there's very few of us out there to give hope to another Hispanic or black woman as I would be very lovely the clothes you wear can make a difference in your mood that smile says it all right there I like it whether it's your everyday style or that perfect prom dress everyone deserves to feel that confidence and that's exactly what the team at The Mao Outlets are doing it's what it's all about you know giving kids that confidence and you know making them feel good about who they are giving ocps students and staff a place to get close and other essential items so the Mao Outlet is an oncampus shop where students can borrow byy or trade
078or volunteer their time in exchange for items in the store the sustainable idea was created by a student and came to life last spring the outlet at the colonial High School location was so successful that they've already opened another one at Glenridge Middle School you know this is a way for all students to support the their peers and support their school and sustain something on their own students quickly see the positive impact and want to pay it forward by volunteering I've gotten both my junior and Senor prom dress here it was amazing cuz it made me feel really really pretty I've never really been confident about myself at all I would like to be able to help other people and other girls be able to feel what I felt in their PR dresses local businesses
079are also jumping on board to help we have one donation bin at our central location we trying to get another one for our aoy location so at the end of the day everyone is coming together bye enjoy to make people feel confident how do you feel one piece of clothing at a time this just awesome to like feel something that sometimes maybe you don't feel a lot and just to have other people make you feel that way is it has no price Taylor McGowan is a school-based social worker that's her title but her job her passion is offering students a place to be safe it's okay there's always next week too and to be heard you're welcome in the week after that my office serves as a cool down spot and it's also a place
080for kids to get direct services so if they need counseling or they have some sort of Crisis or they're just needing a checkin my room is this place to go mcgaan is at Waka High School 5 days a week offering counseling listening teaching students the tools to cope or overcome the hurdles in their lives students can ask for a pass to come and see her just like they would the school nurse mental health is Paramount and these kids are struggling I mean I think in general humans all of us are struggling but there is a need to have a mental health professional in every school because we have a lens that your typical School employee does not have it can take a lot of work to get teenagers to open up and in many cases
081McGowan may be one of the few adults who is listening I feel like and I remind myself that I am a constant and consistent adult for these kids that they may not have at home an adult figure that they can count on and rely on to listen to them unfortunately sometimes these kids don't get that anywhere else but school it takes a special kind of person to do this job one who is always there who is respectful and relatable and when they look back I want them to remember like okay Miss McAllan was always in my corner she was always there helping me get through the day so that's what I remind myself because at the end of the day these kids are going to be adults and when they look back at their High
082School experience I want it to be a positive one and Macwan says she gives them the tools they need to cope to care to make it not only through high school but through life I can give them the tools to succeed and I can believe in them every step of the way and just allow them to believe that change is possible and that they can be that change at tville elementary school in Winter Garden the road to an education is paided in chocolate so much chocolate we did our affa Turnpike for we were making ch roads and stuff how sweet is that to help celebrate and raise awareness about stim related careers Florida's Turnpike Engineers taught fifth graders how to build roads using chocolate as oh my God so we made a chocolate Road and
083we found out that there are a bunch of other Engineers that help around and built the roads of the turnpike oats sugar and walnuts represented the Aggregates while chocolate stood in as the tar and asphalt the idea is to give students a better understanding of the real life ingredients needed to build Florida's Road s both in materials and in people just to introduce them and let them know how how what is used for the roads that we use in order to maintain the construction and just give them the knowledge of them may me wanting to do that in the future students also learned about self-driving cars and what it will take to drive that technology into the future honly I just love the chocolate but the coolest thing I learned is the self driving automated
084cars especially the one that Google made like 10 years ago cuz it say it's been 10 years I sure we could make a better one the idea is to not only teach kids about how roads are built but perhaps to inspire them to become an engineer but who knows where that road will lead did that kind of open your eyes to maybe wanting to be an engineer one day if my WNBA plan does not work so third graders at Pinewood Elementary are learning about Black History Month but they're doing it in a different way it made me learn a lot of stuff when I was reading books I didn't know some words but I read it over and over again until I got it the class is working on Black History Month PowerPoints where each
085student chooses a significant figure from history and researches them for what they call a living Wax Museum and I will be giving you guys a presentation on Dr Martin Luther King Jr so the kids are having a f fantastic time making presentations learning about their special person that they had Chosen and then discussing who they chose with other people as well so that we're all collectively learning about a whole lot of very important historical black figures students are also celebrating the culture and customs and even dressing the part everybody is wearing a dashiki because we are proud to represent our ancestors we're proud to wear clothes that represents royalty it makes me remember remember my ancestors it feels like Freedom when I wear these but this is about more than just learning it's about being
086inspired and so I can gain the same reputation that Martin Luther King has in this world those are big shoes to fill but these third graders seem ready to take the steps to get there offer Grace when people doesn't deserve it be kind work hard and perhaps that's the biggest lesson here it's not just about history it's also about the future I need them to know that we are standing on the shoulders of giants and what we do going forward is all attributed to the people who came before us so if we hold their values dear to us we can use that to push ourselves and the Next Generation forward Tina bullet has been a school counselor at Cypress Creek High School for 15 years and in that time she's likely helped more than 6,000
087students we give our students hope and Inspire them to reach their goals by teaching them the skills that they need and giving them the resources necessary to be successful at Cypress Creek school counselors work with students grades 9 through 12 that's 3500 students and with eight counselors each will help more than 400 students a year so a typical would involve parent Walkins parent teacher conferences student meetings classroom guidance presentations group advisement counseling on College admissions working with students when they have a mental health crisis right now bullet is involved in scheduling when teachers bring their classes in and counselors meet with each student one-on-one we're looking at the courses that they're selecting for the next school year looking at their their progress towards graduation and making sure that the classes they're selecting matches their post-secondary
088plans and some students need much more many of our kids are homeless unaccompanied they experience home violence pregnancy even deportation for us it's important to reach all students so that they have the skills and the resources to reach their goals the school counselor's work it seems is never done and thousands of students later Tina bullet is delighted to have played a role in shaping their future so you're doing a lot better this year it's a great job when you love your job it's it doesn't seem difficult and then at the end of the day you've know you know you've made a big difference at gotha Middle School it's cool to be kind thank you we are all accepting that we are practicing kindness every day that we are being respectful every day and that we
