001of Indian River County. I ask that out of respect to everyone, please silence all electronic devices. At this time, I would like to call the meeting to order. The time is 5:30 p.m. I would like to recognize the superintendent for a series of awards and presentations. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. We do have a few recognitions and a lot of talent that we're going to highlight tonight. So, I'll turn it over to Dr. Shafty to run the program. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Moore. Good evening. Tonight, we begin our awards and presentations with a very special recognition honoring excellence in education and the transformative power of the arts. We are proud to recognize Miss Janine Jones who has been named the 2026 Florida Music Educator of the Year by the Florida Music Education Association.
002She received this prestigious statewide honor on January 16th. This award recognizes educators who demonstrate exceptional dedication to music education, student achievement, and professional leadership. Miss Jones has devoted more than four decades to teaching music, inspiring generations of students through creativity, discipline, and a deep love of the arts. Throughout her career, she has built strong elementary music programs, led student ensembles, mentored new teachers, and created performance opportunities that extend beyond the classroom and into this community. Her students consistently earn high ratings at music festivals and many continue their musical studies at advanced levels. Her selection as music educator of the year highlights the vital role of arts education in developing creativity, confidence, and academic success for students. At this time, Miss Jones, would you please join us at the front? We would like to recognize you
003this evening and invite you to take a photo with our school board and Dr. Moore. [applause] >> [crying] [crying] >> If you are part of Miss Jones Oyola family, please join us at the front as well. >> Come on. [applause] >> [crying] >> You're honorary. >> [applause] [applause] >> Now we will continue our celebration through student performance beginning with our elementary level. Our next performance features students from Treasure Coast Elementary School under the direction of Miss Borheart. They will be performing two selections that I think you may know. You've Got a Friend in Me and Here Comes the Sun. These songs celebrate friendship, optimism, and joy. And we are excited for you to experience their hard work and talent this evening. Please help me welcome Treasure Coast Elementary. [applause] >> [applause] >> You are enroll.
004All night. anything with you. Hallelujah. >> [music] [applause] [music] >> Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun. It's all [music] right. I am perfect. [music] >> [music] >> I love you. >> [music] >> Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. >> [music] [applause] >> Miss B, Miss Borcart, will you turn around, join your your students for a photo? Mr. Keane, after you take the photo, will you come in the photo so families can take it? [laughter] Smile. Got it. Let's give these students a round of applause. [applause] [applause] >> [applause] >> Oh, pizzeria. All right. [laughter] >> He's getting pizza. Our next two performances highlight the intentional arts pathway that connects our middle schools to our high schools, demonstrating how students grow in both skill and confidence as they continue their musical journey.
005Up next is the jazz band from Sebastian River Middle School. This ensemble represents the school's top band and they recently earned straight superiors the highest possible rating at the music performance assessment. We are proud to have them perform for you tonight. Please join me in welcoming the Sebastian River Middle School Jazz Band. [applause] You guys know supposed to be something. pressure. All right. Just as we practice You guys ready? >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> It's all green. Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] [applause] [music] >> Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. N. [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Oh, [music] hey. [music] >> [music] >> Honey, hey. [music] [music] Heat. Heat.
006[music] >> [music] [music] >> Hey. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] [applause] [cheering] >> Thank >> [applause] >> Mr. just a little bit more fabulous. We're going >> [applause and cheering] >> Thank you to our middle school musicians. Hallelujah. Final performance of the evening connects directly to the musical welcome many of you experienced as you arrived tonight. One ensemble was performing in the lobby to welcome you and helping to set the tone for this celebration. Now, we are excited to feature the second ensemble here in the boardroom with two back-to-back selections. Both groups are under the direction of Mr. Brandon Jenkins, whose leadership continues to create meaningful and memorable opportunities for students. Please join me in welcoming our final performers of the evening. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Hallelujah. >> [music]
007[music] >> Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Hey, Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. >> [music] [music] [applause] [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. All >> [music] [music] >> right. >> [music] [music] >> Mhm. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Hallelujah. [music] Hallelujah. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Hallelujah. [music] Hallelujah. [music] >> [music] [music] >> I miss [music] >> [music] [applause and cheering] >> Let's hear it for Sebastian River High School. [applause] >> [applause] >> Volcanices everyone. >> Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> This evening we have an opportunity not only to showcase our talented students but the talented educators that support them. Dr. Moore, this concludes our awards and presentations. >> Back to you, Doc. >> Thank you. >> We will begin our invocation in about five minutes. Thank you. Today is
008Monday, February 23rd, 2026, and I'd like to call the meeting to order. The time is 6:13 p.m. I ask that out of respect for everyone, please silence all education electronic devices. Also, if you have any material you wish to share with any board member, please give that to our assistant, Miss Moore. At this time, I would like to present the Sebastian River High School Navy Junior RO OTC under the direction of Commander Peter Besonette and Chief John Silva, United States Navy retired. Please stand. One time left. 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. colors and salute. Ready to colors. Forward. March. >> [applause] >> Thank you to our Naval Junior ROC and and Dr.
009Boore and Dr. Shafty. All the presentations tonight were just beautiful. Thank you. And the performances. All right, board members. We're now on adoption of the orders of the day. And I would like to begin with adding a discussion please on health insurance. It's been a topic that um I wanted to share some things and I'm sure some other board members might want to also chair Baronborg can you hear us? I'm sorry. >> Yeah. Can um can you pull 7C for me please? Uh start times. >> All righty. Any other board member for consent to action? Any other discussion items? Okay. Call for a motion to accept the do adoption of the orders of the day as amended. >> Second. >> Okay. Mr. Dyer. Dr. Pasca. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Thank
010you. 50 vote. >> And I'd like to welcome Dr. Rosario to the deas tonight. >> Oh, thank you. >> You're welcome. appreciate. Oh, there more to say. >> No, no, I messed up my presentation already, but whatever. >> I have the stator. I'm [laughter] gonna It's take a month. >> All right. Now, for the superintendent. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Report from the superintendent. Thank you, Dr. Moore. >> Um, thank you, Doc Jones. As just referenced, we do have a new doctor in the house. So, Dr. Rosario, first time saying it. Congratulations. >> Thank you. [applause] That is a smile of relief when the dissertation is approved. I know that for a fact. Um, but congratulations. I know the volume of work that you put into making that a reality for yourself and your family. Congratulations.
