001[Music] Welcome to today's regular school board meeting. This regular meeting of the school board of Broward County, Florida, is now called to order. Our primary focus is to create a safe and productive environment for all participants. Please be reminded of the exit doors that are clearly marked for emergency exiting while in the boardroom. Refrain from obstructing the exit doors. All attendees must occupy a seat with the exception of media. Once the boardroom has reached its seating capacity, attendees will be directed to a designated overflow area. Upon activation of the fire alarm system, please exit from the room in an orderly fashion and continue to exit the building and remain outside until the authority that has jurisdiction has deemed the building safe to return. Thank you for your cooperation. Board member Alhadeff will now introduce her
002school to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of allegiance to the flag. MRS. Alhadeff. Yes. I'd like to introduce my school for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Please stand. Please stand. 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. You MAY be seated. Thank you. Hunt. Elementary school. Thank you. Board member Zieman has requested a moment of silence. DR. Zeman. Thank you. Chair. I talk about every once in a while about my dad's career in as a school psychologist in Broward. It had a big, big impact on me and a member of his community. A school psychologist has passed. So I'd like to speak in memory of Doctor Darien
003Valdez Mooney. She was a dedicated bilingual school psychologist here in Broward County schools since 2003. A month ago today, she passed after a two year battle with ovarian cancer. Throughout her career, Darien touched the lives of countless students, families, interns, and colleagues through her unwavering compassion, expertise, and commitment to serving others. She was a fierce advocate for students and families, particularly our English language learner population. Her passion for equity and access was reflected not only in her daily work, but also in the numerous trainings, initiatives, projects she led to improve outcomes and opportunities for multilingual learners. Darien earned her doctorate. Her dissertation was focused on English language learners, but she rarely referred to herself as Doctor Valdez Mooney, a testimony to her humility, intelligence, and dedication. All of these earned her sincere admiration and respect
004from everyone who had the privilege of working with her. Her legacy extends far beyond professional accomplishments. She'll be remembered for her kindness, strength, generosity, and the care she showed to everyone she encountered. She was a beloved daughter, a loving wife, a wonderful sister. And in the way that all of us can understand who have done this, she was a devoted mother, the center of her life. Esteban. The impact he made on our school, student, family and community will continue to be felt for years to come. Her dedication to helping others, her advocacy for underserved population, and her compassionate spirit mark her lasting legacy. Our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences are with her family, friends and colleagues, and all those whose lives were deeply touched by her presence. MAY her memory be a blessing and an
005inspiration to us all. Thank you chair. Thank you. 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 one, 20.525 Florida statutes, that good cause exists for such changes and accepts the revised agenda. MAY the chair have a motion and a second to close the agenda. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman. Second by MISS Hixon. All in favor of closing the agenda? Say aye. Those opposed say no, I. The agenda is now closed. MAY the chair have a motion and a second to approve the minutes for the following meetings. APRIL 7th, 2026 Special School Board Meeting APRIL 21st, 2026 Special School Board Meeting APRIL 28th, 2026 Special School Board Meeting MAY 5th, 2026 special School Board Meeting. So moved.
006Moved by DR. Zeman. Second by MISS Thompson. Is there any discussion? All in favor of approving the minutes as listed, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say nay. The minutes are approved. As we prepare to begin our regular school board meeting, we are reminded that our vision is 100% proficiency for all students. As an a rated school district, our vital task is to sustain this achievement. We will continue educating all students to reach their highest potential. Our theme this year is believe, empower, achieve one Broward. We will soon hear from our registered public speakers. We ask that decorum be maintained and civility and respect be shown during public comment. Our General Counsel will assist the chair in maintaining decorum during this period. We also want to remind our public speakers of the rules and expectations regarding
007the agenda. Public comments portion of the of the regular School Board meeting, as well as board policy attorney Dupree Bruno, please explain the rules of public comment. Thank you, MADAM Chair, and good morning. Public comment is governed by School Board Policy 1020 and is intended to provide input on the board's duties, decisions and the overall operation of the school district. The school board is viewpoint neutral during public comment per school board policy. 1020. The procedures are as follows. Speakers must state their name, city of residence and whether they are lobbyists. Before beginning their remarks, all remarks must be directed to the board as a whole. The board will not respond to or engage with speakers during public comment, and no action will be taken unless the item is on the agenda. During the am and
008pm general speaking time, public speakers will have up to three minutes to address non-agenda items for a maximum total time of 30 minutes allotted for public comment. A maximum of ten speakers during the. During the agenda speaking time, speakers will have up to three minutes per item and up to one minute on motions or amendments per meeting, with an additional one minute. If the motion is introduced, the chair MAY adjust the order of speakers. If necessary, a visible timer will be used and the microphone will be turned off when the time expires. Speakers must limit their comments to matters related to school board business, and for agenda items must remain relevant to the specific item. Comments MAY not address matters that are pending litigation. Quasi judicial proceedings, active investigations or administrative hearings, solicitation and lobbying
009activities must comply with applicable school board policies. Abusive language defined as profanity threatening or name calling is prohibited. In addition, clapping, hissing, booing, shouting, yelling or other disruption from the audience are not allowed. Speakers who fail to follow proper decorum in the chambers will be ruled out of order by the board chair. Failure to comply MAY result in the microphone being turned off or recess being called after a warning. The chair MAY also direct removal from the meeting by law enforcement or the sergeant at Arms, and MAY also direct removal of the building. MADAM Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Attorney Bruno, the board wants to hear from you, and we appreciate your cooperation in maintaining a respectful, orderly and productive meeting environment. We will now briefly recess the meeting to usher some special guests into
010the room. [Music] At this time, we will pause for a segment that will become a regular part of our meeting agendas, student recognitions, this time in the agenda, will be reserved for the board to reaffirm its commitment to our. Why our students. We will recognize our students for their amazing accomplishments that continue to make this district and our community proud. Whether it is academic performance in the classroom, participation on any of our sports teams, devoting time, and countless co-curricular and extracurricular clubs and activities, or through their selfless community service, our students continually demonstrate why families should choose the best. Choose bk. We all think the teachers, coaches, sponsors, school leaders, district support personnel and the family members for all they do to assist and support our students. I now turn it over to Doctor Hepburn
011and staff to introduce today's student recognition. Thank you, MADAM Chair. As Superintendent of Schools, it gives me great pleasure to feature our students and brag on their accomplishments. Just over a week ago, we hosted 44 graduation ceremonies, witnessed over 15,000 high school seniors, and over 1000 adult post-secondary program completers across the stage to receive their diplomas and certificates. Today, we are bringing student recognitions back to our meetings. The back to back district a rating with no d or f schools are the hallmarks of our students academic performance, but Broward County Public Schools has a rich tradition of state championships in several sports, co-curricular competitions and extracurricular clubs and activities. Today, we are featuring a few of our high schools for their dominance with their student athletes. While we're exceptionally proud of all of them, there
012are three that we will recognize today. We want to thank the Department of Athletics and Student Activities for all their work to to facilitate this for the district. With that, we will begin with DR. Holness and the Dillard High School Girls track team. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor Hepburn. Congratulations to Coach Davidson, Gil and Dillard High School six through 12 girls track and field team on capturing their third consecutive Floda High School Athletic Association Class three, a state championship. This is awesome. I feel like I don't want to stop clapping now. This incredible accomplishment is a testament to the dedication, discipline, and perseverance of our student athletes and coaching staff. Winning a state championship is an extraordinary achievement, but winning three consecutive class three a state titles is the mark of a truly elite program.
013Coach Gil's outstanding leadership and commitment to the excellence to excellence have helped establish a championship culture that continues to inspire our school and community. We are proud of the young woman who represented Dillard High School six through 12 with determination, sportsmanship and Panther pride throughout the season. Congratulations once again to Coach Gil and the Lady Panthers on this historic achievement. Your place among the very best in Florida. Track and field. Three consecutive class three a state championships. That's a legacy of excellence. Joining us today to represent the team and the school are several members of the state championship team, phenomenal coach Davidson Gil and members of his coaching staff. The dedicated athletic director Sheri Ramsey, representing MR. Brumfield is is the proud assistant principal Emira Pollard. Thank you DR. Holness. We will now briefly recess
014for a photo. In alphabetical. We're back. Okay. All right. Thank you, MADAM Chair. Next we will go to MISS Thompson for Flanagan High School. Thank you, superintendent. And with my Flanagan Green, it is with great pride that I present the Charles w Flanagan High School state championship boys track team. Yes. [Applause] They are the first boys team in the school's history to win a state championship. [Applause] Yeah, first state track for track. Sorry. Flanagan scored 77.5 points, winning by over 24 points at the 2026fhaa for a track and field competition, which featured 153 teams, which means we dominated. This team came in first place in the regional track meet this year. For two consecutive years. They came in first place at the district track meet for three consecutive years. They came in first place at
015the county track meet. Shout out athletes are Raymond Hawkins, the Sun Sentinel Track and Field Athlete of the year. [Applause] Jacob Thomas, the Miami Herald Track and Field Athlete of the year. [Applause] George Perez is the Bcaa South Division Athlete of the year. [Applause] And Malcolm Spence, the Bcaa track meet mvp. [Applause] Coaching honors were bestowed upon coach Jason Carter, the Sun Sentinel in Miami Herald track and field coach of the year. [Applause] And coach Marvin Tatham, the Bcaa South Division coach of the year. [Applause] Joining us today to represent the team in the school are several members of the state championship team. Phenomenal coaches Jake Carter and Marvin Tan. I'm sorry if I'm butchering your names. The dedicated athletic director Brian Cook, and representing MR. Fatu, the proud principal and assistant principal Lauren Jack.
016Thank you so much. We will now briefly recess for a quick photo. And now I'll turn it over to MISS Alhadeff to introduce Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Good morning. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School baseball is more than just a name. It is a family, a dynasty, and a brand recognized across the nation. The program has accomplished a feat unmatched anywhere in the country, capturing six consecutive fsaa7a state championships. During this historic run, the team compiled a remarkable 59 game winning streak and posted an outstanding 174 to 17 overall record while recording a 36 to 1 mark in state playoff competition over six years, outscoring opponents 265 to 78. Beyond the six straight state titles. The program also earned four national championships during that span under the leadership of Coach Fitzgerald, a five time coach
017of the year, the program has developed elite talent, producing five mlb draft selections and five All-Americans. This has truly been a decade of dominance throughout this remarkable stretch. Marjory Stoneman Douglas baseball has never finished lower than sixth nationally, cementing its place among the premier high school baseball programs in the nation. The legacy built through excellence, consistency and commitment, has established the program as one of the greatest dynasties in high school baseball history. Joining us here today to represent the team and the school are one of the phenomenal players. Todd starts back, head coach Todd Fitzgerald, assistant coach Vaughn Searchbox, athletic director Al Guzzo, and proud principal Michelle Kephart. Congratulations. All right. Thank you. We will recess for the last time to take a brief photo. [Music] What a way to start the day. Thank you
018again to all of our students. [Applause] Thank you to all of our students and all of the adults who pour into our students and make these opportunities and achievements possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you. All right. The board identified any agenda items they wish to address in advance of the meeting. The following consent items have been pulled for discussion. H1h2a1a9b2b3c1e1f3l1m3m4m5o2o3o5 and t one at this time. MAY the chair have a motion and a second to pass the consent items that have not been pulled for discussion. So moved. I need to read them into the record please. A two, a three, a four, a five, a six, a seven, a eight, a ten, a 11, f1f2g1m1m2m6m8 m10 m11 m12 m13 m14 m15 010406 and s1 moved by MISS Thompson, seconded by DR. Zeman. Are there
019any registered speakers on the items that have not been pulled for discussion? No speakers. All in favor of approving the consent agenda? Items that have not been pulled for discussion. Say aye. Those opposed say no. I item is passed unanimously, and I believe we have MRS. Alhadeff and MISS Rupert on the line. Yeah. Thank you. At this time, MAY the chair have a motion and a second to pass agenda item h one. So moved. Moved by MISS Thompson, moved by DR. Zeman, seconded by MISS Thompson. Is there a public comment on h one. MADAM Chair, there are five public speakers. First we have Delvin King followed by Doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh followed by Nicole. I'm sorry, Nicholas Morris, Delvin King, Doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh, Nicholas Morris. So if you heard your name, please approach the
020podium. I know we have some people in the overflow room, so we'll give them a minute. All right. Good morning. Good morning, Delvin King, Pompano Beach. I have a few things to say about these new appointments. And before I state this, I see now we added a nice little red covering here so we can't come any closer. I'll speak about this at public speaking, but I'm, I'm, I'm just tired of talking to y'all way back here on this side. So I see that you put a new principal at Blanche High School and didn't finish conducting business as usual. Now that the principal is gone, how are we going to hold him accountable? He's gone on a a leave or he he no, he resigned. And we still have a active investigation at Blanche High School.
021You're bringing a new principal in. You're bringing a new assistant principal in. And the investigation is still going on. But you know what you did do. You removed an ap at Blanche High School during this investigation. You brought them back. You didn't say anything. You didn't say anything to this community, that you were removing him. You didn't give us another assistant principal while he was gone. You just said, make it work. Make it do what it do. We need to make sure that we hold these principals accountable, the new principals that's getting ready to take their positions, we need to hold them accountable during that whole investigation, you should have removed every principal that had something to do, or their school was under investigation. And if you didn't want to remove them, you should have
022at least switched their schools. You should have moved one principal to another school, one principal to another school. It was so many schools being used and you telling me to this day. MR. Williams, the principal at Blanche High School, is gone to Texas and ain't have nothing to do with nothing. These illegal facility rentals. And you're just going to bring in a new one. Like, ain't nothing happened. And when we talk about resignations and all the other things, I'm going to address some data that I looked at on how we don't follow policies and procedures here in Broward schools, to the new principals. Congratulations. Job well done. Even though y'all just went and selected people and just put them in places, y'all didn't confer with this community on who we wanted at our schools, what
023skills we needed our school. That's why we got the problem that we got. Now, MR. Williams is somebody we did not want at Blanche Ely. He had no experience on the high school level, and this is the reason why our school is destroyed and we had illegal facility usage. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning doctor. Natalie Lynch, Walsh Plantation, Florida. There's a lot to object to in this item. And there are some things that were positive in this item. Like I saw somebody in the general counsel's office who is always pleasant when I call over there, finally got a raise. I didn't know she made so little, but congratulations there. And then there are these faux demotions. Mgt recommended consolidating positions because you have too many layers of management. So what does this
024district do? They get rid of directors and downgrade people to assistant directors, and now they're reporting to executive directors. That is not what they meant, because you have to have a hierarchy that makes sense. But I've said it before and and I read the mgt report, and a lot of what is happening in this item has to do with their recommendations. But like any other vendor, what makes one of the things, other things besides grand jury reports that makes Broward unique is it doesn't matter how clearly written a recommendation is, staff will find a way to turn it upside down, inside out, and do it all wrong. Like finding number two, where you have fragmented functions. So instead of you streamlining, you're actually fragmenting more. But I'll mention that in a little bit. So there
025are positions where people were forced into demotions. People do not follow policy around here. Can you direct appoint principals? Absolutely. When it's necessary, according to policy, in extraordinary circumstances, not just because you don't want public input. And for all the people in here yesterday, it sounds a lot like the board chair declared war on the public. As far as policy 1020 challenge accepted. Thank you. Next speaker. Good morning. My name is Nicholas Norris and. I am a resident of Lauderdale Lakes. I'm also proud to have served as a teacher at Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary School for the last two years. Today, I respectfully ask that the reported demotion of MRS. Michelle Ingram McKnight be reconsidered. Why results in achievements under MRS. McKnight's leadership. Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary School has risen from a c to an
026a. Today, our school is ranked ranked among the highest performing schools in Broward County, including being number three in mathematics and eight number eight in science. And data gains. Those accomplishments reflect the leader who I set high expectations, built strong systems, and never stopped believing in our students, our culture and community. The story of Lauderhill Paul Turner is bger than dat Mrsrs. Knightht h createdn environmt whwheretutudes s feel supported, tchchers feel valued and families feel welcomed. Her leadership and has fostered trust, teamwork and shared belief that excellence is possible for every student, staff, support and loyalty. The evidence of her impact extends beyond school grades I have here with me, and I've also emailed you all statements that are signed, petitions that are signed by 43 out of 60 faculty and staff members, which approximately
02772% of our staff who stands in solidarity, who stands united in support of MRS. McKnight? It is earned. Leadership like this is earned through service, stability and strong character. MRS. McKnight's leadership has personally changed my life because of her support. I'm now a certified Esq teacher. Also, I've entered Educational and Educational Leadership program where she has been mentoring me, and I've also earned a scholarship that has helped me prepare for my next stage in my career. Great leaders do more than manage schools. They mentor, motivate, and develop future leaders. MRS. McKnight has done exactly that. Some fair questions I want us to consider I and also full evaluation as we consider this decision. I believe it is important to look at the whole picture. That picture includes achievement, culture, staff support, student success, and lives
028transformed. We must. We must ask some questions. Have all factors been fully considered? What support and coaching were provided with opportunities for growth offered to her? Are any similar situations being evaluated consistently? My final appeal is that today the results of Lord Hill, Paul Turner are visible. Our students are succeeding, our staff is growing, our culture is thriving. Our community is benefiting. Thank you so much. To close us out, we have Melissa Banner followed by William Smith. Melissa Banner, Pompano Beach. Good morning, school student. I'm sorry. Good morning superintendent and members of the board. My name is Melissa Banner and I proudly serve as a Broward County Schools employee. I am part of the staff of the Foster Care and Prevention Services program. I am here today not only as an employee, but also as
029an advocate for the children and families who depend on our services. Every day I come before you because I believe this issue is about more than a personnel decision. It is about fairness, integrity and the values we demonstrate as an organization. In schools, we teach students that hard work matters. We tell them that dedication, leadership and service leads to success. We encourage them to earn opportunities through their efforts and their results. As as adults, we have a responsibility to uphold those same principles. Under the leadership of MR. Henry Smith, our foster care and prevention team has achieved extraordinary results for Broward County. For Broward County's most vulnerable, vulnerable students, our program was recognized as partner of the year by the Children's Services Council. This year. MR. Smith was nominated for citizen of the year from
030student from Children's Services Council. Our team conducted more than 4840 child abuse records review and provided direct support to over 900 foster care students throughout the district. We help foster and abuse youth transitioning to college by securing donations that provide them essential items for their dorm rooms, ensuring that they could begin the next chapter of their lives with dignity. Just last month, our department, our I'm Sorry, our program brought together more than 100 school social workers, mental health professionals and community partners to strengthen services for children who have experienced abuse, neglect and trauma. These accomplishments represent real children, real families, and real lives. That's why it was deeply concerning when the next day, after our the success of our symposium, MR. Smith was informed that he would be replaced not because of poor performance, not
031because of goals that were not met, and not because children were not being served in proven leadership and measurability. Success are set aside despite a record of excellence. It raises important questions about fairness and organizational integrity. The children we serve deserve, deserve stability. The families who rely on these services deserve consistency and employees. The employees who dedicate their lives to this work deserve to know that performance and results matter. Today, I respectfully ask the board to consider the impact of the decision to remove MR. Smith from his position. MR. Under his leadership, we have. We have to ensure that the values we teach our students fairness, accountability, integrity and excellence are reflected in our actions as well. Thank you for your time and your consideration. I'm a little short. Okay. Good morning, superintendent and esteemed
032members of the board. My name is Willette Smith from Miami Dade County, and I am here this morning addressing you with humility as an employee within the Foster Care and Prevention Services Program within the Student Services Department, under the leadership of MR. Henry Smith. No relation. My concern stems from the decision to release MR. Smith from his position. When MR. Smith joined the child abuse program, he brought with him over 14 years of welfare experience from Childnet and the Department of Children and Families, both agencies with. With whom Broward schools remain in direct contact. He was initially hired for his extensive knowledge and professionalism in child welfare. He now faces job loss, seemingly as a result of these very qualifications. I'm so sorry. Foster care and prevention services merged with child abuse and MR. Smith,
033because of his resume and references, was fairly integrated into the new position as supervisor for the newly formed foster care and prevention services, only to now be replaced. The Foster Care and Prevention Services program supports our most vulnerable students, specifically those involved in child abuse cases. With over 4800 received calls this school year, from the abuse hotline to the Department of Children and Families, and subsequently to our office and Foster Care, which oversees the student services. The Student Services movement in collaboration with Childnet, where he previously served as a supervisor. He remains vital, MR. Smith continued. His continues his role as a professional safeguard for Broward County schools is essential, given his dedicated career commitment to protecting the children in our district, thereby ensuring that no child in our district is ever at risk to
034have a significant incident. I employ at least one to take a real look before making final decisions that could impact, that could have a lasting impact on our most vulnerable population of students. Please give it a consideration. That concludes public speaking. Thank you. Board member comment, MISS Hixon. Thank you. First, I'd like to congratulate the 154 retirees that are on the list for this board meeting. Thank you so much for your time and dedication to the district and wish you much success. Rest and peace in your new journey. And the second thing is I have a question. So on pages, let's see. It starts. Where appointments, title changes and salary adjustments. That whole section that starts on page nine. There are a variety of places where it says pay protected, and we have received a
035number of emails. I think people have a different idea of what pay protected means. So, Doctor Hepburn, can you kind of explain. Yes, that. Thank you, MR. Singh. Excellent question for clarification for the board and for the public. Pay protected means in policy, when a employee is is transitioned from one job to the next, their pay is protected for six months. During that six month window, we will evaluate what the pay will reduce to by the end, by JANUARY, by the end of DECEMBER. Thank you. So just looking here, there was a lot of noise. In some places. There was a pay salary that stayed the same on both times. So it's not really consistent when this when moving forward, could you possibly please include even if the salary doesn't change so people know what
036it is. And then maybe in the pay protected put the salary and then an asterisk that says pay protected for six months or something. So it's just a little more transparent to the public. Yes, absolutely. Okay. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, MISS Rupert. Thank you, MADAM Chair and General Council. I wanted to recuse myself on the vote on page at least 96. If we could. I move that we set my daughter aside from the main item. And then. So I will be able to to vote for the other people on each one, and then I will abstain from the the second vote, which is just my daughter. Can you walk me through that? So, MADAM Chair, if the board. My recommendation is that we remove that particular individual and then
037do the regular vote on each one, and then we can come back and vote on that particular individual. Okay. So, MISS Rupert, do you want to make your motion? Yes. I would like to set aside the name of Brenda Rupert in order for me to recuse myself in the in a vote after the main item. Second motion made by MISS Rupert. Seconded by DR. Zeman. Public comment on the Motion Board member discussion. All in favor of the motion to separate MISS Rupert's daughter, say aye. Aye aye. All opposed? Say no. Motion passes unanimously. Any other comments, MISS Rupert? I think we have to vote now on the main item. Well, we. MISS Thompson has comments before we vote on the item. Okay. MISS Thompson. Thank you. Chair, I just wanted to say thank you to
038all the principals of the schools that were closed or consolidated this year for your patience and for your leadership with your staff really supporting everyone through this change in your community and for the the principles that are new or are currently going to be accepting new students. I look forward to partnering with those in district two to make sure all of our communities feel welcome in their new home. And I also wanted to say thank you to MR. Strauss for all your leadership in the South. And welcome to Doctor Fleming for coming to the South. I expect a lot from you, and I'm looking looking forward to our partnership. And that is it. Thank you. Thank you. DR. Holness. Thank you, MADAM Chair. So, Doctor Hepburn, I have a a few questions and I know
039that as board members, you know, we do visit a lot of schools, but we MAY not spend as much time as, say, those from the regional office and so on and so forth. But we do stop in for an hour or so at different schools. And so we MAY not be aware of everything that's taking place. That would be more of an operation issue. So just so we can get more clarification, Doctor Hepburn, describe the support and guidance that's given to leaders, principals and so on prior to any type of demotion. Yeah. Thank you for the thank you for the question. DR. Holness. There's a, a plethora of, of support specifically helping leaders build their capacity. It starts with their director, who's their direct supervisor, and majority of their role is actually to coach and
040support because they're readily available to principals and their leadership team. And then the district also has principal coaches that also provide a wraparound service to, to leaders who need additional support for various aspects of, of their responsibilities that that they MAY not be fulfilling. And so you and also the regional superintendent as well, an additional members of their team. So there's tons of support that we provide to, to school leaders and their leadership teams. Okay. So prior to, to demoting a leader, would you say that the district would have provided a fair level of support and it would be in the best interest of the district to demote such individuals, such as a principal or any other leader. Absolutely provide lots of support over over years. And if a leader is not responding to that
041coaching and support, we have to make tough decisions. And, you know, those are complex matters, but we have to make tough decisions. Okay. So when a leader does not respond in a manner that would be beneficial to staff and students as far as support, that's when the motion occurs. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. So do you believe that all of the demotions on here, that these individuals were given appropriate support and the response to those support were not substantive enough to continue in the current position? Correct. Okay. So do you just a couple more questions. DR. Holness. I believe Doctor Dr Fulton wanted to add something. Doctor. Doctor Dr Fulton. Good morning, Angela Dr Fulton, Deputy Superintendent the list of people that Doctor Hepburn mentioned is accurate. i also want to add, we do work
042depending on the bargaining unit. That employee belongs to principals and assistant principals. We also bring in our Principals and assistant Principals association, and they work with us to also provide coaching, mentoring and support as well too. So in addition to internal support, we reach external with their bargaining group to provide support as well and layers of mentoring, coaching support to be able to close whatever skill gaps, leadership gaps that are appearing with those school leaders. Okay, so Doctor Dr Fulton, so the principals who are being demoted, is it fair to say that bp a a. The that group was involved in, in, in monitoring and in assisting with support to develop that leader. What I would tell you, we we work closely with that bargaining group. When there are concerns, we work with them to
043share what the concerns are, what the expectations we are, what support that we're going to give. And there are sometimes a support that that person needs. It comes best from that organization. So we work in conjunction together to make sure all of our employees are supported. But when they get to a point where they don't respond to the support, then we have to make decisions to ensure that they're operating in the best efficiency from whatever position, where they'll be most effective. Okay, so that bargaining unit such as the bp, a, a, they are fully aware of the circumstances surrounding the demotion of a principal. Yes, sir. Okay. And were there any objections from the bargaining unit with any of the principal demotions that you have that's here today? You would have to ask them that
044question, but I will tell. You, are you aware of any objection? So no. Okay. All right. So I'd also like to ask another question and then I'll be finished. Doctor Hepburn. So when principals and other leaders are demoted it's not necessarily a punishment. It it it's because they're not exercising certain skill sets that's necessary to continue in that position. So when they're demoted, are there opportunities for them to develop those skill sets. And do you provide such opportunities that they can grow and, and, and resume the role if possible, to which they were demoted? Yes. I can tell you, everybody that's eligible and have the opportunity to learn, grow and continue to progress throughout their career. We we don't stifle. We actually provide support. So everybody has an opportunity to, to grow and get promoted
045through their career. Okay. Regardless if they hit a stumbling block, that's not the end of your career. Understand. And, and I believe Doctor Dr Fulton, if you wanted. Her to go ahead. So we have great examples of some people that were demoted as a principal and went to be assistant principal. I think the key is the the strategic placement that we put. So we try to place those individuals with a principal that can support them, to mentor them, to help them Grow in the areas where there was some skill. Skill gaps. And we have some examples where we have people that were recently previously demoted, but were able to respond to the support work on the areas of needs that that that we were speaking to them about, and they were able to show that
046they have been able to close those skill gaps and position themselves to be a principal again. We have several people that are serving as principals who were once a principal before were demoted, and now are principal now. We wanted to make sure with anybody that is demoted, that we place them with a leader that can support them, can mentor them and help them in those areas. And when they show that they're responding and position themselves to be looked at as a principal, again, we certainly look at them. They are not going into a position and that's where they're going to reside forever. But if they work with us, work on those skill gaps, they have every opportunity to be promoted again to whatever position that they deem appropriate for them. Okay. So, so doctor Dr
047Fulton. So so, doctor Dr Fulton. MISS Fusco, this is your first warning. Please, let's have decorum in the audience. This is my second warning. Okay. We will recess the meeting for five minutes. Great. All right, we are back. DR. Holness, you have the floor. Thank you, MADAM Chair. So just to summarize what I've heard regarding the demotion of leaders, principals and others, I'm hearing that adequate support is given throughout the process of any concern with a school leader or other leaders, if it's necessary. The motions occur to work on the skill set of those individuals. And normally for principals, specifically organizations and groups, bargaining groups such as bp, a, a are involved in the collaborative effort to develop that individual and upon demotion, should that occur, that those individuals are given adequate support to build
048those skill sets to resume their role? Would that be a fair summary, Doctor Hepburn? Yes. Okay. Thank you, MADAM Chair. Appreciate it. Thank you. Any other board discussion on each one? All right. So we'll vote on the item and then we'll vote on MISS Rupert's motion. So all in favor of h one with the separation say I I. I all opposed say no item with with the separation passes unanimously with MISS Rupert and MRS. Alhadeff on the phone. Now, could I get a. We'll take a vote on the separated name, MISS. MISS Rupert's daughter. So all in favor? Oh, sorry. Oh, sorry. Thank you for clarifying that with. No, she did not. She. Because that she didn't. Separated a name. She'll recuse herself from this one. All in favor of the. Sorry. MR. Bruno, do
049we need to move the name? You've already separated it with the last motion. And just for the record, to be clear, MISS Rupert is abstaining, not voting on this because of a conflict which she's previously identified. But I just want to make sure it's on the record and she will complete the appropriate forms. I believe the name is Brenda. Rupert. Correct. MISS. Rupert. Brenna. Brenna. Brenna. Rupert. All in favor of MISS Brenna? Rupert say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no. Motion passes with MISS Rupert recusing herself. Is MRS. Alhadeff on the line? Okay, so MRS. Alhadeff is not on the line. All right. Could I get a motion and a second on item h2? So moved. Oh, sorry. One second, a little bit off. Off my game today. The chair would like to take a
050moment to recognize new staff appointments. We would like to congratulate each of you for your career advancement with Broward County Public Schools. We value you and your families. If we could give the appointees a round of applause, who. Doctor Hepburn, can you please share a few remarks and introduce the new leaders? Yes, absolutely. First of all, I want to thank all of folks who are being promoted and taking on new roles. I'm looking forward to your to your leadership and supporting our district. But I do have eight new principals who are former assistant principals. And as I call your name, please come to the podium and you have about like 30s to I know they probably gave you a time. I'll give you 30s. First off, we have new Apollo middle principal Shadrack Henry. Yeah.
