001Welcome to today's special school board meeting. The special school board meeting of the school Board of Broward County, Florida, is now called to order to ensure a safe and productive environment. Please note the clearly marked emergency exits do not block exit doors and all attendees must be seated except for media. Once the room reaches capacity, attendees will be directed to the overflow area. If the fire alarm sounds, exit the room calmly continue outside the building and remain there until authorities give clearance to return. Thank you for your cooperation, missus. Alhadeff will now introduce her school to deliver the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Thank you. I'd like to introduce Broadview Elementary School to do the Pledge of Allegiance. Please rise. We are proud. Please stand for the Pledge
002of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Right. Today's special school board meeting will operate in accordance with the School Board policy. 1020 and the board will review the items as advertised and presented by the superintendent. The superintendent released a revised agenda with certain changes for this meeting and published it on the school district's website, the chair finds pursuant to section 120 .525 Florida statutes, that good cause exists for such changes and accepts the revised agenda. MAY I have a motion and a second to close the agenda. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman seconded by MISS Hixon. All in favor of closing the agenda? Let it be known by saying
003I all opposed say no. The agenda is now closed. MAY I have a motion and a second on item one? University of Florida Board of Trustees data sharing memo to vote down. So moved. Second moved by DR. Zeman seconded by MRS. Alhadeff. Public comment on item one. No speakers. Board debate. DR. Zeman. Thank you very much, MR. Superintendent, for making the community aware of what data are going to be given up as a result of this. I really appreciate the amazing and quick staff. It is not easy to get Board of Trustees. I did note, by the way, though, that the Provost of University of Florida is no longer the interim provost. He's the real provost. So maybe the document carries a little bit more weight because it's no longer the interim. But I appreciate
004the quick turn on this. And I think the parents of Broward County are happy that these data that were in the previous things have been struck. Thanks, chair. Doctor Cohen, if you can be specific about what we took out of that agreement. Sure. At the direction of the board, we removed the new worlds reading directory. And so now what's only in the new agreement is the Florida tutoring piece, which is the agreement that we already previously looked at. So we did exactly what the board requested us. The University of Florida was in agreement with it. And so now you have a new agreement that has that condition in in the in the new agreement. Thank you. Any other board discussion? So remembebe this is a memo to votot down. So o l in f favorf
005itemm o. SaSay I all opposed say no item fails unanimously. MAY I have a motion and a second on item two. Move by DR. Zeman. Second by MISS Rupert. Public comment on item two. No ma'am. Board to be. All in favor. Of item two, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no item passes unanimously. Could I have a motion and a second on item three? So moved. Second move by DR. Zeman. Second by MISS Hixon. Public comment on item three. One registered speaker. Doctor, I'm sorry, we have three doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh, Anna Fusco. And Terry Post. Florida. When I drove here this morning, I don't remember seeing this item. So the first thing I would suggest is putting this on next week's agenda, because I don't know how you guys had time to review this
006item. And what is this item? So I started reading it and I have some questions. But speaking of budgeting, first thing I looked at is where is it coming out of? It's supposedly in this year's budget. It also says, and that's 100,000 by the way. So is this supplanting staff where you have a whole cabinet full of people and they cannot come up with suggested staffing models? Or is this an audit? In which case, why is it coming from hr and not the office of the Chief Auditor? Is it a efficiency audit? It's unclear because it's a piggyback. Our favorite type of contract. It's a piggyback with a state contract for performance efficiency and financial audits. It also says in here that they already engaged in my understanding of the English language engaged. And the
007edi means that it's already happened. But you're being asked to approve the contract today. So how is that possible? How is it possible to have engaged past past tense and be asking for a future tense contract beginning today? Actually, why is this happening so late in the year? It is almost APRIL. If you were trying to come up with a plan, why are you putting a company giving them 30 days or less to do something as monumental as telling you how to downsize, which positions are essential, which are not? Why is that not happening until the end of MARCH? What has everybody been doing? I get that some of the staff, like strategy and innovation, would have been busy with redefining and pushing that through. So maybe that's one of the problems. How is this
008in the budget when you have, again, chiefs in charge of all these different departments who should be able to look and if they can't, and you really need an efficiency audit, why is this not coming? Because hr is in the audit plan and has been for a couple of years. So I have many, many, many questions and I hope you do too. But again, I do not believe this passes the smell test for how long this was available to the public because I do not remember, and the staff person with a sign in sheet did not even have it available as an item for me to sign up to, because when he got here, it wasn't an item. And when he he printed out the agenda items. So please pull this thing. And then for
009discussion for next week. I don't know how it got on the agenda, but it doesn't belong on today's special meeting agenda. You haven't had enough time to think this through. Thank you. Jerry Lopez, vice PRESIDENT Of the Broward Teachers Union, businesswoman in Hollywood, and Dania for over 30 years. And I used to come here and I know I've told you every single Tuesday, I am very aware of the fact that there is a statute that states how many days it needs to be on the agenda, so that you can present it to the public, and this does not meet that. I sent this to you on Thursday. It was not there on Thursday. I just pulled it up again. I don't see it. Maybe I pulled up the wrong live link, but I don't see