089are you know purposefully making decisions based on kindness instead of just going throughout our day the school is going all in when it comes to celebrating random acts of kindness week be kind students are crafting chalk messages of encouragement others leaving kindness notes some even decorating lunch bags showing kindness Can it can really help people if maybe they're struggling maybe something's going on in their lives just showing a little bit of this can really make them you know feel confident feel good good about themselves for the school it makes sense their motto is be safe be kind it's a great day to be a Grizzly but teachers wanted students to really live that idea our campus and school is really grounded in kindness we do a lot here to try to spread kindness and build
090a community of love and support So this fits in so well with the go of culture for the school this is becoming much more than a day or a week week to celebrate it's turning into something bigger because kindness spreads try try to make a difference try cuz it really helps you feel better that you're helping someone else and it greatly impacts them too it's not every day that a busload of students and teachers from France show up at your school it's a great experience for our student to be here and to maintain the relationship between America and France since George Washington and Lafayette and we are very happy to be here as part of an American French academic and cultural partnership with a high school in Leon France Boon high school students welcomed their
091pen pals hello 36 students who have spent the last 3 months community communicating with them through email or Whatsapp all in each other's native languages but it culminated in a real life meet and greet everything it's crazy it's really biger everything the French students were also amazed at the specialty programs that students at Boone High School could take something I've really noticed is how there are special classes which have more practical application so like we saw journalism people who were writing things so I found that really interesting for students at Boon the key takeaway was in realizing that despite navigating each other's language they weren't all that different just watching everyone walk in it was kind of hard to differentiate you know who's French who's American and I think that speaks to the diversity both
092of America and of France but also just how similar everyone is and for Boon French teacher Dr Sophia Mami that's the key lesson it's not just about teaching a language but in truly understanding each other I teach French I teach the French GR but honestly I teach them to be tolerant and accepting to other cultures byee I love America the home the second annual school spirit run powered by Delta Dental is officially in the books set with nearly two 2,000 participants there was no shortage of spirit as students teachers staff family members friends and even mascots made their way around SeaWorld Orlando to support their schools for one ocps family it was much more than just a race come on Bridget you can do it when she crossed that Finish Line it was wow you
093just did a race good job girl with your school you're a kindergarten go oh my goodness girl you did it an early Milestone the SAS worried wouldn't come Bridget didn't learn to walk until 2 weeks after she turned 3 years old she was born with PR willly syndrome and part of that is low tone and so she struggles with gross motor fine motor speech all of that Bridget was determined to run the kids race With a Little Help from her PE coach she went walked right up to him and just said you know coach a will run the race with me so I was actually very honored to be able to run the race with Bridget it actually felt special they came and you know she asked me as we're about to get ready to
094the race she looks at me she looks up at me she goes Co just throws my hand out of the way she goes I got this you know big smile as she crossed the finish line and knowing that she did it the foundation for ocps decided to make that smile shine a little brighter ready on behalf of the foundation I wanted to give you this very special glowi in-the-dark metal right can I put it on you and this is for finishing the kids school spirit run I love that ocps can you know be there for these kids who have some extra needs some special needs that they can make sure that they all get to experience that inclusiveness that they are not pushed aside and that they get to share the same experiences as all
095of their peers an unforgettable experience for a strong kindergartener who is ready to take on the world say my name is Bridget and I can do anything I be with anything I am just glad to be part of it you know being able to help as much as I can for her to like succeed we're so grateful for you know this run and for the foundation for giving us those opportunities in Orange County if you want to focus on a career in cooking or perhaps medicine or business well then there's a program for you magnet programs are designed to promote or investigate talents and interests of our students here in the district there are 46 magnet programs that exist inside Orange County schools and three Standalone magnet schools totaling more than 7,000 students the idea
096is to entice them by focusing on what they're most interested in doing the goal for any magnet schooler program is to provide something special for students in our district It's a Wonderful way to investigate your talents to see what your interest are and to really try on a career but this isn't always a career path and that's okay because it's still a road to learning but what you are doing is seeing if what you believe you want to do is really going to fit you do you love it we hope you do but if you don't well then we're going to help you maybe with even another program the deadline to apply for a magnet program is coming up soon February 15th there are currently 4,000 applicants but no preference is given to when you
097apply the district says just like the programs offered come see the drawing power of a magnet program I would say check us out know what we're all about know that there's opportunity out there there's choice out there that you can go visit the schools talk to the Personnel you can come to our website and see our virtual magnet Fair going on right now check us out and see I bet you'll find some things there for you at Orange Center Elementary students in the coding and Robotics Club aren't just working in robotics but in Legos this is the first time we've ever done anything with Legos they had a little bit of experience with coding last year but really they never were able to make something move with the computer that all changed when Disney stepped
098in and donated more than $100,000 to Orange Center Elementary to enhance their stem programs and provide first Lego League programming for students at the school through 2026 through our partnership with Disney they were able to give us this sponsorship where we were able to work with the hubs and open up the first Lego League robotics the program and really make them be able to build and create things that work and complete designs that they want them to complete and the students went to work building all kinds of cool stuff a solar powered car with a panel rotates to soak up the sun even a water-powered hydroelectric generator pretty impressive considering these are Elementary School students but what they lacked in years they made up with teamwork we all have to work together together and always
099respect each other and help whoever needs help and with that Spirit coded into them the students went to a qualifying competition against 17 other teams from across central Florida they were by far some of the youngest competitors going up against mostly middle schoolers I thought we was going to lose because if you would have saw the kids at the at the competition I was like oh my God we're going to lose but these budding Builders won the award for robot design and will compete in the central Florida Regional Championship on February 11th now the pressure is on to build rebuild and sometimes just start all over when you feel it that means you can improve your work and make it much better and if you can't tell this is about much more than assembling robots
100it's about putting together the building blocks of a child oh and if you ask these competitors it's also about winning it felt awesome because we got to prove to other kids that we can can do things too 3 2 1 at otton Park K8 School teachers are literally taking a deep dive into education what a better way to kick off the week than to bring in a new cool exhibit in our library and this is the new library exhibit you'll want to check out two black diamond stingrays oh and their brothers if you can't tell fresh water they're very hearty animals so one of the most heartiest so I figured with 1200 kids probably putting their fingers in the tank these would be the best to start with Kelly Roberts believes teaching needs to be
