001back one more time to our school board workshop. And next we have board member rupert. thank you so much. That was a fun thing to do, it was great to go and celebrate our employees and how wonderful they have. Going back to the topic which was about possibly doing a piggyback with jacobs and doing a hybrid approach. As a board member that's been here for a second, maybe a minute, I can tell you that the hybrid approach with jacobs and our staff from was a fiasco at the very beginning of the bond, the prefacility assessment was a mess and we all know that because that's the basic plans we had moving forward and it was very hard to get back up and over again. It would be another fiasco at the end of the bond
002as we had in the beginning of the bond. I will not support a contract with jacobs and it would be like closing my eyes while putting the cruise control function off, former superintendent wanted to staff up and staff down to augment the bonds. That sounded good at the time but in hindsight, it was a colossal mistake. So, I say caution, caution, caution, there are many, many grand jury reports to look at but as someone who lived through this and is still living through this and my community is still going through with this in pompano and deerfield beach and margate, those areas with predominantly black and brown children are still waiting for roofs, they are waiting for fixing things up and to be completely on par with every other school in the district, so for me,
003the hybrid approach , I don't think it's going to work and I'm definitely not going to support the jacobs decision with this. As for the superintendent who we're going -- it will be up to him to decide to move forward and my colleagues, but I will not be supporting this and it was a fiasco and we know certain things now that we can't possibly go back and fix but there were things that had alarm bells going off back then and you need people to say, well, we need to take a step back because this is what happened or this will happen or this happened in houston and it will happen here and it did. So,, m m not clclrvrvanant bu ve lived through this so I caution, caution, caution you. And thank you. thank you.
004MS. Bulman? thank you, chair. So, I think we all are familiar with the fact that there have been a lot of problems with this bond from the beginning and I just want to focus on the fact that we are now in charge of making sure that this goes forward in the best manner possible, so given the choices that we have, I with all due respect to MS. Rupert, I do think that a hybrid approach in terms of having some capacity in-house and then also having the project manager, pmor, also on board is probably the best way to go forward. I like that approach, it gives us flexibility and I think, is that correct, that's what would give us the most flexibility going forward? Because then we're not married to having all in-house or just having
005just a pmor and relying totally on what they're telling us because we can see historically that's not something that we can 100% rely on, to have some accountability in-house as well or advisability. So, to that -- but to MS. Rupert's point, looking at the timelines and the best way to do this and to what DR. Holness and MS. Leonardi said earlier, when we're looking at stability and continuity, hopping on board with jacobs at this late hour doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I think that if we can stay with aecom for the six month extension and then do an rfq, that seems to be the best option for us because then we have the ability to negotiate our own contract going forward instead of relying on a contract that was negotiated by duvall
006county and it seems like we're not really 100% confident that our subcontractors can be used or that the legality of what that looks like for us using a duvall contract, and I also definitely want to make sure we are using our local service providers as much as possible because we're having our local tax dollars should be going out to our local companies as much as possible, so those would be the things I want to look at, so I like the hybrid -- extend thing aecom for six months and then starting with a new rfq, so we have our own negotiation. Thank you. thank you, MS. Thompson? I just want to echo my colleague's concerns about jacobs and also I agree with MS. Bulman about the hybrid method, so six months of aecom looking at that
007possibility and then kind of building up our staff capacity. so, the hybrid as it is detailed in the slides here is staff augmentation. So, aecom when we're talking about extending their contract, that's the current contract that we have now and we can extend that if the board approves for six months, right, so that's one thing. The staff augmentation is until I have more capacity here, I can exercise the piggyback to add to internal staff until I can hire and I can get out of that whenever I want to get out of it, right. The staff augmentation is an annual contract that duvall currently exercises, right. So, each year, it would come to the board to be approved. So, that is kind of the staff au gu the rfp/rfq process, we're going o do that anyways,
008there's three lanes, the board has the option to pick the six month lane with aecom, the staff aug piggyback and the rfq we're going to do anyway. Those are the three lanes, you can do one of them or two of them, well, you have to do the rfq. can I just clarify, so I just was looking at it in a short term, long term option, short term, the six month contract with aecom, long term, we should have a hybrid system. so, I have a few questions and thoughts, so to me, it's very confusing when you smush everything together, so the smart bond is separate from the cap al -- capital projects, is that correct? it is separate until OCTOBER, end of OCTOBER when the smart fund -- right. sunsets. right. so, whatever was classified as
