OCPS | 2025-12-09 School Board Meeting

001thank you so much for joining us today. We have just about a packed house and it's so great to see all these smiling faces. As a reminder to our board and to the public, the board will not be engaging in outside electronic or digital communications during our meeting so that we can focus on the matters before us. And to my fellow board members, district staff, and any members of the public who may be speaking to the board, please make sure that your microphone's turned on. Speak directly into it so our YouTube and Orange TV viewers can hear you. And again, thanks for joining us this evening. I'm going to call on board member Felder. She has some comments. She wants to make some sad news. so let me call on member Felder before we begin.

002Thank you, Chair. Good evening, everyone. During the Florida Classic in late November, an OCPS icon fell ill and later passed away. longtime coach and friend Max Purcell, a 1980 Evans High grad. He was his school's first allstate lineman. When I think of Max, I think of the fact that he was smooth, smooth operator. He's still waters. Still waters run deep. I never heard him say anything cross or yell at his players, but the players will tell you in the locker room, he was a different type of Max, I'm sure, because he needed to get the job done. He was a beloved mentor, father figure, and a wise counselor to several generations of young people. He taught subjects including PE, special education, and research, and critical thinking. For the past 11 years, he served as a

003resource and past teacher. This position was perfect for Max, putting him directly in the path of students who are at risk out of school suspensions. He was a life changer, a good man, and a very good friend. He will be sorely missed. I also want to acknowledge his family. they're here. If they could kind of probably stand so y'all can see Max Purcell's family, they're here. His wife and his sisters and his family, they're here. And members of the Evans community that worked with him, if you're here also, they have joined Thank you. You may be seated. They have joined us tonight in his honor. Now, we have a resolution that I'm going to read and then there'll be one that I'll give to the family. Whereas, Orange County Public Schools mourns the passing of

004a dedicated former employee who served with distinction and commitment. Maxwell Purcell, who departed this life on November 24th, 2025. And whereas Maxwell Purcell faithfully served Orange County Public Schools for over 40 years, demonstrating professionalism, integrity, and a deep commitment to the mission of our organization. And whereas during his tenure, he made significant contributions to Orange County Public Schools, leaving a lasting impact on colleagues and the community. And whereas he will be remembered not only for his professional achievements, but also for his kindness. He was a gentle giant. kindness, generosity, and dedication to others. And whereas Orange County Public Schools extends its deepest condolences to the family, the friends, and loved ones of Maxwell Purcell. Now, therefore, the school board of Orange County hereby honors the memory of Maxwell Purscell and expresses its sincere appreciation for

005its service and contributions. Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution is going to be presented to the family of Maxwell PCEL as a token of our respect and gratitude. Stein Melissa Bird, District 7 School Board. Vicky Lane Felder, District 5 School Board. Thank you. And now, if you could please stand and join us in a moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance. The pledge. I pledge algiance 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. Thank you. You may be seated. Thank you, Member Felder. And to the family, I also want to say thank you so much for the support that you gave to your husband, to your father, to your brother.

006He could not have done what he did for Orange County Public Schools if it weren't for the support and the love. I'm so sorry. I forgot to recognize the members of Waka High School where he worked presently here. Please stand. Wakiva family. I know the Yes. Thank you. They worked with Mike. Yes. Thank you. I'm so sorry. Thank you. I just remember him. I worked with him at Edward. Absolutely. About all right. And his extended family from Wakiva. Thank you for the support that you gave him that allowed him to be such an incredibly important member of our team here at Orange County Public Schools. Okay. Dr. Vasquez, are there any changes to the agenda? No, Madam Chair, there are no changes to the agenda. All right. Thank you. With no changes to the agenda,

007is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Mr. Pomearini, do we have Madam Chair, I believe there's there going to be a board member that's going to ask to move an item from consent to non-consent. Okay. any board members that are want to make a change to the agenda? yes, Madam Chair. Thank you. I would like to move the agenda item for Kesa K12 onto non-consent please. All right we have a motion to amend the agenda as stated by member ferrant. Is there support for the amendment and member farant? That would be a motion. Yes. A motion by member front. Do we have a second? Thank you. Do we have a second by vice chair? All in favor of the motion, please say I. I opposed. Do does the board need an explanation perhaps? No.

008Okay. Okay. All right. We have one member voting in the opposition. Two. Okay. Miss member fra, do you want to explain the reason for moving the item? yes. I just would like to publicly discuss more about the case of K12 and how we are going to utilize them and ways that we could utilize our own funding and not spend 900 plus dollars on each student that we would recruit or that Kesa would recruit into our system. I think it's imperative that we discuss this and be frugal and fiscally responsible. All right. with the reasoning behind that, all the members in favor of moving this to discussion, please raise your hand. Okay. Four members in favor. Those opposed. One, two, three. Three opposed. Okay. Motion passes. Am I correct in that? Okay. Okay. I know. I

009think I missed one hand. Anyway, as the swing vote breaker that would make it pass. So, we will take that up after we've concluded with our public hearings. Thank you. All right. with that, that's an amendment to the agenda. I hate to be so specific about it, but we do need to vote on the amended agenda. So, we have voted to amend it. Is there a vote a motion to approve the agenda as amended? Motion by member Salamanca, seconded by member Ferrant. All in favor, please say I. I opposed. All right. Okay. U motion passes to adopt the agenda by all members except for members Gallo. All right. Moving forward, I would like to recognize the Panta choir from the doctor from Dr. Phillips High, which has been regailed as regailing our guests in the

010lobby. I don't know how many of you all had an opportunity to hear them when I was walking through it. They were absolutely incredible. Yes. So, the good news is if you missed their performance, I think they were maybe warming up. I'm not quite sure, but we're so excited to have the opportunity to hear from them. Dr. Phillips has six choirs. Their vocal strand led by Slani, is that correct? Soni Santiago is part of the school's visual and performing arts magnet. This magnet program was recognized on the national level by Magnet Schools of America both in 2023 and 2024. As a reminder to our audience and those watching at home, applications for the district's 39 magnet programs are still being accepted on the OCPS website for the 2627 school year, but not for much later.

011So, if you're interested in attending or your children attending your students attending any of those, please look into that. magnet programs are just another way that Orange County Public Schools differentiates themselves from so many other school districts and we're just so proud to to be able to offer unique programs such as this. So do do consider that and also thank you Miss Santiago Ramsey, Principal Ramsey and all of your talented hardworking students. Now on with the performance. All is bright. Your virgin mother and child is so tender and sleep. Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, holy night at the sight, gloral Hallelujah. Christ the Savior is born. Silent night, holy night, son of God, your thy holy face of redeeus Lord. Lord of thy birth. Jesus, Lord of thy birth. We wish you a merry

012Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Good tidings to you wherever you are. Good tidings for Christmas and a happy new year. Oh, bring us a figgy pudding. Oh, bring us a figgy pudding. Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and bring it right here. Good tidings to you wherever you are. Good tidings for Christmas and a happy year. We won't go until we get some. So bring it right here. Good tidings to you wherever you are. Good tidings for Christmas and a happy new year. We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Oh, before before they step away, did we get a picture, Frank? Did you get a good

013picture of everybody? Okay. And while you all are coming back, that I'm telling you that was just transformative. I don't know what everybody else's frame of mind was, but been a busy day, a little hectic, and I tell you that was just so calming and so uplifting. So, I want to thank you for that. I also want to tell you all I could see a couple of the faces, but you all had the benefit of seeing the smiley faces and the performance from your side, but I had the benefit and we had the benefit of Mrs. Santiago watching her. Oh my gosh, it was such a joy, right? Oh gosh. Anyway, I don't know what was more uplifting, the voices or the faces. it's a tough tie, but anyway, God bless you. Thank you so

014much for being here with us now. Can we get a picture? Hang on. Yes. And yes, Dr. Phillips. Yes, of course. I opened Dr. Phillips in 1987. That's right. Some of y'all weren't even thought of, but that's okay. and it was a performance arts magnet program. I taught drama there in English. And when we were walking through, Dr. Williams said, you know, Dr. Phillips, I said, I know. I recognize the singing. I know the voices. You guys were so beautiful. Oh my god, I enjoyed all of that. It's still that nice, soothing music. Thank you so much for your performance. Thank you. Yeah. Yes, ma'am. Wasn't that so soothing? Oh my gosh. Big smile on three. One, two, and three. Another nice big smile. Last one. School board. If you want to sing, go ahead.

015Good. Okay. So, Yes, Frank. That soothing feeling we're having would be out just out the window just like that. All right. Yeah, that was amazing. I'd like to have that just piped into my home when I walk in the door. Would that be great? Yeah. Right. Oh my gosh. Okay. so now I'm do Okay. now is that part of the meeting when we have a chance to celebrate excellence among our staff, students, and community members. First, I want to share our wishes for a joyous retirement for a man who has left a giant footprint with OCPS. And that's Dr. Mike Arberster, our deputy superintendent. So, Mike, if you could please stand and join Dr. Vasquez down at the podium. Am I correct, Dr. Vasquez? She has some some thoughts and a small token of appreciation

016to share with you. Today we are here to celebrate and honor a leader whose vision, integrity, and unwavering dedication have shaped not only this district but the lives of countless students, educators, and families across Central Florida. That person is none other than Dr. Michael Armster. For decades, Mike has embodied the very best of public service. His work has never been about titles or recognition. It's been about impact. It's been about giving every student, regardless of circumstance or background, the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to succeed. Mike's leadership has elevated OCPS, strengthen our schools, and built a culture where excellence is expected, innovation is encouraged, and compassion is essential. He's played a key role in programs that opened doors for our students and initiatives that supported teachers and in partnerships that brought our community closer

017together. But when you look across this district at the schools, the systems, the successes, you see his f fingerprints everywhere. But what truly sets Mike apart is not just what he's accomplished, but how he has accomplished it. Mike leads with his heart. He listens before he speaks. He encourages before he directs. and he stands beside people, never above them. He has an extraordinary ability to see potential in others long before they see it in themselves. He's the kind of leader who makes you want to be better, the kind of mentor who guides with wisdom and patience, and the kind of teammate who makes everyone around him stronger. And for me, this is very personal. Over the years, he has become so much more than a respected colleague. He's become a dear friend, someone I deeply

018admire, and truly someone who's become family. The kind of family you choose, the kind you trust, rely on, and hold close. He is the person who celebrates your victories as if they were his own, who steadies you during challenges, who offers honesty when you need it, and encouragement when you doubt yourself. He shows up not just for events or meetings, but for people, for moments, for life. To know him is to know loyalty, humility, and integrity. It is to know someone who does the right thing, not because it's expected, but because it's who he is. And to have him in your life is to be profoundly fortunate. Today, as we honor his service and leadership, we also honor the relationships he's built, the trust he has earned, the respect he has inspired, and the lives

019he's touched in ways that will be felt for years to come. His legacy is not only in the programs and policies he helped create, but in the countless individuals he's lifted, believed in, and guided. It lives in the teachers he empowered, the students he championed, and the colleagues he befriended. And so, Mike, on behalf of Orange County Public Schools, and from the deepest part of my heart, we thank you. Thank you for your vision. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your service. And thank you for being a friend, a mentor, and family. Your legacy will continue to shape this district long into the future. And all of us here today are better better educators, better leaders, and better people because of you. And so, he joked Monday about his first retirement because he

020retired during COVID. And I think your words were you kind of got shafted maybe because he wasn't really able to properly say goodbye to people. And so one of the things we have for you is a momento and it talks about your two journeys. Your first journey involves you at Westside Vocational Center from 1987 to 1994. then West Orange from 1994 to 2004 and then Okoey High School from 2004 to 2010. And then your second journey was from 2010 and 2013 at university at the technical center from 20 2013 to 2020 and then he left for a little bit and then became back to be the deputy superintendent for the division of teaching and learning. And so Mike, you've changed the world because you've touched so many lives. Thank you. Thank you all. so earlier

021today I pulled up from three and a half years ago, the night that I came back and was honored to be named the deputy superintendent. And I pulled it up because I wanted to see how long it was to see if I could go longer or not. And it was 29 minutes. So I don't know that I'll go that. No, it wasn't. It was about 2 minutes. But what was interesting is that night the positive reception that I received was unbelievable. In fact, I remember and I remember this without watching it today, but I remember Melissa Bird saying to the superintendent, you know, this was your first major decision and you hit a grand slam. And I remember thinking, wow, that's a lot of pressure to go home with. and so I was supposed to

022say two years and that was the commitment I had made. But I loved what we were doing and I'd only gotten to second base by the second year. So I needed another year and a half to try to hit that grand slam that that Melissa had mentioned. But a lot of things happened in that time and I think a lot of positive things. I look around the room at people that wow sorry about that. that people that are in positions now because they're the right people in the right place doing the right things. People that maybe other people didn't necessarily think should be in certain positions, but they are and they've done amazing jobs. You asked three and a half years ago for the culture to change and you hired the right superintendent and I

023think the right superintendent hopefully in my mind hired the right deputy superintendent and we were able to literally change the world of OCPS and one OCPS became something more than just a couple of words or I know OCPS isn't word but you know what I mean but at the end of the day I think we are better off than we were. I think the wisdom that the board showed in hiring Dr. Maria Vasquez as superintendent. And I don't know if I'll call it wisdom or loyalty, friendship, trust, whatever it was. When she came to lunch that day, she set me up and I didn't know it. I was happily retired and I wouldn't have come back for anybody else but her. That's how much I believe in her. over the years and I don't need

024all the stories. She took care of me in some of my darkest times and she also celebrated me in some of my brightest times. And so it is family, it is all of that to give you an idea of her character. And she did the one thing that I was hoping she would do. And I didn't and I know she didn't want to do it, but she did it. And it was hard for her. I know she didn't ask me to stay. And I know she wanted to ask me to stay. And I know every time I saw her and I avoided her as much as I could and she avoided me so it would relieve the pressure. Yeah. But the greatest gift she gave me when I told her that I was time that

025I needed to go and my wife and I we'd spent 40 years waiting actually 41 years not doing the things we wanted to do and it was time for us to go do it. She didn't ask me to stay. And I know she wanted to. And I know that and I kept waiting and that really was the greatest gift cuz honestly if she'd asked me to stay, I would have really struggled going and now I can go in peace and I can go and live the rest of our life the way we want to do it. I'll always be OCPS. I'll always be around. Who knows? I may be back here volunteering. Who knows? I know I'll be reading some books and stuff, but Dr. Vasquez, thank you for being a lifesaver, life changer for

026me personally. school board. Thank you for having faith and giving me the chance to do some of the things we did. I hope that whether I hit a grand slam or not, whether we hit a grand slam or not really is important. I just hope that we're better today than than we were 3 and 1/2 years ago because it certainly feels that way and I think most of y'all will agree that it feels that way and that was what we set out to do. So, thank y'all very much. God bless you. Love y'all and 10ps and don't and don't don't go anywhere. Okay. So, I know board members have some some comments they want to make. Let me just kind of summarize some of the thoughts that I know we'd all like to share about

027Dr. Arm Brewster. He's dedicated more than 35 years to our district in roles including teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal, associate superintendent for career and technical education. and he came out of retirement to join Dr. Vasquez as her deputy superintendent. I'm really personally tickled to be able to say that along that route he touched several of my children's lives. he was a graduate of West Orange High and he started out in the private sector and quickly switched gears to become an educator. His first principal ship was at his alma mater. He opened a Koi High School as its first principal in 2005 and pioneer pioneered what we today call a house system dividing students into smaller learning communities. He's been a champion of professional learning communities, fostering growth through collaboration. He's been nationally recognized for setting

028a new standard for high quality career and technical education. Dr. Dr. Arburster spearheaded the unification of Orange County's technical centers into a single cohesive identity and brand, Orange Technical College. His vision also fueled historic enrollment growth in CTE programs and dual enrollment. Dr. Armbster made sure all high schools have a dedicated career specialist and oversaw the opening of numerous new workforce development programs and facilities. He championed agricultural education and brought agric science and FFA clubs to all of our high schools. Because of him, OCPS has been able to give more students access to high demand career training. Dr. Amberster has influenced the culture of our district with his belief that character, quality, and professionalism are the foundation of a student and staff's success. He's never forgotten what it feels like to be a young person

029not sure of their path. We will miss his big laugh, his big ideas, his reasoned counsel. We'll miss his willingness to try anything on social media. It's a beautiful thing. But more than anything, I will miss his sense of humor and his big heart. Let me call on some of our board members for their comments. Member Gallo, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think this picture up here right now just embodies who Mr. Ambrewster is at his at his soul. he likes to have a good time and whether he's working or teaching or learning. he's always having fun and he always does everything with a smile on his face. So, that is uniquely him. That's not unique to everybody. and we're all better for having him here at OCPS. The first time I met

030Dr. Arrewster, I was going to an event at University High back when he was the principles, it was when Joe Saunders was our legislative representative for that area and we were talking about some new legislation, some new guidelines that had just recently been passed and Dr. Arrewster went up to Representative Saunders and he said, "You know, I have I have an issue. some of these laws that just passed. I have like three or four students that aren't going to graduate now and we need to get these fixed. Like these kids are hardworking and they deserve to graduate and this one little thing is going to prevent them from doing that. What can we do to help these kids? So my first interaction, the first time I ever met Dr. Arm Brewster in person, he was

031advocating for kids. He was advocating for what's best for kids to ensure that no child was hurt by anything that passed in Tallahassee. and that's just who he is. Like that's just who I've known him to become. The work he's done in career and technical education. Orange County would not be in the position we are in. We wouldn't be a leader in that field and growing yearly without his leadership. I mean, he built it. Him and Danny with the FFA program built what we have today today. So, to say that we will miss him again, is an understatement. And the value that he's provided to the OCPS, the things that I've learned from him personally, things that he probably wouldn't even know that I learned or or I was even paying attention to will carry

032with me in my leadership role. So, I'm thankful to him. I'm thank thankful to Dr. Vasquez for bringing him back because when she came to the board and she says, "I think you're going to like who I want to bring on as deputy superintendent," we were all thrilled. We were all thrilled and knew he was the perfect person to lead us into this next chapter. So, Dr. Ambrewster, thank you. Thank you for your heart, for your grace, for your kindness, for really believing in all that OCPS is all that we can be. I wish you all the best in your retirement. You deserve nothing but fun times and fun trips ahead. So, congratulations. Thank you, Member Gallo. Member Vanos. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am probably the one who has had the least amount of

