OCPS | 2023-10-10 School Board Meeting

001good evening everyone thank you for joining us we have a it looks like we have a great crew here I'm so excited to see all of you all and as you can tell we are still we're still moving around here we have a computer problem over here but but we're good okay we're good to go so we want to welcome all of you to the meeting today is Tuesday October 10th 2023 and we've got some exciting events going on here today board members are attending all of us are here in person except for member gold who's not going to be able to join us this evening I want to remind the public that as board members we won't be engaging in outside Electronics digital Communications other words we won't be emailing so if anybody emails

002us they're not going to hear back from us for a little while but that's okay we want to be able to focus our time and attention on the business in front of us again thanks for participating we're going to begin with a moment of silence and then we invite you to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance and now for the pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we have some special recognitions that I'm proud to share with you before we take on our business for the evening each month Schoolboard members honor an exceptional employee in their District these employees have shown dedication and contributed to the success of our students we're grateful

003for every single one of our hardworking staff members and this one and this is one that we are even more pleased to honor here today I want to invite member salamona who represents District 2 to tell us about the ocps staff member she has selected for her school board Spotlight thank you chair just to clarify so my Spotlight couldn't make it today something came up very last minutes so I think that we're holding off on my Spotlight for a future meeting is that correct I that's what we got okay making sure that's that's it thank you okay all right well we will but I'm excited to share it with you all yeah okay from Lake NAA High School can't wait to tell you okay well wow so is this like one of those bumper teasers

004that the news does you know tune in at 5:30 tune in for that District 2 spotlight coming to you soon to another school board meeting okay thank you there you go good deal okay well I won't congratulate the person that we're not going to talk about until until some future time if you all turn out you'll see it or if you tune in you'll see it if you don't you are really going to lose out for our next recognition I'd like to recognize Arbor Ridge k through eight Oakridge High and ston Lakes Elementary for receiving the US Department of education's 2023 Green Ribbon Schools award in Washington DC in August just to make sure is Arbor Ridge K8 here are they in the house great is Oakridge High in the house yes and is Stone

005Lakes Elementary in the house in the house yay okay right all right no more teasers we're about to begin now I just I want I want you to understand that winning this award is like no small task there are only about 700 schools that have been named Green Ribbon Schools since the program began now that's 700 schools in the country I don't know how many schools there are in the country I wish I had fact checked that but there's a lot and so being one of 700 is just phenomenal this award recognizes the schools that save energy reduce cost feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces protect Health Foster wellness and offer Environmental Education that boost academic achievement and Community engagement all three ocps schools reach those high standards in addition Arbor Ridge was recognized for improving

006awareness of green topics through its digital newsletter where they will be publicizing an upcoming special event at a board meeting not seriously Oakridge Oakridge received the Accolade for implementing its shared tables program for uneaten food I really want to learn more about that too and Stone Lakes was honored for its agricultural program that includes growing and caring for crops and livestock all three of these are just they're fascinating topics I really I'm I'm so proud of these kids and these are things that are if you don't watch our board meeting these are things that this board is really really passionate about so on a personal level we are so grateful that you all have just thrown yourself into this Arena and made such a difference now I'd like to in in invent not invite Environmental

007Compliance and sustainability Department's senior director Jennifer Fowler to the podium to share more information on how these schools are making a positive impact on our environment Miss fer you have done such a phenomenal job not just this year but since you have taken the lead in this area and we are so fortunate and thankful to have you as a part of our team and leading this initiative well thank you very much I appreciate it our schools make it very easy because they're doing amazing work so I'm honored to be a part of it I am excited to recognize the top three Award winners of the 2023 US Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools these schools not only have been recognized as the top three green schools for Orange County Public Schools but in November of

008last year they were designated as green apple schools by the Florida Department of Environmental Protections Green School designation program and then as the green ribbon School in April this year the US Department of Education announced 26 awardees across the country in which ocps comprised three of those 26 these schools were also hosted by the Department of Education in a Ceremony this past August where they received their Awards and had the opportunity to celebrate with other awardees in Washington DC I would like to introduce the administrators the teachers staff and students who are truly cultivating a culture of sustainability in their schools from Arbor Ridge School principal Vanessa dears our teachers Amanda Ferguson Donna hacket Melo Lisa Kendall Robin Ballard and Sean Nagi our school clerk Linda Cole along with students kayn Macwan Spencer Rogers Everett

009Rogers Liam Ferguson Olivia Ferguson El Kendall Sophia Rivera and Christopher Ballard can we get all of y'all to I was going to say can we get can we get that school to stand just so we see who you are thank you and don't run off because when we get done I want to get each of the schools up here individually so we can get a picture with youall okay thank you okay back to you from ston Lakes Elementary School we have principal Andrew Andrew Rollins teachers Michelle plank Tina Santoro and Jamie day Alon good and from Oakridge High School we have our assistant principal Nora pnik and a teacher Michelle Gomez along with the environmental science club Sherin Khan Aisha and cheda John Lee Tiffany win Quinn Lee and Cheyenne peoples thank you very much

010thank you all right let's let's see if we can get arboridge K through 8 up here first yeah and go ahead and bring your certificates job guys congratulations conat conratulations great job guys congratulations congratulations my glasses so fun okay let's get oakd high up here the ridge yes oh I feel yeah arboridge was the first one congratul congratulations you guys congratulations good green people in the middle good good call amazing perfect up over here oh did you get that I'm sorry I was too fast good go a little bit more hang on okay and you on conratulations congratulations congratul congratulations congratulations congratulations congratulations good job okay oh you're opening ITC okay all right everybody oh that's so precious little baby a green tea yes Jennifer open Miss Valor you're ordered to the front bring your

011team bring your team I know that c all right Frank what do we need to do everybody look toward me look happy St there happy again and we have one personing forli it RS you get a puppy oh no that Olivia good look back toward me and everybody hold your forms up and look happy or not I know they're so she shy she's shy call a name like that c sh all right Jennifer thank you again at our last board meeting some of you may have been here may remember I got all fired up about football season got a little ahead of myself maybe so my school where all my kids went Olympia High School I mean they are awesome the Titans are awesome I am so proud of them that I decided that they

012were going to take on member Birds School a papa high now everybody knows the blue daughters have a reputation for Wom but it was close it was 23 to 26 and I think with the handicap we were entitled to that technically we won yeah that's not how it works but nice try though no they did do amazing I will tell you and actually I really need to kind of paint a picture for you all because you have to understand there are people die hard Apopka blue Darter fans that have said this was the best game in 60 years of Apopka football that's how good this game was right so I'm going to paint a little picture for you Olympia scored a touchdown with a two-point conversion with 2 minutes and 51 seconds left in the

013fourth quarter so they were up 2322 that's where we were at right and then Hayden Kaz Kiki I believe is how you pronounce his name is that right John Kiki Kiki I went to high school with his mother so there we go Kiki oh this by the way I went to a popka in case anybody was wondering in case it was any question he Nails a 42 yard field goal in the final play of the game to lift a popka to a 2523 win over Olympia it was so close and really me describing it doesn't even do it justice so I brought a little clip just so you can see go ahead and roll it there it is look at that and the crowd went wild oh yeah that was a very very exciting game

014to see the Le so I appreciate the chair allowing this challenge to take place so I think we need to get a picture for the yes and you know the game was close but I have to admit that field goal wasn't anywhere close to close I mean I mean that I don't know how much further that they could have moved that field goal back and he still would have nailed aming amazing I know it was amazing thanks I know John Ling oh my gosh oh yeah oh jeez oh just for the record he's a BL I've heard about this all day yes and all weekend thank you madam chair oh yes it's swallowing you okay so member gold could not be with us tonight but I've got a note here that she has sent us

015a message what good evening my fellow board members and chair Jac I am so sorry I didn't get to see you wearing the Apopka white and blue tonight but I think it's time for more of the board to get in on this challenge West Orange High the Warriors will be playing Dr Phillips High the Panthers on October 20th in the Legacy orange crate game Dr Phillips holds a special place in my heart as it was built as a relief school for West Orange High School I will always always love my Panthers but it is time to show off the Warriors the original West Orange High I know our team has been working hard this year in fact I'm confident that the Warriors will totally tame the Panthers so I have a challenge for my friend

016and board colleague Miss Vicky Felder I can't wait to see you wearing this fantastic Jersey on October 24th when West Orange takes the orange crate Miss Felder will you accept this challenge yes so now I've been enjoying seeing all the wearing of the jerseys I can feel the Rival the love this evening but now I think it's time for more of the board to get in on this challenge you know I take Sports very very seriously if I were a football player I would be the tight end run straight through the middle I've been rooting for Dr Phillips High School since I was a teacher there a DP Alias Gucci High actors the school has produced actors and stars let me just give you some game changers Wayne Brady Joy Fon Alano Miller Amanda seals