051Okay. So good morning. Members of the school board, superintendent, Doctor Hepburn, district leaders, families, friends, and fellow new principals. I am deeply honored and sincerely grateful for the opportunity to serve as the next principal of Apollo Middle School. I want to thank Doctor Hepburn and thank Deputy Superintendent Fulton for giving me this opportunity, for believing in me and for allowing me to serve in this capacity. I would like to thank my wife, Mahalia, and my two children, Jacob and Jordan, my mother, who's probably watching online crying right now, my family, my close friends. And I want to thank you for your love, your support, your encouragement, unwavering. And I wish to share this honor with you. To my Everglades family, thank you for more than two decades of memories, friendships, and opportunities. Everglades will always
052hold a special place in my heart to my tabernacle. Seventh day Adventist Church family. Thank you for your prayers and your encouragement. I also want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the many leaders, mentors, colleagues, and friends who have poured into me over the years, invested in my growth, encouraged me during my challenging times, and believed in me even when I doubted myself. Your wisdom, your support, and example have helped me shape into the leader that I am today. Above all, I want to thank GOD for his grace and his faithfulness. I'm almost done. I promise, I promise, I promise. I'm truly excited to join the Apollo Middle School community, and I look forward to working alongside the students, the staff, the families and the community to ensure that every single rocket has the opportunity
053to soar to new heights. Thank you and have a wonderful day. Thank you. Next new principal at Broadview Elementary, Suzanna Cruz. I'll be brief, I promise. Good morning, Doctor Hepburn and board members. I want to thank you all for the opportunity to serve as principal at Broadview. I have had the privilege of being the assistant principal there for the last year, and I have gotten to know the families and the community, and I love them all so dearly. I look forward to the great work that we will continue to do. My goal as principal is to make sure that all students feel safe, supported and successful. And lastly, a shout out to my family because they are always behind me. Thank you. Next. Charles Drew Elementary new principal Rashika role. Good morning to the school
054Board, superintendent, Deputy superintendent and members of the bcc community. It is truly an honor and privilege to stand before you today as the proud principal, not acting, but proud principal of Charles r Drew Elementary School in the city of Pompano. Since being appointed as the acting in OCTOBER, this journey has been one of growth, learning and tremendous support. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Regional Superintendent. I'm going to try not to cry. Doctor Fleming and my director, MR. Santana, for your guidance, encouragement, belief in me throughout this journey. Your support has made me has made a lasting impact. Shout out to the North and particularly my group, my cohort, MR. Santana's group. I think the data shows that we have most a's in all the regions. Yes, yes. I think that's
055why you guys are taking, you know, Doctor Plumber to the south, sir. Wow. Because we have the most a's. But, you know, I think, you know, MR. Strauss, you'll take us you'll take all the schools from, you know, higher. And to MR. Santana, I want to say that we landed the plane. Sir. I'm incredibly proud of the students and teachers and staff and families in our community partners. Together, we created a culture of excellence that has allowed Charles r drew to maintain our predicted a status two years in a row. This achievement is a testament to the dedication and commitment to everyone who pours into our students, all our lovely staff each day. I want to thank you for your unwavering support and believe in our mission, and I am honored to continue to serve
056this school community. And thank you. Thank you, MISS Rowe. I also looks like competition is on, I love it, I love it. New principal at Cypress Elementary, Claudine Dunbar Creary. Good morning, Doctor Hepburn, school board members and other distinguished district leaders. Thank you for the opportunity to return home. As Doctor Fulton said to Cypress Elementary, where my leadership journey began many years ago, to the home of the owls, Cypress has a very, very special place in my heart and I plan to continue building on the strong foundational excellence that we have built over the years. I'm looking forward to working with our amazing, dedicated staff, students, and families. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to two fabulous principals, MISS Vanessa Schnur and MISS Tara, who've mentored me along my leadership journey. I
057would also like to thank my amazing family. [Laughter] My loudest cheerleaders. Again, thank you for the opportunity and I cannot wait to serve as the principal of Cypress Elementary. Thank you. Next, new principal of Mirror Lake Elementary, Mimi Jensen. Good morning. I want to thank you for your trust, your confidence in appointing me as the official principal of Mirror Lake Elementary. I have been acting since OCTOBER and we have done amazing things. I am honored to serve the plantation students, the staff and their families, and I look forward to continuing our work together. I want to thank you again for this amazing opportunity and for your continued support. Thank you. Thank you. New principal, Park Ridge Elementary, Terry Glasford. Hey now. Good morning, Superintendent Hepburn, Broward Broward School board members and my colleagues. It is
058both an honor and a privilege to stand before you today as the new principal at Park Ridge Elementary School. First, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Assistant Superintendent Vernetta Hodge, as well as director doctor Bob Stewart, for entrusting in me an incredible opportunity to serve the students and staff and families at Park Ridge. I would also like to personally thank my mentor and dear friend, Rhonda Parris, for your encouragement and unwavering belief in me and Joe Boulton's. I am deeply grateful for your guidance and support throughout my leadership journey. As an instructional leader, I am committed to ensuring rigorous, engaging instruction in every classroom, doctor Dr Fulton and keeping student achievement at the center of all we do to our families and the Deerfield Beach community. I look forward to partnering with
059you as we continue to strengthen the connection between school and community. Thank you for your trust and support Broward County Schools. I'm excited about this journey, and thank you to my family and my husband, Jason, and my son Brennan. Thank you. [Applause] New principal Piper High School, Matthew Lewis. Good morning. First, I'd like to thank the members of the Broward County School Board, superintendent, Doctor Hepburn, Deputy superintendent, Doctor Dr Fulton for this opportunity and for the confidence you had in order to place me that you placed in me. In order for me to have this opportunity, I am honored and humbled to serve as principal of Piper High School. Piper is a school with a proud tradition, dedicated students, talented staff, and a supportive community, and I look forward to building upon the positive momentum
060already underway. Started by Marie Hartigan and working alongside with our students, staff, families and community partners to build Piper High School into the School of Excellence that the community we serve deserves. So thank you for your trust, your support, and the opportunity to serve, and I'm excited for what lies ahead. Thank you. Thank you sir. And with new principal Whispering Pines Center doctor Jeannie Thelwell. Good morning. I would like to begin by thanking the Broward School Board, superintendent, district leadership and this incredible community for your support, encouragement and belief in me throughout the last decade. Every opportunity, every challenge, and every lesson has helped shape the leader I am today. I am especially grateful to the mentors who poured into me, challenged me, and reminded me that growth happens when we step outside of our
061comfort zones. Your guidance has left has has left an indelible mark on my journey to my husband and daughter. Thank you for your love, patience, and unwavering support. You have sacrificed so much along the way, and thank you for sharing me with my other best friend, my laptop. Even after I spent a full day at work, I could not do this without you guys. As the daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, I grew up watching my parents work tirelessly to create opportunities for our family. My father, with only a fifth grade education, instilled in me humility, pride, and the value of hard work. My mother, a high school dropout who later became a successful business owner, taught me resilience, determination, and never to give up. I stand here today because of them. I stand
062on their shoulders as I reflect on my career. I can honestly say that every experience in this district has been different, but each one has been meaningful. Every role from Esq specialist, Elmo magnet coordinator and Latinos in Action teacher to assistant principal, and every school from Boyd Anderson High School to the College Academy at Broward College. And lastly, the historic Blanche Ely High School has prepared me for this opportunity, this very moment. Thank you for believing in me. I am honored, humbled, and excited for what lies ahead at the wonderful Whispering Pines Education Center. As the new principal, I promise to lead with integrity, serve with purpose, and make you all proud. I am so grateful. Thank you and congratulations again to everybody. MADAM Chair, that concludes the introduction of our new leaders. Thank you.
063At this time, we will now recess this regular school board meeting for a board photo with the new staff appointments. [Music] All right, we are back and we are at our time certain for item b three. So could I get a motion a second item b three. So second. Moved by DR. Zeman second by MISS Hixon. Public comment on b three. No speakers. Board member comment DR. Holness. All right. Okay, MADAM Chair, am I doing Doctor Cooper or Doctor Hodge? First up to you. Okay. Awesome. All right. Is. MR. Sullivan is Doctor Cooper here with us? Okay. Awesome. So we're going to do Doctor Cooper first. And I would like to. This is a proclamation given to Doctor Lucretia Cooper and her team. I have to tell you, Doctor Cooper was brought to my attention
064initially by Commissioner Pam Beasley of the city of Fort Lauderdale, because of the good work that she and her team has done, and the commissioner, MISS Pam Beasley, is a champion of the program that Doctor Cooper and her team is involved in. So I'd like to read this proclamation in recognition. And thank you, Commissioner Pam Beasley, for bringing this to my attention. If you're listening. Whereas Doctor Lucretia Cooper, supervisor of college career and life readiness within the school counseling department of Broward County Public Schools, alongside the dedicated college and career and life Readiness Team, has demonstrated exceptional leadership and a strong commitment to student success through strategic collaboration, purposeful partnership, and a shared vision for expanding college and career opportunities for all students. And Whereas, through the collective leadership, innovation, and dedication of Doctor Cooper
065and the College Career and Life Readiness Team, Broward County Public Schools has strengthened financial financial aid access for students and families by supporting Fafsa assistance efforts across schools, resulting in a current 45% completion rate, reflecting a 12% increase over the same time last year. Whereas, in JANUARY 2026, Doctor Cooper and the College Career and Life Readiness Team played a critical collaborative role in ensuring Broward County Public Schools student participation in the in the Community Health Strategies 2026 Infinite Scholars and ymca Scholarship Fair. By working closely with event organizers and partners to coordinate logistics, communication and access for students. And. Whereas, through this collaborative effort, led by Doctor Cooper and supported by district staff and community partners, more than 2100 students from 36 high schools, including 21 Broward County high schools, were transported to attend a
066three day event that provided broad access to post-secondary opportunities. Whereas Doctor Cooper and her team have further expanded student access by cultivating strong relationships with community partners, resulting in more than $290 million in reported post-secondary funding opportunities, including financial aid awards, bright futures and community partnerships scholarships, while providing consistent communication through various college and career resources. And now, therefore, be it proclaimed that I, district five school board member and Vice Chair Jeff Holness and co-sponsored by district one school board member Maura McArthur Bulman and district seven school board member Nora Rupert, hereby recognize and commend Doctor Cooper and the College Career and Life Readiness Team for their collaborative leadership, dedication to student opportunity, contributions to success of the 2026 Infinite Scholars and ymca Scholarship Fair, as well as for their continued efforts to strengthen college
067and career readiness for students across Broward County public schools. Let's give a round of applause. And I believe we're going to do both of them, MADAM Chair, and then we'll have photos after. At your pleasure. Okay, great. All right. And MAY I also mention that any board member who wishes to co-sponsor you can see MISS Jenny, see after the meeting, and we'll be glad to update the proclamation. MISS Hixon has. a question. Yes. So not to interrupt all of this, but the Chief of Staff did send us an email. I did respond to all of these, and I think other people might have as well, because the idea was to respond to the chief of staff. So you didn't have to reprint the proclamation. So I don't know what happened to the disconnect, but I
068just want you to know, I think a number of us responded to the chief of staff's request. Okay. So for those who responded, MISS Janice will make sure that all of the board members who responded are on the updated version. All right. Thank you so much. So we'll go to proclamation honoring Doctor Vedder. Hajj. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] [Laughter] Okay. We haven't even read it yet. Let me see if I know where to begin here. Doctor. Hajj. You know, I, I wanted to participaten the screaming as well, but I. Okay. All right. Whereas Doctor Vedder f Hajj brings strong visionary leadership shaped by more than 30 years of service to Broward County Public Schools beginning in 1990, including service as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, turnaround principal, director of accountability, director of strategic
069achievement, director of service quality, executive director for student services and assistant superintendent. And these experiences. These experience is reflected in her leadership of the School Transfer Transformation Office since its inception. And whereas, through her career, Doctor Vaida f Hajj has modeled a result focused and business minded approach to leadership, ensuring initiatives are executed with fidelity, progress is closely monitored and teams are supported and held accountable in service of student success. Whereas, under her leadership School Transformation Office schools demonstrated significant academic progress, including unprecedented gains within one year, with 55% earning an a or b rating, continued improvement from c to higher grades, and the recognition of two school transmission office principals as principal of the year recipients in 2025 and 2026. And whereas the effectiveness and impact of the School Transformation Office are driven by
070the dedicated efforts of its department staff, including directors, the Assistant director, instructional facilitators and clerical staff whose daily work provides critical academic and operational support to schools, strengthens instructional practices and ensures the consistent implementation of systems that promote sustained school improvement. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that I, district five school board member and Vice Chair Doctor Jeff Holness and co-sponsored by district one school board member Maura McCarthy, Bulman district four school board member Laurie Alhadeff and district seven school board member Nora Rupert hereby recognizes and honors Doctor Vernetta f Hajj for her visionary leadership, her results, focus, execution, and her steadfast commitment to fidelity and accountability as a leader of the School Transformation Office since its inception, and further recognizes the dedicated School Transformation Office staff whose collective efforts have strengthened schools, elevated leadership, and
071improved outcomes for students across Broward County public schools. And let's give Doctor Vernetta Hajj a round of applause. And, MADAM Chair, if you don't mind, for any board member, and I'm sure there might be more board members who who co-sponsored, we will make sure all the names are on here for the final proclamation that will be sent out. Thank you. We will now briefly recess the meeting for a photo. [Music] All right. And we are back with our last proclamation, the proclamation, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. And I just want to thank all of my colleagues who are who are cosponsoring this this is a once in a 250 year occasion. So I thought it was very exciting to reflect on the legacy and history of this beautiful
072country. So I'll go ahead and read the proclamation. Whereas on JULY 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed to the world that all people are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And whereas, for 250 years, the United States of America has stood as a beacon of freedom, democracy, opportunity, and hope, inspiring generations of Americans to strive toward a more perfect union. And whereas the freedoms we enjoy today were secured through the courage and sacrifice of the men and women who answered the call to serve our nation throughout its history. And if I could pause for a moment and ask the veterans in the room to please stand. Thank you for your service. Whereas, we recognize the service and sacrifice of the brave Americans who fought in
073World War One, defending freedom abroad and helping preserve democracy during one of the most consequential conflicts in modern history. And whereas we pay tribute to the Greatest Generation, whose courage during World War Two helped liberate nations from tyranny, defend democratic ideals and secure peace for future generations. And whereas throughout our nation's history, countless veterans, service members, first responders, educators, public servants, workers, and community leaders have strengthened the foundations of our democracy and contributed to the progress of this country. And whereas each generation of Americans has played a vital role in expanding opportunity, advancing justice, and ensuring that promises contained within the Constitution are extended to all people. And whereas Americans have worked to protect and strengthen the right to vote, ensuring that more voices are heard in our democracy and that government remains accountable to
074the people it serves. And whereas the generations of citizens who have championed civil rights, equal protection under the law, and the freedom for individuals to live authentically, including the right to love and marry whom they choose. And whereas the abolitionist movement carried forward by freedom fighters, formerly enslaved people and allies of conscience challenged the nation to live up to its founding ideals, culminating in the Emancipation Proclamation anthe ratification of the 13th amendment. And whereas, the women's suffrage movement from the Seneca, from the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, through the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920, expanded the promise of self-government by securing the right of women to vote and participate in American democracy. And Whereas, the sacrifices of civil rights leaders, marchers, and ordinary citizens who faced injustice with dignity and resolved resolve transformed
075American law and conscience, resulting in landmark legislation including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And whereas the story of America is one of continual progress, shaped by people from every background who have worked together to overcome challenges, expand freedoms, and create great greater opportunities for future generations. And whereas we commemorate the 250th anniversary of our nation, we reflect with gratitude on our history, celebrate our diversity, honor those who came before us, and renew our commitment to the ideals of liberty, equality, justice, and democracy Now! Therefore, be it proclaimed by the School Board of Broward County, Florida, that JULY 4th, 2026 as a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States of America and encourages all residents, students, families, and community members to reflect on the nation's history,
076honor those who have defended our freedoms, celebrate the progress achieved over the past 250 years, and recommit themselves to building a future worthy of the ideals upon which America was founded. Now, beacon, I understand we have a video. If we could roll the tape of all of the things we've been doing in honor of this incredible occasion. Across our district, students and teachers are bringing history to life through the Hero Grants America 250 project. As we prepare to commemorate the 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, these projects highlight creativity, civic engagement, historical inquiry, and student voice. We are proud to showcase just a few examples of the incredible work happening in our Broward County public schools. Oh, say, can you see by the light that we are so proud we have.
077[Music] At this quite like last? All right. Any thank you beacon. Thank you to all of our schools, our students, our educators who have honored this again, this really incredible occasion. Any other board member discussion before we vote? MISS Bulman. I'd just like to say that I think that proclamation was beautifully written. Thank you. Very, very beautiful. Thank you. There is a small misspelling at the top, so we will fix it both online and on the printed proclamation. DR. Holness MADAM Chair, are we voting on this proclamation or. Vote on item b three all together? Okay, so can I Make a final comment. And by the way, MADAM Chair, that was very beautiful. So thank you for bringing that forth. Just want to mention that, you know, I had received a couple of concerns, not
078very many regarding proclamations. And so I can clarify my position. As far as, you know, what I do, I know that I normally bring proclamations that have to honor individuals with, you know, who has displayed significant milestones or impact that are far reaching. You know, we're a large district. And so, you know, i don't necessarily bring every proclamation to the board for recognition because it would be very, very time consuming. For example, we have a lot of individuals who retire. They spent 30 years in the school district and so on and so forth, those kind of proclamations. I usually take those to say the retirement party, or if it's a funeral, I would be at the church and so on and so forth, because it would be very time consuming because there are a lot
079of individuals that can be recognized, but those that are those proclamations where the impact is very far reaching or district wide or even beyond the district. You know, as a public figure, I think it's important that the public, you know, witness and observe our recognition of such individuals. Like when I had recognized MR. Levi Henry, the founder of the Westside Gazette, or Barrington Irving, who is the first African American to fly solo around the world, and so on and so forth. So those are the kind of individuals that I usually bring forth, because I would love to bring everyone, but it would take a lot of time. And so and even the impact that Doctor Hutch has had on the Stowe office, you know, we had 70s and two f schools in Broward County. The
080Stowe office came about and we didn't have any deeds. And f schools. Partly part of that had to do with leadership. The other part of that had to do with the hard work and dedication of our teachers and staff, led by the Stowe office. In terms of the Stowe schools, we've seen significant improvement. So. So just wanted to clarify that, MADAM Chair, that the ones that I bring forward and I do recognize and I'm cognizant of time, but the proclamations I bring forth to the district are individuals that need to have a wide range of public recognition because of the significant impact they've had. I've had Doctor Stewart, MR. Dorsett, because of their effort with the hurricane relief effort with Barrington Irvin to get supplies over to families in Jamaica and so on and so
081forth. So, so just wanted to clarify, because it has been brought to my attention regarding proclamations by 1 or 2 individuals. And this is not a practice of bringing every proclamation, but those that have significant impact and far reaching that the public need to be aware of and observe. So thank you, MADAM Chair. Thank you. Any other board discussion on this item? All right. All in favor of item b three, say aye. All opposed? Say no. Item b3 passes unanimously with MISS Rupert on the phone. Now we have another time. Certain. Could I get a motion in a second for items hh1 through hh6. So move. Move move by DR. Zeman second by MISS Hixon public comment on hh1, two, three, four, five and six. Yes, MADAM Chair hh1 we have doctor Trudy Germanovich hh5.