011>> Thank you. >> All right, on to the month in review. We started January 27th, the Learning Alliance annual breakfast. This is one of the first speaking engagements I had six years ago when I first arrived. Always look forward to sharing our updates and our partnership uh during that annual breakfast. Uh I believe it was that same afternoon I was at a fireside chat with the United Way uh talking about our way of work and the success over the last six years of our school system. Um always look forward to hanging out with Meredith in the United Way. Uh our elementary and secondary science fair awards. Uh absolutely outstanding the event itself, the quality of the projects. Um absolutely outstanding. Uh very proud of those two events. We did have an extended six and a
012half minute feature that was part uh once again highlighting our our work with the learning alliance and our improvement in our third grade literacy scores. Uh so that was a lot of fun uh to watch this past or the weekend before last. And then our career and technical educational nights January 29th. This is the opportunity for incoming freshmen uh to to see the vocational programs and bring them alive. uh and as they walk the different programmings uh they're able to identify their priorities to get excited as they enter into the one of the two high schools. Our family funfest and sphero qualifying uh once again that was February 7th just absolutely outstanding um that morning and then Sebastian River Chamber of Commerce that was an um drive out to u Felsmere but the opportunity to
013engage with a very active chamber of commerce. So really love sharing our work with them. Uh wired to learn fast was February 11th and 12th. This is 350 different folks from across the nation. California school districts, Illinois school districts, Georgia school districts, uh 13 uh local school districts within the state of Florida, all here to connect and engage with us. So, it was an extremely powerful two days where we had the opportunity to share how Indian River County as a community put a stake in the ground and say we're going to be Best Buy kids and we're going to create ourselves as a literacy capital of America. And that is exactly what we're doing. And then the um follow that that Monday uh was our Moonshot series premiere. Dr. Cheff, you see how I'm sitting
014up in that picture? Thank you for the feedback. Uh that was two completely filled uh auditoriums at Riverside Theater. Uh about 600 folks in each uh just to look at a documentary. This one was the overview about 24 um minutes in length, but I think there's a total of nine or 10 total um that they have put together varying in length from a few minutes to 17 18 minutes that we now have the opportunity to connect and engage with other folks across the nation regarding our work. uh and use it to inspire them to take on the challenge we collectively as a community have taken on. My superintendent uh advisory council, a few of which are here today, excited to get up here and read our proclamation. Although I'm looking at them right now, they
015don't look too excited. Um [laughter] um always a a good group of students there. This was our uh the opportunity we brought in food vendors so they can sample some of the food that will be in our cafeterias and based on some of their food feedback some of the food that will not be in our cafeteria next year. And one of the events they're working on this year is going to be very very exciting where we're going to do transition eighth graders into the ninth grade campus. and our student t student uh student advisory councils will lead that conversation dispelling some of the myths about things that actually take place in a high school and some of the things to look forward to. Always a rewarding opportunity to engage with those um quality students in
016the FBL Brightpot playground. FPL did us right. Uh they brought out a bucket truck. They brought out the the slushies or what ices, whatever you call them. Uh we had our our littles from prek at VBE come over uh and just celebrate their partnership with us as I referenced in that presentation. They were one of the first ones to sign on to helping us bring this to a a reality. Uh they stuck with us for about four or five years uh the time it took to make this a reality. So very very thankful for their partnership with us. Uh and then Oak Harbor speaking engagement just the opportunity uh to engage with with that community. a a great group of folks very interested in what's going on in public education. Uh so I was very
017excited to to share our story and uh take questions from them. And then this past Saturday uh Steam Quest 2026 once again just an absolutely engaging opportunity for for our students. And as I referenced in communications, our high school uh career and college acceleration points are out. And this information is banked from the previous school year. And what the state is assessing here are the students who take and pass a AP or dual enrollment course or a career industry uh course that leads to a successful uh career technical examination pass. So, as you can see, although it may look small here, um I'm not done. Did I do that, Megan, or did you do that? We're gonna blame it on Megan. Um Sebastian River Senior High School from 68 four years ago to 91. That's
018focus. That's talking about the quality of things that are happening uh in our schools. Vero Beach High School, I think from 60 63 87. Um absolutely outstanding. uh the charter high school had a slight dip from 71 to 65 and then from a total perspective across the three instit institutions that graduate students in our community an overall increase uh of 3 to 85 points. So right now the accountability areas that have been released graduation rate 96 of the 100 points and then 85 of the 100 points for college and career readiness. So this is something we all should be proud of. We we look at graduation rate as a key indicator. Uh this solely looks at the kinds of courses our students are taking. So a score of 85 uh last year uh or the
019previous graduating class would have been number two in the state of Florida. So once again, I don't know how other districts did. I I wish them all the best. Um but 85 is going to be one of the top two three scores in the state. Uh so that's a number we all collectively should be very very very proud of and that is our presentation madam chair. >> Thank you very much. All right the next agenda item the superintendent's report proclamation honoring Black History Month. >> Dr. Shafty >> through the chair this evening. We are fortunate to welcome Miss Magcoo who does just such a fantastic job with the superintendent student advisory council. She will introduce the students and the students will read the proclamation for you. >> Surprise. [laughter] >> I'm actually going to let
020them introduce themselves and which school they go to first. So why don't you guys Riley, you can start introductions and go introduce everybody and then start reading. >> You want me to introduce? >> Just introduce yourself. >> Okay. Hello, my name is Riley Collet. I'm representing Sebastian River High School. I'm gonna go ahead and start with the proclamation. >> Oh, I'll have everyone else introduce themselves first. >> I'm Analia Pon and I represent Jiffford Middle School. >> I'm Casey Cole and I represent Oslo Middle School. >> Hi, my name is Mike Bosu and I represent Sebastian River High School. Okay, I'm really going to get started this time with the proclamation. All right. Whereas February has been nationally recognized since 1976 as a month to honor and celebrate the contributions, achievements, and sacrifices made by
021African-Americans throughout history while inspiring continued progress for the future. And whereas in 1926, historian Carter G. Woodson and other scholars and civic leader leaders launched Negro History Week to elevate the study, recognization, and celebration of black history in observance that expanded over time to honor accomplishments made by black Americans and those to African descent. And whereas in 1976 as part of the National Night Nations by Centennial Negro History Week expanded to Black History Month, a designation now observed across North America and embraced by communities, schools, and institutions to deepen the understanding and honor the legacy of black leadership and achievement. And whereas Black History Month serves as an opportunity to recognize the pivotal role Africanameans have played and continue to play in shaping the cultural scientific and civic fabric of our nation's and local communities.
022And >> whereas African-American students represent 20% of the school district of Indian River County student population and African-American full-time staff represent 18% of the district workforce whose contributions as educators, support professionals, leaders, innovators, and public servants strengthen our school's community and collective future. And Whereas the graduation rate for African-American students have increased by 14 percentage points since the 2018 to 2019 school year, which is indicative of our students and family accessing quality educational opportunities provided by our organization and using it as a foundation for a successful post-secary career and quality life. And now therefore, be it proclaimed that the school board of Indian River County, Florida, designates the month of February 2026 as Black History Month. Adopted this day, 23rd day of February 2026. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Board members, any discussion, any comments?
