001good evening and welcome to the Orange County school board's regularly scheduled meeting for this Tuesday July 25th 2023 and thank you all so much for being with us tonight board members are attending in person with the exception of member gold is member gold joining us at all or just not here okay thank you I also want to remind the public that the board will not be engaged in outside Electronics or digital communication during the meeting so that we can focus our full attention on the meeting itself to my fellow board members and any members of Staff or of the public that are speaking to the board please make sure you speak directly into the microphone and it is turned on so that a YouTube and orange TV viewers can hear you clearly again thank you
002for participating in the sites this evening's meeting we will now begin with a moment of silence to be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and now for the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right we are going to begin this evening with a very important resolution that I would I want to acknowledge before we go on to any of tonight's business or our recognitions I'd like to call a member Felder who will present this special resolution on behalf of the board member Felder good evening and thank you chair Jacobs the Reverend Dr Randolph Bracey Jr who passed away on June 18th Father's Day championed for the undeserved and helped
003increase educational opportunities in Central Florida he was also a key voice when Orange County Public Schools reach unitary status 13 years ago the legacy of that agreement can still be felt today in our policies around the construction of new facilities the retention and recruitment of a diverse staff and notifying parents of middle and high school students about extracurricular opportunities before I read Reverend bracey's resolution let's watch these clips of his thoughts on unitary status that he shared with us at a school board meeting in 2010 I'm Reverend Randolph Bracey president of the Orange County branch of the NAACP in every settlement our agreement of this nature there will be compromises you get some of what you want and you get some of which you might not want the goal now we're right on the precipice
004of unitary status but when all is said and done this is a day of rejoicing for both parties I'm so grateful for that perseverance of Dr Bracey because as a result of that some of the schools that we were building now all of the schools had the same equal opportunity to get the new facilities he pushed for that so when you see schools like Carver in my district or Eccleston and other schools and other districts that got renovation because he pushed that we would have equality across the board even back in so I shall share with you this resolution whereas Reverend Dr Randolph Bracey Jr was a true pillar to this community known to many as a compassionate leader and a Guiding Light to those in need and whereas Dr Bracey was a Jacksonville native
005and a lover of knowledge as he would go on to attain several degrees including a Bachelor of Science in biology from Bethune cookman University a master's of Education from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University a doctor of Education from the University of Florida and a master of divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Divinity School and whereas he knew he was bound for a higher calling and became licensed by the Bethel Baptist institutional Church of Jacksonville Florida to spread the word of Jesus Christ and whereas after nine years serving as a pastor First Baptist Church of Paschal in Philadelphia Pennsylvania racy returned to Florida in 1991 and was called to the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church of Orlando and whereas the following year he and his wife Dr Lavon Wright Bracey founded the New Covenant Baptist Church of Orlando
006where he would serve as preacher until 2015 and whereas Dr Bracey also wanted to give back to the school he says saved his life and became a founding dean of Bethune cookie University School of religion Over Georgia see the vision of vcu's founder Mary McLeod Bethune realized and whereas his passionate advocacy to make sure every student has access to an excellent education in their neighborhood schools helped to make a difference in our schools and whereas the former Orange County NAACP president is quoted as often saying service is the rent you pay for the space you occupy Dr Bracey truly lived by this motto as he dedicated his life to leaving the world a better place than he founded now therefore be it resolved that the school board of Orange County does hereby acknowledge and declare
007that Reverend Dr Randolph Bracey Jr will remain a much loved champion of education and a resident of School Board District Five who touched many lives and left the legacy of love and faithfulness that will continue for generations to come thank you member Felder thank you so much if we can so good to see you miss Bracey thank you for being here we miss your go ahead I'm sorry Dr Lavon Wright Bracey the Widow excuse me Dr Lavon bright racy racy the Widow of Dr Randolph Bracey is here would you please stand and his beloved daughter representative Lavon Bracey Davis thank you for joining us I hope this short time is bringing you and your faith is bringing you some peace I know without faith there would be no peace but I also know how incredibly
008strong your faith is all right I am also pleased to recognize that ocps's public relations department for receiving five digital media and publication awards from the Nationals excuse me national school public relations Association public relations team is ocps strategic Communications arm the team's responsible for promoting the school district through District Publications marketing graphic design social media and more since 1935 the national school public relations Association has been providing School communication training to school leaders throughout the United States and Canada the organization awarded ocps the following five Awards which you can see examples of on the screen above Award of Excellence for the 2021-22 annual report and the 2022-23 pocket guide an award of Merit for the 2023 Stellar Awards program an honorable mention for the ocps mobile app and website the public relations team was
009recognized during the 2023 ensbra National seminar in St Louis last week congratulations to the public relations department and thank you for all you do to elevate Orange County Public Schools can we bring up the team Mr Howard can you bring up our team for us and one of the things not mentioned in this award but very important to us is the communication that comes from our public relations team helps to keep our community informed of how extremely important public education is and their wonderful job that our employees do day in and day out to nurture our students and to see them succeed and it is because of that effort that time and time again our citizens when we've gone to the ballot and asked for additional funding they have granted it and that wouldn't happen
010if it wasn't for the phenomenal job that each one of you who works here does every day in every role that you play and it wouldn't happen as well without the storytellers that you see in front of you whose job it is to communicate the amazing work that you're doing so we're going to take a quick picture with you all and then if we could impose on Miss Bracey and Miss Bracey to come forward we'd like to get a separate picture with you if we could thank you all right guys you all first do you have a resolution pathetic thank you okay thank you thank you I was just asking for you oh yeah okay well okay thank you next Dr Vasquez I'll call on you to introduce the next subject thanks good afternoon this
011afternoon we are here to be able to present to the board and the public outcomes from our strategic plan some of you may be aware the board took on the job and we began the process in 2019 to re renovate the existing strategic plan they made some slight changes including the addition of a goal that solely focused on students well-being and so this afternoon Dr border will be presenting our outcomes for this past school year and then we are looking forward to board members comments on our outcomes good evening chair Jacobs superintendent Vasquez and staff and thanks for the opportunity to share the outcomes from our ocps 2025 strategic plan this evening we will provide an overview of our strategic plan we will review our district scorecard key performance indicator outcomes and then we will
012turn it back over to superintendent Vasquez and the board for comments and discussion the graphic you see before you symbolizes our vision mission values and objectives we know that with our great team when we have achieve our objectives applying our values and fulfilling our mission we will reach our vision which is to ensure every student has a promising and successful future our first objective is high expectations for student learning and within that objective we have three goals affiliated with five key performance indicators our first goal is to close the achievement Gap affiliated with closing the achievement Gap our first key performance indicator is to reduce the percent of low performing schools which is based on our dnf ratings our Target for this past year was two percent and our outcomes are still pending due to
013the assessment transition the state will be releasing informational Baseline school grades after the completion of the standard setting process for the new assessments we also recognize that we have a new assessment this past year as well which impacts making comparisons at this time our next Affiliated key performance indicator for this objective is to narrow or eliminate the English language arts achievement gaps for all of our student groups again this data will be finalized later on this semester we suspect in the winter and then we will have those outcomes to share our third key performance indicator for this objective is our clip narrowing or eliminating the achievement Gap in mathematics and again we will await the release of that data to be able to share our outcomes from the past school year our next objective that
014we have is to promote early literacy is our second goal for this objective of high expectations for student learning and within that we have one Affiliated key performance indicator which is to increase the percent of third grade students achieving at grade level or above performance on the Statewide assessment in English language arts our outcomes from this past school year are 52 percent and our Target for next school year is 62 percent our final goal for the objective for high expectations for student learning is to offer multiple Pathways to success our key performance indicator is to increase participation and performance in meaningful accelerated pathways the Middle School acceleration and the College and Career acceleration component outcomes are dependent on the release of the 2023 data which will come out later this fall this is typical for
015the data release for this key performance indicator as it always comes out in the fall preceding the end of the school year foreign our next objective is support of student resiliency and within this objective we have a goal with an Affiliated key two Affiliated key performance indicators our first key performance indicator is to increase students positive perceptions of classroom and school-wide culture the data source for this key performance indicator is our Orange County Public Schools annual stakeholder survey specifically the student survey topic for student climate in grades four through five our students reported 61 percent favorable our students in grades six through eight reported 33 percent favorable and likewise our students in high school reported 33 percent favorable our next key performance indicator for this goal is to increase our teacher's self-reported student resiliency knowledge
016and skill set previously this topic was associated with social emotional learning knowledge and skill set we've adjusted the questions that next year we will be specifically asking about student resiliency and as a result we did not collect outcomes on this topic this school year our next objective is a dedicated and high quality team within our dedicated and high quality team objective we have three goals Each of which has an Affiliated key performance indicator our first goal is to attract high quality candidates for career opportunities throughout Orange County Public Schools and the Affiliated key performance indicator is to increase efficiency of recruitment efforts by diversifying touch points that include both in-person and virtual connections our Target was 690 for this school year and we concluded with 718 touch points our next goal for this objective of
017a dedicated and high quality team is to develop and retain effective and diverse personnel our key performance indicator for this goal is to increase the retention rate of instructional and non-instructional personnel as of July 2023 our retention rate is 86.2 percent which is a 2.2 percent increase over this past school year our final goal for a high quality and dedicated team is to promote employees well-being our key performance indicator for this goal is to increase the use of District Wellness Resources screening leads to prevention and early detection which creates the potential to lessen claims cost the health insurance plan runs annually through October so we will have our final quarter data to add to what you see here in November as of third quarter data we are 24 for well visits 69 percent for our
018breast cancer screenings 64 percent for cervical cancer screenings and 39 for colon cancer screenings the team believes with the fourth quarter data that we will exceed the target set for the year our fourth objective for our ocps 2025 strategic plan is a positive climate and safe environment here we have one objective this objective has one goal which is affiliated with two key performance indicators our first key performance indicator is to increase our District's internal and external satisfaction rating known as net promoter score our 2022-23 outcome is 34 detractors it's important to note that we move this question from being last on our surveys in the past to being the first question asked this year it's also important to note that the percentage of detractors for our families and for our employees actually decreased from where
019it was last year our staff with six percent less detractors and our families with one percent less detractors our final key performance indicator for this goal is our students self-reported sense of belonging at their school on the Panorama survey from this past year our elementary students moved from 66 percent to 68 percent our middle schools 36 to 35 and our high schools remained at 31 percent our fifth objective for the Strategic plan is efficient operations and with inefficient operations we have one goal to deliver high quality service by maximizing our resources to support identified needs and with that goal we have four Affiliated key performance indicators the first key performance indicator is increasing the amount of available resources through Innovation and collaboration which is part of our rebate program we ended at one million two
020hundred and twelve thousand five hundred and forty two dollars this year it is important to note that 944 326 is from our refresh of the student devices from last year which is why our Target is still increasing for next year but set at three hundred thousand our next key performance indicator is to have a high quality and responsive customer service experience our outcome for this past year is 96 percent exceeding our Target of 90 percent for All Information Technology easy Vista service request tickets our next key performance indicator is reducing our custodial cost per square foot our outcome is 1.79 per square foot it is important to note also how much we value the feedback of our stakeholders and within this some adjustments were made this past year where elementary schools who only had three
021custodians received a fourth also our resident custodians went from being responsible from thirty thousand square feet to ten thousand square feet which in some cases cost additional adjustments as well yes ma'am sorry I apologize for interrupting you but I'm noticing with the help of my vice chair here that we do have some seats open and we have a lot of people still a number of people that are having to stand so if there's a seat open next to you could you raise your hand so anybody in the back that would like a seat I'm seeing hands raised come on take a seat all right y'all are being bashful come on okay thank you all right let's try it this way if there's a seed open next to you stand would you do that for me
022okay you see these people standing that means there's a seat this is your last chance if you want to come sit oh I'm not asking you all to leave I'm sorry I wasn't trying to are you really are you relieved tell me you're relieved then I'll feel better you're relieved good okay jeez okay yeah thank you feel like a church where I say everybody you know well I don't say it Pastor the priest always says everybody move over all right we got anybody else out there that really wants a seat still think we can find a few there's two right here we got more seats up here come on over here be brave oh they're leaving I see a young woman back there with a mask if you want to come sit with us we'd
023love to have you I might have said something funny or something funny happened I wish I knew I could usually laugh right now okay all right folks thank you very for everybody thanks for your Indulgence Dr border thank you for your thanks chair Jacobs our last key performance indicator for this area is to reduce the number of classroom Portables and last at the end of this year we are at 1275 remaining Portables which exceeded our Target of 1 376. our final objective for our ocps 2025 strategic plan is an Engaged and invested community and within this we have one goal with three affiliated key performance indicators our goal is to provide a community-wide network of support for students and Families our first key performance indicator is to increase our total number of volunteers and partners
024in education our volunteers increased to 65 817 which is an increase of over 23 000 and our partners in education increased by 50 to 763 for this past school year our next key performance indicator for this Affiliated objective is to increase total dollars raised by the foundation for Orange County Public Schools we increased this past year to just over 4.2 million four million 260 thousand dollars exceeding our Target of three a little over 3.7 million dollars our final key performance indicator is to increase opportunities for stakeholders to provide feedback across all Orange County Public Schools divisions this was the first year for this key performance indicator which was added to our strategic plan last year we did have an outcome from last year of 251. we had a Target this year of 276 and we
025concluded with 770 opportunities this past year which we will look to increase by another 10 percent next school year foreign for all the hard work that went into obtaining our outcomes for this year I want to thank the families and parents for choosing Orange County Public Schools and I want to thank our students for all their efforts they put in every day to achieving an excellent education and I want to thank this board and superintendent for their support of the ocps Orange County Public Schools 2025 strategic plan I turn it back to Dr Vasquez and the board for comments and discussion thank you thank you Dr Porter just a few comments on our outcomes and a little bit of context we started out on this strategic plan right before covid and so some of our