010it on there. So these are the kinds of things that I'm going to ask you. Show some kind of disorganization, some kind of inability to follow the rules. I remember when MR. Moquin was here, I used to call him every time something came in late. And I know that you guys get this mysterious black box or whatever it is at your door where you have to read all this stuff, and sometimes the black box comes late. That's not the way it's supposed to be. There is a statute. This doesn't meet the statute. You cannot just throw something in at the end of the day, no idea why you would. And of course, there is a money amount tied to it. So that goes back to everything else that we've been talking to. So I'm asking
011you guys to please waive this for this meeting. And whoever puts these things on the agenda on the last day, please let them know that is against statute. We are paying attention. We don't like it and it's not good. Thank you. Anna Fusco, Broward Teachers union PRESIDENT. Oh, Wait, didn't your council up there say you guys don't break the law or break statute yet? Here we sit. I mean, I'm okay with being corrected. If if if my vice PRESIDENT Was not speaking correctly or if Doctor Natalie Walsh wasn't. And again, I don't recall seeing this until today. So if you're able to amend or adjust and add things to the agenda at any given time, I suggest when your labor groups ask you to bring things to the agenda at the last minute, do oblige
012to do that. Or was this a blatant breaking of a statute that your general counsel said that you guys do not do? Because I know well she wasn't insinuating that the Broward Teachers Union does that when it pertains to bargaining, because that doesn't happen. So we're curious to sit here and understand what exactly this item is. Are you guys familiar with it? Is it going to be a fruitful, professional, intelligent, articulate conversation because you guys are all in understanding of what you're going to be getting ready to vote on because it's in a board, it's a board meeting. So you guys are going to actually move in second and talk about and debate and then vote. So this should be an interesting thing to watch for the next few minutes. Thank you. Board discussion. First,
013I want to go to MISS Dupree. Bruno. Yes. Thank you, MADAM Chair. I just need two minutes to pull the statute that actually talks about good cause. Because MADAM Chair already found that there was good cause for the item to move forward. And then I'll give you the statutory reference for that. Thank you. Board discussion. MADAM Chair, while she looks up that this item was posted late, but it was not posted this morning. It was posted at 2 P.M. Last night. Oh 2 P.M. Yesterday afternoon. Yesterday afternoon, 2 P.M. Yesterday afternoon. I recall seeing it, MR. Cervera and then DR. Zeman. MR. Sullivan just actually answered my my question. I'm also interested to hear what our what our general counsel has to say. But just as a general practice, it is frustrating when things like
014this happen, especially at the last minute. Fortunately, there wasn't much on the on the agenda today. So I mean, I, I did have an opportunity to, to, to look to silver when I saw it yesterday. But as a general best practices, it is very frustrating when things get put on at the last minute, especially for those of us with day jobs and kids and spouses and things like that. But that being as it MAY, I am interested in hearing from MISS Dupuy Bruno as to whether or not we have not or we're in compliance with the statute. If if if we are not, it's going to be my suggestion to my colleagues that this be pulled, and we vote on it at next week's meeting. Thank you. DR. Zeman thank you so much, chair. I
015just want to point out to my friends and colleagues on the board here that 1000 positions is $75 million. We're about to make a pretty big adjustment. Superintendent in his op ed yesterday, you know, made it very clear to the public that we're eliminating 1000 positions. We've talked about it for months and months and months, getting advice for $100,000 on how to cut $75 million smartly seems like a wise investment. In fact, I'd be suspicious if the superintendent didn't get outside advice just to be able to benchmark other districts, benchmark other government organizations and the like. I too, as the speaker said and MR. Cervera said, would prefer this to come earlier. But I also don't want to wait two more weeks to to execute this contract to get this advice because, MR. Superintendent, when
016are you bringing us the list of 1000 positions? Late APRIL. I forget the specific date of the meeting, but late. APRIL and it is late MARCH. Yes. You got 30 ish days. Correct. And just for full disclosure, it's one of the speaker mentioned engaged. We have already engaged in them with a specific authority on that. I have to get the work started. And as you said, when you're dealing with so many employees, downsizing and making sure we're maintaining quality of service, changing our service models, how departments and divisions interact and, and also, you know, being more composite and breaking down barriers of isolation so that the system can run more efficiently and yet effectively. Yes, you're going to need third party insurance. And, and I would hope the public would appreciate that as well. And
017as much, you know, complaints that we get when staff does something. So third party assurances is here to give us additional insight of how we actually ramp this system up for the betterment of our students in our schools. And again, 100,000 and by the way, it's 101,000 the total. Or is it your sole source authority plus 100,000 that we're going to spend? Correct. It's a plus. So I spent, I want to say probably a little bit above 40. Okay. Yep. So that was to get start. Correct. Kind of the try before you buy model and you learned enough with that 40. Correct? Correct. And we were one. So I appreciate that. But again, I'm not sure the 40 was listed in this item. Did I MISS That or no. That's under. Yeah. Under my authority.