101much more than books and worksheets the school already has lots of other animals as sand booa tiger salamanders Axel tarantulas and alligators but apparently they were missing something so Roberts reached out to the Center for Stingray bi ology in New York she sent me an email a beautiful email explaining to me what she was doing here at the school okay and I was really impressed with what she was doing she actually wanted to buy this thing right but after I heard what she was doing here I wanted to be a part of this and I offered to donate the race to her Roberts even flew the biologist down to teach the students about the rise for the scientists these animals are a lesson in more than biology keeping pets is I think a responsibility and
102it's a good way to teach the kids that responsibility get them to clean their room not so easy but get them to take care of an animal completely different cuz they're so invested in it the students have already learned their school is unique bunch of schools don't really get to have animals and oton park this is really one of the schools that gets to do that and it's just cool to be able to learn about them in person and for Roberts well the best part of her day is the moment she comes to work how cute I love his body but it's so worth it when the kids come in at 8:15 and their faces are pressed against the tanks and they're just excited to be in school and if this is one little thing
103that will help them enjoy school then I'll do anything to make it happen it's a really nice Outlet especially composing it's a great art form I like it a lot my experience is not it's not the average teenager experience problem when the doctor told me if you don't do the treatment you're going to be here for only four months because I got cancer I got brain cancer it's the third time that I got it not every 9-year-old has to see their mom lose hair and the whole process so I was a lot closer with my mom than most other boys yeah well John started virtual school and I think it was the best thing that I could have ever done for him I called Miss gay and I said I don't think I'm going to
104be here for for the graduation which which is in May is there any way that I you could send it home and so then my assistant principal immediately we got on it she said okay let's let's let's do this I said she actually said well we can we do something for him and these ladies my God a whole thing started I didn't even know what's happening it was like emails back and forth we wanted to make this as memorable as we possibly could from balloons to pump and Circumstance to words of encouragement to actually having the photographer there to take the pictures it was amazing I'm really grateful that this was able to happen I would never thought of something could be possible like that for them to come here bring balloons giant 23 balloons
105the cap and gown the diploma and everything it was awesome I wasn't even sure if she was going to get to see me graduate at all so I was really stressed and worried about it but now that she got to see me graduate you know we celebrated we had a cake it was it was nice it was like a weight taken off my chest I have never experienced anything like it in my life people that I have never seen in my before I've never seen these people before they became like family after I had finished talking Miss Ray she held on to my hand she squeezed my hand really hard and she looked at me and she said Mrs girley now I can die happy a sumarize she gave me strength because even when she
106was in a hospital bed or whatever she was she was always smiling she was always trying to cheer me up always trying to let me know that everything's going to be okay so she is pretty much the main reason why I was I'm able to continue and persevere and I guess have hope my name is Watson huitt and I'm a senior at Winter Park High School I would describe myself as a very curious person I just really like to do everything that I can I'm in student government I really love computers I started this tech refurbishment club at my school and I also play football and then I'm an IB that community of just doing something together as a team whether that's the orchestra or like the offensive line it's it's also a part of
107me that's just like that loves the challenge of it I feel like when I'm really pushing myself that's when I'm growing and when I'm growing I just feel like I'm the most happiest I'm currently the student body president and I've done Student Government since like sixth grade it's really always been a big part of my life always like the ability to make a change within the school people always said it's like the Jack of all trades the master of none but then people always forget the second phrase like but better than the master of one I just have always had this approach where I just want to do a little bit of everything really Winter Park has just offered it all for me there so many different communities I can be a part of whether
108it's student government or orchestra or football like it's just they're all there and everyone's just very collaborative and supportive of each other definitely my parents they've always driven me just to be the best person I possibly could be and just really try everything next for me is University of Florida I'm looking into double majoring in finance and computer science there hi my name is zentan and I am a senior at accelerations East High School I'm from Malaysia and I moved here about 6 years ago there's a lot of doors for you to open and if one closes just open another one I am in EN rollment and after high school I'll just have two more semesters before I get my AA degree and it means me a lot to me and my family because I
109have four siblings including me and for me to be able to lift off some financial burden of my parents and for my siblings it means a lot my parents taught me about being humble first of all being humble and no matter what no matter any obstacles that comes you'll get through it Miss Roa I would like to thank you for help helping me when everybody closed the door on me Miss car my art teacher she was there motivating me really dug out the artist in me I didn't know I could paint I want to be a foreign language interpreter and hopefully I can work for the United Nations I'm an avid lover of languages because I believe that with every language barrier broken it's more perspective that's learned you know there's a lot of hatred
110in the world I believe it's if you understand each other a little more peace is possible hi I'm AJ from University High School I had a friend who recommended that I take part in the musical at the time which was Legally Blonde in my sixth grade year in middle school and ever since then I just never stopped I fell in love with it and just wanted to do more wanted to do better honestly I don't think it's anything even physical that you can describe it's just this feeling that something you're able to just exude on the stage and the connection you have with the audience why do I do it's fulfilling and I think anyone else who is in the Arts world or honestly just does what they love can all just say there's a
111genuine love and passion burning behind it 100% the entire Arts faculty but if I had to give it to one person it would definitely be Mr Mendes he often saw things in me that I didn't even see in myself and would push me further than I thought I can go but I'm grateful for what UHS has helped teach me because it's that rigor it's that Integrity it's that work ethic that otherwise I don't think I would have had that set me up to succeed in the actual line of work I want to be able to go through as many doors as I can or even create my own door you think about the sacrifice that I made my grandmother made so many sacrifices she didn't do thinking oh my God I'm going to be rich
112I'm going to do it for me but she thought about the generations you know coming down from her and I think about what am I doing that could set up not even just the future of my own family but the future of the world the people like what is going on that I can hopefully spread love and Good Just Energy hi my name is Somaya Russell I'm a senior at Timber Creek High School I do social clubs like K-pop Club ebony Club ASA and also some service and academic clubs like Premed Club National Honor Society as well as on teams United which is a team Le organization we pass out medicine to elderly Homebound and then I do sports like for four years I was in bowling I was Varsity for the girls team I
113want to do a bunch of things so that way when I do like settle down and really get into nitty-gritty of life I don't have any regrets the secret to time management is that you have to make sure you plan ahead you don't want to wait till the very last second to do things you wanted to make sure that you do bite-sized chunks of it so doesn't seem so daunting a teacher that's made a big impact in my life has to be Miss Steven she's the bedal teacher here she really taught me how to enjoy medicine and look into the why of things and she's really made me appreciate my strengths I overcame being bullied because I had to look into myself and find a strength within myself cuz sometimes you can't rely on everybody