082Dorothy Davis hh6 Doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh and Pete Tinjum. And I believe we are also inviting our labor union partners to the podium if they would like to provide some remarks. Welcome. My name is Doctor Trudy Germanovich. I just wanted to say that a lot of the things that were decided on the on the changes that are on for teachers in particular, really, I really struck a lot of bad cords out in, out in the teacher community. Unfortunately, you, you have looked at what you can do and I know you can't do much with the, the, what the state sends down to you. However, you have to learn to do better because these teachers. That's one of the reasons you had so many resignations, not just retirements, but resignations. So even though you had to
083increase their insurance, and I understand even my Medicare increased,hich I sort t amazg to mthat it's gonep as mucas it t ha a I k know all insurance has. But what you've done is you've taken away money from teachers by doing it. There's no other way to say it. So I, I wanted to really praise what was being done here. I like it when when you can come to consensus, but you didn't really come to consensus as sort of was imposed. So I really think this next school year, I hope that you will, as soon as you know what's in the measly budget you're going to get, I hope that you will start those negotiations in AUGUST and you will complete them before DECEMBER. That would be a milestone. Thank you. Good morning, board members,
084Superintendent Dorothy Davis, representing the Copa organization and confidential employees of the district. I had hoped to be thanking you this morning for salary increases for confidential employees this year, but unfortunately, we do realize that that's not possible for this year based upon what the district is going through with the budget. And we accept that for this year. Confidential employees will indeed weather just like the rest of the employees, not having increases for this year. But it is certainly our hope that the district is planning and starting to plan right now for increases for next year for all employees of the district. And I'm speaking particularly for the confidential employees. We we still have concerns about the rising costs of of just cost of living and having to weather this this next year without the rest
085of this year. And who knows when next year without pay increases. So it is our hope that you will start right away with that. We still have concerns about insurance and the fact for the first time, employees will have to contribute to the the premiums. And in most cases, some of them will have increased deductibles and co-payments, all in a time when there is no increase in their take home pay. But we feel confident that the district and the superintendent will work on getting raises to give confidential employees relief for the next school term. As always, the confidential employees will continue to serve the district with excellence. Thank you very much. Good morning again, Doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh. When I saw hh6I read and I think I just read it for a fourth time to
086make sure that the salary schedule you're approving is actually not going to give money to the people you didn't intend it to go to again, because mark my words, not that I think the referendum is going to pass, but this is going to be a sticking point again, and especially since you've been advised multiple times, both by Doctor Germanovich and myself, a salary cap, which is not happening. Understand that salary pay band d it's in the backup goes from 87,000 to 170,000. And in contrast, the confidential employees they don't make anywhere near that. So you are giving the referendum bonus to to people making up to 170 000, where if you capped it at 100,000, you would keep the public from coming for you. But nobody listened. That was an emotion. So here we are.
087You have an opportunity to do that. You can change the salary schedule. Are you? Doubtful. But I raise it so that when the referendum doesn't pass and it's because people don't want to give highly compensated employees a raise, a bonus. This will be one of the reasons. So you can choose to listen or you can choose not to listen. But I have a pretty good track record of being right. Thank you. Pete Plantation, representing Esq. We understand that district is in a financial crisis, and insurance has been a major part of that crisis growing for the past ten years. The proposal on the board right now with a sliding scale estimate, proposes a sliding scale because the dental vision, all the other things are done with a flat amount. The person doesn't buy a gallon
088of gas or have to submit their w-2 to buy car insurance, because it's different that way. We think that a standard scale would have been better, but that's a fait accompli, and I'm not going to belabor that point. Esq employees have had two raises in the last seven years 2019, 2023, and as often has been presented, they are not the they are some of the highest paid. But they are also some of the lowest paid supervisors. In many cases, people are supervising people who make more money than they do because of time and a half and extra periods and things of that nature. I also would like to say that you should base this sliding scale on actual pay w2 rather than base pay, and that would be fairer for everyone if they did it
089by the w2 or by base pay, and what it's content to be. I hope that insurance can be creatively looked at for solutions. It is still an unsustainable amount of money that you're spending every year in excess of $300 million. You also have many government entities surrounding you that secure insurance at a much, much lower rate. And they have different coverage, but the coverage is good for those municipalities and cities and school districts around us. At $1,700 a month per employee, that is a lot of money. If you do cut 1000 employees off the rolls this year, I believe that computes to about $17 million. But again, I would urge you to look at what you're doing, make sure that you are applying this equally to all employees, and I hope that you'll become a
090creative solution for insurance. Thank you. Anna Fusco, our teachers union PRESIDENT. I've always had a concern about the insurance. I, I don't believe insurance is the problem with the financial problem in Broward County public schools. You've got people that are working it that that's the problem. You've got excessive, excessive programs out there. And I'm not talking about the ones in schools that you're allowing to cut like band and art and physical education. You know, those programs that actually bring students into Broward County public schools that I told you on MAY 11th that you're not going to notice until next school year, when there's excessive class sizes because you've let hundreds and hundreds of educators go that you said you wouldn't touch schools, but yet you did. You did, you allowed it. And we got to
091keep hearing the whining and the crying that Broward County Public schools in a financial problem that the nine of you can't figure out. Well, ten of you. 11 we got a superintendent and a new general counsel, but you got a district like Collier County that figured it out, praising what they do to keep retention teachers, staff and students. And all we hear is that we're looking at these these pay scales, which I believe people should get paid what they're worth. I'm not going to sit here and knock anybody's pay scale. When you've got certain people that actually do their job and don't sleep on the job, deserve their pay, because they're taking care of business and they're working year round and they're at a deputy superintendents beck and call or at the superintendents beck and
092call. That's what you do for Broward County Public Schools, not sleeping on the job. But when referendum dollars do come, and I do believe we will win it because the community loves Broward County Public Schools and the educators that are taking care of their children because they saw what it was like when their kids had to stay home for over a year. What it really means to have an educator in the school taking care of their children. So we do believe that we're going to win it, that it will be handled correctly, because I'm never shutting up about a lot of things. So again, it would be nice to see the people that actually get paid hefty salaries that are held strongly accountable, not sleeping and taking care of their schools. Not one more school
093should close down next year, especially how it was taken care of. You didn't sell them off. You're just read the fine them literally. So I don't know how much money that literally saved, but I call bs that you put it on the backs of every employee to say that they have to pay into their insurance. There's a lot of things that I didn't agree with that I know needed to get done that you guys keep making excuses for, and actually showing the solution was going to make Broward schools thrive. Get your act together. Thank you. Any other public speakers? That concludes our public speaking. All right. On h1hh1. I have MR. Cervera. Thank you, chair, I want to thank the the speakers for coming in today and letting their voices be heard. I also want
094to take a moment to address our teachers and school based staff and employees that MAY be out there and listening for purposes of today as we vote on this agreement. I do want to apologize to our teachers and our school based staff that we are not in a position at this moment to provide the raises that our educators truly deserve. Let's call it what it is. The district has has failed on this. Our teachers are the backbones of our schools, and I know words alone are not enough on this issue. And while the current financial realities are certainly difficult that we face in this district, this board member remains fully committed to fighting hard for better pay, stronger support, and the respect that our teachers and school based staff have all earned moving forward. And
095as long as I'm up here, I'll continue pushing every possible avenue to secure meaningful raises for our dedicated professionals who serve our students every day. I do not want this to happen again. That being said, I want to address some specific comments, chair, if I MAY, that were made, MR. Superintendent, on hh6. There's a salary schedule, and I heard from a speaker that there are potentially employees who are earning up to and including $170,000, who MAY be entitled to referendum monies. I looked at the chart in preparation for this, and I'm looking at it again now. First and foremost, is there any validity to that statement? And if there is, can can someone explain to me who those individuals would be and why? When we have teachers making 50 and $60,000 a year trying to
096survive in this very expensive county, we're giving prospective referendum dollars to individuals who are making close to $200,000. Go ahead, MR. Sullivan. Sure. So the board, in the current referendum approved for, well, recently directors and below. So, yes, that statement is true. However, the superintendents recommendation that the board approved for the new referendum would exclude directors, which is d and above. So the Supes recommendation moving forward is to not include those individuals. Where's the pay band here? Correct. As approved by the board. Okay. So this is this would be pay band t correct. That would be in that. No you're referring to pay band d for the directors. No the the higher paid individual directors. Those are executive directors and they're not included nor the chiefs are included right now. There were excluded from the
097current referendum recently for the future referendum. The soup went further to restrict it pay band d and above, which the board also approved. If the referendum were to pass. And for the record, pay band d do any pay band d individuals make $170,000 a year? I don't believe that's the max. I think there'd be very few who actually make that okay. And who would qualify for such a salary. Directors. Any certified teachers. They could be they could have a director, could be a certified teacher. Okay. Is there any teachers who are physically placed in schools who would make that type of money? Repeat that. MR. If you could back up off the mic a bit. Sorry, I'm doing my lean, which I have to do with Sullivan more than I'd like to admit. Are there
098any teachers who are currently placed in any of our schools? No. That are making upwards of $170,000. We would have to provide a follow up. I don't believe that would be the the norm. There could be an exception. I would love to know the answer to that in a follow up. Sure. As well as any counselors, social workers, people who are actually in our schools teaching our kids, I want to know if they're making that type of money that would that would qualify for referendum dollars should that pass in the future. Also, I don't want to get too off topic, but I had this on my notes to discuss today. And it just so happens that one of our speakers brought it up. MR. Superintendent, how long ago was it that this board voted to
099close those six schools? That was in JANUARY of this year. And we are in JUNE, correct. Okay. What is going on with five of the six schools? Because the only school I ever seemed to hear about is Norfolk. We've heard some some proposals for that, but there are five other schools that I have no idea what the heck is going on. Are we selling them? Are we leasing them or are we repurposing them? Why has it taken this long to get to this point where people are starting to have to now scratch their heads? Yeah. So we've had we've had several workshops already. We have a workshop. Is that next week, doctor, doctor ones, we have a workshop next week for an additional update to let the board know the, for all of the schools,
100the purpose they're going to be used for, for relocation and also an update on the Norfolk situation. Update on the. Seagull Seagull situation as well, and an update on this particular building as well. Okay, for this workshop, here's what I would like. This is next week, sir. Correct. Okay. For these six buildings inclusive or I guess seven if we're counting the Casey Casey right building, I need to see some comps about what these up to date through the date of the meeting. I want to see some comps about what these properties are worth. I also want to see lease comps as well. In addition to sales comps, I feel like we've been dragging our feet on this. We promised these folks that if we made the difficult decision to close these schools, we would take
101some type of action to benefit the district. And as we come close to six months after the fact, the only one that I have really seen any kind of viable action is Norfolk. With the presentations that were made and the proposals that were submitted by Sistrunk and the j. A world folks. So we've got five other buildings that I want information on before that workshop takes place. Is that something you could provide for me? We answer those questions at the last workshop, sir. So we can actually just resend the deck just to make sure you have it. I want to resend it. I want to put on our website. I want a media blast done. I want the public to know what we are doing with these buildings. I don't want people coming into these
102meetings. I don't want people emailing well, I do want people coming into the meetings and I do welcome emails, but I receive a lot of emails, text messages, what's going on? We need to disseminate this information. Yeah. And so the information is already on the website. We'll send you the link. We can have the the comms team disseminate it out as well. But a lot of additional information for JUNE 16th. So it's been a robust communication and informative process since JANUARY. So we'll whatever you need, we'll make sure you get it to your constituents. But all that information is on the website. We need to be more robust. Like put it on the front page, put it on our social media, put it where people can find it. Yep. And people like me who aren't
103good with the internet, that's what we need. We'll print it out and put it in the paper too. Then we should do that. We should do that. Thank you. Chair. That's all from me. Thank you, MISS Hixon. Thank you. And I too want to thank everyone that's on that everyone in the district for all that you've done this school year. It is. I don't know if embarrassing is the right word, but it is hard for us, for me as a board member. But I'm going to guess all of us to not be able to provide pay raises to everyone. It's unfortunate that we find ourselves in the place that we're in, but I just want to remind everyone and our budget hearing will come up. We, as a board, directed the superintendent to start the
104salad, to start the budget next year with a 4% increase, at minimum for every employee in the district. So we appreciate the patients through this year because it's been difficult and we've had to make a lot of difficult decisions. But as one board member, I am committed. I have done that since I got here, and every year it somehow falls through occasionally, but committed to making sure that that is how our budget starts this year. 4% minimum increase for every employee in the district. So again, thank you for your patience. Thank you, MISS Thompson. Thank you. Chair, I think something needs to be addressed about redefining because it has been covered consistently. We have had multiple workshops. As the boardemberhat represesents t majority of e schoolol maybe wholenessss and are tie t that we're closed.
105I really appreciate the efforts our staff has put in to make sure that people know what is happening. As board members, we have probably spent 20 plus hours. If you prep for meetings, knowing what's going to happen to these buildings. We got a flow chart about which departments are going into each building, and that the purpose of that, which I think needs to be explained, is because we are trying to lease out this building or potentially sell it, depending on the superintendents recommendations, which are coming JUNE 16th, which we have known is coming on JUNE 16th for at least the last several months. So it is inaccurate to say that we are not communicating to the public. It is inaccurate to say that we are hiding what we're doing. I think we have had multiple
106media stations cover what's happening to these meetings. I have been reached out to by multiple media outlets to make sure they know what's happening to our schools. My only complaint, which I will cover in jj three, but my main complaint was that the principal placements lasted too long or took too long, and that is because the board delayed that process. So I just want to commend our staff. I wanted to correct the record that communication has been had about where there's going, and obviously things like finding out the pricing and comps take time, but it is coming and it has been coming. So I just thought it was very necessary to say that. Thank you. Anyone else, any other board discussion? MR. Cervera. MR. Superintendent, I took my some time here to look on the
107website, and I'm just wondering if you can direct me because I've clicked a couple links. Where can I find the comps about the values of these six buildings on the website? Go ahead. Wanza. Good morning. Valerie Wanza, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer So we do not have the actual comps for those six buildings. Don't have the comps on the website. Okay. MR. Cervera, please let staff finish their sentence. So what we did do at the MAY 12th school Board workshop, we and the presentation is online. We outlined what each one of those six buildings were going to be repurposed for. We talked about how Panther Run Elementary School is going to be used as an administrative site for staff that will be relocated from t s Esq we talked about how Palm Cove Elementary School
108will become a branch campus of Sheridan Technical College. We talked about how we obviously are. So the. The workshop. Next week we will have conversation around the proposals for the North Fork facility as well as conversation potentially with the Seagull facility. We talked about at that same workshop, how the Plantation Middle School facility will become now an administrative site for our safety and security operations, as well as it and our benefits department. We also there's one other school that's probably escaping me. Sunshine Elementary School is going to be the primary home for all of the operations that were relocated, or that have to relocate from the current Rock Island professional development complex. They're going to Sunshine Elementary School. We laid all of that out in the workshop on MAY 12th. We'll put a reminder in
109the workshop for next week and then in the workshop on JULY 21st. That is when, in a follow up, we explained to the board that we will lay out the entire plan or proposal as it relates to space in this building and where those departments will go. We also will put. We also already have it teed up the financial information for what. Leasing for each floor of this building looks like. The pricing, the comps. So we have all of that laid out and we. And we explained in a cadence on the MAY 12th workshop, we actually laid out in a slide the cadence that we were coming to the board to have these conversations. So that was laid out at the MAY 12th workshop. And we are prepared as a staff to work in the
110manner in which we laid out and receive feedback from the board at the MAY 12th School Board workshop. And I will say that on the district website, there's a link for redefining our schools, and it has every single workshop presentation there where we did a one pager that told the the public essentially what happened in that workshop. Those are there. So I certainly through the superintendent, I'm prepared to answer any other questions, but we have been very transparent in every workshop that we've had about the six campuses that are being repurposed and what they're intended use will be. Thank you for that, Doctor Wanza, and I appreciate the information. Here's what I don't like and here's why I'm not satisfied. So despite the fact that some of my colleagues MAY be happy what's on the
111website right now, I'm not I don't want to have to click 17 different things to find out information. I think at a very minimum, I would like to see the comps available on there for both sale and lease. From the last workshop that we had or whatever our most up to date numbers are. And I think when you go to the district's website and you get to the hyperlink about redefining schools and you click it, I would like to see the comps for both sale and lease there, because the way I look at this, you have to click on 17 different tabs before you get any information that MAY be good enough for some, but people who are impatient like me MAY not want to do that. Maybe some people are not as great as
112using the interface that we have on this website as others. But the reality is this is very important. What we did with these buildings, and at the very least, okay, when a lot of these people were under the impression that these buildings would be either sold or leased. So, you know, we can get some money to get out of this $100 million deficit that we're facing. I would like the public to have information regarding sale comps and sale leases on the front of the redefining page before next next week's workshop. And I'm very much looking forward to next week's workshop where we can discuss this further and continue to be transparent with the public about this very important decision that we've made collectively as a district. Thank you. MISS Bulman. Thank you, chair. Thanks, Doctor
113Wanza, for the explanation. I guess some clarification here. My understanding, and I think our staff has done an amazing job, quite frankly. And I think that we were more prepared than a lot of districts with the decline in public school enrollment to be on the ground, able to utilize our buildings, to put staff in there and to shift things around. So I, I think you guys have done a great job with that, and I really appreciate it. So the the question is, if we are fully occupying buildings that we had closed that were closing as schools. We don't necessarily have the intention of selling any of that. We are utilizing them right now for another purpose. My understanding is that we're looking at potentially or we're I mean, we're definitely moving forward with filling with
114renting out kcw. And that was our best option, right? For office space and things like that. So that's what, that's the direction we're taking. Right. So that's my recollection too, because I was going to ask if that's the will of the board of what Cervera is requesting, because throughout the this process of redefining for 2526, there was no discussion about sale and lease of those buildings. It was to the only two buildings or two former school buildings was possible sale or lease, but the board landed on leasing was Seagull and also the Norfolk facility. Our intentions, as we communicated to the board and there was consensus for that, was to placement of staff out of this building. We have to place staff from the two ts Esq buildings because we are surplus in those two
115buildings, so they have to have places to go which were occupying our space instead of going off and leasing external spaces so we can save money there. So we have two properties that will be sold in the two ts centers. We have two properties that will be Land Lease, Norfolk and Seagull, and reorganizing and placement of employees in this building to also occupy space at schools that we've closed. So we can actually lease out the floors in this building too. So that's what's been communicated to the board. That's what we've gotten direction to move forward on. So if there's any changes in that, and honestly, I don't know, I think the conversation is premature because we have a workshop next week to discuss all of this. If so, if there's additional directions or, or a
116change in direction, I would, you know, ask the board that we discuss that next week instead of this week. I don't agreed. I just I don't want the to be doing unnecessary work. If we have no intention of selling the properties, since we're using them for another purpose. We will gladly take feedback on any additional information that needs to be on the current website. But as far as the robust discussion as far as decision making for the board, I would say wait for next week when we actually have a whole workshop designated for these topics and we can get better feedback on how we move forward. Thank you, thank you. DR. Zeman. You know, today is not the not the it's not the good news part of budget stuff. This is where we look at
117people and say, we did our best to reduce costs. But the shock that we had to our revenue side, as MISS Johnson can tell you in great detail, if you'd like to sit down with her, is $225 million reduction over the last three years of enrollment declines? That is historic. You know, school districts are not built to absorb those kinds of changes. I think that there have been cost reductions. There have been position reductions, there have been travel freezes, hiring freezes, and buckle up, buttercup, because next year we got to find 80 million before we find the 60 million the MISS Hixon would like. And all of us, I think, would support identifying for pay raises because the state MISS Johnson, if I'm correct, is around 8000 fte reduction for next year as well. Yeah.
118So, you know, we're we're going through another round of cost reductions that we're going to have to do to do it. But you have to just think about how hard this is. We only have $2 billion of operating money. It sounds like a lot. But when you go down 10% in three years, while we were still giving raises those first two years, we are we are in a difficult, difficult situation. So I think we just have to kind of think about this in bigger numbers than just, you know, we can't give pay raises or couldn't give pay raises this year to our staff. But I am I am amazed at at how this district found 1000 positions outside of schools to reduce in one year and still keep operating and still keep answering all the
119regulatory compliance issues, finding the principals, doing all the work that is being done. So this this is not an easy thing to solve next year, you know, because I, I don't know anybody in this room that's got $80 million in their pocket that they'd like to donate every year to Broward County Public Schools. But that's what we'd have to find just to pay the fte reduction next year. And then if we want to do 4%, it's roughly $60 million on top of that. So $140 million in one year is a tall order. I hope we can do it. I think our people, you know, have to, you know, be paid in ways that allow them to appreciate what they do for the community. The good news is that in 2728, should the referendum pass in
120NOVEMBER, there's a significant amount of funds, just over $300 million. Is that correct, MISS Johnson? Is it 300 million? Roughly, we're going to get, per the referendum in 2728. That is correct. So so there's there's funds coming. We just have another, you know, bad year coming up. And and we have to work really hard. I commend MISS Hixon for continuing to drive us toward, you know, these pay raises. If we want to do that, we're going to have to do some big decision make up here about high school teaching load, about other benefits, about size of staff outside of schools, number of schools. There's going to be a whole bunch of other decisions that we have to make in order to find those funds. But it'll be exciting if we can do that. Remember, though,
121225 million over three years out of a $2 billion budget is just over 10%. And I think those kinds of changes make all of us scratch our heads and wonder, how the heck do we do it and keep operating as a district. We did it partially because by closing 6 to 8 schools, partly reducing what we can contribute in health care benefits, which is awful partly by pay freezes, which is also not the will of the board. We'd love to find a way to do that, but we have to figure out how to balance all of these things and still keep a school district running. And Doctor Hepburn, this has been a very, very challenging year. But to to have you respond to the board and go find those 1000 positions was, was a big
122deal, a big deal. And that's great. I do want to agree with something, though. I think that the speed with which we do, once we've decided to lease or sell property could be faster, I think that our employees are looking at that and saying, hey, why do we get no pay raises? And then we're sitting on properties. Ts Esq Chair do you know how much money we're going to generate with the sale of ts. Doctor Hepburn? I don't have the exact number unless you do. Doctor Wanza. Give me about three minutes. I'll get it. But yes, we'll get it for ts Esq as well as the annex. Sure. And and maybe to one of my colleagues. Point. It would be interesting if to MISS Bowman's earlier point, to know how much we're not paying in
123commercial space by using the space that we have in our schools. It would just be good to have a good estimate of. That number. And we can get that. Too, because in essence, that's a cost saving as well. We would have taken the staff out of out of this building, this headquarters building, and moved it forward. Last question I have. Well, we'll get to that when we get to f3. But, you know, all of these things took a lot of cooperation with our labor union groups, a lot of cooperation with the superintendent staff, and some, I think, good decision making by this board to get us down, you know, to $225 million. That's let's see what we can do next year, because to get to that 4%, MISS Hixon, we've got to start with a
124with a cost reduction of 140 million. And just as a reference point, those thousand positions saved us 60 million. Right. Or 56 million, Doctor Hepburn. Correct. So so a thousand position is 56 million. We've got to find three times that to pay the $80 million reduced revenue, plus the 60 million that we'd like to find for pay raises. So if we can strap in and find that, that would be great. But we've got one more year till we get to that referendum where we're going to we're going to have a significantly more revenue to make up for the loss of fte. Thanks, chair. Thank you. Any other board member discussion? All in favor of hh1, two, three, four, five and six say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no. Items passed unanimously with MISS Rupert on
125the line at this time. We will go to our. Public. The general public speakers for our morning session. Each registered speaker is reminded to present their agenda comments in accordance with policy 1020 and as a reminder, per our policy, we do not go back and forth with our speakers. For the list of speakers that I have for the morning are Natalie Lynch Walsh, Trudy Germanovich, Delvin King, Cynthia Dominique, and Lisa Reyes. So if you heard your name, please approach the podium. MR. Hill, did I MISS Anything? No. You got them all, MADAM Chair. Good. Almost still not. Morning, doctor. Natalie Lynch, Walsh plantation, Florida. There's a lot of irony going on here today, considering yesterday's meeting. So today I'm going to talk about public records. I heard you guys mentioned it after we left yesterday.