017DJ Ken mcka Cox Johnny Damon representative leavon Patrice bracie Davis Senator ref Randolph bracie June 3D and Kiona Levine farmer just to name a few that's right Gucci High the school that ocps students skipped school just to sit and bask in the ambience that was and is still Dr Phillips high school and I am still a big fan R DP the Dr Phillips football team will be challenging West Orange on October 20th in the orange crate game we ready we ready are y'all ready so I'd like to issue this challenge to my board colleague and friend Pamela gold get your jersey and listen I got it right here it won't fit but I got it here it is right here so now I want you to know that when we win this game board M

018goul you will be wearing this jersey all DP good whoa all right now well you know that's not the only school with a big gang coming up we have Colonial taking right there right there taking on University on October 26th for the big battle for the boot so you know I'm just saying I didn't here's here's the funny thing Colonials here with the mascot today I was escorted down and to be fair I know there's going to be a whole conspiracy theory but Angie I did not know Colonial was going to be here today it just happened to land on student advisory for Dr Vasquez today oh wow like good luck if you me but I'm not mad and I think that means good luck for us to battle for the boot so principal Russo's

019here I got the grenadiers here and our actual mascot is here today oh boy well all due respect on with all due respect member Salam monka what makes you think that University high is going to lose this game you know university has a very special place in my heart for a couple of reasons number one see I can't even talk smack as colonial's here this is so not fair like I can't look at these kids and be mean towards this school and I'm a very competitive person so I take people down on my way out when it comes to football should I smack talk and principal's here yeah and the principal's here so I can't I have to be I have to be nice cuz we teach kindness to students so I'm going to be

020kind but a couple couple things University rocks it's the best school out there in district one we get things done number one number two you know why I know University is going to win fun fact university has the same colors that my high school had and I went to high school which was oal high school so the blue and the gold so I will put my money on the University Cougars go cougars I can turn this off the university cougar yeah now you are oh jeez the university cougars and the blue and gold any day of the week and I have full confidence that we will Peril in this game and I'm excited to see you in blue and gold I did hear blue is your favorite col it's actually you know it's not it's

021orange it's that's a different story but November 14th board meeting this is what you're G to be wearing remember Gallow right here it's going to look so nice on you we're all going to be here the students will come back I will be prepared I think I think I'm going to invite because you know what clonial doesn't have that University does twirlers majorettes I think I'm going to see if the majorat can't come down their little sparkly uniforms and when we win maybe they can do a little number and maybe member Sal Mona could like get a hold of a baton and see see how she is with some tricks on the Baton and this very beautiful oh Jersey I don't think so oh my gosh can we do fire baton yeah I think I

022think the Fire Marshall would have an issue but can we all feel the Rivalry love of here wow November 14 you'll be back to see M Gall dressed like a granadier and no pressure Sala in blue and gold and a baton while they're still talking can we get a picture of the two of them yes principal Russo I cannot baton please who now it's a competition who can raise theirs higher you missed it never want to put District Two Against district one I know but thank you Dr for having Colonial come out and support me today I really I appreciate the layup little heads up would have been nice oh my gosh I feel like there was a I feel like you need to be I'm bringing twirlers BR twirlers you dressing up twir do

023a little number with I am questioning whether there's a little Foul Play here so I would normally stay neutral and I'm I'm not on a winning street but but very close but I'm going to go with the underdog because I always go with the underdog so a colonial well well I will tell you after the game is over look at the look at the students oh not fair I didn't mean it I'm sure you guys will play a great game okay next I'm trying to figure out should I let these good people go or let's hear the announcement of your new administrators and then we will we will allow them to go or let them stay of course if they want to sit through the board meeting I am very pleased to announce that Mr

024sha Rainey instructional coach at Westridge Middle School is going to be the new assistant principal at Westridge Middle School congratulations thank you school board members Dr Vasquez and staff for this opportunity to serve at Westridge Middle School first I like to thank my principal Nicole Jefferson she's actually been my principal for the last nine years I start so in my time as an instructional employee always give me different leadership roles to advance my craft and give me all these opportunities to grow and advance in the educational field all my different assistant principles I'm not going to name them all but just taking different things and the time you guys took to help me learn how to do your job and when I would ask all these questions what's it actually mean to be a leader

025at the school two members of my former Civics plc who are watching thank you guys for everything to my family and friends in Jersey who are watching so thank you guys so much and miss cres for coming she's been our media specialist and my unofficial therapist so thank you guys for this opportunity all right I actually am going to want to I don't watch many of the meetings over again but I'm going to have to watch your opening comments because I'm pretty certain that you referred to us as scoreboard members did you did you did you hear it I heard scoreboard I'm not making this up I'm not making this up I'm G to back and watch it came out scoreboard so superintendent do you have any other recognitions no that is it for this

026evening congratulations again we're so excited that you have joined the administrative ranks okay all right on that note this is your opportunity if you all want to leave you're welcome to go if you want to stay you're welcome to stay they're all trying to figure this out they he needs a picture oh yes picture we can't forget the picture away a picture could have you talking Sports I know I know it was defitely her on Sports congratulations yes congratulations come on sh got Sports on her I did win fantasy football I'm UND fantasy football so de and it's in my car and I keep bringing it in my car all right scoreboards ready so not fair so not fair congratulations bring the musical team to come out and sing us a song Al are those

027more graders coming in that's awesome that's so cool I don't know I don't know voice goes and comes oh my gosh wow oh my gosh Che are we doing cheers are we getting a cheer it would be nice I know really I mean yeah I mentioned baton ters and now I'm seeing grad deer cheerleaders oh really like right oh boy what a Smackdown District 2 really showing up today so on the officially on the record I had no idea that Colonia was going to be so well represented for the challenge and so I think there the cheerleaders are here to share their enthusiasm and support for their team as they are taking on un ah I'm sorry you missed the previous little Sun but it was fun and we're going to get that boot this

028year right yes we are yes you have a cheer do you all have a che do you all have a cheer you want to do you want to do a cheer come do aair come on up here and do a cheer she looking for a chair coach I think the chair runs like me I yeah definitely all right you got I did John you're correct I know this be conspiracy this is a huge conspiracy oh my God I love this Maria salom Monica look at you oh my God over the top the Dr Williams did this to me oh oh I so stacked the de excuse me why I get the knife out of my back this is wonderful yes we are you to be a here all right we are you proud to be

029a here we are you proud to be a grand yes we are one two this just keeps getting better woo boy okay whoa oh oh God you forgot the B awesome okay wo boy any minute all right great job ladies great job whoa all right next we're going to hear from our district associations and our student council advisory the superintendent advisory committee so let me call First on Clinton McCracken president of the Orange County classroom Teachers Association Clinton welcome thank you beat that right just woo good evening chair Jacobs members of the board and Dr Vasquez thanks for having me here today to share comments from CTA today I was able to visit two schools with Dr Vasquez last week I was able to visit one with Dr Williams last year I asked if Dr

030vaset would visit some of our schools with me to hear from teachers and administrators directly to see how things are going both positive and negative and how we might be able to work together to make things better we've had some great conversations at each of these schools we visited including those today one of the common concerns I'm hearing from our teachers this year in addition to pay of course relates to school culture and the workload we keep hearing so much about this that I created an anonymous form for people to tell tell us what's really happening I let them know that I'll send the concerns to the district and the board and I'll continue to advocate for changes with how some teachers are being treated in our district but today I wanted to share some

031of the positives that were submitted in this form as well I know I can't mention names here so I'll send a follow-up email to you all with the names and the schools the first one the principal is probably the most supportive admin I have ever worked with she really listens when you go to her with a concern and is receptive to solutions that you offer she provides opportunities for growth and wants to see her staff Thrive and another the principal is fabulous she listens to her teachers allows us to be professionals and provides excellent feedback she truly makes our school feel like a family and another the principal is one of the most caring personable and thoughtful leaders bosses I've ever had he trusts his team he doesn't micromanage he goes out of his way

032to let us know he is always here for us and another the principal is very helpful and consistent he always tries his best to get what you need to get you what you need he has a lot on his plate but always manages to say hello and he is great with the kids and another the principal is doing a great job communicating with families and supporting teachers she is focused on student engagement and helping all students succeed when I hear about problems and working conditions at other schools I feel very grateful for her leadership these are just a few we've received a lot of comments in this form so far as I mentioned I'll send the concerns your way but I wanted to highlight here what is possible when principles build a positive culture at

033their schools and with their teachers the atmosphere of any workplace the culture you experience when you walk through the doors and how happy people are with their work when they go home each night is predictive of whether people stick around there for the Long Haul thank you to our principles who are creating schools with a positive culture thank you Clint and thank you and before we move on you're so right about culture and in an organization this large with so many different schools it if without principles on board creating that culture school by school it's just not possible but I also I just want to give a shout out to our superintendent that she has worked so hard in the first year she's been in office to try to change that culture so working together