026data was impacted during the years of covid and we're still recovering so while there are some highlights we still have a great deal of work to do specifically in the area of a sense of belonging and positive perceptions of class German School culture as we see those numbers are very low for our secondary students I do believe wholeheartedly that the strategies that we are putting in place for this upcoming school year we're going to see an increase in that number as well as the new organizational structure where our schools are now clustered in a manner where the ratio of principal leader to schools is no more than one to twelve and so while I am you know I'm very excited about the areas where we did see a lot of growth especially with the community
027engagement opportunities for us to get feedback I am disappointed that we still have low perceptions from our students and we need to do a better job of making them feel connected making them feel that they are in a school where they are safe supported and successful I look forward to comments from the board and to having a planning session after school starts so that we can have further conversations on our current kpis and any changes or suggestions the board might have thank you Dr Vazquez let's go to member Salamanca thank you chair and thank you superintendent I agree overall this are some really encouraging numbers there's there's two that stand out to me that I know contextually make sense as to where they are where they are that I wanted to point out one was
028that positive perception slide I know we started measuring this in 2019 and some of our targets were based on that but based on the rate of improvement I think we're a little bit we're going to kind of set ourselves up for failure if we keep that Target number as high as it is and so I don't know if Rob you could if we can pull up that particular Side by we're just a little bit farther I think this is the positive perception done yeah so I think our you know we're sitting right now in some of these numbers so for example 45th at 62 61 percent ninth or 12th grade 32 to 33 and our Target by 2024 is 56 62.76 and so I would encourage this board to maybe reassess the how realistic some
029of these targets are not because they're not a priority but because I'd like our staff to be working towards something that's a bit more realistic on percentage and acknowledging that a lot of this was impacted heavily by covet days and covet times and some of these targets were set in 2019 before covid the second one that stood out to me was the custodial worker metric I think for contacts that I'll give is you know I came to this country when I was seven and my parents worked all kinds of jobs to make ends meet and many times two or three jobs both my mom and my dad were custodial workers at UCF and at ocps for over 15 to 20 years they retired at UCF our custodial workers are overworked and there is a lack
030of them because there's not enough labor period right now in this economy I hear from our principals all the time that they love their custodial workers that they work closely with them that they're out there cleaning after our students in the bathrooms and all kinds of stuff the students do I don't feel comfortable with having this as a success metric that we hold ourselves accountable which is cutting more costs and having custodial workers do more per square foot so I would encourage the sport to reconsider this was not here would I yeah it's here now that I got here but I would have not likely put this up there I don't think it's a good measurement for us I think I'm all for using the taxpayers money efficiently and making sure we are responsible with
031our money but this just doesn't feel like a great cool so that would be all thank you excellent point Michelle amanca Vice chair Gala I mean member front thank you chair I absolutely agree with you I think I would be I would suck an emotion to look into that further and just even remove that I think more than than trying to Penny pinch I think making sure that all of our staff feel honored respected and valued that's what we really want we want to make sure we are here we really want to and as well as students and our parents and that would be one of the things that I noticed I'm excited I do feel like Dr Vazquez you've really came in you've got fresh Vision fresh eyes a restructuring things trying to get
032exceptional principles into those principal leader roles and just moving some things around shifting things to make sure that it's an overall if your child has to move from one school to the other it's going to be that same feel the same climate that's what we're our goal is I don't believe we're at that but that is the goal reading and literacy I'm super super excited about that so I really I appreciate that I think you know looking at that 52 percent literacy rate right now it that I mean to me I'm I'm so embarrassed like I feel like as a our expectation our the what we should be at is we're hitting way high numbers instead of just half of our students are at grade level reading and so I really I'm I'm excited for
033the literacy the early literacy commitment that we have Dr Vazquez is looking at that so really appreciate that I think this is a good metric to look at and continue to be able to see is you know what the new things that we're planning is that actually working and I'm I'm very hopeful to see the US hit those targets page 16 as well with the student perception I truly believe we have to we must change the culture of our schools right now I believe we've created a culture not just in Orange County I believe in the United States we've created this culture of like an invisible culture where a student can walk into school and no one says hello you sit down you do your work you move to the next class no one says
034hello I would say more so in a high school setting than in elementary but then that student may go home both parents may be working they're alone or wondering why there is this loneliness there's a mental health crisis with our young people this does not help and so I think if as a board we can even do a work session of how to help raise the level I've heard some talk about you know let's make sure that our high schoolers love the classes and maybe that's what would help them and I truly believe it's when they walk in the door and somebody is there like I'm gonna shout out Cypress Creek but the smile club that they have someone is at the door one of their own peers is at the door as like a
035door greeter hey welcome to school today all right I hope you have a great day it's just somebody smiling at them a smile can make your day a smile can change someone's life and so I think just having those little positive culture things but I'd love to see us either do a work session or somehow work on that just to see if we can all kind of come up with some great ideas on what we can Implement to make sure that our schools really are providing that positive culture and see if that can help we can see these these targets reached thank you member farant Vice chair thank you madam chair and thank you I'm Dr border for all the work that you put in you and your team put in for this update this
036is great information I have a couple questions first I'll Echo what two of my fellow board members have already I've already said I agree with the custodial we shouldn't be looking to reduce cost at a time when we need we need human capital we need people in our buildings and they play an integral role into our facility I think kids kids take more pride in a facility that looks clean that is clean and you learn better in a clean environment so they're more important to us now than ever so I would support removing that metric from our strategic plan I think that makes sense when it comes to kids feeling connected we obviously have some work to do I know that we that the doe came up with their own version of a youth survey
037and I think I asked you Dr border if we had those results did did do we have those results on what it looked like from the survey that we gave to the students so thanks Miss Gala for that question and talking to staff they did have conversations last year and with the Department of Education that survey last year was not administered so we do not have those results we do believe that we'll have some instruments this year moving forward to be able to ask questions relative to student resiliency okay wonderful wonderful and then obviously the 52 percent literacy rate in third grade it's down two percent from last year that's not that's not the outcome that we want to see we want to do better we also understand that we're coming off of several years
038of covid when there was a lot of instructional loss and we're trying to play catch up and do intense Services accelerating so I expect those and hope that those number go up our nape scores that you shared with us Dr border I'm I'm actually more concerned about eighth grade than I am about I am about third grade because in eighth grade being proficient we're at 29 percent which is really low and we dropped from 39 this was 2022 results from 39 in fourth grade to 20 or 39 in fourth grade to 29 in eighth grade we lost 10 points and I mean that's like I'm I'm sure that Dr Vasquez is on it but that's very concerning to me and you can see similar numbers in in in in math as as well so it's
039it's more prominent in in reading so I'm sure that we have some programming but I'd love to hear more about what we're doing for eighth grade and how we're going to work and that deficit between third and eighth grade to make sure that by the time they get to 10th they're proficient and we're making sure we're graduating students who will be able to succeed in a highly skilled Workforce that's all I have thank you all right thank you let me go to I'm sorry superintendent I'm sorry I thought I saw your name and it disappeared see I did I'll if you don't mind I'll wait till everyone is finished yeah I was going to make some closing remarks so yes thank you yes I we agree with all of that and I really do look
040forward to a planning session where we can dive a little bit deeper into some of the areas that deal with culture student belonging as far as the nape scores and our reading scores you know we really have not hit the mark we have tried professional development we have looked at different programs and what we do know is that the science of reading dictates how children learn how to read at least those children that do not have you know they may not have a learning disability or a processing problem which is 88 of the population and so what we need to do as a district is look at the science of reading Implement those strategies support our teachers as they are implementing that with the appropriate resources time and that is where we will see an
041increase across the board so thank you madam chair thank you superintendent one last well let me Echo the comments and I don't know if we need to take a vote or just a consensus that the metric that we have for custodial Services is off point it is extremely important that our campuses are clean and during covid I know we were we had students unfortunately vandalizing soap dispensers and social media campaigns to wreak havoc in our schools and working our custodians tirelessly to try to keep up with that and so I think if I was going to measure something I would measure the quality of the job or the quality of our schools but I certainly wouldn't be looking at how much money we can save so I completely support removing that is there anybody on
042the board that doesn't agree that okay we yeah I think we're all in agreement if I made a motion I think I had a second third and a fourth so we're all good you got it okay you got it thank you the other the other thing that I think would be helpful I share the boards and the superintendent's concern about where our students are academically we do know that nationally the pandemic didn't just last a year or two when it comes to academics it is having a profound impact and not to make excuses but I do think when we look at these index indexes I think we need to look at where the rest of the state is where's the nation because when we talk about our students Mental Health I remember so many times
043talking to to our students and saying and to our into our teachers that were just worried sick about this that we all need to just kind of take a deep breath and recognize yes we're in a competitive environment but covet affected the whole world and I don't want our students being so uptight over those scores that it affects how they think of themselves because when we lose confidence in ourselves when we lose our own self-esteem it makes it even harder to do the good work we're capable of so if we could include State averages I think it would help to tell a better a fuller more realistic picture and quite frankly if you go back a generation and you measure where these kids are compared to a generation ago our kids are still rocket scientists
044compared to what was being taught and expected a generation ago so we do have to put it in context and again I'm not saying where we are is okay we all have to do everything we can I know how commutative superintendent is to this and I know how committed all of our employees are to raising these scores but I want us to have realistic expectations so if you can include that I would really appreciate it if there are any other comments from the board members we'll move on thanks chair Jacobs and superintendent Vasquez and we are we will more than happily retire that metric after the consensus of the board and also would share on that on behalf of our custodians chair Jacobs this past year there were 420 schools inspected from July of 2022
045to June of 2023 with a satisfaction rate speaking to the Testament of their work thank you that's what I'm talking about that's the number I want us to celebrate thank you all right we have a new item we are adding I think most of you all know tonight is our first night of a pilot program the board wanted to change around how we run our meetings and so we're trying this out through October 10th so you're you're our guinea pigs sorry but we're going to ask for Council reports from CTA oespa ocasa and the superintendents student advisory committee if they wish we would love to hear from each of them so beginning with CTA I see Mr McCracken making his way to the podium thank you sir as president of CTA and I should point
046out this was Mr McCracken's own recommendation and initiative so thank you're welcome good evening chair Jacobs members of the board and Dr Vasquez thank you for the chance to speak at school board meetings as the representative of our teachers union and our more than 14 000 instructional personnel I requested this time be added to board meetings so that their voices are heard when you're making these important decisions here thank you for providing this platform for our Union comment we must continue to cultivate a more positive culture for our employees it's essential that our Educators find joy and fulfillment in their work and feel respected by the district by principals and other leaders when this environment is fostered we see an increase in teacher retention leading to Greater stability for our students we all know how
047significant relationships are in the classroom in fostering Student Success similarly the relationships between administrators and teachers have a powerful impact on the work environment principles set the tone for the entire school and when they prioritize building a collaborative culture that values and respects teachers it affects everyone including our students I conducted an end of the year survey to gather feedback from our Educators I asked if they would recommend their principles to other teachers the response is shed light on the power of relationships we received heartwarming comments from many who praised their principles for fostering strong supportive and collaborative relationships we also heard concerns from other teachers who said that they dread going to work every day and that the culture they experience is anti-teacher and that admin even discourage Union participation it's important to me
048to have a positive and respectful relationship with District leadership we may not always agree but we will be civil I want to challenge anyone in the district who holds old Notions of administrator teacher and Union relationships to impress to embrace a fresh perspective a positive work environment will increase teacher retention I've been elected to be a defender of our teachers and of our contract I'm here to share that our Union isn't a thorn in the side of this District CTA is a benefit and we increase teacher retention and recruitment this Union has been around since 1942. and we aren't going anywhere I'm happy to share that we're on a path to be here for many years to come again I offer my thanks for the opportunity to share perspectives from our Educators let's continue to
049build a thriving and respectful culture in our district resulting in retaining highly qualified teachers and student achievement thank you thank you madam chair I want to commend Mr McCracken for those those words and support of our teachers and for pointing out the importance of the relationship between administrators and teachers and I know having taught for 15 years what you say is very true and I will do everything I can in my position on the board to ensure that those relationships are positive and where they aren't I will help work to improve them thank you member Felder thank you chair I'd like to thank Mr Clinton for those words I have been a teacher and I still consider consider myself a teacher for over 30 some years in Orange County Public Schools I was educated in
050Orange County Public Schools and my mom was a teacher for 38 plus years in Orange County Public Schools and we need a union we need advocacy and as a board member and as a former teacher who still considers herself as a teacher I would always advocate for support for our teachers I remember some of the things that I went through as a teacher I also remember having some negative feedback about being a part of a union but I'm going to tell you something that's the best choice you can make is to have support for what you do and I'm excited about this new year coming up it's my hope that we would continue to work to support our Union and teachers need to know that the members on this board we do hear you need
051to know that we do hear you and we thank you for your service to public education and know that you do have an advocate you do thank you so much for your words thank you member Felder we're going to hear it next from Mr Pollard the president of os bus here there you are all right so thank you I want to thank you all chair School Board The Vasquez as the sole representative of our support staff here and as president of oespa who is so greatly represented in this room today I want to thank you all for the collaborative relationship we've so hard worked so hard to cultivate here you see so many of these employees yo but before I do I want to say this I heard the comments about the custodians you're exactly
052right they are overworked and they are considered the bottom of the barrel and anything we won't done do it and they are not treated as if they are as great as some other employees but I'm here as a grandfather right now and my little granddaughter is over there and she asked me coming in today she saw all these blue shirts she says is Miss cupcake going to be here they know cupcake there's a bus driver cupcake and all of these other bus drivers represent my grandkids three of them in Orange County Public School leaving home in the morning and getting back safely in the afternoon they want to be respected also and I'm here to stand with them with respect and ditto to Clinton the great things he said is we're also under that same
053fire when we got management of these people who make mistruths about the union and the union doing this and the union do that to discourage you on your membership they know who they are I'm not calling anybody by name they know who they are and we know what it's for and I'm gonna tell you oh that's been going their way either no matter who has predicted our demise I've been president for seven going on eight years and I've been told we're gonna die for eight years and we ain't dead yet excuse me teachers I know that's that's not proper English so again I want to thank you all but I want you all to remember that we need these people every day all right thank you all Mr Pollard thank you so much you know