009smart, that program based on the board's vote will end OCTOBER. okay. And we have -- have we already approved aecom to get us to that end or that's what you're asking us also for today? so, what we have is a 90 day extension the board voted on to extend aecom's contract from JULY when it was the last amendment was approved for 90 days, so the 180 day extension will get us to JANUARY. So we're going to pass the OCTOBER date. thank you for that clarification. So, I agree with all of my colleagues that continuity and consistency is important so I would say definitely the six months continuation with aecom because it doesn't make sense to change that in the middle. I along with my colleagues have concerns about the piggyback -- not piggyback in general,
010that specific company since we are living with the repercussions of not doing a great needs assessment at the beginning of the time and perception is reality for a lot of people and although you MAY have a different perception and experience with them, we do in broward county live under the shadow of a grand jury report that called that out. So, I think we have to be cognizant of that as we move forward in what we do with our decisions. I don't necessarily have a problem with piggyback, is there a possibility of selecting someone different than duvall county? that is the existing contract that I'm aware of, so if the board votes to extend aecom in APRIL for six months, then the rfq, we'll put that out and see what happens, what companies bid on the
011work. okay, so the piggyback was the suggestion on the piggyback is in lieu of extending aecom for the six months? it can be in lieu or in addition to if we want to add more capacity, so we could have both. okay. So, we'll take a consensus in a minute so we give you some clear direction but I think you're seeing a theme as we move through here. I would be okay doing all three of them as was suggested by DR. Zeman because we have a lot of things going on and the more people, the better, but I will just reiterate my concern with that particular piggyback so I don't know if it's possible to do research to see if there's a different one or if it just doesn't make sense, then just do the extension
012of aecom and then the rfq and not do the piggyback if that's the only option for piggyback, so that would be my particular thoughts on that. So, I would like to go around real quick to give you kind of a consensus and then we'll wrap this up. So, board member bulman, which lane? well, please forgive me, just to clarify what the lane is, it was -- the rfq, the piggyback and then extending aecom for six months. okay. This is how I'm seeing it and I don't know if this is correct, correct me if I'm wrong, extending the aecom contract for six months and then pursuing the hybrid method moving forward so we'd have to have an rfq, then we'd have some kind of staff augmentation as well. now, not necessarily from a piggyback contract but
013just as a general -- MS. Paul? is that something we can do? if I can explain again and -- so, the most we can extend aecom is six months. So, my recommendation is that we do that because we will need transition time. You know, whatever the board desires, so extending aecom for six months. Another option we have is to do the piggyback off of the existing duvall contract and the way it works in duvall is they renew that contract every year, so the company brings it to the board and the board votes on it every year. Based on their performance of the past year determines whether they go forward with that contract, so that's one option, that's the piggyback, then we can use it for staff augmentation so until we hire, I can also exercise
014that contract to add additional bodies to move the projects faster. And then the overarching when we do it this way, the overarching option is to do an rfq to get a new pmor or multiple pmor's, so we have to advertise anyway because the aecom contract steeping is only good for six months. So that brings us to JANUARY. So, between now and JANUARY, we have to put out an rfq to get another pmor if we so choose, we need to -- or staff contract or however we present it to the bore, that's what we have to do anyway because the most we can extend aecom's contract is six months. Does that clear it up a little bit? I think because are we just deciding what we want to do for the next six months and then
015get to the rfq? well, yes, you can, you know, because definitely if the board reaches consensus, I will need to -- and my staff will need to bring back to you a contract or an amendment to the contract for an additional six months for aecom that would put that date to JANUARY of next year, 2026. and then meanwhile, you would be preparing -- the rfq. and the plan going forward which could include a hybrid approach. Like, even if you have a pmor, we'd have that as less of a scope of work and then also focusing on building our -- right, so we can look at -- that's like two to three months to put a staff aug in place, if we do the piggyback off of duvall's contract. if you look, I have it in
016the slide that gives the timelines for each step but we'll be doing two things at any one time anyway because we have to -- my recommendation is to extend for six months with aecom and then we have to do the rfq, so those two actions if the board approves are kind of the choices and then if we want to add a staff aug component, we can do that also. and when you're saying staff aug, are you talking about solely about looking to outsource that or -- I guess I'm confusing it because hiring in-house. the way it can work and I know this is how the sausage is made. The way it works is we have capital projects that MS. Kuley handles over in her department, so I can say can I get two more project