033time to spend with Dr. Armster, so I don't have as many good stories as maybe some of the others, but I will just say that I so appreciate his humor and energy and passion. They're just things I really admire in people. and he is the best storyteller. I hate when I have to speak after him at anything because he's so very good at it. and I'll just share that, you know, the couple of times when we've gone out to lunch or we've chatted. No doubt there was always a student that comes up to us and says, "Oh, Dr. Armbrewster, I had you as a teacher or principal." and is so excited to see him again. I had a couple of weeks ago, I had a running meeting with a current teacher, and when I shared

034that Dr. Dr. Arsterster was retiring. He said, you know, I wasn't sure that I was going to be a teacher. I was just a sub. And Dr. Armbster, you know, as a as a substitute teacher said to me, no, you belong in the classroom. You are good at this. And, you know, he's been at OCPS for many years now. So, I know he's impacted so many people. and I'll just share probably my favorite conversations though with Dr. arm rooster when it's just the two of us is he'll say Stephanie I used to think and I used to say some of the things that you say and then he'll proceed to tell me why I'm misguided or why I'm wrong but it's in the nicest possible way and I so value the experience that I don't

035have that he does have that he shares with me so I will miss you I appreciate everything you've done for our district and I wish you the best in retirement Dr. Arm Brewster. Thank you, Member Vanoth. Vice Chair Salamanca. Thank you, Chair. I echo so much of the sentiment that my fellow board members have said, Mike, just from the first time I met you, and I was probably just a student, that would hear your name over and over again because of the many teachers and administrators lives that you always touched. and you were just one of those school leaders that principles talked about, that APs talked about, in incredibly positive ways that even as a student, I remember being like, who's this mic guy that everyone is so excited about and, I joining the board,

036I remember being so excited when Dr. Vasquez brought you on and hearing from so many folks that this was really a statement on what the two of you were going to do in terms of culture and vision and people first approach to OCPS. the two of you are an incredible team, so I understand Dr. Vasquez and how hard this is for her and for her team. your friendship, your work together has always been something that I've admired since being on this board and I felt incredibly grateful to experience. because you make some parts of this job that are incredibly hard less hard because we know that your heart is in the right place, your intentions are in the right place. And in a profession where it's so easy to get cynical, where complaints come a

037lot faster than solutions and choosing to be the optimist in the room was something you always did, Mike, and not naively. I think you have been around long enough that you see problems very clearly, but you never let those problems become your story or how you show up in the room or how you're a leader. and you believed in what could be built here and what it looked like to change the culture or directionally move different in what we've been before at OCPS and you believed in the people doing that building on who you would bring along. The kind of optimism that is contagious for anyone that has ever been around you or worked with you and the type of optimism that just changes lives. it just changed the lives of so many students that

038you identified and worked with and mentored. I mean, I can think of I don't think I can think of one schoolboard meeting where someone who has come up here has not been touched by you in the form of leadership or being one of your students or being one of your mentees. and I just got to say I I don't think we have enough leaders like that. it is the best gift that you gave OCPS is all the people that you have showed how important that attitude, that optimism, how important that culture of building that is. And we're lucky that you have spent your time and dedicated so much of that work to that next generation of leaders. and so I just wanted to to say thank you for that. You were always my go-to when

039I had a crazy creative idea. I was always like, I got to talk to Mike first, see what he thinks, because he would always help me advocate for that. You were always thinking out of the box, but also just thinking about how it impacts people first and our teachers and our students. So, thank you for everything you've done for OCPS. Your legacy will live on for so many years and so many different people in this district. We're so incredibly lucky to have you. And as Gallow said, go have fun, have some good food, travel the world, and enjoy all that's good out there and hopefully all the less stress that you have every day here. So, thank you. Thank you, Vice Chair. Member Ferrant. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mike, one of my favorite things is

040that you're always giggling down there and we can never see you, but we know you're there. Oh, so even now can't see you, but you're awesome. I am going to miss your Sunday messages. Every Sunday, Mike Armbster would email the entire district, I believe. And you could read it on a Sunday or you could wait until Monday or the rest of the, you know, sometime during the week. Just a word of encouragement and things. It was like the Sunday wisdom of Mike Arm Brewster. So, I will miss that. Unless you'd like to use your spare time and continue those. You could even do them once a month and just send it of the all the fun things that you're going to do while you're away. Even if it's not traveling every week, even if it's

041just spending time with your wife and enjoying life and watching the trees grow. So, we thank you. Thank you for your years of service and your humor. My favorite thing about you, which everybody else has kind of said, but my favorite thing anytime you got up to speak at an event, I would always sit up a little taller and lean in because I knew it was going to be a good one. so thank you for that. Thank you for your wisdom and your dedication and pouring your heart and soul into what you do. And it wasn't a job. It seemed more like a you were having fun and you were mentoring and you it was a great position for you. So thankful that you came back and just praying the best for you. Bless you.

042Thank you, member. Member Douglas. just want to say as well that it wasn't long that I knew really and talked to Dr. Michael Amster. But what a force, what a man of optism, optimism and and joyous you know just looking at him and you feel happy when you feel come down the building and you feel down you hear that laughy laugh behind you and you cannot avoid smiling and and regain your countenance and feel a little bit happy. Thank you so much for the, you know, bright light and for the the sunshine that you bring into our lives every time we see you. And I just want to say your footprints, your footprints are also being in my house where you were also my daughter's principal. And everywhere I go in my schools, there's always

043somebody that comes to me and talk about Dr. Umbster. So you are somebody that you know have touched so many lives and there are very few people in this life that have done that and we will always remember you and remember who you are and we want to be just like you a little bit every day. We thank you so much for what you've done for our kids and for our district. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you and God bless. Thank you member Douglas. Member Felder. Thank you chair Dr. Arm Brewster. I am going to miss the little stuff you say cuz see they can't hear see you but I can hear and see you when when crazy stuff is said and done and we have that look and we just kind of know each

044other and we say okay yeah that's that's crazy right there. But listen, I when I first got introduced to Dr. Am Rooster, I want to talk about you've done so much, but what you've done for the technical student and the technical schools, how they love you so much and how you gave it a whole new look. I just appreciate cuz one of the schools is mine Orange Tech and you had the vision to know where to put people as our superintendent had the vision to know to put you in the position as deputy superintendent. You took us to a whole another level when we look at technical schools and the decisions you made. I want to tell you thank you and I appreciate what you did. And so many of the principles that I would

045talk to, they would look forward to the emails that you sent and they said, "I think Dr. Brewster gets us." He understands because you I keep hearing this song about on the rough side of the mountain. You know, you came up from the bottom up. You you didn't just come like from Flowery, whatever. You g you went through some stuff to get where you are today. so you can appreciate the position and you've not forgotten where you came from. And that to me speaks volumes. And in closing, I just want to say Martin Luther King said something very profound. He said, "People are not remembered for who they are, but they're remembered for what they do for others." And that is the epitap for you, Mike Brewster. Thank you for what you do and what

046you have done for OCPS. We love you. Thank you so much. Member Bird. Thank you, Chair. so Mike, you know, I may have said that decision was a grand slam, but you weren't on the other end of the phone when Dr. Vasquez called me to tell me that she was selecting you for her deputy superintendent. I screamed really loud. And I'll never forget it because she was like, "yes, I am like, you just broke my eardrum." but I was so excited because I knew that it was the right decision. And I'm sorry, but I was right. It it just was it was a terrific decision. you know, I was looking over when I was preparing for the board meeting, going over the agenda, I wanted I made a few notes about a couple things that

047I actually was going to bring up a little later. consent agenda items that I was particularly impressed with. And when we before a board meeting, they'll give us like board notes on from cabinet meetings and the cabinet members that give notes about different consent agenda items. And the notes on three of these items I thought were really interesting. One of them is an approval for a grant with Orange County and the notes say this grant is to provide equity, access and opportunity for students through experiential learning and the name of the staff member that gave that note was Mike Garbrewster. Another item is another agreement, three-year agreement, all this one also with Orange County government for collaboration. This collaboration aims to provide students with valuable exposure to professionals in the wastewater treatment sector which plays

048an important role in aggra science and the staff member that gave that note was Mike Arburster. and this and the last one was an agreement with Mazda Motor of America. And this agreement promotes high expectations for student mastery at the professional level by providing qualified graduates the automot in the to the automotive industry with the intentional preparation and inspiration to achieve a thriving future. Notes by Mike Arburster. So, I just found it interesting that we're, you know, talking about him and honoring him tonight and all the the work over the years that he has done to advance career and technical education in this district and raise it, as member Felder said, to a different level to the steak and lobster level. and that actually was my first interaction with Mike Arburster at a Tiger Bay

049meeting before I was running for school board. And I shouldn't even say this, but the rumor on the street at that time was that he might consider running for school board. And so I had to, you know, meet him. and yeah, I probably shouldn't even put that idea in his head cuz, you know, we he lives in my district. So, but anyway, so I was like I remember telling my husband, "Oh, that better not happen cuz forget it. I won't be able to run then. He'll run for chair. If he's going to not to worry." So, but I it was that Tiger Bay meeting he spoke in front of, you know, all these people in Orange County about steak and lobster and how career and technical education isn't what it used to be and how

050it's a, you know, this is a terrific opportunity for kids and they can have the best of both worlds and I just remember then being so impressed with him just as I always have. Every interaction has been remarkable. I've learned so much from him professionally and as a human being even. I'm just I'm so thankful. You know, there comes a there's comes people in your life that you really make make an impression that you know as long as you live that person will always you'll always remember things that person said or things that person did. And Mike, you for me, you are that person. I'm so thankful that I got to know you. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to work with you. and I believe that the lives you have changed, it's it's

051like that ripple in the water will go on and on and on and on. you've you've inspired so many other educators that are tremendous leaders. As you said, there's so many leaders out here now that were inspired by you and that will continue to inspire students. So, thank you for everything. Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for always being honest with me and telling me how I could like the time when you were in charge of Okassa, you were retired, so you didn't care what you told me and you just said, "Hey, this is what you can do to be a better school board member for your principles." And you were just honest and told me what I didn't do right and what I did do right. And you know, I was thankful for

052that honesty. I always have been. So, thank you for your friendship, my friend. And go and enjoy your beautiful wife and have a great time. And we love you. Thank you. Mike, would you please join the board in front of the deas for a photo and first if you would join me at the at the dis. Yeah. Just come. Yeah. No. All right. All right. I So I get I get one last bite at the apple here. and it's on behalf of the board. Although I do want to take a moment because it you talked about member Bird and her comment about out of the ballpark. You see this picture here? The chamber was full that day and that was every person in the chamber. Every person was standing up standing ovation and screaming. I've

053never heard this room so loud as that day. Whoa. It was amazing. So anyway, that you do that times whatever the hund and something people in this room. I wanted to we have a small token of appreciation and recognition. but I want to explain for a minute to the public. I know it'll mean I know it'll mean something to you, but lest it be misunderstood. as as everyone's mentioned, Mike does his Sunday morning emails that are each one of them are profound and each one of them is worth saving and reading and reading. But he has also started just in the last few weeks his countdown and each day there's a new message. So on his eighth day, he included a quote that was really impactful to him and it's always impactful to me and

054he explains about the mission trip he took to Guatemala when he first read the quote and how important it was to to him to his school and it's called doing good. So let me just read you that quote so that when you see what we have for Dr. Amrista it will make sense to everyone in the room. Do good. Do all the good you can by all the means you can. In all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. So, the board would like to present to you Dr. Michael Armster. You did all the good you could in every way you served, impacting generations of students whose futures are brighter because of you. The school

055board of Orange County Public Schools, December 9th, 2025. Okay, y'all can't see it, but but there's a Batman logo on the bottom of it. That's why I'm laughing. So, y'all may not know this, but I'm Batman. All right, everyone down there so we can take a picture. I'm going to keep this. That's fun. Yeah, that's fun. Come on. Yeah. Everybody said come down. What was the word they put in your Christmas speech for a little, you know, a little What did I say? I said something and you're you're by your favorite people. Good. Big smile. Big smile again. Look super happy. And come in really tight. Hold on. Big smile. One more. And I think there's another presentation. We have to We have to get the photo. Okay. He's gone. He's gone. Jose, come on

056up. Ready? You guys laughed. Well, no, I did not. Big smile. Big smile again. One more. Look happy. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. I know it. Yeah. Round three. Round three. Batman returns again. They match so perfectly. They are the colors. But there was a little touch. All right. Tonight we are also celebrating a few other exceptional employees. Yes, there are other exceptional employees in this organization. There are tens of thousands of them. So I'd like to recognize board member Felder to come down to the podium and share with us about her honores. Okay. Yeah. We have this opportunity that each board member has to to spotlight employees that they have seen or experienced their extraordinary accomplishments. Good evening again Good evening. Y'all ain't tired. Come on now. Good evening. Good evening. Why don't y'all

057Come on, baby. The children had to do it seven and a half hours. Sit there and be quiet. Come on. Yes. So now tonight, I have the absolute joy of recognizing. All righty. I feel tall. I have the absolute joy of recognizing a true treasure in our district, a woman whose dedication is the very heartbeat of her school. It is my deepest honor to introduce Miss Margaret Harris, the incomparable school secretary at the great historical Jones High School. Miss Harris, please come down. Come forward to be recognized. Come right here. I'mma read a couple things about you. Every time I've ever gone on the campus at the games or whatever, she has never greeted me without a smile. And her smile just lights up the room. she is celebrating ma a magnificent 22 years of

058service of our to our students and staff. She is a steady hand that guides daily operations, but her influence extends far beyond the front office. She provides the welcoming smile. Yes, sir. And the consistent anchor that our students rely on every single day. There is one specific commitment that truly captures the spirit of Mrs. Harris, and it's why she deserves every ounce of recognition tonight. her unwavering presence at every single Jones High School football game. Yes, she's there welcoming us. Yes. Think about that. Every Friday night, rain, shine, season after season, cold, every baby, just out there, honey, freezing. She out there with a smile. She isn't just an employee. She is a devoted fan, a mentor, and the most consistent cheerleader for those students, fueling their spirit on the field, in the stands, in

059the classroom. This is the definition of showing up for our kids. Miss Harris, your love, your dedication, and your commitment to uplifting the students of Jones High School is an inspiration to us all. On behalf of this school board and a deeply grateful community, thank you for 22 years of excellence. Please join me in a very enthusiastic round of applause for Miss Margaret Harris. Now, I'm going to join you in the photo, and I have something wonderful for you. I used to always ask Mr. Thorwood. Who's that lady? She just always smiling. We're already up. Do before we do we have family? Oh yeah, you have family. We have everybody. Come on, family. Good. Big smile. Big smile again. Look happy. Perfect. Thank you so much. Okay. Now, thank you. What a wonderful display of

060fidelity and school spirit. Now we shift our focus to the classroom to celebrate another individual whose profound resolve changes lives every day. It is an honor for me to recognize Stephen Smith, a dedicated reading teacher and Molly Ray Elementary, who is his school's teacher of the year. Mr. Steven, would you please come up? Yes. I remember going into his classroom and being excited the way that he interacted with the students. I said, "Who is that guy?" Oh, he's wonderful. Mr. Smith has 15 years of teaching experience, including eight years here in OCPS. He has a special affinity for serving our third and fourth graders. And you do need that for those babies. Yes, sir. But his story of perseverance is a compelling testimony rooted in a challenge many of the students face every day. Mr.

061Smith, you have shared that you too struggled deeply with reading as a child. You remember the anxiety, the frustration and the shame that came from feeling stuck. That personal journey is now the powerful compassionate core of your teaching philosophy. You don't just teach the mechanics of reading. You teach courage, resilience, and true tenacity. That's because when you look at a student struggling with a difficult text, you see a reflection of your own past. You see a young person in need of strong guidance just like you were. That empathy transforms teaching into lifechanging work. And the results of that passion speak volumes. In your classroom, you push students to believe in themselves. This past year, my god, your class went from 17% of student proficient to a remarkable 57%. a turnaround that represents dozens of young

062lives uplifted. You also serve as a lead mentor, helping new teachers find their footing and sharing your knowledge and expertise in reading instruction across the entire district. Mr. Smith. Your unwavering conviction that every student can grow, no matter their starting point, makes you an invaluable leader and educator, a true champion of potential. Thank you for your relentlessness on behalf of the students and staff of Molly Ray Elementary. Please join me now in congratulating Stephen Smith. And I have something for you also. Please give him another hand. Thank you for education. Thank you for teaching at moderating. Yes, this is a little token here. I want you to do this way so you can take your picture. Yes. Thank you so much. Big smile. Big smile again. One more. Perfect. Thank you. Do you have any

063people that here supporting you? Please come. Anybody here to support Steve? to me like like we're not like respectful when we're sitting instead of standing. Good. Waiting for the back row. Big smile. Big smile again. One more. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Keep going. Yes. All right. Thank you so much, Member Felder. Thank you. Dr. Vasquez, do we have any newly appointed administrators to present? Oh, yes, Madam Chair, we do. so we are going to begin with Miss Joanie Caseimento who is going to be the principal at Endeavor Elementary. Good evening everyone. Thank you so much to school board members member Ferrant Dr. Vasquez, Dr. Armrewster, Mr. Martinez, Dr. Jones, Dr. Leftis, the Endeavor staff for this opportunity. I feel so humbled because the Endeavor community has given me

064so much ever since I was a first grade student going through those halls. So to come back as the principal is truly magical. And I want to thank my mentors as well, Mr. Rodriguez, Mrs. Carolo, Mr. Mr. Linlaw, Dr. Helton, Mrs. Key, Mr. Diaz, thank you for fostering opportunities for me to grow and be the best educational leader I can be. And to my mom and my friends and my family here today and those listening in, thank you for everything, your unwavering support. I couldn't do it without you. Thank you again. And thank you everyone. Have a great night. Okay, next we have Meredith Jordan who is crossing district lines. She is coming from Oyola County and she will be the new assistant principal at Akoi Middle School. Good evening everybody. Thank you school board

065members, Superintendent Vasquez, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Arm rooster executive leader Dr. Patty Fitzler and principal leader Kelly Steini for the opportunity to serve at Okoi Middle School. I also want to thank Principal Sherry Love it. It is an honor and a privilege to join you and your amazing staff in the important work that you are already doing for the OKOE community. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my incredible mother who's listening in from Puerto Rico, my daughter, my husband, and to all my family and friends for their support. Thank you for your patience, your encouragement, and your belief in me throughout this journey. Your love and support make this moment even more special. I also want to thank to take a moment to thank to express my sincere gratitude to all the administrators, teachers

