OCPS | 2023-05-23 School Board Meeting

001welcome to the Orange County school board's regularly scheduled meeting for Tuesday May 23 2023. thank you so much for joining us all of our board members are in person participating today and I also want to remind the public that while the board members are here they won't be engaging in outside Electronics or digital communication that way they can devote their entire attention to the matters in front of us most of which start off with some wonderful recognitions to my fellow board members District staff members of the public when you're speaking speak directly into the microphone and make sure it's turned on so that we can not only we can hear you but our orange TV viewers and YouTube viewers can as well and again thank you for participating we are going to begin the meeting

002with a moment of silence and then I'll invite you to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance thank you and now for the pledge pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right well believe it or not we're already in the last week of the school year for the students they're probably thinking it's a long overdue or I think for most of us adults it seems like the year just flew by since school started in August we've recognized hundreds of students schools teachers departments and programs in our district for their beautiful and bountiful accomplishments I know for the entire board and the superintendent when I say that not all of us that all

003that not everything that we see makes us proud but everything we see here in the district from the people that contribute in internally externally from our students makes us incredibly proud the end of the school year always brings us a wonderful Harvest of recognitions as many programs tournaments and sporting events conclude tonight I'm proud to acknowledge a few of them before discussing tonight's order of business first we have a very special guest with us this evening philanthropist and dear friend Sharon Hagel is very passionate about exploring our galaxy in fact Sharon and her husband Mark have actually been to space themselves they flew on a blue origin new Shepherd or sub-orbital launch vehicle last year and if you don't believe me I'm sure you can find it on YouTube I watched it live it was

004something else she I when I have to diverge for just a minute when I first met my husband I first met her husband at a dinner and they told us they were going to go up in space this was quite a few years ago and we were like decide but it turns out they're oh they're maybe a little bit nutty in a really positive incredible way so two incredible human beings so they did it and she took her passion further by establishing space kids Global a non-profit organization that's been introducing Elementary School students to space exploration and Technology careers and other stem plus opportunities for the past eight years I'm also just a personal story I was at one of our schools elementary schools and one of the teachers came up to me and said

005our children when I asked them what they want to be they say teachers and they say teachers because that's all they see there's in my opinion there's nothing higher or more important than teaching but I also know our children need to be exposed to all kinds of opportunities and very few of them realize that there are jobs you know just an hour from us right now that they could feel fulfill when they grow up so it's really cool hearing that from a teacher and then seeing what you're doing Sharon through space kids Global and the funds from the Florida High Tech Corridor nearly 250 fourth grade students from Conway Hungerford Ivy Lane Little River and orange Center Elementary schools had a chance to explore the Kennedy Space Center Visitor complex in March we'll now hear

006from the students who had a blast experiencing stem and space education during their out of this world field trip in this video thank you Miss Hegel for sponsoring our trip to the Kennedy Space Center hi Mrs Hagel greetings from Little River Elementary home of the Dolphins thank you Mr Taco for sending us to Kennedy Space Center I love the space games I was this close to making a perfect Landing I really like the Rocket Garden I never knew there were so many types of rockets the space shuttle Atlantis exhibit is phenomenal seeing that presentation for the first time is thrilling I like everything it was very fun and educational experience thank you thank you my favorite part of when we went to Kennedy Space Center is the simulation when we went into the rocket ship

007and it was going up it was really funny and everybody was screaming at some point when Smith was telling us to calm down but it was really fun my favorite part of the kids Space Center is also the simulation because we could actually see how it's like in the spaceship and in space my favorite part of the Kennedy Space Center is when we were what we were looking we were looking about we was looking at the spaceships and one and when they were made and like what they did to help us and benefit the Earth my favorite part of the field trip was when we seen how the moon how the first person who stepped on the moon and how and how the moon and how the Moon and the Earth and how the Earth

008rotates and how it turns 360. to chair I got an opportunity to meet her again miss hagelin her group I used to dream about what it was like to go in space I would find myself going outside looking at the stars and I really when I was in South Africa I just believed that the sky eyes were different because it seems as though the Stars were blinking and speaking back but to see those children have that opportunity to to dream and to to go and visit I remember my first visit I was a little girl to the Space Center but you know I'm just so grateful that people are still around and still believe in giving children their dreams letting them see beyond where they are and I just want to thank you for your

009commitment to public education your love for children our superintendent in this board and district for being open enough to allow people to come in they share the same kind of Visions with us and I thank you she said you were the connection chair Jacobs and I want to thank you all so much those children I'm telling you I'm 66 and I remember looking in the view Master at four they will never ever forget that experience thank you so much thank you member Felder well said well said now come on up okay okay oh yeah squishy okay we're not coming back to Earth quite so quickly the Space theme continues I'd now like to recognize Bay Meadows Elementary fourth grade students student Pyle sawn I hope I have that right sweetheart son day pile Sunday bet

010give her a microphone somebody you think I'm kidding somebody thank you that's important having your name right is important thank you and thank you for the confidence so let me know I appreciate that well back to bio for winning the first place during the Florida 4-H public speaking competition that was held in our boardroom in April and I have to tell you sweetheart I am Affiliated public speaking I am still afraid of public speaking if you can believe that and you're in the fourth grade so you're like my hero okay you are amazing so during the competition she spoke for two and a half minutes on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope which aims to observe the earliest galaxies and planets in the universe the telescope which is named after James E Webb who was the

011administrator of NASA during Apollo I should really give her the microphone because she already spoke on this for two and a half minutes and it was launched into space in 1960 on Christmas days day two and a half years I'm sorry it was not launched he James E Webb was in 1960 but it was launched two years ago and it's been sending back incredible images and data ever since some of the recent discoveries made possible by the telescope include finding water on a comment in the asteroid belt and capturing the explosive birth of the star and I'm reading the script but really what I really want to do is say that's a beautiful thing but your every bit is amazing and so we're here today to celebrate you all right you gotta have somebody down

012there yeah all right Mom and Dad somebody else needs to take the video for Dad okay take the video we have pictures we'll take pictures you take video yeah females Bay Meadows oh yeah you gotta be so proud yes we're good congratulations thank you baby all right for our next four recognitions I'd like to acknowledge ocps students who have been busy bees and represented our district exceptionally well this past winter and spring first up is Discovery Middle School 7th grade student Elvis where's Elvis Elvis yes sweetheart before I say it wrong why don't you why don't you help us out with your name avatis thank you Elvis avatice who won the ocps District spelling bee which was held at Calvary Orlando in January he Advanced to the Orlando regional spelling bee at exploria stadium in

013February and placed in the top five next up is Hamlin Middle School sixth grader author where's Arthur Arthur trophy I'm going to bring I tell you what can we get Elvis why don't you come on up here and then we'll bring Arthur up because Arthur's also going to help me with his last name Ferrero Ferrera thank you author will be representing ocps during the national Spanish spelling bee in El Paso Texas this summer yes and I'm going with him no not really Vice chair thank you before we take pictures I wanted Elvis is not only extremely smart by winning the spelling bee he was also in the top talent and has been in the top talent for many many years and he's also saying at our teacher of the year ceremony a couple years ago

014so he's he's talented and smart so I want to say congratulations Elvis we're so proud of you for all that you do yeah I forgot about that you're so right thank you back to Arthur we're pulling for you and we wish you success during that competition I'd also like to acknowledge Lake Gem Elementary fourth grader yes Mika Micah Micah come on up Ben he's so precious Micah is it is sterile it's sterile that's real who won first place and one thousand dollars during the fourth grade Innovation math B but but put on by the non-profit Go full steam during the competition students had one minute to solve a problem and provide the correct answer Micah like a Bible Michael Micah yeah okay am I get your math prowess is phenomenal congratulations on winning this incredible

015accomplishment I can't imagine where you're going to go if you're already so smart in math right now looking forward to following you but and last but not least I'd like to recognize Sun Blaze Elementary third grade grade student yes all right this is crazy I'm not competing against any of these kids anytime he won an encyclopedia he has an encyclopedic knowledge of geography oh wow crazy he won first place and a gold medal during the 2023 International geography bees World winter Regional finals and in the fourth grade and under division at Audubon Park School in February and another first place win and gold medal at the South Florida Regional finals in elementary school category wow wow wow all right so he'll be competing in 2023 in the international Geography Bee Elementary and Middle School national

016champions championships in Arlington Virginia in the beginning of June which is like next week how did you get how did you get so good at geography do you just like it yeah what did you do that's just travel all around the world no if you just like it that's fascinating okay we are so excited for all of you guys and we're so proud of you all and we can't wait to see how you do in your upcoming competitions now can we get a picture with everybody yeah great let's do it in their families yeah okay okay we're gonna get just the kids then we're gonna get the parents then we're gonna get the presents all right now we bring up the parents parents I'm serious principals teachers are you trying to embarrass us here's the

017bad thing I can't even think of the question somebody give us a question oh boy okay go ahead yes and she was like Jenny on the spot I was just so nervous are you there we're good on the side good stay there one two and three Perfect all right teachers principals anybody here yeah wait don't don't go teachers and principals teacher and principals teachers principals yes so wonderful look it takes a village yes I was just thinking I'll take some in it all little boys a beautiful Village thank you okay we'll do that don't let me forget okay well they say all's well that ends well and that's how it went at Lake Nona High Senior Cassie Kerr Casey I know that oh my gosh somebody replaced me today Casey Vice chair you want to