054to everyone here in the room if I can just if I can just take a moment all four of my kids went to Orange County Public Schools from kindergarten through 12th grade and I saw some of the most amazing people who taught my kids I saw my kids get on the bus and I saw fights on the bus and I saw a bus driver stepping in pulling off the side of the road breaking it up y'all YouTube Orange County Commissioner breaks up bus brawl YouTube it and you will see me on one of your buses I was doing an interview with Channel 9 on a totally different subject and there was a bus pulled over it was a bus with children with disabilities and my kids had told me how hard your job is but
055I also had an opportunity to be on that bus calling 9-1-1 because of what you were trying to deal with and to safely transport our kids so every single individual who comes in to work in Orange County Public Schools plays an indispensable role in what is the most important role of government in the United States some would say it's the military and I have the greatest respect for anyone who would put their life on the line for us and law enforcement but if it weren't for each of you that turns a generation around as you do time and time again I tell this story all the time in 2000 only 50 less than 50 percent of our kids were graduating yeah today that number is just about 90 percent imagine how different those young people
056are going to be in raising their own families that's because of what you do that's the reason that when I left as mayor there was no place else I wanted to be but here there's no position at the state level at the national level that is more important than what happens in our local schools than each of you so we want you to feel respected we want to make sure that the people that you're working for treat you Clinton said we need to be civil even when we disagree I one-up you on that Clinton we need to be not just civil we need to be respectful and we need to be kind Even in our disagreements and we need really hard to work to understand each other and on that front I will tell you
057I think the district fell short when it came to the bus driving route issue now now now now time out I'm not saying we can put the routes the way they were I'm saying I don't think we did a good enough job communicating why we had to do this and I think you are so important to us that we need to treat you as our peers not as our employees we need to teach you treat you as valuable members of this team and we owe it to you when we have tough decisions to make we owe it to you to be upfront and let you know in advance I got several emails and the first thing I wanted to do was figure out why because of I don't know why I don't know how to
058trust anybody so we could always be improving we need to be improving we can't ask anything of you that we don't demand of ourselves but I do want to just close with telling you that you all could not have better leadership than you have today in Mr McCracken and Mr Pollard you just could not they are they are they are Fierce advocates for you and Mr Pollard has taught me that I don't care what your job are is you are professionals and I am thankful that you drilled that into my head because you are so right everyone who works here as a professional and they need to be acknowledged for that and treated that way but you have Fierce Advocates but they're also they're so effective for you so please know you are in good
059hands with them and with that let me turn to member for rotten thank you very much for your patience and Indulgence I think I went over my time member front thank you madam chair I just wanted to just take the opportunity really just to encourage parents who are listening as well when we are raising our children let's raise our kids to respect everyone it doesn't matter if you are the president of the United States or or if you're the a teacher or you're a parent walking in it doesn't matter if you're a custodial worker it doesn't matter if you're the volleyball coach I don't care who you are our kids have to learn to respect everyone we greet everyone hello how are you and we treat them as if they're our family to me that's
060how I would want to be treated I would want our my kids to treat anyone whether if you're hopping on the bus my kids haven't ridden the bus didn't get that opportunity they love going on field trips on the bus but growing up I rode the bus to public school every day and I still remember my bus drivers you guys have a strategic and a key role in our kids lives and I think just being that smile on when they hop on the bus every morning and you know a lot of things maybe even about them they share things with you and just about their day and how they're going how they're doing and so thank you guys for what you're doing just know that as a board we really truly are wanting to make
061sure that you are getting the best the best case scenario whatever we can offer I know our bus shortage bus driver shortage there's a lot of things that are kind of going back and forth but I do I do want to make sure that we are giving you the best just know that we all of us have your best interests at heart I know sometimes there's change or things that are different than the way it's been and change is not always easy but we do want to make sure if there is ways that we can communicate it better shoot us an email and just say hey if you had shared it like this that may have helped or things like that is very helpful for us that helps us know how can we communicate it
062better to you and I know not everybody will always be happy but just know that we do truly care and love you guys and thank you so much those are my words thank you member front all right next we're going to hear from Nate hay representing focusa welcome good evening members of the Orange County School Board Dr Vazquez Dr Armbruster Dr Williams my name is Nate hay and I'm the proud principal of Lake Silver Elementary on board before you today I'm also the president administrators on behalf of ocasa we'd like to express our deepest gratitude for the opportunity to address this distinguished board as Educators and administrators we are deeply committed to fostering an environment where every student in Orange County public school system has the chance to thrive academically socially and emotionally today I
063wish to underscore the pivotal role of school principals and assistant principals in achieving the shared vision of insurance ensuring that every student has a promising and successful future our school leaders are not merely administrators they are champions of educational excellence and beacons of inspiration for both students and teachers alike the tireless efforts put forth by these dedicated professionals lay the foundation upon which our students dreams are built they lead with passion compassion and a steadfast commitment to nurturing a positive School culture that values diversity and inclusivity and academic growth the principal's role in our school Community cannot be understated they are the instrument in setting the tone and direction for the entire School encouraging a culture of continuous Improvement and accountability principals provide unwavering support to teachers encouraging their professional development and empowering them to
064become transformative educators through their leadership they Foster a sense of belonging and pride among students motivating them to excel both inside and outside the classroom likewise the assistant principal plays a vital role in enhancing the overall educational experience they work closely with principals to ensure the smooth functioning of the school handling a wide array of responsibilities from discipline to curriculum coordination their dedication and hard work are essential to maintaining a safe and conductive conduct conductive learning environment conducive my bad conducive learning environment that nurtures the potential of every student and recognize the importance and recognizing the importance of school principals and assistant principals we must also acknowledge the challenges they face daily the growing complexity of Education coupled with external factors beyond their control can sometimes create obstacles however it is through Unity understanding and
065collaboration between the School Board District administration teachers classified staff and ocasa that we can overcome these challenges and Forge a path towards even greater success ocasa pledges to work tirelessly for the betterment of our educational system we aim to be proactive advocates for change ensuring that our schools have the necessary resources support and professional development opportunities to continue delivering the highest quality of Education I want to express our sincerest gratitude to the Orange County School Board superintendent Dr Vazquez Deputy superintendent Dr Armbruster and Dr Williams for providing Acosta with the platform to advocate for our principals and assistant principals together we can create an educational environment that nurtures the dreams of our students and prepares them to become responsible empathetic and successful Global Citizens thank you so much thank you all right that concludes our
066comments from our Representatives let me call on Dr Vazquez to see if we have any changes to our agenda for me I'm sorry yes please would you announce and introduce our new administrators thank you and we have quite the number of newly appointed administrators exciting times for us all so we're going to start off with Cooper Alexander who is going to be the new principal of Lake Como K-8 school foreign here oh yeah Cooper come on up sorry so Cooper I saw you standing there I go wait it's not is it not him okay yes ma'am thank you school board members superintendent Vasquez and staff for this opportunity to serve Lake Como school I would also like to thank all the help that I've got along the way from Dr fritzler Mr Leslie and of
067course my mentor Mr Paul E Browning as well as my loving wife for all her support and dedication to me and my craft and everything I do thank you next we have Felicia Boyd who will be the new senior director of orange Technical College the main campus good evening thank you school board members superintendent Vasquez and staff for this opportunity to serve at Orange Technical College main campus and the Avalon campus I would also like to acknowledge so many leaders that have been instrumental in my path and development making it in my 25th year to this position my father who is present Ernest Boyd retired ocps 40 years my mother who was watching over this event 34 years in ocps she has gone on to Heaven my mentors Mr Calvin Lang is present Miss Cynthia
068Walker brand and I am so grateful to also thank Dr Harold Board of my principal at Freedom High School I was one of his counselors Dr Bridget Williams instrumental in my development Dr Michael Armbruster Deputy superintendent Career and Technical education he served as our associate superintendent and also Dr Schuler was one of my babysitters as a child coming up and so many of my Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sisters also present I am grateful for this opportunity well equipped and ready to serve thank you again for this chat I know she is so that we have three pages of Administrators so I if the board is a is okay I'm gonna thank the board and myself on behalf of all of the candidates so then you can just go ahead and thank your family and your
069mentors just for the sake of time so next we have Katie Brinkman who's going to be the new principal at Columbia Elementary School thank you good evening I will follow directions I would like to thank my mentors Seth Dobb and Christy James they have continued to support me and Mentor me so I'm very thankful for their guidance I would also like to thank my family who is here with me this evening for their encouragement and support I am very excited to go to Columbia Elementary tomorrow to serve as the principal it is where I did my first internship through UCF so I'm very excited to serve my community of East Orlando thank you foreign who is going to be the new principal at positive Pathways transition Center if you don't know where we're located we're
070at 6125 North Orange Blossom Trail and please come visit us that's to everyone up here please come visit us first and foremost I want to thank my mentors Mike Armbruster and Greg Moody for giving me the opportunity to come to principal with proud principal at positive Pathways I'm excited about my next Vision because I'm going to make it as I've heard tonight I'm going to make it better than when I found it so I'm going to change everybody's perception of positive Pathways I want to thank my family my parents who are both watching online with 40 years of education being in the in the grind of it I just want to thank them and then I want to thank my media family right here my fiance and my two boys and one boys watching online
071but I just want to thank everyone and I hope you have a great night next we have icelyn candelario I hope I didn't mispronounce your name you're going to be the new assistant principal at Inglewood Elementary thank you I would just like to take a minute to thank all of my ocps teachers for instilling a life a long love of learning I would like to thank Danielle spoonie and Anne Lionel and all the other administrators I've had as a teacher and I would like to thank Heather Adams who was my mentor teacher my very first year of teaching and continued mentoring me throughout my career and then my family for coming and supporting me so thank you next we have Myrna Cardona who will be the new assistant principal at Hungerford Elementary hi good evening
072everyone thank you I am so happy for this opportunity and I want to thank my family especially miss Iris for believing in me for taking me under her Wing I am this is the best thing that has ever happened to me thank you for bringing me home oh and I want to thank my children my son Tita over there his girlfriend siani I got so emotional Elijah my son and my two other sons are watching online they couldn't be here today thank you and Mirna ocps is the best District so we are very happy that you crossed the line next we have Mary Elizabeth Clark who's going to be the new principal at Citrus Elementary I just want to thank my incredible mentors that I've had along my journey here in Orange County Public Schools
073especially Dr Helton thank you to Dr Jones and to Rob mccloe for giving me this opportunity and I look forward to continuing the amazing work that's con that's already started at Citrus and to being a honeybee next we have Chris Davis who is going to be the new principal of our relief high school for Lake Nona thank you everybody I'd like to thank all the wonderful principals that I've worked for over the years particularly Lo Phillips Chris Bernier Danny Axtell Patty Bowen painter Susan Abbey and Martha Chang and without a doubt my wonderful wife Missy she's in for the long ride gurus Antonio Diaz who's going to be the new principal at Rosemont Elementary foreign thank you to Dr Aaron Brewster and principalita Lino Rodriguez for the opportunity to serve at Rosemont Elementary the best
074school in ocps over the last two years I had the privilege of serving the students teachers in the community I wrote as assistant principal at Rosemont Elementary all right I have seen the great growth in the students and I am excited to continue that work of helping our Eagles rise and overcome I want to thank my professional mentors Dr Nate Stevens Dr Brown Cannon our principal Dr Ellis who's now here in the ELC Miss Demetria Clements Mr Derek napkins he's right there my old principal I would also like to thank my beautiful wife Ashley she was looking at me right now my four kids who are here it's been a hard time keeping them quiet this whole time thank you to the best assistant principal as well Ms Rebecca Young who's our assistant principal right
075now and I'm looking forward to this in Eagle Nation let's fly next we have Andrea Martha Maria Doster who is going to be the new assistant principal at Vista Point Elementary I also took some notes I am humbled to be here tonight to accept the appointment I'd like to thank Dr Bailey Mr lindloff for your encouragement this past school year and for allowing me to grow into your leadership Miss Smith I look forward to learning from you and continuing to help this to point to grow I would like to thank Mrs Suggs for cultivating my love of instructional leadership and always providing me with opportunities to grow as an educator you are an example of a servant leadership your example of servant leadership has not only empowered myself but all of the Educators and students
076that you work with thank you to my family friends and colleagues many who are here in the Overflow room and to my supportive husband Sam thank you for always encouraging me to do more everything I do I do for you and Charles lastly I'd like to thank my parents who are in Columbia tonight hi Mom thank you for providing me with the experience in my life that have helped shape me my Outlook and perspective as an educator mom you're the educator that I always aspire to be 41 years with ocps thank you for being the reason I'm here today I am blessed to say the least thank you all Kimberly Elkins is going to be the new principal at Princeton Elementary I also have notes and I'm going to stand back here where all of
077you are 10 years ago today I started my administrative Journey leading me into this very moment I will begin 25 years with ocps this coming school year and it's going to be the best year and the most amazing adventure I want to thank my parents Nancy and Bob who's watching on TV my twin sister Jenny and my niece Madison who are here with me today thank you for your unending support and encouragement throughout these last 25 years to the many principals I've had the privilege to work beside whose leadership has taught me so much and molded me into the leader I am today I will always cherish you thank you Susan Abbey for watching from Switzerland and Amanda Maxwell for being with me tonight to my Princeton family you are my why for those of
078you who are here watching virtually you are my why and the reason I cannot wait to get to work every day and I never want to leave hear me today when I tell you I am the lucky one and have been given a Priceless gift in being your principal thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support encouragement and always going above and beyond for our Panthers this is going to be a year we will never forget thank you all right Amber Faircloth is the new assistant principal at Lake Como K-8 school thank you all for this opportunity I'd also like to thank Dr arm Brewster Dr fritzler and Mr Leslie for trusting you with this new role and Mr Alexander my new principal for his continual encouragement to my principal of eight
079years Mr Charlton I am thankful for his guidance and support and also to my wonderful friends and family my husband Lee my son Finn my mother and father-in-law my best friend Margaret ragley and my family watching at home I love you all thank you Martha Fernandez will be the new assistant principal at Walker Middle School we have two bikes well first I want to thank you the board but I was told not to say that so let me focus on my husband and my children I want to thank you for all their support to my family in Spain who I live 20 years ago to come to this country and also to my Farmers administration at ocps especially Miss Watson Mr Miss Kim and Mr Carlo I also want to thank you Miss Brown for