114else you have to find what's inside you that makes you special what makes you glow specifically my mom has helped me a lot she instilled on me being very organized as well as working hard for what you want and not settling for less and she always instilled in me to be the boss rather than work for one my advice would be that problems will arise it's just what comes with life it gives it meaning I would just say it's not as daunting as it first appears so get involved try new things take risks my next step is to enroll in UCF in the fall and go to the Honors College my sophomore year in a major in biology My ultimate dream is to be a physician assistant with a specialty in dermatology I am Michael
115again I'm the mag for Bo high school over the custodia services I've been work for Bo high school for 16 years we here to serve and get the job done we also have fun while we doing the job I love my family here this my second family outside of my own very good positive attitude good love good sportsmanship so it's a good place to be from top to bottom the ladies come in while the guys Tak in front of Y they do the D when they finish the guys go back and we start scrubbing the room getting the room ready for the fun to be returned back inside treat people with respect if you want respect you got to give respect to all so after this we going to the gym to start scrubbing and
116waxing the gym it's a good feeling to know that we know we taking care of the kids and the teachers and the parents our principles and our AP so it's important to me to make sure they look good as well for the community my dad had been in for so long and I asked about the position and he told me to apply and I did and got a call and I've been ever since I want to make sure I make I make him PR Like You on me so today we surprised the teachers and staff at o high school with what we're calling back to school dream boxes 3 2 we partnered with a souls for souls and a gift for teaching and we selected five local Orlando high schools to benefit from these dream
117boxes it's important for our teachers to St to feel appreciated and I think today went above and beyond that expectation or that goal thank you teachers thank you so much at the coach Foundation we have a mission called dream it real that is around creating opportunities and removing barriers for the next generation of young people who have the courage to dream it real and we know that the next generation's dreams wouldn't be possible without the support that they get from their Educators it is not a secret that sometimes teachers and educators are a little undervalued so feeling like the community is realizing that we are important so it is fantastic to see that they're actually going out there and they're doing their best so they we can feel appreciated and have reasons to keep going
118and keep doing what we do we hope this brightens your day a little bit and gets you off to an amazing school year so thank you for everything you do these young people could never achieve their dreams if it wasn't for you Riverdale Elementary School welcome home 10 months ago this all happened can you believe that 10 months ago and those 10 months were everything wrapped up into one okay they were hard they were amazing good morning welcome they were Bountiful as far as what It produced in our students and teachers so nice to see everybody it helped us create new friends that we didn't have before all these things wrapped up into one thing and what it reminds me everybody here that when bad things happen and they always happen good people come together
119and we make it work and then good things happen 3 2 1 yeah we're back home look how beautiful it looks so awesome I can't wait until these students and these parents walk through those doors and just so they enjoy what I did or what we just saw and I it's going to bring so much joy to my heart today was just it was something we're looking forward to you know something we're anticipating wanting for so long I know and we knew this day was going to come okay so that's kind of kept us hopeful and when things got were a little testy here and there and people you know and it just rough we said it's coming we'll we're we're moving home don't worry when you can stand back and watch the smiles on
120their faces as they're carrying their boxes in and unpacking their boxes I just walked over to couple classrooms and the teachers are so grateful and so thankful that's why we do what we do that's why we work for the district I mean to make sure that the students can be in their seats the first day school and be happy and safe in a clean environment it's really nothing more important than that to us in facility this is the biggest small District in the nation and when I say that and I say it a lot to people who are talking is that it's all made up yeah there's a lot of us but but it's all made up of people who know each other and have worked together in different capacities over the years and so
121when something like this happen years make safe indicator is on taable it ends like when run consist of morning good morning say cheese good job night before so just the kindness and caring sometimes a child that's having a bad day you make them have a good day just knowing that you care I tell some of my kids or I tell all my kids have a good day but this our future these are the ones that's going to be running things so you just never know so you should never put a child down or anyone down bye sweetie see y'all later have a good day March is arts in our schools month in Orange County but in some ways every month means arts in our schools in Orange County so arts and our schools month is
122a way to celebrate all the amazing Arts education opportunities that happen throughout our district every day to over 145,000 students the district has reputation for delivering Quality Art and students in the Arts as part of that a Lake View middle schooler just won the district's art in the capital project meaning her artwork is now on display at the state capital but for her the real beauty is what her art has given her art like helps helps me also in real life too like in classes to be more patient and to keep going not to like give up on something like the process to keep moving forward on any given day in the district there are multiple artistic events from theater shows to Gallery exhibits all accessible for you to see through the district's Visual and
123Performing Arts calendar part of the reason the district has such an emphasis on Arts is that for students artistic expression can be well peaceful it comforts me like it's it makes me more calm it's like a stress relieving and yeah I feel like I personally I just really like art the other perk is that in Central Florida the Arts can also mean a job so we know that Arts education in the schools provid students with the opportunity to be competitive in a very robust Arts entertainment industry that's right here in Central Florida and across the country so while we're wrapping up March the official designation of Arts in our schools the real recognition happens every day all year long in classrooms across the district I mean it's amazing what our kids do and that's because
124they have incredible teachers that guide them that process of learning about Arts education it's also because we start them in kindergarten so our students are excelling because they have the Arts education all the way from kindergarten all the way until they graduate available to them and that's why our kids do such an incredible job here in Central Florida and Beyond this is the stem spark event at the Rosen Plaza where 130 students from Edgewater Evans and Dr Phillips got to see where a stem career can lead we are here to inspire and excite students about stem careers give them an opportunity to engage and interact with local Professionals in the stem area and students got to meet a who's who of bigname companies all putting stem degrees to use Disney Engineers first robotics EA Sports
125and others all here to inspire the Next Generation meeting new people and getting firsthand opinions and experience from people who actually work in the field has helpful and give me advice on what exactly would look like what I would be doing if I were to get into this field but this is more than just coding or engineering there is a bigger lesson being taught to come here and see Disney employees who are females or who are minorities and again they're the ones presenting and they belong in the room they're able to hear their journey and for Edgewater freshman Venus Mahia that is a different kind of spark for me it means there's more hope for other women and let alone minorities like me I'm Hispanic I've heard there's some numbers out there there's very few
126of us out there to give hope to another Hispanic or black woman as I would be very lovely the clothes you wear can make a difference in your mood that smile says it all right there awes I like whether it's your everyday style or that perfect prom dress everyone deserves to feel that confidence and that's exactly what the team at The Mao Outlets are doing it's what it's all about you know giving kids that confidence and you know making them feel good about who they are giving ocps students and staff a place to get clothes and other essential items so the Mao Outlet is an oncampus shop where students can borrow buy or trade or volunteer their time in exchange for items in the store the sustainable idea was created by a student and came