018step in no okay Casey Kerr who won the English-speaking Union space Shakespeare competition at the school and Central Florida Division levels and place a second in the national competition in New York City Casey's Shakespeare selections included performing bottoms monologue at A Midsummer's Night Dream and a sonnet 20 or 81 during all three competitions the second place prize includes attending the American Shakespeare Center Theater Camp in Virginia this summer which will be awesome which is also a wonderful opportunity for Casey and any teachers any theater student to hone their skills even further Casey's advanced placement literature and composition teacher and ocps teacher of the year finalist Jennifer yeah thank you Katie will now tell us more thank you and where is where is Casey are you Casey coming up Casey yeah hello my name is Jennifer

019Gautier and I am here representing Lake Nona High School along with our principal Nikki Campbell on behalf of myself and our theater teacher my partner in the Shakespeare competition May scale Chase we want to honor Casey Kerr for their achievements Gail and I started participating in the English-speaking Union's National Shakespeare competition in 2018 when we both received scholarships from the English-speaking Union to study Shakespeare at the Globe Theater in London with the support of our principal Miss Nikki Campbell this competition has over 100 students participating at the school level this year this is the largest school-based competition in Central Florida Casey beat out over a hundred competitors from Lake Nona and then proceeded to the central Florida competition Casey competed against schools School winners from Osceola orange and Seminole counties and one first place for

020Central Florida foreign Casey and 40 other students from around the country competed at the Lincoln Center in New York City on Monday April 24th while the competition was fears they still Advanced to the top 10 round the finals were judged by a panel of celebrity judges within the acting Community Casey was awarded second place in the nation they won a three-week all-inclusive stay in Staunton Virginia at the American Shakespeare Center we are so proud of Casey they are headed to Florida state in the fall to study music therapy Casey you are an incredible human and we are so grateful for your uplifting generous and absolutely hilarious character congratulations oh all right congratulations yes where's the principal and I think someone wanted another picture with us parents that is incredible and it's second in a nation

021yeah thank you thank you okay and before we move on I also want to thank Lake Nona High's theater director and Drama teacher Gail Chase for her commitment to Casey she couldn't be here with us this evening but I wanted to recognize her for all she's done to encourage Casey both on and off the stage next reading is the main focus for the next remarkable recognitions each year Avid student readers in elementary middle and high school compete during the battle of the books media Specialists from around the state selected 15 books featuring multiple genres and diversity for kindergarten through 12th grade students school children began reading and studying the books in the spring prior to the competition this year the student teams from Stony Brook Elementary Discovery Middle School and Timber Creek High won the

022contest I'd like to invite associate superintendent of curriculum and digital learning Rob Bixler to the podium to provide us with a little more information good evening good evening everyone I'd like to share that this year 85 teams participated at the elementary competition 33 teams participated in the middle school competition in 13 schools participated at the high school competition I believe it's the most they've ever had in the last few years so we're very honored to recognize these winners from stomach Elementary our media specialist is Becky burgoon the winners that are here today from the team are Annabelle Rossi and Rebecca Samuel you can stand real quick we'll bring you up in just a second congratulations from Discovery Middle School our media specialist Jennifer lasalla our winners that are here tonight are Julia Matthews Caesar Chatterton

023Abel Blanton Zane Smith Carly Grimes and Avery Benson congratulations and from Timber Creek High School our media specialist Melanie Mahaffey with our winners here tonight are Emily Miller Kylie Walker Amanda white and Emily denier he was a freshman I might add congratulations your pictures together yes all right yes absolutely all right she's my boss thank you congratulations guys keep reading baby but we still have them that's perfect excellent good look happy if you can turn it if you've got your certificates happy all right do we have all the parents where are the parents where are our parents baby yes they've read books the teacher principles and principals teachers principals everyone yes happy let's do that again all right Rob stay close all right I'll stay here foreign next we have the math Olympics competition which

024occurred at Mead Botanical Garden in Winter Park marp Winter Park in March the six member teams included fourth third fourth and fifth grade students and at least one third and fourth grade for greater for the two remaining team positions okay Okay we okay okay the three-part contest was aligned with fifth grade math standards and provided students with an opportunity to learn and study various math concepts mathematical Wizards from the Orlando gifted chem Academy Academy won this year's competition Rob please tell us more about the math Olympics sure thing students participated in mathematics reasoning critical thinking fluency critical thinking fluency and automaticity in both independent and collaborative tasks the participating teams made it to the final competition after completing after competing in District rounds earlier in the year I'm very pleased to announce that Orlando gifted

025Academy was the winner their coach is fifth grade math and science teacher Geraldine Kersey the participants were Nathaniel Gordon fifth grader August Macan fifth grade all right Stand Up Guys stand up oh yeah so we want to know who we're celebrating yes the Billy sorry fifth grade Daniel song fifth grade Henry ho fourth grade and Craig walls third grade congratulations thank you how about pictures yeah it'll be on eBay good A little bit of smile of happy stay there one more excellent appearance parents and principals and teachers parents come on up for the picture there you go yes that is so precious Ness get your baby that is so great hold on hands down there we go no no not just his head he knows awesome thank you awesome all right our next recognition is

026for winners of the fifth annual ocps chess club tournament that occurred at Sunridge Elementary and Middle Schools in April this year's chess club tournament was organized by kindergarten through 12th grade competitions program specialist Nancy golden in the curriculum and digital learning Department nearly 800 students from 90 chess clubs throughout the district participated in the tournament this year that's amazing 800 of our students that are playing chess is just amazing the game of chess is more than 1 300 years old and one of the oldest and most popular and I would argue the most difficult games in the world research shows that there's a strong correlation between learning to play chess and academic achievements benefits include improving cognitive skills increasing attention span and building create creativity and confidence Nancy please come to the podium and tell

027us a little bit more about our 2023 chess Champs thank you chair Jacobs I would also like to thank the board members superintendent Vasquez Deputy superintendent Armbruster Dr Schuler and curriculum and digital department for supporting the ocps chess team it is amazing to stand in the cafeteria at Sunridge Middle School and Elementary School and see 400 chess boards set up for 800 ocps students to come in and play I don't know who was more nervous the parents the coaches my team I'm not quite sure but to prepare for the tournament the schools chess clubs met weekly to practice their skills team learn strategies play games and participate in many tournaments chess players also use chess kids on launch to help improve their skills The District Tournament is a Swiss style tournament which means each player

028competed in six 30-minute rounds individual and team awards were given in each of the four age divisions we had kindergarten through second grade third grade through fifth grade middle school and high school the pressure and intensity increased with each round and I'm proud of each individual and team for their commitment to chess and their ability to persevere congratulations to each of you it is my honor to recognize the top players and teams in each of the four divisions and you just want when I call your name just stand I think the thing is we'll do pictures afterwards because there's quite a few of them that's good okay the K2 individual individual award goes to first grader shayam gang from Orlando Science schools with their coach Mike Mr Singleton it goes to Audubon Park School School

029representative is Miss Quinn and they're coached by Kiani and the members of that team are Faye Abram first grader Maisie Blakely first grader Alex Freeland first grader Sawyer Anderson second grader Stowe French second grader and George Stahl second grader thank you the third through fifth grade individual award goes to a fifth grader from Orlando gifted Academy Benson way coached by Mr Rickard and Miss Lineberry Orlando gifted Academy also won the third through fifth grade team award and their team members are Joshua Bentley fourth grade Owen Courtney fifth grade Vincent Kong third grade Benson Nguyen fifth grade Hugh when third grade King when fourth grade Evan Sean fifth grade Craig Wells third grade and Leo zeisman fifth grade thank you I think Craig you were on the math bowl team too weren't you are you here

030more than one competition congratulations all right our Middle School individual award goes to seventh grader Cole barkett from Audubon Park School school representative is Dr Dawkins and Coach Kiani and our Middle School team award goes to Glen Ridge Middle School coach by Miss Mr bronic and team members are Lucas feinsod 8th grade Benjamin Heiser 8th grade Tristan Squire 8th grade Kaden Tang 8th grade Charles so eighth grade Oliver bird seventh grade Ethan Shu sixth grade Elijah heard sixth grade and Noah yat sixth grade and last but not least in our High School Division the individual award goes to sophomore from Lake Nona High School Charlotte coached by Miss Miss Hernandez Padilla and the high school team winner goes to Windermere High School coached by Mr volkis and the team members are Aaron Gomez senior Ethan

031sorry senior Brandon Nova Junior John piaz Jr Gabriel rajulas are they here today night okay junior Tyler sidow Jr Tyler Feldman freshman Jose sorry freshman Jaden matura freshman Shea new de gate freshman Brenda Nova freshman Grant Stace freshman and Victor vassaluri freshman basari yes and the great thing about Chess is it is I know amazing right K through K through 12. so you kindergarten first second third grade fifth grade your middle so you can play in middle school you can play in high school it was truly amazing and I appreciate the opportunity to recognize these players here tonight well Nancy we appreciate you and you've been contributing donating so much of your time investing it into our youth this is just this blows me away I want it what there's so many of them let's