034working with you working with our principles and working with our students and all of our wonderful teachers we can get there so thank you all right Dr Vasquez right Clinton just wait one minute I do want to give a shout out to Clinton it was his idea that we go out and visit schools together and really show that we really are trying to work together not against one another and in some schools there is a culture of us against them and so as we visit schools we're hearing concerns but we're also seeing some some bright spots and we're seeing what an impact the leadership at the school level can have on that culture in a school and so when when we walk in and they are receptive and you can feel that sense of belonging

035and that they can honestly share things that are of concern and some things that are going well it goes a long way and giving me hope that every day we're making a difference and we're changing that culture so thank you for being bold enough to to bring that idea forth and we look forward to your feedback when you have it to share with us thank you all right next I would like to hear from Ron Pard president of the orange education support professionals Association Mr par thank you so much for being here well thank you thank you for wearing that Jersey I also am a lni Alka High School 1975 before most of you were born you see oh that's right I was going to say that's a very familiar year to me I heard

036what you said but now I forgot we exchanged ages the other day he thought he was he was going to prove how old he was close and I got him by how many months was that I think it was four just a few months just a few months not very much gr paot I'm president of Orange County orange education support professionals Association and to you all I want to give a shout out to Dr Vasquez I participated this morning in a advisory committee meeting that had a crosssection of our support staff and I was just proud to be in that meeting to hear them talk talk about how they felt some things that they saw and I'm telling you kudos to Clinton my good friend that we are making an atmosphere of cooperation and that

037everybody is to be heard because we do need everybody I had read the jumped ahead of myself on the board docs today and I saw that there was a proclamation that would be made for the bus drivers I wish I had my bus drivers and monitors here I hope they're watching when you do read that Proclamation on school Bo bus safety protecting our young people is job one so thank you for recognizing the good work that all of our support staff do for our ocps students so thank you very much and that number was 9987553900 us oh no I'm not that smart I did the back check while you while you was talking wow so anyway and proud to see all these students here our young people that's our future I love it I love

038it so when you go back to your school say hello to somebody in your support staff you know who they are thank you awesome thank you all right next on behalf of the Orange County Association of school administrators we have guy snon pres not Prince president president president-elect president-elect thank you greetings chair Jacob Schoolboard members and superintendent Vasquez I am gu swon president-elect of okasa which represents over 300 school-based leaders first and foremost our members applaud the hard work our district continues to do to ensure teachers receive competitive compensation for their pivotal roles in our students education a classroom led by a highly qualified teacher is the best path forward toward Student Success and they deserve competitive pay for the unique roles it is important to oura members for the board to understand that it

039is a well-known feeling Among Us that the topic of our fair and competitive compensation for administrators only comes after teacher and classified compensation has been settled think for a moment the message that is received by our members when the discussion of our compensation truly comes last administrators and teachers are a team who support each other and work side by side for the betterment of our students and Community yet we have unique responsibilities that deserve equal consideration our school-based leaders shoulder the responsibility of everything that happens in and outside of the school during school hours after school hours and on weekends a principal's job is truly 7 days a week 24 hours a day this is why we sleep with our cell phones near our beds check for Urgent messages first thing in the morning and

040the last thing we do before we go to bed the role of school safety has grown exponentially in the last few years much of our often 12-hour workday is spent being the educational leaders that we want and need to be by mentoring mentoring teachers conferencing with families and ensuring standards based instruction throughout the campus in addition we still have to weave in attending to Safety and Security ensur in supervision checking for propped open doors monitoring bathrooms parking lots Gates cameras Gaggle alerts Florida fortify alerts and staying ahead of discipline just to name a few the support we give our teachers is outside of the classroom so that their classroom can remain The Haven of learning and educational Sacred Space that it truly is all of our roles on our campuses are equally important and as

041Dr armer has instilled in US We Are One ocps as such we ask that our compensation be considered on its own merits in concert with classified and instructional compensation board members we earnestly request your contined recognition recognition that the role of the school administrator warrants compensation that aligns with unique demands of the position by doing so you honor our unwavering dedication and ensure that our schools are led by the best and brightest in the field of educational leadership our members thank you for your consideration thank you so much than you so Dr Castor denl you want to be recognized yes Madam chair I just want to recognize the change in the room today culture it's hard to Define it's hard to observe but you feel it and you recognize it when you're among it and

042this meeting there's so much positive and so much cooperation and Grace I've never heard someone from okasa come up and say please look out for our teachers first that is powerful and for Clinton to talk about how he went with the superintendent to live listen to teachers together that is a powerful statement coming in together that we're working together it's not US versus them and then to have our students here and all the members up here cutting up and having some fun it's just there's something has changed so I appreciate that Dr Vasquez I attribute that to your leadership thank you yeah thank you member Castor Den member Felder oh I'm know oh yes I am okay that's okay you're not anymore okay okay well now not to put down our previous speakers but I'm

043pretty excited because I think this is the first time that our school advisory no it's the second time second time that we've had members of the superintendent school advisory Council attending so would you introduce your guests I most certainly will and again this was not planned Colonial was selected to come and speak there's representatives from the school ad their student advisory Council but there was no intent of this rivalry I just want to put it out there if anyone is to blame I would probably say it might be the chief of high schools who was the former principal at Colonial High School I don't know so I yeah so I am just thrilled to be able to introduce a few members from Colonial High School who are part of my student advisory Council and I

044appreciate the time that they take to sit with me and some members of my team and talk about some of the issues that are impacting our students and so I'd like to introduce Kaylee Ming yareli Valentine Jaden Gonzalez and Nicholas Rose from Colonial High School F will come up oh my God all right you start all right so during our last superintendent advisory meeting we discussed some issues that our school was facing this year and came up with Solutions we have had a lot more participation throughout past years but this year's student body participation has declined this new phone policy has affected the decrease of peers not participating in campus activities the solution we devised is to incorporate interactive lunch games along with a spear week that would gain students interest as our homecoming season

045just finished we saw many students dress up for our funfill days we hope to receive the same reaction when creating a new spirit week our advertising would consist of social media posts as well as announcements on the intercom and canas we would have SGA members make postage to place on campus these activities would be incorporated into our winter Spirit Week held in December right before winter break we also hope to have staff and faculty participation because encouragement is key students will dress up up according to designated days and engage in fun games during lunchtime our days would include stuffed animal day or snowball fight day these days would be joined with an activity during lunch such as a fun game of cornhole or trivia questions prizes would be given to students who win lunch games

046since we want students to engage these prizes would include things many students are interested in such as Croc charms we would like to thank our Schoolboard member The Honorable Miss salanka the High School Division and Mrs Russell for all their support I'd also like to recognize our adviser Miss Tores because none of this would be possible without them thanks to our Colonial High School Representatives our CHS his cheerleaders Hispanic Honor Society and a students it's great to be a granity go all of them all of them get it a little bit tighter turn sideways shingle jingle single single come back come back here okay hold on a second make sure you're not blocking anybody you can you can squat if you'd like hold on first one just to make sure I know what I'm doing

047okay and it's great to be a Grenadier on three 1 2 3 it's to be I'm not buying it one more time and with those pom pom thingies perfect this M Sal Mona thank you chair I couldn't have planned this better myself there there will be years of conspiracy around this and you know I'm going to look at Jose as well and the high school team back there but I just want to say thank you all so much for coming and just having all of you different organizations represented supporting your peers as they provide know the purpose of the discussions and the topics you heard was for us to give the different leaders in our entire District an opportunity to talk to us Schoolboard members who are elected at The Ballot Box just an understanding

048of what's going on from the teachers perspective the principal's perspective as well as the students perspective and our classified employees perspective and our yeah and our support staff as well so we provide now this time and space during every Schoolboard meeting to hear from you and the student advisory Council that talks to Dr vas quiz about the student perspective this is your chance to to kind of elevate what's going on in schools and how you are all feeling this board cares deeply about students feeling connected to their schools this is a really core priority for us for Dr vasis and it has been and will continue to be and that means we do want to hear from you and we do want to know what that experience is when you think about this entire District

049what are we 250 maybe what's our number of students 210,000 210,000 students it's a massive budget couple billion dollars this whole system is made for you all to succeed right the whole Ed purpose of the education system is for you all to be set up to be engaged and involved in a really productive way in society so it's really great to have you all I'm also very proud great a dear just to see you all here representing each other and and principal Russo I'm such a fan of colonial and the work that is happening there in the culture shift as well that you're feeling in in such an amazing school so we as a board just want to thank you for being here I'm so proud to represent you I represent you guys in Lake

050Nona high school and then eventually a new high school and I am so grateful every day when I get to speak to all of you and to your families and so I'm very happy I'm I'm Colombiana so also very nice to see the Hispanic the just the representation on this room and how much that is cor a colonial I represent that too so just know that you have my voice up here hopefully speaking and representing you and if I'm Not Just sh me an email it's public and just let me know what you think well said Thank You member salaman we have several proclamations and when we finish our proclamations I'll invite you all to leave if you want to or stay if you want to first we are proclaiming October 16th 2023 as white