023I ask for a motion to approve the proclamation honoring Black History Month. >> I make a motion. >> All three. >> I'll make a motion. >> Second by Miss Farbore. >> All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> 50. Thank you. And Dr. Bour, thank you for sending out those activities. I requested that on what's happening in our schools during Black History Month. I really appreciate that. >> All right. Our next uh item on the agenda, public input. And I'm going to read the guidelines. These are the procedures for public input according to our schoolboard policy 169.1. During regular business meetings of the board, the board offers the following two opportunities for the public to provide input on an agenda item consent and or action prior to the board taking official action on a
024proposition and during the public input section for items not on the agenda. For those who are watching, please understand that though we have established proper decorum and expectations of professionalism when it comes to individuals who wish to provide public input, this is a live broadcast. Each individual speaker shall be allotted up to three minutes during public input and up to three minutes to an item on the consent agenda and or action agenda as it indicated on the order of business as it exists at the time the meeting starts. The time period may be adjusted by the presiding officer. Individuals may only speak once about a given item. Individuals who have filled out the speaker form are allowed to address the board. Individuals may not delegate their aotted time to speak to other individuals. If the
025item is moved from consent or discussion item to the action agenda, individuals will have the opportunity to speak to the item prior to a vote of the board. During the meeting, please refrain from clapping or outbursts of any sort so that we could proceed with dignity and with decorum by not infringing on any individuals first amendment rights in this limited public forum setting. As board members listen to individuals without interruptions, individuals are asked to give board members the same respect. Board members may or may not address any individual statement at the end of a public input comments. I will also be recognizing calling up individuals two at a time in the order which a speaker forms were received. The first individual will be called to the podium to speak and the second individual will be
026in line to speak. The executive assistant to the school board will be the official timekeeper and the time shall start when the speaker is at the podium. As you will see the time clock is visible to your left on the deis. You will hear a beep at the end of your three minutes. If you have anything to give to board members or the superintendent, please do this through our executive assistant, Miss Moore. Okay, we have five speakers tonight. First speaker is Margaret Murray, followed by Dr. Margie Flanigan. Thank you. [clears throat] Gonna have a handout for you after I finish. My name is Margaret Murray, vice chairman of education champions. I'm here tonight because Florida's own Attorney General audit released in December 2025 confirmed serious financial and accountability concerns surrounding the rapid expansion of the
027state school voucher program. A program now costing roughly5 billion dollars in taxpayer dollars annually. dollars that were historically directed to public education. That audit identified a $398 million funding shortfall in just one school year along with weak oversight, miscross checks, and millions of taxpayer dollars that could not be fully accounted for. The state even acknowledged difficult tracking about 30,000 students, roughly 270 million in public funds without clear confirmation of where those students are enrolled. These aren't minor bookkeeping issues. These are stewardship issues involving our public tax money. When these vouchers expansion was rolled out in 2023, where was the serious discussion about how school districts would manage rising operational costs like health insurance, transportation, and staffing? Where was the long-term financial planning? And where was the protection for public schools that still educate the overwhelming
028majority of Florida Florida's children? Accountability reforms like SB 318 are a start, but tracking alone does not replace loss funding or solve the structural financial pressures districts are facing. And here's the bottom line. From where we are locally, it looks like school districts in Florida are now being handed bills, including increased health care insurance cost without being given the resources to pay for them. A longtime Republican senator from Niceville, Senator Don Gates, after reviewing this audit, said, and I quote, "To do nothing would be legislative malpractice." This audit report clearly shows abuse, fraud, and mishandling of taxpayer money. This responsibility rests squarely with our governor and our legislators. We must demand a complete overhaul of this program. To do anything less would be, and I quote again, legislative malpractice. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss
029Murray, Dr. from Margie Flanigan followed by Jennifer Pippen. Not as tall as Margaret. Good evening. I'm Dr. Margie Flanigan, chair of education champions. Let me first acknowledge public schools week and give a well-deserved thank you to our teachers, service personnel, support staff, administrators, board, and everyone who works diligently every day to ensure the education and safety of all our children. Tonight, I will discuss two challenges negatively impacting our otherwise successful public education system. First, Florida's school voucher program directs nearly $6 billion this year in public funds annually to private schools at taxpayer expense. And we know from the auditor general's report that we just heard that oversight and accountability are sorely lacking. Outcome measures too are deficient. There are these are our tax dollars and citizens should be outraged. But sadly, many are unaware of
030the issues and long-term consequences of Florida's voucher program. Florida Republican Senator Don Gates noted that the current voucher system is, and I quote, bad for kids, bad for public schools, and bad for parents, unquote. He further stated, "Fraudsters unfortunately have discovered our school choice program and they scammed millions of dollars." Expending billions annually on private, often for profit schools results in Florida ranking 50th nationally in teacher pay, rising teacher vacancies, reductions in student programs, larger class sizes, and more strains on benefits, morale, and services. Second, Florida's School of Hope lets private charter schools colllocate in public schools at distinct at district student and taxpayer expense. Schools of Hope utilize but do not pay districts for the use of public school physical space, utilities, transportation, and resources. Basically, all except teacher salaries. A public and private
031school will share the same building but with different administrators, curriculums, and policies. Three minutes is not long enough to list the ways this misguided legislation is bad, but the negative effects will have lasting impact, including a loss of local control of district resources and zero meaningful protections for students and communities. These actions are happening in Tallahassee, but we are not powerless. By uniting districts, school boards, parents, and advocacy groups, we can show our representatives that we support adequate funding for public schools, oppose using tax dollars for private enterprises, and seek to strengthen, not replace, public education. The district motto of stronger together holds true. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Flanigan, Jennifer Pippen, followed by Thomas Kenny. Good evening. First, I want to say congratulations again to you, Dr. Jackie Rosario, for your PhD in educational
032law. Um, you spent so much time on this and what a cool experience to have on a bunch of panel with doctors now, right? Medical and educational. It's amazing. Congratulations. Um, I also wanted to thank this board and Dr. more for looking at keeping insurance premium costs down for employees and I do think that that should be a priority. Um you know I know that you guys cover for the employees but the family and spouses and children and everything would go up. This gives the u employees the opportunity to be able to look at other um avenues if they can't afford it through the school district to go to different insurance companies and maybe get a lower quote. if you're doing it faster, you're not giving them, you know, ample opportunity to be able to
033look at other options if they can't afford the school district option. So, thank you very much for extending that time for um the employees and staff of the school district. I also wanted to mention for scholarships for seniors. Um right now, some of the deadlines are coming up. Some of them are passed, but some of them are coming up March 1st and March 15th. I'm currently filling them out for my son. Um but they have them for trade schools, four-year colleges, two-year colleges. Um, you know, there's scholarships for athletics, so it's for everybody. It's not just your 3.5, four, you know, 4.0 students. It's for everybody. Some of the scholarships start out at 2.5 GPA or volunteer hours and things like that. So, if you have a high school student, um, definitely look on um,