032start with the youngest and we'll do one picture and then we'll keep and we'll go to middle school high school and then yeah you got a better idea Sandra wants to do them all them all all at once yeah okay it's not you guys older okay so the high school so high school my high school team come up high school come up getting that in the back you're the oldest are the shortest we'll be in the back thank you very much High School Middle School come on up you know the drill get in the window it's a little risky and then third through fifth grade okay two you're gonna stand up front go ahead and we've got a little hole over here we can fill it with some peoples go ahead okay two going up

033there is that all the folks and the coaches yes okay okay yes the trophies were great they really are yeah good look toward me don't look at the parents with the cell phone you can look at them in a second smile is preferred look happy and on three good one two and three stay there hold on look up stay right there parents go crazy laughs go ahead get in it go ahead get in it what stay there perfect somebody had a chess piece right here where's that can you hand that back to the chairs yes look up again excellent looking that's like the last one right after this congratulations thank you great job yeah I could learn so much from you I know there's more people coming yeah all right wait till we get everybody

034in all right our next recognition is for Odyssey of the Mind student teams from thornbrook Elementary in Edgewater High which includes students from Apopka and Olympia High Schools The Odyssey of the Mind teaches students how to develop and use their creativity become problem solvers and bring the classroom to life the school teams won first place in the structural engineering category during the state competition at the Orange County Convention Center in April both teams are advancing to the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Michigan State University this week to tell us more about the school teams and competitions I would now like to invite thornbrook Elementary School's Odyssey of the Mind coach and gifted resource teacher Jamie kentner Kent Nur yes thank you for having us this afternoon this is very exciting for us to

035be here I would like I really appreciate you honoring the hard work of these young people they started eight months ago on their Journey Odyssey the Mind Journey both of these teams decided to solve the structure problem both of these teams were Crown state champions on April 18th at the convention center they will be traveling to Lansing Michigan tomorrow to compete on the international platform that consists of teams from over 30 U.S states in at least 10 countries Florida alone has 55 teams competing in the World Finals with 16 of them right here from Central Florida eight of them are Orange County Public Schools mine provides provides a platform for educating the whole child it is a creative problem-solving competition that is cross-curricular by nature teams of five to seven students use critical reading skills

036to fully comprehend the requirements of the problem they brainstorm Creative Solutions research key components conduct experiments make exact measurements and Calculate cost as structure teams these students had to build a Balsa structure that was at least eight inches tall two inches in diameter and weigh at least 18 at way less than 18 grams the high school team structure had to weigh less than 15 grams at the state competition the thornbrook team structure held 495 pounds and the high school Edgewater High School structure held 520 pounds as the weights are placed on the structures the rest of the team showcases other problem requirements for example this year's structure teams had to have a magician character who performs two magic tricks and recites a team-created poem the structure problem is just one of five the teams could

037have chosen from as much as these students have enjoyed their success My Hope Is that they are also learning important life skills I'd like to read an excerpt from a letter Mr Bixler just brought me last week this letter is from a 2023 ocps graduate who was on my first World Finals team back in 2016. in her letter she mentions the impact of her experience with the Odyssey of the Mind she states the experience I had with this project are truly Unforgettable and will always be a part of me none of this could have happened without your leadership and motivation I still use the problem solving skills I developed in everyday life and honestly these are things I never could have gotten through without the skills I gained from this project and in your class

038I am truly grateful for the time and effort you put into everything you do as this has stuck with me all the way until now and will continue to benefit me through the rest of my life as you can see Odyssey is so much more than students playing with cardboard and duct tape they learn cooperation communication leadership and to think on their feet they also discover skills they didn't know they had the script writer Who falls in love with wordplay the artist who makes amazing murals out of unusual items the costume designer who makes costume out of trash in the engineer who brings designs to life using real world tools does coaching and odyssey team require a great deal of time yes it does but it's a hundred percent worth it if every Omer gains

039skills that will lead them to success in their future endeavors thanks again for having us tonight we fly out tomorrow and we hope to make you all proud all right boss picture flip your certificate good look toward Me Oh Hang On that was the gravity test good for me amazing let's bring in some adults okay what school all this Edge Waters oh goodness so are there any parents do we have parents principals anybody yes come on up to a picture look at a little shoes so they can find her yeah good good happy stay there excellent thank you congratulations and Jamie before you step Jamie Jamie before you step away you wanted to honor them we want to honor you are phenomenal thank you for all that you do in this program and everything else

040and how many years did you say you've been teaching oh my god oh good thank you okay for our final recognition I'd like to recognize student athletes from Boone Lake Nona Ocoee Timber Creek West Orange Windermere and Winter Park High Schools whom we are proud to call our Sports Superstars for the 2022-23 school year please welcome Lani Flores District senior administrator of Athletics and wellness Services who will be sharing spring our spring 2023 student athletes and their accomplishments with us this evening welcome thank you good evening chair Jacobs board members and superintendent Dr Vazquez it is now my honor to recognize three excellent teams and four individual champions from our spring Sports season first up is the Boone High School boys tennis team Boons boys High School tennis team was named the State 4A academic

041Champions with a team GPA of 3.957 they were first of only 25 other schools in the state of Florida who had a combined GPA of at least 3.0 in this classification in the State of Florida overall team academic Champion standings for the 2022-2023 school year Boone High School finished sixth in the state in all classifications at this time I would like to recognize the student athletes the coaches and staff for Boone high school the principal is Hector mastery the athletic director is Kevin Deemer and at this time I would like the head coach John Richards to introduce his team welcome welcome sir come on oh I was going to hand you tonight you can stand and recognize your students by the route would be great okay thank you guys very much for having us it

042is definitely an honor for us to be here introducing our student athletes ninth grade Rexford ursic 11th grade foreign Rodrigo Sanchez ninth grade Benjamin Graham 11th grade William Jacobson ninth grade Oliver patakis ninth grade Jonathan solick ninth grade Christian Walker 12th grade and Blake Bartos 12th grade all the athletes okay okay yeah there's schools good good look forward to me stay there look amazing support parents are there any parents come on down you all located yes yes there you go get with your babies yes and your parents again and then my younger brother all right good thank you thank you y'all can exit you can exit Straight Ahead thank you thank you for coming congratulations staying with the theme of student athlete the next group we'd like to recognize is the Winter Park softball team

043they too were academic team champions Winter Park softball team was named the state 7A academic Champions with a team grade point average of 3.68 they were first of only 37 other schools in the state of Florida who had a combined team GPA of at least 3.0 in this classification the team also had a great season on the field reaching Regional the regional quarterfinals this year at this time I would like to recognize the fact that this school also made the state all overall academic rankings they finished sixth for the 2022-2023 school year that is Winter Park High School at this time I would like to recognize the student athletes coaches and staff of Winter Park High School the principal is Matthew Arnold the athletic director is Andy Childs at this time I'd like to welcome

044assistant coach Miranda pazienza to introduce her team foreign thank you guys for having us tonight I also have Coach Payton High day with us as well first we have Celia Vargas 12th grade also one of our senior captains Rachel Sully 11th grade Krista Hartley 10th grade Sophie Rhodes 10th grade Peyton Newby ninth grade and unfortunately the rest of our team could not make it here tonight I'm gonna go through their names quite quickly we have Lauren Allen 12th grade Lindsay Allen 9th grade Sam Childs Addison Evans Grayson Fleming Rhys Fleming Kylie Fugate iffy Otero Hannah Resnick Katie Robinson Riley Scanlon nielle Taylor and Torin bedalino yes representing ladies how much stay there hold on perfect back to you the next team we'd like to recognize is the Lake Nona girls water polo team that claimed

045the fhsa state 1A Championship giving the team back-to-back state titles the team was the Metro East team champions for the 2022-2023 school year they were also the district and Regional champions they won the State title by defeating Gulliver prep Pinecrest 13-7 and in this in the semifinals and in the finals they were able to beat Seminole Samford 7-5 for the victory in the State title yes awesome this is coach Alec Bennett Alex Bennett's fifth state championship at this time I would like to recognize the student athletes coaches and staff for Lake Luna High School the principal is Nikki Campbell the athletic director is Chelsea John at this time I would like to introduce Coach Alex Bennett to introduce his team okay thank you he missed the back back to back to back they didn't let

046me they didn't want me to no that's important yeah thanks for having me our first player is 11th grader and Elise border Rodriguez Anna Carrera who's a 12th grader will be going to Gannon University and studying pre-med on a water polo scholarship 10th grader Bailey Chambers 10th grader Ava Conway thank you 11th grader Natalie cook 11th grader Anushka googari 12th grader Liz Angel Hernandez that's going to be going to Mercyhurst University studying psychology and playing water polo on the varsity team 12th grader Jillian Lambert who is going to finish her dual enrollment classes at Valencia she has three more to go and then go to UCF ninth grader Ella Miller 9th grader Vanessa Rosario 12th grader Emily Scheer who's going to be going to Marist University and studying marketing on a scholar on a water