051cane Awareness Day in Orange County Public Schools we're proclaiming October 15th through the 21st as America's safe schools week in Orange County Public Schools and I'm going to ask Sergeant Robert B Bay with pardon me Bo so much for yes thank you no it wasn't bobe thank you good evening board chair Vice chair superintendent it's my honor this evening to read the proclamation for American Safe schools week I am your internal school resource officer for acceleration East High School I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to the professional educational staff and also the support staff of acceleration East they do a phenomenal job so the American Safe schools week is October 15th through the 21st of 2023 whereas the National School Safety Center has established October 15th through the 21st 2023 as

052American Safe schools week and whereas excellence and education is dependent on safe secure and peaceful School settings and whereas a positive climate and safe environment is an established objective within the district strategic plan plan and whereas prevention and early intervention strategies are used by the district to reduce the occurrence of disciplinary and security incidents within schools and whereas the district has implemented a comprehensive school safety strategy based on contemporary pre prevention and early intervention programs emergency preparedness practices and training physical security Standards Law Enforcement coordination and visitor management and whereas school safety will remain a core priority for the district now therefore the school board of Orange County Florida does hereby Proclaim October 15th through the 21st 2023 as American Safe schools week in Orange County Public Schools thank you thank you Sergeant appreciate it

053we are also proclaiming October 16th through the 20th as school bus safety week in Orange County Public Schools and I'd like to read that Proclamation whereas yellow school buses are considered the safest vehicles for transporting children who live more than two miles away to and from school according to State and National Data and whereas the Florida Department of Education Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles ocps transportation services law enforcement agencies and other organizations are committed to providing a safe crashfree environment and whereas during a normal school year ocps transports more than 69,000 students approximately 95,000 miles daily last school year more than 55,000 ocps school bus riders were transported approximately 73,9 110 miles daily whereas the exemplary safety performance of nearly 550 bus operators is observed every day on the roads of Orange County by motorists

054and student Riders whereas while on school buses students have the right to be safe from physical and emotional attack and any form of behavior that is threatening harassing or abusive and whereas motorists are responsible for following all sa traffic laws to ensure the safety of everyone on the school bus and whereas successful safety measures have been implemented as the result of the collective efforts of Florida's state and local safety Partners along with national state and Community organizations whereas state and local agencies and organizations are encouraged to support activities to promote the health and safety of school children during school bus safety week and throughout the school year now therefore the school board of Orange County Florida encourages everyone to consider the safety and health of children every day and does hereby proclaim the week of

055October 16th through the 20th as school best Safety Week in Orange County Public Schools and we are also proclaiming October 26 as lights on after school day in Orange County Public Schools October 23rd through the 31st as red wom red always struggle with that Red Ribbon Week in Orange County Public Schools and that concludes please I'm sorry oh definitely can we get officer boobe can you come up and can we get all of our law enforcement in the room together for a picture thank you oh I guess I'll leave this song H yeah you have to I think that's the deal okay I just like yeah that's the bet you lost okay yeah the picture I'm like I think it's AO all over the internet thank you all so much thank you so much sa

056very long long school board meetings I know will you take the mic for a minute so our we have students here and I thought they may be one wondering why we have a dog here they may know they're a lot smarter and not give them credit for it but still we're really proud of of Coco so could you give us a little introduction yes it's coko she's a part of the weapon screening team so we go out randomly from school to school every day looking for weapons and when and when she's not out at schools I see her up in Chief Holmes's office yes and yes yes it's the throwing balls up and down the office yes so it's not all it's not all hard work and there is some fun in games so anyway

057thank you so much problem thank you yes I know I know I know you're vertically challenged I know okay so all right we're going we're about to get into the business portion of our meeting again as I said we'd love to have you all stay but we also want to give you the opportunity if you want to head out you're welcome to do that as well thank bye bye J have a good evening I know it's fabulous did did you do all the other yeah safy I did Red Red Ribbon Week yeah I did because I couldn't say red ribb that's right we don't have that agenda where I would ask that okay all right Dr Basquez do we have any changes to the agenda Madam chair there are no changes to the agenda all

058right thank you with no changes I'll open the floor for a motion to adopt the agenda as posted motion by I don't know why that s sounded like further way member Vice chair is there a second second second by member Castor denel all in favor please say I opposed motion carries with all members present voting in the affirmative moving on to public do we have any speakers here for no M we have not received any yellow cards can I ask you one more time who motioned where we missed the motion yes the vice chair made a motion and member Castor denl made the second second thank you all right so we have no no public comments no public hearing I'll move on to the consent agenda any questions or concerns by board members if not

059I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda all right we have a motion to approve the consent agenda by member Castor denel second by member bird all in favor favor please say I opposed motion carries with all members present voting in the affirmative non-agenda public comment time period do we have speakers for non-agenda public comment yes Madam chair we have 10 speakers okay 10 speakers so 10 speakers we should be able to hear from everyone how nice okay wonderful so speakers each have three minutes there are a few guidelines oh how many people who has not been here that wants to speak today that hasn't been here before okay I'll go through I'll the second annual school spirit run powered by Del Dental is officially in the books with nearly 2,000 participants there was

060no 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 just did a race good job girl with your school you're a kindergartener to 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

061she went walked right up to him and just said you know coach a will you 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 the 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 bright you 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

062finishing 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 of their peers an unforgettable experience for a strong kindergartner who is ready to Take On The World we say my name is Bridget and I can do anything I'll 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

063a 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 is 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 interests 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

064is 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 apply 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

065Elementary students in 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 in 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 legal 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

066and the students went to work building all kinds of cool stuff a solar powerered car with a panel rotates to soak up the sun even a water powerered 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 and always respect 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 sawn P the kids at the at the competition I was like oh my God we're going to lose but these budding Builders won the

067award for best 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 build 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 it'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 do things too 3 2 1 at ottobon 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

068exhibit you'll want to check out two black diamond stingrays oh and their brothers if you can't tell they're fresh water they're very hearty animals so one of the most heartiest so I figured with 1,200 kids probably putting their fingers in the tank these would be the best to start with Kelly Roberts believes teaching needs to be much more than books and worksheets the school already has lots of other animals a sand booa tiger salad salamanders Axel tarantulas and alligators but apparently they were missing something so Roberts reached out to the Center for Stingray biology 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 R

069but 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 Rays for the scientists these animals are a lesson in more than biology keeping pets is I think a responsibility and it'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 a B parkus is really one of the schools that gets to do that and it's just cool to be able to learn about them in

070person 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 815 and their faces are pressed against the tanks and they're just excited to be in school and if this is one little thing that 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

071has 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 and I said I don't think I'm going to be 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

072memorable 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 haveen I would never thought of something could be possible like that for them to come here bring balloons giant 23 balloons the cap and gown the diploma and everything it was awesome I wasn't even sure if she was going to get to 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

073never seen in my before I've never seen these people before they became like family after I had finished talking mray she held on to my hand she squizz my hand really hard and she looked at me and she said said Mrs giry now I can die happy to summarize she gave me strength because even when she was 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

074like 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 me 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

075master 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 it'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

076and 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 enrollment and after high school I'll just have two more semesters before I get my AA degree and it means a lot to me and my family because I have 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 no matter any obstacles that comes you'll get through it Miss Roa I would like to thank you for helping me when everybody closed the door on me Miss Carr my art teacher she was there motivating me

077really 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 in the world I believe 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 Blond in my sixth grade 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

078physical 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 genuine love and passion learning 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

079set 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 her made my grandmother made so many sacrifices she didn't do it thinking oh my God I'm going to be rich I'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 Tim Creek High School I do social clubs like

080kop 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 teaml organization we pass out medicine to elderly Homebound and then and I do sports like for 4 years I was in bowling I was Varsity for the girls team I want to do a bunch of things so that 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 it doesn't seem so daunting a teacher that's made a big impact in my

081life has to be Miss Stevens 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 else 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 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

082say 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 into 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 Gant on the M for Bo high school over the custodia services I've been working 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 POS of attitude good love good sportsmanship so it's a good place to be from top to bottom the ladies come in by the guys taking

083the 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 Tak 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

084make sure I make I make him PR like he don't TI me so today we surprised the teachers and staff at ois high school with what we're calling back to school dream Boxes 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 appre appreci 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 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

085that 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 for you Riverdale Elementary School wel 10 months ago this all happened can you believe it 10 months ago and those months were everything wrapped up into one okay they were hard they were amazing good morning welcome

086they 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 we make it work and then good things 3 2 1 yeah we back 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 be 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 are you to home

087us 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 a 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 be happy and safe in a clean environment it's really nothing more important than than that to us

088in facilities this is the biggest small District in the nation and when I say that and I say 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 to 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 check in all the seat belts and everything make for sure they're correct me what is your main objective