126So I sent Pat Gleason, who works for the attorney General's office, an email asking for mediation because I've been having trouble getting public records requests. There's myriad issues with public records, but they stem from three problems. I call them the rule of thirds. Lack of automation, lack of custodial response, and possibly more importantly, lack of competent management of the public records function. That leads to misunderstandings and wasting of time. Like you would not believe. If I were to make a recommendation, it would be to automate using next request or gov qa, change the management and hold the custodians responsible for responding and train them. So I have several examples of some of the issues where the problem is your custodians. I asked. One of the things I forwarded to Pat Gleason was a list, a
127request for a list of all open contracts. My expectation is to get the list of open contracts in the format that they maintain, the list of open contracts. That's not what I got. First, they send a pdf, which means they created a document. Then I get altered Excel documents, which means they altered the native format file that I'm looking for. I still don't have that one. And state law. Well, let me read the response. The custodian said it is not the school district's responsibility to provide data to them in a specific format. State law 119.01 an agency must provide a copy of the record in the medium requested. If the agency maintains the record in that medium. Okay, staff is wrong. Still don't have it. I asked for the bus inventory because I believe that
128came up at a meeting months ago. Did I get the bus inventory? No. Staff once again created a record telling me that they track it internally through a locally developed monitoring system. Okay, we'll provide that. We won't even talk about the fund balance and the superintendents follow up log. The issue there is your superintendent is out of compliance with your policy because they are logging your requests for each meeting, but they are not providing ongoing progress updates. Hence, it is not a follow up log. And I'll be doing another rule development workshop because yesterday was not that. Thank you. Next speaker. Judy Germanovich. My name is Doctor Trurudy rmrmanovh. I wantetoto tkk about the disastrous budget coming from the state, which appears to again increase the amount of vouchers to unacceptable private schools or unaccountable
129private schools, or I wanted to talk about the importance of passing our referendum. Unfortunately, I'm. Instead, I'm a strongly object to the way the meeting was held yesterday. It was legally noticed as a rural development workshop, but this was not made clear on the information provided by this district. Also, 32 policies were all included in one item, so a speaker had to pick one to discuss in our three minutes because otherwise you really can't discuss it. Rule making in our county has always been done carefully, and with each policy being given separately, what you decided with the policy for public speakers was to reduce the public's ability to have 12 minutes to speak on separate items, down to three. There is no way I can cover this whole the whole thing that we have in
130front of us today, in a three minute time, that's just ridiculous. You are. You are stifling us. It's because. And because a few of us come to speak, doesn't mean that we aren't influenced by thousands on social media, and we don't influence thousands on social media. So those of you who just seem to take it real lightly to give up the 12 minutes that we had as board members, Hixon and Cervera said the policy of public speakers should not be changed at this time. They were the only two of you that said that. Those of you who decided to change the way the public is allowed to speak without discussing this with any of your various committees and advisory groups, will need to answer to the voters on why you allowed this to occur. I
131urge you to revisit this discussion on not making changes at the end of this meeting, and re direct us to have another rule making specifically later, when everybody is back from vacation, because that's the other problem. You are sneaking these things in during the summer, and we have to vote on who will represent us in AUGUST. Think about that. Next speaker, Delvin King. Delvin King, Pompano Beach. So again, I'm here once again about the illegal facility usage across the county. So we're a little over a year in and this investigation is still going on. The board is still not able to discuss these items. And I have an issue with that. You can't discuss the items, but publicly on Facebook. Rachel Daly, which is the she works in the office of Real Estate and Facility
132Planning. She commented and said, why are they only focused on gyms? And from the looks of it, black coaches, baseball fields, tracks, auditoriums, etc. Have been overlooked purposefully. So it seems as if she has more information and we need to go back and speak with her to reinvestigate her. I want to read something from a report on MAY 19th. Coach McNabb received received a Zelle payment of 1350 from Mjm sports for the use of Blanche Ely High School basketball gym on MAY 17th and 18th. On JUNE 3rd, coach McNabb received a Zelle payment of $675 for the use of another basketball gym coach. McNabb received a Zelle payment of 670 $75. I need people to start checking their Zelle. Check your Zelle. You need to check your Zelle because people are getting Zelle payments. So
133I, I, I'm reminded of a song by Yung Miami, and if Yung Miami was here today, she would say, where all my scamming schoolboy employees at spending that money fast 20s, 50s, hundreds cash. Rachel Daly going at Goyard bag boosting employees. Where y'all at? Stuffing those facilities in y'all bags just to flip it and pop some tags. Rachel Daly go in that Goyard bag, spend that sh, spend that sh, spend that sh, spend that sh. Listen, we got to hold these people accountable. We got to hold them accountable. Thank you so much. Thank you, Lisa Reyes. Good morning. My name is Lisa Reese. I live in parkland, Florida, and I'm the mother of two children, one in elementary school and one entering middle school. I'm a former educator, and I also hold a master's degree
134in educational technology. I love technology, I absolutely believe it has a place in education, but I also believe our district is getting this wrong. In our district, technology is no longer being used as a tool to enhance learning. It is being used for the sake of using it. From what has been shared by the academics, the it and data teams, it feels as though we are racing to be recognized globally. To say that we are first to implement ai at scale. But recognition should never be the reason we adopt any tool, especially one as powerful and potentially dangerous as artificial intelligence. The aggressive push for more technology in the classroom, particularly in the elementary classroom level, is one of the main reasons I struggle whether to keep my children in public school. When I hear
135district leaders say, this is the world we live in, we have to embrace it, I cringe. Technology is not simply valuable because it exists. It is valuable only when it is the right tool, when it enhances learning in a way that could not be achieved otherwise. If it does not meet, not have meaningful improvement outcomes than it is not, then it does not need to replace what already works. For example, we have spent millions of dollars on programs like I-ready, yet a recent 15 year study showed that less than 1% increase in standardized test scores for students that used it over those that did not, less than 1%. That does not justify the amount of instructional time students now spend on screens, let alone the money we spend. At the recent ai symposium, we were
136told that students could use the district's large language model to brainstorm ideas, organize research papers, and receive feedback before turning in assignments. But those are not small tasks. Those are core components of the writing process. That is where the learning happens. That is where the teacher sees how a student thinks, where they struggle, where they grow. We keep hearing that ai will not replace teachers. Yet the examples provided show it is replacing the very moments that allow teachers to understand their students. It replaces the productive struggle. It removes rigor. It reduces the stamina required to think deeply and work through challenges. It was said that students will need will need to be strong writers in an ai world. But I would argue that that's not accurate. Students won't need to be strong writers. They will
137need to be strong, prompt writers. And that is not the same as Is learning to craft, organize and express original thought. What I am asking for is simple, safe, proven teaching methods. I am not afraid of technology. I am not confused. I am not uninformed. I understand the research and the data does not support the narrative that more edtech automatically better outcomes. Thank you. Thank you. And I'll just call Cynthia Dominique. But I know since she signed up. But I don't think she's here. All right, Doctor Hepburn, do we have your superintendent's report? Yes. Thank you, MADAM Chair. I would like to take a moment to thank the Broward Legislative delegation for their continued support of Broward County Public Schools and the students we serve. During the recent legislative and special sessions, the delegation of
138advocated for several measures that had a significant positive impact on our district. They supported the creation of the statewide Declining Enrollment Fund, resulting in more than $8 million for Broward County Public Schools. This fiscal year. Protected voter approved referendum dollars by supporting legislation that prevents tax collector commissions from being withheld from local school referendum revenues. It helped ensure school districts were excluded from the proposed property tax relief amendment, protecting public education funding and avoiding what could have been more than 800 million in annual revenue losses for bcc. Under full implementation, they continue to champion public education throughout the legislative process and remained accessible and responsive to the needs of Broward County students, families and also employees. These actions demonstrate a strong commitment to public education, and in nearly 200,000 students who attend Broward County Public
139Schools, on behalf of our school board employees, students, and families, thank you to the Broward Legislative Delegation for your partnership and continued support of public education. And now about graduation. It's been another busy but incredible month at bcc. Graduations were truly amazing. I got to shake the hands of thousands of students, and probably two of the largest that I went to in one day at Western High School and also Cypress Bay. Yes, my arm still hurts from that one. For us educators, this is always the highlight of our school year. Beacon at this time. If you can roll the tape. Pop it up, pop that tray with spirit of. Pump it up. Woo! Happy birthday. Tradewinds, we love you. We love our community. And guess what? Here's to another 30 more years. For your team.
140And Brian. Our quest request. We honor you. Oh, you need to have fun. Music is the language of the soul. So it's it's just good for everybody. It's therapy for everyone. It was an awesome year. I didn't get a chance to go to every graduation, but went to many. But probably the best graduation speech I heard was from MR. Sosa at Cypress Bay High School. Principal still has me charged up till this day listening to that speech, and probably the most decorative hat that I saw, I think, was also at Cypress Bay, a young lady with a space shuttle, the planet that was Western High School, space shuttle, the planet earth. Other planets and stars lit up on the hat. So thank you to our our staff for doing an amazing job this year and
141also our students. And hopefully you have an awesome summer. Thank you, MADAM Chair. That concludes my report. Thank you. Now we will have our presentations and reports from some of our organizations. Do we have something from b f? Good still. Morning. Good morning everybody. Just a couple things to share. We have our school supply drive coming up. It's JULY 1st through AUGUST 31st. This is a big deal for us to get supplies back into the hands of teachers. So we can start trying to cut down and eliminate as much as we can from teachers dipping into their own pockets for supplies that they might need to meet some of those needs in those classrooms. That's going to be JULY 1st through AUGUST 31st. And I wanted to make a quick mention of the need being
142so great up to this point right now, today, we have given out over $2.1 million worth of supplies to to teachers in this district. So that we understand how how important that initiative is. And for us, it's a really big deal. But with the supply drive, we give out boxes to companies, organizations, individuals in the community to fill with supplies to bring back so we can go ahead and get these supplies back into the hands of teachers. So far, we've gotten over 200 and about 250 boxes requested that are going to be going out this week and next week. So just wanted to say thank you to the team on that. And because we are doing a check presentation that is not here today, it will be tomorrow. At McPhatter, we received a $100,000 gift
143from Advanced Auto Parts to go to McPhatter to assist with with tools they're going to be receiving. They're going to be receiving cash towards certifications, tools and other items and some program support. So that check presentation will be tomorrow. But I wanted to make sure to mention it here today because there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes that continue to, to make the impact that that we all see every single day. So I just wanted to say thank you because I know a lot of you on on the dais and in this room continue to support that. So thank you guys so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. I know we received a written report, but is anyone from Broward County Council Pta's ptsa? All right. Employee union groups b to bpas and
144pba. So we have btu first on the list. For our teachers union. Anna Fusco, Broward Teachers Union PRESIDENT A couple of things. We're wrapping up the school year. The fiscal year is not done yet. You can still find money to give a raise. I know you guys. I don't know if you take is it like you're happy to talk about the failures or you think it makes it look? Look at us. We know. I'm not quite sure. It's quite disheartening that you are okay, that your schools are being stripped of actual programs in the schools. But the office of academics has grown. We just had a parent talk about the whole technology piece, that you're not actually letting teachers teach, but is it something like, let's bring in the technology and get rid of the
145person? Do you think that that's better? We're confused. You're 12,300 teachers are confused. Certainly your social workers. And that group is confused that you've upped it to take away their positions. So public needs to know that Broward County Public Schools has less mental health. People servicing the children. But you're okay with that because you allowed it to happen. No raise. Made sure that you've made excuses of why you have to charge every employee for their insurance. Keep talking about the low enrollment. We know Tallahassee is a big blame, but I can come up with a list and I will on JANUARY on JUNE 23rd, of all of the districts that are in the same boat of getting less money and still making it happen. But yet you guys keep making excuses until a legitimately showing
146a plan on how to show a success in Broward County public schools, and then you have the audacity that you're going to let certain people take the credit for the a rated other than the educators in the schools. The audacity. It's insulting. I'm going to say it again. You allow a top notch executive to sleep and then have people lose their jobs, not only a principal. And then you got a school board member that backed it, which I'm very unhappy with. That's a whole nother story. My position on that school board member will be coming out real soon, along with another one, because you two think it's funny that someone sleeps and then people get demoted. You think it's okay when people make fat salaries and aren't held accountable, but the rank and file that
147actually moves the student in a positive, ccccsfsful way and getss ts a rating,hehey're losing their jobs left and right. I've never had to work so hard to make sure with the six schools that got closed, that the people that didn't get time to pack their life up, that were dedicated in those schools, some of them decades, but you got people that sleep and didn't make sure that they were taken care of, that people that were in jobs in schools for decades, that they're just going to get placed anywhere. Lucky they have a job. When they were promised that they were going to be taken care of above anyone else. But then someone that sleeps gets to keep his job, and I'm never shutting up about it until you do something about it, because I have
148the videos on it, and yet I've seen people say, wake up sitting from up there to down here, but that's okay. But the people that have decades in schools that closed three in your district, school board member Thompson under the person that sleeps. But it's okay, right? Very disheartening when people that have worked decades that said, my students are moving to certain school and you promised them that they would help get them to those schools, and yet those teachers are not getting moved. Does the public know that? But you're okay with other things and you think that I'm just going to shut up? I'm just getting started. I'm not okay to sit here and watch wasteful spending. Which groups and groups of people are starting to rally together that are going to prove it, and
149we will win the referendum again. The community loves their educators, but they're not happy with is the top rank that continue to not be held accountable and make up bs. Excuses do better. It's not okay. No race for anybody in this county, not one group. And you call this a success. You should be ashamed. You should be looking at what to do better instead of making excuses. Thank you bp. Esmap fop Copa pba. All right. We will go on to our next item. Could I get a motion and a second on item h2? So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman. Could I. Get a second? Second by MISS Rupert? Thank you. Public comment on h2. One Register Speaker Delvin King. No, I registered h. Two public comment on h2I. Only show Delvin King as a registered
150speaker. We. Is MR. King in the room? Any other public speakers? Anna Fusco Broward teachers union. So I noticed on h two that there is a school board employee that probably makes 15 bucks an hour who's being terminated for sleeping on the job. Can you explain that to me? When I've given you somebody who's very high up, that's sitting in this room that has slept on the job multiple times and in very important meetings? As a matter of fact, the school closure meeting. But yet we're going to fire somebody that makes $15 an hour. I mean, I've got 2.5 minutes. I'm not going to say the person's name out loud, but it's on there. You can look through your little file there. So what's good for one is not good for all. Or is it
151matter who is that? We're closest to certain people in the district, and we circle the wagon and pad up each other. I'm not letting it go. You said you set a standard on discipline on all employees. But I looked in this discipline and saw an employee that gave the description sleeping. I didn't create that. But I am taking an opportunity as a speaker on this item. And if anybody up there can ask, why does one get fired terminated? But then when another one that is mentioned is it's it's funny. I don't think it's funny. So please, anybody help me out here? I know there's other people on this discipline that are up for certain disciplines, and we're going to take the proper routes to take care of it. But when I was looking through it
152and I noticed that and I didn't get a chance to speak in public speakers on the reappointments because I missed the window, unfortunately, traffic is still real even though school is out. I thought that I will take an opportunity and sign up for h two. Maybe if I talk softer and lighter, you'll hear my message. Apparently if I say it loud, it's an excuse to ignore the message, which I think is bs. I don't think a message should be ignored. You can't run from it. I'm not accepting laughing about it anymore and I'm not accepting ignoring it. So if one person that sitting in the room gets to sleep in front of you guys, by the way. But somebody that makes $15 an hour is going to get terminated over it, please explain it. Thank
153you. Any other public speakers? That concludes our public speaking. Thank you. Board member comment, MR. Cervera. Thank you. Chair. Excuse me. I would like some follow up on this issue. The speaker didn't name the individual who apparently is being terminated for sleeping while on duty. Where is Azzarito? Is this Travis Robinson? Heather Parente Director of professional Practices. Yes, sir. Okay. Can you explain the circumstances of that? I mean, yes, obviously, we don't want people sleeping in the classroom, but a termination for a one time offense, unless it's as routine of him taking naps during the course of the day, which I hope not. A termination doesn't seem justified. Can you expand, please? Yes, sir. This employees job is of a campus monitor. So he was before you prior with a five day suspension for sleeping
154while on duty, in charge of keeping a campus safe. So during the first discipline that came before you, observed by parents, visitors and staff members sleeping on the post at the main entry gate, instead of actively monitoring that entry gate for the parking lot as campus. As folks were arriving on the campus during the scheduled work time between 815 and 415, there was video footage that showed that he was asleep from approximately 1010 to 1029 as students, parent visitors, family member, I'm sorry, and other individuals passed through the gate that he was responsible to be supervising. So that was the first incident. That was before you for a five day suspension. Then we're back before you again with this situation where again, there was an issue with him sleeping in a parked vehicle. He allowed
155traffic to go back and through, back and forth through the gate to enter and exit the campus. Was observed sleeping. Allowing multiple vehicles to enter an exit. I'm looking for a time frame for you. He remained inside his parked vehicle for one hour and 25 minutes. During that time, rather than actively monitoring the entry gate and parking areas. So that is the reason to be when they are. This employee is here before you for the second time. The first was a five day. This is termination for failing to perform that job and keep the campus safe. And is this in. So just just so we're clear, this is the second, I guess for a lack of better terms, the second napping incident with the same employee. Yes, sir. And he's a security monitor. And he
156was previously disciplined. A I think you said suspension. Yes, sir. Five day suspension. Okay. And pursuant to the disciplinary chart is the next form of discipline termination. Yes, sir. Especially serving in the role of a campus security monitor where he's responsible for the safety of the campus and to monitor. Yes, sir. Thank you for that explanation. I want to switch gears, and I'm doing it because it was brought up by the speaker. And I do want some direction. And, MR. Superintendent, I'm going to direct this to you. If you want to pass the buck off on to general counsel for her advice, I'd like to know the answer. I don't want to revisit the whole org chart thing. I think everyone who's been paying attention knows my position on the org chart and how respectfully
157I think we got that wrong. I do have a general question, though, because I don't want to fall into this trap of what's operations and what's not. But if any of us, as the board member sitting in this dais, have an issue with any member of your cabinet or any member of your staff at bcc, okay, outside the org chart, period. It's no secret that I called for certain changes to be made on the org chart that I thought were appropriate, and I thought, respectfully, were going to save this district a ton of money that could have been reinvested in our teachers and school based staff. But my colleagues didn't agree with me. So it is what it is. But my question is, now that we're past that debacle, if any of us have an
158issue with any any member of the cabinet, any member of, of, of district staff within this, this building, what is the proper course of action to bring that to your attention, if appropriate? Or maybe it's I just make a motion to terminate such and such person for whatever reason that I think is appropriate. Number one is that proper. And if it's not, I want to know what the recourse is. If any of us up here have a specific issue with any member of your cabinet or staff. Thank you for the question. MR. Cervera in gc, correct me if I'm wrong, there's only three people that work for the board. That's myself as superintendent, the chief auditor and also the general counsel. If you have any issues with any of our staff members, as all the
159other board members always do, to pick up the phone and call me, let me know what the issue is. If there's a lane of evidence that I can review to see if there's some, if any, of those concerns are actually real and substantial and substantive, we'll do our research and they'll go through the process just like any other employee for discipline. So in essence, MR. Superintendent, the only power I have as a district six board member, if I had an issue with any of your staff or cabinet members, would essentially be to talk to you. Correct? Tell you what my concerns are and keep my fingers crossed that you'll do the right thing. Correct. I don't have the ability, as a board member to bring a motion or bring to the floor potential termination for
160any member of your cabinet or any district staff. That's correct. MADAM General Counsel, do you agree with the superintendent's position on this? Yes, I do, okay. And these conversations, doctor superintendent, should they be had in a public setting, or is this something that throughout the course of the week, if we have an issue, we have to reach out to either you or general counsel. I would suggest we do that during the week, during the phone call or or a in person closed door session. Because if there's misinformation or baseless allegation thrown out in public, that puts the district in liability. Understood. Do I have the ability, as a representative from district six to voice my concern about a specific employee, in my personal opinion, because I know we went through that yesterday, in my personal
161opinion, and let's say put that in an op ed or put that on social media or put that on Substack. Am I able to do that, MR. Superintendent? I'll defer to the gc as far as personal capacity versus capacity as a board member representing the district. So you have to be extremely careful because there are rules with regards to slander, defamation, etc. That will be something that could come up if you make allegations against somebody. And then the second thing is it's very not advisable to ever put any type of allegation out there in the public prior to due process being rendered in a proper investigation being concluded. But, MR. Bruno, truth is always the ultimate defense to defamation, isn't it? It is. But you do have to be careful because not only are exposing
162yourself, but you're also exposing the district. So we just need to go through the proper steps. Understood. And I and I appreciate your counsel on this, and I just want to I just want to make sure that we're 100% clear. MR. Superintendent, I do not have the ability to say, MR. Superintendent, I'm making a motion to terminate the employment of such and such person on your cabinet. That's correct. Thank you both for the explanation. Thank you. Any other board member? Oh, well, I actually need to make a motion, so I'll make a motion to remove the name Basil Billings, teacher from Dillard six through 12 from the item h two. MR. Billings has submitted his paperwork to retire from the district in lieu of termination. Second motion made by me, seconded by DR. Zeman. Public
163comment on the motion. Is that the second motion on the floor, though wasn't there a motion before? It's one. There is no motion. Anyway, I appreciate you acknowledging that a employee had the opportunity to retire when, by the way. On this particular employee, public persecution happens before due process and was going to be up for termination. So as to go on your comments. MR. Cervera, I see it's only good in behalf of upper upper upper management. And when anybody's Rankin file, they just nail them. So. Gci find it interesting that you make that strong comment, but only when it's on upper upper management. But it's never for rank and file. I find it interesting. Any other public comment on the motion or member discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion say aye.
164Aye. All opposed? Say no. Motion passes unanimously with MISS Rupert on the line. Back to the item. Any other comments on h two as amended. All in favor of h two as amended. Say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no. Item passes unanimously as amended. Could I get a motion? A second on a one. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman, second by MISS Hixon public comment on a. One no comment. Board member. Discussion, MADAM Chair. Yes, MISS Rupert. Could we call. a one and a nine together? Okay. Could I get a motion in a second to bring a one and a nine to the floor? So moved. Second DR. Zeman seconded by MISS Hixon public comment on a one or a nine. No comment. Board member discussion. MISS Rupert. Thank you. I wanted to make it
165quick for everybody. I'm in tremendous support for these two items. I've been advocating for this for a while. I'm so excited about all areas of the district going to have the opportunity to expand aeronautical and science and space with, with these burgeoning career opportunities that they're going to have. So I'm very happy for that and cannot wait, because what better time than right now than to be pursuing the career in space and opportunities, because we've got Artemis three coming up in about a year. So let's really make sure that we help our students have that excitement moving forward. And I thank I thank you so much for the opportunity. And thank you, Doctor Hepburn, for speaking to staff and you guys working so diligently to get this happen. So I appreciate it very much. Thank
166you so much. Thank you, MISS Thompson. Thank you chair. I pulled the space Florida because I'm also very excited for it to be coming to two district two schools, Flanagan and Miramar. And I just wanted to know our communications plan to make sure that the district and our school communities know about this exciting opportunity. Yes, absolutely. We're waiting for this approval so we can start initiating that that communications plan. I see MISS Formosa back there. If she wants to go over some of the logistics. Hi, everyone. Lolly from also career technical adult and community education director. So we have already met with Farrah Wilson and Kayla Concepcion from both marketing and mass media. So we will have a press release ready to go. We have already started on all of our marketing materials slogans. We
167will have a banner on all of our fences for the start of the new school year. We have met with all of our principals already so that we could give them the go ahead once it was board approved. All right. Thank you. Any other board member discussion? I have a question. MISS Rupert, could we give MISS Hicks an opportunity to speak? I'm so sorry, Debbie. Sorry. Oh. No worries. I just wanted to say thank you to Director Formosa and your staff. I know that there's been a number of schools really interested in that. Really great to see that it's moved across the district. Apparently it's still missing in in a few districts. So if we could continue to to grow on that. But I know this is a lot of work. So I just want
168to say thank you so much for all the work, time and energy that you've put in to getting these partnerships for our students. Thank you. Thank you, MISS Rupert. Thank you. And as to the expansion, I would love very much to have a yet another one in district seven after we, you know, put into more areas, but especially in the Deerfield Beach zone if possible. So there we go. I'm very excited. Can't wait to hear all about it. And really, it's, it's going to make such a big difference for our school. So thank you. Thank you. Thank y y. Any othth board member discussion? All in favavor of items a1 an a9 say a aye. A all opposed. Say no items passed unanimously. Could I get a motion and a second on item b two.
169So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman. Second by MISS Bulman public comment on b2. MADAM Chair, there are four public speakers Jackie Luscomb, doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh, doctor. Trudy Germanovich, PRESIDENT. Anna Fusco. Thank you. Good morning everyone. Jackie Luskin, I'm in favor of half of this motion because yes we can and must improve customer service, but we do not need to trawl other districts around the country to learn how to do it. The people who can tell you are right here in Broward. Your customers who interact with this district every day, they can tell you where this district succeeds, fall short, and how you fix it. One of the rules of customer service needs to be to hold accountable those failing customer service, and to work with those who pursue and demonstrate excellence to infuse their
170best practices across others. DR. Holness suggests modeling Broward on other districts, I suggest, be the model for other districts. On NOVEMBER the 19th. Last year, Esq Advisory agreed a lengthy recommendation to you relating to the improvement of customer service. It comprised multiple elements, identifying weaknesses and suggesting how to turn them into strengths. And it was pitched with constructive spirit, knowing that we can either stand still and keep complaining, or we can make suggestions and work with you for progress. Suggestions included a whole item itemized list that address specific shortfalls. And then, in the months since, I urged for anybody to take an interest in this. In JANUARY. Returned to the subject at our monthly advisory meeting to broaden out our suggestions beyond solely Esq, and we added an important analysis of the existing customer service
171initiatives that you have, the people who can help lead the enactment of customer service improvements are also in Broward. You're sitting right there. It starts with you. It begins with listening. It means not leaving the room. When folks are speaking to you, it means answering emails, returning phone calls, responding respectfully to concern, providing clear information, and ensuring people feel heard and valued. It means sharing also that this isn't just your boardroom, but it's your customers boardroom, disrespecting people who give their time to speak here not for themselves, but to represent for the needs of others, is not where good customer service starts. I want to draw attention as well to the executive summary for this agenda item, which I think summarizes where we're at. If you look at the final page, it summarizes school impact,
172stakeholder engagement and implementation considerations. It states community stakeholder engagement colon not applicable, end user input colon not applicable. No body with that mindset should be in charge of or involved with drawing up a customer service action plan. This document betrays the very root of the problem. Good customer service is not a mystery. We need to take to other districts to ask how to do. Please build solutions and systems with those of us out here inviting your collaboration. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh Plantation, Florida. I do not support this item. I agree with Jackie and all of her points. Once upon a long time ago, I worked in a company where the PRESIDENT Started a customer service improvement initiative, wanting to know why morale was so low. The 27 year old
173version of me, I guess this was now 30 years ago, was like, she should just get a mirror because she makes the place miserable. How do you have this item today? You guys are desperate to pass a referendum, and yesterday, after having this faux rural development workshop where you don't need to be there, that was not a rural development workshop. That was a board workshop where you ran through a bunch of items and you decided to cut out the public that you serve, who support. You need to pass the referendum until you change how you see the people you serve. This is will be a waste of taxpayer dollars because you're going about it with the wrong intentions. Your hearts are not in it, your minds even less. You're not getting it. The beginning of
174this meeting, I thought I was going to get thrown out for giggling because you're complaining about public comment, lengthening the meetings, and it was nothing but pomp and circumstance for the first two hours. You guys need to have some serious come to Jesus moments with yourselves or this will fail. There is no point. It's not the first time it's been done. You have to treat parents as though they are your customers and who now more than ever, can pick up their children and go elsewhere. They can. And yesterday, just to prove how bad yesterday's treatment was, it cemented in my mind that I will not be voting for the referendum. I was undecided until yesterday's nonsense. Thank you. Next speaker. My name is Doctor Trudy Germanovich. Customer service is not just being pleasant this year.