080give me this opportunity and I want also to special mention the leadership team at Walker Middle School who do a tremendous work every day thank you next we have Derek Fontaine who's going to be the new principal at College Park middle foreign I would like to thank Dr fritzler and Miss Gibson link for this amazing opportunity I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to all my colleagues who support in camaraderie has challenged me to be the best version of me your teamwork and passion for education is an inspiration a special Thanks goes out to all my mentors there are way too many so I really could not name them all but your unwavering guidance and wisdom and support throughout my career as well as your belief in my abilities has shaped me into the leader
081I am today lastly I would like to thank my beautiful wife Melinda as well as our two daughters Bianca and Gianna along with my in-laws David and Anna your unwavering love and understanding has been the driving force behind my success I thank you for sharing me throughout all these years with the students of ocps that is never easy and then I look forward to continuing and making a positive impact in the lives of our students and the College Park Community thank you Charles France is going to be the new principal at Freedom High School over the past 33 years in Orange County Public School many peoples have supported me influenced me mentored me and inspired me including Mr Bill spoon Dr Larry Payne Gene churchinski Steve McKinney Warren little Renee Wright Jackie Ramsey you Harris
082Ernie Larson Dr Kathy Blackburn the great Jones High School Community from my Freedom High School family special thanks go to the pride of chamber Chambersburg High School Dr Harold border Dr Rolando Bailey Miss Neely our princess Jessica Smith and our current staff Alicia Duarte Trevor Cox and the incomparable Ali caliori I would not be in the position of the man I am today without May 20 May 12 1988 when a Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh PA I saw my beautiful wife and she's maybe a better bed every day sits to Christina France to the Freedom High School students family teachers staff and Community this is the greatest honor my professional career to be part of you and Lead You and serve you I am so proud to be a patriot we are Freedom let's go Jennifer
083Fugate will be the new principal at Lake Nona Middle School thank you good evening I'd like to personally thank two amazing principals and wonderful mentors tonight Nikki Campbell and Becky Watson as they have both shown me how to lead with dignity and pride in my throughout my last six and a half years at East River High School and I'm forever grateful for their friendship I am so excited to take that knowledge and commitment with me to Lake Nona night Community my biggest supporters are here tonight as well somewhere in the back room my husband Chase and my son Hudson and I am forever grateful for their love and support as well thank you very much thank you Shonda green will be the new assistant principal at College Park Middle thank you board I'm a Baptist
084preacher so I'm not going to stay too long for somebody to pull my coattail but I would like to thank the students who inspired me to instruct to inspire for all of the Educators who encouraged me to keep going each and every day when I was in the classroom and I want to thank Dr Sean Brown who hired me from Kelly Subs at South Creek Middle School I want to thank one of my first of my many mentors in ocps Dr Trisha Phillip McGee who see who saw something in me Dr Sheila Windham who just gave me good direction and I want to thank Miss Wendy Ivory who always was there for guidance and always made me feel like number one Dr Raheem Jones and Miss Mindy Smith for telling me that I'm ready and
085also asking me what are you waiting on who Dr fritzler and also but we'll do with Dr fritzler telling me it's going to be okay Just go with it's going to be okay All These Fine educators are who why I'm here today but my wife and my kids are why I stay here today they are my backbone They Are My All In All and I thank God for each within them I thank God for all of those who are in the Orange County Community who have shown me friendship my church Saint John Baptist Church my prayer warriors there as well as my prayer warriors back in Alachua County home of the University of Florida Fighting Gators go Gators to my new principal who is who is entering in Fontaine Bulldogs rise we got it Fabiola
086me is going to be the new assistant principal at West Ridge Middle School thank you I am honored and humbled to take on the awesome fast to serve the students and families at West Ridge Middle School I am very thankful for the leaders that have guided me so far for to name of just a few Dr Brown Cannon thank you Dr Windham in the back thank you Miss Flores Mr Bond and the icing on the cake Miss Gibson link who was my first principal and is now here today seeing me making my first step as an assistant principal I also think my current principal at Western Middle School Nicole Jefferson and the admin team at at the school and the staff who have welcomed me and open and with open arm kindness and patience before
087this board I am dedicating myself to support and work alongside my principal at West Ridge Middle School in creating a culture where every student faculty staff are valued and the best part today is my mother's birthday so happy birthday Mom she's watching online Samantha guys did I pronounce it correctly thank God somebody taught me phonics I mean it's gonna be the new assistant principal at Hillcrest Elementary thank you I would like to especially thank my husband and my four-year-old twin boys who are at home right now watching wouldn't be able to do this without you and I'd like to thank Dr kriel Steve Conti Dr Osborne Miss Gibson link and Mrs Tannenbaum for taking the opportunity to let me come in and shine and help out ocps and I look forward to serving Hillcrest thank
088you Mr William Harris will be the new principal at Moss Park Elementary thank you board I'm excited to join most part Elementary a school that focuses on both proficiency and the creativity of its students I want to thank my beautiful wife Angela for being my biggest cheerleader and my support throughout this journey I want to thank my family who cheered me on to help me and provide me with perspective I want to thank my mentors Dr Williams Dr Schuler Dr Brown Cannon Dr Jones and Dr Hilton for always pushing me to this position which I'm in now and I also want to thank those principals of the schools that I've been at Dr Thornton Miss grimondo Miss Harrelson Miss Kirby Miss help Mr Brown miss bittick and miss Feliciano for your mentorship your guidance and
089your friendship I'm looking forward to Leading Moss Park to Excellence while soaring Han is going to be the new principal at Lakeview Middle School I'm really excited about this position I love that Community I've worked there for a long time at the beginning of my career I started I was working with Dr Armbruster and I asked him you know what was the most important thing about being a principal and this was when he was younger so he may have changed his mind but it stuck with me he said you're The Keeper of the vision so that always stuck with me and it was kind of one of those statements that inspired me to stay in education and go for it's been a long haul it's been 30 years and I've always dreamed of this day
090when I come up here and speak and I thought thought I'd say something really inspiring but I don't know if I came up with anything but the that Community is great the school is great I want to thank my daughters Jamie and Jesse they both graduated from West Orange High School and my wonderful wife who's supported me and every time I didn't believe in myself she always she always picked me up and got me back on my feet and hey I'm finally here and this is my moment and I'm I'm excited she's on vacation in North Carolina I did not go on vacation this year obviously because I just got appointed to a new school so she's having fun I hope she sees me online love you honey I'm here new principal at West Oaks
091Elementary foreign thank you while I'm taking on a new role I'm returning home to my West Oaks family I was assistant principal there for three years and supported them in another role last year thank you Mrs Thompson my former principal for showing me how to build a family that puts each child first and helps them find success I'm honored to sit in your office while there's not enough time to name all those that have made a profound impact on me throughout my career I understand these special moments thank you to all my teammates that have walked beside me thank you for all my administrators that took a chance on me Mr Bixler Miss Vereen Miss Thomas Miss Donaldson you have taught me a lot of things may I use all that you've taught me to
092make an impact to all of my cheerleaders that have asked me for years when I was going to become the principal some of you for over 15 plus one of them it's her birthday tonight so happy birthday Miss fredicelli Miss Mindy Smith I am forever grateful to you for your mentorship and your time as I worked beside you the last two years Dr Jones we did it we worked together we accomplished great things thank you I hope to make both of you proud and finally thank you to my family my oh there they are my husband Grant my son Gavin and Ada my Desiree daughter that watches online my mom my dad and my sister who are watching in Georgia and my husband's family as well this certainly would not be possible with all of
093you I love you and thank you for believing in me thank you Karen Marie Pope will be the new assistant principal at Waterford Elementary thank you school board members superintendent Vasquez and staff this opportunity to serve Waterford Elementary School thank you to my family the most important pillow of my life my husband Derek my daughter Aaron and they are my greatest strength I look forward to working with principal Willis and the Waterford Elementary School staff to ensure that every student has a prominent and successful future thank you Caleb Scott root will be the new assistant principal at Cypress Creek High School thank you I want to take an opportunity to be able to shout out probably the best people you can work with principal Marisol Mendez who's right next to me right now she has
094been instrumental in giving me and Advising me plenty of giving me plenty of opportunities to work with all of the slashes with all the patience with everything just to be able to become a better educator to become a better leader and now to be the assistant principal of the great community of Cypress Creek High School it's truly been a privilege to share in your vision and serve that community so I really am very grateful to everything that you've done there are also many many other people that have helped me along the way that have been great teammates great support including some of our fantastic people that we've seen today Mr Fontaine Ms Quinones is here right here Mr Wagner just your support has been extremely valuable and I appreciate it very much lastly I want
095to say thank you again to my beautiful and supportive and patient wife Carrie who is along with my four kids Ryan Kalyn Tyler and Grayson jumping out of practice right now to watch me online right now you are the greatest support the best thing that could have happened to me you're the foundation of everything I do and I'm so grateful for everything and all the patience that they had with me over the years so I am extremely excited to be a part continue to be a part of Cypress Creek High School and thank you so much for the opportunity Cypress Springs Elementary Dr fritzler and Mr Leslie for giving me this opportunity to my mentors the many of mentors that I've had over the years my family and Son who's right sitting there and especially
096to my husband Brad for being my number one supporter I am so excited to serve the Cypress Springs Community foreign Rosa is the new principal at Azalea Park Elementary thank you Miss Miller for the opportunity to continue the amazing work at Azalea Park today would not be possible without many mentors along the way Dr Jones Dr fritzler Dr Bradshaw Miss Smith Mr Martinez Dr Windham Mr Leslie Sean McGuire Carl Fox and Karen Verano my family's unwavering support my son Braden as well and my wife Arlene who you guys just met who continues to make sure our dreams Come reality oh Andrew Schwartz will be the new principal at Baldwin Park Elementary all right first I would like to thank all of those who have supported and guided me through my professional Journey up to this
097point I especially want to thank Dr Jones and Miss Davis Wilson for believing in me and giving me this opportunity to lead Baldwin Park I finally want to thank my family for their support and putting up with these many sleepless nights this summer while waiting for this day to come and I can't wait to go to Baldwin Park tomorrow morning and hit the ground running and thank you to the roses for stealing my thunder because my wife's up next too thank you Katie Schwartz is the new assistant principal at Sand Lake Elementary I am honored to be here tonight I want to thank Katie Phillips for having me join your leadership team we are going to make a fantastic team thank you to Dr Julie Helton Suzanne workum Mindy Smith Dr Christine sismanski and Dr
098Shawna rafalski these strong women help mold me into the leader that I am today thank you to all of my family and friends who had cheered and supported me over the years thank you to my beautiful daughters Brooklyn and Scarlett I am so proud to be your mommy last but not least I want to thank my husband Andrew Schwartz 11 years ago we met met on the eighth floor of this building you are my best friend and love of my life I am so proud that we can grow in our leadership Journeys together here tonight I am honored and thankful to become a Sand Lake Stingray thank you Michelle Soldano is the new assistant principal at Columbia Elementary hello I'm so excited for this new opportunity at Columbia Elementary as the assistant principal I would
099like to thank Dr fritzler and Mr Leslie for this wonderful opportunity I would love to thank my mentors my previous administration such as Ann lineall and Missy foronochi and I've had some wonderful administrators along the way so thank you so much Marie Santana for being my mentor since I started 21 years ago and Carla Wetzel thank you for all my best friends that showed up today means the world to me I'm sorry I'm a little nervous I want to thank my wonderful husband Frank my two boys Tyler and Brady my mother-in-law and my dad and my mom up in heaven who passed this past October I know she's watching over me and last but not least I want to thank my Cypress springs family I was there for 20 years and I wouldn't be the
100person I was today without them thank you all right Wesley Thomas is the new assistant principal at Ocoee Elementary good evening thank you very much I am new to ocps coming from Lake County so I'm excited to be here thank you it's been a warm welcome so far I would like to thank my former principal Susan Jordan and before that Marlene Strawn whose leadership and friendship have impacted my life and Leadership greatly I'd also like to thank my new principal Miss Candice gauche and my principal leader Ms Mindy Smith for your faith in me I look forward to working hard and serving the families and students of Ocoee Elementary and last but certainly not least we have Janine Williams Wilson who's going to be the new assistant principal at Endeavor Elementary foreign thank you board
101I want to thank God for guiding me to this school district my husband Carrie who's in the Overflow room with my kids for supporting me every step of the way both my parents Tony and Kathy watching online for inspiring me to be an educator with their many years of service and dedication to this profession my five beautiful children Tyler Bryce ashaya Michaela and Cason my brother Joe who's waiting for me to finish here to celebrate his birthday the rest of my family for believing in me and my friends for cheering me on I'm so thankful for all the leaders who have molded me throughout my career into who I am today to conclude I want to thank Dr Armbruster and my new leader Mr napkins in the whole Endeavor family I'm honored to now be
102an Endeavor Navigator and I can't wait for tomorrow morning to start my career thank you is that is that all well I was thinking do we want to try and take a picture yeah okay yeah absolutely could definitely Madam chair could you recess briefly so the video Services people know thank you want to recess so that video Services can do what just so they know that no they mean they can take I'll be okay that was good all right ladies and gentlemen we're going to start in about 45 seconds 45 seconds a lot of time y'all get quiet so fast all right make it 30 seconds I only shaved off five because that took ten all right now I've given the guys in the back the notice that we were going to start in 30
103seconds so now we got to wait a little bit because I can't start sooner so just bear with us thank y'all all right welcome back everyone let me begin with Dr Vazquez question for you do we have any changes to the agenda yes Madam chair we have one change to the agenda we are removing student with the initials s u from The Matrix under the board agenda item 6.04 it will be brought back to the board at a later date all right thank you very much in light of those changes is there a motion to amend the consent agenda as requested by the superintendent motion by the Vice chair is there a second second by member Salamanca all in favor of the motion please say aye aye opposed okay motion carries unanimously in order to
104provide governmental transparency as well as up reasonable opportunities for the public to access and participate in the decision-making process there are several methods by which the public can provide comment to the board on agenda items those include coming to speak to the board in person and via email in advance of the meetings these methods are all published on the district's website and in board docs we did not receive any comments regarding the agenda via email do we have any members of the public that wish to make comments on the agenda we do not you do not receive any yellow cards all right thank you in that case we can move on to a vote on the consent agenda is there a motion to approve the consent agenda motion by member Caster Dental is there a
105second second by member bird all in favor please say aye aye opposed motion carries unanimously we have no public hearings it's so that brings us to the non-agenda to public comment period one thing I do I want to speak to well I think many of you that are here to speak hopefully know that the board on May 16th decided that they wanted to Pilot a different way of taking public comments and that's why we're doing this somewhat differently for those of you who have come to make public comments on non-agended items before you know that you would have come at four o'clock rather than now there has been some interest in having that time a little later so that there was more opportunity for people to be here and so we are piloting this for
106nine weeks which will end on October 13 2023. and one of the things I always talk about is the need for us to not Applause no outpouring of you know sounds booing hissing positive or negative during this period of time because we want to make sure that we're respectful to our speakers and I realized that because we had three speakers earlier who were representing two unions and one other organization and there was a lot of clapping and it's the first time we've done that and in retrospect I probably should not have allowed that clapping during that part of the meeting it was a little difficult I will tell I will share with the board it was a little difficult because the whole up until now the whole meeting has been a big celebration so it's
107a little hard to say in the middle of the celebration okay stop celebrating but I have to tell you now that you can celebrate but not loudly so if you are in agreement with something that somebody says what I have found Works since I don't want you to clap or cheer is if you'll give a thumbs up and that gives us as board members an indication of your support and if you really oppose something that somebody says and feel that you need to share that you can give a thumbs down and that way again I look out it helps me to have a sense of where the room is on the different issues that might come up there are a couple of things I know we have public speakers let me ask you how many