017managers to help her over in that particular gayer for that specific purpose, right to accelerate the projects to 90 projects that she has. Aecom already has the projects they're working on and then I think they also have 10defp projects they're working on so I can add additional capacity with the staff augmentation contract if we wanted to do that. it's sort of like the piggyback is sort of like us having kelly service us for subs. We don't have to find subs anymore, they take care of it. it's a lata la carte. it tees same idea if that helps. it's like a la carte. I don't want a steak but I want mash potatoes. that ao what you would suggest instead of hiring full time staff eventually that -- no, I definitely -- we do, that gives
018us additional capacity until we can hire full time staff because just building that capacity takes time. so that would be the goal, okay. So, I still -- because of the concerns that have been brought up, I still support extending the aecom contract for the six months and then doing the rfq. That piggyback contract might still be available if we had to go back to it later anyway, right. Okay. okay, MRS. Leonardi? I'm for extending aecom and then doing an rfq. thank you. I'm for all three if there was a choice of a different company, so if not, then I would just be in favor of the rfq and extending aecom for right now. MS. Thompson? I'm for extending aecom, not for the piggyback and then an rfq afterwards. MRS. Rupert? no surprise, I'm for extending
019aecom and for the six months and rfq. DR. Holness? thank you, MADAM Chair. I am for extending aecom for six months and then for the rfq, I am absolutely not for piggybacking on the duvall contract. thank you, staff, do you have E.G. That -- everything that you need? yes. great, thank you. At this time, do any of my colleagues have anything to bring to the board or student successes to share? I would just like to -- I want today bring this up when the north area chair was talking about suicide and things that they wanted to implement and just give a huge shout-out and kudos to our staff and our partner community based connections as well as my staff of one, jessica, we were able to host the everyone counts headlining through the arts and
020it was a fantastic day on saturday at plantation middle school, students walked in, families walked I in, it was like an art gallery, mcfatter did the food, tafs resource for parents to know how to deal with their students when they have stresses, maybe instead of yelling at them when they have a bad grade, how is it that they approach them to reduce their stress. Students learned about resilience in terms of it's okay to fail because you learn by failing, they learned a little yoga, they were able to do some art work to help release the stress. So, the whole point of that event was to give our students and our families some skills and resources and community based connections did a great job with the parent workshops, they did little skits like how you should
021react to things and things of that nature, they had a panel, thank you to DR. Holness for coming out and saying hello. It was a great event and I think that we should do more of those in maybe different areas so we're highlighting our students but also giving the families some of those mental health resources and tools that would help them to reduce the anxiety and stress that their students have, so it would be great to see that replicated in other places and I just want to one more time give a plug to say that we are pleased to announce that nominations for the district advisory and committee volunteer category infuser the 2025 community involvement awards to be held on thursday may 22 at 9 A.M. Tt the lauderhill performing arts center are now being
022accept until MARCH 21, the public can nominate any member of the advisory for their work and service performed ton the committee through DECEMBER 2024. Visit get involved with broward county public schools web page for more details and to access nomination forms, and on a different note we caner have two broward county student that is are up for the ecohero channel 10 award, one goes to south plantation, the other one goes to american heritage and you can vote for them daily until MARCH 14th and the winner gets a week trip to australia, so it's pretty awesome. If you go and help them to be successful, they win by people voting online. So, channel 10, local 10.Com, thank you. The scheduled order of business -- MADAM Chair, I just have one thing, I'm sorry. Okay, I forgot
023to mention this, so regarding artificial intelligence, recently I learned about three excellent events focus on artificial intelligence hosted by the innovative learning department which I want today say the teacher voice, teen ties and interactive engagement with students which I will be attending on thursday MARCH 6, [Inaudible] University on MARCH 12 as ai continues to be integrated into every aspect of our lives especially in education, I wanted to inquire about the possibility of providing the board with training or a webinar on this topic. It is important for us to understand how ai's being implemented in schools ask its impact on our education system, so I just wanted to mention that. If the board would have interest in a board training or a webinar on ai as it impacts our student and is the classroooo ay.. Anybodoppopod
024d to hang some training on ai? Okay. DR. Hepburn? certainly. We can work with the innovative learning department to create some training, probably do nit a workshop probably, so advancing technology w ear l efrmging it ourselves so make sure we're being as efficient as possible, soit's great opportunity for the board and the board secretaries as well, yes. yes, we're all learning to use co-pilot, it's a great tool. The scheduled order of business for this school board workshop of the school board of broward county, florida has been completed. Seeing no obligation, I now adjourn the meeting. Thank you, all, and have a great, great evening.