089every day here safety make sure I get the kids to and from school safe because the parents put them in my hands I'm the mom now dash gauges I check lighting indicators I check fuel gauge windshield wipers heater steering two-way radio horn Works radio is on tablets 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 to 1:00 my morning run consists of all ESC kids all my stops are door to door normally through the school year I'll have like 20 23 stops good morning Delle Melle good morning morning miss you going to say good morning say good morning good morning good morning

090say Chee who's that it's p and is she your favorite favor you never know what the kid has been through that night before so just the kindness and we have nothing on the non-consent agenda we're finished with the consent agenda I think superintendent we're on to your report thank you madam chair I'll make it brief I have started my Town Hall meetings and the most recent one was at Dr Phillips high school we had a great turnout and so I invite families our employees to look on our website with the published dates I'd love to have you come out and ask your questions so that you can become more informed and more connected more connected with Orange County Public Schools additionally I do want to remind parents that the end of the marking period is

091just a few days away so if you haven't had an opportunity to check if your child has turned in all of their assignments or if they have any missing assignments tonight might be a good time to do so that if teachers are giving them any grace period to turn in missing assignments they can do so before report cards are distributed that's the end of my report all right thank you Miss enville okay I know we have a report from our legislative chair Vice chair and I'm not sure if any of other committee chairs have a report if so we'll hear from you next thank you my mic tonight sorry about that so I just have a brief report two weeks ago we went to I went to DC on behalf of the for kaspa which

092is the Coalition of school board members to which the Florida school board members Association sit is a part of and so I sit on the federal committee for for fsba so I went as a legislative chair in the federal sitting on that committee so anyways we were in DC we were able to meet with all of our delegation we met with Senator Scott Senator Rubio I met with Congressman Frost I met with Congressman SoDo I met with Congressman mtz's staff and there were several others I think we were able to meet with 2third of the Florida delegation so I just want to share with you what our asks are and kind of share with what what is kind of happening federally the first ask that we asked was please don't shut down the government so

093you're welcome because I'm fairly certain that our advocacy led to the government not being shut down I'm just joking go back up but one of the one of the two main focus points for us was number one in the house budget they're cutting title $1 by 80% that isn't represented in the Senate budget so our ask was to please look at the Senate budget not the house budget and we had examples of what that would do to our district and other District if they were to cut the title $1 or those title dollars by 80% it would just be detrimental it would be it would devastate our County and the good work and the work that we continue to do for our most needest students this second one was is that we were asking them

094to fully fund idea with the eser dollars going away in September of 2024 we know the CLI is coming and when Ida was authorized it was authorized at 20% they've never even reached half of that funding wise so I think we're about 13 to 15% now and we were just asking them to kind of fully fund what they had authorized years ago and then the other thing we were asking for was around Wi-Fi and broadband and the e- rate to make sure that we have connectivity for all our students especially our rural students that there's not a disparity between our our children that live in the city and our children that don't live in the city that they have access to a high quality education because that's what every student deserves and I do want

095to shout out to the staff because when we were talking about shutting down the government I needed numbers and I need them very quick on what it would what it would mean to us if they were to be shut down for more than 30 days and it was a very large it was like 11 million so thank you Dorene and her staff cuz they were very quick and providing me with those numbers so that I could give real factual data to our congressmen and our Senators and I do believe that helped so thank you very much thank you Vice chair member CER denel thank you mam chair I don't have a committee report but I do have an update I would like to share we had a few meetings back we were we had a

096lot of bus drivers who came and spoke about some of the concerns that they had with their route and in one of those meetings I offered to go on a ride along to see what it was like and I did I went last week on a ride along in the afternoon I could not go to the morning run because they start at 5: so why not but I so I rode the afternoon routes starting at the bus compound and I did the Evans High School Robinswood and oh my gosh metal Brook not metal Brook it was a long day it was a long afternoon but I have to tell you I was able to ride on one of our new electric buses so it was very quiet and smooth and you do have to be

097specially trained to drive those so I asked what happens when the bus driver is not there and they have to get someone else who is specifically trained for the electric buses but I want to give a shout out to miss cotton she was the bus driver and the monitor was Miss Miss Fonda and they could not have been more professional and caring every student that got on the bus they knew every student and they were they helped them they gave them reminders they helped the little ones get up I forgot how steep those stairs are on the bus I needed help getting up so but I learned a lot about the challenges and one of the things that I didn't realize cuz I rode the bus a long time ago and they didn't have dispatch

098in your ear so dispatch is an amazing group of people who are tracking children who may have gone home early and they didn't notify their sister the sister is telling the bus driver my sister's not on the bus or are they so they go through lots of phone calls they call the school they call parents and they're helping and everyone has to listen to everyone's situation because you don't know if they're going to have to call your bus and say we need you to go by this school and pick up this child and it is a logistical magic show how they get every child home safely by the end of the day it I was so impressed rest and it is a long day and I they don't go home till about 6:00 but the

099way that they cooperate with one another and there was one time when there was a road closure because there was an accident and I heard the dispatcher explain to the bus drivers make sure you go around here and I had to stop actually for a parade we had to sit on the bus there was a homecoming parade that we weren't expecting but we did get to see the whole court go by but there are so many different things that happen on those buses and it is a very professional job I was so impressed I can see why others might be hesitant because it is a you do have to be very skilled you do have to have patience and you do have to you have to be so alert to listen to what's going on

100on that dispatch so kudos to everyone in that whole department they could not have been more professional and then I want to make another shout out I received an email from Maitland Middle School it was an email that they sent out to everybody and all the parents and I love seeing those emails but there was this one part in particular where the principal Mr Brown took a picture of the custodial staff with the principal and assistant principals and highlighted them them and then shared that in the newsletter talking about what a great team they were but then went a step farther and provided them lunch and they were able to eat that in the principal's conference room while the admin went and cleaned up the cafeteria wow and I thought what what a simple gesture

101but what a powerful one yeah to say I'm happy to do your job for even just a little bit while you take a break and we appreciate you so I just wanted to thank the principal for demonstrating to the whole school and to the staff and to the custodians how much they are appreciated and valued and I would love it if more schools and more principles did that one little gesture so that's all I wanted to highlight thank you m c Deno thank you so much for bringing that to us yeah and you know your comments though about the bus drivers and it being taking a lot of skill that it also they have such an impact on the students so I think that's the rewarding part that overcomes all the other obstacles member Felder

102can I share my home yes I can okay thank you well in addition to what for member CAD Dental said about the bus drivers I had an opportunity I think and Gallow and I last year to drive those vicious buses baby they're big they're huge that was wonderful but what I want to share I sent the pictures to Victor superintendent Vasquez joined me this week at Jones high schools oh there it's there and the coronation and she just loved what she saw the children and the students were so excited about about having her there and it was a wonderful wonderful experience and I just want to just share that's Jones High's homecoming 2023 this is Jones High's homecoming 1960 and this is what looks like it's called the Tangerine Bowl but this is really Camping

103World stadium and there's a cute little chubby girl in the center who was 2 and a half her name is Vicky Lan Felder oh my God so I'm going to present this picture and I thank the media department and Frank who did the picture thing for me to get it right cuz this picture was taken in 1960 so Jones High would get a copy of this picture and this is homecoming 196 and many of the people on this picture were former teachers of ocps some of them have since died and one lady that's in the bottom I had breakfast with her this morning oh my God she's 80 years old so we had breakfast together this morning oh my so I wanted to show you the 1960 homecoming and then the 2023 homecoming thank you

104so much thank you member Felder wow that's so cool member Salam Mona yeah and I you know at the last board meeting I invited my fellow board members to come and visit the new high school and you know member Felder and Vasquez did take me up on the offer I know they went I was cuz you can tell my voice so I was not there but it was I still encourage you all to come out to look at the new design of our high schools it's huge it's really nice and I'm really excited for it but I I know that there's pictures out there for that I just thought about it but it yeah I welcome you all to come and get on a golf cart thank you member Salam Mona you don't have any

105pictures from 1960 with share with you no I don't Vice chair thank you madam chair I do want it is mental health awareness day across the country and so I just as someone who family has been affected from mental health I just want to say take care of yourself today make sure you're being kind to yourself make sure you're being kind to others and make sure that you do self-care because it's so important we all get caught up we're so busy especially our teachers and our bus drivers and our Paras and they're all working so hard and I know that it's been it's been a hard start to the year with all the changes and there's been massive changes and so I just want to say on today we hear you we see you and

106please just take care of yourself and be kind thank you thank you Vice chair member salaman sorry Char just I had one last comment but another one is I do want to give kind of a big hug and thoughts and prayers to our families that might be impacted by the conflict in Israel and Palestine right now I'm sure we have a population here in the district and it's it's always a complex topic but we know that it's it's never easy to to see violence within our families and communities and so I do want to make sure folks out there know that you know you're school districts here in in the context of of Mental Health Resources if folks need to talk hopefully they have a resource to talk to them and yeah so just I