108do we have right now so I have eight I have 20 actual physical cards but it's my understanding that one has withdrawn and another individual has left so you have 18 total speakers all right so we have 18 speakers the rules that we the Draft rules the temporary rules that we agreed to was that if there were 10 speakers everyone would have three minutes if there were 15 speakers everyone would have two minutes and if there were 16 or more everyone would have one minute however we have 18 and if we give everybody one minute that's 18 minutes and we have set aside up to 45 minutes so if although we have communicated that if the board is in agreement we could allow everyone who's here to speak for two minutes and we'll still be
109within our timeline so is everyone good with that yeah okay let's do that would one minute I know is not a lot of time to get your message across so we'll do two minutes and I do have a couple of things I need to go over some guidelines that we always ask that our speakers here too and one is our code of Civility and one of the things that means is that we ask that you not use the names of individuals or positions for instance if you're not happy with something that has happened at the school district please do not share that individual's name in this forum out of respect for our employees and them not having an opportunity to respond and second public comments on subject matters that's quasi-judicial or pending litigation I don't
110think anybody's here on any of those but they're not supposed to be presented in this forum and if you're bidding on any contracts with ocps we have a blackout period again I don't think that's the case here but we do have a period where you're not supposed to engage with the board the other has to do with bargaining and I'm going to turn to miss envel right now because I think it's important to understand why we can't talk about bargaining issues in this forum so miss emble let me turn to you to explain that thank you madam chair I we do have a number of speakers who have signed up for the non-agenda public comment period who indicated they want to speak to bus routes or Transportation under board policy bedh and the pilot program
111that we're doing as well specifically as it pertains to this particular period public comment on the bargaining proc process or other workplace labor concerns they're not permitted there is a bargaining process and a system in place in which bargained issues and labor complaints may be brought to the table between the parties in addition section 447.309 subsection 1 Florida Statutes it directs a public employer to bargain collectively with a certified bargaining agent chosen by its employees regarding wages hours and terms and conditions of employment so the policy language insurers of the board does not undermine the Union's relationship with the members of the bargaining unit and the board has chosen by policy to ensure that all topics which should be raised to the bargaining table are in fact raised by with the Union as the exclusive
112bargaining agent for all employees in the bargaining unit and rather than through the public comment opportunity what we're now calling the non-agenda public comment period the board has done so to eliminate the possibility of any changes of unfair labor practices for direct dealing and so with respect to the upcoming request to speak to bus routes or Transportation those all matters that have that are for effects bargaining and it's my understanding that a meeting to discuss the district's decision regarding bus routes and transportations has already been noticed to occur on August 1st from at 10 A.M and so accordingly any comments that for members of the Union who wish to discuss those types of topics the bus routes or the transportation they have to go through your bargaining agent which is oespa and particular Mr Pollard
113so I just want to make sure that you're aware of those provisions and the reasoning why it's not that the board does not want to hear from you it's that we have to respect that bargaining process and that's what Mr Pollard is going to do for you all on August 1st all right thank you Miss Temple and finally the public comment period is an opportunity for you to provide input and comments to the board it's not a question and answer period it's not a debate form it's just an opportunity so that we can hear from you so with that do we have our first Speaker you do I'm a bus mechanic for Orange County Public School I've been working here since 2018. I was here yes sir Alex parked right over there I inspect the
114bus I find what's wrong with it and then I'll go fix it and say if a bus break down somebody will say Peter we got a roadkill so it's like go get it up and running so this is everything you're going to check so batteries coolant belts every emergency exit make sure the buzzer turns on once we bring it up I'm gonna put the chalks I'm gonna chop the wheels make sure everything is the carousel mounted sometimes it's frogs in there so that's the that's the thing I don't I don't mess with that man I don't mess with that so right now what I'm doing I'm checking the brake Chambers making sure everything is securely mounted we're showing up to work because the people I come to work it's not like I come to work
115I gotta go to work I gotta go to work it's like I don't feel pressure I don't feel pressure it just feels like you can come this is one big happy family this is the start of everybody's life it's here you don't know who's walking in the bus you know it's the next lawyer you know superintendent it could be anybody you don't know who you're carrying this is this is the future so I just try to do my part come in have a good time in the first year as the new superintendent of Orange County Public Schools Dr Maria Vasquez introduced an initiative called reimagining our schools an effort that is expanding and deepening students knowledge of innovative Pathways to success such as Career and Technical education programs at University High School this initiative has
116quite literally turned a pipeline into a career this is Wastewater management the class where we essentially learn about Wastewater and how to treat within a plant this is the H2O pipeline program an initiative between Orange County utilities ocps and the Florida section of the American Water Works Association it's designed to give students a direct path from high school into the water and wastewater industry right now as far as the industry is concerned with water and wastewater treatment operators is that there's a severe deficit we have a lot more people that are retiring that are entering the workforce and think about the last time you didn't use water one day or one day you didn't flush the toilet in the program's inaugural year 10 students passed the rigorous California State University Sacramento exam which makes them
117eligible to sit for Florida's Wastewater Class C exam so these are really essential positions that need to get filled so we're trying to find other avenues to get them and it just made sense to try to maybe capture students that maybe didn't know exactly what they wanted to do that they can get into a career that's stable all the students who applied to Orange County utilities were also accepted into an apprenticeship program which will help them earn the more than 2 000 hours of Industry experience they'll need for their license yes for me it's very important because now they know about what is waste of water they I mean if they started to work with us they already know what we're talking about it's really important to have opportunities like this because some people don't
118know what they want to do and to experience something like this maybe you can show them like something they've never seen before and create that interest for them today we are excited to see Lego education happening in the stem lab here at Andover elementary school so we're going to see how students are utilizing our Spike Essentials set there we go we have been able to distribute over 10 000 kits to all of our K-5 schools to our K-5 students to use in the classroom and this could just be in the back for like satellite stuff I really love Legos because I feel like every time I get home from school and I do my homework I sit down and play with my Ninjago sets and create stories with them it is incredibly important to provide
119students with Hands-On learning opportunities that support their standards things that they're teaching in math and science and literacy so providing them with unique opportunities to engage with Hands-On learning experiences I've been a really fun and engaging way utilizing our Lego education set it's important for these students to learn in different ways because learning should be fun and engaging it builds interest and it builds their intellect I try keep trying and I know sometimes it won't work but I'll find a different way that it will work it also allows them to be exposed to a lot of things that they maybe wouldn't have come across I know coding is like everything like my mind codes everything around me I didn't know that codes so I'm doing coding myself even though I don't even know it these
120bricks are a medium to communicate ideas to think critically to think creatively and to really just give them a fun experience that is also academically challenging but yet fun I feel like different jobs I never knew are opening up to Lego now it just inspires me because every time I watch these people build I feel like I can do the same too this is the central Florida homeless education Summit it's a chance for educators from Orange Osceola and Seminole counties to come together and learn about the resources available to help the homeless and in Central Florida that is something teachers face every day if you have a child in school you have a child that is going to school with someone who is experiencing homelessness in Orange County there are more than 8 000 homeless
121students this Summit was a way to break down what's out there to give them a hand a lot of people don't know all the resources and they're changing all the time we consistently get new grants from the federal government as well as private donors it was also a chance to learn about how the law has changed there's something called the mckinney-vento ACT which defines homelessness as including living in hotels or cars or having inadequate housing and students who fall under that definition have opportunities it made me like realize that it was okay to just ask for like even though I'm in this situation it's not something that I have to be like ashamed of we have a new law that was passed House Bill 1577 that allows our high school seniors to take the letter
122that they receive under the mckinney-vento definition and then actually bring that to their post-secondary institution to receive full tuition and it's an exemption for Becky Watson principal at East River High School this effort is not only informative it's personal I was a student who my entire Elementary School career lived in a tent in Orange County and so now my whole life is dedicated to giving back to families and students who need from the school education is the lever that helped me change my life I'm getting ready for for us to use our drumsticks we're gonna sing really loud so everyone can hear us and I hope Grandma can reach us from the back it's going to be a blast one two three good we wanted to have something for our boys to do to learn
123a musical instrument to learn to sing to have that Middle School experience the Arts and so it originated let's just see what we can do and we put all of the boys together downstairs and slowly but surely this is the group that has prevailed has enjoyed it has come back every Tuesday and Thursday to participate the German licenses were all the boys could perform with our drumsticks and then we Sing We Will Rock You to it when you see them walk on that stage you're like all right okay when they start to playing they wow it's like man these these guys are doing really well oh man These Guys these these drumming lights are so creative like they just know how to work all together they're really good Teamworks hopefully parents and people will see
124let's just not say they can't do it let's say let's try maybe they need a little modification but they can do it and it's phenomenal and there's tons of them that want to do that this is a unified group this is different than other groups we have here so we've now taken our VIP students and put them with our peers on campus they teach me lessons as well as I teach them lessons so it's almost like a back and forth thing and so like I love learning with them and seeing how they progress and progressively get better it's kindness from inside it's inclusivity it's we're all the same and going forward we all need to have the same experiences I guess we're just like part of a like a drumming lights family I'm surprised I'm
125in that it's like the biggest day for an 8th grader this year it's like Middle School Super Bowl I think it's just a really great way to end the year with everybody together they are talking about the gotha lift up are you ready yes okay and they aren't over exaggerating we have worked on this since January and it's hours and hours of work of planning the songs and figuring out how the song should go together and picking out the lyrics and then figuring out which students are going to have those parts and conducting the auditions and working with the kids what is your choreography going to be practicing every week so we planned like where who got what parts and we had to audition for those and then we planned out like what we were
126gonna wear before we did anything and then we had to learn our songs and like try to lip sync them it is crazy but it is incredible and one of the highlights of my career anytime I get to be a part of it see everyone in the school like dress up and participate in it and having fun it's really like nice to see more than a hundred hours of planning and preparing all for this are you ready a music video that is one long shot involving the entire school when I see all of them together having fun and celebrating the school and being excited and like that's what it's all about right like happy kids happy kids thanks to the supportive teachers and staff I think it shows that they care and they really want
127to make it like a great eighth grade year and make it like something memorable I look forward to it because like I don't know it's just like a big party on the whole campus and everyone's there is really fun one big party that sends an even bigger message despite you know all of our differences that we can all come together and celebrate the school with this one event have fun as an 8th grader get your assignments done but just be here to experience being a first year teacher can be a challenge particularly if you're teaching in a high Needs school they're so new to this and it can be so overwhelming for so many reasons we want to make sure that they know that we've got their back and so thanks to the non-profit organization
128a gift for teaching and a grant from Walt Disney World this is the new teacher launch box to get teachers and students a boost they are going to have delivered to them a box with classroom sets of all kinds of core and essential supplies art supplies incentives books hygiene items dry erase this delivery is for Evans high school but 500 teachers and 52 of the most underserved schools in the district will be automatically enrolled in a quarterly supply box subscription the box says everything a new teacher would need to turn an empty classroom into an inviting learning environment and those school supplies for students who may not have what they need without teachers having to pay for it out of their own pocket my experience has been that my students come every day asking for
129pencils simple thing like that so I buy hundreds of them but they go very fast same thing with sanitary wipes stuff like that oftentimes kids need that so having it provided immediately right there it's one less thing I worry about one more thing I can offer to them these are the tools teachers need to make the real magic happen they allow them to dream they Inspire them they help them grow into all the wonderful things that they can be and they help build a foundation and a love for learning that will stay with them throughout their lives here at Riverdale Elementary art teacher at Naomi montia is about to get quite a surprise Miss montia considers all who are part of Riverdale as family and makes regular efforts to love and support all that's why
130Miss montillo is a hero teacher and then associate superintendent of curriculum and digital learning Rob Bixler was off to Cypress Elementary where fourth grade teacher Mary Negron was honored this is all part of the ocps hero teacher project Dr Maria Vasquez and the teaching and learning leadership team created the concept to honor teachers in the district that embody the spirit of the profession you know if you've ever gone to these visits with me the certificates are unique they're not standard every principle crafts that message unique to that teacher I'm speaking to it's a moment to put teachers in the spotlight and hear how they make a difference like what these students had to say about Miss Montilla sometimes like I lose motivation whenever I'm drawing again she tells me to keep going and like I've
131been able to push me through everything the past three year this year she's really nice and then she always motivates us to do our art and whenever we feel down she was always like you could feel better and then I just love her and what these students wanted Miss Negron to know I really like the way how she teaches she's a really compassionate teacher and whenever someone needs help she would always be there for someone she's always there when you need her and she's a helpful teacher and for assistant superintendent Bixler it's become a highlight a special delivery to show a teacher how much they really matter this is by far over the last five years my favorite thing to do I think my team will tell you I sign up through the most visits
132it really does invigorate you it reminds you of why you got into the profession to see the great work of these teachers it's my favorite thing thank you pickleball the newest hottest sport is a game typically played by adults originally pickleball was an older person's game your grandparents game but it is so much fun it's competitive it's social it's everything that you want in a sport and so why not expand that sport to everyone this is a clinic for ocps elementary PE teachers it's part of a partnership with United States tennis Association and USA pickleball or what could be considered lifetime activities we started to see younger players coming into it and they developed so quickly they enjoyed it and I think it's important to pass things like this on to the next Generation the
133idea is to expose teachers and students in the district to the activities they could enjoy for decades archery yoga tennis USTA even cites a recent study that indicates tennis players live 9.5 half years longer than people who participate in other sports well I think it's important for students as well as adults to have a wide variety of activities to do and Tennis is one of several lifelong activities so whether you're four years old or 94 years old you can get out there and have an option to keep moving and be you know just have a better quality of life so while pickleball may be considered an adult sport that doesn't mean that today's students won't one day have a ball we try to show them everything that's out there from pickleball do we do Cricket