127to life last spring the outlet at the colonial High School location was so successful that they've already opened another one at Glen Ridge Middle School you know this is a way for all students to support them their peers and support their school and sustain something on their own students quickly see the positive impact and want to pay it forward by volunteering I've gotten both my Junior and senior prom dress here it was amazing cuz it made me feel really really pretty I've never really been confident about myself at all I would like to be able to help other people and other girls be able to feel what I felt in their PR dresses local businesses are also jumping on board to help we have one donation bin at our central location we're trying to get
128another one for our aoy location so at the end of the day everyone is coming together bye to make people feel confident how do you feel one piece of clothing at a time it's just awesome to like feel something that sometimes maybe you don't feel a lot and just to have other people make you feel that way is it has no price Taylor McGowan is a school-based social worker that's her title but her job her passion is offering students a place to be safe it's okay there's always next week too and to be heard you're welcome in the week after that my office serves as a cool down spot and it's also a place for kids to get direct services so if they need counseling or they have some sort of Crisis or they're just
129needing a check-in my room is this place to go mcgaan is at Waka High School 5 days a week offering counseling listening teaching students the tools to cope or overcome the hurdles in their lives students can ask for for a past to come and see her just like they would the school nurse mental health is Paramount and these kids are struggling I mean I think in general humans all of us are struggling but there is a need to have a mental health professional in every school because we have a lens that your typical School employee does not have it can take a lot of work to get teenagers to open up and in many cases McGowan may be one of the few adults who is listening I feel like and I remind myself that I
130am a constant and consistent adult for these kids that they may not have at home an adult figure that they can count on and rely on to listen to them unfortunately sometimes these kids don't get that anywhere else but school it takes a special kind of person to do this job one who is always there who is respectful and relatable and when they look back I want them to remember like okay Miss McGowan is always in my corner she was always there helping me get through the day so that's what I remind myself because at the end of the day these kids are going to be adults and when they look back at their High School experience I want it to be a positive one and McOwen says she gives them the tools they need
131to cope to care to make it not only through high school but through life I can give them the tools to succeed and I can believe in them every step of the way and just allow them to believe that change is possible and that they can be that change at tville elementary school in Winter Garden the road to an education is paved in chocolate so much chocolate we did our afford a Turnpike for a we were making chocolate roads and stuff how sweet is that to help celebrate and raise awareness about stim related careers Florida's Turnpike Engineers taught fifth graders how to build roads using chocolate asphal oh my God so we made a chocolate Road and we found out that there are a bunch of other Engineers that help around and built the roads
132of the turnpike oats sugar and walnuts represented the Aggregates while chocolate stood in as the tar and asphalt the idea is to give students a better understanding of the real life ingredients needed to build Florida's roads both in materials and in people just to to introduce them and let them know how how what is use for the roads that we use in order to maintain the construction and just give them the knowledge of them maybe wanting to do that in the future students also learned about self-driving cars and what it will take to drive that technology into the future H I just love the chocolate but the coolest thing I learned is the S driving automated cars especially the one that Google made like 10 years ago cuz it says it's been 10 years I
133sure we could make a better one the idea is to not only teach kids about how roads are built but perhaps to inspire them to become an engineer but who knows where that road will lead did that kind of open your eyes to maybe wanting to be an engineer one day if my WNBA plan does not work third graders at Pinewood Elementary are learning about Black History Month but they're doing it in a different way it made me learn a lot of stuff when I was reading books I didn't know some words but I read it over and over again until I got it the class is working on Black History Month PowerPoints where each student chooses a significant figure from history and researches them for what they call a living wax mum and I
134will be giving you guys a presentation on Dr Martin Luther King Jr so the kids are having a fantastic time making presentations learning about their special person that they Chosen and then discussing who they chose with other people as well so that we're all collectively learning about a whole lot of very important historical black figures students are also celebrating the culture and customs and even dressing the part everybody is wearing a dashiki because we are proud to represent our ancestors we're proud to wear clothes that represents royalty and it makes me remember my ancestors it feels like Freedom when I wear these but this is about more than just learning it's about being inspired and so I can gain the same reputation that Martin Luther King has in this world those are big shoes to
135fill but these third graders seem ready to take the steps to get there offer Grace when people doesn't deserve it be kind work hard hard and perhaps that's the biggest lesson here it's not just about history it's also about the future I need them to know that we are standing on the shoulders of giants and what we do going forward is all attributed to the people who came before us so if we hold their values dear to us we can use that to push ourselves and the Next Generation follow Tina bullet has been a school counselor at Cypress Creek High School for 15 years and in that time she's likely helped more than 6,000 students we give our students hope and Inspire them to reach their goals by teaching them the skills that they need
136and giving them the resources necessary to be successful at Cypress Creek school counselors work with students grades 9 through 12 that's 3500 students and with eight counselors each will help more than 400 students a year so a typical day would involve parent walk-ins parent teacher conferences student meetings classroom guidance presentations group advisement counseling on College admissions working with students when they have a mental health crisis right now bullet is involved in scheduling when teachers bring their classes in and counselers meet with each student oneon-one we're looking at the courses that they're selecting for the next school year looking at their progress towards graduation and making sure that the classes they're selecting matches their post secondary plans and some students need much more many of our kids are homeless unaccompanied they experience home violence pregnancy even
137deportation for us it's important to reach all students so that they have the skills and the resources to reach their goals a school counselor work it seems is never done and thousands of students later Tina bullet is delighted to have played a role in shaping their future so you're doing a lot better this year it's a great job when you love your job it's it doesn't seem difficult and then at the end of the day you've know you know you've made a big difference at gotha Middle School it's cool to be kind thank you we are all accepting that we are practicing kindness every day that we are being respectful every day and that we are you know purposefully making decisions based on kindness instead of just going throughout our day the school is going
138all in when it comes to celebrating random acts of kindness week be kind students are crafting chalk messages of encouragement others leaving kindness notes some even decorating lunch bags showing kindness Can it can really help people if maybe they're struggling maybe something's going on in their lives a little bit of kindness can really make them you know feel confident feel good good about themselves for the school it makes sense their motto is be safe be kind it's a great day to be a Grizzly but teachers wanted students to really live that idea consent request approval of a name for site 50-8 ds-2 School opening which the school will be opening in 2425 Dr Vasquez you're recognized thank you madam chair we are excited to be opening a new High School August 2024 it will be