107wanted to acknowledge that in today's meeting thank you member Salam monka before we adjourn we have one item that I wanted to talk to the board about we agreed to change the flow of our meeting at the last meeting a couple of issues have come up in dialogue with the superintendent and what I would like to ask is if we could continue what we have right now a little bit longer and have a time when we can devote to that conversation I know that it was kind of came up at the end of the last meeting and I'm not sure that everything was flushed out out as well as it could be and I think we all agreed that what we don't want to do is make a change and then make another change so

108I would ask if we can postpone that decision and continue with the meetings we have for the next couple of meetings and then what we will do is schedule a time that we can commit to have this discussion where everybody knows it's coming first so if there's not objection from the board we'll stay the course with what we have for a few more meetings all right thank you one other question that I have for the board we had a discussion some time ago about communication from the public to board members and there was agreement by the board at that time that even though some comments that we receive aren't always going to be positive that we were all comfortable being elected officials that we didn't need to be protected from those comments and I know

109that there was some concern from the looks on people's faces about how I'm conducting the meetings and I always want to know from the board if there's something I'm doing in terms of being a chair and how I run the meetings I want to you know welcome the comments and the criticism as well we don't get for the Public's benefit we don't get to meet and have these conversations outside of the sunshine so I just want to open that up to the board members on that or any other subject superintendent thank you madam chair my concern and certainly I will do I'm here to do the will of the board is that not everyone understands the stance that the board members have if that is the stance that you're okay with it and it could

110be perceived that we are you know allowing many times disrespectful comments and it could be viewed that we are accepting of that and while I and very understanding of individuals different opinions and beliefs and believe that individuals have the right to do that to have those opinions and beliefs if we are espousing kindness and we're saying that we're treating others with respect my concern is that people don't understand the stance that you have taken to accept such comments that may be perceived as disrespectful so that's where my concern comes right thank you Dr Vasquez member Castro denal thank you madam chair I don't have a concern right now that I would like to bring up or I'm not sure if I will have one but I would like to make another comment regarding one of

111the speakers they asked about the role of furpa and Title Nine in regards to student privacy student rights and I'm I'm not clear on the role or the weight of those federal laws and when it comes to our students and the balance of our state laws and I would like to get some more clarification I know that I'm not asking for it for now from our legal team but I am curious I don't think I've really fully understood the role of Title 9 when it comes to our lgbtq students and fura for medical privacy personal privacy so I'm curious about how those interact with our with our current situation with our state laws and maybe even School our board policies and there was another one policy JL and I know that we had a couple

112different speakers talk about one about whether we're interpreting or over complying with some of the state requirements in an effort to be extremely protective of our teachers but another person mentioned that we need to send a reaffirming statement out to our teachers and I think what we're asking for or what the speakers are asking for is more clarity for our employees and I think that's a valid request because the teachers I've spoken with still are unclear even with the guidance that we've given them so far I think there's still this area where they are being so overly compliant that it is in validating our students rights so I think we need a another explanation about how we balance those because we've got to find a way through this where we are protecting our employees and

113our students and I if there is an issue then we need to figure out how we message that information and what we're going going to do about it because if there is a problem we need to then not just explain it to our employees and our families but we need to push back somehow somewhere if there's a legal remedy we need to look for it so thank you thank you member ker and member bird thank you chair I don't necessarily have a comment on you handling the board meeting a certain way I understand the superintendent's concerned and I certainly want our meetings to be a place where we you know present kindness so I can understand her concerns but I also understand the fact that we're elected officials so I don't really have an answer

114for you on that one I'm sorry but I just I had a couple of things I wanted to go over real fast I 100% agree with remember casor denl about that I think we have to get some clarity and we spoke actually about that several months ago that we have to come down somehow and I know that it's difficult because the laws are so vague and we're doing our best and the legal team is doing a great job in that area but I think it there's still just there's still some gray and I think that we as board members need to sit down and discuss some of these issues a little further a little deeper and make up our minds where we want this District to land on these things because I think I think

115there are some places where the comments that we're hearing are accurate and I have a huge concern still with the pronoun usage and the way we're advising staff about that and I understand the reasoning behind it but I think that I firmly believe that if a parent says this is how my child identifies and a teacher does not have a problem with it that there is no reason why that teacher is not to be using that pronoun regardless so I have some serious problems with that so I really think we need to address it as a board and discuss it so that we can really nail that down and get some more clarity for our staff and the book challenges and this is a question that was brought up about the concern that a phone

116call can be made because of the memo last week I and I need to go back and I wrote down to go back and reread the policy but I thought I that all book challenges had to have a form filled out no one can just call a principal and so that memo last week did not give that impression right can we get a little bit of clarity on that just to make sure that we're still following that procedure correct Mr palmerini can speak to it yes ma'am we absolutely have to have a form filled out and just as you remember under our policy igl it is a multi-step process so parent Guardian resident of the County Schoolboard member who has an issue with a book will fill out the form and then we'll have an

117informal meeting with the principal and the principal can then make a decision okay is this book appropriately in the library or not appropriately in the library if that could that could end it right there if the principal gets the complaint from the parent and says yeah this shouldn't be in the library it's done if it goes beyond that then we have a school Literacy Council where that form will has already been filled out it goes to school Literacy Council you appoint various folks that are that are listed in the policy for to serve on that Council they will read the book make a decision if the person who has challenged the book is unhappy with it after that there is the district Literacy Council same process essentially as the school Literacy Council if the person

118is unhappy with the decision of the district Literacy Council then comes to this board for a final decision but no you cannot just make a phone call and have a book removed it is there has to be a written record and it has to be a written complaint and there is a form that the state has just promulgated and put out we're going to integrate that into our form because we are required by the statute to use the state developed form I just wanted to give the opportunity for the superintendent to have staff address an issue that is gotten that is going to be on the news and that is overcrowding on buses which we know we have an issue with and but particularly since we're talking about bus safety I think it's very fitting

119that this came up today there are some pictures taken of high school route where kids are you know like crowded and sitting in the aisle and so I had address this with the superintendent and we talked today and I talked to Mr Pacho and he assured me that this is not the practice and so I'm going to let the superintendent just talk on that for a second may I please thank you Whenever there is an allegation of unsafe behavior whether it's a fight whether it's children overcrowded on a bus or sitting on the floor we pull the video and staff reviews the video and then action is taken based on that Mr Pacho is here and can give further detail regarding the process that we follow I do know that in in some cases buses

120are running late but what we have found is that in almost every one of the circumstances where we have been apprised of a bus that's overcrowded students have chosen to move from where they were sitting or that you would might see open seats in the back and in the cases where there has been an unsafe situation we have addressed it through Professional Standards but Mr PCO you may please add to my comments superintendent chair board members yes you are correct pretty much that's what we normally do in these cases when we heard about the situation said that it was raised on this specific route we were able to look at the footage of the of of of the bus to make sure that it was not an unsafe situation normally what happened is that the

121bus driver is not to take off or continue on the route if they believe to be students on the on the aisle or they're not not on a on a seat however when they get going at times the like the pictures that we saw in the specific bus the kid was almost kind of in the aisle but also on the seat which of course is not the most optimal situation as well some of our buzzes mainly on the high school they're dealing with the double backs so kids at times if they miss the first tier which the first time that the bus goes out sometimes they get on the second bus and that's what it creates a little bit of of the needo having three kid per bus per seity for high schools what we

122do is that we do a route for two kids per seed but at times we find ourselves having to do three kids per seed which is allowable and is per the standards of the bus however they understand that is not as comfortable as it can be for high school students but again this one is one of those results that happened from from having the chores of buses in the afternoon and I do appreciate more member cenal the what you mentioned because yes I've been on that room with those dispatchers and literally they're trying to cover all those routes you know moment's notice because of an absence or on an unexpected sickness of a one of our bus drivers but that's how we pretty much just to add to what you the superintendent has stated we

123do follow through on it we make sure that it is safe for them to continue on the route I have I'll be remissed not to also said the amazing job that our bus drivers do on a daily basis like you stated their day starts at 5:00 in the morning and ends at 6:00 in the afternoon and even on Fridays when they have sport events even go past that so and Al also all those other support staff that are at the central office that have mechanics and everybody else like the dispatcher so they do an amazing job based on the situation that we're going through yeah thank you Mr PCO and it really is a situation that we are going to continue to have to deal with in in the near future with the shortage of

124of drivers that we have but I know how hard they're working and how how much they know how much they understand that getting kids to and from school is critical without that the learning can't take place and the enormous effort that they have have taken and continue to take as a team to be able to pull it off under these very Stark circumstances but we will always put safety first so if you do hear if any board member hears of a potentially unsafe situation please let us know we do investigate it right away thank you superintendent member Salam monka thank you chair and response to your question and to Dr vasquez's concern as well we're elected officials and the public has a right to hold us accountable so I still stand on you could come

125up here and say my name or not like whatever they want I obviously I think we you try your best to to have the tone be not aggressive or to get out of hand we also have a lot of Staff around here to make sure it doesn't get out of hand my suggestion would be that we have some language in our script that before we open to public commment we reiterate that this board feels comfortable and every member on this board has said you can name Us by name so that the public who is here on that day can hear that before we go into that because I agree I have gotten emails personally of people saying that I am bullying peer board members and that folks in the audience are bullying board members and