066and staff who have inspired me and shaped me into the educator that I am today. Your passion for education and your dedicated commitment to students have profoundly influenced me in my journey. Each of you have left an imprint on my life and I will carry those lessons with me as I begin this new chapter at Okawoi Middle School. Thank you so much for this honor. Claire Hamilton has been the acting assistant principal at Vista Point Elementary and tonight we are making her the official assistant principal at Vista Point Elementary. Thank you, Chair Jacobs, the board, and Superintendent Vasquez for this opportunity to serve at Vista Point Elementary. I am humbled to be here tonight to accept accept the appointment. I want to thank Dr. Jones and Mindy Smith for their encouragement and guidance throughout this

067journey. Your support has been invaluable. To the amazing team at the point, thank you for welcoming me so warmly and making me feel right at home. And special thank you to you, Lisa Suggs, for taking me under your wing and guiding me during these first couple of months as an assistant principal. Your support has meant so much. I'm deeply grateful to Becky Edvnik and Marian Campbell whose leadership and mentorship during my years at Ridgwood Park shaped me to the educator I am today. They taught me the importance of compassion, perseverance, and always putting students first. I also want to thank my wife, Veronica, for her unwavering support and for always being there to encourage me and my parents, David and Suzanne, for inspiring me to become a teacher and to never stop learning. As I

068begin this new chapter, I promise my promise is to work every day to ensure every child feels valued and empowered to succeed. Thank you. Jacqueline Hansen is going to be the new assistant principal at Sunrise Elementary. At Sunrise Elementary. Good evening. Thank you, Chair Jacobs, schoolboard members, s Superintendent Vasquez, Dr. Arm Brewster and Dr. Raheem Jones for this opportunity to serve as Sunrise Elementary. I am truly honored to be entrusted with the role of assistant principal. I would like to especially thank Principal Leader Miller for this amazing opportunity. Thank you to principal leader Hankerson, Miss Deborah Vin, Miss Shice Hurdle, and Miss Holly Watts for believing in me and supporting my growth with so many meaningful opportunities that have prepared me for this next step. To my amazing family and friends, thank you for always

069supporting me, cheering me on, and believing in me. I love you all. To Principal Brinszo, I am excited to learn from you, collaborate with you, and continue building a school where every child feels supported and inspired to grow. Thank you for this opportunity. I can't wait to get started. Carla Kelly is going to be the new assistant principal at Hidden Oaks Elementary. Good evening. Thank you, Madame Chair Jacobs, esteemed school board members, Superintendent Vasquez, and closing in on former days deputy superintendent Arm Brewster for the opportunity to serve OCPS as an instructional leader. I stand before you this evening, deeply honored to be entrusted with such a privilege and responsibility. As I set forth on a new leg of my journey within OCPS, I would be remiss not to extend my enduring gratitude to those

070I consider lighouses, cornerstones, and north stars along my path. To Dr. Raheem Jones and principal leader Lisha Miller, thank you for being lighouses, speaking my name in circles where I did not stand, and guiding me towards a destination that is quickly becoming home. To the Gladiator leadership team from Riverside to Rolling Hills, My unofficial mentors, Miss Shice Hurdle and Mrs. Holly Watts. Thank you for being cornerstones, for picking up the phone every time I call, reminding me where I have come from, and encouraging me to see exactly where I'm headed. To principal leader Kimberly Hingerson, thank you for being a North Star. Your steadfast model of leadership defined by grit and grace has been and continues to be a source of clarity and direction as I make in the moment and long-term decisions that impact

071students, teachers, staff, and families. I am deeply grateful for your relentless faith in me as a human, a colleague, and now a blossoming school leader. To my principal, Mr. Miranda Longhouse, thank you for encompassing a lighthouse and northstar in a very short time. Your outside of the box thinking and style of leadership challenge and change me on a consistent basis. Your willingness to bet on me as your partner in upholding the pursuit of excellence, efficiency, and the highest academic achievement of the sweetest students in the district is humbling. and last yet nowhere in the vicinity of least my two daughters. I am immensely proud of the young women you are growing into. I would not be here this evening without your unending patience, humor, and enduring love and support. All that I do begins and

072ends with you. To close, I am truly overjoyed to be a permanent Hawk and serve the communities of Hidden Oaks Elementary in Orange County. Thank you. so as you've heard Mike is retiring and so that needs we that means we need someone to fill those big shoes and we have found someone and that individual's name is Mr. Jose Martinez. So, just a little bit of background. I met Mr. Martinez when he was a very young dean at Freedom Middle School. Quite energetic, bold, and at that time he was already demonstrating his leadership skills. and I have been able to watch him grow and thrive as a leader where his focus is on people first. And so I have no doubt that although you are not Mike Armster, you're going to be an incredible incredible deputy

073superintendent. the one thing that almost cost you the job, and you know what it is, is that he is a Yankees fan. And so, we are going to have to temper some of that, you know, emotion during baseball season. So, Mr. Martinez, you're recognized. Go Yankees. So, good evening, Chair Jacobs, members of the school board, Superintendent Vasquez. thank you for the trust that you are implacing in me. I'm honored to serve as deputy superintendent and humbled to serve our students, staff, and families. I want to recognize Dr. Armster as he retires. Mike, in your message today, you spoke about planting seeds. You've planted seeds in all of us and especially in me. I'm pleased to say that they've taken root. Tonight, I step into the privilege of nurturing that growth, watering what you planted so

074our students and our community can continue to flourish. To my family, my wife Dulat, you believe in me on days that I doubt and push me to do the hard things with heart. You turn ordinary moments into strength and keep our home a refuge where purpose is always renewed. To my kids who have been waiting patiently despite bribes from Matt Turner of ice cream later tonight. Kaisen Farah, thank you for the hugs after long days and the laughter that resets my compass. You remind me that every child is someone's whole world. To my parents, mom and dad watching from home. Mom who retired from OCPS as a paraprofessional taught me that every role matters. Dad, your hard work and humility shape how I lead. And to my sister, Marissa, a program specialist here, who never

075lets me forget that she's my big sister. And I've got plenty of text messages to vouch for that. for keeping me grounded and cheering the loudest. I look serving I look forward to serving shoulder-to-shoulder with Dr. Vasquez, our board, and the teams so that all of our students continue to thrive. Thank you. Can we have the your two children stand up because we can't see all of them. So, could you guys stand up? There they are. there. Yeah. All right. So, with Mr. Martinez moving into the deputy superintendent role, well, that left a void in the executive leader position for for high schools. And again, the choice of Britt dispensa was one that did not require a lot of thought. I have had the privilege of knowing Britt for several years. In fact, I remember

076having conversations with Britt when she became principal of OGA. No small feat. but even then, she led with grace. She listened to families and she was able to build a community where we were just starting a brand new program. She is an exceptional leader and I am thrilled that she is going to be the new executive leader for our high schools. Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Vasquez, Chair Jacobs, school board members, Dr. Williams, and Dr. Arm Brewster. It has been an amazing experience serving in the high school office, and it is my privilege to continue the great work that we have accomplished over the last four years. I want to thank you all for your support, and I will keep us on the positive trajectory of excellence. I also want to thank Mr. Martinez for

077believing in me and always coaching and teaching. I will always remember everything falls within the LPP. That's the legal, the political, and the practical. I also want to thank my HSO family, Martha, Kelly, Erica, Ally, and Lee, for their support as we continue to do what is best for the students of OCPS. I also have to shout out all the amazing high school principles and APs who believe in our work and give their all on a daily basis. I also have to thank my husband Jacobe for being extremely understanding and my biggest supporter. My two wonderful sons, Christian and Matthew, for sharing me with OCPS and my mom who prays over me daily and is the voice of reason. And thank you to all of my previous bosses, leaders, previous mentors, colleagues, and friends. Each

078of you have played an important part of this journey and I will definitely make you proud. Thank you. And last but certainly not least, we had a position to fill for principal leader over the high schools. and I have to tell you that I've also known Matt for quite a number of years. when he was at Edgewater and then when he went to Westridge and most recently his time at West Orange. And I can tell you that when you walk on that campus, you can feel the focus on students. You see the positive relationships between the students and the staff. and that's what we want to be able to see in all of our schools. We want to be able to have learning and working environments where peop all of the people feel that they

079are supported and that they are celebrated and that they are successful. And so I am also very proud to introduce Matt Turner as the new principal leader for high schools. Thanks so much Dr. Vasquez. Thank you chair Jacobs and the board members. Dr. Armbster, Mr. Dr. Martinez, Dr. Despensza, Dr. Borders back there was a big part of my leadership. Mike keeps telling me to keep being myself, so I'm just going to keep doing that. I was the same person that came up to the board meeting in my pajamas a few years ago. I did get your blessings, but you know, I keep being myself. I'm going to be honest with you about the last month. It's been really rough because I just got extracted away from 3,000 of my children, right? So, it's but I

080appreciate the opportunity. I'm looking forward to making the most impact. I became an assistant principal because I wanted to make the most impact. I became a principal because I wanted to make even more of an impact. And your conversation with me, which I was a little reluctant at first, just to be honest, because I love the kids and I love the school. You know, it's hard to leave there. But Dr. Arm Rooster's support and your support have been endless and I appreciate that. I'm looking forward to my new role. I'm looking forward to trying to make a bigger impact. And what Mike said earlier, I'm sorry for the first names, but he's Mike to me, is absolutely true. we have the right leader and I'm very happy to be working for you. Thank you. Congratulations

081to all of you, those that are new in your role, and all the excitement that lies ahead. And for those of you that are now taking on new roles as experienced leaders, I can't wait to see all the things that we continue to do for our community, our children, and Orange County Public Schools. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank Thank you, Dr. Vasquez. before before we move on, two things. just for the record, I kind of stand on formality up here for the most part, but he's Mike to us, too. So, if when yeah, when he's not sweetheart or you're crazy. so, and I'm really excited pajamas. I did not know that part. So, you will fit very well with this group. No doubt. can we get a picture with everyone who's been promoted? And once

082again, Dr. Vasquez out of Bog Park. your new little That's new, right? Congratulations. No, like you're like, I haven't seen you. This is how much you pay attention to. It's cuz you're too short. I can't see down there all the time. You know exactly. telling you guys. Oh my. Look happy on three. One, two, and three. Stay there. One more. Nice and happiness. Perfect. I closed my eyes. Yes. Please do bring friends and family. Anybody who's supporting, come on up. We have a little I got cold. doesn't feel nice. What? It's nice being nice to where it's like we need to put it by jump. That's going to be all of us in March raising a child up here. Yeah. Bingo. Thank you for the invitation. Baby, raising a community, a child, passing it around.

083Invitation to the shower. Oh yes. But now, thank you for the invitation to help parent up here. I love giving parental advice. I'm You have twins and you've seen it all. I like parents who have figured out the shortcuts, the good hard one lessons. Yes, that's Yeah. I want to be a parent teacher like, but I can't do that with my kids. So, no, you can't. my next door neighbor adopted and it was it was really cool. Yeah, cuz there were so many like little Look at that precious little grandma. I know, right? If you're a little small child and your dad just got a new job, come around the front a little bit. He's so cute. Got the kids. So if you're a little tiny There we go. Thank you little tiny people. Good.

084Look happy on three. One, two, and three. Look happy again. Stay there. We're taking a break right now. Congratulations. I think they have a break. Congratulations. Congratulations everybody. Usually I use it just as long as it takes for them to Oh yeah. Yeah. Just long enough for them to But it's long enough for a personal hygiene break. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead and take what? Short one if you need. I got to go visit my hidden oaks peeps. Okay. I know. I want to go say hi to my sister. Oh, go do go. So good to see you. Okay. No, no, I'll wait. I'll wait. I'll wait. I'll wait. And then if it's a little hairy then but after you speak and nobody's on the WebEx so it's not a big deal. Okay. somebody's got to

085be on the line somewhere. Now we talk AI. Yeah. I don't have any questions. I know you don't. Did you ever connect with that meeting? I did. I sent him a note. Let's see. I think we scheduled something. Oh, good, good, good, good. Seriously, what? We all We should probably All right, we ready? Yes. Okay, we're back in session. Dr. Vasquez, I believe you have some students from Cypress Creek High School that are joining us this evening. Thank you, Madam Chair. I do. As you know, I have a student advisory council that is composed of representatives from all 23 of our high schools. And this evening we are going to hear from the representatives from Cypress Creek High School. We have JL Perez and Isabella Reyes. Also with them today is principal Fred Korn. Thank

086you for for being here tonight. And we are going to hear from both JL and Isabella about the great things that are happening at Cypress Creek High School. Ah, I don't I don't see the mouse. The mouse is not there. Thank you so much. I've been wondering this whole time, who is this gentleman? Yeah, but there's no mouse. The mouse is all the way from the other school. It's all the way over. There it is. There it is. There. That one. No, no, no. It's just No, it's not there. Right there. Mhm. It's right there. Slideshow. Thank you. And they'll turn it over. Okay. Thank you. Hello everyone. My name is JL Paris. My name is Isabella Reyes. And today we're excited to show you what makes Cypress Creek an incredible place to learn, lead,

087and show off the bear pride. Cypress Creek is full of spirit, energy, and opportunity. One of the things we're most proud of is our club diversity. With 75 different clubs, there's something for literally everyone. Whether you love music, healthcare, gaming, service, or just want to try something new, you can find a community here. And we don't stop there. We even partner with nearby schools for events and collaboration. Nothing beats our school spirit traditions. Every Friday before football games, Wake Up Bear brings the hype with band, cheerleaders, and dance team pumping up the whole school. During spirit weeks, the tally board keeps grades, battling for the spirit stick, and our new fun Fridays have quickly become a hit, bringing music, games, dancing, and a chance for students to relax and connect. Another huge highlight is connectivity

088day, a whole event built around bringing students together. It gives everyone a free chance to make meet new people, join clubs, and feel like they truly belong. It's about togetherness, opportunity, inclusion, and getting more students excited to be involved on campus. And finally, our activities and the Creek Collage shows what Cypress is all about. packed events, student showcases, clubs, performances, spirit days, and more. It's proof that our students are engaged, active, and proud to be Bears. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, with kindness, confidence, and accountability, we are becoming better people for a better world. Go Creek. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. member for Thank you. Okay, you guys are amazing. First of all, thank you for being so patient. You have it was worth the wait. I absolutely

089love seeing what you're doing at Cypress Creek. Mr. Korn, you have been transformational. I love your spirit and enthusiasm and excitement. you've gave us some sunglasses and they remind me of you with your sunglasses and your bullhorn. amazing. I just love it. You have just a personality all of your own and I feel like it's really bleeding into the school and creating just a new just uplifting the culture that was already there but really giving it a new boost. and the connectivity days I was there at the first one. Wow. You really do have 75 plus different groups and clubs. I love how there's something for everyone and just the enthusiasm even at the beginning of the school year getting the families together and really building that culture and pouring into the kids where they

090feel like they want to be there and it's exciting and they can connect with others is a huge thing. So, thank you all for coming tonight and representing Cyprus so well. so fun to see each of you here and thank you again and for your families who are here as well. So you guys are amazing. Thank you. Yes, please. Picture. Yes. Can we get you all up for a picture? In the photo. call you out. Hold on. My photographer. Oh, smile. Guy direct. Those your favorite people. Big smile. Big smile again. Hold on. Big smile. One more. Can I get one claw up, please? Oh, absolutely. Okay. Excellent. What's the What's the mascot? Mr. Claus. Oh, I love it. I love it. reports I think or comments from Clinton McCracken, president of the Orange County

091Classroom Teachers Association. We had Ron Pard, but I believe he had to leave us. So, yes. Thank you. Good evening to all our amazing educators watching. Chair Jacobs, members of the board, and Superintendent Vasquez. As we approach winter break, many educators are looking forward to a moment to breathe, to rest, reconnect, and remember why we do this work. I truly hope I also know winter break won't mean rest for everyone. I hear every day from educators working second and even third jobs to make ends meet, driving for ride shares, delivering food, picking up restaurant shifts. Last night, I spoke with a teacher working part-time at a hotel to bridge the gap. This is the reality for far too many. Florida ranks 50th in the nation for average teacher pay. That's the backdrop as educators try

092to build stable lives and raise families while giving everything to our students. As we head into the legislative session, we ask our community to stay engaged. We need a bold, united voice demanding the resources public schools require and the professional respect every educator deserves. Teachers can't afford another year of being told to do more with less. All while even all while even more is added to their full plates. This weekend CTA is hosting a public education roundt brunch with faith leaders, elected officials, community partners, advocates, and educators. It's a solutions focused conversation about the real challenges facing Orange County's public schools. funding, voucher expansion, charter colllocation, the threat of school closures, and outside corporate profiteers trying to carve up our public schools. Our neighborhood public schools are the heart of our communities, and the work

093educators do every day is life-changing. We know the community stands with us in demanding a better path forward for public education here and across the state and we look forward to this important conversation with our community leaders. CTA is fighting every day for a strong thriving public education system, one worthy of our students and of the professionals who show up for them. Our teachers deserve stability. They deserve respect and they deserve to focus on their classrooms without depending on late night delivery shifts to pay for their rent, gas, or groceries. As we close out the year, I want to wish every educator, every family, and every OCPS employee a wonderful holiday season, one that's restful, joyful, and filled with the people and the moments that matter the most. Thank you. Thank you so much. All

094right. Thank you, Mr. McCracken. And we also have Amy McCale, president of the Orange County Association of School Administrators. Hi, good evening. Good evening, Chair Jacobs, board members, Superintendent Vasquez, Deputy and Superintendent Arm Brewster, staff, and community members. As mentioned, I'm Amy McCale, the o current OKASSA president, as well as the proud principal of Sunridge Middle School. On behalf of the Orange County Associate of School Administrators, I want to thank you for the opportunity to fe share a few updates as we close out this calendar year and look forward to the months ahead. Our first update is to tell you about our high school senior scholarship fundraiser. We gave high school scholarships last year, but this year we have a planned big fundraiser to hopefully up those scholarships. We're excited to announce our first annual

095golf tournament sponsored by Okassa, scheduled for March 5th at Stony Brook West Golf Club. this event is going to be more than just a day on the course. It's a vital opportunity to raise funds for our student scholarships. And these scholarships, as you know, will help our students achieve higher education and their dreams. We invite board members, staff, families, community partners to join us. Whether playing, sponsoring, or volunteering, together we can make a lasting impact on the lives of our students. And we're super excited about this first golf tournament. As we move into the second half of the school year, our focus remains clear. Just to go over a few of those focuses. One, of course, first, ensuring academic excellence by strengthening literacy, math achievement across all grade levels. We continue a focus on student