175We've had an incredibly stressful year end of year for many employees. I know of one school, one which had the opportunity to have a sitting with the principal candidates before they were direct appointed. Many years ago, I was on a sack committee and we actually were allowed to give real input on who we felt was the best fit for Sunrise Middle School, the top down decision making is not fair to the school. What happened when we did it, when customer service was really asking the customers what they wanted, was that the teachers and the parents and the community members sat in on the interview process. That is the way you hire someone. I was actually hired when I taught in California by the superintendent of schools. I was interviewed. Did that make me feel good?
176Yes it did. He asked me a tough question. How would you teach density? Good thing I knew how to do it anyway. These kinds of things are what makes the people look at you and say, you're listening. You're listening. When you do direct appointments without any communication with the school community. For principals and a ps that is very, very damaging to the school because you aren't bringing them along in the process. And that's what customer service is. It's thinking, thinking before you do and not just pushing things through. And that's how we feel with what happened yesterday. I'm sorry we keep bringing it up, but it is it will be a big deal because it is a big deal. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Yeah. Anna Fusco, Broward Teachers union PRESIDENT. So, no, I
177don't agree with this. I think the only one sitting on the board, last of the Mohicans is Nora Rupert, who sat with Robert Runcie when he brought in Disney. Disney. [Laughter] And they pushed back and said, can't help out. It starts with you guys, first of all. And I wasn't in the audience yesterday, but I watched the workshop. You can't sit here and say you care about customer service. When you just sat here yesterday. You don't care about your customers. I MAY be a union PRESIDENT, but I'm also an educator, and I'm also a member of Broward County, so I am a customer. My son graduated from Broward County Public Schools. It takes more of customer service and a fake smile and talking sweet and nice to pretend like you care. I might have more
178loud, more aggression, more assertiveness, but everybody well knows I care. That is what customer service is. When you care, you go out of your way to make something happen. You go out of your way to get it done. What have you done to go out of your way to show the customers of Broward County that you care by stifling people that come into this room, you MAY not like 5 or 6 of us, that we might get aggressive or assertive or loud, but the community loves us. Hell, when I walked out of this room after I did my little show, because I'm bothered that somebody that's high up in the in the management gets away with sleeping. And you think it's funny you call that customer service while three of your schools closed down? Rebecca.
179I call that a shame. What customer service is that? Or that you led the community to believe what you were really going to do with the schools, but then you turned it around and you're not selling them out. That's customer service. When you sat there and said, we will not touch schools, and hundreds and hundreds of educators are losing their jobs, you call that customer service? Are none of your employees got an increase but work overtime to get the job done, to make that school district an a and the people here sleep. You call that customer service? Customer service is showing and doing. And yes, I do agree that you have to have a certain decorum. You have to have a certain personality but not bs. Stop Bsing. The Broward County residents. That's not okay.
180You know what else could be for customer service? The board members need to be cut. We don't need nine because you want to talk about a decrease. You're here for the Broward County Public schools. So decreased in everything. So now we have to start at the top. So put your money where your mouth is and show customer service. Thank you. Any other public speakers? No MADAM Chair. Okay. Board member discussion DR. Holness since this is your item. Thank you, MADAM Chair. And thank you to the speakers for giving your feedback. So, Doctor Hepburn, I'd like to first, before I continue my comments, is to. I know you've put certain initiatives in place to improve customer service and that's recognized, including the ABCs of customer service and district wide survey tools and so on. This item
181is to provide an opportunity to strengthen and build upon those practices across the district. I believe that customer service is one of the key in order to to win back students, to win back customers, to keep customers. As a business owner, I recognized there are four things that are essential in keeping customers. One of them is customer service. The other is facility appeal. The other is quality of the product that you're offering and the other is results. You have to have results. We've had great academic results. We, I believe, are offering great quality products. There are areas such as the facility appeal and customer service that we do need to improve on. This is an attempt to do so, and this is not to negate any actions taken by the superintendent thus far, and I
182commend him and the staff on those efforts to improve customer service. But I believe that we can do more. So in order to combat the issue of not losing more students, more customers. This item is very simple and straightforward. It's really to direct the superintendent to conduct nationwide research of successful, data driven customer service practices. And upon doing so, to determine if any of those practices can be or fragments of it can be adopted and used in a customer service action plan that establishes clear standards, training and accountability. So it has two parts to this. One is to simply look at what great organizations with a rated customer service, what they're doing. And once we have that information to determine if there is anything we could adopt, adopt from what they're doing. And so this
183is a direction to the superintendent to conduct that research and then to develop a comprehensive, district wide customer service action plan as a result of such practice. Now, I also want to just mention that I do appreciate the input of. Our Esq Chair Advisory chair as well, because all of us, if you've been observing what I advocate for, Esq students are significantly important to me. My son was an Esq student. And so, you know, identifying improvement of customer service within our Esq population, as well as district wide in all groups, I believe would be beneficial to the district. So this is not to change what we're doing per se. This is not intended to say we don't look inside and see how we can improve ourselves, but this is to also look at what others
184are doing and see if there's anything we can adapt. I can tell you as a business owner for a franchise, we had meetings with multiple owners across the nation, and we look at different practices that they have and how we can implement that in our own individual business, and it works. So this is really to just go out and see what's out there that we MAY not be using. And if we could possibly use it, you know, I know we're losing students. I've heard the rationale that, well, we're losing students statewide. And that MAY be true. And it is it is true for the most part. But, you know, I, I don't believe that because of that, we can't proceed to try to gain students, you know, and for those of you who listen to
185Bob Marley, there's a song that he says, you must never give up the fight. And for me, I don't think we should give up the fight. I think we should continue to unturn every stone we can to provide opportunities to win back customers. And this is one of them. So I'm asking board members to support it. Thank you. We have MISS Thompson. Thank you, chair. Thank you, DR. Holness, for bringing this item. I do think there's there's areas we can improve on. I had maybe an addition to add or just a comment. I know we do customer service surveys. We do them to students. We do them to parents. But I think where we're there's a gap is when there is a complaint or an issue at a school, sometimes we just rectify it without
186actually telling the community that we fixed it. This is something when I had round tables with students, with our previous student advisor, he was talking about the importance of the student survey, and most of them would just leave it blank or fill it out quickly because they thought that their feedback didn't matter because nothing came out of it. And then MR. Spellberg explained that bathrooms were fixed because the survey or that staff addressed class issues immediately because of the survey. So what is our current model of when we get this feedback or these surveys to address the issues and to let them know that they've been addressed? Thanks for the question, Miss Thompson. So, so as far as you describe the student initiative that Landon and Jessica created and has a lot of traction and
187a lot of actionable steps and some great results. But as far as the survey that we receive through the a, b, c, and of customer service and all of that, the information that we receive, we act on most of the time it is somebody detailing a bad experience. They had a lack of a phone call, a lack of responsiveness. And we'll follow up with that staff member and there'll be some retraining and things like that. And so I do agree with DR. Holness. And the team is already working on updating and enhancing the current customer service framework and doing research and all of those great things. So we can come into the school year, as we do with anything continuous improvement process, understanding the gaps. One of my one of the biggest things for us
188though, is how do we get people and all of us do it where it's natural for everybody, how do we get them to engage more? A lot of people just don't do surveys because we're so inundated with them from when we shop, when we everything. Right? So the only time you really do a survey is that one horrible experience that you had, you know, I got to do a survey for this. And so how do we get more people to engage in the survey process is something that we're trying to learn more about from other entities, just to make sure we get great feedback across the board. And I like also like the idea of receiving more feedback through this, through our customer service platform from staff. Just one thing that Doctor Fulton has been
189championing in cabinet is that, you know, we're we have an expectation that we're responsive to our students and our parents, but we also have an expectation that departments that service schools are also responsive to school needs, too. So making sure there's follow through on that part and how do we close the gap and understand what type of feedback we get through customer service loop as well. So I love that addition as well. And I think I would like when it comes, if approved and comes back, like, how are we? Because I think there's a way you can say, you know, 20 complaints were made about this school. They were all addressed within 24 hours or a week. There's a way to make people feel heard. And then they will fill out the survey because if
190if it goes nowhere, then what is the point? I think also maybe communicating because I have a couple schools that hav diffffences o of opininis on ththeireadersrspp a t theyeel likehehere's no outle to communicate that. So explaining surveys, or maybe we start implementing focus groups. I would be interested if when you guys are doing your nationwide research, if focus groups are a better way to see, because I feel like when I did my 12 community meetings about redefining, I got so much more feedback than I think when I did surveys or anything like that. So I think when people feel heard and we go to them is another important, important component. Like maybe we go to the pta meetings or we have regionalized meetings so that it's accessible because public engagement is important, but we
191need to make it accessible. So I will be proud to support this item. Thank you, MISS Hixon. Thank you. To kind of piggyback off of what MISS Thompson just mentioned, I was going to say people surveys are good, but again, most people don't like to do them. We had discussed a while ago about doing town halls across the district in different regions, not as school board members. I mean the district going out, also a school board members, but they we did we did the first initial online parent university about the finance. But we had talked about doing a town hall, going out and talking to the public about what is our actual financial situation, what are some of the suggestions they have to, to tweak that. So to kind of expand on what MISS Thompson
192is saying to the superintendent, when were we planning on starting those town halls beyond the virtual one we had? And maybe that's a place where we could also have conversation or, or gather a focus group because at the end of the day, we can do a nationwide thing. But Broward is Broward is very unique in a lot of different ways. So I think one of our public speakers had a point. We need to know what the issues are in our community. And i think people the better, the more we improve customer service, the more likely we are to have students come back because sometimes the students like the school, but the parents aren't feeling as if they're being heard. And so they it doesn't matter what the academics is. They don't feel like they're getting
193what they need from the staff. And, you know, you mentioned our staff a lot of times they have questions about things And no one answers the phone or they don't answer the email. So it's great to have surveys, but what are the action steps beyond that? So I like that that's in this plan. But I also don't know that we need to do a nationwide research. I think we know what we need to do. We just need to figure out how to it and to engage, not just making people come here or fill out a survey, but going into those communities, as MISS Thompson said. So I'd like to see us. We already said we were going to do them, but we haven't scheduled them. Town halls that focus on just the state of the
194district. I mean, we mentioned that before also, you know, going in and having a little discussion about, you know, how many schools are in a in this in this region, all of those good things, but then giving them the opportunity to know, here's where we're at and what are, what is your feedback so we can take action on it. So do you know when? Yeah. So I see a couple of different lanes. The customer service action plan is a little bit different from what you gather from a town hall. The national research to me is more about process and strategy that works to garner the information that you're trying to receive out of your constituents. So I don't want to disregard that because there MAY be processes and strategies that are going well that we're
195unaware of that can, you know, grab or absorb a lot of information that we vitally need from our constituents and parents and students and staff. So we'll definitely incorporate that. As far as state of the district, I like the idea of the town halls as far as state of the district, and we do some of that already, but we do it with the municipalities, right? The regional teams that go into municipalities and go and inform them about the their school grades, what's the what's the accomplishments and what are some of the challenges. I think we can replicate that process by just stepping out of the municipality and doing it maybe a couple of times within a region so that we provide a venue where everybody can participate, no matter where they are within that region,
196and provide that same information, accomplishments, challenges for the upcoming school year, and getting additional feedback at the end of that for some of the challenges that we know we're going to face during that school year. So we can we can discuss that as we're retooling the plan. But I see this is two different lanes because the customer service is, you know, we're we're doing that on a recurrent and frequent basis, not just one time. Right. That's what that's what I appreciate about the current initiative that we're trying to update is that it's frequent, we're pushing out, pushing out the links, I think quarterly or every two months or so, and then qr codes and all that. So we have frequent information, just like what we have with academic performance information. We have it frequently throughout
197the year so we can make adjustments. And so, you know, it all sparked from my experience in going to schools when I first started, right? So I just wanted to find a mechanism to help us get better in that area. So again, continuous improvement process, but I love the feedback that was given. So we can certainly plan out a series of town halls throughout the year. Just go ahead and get them on the calendar. Okay. Well, and I would say if you're already doing municipalities, you don't have to, you You could add it to that because there's there's power in numbers. And if you're hosting something with the municipality, there MAY be groups of people who already like participate with municipalities. So you could do it in partnership. I think that would also be really
198helpful because there's some sense of security and trust with their municipality. So the more we can get that. And there's also a piece on here about accountability. And I think that's some of the issue, is that people will make the district aware that there's some concerns, but they don't see any follow through on that. So I think that that's a really important piece on this item. So and you know, I know you said about training and stuff, but I've also walked into places and thought. So I just think it's important to, to have the conversation so that we can make everybody better. Yeah. And I'm glad you mentioned accountability. So that was that. I know we mentioned that before, and I've mentioned that with DR. Holness before, one on ones is that that's the key
199lever. And so I've already been discussing that with the hr team of, you know, what, what current policies or SOPs that we can leverage as accountable for better accountability when things aren't going well after we've trained an employee, redirected them. And, and as such, because that's the lever that hasn't been pulled. So there's no accountability, just going to keep repeating the same bad behavior over and over. Thank you, MR. Cervera. So here's my $0.02 on this. I think your heart is in the right place with this DR. Holness. However, I don't think the finished product of what's being proposed is in the best interest of the district. And here's why. We have a very unique group of folks in, in in Broward County, we are the sixth largest school board district in the entire country.
200We've gone through some stuff over the years that a lot of other districts and a lot of part of the state and the country never would have to dream about or imagine. So the obvious starting point for me, if we're going to do this and we're going to try to implement data driven customer service practices, we need to start in Broward County. We heard board member Hixon talk about town halls. I agree, I think that would be a great, great idea. Community outreach. We have advisory committees that come and speak to us. These are all folks who are plugged directly in to the bk pipeline, and these are the individuals that we serve. And this research project needs to be geared towards them. Don't understand the need for a nationwide search. With all due respect
201to the Hawkeye State, I really don't care what they're doing in Iowa or what they're doing in Texas, I don't care. I care about Broward County in the great state of Florida, and we need to focus on Broward County. We have a an obligation to service our constituents and to service our kids and everybody who works within the district. And those are the folks opinions that I care about, not so much people in different parts of the nation. Also, MR. Superintendent, what would be the cost associated with this nationwide search if this were to pass? There is no cost. Again, this is doing research to find best practices of receiving information from the people that we're trying to receive it from. So I don't want to discount going out and doing our research. You know,
202we can't just isolate ourselves in the bubble and say, we're going to do it this way and that way. And I understand there's better ways of, of gathering that information from the people that we serve every day. So there is no cost. And so we would go out and do our due diligence, do initial research, and then if we need to find out more detail, just pick up the phone and call those school districts, those companies. We have the Council of Great City Schools that have 82, 82 member districts that are available. They can assist us with additional research as well. So we have an avenue to do research without any costs. And maybe the answer months or years down the road of this project is to open this up and start talking to people
203in other states or in other cities or in other parts of the country. At this point, I don't think we as a district have a good handle on the needs of our constituents and our residents in Broward County. This is where we need to start talking to the folks in Broward County whose kids go to Broward County Public Schools. So this idea of this nationwide search, maybe we get there at some point in time, but right now, this needs to start in the nine five for this needs to start in this county. We need to have town halls. We should do community outreach. If we're serious about this, this is how we should start this. I don't believe starting in a nationwide search and skipping over Broward County is the right way to approach an
204agenda item like this. So the way this is worded, I will not be supporting this unless we can have some sort of transition where we agree that this starts in our county first, before we start looking into other parts of the state or the country. If I MAY. MR. Cervera, before you move on, I just want to clarify. I think we're we're we're like on two ends of the spectrum of this nationwide. I'm not fully understanding the concern about the nationwide, but what I'm trying to convey is to understand process and strategy of collecting information. And how do we get that from the people that we serve all every day, or who we hear from every day? Right. Not a. You know, getting feedback from national research. It's about process and strategy, as we do
205with everything else, right? How do we drive on this road better? What type of vehicle should we use to get the best gas mileage and things like that? So we can get from point a to point b is as as I correct me if I'm wrong. DR. Holness just to understand that's that's my understanding. It's not about anything else besides strategy and process. So we can get the best information possible from our constituents, because we want to talk to the people here in Broward to get that information. So that's I just want to my clarification of his understanding of it. Okay. And that is correct. And I and I appreciate that. But as I read the executive summary on what a yes vote would entail, it says and i quote, the superintendent of schools will
206conduct a nationwide research, will conduct nationwide research of successful data driven customer service practices. This is what the executive summary that staff provided us says, I don't want you to waste time right now conducting anything nationwide. I want you to start in Broward County, speaking to our residents, speaking to our constituents. Andfter you've done that research in Broward County as to what you think our folks need, then we can venture off nationwide. I'm not necessarily suggesting that we should ignore that all completely, but we need to have our finger on the pulse about what's going on in Broward County, what our folks want, suggestions, what our constituents think would be better for this district. Before we start looking about what's going on in different parts of the country, that's my take on this. And I
207would also note, and would be remiss if I didn't mention the irony is not lost on all of this going through yesterday's meeting, where a substantial portion of this board wanted to substantially limit public speaking of our constituents and of our members of the public. Yet here we are today talking about customer service. What better way to provide customer service than allow for proper public comment? Thank you. Thank you. DR. Zeman. Thanks, chair. Chair, just a question for the superintendent, if you don't mind. You had a plan in place already for customer service to work on it this year. You and I have talked about key performance indicators. We've talked about stratifying the audience. So it's customer service for students and staff and community members, business leaders, residents of Broward County. What would change where
208this item to pass today and the plan that you already had? Well, nothing would change really. Besides, honestly, nothing is right in line of what we're concentrating on and what we're trying to update as we move forward, because it's part of our continuous improvement process for redefining, attracting, and retaining students all the initiatives to maintain enrollment and also improve enrollment over the long term. Do you feel, MR. Superintendent, that we're at an all y'all moment in the sense that we should be doing everything that we could possibly do to recruit and retain the students that we have now? Correct. So this is just one more plank in the process that you've got in place. I would tell you how fascinating, excuse me, I am with things that I've learned from other districts. I was in
209a call last Friday with a council of great city schools, and I found out this district of Cincinnati provides parking at night for homeless people who are in cars. And it made me think very differently about what we do because we're really focused on students and academics and mental health and kind of all the obvious things. And then there's Cincinnati with this homeless but population that has cars and nowhere safe to, to park. And so every school in Cincinnati offers that at night, if homeless people call, they have a lot that's locked up at night to provide them a safe place to, to, to spend the evening. You know, there are things that we learn. Houston Independent School District invested in an oil field, and it now provides a significant portion of their operating expenses.
210The way that Chicago, you know, does. Customer service is fascinating, driven by their business community. And so I've learned a ton from listening to other districts. I think it would be irresponsible for us to make decisions without that information. I think we're always going to make better decisions when we gather more information, whether it's about Miami Dade, you know, went down there and watched a school board meeting. But before I did that, I went to the prep meeting the day before, and it was fascinating to watch the cabinet talk to the school board member the day before in committee meetings so that when the school board meeting happened, all the questions that we possibly could have asked had already been answered. And we got to go very efficiently through the school board meeting that was
211more publicly attended. So I think, Doctor Hepburn, that it's essential to to look to our business community, to look at other districts on strategy, on practices and examples of of ways in which they're doing it better. But I think this is one plank of many planks. I mean, we are to your agreement in an all y'all moment where all y'all have to help everything we could possibly do in the competitive environment needs to be pushed forward. So I appreciate you bringing this DR. Holness. I think that this might provide a little bit more support for the initiatives that Doctor Hepburn and staff are going through. It is an area, as a parent of three kids in Broward County schools, they're they're kind of funny moments. At the end of the day, where I wish our
212customer service had been better, Doctor Hepburn. But you know, that's that's just as one of your customers, as a parent to, you know, there are there are things. So I look forward to, to learning about this. I think just to the board members too, we might want to think about this when it comes time for establishing evaluation parameters for the superintendent. Maybe this is something, you know, like we did on the construction projects. We said we wanted to get x number of construction projects done per year. Maybe we want to set a baseline in the first year of customer service, and then ask for some level of improvement in subsequent years as a way to, to kind of codify this DR. Holness that might be a way to take it beyond what we were going
213to do otherwise, but we'll get to that when it's time to think about your evaluation. Doctor Hepburn, thank you very much. Thank you, MISS Bulman. Thank you. I agree with DR. Zeman. First of all, thanks for bringing those examples. Because when you're looking at the broader picture of what, who we are to the community and how we can be contributing, I think it is important that we're really broadening the way that we're looking at it. So, you know, we could be contributing on that big, large scale. And then we also need to really look at our culture and the accountability piece that MISS Hixon was bringing up. I think, you know, you can tell from school to school who's creating a great culture, and that comes from the top and from the leadership and the
214expectations. And then who's not? And I mean, I can tell you off the top of my head, you know, and so consistency, I think is the is something that we really need to work for. And people have to be ultimately held accountable because we're all going to suffer if we are losing students because you're not, you know, we're not holding a baseline customer service. So I, I really like the idea of how we could expand what we offer to the community, but also small scale. So I thank you for bringing this forward. DR. Holness. Thank you. Any other board discussion? MAY I have my hand up? Thank you, MISS Rupert. Now. Yes. Go ahead. Thank you so much. I didn't want to bump anybody else. Thank you so much for this, this conversation for today.
215I, I tend to believe that we don't need to do yet another survey and spend time doing it. It's pretty simple. What do we do? Well, the same question. Yes, the parents, the teachers, the students community. How can we do better? Same people and they'll tell you, what do you ke abobout thehe pububcchchoo? What wldld help you stay with the public schools, and what are you getting elsewhere? That is obviously the x factor for you to be able to move there and then change it. Don't just listen. Don't just write it down. Don't check a box. You have to do it. And then we all have to remember, you know, I used to work on a cruise ship. I might not be on work hours, but I had to wear like white chinos, a blue
216polo. And it said, you know, cruise staff. So if somebody caught me on my day off walking around, I didn't say, sorry, it's my day off. You're on for 24 over seven. Same thing at Publix, same thing. Whatever you're at, you meet, you talk to people. That's important. That is customer service. Unfortunately, yesterday I was unable to be at the meeting, which is ironic because I understand that not only is. The the opportunity for our public that truly are the banging the drum out for us, our our employee groups, our families, our advisory people, they're out there. And it, it seemed to us, after looking at it later that we were kind of tamping down on public opportunity to speak, but even more so than that, tying the hands of our school board members. If
217they're on a scheduled vacation or they have a scheduled doctor appointment, which I did yesterday, and I rightfully we told John Sullivan that that day was not possible for me to make it, and if at all, it was going to be later. So I did try my best to be there, watched it afterwards, obviously. So those are important. I don't know if that's already come and gone, those votes, but it's I think we have to really think about not only silencing public comment, but silencing our colleagues ourselves, who are elected constitutional officers to not have the ability, if they are away overseas, I wouldn't be able to call in for budget. I wouldn't be able to call in for, you know, multiple meetings in JULY and in AUGUST. So it's very, very chilling for me
218to think, wait, I can't call in and vote. I could watch the meeting, but I wouldn't be able to to vote. So I would definitely like to talk to the attorney at another, at another time about this issue. But I want my colleagues to think very seriously about that. The other point, we have some amazing rock stars currently right now, besides the people that were, well deserved recognition. But we have somebody who I'm really excited coming back to district seven, and that's Jill Balchunas. So, Jill, you're finally coming back home. The district seven, he kicks, I don't know, he just kicks. But let me tell you, he lives and breathes the district that he's recommending and reside, not residing and working for. And he makes every person feel. And this is incredibly important and hard
219to, you know, really put your finger on. He makes you feel like you're listening, you're being listened to, but also valued. And I look forward to him spending some more of Jill Bakunas time with the principals and the community, but he really gets it. And I'm going to say this again and again about MR. Schroeder from Margate Elementary. I don't ever want you, MR. Schroeder, to ever go up the the opportunity to another position because you were so fabulous to the whole community. And he gets it. He gets it. You don't hear parent complaints from there. You don't hear anything. You hear happy phone calls, happy letters. And that's important because we all have a part in making this wonderful district even better than it can be. So yes, we have some customer service issues.