034Canvas and access that. For our homeschool families or um, families that don't have children in our public schools, you could go to the high schools or contact the guidance counselors um, for that scholarship information, but the deadlines are coming up. Um, and then I also wanted to, um, thank this board for having the option for school choice in our district and being able to have, you know, homeschool students able to participate in all the activities and clubs and sports throughout our district. And, you know, I thank the state of Florida for doing that as well. And just, you know, I hear a lot about um the concerns for the vouchers and I absolutely understand. We don't want mismanagement of those funds, but remember about 52% of our tax dollars go to public education. So, if
035these families do choose other educational um avenues for their children or, you know, child, um they're still paying property taxes and every single person um that lives in Indian River County contributes to public education. So, if somebody decides to have schooling outside of the public school system, they are just getting a refund of a portion of their taxes that they're paying. Thank you very much and have a great evening. Thank you, Miss Pippen Thomas Kenny. And then our last speaker will be Jennifer Freeland. >> How is everyone? Congratulations, Dr. Jacqueline Rosario. Should we call you Doc Jackie now? [laughter] >> That's the question. Anyway, I'm here again once again about the desegregation order because it's becoming quite clear that the N IRC NAACP is not going to ever believe that they are witnessing a fully
036integrated and functioning school system as being best by all students and teachers and parents. They're asking for demographic stuff all over the place. I want to refer you. I sent every one of you an email about this case. It's the US appellet decision, NAACP, Jacksonville branch, the plaintiff versus Dval County School, the defendants. It was in 2001. The IRC uh the Jacksonville NAACP brought an appeal to them after unitary status was determined in 1998. The case explains it. Here's some of the things that are happening in that case that that that the court decided. The Supreme Court has recognized that some racial imbalances in our schools today are caused by external forces such as demographic shifts which are not the result of segregation and which are beyond a school board's control. See Missouri versus Jenkins
037and other case sightings. Um, if a school board can prove that such factors have substantially caused current racial imbalances in its schools, it overcomes the presumption that segregative intent is the cause and there is no constitutional violation. See also Manning and Lockett. Racial balance is not to be achieved for its own sake. It is to be pursued when racial imbalance has been caused by a constitutional violation. I might add that most of you on this uh panel here or this board have agreed with Dr. Moore that we are currently in unitary status once the racial imbalance due to the dur violation has been remedied which the school district is under no duty to remedy imbalance that is caused by demographic factors. Freeman. Big case. Furthermore, even when remedying the effects of dur segregation, the Constitution
038does not require rigid rigid racial ratios. There's a tongue twister. The purpose of federal supervision is not to maintain a desired racial mix at a school. The constitutional command to desegregate schools does not mean that every school in every community must always reflect the racial composition of the school system as a whole. Such a goal would require federal supervision in perpetuity. On the contrary, a complete return to local control of school systems is the ultimate goal of all judicial supervision because from the very first federal supervision of local school systems was intended as a temporary measure to remedy past discrimination and desegregation decrees are not intended to operate in perpetuity. Thank you, Mr. says in the case. >> Thank you, Mr. K. >> And I encourage you to read it. It's about 65 pages. Thank
039you. >> Thank you. Our last speaker is Jennifer Freeland. >> Good evening, chair, board members, Dr. Moore, and cabinet members. I'm Jennifer Freel, the president of Indian River County Education Association. I'm here tonight regarding the employee health insurance presentation that was posted to board docs on February 10th in advance of the workshop. Posting materials ahead of time is good practice and supports transparency. However, what followed created unnecessary confusion and concern among our employees. A portion of that presentation, just four slides out of a 27 slide deck, was publicly shared without context or explanation by schoolboard member. Those slides contained large cost figures and potential plan changes, but they did not include the full explanation that the majority of the presentation provided. As a result, employees were left with an alarming information, but not the facts
040needed to understand it. At the time those slides were shared, these issues were actively in negotiations. They still are. Health insurance planning is complex work with serious implications for every employee and their families. While there was one possible recommendation discussed regarding plan design changes, the majority of the presentation was informational and part of an ongoing process of analyzing oper options, not finalizing decisions. When partial information is released by someone in position of authority, especially without context, it creates fear and instability. That is exactly what happened. Employees began asking whether major changes were imminent, whether premiums would skyrocket overnight, whether their coverage was at risk, or whether they'd have to go without health insurance at all. That panic was avoidable. This is not a political issue. It is a deeply personal one for every employee who
041relies on their health coverage. These solutions require collaboration between this board, the superintendent, cabinet, and the bargaining team. It will take us all working together to get it right. Using incomplete information in public forum, particularly during an election cycle, undermines the collabor that collaborative work and erodess trust. Our employees deserve better. They deserve full information, responsible communication and leadership that prioritizes stability over spectacle. What we we remain committed to working constructively with the district to find responsible, sustainable solutions for our employees and their families. and we ask that all communication moving forward reflect the seriousness and shared responsibility this issue demands. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Freeland. Board members, any comments? Dr. Moore? >> Um, just at the at the last state board of education meeting, which was last week, there were changes made
042to the schools of hope legislation, not legislation, um, but to how it's implemented within the state of Florida, which gives it slight modification. >> Not legislation. that is >> just the Department of Education rules, >> right? Any other comments, board members, regarding speakers? >> I'm sorry, Miss Baron Borg. I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Oh, no problem. I just wanted to say um thank you for speaking about SB 318. Um that bill uh I actually personally went into um Representative well Senator Gates office and thanked him and um he's bold. He's he's trying to fix what's, you know, should happen. I totally agree. You know, people need choice, but we need to make sure the money is being spent correctly. And so, I appreciate him doing that. And I appreciate people that brought that to his
043attention. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? I'm on a couple committees. They talked about the schools of hope and and looking at some modifications. And um thank you to everyone who talked about vouchers and taxpayers and being accountable. I think it was in this county 230,000 across the state that um took the money then came back to public schools. So I think we all want to make sure it becomes very accountable. So thank you to everyone for speaking. >> Yes, ma'am. May >> Yes. Um yeah, I just I wanted to say um a public thank you to the Department of Education for hearing the voices of those concerned within districts across the state. Um and they made the changes necessary to the Department of Education rule. Um clearly there's a lot that they cannot
044do because it has to, you know, be done through legislation. Um it's the law that really needs to change in order for there to be significant um other things uh different in the the state DOE rule. But um I think they did a uh a good job in addressing some of the things that they could address at the time. I mean for now anyway. Um, and I will say coming out of the um, moonshot series um, that we had the other day, which I'm going to bring full circle to this discussion here. Um, it was clear to me that all of the people on the panel um, which was a a great event by the way was put on. It was fabulous. Um, so I thank the learning alliance for that and the children's literacy