018I'm just one school board member. I would have preferred to know that so that I could have said, oh, spending 141,000 to, you know, look at $75 million permanent cost reduction year over year is a wise investment. So just a little comment on the item construction itself, but I, I really am impressed with your ability, MR. Superintendent, to go out and find people that are experts in the different fields where you've invited them in under your own authority. It certainly has grown my confidence in your ability to use that authority. And I, I recognize the need for getting more than the collective wisdom of what we have here, because since 2008, I think we have not done this. MISS Rupert have we done a a big furlough position reduction since 2008? I'm just curious. MADAM
019Chair. I respond, okay, I was here at 20, 2010, 2011 school year. However, I do know specifically that we did have downsizing and it was big before. Maybe the more appropriate would be to ask staff that have been here, but I do know just specifically with the ppo department, it was pretty much gutted. Yeah, I appreciate. That recommendation. The good news is we have that chart that shows staffing levels going back 25 years, and there hasn't been a downturn except for the recession in 2008, nine and ten. So we don't have deep executive knowledge of people working in Broward schools that have done this before. So I think it's great to get some outside advice, and I appreciate you bringing this to us, MR. Superintendent. MISS Thompson. Thank you, chair. And I think Doctor Hepburn,
020you kind of asked answered, what I was going to talk about is that you have been working on this because I remember I called you yesterday when I saw the item to say like, isn't this already happening? And so I think the backup information is really important to the public. So I am in support of this item. I think, like DR. Zeman said, getting more experts in looking at this structure is always helpful. I would just like to make a side comment that I think when we talk about late minute ads and how frustrated the board feels with staff is very similar to people trying to make motions and bring items as a board members at the end, without backup support or any of that. So when we talk about our purview and we revisit
021that conversation about board members having to bring items, i would like us to revisit that feeling and share it with ourselves. Thank you. Thank you, MISS Bulman. Fixing my hair. I support this item. I think it's really important that we have it outside, outside. Eyes on this. And I'm glad that the superintendent went and had the initiative to to do that, because I think just having an objective viewpoint is going to help our process in the future. I, you know, I'm just looking through the contract, which is a piggyback with another scope and it just says, like our services, the services that are referenced in the contract is the entire contract that's servicing a whole bunch of other things. I just as a suggestion, I would like to see in the future of what the,
022you know, like a list of what they're doing for us, either in the executive summary or as an actual exhibit a, so that we know exactly what what we're looking at and how many people were engaging are we is this is this basically an hour and hourly billing threshold of what is it 148, or is that what we're at right now? Go ahead, MISS Sullivan. Hundred and 58. I believe the total, if this item were to pass is. 150,000. Okay. And it's for the totality of the work. So it's not hourly rate. Okay. So there's a scope of a project that because I just didn't see that in the contract, what our project is, it look like we were piggybacking off something else. I just do we have that. We can share the scope with
023the with the board. Yeah, that'd. Be that'd. Be great. We already have a scope within the superintendent's authority so we could share that out. And then the idea is that this is going to be wrapped up pretty quickly, right? It's, it's mirroring our timeline of the workshop that now we're forecasting to be the 21st and then the final board vote on APRIL 28th. Right? So that's why it was also expedited because we wanted to match the timeline, because we have to consider all those factors before we present to the board. I appreciate that. Thanks for bringing this. Up, MR. Bruno. Thank you, MADAM Chair. The statutory reference with regards to good cause is 120 .525, specifically subsection two states. After the agenda has been made available, a change shall be made only for good cause
024as determined by the person designated to preside and stated in the record, which is what occurred when MADAM Chair advised that she did find good cause and moved it forward. This is also to be read with 1,001.372 with regards to school board meetings specifically. Thank you, MISS Hixon. Thank you. I echo sort of what MISS Bowman was mentioning. So if you read in the contract, it talks about different services and that they're going to send an invoice. So I. And then also that this contract is good through FEBRUARY 28th of 2027. So is there something that you can can you be specific? Is the $100,000 a flat fee? Is it based on services and we're up to $100,000? Or can you just explain that please? No. So it's based on the totality of the scope
025of work we've asked them to do, and we can follow up with that specific scope. And then you can add anything else, MR. Sullivan, that you want to add. But it's not hourly. The work is not done. There are some things after the fact, after the vote from the board, we look at service models just to make sure we're retooling our departments accordingly, just to make sure we're providing the best services possible as well. Because when you downsize, it's not just about getting rid of people. You also have to redesign how you're providing services to. The only thing to add to that is under the authority. We have been meeting with them at least once a week. They've also done some initial work in terms of interviewing, for lack of a better description, each of