134we do tennis we do I mean we do kind of everything so there's a lot out there that they don't even know of foreign consideration of more than 250 submitted additions that your classmate Kinsley sprock you Calif have been selected Abby has been chosen we are proud to announce that you are a finalist this guy right here just tapped his way into Top Talent Live 2023 Top Talent finalists Talent Live 2023 top tablet live 2023 so congratulations congratulations thank you so let's give it congratulations I have a finalist button for you are all finalists and Top Talent Live 2023 we're gonna be in top Thailand foreign teachers and keeping teachers it is a constant Challenge and that's exactly what the teacher quality partnership project is designed to address the goal of the grant is to
135recruit prepare and retain teachers to work in our diverse Learners through a grant from the U.S Department of Education UCF students who are getting their teaching degree intern in classrooms and when they graduate they will have a job at an ocps school so we get to know them they get to know us and once again they're with us the Junior and their senior year and the program has been a huge success and the number of students signing up to become interns so some schools have three interns some have four in fact we have a 200 percent increase the number of interns that are now asking and requesting to work at the most struggling schools for students like Robin law this was a chance to get to know whether teaching was what she wanted to do
136it was and for her to be a teacher in a title one school is a special opportunity to teach watan students it's hard for sure it's you got to put in work to do it but it's like what will our future be if we don't do that and Robin can't wait to make a difference what would their Futures be if we don't put in the work to make them get to where they need to be to become the Learners the Educators or the school board members that they want to be who who would I be to take that away from them instead of putting myself in a position to give that to them the heart of who I am is serving others as a person who had humble beginnings have a heart for people Mr
137kalunga I like them Jays man one of the main reasons why I love working at inner city schools Title One schools because I know that if I can get in to make that connection make that engagement with that student that female or that young lady or that young man I'm able to connect with them get them on the path toward a path that's more encouraging inviting that keeps them on path toward graduation I feel like he's the same person in and out the school he cares for people he is kind he is well-known friends actions I relate with them hey you don't have your father I don't have my father either you live in a foster home I live in a foster home as well you were raised by non-traditional parents I was raised by
138non-traditional parents as well so making that connection once they make that connection they sit up and be like wow somebody that's just like me he's been in my shoes before and I feel like I know it and I feel like he knows what it's like I'm hoping I can be a successful human being one day and I'm hoping I can make Mr Miller cry how you doing all right one two three thank you so it's an everyday thing in most schools so and but it's an amazing opportunity and I think that's our job right to provide those it's really hard to explain but it's it's like you get this Rush of excitement and happiness when you're just playing and playing with the whole ensemble and Performing to other people it's just it's a really good
139feeling playing with your with other friends what are steel jobs these are literally made up like these specific pans and every pan is made literally out of like a big oil drum it's just a big pan and you hit the certain dents that's pretty much it's not much the cool thing about this too that I think they don't get an opportunity a lot in other ensembles that we provide is the variety of music hey come on Jaden listen once I just start playing and we're playing a really good song and I'm into it my body just starts moving it does this whole thing I can't control it even the musician at the challenge because again we don't play this instrument it's usually not our first instrument you know kids start on the violin or they
140start on piano or they might start on a band instrument in sixth grade and one two three foreign once I start playing it's all gone I don't think about nothing but my instrument and my mind goes blank hey Cooper good morning have a wonderful day don't give up don't ever give up you got really long list it's okay I know what it's like to come home and nobody's there and have to make your own food to get yourself up get dressed get to school and I know what it's like to feel like you don't belong and I didn't want that to continue if I can make my classroom where you matter and then make a school where you matter then that's what I want to do Aloha Miss Taylor come it's time to get a
141fruity beverage he's a really good principal and he is super nice even though he never really Smiles he actually is really nice amazing have a wonderful day and we all loved him like he worked really hard I want to make your day better I want to make the kids day better I want them to walk away from this place with however long they're here with a sense of there is possibility people do care it makes me feel very welcomed and feel like I belong here I had so much fun reading my book with y'all I will hopefully get invited back and I'll come read to you again okay all right have a wonderful day thank you a prefix is a word added in front of another word to create a brand new word there's always
142a path for people and I felt like this was always the path to begin with the Stars super is great I never thought of doing anything else even when they ask you when you're literally like well what do you want to be when you get older I always said teach her there was never a second option he has a lot of patience and he also he's very kind too it lit more of a fire to go back and pursue an education degree because I knew that I could do it kids need people that they can trust and be around and I feel like I feel that Gap in a lot of places the kindness affects it because like it feels like ruining stuff then he wouldn't want to give up and we wouldn't want to
143be here so everybody would just lead but the reason like he has patience with everybody so everybody wants to keep going and they don't want to give up all right good job everybody good job good job have a great day everybody's part we call ourselves magic makers because we make magic in every classroom no matter where you are it's just all personality and building those relationships so that I can get the buy-in from them and move forward I love how he is so enthusiastic he's always like like whenever we're having a bad day he'll give us a brain break and then we'll resume the lesson he's also very hard working I had Educators I never gave up on me and which they inspired my why which is not yet the power of yet if students
144don't speak English I always say yeah or I don't understand this yet his famous motto is Excellence is the only option we're always getting pushed so much because he loves us we don't say we're Smart in this class because if we say we're smart we're going to get that mindset up well I can't get anything wrong we say that we're hard workers and we build on that so mistakes allow thinking to happen makes us learn more and if we fail that's fine because we'll pick up try again and we Excel which is where we get the Excellence part can we do a silent clap that was perfect my parents have worked super hard just seeing them happy and knowing wow you were chosen makes me feel like I've made them proud and I can only
145keep hoping for the best from here everybody beautiful job I love my job I tell everybody I have the best job in the whole entire world I get to create green Magic with every child in the school I just grew after we do the story and then we're going to do a little Hands-On activity where we create our own little grass person you're the funniest the library I like to say is the heart of every school it's where everything's happening it's where teachers meet it's where you have read to succeed it's where you have mentors come in it truly is the heart everybody always comes back to the library so to be able to create a space where kids can play explore and most importantly read books and make connections there you go you're very
146welcome it's the most important place on campus I'd say that it's really kind in a very open space for everybody it's like really Express themselves and you free access to books and it's really nice and calming in here there's nothing like seeing a kid love a book for the first time and come back and go what's something else like this or realize hey maybe I could be a writer one day she's opened us a lot of things that we've never been able to do if it wasn't for her bam I'm at school one second I go to the library I have all this open space to all these books I can get this I can get that and it's all for free like she's done so much for us I would love for people to
147know that it's more than just checking out books it's being able to identify what your students want to read it's making relationships with each and every kid on campus so that you can figure out what it is they want to read because once a kid makes that connection once a kid feels confident in what they're reading you have created a lifelong learner Cypress Creek High School Chris Cannon is what's called a CTE career specialist one big part of my job is building programs such as entrepreneurship digital design agriculture but my other parts are recruiting for dual enrollment where we send kids to detect colleges for dual enrollment that is his job but his passion is helping students find a career path that inspires them my desire and my passion is more mentoring and helping kids
148see the difference on what else is out there funny enough Chris is so passionate about helping students find their way because he says he didn't have much of a choice choosing his own career when he was growing up it took my wife before we got married to kind of get in my face and be like what's your passion what's your desire what do you want to do you're not happy doing what you're doing and it took her to push me to be like I want to Mentor kids and Chris's lessons on seizing success have already paid off for many students like Martin Molina Who as a senior has already developed his own apparel line and is selling it I thought it was a simple boom T-shirt design do a little whatever's trending throw it on
149a T-shirt and it'll you'll make some money so I thought it was just easy money at first and then little did I know I had a passion for it and in that passion Martin started to put inspirational messages on his apparel ironic that it was one inspiring another who now inspires many I always say to my students when I'm recruiting you got to do what you love in order to be happy if you don't love what you're doing it's going to be a struggle I guess it's helping out others just always did it for me you know so that just I guess this is the personal thing but helping them out was just my gateway to feeling better about myself University High School started here singing a soda to a top four finalists on The
150Voice ended up on National Television singing for 8 million people a night Omar Jose Cardona has achieved the dream bulmer makes it real Omar shows that it can be done coming from our ocps schools but the 07 cougar graduate has forgotten where it all started this is where I learned the love of the Arts this is where I fell in love with performing this is where I decided to take the career path that I did as Omar walks through the doors of his High School auditorium fold I remember seeing swatching my brother do Les Miserables and I wasn't even in high school yet and I was like this is so amazing I remember I was in tears like this is where you know my whole life started was right here on this stage with every
151flashback there is a Heart full of gratitude I'm grateful for the people that I met here my friends that I met here the teachers you know the staff and because it's you know it I'm a product of who I was surrounded by University helped him build a strong foundation so now he can share a powerful message with the world the best he is sending of a message to believe in your dreams equally it's hard work this did not happen overnight he has worked been successfully worked here and around the world and the cool thing is on The Voice it just became a bigger audience behold the math Olympics 14 Schools from across Orange County competing against each other to become District Champions and what they're doing is they're competing against each other with various puzzles
152various mathematics equations teams are made up of elementary school students with at least one-third and fourth grader on each team students compete against each other in three rounds of competition and even though it's about solving equations it's also about building confidence when we bring them to a competition we find that they actually thrive in a mathematics world and so fostering a math competition helps to promote those that feeling of I can do this for Ivy Lane fifth grader Caden Walker the first problem to solve is overcoming her own fear and it was her team who encouraged her not to quit and my team tried to help me they was like you got this you're smart you're here for a reason you were picked for a reason and it turns out math for her was exactly
153the solution to her problem because being on a math team in this level of competition and with that kind of encouragement allowed her to find the confidence she needed me I like I like winning so the purpose for me is I come here I do what I'm supposed to do third place no second place first place we won my plan is if we win first the second place I'm going to walk into that school when we go back and I'm gonna say who are we I believe Knights math Masters because that's what we are we are ivory Lane Knights math Masters so we have to act like it Walt Disney World drops by your school and it's not every day that they bring with them a 25 000 surprise so today we are here at
154Wekiva High School to surprise the students and the faculty with a 25 000 donation worth of instruments for band for orchestra choral music and other equipment so that they can continue to make music in their school and teachers and students had no idea until the curtain opened and there on stage was Mickey Mouse and all the new instruments I look back to find my teacher and to see his reaction I was like jaw dropped shots like that's a lot of money we do not often find ourselves speechless and we are completely speechless by the generosity of Disney and for ocps coming together to celebrate this the power of the donation though is that these students will not only get to make music here at Wekiva High with brand new instruments but that they can focus
155on that music that's less fundraising that we have to do that we can them different kinds of music better quality instruments you know really represent ourselves out in the community in the way that these students really deserve and for Disney music has always been a key part of their storytelling and this story is All About fine-tuning the Next Generation music and education specifically is we recognize that transformative power that it has and that these are the Youth of our future these are our future leaders and we want to make sure we invest in that so Friday is a Snack Shack Fridays so we run a business where the students in our VIP program get to come work three lunches and serve snacks to teachers thank you have a great day so there's the initial shift
156of the morning is prepping and getting it ready for the day filling up ice filling up sodas carrying three at its own making sure that we have inventory for the day then stocking shelves and then making sure our bags are prepped for our VIP eats which are our delivery service two dollars here's two dollars and then here's a tip okay all right and then there's a tip thank you're welcome this came out of how do we teach those skills they don't want to learn money in a book anymore they've been learning money in a book since elementary school how do you make that functional five dollars all right the coolest part about it is you get these students where they're like oh no you need to hear oh no that's gonna be too hard or
157that they can't do that and then on Fridays you watch them do it hello what have we learned about servers and then we take turns it's so much fun for me we are unique because we have an actual course code an elective that is assigned to me and their peers as partners in learning so they take my class and my class is them helping our students and our VIP program I got together two dollars I've learned communication I've been patients leadership how to step to the plate and I love it there is no nose there is no wall this is us we're part of your community we all put our pants on the same way we all come to school the same amount of time we all have to sit in classrooms and learn we're
158the same does it look different possibly but we're the same and that's what makes this inclusion so awesome thank you sir I appreciate it I will yeah hi my name is Jonathan Pierre and I'm a senior at East River High School some of the school activities that I'm part of is National Honor Society I'm also part of Key Club also part of the robotics team here at East River I'm also part of the map team I have nearly over 500 community service hours through American Red Cross I also got those volunteer hours I also helped tutor at Columbia Elementary Castle Creek Elementary and you know various other elementary middle schools growing up I faced you know many obstacles in my life from homelessness being put in processary care system and the ninth grade moving from
159left to right house to house and even sleeping at the porch sometimes and you know homeless shelter I could face all these obstacles but you know I overcame them and here I am I always tell myself I gotta do it's not that I want to do it I gotta do it I gotta do it not only for my stuff I have you know my family depending on it you know I'm the first one to go ahead and attend a university and I'm the first one in my family to even receive a Fulbright scholarship I'm attending Columbia University I want to go ahead and pursue a career in aerospace engineering and then I want to come back and help my family and if I put them in a position of no worries and also help Foster
160a community where I can help other students and other kids that's going through the same thing that I went through and helped shape their future and make them to go on a path that is easier than the path that I went on when I got this college did Miss three she has done the utmost everything for me she's not only my goddess counselor but I look up to her as a mentor she's you know academically and as in but she's on a personal level she has helped me a lot I live where I quote our persist until I succeed so I want to just share that with you guys just persist be determine be go learns it and just work hard and put in the time and then the dreams will always come true foreign
161High School I've been in Ivy since my ninth grade year not only is it going to help me with college it helped me Define and like be able to succeed in my high school years it taught me to not ever ever ever slack on work because when she's black it's going to take forever to come back Mr Daly is one of those features that you can hear him down the hall when he's coming he's just been very impactful of just reminding me to just remain strong and to push and do the goals that I have planned for myself because I'm able to succeed and I will succeed I have another teacher Miss cuados she's my Spanish teacher I've had her for three years seeing how hard she goes for her students day in and day
162out has just really been a blessing the tragedy that I had to face was September 11 2020. I lost my one-year-old brother he was left in the car by his caregiver for over seven hours I was very hurt that day but I just heard the Lord say that he was going to turn my pain into purpose and with love like Jace our purpose is to advocate for the little ones for safety with water with the car safety and just for parents to understand that these are little ones that are depending on us my biggest advice is take it one day at a time understand that you don't have to rush to have everything right there at your foot but know that when it's if it's meant for you it will be there for you my