045project. Um but I but I will say that what it was eyeopening for me because every single panelist on the stage, Dr. Moore included and and Mr. Dyer, um everyone said um globally that public education is failing children on a on a broad scale. And that's actually one of the reasons why the learning alliance was created because two parents felt that their children weren't getting the education that their you know the specific educational needs for that their children needed. Um and so this is where they came up with the the wonderful goal to partner with our district and to do the great things that we are doing now. Um and it was interesting to me because if we are endeavoring out on this public private partnership that um seems to be working and and we
046are uh making strides and and and reaching that goal. Um I think it's in the near future that we will reach 90% literacy in for all of our third graders. Um, I think there's something to be said about the potential uh overarching partnership between public and private um endeavors moving forward. And I think it it hit me listening to the panelists that that is the goal of schools of hope. Um, how they did it. Uh there's there's lots of things legislatively that I do not agree with. Um but it it all clicked during the um during this uh the moonshot series panelist section session and um I'm grateful that we are on the uprise and we're doing great things here in Indian River County and that on the heels of wire tole learn Dr. Moore
047which was fabulous. So, putting all of that together, um, it we're we're we're we are on the right track here in Indian River County. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Just add one thing. Um, I've been on the MCAN leadership team for years now and have kind of seen the progression with the learning alliance and I think not only are public private partnerships a great thing to have, they're going to be something that we must have as we move forward in public education. So, thank you for your comments. All right. At this time, >> I I I just can't let >> that go. >> The goal of schools hope is to disrupt public education, to privatize it, and to turn it over to charter schools. >> Oh, mic buddy. Sorry. The goal of schools of hope
048is to disrupt public education to privatize it and to have private profit for-profit charter schools come in and run the state's education. It started [snorts] many years ago. I was on Governor Bush's Foundation for Florida's fish uh future uh board. And when it started, it was for kids that were DNF schools that had no other way out. And it gave them a way to get out of a failing school where a school district was unable to uh uh to uh succeed or to change the environment. I still agree with that. I think that's a great idea. And you know, there are some DNF schools in Florida that people need to have a way to get out. If a school district can't fix it, shame on them and the kids should leave and they should be
049able to be supported to go somewhere else. But to take the schools of hope where they want to come in to public schools and colllocate even in a district like ours which is has only three B schools, no C, D, or F schools. It's just not right. And it's part of the of the whole thing of defunding public education in Florida and replacing it, busting uh busting up the public education system. The unions uh they feel that it's woke. uh you know and and you know something there may be some schools in Florida that are like that but when I come to our district and I see a school of hope trying to get in here when we have all A and only threeB schools it's just not right. You can talk about schools and
050you can talk about public education but when you talk about schools and in public education in Indian River County we should be proud of it. We're doing it right. We're setting a model as we saw from 31 states and >> 14 or 15 counties uh in the state of Florida being at that uh uh seminar or conference uh a week ago. We are doing it right. We should be proud of our schools. And if somebody says public education is bad, you can say that may be true, but not in my county. >> If I could just add one thing to that. I mean, I think schools of hope would work if they were not coming. if they're coming into low performing districts. We are not. And so until that part of the law changes, I
051don't agree with it either. We're doing the best we can. Uh I know we're looking at um some great data right now, but um if we were low performing, I could understand it, but we are not. So Dr. M, I don't know if this is the correct time, but have you heard from the applicant that came to us and has there been any feedback or where are we on that? No, not not in the year 2026. >> Okay. All right. So, we're still waiting, but anyway, I thank you for the discussion and thank you for the information and I thank you for caring about taxpayers. Okay. Approval of consent agenda items. I would like to call for a motion to approve the consent agenda item as amended. I need a first a motion. >> I'll
052make a motion. >> Okay. >> Miss Baron Borg, Dr. Pusca. Any discussion? >> All in favor, please say I. I >> I >> thank you. 50 vote. All right. Items pulled from consent to action. No one wanted to speak on this. So, um Dr. Moore, uh Chair Baron pulled about the school start times. Would you like to say anything on that? >> Uh yes. I'll have Well, the item itself is the shift in school start times going for the 2627 school year and Miss Christovoli will present the item. >> Good evening through the chair. So the proposed schedule adjustments are really designed to enhance student learning and to keep in mind operational efficiency and better align the school schedules with the needs of students and staff and families. So we took it upon oursel to
053do two different rounds of surveys, one in the fall and one in the spring uh to make sure we captured and gave families and staff the opportunity to to share their thoughts about the times. uh and those results were overwhelmingly supportive for the time change and we are talking about a a miniature time change. So just for those that are listening, the high school is a 15minute uh change and then the middle K8s and elementary are 10-minute change. So based on all of the information that we received, we feel that this is doing right by all of the uh stakeholders that participate in the surveys. >> Thank you, Chair Baronborg. Yeah, I pulled this item because um this one was um set in law a few years ago and then adjusted to um making sure
054that the board took action after listening to um our community and that has been done and I appreciate that and the movement of the times seems to be fair. We'll see how it works once it starts and parents start realizing that we changed the times. >> Thank you. And I saw I always look closely for the buses. We've got that. It looks good from what Miss Idollet needs. So that's good. Okay. Any other discussion? All right. Thank you for the information. I'll call for a motion to approve the school start times for 2627. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you. Second. Dr. Pasca. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. Thank you. 5-0. All right. Next item on the action agenda, approval of renaming Felsmere Elementary School. As outlined in schoolboard
055policy 7250, commemoration of school facilities. This item requests the board to approve their name renaming of Felsmere Elementary. The name shall pass with a supermajority vote of the board which is defined as one vote more than the simple majority vote of a quorum present. Okay. There were no speakers on this one. So Dr. I'm going to hand it to you at this time. >> Uh yes. Um Dr. Shafty led this work for cabinet. So she will present the item. >> Thank you. Through the chair. It we've always learned that Fmeir is a special school and this process confirms that we followed the steps to comply with policy 7250 really at the request of that principal and the community. The name means a lot as we move forward to market. Over uh community members and parents
056and students contributed to this process as part of the community forum. 13 names were proposed and Felsmere Academy is the recommended name on behalf of Mr. E and Felsmere Elementary receiving over 300 votes. We had a city manager take place uh participate in the workg group. We had students, we had parents, we had every aspect of the policy and uh bringing forth that recommendation. We have a level of confidence with over 300 votes that Felsmere Academy is the recommended name. >> Thank you so much. Discussion by board members, anyone? >> Yes, Mr. >> I wanted to say um congratulations to them for getting 500 people involved. That's amazing. Um that really shows a a really great community effort. >> Okay. Uh attachment shows the policy was followed. Thank you to Mr. E and the wonderful
057community of Felsmere. Call for a motion for approval of renaming Felsmere Elementary School to Felsmere Academy. >> Dr. Dr. Rosario. >> Any discussion? All in favor please say I. >> I. >> Thank you. passes 50-0mere academy. [clears throat] Okay, that night of enchant enchantments coming up March 20th. March. Yeah, I remember that. Okay, wonderful night. All right, the next action agenda, request to set the public hearing date to adopt revisions to schoolboard policy 7250. This item was presented at the superintendent's workshop on February 2nd, 2026 in compliance with policy 0171, policy review policy 0131 legislative in chapter 120 of the Florida administrative code. Approval is requested to advertise and hold a public hearing for the proposed policy prior to adoption. Okay, we worked on this obviously. Thank to Miss Inville. I know she helped on