026the Chiefs, because we're coming up with our reductions plans, but they're also supplementing our level of expertise. And so that work will, will continue. If this item were to pass. So can you kind of well, it still doesn't answer my question. Is $100,000 just the flat fee? Or are things broken down like certain projects? No, it's a flat fee. We have a specific scope of work and we're paying them a flat amount for it. So it's not up to it's okay. Can you I have a couple other questions. Can you tell us how it is that this came to only be on the board meeting yesterday? Like if you're working with them and you knew you needed more scope, when did that discussion happen with them? You know, why didn't this come to us earlier
027since you've been working with them? I mean, I think we're all aware you've been working with them because you did tell us in a variety of meetings, but how is it that it landed on the board meeting today? So I'll start. MR. Sullivan can finish the need. Some of the needs evolved as we started working with them. Starting first, it was benchmarking other school districts, providing information to get a comparable ratio of student to staff ratios. And so we can have a starting point for our team to start deciding what downsizing looks like, what's the ratio looks like. And then it starts the work start evolving even more. As we started talking about service models, as we start reducing staff and assisting us in that, looking at other org charts and other organizations and beyond
028the benchmarking, what does application and implementation looks like for for these other school districts too, and some that MAY be going through the same thing or have gone through it. So the scope expanded. And so we need and that cost more than what our initial ask was. And that's how it's evolved to where we are today. And when did you get the invoice or have this discussion with them? I'm just trying to get a little timeline here so people understand how it came to us. Go ahead. Yeaea just aot of any contract.. There's a lotot of eps to it.T. Ahehen we also nots anan excususe, justealility. The e was that spring break that a lot of the folks were were not working. So that was a little bit of a delay. I will say that,
029you know, the superintendent has pushed staff to ensure we are providing the board members with timely items for their review, so we have greatly reduced. I added items in general, and we are sensitive that you guys need the information as soon as possible to make an informed decision. Thank you and I wish all contracts moved as quickly as this one. As a side note, I also would say so we did have a little bit of a a downsizing, we'll call it a couple of superintendents ago. And there was a huge this room was full of people that were very, very upset because they felt it was retaliatory and that there was a lot of issues with who had been, you know, it was decided that they either were going to be moved to another position
030or that position was eliminated. So I also appreciate that there's a third, an outside person looking into that to kind of delineate that, that it's not because you don't like somebody or, you know, it's who you know. It really is about positions, not people. I mean, obviously it'll affect the people, but when you're looking at downsizing, it is about positions that we don't need, not people. And so I, I do appreciate that you have taken upon yourself to have somebody else help with this, because it is a lot. And, you know, a public speaker said, you can your cabinet not do it. I think, again, the cabinet did do it last time and it came across in a different way. So I appreciate that there's another set of eyes looking at how we do this
031appropriately. So thank you. MISS Rupert. Thank you. Many of the same questions I was going to ask. We're just we're just answered. The other aspect is year to date, how much money have we spent so far? Go ahead, MISS Sullivan. I think we. We're we're at the the 49 now. So to continue this work, this is why we had to bring the item because it supersedes the superintendent's authority. Right. Okay. And. Number two is answered. Number three. Who will evaluate what chiefs will remain in their current condition. Would that be this organization. Who evaluate what chiefs remain. What chiefs the chiefs. That's me. Remain in there. That's me, that's me. Okay, so not for that group. No, the group is. Not there doing work that includes the totality of of the organization. But as far
032as decisions for chiefs, that's me. And then for decisions b lo chief that's the chief. And also consulting with me as far as decisions about actually delimiting certain positions. Can I just clarify though, who votes on the org chart? The board. But we bring back we bring that recommended org chart to the board, and the board ultimately votes on that. Right. So there's multiple I mean, the organization is not making decisions. The organization is bringing recommendations. Correct. And then you bring those recommendations in your own to the board. And we ultimately own that decision. Correct? Right. Okay. So who will evaluate what chiefs who will remain, I guess you're saying is, is the board. But the recommendation obviously we know will be coming from you because the Chiefs really can't police themselves. Basically, what is
033the question? Can I clarify though, just for a minute, MISS Rupert? I think it's the it's the positions that are approved by the board. The superintendent then picks the incumbents for those positions. So we actually I just want to be clear, we don't make decisions about chiefs or any people other than three and. Superintendent, bring us an org chart with positions that we approve or not, but we don't pick the actual by name. Chief people. I'm not asking, nor did I refer to them as individual people. It's evaluate what Chiefs box will remain. So I guess every time I say it I have to go box. So I gotta remember that. All right. I not happy that this came so late. I already said that before, but it was it was difficult to go through.