047polo scholarship 12th grader Sasha solar who will be going to Iona university on a water polo scholarship and studying business 11th grader Lillian Torres and we have a senior that's not here tonight getting ready for graduation tomorrow that's going to be going to Florida and studying pre-med Ileana West we also have two amazing athletic directors Chelsea John and Joel Atkins let's get our athletic support team come on up here wait wait yeah it was amazing yes there are parents if your knees are good go ahead and kneel in front of your small child oh no that's not fair thank you good all right good stay there look happy and on three good one two and three and parents pinch their cheeks congratulations number number five yeah look at the record books you're killing me now

048that we were able to recognize our teams I would like to take this moment to recognize our individual athletes first for Windermere boys wrestling is Andres garon he is a State 3A boys weightlifting 169 pound champion he was also named the Florida Dairy Farmers Mr weightlifting for the state of Florida he finished the year with a grade point average of 3.796 at this time I would like to recognize his coach his principal athletic director and Andres himself the principal for Windermere High School is Andrew liptakis the athletic director Chad Springer head coach is Ricky Smith an assistant coach is Maria Diaz Rivera at this time we'd like to welcome up Andres karon good good congratulations yeah stay there hold on excellent mommy daddy where's mommy daddy oh yes oh look they weightlift too see where

049it comes from yeah congratulations our next student athlete is Timber Creek's boys weightlifting LV balmores Alvey was a State 3A weightlifting 129 pound weight champion he was not only strong in the weight room but also in the classroom finishing the year with a 3.966 grade point average at this time I would like to recognize the staff of Timber Creek High School principal Kelly paldiano athletic director Jim priest head coach John frankos assistant coach Lyle Lake an assistant coach Patricia katzster at this time we'd like to welcome up LV valmores congratulations baby yes good job excellent thank you congratulations for me first stay there hold on cell phones good good where is our technology at first this past weekend was the state track finals at Orange County Public Schools was lucky enough to bring home two

050more Champions the first is a koe girls track Michaela Davis was the state for a triple jump Champion with a jump of 12.02 meters thank you she was not only strong on the track but also in the classroom with a grade point average of 3.0 plan to continue continue her athletic and educational career at Jacksonville University okay you beat me to it sir thank you at this time I'd like to recognize their staff principal Lisa karzinski thank you Billy alderman head coach David FICO and assistant coach Brandon Exxon congratulations Michaela Davis come on family family everybody come on down congratulations you're so proud okay there we go good look amazing stay there hold on unfortunately our last champion was not able to be here tonight but I still wanted to recognize them it was West

051Orange boys track Valentino Rudolph was a State 4A champion in the 400 meters he ran a time of 47.40 he was also eighth in the 200 meters and ran a time of 21.21 Valentino represented our County both as the Metro West Champion and the district champion this time I would like to thank the staff from West Orange High School principal Matt Turner athletic director Lisa Montgomery and head coach Jacina reading Campbell and that is all of our awardees tonight thank you all right great job thank you so much all right feels kind of weird doesn't it all right well we're we're finished with those recognitions it was a lot the chambers nearly closed out so I'm going to move on to the proclamation and then we're going to hear from the superintendent because we still

052have a recognition to celebrate but first let me do let me read the proclamation we the board is proclaiming June 2023 AS lgbtq Plus pride and pulse remembrance month here in Orange County Public Schools the proclamation reads as follows whereas Orange County Public Schools Embraces and celebrates our diversity within along with our sorry along with our lesbian gay bisexual transgender and questioning community and is committed to supporting dignity and equality for all people whereas many of our students family members and employees foreign TQ plus community and are greatly valued whereas all students should be able to attend school in a safe and inclusive environment free from harassment or discrimination and in which they can reach their full potential and whereas the school board of Orange County provides protections for students and employees on the basis

053of race color religion age sex natural origin marital status disability sexual orientation genetic information gender identity or expression language spoken homelessness or any other reason prohibited by law and whereas lgbtq plus students are subject to harassment bullying intimidation and violence Across the Nation and whereas a lack of awareness and understanding on issues facing the LGBT plus Community our children and youth has contributed to higher rates of isolation depression and suicidal ideations and whereas National Studies have re revealed that discrimination at school has continued and contributed to high rates of absenteeism academic underachievement and school dropout among lgbtq plus Youth and whereas awareness regarding lgbtq plus issues increases understanding and cultivates acceptance of and respect for lgbtq plus Children and Youth and whereas on June 12 2016 49 innocent members of our community lost their lives

054in a senseless act of hate during the Pulse Nightclub tragedy many of whom identified as lgbtq plus individuals and whereas the 49th Souls who perished will never be forgotten as this horrendous tragedy deeply impacted the loved ones left behind the LGBT community and allies worldwide now therefore be it resolved the Orange County School Board of Florida does hereby Proclaim June 2023 AS lgbtq Plus Pride impulse remembrance month here in our County Public Schools thank you all for the support of the proclamation okay remember Castor Dental you recognized thank you madam chair I just want to say that this Proclamation recognizes the courage and dignity of our lgbtq family and ocps it honors the contributions of our lgbtq employees and lets them know that they are valued it sends a message to our students that we

055see them as whole human beings worthy of our respect the reason we make this Proclamation is found in the title itself pulse remembrance lgbtq people still face discrimination and open hostility and it is within a hostile environment that hatred festers and emboldens those who want to do harm especially to our trans youth I am so proud that we still stand with our lgbtq community and practices our ocps core values of inclusion and respect for one another thank you thank you member Pastor Dan member Byrd thank you chair I just wanted to thank you I wholeheartedly agree with what you said but in light of you know some of the concerns that are being brought up by our youth that keep coming and speaking before our board meetings I'm wondering if if the board might consider

056having next school year having an lgbtq Plus student advisory Council that could meet once a month with with board or with staff and share concerns that they have in the schools clarify misinformation you know get get the answers directly from us because we hear a lot of things that you know get said that may not be completely accurate and that causes fear and there's just there you know they are scared and I understand that they're scared this is a scary time for them so I think that might be a great way that we could show them that we are listening and that we want to hear them and we want to understand what they're going through and help to provide them with the support they need remember I think that's an excellent idea thank you

057so much for coming forward with that I think there there is confusion obviously and we try here at the meetings to address that but as the group was here tonight I was thinking how how do how do we get one-on-one to have meaningful conversations instead of this conversation how do we make sure that we all understand how these issues have come about and minimize the damage that has been done to the extent that we possibly can and I think communication is a core part of that but the letter writing all the other types of communication doesn't compare to one-on-one face-to-face conversations but putting together an Advisory Group would be an awesome way to do that thank you long overdue but I greatly appreciated and thank you for that suggestion let me call on member Salamanca

058thank you chair well as the first ever lgbtq School Board member in the history of Orange County that we know I am so proud of this board and so grateful that We Stand by our students and this year in this policy I'm proud of our staff for continuing to advocate for these voices and these students as well it's really important in times like today where when you look at the news you see a lot of what you see on attacking this population of students it wasn't when I was in high school I was a Timber Creek class of 2011 go wolves I was not opening out I told two teachers at Timber Creek about my sexuality before I told my parents and my parents did not accept who I was until way after college there

059was a lot of internal family conflict about this and I am who I am and there was not much I could do about that to change that and I love who I love and there are so many students in these classrooms today who are still trying to figure out who they are and why they feel the way they feel and it is not clear to them many times why they feel the way they feel and this topic is so nuanced because we as the adults are the ones that are supposed to be listening to them and telling them that it doesn't matter that we still love them and that we support them and today our board is telling you we support you and we see you and we will do everything we can to hear

060you as well but it is tough times and this board can only do so much there is a lot of advocacy that has to happen at the national level at the state level to make sure that our students are safe so thank you to everyone up here for doing this today thank you member Salamanca I do wish I think this is one of the only meetings that I can remember going to where Clinton McCracken hasn't been here and I just I did want to give recognition to him because right after I got elected I met him out of his school I met I just happened to run into him at the school and he asked me if we would if we would issue the lgbtq plus Proclamation and I didn't realize it hadn't been but

061I also to be quite honest didn't know how that was going to go over with the board and I was so pleasantly surprised that in instead of there being any hesitation that this board was so grateful that we were doing it so I do want to mention Clinton he happens to be now the president of CTA our classroom teacher Association Union and but I first met him in that capacity and so I will always think of this Proclamation as a tribute to his his legacy and his advocacy so with that Dr Vazquez do you have any administrators to recognize I do but before I do that I do want to point out I do have a student lgbtq Advisory Group we met I believe two or three times this year our last meeting was Friday

062and there are many many things that they are concerned about a lot of misinformation a lot of fear and we will continue to meet with them and what we can do is have a report back out to the board after we meet and certainly board members are more than welcome to attend or if you'd like to have a separate Advisory Group but I we did have the opportunity I don't I don't want to speak for the whole board personally I don't think we need to have a separate Advisory Group I do think it would be very beneficial if board members we would need to post it but I think it would be very helpful for us to to be at the table because I that communication directly from board members as well but I thank