220Yes, we need the gain structures structure. And we next, we need to have our students that need to come back to us. And very briefly, but with the big emphasis music and the arts are not something that we need to put aside. Social workers are not something we need to push aside. Those are not electives. Those are core principles of being a well-rounded student and a community. There's nothing like going to a concert or a play to get really excited about what we have in public schools, and one point the superintendent was saying that he we've received information and then they've been pushing it out, and I understand that and I. Yes, I agree, however, we haven't implemented, or at least to the point where I as one board member, do not see anything customer
221service wise that we've implemented and we still hear from the public that that nut is not so. So I'm I'm assuming that we'll be discussing that next workshop, so I won't talk much longer here because that would be part of the Reimagining our district conversation, I hope, is implementing what we've learned. And I look forward to that. And that's pretty much it. It's simplistic. We need to ask our people and then not only ask them, tell them, implement what they say they are leaving for or what they say they love about our schools. And when we put money that way, it's it's a wonderful thing. I'm all for that. So I'm not I won't be supporting this item because I don't think we need to spend the time and the manpower to do this. We
222know already. It's just time to act. Thank you. Thank you. Any other board discussion? DR. Holness thank you, MADAM Chair. I wasn't sure if we were going on second round, so I'll I'll go ahead and speak. So thank you. Board member Rupert and I, I hear your you know, your input, your concern, but what I'll say is this a few years ago, maybe a decade ago or so, when I started my learning center, I had zero students. And as I built my business, I started to realize the importance of attending conferences with other similar franchises and learning best practices from from those who's also in the same business. And within a couple of years, I grew to be number three in South Florida as far as that particular franchise and the volume of students that
223I have. And that's not because of just me thinking of ideas. It's me embracing ideas outside of what I thought about, you know? So there is value in listening and in engaging others and of similar companies to see how we can improve our current practices and to see if we can adopt new practices. So, you know, this is not to replace or negate what we're already doing in Broward. This is not to say Broward doesn't have the answer. It's not to skip over Broward. It's to take a look at what others are doing and see if we can improve our current practices, as well as the possibility of adopting new practices that can make us better. The superintendent mentioned it's not going to cost any money. At the very least, he'll come back to us
224with information that could make us better. And if he doesn't believe it can make us better, we won't adopt it, you know. But to shut it down for any board member who decide not to support and you do have the right to do so. It's us not taking an opportunity to look at additional information that could help us. You know, my main concern is we are losing students in Broward County schools. If we're going to attempt to do something to improve customer service, that could potentially increase our student population, it's a win win all the way, you know? So I do hope others will support it. And I do hope we have majority. But again, this is not to skip over Broward. It's not to replace what we're doing as Doctor Hepburn so clearly stated,
225it's really to improve the process and strategies by looking at what others are doing. So it's very simple. Look at nationwide companies that have great customer service practices and determine if we can adopt any of what they're doing and if we can improve what we're already doing. I don't see any negative in doing so. I think it's all positive. And if we as a district is going to continue to be focused on improving student enrollment, increasing student enrollment, we have to not leave any stone unturned. This is one of those great opportunities that's not going to cost us much of anything. So I do hope that it supported my only goal in this item. And for me to think about this item and to take input that's been given over months, including input from Esq
226as well, is to see how we can better serve our students, how we can improve this district. That is the intent. There's no other intent. So I do hope that you'll be supported. Thank you. Okay. Any further board discussion? Okay. Those in favor of item b2, say aye. Those opposed say no. No, no. Okay. Roll call. All right. We're going to do roll call on item b2 school board members. Alhadeff is not on the line. Bulman. Yes. Cervera. Nope. Hixon. Yes. Holness. Yes. Leonardi. Nana. Rupert. No. Thompson. Yes. Zaman. And MISS Leonardi, now that you're back in the room. Yes. Item passes six two. Okay. Thank you. And we'll move on to our next item. At this time, MAY I have a motion and a second to pass agenda item c one. So moved. Okay.
227The item has been moved and seconded. Are there any registered speakers? One registered speaker doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh. Thank you. Good afternoon doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh sorry I had to pop two Advil. So this item the revised organizational chart. There's two things on here that I want to bring to your attention. One is because we didn't have the final org chart on the day you guys passed the org chart, it wasn't possible to see that you were lumping ppo in with. You moved it not sorry, not ppo, but the chief, the chief building official. The compliance people are now in with ppo because it's all under strategy and operations as opposed to facilities. So that should be moved. Or you can wait till somebody points out it should be moved. Besides me, somebody did point
228out the other thing, which is finding number two on page ten of the mgt report, administrative functions are fragmented across departments rather than coordinated or centrally supported. Case in point, you have under Food and Nutrition, a director of finance. We learned that that dotted line is to an executive, a new executive director that will be sitting over in actual under the cfo. But for some mysterious reason, which is the opposite of what mgt is recommending, it says in peer districts, operational functions such as hr, finance, communications and facilities coordination are more often supported through centralized services or shared resources, reducing duplication across divisions. In bcc, these functions are more frequently distributed across departments, resulting in similar work being performed in parallel rather than through coordinated or centralized support. This fragmentation increases staffing requirements system wide
229and makes it difficult to reduce costs without affecting service delivery. It doesn't matter who's funding the human that's doing the work. You can allocate the humans time to a specific funding source. It does matter when you have them sitting in individual functional departments like food and nutrition, sitting in strategy and operations, or when you have a budget person stray, a poor stray sitting in ppo and all kinds of other weird places, they've stuck the aforementioned types of people. So 150,000 was spent in taxpayer funds for a recommendation. Jackie left, but she shouldn't feel bad and take these things personally, because you're not taking this recommendation and applying it to the org chart. Or you could, since it's before you today, let's see what happens. But they literally said to that they had a finding that
230you fragment rather than centralize. And this was a superintendent recommendation to fragment the exact opposite of what their finding was. That concludes public speaking. Thank you. DR. Zeman. Just one other item. I see one in. Please turn your mic on. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. I just had a quick cleanup. I got several emails from folks asking about why we were growing management staff, and I explained to them that this is a typo kind of thing. We're just fixing what we've always had. This is not new staff. So for those that are concerned about us growing the food nutrition staff at a time which they're, you know, losing some of their fund balance, I appreciate you writing to me as a budget geek, but in this case, we're just cleaning up something that we had
231done before. Thanks a lot, chair. Thank you. DR. Holness. I see one. MADAM Chair. Thank you so much. So, Doctor Hepburn, I just want to to ensure that this this organizational chart with these changes, as far as the minor changes, including the change in MR. Bruno's office, are these the only changes that for us to anticipate. That's correct. Okay. And as we continue in the upcoming school year and continue to look at staff allocation and staffing for on the chart, are we going to possibly continue to see further reductions in the upcoming year or two. For the for this upcoming school year? No. Okay. But there's possibility going forward, we'll continue to proceed to see how we can best trim staff in order to save funds. Correct. As you're referring to, realignment of staff downsizing.
232Yes. Okay, great. Thank you, MADAM Chair. Thank you, MR. Cervera. I realize that in the grand scheme of the org chart that this change is relatively minor. I just want to be on the record again, since the org chart is back up, that I am not supporting this, nor did I support anything on the prior version of the chart. Thank you. Thank you. Any other board discussion? All in favor? I have a question. Oh, go ahead, MISS Rupert. I'm sorry. Yes, actually it's to the to the superintendent. Maybe I missed it, but is there going to be a a graphic for us that breaks down the mgt recommendations and and how we're going to implement them. There's a another report was sent to the board. We've implemented some of the recommendations in in the reorganization
233and some of their recommendations MAY be implemented as we plan for future years. And that you have that written down like it'll say, done this in future years, 26, 27, 27, 28 we plan to do x, y, z, correct? It's, it's not pretty much just implementing their, their, their total plan. It's, it's mere recommendations for us to consider as we devise our strategy of how we're going to address our, our unique needs to Broward County Public schools. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any other board discussion? All in favor of c-1? Say aye. All opposed? Say no. No. No. Item passes with two dissenting votes from MISS Rupert and MR. Cervera. Could I get a motion? A second on e1e1? Would it make sense? Could I get a motion in a second on e
234one and o five, please? Moved by DR. Zeman second by MISS Hixon. Public comment on e one or o five. MADAM Chair, we have 1e1o5 and PRESIDENT PRESIDENT Anna Fusco on both items. Hello. Anna Fusco, our teaching PRESIDENT. I just got done doing a news interview about this item that I've been speaking about for a while. And obviously, anything that brings safety to our children of Broward County Public Schools, and it brings safety to everyone, anybody that's out on the streets. And if anybody is out on the streets more than the Broward Teachers Union that drives the county, because we visit all 250 something schools daily, not obviously, not 250 schools in one day, but I am up in in the streets from 430 in the morning till sometimeses 10:00 atight. A a our bususses
235e o on those strtreets, and I see the c cars that sllll haven't gotten the understanding don't text and drive. Obviously, we've got people that are swerving that they're probably not texting and driving. Maybe under the influence. You've got people that don't understand the laws of the road and what it is happening when a bus stops and puts their arms out. So this is a deterrent. It's a safety measure. And then yes, it does bring money into the public schools. So a company came up with this plan, which is safety to help save lives. So I'm definitely in favor of making sure that this plan gets put forward. Now, the piece that's important, that everybody's questioning what's going to happen to the money once Broward County Public Schools gets it, what are you going to
236do with it? How's it being governed? How are the citations going to be accurately done that we know that this company is fully engulfed and taken care of, the operational piece of it. And Broward County Public School just sits there and waits for the check. Now, who you guys task and what you do to make sure that the money is spent properly and is accounted for, is on you. It's a big toll because again, it's dealing with money, making sure it's managed correctly, making sure it gets back put into whatever the agreement. I have not read the agreement, the legal piece of it. So I believe I did hear from somebody that it might get automatically put back into safety and security, which that will free up money for other things. So wherever the money
237goes back to, you have to pay attention that the money needs to come back into the people in Broward County public schools, to where they're working overtime for their safety and health, because there's a lot of ways to keep safe and healthy. And when you're overworked and underpaid and you have to go get two and three jobs themselves driving for Instacart or Uber or Amazon, that is safety on them. Also, they're tired, they're overworked. Okay, so putting back into your employees is another form of customer service, by the way. Pay attention to that. So I'm in favor of this being passed unanimously. Thank you. Any other public speakers? No. MADAM Chair. Board member discussion. MR. Cervera. Thank you. Chair, I want to start off by thanking our General Counsel's office for pushing to get this
238done. And I also want to thank the Broward Sheriff's Office. And a special shout out to Major DeMarco for the role that he played in working with our general counsel's office. Keeping our kids safe is of the utmost important to not only myself, but I'm sure I speak for all of my colleagues in the district as a whole. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, from 2000 to 2024, there were 63 fatalities in crashes that involved the driver illegally passing a stopped school bus, an average of two and a half fatalities a year. That is too much. This system will ensure that drivers will hopefully stop when they are supposed to stop, and allow the kids to get on and off the bus, so anything to keep our students safe on their way to
239school and dropping them back home after school. I'm 100% in favor of. And again, thank you to our General counsel and to bso for getting this deal done. Thank you, MISS Hixon. Thank you. I also wanted to thank our general counsel. This has been a long time in the making, and I have made more than a few calls to MISS Jack Adams to ask her what was taking so long, but I do want to just give her kudos for taking the time to make sure the contract we had was a good contract for the district. Thank you to MISS Dupre Bruno for sending us a chart that explains how our contract is different from other counties and where we. It was in the email, just not too long ago. DR. Zeman looking. So you know
240the chart that shows what other counties, what their contract looks like and what ours looks like. And, you know, the fact that we don't have to pay for some things that other counties have to, and that this is something that will be good for the district in terms of financially, but also, as was mentioned, to keep our students safe. So, MR. Bruno, can you answer the question about where the money that we get from this partnership will go? Because I've had a lot of emails asking that question. So the statute is very explicit in terms of how the funds can be used simplistically has to be used for student transportation safety initiatives related to transportation, school bus driver recruitment and retention, the program administration itself, and any other related transportation safety enhancements. So thank you.
241Now, my question to that is, all of those pieces are, I guess, to the superintendent where the money can be spent. Was that money already that would be spent in capital, or is there anything that was mentioned there that could be shifted from the general fund to capital in terms of how. I just want to be clear that this money. Can it be in some, either directly or indirectly way, to help us with our 4% raise that we want, or what, where what are the constraints about where this money goes? We will have to analyze the offset. So if there are certain things that this is paying for capital or paying general, that we would usually pay for transportation, safety, safety initiatives for transportation. And this money could do that for us while we absorb
242that general fund to do something else with it. So we have to analyze, I know we got a kind of like a predictor of, of what revenue MAY look like for us. I think after the first couple of months of implementation, we'll be able to figure out what that would be for a 12 month period. And then we'll have a better analysis of what it would offset in order to save money in general. So if you could please send us a follow up with that or even, you know, we'll bring it up later just to share with people because I just, I, of course, having additional money for safety and all that's really important. But I just want to be really clear about whether it does free up a lot of money in general fund,
243or if most of these things are being covered in capital anyway. So it will allow us to use our capital money in a different way. So I think it's really important to know what that looks like. So thank you. Thank you. DR. Zeman. Oh, Doctor Hepburn, I believe MISS Johnson wants to. I'm sorry. Oh, go ahead, MISS Johnson. This money offset the general fund costs. Capital costs is is not associated with this money. So it free up money in the general fund. All right. DR. Zeman. So I, I would say this is, you know, the fungible pot of money. You know, if you take the money from bus patrol and you spend it on transportation salaries, that frees up general fund to do more salaries for other people, if that's fair. MISS Johnson, I'd love
244thinking about that. I appreciate our general counsel sending the information because it was sent out by email. Was that information shared with the public, MISS Dupre? Bruno? No, that information was only shared with the superintendent, chief of staff and the board. I wonder if you might summarize it for everybody that didn't get that email. Well, give me one second. I mean, this is important information. We're asking the public, you know, to contribute under terms of this contract. I think they deserve to know, you know, kind of why this is a good deal and where the funds are going to go. Okay. The Chair So basically, the program is authorized under Florida Statute 316.173, and it's designed to enhance student transportation safety through the use of automated school bus stop arm infraction system. So that's basically
245the stop arm that comes out, and you're supposed to stop and not go around the bus because students are exiting the bus or entering the bus. So this allows for an enforcement through the school district of that program. The program consists of three primary components for us. It's a specific contract with the organization bus Patrol. It's also a interlocal or mutual aid agreement with the Broward County Sheriff's Office, delegating citation authority to our own Broward Schools Police Department. And there's also an agreement with the Division of Administrative Hearing to serve as the hearing officer for any contested citations of the notice of violations. In addition, the main one of the main components in this particular contract is to ensure that the school district has no out of pocket expenses whatsoever with regards to the enforcement.
246That includes paying our own police departments. That includes paying the hearing officers. That includes moving and enforcing the actual program. The split is 7030 with 30%. Well, let me go back the the ticket is $225. $25 goes directly to the school district, and then the remainder 200 is split 70, 30, 70% goes to bus patrol, 30% goes to school district. But here's what you must remember. Of that 70%, the cameras, the enforcement, the process, paying our police department, paying for doa, paying for any affiliated costs relating to the program comes out of that 70%. Because bus patrol is responsible for all costs relating to this program. And then again, what can you use this for? Well, in one of the things that's a little bit different from our agreement with others is that we were
247able to negotiate, negotiate out of our contract termination fees, other recurring fees, equipment, monthly payment fees, etc. And what can you use this contract? What can you use the funds for? Again, is for student transportation safety initiatives, school bus driver recruitment and retention, program administration and related transportation safety enhancement. Terrific. And chair, to your knowledge, was this the result of a competitive solicitation? MR. Bruno. This was as a result of an rfp. Yes, it was terrific. And were there other bidders that were deemed qualified? There were other bidders, but I don't know all the names. I'll have to get that information. Were any of those other bidders have I mean, my issue is the allocation of funds. I don't like giving up 70% of the money the public is paying. This is a great safety
248issue. This should generate. By the way, how much money do we expect to generate in the first year of this? So from bus patrols assessment and it's just an estimate, they're estimating about 8 to 12 million. So 8 to $12 million in the first year. But that is representing the $25 where we get 100% and 30% of the 200. You put that all together times the expected number of infractions, and we're going to generate 8 to $12 million. Correct? Terrific. Were there any other bidders that had a different allocation of the 100% besides 7030? So I'm going to have to defer to procurement on that because that I don't that information I don't have. This is the only part that I find difficult to sell to the community, which is, you know, we're going to
249create a greater enforcement of an existing law. You're not allowed to pass a bus with the arm out. Everybody knows that they still do it. It's very unsafe. So that's a great part. The part that I have a hard time selling to my neighbor is that we're giving up 70% of the money to the vendor. So unless the vendor was. Unless the vendor was, you know, the one that gave the best deal to Broward County, it's difficult to kind of move this forward today, even though I think the 8 to $12 million is a tremendous thing. Could it have been more if we had gone with a different vendor? I don't know. Do we have that information available today? I think MR. White is coming in the room. And why we're waiting for him. The
250financial analysis on this, these two items was blank. Were we missing that information a week ahead of time that we could have shared it with the public? The financial analysis worksheet for e one and oh five is both blank, but this is a program that's going to generate 8 to $12 million, a lot of money for Broward schools. It would be nice to have 8 to 12 million extra dollars, but did we not have the information that came through by email to board members late yesterday afternoon? We did not have that ahead of time to share with the public. As far as the prediction of 8 to $12 million. That and the details that are shared in the email. No, we didn't have that at at at that time. As far as comparatively speaking, about
251the specific numbers compared to other school districts. Okay. MR. White, I don't know if you heard the question, but it was there other vendors as part of this solicitation. That offered a better split than 7030? No, sir. Were there any other qualified vendors besides bus patrol? I do not believe so, no, sir. Okay. Does this contract general counsel have a clause for cancellation in the convenience of government? Yes, our contracts have that. Well, that's not. I wish that was true, MR. White. Maybe since you've been here, they have it. But that's not true of all of our contracts. This one does have it. Yeah. Okay. So in a world in which, you know, there's one dominant vendor and we are, you know, dealing with work with that vendor because there's one qualified vendor that, that,
252that applied, we had no restrictions in this rfp to any vendor to apply and do this work. Right? So as long as you had the technology, you passed all the qualifications you can bid. We got one qualified bidder a year from now, if there's ten qualified bidders, because people figure out this technology and the split is different, this board could cancel this contract. Is that fair? General counsel and rebid the contract. So I'm going to defer that to MISS Jack Adams. So section 3.5 of the agreement does allow us to go ahead and terminate the contract. Terrific. So I'm comfortable doing this, but I'm not comfortable giving up 70% of the money on a forever basis. I would rather I'd rather have more of the money, go to Broward County Public Schools than go to
253our vendor. And so given that we have this convenience of government clause in it, that's great. I also don't like voting on things where the public is not given all the information that they need ahead of time. So I hope that this is a once in a year kind of thing where the board gets information by email right before a meeting, rather than that information being put out in the financial, we have these financial worksheets in a standard format. So the board. So the public can see what we're voting on. In this case. That didn't happen and I don't I really just don't feel comfortable excluding information from the voting public who should have every right ahead of a meeting to know everything we know, and then give us their feedback on this. In this
254case, this is a program that's available in many districts. It's a company that has done what they promised to do in those districts. I just hope that the market shifts, and we get a larger share of the money in the future, and we can rebid the contract and maybe they win again, but with a different chair. Thank you, chair. Thank you, MISS Thompson. Thank you. Chair, do we know how much it's costing the company to provide these services? I see the chart that MISS Kathy Bruno sent that says other districts are having to pay for fees for equipment. They have indemnity clauses. But do we? And they also have to pay for doa hearings, which I know from my conversations with our previous general counsel, it's actually quite expensive. So do we know what their
255out of pocket costs are? So because we're we're kind of guesstimating, if you will, the only thing we can really do is to look to see what other counties have been expending. So if you look at Miami Dade, we know that they are paying. Well, look at Hillsborough. They're paying approximately $225,000 a month for the equipment and the usage they have. There's just a lot of fees that's affiliated. We are anticipating it's probably going to cost another 200 000, if you will. For our police department, it could be a little bit more than 200,000. The doa cases are also very expensive and it depends on how much volume. So right now, until such time as the program actually starts and we start seeing how many violations occur, we are just guesstimating at the cost. But
256we do anticipate that there is going to be a significant cost, because this is a pretty, very large program that requires a lot of manpower to handle. And technology. And technology. All the cameras, the installation of the cameras, everything. Bus patrol is paying for that. So I think, you know, I hear the concern about the 7030 and I but I do think that we are getting a good deal by not having to pay these fees. The technology, the different clauses we have worked in. But i think it would be interesting for the board to get kind of what those costs are, so we can make sure that we are getting the better deal. And then my other I want to thank everyone who worked on this so hard to bring it to us. I do
257just want to recognize one of the reasons that it took so long, at least in my opinion, is because there were several controversies in how it was being implemented in Miami-Dade. So I would like an understanding of what steps have been taken. And my understanding of Miami-Dade was basically there was a lot of false tickets, and then no way to combat those tickets. So what are we doing to make sure that our Broward County residents are, you know, getting a ticket if they deserve it, but not if they don't. Through the chair. So one of the things that occurred in Miami was the hearings. So individuals were getting notice of violations, and there was no place for them to be able to appeal. That's how come the Division of Administrative Hearings has now started to
258hear those cases, not just for Broward. I think Lee County was probably the second district at the same time with Brevard and trying to get to hear these appeals. So that's one thing. The other things how you set up the system. One other thing that was happening in Miami-Dade is that they were capturing tickets beyond the median. So it really depends on how it's set up. And we know that our police department will work with bus patrol to ensure that it's set up properly. So the appropriate cameras and the appropriate violations are captured. And then even when that happens, it goes back to our police department who will review the videos to determine whether or not they want to issue the citation. Thank you for that. I think it is important that we address that.
259And it wasn't just a delay in our staffing, it was there were some other things to consider and make sure that if we're bringing in this program, it's going to be implemented correctly. And then my final question about the revenue, since it is an estimation at this time, what steps are staff going to take? So the board's aware of the revenue coming in and how we are going to be spending, said revenue now. Thank you, MISS Thompson. Great question. So we can provide a monthly or m mthly repopo To lethe brd k know what the revenue is and, you know, kind of give a predictor of what the outlook MAY be and then make some decisions on how those funds should be spent. We'll bring back recommendations based on where we think we should spend
260to get the have the greatest value and cost savings to the general, and then we can work with the board from there. And will that be like monthly recommendations, or is it going to go into a pot? And then at the end of the year that money will be distributed? Like, how do you think it's the best way to implement that? I think if we have a good predictor based on the first couple of months of citations and revenue from that, we can actually give a prediction of how it should be used for the year. Thank you. That's all. Thank you, MISS Bulman. Thank you. Thank you for pulling this all together. I'm impressed by the way that it has finally come together. I know it's been a long time coming, so thank you. And
261I know we do have the split, but since we don't have any upfront costs, I think that and that that's not a bad deal. And it looks like compared to everybody else that we're doing okay. The question that I have is with the opt out clause, do we have any obligation for equipment? Like, would there be any penalty for us if we decided to cancel the program? Excellent question. So this is one reason that we believe that Broward's contract is really a gold standard in terms of these types of contracts from across the state, because many, with the exception of Lee County, many of the other districts did have to pay a termination fee, and we negotiated that out of our contract. So even if we decide to get out of it in a couple
262of years, we do not pay a dollar. All right. Well, excellent job. Keep up the good work. Thanks. Thank you. Any other board discussion? All in favor? Can I. Say one thing? Go ahead, MR. Bruno. I just wanted to say this was a heavy lift with regards to bus patrol. And there were a lot of individuals at a very high level that was involved, from Chief Noskiewicz to Chief Gregory, who would just pick up the phone. When I was in the middle of negotiating a particular clause all the way to our superintendent, when I would call Doctor Hepburn to negotiate a particular clause. So I do want to thank procurement as well for all of their work. And doctor Klauer, Doctor Wanza, because this was really a true group effort to lift and bring this
263contract to you. I also want to thank my partner from the Broward County Sheriff's Office, Deputy General Counsel Lee Futch, as well as the general counsel, Lynch Terrence, because they really did a huge job to try to get this resolved as quickly as possible for us. And we're good collaborative partner. And then I am very proud of the office of the General Counsel, because when we were on nine hour, two day phone calls with bus patrol, some of the other things weren't getting done, and the other attorneys stepped in. And then, of course, the Herculean task that are Kathleen Jack Adams did in trying to get this contract over the hump was amazing. So I want to thank the team for that. Thank you. Any other comments or discussion? All right. All in favor of
264e one and o five say I I. I all opposed say no item pass items pass unanimously. Can I get a motion and a second on f3. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman. Second by MISS Thompson. Public comment on f3. We have one registered speaker, Doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh. Good afternoon doctor Natalie Lynch Walsh plantation, Florida. So the budget reports I see that there's now revenues. There are things that magically happen month to month. And just so you know, this was one of the two examples I sent to Pat Gleason in the Attorney General's office asking for mediation on, because this reports you're looking at are PDFs. I asked for the supporting schedules, which would suggest Excel spreadsheets, which your cfo came over to me at on MAY 5th, the last time you had one
265of these, and said, she absolutely does her work in Excel. I got excited for half a second because I thought for sure, I'm going to start getting drowned in Excel spreadsheets, but I'm still parched. Nothing happened. Still no reports. I could do another request to keep this going and ask for them every month, but I'm not getting them. I'm getting schedules adjacent. They're interesting, but none of them are starting with what we're all looking at today. So. And we don't even acknowledge parts of my other requests. So for instance, you have prepaid inventories. The projected balance is zero. At the end of the year, you would prepay for the following period. That's even explained I think, somewhere in this document. But they disappear also disappearing again, the restricted which one month that was the difference
266in the fund balance. They used the restricted to fluff up the balance. Magically the projected revenues now match the adopted budgets, projected revenues when that number has been all over the place. So I cannot explain the numbers that are changing from month to month. Looking at a pdf, I can't do it. I'm not a I'm not a magician. I need to actually see spreadsheets. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public speakers? No. Board member discussion. DR. Zeman chair. Appreciate the opportunity to see this. MISS Johnson. Appreciate getting all this information to us. I would say that a highlight of this report is the 3.36. Again, you know, we were at two point just under three points a couple months ago. So terrific, chair, is part of this increase in the expected fund balance, the $8
267million we got from the legislature in terms of relief on enrollment changes. MR. MISS Johnson. No. So that 8 million is really for next year, not for this year. So it doesn't help us with this year's fund balance. It should, but we haven't received it. I don't the reason why revenue is recorded at the time. We cannot record revenue until we receive or we get something from the state to notify is going to be recorded in this fiscal year. If if we do, we anticipate to get the 8 million in this school year. Yes. Terrific. And how much would that change our end of year fund balance? 8 million. But remember, the Categoricals really are still going to be impacted. That's the restricted part. And we haven't identified what that's going to look like until
268the end of the fiscal year. That's terrific. I'm still worried about, you know, salaries and benefits. And I and I'm going to continue to talk about this until we come up with a better habit. Is it fair, MISS Johnson, to say that a school, if they overspend their salaries and benefits, gets into a little bit of trouble? That's the purview of of the deputy superintendent and her team. As far as you know, how they. What happens to a principal if they overspend their salary and benefits budget that they're given for their whole school? If they overspend, it's kind of difficult for them to overspend. But if they overspend, they go through the process that they need to. It's almost impossible for them to overspend at a school, correct? They get a salary, they get benefits.