034But thankfully for ai, I was able to get summaries and hope they were half right. So thank you. Missus Alhadeff. Yes. Thank you. So previous board meeting. This board changed the the motion that was brought forward to have a thousand people each of the three years. So 3000 people losing positions. The board changed that direction. So kudos to Doctor Hepburn for bringing this item forward because I would think that this group is looking at this now change of direction from it wasn't a I didn't vote on it, but it went through to have 3000 people. So that's a larger conversation. So is this company also helping the. When someone like the process of. When someone is not going to be getting their job back, like, how does that all work? Are they helping with the
035steps within that process? So we have a clear process and the process would look different from district to district policies, procedures. And so hr has a specific process that they've been using for quite some time. We've enhanced the the process to ensure there's care within it because we're working with Careersource and all of that. But we have a specific run of show of how we would how we would notify impacted employees to, to let them know that the position is being delimited. And then what are next steps for those employees as far as working with Careersource or any open positions that they MAY be qualified for with any organization? And I know you speak with our our unions, but I think to have collaborative conversations, it's very healthy within this process. Yes, absolutely. Thank you.
036Thank you. Anyone else before we go? Well, I wanted to make some comments and then we'll go to round two. Thank you, Doctor Hepburn, for for bringing this. And I agree with the sentiments of my colleagues about, you know, there's been pushback when staff tried to do this. And so I'm glad we're getting a third party, an objective third party. I, I, you know, I saw the item when it was posted yesterday afternoon. I don't get a black box. I don't think I have for several years. So I just wanted to be on the record, you know, as you know, saying that I don't use district resources that way. But thank you again, Doctor Hepburn, for being proactive on this. DR. Zeman. Thanks. We talked just for a minute. Share. DR. Zeman. Yeah, sorry. We
037talked a little bit about the 21st getting this list. This is is a huge item and I'm going to ask two questions about that. One, when will the school board members and the public get to see the recommendation by the superintendent for reduction in staff? Just so we're clear. So the the 21st would be the workshop that the superintendent presents his org chart for the upcoming school year. So individuals who are impacted by those changes along with the board, they would be briefed the week of the 13th. That org chart will include cost savings underneath the chart, but wouldn't delineate the actual individuals who are being reduced since they're below the line so that those discussions will happen a little later. But the 21st is the org chart specifically, so we intend to post that
038on the 16th of APRIL to give the board a long weekend to go over it, but also to allow for the impacted individuals to be spoken to and do boardwalk around the 13th, 14th and 15th. Chair. I'm going to try again. The 21st is the workshop and that, if I understand the answer correctly, is our org chart. Org chart. No details below the line. The details below the line would include the number of individuals and the cost savings, but not the list of individuals. You mean individual positions, correct? Thank you sir. And that is going to be briefed to us starting on the 13th. Yes, sir. And I'm going to I want to know when the data is going to be available to us. When can we see the org chart and the percent reductions
039below the line? Our intent would be to present it to you guys and to walkarounds before posting on the 16th. So we have to do two things simultaneously. We have to brief the board before the posting, and also the individuals who are impacted by the org chart changes. And just trying to digest the timing of this. This is really important and I'm glad to hear I'm glad we have this contract before us today so we can talk about this on Tuesday. The 21st is when we will, in a workshop, discuss the org chart recommendations and the percent reductions below the line that will become released to Thursday before on the 16th. Correct. But prior to that posting, we would have our walkarounds with each individual board member, along with notifying the impacted employees if there
040box is being impacted on the org chart. Terrific. I chair going to say that I don't think that's enough time. If we actually get a printed copy on the 16th and we just get to look at it starting on the 13th with Walkarounds, that does not give me enough time to digest this massive change. And that's just board members. The community needs to have time to digest this as well. So I'm just going to speak out as one. And I don't know what the consensus would be on this, but I need it before the 16th if I'm going to do my job and I need a copy, I don't need to glance at it in a meeting and then it get taken away. So I'm going to I'm going to ask chair whether or not
041I'm sorry, do you have some advice for me, chair, on how to proceed if I want to see it earlier than the 16th? I mean, if you could propose, you could either propose a different timeline. I don't know what that looks like for the superintendent. If we change the timeline, if that's even possible, or if you would like to propose a date that you would need, you know, for the board to receive that information. I would propose to my colleagues that we get it by the 15th in writing, which is the Wednesday, I think, before the 21st. That gives us three working days to go through it, and then on Monday to prepare and Tuesday to have the workshop. Doctor Hepburn. We can do that. So we would provide that just so everyone's on the
042same page, we would provide the board with our hard copies on the 15th for it to be posted on the 16th. For the general public's consumption, we would notify impacted employees of org chart changes on the 13th and the 14th. Thank you very much. The second question. Chair DR. Zeman, I just wanted to make sure that there was no objection. I don't think there would be, but I'm assuming there is no objection to that. Thank you. Go ahead. I'm sorry for moving so quickly, chair. Second issue is, and I I'm maybe I'm just not getting consensus with my colleagues here, but I hope we get options because if if we walk in here and there's org chart recommendations, then there's below line percentage changes. I hope that there are shared with the board at least,
043and the public then like what the art of the possible was first and then what became at least a thousand position recommendation by the superintendent. Again, our job is to pass the budget and the and the budget in a school district is largely about people. So the people and the budgets are synonymous. But if we only get one answer, how are we supposed to consider other answers if we don't get them? So, chair, is there a way that we could ask for the superintendent to present us the the what were the final options that were considered? And then what his recommendation is within those final options? Well, that's that's a difficult task. DR. Zeman is to come with different options for an org chart. And for me, my recommendation is pretty much saying, this is