063you for your leadership on that and now do you have any administrators to recognize I do I'm just so excited I have quite a few so if you'll bear with me the very first one is the first principle that we are act we actually asked to come to the board since the pandemic and so we're so excited to announce that Brian Sanchez Corona is currently the assistant principal at Water Springs Middle and he will be the principal of water Spring Middle congratulations thank you board members thank you Dr Vazquez Dr Armbruster Dr fritzler I really appreciate it and thank you for allowing me to serve I have some mentors that put me here that have watched me along the way Dr border Dr Cupid Andrew Jackson Mi Corazon thank you Cheryl Neely Rolando Bailey thank

064you sir I'm blessed to have one of the best communities ever oh Dr Lisa karzinski Ocoee one of the best communities in all of ocps I'm really blessed and they've engaged with us and they've supported us every step of the way from the moment we were born as a school they really really just loved us and I've never felt that before and I hope it spreads throughout the whole district and I do want to give a shout out to one very special person from our community from Horizon West and water Spring Middle School Katie Dukes can you please stand up her we just thank you so much Katie and we're going to do great things together it's been Juan Diego you understand our sacrifice for time you understand my commitment to serve and I really

065appreciate you thank you what a special role you're entering into I'm going to call on member goal in just a minute but each time I go to a graduation I get to see that connection between principals and their students and I always think there's I don't know what could be more fulfilling than being a principal out of school it's just an awesome opportunity show congratulations I know you'll do wonderful member gold well I know I could not have turned right outside my house if he didn't become principal clear history I I did not have a say in the choice but boy was I making it clear how the community felt about you and how your leaders felt about you and your students feel about you and you have shown tremendous leadership you've given Mr Jackson

066great support while we waited for your new school to be done which is really exciting that you're gonna be in that and I couldn't be more thrilled and just honored to have you the West is the best Team and and I know the that we are going to soar even to new heights because you already have brought together that energy that collaboration our ptso our students and our community so thank you for accepting this amazing role and one final on a personal note thank you for so proudly recognizing your husband that is that is so important for our students I don't know if you were here for the pre-agenda portion of the meeting good they need to see that while we can't be everything they want us to be that we can still be very

067very proud of Who We Are and no matter you're just a great role model and a great example to our students that ocps really does accept all of our students all of our employees regardless of their sexual orientation regardless of their sexual identity is irrelevant and this just couldn't be a better time to celebrate you right now and your husband so God bless you and thank you okay now Dr Vazquez congratulations again I'm so excited for you and what lies ahead additionally I have the honor and privilege to recognize my new team our new team from the teaching and learning side of the house for the upcoming school year and as I call your name if you'll please come up I'm going to start with the principal leaders all right remember part of our we

068organizations were trying to provide more support to our schools and so we have narrowed the ratio of principal supervisors to our schools and so I'm so excited to announce the following individuals as our principal leaders Carletta Davis Wilson who's currently the principal at Maxi Elementary Julie Hilton who is currently an executive area director in the southwest learning community Trevor honahan principal of autumn Bond Park School Meredith let's take us who is currently area superintendent in the North executive area director in the south east learning community Rob mccloe principal of Lake Nona middle thank you Lukey Shamil our executive area director in the north learning community Rodriguez principal of John Young Elementary Mindy Mindy's director West learning community Karen Verano principal Azalea Park Elementary Raquel Flores executive area director in the school transformation office Shelia Windham

069executive area director in the school transformation office Ian gesuntite he's currently executive leader for ESC excuse me executive director for ESC special programs and behavioral support moving to our middle and K-8 schools Rolando Bailey area superintendent for the southeast good morning Jenny Gibson an associate acting associate superintendent for Innovation office James Leslie executive area director from the East learning community and our high school principal leaders Martha Chang executive area director of the high school office Britt dispensa executive area director High School office and Cali paduano principal Timber Creek High School serving as our executive leader over all of the elementary schools is Raheem Jones executive leader for middle and K-8 schools Patty fritzler executive leader for high schools Jose Martinez executive leader School transformation office William Bond executive leader for exceptional student education Wendy ivory

070executive leader for school choice Services is Greg Moody leader for Career and Technical education is Rosa Grant and Rosa is at a meeting down in Miami and so I do recognize her as well two additional individuals Kathy Schuler is now going to be the chief schools officer and to Shonda Brown Cannon will be the new Chief academic officer foreign how excited I am about the work that this incredible team of leaders under the direction of Mike Armbruster are going to make in the lives of our children the lives of our teachers and the impact in our community so thank you for all that you have done and thank you for all that you will continue to do for ocps please if you're on this side you're shingling that way you're on that side great job

071good shingles some more congratulations right there good good look amazing look happy on three and Let's do let's do pretty hands there we go all right here we go good look happy look happy again hold on good look up did you guys bring your parents congratulations negative yeah remember remember bird you're recognized thank you I just want to okay first I just gotta say Dr Vazquez you seriously just keep knocking it out of the park good choices wow you really are it's so impressive how you can just see the vision that you want and you are just doing such a magnificent job of picking the right people for all the positions and that this whole reorganization you're doing and the vision you have for a more collaborative model with with you know more direct impact

072for the students I just I think it's so amazing and I'm so excited about it I'm so excited for our future and I'm so happy for all of those amazing leaders they're they're all just rock stars so it is going to be an exciting year to come for sure thank you thank you and now member Felder well thank you so much chair and Dr Vasquez I kept the secret oh it was so hard for me not to call somebody oh you know what's going to happen but you know what let me tell you something yeah I'm the one that tells I'm sorry the reorganization when she first talked about it I was kind of reorganization you know but she shared some things and you know the people that she was looking at and what she

073saw them doing and I don't know a whole lot of people but I don't a lot of them that you chose and I've had an opportunity in this beginning of my third year sitting on this board got a chance to talk to them outside of the board to get to know them having breaking some bread and just talking just being real and I'm just so excited because sometimes new and different can sometimes it most times be fresh and be good and so I'm excited about our incoming school year 23 24 and I believe the people that you've chosen in these leadership positions they're going to do us well they're going to do us well and I'm so grateful and so thankful and I will always continuously pray for God's guidance and direction for you that

074you have the strength when you think you don't have it but you still have it to do what God has placed in your heart to do it and do your best thank you so much Dr Vazquez for your leadership thank you thank you member Felder Vice chair gallo thank you madam chair I want to congratulate everybody what a good looking group that is it's a good looking group I have to admit when Dr Vasquez had individual conversations with us when she told us not to tell anybody my first thought was oh no not Kelly don't take Kelly and I realized quickly that why I don't want to lose Kelly at Timber Creek High School is for the very reason why she deserves to be where she is because she's a phenomenal principal and she's going

075to do phenomenal things in our district helping other principals be as phenomenal as she is so Kudos Dr Vasquez on on this team I can't wait to see what happens next year it's going to be awesome thank you member Gallo member for aunt I am going to repeat a lot of what has already been said but Dr Vazquez thank you so much for seeing the whole picture and coming in with fresh Vision fresh Vision can be really good and bring that hope and excitement so thank you for that and for choosing phenomenal people just like member Gallo said when you gave us the list and you said not to say anything and I just honored principal Lino and you said no he's moving I'm like what okay I feel like I specifically said don't move

076fam and so I think if we can if if all of you are the same I think we are we are on the right track we have amazing leaders who are going to pour in to other leaders our principals and really just bring ocps to a different level so thank you so much thank you member for member Gould all right first I'm going to Pat us on the back for making Maria's superintendent and then second right thank you second I'm gonna Pat her on the back for making Mike Armbruster Dr Mike Armbruster Deputy superintendent and thirdly from really looking at the skills and talents that we have and I've had the great blessing to work with so many of you for several years and really see you stay calm stay focused stay supportive and stay

077clear on our mission to make every child successful and I know that in your new roles you're going to be able to really reinvent how that's done and help us not only to make children feel great about coming into our schools but our staffs feel great about being there and I think that is really going to be the key to our ultimate success so thank you for stepping up and stepping out in this and again thank you superintendent for your leadership thank you member golden well well said member Salamanca so much of the same but I am just it is so exciting to see Dr Vasquez and Dr armbruster's Vision come to life in this incredible group of human beings you know when when I got the call as well with the list I freaked

078out about Robert because like no the middle and the parents are also going to freak out with me and then I immediately saw Kelly's name on there and I was like how did Andrew react I think I was before Angie so that was a TBD but now I know and I it is it is so clear how well you know your staff and these leaders in our schools because some of these names everyone was just like yes of course yes we are sad to see you go from our schools but also it is just so clear that you have so much of the spirit and the culture that you know this board and Vasquez the numbers to really want to bring to ocps and we know you're going to make us proud we know that

079you're going to work with the rest of the school leadership but I'm just so excited I feel so grateful that at all the timing aligned that I get to be part of this board this time at this point in time and I feel very lucky to do that I'm very excited to work with this group because I've already had so much fun working I guess that could be the word and I have so much respect for the work of the area superintendents I've worked with and their team that I can only imagine how much more powerful how much leaner and faster we're about to be with the group that just came up here so just congratulations to everyone and you know Dr Roscoe is really incredible just what we're doing here well thank you member