058this quite a bit. So, we need a motion and then a second to set the schoolboard policy public hearing. >> I make a motion. >> Thank you, Dr. Rosario. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. Very good. All right. Now, we come to discussion. Um, I have the first one on protocols. Board members, this is not to to go into protocols uh during this time, but thank you to Miss Inville for some of the attachments she she sent to all of us on February 17th. I've asked the superintendent to add it to the March workshop just because we kind of started this and stopped it a little bit in April of this year. We have two new board members that weren't here when we did this in 2021. Special thank you going
059back to Dr. Jacobs for facilitating that. It was a lot of work and I was very proud of the board for doing it. I think when we look at some things in protocol um and those were my suggestions. I could not attend that April meeting because um my husband was in the hospital. I'm not asking, you know, that we take a look at it now, but I see some of the things that we have a protocol that are in policy and we probably don't need it. So, just um with the information that Miss Enville sent to you, if you can review before March and take a look at it, we might like some things still. We might want to change some things or we might want to throw it out and start all over, but
060we can go for that. So, that's the only reason I brought that up. I just think, you know, with two new board members that we can take a look at and even refine it a little bit more. Anyone discussion? >> Yes. >> Okay, Miss Baronborg. Um, I just wanted to say thank you for bringing that to our attention. Yeah, we do need to look at it again and um there are some suggestions that I'd like to discuss. So, I think that we um will discuss it fully in a workshop. Thank you. >> Yeah, I think it could really narrow. Miss Info, >> there's also some typos in there. So please take >> yeah I know me too. Well yeah I was timing that when I was the hospital. So anyway thank you. All right my
061discussion item that I brought up um you know we've all been hearing from people regarding the insurance and my purpose in bringing this up is just to tell our employees you know we are listening. We are listening to you. Um one thing I wanted to make sure is that at that February 2nd workshop and Mr. Green or Dr. or if I'm saying it wrong, please correct me. Uh there was no recommendation from the superintendent. There was a recommendation from Hi-Tech that if we didn't kind of get a handle on this, we could have some real increases. Um and to think about that in February, the first time we could vote on anything in action would be tonight. There's no way this board's going to look at this and say, "Okay, in April your check's going
062to be so much less." I mean, that that's not the type of board you have right here. But please know and if you have time, please look at that PowerPoint that Mr. Green uh presented. One of the best I've ever seen in budget. And um it gives you all the details. Prescriptions have gone up, medical costs have gone up, and Mr. Green said the last four months a lot of high claims. So it's kind of hitting us all at once. Um but one thing I heard, in fact, I called Dr. Moore the next day was, you know, we've got to wait. We've just got to wait. October is when we have open enrollment. And I think that's, you know, what what you're hearing from most people. Well, he beat me to it because he met
063with the principles and leaders. I think it was the next day and I heard from some principles and they said, "Listen, what do we have to do? What do we have to do to make sure we can make it until October?" and well are kind kind of going back to um what we always do it seems like freeze on hiring and some spending cuts only unless you have an emergency but please know there's there's still a big problem um simply said we have more expenses than revenue remember Dr. Pusca talking about the medical and um prescription and just it's it's tough on families right now. Affordable care act has gone up sometimes 50%. I know people have had to drop insurance. Um even the family empowerment scholarships have effects. We have 300 less teachers in
064the plan now. So that can cause costs go up. Um but what I found out and I'm very very glad because we got an email from Dr. more just a couple days after that meeting is that this is what we're going to do. We're going to hold tight and make it till October. And if you look at that slide, I reviewed them again today. Um, one of the last slides, Mr. Green said, plan of action is negotiating and sharing and meeting with people. I guess what we're saying is that we're going to trust the process. Um, when I looked at just a couple more things and I had to get this right because I'm not sure on all of this, but Aon is AON is a consultant with High and they basically said if this
065keeps going, we're going to be 1.7 in the negative by June 30th. If we did increase the rates, maybe you'll be okay. But I guess what I want to say is thank you. Um, and thank you to Miss Freeland for speaking too as far as getting all our teachers and employees together. Again, the superintendent didn't make a recommendation. Now, he did say, "Hey, would bring us something back in February, and what he brought back was earlier in an email is we're holding. We're not going to make this increase. We got a lot of work to do in October. I'm going leave that to High-Tech, Mr. Green, and um, Superintendent um because we want to make sure that we do the best we can for employees." and that we'll be looking at other plans. But I
066guess my main thing is saying this is that when the board discussed it that day, they had some good points and um I think all of us would say we really really want to do best by our employees. That's what I wanted to say. Anybody else? Okay. Well, that was good. All right. >> Yeah. I want I wanted to make a comment somebody speaking. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Uh, I know I've had some discussions with Mr. Green about U fleet and I know he's looking into that. Um, that's something I brought up a while ago and I know the superintendent um are working on that as well. So, um, I look forward to hopefully some good news on the insurance front soon. >> Thank you. Anybody else? >> Yes.
067Yes, ma'am. >> Um, a couple of things. Um there one of the things that I mentioned at our last workshop was exactly what we are doing now which is a moratorium on non-essential spending. So um it is and one of the other recommendations that I brought forward was a full review of all of our options. But just to recap, the superintendent did have a recommendation at the end of the last workshop which was intended to begin in June or July or whatever that date was, whatever that the month was. So there was something that would have occurred in June. Um [snorts] there were increases that were going to happen. Um so to say that there wasn't an a recommendation is is not true. There was indeed a recommendation. Only a couple of days later um
068was um was a different decision made which I'm glad for and I'm happy for. And now we're in discussion with Highte uh which was also one of my uh recommendations if not for um if not Hightech or some other kind of co-op. I mean everybody can go back to the workshop. I mean it's important for us to have these discussions. Um that's why um we meet during workshop so that we can kind of hash these things out. Um I'm glad because if we did not have the discussion that we had um we probably would be looking at some very serious increases in June. I'm going to say June because that's a date that I remember. Um was it June or July? whatever, it doesn't matter now because we're not going to have it. So, I
069I'm happy um that we are looking into some of these other options um moving forward and and I'm glad that we're going to explore um as much as we can to avoid uh insurance premium increases. Um I will say that um well, I'm not going to discuss anything else that's not working. >> Thank you, J. Dr. Moore. Um, please correct me. Did you recommend an increase at the February workshop? >> So there there's folks who are in the room where it happens and you know, not to quote a musical, um, but as those folks listen, the the way of work is clear. Um I work with the appropriate staff uh committee whether it's teacher representatives whether it's employee representatives to bring a recommendation to the board which is going to be the collective thinking my
070best thinking uh endorsed by that committee in cabinet it itself um did I want to bring a recommendation in terms of the work moving forward absolutely um the conversation with President principles with executive staff regarding the path forward was in fact that decision that recommendation uh to say that the board influenced me to do something different uh has never happened and will never happen uh I am going to bring best what I think is the absolute best recommendation um and we've have a very strict and procedural process that we follow to engage in the dialogue to solve solve some very very complex problems. And over the last 6 and a half years, uh we've enjoyed a very productive relationship with staff, with our employees, with our teachers, uh because we take the time to listen