096well-being by encouraging mental health supports and fostering safe, inclusive environments that increase our students sense of belongings. We plan to continue strong college and career readiness by enhancing pathways through dual enrollment career academies and mentorship programs. Our instructional focus will continue to strengthen our skills through the work of our school-based PLC guiding coalition teams and empowering teacher coalition. And last but not least, community engagement. We look forward to building stronger partnerships with our parents and local organizations to support student success. We are committed to ensuring that every student OCPS has the tools, resources, and encouragement they need to thrive. Finally, as we enter this holiday season, we extend our warmest wishes wishes to each of you. May this time bring joy, rest, and reflection. And as we welcome the new year, may it be filled

097with renewed energy, collaboration, and continued progress for our schools in our community. Again, thank you for your ongoing support and dedication to the students of Orange County. We look forward to working together in 2026 to achieve even greater success. And to Dr. Armbster, we don't say goodbye, we say see you later. Thank you. Thank you, Miss McCale. Thank you so much. next we have a strategic plan update. Dr. Vasquez. thank you, Madam Chair. I am very excited for you to see this presentation. Maurice Dragon, our chief information officer. we also call him our AI guru. has put together a presentation. It was shared with our the superintendent teacher advisory committee cabinet has some elements of this has been shared with them and so you will see what we've been doing in the area of AI

098and I think you will be very impressed. So I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Dragon. Thank you, Chair Jacobs, members of the school board, and Superintendent Vasquez for your time today. This presentation was created using AI as a thought partner. Microsoft Copilot has a voice mode that allows you to have a conversation with AI. I use the voice mode in Microsoft Copilot to plan and create the initial draft of this presentation. Today as we discuss artificial intelligence, I will provide a definition of what AI is, share experiences on its of its application and its implementation in our district. One frequently used term when discussing artificial intelligence is grounding. Grounding is starting from a common ground or a shared level of understanding. On this page, you'll find a definition of artificial intelligence created by

099Google Gemini, an artificial intelligence tool along with a citation for that definition which was also created by Google Gemini. As mentioned in the definition, artificial intelligence refers to a program that can emulate the intelligence, thinking patterns, and decision-making processes of humans. AI systems are typically composed of four main components. Pre-training data, machine laying, machine learning layers or agents, the AI model, and the user interface. Data serves as a foundational information that AI uses to learn patterns and make decisions. Layers within the model are internal components that transform and process the data in stages, enabling the model to understand complex relationships and features. The model is the core system that processes this data, learning from it, learning from it to perform tasks such as classification, prediction, or generation. And the graphical user interface is what you

100see when you use it as you interact with the AI system. An AI system is similar to a school district or a classroom. Just as AI relies on pre-training rules that governs its functionality and the information it processes, a school district, for example, operates based on schoolboard policies, meetings, and decisions that shapes its operations. An AI system uses machine learning or agents to efficiently manage tasks. A school system has cabinet members and divisions to address specific concerns such as facilities or human resources ensuring experts are readily available. These resources are consolidated into an AI model like chat GPT co-pilot or Google Gemini. In a school district, the superintendent leads the system, ensuring that the work of the cabinet, divisions, and the school board rules are cohesive. AI has a graphical user interface, which is where

101you see and interact with the AI model. Conversely, in a school district, you can understand schoolboard policies and processes by attending a schoolboard meeting or work session. Google Notebook will be used today as a model of what a AI will be used today as an example of the AI tool that has an interface that visually demonstrates the components of the AI system. Google notebook has a dedicated section for adding PDFs, Google Drive resources, and links to the left that mimic the pre-training or the grounding data. It also includes a center section for asking questions about your resources and a pseudo area for generating podcasts and other digital media. Let's review some examples of Google Notebook as an AI system. Go back one here. In Orange County Public Schools, we have over 250 separate documents that

102represent board policies and management directives. All the policies and management directives have been added to a single Google notebook on this slide. This pre-training data serves as a foundation for the AI model, enabling it to answer questions based on the documents provided. This approach offers a powerful and efficient way to quickly evaluate, understand, and access the information contained within the board policies and management directives. When a question is asked, Google notebook provides a number next to every sentence that indicates the source of the information the AI provided. This allows you to verify the summary provided and you can also click on the number to go to exactly the section of the document used by the AI. Attending schoolboard meetings can help you gain a comprehensive understanding of the board's guidance and decision-making. It may be

103difficult, however, to attend every board meeting. However, it is possible to miss important questions or feedback from board members even when you were there. Google Notebook LM provides a practical solution by allowing you to add the YouTube link from our schoolboard meetings directly to a Google notebook. The platform can process the automatic closed captioning from these meetings from YouTube, enabling you to treat them as searchable sources. You can post questions about a single meeting or you can ask about multiple meetings simultaneously. For example, I created a Google notebook containing Orange County Public Schools board meetings since February of this year. I can ask Google notebook to identify discussions about dual enrollment and the dates those discussions took place in front of the school board to gain a better understanding of the board's feedback on that

104issue. Lesson planning is an essential component of every educator's day. A wide range of resources are available to support this process, including lesson plans created by individual educators and those provided by the district. By leveraging tools such as Google, Google notebook, educators can organize and curate lesson plans, enabling them to develop materials that address the unique needs of their students or to supplement existing lesson activities with additional examples. On this slide is a video created by Google Notebook to help students identify common mistakes made when working with exponents. Google Notebook was given the lesson plan in a PowerPoint format and it made this video from that PowerPoint. I'm going to play a piece of the video here. Hey, welcome. Today, we're going to crack the code on a fundamental piece of algebra that honestly shows

105up everywhere. Exponents. If you've ever felt a little shaky on these, you're not alone, and you are definitely in the right place. We're going to clear it all up. Okay, let's just dive right in with a problem that trips up a lot of students. So, we've got Leilana and Kamari. Leilana wrote 2 to the power of four, and she showed her work as 2 * 2* 2* 2. Kamari wrote something different to get to 16. Now, one of them is spot-on and the other made a super super common mistake. Take a look. Who do you think got it right? All right, it goes on, but I had to cut it off. Hey, welcome today. There we go. Google Notebook offers a great visual representation of how pre-trained AI models and machine learning works together. Let's

106explore how the graphical user interface facilitates interaction with the AI model. Most AI models typically have a single area at the bottom where you can input a question for the AI model to process. Sources and agents are hidden behind the menus or cannot be seen at all at all. To ask a question, you enter a prompt which is essentially the question you are asking. Here are some quick and fun examples of prompts that can be entered. Google Gemini has a built-in image generation. You can enter a prompt that will convert the text into an image. If you upload an image you have, the text will be applied to that image. For instance, I uploaded a picture of myself and entered a prompt to turn my picture into a figurine placed on a computer desk. Here

107you can see the prompt and you can see that here you can see the output of that prompt. I asked also for my picture to be a transformed into a professional photo which is the second image on this slide. The third image on this page is actually a video that I created using AI. I took a picture of myself and I put in a prompt to place myself in a school hallway saying welcoming. Welcome to our school. We're so glad you're here. And this was the result. Welcome to our school and we are so glad you are here. So AI me sounds nothing like me. But AI is more than writing. There are AI tools that can help a user in a variety of creative and professional work. OCPS has approved ChatGpt, Google Gemini, Microsoft

108Copilot for staff use and Adobe Firefly and Kamigo for staff and student use with guardrail such as no personal information being shared or used to train the model. We have provided professional development in various format for teachers and staff. For example, there's a training called AI literacy for teachers, a two-day district-f funded subcovered professional learning series that schools can sign up for. We have also provided on demand and sitebased training sessions to learn more about approved AI tools and how to integrate them with standard aligned instruction. The 202526 media special series includes a dedicated AI in the media center session focusing on library-led support for AI AI use curation and research skills. OCPS is coordinating also with Khan Academy on the use of con MIGO in high schools. Our AI initiatives are tailored to align

109with the OCPS 2030 strategic plan and departmental priorities and not as standalone efforts. The following slides will highlight conversations taking place at the district level and within the AI working group about AI. Conversations have focused, for example, on reducing staff burden through automation and the use of AI chatbots that can assist with frequently asked questions. The onflow, formerly let's talk power chatbot on the district's website answers questions asked by using AI to gather information from across the entire district. For example, district and AI working group conversations have also emphasized the whole child and the whole school support, crossdep departmental collaboration and tiered interventions with a focus on access to AI resources across schools. We have also taken steps to review and approve AI tools that follow laws such as the Children's Internet Protection Act, SIPA,

110and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, COPA, as well as to block AI tools where validation cannot be established and appropriate use of student and staff data cannot be found. Training and building capacity are critical component critical components of our continued focus on AI. We continue to focus on what I call the AI sandwich. Processes that begin with a human, use AI, and end with a human making the final decision and application. The district has also begun conversations about AI policy. This requires feedback and support from key partners. We will pri prioritize developing an AI policy that addresses current technologies while remaining adaptable to future advancements in artificial intelligence. We also want to develop resources to help teachers, students, and other district staff use AI effectively. On November 12th, the superintendent's teacher advisory committee met

111to provide feedback on the use of AI from a teacher's perspective. These feedback points will play a critical role in the development of an AI policy and guidelines. Elementary teachers shared they are leveraging AI primarily as a supportive tool to enhance their instructional practices. They use AI as a teacher's assistant to plan lessons, differentiate reading and math materials, create visuals, and draft parent communications. They emphasize AI saving time and providing accurate vetted content while ensuring it does not replace the human component of teaching. At this level, studentf facing AI is minimal as teachers prefer to use AI themselves to indirectly support students. Regarding professional learning, most elementary teachers report feeling only somewhat confident using AI, while 59% of those who attended who were there said they have attended some type of AI training and 41%

112have not. Their preferred format for professional development includes hands-on demonstration and subject specific integration training. These preferences highlight a strong desire for practical practicable in-person learning and experiences that build trust and skill with AI tools. Elementary teachers who were surveyed also see significant a potential for AI to alleviate administrative burdens. The majority believe AI could assist with routine communication tasks such as translating and drafting parent emails and newsletters. And 73% see its utility in data entry. More than half also recognize AI potential in helping with forms and reports including IEP paperwork. Teachers envisioned quick wins like AI generated data reports in parentfriendly language, compiling behavior logs, scheduling events, and generally speeding up paperwork. On the governance front, elementary teachers are calling for clear guidelines and safeguards around using AI. They want explicit dos and don'ts

113for staff use, including rules on protecting student data, verifying AI generated content for accuracy, and maintaining professional integrity. There were also concerns about student use of AI with most teachers believing young students should not use AI unsupervised to prevent misuse or shortcuts in learning. Elementary teachers believe that AI should be voluntary and not mandated. Middle school teachers provided feedback that they are using AI for a variety of instructional tasks, including lesson planning, creating assignments, grading support, and providing student feedback. Some teachers have begun using AI to generate writing prompts and offer automated feedback on student responses. Differentiation remains a key benefit with AI helping tailor reading levels and providing multilingual support. However, teachers caution against students becoming overly dependent on AI and advocated for its use in scaffolding learning and engaging students under teacher supervision.

114In terms of professional learning, 45% of middle school teachers who attended reported being someone confident in using AI and 55% have already had some AI related training. A notable 64% express a desire for hands-on demonstration of AI tools and the equal percentage favored peer learning sessions. Middle school educators prefer collaborative in-person learning environments where they can share experiences and strategies with colleagues rather than online courses. The middle school teacher surveyed also identified administrative tasks, particularly paperwork and documentation, as a primary area where AI could provide relief. All respondents indicated that forms such as intervention tracking and disciplinary referrals consumed time and could benefit from AI automation. Additionally, 82% pointed to communication tasks and 73% to data entry as areas where AI could offer support. Teachers who were surveyed saw potential for AI to enhance parental

115engagement systems and student intervention tracking with suggestions including AI assisted class scheduling, flagging schedules or behavior issues, and generating accessible reports for parents and staff. On the policy front, middle school teachers strongly advocated for comprehensive AI guidelines for both staff and students. Concerns about plagiarism, cheating, and misin information were cited by 91% of those who took part in the survey. Middle school teachers recommended limiting and monitoring students use of AI, possibly through restricted versions of approved resources. They also emphasized the importance of teaching students responsible AI usage and proper citation practices. For staff, they asked for clear rules on data entry, verification of AI outputs, and transparency in AI use. Teachers raise additional concerns about the integration of AI policies into existing resources such as the code of conduct. At the high school level, OC

116the high school teachers that were surveyed are exploring advanced application of AI in their instructional practices. They're using AI to differentiate content and assignments such as finding readings at verify varied Lexile levels and creating alternate versions of tests. AI also assists in data analysis, planning, unpacking standards, analyzing student performance data, and drafting components of IEP. Additionally, some teachers incorporate AI into college preparation activities, including SAT or ACT practice. While recognizing AI's potential to enrich instruction and provide real world examples, high school teachers are cautious about preserving the human factor in teaching. They emphasize that AI should not replace a teacher expertise or student critical thinking, especially given the high stakes of graduation and college readiness. AI is seen as a tool to enhance rigor, generate higher order questions, and visualize abstract concepts, all under close

117teacher oversight. Regarding professional learning, high school teachers exhibited a wide range of confidence levels, including 21% feeling confident, 30% feeling only slightly confident, and 64% who have said they've received some AI training, and they continue to seek more. Their top request is for hand hands-on demonstration of AI tools with 57% expressing interest. Additionally, 29% were interested in sessions comparing different AI platforms. They prefer a mix of training formats, including in-person workshops, 71%, online courses, 43%, self-paced tutorials. All of this indicating a need for both group learning and individual exploration tailored to their specific subject areas. The high school teachers surveyed recognized the value of AI in managing the extensive data and communication demands of grades 9 through 12. Approximately 79% believe AI can assist with data entry tasks such as uploading grades and tracking credits.

118While many see its utility in generating performance reports and conducting graduating graduation requirements audits, AI is viewed as a helpful tool for streamlining parent and student communication including writing emails and recommendations and specific high school administrative tasks like managing transcripts, scholarship applications, CTE certification tracking. These are all areas where AI could support could provide support including for counseling counselors and teachers. Some educators also use AI to create substitute plans and rubrics rubrics efficiently. However, there is concern that increased efficiency might lead to larger class sizes or heavier workloads which teachers cautioned against. On the governance side, high school teachers are particularly concerned about academic integrity and data security. A significant 93% identify plagiarism and cheating as top concerns related to AI use. They advocated for updates to the student code of conduct to address unauthorized

119AI use and implementation of tools to help detect plagiarism. Teachers also worry about bias and accuracy in AI generated content and they seek transparency regarding the resources that AI systems utilize. Data privacy is also an issue given the sensitivity of high school students personal information. Teachers call for assurances that AI platforms meet privacy standards and express concern about the long-term imple implement imple implications of AI on job security. They urged district leadership to provide clear statements in AI's role in education and the protection of teachers positions emphasizing the need for ongoing governance and teacher involvement in policy development. We've taken deliberate steps to ensure that the integration of AI within OCPS will reflect input from diverse stakeholders, align with the OCPS 2030 strategic plan, and provide practical guidelines for teachers and staff. We have additional

120initiatives planned this year to establish comprehensive policies and processes and guidelines for AI usage. At this time, I will turn the presentation over to the superintendent for remarks, followed by questions and discussions from the board. Thank you, Maurice. as stated, he presented to our teacher of the year advisory council. and they gave us great feedback. it's clear they want more training and they want it in person. and they want to have it integrated with the tools that we currently have. And so I am tasking our team to put together trainings that we will be able to offer to our teachers over the summer, pay them to attend so it's not conflicting with work that they are already doing. and we plan to go back to our next teacher advisory meeting which is I believe the

121end of January. and we'll share what we are doing based on that feedback. it is clear from some of the things that Maurice has shared that we have some teachers that are doing just an outstanding job integrating AI in the classroom. they're using the tools with the students and helping them understand how to use AI ethically so it's not running into some of the issues of plagiarism and really how it should be used and when used properly it can be an incredible tool. so we are ready for any questions or comments that you might have. I also want to add that board member Salamanca sits on the AI task force as well and so she has also contributed ideas and has helped push us along as you know you need to go slow to go

122fast. Okay, we have a full lineup. let's start with member Gala. Thank you, Madam Chair. I feel like my life has been inundated with AI lately. I've gone to several conferences and the theme with at Excel and Ed and at FSBA was all about AI. so the I have a couple of questions. The first is the notebook that you the Google notebook the LM I think Dr. Vasquez mentioned that you're uploading all of the policies and directives into the notebook LM. So when will the board have access to be able to use that chat box to ask questions because that would make our life imminently easier than me calling John and going John what policy number is this? I can certainly share the link to the to the notebook with all board members. I think

123that we'll it'll still be the piece where John as that final check will still definitely I think be be necessary but of course it can definitely give you it'll definitely point you in the right direction. So I'll make sure I share that link. Yeah. And I would love like we I went to a class last week where they kind of Google was there and Google walked us through how to do notebook LM and all the benefits. They showed us the podcast, how to make a video and did all those great things. But I would like to get down more to the nitty-gritty on how the board could use it to maybe do videos for our constituents, things that we could share and like little clips. So I would love a little training for the board

124on how to do that because I think that would be invaluable. Dr. Vasquez. Yeah, I think we have a planning session that is coming up and so we may be able to carve out a little bit of time for Maurice to do some demonstrations. he does quite a bit for cabinet. He also has some videos that he has kind of put together that kind of walk you through. But I'm sure you are all much more literate in technology than I am. But I often need for him to do a slower stepbystep tutorial with me. So, we'll we'll get with Dr. Williams and squeeze in a little bit of time. Great. Thank you. And then you talked about the board meetings. Did you upload the board meetings from YouTube into Notebook LM? And if you did,

125can we have the can we have the little link to that as well? I can certainly also share that link. Yes. Awesome. listen, you I know that Sher Jacobs watches hours and hours of YouTube trying to find past things that have happened. All you'd have to do is put in I know what was the vote on this and it'll spit it out to you. I know when I heard that I was like, "Oh my god." I mean, it's such a timesaver. So, so I would love that link. Like I will cut and paste the transcript and then and that's only on the meetings where we have transcripts. That's not, you know, the work session is and then I Yeah. And then I'll do a word search for words I'm looking for. That tedious process. Yes.