044what me as the superintendent feel is going to help move this organization better, help us execute all our tasks and responsibilities and meet our goal. The board has a purview at that time to make any changes that they see fit, but for me to bring options, there is the one recommendation that as a superintendent, I'm saying this is what's going to move our organization forward academically and also operationally to fulfill all the goals that we're setting out to achieve in the next few years. So that's it for this. I just don't see options as something that would come forward with a, an org chart for how we want the organization. And I would rather bring it as here's my recommendation. And the board can have discussion and move boxes or whatever the case MAY be
045around as they see, as they see fit. I understand that, and your recommendation is supremely important to me, and I'm trying to respect the statutory authority to write a budget. And when we write a budget, it justifies positions. And so at the end of the day, on JUNE 30th, we have to approve a provisional budget. And then later after JULY 1st, we're going to approve a final budget. And that does justify and pays for the position. So there's this mutual kind of responsibility of you're the ceo and you say, if you tell me to get rid of at least 1000 positions, this is how I do it. And thank you, by the way, for doing that. Very, very, very difficult work. But then we have to pass a budget, and we're dealing with hundreds of
046millions of dollars in declines in revenue. So this is like a big, big change. We've got to be serious about it. Make sure we do what what will be, you know, have a lasting effect on our district. So I'm just trying to put those two things together. Chair, if I could, to the General Council, do we have the authority in our budget, statutory rights to pass budgets by department level? That's something I would have to research. DR. Zeman. I'm not sure. Terrific. I would just like to know more. I again, I'm not trying to be make work that's unnecessary. And what the superintendent brings us MAY be 1000 positions, but not enough money. And we might ask them to go back. It MAY be perfect and we just vote and say, let's go. Or we
047might make decisions that change the org chart, but keep the positions as recommended. I just want to be clear, by the time we get to that point, general counsel, what our authorities are so that we can have a good conversation if we do have the authority, which this board has done. By the way, this board has gone position by position by position and said, I don't I make a motion to not fund these positions. Right. So it can do that if if that's accurate, there's probably some options for there's probably a capability to bring options so that we get consensus quickly. And that way we're not injuring people as much. What's, what's really upsetting to me when that's happened before is individual positions come with an incumbent. And so here we are talking academically about
048a position, but we know that there's someone in that position and it's going to affect them if it's late in the game. So I'd rather do this dance gracefully, but to do it gracefully, I think we have to know what our authorities are, what the superintendent's authorities are, and how we're going to do this dance between workshops and school board meetings so that we end up where we want to go. To my knowledge, chair, there is a direction to the school board, from the school board to the superintendent to reduce at least 1000 positions outside of schools. Is that still the case? Doctor Hepburn? That is still the case that we, our team and are working on. Yep. I appreciate that. Thanks so much, chair. And once we get a paper back from you, General
049Counsel, about that, when we get back together, maybe we can talk about kind of what options or what ranges of decisions might look like. Thank you. Any other board discussion? DR. Holness thank you, MADAM Chair. So, Doctor Hepburn, in regards to this company. What role do you play in terms of directing this company as it pertains to board direction in reducing staff? Because I believe the board had direction in terms of reducing staff across the board and not unevenly impacting any particular group. So with this particular company, how what is your role in ensuring that they're following or aligning their suggestion with school board direction? So they've been given our goal of the the number of staff that we want to downsize by. They've been assisting us in benchmarking against other large school districts in
050the state and also outside of the state, and giving us feedback about where we MAY be heavy and where we MAY be light. So, you know, I understand, you know, being even cuts, but in the organization to even cut route sometimes not feasible. It's more about how our service model looks moving forward and the amount of people that we MAY not need to provide the services in the future. So they've, they're doing a lot of research to make sure we're making the best to support the best decisions possible. That's going to help move the district forward. Okay, so maybe even cut might be the wrong term that I'm using. But what I will say is that that it's equitable across the board that that as much as we are looking at employees who are paid
051at a lower salary, we are looking at those who are at the top. Correct. And that we are not what MAY be perceived as as inequitable due too t amoununt . N n we're using aensf eqtyty throuout ththis pcecess. AbAbsolutely Okay. So the board is expected to see reduction from the top down. Correct. We're starting from the top down, not bottom up. Got it. Thank you. Any other board discussion? All in favor? All in favor of item three. Say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no item passes unanimously at this time. Do any of my colleagues have student successes to share? MISS Dixon? Do I have. To grab it out there? So last night was the North central. Outstanding Student Leader Awards. Did I hope I said that right? So students were selected by their principals
052to be recognized. It was very nice. Our own Josiah and Landon were the hosts of the evening and they were recognized also. Yes. [Applause] Good job. They were also recognized with a beautiful plaque that they had because fortunately, we will be losing both of them as they're graduating high school this year. Yes, I know, right. But I want to give a shout out to Lionel Valentin from monarch. He was selected as the outstanding Senior Leader of the year this year and received a $1,000 scholarship. So just wanted to give a shout out to him. And is this where we could ask for some other information? I would like to ask the superintendent to please bring back the policy about facilitation, because although we've seen it a number of times, that might be one where I
053would agree with MR. Cervera vocabulary, and I think it needs to come back because it's there's still a lot of concerns with the partners in education, nonprofit and the whole. I don't think it still reflects what the board really would like for it to be doing. So if you could please bring that back at some point, I think we need to revisit it. Thank you. So it's bringing back the facility rental policy, not facilitation. Well. So I know what you're talking about. We want to make. Sure that facilitation only does what the policy says. But what what we think the policy says and what the policy actually says doesn't seem to be reflected in what's happening with our community. So I think we need to revisit the actual policy. Does anyone object to that? DR.