071uh and we take the time to model what we say, which is acting in the best interest of our employees so they can act in the best interest of of children. So it was a powerful moment when we said this is the reality that what we would have to do to modify to get to October and keep in mind one of the things that we negotiated was to give the teachers their raises in the year in which they've earned that raise. >> So that was pushing what we have historically done pay for a 1.7 to 1.9 uh effective or highly effective bonus for teachers that we would pay uh after they returned from summer. We wanted to get that money to them quicker, which means we had to budget for an additional 1.9 or 1
0721.7 to 1.9 um that we hadn't budgeted for in any other previous year. Um that wasn't we had to figure that out and then throw the 1.7 to 1.9 on top of that is another extremely arduous process. Um so I am confident as we look at where where are we currently at we have high on on Wednesday uh Wednesday that is the committee uh made up of our employees uh who will make a recommendation through me to you uh on our path forward and we will be looking at every single line within um that fund every single program that we offer what's the return on investment. So, this is a return on investment audit uh looking at how we're billing for uh our medical expenses all the way down to direct contacting. Uh I think
073it was Miss Baronborg who referenced Fleet. Fleet uh is a not for-profit. We will be evaluating them as well as another organization that the union is bringing and the name escapes me. Great something. What? >> Great Lakes. I was going to say Great Canyon. Great. Great lakes. Uh so we're doing that exploration um a as quickly as possible in order to get us to a situation to bring a recommendation to this board uh with enough time for however we conduct our business moving forward that we have enough time to make our selections uh in our insurance program in August of next year which would take place and then it' be implemented ultimately in October. So, a lot of work to do. Um, cannot thank the board enough. They for their level of standing behind the
074complexity of this work. Uh, it is extremely extremely complex. Um, but you don't have a better you couldn't find a better team uh of folks who who will conquer this as they have conquered all other things. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Alrighty. Anyone else? And thank you to all the team members who are working on this. All right, we are now at board member matters. Who would like to begin? There's a lot of activities. Miss Baron, we'll start with you. >> Okay. I just want to say first of all, congratulations to Dr. Jackie. It's a lot of work to get a a doctorate. Um I'm sure it was several years and um congratulations to you. Um, I went to the Treasure Coast Council local government's meeting and um, the presentation was about the St. Lucy
075airport and its expansion. It's got a huge expansion in the future. So, that's something to look out for. Also, they're going to be making some big announcements about airlines coming into St. Lucy's airport. So, people will be able to get uh a flight out of either of our airports quickly. Um, and that is international. So it'll be international flights. Um at PNL Brightpot playground ribbon cutting was awesome. It was so nice to see the kids there enjoying the the park. Um it was nice to see so many government officials. It was nice to see Doc uh came as well, Doc Jones. Um advocacy and school board um state school board meetings. I uh chaired the advocacy meeting for the state two weeks ago and we discussed a lot of items that are the last push
076for session. Usually the committees were done by last week but they still met this week which is unusual. Um so it's a very unusual legislative session again which is always what we say [laughter] and the school state school board. Thank you for them for the schools of hope ruling. That was awesome. I watched um the whole thing and then I did attend the central board's coalition meeting um that was supposed to be on fleet um but u they had some technical problems so that will um just so you know Mr. Green I know you had some employees that were going to attend that. The next one is going to have that. So I'll let you know when that meeting is. Um children's literacy walk was wonderful. the ribbon cutting over at the library. If you
077haven't seen it, go to the main library and see what they did to the front of the library. It's the ABCs of reading. Um, one of the things I learned when I attended the um the wire tolearn conference was about what they're doing in Philadelphia and um they're putting the ABC banners on all their playgrounds that they can. I think that would be ideal for us to start with our playground. So that's something I'm going to bring to the next workshop for us to discuss. And then um I attended the family funfest. That's an annual event that's always well attended and again it was well attended. And of course I attended both sessions of the moonshot movie premiere because I just couldn't get enough of watching all of you and how well everything um is
078progressing. Um want to encourage everybody to watch the series. It's going to be available all 10 of of the um films. So, um, it's out there. I do do know we have the link. I don't know if we can put that on our website or if it already is on the website, but that's something I'm going to ask for. Um, Dr. Moore, thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Rosario. >> That's so weird. >> I know it will be for one. >> It's very weird. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, >> go ahead. >> You didn't miss that once. I don't think she got it right. >> I know. She did really good. She does better. She did better than me. Um I I I wanted to just say um yeah, so with regard to
079my doctorate, it's been a long time coming. It's been many many years. Um uh so a little bit of what people don't know is that I wasn't a good high school student. I did not do well. Studying just didn't come well to me. I mean, I graduated with like a 1 something GPA. I mean, it was pretty awful. I don't even know how I made it to college. Um, but I had very very strong women in my family who were like, "You're going to college. You're going to be the first to graduate." And and I just did it. I just did what my mother my mother told me to do. And it's probably she wanted me to get out of the community or something, but um I did it and I pushed through and I
080graduated. And even then I was still like, "What am I gonna do?" you know, you hit that moment in junior year and you're like, you have to declare a major. And, you know, when I went into teaching, I didn't realize that I would love it so much. And so, um, I guess the I guess my love for learning just grew from there. And now that I graduate, now that when I successfully defended my dissertation, the first thing that I told my um my professor was, "What am I going to do next week? I have no homework. And you know, of course, I'm like, okay, what's the next degree? What's what am I going to study next? But I know I'm not going to. But um anyway, the point is it's one of my passions about
081public education, about education in general, public, private, um homeschool, it doesn't really matter. It's that when a student struggles, there's always an opportunity to say you can do it. Even if doesn't look like they can do it, the message should always be, you can do it. It might be a little harder. It might take a little longer, but no matter what, you can do it. Um, and and now I just love learning. And people didn't give up on me. Um, and we should never give up on kids. We should never give up on that that child, that student that's just, you know, doesn't want to study at night, doesn't want to do their homework, can't get it, or maybe can't remember what they need to remember for tests. You know, if you you can be
082a great student and maybe not a great test taker, it doesn't mean that, you know, your future you can't have a future in something. Um, so I'm just very grateful. And then of course at my age doing it, it was just a really, really hard. It certainly wasn't easy to do at all. Which by the way, tomorrow I'm 56 years old. >> So I'm excited about that. >> Happy birthday. >> Um, so it so I guess my message is it's never too late for anyone who wants to go to school and, you know, get your your your doctorate, your degree in anything. Um, and I'd like to just say Miss Enville is actually a doctor, too, which we never really recognize. We should probably start calling you Dr. Enville, right? What is your It's doctor
083of >> Jurist doctorate. Yeah, we should we should we should properly call you Dr. Envil. Um, Pelican Island Classical Magnet. I think I mentioned this last time, but I'm not sure. for the instructional materials review. I may not have mentioned it, but just in case um if this is a duplicate um announcement, it it was a fantastic opportunity for many parents and um and uh staff to get together and choose the materials uh for this upcoming school year. Um I mentioned it earlier that wire tolearn was an amazing um opportunity for us. I I it's our first inaugural. I believe we're going going to have more moving forward in the in the coming years. So, um my hats off and kudos to everyone involved. I know that was a a big feat um and a
084huge job, but uh what a way to get the word out and to really share all the good things that are happening here in Indian River County. Um Steamfest at Darattown was fantastic. So much fun. um and students from across the district were involved in that. So, I'm very very pleased to see um all of those students who uh came out and really wanted to get their hands um into um science and technology and math and all the good things. Um and of course, I already said the Moonshot series um was an incredible event as well. Um, and I do agree we should probably share the video series link on our website. And I think that's all I have for now. >> Thank you, Mr. Dyer. >> Well, it's been uh for the uh school