126Has I thought that was like cutting edge that I could do that anymore. Whoa. I know. Whoa. I know. I'm You won't have to do that. The presentation taking off the hours that I'm not going to And I'm super excited that he did all the work on the upfront unloading everything in. So now all we get to do is ask you questions. Exactly. so I'm assuming because you're using Google that the information is encrypted at every level like so there so no there's no data privacy concerns no matter what we do who Google doesn't have access to it nobody has access to anything that we upload into notebook LM that is correct so the Google notebook LM is managed by the same privacy policy we have with our in our Google workspace overall and the

127contracting we have with Google. So there is no training on any of our data and our data is private and it is our data. Awesome. And then the only thing that I know then we're looking at a policy on AI. my my biggest concern with AI is the lessons that we've learned kind of like from social media. We need to be on the forefront in securing and ensuring that our students privacy and data is safe. But there's a a trend that is disturbing where students are using chat bots for emotional support and they're using them as companions instead of having friends. So when we're looking through that policy, we need to ensure that's not allowed on any of our devices for the safety of our students. I think when looking at this, we almost need

128to create a standard of care for AI use. Like what is our standard of care going to be for our students to ensure that they do stay safe? and that they're not replacing human friends with chat bots because I mean chatbots will tell you what you want all the time. I will tell it's wrong. And it will say, "You are so smart. Thank you for letting me know." And I'm like, "Oh geez, thank you for telling me I'm smart." But they will tell you what you want to hear. So, I just want to make sure that when we're looking at that we're just aware and not allowing students to use that for emotional support. what about hallucinations? Because I know a lot of time I'm a big believer that students at the high school level,

129if educated properly, I think AI could be a really good research tool for them. They can site resources. It's a lot quicker for them to find that information. But we have to ensure that the information given to them is valid information and not a hallucinating. So what are we doing to minimize a hallucinations that might come out of the AI use either by our staff or our students use? One of the reasons why I've we're really looking at starting off with Google notebook LM is that notebook LM utilizes data that it's imported. Okay. So it's only it's only uses the data that's imported in it. Right? So there will be no hallucinations. I won't say it won't there will not be any hallucinations but when it provides you a response every response has a number

130next to it you can click on that number and you can go right to the source and you can verify yourself now the other thing I will say is that as Dr. Bas shared there are teachers that are using not only notebook they may be using for example Google gemini or some of the other tools that may not have that direct reference. One of the things that I've just been very heartened by is that the teachers that have communicated with me, they are teaching their students that exact piece around checking for hallucinations, checking to see if the data that they're getting back actually matches when they go back to the source and they're asking the AI, provide your source, and then they're going and they're checking that source. So there's both going to be a

131training, but there's also a practice piece that'll be a part of it. That's awesome. And I do think that starting with notebook is a good place to start because it really is pulling information from information that was already uploaded, which in theory should help eliminate hallucations. I just want to say that I agree with the elementary teachers. I think we should be very cautious in using this in elementary school. I don't think it's appropriate. I would even cautious us in in middle schools. I do think that it's probably more appropriate for high schoolers, especially high schoolers that are getting ready for career and college because it's not going anywhere. People, we can be afraid of it. All we want, but it's not going anywhere. It's going to continue to grow and we've got to stay

132ahead of it to ensure that we are creating a safe environment for our students. and the only other thing that I will say is that I know that a lot of teachers and others are really concerned about the human factor. I'm not as much concerned about the human factor because there's nothing like a there's nothing like an educator being in the room. There's no you cannot AI cannot replace that human interaction. I actually ran into a tutor that my daughter had for the SAT. we were trying to get her SAT up so that she could get full bright futures, which she did do. and she tells me all the time, she goes, "The strategies that he gave me and the confidence that he gave me is what made me get the score on the SAT

133that I did, and no amount of AI can give a child that takes a human connection to do so. So, I'm thrilled that we're looking in this. I look forward to all the links that you're going to send our way to make our jobs a little easier. I do think that there's a lot here that will once educators get comfortable with it, I think they're going to be amazed at the burden and some of these task oriented items that could be taken off their plate. So, thank you very much. Thank you, Member Gallo. Vice I'm sorry, member Felder. Thank you, Chair. First of all, Maurice, thank you so much for the presentation. And I noticed that when you the part when you were inside and welcome to our school, my little thank you cards, you've

134generated that. So I appreciate that. But so let me just get to my thoughts. I don't trust AI. I don't like it at all because my concern is that not because I don't think that it's some of the wonderful things that AI provides for us, especially educators, but I don't know that we're going to be as cautious as we say that we're going to be to protect our students and our children in terms of when they communicate with Gemini. Now, what I did like about Gemini, man, I sometimes I wish I was back in classroom and then sometimes I don't. But if I could teach the Harlem, if if this AI was around when I was teaching the Harlem Renaissance, oh my god, I would love to have put myself in New York in the

1351920s right in Harlem and talking to Langston and talking to Anna Bomps and letting the children hear the jazz and that would been so wonderful in my opinion. I think it is very helpful for teachers the visual I'm a visual teacher and a visual learner and I think AI in that perspective would be wonderful if I was teaching physiology and anatomy to get inside of a body so the children could see I mean that in that respect is wonderful but then my concern is that and you and board member Gallow talked about and I think you all have considered that fact that you as a teacher we have to be cautious enough and understand when AI is taking over our thought process because it's smart. It's a computer. It's man-made. You know, my girl, my

136cousin works with AI. She's a film director in Atlanta and her little avatar constantly tells her, "Don't do that." And she know she is trained, but it argues back with her. I said, "What are you talking to a computer? What's wrong with you?" So that's one of my concerns that we have to be really on top of how we use it. Also I'm in an agreement but I know most of the board members say that nothing mechanical could ever take the place of human the human touch being able to talk and be able to work with children. my concern again I don't think it should be in elementary school not from this perspective unless you can do some kind of fantasy thing when you're teaching children smaller things but for for them to have to

137be taught exactly from this I have some caution because sometimes we get lazy and we won't go back and research and the AI is doing all the teaching that I have a problem with and as a teacher of English a writing teacher I don't know how we're going to deal We say we got a a plan to deal with plagiarism. I don't know. I'm not convinced that the plan is right because it's so easy for students to go to Chat BT or go to Gemini, get a subject and the paper is written. And how many teach you got 125 students, 125 papers to check, you might not take out the time to see whether or not it was Gemini or whether the student is doing it. And then this whole art of teaching, the pedagogy,

138the art of teaching it. I don't want that to be lost. I want us to be advanced and it's wonderful. But the whole I do not want the pedagogy to get lost. And I think if we're not careful, it will get lost and children will not learn the mechanics of good writing, of critical thinking. They'll just go to Gemini. and I don't know whether or not we have in place the tools to combat that. I believe in advancement. I think it's needed. But there's something about the fact that at my age I can remember when I learned how to read, when I understood comprehension. And if we rely too much on this and don't have something in place when the computer system goes into a glitch, because you know that happens in the county, happens

139all the time. What are we going to do? So I I want us to be cautious of that. But I do want to applaud the fact that papers, grading papers, putting schedules together indeed that is a help and counselors are just overwhelmed trying to put schedules together. Teachers are overwhelmed sometimes with grading papers and they may need that help. But I just want us I don't want to repeat some of the same things that member Gallow said, but to say that you know if we're going to use and I'm sure we are going to try to use it because everybody seems to be all excited about it. we need to be cautious and I'm going to keep coming back as long as I'm on this board because of my experience as a teacher for almost

14040 years. I know what it means to have handson experiences and teaching children and they and you watch them when you teach the concept not a computer when you teach the concept and their eyes light up and then you tell them to write or respond in writing what you understood that I said and their AI is not doing it they are writing it and that gives you such a grand satisfaction my other concern is with the parents some of women, you are we are always trying to reinvent ways to help parents understand and know what's going on. That parent is what not parent, what it's called, a parent square. That's a wonderful thing that we're doing. But some parents are still having a hard time with that. They still can't navigate that. And so if

141we're going to teach, how are we going to get them to understand and how to navigate through that? that's a concern that I have as a board member to make sure that they're having and then if they don't have a hot spot in their homes, how are they going to be able to to navigate that? And then how do we have something in place Maurice that if a teacher is using the AI and maybe a super a principal or administrator says that what is what has been done is incorrect or if the AI gives a wrong answer like that young man that committed suicide because AI told how are we going to check that? You know what I'm saying? That is a concern to me because whatever's on Google, somebody put it on there. Somebody

142whether they got the correct information or not. You understand what I'm saying? So, and then AI will argue back with you. They'll tell you, "No, no, no." They'll go back back and forth with you. How are we going to combat that and deal with that? And I know we are all concerned about the security student privacy act with children's business and so forth. How do we have in place and I'm not in a hurry, but however a long time it takes to make sure that we have in place a way to control the security of the business of our children in this district and what they're going you know what they're dealing with. And I'm sure you're going to have something in place to help us as we deal with discipline. I just I you

143know I just have real concerns and I probably be one of the skeptical skeptical board members until you have a I'm like from Missouri. I'm from the show me state. You have to show me exactly how this is going to work and what is the problem not going to be. So but I in closing the presentation was wonderful. I almost wanted to run back somewhere and teach the Harlem Renaissance so I can go back in that Gemini and be right there with Langston. Yes. So anyway, thank you for the presentation, but I'm the skeptical one. Okay. And I'm going to be that way for a minute. No, that's that's incredibly helpful. I we will provide definitely some some additional feedback on the points you've you've made. I just did want to point bring up one

144specific point with the support for parents. So I am working with Dr. Schuler and her office to provide some training for parents within the parent academy in the upcoming year in in the January February time period to make sure that we are also giving parents introduction and input to AI and we're working on a parent survey also to get some parent feedback on AI uses from them. the information is incorre if the information is incorrect. Will the teacher have the ability to go in and correct the historical facts if they're teaching something? I that's very important because people put what they want to put on Google and tell you it's true. And I know some of that stuff is a lie. It's a boldfaced lie. I know cuz I lived it. So, I just want

145to teachers if they're going to use it, they need to be able to the correct information. But if it's done correctly, oh my god, can you imagine, you know, going back through that and it would be wonderful. The kids could see it and understand it. But it we have to monitor this beast that we're developing because it is a beast. We got to monitor it. All right. Thank you so much, Member Douglas. Yes. I think you know member Felder just you asked my question about the parents. That's mostly what was my concern because if we want to create a guard rail around our kids at home because it takes a village to raise a child. It's not only in the classroom, but it's also at home to make sure that our parents are aware of

146what their children are doing and are knowledgeable in what the kids are doing on the computer and who they're talking with on a computer. It's very important. and also, you know, we went to a conference lately u about a AI. I'm not as scared of AI as I was. Okay? because they reassured me that it was a tool to help us. Just like when we started with a calculator at the beginning, people did not like that. But at the end, we use a calculator. But what happened with a calculator? Our kids don't do any memorization anymore. You know, they count on a calculator to do the work. And at this point, we're a little bit afraid that it went it goes a little bit farther that the kids would not think critically. they will just

147go to AI to do the work or to think for them and we want to avoid that. So how can we use AI as a tool not as a first as a the go-to but as a tool to help us to do things better and also we want to avoid hallucinations and biases in in AI. So how do we do all that? So they just like member Felder, I'm a little bit cautious because I do not want to lose our humanity. We want to keep that and use this as a tool to help us be better and to make it easier for our parents, our teachers to work in the classroom. It's great when you have something like that to do your lesson plan and help you with that. So you don't spend two or

148three hours trying to do a lesson plan. It's great. It's a tool. So that's my concern as well with the parents if we can just like you said we a tutorial for parents to help them to understand what AI is and how they can help the student from home I think that would be really great. Thank you so much and thank you for your presentations. Great. Thank you. Thank you member Douglas. I this is going to be so valuable from a teaching standpoint. I'm I'm just struggling with the same thing that member Felder and Douglas are and I know there's not a thing we can do about it and that is losing the skill set of of good writing skills. yeah, we had that same concern about calculators and I do think we probably are

149not as good with math as we used to be because of our reliance on it. But I just, you know, I mean, I wish there was a way that we could know if our students are using AI for producing documents and at some point I'll look to my AI expert next to me and you I mean is there going to be a point in the future where AI can detect AI? You know, like you use perplexity and it does a little of that, but yeah. I just you know so it's a skill set that I hate for the I know we're not going to lose our humanity and I really do believe that human beings will generally differentiate and this is the early stage but we'll differentiate and we'll still value face-toface communication but I

150just the skill skill set of being able to write. Well, I mean, and maybe it's I kind of like calculators. Maybe it's not a skill set that we need so much. I don't know. I just Anyway, it's I'm wanting you to answer the question and I know that there's no answer. So, I'm sorry I'm asking it again. Well, what I will share is that one of the things that I've that's really been very heartening to me in the I've been contacted by several principles who've introduced me to teachers who are using AI with their with their students and every single teacher that I've spoken with, one of the things that they are making sure their students understand is that they should be a critical partner of AI and that they should not just trust any

151output that is coming from AI and that early education piece. All the teachers that I've spoken with so far, they realize that is one of the key pieces. So they, one of the teachers, for example, they purposely pulled up an AI tool and they had the students ask who's the president of the United States and they knew it was a AI tool that did not have access to the internet and so it did not give the right president. And so they from the beginning of the lesson introduced that you cannot just trust every output that you get from from the tool. They are the ones that I've I've spoken with so far. Then I think they're giving great baseline pieces that we can use as part of our trainings and our recommendations to teachers overall.

152They're talking about things such as you do your own writing, but maybe you take the rubric that we've provided you and you ask AI to compare your writing to the rubric and to give you some suggestions there. So, they are giving students practical ways to integrate it into their writing, but at the end of the day, they're saying, "I know you. I know how you talk. I know the words that you use. And when you come back with a writing, yes, I could probably get some tool, but to be honest with you, I can tell this just doesn't sound like you, right? It's not something that you would ever say. The sentences are not in a in the pathway that you've you've ever used. are there some tools that we have in place now because

153for example, we today even before AI and even before AI, we had situations where we wanted students to express their thought and we wanted to make sure they were not using any tools around them. And so we do have tools that we use today where we can ask a student to go in to complete an assignment and they can't use any other resources. So I think there are things that we can that we can use you know thank you. I think that is a part of a part of the strategy. So, a couple things that you just said. you mentioned that, one teacher, a couple of teachers were, you know, instructing students on what to look out for and the shortcomings. So, I think if that is built into part of the curriculum that we

154use with AI, I think instead of some teachers doing it and some not, I just think that being incorporated is going to be important. But then I also like the idea that there's a certain amount of m I you're going to write a paper and you're going to write it in the classroom and you're not going to have use of your tablet, you know, so that we have some checks and balances in there and there's an incentive and a motivation by students to realize I still have to have that skill set. So I mean I find it really really helpful for proofreading a document or sometimes it's like okay I probably could have said that more clearly but here's here's what I want to say but how can I make that more concise and it's

155extremely valuable for that but that's entirely different than saying I need a report on XYZ and print it. So anyway, I would just really like for us to think about those measures that we keep in place so that there is accountability to learn basic skills like writing. Dr. Vasquez, so I hear the concerns. Yeah. I believe that the tool is something that our children have already grasp and are using very well. And if our teachers and our staff do not become aware of how to use the tool appropriately that we're going to have a huge gap. I do hear the concerns personally. you know we heard I think it was a speaker of FSBA that was talking about all this technology that's happened and in all these years there's only one job that's been eliminated

156and that's an elevator operator. All the other jobs still exist. And so I understand the angst because it's something that's new, but we have always had situations where we know children didn't necessarily do the work. I remember being a teacher having projects come and I could clearly tell the child did not do the project. This was a family project. And so for our teachers, they first of all need to feel comfortable in using the tools. For some of them, they are they are doing a phenomenal job. For others, this is not something that we're going to require them to do. We want them to feel that this is a tool that can help them, not not hinder them. And if they're not comfortable with it, we want to be able to give them the space

157to learn it. I've personally interacted with Comingo. I've seen students that interact with Comingo. I think it's one of the best platforms because it prompts you with questions. It does not just create I need a five paragraph essay on the topic you know of the American Revolution with seven citation. It does not just produce it. It asks you questions. It's teaching you through the prompts and I think that's what we have to look for. we have to carefully identify the AI tools that we are using working with, you know, our teachers to see what is working, what's not, and how it could complement their learning. and so I think there's just two camps out there. There's teachers that see that this is a tool that is going to help them learn. And I do think

158that you do learn as you are getting information from the agent or the chatbot because you're you're you're seeing writing and you are seeing the words that are being used and so there is some learning that is taking place. so we're we're going to proceed with some caution, but I don't think we can be too slow because the students are using it, other school districts, universities are using it and they are finding ways to do it in a manner that is ethical and they are also working around some of the challenges that you've mentioned. But we've all I mean we've always had that where children are producing work and I know of some that even with is it turnitin.com I think we're we they it goes in teachers put in the essay and I've had

159students that have shared yeah I didn't write it you know I had somebody else that helped me with it. So, so superintendent what I was asking about not was whether our teachers should be using it but whether there are some one should part of what we're teaching our kids is to be skeptical to recognize the shortcomings as opposed to correct okay so that was one point I made the other point was that if a certain If a certain amount of writing that you're doing for a class is required to be done in the classroom without the use of a tablet, then you are kind of reinforcing that you are going to have to be able to write by yourself. This is a tool. But if you're going to use that tool exclusively, then when you

160take this test, which requires you to write it right now, you're going to fail. So that's all that was all my comment was is that if we could build that into curriculum of some sort that just requires the student, for instance, when we're teaching, you know, addition, subtraction, we are not giving those kids calculators in the classroom to do that math. We're actually teaching them 2+ 2 is 4. I mean, at some point they're using a calculator, but they are learning 2 plus 2 is four. And so I think based, you know, some of the things that I'm hearing is and what I'm afraid of is just losing the ability to write. And I don't think I kind of felt like we have to lose that, but I actually don't think we have to lose

161that as long as we require that as some portion of the material that they produce in language arts. No. And I agree with you and I'm going to go to your example. and am I wrong? Because now we really don't. Let me I'm just going to give you an example. So there are children that learn their multiplication tables and do great. They may not understand the concept, but they've memorized them. But if you have not mastered your multiplication tables, you're going to have a heck of a time with fractions. You're going to have a heck of a time with decimals. So yes, do you hold back a child because they don't know their times table or do you allow them to have a tool that has what the multiplication tables are and they're learning the