139relieving Lake Nona High School we are here this evening to present to you our recommendation for the site 50 the new high school's name so I will turn it over to our chief of high schools Mr Jose Martinez evening chair Jacobs board members and superintendent Vasquez it is an honor to come before you this evening to present the resolution to request school board approval for the naming of site 50 H2 opening in 20124 2025 according to Schoolboard policy FF the superintendent shall present three recommended names based upon input from the school's Community stakeholders the name of a school schools selected by the school board the superintendent shall submit three names that are a direct result of community involvement in the case of site 50h se2 the following process was used to select the names for
140submission to the board from August 14th 2023 until October 13 2023 name recommendations were submitted online through a Google survey from students families community members and ocps employees based on those responses three names emerged as the most suggested the names in alphabetical order are Innovation High School the school is located in Innovation Way Corridor creates a connection to Innovation middle school and it matches the school new Innovative design and programming Meridian Parks High School the neighborhood where the school is located number three story Park High School a neighborhood close to where the school is located thank you thank you member Salam Mona this your District correct we that correct that my district thank you thank you Jose I really appreciate it we're really excited about this high school as I keep telling the other board
141members to come out and visit Vicki takes me up every time on those it's beautiful it's beautiful she looks great with an orange red hard hat that's right but yeah I you know we the community has been so excited about this moment they've been waiting eagerly for a name and our soon to be principal Chris Davis is ready to get that handle in Facebook and start all the good swag creation I hope that we got some inspiration from Horizon West on a good mascot that was a really cool one we should find out where they got it but I after talking to the community and from parents you I think we want a name that represents not just one neighborhood like Meridian or store Park but something that everyone can stand behind and that with
142its name is inspiring and aspirational and something for us to work toward so I would love for it to be Innovation High School and I know that's what the community has also expressed and I hope that and I'm confident that Chris will really embody Innovation and go about it differently and take this incredible building in school and build a culture that you are so well known for like Nona high school every student tells me how key you are to the culture there so I would you know have a strong preference for Innovation high school if we can thank you so is that a motion yeah so make it motion I think I have to make a motion for the actual name okay so I make a motion to name an innovation high school you can't
143just have a strong preference you can't have a strong desire you can't be maybe convin Vicky and Vicky wants to name it she spends a lot of time there too all right so we have a motion it seems to me member Felder should second it member Felder you want to Second it yes I second that motion what an honor all right we have a motion and a second all in favor please say I opposed motion carries unanimous that we all really want that name thank you wonderful horns up oh that's nice oh horns up so what's the mascot all right can I get everybody to going to stand up with this yeah okay we can stand up yes the colors are what what's the color how much did you spend went out I know go
144bus gos crimson and Crimson andm Crimson Crimson as a UCF I'm doing horns down so I just want I want everybody know that was that was a struggle all right next item on the agenda 1801 request approval of the orange education support yes no I mean 18 1802 did I say1 I'm sorry 1802 request approval of the orange education support professional association contract for 20232 24 wage increases health insurance changes effective June 30th 2024 and contract Lang language changes for Education support employees subject to ratification by the bargaining union union and I think we still have Mr Bard with us thank you for staying till the end thank you so much sir for working together to make this happen I too am counting my votes before we have them so do we have a motion
145I will motion by member bird second by member Fant all in favor please say I opposed motion carries unanimously next we have superintendent report thank you madam chair I have a couple of items to report out this evening I wanted to follow up on the thought exchange that we put out to all of our teachers earlier this week as promised we sent them an email with the results of that thought exchange so they could see the feedback we' received and we are committed to working on their top five are that we can take off their plate the one that the one thought that got the most rating was us to eliminate or streamline deliberate practice requirements and I'm happy to say that is something under my control that we will be able to work on
146and we will do that collaboratively with our teachers administrators and District staff and we will begin working on that right after the holidays they also asked for us to simplify data end and data entry and avoid redundancy minimizing some of the clerical duties that teachers have to have to currently do and so that's going to take a little bit of digging into to look at what those specifics are so that we are taking off the right things the they want us to re-evaluate the necessity of teacher input forms we may be able to look at streamlining that those were required as part of an IEP meeting but we do understand that's one additional task the teacher has to complete and so we are committed to try and making that easier and the fifth one aligns
147with data entry that speaks about streamlining data collection and Reporting processes we will continue to keep the board apprised of our progress in that area as as well as our teachers I also was able to host our very first remote WebEx with teachers we were we had I believe about 60 teachers that participated they were able to ask us questions my staff was there to be able to provide responses to them we thought it was very productive we've also sent out a very quick survey to those participants to see if the time that we did it if the format that was used was beneficial and allowed them to be able to participate more so than maybe the town halls so we're looking forward to doing more of those virtual Town Hall meetings the schools that
148participated were sunblaze Elementary Bay Meadows Shingle Creek Wolf Lake Persian K8 Meadowbrook middle school and Timber Creek High School additionally the State monitors or monitored the first implementation of the fast assessment our district was tapped to be part of that and I am happy to Res to share that all of the reviews resulted in ocps being rated as exceed meeting expectations in all of the categories which is the highest level you can get and this is a testament to the outstanding collaboration between the school testing coordinator School administrators our teachers Learning Community and our leadership team so we are very very grateful that we got High marks on that monitoring was wasn't called an audit but monitoring my last point is in reference to the lgbtq plus handbook and superintendent Roundtable we did work on
149the handbook my apologies to the board for the delay we did want the lgbtq plus superintendent student advisory Council to weigh in on that which is why we did not share it earlier we did model it after some of the ones in the other districts we did review six of them only three of the six use the pronoun information one of them actually has it stricken from their document another one has asked for it to be reviewed again and board member B I'm going to ask Mary Bridges to reach out to you to see the other two districts that we did not review we did share the elements of the guide with my group of students they also gave us some feedback on some things that we might need it we might need to clarify
150some of the things that were mentioned today they shared the pronoun issue is of concern it's a concern for the teachers as well as the sponsors of the clubs wanting to know if they do use the pronouns could they get in trouble based on the law the permission slips was also of concern that their their membership is down because parents have to give permission to participate and so I think the feedback that we received from them was very helpful we are going to publish that the beginning of we will publish it next week in order to be able to make the changes they asked us to incorporate we also Shar that we would send a link to all of the GSA sponsors so it could be shared with the students as well and that it