085district and uh I would say quite a week and a half with the wire tolearn fast conference which was absolutely incredible. I attended all two days and uh spoke at the opening uh session, general session or what do they call that? Plen >> Plenery. That was a new word for me. I had never heard that before. And I learned it meant opening. It meant general session. So that was good. I that's just not a word that that I have run across before. But anyway, it was it was absolutely spectacularly done. Uh I had uh dinner one night with the Indiana delegation who are here in full force. Uh Indiana is trying to uh do exactly what we have done and the advantage that they have is they have really the state behind them. They have
086good legislation that is pro-school improvement. And I think that with that and with some of the secret sauce that we've been able to help them with and with their own initiative, which is strong, they they brought down delegations from three parts of the state. They had not only an educator, uh, a couple of educators, a school board member, a, uh, principal of a district or a school in there, and they brought down a community leader because they wanted to see how you could pull together the public private partnership, and they had a big foundation which uh, uh, underwrote a lot of it and uh, they are really looking to uh, go after and become one of the uh, top states in terms of uh literacy. So that was great. I mean just spectacular the way
087a whole conference was pulled off. all the speakers. I went through at least one of each of the four different sessions u and uh was was really impressed with the way it came off and uh then uh was involved uh also with a meeting with uh Congressman Heridopoulos and as we talked about with a group about how we can get more funds, federal funds for education and if there are any opportunities there and I I think that we're going to be working on that. Again, they he loved the public private partnership because he felt that that would even bring uh with with skin in the game from the community that it could bring more federal funds. So, I thought that was a was a uh was a big deal and I know we're hard at
088work on it uh with a with our public private partnership and hopefully we'll come up with something that'll generate some some funds. Uh and then the uh the uh Moonshot premiere again fantastic on their website are all of the all 10 of the series if you want to watch the whole thing. I think it's around two hours if you watch them all. We saw a 23 minute excerpt uh of the uh of the whole 10 series kind of combined into 23 minutes which I thought was excellent and showing the progress this community has made in the way that we have tackled uh we we've tackled literacy in this community and I am confident that we are going to get close to that 90 goal or or exceed it and that we are going to um
089continue to improve and I'm as doc Dr. Moore has told us that he wants to be number one in the state. I think we have an opportunity to do it. I was totally uh excited and encouraged by both the premier and the wire tolearn fast conference. I think we're on our way and are really leading the state and leading the country in how you can make things happen and do best by kids. >> Thank you, Mr. Gy. Um, couple things. Federal legislation committee. Um, as you know, the Department of Vet in Washington DC has been cut in half. We're trying now to save the NAPE. Um, that's the one test that like a ACT and SAT comparing all the states. So, hopefully we'll be able to do that. I attended the PTA leadership meeting. Uh,
090thanks to all the parents who help us. We appreciate you. They understand that budget's tight now and we're really not spending. So, they're there to help us. And these people are great. spring sports track meet at Bill Wilson track and field. That's a new track and field next to the playground. It's just an exciting exciting time. I think the first time I was there they had about 10 teams and it was wonderful to have a home track meet. Um I'm on about three scholarship committees. Many are due usually by March 15th. So seniors, please take a look at those. There are many, many scholarships that your guidance counselor can help you with. And also the schools that our students are attending. A lot of times those college scholarships are untapped. They have a lot of
091scholarship money too. So please look into that. The power by purpose at Northern Trust, Dr. Mora Meredith Egan had a great discussion with about 50 people from the community. The elementary and science fair awards, that's just plain old fun when you especially elementary uh when the kids come up and get their ribbons or their certificates or their checks. um value adjustment board. Another committee I'm on, we had a special meeting asking for a magistrate because of uh concern about u taxing on this one area. But those are always interesting to listen into. Uh the literacy walk at the library with MCAN and the learning alliance. That was a lot of fun and I'm very very proud of our our libraries in our town. The fun fair at IG center with the robotics and they had
092that at the steam at Dodgertown this Saturday. These kids are are masters at that. I'm on the economic development council. We have a special meeting tomorrow. They're looking at growth and how we can handle it. So, that will be interesting. Uh Gford Black History Month on February 7th, the um Gford Youth Orchestra, now called the Performing Arts Academy. They had a great presentation. It honored Margaret Ingram and Annie Powell. uh was at H.B.CU baseball Saturday night in the FM uh the FAMU band was there and it was a really fun event. Um going back to the Moonshot series February 16th um you know when I listened to the entire panel what they were saying how everything links to public ed but one that was I had not heard before was Mr. McDonald when he talked
093about security I just thought that was so in align with our public education system and what we want to do with our kids. great event in the wired tole learn. I'd like to know Dr. Moore, I wonder how much money. Maybe I'll ask the chamber of commerce. We brought in a lot of people. We called them heads and beds when we were at FHSA. A lot of people and this was no cost to the district. This is all through the learning alliance. So, um I think we did a lot for our community with food and hotels. And I sat next to the chancellor of literacy in one of the presentations and um that was with Miss Basor and Miss Garcia and it was a wonderful presentation. I talked to her lady later and she was
094very impressed, very impressed. So it was nice that somebody from Tallahassee was looking at us. So um I think that's it for me. Anybody else have anything else? Go. >> All right. What time is it? The time is 7:30. >> Terry. >> Oh, I'm sorry. She went. >> Oh, she did. She was number one. >> Yeah, I thought she Yeah, [laughter] >> the time is 7:30. What? >> I have lots of >> Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, >> superintendent. [laughter] >> I'm sorry, who? T >> Typically, I I would be like, "All right, let's go." Um, [laughter] but I I just wanted to take uh the opportunity um to thank staff. We just today and working last week, we assigned 35 of our district folks uh to go to schools and provide interventions Monday through Friday.
095Uh and that's in once again indirect response to what our principles need. And I don't know of another district um who would say even though I have piles and mounds of work to do here, I will figure out another way to get that done so I can go and provide an intervention for for kids. So when you drive by this parking lot and it's completely empty, um it's not because no one's called in sick. They are in front of children uh working with them, supporting them, giving that one last final push. Um so it's just absolutely rewarding to see um that coordination and that level of support being provided um to our schools um over the course of the next five six week well actually six or seven weeks as we lead in into that
096assessment. Um just closing on all of the accolades, all of the acknowledgements uh that this school system has received over the last um couple weeks. Absolutely welld deserved. Absolutely deserved. and and your commitment to children uh is what everyone is coming to see. >> Um and when you look at what we have done, the the difference in Indian River County is six years ago, you put a stake in the ground and say, "Yeah, public education may be broke, uh but we're going to fix it." And right now, you have all of those folks came to see what's the way of work. What's this? What's the cheat code? What's the secret? What's the secret sauce? how are we doing it so it can be replicated um in in other communities ac across our country. Um I
097don't know how they're going to replicate all y'all uh and all of our teachers and all of our principles um but you should be proud in the folks that are coming to see y'all's work. Thank you. >> All right, 7:32. Thank you all for coming. Remember our SRO's cannot leave till everybody leaves. So we will adjourn the meeting at 7:32. Thank you.