269It's the budget that goes out. Is that also true of district staff? Yes. We have put in some other controls. I think the over the usually the overspend that you do see is such as transportation with overtime, because you just don't have enough employees to drive busses. And in many cases like that. And some of our worst workforce education opportunities at the tech schools, because you can't find that that welder. And so the welder is working morning and, and, and night school. So those are some of the things that we often see. I appreciate that. I think that this is bigger than that. That's why I keep talking about it. You know, salaries and benefits are a huge share of our operating budget for this year. What are we projected to exceed on the budget
270for salaries and benefits? Go ahead, MISS Johnson. If you have that number. Last month, we I mean, when I did the presentation, it was around 50 million. $50 million. That's a lot of money, right? That's not a welder or a bus driver. It's a lot of welders or a lot of bus drivers and a lot of other things going on. The part that I just cannot sit still about any longer is if a school does that, I mean, they virtually cannot do it. A school cannot overspend the budget that they're given for people, but the district can overspend by 50 million. We just did it. And what I'm going to ask for, MR. Superintendent, is a formal response to what are we going to do for school year 2627 so that our overspend on the
271budget is zero for for salaries and benefits? Why is that important? If you need welders and bus drivers and other people to work overtime, it's got to be in the budget because this board approves the budget. And if we're approving a budget and we MISS By $50 million, what's the point of having a school board? So I need to have confidence that we have internal controls for our district staff in the same way that we have internal controls of our schools, because schools is where we do our magic, right? This is where we win over students, and they're held to very tight salary and benefit controls. And I don't understand why this district is not. Other districts in the United States have that. By the way, did you know that they have internal controls and
272their overspend is zero, or they make an asset out of the year because they book salaries and benefits at number of people, times total salary. And then they have people that leave, people that resign. And that salary lapse becomes an asset for the board and the superintendent to work on in order to deal with emergencies that come up during the year. We have got to figure out how to do that. And that's going to hurt because MISS Hixon wants us to get 60 million for raises. We're going to start the year 80 million in the hole. And now Zeeman's coming in and saying that $50 million that you just you know, you don't budget honestly about it. We've got to be honest with the public and we must be honest with this board. We cannot
273approve a budget that is that is going to be missed by $50 million on our number one cost, which is on salaries and benefits. So formally, Doctor Hepburn, I'm asking for you to come back to the board and tell us what internal controls that you're going to put in for next year, so that our salaries and benefits that we spend is less than or equal to what we budget? Duly noted. Thank you sir. It has just been going on for too long. And it's it's not anybody's issue that's here. Now. This is a budget kind of momentum that's been going on forever. But I would rather be in the business of having salary lapse as an asset than to be in the business of lying to the public and saying, no, we can come in
274at 1.3 billion in salaries when we know it's going to cost $50 million more. The other thing that I love about this, Doctor Hepburn, is this board has to help you with welders and bus drivers. We just found an asset, I think with our general counsel's help, of 8 to $12 million, that could be spent on things like bus driver salaries, bus driver bonuses and things like that. I don't understand why we continue to start the every every year, 30 or 50 bus drivers short if we need to pay them more to get 30 or 50 more bus drivers, let's giddy up and let's pay them. You know what? The market needs us to pay them to do the job. I think driving kids around is a hard job, but there's a lot of people
275that really do that. Thank you. Any other board member discussion? All in favor of f3 say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no item passes unanimously. Could I get a motion and a second on l1? So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman, seconded by MISS Hixon public comment on l1. No comment. Board member discussion. MR. Cervera. Thank you. Chair. I get a little antsy when I see things like this regarding is this is framed as a non-disclosure. You know, my position on transparency and how important I think it is with all of our constituents and general members of the public as well, in doing some research. It's my understanding. And MADAM General Counsel, if I'm wrong, please tell me. But it's my understanding that there is a portion of the Florida statutes dealing with certain trade secrets.
276I think it's 688 of the Florida chapter, 688 of the Florida statutes, if I'm not mistaken. And the purpose of this is to protect certain trade secrets of the prospective vendor. That's correct. Okay. And after this initial negotiation is decided, anything that comes out of this that forms the basis of a contract would have to come before this board with all terms disclosed, and the members of the public would be able to review that in advance, come and make public comment. Well, hopefully they'll be able to come and make public comment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but they will be able to engage with us. And this is not something that will be finalized under the guise of an nda or concealing any type of information, correct? Correct. Okay. My concerns have been answered. Thank
277you. Thank you. Any other board discussion? All in favor of l1 say aye. Aye. All opposed? All opposed. Say no item passes unanimously. Could I get a motion and a second on m3. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman. Second by MISS Hixon. Public comment on m3. No comment. No comment. Board member discussion. DR. Zeman. Thank you so much. Chair. In item m3, we see that there is a group that would like to continue to use Powell Stadium, American Youth Football League has used this for a long time. What status would they have for negotiating directly with the school board to continue to use that stadium? Go ahead. Wanza. Thank you. So DR. Zeman what we have been in contact with them. They are a an outside entity that would, you know, approach the district like
278anyone else to potentially do a lease agreement of some sort or partnership agreement with us. They have been in contact with us. They would like to do it at no cost. And that is we know that that is not something that that's not the direction that we have received from the board. So we will work with them, see, you know, what they are able to do as it relates to entering in entering into some type of an agreement. But I'm certain the direction that we've heard from the board is no cost is not something that the board is interested in, but we will sit down and talk with them. They are the Youth Athletic League. They're in the city. And but as you know, in the executive summary, the city approached us about making this
279making this adjustment to the recreation lease agreement because of the decline in participation and things of that nature in the youth athletics in the city. Yeah. Terrific. And Doctor Hepburn, I wonder what direction have you received from this board about doing things that at cost less than what it cost us to maintain and operate the fields? Yes. So we've received direction from the board about ensuring that we're not just giving things away for free. Simply simply stated. I'm glad I asked because I thought I heard it a little differently. I thought what I heard was, if we sell it, we're selling it at market price. If we lease it, we're leasing it at market leasing price. Is that is that fair enough? That's correct. Yeah, I appreciate that. And I don't know if we never
280need to be formal with that in some some kind of direction. Maybe I'll borrow DR. Holness and we'll see if somebody wants to write that up in a formal direction to the superintendent. But I think it would work very well. Now, in some senses, this American Youth Football League MAY have to go through facilitation and lease the field in the interim until they until they want to work out something. Maybe there is a cost to them. That is the market cost. That's less than facilitation. But I just appreciate the staff kind of trying to keep that league going. Even though the city wants to walk away from this agreement. Thanks, chair. Thank you. Any other board member discussion? All in favor of m3 say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no item passes unanimously. Is anyone
281on the line. Yeah. I, I voted. Yeah sorry. MISS Rupert, what did you say. I, I was I. Okay got it. Thank you. Could I get a motion and a second on item m five. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman second by MISS Hixon public comment on m5. No comment. Board member discussion. MISS Thompson is not here. I apologize. First, I just wanted to say thank you to staff for correcting the. Or not correcting, but for hearing community feedback about the k through eight and working with them. I know it probably took a longer time than they wanted, but we needed to ensure that the entire community wanted that time change. So I really appreciate that. And then I do have a motion to correct some other times. So I would like to make the
282following revisions for Doctor Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School to correct the time to 8 to 2 for silver Silver Trail Middle School to correct the time to 350 for Pompano Beach High School, to correct the end time to 330, and for Mcfatter technical to add pm share time hours. Second public comment on the motion. Board member discussion. Miss Hixon. I just can you kind of like are they wrong on the schedule and you're just fixing them? Or because I'm the only board member that pulled the item, I was requested to make. These changes. There we go. We should do that quickly. Thank you. Any other board member discussion on the motion? DR. Zeman were you wanting to. I was going to ask what the other countywide member asked already. Thanks, MISS Hixon. Got it,
283MADAM Chair. Go ahead. DR. Holness and I appreciate board member Thompson. You know, feedback. But just for the record, are there any objection from staff regarding these recommended time changes. That. Doctor Dr Fulton is okay if I. Go ahead, doctor. DR. Holness I as MISS Thompson said, I actually asked her if she would be kind enough to make the motion because I know there was a a scrivener's error and we wanted to make sure that it was corrected. For the record, one of them particularly was with Pompano Beach High and then the other the one for doctor mlk. When the. The concern was brought to us over the weekend and we were able to work with transportation to actually affect affect that change. So instead of revising the item and then, you know, upsetting the
284board with getting something at the late hour on Monday. Since MISS Thompson pulled the item, I asked if she could publicly ask the board to revise the item. Okay. I appreciate Doctor Wanza, I just wanted to make sure staff is on record that it's okay. Yes. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Sorry, I didn't realize I was the chair. All right. So any further comments on item m five board member? Thanks, Becca. Okay. All right. Those in favor of item m five, say I. Aye. Those opposed say no. Okay. The ayes have it at this time. Y o as amend. Thanknk you ThThee in favor of item m m five as amended, say aye. Those opposed say no. Good. The ayes have it at this time. MAY I have a motion and a
285second to pass to pass agenda item zero 30303 rather moved by board member Thompson, second by board member Cervera. Are there any registered speakers? No speakers. Okay. Any discussion? We have board member Thompson. I just wanted to congratulate or show appreciation for the staff for having this program, and I wanted to hear our plan for making sure the community knows about it. Okay. Thank you, board member Thompson, any further discussion? Board member Bulman. Thanks for pulling this. Board member Thompson I, I echo that sentiment. It's always a pleasure at the Water Matters day to award the Nature Scape Award winners. And we always have a lot of participants from our schools, which is very awesome with their food, forests and their gardens and everything else. So I don't know how they're going to disseminate the
286information, but I but there's many programs that we have in the schools right now that are actively participating. It's really great to see. Okay, great. Thank you, board. Member quick, can I have staff explain how they're disseminating the information? Okay, so go ahead, Doctor Fulton. Thank you, doctor Cohen I'm going to go ahead and have you delay the plan. But I will tell you the first thing we needed to do. And now that is approved. So now Doctor Cohen will go ahead and go into detail what the communication plan is after today. Sure. We're going to have meetings with all the impacted schools via teams. And we also have some information that we're ready to hit send to all the schools that are participating so that they are aware of it, and there will be
287an implementation timeline that will also be creating specifically for those schools to share out that information and the resources that they'll be following. Okay. Board member Bulman, any further comments? Okay. All right. So. Oops, sorry. MAY MAY I have a motion to MAY I have a motion and a second to pass agenda item t one. Oh I'm sorry. Those in favor of agenda item. Oh three say aye. Those opposed say no. Okay. The ayes have it. MAY I have a motion and a second for agenda item t one. Okay. Moved by board member Thompson. Second by board member Hixon. Any registered speakers? No speakers. Okay. Board member Rupert for item t one. Thank you, Doctor Holness. Yes, I pulled this. So to discuss briefly actually that staff discuss briefly about the email from MISS Dubbin
288of the dac Elementary Technology Committee. And basically what their concerns were, as well as what they anticipated moving forward and what were their suggestions. And I actually, I'll just briefly wait there to see staff to answer that. Doctor Dr Fulton. So I'll check with the team because I'm not familiar about the email. Missus. Rupert. Okay. Okay. Board member Rupert, do you have any further comments? Yes, actually, it would be a I'm not going to ask. Well, I guess maybe I could ask MADAM Chair, is she back on the dais or. No. No. I can't see very well. Okay, so DR. Holness, maybe you remember that our chair brought like a a technology. I want to say it was a technology. Plan to basically have parents be able to opt in and opt out of services
289for for elementary school. Has there been any further movement in that? And I hope I'm remembering it correctly. I, I know I thought it was part of a workshop or, or something. So does that sound familiar yet? Doctor Dr Fulton. I MISS Rupert I'm trying to. Are you speaking of the plan where we were reducing assessments for for students acknowledging. Basically technology computers for reading programs over the weekend, for screen time for elementary school kids. So basically to kind of, you know, similar to what we did with cell phones with limiting their use, we, we are certainly having them use a tremendous amount of screen time as well on the computer during school, but also during the weekend for doing their reading groups and, and certain practices. I guess it was. I know that some
290other districts around the country and maybe DR. Zeman knows this as well, that several of them have done a resolution for technology with intention. It's the initiative to utilize the resolution resolution for basically grade based screen time, foundational mastery, giving back the really to ensure that the teacher has autonomy for educators who MAY choose paper based instructions without penalty and to to into policy. So having to make sure that it requires instructional technology to meet standards for intentionality, cognitive engagement, and developmental appropriateness. It's basically a bill of rights that ensures that operations and instructions comply with the federal and Florida data and privacy laws, but also to make sure that we are developing a screen time guideline, as well as tracking our students screen time and purposefully giving our parents and our teachers the ability
291to use paper based products. If, if they feel it's it's better. And I know as a reading teacher, it's way better if we kept the kids off screen time, at least on the weekends and and less for homework at the elementary school age, there's nothing better than a paper based book for. For kids to keep the learn the love of learning in there. So I don't know if we have started a a resolution for this, but I'd certainly, you know, take direction as to give it to you guys to see if you want to do one and sponsor it, I certainly would. Any comment. Any board member comments on board member Rupert response. Board member Cervera. Thank you, Vice Chair. MISS Rupert, I think I know what you're talking about. Are you referring to the
292DACs? Yes. White paper that they circulated to the board back on MAY 12th. Doctor Dr Fulton I just you got it now. Okay, great, doctor. I forwarded it to doctor Dr Fulton. I know this is a little off topic for the agenda item, but I had the opportunity to review it as well as to speak with the dac on this as well. There's some good nuggets on here. There's a proposed resolution that can provide guidance to our technology policies. There's a good amount of research in here. There's resources that are referenced and some technical recommendations that address some of the DACs concerns. I know that some of us feel the screen time is getting a little out of control in the classroom. And I know that the dac, the elementary subcommittee here, put a lot
293of good work and effort into this to have recommendations made. I, I don't want to step out of bounds here. I don't know if it's appropriate to do anything on this on this particular agenda item with the Microsoft. But I just wanted to clarify what doctor Rupert excuse me, what MISS With MISS Rupert was was was referring to honorary doctorate today. Nora was referring to on this. And and for the record, I too would like to see this come before. Maybe at the next workshop when the dac presents. So they. All the ideas can be fleshed out and explained to my colleagues. But just to shed some light on what I believe MISS Rupert was talking about. Thank you. Yeah, that was it. Thank you so much. Okay. Any further board discussion on item t
294one? Okay. Those in favor of item t one say I. Those opposed say no. Okay. The ayes have it. I'm an. I and board member Rupert as well. At this time we're going to look at the open agenda items pulled for board discussion. Those. Bb one okay. At this time, MAY the chair Vice chair have a motion and a second to pass item bb one. Okay, okay. Move by board member Hixon. Second by board member Bulman. Any public speakers, any board discussion. Bb one I believe I have here. Board member Cervera. Thank you, MR. Vice Chair. I just have a question for the $78,000. I think that we're getting this invoice for what exactly is included in this membership. My apologies. Let me correct the record. $75,000 is the annual membership fee for the Council
295of Great City Schools. What exactly? What benefit is derived from paying that? I'm assuming we get like a shiny membership card and that's great, but what do we get for our 75 k? Okay Doctor Fulton and then I'll have board member Zeman respond as well. I have to follow up on that one. I could probably assist with some. I'm the rep to the council if you'd like me to share. DR. Zeman after. Doctor Cohn, doctor Fulton, doctor Cohn. So I know is being a member standing member of the Council of Great City Schools for a very long time. Part of our affiliation to be part of them provides us with some national advocacy and influence policy when it comes to federal grants, such as title grants. It also gives all board members access to all
296of their research data. We are part of the large urban school district, so we get to confer, meet and confer with all of our like peers with some national trend data. As part of membership districts. We also get to participate with them in national studies around academic instructional resources and materials. We also part of just part of being a member district that allows us to align ourselves around some academic outcomes and goals that are aligned to both national, state, and local efforts. Most of the districts in Florida are part of the larger convening of the Council of Great City Schools. So we do a lot of partnership with our peer districts within the district. We don't often take an opportunity to participate, but it is available around professional learning and leadership. We've had a lot
297of council, great cities that came to the district and helped in terms of board governance. That opportunity is very specific to us in terms of role like Convenings that they provide to the district as well. They also provide some technical assistance to the district in terms of advocating around operational efficiency, governance and management systems, particularly in the in the space. Now, we're looking at expert level diagnostic of improving some of our trend data that every district is doing. So school districts are experiencing enrollment issues, so they help with a lot of that stuff. So there's a lot of convening that helps us to kind of think about what other districts are experiencing and how they're able to bring us together collectively. Thank you, Doctor Cohen. DR. Zeman and just to MR. Cervera point, because I'm
298our rep to this group, they have a monthly. In addition to everything Doctor Cohen pointed out, the Department of Ed Federal stood down its 200 person research unit in the past two years, and the Council of Great City Schools is the only other national organization now that can talk about large urban districts. And so the top 82 districts have relatively similar, not the same, but similar kinds of issues on transportation, on food, nutrition, on teacher pay on, you know, how do we deal with enrollment changes up and down and things like that. They do a pretty amazing job every year with their staff of a couple dozen researchers identifying things. So we've gone to them before Doctor Cohen and I and the superintendent who attend these monthly calls and said, hey, we'd really like to
299know more about. We asked him once last year about deaths of students. You know, we had a junior in one of our high schools killed. And we're like, are there any districts that have done something to really make this a meaningful learning experience so that you can take that horrible accident that happened and spread it to, you know, 20,000 high school students and maybe even some middle schools to get it together. They've helped us with some technology research to make sure we don't make mistakes as we move forward with ai. But the cool part about it is this group 70 years old. I mean, they started because in 1956, Sergeant Shriver wanted American high schools to teach vocational ed because they wouldn't get into that. They thought that was, you know, that's someone else's problem,
300not ours. And with this group, they moved into what, you know, is now a career and technical education. So they do get ahead of those things. They make districts think a little bit about what's next, not just what you're doing right now, but every district throws that $75,000 in of the big ones, we just expanded the size. It used to be 60 or 62. I forget the exact number, and they lowered the enrollment limit to let the next 20 in, because it turns out they had similar problems to the top 62. So we get a lot of value out of it. I'm not going to I don't want to suggest how you would vote as a fellow board member. I just want to make sure that you're aware that we've taken the research that we've
301gotten from them, and we've actually implemented it in items right here in Broward County. And I think it's made a big difference in terms of making sure we do the right things and avoid doing some of the wrong things. Okay. MR. Cervera, I know you're going to continue on the item. Is your comments going to be pretty short because we have a 2:00 time certain or did you want to you're done. Okay. DR. Zeman. I I've said a lot of what I wanted to say. The only other thing I'd like to do is, is as we move into the next year and we move into another budget cycle, assuming that the travel restrictions on the board are not taken back. Next year's Council of Great City School Board conference is in Boston, OCTOBER. 20th. 21st
302to the 25th. I've been to this for six years in a row. It is bar none the best 3 or 4 days you can spend on k-12 superintendent. Most of the cabinet goes every year, so it's an opportunity to go through sessions with them. But when you want to get out of the seven urban districts in Florida, which is a great bubble by itself, and you want to get to 82, the quality of the speakers, it's the Brene Brown's. It's the founders of of Chatgpt and things like that, that go and you get to get to have really powerful things. So I'm just giving a shameless plug for anybody else who would like to join the superintendent and the cabinet and I and going, but it's a it's a hike. It's up in Boston, but
303it is bar none the best k-12 conference I've been able to attend, including the one I went to last year in London, which was great because it was London. But some of us will be presenting at that Boston conference. Absolutely. And I think the superintendent is presenting as well. If I'm not wrong. Yes. Yeah. That's wonderful. And thank you again for doing that. I went to your sessions last two years, Doctor Cohn, and I appreciate that. So there you go. Thank you. DR. Zeman doctor Dr Fulton. I think Doctor Zeeman corrected I wanted to add he did say it was expanding. He's absolutely correct. Have expanded to 82 Arts district. So it's a huge network. Awesome great. Those in favor of item b one say aye. Aye. Those opposed say no. The ayes have it.
304We have a time certain at this time which is item oh two. MAY I have a motion to bring item oh two to the floor. Second. Second. Okay. Move by DR. Zeman. Second by board member Hixon. Are there any public speakers? No speakers. Okay. Okay. This. Good afternoon everyone. Sorry. I'm here to speak on behalf of that item. Okay. My name is Melissa Olen and I'm from Nicklaus Children's Heart Institute and the director of Project Adam. And thank you. A sincere thank you to all of you for allowing the time to be here to represent this item. I believe that its summary of the program is within your documents, and I am just here to help provide any questions that you guys MAY have regarding the program that I am beyond, beyond excited to expand
305to the County of of Broward County schools. So we've done some great work with Miami-Dade County Public Schools in implementing and teaching school faculty how to respond in the event of a cardiac emergency on school campus. We are proud to the to congratulate Miami-Dade County Public Schools and becoming 100% Heart Safe School District. This great work. We were then invited and allowed to expand the program to Palm Beach Public School system and they are now 100% heart safe schools as well. This is awarded when school faculty can respond to a drill in the event of a cardiac emergency in less than three minutes to be able to perform compressions, communicate as a team, and apply and use an aed with the first shock off in less than three minutes. In doing this great work in
306the two and a half years of expanding this program, we've had 11 cardiac arrests on those school campuses, and ten of them survived fully intact neurological outcome prior to ems arriving. So we would love the opportunity to work with your faculty and look forward to congratulating your school district in the year of 2728 of being 100% heart safe as well. Thank you so much for that information. Did you have anything further to say? Okay, MR. Hill, is there any further public speakers? No other speakers. Okay. Board discussion. Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you to, again, General counsel for getting this across the finish line. We've been working on it for a little bit of time. As a parent who had a student at Nicklaus Children's, it was Miami Children's when he was
307there as a heart patient. I really appreciate this also as a district who has an employee who had a cardiac issue in a school, we do know how important it is for people to be able to respond to cardiac issues. We're thankful for the people that were at William Dandy to be able to save our Dino, but we. I think it's really important that people beyondusthehe nurses on on campus are able too I it. S I'm really appreciciate e of this partnership. I do hope we have 100% in the next year that our heart safe. And thank you so much for bringing this to the to Broward County. Thank you. Any other board member discussion? MISS Bulman? Thank you. This is awesome. I was going to say the same thing. We're very happy that someone
308was able to save our Dino. And now there will be someone in all the schools that could do that. So that's fantastic. And I look forward to you coming back in two years so that we can celebrate our 100% proficiency and heart emergencies. Thanks. Anyone else? All in favor of oh two say I, I opposed say no item passes unanimously. All right. Have we done oh three yet? Yes. 0bb2 okay. Can I get a motion in a second on bb two move by DR. Zeman. Seconded by MISS Hixon public comment on bb two. No comments. Board member discussion. MISS Thompson. I was just going to thank my colleagues for the support of this item. As your representative on the mpo, I think it's really important that we have representation there as they're determining different projects
309throughout our county. And that's it. Thank you. Any other board member discussion? All in favor of bb two say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no item passes unanimously. Could I get a motion and a second on f f. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman. Second by MISS Bulman public comment on ff1. No comments. Board member discussion. MISS Hixon. Thank you. I like to do every month again want to thank our grants Department and all the different staff members that have put all of this together. Happy to. This is a big number. So happy to report the total amount of grants for just this month. And I will say a big one is title one is $32,932,841. So almost $33 million coming to the district. In addition. And, you know, some of them are smaller grants
310that go to the school. So thank you for the partnerships in that. But a lot of these are federal and state grants to continue title one and all the bigger programs that we run for our students, Head Start, things of that nature. So it's a big, heavy lift and we really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Any other. Thank you. Any other board discussion? All in favor of f one say I. I all opposed say no item passes unanimously. Could I get a motion and a second on item g one. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman. Second by MISS Hixon public comment on gg1. No comment. I just wanted to congratulate the new Deputy General counsels. I don't know if Attorney Dupree Bruno wanted to make some comments. Yeah. So I just wanted to also
311join you, MADAM Chair, and the board, with congratulating our new deputy general counsel, Catherine Jack Adams. As well as attorney Corey Huffman, who will be joining us AUGUST 3rd. Nice. All any other board discussion? All in favor of gg1 say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no item passes unanimously. I MADAM. Chair yes. I'm sorry. There's no one there for me to raise my hand for. But has the item bb three or did it already go through. Yes. Or nobody pulled it. So it it was it was approved. Well bb three was not pulled. So we have we're I'm actually going to do the bulk items in a moment. Okay. With bb so bb three was not pulled. So if you'd like to speak to it you need to let me know. No as long as
312it's going in the bulk one I'm fine. Okay. So the items that we have not yet passed that have been pulled by board members are f1gg3jj1jj3002419pp7 and t one. So at this time, MAY the chair have a motion and a second to pass the open items that have not been pulled for discussion. A one through four, b three d one and two, f two three and 4gg2jj2mm1001356789 1011 12131415, 16, 1718202122pp1, two, three, four, five, six and ss. One so moved. Chair, we can add one to that list because my questions were answered unless someone else has them. kay we'll add tt one. And we passed. F1f1. Okay thank you. So move. Chair moved by DR. Zeman seconded by MISS Hixon public comment on. Is there a public comment on the open items that have not
313been pulled for discussion? One registered speaker for pp3 Doctor Trudy Germanovich. Distracted. Okay so this is p one is that correct? Pp3pp3 okay sorry. Okay I thought I had signed up for pp4 but I think there's similar. I'm in favor of this item because I've been told that. Went through the technology committee and was presented as a separate item, which was discussed at the rulemaking workshop. That has been the process for changing policies in Broward schools for many years. I would hope that for the next school year, you will make sure that you ask for interested persons to be an active representative on all your committees. Their job should be to keep you apprized of the work of each committee. I know the board asked for a way for the board to know who's interested
314in serving. Today there was a public speaker, Lisa Reyes, who has experience in teaching and technology and also is a parent presently. I hope someone will reach out to her because she asked me how she could get on the Technology Advisory Committee. You had asked the superintendent to provide a way for the public to sign up for being on district committees, and I've not been able to find it on the website or anywhere else, so I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me how to guide people when they want to be on those committees. I know I can call on some of you, but I'd really like the public to be able to look on the website and find out how to do it. I'm now spoken on my. This would be my third item
315and have used nine of my 12 minutes allowed for me to speak according to the policy which we presently have in place and which you changed yesterday. I want you to keep track of that. This is my third time speaking. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public speakers? No other speakers. All right. All in favor of the open items that have not been pulled for discussion, say I all opposed. All opposed. Say no. Items passed unanimously. Could I get a motion and a second on item g, g three. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman second by MISS Hixon public comment on gg3. No speakers. Board member discussion. MR. Cervera. Thank you chair. So I've got some thoughts on this proposed settlement in general and just some overall thoughts on this district's desire to settle cases.