126just by because we say their name or because we're addressing them directly and we kind of all agreed that was okay so I do think it is worth clarifying to the public the way that we clarify like no clapping no Lo maybe we just amend it in the script so that is very clear to everyone who shows up every day and you know there'll always be misrepresentation no matter what but I think if we could just amend that but I feel very uncomfortable with not letting the public address me by name or directly as an elected official it doesn't quite sit right with me thank you m member Salam Mona Vice chair thank you madam chair I'm going to circle back to a few things that my fellow board members mentioned I think part of

127the problem on with the books pertaining to the books is in the memo that we sent out like on October 5th because it says if a principal decided not to remove the book and the book Challenger files the request for reconsideration of the media media center materials or other reading materials form the principal then must ensure the school level level Literacy Council is formed so it reads as if if the principal decided that the principal has the authority to remove or keep a book and only if it's challenged does it go through the Literacy Council so I think that's confusing because I don't don't believe that's the way that our policy reads if I'm not mistaken Dr Bas your recognized and I'm I'll defer to staff but a media specialist who has been trained can

128can look and review M the book and decide that it's not appropriate and it doesn't go through that form of chall is isn't I correct Mr pomerini so in that situation and we maybe should could clarify the principle and I know in this particular well I know the most recent situation our staff Dr Brown Cannon and her team worked with the principal of the school it was a formal request it was done in writing then that book was given to the media Specialists the media Specialists reviewed it then shared the their recommendation based on the training that they had taken and at that point the principal said yes the book needed to be removed so that is the process that we have and we can certainly clarify by letting them know that it's not the

129principal that makes that decision that the media specialist is consulted and then since they have been trained they make the recommendation to the principal and we're keeping a Clearing House of all the books that we're we're removing based on content so it's transparent to the we are thank you and then I want I want to and I get confused so just to Circle back for the books before I move on I like I know the policy we create the policy and there's so many kind of moving Parts at times I get confused about what we're doing and I know that the law change and so some of the policies changes but if I can I can imagine if I'm confused we have staff members that are confused so any Clarity that we could provide would

130be would be absolutely beneficial I don't believe the confusion lies with the staff but we certainly can we have our team that is that works day in and day out with our media Specialists and our principles and the we clarify that all of the challenges must go through the form and that and we clarified in the policy that it's everyone that needs to do that and I think that was the what was most confusing because if there was someone even if it was myself that would call and say is this book on our shelves they really didn't know what what to do and so by clarifying the process that any individual that wants to make that challenge has to do it in writing we have a paper trail and then at the school level they

131have been trained and they from my understanding is the our team is also available to clarify and provide any type of support thank you and then I do want to Circle back back to what member Castro Dental mentioned and what member bird mentioned I too would love some guidance on the title 9 and fura in in in regards to our lgbtq plus because I know I've had conversations with several people and I get conflicting com conflicting information which then further concern or further confuses me so any guidance on that would be great I agree with member bird on the pronouns I was we were at gain we were in Gainesville for an fsba conference and I asked two fellow board members in in other districts conservative districts and their interpretation of the law varied from

132our interpretation and they were allowing teachers who chose to where we had it in writing that the parent wanted that pronoun used they were telling the teachers yes go ahead and use the pronoun and this was two conservative districts more conservative than Orange County and so I would like to kind of revisit that because I think I think we we have an obligation to make sure that we get this right and if they're interpreting it differently than than we are I know that they care about their teachers just as much as we care about our teachers they wouldn't want their teachers in trouble anymore than we want our teachers in trouble and they've come to a different conclusion than we have so I would love to maybe have a further discussion about that I know

133that we sent Anem to the Department of Education and we have not heard back hopefully we will hear back and we will get guidance but I do think that this is this we need to have a further conversation to make sure as Karen so eloquently put that we're finding a way through this and as we find a way through this that we don't hurt children in the process why we still are adhering to the laws that we're bound to as constitutional officers thank you thank you member Gallow following up on that I agree with the comments that you've made member bird member Castro denl in terms of the need to do everything we can to get clarity I agree on the pronoun issue I can see the argument in the in the statute for why

134one would say we can't but I see another argument for why we can and then I think at the at the heart of the matter it just I can't come to terms with parental rights and student rights and why someone can't ask to have their preferred pronoun and why an employee can't agree to if they want to I just doesn't make doesn't make any sense but then some of the language in the statute that required us to adopt into to policy the language about it being a falsehood to ascribe a different pronoun and it would be a falsehood to to ascribe a different sex than or gender than you were born with also I know we adopted it I know we have to have it in there if we have a chance I will would

135like to go back and put a qualifier in because when the state requires you to adopt something that you don't necessary believe to be true I understand we might have to do it but I still think it I would feel more comfortable if it was very clear that this is what the state has stated as opposed to this is this board's or this District's belief systems because I think that gets pretty I don't I think it sends the wrong message to our students and our staff and to the gentleman I'm going to get your name wrong i s quinn that let's go with that Quinn a couple of things we did just at our last meeting you know attempt to publicly reaffirm our commitment to all of our employees and all of our students and

136separately and specifically to our lgbtq plus population in terms of doubling down on bullying absolutely that's been a priority to the superintendent it's part of a commit a committee that she put together of people outside of the district to work together on that extremely important and I completely agree single user bathrooms it's something that the board and the district is very serious about we are tasing the Consultants that build and design our new schools to present to us prototypes that will allow for as as much as possible most of our bathrooms to allow students to use whichever bathroom they want there are certain standards that you have to meet so that's a direction that we're moving forward with those who bid for contracts in terms of our existing schools I would have to defer to

137the superintendent and Facilities I don't know if you have an answer on that but I do know it's been a priority so let me turn to you on that thank you madam chair the facilities team has been undergoing a review of every single High School and how many restrooms are available there are requirements to be met by srf that we have to have certain number of restrooms gender and by by gender they have also identified in the schools I believe they're almost finished I think there might be just two more high schools that are left any bathrooms over the environment from sref that can be gender neutral that could be used by any individual and so that's in the process the other piece that they are doing is that then they are also looking for

138spaces that might be adjacent to a water source that could be converted into a unisex restroom and once they had identify that they'll bring the cost to the board and we'll be able to move based on that direction but we have to meet srf requirements and then beyond that we're working with those that have that are in excess to be able to make them gender neutral thank you okay let me call on member cter denno member C thank you madam chair just to add some comments to the discussion in different areas when it comes to members of the public addressing the board individually or as a whole I think it's important that the public in this forum is allowed to do that and I know we want it to be civil and I think that

139we might be misinterpreting people's raw emotion for inability yeah and I don't think that it's I don't think it's fair to ask people to come and talk to us about something that's important to them and yet hide their emotions about it because for some people who come and speak it is so raw and their emotions are so strong and they're hurt and we need to hear that's right and if they speak a little louder I hear them if I hear the anger in their voice that makes a difference I receive that message differently and if they're if they whisper their message I hear that differently I it communicates more than just being civil and stating it factually so I don't have a problem with that I want to know how they're feeling too I have

140a question about book weeding when they when it goes through the librarian or the media specialist's process of looking at a book based on the training that they received and they are making that decision about whether that book remains on the shelves or not I know that there's a listing like where it says you know this title was removed or weeded by the media specialist on this date but it doesn't say why I wonder if there's a way that we can add another column or an explanation whether it's this reason was because it we've had it since 2002 and no one's checked it out or you know that's a worthwhile reason or we bought this book just last year and we're going to weed it now what's the reason I want to know is there

141a character they don't like is it is there a gay character I'd like to know a little bit more about that decision and I know maybe it's their training and their airing on the side of caution I'd like to know that because I've seen the book the list of books that the high school media Specialists have had to go through and weed and that's that's a normal process I understand when you're you're calling the books and figuring out what new books to put on the shelves but I want to know that decision-making process since they're given that responsibility and it's not going through that process where someone else complained about it and gave us what their concern was so I don't want to burden or overburden our media Specialists but if there is a book

142that they deem should be removed I'd like to know they rationale and then I really just getting back to the pronoun usage and why this even became a law is beyond me how you can legislate a pronoun it's so ridiculous we have so many things that are going on our insurance rates are Skyhigh they don't address that affects everybody but let's pick on the kids who want to use a different pronoun because that's who they are who they identify as and it doesn't cost anybody anything to respect a child's wish with their parents' permission even to go by a she or a he or a they it's not a big deal to the adults it is everything to that child this is just such a culture of governing by fear fear that is not leadership

143it is cruel and I'm just going to keep saying it even if nothing changes I think we need to at least make a statement in opposition to unjust laws that are just meant to be cruel what other reason is there I think that's all I've got thank you member Fant I do agree with the book list I actually had requested that this past week and I to had question why there wasn't a column I think that it's really simple to do maybe we can even just create like a drop- down where there's six or seven options like you were saying how maybe it's just has been in the library for quite a long time and children aren't checking that out maybe it has sexually explicit content it's pornographic whatever those drop downs might be I