080Salamanca and we are also glad that you're here at this time so it's perfect time for you to be on the board member Kester Dental thank you madam chair and I don't I didn't get the list just kidding oh boy I saw the list a couple times thank you I also want to congratulate Dr Vasquez for the courage to make this kind of change and to see that it was necessary to kind of flatten the hierarchy and to really bring about the change in our culture which is so needed and this is not just a symbolic change this is really going to help this is going to be felt down to the classroom so I appreciate this so much and everyone that we just that are our principal leaders new Chiefs I don't know what

081their names are I have to get that down I have to see the list again executive leaders you all are so phenomenal and I can't wait to see how things move forward thank you member Caster Dental I think everybody yeah everybody has spoken by me you hate to do that because everything's been said so congratulations it doesn't go far enough I just want to say thank you all have earned these roles and our superintendent as everyone has said is phenomenal and I agree with you member gold we do get a pat on the back for making the obvious decision but but thank you because you all have spent so many years from the classroom up committed to our students and has always been about our students and I am so excited about what the future

082holds because of what you personally bring and we've promised our we promised not just our teachers we've promised all of our team here at Orange County Public Schools that we are going to bring about a different culture and the superintendent is kicked right off out about going school to school to school and making sure that she made that direct connection and listened and then put actions into word with a restructuring so I can't wait to see what next to your holds again thank you so much and Dr Vazquez any any further recognitions no I'll just wait for my report all right ah we'll wait for your report too we have a pretty short agenda are there any changes to the agenda no Madam chair all right I'm sorry who said that was that member gold

083I'm sorry member gold any changes to the agenda member member Gould is there emotion to adopt the agenda will you yeah okay remember Google the moves that we adopt the agenda is there a second by member Caster Dental all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries unanimously moving on do we have any public comments I'm sorry madam chair did you just approve the agenda or did you actually adopt we adopted it adopted agenda we adopted it okay we're going to approve the consent agenda in just a minute but first I wanted to find out if there were any public comments their phone or in person all right thank you we have a hand up in the back we have no cards for speakers okay okay so hand is up the process is

084and we try really hard to communicate this that if you want to speak there's a time period right before the meeting to fill out a speaker's card so at this point we will move forward with the consent agenda is there a motion to approve the consent agenda motion by member Kester dental and seconded by member bird all in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion carries unanimously Dr Vasquez we are on to your report so I actually have two individuals that are going to be speaking as part of my report excuse me three as part of my report I'm going to start out with two individuals who were part of my student superintendent student advisory Council and this year they created a campaign to bring awareness and to help stop the threats on our

085school campuses the 88 student members from the 22 high schools developed smile an acronym for safety motivation inclusion leadership and educate by building awareness of safety and being connected to one another and their school students would be less likely to make a threat each High School implemented the campaign in a different manner from Spirit days to videos to bracelet reminders the school-based teams work to educate their peers on the need to stop the threats I am honored to introduce two students from Cypress Creek High School and I apologize if I mispronounce your name so AJ sukermani how'd I do yeah okay and Jackson slide salid who are here with their principal Marisol Mendes and I think they also have some other student support that came out this evening guys yes let's hear it for Cypress

086Creek thank you guys so much are you guys able to get the presentation okay we have it great do you guys have the mic but yeah we have another Mike yeah it would probably be easier that way absolutely thank you all right cool so let's start off with here introductions okay well by the way my name is AJ sugermani graduated from Cypress Creek High School my name is Jackson solid oh my bad my name is Jackson solid recent graduate from Cypress Creek High School my name is Elijah Torres current sophomore 10th grader at Cypress Creek High School my name is Jack Sierra Rodriguez current sophomore at Cypress Creek High School we'd like to say thank you all for giving us the honor to present our campaign to y'all tonight this would have been possible without

087the student leaders without Mrs Vasquez and our principal Mrs Mendez that I completely supported our idea of how to introduce small on campus and how to get people involved and we're going to be here without them so when we start off with this campaign the biggest thing for us right what we you know thought of is how are we going to get this out to our students right because there's a lot of students on campus and of course we have the good students but of course we do have the students we think a little bit different let's just say that right so in this situation you know us and our team we you know brainstormed a lot on how are we going to be able to do this and impact our students and we did

088that by having multiple teams that oh my God okay we have black student union Latinos in Action IB students and athletes from different sports focusing on the different aspects on smile and we also wanted to promote A Smile as much as possible so we had custom-made shirts we had wristbands and also glasses made so in order to do this we wanted to Target different groups in our schools we didn't want to leave anyone out we wanted to be inclusive we didn't want to be in the exclusive group but we wanted to be an inclusive Group Incorporated one of our claw values collaboration a part of it so no one feels left out or alone in this situation or scenarios hours Representatives wanted to to do the best to be the odd student engaged as possible

089so each letter had a different activity that incorporated still Incorporated the meaning of their station we had asked for safety and motivation so on its own for example safety did we had a QR code and you scan it and they would fill out a quick survey about mental health and how it would take a toll on on the students and stuff and after that they would be able to participate in a basketball shooting activity so activities like that made made a very student engaged student interactive and in a fun way we also had food we had a photo booth we had music We Danced it was a very fun time while still getting the point across in one of these slides you could see the data is not I think is going to be the

090next the next slide but you can let me see with it okay there we go in the left side that QR code that survey you could see that it's fine you can see that the school the students voted that they were they were at least likely to go to admin for help if they needed help on something and we as students and schools can use that as how do I say it like exactly exam an example as to get better and since we want to make this a club we want this to continue on for more school years and stuff we want to take that into perspective and that can help us improve in our growth again so the amazing thing about this is we're trying to you know reach out to the students who

091don't feel included right you know and again like speaking on you know the shooting right for example I know it's a very sensitive topic but you know when people do those you know type of things it's because they're lonely right and they don't feel included into things so in this situation right we can help prevent that right by getting everybody included having fun while still being safe and getting the point across of safety motivation inclusion leadership and education right so that's how basically we did it right so thank you to Maria Vasquez for you know putting this on you know giving the opportunity to do this for our school and supporting us so again with the shirts and all this stuff the money didn't come from anywhere right so yeah just yeah I'd also like

092to say that I think oh my amazing principal Marcel Mendez she's the one who supported us all the way through and not to mention our two teachers that were assigned to help us Miss lasanta and Miss Metz they helped us out so much and also all the teachers can we can we stand up please the principal Wagner all of you guys come on stand up and then also our student leaders yes student leaders we want all the students we want all of you down we want all the student leaders down here come on we'd also like to say that we'd also like to say that we have brought y'all some swag some merch of our from our small campaign and we just want y'all to feel included as well so again thank you crap we're

093so proud yes wait a minute did we lose Frank where's Frank where's Frank smile look amazing look amazing all right is that your phone all right before you guys go anywhere this is just so awesome you know there's we can sit up here all day long and we can think of all the policies all the ideas in the world but the reality is you have the power that we will never have and to see you guys take hold of this issue and take the lead on it is just it's so exciting there are so many people right now that are really in a state of of just being utterly just depressed and feeling hopeless I'm talking about people like my age I'm talking about adults who think everything's going downhill and that the future looks

094bleak because of what they see in the present and I just keep telling them that they're seeing the present they're not seeing the future I want to be able to talk darn it when I see you guys I know how bright the future is and there's so much hope and so I'm constantly out there telling people the future really looks bright you're just not looking in the right places you need to look at our youth you need to see how incredible they are they get the things that my generation would never dare to to talk about I mean it's just you have to live to be as old as I am to see how bad things were to understand how good things are and yet you all also know that things are nowhere near good

095enough and so it's that balance of knowing we have so far to come but also not letting that stop you not letting that intimidate you letting I mean you take that and then you make it your energy you make it the drive that we need we need that enthusiasm that passion that belief I have that belief in you thank you remember God thank you madam chair what a great job like that's really an inspiration so I do have a couple of questions so how long has the program how long have you been doing smile at the creek well hey we'll just go to the mic that'd be great I think you'll use those right there you said the question was how long have you been doing the smile at the cricket program we started when

096so our Council I believe during around May so it's fairly new last year no of this wait is it I think one month okay yeah no no it just started so just recently yeah we brought together the students from our all of the district all of the high schools with this Pro with a problem and they started working on it I think in the fall just generating ideas yeah but I think you implemented it either yeah April yeah April 14th correct wonderful that's great so I just can't I can't wait to see what this program does for your school I can't wait to see what it does in schools across our County I can't wait to see the data from the discipline on on what this will do hopefully for the discipline in our schools

097these are type of programs that we need for all the reasons that you stated so that kids feel welcome that they feel included that they feel seen and heard and accepted all those things that we know that students are struggling with right now this will help them because they'll have a place to go and it's up here and peer to be peer-to-peer mediation that type of programming we know we know is way more successful than adults coming into a room and trying to solve problems because you all y'all can solve them better than we can you just can because you understand it more deeply than we do so I just want to say thank you thank you for all your hard work thank you for the time thank you for this presentation and again I