151would be a public document on our website to be perfectly transparent it does not state that they can use the preferred pronouns the last conversation we had at the board table or my recollection of that is that there's going to be discussion the there was going to be a letter that was going to be sent to the Department of Education seeking clarification with some possible end date and so what my intent is and I shared this with the students as well that we will publish the document with the current pronoun information and then when we receive further guidance from doe or the time passes we will make changes to that additionally we shared that as additional questions come up we can revise the document and send out new links to our schools and to our
152sponsors and make that available to our students as well that's the end of my report report thank you Dr I didn't understand the question I'm vote now on no I'm sorry I didn't understand what v I think she wants to know if we're going to vote on the pronoun issue and we're it's we're not to vote it's yeah I I'm sorry if I led the public to believe there would be a vote my recollection is that the board agreed that a letter would be sent to doe asking for clarification on the use of the pronouns and giving an end date as to when we would move on our direction to allow the use of the pronounce with parent permission and I was intending to give the board the letter today and this morning I learned
153of what happened and I want to revise the letter and I will bring it to the board next Tuesday and the board can decide if that's the direction they want to go or a different direction but I felt compelled that it needs to be stronger without you know without disclosing any personal information I just I just don't think I honestly don't think that the people that are making these decisions that most of them don't realize the ramifications I really don't think so and I think if our students if they sat here and listened to our students I think for some of them it would be eye opening for others probably not okay Miss embal do you have a report okay any committee reports okay member Gall thank you can you thank you so just quickly
154just a little update from Tallahassee as it relates to the due regulation so if you go back to the Senate education committee I think this week or even the house subcommittee on education they discussed regulation where the Department of Education was providing a report on what like they'd like to see deregulated the Senate also had their own ideas on what they would like to see deregulated in schools I think there's going to be three bills that are going to drop on Monday there's already a draft version or a shell version of the bills they're asking for input so I would just like to task the board when these and I'll and I'll send them out and I know that fsba will as well when these bills drop that we take a look that we discuss
155it with staff and we we find out which ones work which ones may not work so that we could provide in input not only to fsba but also to our local delegation and what on our expectations and email our Senator with what we believe we need to see with in these deregulations one of the things that the doe is proposed is to take to take recess and slice it up you still have to give 100 minutes of recess but it doesn't have to be consecutive so that's one that I'll personally be fighting against but I'll I'll send it out just as soon as I can but I just wanted to put that on your radar because I think input from from the board is needed and necessary all right thank you member Salam monka thank
156you chair I was just going to go back to the previous point on the letter I think yes let's send that letter to push but I would love to move a little quicker on the pronouns if we can I got just if we can get some draft language on what it could be when we decide to send it out or like what some of the other districts are using I feel urgency I don't want to wait another two three four weeks I really don't we have the language the language is not an issue it's it's a matter of but the language that would go on the guide for when correct it with the for use of pronouns with parent permission we're just we are seeking the clarification from doe and I'm going to be perfectly
157honest the majority of the districts are not and they're pulling back on some of that and my concern is that teachers are afraid that if they use the pronoun without the parent with the parent permission that someone is going to say something and that they will get in trouble and so for me I agree wholeheartedly that if a parent has given permission and they have said this is my child's preferred name and this is my child's preferred pronoun it makes sense that it should be used however that is not the interpretation of the vast majority of the districts and in my conversations with doe that has not been their interpretation either that's why getting something in writing in response from them is a way for us to be able to make ensure our staff doesn't
158get in trouble but the change in the language as soon as we get confirmation from them is very easy that's ready to go Mary Bridges has the document with that language in in fact it was modeled after what's already in some of the other documents that are very very similar and we would be able to send that out to our teachers to the GSA sponsors to our principals we can even share that with families so that it's available and they are aware have we seen have we has the board seen any of the draft language yet not yet no we'd be happy to yeah we can share it yeah I would be helpful I think I think that would be a good idea that way in case there's anything that board members are uncomfortable with
159we have an opportunity to address that it's without dragging without extending it longer okay thank you member Salam Mona member Castro denl thank you madam chair I just wanted to thank Dr Vasquez for seeking out teacher perspective perspectives on what we can do to lessen the burden I know it's a start and I want to also just issue an invitation for teachers to contact me I'm happy to come to your school and Shadow you for a day and see some of the things that happen and the requirements that you need to work under so that I can kind of provide other guidance as well having been a teacher I can also see things that U may not rise to the level of being necessary so I can be an ally and help and I know
160it's it's important and it this is going to be an ongoing effort to try to unload what's happening I know that it's not just a matter of taking things off your plate we actually have to get smaller plates we've got to do things differently it's not just paperwork here and there it's a whole slew of things now it's it's constant emails from you know I get constant emails it's it kind of can be a real time taker so there's just different ways that we can structure what we're asking our teachers and staff to do and hopefully that can trickle down to our students as well but I'm happy to lend a hand come and see have a discussion have an Advisory Group whatever I can do to help thank you thank you member C member
161Felder okay thank you chair I want to Echo just one or two things that U member CARiD Den said about teachers or principles or whoever if you would like to send me an email to come out to the schools to Shadow you I'd be happy to I've done it for almost 40 years so I'll be very comfortable coming out and seeing because that's how I was able to get some of the things done when I went out there and I was able to share with the superintendent what was going on because if you don't tell us we won't know but this is on a brighter note I want to talk about the Randolph bracie okoy scholarship program it's reach for the future this is an opportunity for students to receive up to $6,100 in financial
162assistance and I don't think a lot of students are aware of this if you are a direct descendant of any of the victims in the 19 20 ooy Election Day Massacre that happened in November the day of the election with juuli Perry if you're this direct descendant you are eligible to get this money or if you are currently an African-American resident of okoy you're able to get some of this money and what is happening is this is coming through the alliance for truth and Justice and I don't think a lot of students are taking advantage of this opportunity you know it's free money it's college scholarships heck I need to get one but I'm just saying I want you all to take advantage of that so we have it a memb cassid Dental let me