162concept of how do you reduce fractions? How do you multiply fractions? And so in some cases, if we are waiting for children to master their multiplication tables, and sadly we see it in some of our algebra classes, they're never going to progress. And so I think that's how we have to look at some of these tools or how we need to look at some of these new technologies. How can they help our children? How can they help our employees to do their jobs more efficiently and learn from them as opposed to let them do the work for you? And I do think that with our teachers and our trainings with them and learning from them how they are using it, how they are having the children understand how how important it is for them to

163be doing the work. because when you take the test, if you've let the AI tool do all the work, you're not going to pass. And so I think that is something that we are very cognizant of, especially at the middle and high school. There was a lot of concern around that how much of a reliance do they have on the artificial intelligence tool versus them actually knowing what's been taught. All right. All right. Thank you. member Douglas, oh, I'm sorry. You know what happened? I Yeah, you didn't clear and I didn't clear. So, there we go. Member Ferrant. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Maurice, for great presentation. I won't prolong this. I think we've kind of gone over everything a lot, but just my own thoughts. It's cautiously optimistic. I think there's a

164lot of things that, all of us have have statements that have been made that are great and, thought-provoking. I love it as a tool, as you were saying. something where a teacher or board members like ourselves can go in look for something and it pops up for like a policy for us. Super helpful. It's time you know saves us time. but I am I would just want to make sure that whatever if you know we create a policy around this that we just make sure that obviously education is the focus. So making sure that kids are learning how to write that paragraph and maybe then using AI as a tool of okay what are some other ways do you see how for instance when you type into chat GPT if you type in a nice

165paragraph and then it gives you three different options and three ways to say it. So you could use that as maybe a tool, a teacher could use that to use that as a tool to say see how there's other ways that you could reword this and really kind of helping the kids to expand their minds because as was mentioned if they don't have their their laptops with them or whatnot, it's you just want to be able I want kids to be leaving our schools with the knowledge in their minds, not at their fingertips just running to chat GPT. I think even a lot of us, I know for myself, I'm starting to spot when people have used chat DPD and just copied and pasted and threw it in there. it's one thing to take a

166little section or a blurb from it like, "Oh, I like that sentence, but I'll use the rest my own." so I think as this progresses, it reminds me of the internet when like back in the day, I guess I was kind of young. I don't know, late teens when internet came out. but there was a lot of skepticism and what will this be and is it taking over the world? so I think just being cautious just like with the internet there's goods and bads and so same thing with this there's goods and bads. I really hope it could be an awesome tool for our teachers administrators making schedules that type of thing. So thank you again. Appreciate it. Thank you member member Salam vice chair. thank you so much sharer. Mary one of the questions

167I had was about like the training that we're thinking of doing about data privacy security and kind of our policy on uploading call it internal material in external sources and like you know is that part of the conversation we're going to have on policy? Is it something that's being addressed by some of our blocks? But I mean, everybody goes home and is in their own internet and they have their own account. So yeah, it is definitely one of the areas that is going to be a key part of the training because that is one of the that's one of the main concerns that I have when we talk about AI overall is that we have a we have this chicken and egg piece where we want to make sure we're responsibly giving teachers access to

168AI tools. We know teachers are using AI tools and sometimes the tools that they are using. If those tools are not tools that we have vetted or that we've made sure that they are not using our data, we know that they are using our data. And so I think there is much more education that we need to do around making sure that teachers and students understand the transaction that is taking place. if you're using a public tool to ask it and give you give your information in and what they're going to do with that information. So that's going to definitely be part of the training that we are providing and part of the policy discussion overall around around AI policy. Yeah. I mean obviously I'm I'm personally very excited about AI and see a lot

169of the potential that is there. I'm also very aware of where things go wrong. I would say my biggest concern with AI and something that I will be very outspoken for as we draft policy is majority of these AI tools, whether it's the normal chat GPT or call it claud or whatnot. If you're not using the enterprise version of these tools, call it the OCPS version or whatever you use at work, anything you feed it goes into the big machine, right? And so by default, anything that you at home do and upload gets turned on into the memory because memory is usually automatically turned on and any information you submit to it is now basically public domain. So, let's give the example of if a teacher goes off of OCPS Enterprise AI and goes home

170and uploads student records for an IEP or student records for healthcare or performance. Those student records are now public domain. Any person out there that searches this or specifics about them anywhere in the world will have access to this if they know how to ask it. I think this is incredibly risky and I want to make sure I know we're not going to be enforcing training on how to use it in the classroom. But I do feel strongly on having every staff member understand that if I mean we have laws against leaking student data and information and of course AI makes it much easier to do an IEP much easier that now we know. But if a teacher takes that and uploads it somewhere else and that students information, I know if it's my kids,

171I wouldn't be happy about that is now suddenly in the public domain forever, right? Like we, you know, I grew up in the social media era where it was like never take a picture with you in a red cup and post it on Facebook because it's going to be there forever. This is so much worse than that because any person that uploads any information about you, whether it's your teacher, your doctor, your psychologist, I mean, any person out there who has information about you and uploads it into a non-enterprise AI, it's fair game for the rest of folks out there if they know how to look for it. So to the there's like the how do we incentivize responsible use is an important conversation to have but also like the risk part of it I

172think is really serious. and I think folks are just starting to see how much out of control it is. Right. is like every Fortune 500 company has had that issue because some employee uploads IP information at Goldman Sachs, at Google that they went and uploaded and suddenly if you go search for it, it shows up and that was not possible before. Obviously, you could upload it, but it's really hard to find those things if you just go on google.com. And so, that's that's one of the things that I would say the privacy and the implications and perhaps the consequences of something like that. that I want us to take really seriously in our policy because it is something that is going to really hurt us. not just OCPS but every organization long term. and I

173would say that the average person like if you look at the average person's usage of AI, one of the biggest things they use it for is healthcare. People upload their lab results onto Chad GPT. They upload all kinds of stuff on there because they get answers and they can chat with someone. And it is there's a lot of reasons why it's incredibly helpful, but that doesn't mean they should. And so that is happening. And as folks outside of a work setting get used to using these tools in a very informal way without being taught how to use them responsibly, they're going to keep using it whatever way they think is. this is helpful, this is easy, this is efficient, this makes my life easier. And so the I think there's a discussion to be had

174on what is enforced in training and what isn't because some of this stuff is really high stakes of course like how do we do this in curriculum or all this stuff like that's a little different and I would I wouldn't want to force that on on folks but I think on the student data safety and privacy I would I would definitely probably be more open to do a bit more of mandatory type of training because it's just I don't think people would be happy if suddenly a lot of our student records are out there. So that's one I think to some of the questions that folks brought up and there's a lot of complicated technical answers to this, but it is mathematically impossible for AI not to hallucinate. And like the I'm going to butcher

175this, but this is like the oneonone version of why it's mathematically impossible for not to do it. The early parts of what was computation and what we all grew up with with our computers was everything was zero one, right? If you remember like the coding of a computer was like 01 01. It was a bunch of stuff, right? And the reason behind that was because all programming was based on logic. It's like if this then that. Everything was binary. It was a zero or a one or some combination of a rule-based system. And that's kind of the technology we grew up with. One of the biggest limitations that AI always had was the world is not so structured. And in order for us to do AI, we have to change away from this logic kind

176of language into what is called natural language processing. And natural language processing means that you have to take in everything that makes natural language into account. So natural language being when I say the sentence I saw the man with the telescope that's natural language right we can say that or you know it's like there's some like sayings that are you know that we know what that means right but like I saw the man with a telescope can mean two things right did I see the man with the telescope or was there a man with a telescope that's natural language it's messy it's confusing it depends on grammar and inter and interpretation everything AI is built around is natural language and how like humans actually communicate interact. And when you think about every weird acronym or

177natural language usage or even how Shakespeare uses, you know, analogies, like the things that make language messy, all of that is now the natural language processing that AI uses. And so what it basically just tries to do is when you ask it a question and it's answering, it tries to be correct and give you a correct answer, but it's pulling from natural language. And so if that answer is in a messy way constructed out there in the world, it's going to give you hallucinations. It's going to basically its job is to fill the gap of what it doesn't have. And so mathematically truly impossible for hallucinations not to be part of this technology. At the same time, what makes it so human and interactive is because of how it's structured. You can talk to it.

178It's like the first time like none of us have to learn how to code because we can just ask this thing all these questions that before we would have been able to code and we wouldn't have been able to do it. And so there are parts of this technology that are fundamentally going to change things about how we engage with it. I'm very excited for us to look into this for operational purposes, administrative purposes. AI is really good in problems that are very structured. So something like we know the structure of an answer such an IEP. Now we just have to fill it out and we don't have to do it over and over again, right? Like so structure problems AI is really good. So administrative, operational, all that stuff. AI is not good with

179open-ended questions about history, about English, about critical thinking on certain topics, right? It gets 70% of the way there in a high quality way, but the last 20 to 30% is really difficult. And so, I do think long term, one of the skill sets that our students are going to need most, it's going to be the skill of discernment, being able to tell what is what, what is human, what makes sense, what doesn't make sense, what is logical. and that's a really higher level of thinking required for what the world with AI will be. And we just I think we have to stick to what we do with our strategic plan of there are human skills that our students need to have to succeed in the future. And there are sometimes going to be beyond

180just the math and the calculator and the reading of certain things. And so I think like that's that's a lot of where we as educators and policy leaders have to think about. I don't think it's going away. I think people love it. I think people are learning workflows and usage outside of formal workplace environments. And I do think that's dangerous. So I do worry about either being skeptical of it, of letting them learn the best use from like informal networks, informal life out there. because there's a lot I mean and these companies are benefiting from the amount of information that people are uploading and giving them every single day. and so that's that's part of of what is making all of this work. it is like a data hungry monster what these AI companies are.

181It is it it has consumed so much information about the world. and so yeah, those those are my things. Thank you for leading this. We'll continue to work together. There's some really big philosophical questions involved in everything with AI. but I do think it's important for our staff, our teachers to understand the implications of it because it is way above and beyond the black and white. I think some previous technologies were a little bit more straightforward than what AI is. So, thank you. Thank you, Member Salamanca. I have one question for you, though. or maybe it's for both of you. I'm sorry. I'll come back. Oh, no, no, no. You're good. Sorry, I accidentally Oh, okay. So, in terms of it taking in the information that we put in, my understanding was it's not taking

182it in like real time. I mean, it's taking it in, but until like the next version comes out, that information, I don't know, say I put out well, I I don't know, I put out some factoid that I made up or only I know that it's not going to incorporate that into its database and then use that for future input to somebody else until like another version of whatever chat GPT for instance. Do either one of you know what I'm talking about? Like I mean there's a difference between I put something in and it's immediately available to you. And sometimes I think people think that but I don't really think that's quite the way it works. It's not immediately available. It has to be updated. I don't know if there's a clean answer to that

183question just because Well, hang on. I'll ask AI there. I you know when we talk about the speed at which which AI has has just improved and increased. You have where when AI first came out and that example I gave of the teacher who could say who is the president of the United States. A lot of the first initial AI systems, they had no connection to the internet or to external resources or databases that they could leverage and say beyond my initial training, what other information is there available to help me answer this question, right? And so I think that's the area we start going into now when you are if someone is putting information into systems that can leverage that information for training. the many of these systems if you go in there and

184you ask them a question about something that is in the news they'll be able to give you updated information because they're doing updated scanning. So it really depends on the concern that students information. Yeah. I mean it no matter what we ought to assume that can happen and prevent it from happening. It was just I'm just member of anos. Thank you all. Member Famis. Thank you, Madam Chair. I really appreciate your presentation. It was very thorough. I appreciate the cautious approach that we have taken so far as a district and I really appreciate all of the comments that everybody made. I mean, I think for me to summarize, I think I want to be I would want us to be very very proactive on educating our entire OCPS community about AI. And but I have

185a lot of skepticism about just the impact on again points raised on on critical thinking. I will say it seems like it is a great a great use of AI is administrative tasks. A great use of AI seems to be compiling you know policies and you know information in the public domain and making it in a making it searchable so that we can find quick answers. So I understand that piece of it, but I did not see really a lot in the presentation about the impacts on on you know the cognitive abilities of of students. And I think that there is research out there that the more dependent that a student becomes on AI that it does impact their ability to critically think and really be what's the word? Not resilient, but will be persistent.

186you know, the persistence, that piece right there. and you know, I know some people have made the comment that AI is like a calculator, but I mean, a calculator is not factually wrong. It doesn't have mental health risks. it doesn't it doesn't have misinformation or propaganda, and it's not addictive. So, it's not really like a calculator. And, you know, people talk about it like, you know, it was mentioned that it's kind of like conversations about the internet and is reminiscent about those conversations. but I wouldn't say that having the internet has made us necessarily more deeply knowledgeable or even necessarily more us feeling like we have more time. so I think we need to really think about what we're trying to get out of this and what what makes sense. I do worry about the

187monitoring piece. because I don't I think right now in our schools, honestly, we're we're not always doing a great job of moni monitoring our kids online. So, I don't know how we're think we're going to monitor them using AI. And I worry about, you know, now we have programs to detect AI and it's like we're giving so much time and resource into something that's supposed to be saving us time. I I really I worry about that. I like Chair Jacob's thought about, you know, we can't control what students are doing outside of the classroom. We can educate them on what AI could be used for, and I know there's some great study opportunities for for AI outside of the classroom. But I agree that when they are in a class, I think, you know, to

188the extent we have secure browser locks and they can be on a screen or they're using paper and pencil to show what they know because I have heard parents, you know, tell me and professional, you know, providers, doctors in our community that students are coming to them, they've used AI all through the year and then they get to the end of the year and they do poorly on the test. So it's, you know, I again I think we're we're looking at not a calculator, we're looking at cell phones, which we've banned. So again, I think there's a use in terms of administrative tasks, but I I think we just need to be really careful from that learning and perspective. Not to mention what member Salamanca brought up about just the ease of making our students

189and employees, you know, records public. So, I would just say I appreciate the I appreciate the thoughtfulness and the care that has gone into this discussion and I again I'm I'm very skeptical of how we use this in ways beyond administrative tasks. and I do want to make sure that no matter what we are educating our students on proper ways to use AI and making sure that we are assessing them without without access to it. So thank you. All right, that was a nice short conversation. Thank you so much. I yeah I would love I'm sure most of us would love to have access to those say access sounds like you wouldn't give us but the videos you were talking about. Yeah, we'll do that and we'll we will definitely include the board's thoughts and

190ideas as we put together the draft policy. Right. and I I clearly understand the concerns that you have voiced and so we'll we'll be able to bring that to you sometime in the next maybe two months. Great. Awesome. Thank you. All right. yeah, it's hard to believe that there's public hearing set to be had. Okay. Do we have Mr. Pomearini, do we have any public comments? No. No. Okay. Great. All right. 8 tomorrow. So, we are on public hearing 3.01. Request approval for the targeted reszoning involving Robinswood Middle School and Okoi Middle School to commence school year 26. Huh. Yeah. 27. Yeah, it's staff is ready to present on all three of the targeted resoning. So, we will turn it over to Mr. Greg Moody, executive leader for school choice. Thank you. Thank you, Madam

191Superintendent, school board chair. It's always a pleasure pleasure to be before you. this evening, we bring three targeted resonings. I'll ask Stacy Neil, director it doesn't matter. she just got a promotion. So what is it? Senior director title is but it's been a long night. It's been a long night. Enjoyable night, but very long. Let me just add senior director of student enrollment. So, she'll walk us through real briefly for the view and public's pleasure some, background knowledge, some background on the resoning process, and then we'll get into 3.01. Stacy Neil. Okay. Good evening, Dr. Vasquez, Chair Jacobs, board members, OCPS staff, and everyone else who's out there listening or getting ready for bed. ready to go to bed. Did you say everybody else as in your everybody else? Okay. So, tonight we'll present the

192three targeted school resoning proposals, each supported by maps and demographic data to illustrate potential impacts on students, families, and schools. so first I wanted to remind everyone of the resoning timeline. We had our community meeting October 8th at 6:00 p.m. here at the RBELC. we had a work session October 21st at 9:00 a.m. and school board rule development on November 6 at 4:30. And we're here tonight for our public hearing. The resoning process follows schoolboard policy JC which is we commence meeting or we speak with the superintendent to commence resoning. The timeline that I just mentioned is developed. We meet with principles, executive leaders and schoolboard members. We have research and data that we collect. The community meetings, rule development workshop, public hearing and our resoning notebook. We have three different types of resonings to

193just go over real quick. Technical resonings are generally uninhabited property and no students are involved. Targeted resonings, which we're here for tonight, affect small areas and limited number of students. Relief schools are when we open new schools and affect a large area and a large number of students. School zone boundaries. We have influencing factors or criteria that we take into account when we're reszoning. We look at feeder school alignment to ensure continuity from elementary to middle to high. We look at neighborhoods. We don't like to split neighborhoods. So, we keep neighborhoods intact where possible to ma maintain community cohesion. And we look at future development in the area such as housing, population growth trends, demographic balance to promote equitable distribution of students and the capacity utilization. So, we match school capacity with the projected student

194enrollment. We also take in consideration distance, transportation access or if you know how accessible transportation is and we prioritize proximity to reduce travel time and cost for buses while maximizing safe walkability. We will also take in consideration road and natural infrastructure. The reasoning process can be complex and works to balance all educational, logistical, and community factors. We also want to mention we've transitioned from permanent program capacity, which was known as PPC, to permanent fish capacity. permanent fish which is stands for fish stands for Florida inventory of school houses as named by the Florida Department of Education and this is the official student capacity assigned to a school determined by the state and maintained by district staff recorded it is recorded in the Florida inventory of school houses and this permanent fish capacity does exclude portables

195Permanent program capacity was an OCPS phrase or term that we use with counting or determining capacity. It reflected actual actual instructional capacity, offered flexibility in classroom space usage, and helped meet class- size amendment requirements. So, on to resoning. You may find our resoning process on the OCPS website. you will go to www.cps.net schools schools school resonings and from there you can see our resonings that are currently in the works and any previous board approved resonings. When reszoning, we do take in consideration students who are at a school and can be grandfathered. So the grandfathered transfer is available for a student who has been resoneed by OCPS two or more times during a school level. So K through 5, 6 through 8, 9 through 12, and as long as they are have lived at the current

196address. for a student who has another criteria is for a student who has been resoneed from an established school to another established school. In this case, the student may remain at the existing school instead of being assigned to the reszoneed school. For a student who will be in the fifth or eighth grade and will be reszoned to a new relief elementary or middle school, they may remain at their current school. The following shall also apply to grandfather transfers. Transportation is not provided by OCPS. Siblings shall be eligible to transfer with the student who is granted the grandfather transfer. And the deadline for all grandfather transfers during this period is April 30th of 2026. On to the resonings. The first resoning or targeted resoning is a Koi Middle School and Robinswood Middle School. Currently, these students