098just can't wait to see what y'all accomplished when you roll it out next year it's going to be amazing yeah and also one thing I do want to mention is we are trying to make well we made this into a club and in the clubs well in the club for our next school year well I'm not going to be there but you know most of them are what's going to happen is we actually have quarterly on what like our agenda on what's going to happen right so just to name some things like we have things like talking about insurance like talking about taxes talking about a lot of real life situations that people can actually we have a picture here let me read out the things so college and non-path dual enrollment requirements career sources

099internship programs community service insurance license Homes Real Estate money management voting mental health and Independence so that's like the agenda of what we want to do during you know the whole school year basically that's so we kind of have a you know the good thing is we actually do have a plan on how we are going to keep impacting you know how small is going to keep impacting which is amazing and hopefully you know we start off as a club and eventually we'll keep you know moving up and impacting more and more people because again we are just one school and there's a lot more other schools that can be impacted and you know hopefully that's you know the future for it I have no doubt that you'll make a huge impact on the student

100body of the creek great job thank you thank you Jim might as well stay there for a couple of minutes all right member bird thank you chair again I just I've said it once and I will say it again that the biggest obstacle that I think we have to solve for our kids is helping them feel connected and like they belong and nothing gets in the way of academics more than that and I can tell you from my own daughters at various times in their schooling and from my friends children various times in their schooling when kids feel lonely or they feel like they don't belong or they feel like they have no friends they will not learn we cannot teach them they do not want to come to school they it gets in the

101way of everything that we're trying to accomplish as a school district so this is one of the things we can be doing and I ca I'm beyond thrilled with all of this I think the fact that this was all created by you all and that this is from your heart and you I can feel it when I look at you and you're talking that you really are passionate about this and about helping your friends stay connected and helping all the kids feel like they belong and I really think that this has got to be front and center at all of our schools because it will change the trajectory of the mental health aspect but also our academics I'm telling you when these kids are connected and feel like they belong they will perform better at

102school they will want to come to school it will solve so many things so I am I'm thrilled and by the way you are welcome to just stay because we need very good inspirational Educators desperately so if you are interested we you can talk to Bridget our chief of staff down there and she will sign you up okay all right best of luck to you next year thank you for all you've done thank you for your time thank you thank you member Salamanca yeah this is this is awesome I you know huge shout out to the principal for empowering your students to do and take this on Dr Vasquez it's truly in our students that we're going to find a lot of the solutions to the problems that we have because we can sit up

103here and have all these Solutions but you all have to care about it in order for things to change and something like you know the number of students making threats to our schools for a variety of reasons it's a really serious thing and it ends up in very serious consequences when you make threats to our schools for the very right reason of it is our job to keep you students safe and we're going to take threats very seriously but we also know that sometimes making these threats is comes from a different place from mental health from Molina is from wanting to be heard from wanting to be seen and there's other ways to get that right and one of those ways is to have peer support to see your PRC or to see your peers

104include you and for them to reach out to you and say look we have to take things seriously and there's a lot of other incredible things out there that make this life so exciting home insurance not one of them but I'm glad you went into it so it's just awesome you know I encourage this group to remember what it felt like for the adults to believe in you and let you run wild with something cool like this because one day you'll be the adult who has to take and pay it forward to the next Generation so definitely remember how it feels and the change it makes in your life I remember all those that gave me a shot and remember what it feels like to work in something that is so meaningful for your generation

105and for each other and for your community because you know chase that in your life because working in something meaningful is what's most important and what will fulfill you and what will keep you excited every day so you shout out for y'all for getting to this so early in your journey out of school and congratulations on just like how much you were able to accomplish in in such time so thank you thank you member Salamanca a member for on okay District three is the place to be Greek so exciting I love that I got to shake y'all's hand yesterday at your graduation so that's so fun but I want to just say a huge shout out to Mrs Mendes who really you truly are a fearless leader you took the leader in me I feel

106like I'm I'm getting hints of that the Leader in Me program that you started at Meadow Woods Middle and which is still going amazingly strong any principal listening check it out I'm telling you it's incredible this is what it creates so the idea is to empower your students to become the leaders and now instead of just staff telling kids what to do students you've stood up and said what can we do to make a difference something like this I see going Nationwide where now this becomes a club in every school and what I love about it is it doesn't matter your what your background is your family life your ethnicity or or who you are everyone is a part of it something that I've noticed in our country is we really have created an invisible

107culture at school where students can walk in the doors of our schools not say hello to anyone no one says hello to them they sit in class all alone no one cares they do their thing they walk out and that's it and then they come back the next day and they start thinking if I wasn't here no one would even care that's the issue and you have shown me that through something a program like this a club like this where I see you in the hallways you're high-fiving you're like the welcome crew of your school now you're you're changing the culture of our schools to be this welcoming exciting something you see on on TV one of those shows that you're like wow I want to go to school this is this is fun so

108I really I'm excited for you guys I love that you're you're leaving a legacy so for the seniors you're leaving a legacy something that will continue on and so keep it up love the life skills that you're teaching as well so great job very proud good job you're free we're done any closing remarks no thank you guys though didn't did we get a picture did we not get a picture we did get a picture right yeah remember it with Scott okay it wasn't Frank so it was it was a yeah it was a little less memorable but Scott oh wow yeah but we did get the picture right we did get a picture I know I was singing the same thing for a minute I'm like no we got a picture okay okay Dr Vasquez

109so for the last item for my report I'm gonna invite Linda Lindsay our school board internal auditor to come up to the podium a few months ago the board received a letter with some concerns regarding our exceptional student education program and one of the specific items mentioned was idea funding and allegations that those dollars were not being properly used and so Linda and her team did perform an audit and as you know how thorough they are and I'm so grateful that Linda is here today she actually has her daughter who just graduated created and has a wedding and she's still committed to coming out this after this evening so we appreciate you Linda being here and I'm going to turn it over to you to present to the board your findings thank you Dr Vasquez

110good evening Madam chair members of the school board I know it's been a long night and I won't take too much of your time but I wanted to present to you some highlights from the report that we issued on our review of all of the expenditures by the District of idea funds for the first six months of this fiscal year this was not an audit it was a comprehensive examination see and slide slides advance yeah I'm clicking the arrow all right let's just hit enter okay so in the first six months of the fiscal year the district spent a little over 19 million dollars of idea funding 86 percent of that total or 16.4 million in round numbers was for personnel salaries and benefits of people who are involved in our ese education program idea

111as you may know pays all or portion of salaries for a lot of people who are involved in providing services to our students with disabilities and I should back up just one second and remind you the idea funding is federal funding and it is designed to supplement not supplant so it has to be spent after all district resources available for the education of students with disabilities have been exhausted and then it comes in over and above that and until it until these resources are exhausted it can't come in but even so as you might remember from the reports I presented to you in 2021 the district does not receive enough funding for the education of students with disability and always has to dip into its General funds so even with this 19 million as well

112as other resources we expend some of our general fund resources in order to complete a satisfactory education for those students but back to my presentation so for the first six months of the year 16.4 million dollars was spent to fund all or portion of 41 position titles which encompassed 723 people 723 employees now you might notice I said all or a portion in some cases there might be a staff member who is needed to help supplement excuse me to provide ese student education in a school but perhaps there's not a full-time requirement in those cases the principal will fund the remainder of that position from his or her school's general fund budget okay so that's why sometimes there's split funding the remainder of the expenditures for this period of time 2.6 2.7 million dollars was

113for non-personnel costs and that's everything that you might think of supplies training mileage for itinerant service providers and in the largest categories our professional and Technical Services technology substitute services and indirect costs now just to let you know a lot of you wonder sometimes what are the checks and balances you know who's watching this on a daily basis how is it managed because we come in of course after the fact well I've put up here some bullets that capsulize the key parts of the oversight that is provided by different members of District management with regard to ese idea funds first of all every single expenditure from idea must be reviewed and approved by the ese executive director doesn't matter whether it's for personnel or for Stuff secondly every District based expenditure of idea funds approved

114if it if it gets over that first hurdle and is approved by the ese executive director it must also be approved by the ese associate superintendent I realize some of these titles are going to change in the future but that's what they are now and then after we get through there every request for any new idea funded administrator positions must be approved by the deputy superintendent and then of course every approved non-payroll expense those that 2.6 2.7 million that's stuff all of those expenses must be reviewed for allowability by the senior director of federal programs so that is in the federal programs Department not in the ese department but they oversee all of the federal funding that we get from various grants and the senior director over Federal programs reviews each of those expenses for

115allowability from this source of funding our findings after exhaustively reviewing all of these expenses every position every job description every category of non-payroll expenditures is that all except 317 dollars and one cent was indeed spent for the education of students with disabilities consistent with the requirements of the idea program the 317 dollars in the report that you have in in your agenda packet tonight it was for two situations where a teacher who was not in an ese position at the time the situation occurred had a payment either for overtime or for a substitute and they have made a journal entry to restore those funds to the idea fund that was our recommendation so that's a very quick overview at the end of a long night but I did want to present those to you and