163see it and I'm so excited about this so if you are interested this is something you can do you can always call my office or member cassid Dental's office and come to the call the school board we have this information we're on film right TV have this information right here you can get thank you thank you member Felder Vice chair thank you madam chair just a few things I know I was bothered by the student that said that morale is really low and I know that we're working on an attendance program and it's not just Orange County I was speaking to someone earlier today and everybody across the state across the country is experiencing just this attendance phenomenon where kids aren't coming to school or kids are kind of viewing school is optional and there
164and we could sit here and debate all night on what brought us here led us here how this happened but at the end of the day our job is to educate students and we've got to figure it out and so I would love when it's I would love for the board to really kind of dig into the attendance and dig into some of the issues that students are facing look at the buling that we heard about this evening so that we can figure it out because we have to make sure that our students feel safe on our campuses we have to make sure that these are safe places for them and that they're they take pride in their school and they're involved in their school and clubs are a great way for students to feel
165connected and I know that clubs are down and it's not just clubs that are down during to permission slips it's impacted everything I was on a call last week with space Florida and it's impacting CTE in some districts because they can't have guest speakers come in without a permission slip from the parents and it's hard to get permission from every parent especially when you're a large County so it's an example of bills having unintended consequences and we're living with that unintended consequence right now with this all with this permission slip but I really would love to kind of do a work session or do something and and dive a little deeper in in the intend attendance and I love hearing from your students about what they're doing in schools to try to raise that morale
166to make people feel belonging I know we have the say hello program I know Mary Bridges and her group is doing a fabulous job with that but it it's still con we can't teach people if they're not sitting in their seats and it concerns me that kids don't don't feel safe at school and then the other thing that I just want to bring up is the dyslexia we there just there isn't and I and I and I need someone smarter than me to tell me what we can do but there's just not a good answer for dyslexia like there's a couple private schools in Orange County they're so expensive that they outprice what a normal person can pay and this vouchers don't cover it like a vouchers would cover a third of what that tuition
167would cost and yet we know we have 10 to 20% of our students that have some form of Dyslexia so here at and I know that we've had this conversations as a board but we really have to figure out you know what is the secret sauce and how can we help these students to make sure that we get the resources that we need so that they don't have learning loss and that we can keep them up to speed and make sure that they're they're a proficient reader too and middle school that broke my heart when that parent said that the child was in Middle School and still struggling with dyslexia that means that child didn't get the help they needed in elementary school and so I just I wanted to I don't know what we
168can do but I'm I'm I'm challenging the board to do something so thank you all right thank you member Fant thank you madam chair dyslexia is actually the first thing on my list and I'm glad you brought that up because really that's why we here to educate our children make sure that they are reading and writing and getting their math science all of this on grade level I do think the early literacy initiative that the superintendent has pushed I think this is going to steer Us in the right direction so I really I do thank you superintendent for that initiative I think just making sure that each of our teachers understand how vital and crucial these trainings are as well because we're really rethinking teaching kids how to read the what is the what is
169the little it's like a podcast that oh my word the science of reading is yeah a soul story sold to story so there's a soul to story podcast and then just the science of reading and what that entails really helping teachers understand that there is more to the reading process and all of these different education little teachings that we do to help the teachers understand how to teach our kids in a way that's going to be effective and help them to get on grade level the early literacy such as Orton Gillingham really looks at it helps dyslexic kids but it also helps every other kid so it doesn't hinder others while helping one it actually helps all of of them and encompasses the dyslexia component which I think is phenomenal and I'm excited that we
170are in we have that we offer that here in Orange County I do want to look deeper into how we can help kids who are not going to be part of this early literacy initiative so early literacy is we're focusing on prek through second grade so kids right now who are in third grade on up I'd love to see how we can help those kids specifically and even maybe even doing that testing to see if there are kids within our system who are dyslexic if there are maybe even classes that we can offer like a lot of the private schools that do offer dyslexic classes where those kids have a different track and they are learning at a different in a different way so that they can understand it and grasp it I also wanted
171to say thank you to the district and everyone who went out to the school that I had spoken about last meeting Pine Crest the phenomenal testing scores which I know it's not all about testing but incredible scores they had all across the board and so what I've heard from our District staff is that they learn so much just from the visit and how ways that they can Implement things that they are doing in in this school pinecest and what they can do to help our other schools here in the district to reach those awesome grades so excited about that thank you Dr Vasquez for making an initiative on that I appreciate it thank you Dr basis but on the issue of dyslexia and testing is there a test that we could administer so I'm going
172to try and pull back put my ESC hat back on so dyslexia is a broad topic umbrella that speaks to students who struggle with reading right a reading disability and so there's various things that fall under that a child who has been identified as having a reading deficiency or who is eligible for exceptional student Education Services there are specific programs intervent ions that can be used for a child maybe that is struggling with reading who maybe has not been identified or doesn't meet that criteria there are also intervention programs we have in some schools used Orton Gilliam and that has been successful but it is not you know the end all and Beall I think I've mentioned before that when we visited a school they were using OG with fluent students in fifth grade and
173that's why training is so important and we shared the data that those schools that were implementing the science of reading and were working hand inand with the re Foundation really had better results than the others that had implemented or those that didn't Implement at all and so I am I we can share with the board the various interventions and programs ailable for students who have a reading deficiency but if there's a test for dyslexia and Wendy if I'm incorrect I may it's been a couple of years I'm not aware there's a test for dyslexia there's a test when they're given a test to see where they're struggling areas of deficiency and it's kind of all-encompassing okay thank you I wasn't sure I my follow-up question was going to be if we're going to do like
174kind of across theboard screening I'm assuming that we'd have to do parental permission and I yeah but that's part actually that's part okay so when teachers are doing formative assessments and they identify that children are struggling they can then do additional testing or requests that other tests be done that would then identify a significant reading deficiency but in order to do that yes there is parent permission and for the most part parents when their child is struggling give us permission to I would think yeah I think the problem that we have with parental permission like the problem we're having with the eye the screenings for vision is that there's so many kind of standard permission slips they have to fill out that it's just Overkill different when a teacher reaches out and says says I'm
175a little worried about Johnny I think we he could have some reading difficulty or Vision or I think at that point mom's dads are like on board it's just the overload of the permission slips is unfortunately having a a negative unintended consequence that our kids are not getting everything that they need with that thank you all for those of you who hung with us to the end and with no further business to come before the board the meeting is now adjourned oh a la la