197feed into Robinswood Middle School. I'm sorry. The first proposal addresses resoning between AOE Middle School and Robinswood Middle School to create a consistent feeder pattern for students zoned to Citrus Elementary. Currently, these students feed into Robinswood Middle School and Akoi High School. If approved, the entire Citrus Elementary School Zone will feed into Akoi Middle School and Akoi High School benefiting 48 middle school students. Let's review the map. Green lines indicate existing middle school zones. The hash section Oh, doesn't work. The hash section marks the area to be reszoned. Purple represents the proposed Okoi Middle School zone and green represents Robinswood Middle School. Here is a zoomedin view of the area. The next slide represents demographic overview of the resoning. The first column shows the name of the school involved in the resoning with the school's

198Florida inventory of school houses capacity fish. Permanent fish capacity refers to the official number of students a school is designated to accommodate as determined by the state. This figure is maintained by district staff in the Florida inventory of school houses. a comprehensive database that includes every room in all district owned schools. A Koi Middle School with 1,261 capacity 1261 and Robinswood with 966. The next column displays student enrollment captured on October 15, 2024 with a percent breakdown for race, ethnicity, white, black, and other and non-Hispanic Hispanic. For a Koi, there's 15 1,158 enrollment, 49% white, 42% black, and 9% other, 61% non-Hispanic, and 39% Hispanic. Robinswood has 985 enrollment, 8% white, 89% black, 3% other, 90% non-Hispanic, and 10% Hispanic. The third column shows enrollment on October 1st, 2025. Akoi Middle School has 1,152 and

199Robinswood Middle School with 841. The fourth column displays current number of students residing in each zone. There are 1,488 students in the Koi zone and 147 in Robinswood zone. The next column shows how many students will be residing each in each zone if this resoning takes place. 1,536 students for a koi middle school with 53% white, 38% black, and 9% other, 60% non-Hispanic, and 40% Hispanic. The projected numbers of students attending AOI in 2026 will be between 1,150 students. Well, 1,150 and 1,170 students. For Robinswood, the numbers are as follows. 1,359 students with 13% white, 83% black, and 4% other, 87% non-Hispanic, and 13% Hispanic. There are between 860 to 880 students projected to attend Robinswood in August of 2026 if this resoning takes place. The next column is farms standing for free and reduced

200meals. The current percent for Koi is 45 and proposed is 46 for Robinswood 65% current and proposed. ES which stands for exceptional student education is 11% for current and proposed for a koi and 12% for Robbinswood. ELLL is the next column which stands for English language learners and 9% current and proposed for AOE 21% for Robinswood. I will give you a moment to review the numbers. Oh, 12%. Sorry, that dyslexia kicks in. Sorry. Please take a moment to review the data and consider the potential benefits of this alignment. No additional community input was received since the rule development workshop on November 6. If approved, this resoning will commence August of 2026. Dr. Vasquez. thank you, Stacy. board members, we've reviewed this. we've had work sessions on it. at this time we are looking for a

201motion to move forward with the targeted resoning. So moved by member Galla, seconded by member of Vanos. Do everybody in favor? All those in favor? I. Anyone opposed? No. That passes. Motion passes. Okay. So, Stacy, and I'm going to ask the board's approval of this. Since we've reviewed the charts, if when you get to the data chart, if you'll just give them a moment to review it and that way, I'm looking at the time. Absolutely. Thank you. Now, moving on to 3.02. Dr. Mr. Vasquez, Stacy will now present to you the targeted resoning for Chain of Lakes Middle School and Carver Middle School. So the green lines once again represent the existing middle schools. The hashed section is the targeted area to be reszoned. Purple represents the proposed chain of lakes middle school zone and

202green represents Carver's middle middle school zone. This resoning will move 32 students from Chain of Lakes to Carver Middle School, aligning the feeder pattern for Eckleston Elementary School and reducing travel distance from approximately 6 milesi to 2.4 miles or 2.5 miles or less. The zoomed in view of the adjacent area adjacent to Carver Middle School. The next slide represents demographic overview of the resoning. Please take a moment to review the numbers. There was no additional feedback received since the rule development workshop on November 6th. If approved, this resoning will commence August of 2026. Dr. Vasquez. Thank you. members of the board, if you have any questions or comments. If not, we're looking for approval of this targeted resoning. So, moved by member front, second by member Gallo. all those in favor say I. I. Opposed.

203Motion is passed. one good question. We don't have anyone speaking to it either. Sorry, John. Okay, making sure. Our third and final targeted resoning involves Cypress Creek High School and Lake Nona High School. Our last resoning for today involves Cypress Creek and Lake Nona High School. This proposal aims to realign the feeder pattern for middle and high school students currently zoned for Luminary Middle School and Cypress Creek High School. If approved, this change will fully align the Luminary Middle School zone with Lake Nona High School. There are currently 136 high school students residing in the targeted area. Real quick, let's review. Blue lines represent current high school boundaries. The hashed section marks the targeted area for reszoning. Purple indicates the proposed zone for the Cypress Creek High School and green for Lake Nona. Zoomed in

204version or view of the area and the data table. Please take a moment to review. Since rule development workshop on November 6th, we received one additional input from the community supporting this resoning. If approved, this resoning will commence August of 2026. Dr. Vasquez. thank you Stacy and team. we if there's any comments, if not, we are also seeking approval for this targeted resoning. Has anyone come to this meeting to speak to this item? Okay. So now we'll open the floor. So move my member for Rand second myself. So member Salach has a second. okay. Thank you. Is there anything else on that? Oh, all those in favor? Sorry. I Anyone opposed? Okay, motion moves. All right. Before we move on to the approval of the consent agenda, I would like to turn it over to

205board member Gallo, who will read the proposed resolution listed under the consent item 4.01. The resolution opposing efforts to lower the minimum age for longgone purchase and carry below 21. Thank you, Madam Chair. it is my pleasure to read this resolution tonight that the all the board members will be signing at the conclusion. Whereas in 2018, the Florida legislature raised the age of purchasing long guns from 18 to 21 with Marjorie Stoneman Douglas Act after the horrific school mass shooting at Marjgery Stman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. And whereas the safety and well-being of students, staff, and the community are paramount to the mission of Orange County Public Schools. And whereas proposed legislation in the state of Florida in House Bill 133 seeks to return the minimum age for purchasing and carrying long guns

206to 18 years. And whereas research and public safety data indicate that reducing age restriction for firearm purchases may increase risk of gun related energy in injuries and fatalities among youth and in the school environment. And whereas the school board of Orange County recognize its responsibility to advocate for policies that protect students and maintain secure learning environments. And whereas the board supports measures that prioritize responsible gun ownership and community safety over expanded access to firearms for individuals under 21 years of age. Now therefore, be it resolved that the school board of Orange County formally opposes any legislation that would permit individuals under the age of 21 to purchase or carry long guns in the state of Florida. And be it further resolved that the board urges state lawmakers to maintain current age restrictions and to consider

207additional measures that enhance school and community safety. And be it finally resolved that copies of this resolution will be transmitted to members of the Florida legislature and other relevant stakeholders adopted by the school board of Orange County, Florida in Orlando, Florida on this 9th day of December 9 December 2025. Thank you. Do we have a motion? Do we already vote on the resolution? Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. It was part of the consent agenda. Thank you. You were just reading it into the record. Thank you very much. Okay. So, we have done the consent agenda. No, I was reading it prior to the Thank you. Thank you. That's much better. Thank you. I had that whole conversation the other day about the Yeah. about the script that we need to read that first. So, thank you.

208So, now we're ready to vote on the consent agenda. Is there a motion? Motion by member Gallo. Is there a second? Second by member Douglas. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed? Motion carries unanimously. All right. having stepped away for just a minute, do have we completed the agenda or do we still have the item that was pulled? Right. I don't remember what number it was on the It was 4.04 moved to 17.0. 01. Okay. So, we are on 17.01. All right. member Ferrant, you're recognized. Thank you. I just really I wanted to pull this because I feel like we need to really talk about this initiative with Quesa. The when I'm out in the community, I've had many parents asking me about this initiative. as well as even just like business owners, people

209who are in tune with what is happening within the school system. And when you look at okay, so if we get roughly around $9,000 like from the state to educate a child and then we use a company like Kesa to come in and they take $935 for a student if they are able to get that student back into our schools but only for at least 30 days 10% of the funds then are going to a company. Now I know we've discussed with Scott Howitt and the team and what I've been told is that it's you know astronomical if we were to do this inhouse. However, I do feel that our schools really could be marketing themselves in a way. if there's a way that we could be I know it I've heard the idea floated

210but if there's a way that we could even give it a bonus to somebody that is able to bring a student back that motivates people to reach out to friends and talk to people and get get people back into the system and it benefits our own staff rather than going out to another company. I just I have a lot of angst with this. I think we need to be more frugal with the funding and I don't feel super confident with the data that have been given. I we've been told that we've that we've retrieved or brought back what is it now 1,900 students through Kesa. But has it was it has that been verified? Was it actually through Kesa? because about a month ago we were told it was around 1,200. So now cas has

211really brought in that much more in just that last month. I mean those are kind of questions that I have. Sure. and I'm just going to respond briefly and then I'm going to have Adrian or we have representative from case that will speak. So we have been recruiting for the last couple of years. our schools have attempted to tell their story and have families come. the benefit that we saw with Kesa is that they are experts at recruiting. They have a team, I believe, of over 40 individuals that are specifically working with Orange County and they can speak to their I'll use the word aggressive efforts. and the we I personally was hopeful that we would have maybe 500 students that would be recovered, but we actually recovered approximately 1,900. and that translated to over

21213 million in FTE and we paid out a little bit over 1.8 million. Now, we're tracking that to be able to see how long have they stayed. We've also been working with our principles that these are new families. So, what are how are we making them part of the school community? How are we continuing to make sure that we're meeting their needs? additionally, Kesa has provided some incredible customer service training which we have seen the impact of that. We've we've gone to a couple of schools and you walk in and they have I'm trying to think what when you come in you can see a warm environment but you can also smell a warm environment, right? Yeah. I mean it's it's really incredible friendly staff and so they all the ones that I have been

213to they have attributed that to the training that they received they thought it was very powerful we did I think three different sessions and we have talked about well can we I'm sorry five thank you Adrian we have talked about well could we take this on we don't believe number one we have the personnel number two it takes startup. So, we're going to have to train people. All the while, we're still seeing families are choosing nontraditional public schools. and so, as a cabinet, we've discussed it. we've spoken with our principles and we believe that this is worth another investment in those I'm so sorry dollars at least for another year so that we can truly see have we you know stemmed that tide. I have talked to some of the other superintendent that have used

214Kesa and we actually have some others in Florida that are now actually going to use them because of what we have been able to see. I have not had comments from the community about the cost. In fact, what we did hear from some of the charters is that they thought that we were being too aggressive with you know, recruiting in fact their attorney sent a letter to DOE claiming that we had violated FURPA, which we had not. and we were able to gain back many more families than I ever thought, but I'm going to, Scott, if you will introduce him. and that way they can really explain their system and it is an aggressive campaign where they are making phone calls, they're visiting prek centers. It's it's quite an operation. Thank you, Dr. Vasquez. Sure.

215I'm happy to introduce Adrien Bond who's the president of Case at K12 and Paige Walkup who's president of Case at K12 strategy public strategy. So I'll turn it over to Adrian at this time. Okay, Paige. chair, board members, superintendent. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm Adrienne Bun, the president of Case of K12 and we've had the opportunity to partner with OCPS and it's been a great success. Superintendent, you mentioned 500. I was hoping we were just going to get about 500, but what we quickly realized is you all have so much to be proud of as a district. The fact that this is not happening all the time is just a testament to what the competition is doing. you know, as we're sitting here right now, I can assure you there are families, some

216of your families being called and being asked to come to their schools next year. Open houses. We've looked. Open houses started in this area in October. So, they're recruiting in October. There is a push to get some of your families to leave at the break. So, they're here now and they're pushing to get them to come to their schools in January. So, the competition is fierce. We only work with traditional public schools. We're in 26 states. We believe wholeheartedly in the in the fabric of public education and we think that is the utmost important to the entire country and to our communities a as a whole. You all are tasked with educating everyone. You do not have the luxury to cherrypick those families that you want. You can exclude because of behavior problems because of

217learning disabilities. And so what we do is we use our expertise which we've had for over 20 years running issue campaigns, referendums. That is where our DNA comes. So when you're talking about I know when you all are going out knocking on doors to get voters, we're doing the same thing to get families. We're going out there with the communication department and taking that narrative and just taking it one by one. we understand the challenges around trying to communicate to every parent as a whole. So what we're doing is we're going out here advocating at the school site. And I think oftent times when we think about what are ways to really get parents invigorated about coming back to the district or to the district for the first time is we need to be able

218to speak to them directly and highlight those individual schools. And we've had a lot of success with that. we only work on a performance contract. meaning most of our districts they see that the benefit with this is as superintendent mentioned you get the benefit of when we I I think it's three things. It is time that you get you get the luxury of us going out there 10 years ago making a mistakes finding out which systems work. finding out we have a system that we house all of our communications, our phone calls, our texts, our emails. Sometimes some systems don't talk to each other. You get the luxury of knowing don't go spend a half a million dollars on this system because it's not going to work with your text messaging system. So, you get

219the benefit and the time that we've we spent with that. You also get the benefit from a staff perspective. We're a very data driven company. 61% of our successful phone calls happen or I say not not only phone calls but attempts when we're knocking on doors everything happen between 5 and 8:00 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays. We work seven days a week. We understand the challenges that exist when district personnel try to take those type of hours up and we work nine months typically nine months a year. And so this is not a a one-time, you know, go go by the neighborhood and let's see what we can get. On on average, it takes us between 27 to 36 attempts to get someone to commit one time. So those systems are important. We spend

220an exhaustive amount of effort training our we call them outreach specialists. These are people that we're training at the direction of of district leadership knowing about how to register families. Not us doing it, but explaining to the families that when they're interested how to go through the process. We're always trying to advocate for the the families that we're engaging with. And that takes a lot of sales coaching. So, we do a lot of that. Lastly, I would say the expertise. It is hard to find and keep staff that are trained at doing this kind of of work. And they're incentivized as I mean they get bonuses for every parent that has kids that want to come back to the district or that's brand new to the district that's always attended an alternative option. So, we

221feel that you know, my wife and I have talked about, you know, we I mean, we're big proponents of this even before I got in the business here. You know what, Adrian, I think we could homeschool the kids. I told my wife, I said, "Look, I think I'm very smart. I think you're very smart." I said, "But that is not my expertise. I'm not an educator. So, I need to focus on what my strength is. And I think we need to make sure we're we're we're allowing the schools to go do that because that's what they're that's what they're good at doing. So we get why sometimes district I think in in a perfect world you would want the individual schools selling it. But my wife works at a school in Memphis. I can tell

222you she feels like she's overworked and underpaid. And so when you want to put one more thing on top of her, you're going to have a problem. And so, I do think that this leverages, the partnership because you have no risk, at all. It is a positive return on taxpayer funded dollars. every dollar that we bring in, as as you mentioned, turns over 10 times and you only pay us one time. So, if we get a a parent to bring two kids back, you pay us one time. On average, we're seeing those kids stay 3.2 years. So you get the compounding effect that it's going to pay for itself many times over. And as superintendent mentioned, you know, getting the process going and started is is a monumental task. What are you missing out on

223as an opportunity cost in the meantime by not taking on this kind of initiative? So Paige, I don't know if I'm missing anything, but you got it. But we're we're excited about what we did last year and I'm just even more excited if we have the opportunity to continue what we can do next year because families are excited. I mean, I think it was 76% of your schools are A or B rated, you know, A-rated district. I mean, this these are things to to celebrate and be happy with. And I can tell you that a number of your families are still unaware those that are that are going to alternative options that of some of the programs you have. They're just unaware. And so us going out there and and sharing that narrative has been

224great. And I think I'll end with this. The last thing that if we can't get a parent to come, I think something that's very valuable is and we give that feedback back to the district is why they did not want to come back. You can learn a lot from from that. And that is very valuable. Our number one goal is we want to get those students, but two, we want to provide that feedback because oftentimes you may find out there's certain criteria and data that's being given back to you that you can adjust in policy. And so yeah, if you all had any questions, we're here happy to answer. Yes. Member I'm sorry, member front, you want to follow up on Oh, okay. Member Okay. Member Gallows and next then member front then member Salamanca.