163name is Carlos Andrade and I am currently a senior in Freedom High School in a few months I will be heading off to FIU to study to be a recreational therapist when I was younger I was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder what I'm mostly happy about is how my family has supported me for all of this and taught me to never give up and for reap for my goals my mom introduced me to Lego jewelry at first I was a little skeptical but once I got into it I realized how much I enjoyed it I realized how how far I can go with this and when I'm selling it gives me a chance to practice and go like how to talk to people like how to make eye contact how to respond with what they're
164saying I went to the Miami kid art battle where I got the south of my Lego jewelry I meet many artists alike I was actually a keynote speaker where I got to explain to the many people there what autism is and what it means to them I'm showing people to not let labels Define them I truly only have this advice to give them don't be afraid to express yourself you are a beautiful and unique person who is capable of so many things hi my name is Peter flareo I'm a bus mechanic for Orange County Public School I've been working here since 2018. here yes sir and it's parked right over there I inspect the bus I find what's wrong with it and then I'll go fix it and say if a bus breakdown somebody will
165say Peter we got a roadkill so it's like go get it up and running so this is everything you're going to check so batteries coolant belts every emergency exit make sure the buzzer turns on once we bring it up I'm gonna put the chalks I'm a chop the wheel make sure you think it's the carousel mounted sometimes there's frogs in there so that's the that's the thing I don't I don't mess with that man I don't mess with that so right now what I'm doing I'm checking the brake Chambers making sure everything is securely mounted I'm showing up to work because the people I come to work it's not like I come to work I gotta go to work I gotta go to work it's like I don't feel pressure I don't feel pressure it
166just feels like you can come visit one big happy family this is the start of everybody's life it's here you don't know who's walking in the bus you don't know it's the next lawyer you know superintendent it could be anybody you don't know who you're carrying this is this is the future so I just try to do my part come in have a good time in the first year as the new superintendent of Orange County Public Schools Dr Maria Vasquez introduced an initiative called reimagining our schools an effort that is expanding and deepening students knowledge of innovative Pathways to success such as Career and Technical education programs at University High School this initiative has quite literally turned a pipeline into a career this is Wastewater management the class where we essentially learn about Wastewater and
167how to treat within a plant this is the H2O pipeline program an initiative between Orange County utilities ocps and the Florida section of the American Water Works Association it's designed to give students a direct path from high school into the water and wastewater industry right now as far as the industry is concerned with water and wastewater treatment operators is that there's a severe deficit we have a lot more people that are retiring that are entering the workforce and think about the last time you didn't use water one day or one day you didn't flush the toilet in the program's inaugural year 10 students passed the rigorous California State University Sacramento exam which makes them eligible to sit for Florida's Wastewater Class C exam so these are really essential positions that need to get filled so
168if we're trying to find other avenues to get them and it just made sense to try to maybe capture students that maybe didn't know exactly what they wanted to do that they can get into a career that's stable all the students who applied to Orange County utilities were also accepted into an apprenticeship program which will help them earn the more than 2 000 hours of Industry experience they'll need for their license yes for me it's very important because now they know about what is waste of water they I mean if they started to work with us they already know what we're talking about it's really important to have opportunities like this because some people don't know what they want to do and to experience something like this maybe you can show them like something they've
169never seen before and create that interest for them today we are excited to see Lego education happening in the stem lab here at Andover elementary school so we're going to see how students are utilizing our Spike Essentials sets there we go we have been able to distribute over 10 000 kits to all of our K-5 schools to our K-5 students to use in the classroom and this could just be in the back for like satellite stuff yeah I really love Legos because I feel like every time I get home from school and I do my homework I sit down and play with my Ninjago sets and create stories with them it is incredibly important to provide students with Hands-On learning opportunities that support their standards things that they're teaching in math and science and literacy
170so providing them with unique opportunities to engage with Hands-On learning experiences I've been a really fun and engaging way utilizing our Lego education set it's important for these students to learn in different ways because learning should be fun and engaging it builds interest and it builds their intellect I try keep trying and I know sometimes it won't work but I'll find a different way that it will work it also allows them to be exposed to a lot of things that they maybe wouldn't have come across I know coding is like everything like my mind codes everything around me I didn't know that codes so I'm doing coding myself even though I don't even know it these bricks are a medium to communicate ideas to think critically to think creatively and to really just give them
171a fun experience that is also academically challenging but yet fun I feel like different jobs that I never knew are opening up to Lego now it just inspires me because every time I watch these people build I feel like I can do the same too this is the central Florida homeless education Summit it's a chance for educators from Orange Osceola and Seminole counties to come together and learn about the resources available to help the homeless and in Central Florida that is something teachers face every day if you have a child in school you have a child that is going to school with someone who is experiencing homelessness in Orange County there are more than 8 000 homeless students this Summit was a way to break down what's out there to give them a hand a
172lot of people don't know all the resources and they're changing all the time we consistently get new grants from the federal government as well as private donors it was also a chance to learn about how the law has changed there's something called the mckinney-vento ACT which defines homelessness as including living in hotels or cars or having inadequate housing and students who fall under that definition have opportunities it made me like realize that it was okay to just ask for like even though I'm in this situation it's not something that I have to be like ashamed of we have a new law that was passed House Bill 1577 that allows our high school seniors to take the letter that they receive under the mckinney-vento definition and then actually bring that to their post-secondary institution to receive
173full tuition and it's an exemption for Becky Watson principal at East River High School this effort is not only informative it's personal I was a student who my entire Elementary School career lived in a tent in Orange County and so now my whole life is dedicated to giving back to families and students who need from the school education is the lever that helped me change my life I'm getting ready for for us to use our drumsticks we're gonna sing really loud so everyone can hear us and I hope Grandma can reach us from the back it's going to be a blast one two three good we wanted to have something for our boys to do to learn a musical instrument to learn to sing to have that Middle School experience the Arts and so it
174originated let's just see what we can do and we put all of the boys together downstairs and slowly but surely this is the group that has prevailed has enjoyed it has come back every Tuesday and Thursday to participate the German lives as well all the boys could perform with our drumsticks and then we Sing We Will Rock You two words when you see them walk on that stage you're like all right okay when they start to play they wow it's like man these these guys are doing really well oh man These Guys these these drumming lights are so creative like they just know how to work all together they're really good Teamworks hopefully parents and people will see let's just not say they can't do it let's say let's try maybe they need a little
175modification but they can do it and it's phenomenal and there's tons of them that want to do that this is a unified group this is different than other groups we have here so we've now taken our VIP students and put them with our peers on campus they teach me lessons as well as I teach them lessons so it's almost like a back and forth thing and so like I love learning with them and seeing how they progress and progressively get better it's kindness from inside it's inclusivity it's we're all the same and going forward we all need to have the same experiences I guess we're just like part of a like a drumming lights family I'm so proud I'm relaxed it's like the biggest day for an 8th grader this year it's like Middle School
176Super Bowl I think it's just a really great way to end the year with everybody together they are talking about the gotha lift up are you ready okay and they aren't over exaggerating we have worked on this since January and it's hours and hours of work of planning the songs and figuring out how the song should go together and picking out the lyrics and then figuring out which students are going to have those parts and connecting the auditions and working with the kids what is your choreography going to be practicing every week so we planned like where who got what parts and we had to audition for those and then we planned out like what we were gonna wear before we did anything and then we had to learn our songs and like try to
177lip sync them it is crazy but it is incredible and one of the highlights of my career anytime I get to be a part of it see everyone in the school like dress up and participate in it and having fun it's really like nice to see more than a hundred hours of planning and preparing all for this day are you ready a music video that is one long shot involving the entire School when I see all of them together having fun and celebrating the school and being excited and like that's what it's all about right like happy kids happy kids thanks to the supportive teachers and staff I think it shows that they care and they really want to make it like a great eighth grade year and make it like something memorable I look
178forward to it because like I don't know it's just like a big party on the whole campus and everyone's there is really fun one big party that sends an even bigger message despite you know all of our differences that we can all come together and celebrate the school with this one event have fun as an 8th grader get your assignments done but just be here to experience being a first-year teacher can be a challenge particularly if you're teaching in a high Needs school they're so new to this and it can be so overwhelming for so many reasons we want to make sure that they know that we've got their back and so thanks to the non-profit organization a gift for teaching and a grant from Walt Disney World this is the new teacher launch box
179to get teachers and students a boost they are going to have delivered to them a box with classroom sets of all kinds of core and essential supplies art supplies incentives books hygiene items yes dry erase this delivery is for Evans high school but 500 teachers and 52 of the most underserved schools in the district will be automatically enrolled in a quarterly supply box subscription the box says everything a new teacher would need to turn an empty classroom into an inviting learning environment and those school supplies for students who may not have what they need without teachers having to pay for it out of their own pocket my experience has been that my students come every day asking for pencils simple thing like that so I buy hundreds of them but they go very fast same
180thing with sanitary wipes stuff like that oftentimes kids need that so having it provided immediately right there it's one less thing I worry about one more thing I can offer to them these are the tools teachers need to make the real magic happen they allow them to dream they Inspire them they help them grow into all the wonderful things that they can be and they help build a foundation and a love for learning that will stay with them throughout their lives here at Riverdale Elementary art teacher at Naomi montia is about to get quite a surprise Miss montia considers all who are part of Riverdale as family and makes regular efforts to love and support all that's why Miss montillo is a hero teacher and then associate superintendent of curriculum and digital learning Rob Bixler
181was off to Cypress Elementary where fourth grade teacher Mary Negron was honored this is all part of the ocps hero teacher project Dr Maria Vasquez and the teaching and learning leadership team created the concept to honor teachers in the district that embody the spirit of the profession you know if you've ever gone to these videos with me the certificates are unique from 1801 Dr Vazquez thank you madam chair we have several non-consent agenda items all of them dealing with modification to Charter contracts each of them will need to be approved individually we do not have any public speakers nor public comments to these items I am going to turn it over to Mr Greg Moody for the first item 18.01 thank you thank you madam superintendent Madam chair board members I'll present 1801 through 1805
182and we'll do it individually and I'll be as brief but thorough as possible Aloma first on is 1801 Aloma Charter High School was approved to operate as a charter school in 2008 the current contract has a 15-year term the school is located at 495 North Cimarron Boulevard in Winter Park the governing board for Aloma Charter High School has requested an amendment to be made to their contract which will reflect the inclusion of middle school students in grades seven and eight who have previously been retained pursuant to statute 1002.33 this contract modification may be afforded to Aloma Charter High School with approval of the sponsor if the request is granted the school capacity will be increased by no more than 50 students the term for the current contract will remain in effect for the 15-year term
183ending June 30th 2028. Madam chair all right thank you no public comment last call with no public comment any board comments Vice chair Vice chair thank you madam chair I just want to say I've I toured a llama it's been a while it's been a hot minute it was it's still in my district because it's on the east side of Aloma I did tour it more importantly this past May Dr Vasquez and I were at the graduation for all four schools five schools and they graduated 500 students and I say this is around 500 correct I say this because these are 500 students that wouldn't have graduated without these schools these these were the children that had a really difficult time with credit recovery on the path that they were on they probably wouldn't have
184graduated they wouldn't have graduated because they didn't have the credits and it would have taken them so long to graduate in our Traditional School that they would have dropped out and they wouldn't be successful and now we have 500 kids 500 kids that are contributing to society that are being added to a Workforce a skilled Workforce some of them got their their high school diploma and they got some credentials with through the CTE program but I just can't these are kids that would not have graduated and when I say 500 that's 500 kids we essentially saved in my mind so when we look at Middle School we're looking at those kids that once again do not have the credits they need they've been retained they're not on par with the rest of their cohort to
185graduate this will give them the opportunity to then go to high school with their cohort and graduate and we know what statistically happens if kids get retained once or two years they don't graduate they don't they don't make it out and our one job one job is to graduate kids so I the only thing that I was concerned and Mr Moody addressed my concern was I just wanted to make sure that once a child got the credits in middle school that they could go back into the high school that they wouldn't be encouraged to stay if they didn't want to stay if they want to stay I understand but they would be given all the options available to them to go back into a traditional high school with their cohort if that's what they desire
186to do I will say in talking to the kids at graduation and in talking when I did some visit I visited Econ River too which I know is coming up I've talked to kids that they're like I don't I can get my work done here through Traditional High School just doesn't work for me so anyways I just want to state that so thank you for the work that you do I'm I'm going to be supportive of this today thank you thank you member Castro thank you madam chair and I had some questions I know in the past sometimes with some of our charter schools and practices in the past these these Second Chance charters sometimes our kids kind of were pushed out and into these alternate settings and I want to ensure that we're not
187doing anything like that these seventh and 8th graders we've done everything we can to maintain that on the right track at their home school can you tell me what that process might look like for the 7th and 8th graders I mean how are they identified how do we communicate with their parents that this is an option yes ma'am so the school the charter schools will work directly with nearby middle schools to identify to to make the school aware of this change as well as the parents the school the teachers the guidance counselors pardon me the administrators as well as the parents and the nearby middle schools to make make sure that they're aware of the benefits of this new program there are they will you know I'm sorry and for the kids that need that
188environment that alternative environment to be successful so yes the days of the perceived pushing kids out no longer exist with Charter Schools Charter Schools we have a great partnership with ALS we have Representatives here tonight with accelerated learning Solutions as well but yeah the days of as you said pushing kids out no longer we have checks and balances with what within area superintendents are now executive leaders or principal leaders who monitor kind of the exit of students and the reasons why they're being exit exited we also work with you know kids in our schools to help catch them up to speed to accelerate as well so yeah the days of the perceived pushing out no longer exists that explanation it's weird dealing with middle schoolers who we are hoping to really bring up this isn't