054Holness are you objecting? I'm not objecting, but I'm i'm going to ask a clarifying question as it pertains to facilitation. Is that okay? Okay. Board member Hixon okay, so thank you, board member Hixon, for bringing up facilitation. What concern came to me recently is that. Entities will pay or they have to pay and then have submit insurance and all of that, and then wait for direction, whether or not it's approved or it's not approved. But what has been happening, and I don't know how prevalent it is, is that they will receive a cancellation 2 or 3 days before their actual event, and then they now have to go. It could be a huge event. And now they MAY think that they would have been approved and they're not approved. And some, some of the entities
055are not aware that when they pay and they pay for the and they submit insurance, that they're still not approved. So so there are two problems. They don't know if they're approved or not. Some assume that they're approved, and then the approval or the cancellation will come 2 or 3 days before their event. Now they're stuck with sending out their fliers and promotion and all this stuff. So how can we, one, communicate clearly to the entities that when you pay and you submit your insurance, it doesn't mean you're approved? And secondly, how can we make sure they're approved in time or it's not approved in time so they can make other arrangements? Yeah, so great comments and DR. Holness. If you can make sure you're jotting down that concern. So we'll bring back the policy,
056we'll bring back the policy, but also we need to do a deep dive in facilitation because I don't know if it's the policy or it MAY be actually facilitation. So we'll do we'll bring we'll bring back the policy anyway, but we'll do a deep dive in facilitation as as well, because I get the phone calls from, from you, from all of you with some of your concerns from your constituents. And some of it is customer service in our department. And, you know, we the direction sorry to jump, leap, leap, jump into this, but in the conversation that you and I had, we have some partners in education that do things with schools across the county for a special special Olympics. And the reason I always bring that up is because it affects me. We had
057to cancel our practice because of something DR. Holness just mentioned, and they tell there's a point where it says, you can mail in the check, but when you mail in the check and put it in the comments, the check is in the mail. They cancel it because you didn't get a payment. But that's a whole different thing. But if you have someone Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, big Big Brothers, big Sisters, boy will not. Maybe Boys and Girls Club, but someone who's doing stuff not just with one school. They shouldn't have to do. A partner in education for every school individually. And the discussion we had was you agreed and that there was. But they're still getting when they put in their their partner in education. This happened to be for South Plantation, which they ended
058up doing as a nonprofit, because trying to do Pi is too difficult. But the Pi said South Broward. But they were trying to do South Plantation. So our staff said, wrong, wrong partner, you can't do it. So our staff doesn't even know they're supposed to be a blanket one. So there are things I think that need to be done regardless, outside of the policy that we've written, because those are procedural things. But you've said something. It hasn't trickled down to the people doing the work, and they are not very kind in the way that they respond to people. I know you're talking about. Those are things that can be fixed. Now while we're waiting for the policy. But I, you know, we have partners who we don't want to shoo away because they're it's too
059frustrating. And I'll also, I told you, bff doesn't want to use our schools anymore because facilitation was too difficult for the teacher expo to, to get moving. And that's our own Broward Education Foundation. So there's a lot of issues with facilitation on a lot of levels, and that's why I've asked for it to come back. Thank you. Thank you, MR. Spellberg. Thank you, MADAM Chair. And I just wanted to thank you, MISS Hixon, for for that comment, but also wanted to recognize and I think Doctor Wanza will probably share in this sentiment about our Athletics and Student Activities team, who put together a beautiful banquet last night and will do it again tonight at Dillard High School. It was a beautiful ceremony. This is an event that typically was held in past years, off site,
060at a considerable cost to the district and to parents, and was brought to Dillard. And the feedback was amazing. And the Dillard community was showing out. And so, you know, prideful there, we had a student singing the national anthem, who I think will see at the Super Bowl one day, as well as the Army jrotc. So just a big thank you to the Dillard High School community for welcoming us and to Santiago and our Athletics and Student Activities team, and the entire athletics and student activities team for coordinating a really meaningful event. Thank you. DR. Zeman thank you, chair. Last Wednesday, I got to go to one of my alma maters with, I think just about everybody from the cabinet was there and the superintendent, we had city manager from Fort Lauderdale, but we had