116if you have any questions I'll be happy to entertain those any questions Vice chair will we be making this report public it is public I mean it's on the website well it'll be posted tomorrow oh okay I don't post it before you folks I just want to make sure it was going to be on the website for this yes I figured it was but I thought I'd ask okay thank you any other any other questions thank you so much thank you so much have a good evening member Felder oh it's okay okay all right thank you so much before we say our goodbyes until the next time we meet for parting is of such sweet sorrow listen I wanted to comment today I had a wonderful day at Eccleston Elementary the CEO of Wawa and

117Second Harvest oh my God they came and we had elected officials there Senator Jared Thomas is one of the elected officials to speak because she had she started off teaching and she remembers being with Eccleston and went and one of the little girls who was the Prime student she was the daughter of one of my former students so you know that was kind of wonderful for me but I was so excited about their interests in making sure our children get healthy meals and you know it's hard for us here in America to even imagine that children are hungry that some of the meals and you we all know this but some of the only meals they get breakfast and lunch is where they get at school and when they go home for the summer some

118of them they have they look forward to Takis and what have you but I was they were the people were so happy to give they were excited to be able to give those groceries and once a month they have all of these big bags of fresh vegetables and fruit and of course Wawa gave away the little sweet sweet sweet little smoothies and so forth the coffee and but I just want to tell this District Dr Vasquez and the rest of you on the board thank you for that kind of Engagement with Second Harvest Bank and Wawa I mean I was just so happy and the parents some as I was leaving some of the parents they were saying how grateful how thankful they were because since the pandemic a lot of people you know they

119don't have jobs or they lost jobs and they don't have they got to try to keep a roof on their head so they it may be cheaper to buy Ramen and hot dogs because fresh vegetables are expensive but they have that and I'm so grateful and thankful that this ocps we're the full gamut baby we're the full monty we take care of it all oh yeah we are yeah we got some deep things going on but I mean for the most part we are the full monty and I want to tell you thank you thank you I don't know what it is either but I can tell you from the reaction of some of the people in the room I don't want to know not right now I don't want to discuss this any further

120let's move on anything else Dr Vasquez all right general counsel thank you madam chair I have I'm not going to say that I have two executive sessions to announce for Thursday so this is I'm sorry you guys are having fun but I have two serious things to ask pursuant to section 286-011 subsection 8 Florida Statutes in accordance with board policy BEC an entity may meet in private with its attorney to discuss pending litigation to which the entity is presently a party before a court or administrative agency provided certain conditions are met including the requirement that a transcript of the executive session will be made upon part of the public record upon conclusion of the litigation in this case I'm requesting the school board's advice concerning pending litigation two cases one Michelli Montoya for Vijay a

121minor versus Orange County School Board case number 2022-ca-7641 and two Madison Perez versus Orange County School Board case number 2017-ca-3536-0 and this is going to be on Thursday March 25th 2023 at 2 o'clock P.M or right after the work session that you have that starts at noon the executive session oh look at my time my own self out it's not done yet though the executive session will be a closed meeting held in conference room e at the ELC and will take approximately one hour a notice has been drafted for posting those in attendance will be Theresa Jacobs chair Angie Gallo Vice chair Maria Salamanca School Board member Alicia farant School Board member Pam gold School Board member Vicki Lane Felder School Board member Karen Castro Dental School Board member Melissa Byrd School Board member Dr

122Maria Vazquez superintendent Amy envol school board's general counsel John Paul Marini Deputy general counsel Stacy Carlisle Esquire she's our outside counsel for the first case the Michelle Montoya William Lawton Esquire for the second case in Courtney turinod for the Esquire for the second case and the court reporter and that's all I have thank you madam chair oh my God she just Googled I don't mean it'll be a gag okay member Gould I have a request you know we have kids we do a beautiful job of recognizing a lot of different kids during graduations including our highest academic Achievers those that are going into the service I don't I would really like us to add not only to graduation but a post-graduation story those that are ready to walk into the workforce because that's what we're

123supposed to be doing is preparing people for the workforce and I am so proud of those High academic Achievers but they in most cases will still need another leg or two in their Journey and we're training everything from robotic Specialists to coders to chefs to to EV mechanics as well as all these other common deaf complicated mechanics welders got to put in the plug for the welder since I have one so you know it's I really think we need to highlight that and I would request that we include the magnets and the academies as well because of the skill sets that are coming out of those programs and lift those up because I am so tired of hearing people tell me that we don't do any jobs or career path or life skill training I'm

124really tired of that so that's my request and then in future graduations that those kids are mentioned in the speeches thank you member good Vice chair thank you madam chair so this morning I had the pleasure of going which you'll love member gold to the County Board the board of County Commissioners your old stopping grounds chair for a recognition so we had students from University High who were part of the H2O program which is an apprenticeship program that we built together with OUC to build students to go into Wastewater management there was a need for students for skill a skilled Workforce and waste management so we did what we know how to do best here in Orange County we grow our own and so we partner with OUC and it was public works recognition at

125the at the county commissioner's office or at the meeting today and so the students were there and they were recognized all of the students from University High School have passed their exam they're getting ready they're getting fingerprinted and whatnot at the county which I heard is a little intimidating for them but they're set to go in starting their apprenticeships and starting the next leg of their career yeah so we I just wanted to say I'm very proud of of the students I was having a little bit of a rough morning this morning it wasn't it was it was the day did not start off well and I showed up and I had had a smoothie which was green and it apparently had spilled all over my dress which then looked like throw up and so

126these kids are being recognized I looked down and realized that it looked like I had a baby that threw up on me and I'm like I've got to go up and take this picture and mayor Jim means comes up to me and he goes would you like to say a few words I'm like no no I'm good thank you and then I felt awful because that was my opportunity to say how proud I was of the students and what a great job that they did because I'm truly just amazed every day with what we're able to do here in Orange County and how we see a need we work with partners and we're creating a skilled Workforce for our community because that's so important so kudos to Dr Vasquez to University High School to the

127CTE and to the teachers that were involved in this program it was it was just it was a great thing so thanks okay so since you didn't have an opportunity to say all that this morning now that you're here and changed clothes we're glad to hear that thank you I that's really cool yeah remember bird thank you I'm just gonna piggyback on all that and it's so funny that you brought that up because that's what I'm writing my column about this week for the Apopka Chief about recognizing all of our graduates and I think the reason I wanted to write it was because I went to the OTC graduation and the pride on those faces when you know when we were trying to ask them you know what program they did or what as fast

128as we could because you know they move them through really fast but they were just so proud and so excited and so many of them are ready to get out there I mean like vet assistant and I'm thinking okay so you're gonna go off to college like because some of them were going on to college you know steak and lobster I still remember that and so there instead of instead of instead of working a minimum wage job they can go be a vet assistant and make good money you know what I mean so it's just it's such a win-win no matter what even and that's kind of that's what I'm kind of trying to talk about in the column but it's so important I think that we continue the work we're doing we're doing a

129great job like you said of all these programs but changing the narrative and changing the making a paradigm shift when in parents minds and especially parents because it is still you still hear parents say you know or like they're so concerned about the college acceptances and going to universities and there's still this like little cringe of disappointment I think in the in the community and with parents and so I think we have to keep the conversation going that is that we celebrate children when they find a passion and it's something that they can build their life around especially at such a young age they're like so far ahead of everybody so I love the idea of celebrating them more and actually one of my student advisor groups at the beginning of the year mentioned that

130to me about they would love to be able to have more ways to show recognition of the all the things they did and they worked on in high school they feel like they were complaining that it was only like the kids that were in like you know Honor Society or like high level things but some of them like one of them was FFA and they said I work really really hard on my FFM agriculture I should be able to show that off at graduation so I think we need to just continue to celebrate all the different Pathways I love it great idea member gold thank you thank you member bird anything else okay and one second just one second assemble we were finished with your okay okay remember front okay so me and a member

131Salamanca over here are loving what you guys are saying and we're thinking what if she did chords it was really her idea but I'm just shouting it out but cord yeah some sort of chord or something so that they that'd be a cool way to honor them yeah so and I think what we need to do is look at across the board because I was at one graduation and there were some that got the certification to be able to do the preschool teaching I was like oh my gosh future teacher we're hiring so come back to us and they and they were wearing their stall and so I see Mr Martinez nodding back there and miss potawano so I think that's what we'll be able to do we'll be able to make sure that we

132had that opportunity available at all of our schools so that they can celebrate all that they've accomplished that's great tonight remember bird yeah I saw one graduate that had us stole that obviously I think her parent her mom got for her but it had like it was embroidered and it had like all her things she had done and like all her activities like the major things and she wore that stole underneath her cords and everything and I was having so much fun because we were in a stop and I could read it but something like that might be a good idea and having attended that graduation with member Byrd I have to tell you all if you haven't had the experience of standing right beside member bird she is amazing she can manage to stop

133somebody make contact ask a question and keep the line moving like I've never seen before so that was it was a lot of fun standing next to you oh I know oh whoa what about the shoes oh oh man remember bird do you remember those though those shoes with the white puff or anyway okay okay I'm sorry good night anything else can we go oh Andrew's birthday was yesterday Sunday Sunday so we're gonna go celebrate Angie's birthday with cake in the back if anybody wants to join us if you're still here you're invited for cake oh that's yours meeting adjourned and we're the full gamut not performance oh God foreign thank you foreign