189like a appearance necessarily initiating this and since we have that relationship with ALS is it possible for ocps to keep tabs on those students those seventh and 8th graders so that we know how they're doing and if they're actually accelerating if this setting is actually helping them so that we don't lose them in the in the you know in the process is there something that we could do yes yes absolutely we can work with ALS and Allison Kirby the regional director for ALS and yeah absolutely we can do that I think we try to do that anyways but in the past we but yeah long story short yes ma'am absolutely we can make that happen and one more thing is it I know that their hope is to have the kids catch up if possible
190as much as they can so they can return to high school their Traditional High School I just want those students to not feel like they've lost those connections with their Traditional High School Is there a way that we can continue to let them know that choice Still Remains when they become eligible to go to that high school instead of just assuming they're on that path and they can stay at that charter school I'd like to make sure that they know they are still welcome and that there are ways to come back chair if it's okay I'll I'll ask Miss Allison Kirby hi thank you I'll be brief but I just went I was like I want to speak so I've had a great relationship with the chief of heist well he's not he's executive principal
191leader Dr Martinez I've started something we heard last year that we wanted we wanted more collaboration between ocps and ALS so every week I send an email which says any students that have enrolled from their schools to the principal and to the guidance counselors then every nine weeks I send a progress report that says what they're doing and then I've just sent and I'm about to send you guys in a few minutes we have our final data not a few minutes a few weeks the final data for the year all the graduates so all principals received who there's you know every kid from Winter Park every kid from Jones that went to the principal and it was so good to see the reactions because they wrote back the counselors they were like I remember Jenny
192I'm so glad that she finished we just had some Oak Ridge counselors come and tour Chancery today and they were loving seeing on the roster who's there so that is part of the reason why I think I was a good for this because I'm able to talk to those principals and let them know so definitely we're ramping up the communication and in no way when speaking to the recruitment it's not really recruitment it is us talking and having a relationship with the guidance counselors and talking on a kid by Kid student by student basis of who should come thank you I appreciate your being there thank you guys she said it much better than I ever could Dr Vazquez you're recognized I think I was thank you Allison for coming up I was going to
193chime in Allison sends me emails has invited me out and I've had the opportunity to visit and there is a just a different collaborative environment additionally Mary Bridges with our student services team is going to be working as well to help the guidance counselors through this process so that it is clear this is a this is a choice and I will Echo what board member gowell said to see those 500 students to hear the stories talk about feeling connected that was there that was very very evident and so Mary Bridges will be working to help train the counselors as well on that process so that they know this is a choice and then that you can you know you can always come back what I think is great is that we're trying to catch them
194before they get to high school so that they are able to then join their cohort and enjoy all that is high school so I'm very grateful for the collaboration and how you have taken the experiences as a principal and really turn them into great opportunities so that our students you know can be successful sure just wanted to share one story because we at the graduation we were asking kids where are you going what's your plan what's your plan what's your plan and a lot of them said I'm going to college some of them said you know they were going to go to Community College some of them had plans to be nurses to doctors but they had a plan except for one child one student I said what what's your plan hey girls he goes
195I'm going to get some ice cream and I said I said well that's a plan you got a plan but anyways but most of them had I mean they had they had plans for their future and that's what's most important they were going to be successful in their future and then I'm going to Disney World huh ice cream okay all right floor is open for a motion I was okay we have a motion by Vice chair oh who did I hear remember bird second by member bird all in favor please say aye aye opposed motion carries with all members president voting in the affirmative all right next next is 18.02 Chantry Charter High School was approved to operate as a charter school in 2008. the current contract has a 15-year term the school is located
196at 707001 South Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando the governing board for Chantry High School charter high school has requested an amendment to be made to their contract which will reflect the inclusion of middle school students in grades seven and eight who have previously been retained Madam chair all right any comments we have no public comments any comments from the board this is a new comment based chair no all right floor is open for a motion motion by member for Aunt do we have a second second by Vice chair all in favor please say aye aye aye any opposed motion carries with all members present voting in the affirmative thank you madam chair 18.03 Econ River Charter High School was approved to operate as a charter school in 2016. their current contract has a 15-year term
197the school is located at 14180 East Colonial Drive the governing board for Econ River Charter High School has requested an amendment to be made to their contract which will reflect the inclusion of middle school students in grades seven and eight who have previously been retained Madam chair all right any members of the board wish to discuss I move oh sorry we have no members of the public wishing you to speak our floor is open for a motion I moved to approve the modification of Econ River Charter I second okay we have a motion by member Caster Dental a second by member Salamanca all in favor please say aye aye opposed motion carries with all members president voting in the affirmative back to you all right 18.04 Sheila Charter High School was approved to operate as
198a charter school and to 2008 the Char current contract has a 15-year term the school's located at 871 East Cimarron Boulevard and Apopka the governor board for Shelor Charter High School has requested an amendment be made to their contract which will reflect the inclusion of middle school students in grades seven and eight who have previously been retained Madam chair thank you no members of the public wishing to speak any members of the board seeing none the floor is open for a motion chair I'd like to move to approve 1804 for sure I couldn't have done that more simultaneously but remember from a motion for member bird do we have a second second from Member Felder all in favor please say aye aye opposed motion carriers and all members present voting in the affirmative all right
199that took go ahead one more one more and before I do that Madam chair if I can take the privilege of introducing recognizing Angela Noreen the CEO of accelerated learning Solutions she's also here this evening too we appreciate your collaborative support 18.05 Sunshine Charter High School was approved to operate as a charter school in 2014. the current contract has a 15-year term the school is located at 6600 Old Winter Garden Road Orlando the governor board for Sunshine Charter High School has requested that Amendment be made to their contract which will reflect the inclusion of Middle School students in grades seven and eight who were previously retained Madam chair all right no members of the public wishing to address the board any members see all right come on let member have it yes and finally I
200moved to approve the charter the charter the Chancery assumption this one is sunshine Charter a sunshine Charter all right we have a motion do we have a second motion bye member Felder seconded by the Vice chair all in favor please say aye aye aye opposed motion carries with all members present voting in the affirmative thank you madam chair thank you Mr Speaker okay we I are we are on to reports superintendent do you have a report I'm looking at the time I'm going to make one comment and I'll save my remarks for another board meeting but we are almost at the start of a new school year we're so excited for all of the things that are going to be occurring we do want to encourage our families that if you have not registered your
201child please do so as soon as possible we want to make sure everything is ready for the start of the school year additionally for families that need to make an appointment for people at pupil assignment student enrollment you are able to sign up online they have added additional dates and times are opening on Saturday they also have walk-ins that are available and so we do want to encourage you to take advantage of those additional times and register your child we're looking forward to welcoming them this next school year thank you assemble do you have a report just one minor thing I know this was our first pilot program for your public comments as you digest how it went tonight I welcome your individual thoughts and then we can arrange to discuss actually I don't want
202to take much time but I there is something I would like to change because we take the Strategic plan after we've had celebratory recognitions then we go into the District Association Council reports which are not celebratory but it was very hard today to contain that enthusiasm and then we go into the introduction of newly administered new new yeah administrators which is celebratory so as the chair I have to allow everybody clap and then tell everybody they can't clap and then allow everybody to clap I think it would make more sense if we moved the comments I hate to do this to our unions but I think if we move the comments after we've announced the administrators because it's never that long I was that's the longest it ever gets and at that point I can
203try to break and get the message across that we have to be respectful of our speakers okay is the board okay with that small change okay thanks Clinton appreciate your support hey and I got the most important audience all thumbs up hey you guys have been really helpful today honestly your thumbs up you're just it's just been helpful to look at you as a barometer so I'm really glad you're here okay yeah and we love you yes okay all right with that yes one more comment no no remember okay a couple more comments go ahead remember from okay so just in regards to the pilot program just thinking about this are we able to maybe send anybody who filled out a comment form a little poll or some sort of questionnaire that says did you
204like the way that it worked did you mind waiting if you had to wait if you had to keep it at the four o'clock time do you would you like that you know like something like that where we're just kind of polling people to see I don't know if that's even possible I think so some of the cards I can't read all right so that's difficult and I don't want to be sending unsolicited emails to perhaps an email address that I can't read but I think I'll talk to the superintendent and maybe we can come up with a thought exchange or some sort of survey once we've had it for a little bit and okay see if we get some good quality feedback I do like the idea where we have email addresses to but
205I yeah I like the idea of getting that feedback though I think that would be valuable and I don't know maybe even like an iPad where they sign up yeah that's true yeah but you know it would also be helpful just to understand what did they like or not like you know and then the other thought was with the time you brought up a great point because we had it where if I can find My Notes where we had 18 speakers and then according to our chart they would be one minute each and that's only 18 minutes so what if we were to change it to from one to ten people it's three three minutes each from 10 to 20 you'd get two minutes each and then from 21 and up you'd get one minute
206each I think that works I think that works yeah I'm good with that everybody yeah I just I think because maybe we just calculated every time we go no no I mean I think we I think that's a good idea I think because we always had the 30 minutes instead of the 45 that's how that number came out and that kind of gives us a little bit of cushion too if if there's any need to stop or wait or you know there's a people gives people time to walk and whatnot yeah I will say if you if you have 40 minutes of speaking you're going to have more than 45 minutes of time because there is time Imaging which is it's fine we're in the ballpark okay anything so can I have clarification on that
207is that just for the or I want to make sure that we're clear is that just for the non-agenda public comment and also the agenda public comment because you have different times I think it's going to be a little bit just communicating out this pilot program has been challenging to make sure we get that information out there so I just want to make sure I don't I want you to discuss that and let me know is the other you can limit the time that they can speak just anybody who signs up for an agenda item you get you there's data it's unlimited amount of speakers I'll tell you I mean I feel pretty strongly about this issue in that if the only time somebody can speak to us on something we're going to vote on
208is today I think that person's time is more important than somebody who can talk to us any other time so I don't think that the people that are on agenda should have less time than those who are on non-agenda so I would suggest that we extend that time so that instead of it there's this round just mentioned okay and then yes we can reduce the time and where you end up with a large number of speakers you often hear the same thing over again so okay so which yeah the speakers the zero to ten get three minutes ten to 11 to 20 get two minutes everybody after that gets one minute the only difference between the two is that for non-agendas we will only take 45 minutes but for agenda speakers we are required to
209hear everyone as well we should okay Karen okay remember casternano are we on to the part where the board members get the talk yes ma'am okay good I just have I have a couple points one is I think we should also as stefana recommended create that controversial topics again in our code because a lot of teachers still have so many questions about what's going on with standards and books and content and what can we talk about and I don't think our policies address that right now so I'm interested in looking for some direction and I think that can help with our teachers the second point I want to address is what other people mentioned today a couple times is the new African-American history standards we've all heard that the commissioner or the Board of Education
210wants to teach students this dangerous notion that despite the brutal violence and Terror murder rape families being ripped apart that enslave people personally benefited from being slaves because they developed useful skills along the way and then the other standard dealing with Ocoee the Ocoee Massacre which happened right here in Orange County they assert that the victims were partly to blame when a large white mob came after and killed up to 50 black residents of Ocoee and burn their houses to the ground when a black man tried to vote and I remember when I learned about the Holocaust asking my parents how can people be so cruel and then also asking why did other people allow it to happen and it didn't happen overnight it happened incrementally it started slowly but it was purposeful the Nazis
211targeted minority groups they dehumanized them they banned books they divided the community and they're working from the same Playbook today they're demonizing our lgbtq kids African-Americans immigrants and you can't escape the outrage in the country right now looking at what's happening in Florida people are outraged and rightly so about these standards and I cannot in good conscience as a board member ask our teachers our Middle School teachers to teach this and I have a problem teaching our students This Racist whitewashed history and there's already in our schools this underlying Culture of Fear and anxiety among teachers and Librarians because they're in the crosshairs their licenses are being threatened and these standards are just adding more chaos to the start of a school our new school year so I don't think it's appropriate to wait for
212guidance from the state about how to implement these standards they're offensive they're inaccurate and they're dangerous and Madam chair I would like to make a motion that the board pursues a legal challenge to Halt the implementation of these standards and to prevent our children from being taught to sympathize with white supremacists and I'd like to ask our community to stand with us let me start by asking if we're properly poised for emotion we're not if it's something that the board wants to add to the agenda we'll have to do that and so that so we know what we can certainly look into it I don't know I would need direction on who we would be challenging because it's a rule I don't think that the everything has been settled just yet and we know we
213don't have standing to challenge a rule made by the DOE member Felder yes thank you Amy and I certainly empathize with what board member cancer Dental was expressing but I do think as a board before we can move in that direction there should be something that we can do as a board to allay the fears of our teachers and parents and Librarians with the material material that's already out the children have already learned about the okoy massacre has already been established in legislation former Senator Randy Bracey introduced it and it was adopted that they're going to teach it but I think the concern was that how people feel and we can't control when you teach material how they feel I'm not Jewish unless I'm somewhere down in my ancestral line maybe some Jewish people in
214me but the first in my bloodline but the first time I read about the Holocaust I was devastated when I read in Frank's book I was devastated I had an opportunity I was told to teach about the Holocaust one year I taught 10th grade so I took a trip to Amsterdam I went to Anne Frank's house I went to the camps and it was just did something to me I had a whole different aspect about torture and Trauma so I think it's a board and with the district we're such a large District and every time we go to a state conference many other counties they look to us for guidance and Direction and I think that we need to do as much as we can fellow board members to explore how we support our teachers
215in teaching the material because it has to be taught but we have to find a way to do it so they will can do it and teach it without fear and teach the truth you know I just can't get around that I just can't get around not teaching it we have to find a way and you are a legal advisor Amy to show us how to do that before we make the motion or even agree on it but we have to make sure because the thing that we don't want is for the board members here to be totally replaced and some other people who have no empathy about any of this that we're talking about but I am in agreement with the fact that we have to keep our teachers and administration keep them with
216peace of mind to teach without fear of repercussion so we need to work on when we do our next maybe rural development meeting or something Amy we need to talk about ways in which we can help them because we want them to go in being happy about the material that they're teaching and the children just learn the history learn it because if you don't learn it you're doing to repeat it thank you all right Miss info will look forward to hearing back from you any other comments or questions all right with that this meeting's adjourned the most foreign thank you