144was looking at one from Indian River and that's the way that they do it and I could show share that with the team as well and it's just a quick drop down and they select those items as far as people coming I mean I believe we're pretty much speaking about me so it doesn't bother me it's it is what it is I was elected and I understand that there's people who maybe didn't vote for me and don't agree with the way that the things that I've shared or the way I would like to protect children in our schools and it is what it is and if they want to come and say what they want they have every right the same way that when I was a parent and I was completely frustrated that this

145board had massed our children and we not listening to parent rights and could have cared less that my kids were dealing with mental health issues because of the Mas I too was frustrated and I too voice my opinion and I don't know that I call people out by name but I was very frustrated as well as hundreds of other parents and so I have no problems with that I'm an elected official and it's a part of the job knocked on 7,000 doors and this is part of part of the job so thank you m Sal member front M Salam monka thank you chair and I just want to I I want to Echo the whole the pronoun stuff on it's I just want to understand what other districts are doing I understand that we're not

146like other districts we look a certain way but I think it's just worth us trying to get as much information and inform our teachers and know what we can protect that the second thing is you know is addressing kind of the civility part of it we have folks on this board that don't have civility about our own kids and our own families and the way that they address them and the way to discuss I mean I sit next to them and they compare my community to the BDSM Community which is kind of outrageous and so I it's you know I'm an elected official it's okay I can turn the other cheek I can listen to this stuff I'm you know ran for office so that I could represent folks and speak for them but it

147is incredibly damaging for our families and students to hear those language when they go to home I did recently have someone very close to me student in the district who was being bullied because they had long hair and they identified as male but they had long hair and all these students were coming to them asking them like are you a boy or are you a girl and there's this cry being built up because they hear adults talk about these issues and such disregard for the humanness of our students and the humanity behind it that it has trickle effects folks think that they're protecting our children but they're not they're they're making it worse and we did have a speaker up here that said we have bullies up here in this board and we do have

148bullies up on this board it's just the reality and yeah I think we try to keep things safe but I don't really know how to define civility when yeah you know my people my community are being compared to BDSM which is just like completely uneducated and you know maybe I have to sit three because I ran for office but our students and families did not run for office and they don't have to sit through it so that's kind of my take on on that just tell people that they can calls by name and they could do whatever I'll also say that as as this rhetoric continues to increase and double down like I am getting more emails saying that I'm the bully or that I'm the one that's wrong for being who I am and

149that's not easy either cuz I'm not I'm not here imposing myself on others or my beliefs and so I think it's just good for folks to know that your wordss matter up here and it matters for us to just talk about because students are listening and they're taking this into the classroom and bullying is a real issue and it's getting worse every day because our students because of their hair because of how they look or because they wear a certain color and it's wild because some of the stuff that we had made so much progress off it's like we almost went back again like some of the stuff that I experienced in school when I was you know trying to come out it's back and I think as some statistics said home is not to

150be assumed a safe SP place for our lgbtq community and it's even worse when you go to school and then you're being asked like why you're wearing this or why that color or why that hair so yeah thank you all thank you member Salam Mona I'm you're not the only one being called a bully just makes you feel any better getting a lot of that right now superintendent thank you madam chair just a few comments I believe that board member salom Mona's suggestion of making the comment prior to the speakers because the emails that we are some of us are getting are implying that we are allowing inappropriate behavior or bullying the term has been used and I certainly agree that the emotion that this that this or other topics can stir within individuals because

151it's personal can have someone come across louder or more aggressive but it is a reaction to their you know it's personal so I think that would would help in just ensuring people understand this is what we've signed up for and we're not being disrespectful as it relates to the books there's currently no functionality within Destiny the system that we use to indicate that but staff has texted me that they will reach out to Destiny to see if that is something that they can add and if they can then we will we will be able to train on how to add that feature how to use that feature so I believe that may be a possibility and then lastly I believe the chair mentioned that we have reached out to doe for clarification on the pronouns

152the board knows very well our district gets called on quite a bit where other districts may have different practices than we do and it's our teachers it's our principls it's our staff that then are put in a position where their certificate will be sanctioned and I've had that conversation often and certainly the board can change the policy and we will follow your policy but our intent in providing the guidance that we have is to protect our staff so that they are not in jeopardy of being in violation of the law and losing their certificate certainly if a teacher chooses to not follow our guidance they are able to do that because that happens in other situations not everybody follows all of our guidance I really am a am hopeful that Doe will respond to our

153email requesting that clarification because I agree if a parent gives permission that their child could be called a different name the pronoun associated with that name should be used unfortunately the legisl that was referred to earlier contradicts that and I just I just want us to ensure that we're not putting anyone in Jeopardy of losing their certificate it's a very difficult position to be in because we want to protect our children first and foremost and I'm hopeful that we're going to be able to get some clearer Direction so that we're all on the same page thank you Dr Vasquez I think I I completely understand what you're saying I think there may be an approach that we could take that we could I think if we have an opportunity to get some clarification that board

154members want about furpa and about Title 9 and understanding the legal ramifications from a federal level and a state level I think that will help us get more clarity on that issue and at the same time there may be another way we can communicate with the state to express our concerns and why we feel that the statute says two different things and that approach may or may not be successful but I think it's worth trying to be very clear about why we're asking for this and why we think that the law can be read in a way that would support it and I miss barell is always she writes really good emails that go into a lot of and bring up a lot of of good points about over complying but I'm not naive not

155one bit naive about what the state could do and very well might do I have never been in this environment in in my 20 years plus in office I have never been in an environment like this so I do think that it's Justified to have fear and the fear is the fear of losing the teachers that we most need in the classroom and the fear is the fear that we already have in the state that the people that we want in in the classrooms are probably thinking really hard and long about whether they want to be in Florida at all and that's really really that's very frightening to me very frightening to me but anyway that's enough pontificating Vice chair you want to close us out I would be happy to I just wanted to

156speak a little bit I know on the email I know that we emailed them maybe we can send a more leading email saying the board's interpretation of this policy is that if a teacher chooses to use the pronouns based on the parental approval that the teacher can do so without any retaliation or sanctions and then if they and if they don't respond we can take that as an affirmative Dr basist I will I here to serve at the will of the board well and you can also accentuate because we believe in parents' rights do we not I mean if we really believe in parents rights then every parent's rights should be honored yes absolutely regardless of if you agree with it or not yes and Dr vasqu I what I heard Vice Chair say wasn't

157what it was what the board believes if we and so I think we're not asking okay please don't misunderstand that what my beliefs are yeah they're not contrary I believe the law is contradictory and I believe it was done intentionally and I would just appreciate Clarity on what we can and we can't do and if we know we can't use the pronouns then we should have that direction for everyone and if we can use the pronouns we should have that direction for everyone it is incredibly disheartening as a superintendent when I know that giving direction that we believe doesn't violate the law and we've had examples of that and then being told yes it does violate the law we interpret it to violate the law and this is what will happen and so that is

158very real to me and for our teachers whether they're saying that to parents or not that is a real concern that if they choose to use a pronoun that it does not align with the pronoun of sex at Birth that someone in their class a student might hear it might tell their parent the parent then writes or calls doe and then the phone call comes that we understand that Miss so and so made this statement they use this pronoun that's in violation of the law we need to have it we for you to investigate it that is a very real scenario and it's it's hard when you're trying to do what's right for children or what you believe is right for children and the law is contrary to that and so I'll reiterate I am

159here to serve at the will of the board if the board you know wants us to change the policy we will do so we'll go through that process or if the board wants us to re-engage doe for clarification we will do that as well I do know that in the past sometimes we haven't gotten a response back and then we are right where we are right now I hope that our students who are out there understand that we are trying to protect them in a manner that does not jeopardize the very people in those classrooms that are trying to support them that are trying to help them during this incredibly volatile time and the same goes to our leaders in our schools who are placed in these situations where they too want to protect their

160teacher and so if the teacher is coming to ask them you know the parent wants me to use this pronoun what do I do that principal is thinking twice what to tell that teacher and it is just incredibly difficult for everyone involved and I am just incredibly saddened that our students are in the middle of it because they shouldn't be but they are thank you Dr vas I hope my comment didn't it wasn't intended to I know where where you are and where your heart is it's your belief about the law that was what I was referring to and that we might put you in a situation where you have to represent the board and what the board's interpretation because I I think there is another way to interpret it I will admit that it

161is extremely extremely gray and that's why I think that the board would be right in wanting to have another communication and honestly if the state is not willing to tell us we're wrong then I think we should let the state know in the absence of being told we're wrong we will continue to believe we're right and act accordingly and at least try to force an answer Vice chair you had the floor I'm sorry I you finished okay okay on that no no further business to come before the board then this meeting's adjourned