061this epic event. 103 organizations went to Dillard Elementary School. There were students there from five different schools. They got to see Career City. I tagged along with a gentleman named Doctor Handel Robinson, who is the head of vascular surgery for Holy Cross. He had intended to go for one session, and he was going to just have 20 students for 20 minutes, and he ended up staying for five sessions, canceled his medical appointments because he was so moved with the ability to stand there and talk to those kids at Dillard High School. I'm shocked that one elementary school and this is Ranger. Good work, Vicky Ranger. Angela Brown really led this effort, but they went out and recruited 103 organizations to come there for that morning and made a big deal. MR. Sullivan, can we just
062show a quick clip of the of the video for that? I hate to steal some of the superintendents. Thunder is something we normally see from him, but can we just play this posting real quick? It's one minute beacon. Yeah, you can be the greatest. You can be the best. You can be the King Kong bangin on your chest. You could beat the world. You could beat the war. You can talk to GOD. Go banging on his door. You can throw your hands up. You can beat the clock. You can move a mountain. You can break rocks. You could be a master. Don't wait for luck. Dedicate yourself and you can find yourself in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. And the world's gonna know your name. Yeah. Cause you Fam with the first frame. You. And
063the world's gonna know your name. And you'll be on the walls of fame. You can run the mile. You can walk straight through hell with a smile. You could be the hero. You get the gold. Breaking all the records they thought never could be broke. Do it for your people. Do it for your pride. You ever gonna know if you never even try. Do it for your country. Do it for your name. Cause there's gonna be a day when you're standing in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. And the world's gonna know your name. Fame. And the world's gonna know your name. Thank you to the beacon staff. That was awesome. This is something we don't talk about very much, but over 200 people, volunteers moving into a school because they care so much about public
064education, moving these kids forward, setting higher expectations, setting higher standards for them. Vicki Ranger, though, has been doing this at Dillard Elementary School since Angela Fulton was the was the principal there. So 12 years she's been doing this without much acclaim. And this year the superintendent was wise enough to stop and give her a community service award. So I also want to say thank you for the superintendent. There are thousands and thousands of volunteers that work every day in our schools and never get an award, but they sure appreciate our love and respect and admiration for what they do. So thank you, MR. Superintendent, giving her an award. And thank you to Vicki and Angela Brown and the 103 organizations for putting together a world class career. City day. Thank you. Anyone else, MR. Cervera?
065I want to shine a spotlight on some athletic excellence within district six. The Sun Sentinel released its Broward County seven a through five a athletes of the year in girls basketball. Jalen Horsey from Nova High School was named Girls Basketball Player of the year. Boys Soccer Player of the year Rodrigo Castillo from Cypress Bay High School. Girls soccer Player of the year. Mackenzie Richter, also from Cypress Bay High School. And our girls are female bowler of the year. Sophia Montefusco from South Plantation High School. So congratulations to all of the winners and a special shout out to those in district six who show our continued athletic dominance. Thanks to all. MISS Bulman. I mean, I think we could tone it down over there. District six. But we got some great athletes around the whole county.
066But congratulations. So I had a whole bunch of things happening at district one I forgot last week, so I apologize, but I wanted to recognize two schools in district one that were awarded Emerald awards at Water Matters Day that was put on by Broward County, that is Hallandale Magnet High School and Beachside Montessori Village, both for native landscaping and eco friendly ways of growing food and conserving water. So they have gardens and other things and they were both recognized, which was really cool. I'd like to give a shout out to Driftwood Middle School, who won the Miami Heat. How low can you go? Challenge for the most water reduction category. That's out of 65 schools that participated, and they reduced a total with all the schools participating, 43,579,000 gallons of water. So that's pretty awesome.
067And then I'd also like to give a shout out to McNicol Middle School and their d one Mighty Hawks, which is their drone team there. The they are making it to the National Championships, which is going to be held in Detroit on MAY 13th and 14th this year. So they look cool and they're doing great things. So thanks. Thank you. Anyone else. All right. The scheduled order of business for the special school board meeting of the school board of Broward County, Florida, has been completed. Seeing no objections, I will adjourn the special school board meeting. We will resume the workshop at 2:00. Thank you.