225Thank you Madam Chair. so thank you for bringing 1900 students back to Orange Orange County Public Schools. We appreciate it. I appreciate that this is performance-based. You know a lot of times and we have marketed our schools that as Dr. Vasquez mentioned, we have our schools that are constantly on social media, constantly highlighting the great programs, constantly highlighting students. we have our own communications department that does that as well. And yet, none of the things that we've done over the last 5 years has moved the needle as much as you have in one year by bringing 1900 students home. And I understand the desire to look and see if we could do this internally, but if you ask the community, I think the community would tell you that they think we're too hot topheavy as

226it is. And as you mentioned, our teachers, our principles, they're overworked as it is. They have too much on their plates. They can't now be marketing connoisseurs and outreach to attract the students that they have. They've been trying to do that through social media and other ways. They do go knock on doors. They do go out in their community, but this is above what should be expected of them, which is why we hired you in the first place. And I think that trying to reinvent the wheel inhouse would be way more expensive than what we pay you. And just to be very blunt, we have a lot of challenges ahead of us that we've been talking about for weeks. We've got declining enrollment. We're looking at consolidating schools. We're doing co-op. We don't need to

227be taking on anything else that you all already do so well. I just don't see the need to burden staff, to burden the district, to burden the superintendent with trying to bring back students when you've already proven that you can do it. So, I think that it's more fiscally responsible to stay with you than it would be to try to hire or incentivize people that are already hired to do this job. And I don't think that they would be able to do it well as well cuz I just don't think they have the time. I think they're in their schools doing the best they can to educate students and control discipline and they need to focus on what really matters and that's educating our students, not marketing the school system. So, I appreciate what you

228do and I will be voting to keep you at OCPS. Thank you. Thank you, Member Galla. Member Ferrant. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple questions. when like I'm assuming then you've received some feedback from families who chose not to come. Yes. is there a time when the board would be able to see that feedback? Yes. Yes, absolutely. Awesome. because I think those are the things that so this we voted for this back in April. We've had all this time and I for me as a board member I feel like it's been not enough communication as far as how many students how are we verifying that these students are coming from Kesa how are we verifying are these just students who were in LCPS and left or are these brand new students who are coming

229in what if they're coming in from another state these are all questions that I have that gives me angst moving forward these are all questions that community members have asked me and so I'm just speaking and being a voice for them. I guess I don't know I just feel like I have some unanswered question. May I just and you may not recall because it's been a while but they did the secret shopper experience and each of you received a briefing and you received the document. Correct. But that also then put in place some of the reasons why they were not choosing. So, we have not provided you the feedback at from this summer's initiative and we can do that, but we did provide you with what what they originally did for us as part of

230that secret shopper. And if any of you need I think we have a couple of extra of the books that we can get to if you misplaced it. Absolutely. And I and Adrian had mentioned it earlier, we are working handinhand with them and adjusting even the messaging and things that are being said as they're out there selling because they want to align as much as they can in what they're saying to make sure it is aligned with what we have and what we have to offer because we are an amazing school district and you know them promoting the power of public education while they're out there. and what we provide for for our folks here, we did we do and did provide a list of students who were with us at one time and left

231and that's the list that they pursue. They go after those students to bring them back. They may be homeschooled, charter school, private school, but that's the list. It was 27,000 students that they worked off of. And certainly that's a that's a diminishing list because you can only go through that list so much. You'll get they'll get new data from us at some point with others that have left. But the whole idea is to shrink that number and to get us down where the kid the children and students that are going to come back will come back and we'll continue to work with them to make that happen. And again, they do have to do certain things in order to get paid. All of that data is verified. In fact, I sent you some communication that

232had an asterisk because we're still even going down to 50 FTE verifying because of you know making sure that they do match. And I mean our team was working all the way through that FTE process to verify that these are our students and they are in our schools and they were there for the amount of time that they said they would be. And so we worked, you know, we worked both together and separately on that. Just a follow-up question, how are you actually tracking the student? Like how do you is it just students that are from that list or how are we tracking that? Yeah, we have a CRM system. so when we upload all of that data we track all of that. We do it for quality assurance purposes because as our outreach specialists

233are talking to families, we want to make sure that we're always saying the best things and that's where we learn our coaching. But all of our all of our successful or unsuccessful phone calls are tracked there, our text messages, our emails, if we go on site, if we knock on their door, they don't answer, we leave a you know hanger at the door. all of that is tracked in in in one system. And that was what I was kind of mentioning. We had to that did just not happen over at you know overnight. I mean we it was a lot of work that went over that took about a two and a half threeyear process to perfect. but we do have all of that in the CRM system. Okay. All right. Well, I think you

234know just moving forward I' I'd love you know for at least for myself I'd love to maybe have a little more information maybe even monthly updates of the students. How are we tracking them? Did they do we confirm that they really did stay for 30 days? and then what I don't I think what my angst is as well is I don't want this to become a crutch where we're using an outside source to attract students in that have left. We need to make sure that we have things in place to make sure these students aren't leaving and really working on that aspect of it. And even for our schools, if a student leaves, you know, is there a way for somebody at the school to be calling those students in a and just talking to

235the parents? And those are things that I think we could really coach our own staff on to help get us in a in a on a different path. Yeah. And one of the things I might have have overlooked is just from a logistic standpoint when we start engaging with families and we're recruiting them. So we're recruiting for the 2627 school year. We're recruiting and getting them to give us commitments. We got to get them to register. We got to get them to show up for for the required period of time and they must stay through that count date period. So we're actively engaging with them all throughout the process. It's not a situation where It's one and done. It's Yeah. I mean, they've got to we've got to get them to register. Even if we

236were able to get someone to show up in the springtime, let's just say we were we had some successful phone calls. They say, "Hey, look, Adrian, we're not happy with the school. This school promised us the world. They have not delivered. We want to come back." We get them to come back. We don't get paid in the spring. you know, we got to get them to show back up in the fall in order to get compensated. I'm sorry, to get compensated. So, it is a very robust and aggressive plan in order to engage with these families. It never I can almost tell you I wish it was as easy as I make a phone call once or twice and a parent says, "Yeah, I'm coming back." Well, it doesn't happen that way. The people are

237working. They're busy. Call me back. I'm I'm cooking dinner. Hey, I'm at a basketball game. You're going to have to call me back. call me Monday at at 9:00 am, you know, so those things. So, it is a robust and aggressive plan that allows us to stay laser focused on this initiative and we're not sidetracked with any other things. So, and I think that's part of our secret sauce is we understand the district has a lot of other initiatives, a lot of other things on their plate, whereas we're just singularly focused on this one mission and that has yielded results across 27 states for us and we're proud of that and we're proud to only be able to work with traditional public schools as well. You know, we like I said in the beginning, we

238really believe in that and so that's part of our work. Thank you. I appreciate it. Member vice chair. thank you so much and thank you for being here. I know we're we're definitely running a bit late today. I'm so excited about everything you're doing. I think that I share with some folks up there that said I do I'm getting a ton of questions about this obviously because the ultimate number is really big. and I think we are always disc $1 million $2 million that is significant in times like this where that as a percentage or in comparison to what we're giving to our teachers and raises it just raises eyebrows on why we're doing this and how we're doing it and why can't we do it in house. So thank you for answering our questions

239u I think these are really important because we are getting that I similarly I know that Dr. Vasquez, you sent over the information on the initial number and the success that we've had with that first kind of summer push and since started working with you all. but I did have the same question a couple one attribution right anything in marketing and outreach the hardest thing is attribution right like yes if I am a company and I put ads on Facebook on Twitter on Instagram and I'm giving you a percentage of my revenue I want to know who actually brought me that net new customer not just assume that because you told me I did it. So to the degree that we could get more information on how you guys, you know, let's say 20 new

240families move to my area in Lake Nona and they were going to enroll no matter what in the fall. Is that net new to us? Is it net new to you all because you all call them? Like those in the weeds of these are new to the county and they just maybe you reached to them first. So that's great. But that's kind of the level of attribution or information that I would love to have and Dr. Vasquez might have given us some of that already, but it's just helpful to have it because we're getting those types of questions. I wish there was a way to be able to find out a new family is moving into the area. If you we can find that out, then that transcends our business model tremendously. we've tried a

241number of different ways to find new families. It t is very hard. oftent times that data is already outdated once it's already by the time we find it and they're already in someone's school. If someone is being transferred in, you know, they're not going to wait two, three weeks to wait to put them in school. Oftentimes, we're getting that information 30, 45, 60 days old. So, the bulk of our process is around families that have previously existing list. Yes. And so, you're mostly working on the existing list. Yes. Yes. that is that is the bulk of what we you know if we're in a smaller district we do have ways that because we have run other campaigns that there's a list for every for everything and I understand that but that was just one edge

242use case of attribution yes for the existing list right maybe I know I have a couple of charter schools that say Renaissance or matters parents historically come in and out between them sometimes they go for elementary school come back for middle or high school it's hard to figure out why they came back. I would argue a lot of my parents usually go to Renaissance or matters for middle school and are always going to come back for innovation high school or like Nona High School and I've seen that in pre you all coming and working with us and so I think to the degree of the attribution I'm not doubting it. I think it's that's the area where I'm getting questions of what what is net truly all attributed to you all versus coming otherwise. regardless,

243I truly believe there's nothing we could have done that would have brought that kind of number across. So, I believe you're doing some really good stuff what you're doing. You're clearly experts at and you're doing a really good job at it. And I definitely not scared with being aggressive with folks out in my communities. I'm very happy that's kind of the approach because parents are busy and they do need to hear from us multiple times and that's something that they want and expect and it's a great starting point of building that relationship that we care that they are with us and we hear that from parents on the regular. They're surprised that the district is reaching out like they I'm not surprised they're surprised. They're always very happy about that. Yeah. So, I think that's

244a it's a great relationship builder that we care that they come back and that we're trying. so that's important. Everyone loves being sought after, you know. That's right. the second thing I had a question about was more and I think this is some of the data that you're going to bring back. I am really excited to get you if you're reaching out to remind me again how big was the list of initial outreach call just under 30. Yeah, just under 30 about 27,000. Okay. Roughly 27,000 of which call it 2k came back. There's probably a lot of data out there of those who do not want to come back. And I really care about I'm sure it's not for all 20. There's a response rate percentage. I totally get that. For the percentage that did

245respond and said, you know, we're not coming back for XYZ reason. I really want to know what XYZ reason is. Absolutely. I don't think we have that data yet that we've gotten at the board level. Yes, we No, we Yeah, I mean that's something that if we can, you know, is it a large list so we can download it and we can make sure that we can share that information because we provide the raw feedback. I'm happy to have the raw data. I'm happy to do it. There's tools now for that. What we will do is we will give you the top seven or eight that we can segment out so you'll have an executive summary. And then don't worry, you can send me raw. I'm good with that. But but I would love to

246have access to that. because I think that's helpful. I think as we implement policies, we prioritize things that answer questions on how to bring folks back is really important and also with families that maybe we do come back with and then they leave again. Something happened there and I want to know the why. Yeah. and so that would be really helpful information longterm. So I'm excited about the partnership. I'm excited to work with you all long term. I think it's it's I'm happy that you had the chance tonight to talk about the incredible work you're doing. So, I appreciate you staying with us and I'm obviously supportive of continuing to work with you all, but yeah, just I'm excited for the more information and data that we're going to get. Thank you so much. And

247I will tell you just as a followup, usually what we see the majority of the times, especially at a district that's rated as as high as you all is that typically is there it's not an indictment on the individual school district itself. It's more of an issue that happened either with something at the school site. So often times there a negative interaction with one person can do that. That's correct. And so often times that's why we can help try to navigate and listen. We want to find out why they left, what do they like about their current option, and then let's go back and let's tell them about what options they have that they can come and get at the district. And so, it's a it's a three-step process. And so, I did want to

248make sure I share that with you. It's typically when we and it's not just here, but across the board, typically their individual school sites, things that happen. Yeah, we spend time with parents all the time. We hear this, right? I love this school because X happened to me or there's all kinds of they're very specific about the why. I think it's just hard for us as individuals to I can't aggregate it across a district of 200,000 like that's a very hard thing to do u because when parents talk to me or a teacher talks to me it's anecdotal what you all seeing out of 30,000 outreach lists is a very different data set than what I get to see. and so I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. Thank you member

249Vanos. first of all, thank you so much for being here. So many of my concerns have already been raised. I won't be redundant. I would just say that I too have had a lot of feedback from people in the community asking, you know, why we were hiring a consultant to do this. And so I appreciate the opportunity to bring it back and have this further discussion and just anything to bring transparency to the public, I think is super important. again, the request for data, I would appreciate more of that why people aren't coming. I would also appreciate you know your feedback on because I honestly assumed that we were doing this already just internally and so maybe you know to be able to share maybe like what our communic you know what our communication strategy

250like what part of it didn't work you know what wasn't resonating why wasn't the things that we'd been doing in the past like why wasn't that working and how is that different from what you're doing I would appreciate that feedback as well but yeah I would just say again appreciate you being and support continuing for another year. Okay. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. I think it's been a good discussion. I appreciate the questions that the board has asked and certainly appreciate having you here. and obviously I greatly appreciate your passion and investment in public education that to Yeah. Hopefully comes out. Thank you. Thank you all. Appreciate. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay. All right. So, we need to take a vote on this. Is there a motion? So,

251move. Motion by member Gallo. Is there a second? Second by vice chair. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries unanimously. All right. Thank you, member Fant. Thank you for bringing this up. I do think it was a really helpful discussion for all of us. Thank you. Okay. anything? Gosh, where are we? We are through with the agenda. I am sorry. I'm a It's been a long Are you tired? I'm tired. Yeah, it's been a long and emotional in a very positive way meeting. so are we Superintendent I think we're up to a superintendent's report. I will make it brief. Huh? Oh, okay. I didn't mean we're up to it. I meant we're to that point. I you know what I mean? so first I want to remind the board that next Tuesday

252we will have a work session. and there's several topics. but the one that I want to bring to your attention is that we will be bringing you back the feedback. We will be bringing you the feedback from our seven community meetings. many of the questions that they asked were similar and you will then be able to see the rationale behind why we have selected these schools and what the answers to the questions the community had and then we will come to you with a recommendation. Our goal is as we promised our families that we would go back to them in January respond to their questions and then let them know what the outcome will be. second I wanted to highlight two individuals sitting on the board. last week at FSBA we had our own general

253counsel John Palm Marini as this is pain it's painful he was roasted Jonath roasted all kidding aside he was awarded outstanding service award from the Florida school board's attorneys association so That's exactly what I'm laughing at. Oh, I get it. That so that appears that she has gone into my office while I was not there to take said picture. Oh, yes, he was. well, at least there aren't any Diet Cokes in the picture, so I think we're good. but in all kidding, notice how shiny that is. Reflection. Yes. Well, I think we can see it. We can see a reflection. but we are truly blessed to have him as our general counsel. many many of the superintendants and I know school board members attorneys have commented on how much they are thankful for his expertise,

254for his leadership. They can reach out to him and he is very responsive as we all know. that is one thing that Mr. for Paul Marini is responsive. and then our own board member Felder was nominated at the Horus Academy Impact Award. and the award celebrates individuals for social change, innovation, and leadership across the different industries. So, we're so thankful that she was nominated. if I were giving out the awards, you would have received the award. but we are so thankful for your advocacy and for all that you do to help our children in district 5 really thrive. So, Madame Chair, that is, my report. I apologize for this. I very briefly have to get some direction from you all on a couple things. first, we've been gotten some information about a potential class action

255lawsuit with regard to the drug companies overcharging for generic medications. It's very similar to the class actions we've been involved with with social media and insulin. So, I would like the board's permission to investigate this firm that's been in contact to see if it's something that's worthwhile. obviously, if we can get some revenue for monies we've been overcharged for generic drugs, I think that's a good thing to pursue. So, everybody's okay with me investigating that. Okay, very good. the second thing, we are going to probably have to change our policy FEA. policy FEA is deals with our construction processes and in the policy it says that the board will reviews review phase three documents. under the statute it says either the board or authorized review agents think your building code officer think your fire marshal

256can review those documents. your policy says the board will approve it. we've gone back done some research. The board has waved that authority. over 50 times since 2016. it what we're doing is not in compliance with the policy. Quite frankly, what I would prefer to do is bring a policy back to you that delegates the authority to sign those documents to the building code officers and the fire marshall with them bringing it back to you as anformational item after they have approved the documents. Can I explain? Yeah. my email. Oh, okay. No. Okay. There is an explanation. and I'm part of it. So, yeah. No. when I joined and I realized that we were being asked to basically certify in the approval what is bas information that we wouldn't necessarily have like did the building

257inspector yeah were all those checks made and so I suggested that rather than asking the board to vote on something that they didn't have direct knowledge or control over that we delegate that respons responsibility to the superintendent which we've been doing. The what was missing in that was that when I asked that and our then general counsel said yes we can do that. What wasn't readily well what I didn't know and I guess none of us knew was that we had a policy that conflicted with that. So what we were doing in and of itself makes sense and we want to continue to do that. We need to change the policy to make it consistent with what I think is reasonable. I just really do not like anytime the board is being asked to do

258something that they don't have the either the expertise or the access to. So I still again I think we're doing the right thing. I think it's the superintendent's place and if something goes wrong, it's, you know, it's on her because she can control it. So, sorry, I'm just Yeah. So, anyway, I it again it was an oversight and it will be a very very easy quick change to bring back to the board. So, okay. And so, I have consensus to go ahead and do that. And then I couldn't I would be remiss if I didn't do this. Dr. Arm Brewster and I have worked together for a long time. gentleman in the back, if you could put the picture up. So, all night. Thank you. So, if you guys do if you all do not

259recognize, that is Statatler and Waldorf. And Dr. Armbster and I have the same hairline as Statatler and Waldorf from from the Muppets. And so, So, I think our own Frank Weber decided to have a little fun with this picture and photoshopped our faces onto it. Is that where it came from? That is where it came from. Gosh. So, I wanted to say I appreciated him very much and I figured he would be extremely entertained by that. Wow. And the thing that the thing that I when doc when Dr. Vasquez said that she was hiring Dr. Dr. Arm Brewster as her deputy superintendent. As you know, I used to sit next to to Dr. Arm Brewster for a while. I said, "Are you really sure you want to put Mike and I sitting next to each

260other in a meeting?" And it only went arai once. I'll tell that story in a non-public forum. But having said that, Mike, and it's been a pleasure to work with you. You are an outstanding deputy superintendent. Your heart, you live with your heart, and we're going to miss you. But I wanted to leave the board with the entertainment of Statatler and Waldorf/Paularini and Arm Brewster. Good time. Good time. Good time. That's awesome. And that's it. Thank you. All right. Wow. Okay. member Gallow. Yes. Thank you. Madam Chair, I will be extremely brief, but I we had a work session. I think right before Thanksgiving and I was I called in for part of it but I had to miss it. I was at the Excel and Ed conference which was a great great great conference.

261I learned so much. So I did type up four pages of notes of what I learned and what was presented at that Excel and ED conference and they will be attached to the minutes of this meeting. So I just want to be on record that I did that. The minutes are attached. the district paid to send me there and I just wanted the community know that it was money well spent. I learned a lot and I'm sharing that knowledge. Thank you. Thank you. anybody else with a report? Good. Thank you. Sorry. Just one thing. Okay. Yes, I am. Just wanted just to mention that Friday the great historical Jones High School will be competing for the state football championship. This is the third time they have gone, so maybe third time will be a charm.

262Miami. Okay, y'all pray for them. Yes. Thank you. I'm sorry. I chair a moment really quick. I talked to Dr. Vasquez. but I want to mention be to the board when I did my one-on-one with Vas Dr. Dr. Vasquez, I asked that John be removed from clock duty because he's needs to focus on us as we're a lot of work and that we need to find someone else to do clock duty and so the superintendent was going to look into that. So, I just wanted to bring up she's pointing at somebody. I just wanted to bring it up for for awareness cuz I feel I feel like it's too much for him to do and listen to us and answer our question and run the clock. And you're thinking this is the ideal time to

263bring it up since he tried to cut the superintendent off with the timer. Did you miss that? Yes. Yes, that's exactly. Yes, that was her strategy. Yes, I gave you way too much credit there, but yes, it's okay. Yes. Yes. Okay. No further business. Meeting is now adjourned. Okay. Thank you. My gosh. Wow. Alicia. Down. Funny. Heat. Heat.