316In my opinion, that perhaps we need to be a little bit more aggressive with MR. Bruno. What is the settlement amount at issue here? If this were to pass this afternoon. 1.7 million. So we are giving almost $2 million to resolve this lawsuit, correct? Correct. Okay. So that's a lot of money. And I've looked over this settlement agreement, and I've looked over some of the projects that formed the basis of this, and I'm going to talk directly in what's involved with the settlement and publicly available information. And I'm not going to I'm specifically going to avoid anything that was discussed in any attorney client privilege session, for obvious reasons. First and foremost, this settlement covers eight projects. They are listed within the settlement agreement. My question I'll pose it to the Deputy Super. But my
317question is this what was the initial value of the contracts for the eight projects that are referenced within the settlement agreement that are subject to the lawsuit? So that is something that we would have to look in terms of the original value. I just know what the claim was, but I don't have the original value. Well, let me throw you out some of the numbers that I think are accurate. And you tell me otherwise if you believe that's the case. I think for these eight projects, the original Po was somewhere in the ballpark of $2 million. Despite that, I think we paid them somewhere in the ballpark of $3 million along the course of the way. In addition, we also gave them partial settlements for the various projects at Atlantic, at attics. And let me
318see what else at Pasadena Lakes, at sunrise and at Westchester. So when I'm looking over this and trying to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars, and I realize this is this is litigation and litigation has has risk, you know, I do litigate for a living. So I perhaps better than most can understand that and appreciate that. But when I'm looking at the history of our relationship with this particular company, and I see the millions and millions of dollars that we've paid them over the years above and beyond what they were entitled to pursuant to contractual agreements or pos that we MAY have had in place. I get a little antsy. And now we're asking this board to pay another $1.7 million to resolve the pending lawsuit with this company. So let me ask you
319this, MADAM General Counsel, what do we get in exchange for this settlement? Well, we're resolving claims they have, and we have reviewed their original claim, which was for this particular suit, $3.68 million. We in they're basically saying that they performed work and they were not paid for the work that they were performing that was performed. The team went and reviewed all of their claims and said and determined that the work that they actually performed was $1.7 million worth of work. So we are actually paying them for the work that was performed, and we are not paying any interest or anything. In addition to that, just for the work that was actually performed. And that's in addition to the near million dollars in overpayments that we've made over the course of the years with the relationship
320with them. For these eight projects. I know that there were other payments that were made. MR. Cervera, but I can't confirm the amount. Okay. And this work that they're suing us for, was it performed timely? That's something that I. I can't answer that particular. All I can tell you is what was shared with me was that they actually performed this work. And this is funds that is actually owed to them. That's the only thing I can share with you. Okay. Well, if I have a contract to perform work within a six month time period and it takes me 12 years to do the work, I think one could argue that maybe I'm not entitled to that as much money as the contract called for, because I didn't perform in a timely manner. In addition, was
321the work performed properly? Did it meet expectations? So my understanding is that the amount of what was parsed out from their 3.6, almost $4 million, the 1.7 was verified that the work was done and it was done appropriately. That's my understanding. So was it appropriately? We just don't know if it was done timely. Yes. Okay. So I'm going to close with this. Looking at the data that I've reviewed on this and seeing how much excess money these folks have gotten over the course of this, of this project, for these eight schools that they've worked on, which nobody can confirm whether or not it was timely, although I'm glad we were able to pin down that it was proper. But being at the fact that they were overpaid or received in excess of almost $1 million
322over what we originally bargained for in the contract and in the original Po. I am not in favor of this, and I'm not going to be supporting this. And I'm also going to reiterate that just for the benefit of my colleagues, just because someone threatens to sue us or has sued us, we don't have to fold every single time. We've got good lawyers in-house. We've got good lawyers that we hire from outside firms. Sometimes you got to try cases and try to get a better result. So, and I'm not suggesting one way or another that this is one of those cases. But in light of all of the circumstances that I've outlined, I will not be supporting this. Thank you. Thank you. Any other board member discussion? Attorney Dupree? Bruno. I just want to make
323sure that I use the correct term of art. The work was done and accepted by the district. I just want to make sure I used the right term of art. Any other board member discussion? All in favor of gg3, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no. No item passes with one dissenting vote from MR. Cervera. Could I get a motion in a second on jj1 move by DR. Zeman seconded by MISS Hixon public comment on jj1. No comment. Board member discussion, MISS Thompson. Thank you. Chair, I just needed some clarification because it seems like this change order is to put in work to the portables, and the portables aren't being used, so I just need to understand better this expense. MISS Cole is going to come up and address your question. I'm sorry, can you
324repeat? Good afternoon, Tony Coley. Sure. So this is the item for Whispering Pines. And my understanding of the item is that it's putting work into portables, and the portables aren't being used. So I'm wondering why we're doing that. So the work has already been completed. And at the time the portables, they were out there so they weren't being removed from the site. And we have to at that time, we had to put in these devices. They were not on the list to be demolished. Understood. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other board member discussion? All in favor of jj1 say aye. Aye. All opposed? All opposed. Say no item passes unanimously. I'm going to jump to some items where there are fewer people speaking. Just because we do have a time certain for 230.
325So could I get a motion and a second on o o for moved by DR. Zeman. Seconded by MISS Hixon public comment on o o. For no comment. Board member discussion. I pulled this item because I found. The measurable goal for this item a little bit concerning, and I did address this with the superintendent last week. So you know, I, I. Feel very strongly about like giving kids access to paper books. And because that is what I hear a lot from students is that they like to read on paper. And I also understand the importance of expanding electronic access because that expands access to, to everyone. And I hear, especially from like Esq students, that ebooks are actually easier for, for some of them to use. So I'm not opposed to expanding access to ebooks
326with the understanding that we are still providing paper books in our media centers and in our classrooms. But the the concern I have is that the measurable outcome for this says by JUNE 2029, sbbc aims to have at least 40% of students using Sora to read ebooks or audiobooks that support Ela benchmarks for excellent student thinking Et-cetera I. My issue continues to be that if the goal is simply for kids to be using the program, a lot of times the way that translates into the classroom is us telling teachers, hey, you have to use this program even if you don't want to, because we're paying for it. And that is not something that I can support. So, Doctor Hepburn, you and I had discussed this. You said that that this would be updated. I guess
327I'm wondering what a better measurable outcome could be for this item. 004004 give me one second. Okay. Yes. Remembered a conversation around this. And so this is not to supersede the paperback books that we have in the media centers. And access is to expand access to different modalities of actually reading books. So I think the deputy and I were talking about this, and it's probably more around engagement to ensure students are diving into some form of literacy with some literary material and giving them voice and choice of how they want to receive the information. So this is we talked about more around engagement as a, as a measurable outcome versus what's listed right now. So I guess what I would like is a follow up on like a better measurable outcome. And also what happens
328if we don't meet that outcome. So I would like a follow up on that. Absolutely. Any other board discussion on this item? MISS Bulman. I'm glad you pulled this because it was on my list as well. So just so that we You understand? This is for l. A. This is this goal is particularly for that. Okay? Yes. But there's also paper books available. Is this just. We're getting a license for whatever paper books we've purchased. And then this just so you're you're buying both. Yeah. So when we when we purchase curriculum materials, especially textbooks and the like, we get both the paperback and also electronic versions. I don't know if Doctor Cohen or. Can provide a little bit more detail for this one. Disappeared on me. Okay. He's coming. And can you repeat the question.
329If the if the $125,000 a year is paper and digital materials, or if this is just digital access. So this is a curriculum, not really books. Is that like, I'm not we're not getting war andndeaea on t t in. I t ts t t.. Digitalccess? It's digalal access toooooks. And so it allows us to streamline where teachers normally would purchase physical books. This allows us to contain it so that the books are state approved. They're in line with statute. And so it provides digital access to students not only in the classroom, but it provides digital access to students at home that ordinarily wouldn't have access to books. So we're not buying the physical books? No. So they're not available. No. It's giving them electronic access to books. They will have hard copies of books within
330the libraries that they can check out. But this expands the opportunity to have them have digital access to books. And like what? So what kind of books are we talking about? Is this like a classic novel, or is this just something that has to do with something that they made up for a curriculum? Yeah, it's a literature books. It's almost like, if you recall, Accelerated Reader, where you had opportunities for students to extend their reading opportunities to kind of meet goal. One of our proficiency for third grade. So it gives them access to that. And so in this case, schools MAY have in their circulation one or 2 or 3 books, whereas this gives any student that wants that particular book greater access to that particular book. Okay. I mean, I think that there's a
331balance that needs to be made here. We're spending a lot of money on digital access. You know, we don't really know who's reading them. And then if we're not putting the money into if we only have four copies of a book, then of course they're not going to pay for it. They're not going to be able to read a book. Right. Or if the need is there, then students will have to wait until, you know, they check the books out. And sometimes books get lost or get damaged, and you have to purchase new books, right? But if you're just buying a, I mean, like a paperback novel, that's not a big, that big of a deal. I, I don't know, I, I would rather see more paper books available to the students as well. But
332that's just me. I think that, that I'd rather put our money into that. Yeah. I mean, if you look at our, our usage data, I mean, the usage has, you know, more than doubled in terms of students having access to books. But to Sarah's point, that might just be because they're being forced to use it as well. So is it is this about if the teachers are being told to push it? I don't know, I, I would love to see a little bit more information about how we are providing the access to books in general, like what the, what the makeup is between our digital library and our physical library and how people are, you know, how people are reading, if that's something that we could do because it would be a good, it would
333be nice to see how the kids are actually using the material to be able to make a better educated decision about like, how much it costs and how much we're putting into digital books versus physical books. Yeah. If I can ask a question, the so I hear the board members and they're concerned if we were, let's say, you know, famous novel and we have four copies per media center for middle school and high school, what would be the cost for like, if that same book, the usage is higher electronically because there's, you know, kids are accessing both. What would be the cost to add that amount of books to extend the usage for paperback because. It does it cost more than $125,000 a year. Yeah, yeah, I think it will. It will definitely cost more.
334And then the the other piece is whether or not the school or the media center has the space to store those additional versions of the book as well. This just gives schools, students, parents a lot more options versus kind of having a library with books that are just sitting around. And so they can just check out the books even at home. Whereas you have to go into a library, you have to have a scheduled time for students to go into the library because we treat sometimes library like specials. And so you run into that risk of how frequently are they going to have access to the library based on the schedule. Whereas now with something like Sora, it's on demand. Yeah, I think that's a culture thing though. I mean, that's a major decision that
335we're making because going to the library is a thing. Like you go to the library to get exposed, the librarian shows you the books that are available, you know, so I think that's a decision we have to make about how we're delivering education and how you're going to read. The other thing that I that is concerning, I'm just thinking about myself. It's like, if you're reading something on your phone, you're getting text messages, you're getting other things. When you're reading a physical book, you're not being distracted all the time. So the way that you're actually absorbing the information and you're enjoying the experience is totally different. In fact, it's like you have to train yourself to go back to a book to actually read the whole thing. So I don't I don't know what to
336think about this, but I think there's a bigger conversation for not right now, but I don't think we should make excuses for not going into the library. No, and that's not what I'm saying either. I think that the option I think for me, I think we need to give more options for students. And so I love the library. I love walking and I love the, the. I'm not saying you don't love the library. I'm just saying like, I obviously when you have a digital whatever and it's easier to see it, but there's a, there's more to the experience of going to the library and the physical books. And so, I mean, maybe we could workshop that, I don't know. But thank you. MISS Thompson. And I, I understand chair pulled this because it wasn't a
337lot of comments. And then there was. But my question is, we already have the whole county as a resource. Has the Broward County Public Library that offers eBooks that would be free. We could encourage our kids to get library cards, to use an online system that the taxpayers are already paying for. So at this point, I'm not comfortable approving this item when we already. There is already this resource for our schools and for every student. Thank you. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I'm sorry. If I could just add. So I think so. One we do that we push the the library cards. We do that every year annually. The difference is, I believe, MISS Thompson, is that the kids can go into the library and check out any books that they kind of choose to, and
338there are no parameters around that. Versus doing something like Sora allows us to be more intentional in terms of the kinds of books that help our students safeguard kind of where what they should be reading. That's in compliance because with the library, that's parental choice and so forth. So this gives us just this opportunity to say, here are books that have been vetted by the state, and these are the ones that we believe are are appropriate and approved. Versus library gives you more autonomy from a parent perspective to just choose those books. Thank you. DR. Zeman. Thanks. a couple of things just to share. Big, big picture, right? This is $0.65 per student per year. Okay. Number one. Number two, we need kids to read period. Full stop. You can pick the tech. I don't
339really care that much, but we need kids to read because right now kids are leaving our high schools and going to college, and they're reading a chapter at a time in literature classes in college because they've never read a full book, because their attention span is shorter than it is of a goldfish. So we need kids to read. I don't care if it's hieroglyphics online, Kindles, physical books, graphic novels. They just need to read full stop. Second, I am a huge, frequent flier of this. I have three young people in my family that that live and die by Sora. They've read thousands of books through this service. For students who love to read. This is an amazing resource because it comes through on their laptop. It comes through on their portable device if they want
340to. And there are some students I happen to live with, three of them that read thousands of books through this a year. So when you think about the value for $0.65 per student, this is, I think, a very, very high value for us. And as a school district, we want people to read. Period. Thank you, MISS Hixon. Thank you. And I don't necessarily have a concern about purchasing this, but I'll just say, you know, as a countywide school board member who goes into a lot of libraries, the libraries are not overflowing with actual books. So I, I don't I'm not against this, but I would just say we need to also put the books into the libraries. And it is really clear when you go to certain areas of the district where they have books
341and where they do not. And I know some of them are old and they were getting them off the shelves. But then when I asked them what was the intention of the district to replace them, they said, there isn't any. They don't they don't have the money for the books. So if we have money for the online, I appreciate that, although I also appreciate that it's free from the library. And really, when they're at home, it's none of our business what they read. I mean, that's up to their parents to, to monitor that. I think we, we keep stepping in places where we don't necessarily have to. It's not a huge amount of money, but we do keep saying we don't want to see duplicity. And if it's available in the public library, why are
342we spending $200,000 to provide something that's, as was already mentioned, access to to students for no charge already. So I'm not necessarily going to vote no against this, but I really want to say I think we need to be more intentional about physical books being in our libraries, because they are really not. I I've gone to a bunch of different schools, and it's the first thing we notice when we walk in the media center is like, these shelves are empty. And I don't think that that's the welcoming space that students walk into thinking, oh, I'm coming here to check out books. They go in there for makerspace and all these other things. But I don't think students understand that going to the library is a place to read, because there's just not a lot of
343options for them there. I'm not saying anything against our media people at all. Just saying, I think as a district, we haven't made that a priority and I'd like to see us balance that better. Thank you. Yeah, and I did. I, I apologize to the to our Kipp friends in the audience because I did pick this because I thought it would be quick, but I the conversation today has actually concerned me more regarding this item to MISS Hickson's point, it's not like the media centers are overflowing, but what I continue to think about, like in our education system is the diminishment of human to human interactions. And like MISS Bulman said, like the experience of going into a media center, going into a library and having the conversation with the adult in the room, whoever
344it is, and, you know, having that adult guide a student to a book is incredibly important. And I will just say, I had I, you know, I spent the whole year having round tables with both parents and students specifically on the use of technology in our schools. And the one thing that they all had in common was that both parents and students want to be on screens less, and something that a parent at vsy explained to me was like her child was when she when her child is reading online, it is incredibly distracting. And it is very hard for that child to to follow along. And that's an elementary school parent. Every single student roundtable that I had when I asked, do you prefer to read on paper or online? The vast majority of students
345said they prefer to read on paper, and I don't want to discount the increased access for some students. And I'm not trying to say we need to go only paper, but this is what our students are asking for. So I feel very uncomfortable with how the conversation has gone today regarding this specific platform and just our conversation about digital books and digital access as it stands today. So I don't think I can support this, this item, MISS Rupert. Thank you. And thank you for for pulling it. It's as a reading teacher, all I can say is paper books are magic and we still need digital access for, for a lot of kids that like audio and some kids learn best that way. But I can tell you as, as a high school reading teacher with
346kids who came in at third grade reading level, it going online at all was not helpful to them because we had to rebuild their foundations. And by doing that, you had to do some repetitive things that weren't very exciting. However, when you could chunk it out in books and they were able to do it that way in their own group, reading out loud, sharing it, it's an entirely different thing. So I, I will not be supporting this one, nor will I be supporting the 006 item. So thank you so much. DR. Zeman. Thank you. It is entirely possible that people who love to read will read physical books or digital books because they love to read, and this subscription allows people who can't afford books, who can't get to a library, who don't have other
347access besides their laptop to get them. And it's also entirely possible that people who love to read and get digital sometimes, because that's more easily available to them, then also go have more human to human contact because they've now learned how to read and they love going to the library. They love going to bookstores. So my point isn't to enter into the debate on digital versus paper. I think both are wonderful, but I also want to kind of acknowledge that, that there are children who just love to read. And our fundamental requirement as a school board is to give them access to read. And if we don't give them this, which is $0.65 per person, as an opportunity to just expand the inventory of books that they have, I don't I'm not sure, you know,
348how we can, how we can justify that just because I think kids that love to read, love to read in lots of different formats. And if we satisfy their desire to read, then they're going to keep reading, then they're going to go to libraries and they're going to go to other things. I would always prefer, you know, for kids to have physical books. That's just not possible. It's just not anymore. They're going to get far more access if they have digital tools available to them as well. Thank you, MISS Bulman. Thanks. And listen, I love how you broke it down to $0.65 though. Again, so I don't disagree with you on that. I think that's true. I just think that the broader the broader conversation, obviously we have the library, which I was also thinking.
349So thank you for bringing that up. But, you know, this is a conversation that we keep having. You know, we're having a lot of public speakers. We're having input from parents. We're doing, you know, we're incorporating ai. We have to be, you know, this is going to be a workshop or, you know, an ongoing conversation. But what is our culture and how are we approaching this? And how do you strike the balance with it? I think that's the that's the thing I, I don't want to lean too far digitally when we don't have to, because I think you're taking away the experience. That is also very important to learning and growing. We don't want to be all in on one because as you can see with research and everything else, there's there's benefits and there's
350detriments to both to, to the digital learning. I learned a lot from Doctor Cohn and MR. Davis, and I've changed and I've evolved my attitudes about that. But I think we also have to really think about the whole human, the holistic experience for the student. So I, I support the item, but I with the caveat that I expect that we will be continuing to have these conversations and really try to strike that balance so that we're listening to our stakeholders and that we're doing the right thing for the kids. Yeah. And if. I could just add, I agree with you. I do think that there has to be a balance, but I also think we have to look at the data and there are more students in there, more adults that are reading audiobooks and
351their parents are reading audiobooks. And I think if we restrict it to just the physical books, we're limiting access and preference and modality to students that are inclined to look at and read books digitally. And so I think as much as we can strike the balance, and we should, because. And then, MISS Hickson, to your point, schools are allocated library media funds. So there's supposed to be purchasing books. And if that's not happening, we have to address it. I know every year we actually share that with schools. We tell them their balance, we remind them to purchase their books, and we need to do a better job of that to make sure. But I would say that in, in, in light of where we are, we cannot specifically tailor our options to one segment of
352the population. When we see that other populations are looking at and reading in a different modality. And I don't think we are, i think we have to look at the whole picture about how we're doing that. I agree. And in terms of the media. What are the centers, not the library anymore. We do need to be following up on that because that because MISS Hickson is correct about that. There's some very sad there's some very beautiful, awesome media centers. I know in district one that's like a magical kingdom that you walk into. And then others are like, very sad. So it would be nice if everyone had the same opportunities. Thank you. Any other board member discussion? All in favor of 004 say aye. Aye. All opposed say no. No no. Roll call please. Roll
353call on 004 as presented. Board member Bulman. Yes. Cervera Hixon. Yes. Leonardi. No. Rupert. No. Thompson. No. Zieman. Yes. And Alhadeff is not on the line. Item four four Tie fails. All right. Could I get a motion and a second on item m four. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman second by MISS Hixon. Public comment on m. Four one Register speaker doctor Trudy Germanovich. My name is Doctor Trudy Germanovich. I wish the state of Florida had not opened up our real public schools to being used for charter schools. Unfortunately, this is the reality and it's not possible to stop it with the present legislature. And governor, I remind everyone that your vote in NOVEMBER has consequences for everyone in the state, no matter where you live. There are many reasons why I object to this
354plan. These documents seem to state that this charter school will recruit from students who normally attend Under-enrolled elementary schools surrounding Dandy Middle School. That means that those schools will possibly lose even more students and have the real potential to be closed. My second objection is the sharing of facilities. Even though this plan MAY be successfulul I'vee read a autut many d dficultieie with the coco-usefacacilies s in other states. I also question this charter school bringing young children into a public school, which is presently used by middle school students and not set up properly for kindergarten and primary students who will pay for the changes, such as the need for in-class bathrooms. Will this money come out of the district's budget? As the charter school expands each year, it appears they will actually take over more
355and more of the school. What will happen to dandy middle school students as they expand? Do they just expect to eventually take over the entire campus? I've now spoken on my fourth item, and I've used 12 of the 12 minutes allowed for me to speak according to the present policy, which we have in place for public speakers. What this board did yesterday would have only have given me three minutes total to speak on all the agenda items. The present public comments are not the reason why your meetings go very long. You are hampering the public's ability to speak on items. Unless you reverse yesterday's decision and reinstate the policy we revised just last year. Thank you. That concludes public speaker. And just to set the record straight, that the the speaker had used nine minutes,
356still had three minutes remaining for the meeting. Thank you. Board member discussion. DR. Holness. Thank you, MADAM Chair. So first, I'd like to mention that I did meet with Kipp, I believe, 2 or 3 times. And I also suggested that Kipp engage the community. And I gave suggestions of some Hoa's and Kipp has done that. Doctor Hepburn, I do have a few questions. First, I want to, for the sake of the public, what led to William Dandy being considered to have a co-locating of Kipp? So there were. Thanks for the question. There were specific parameters listed out by the state of what schools within the district qualify for co-location. We. We had several. That included William Dandy Middle School. As a result of that, charter schools that are approved to provide that information, to provide
357a request to the school districts to request co-location of those campuses. And that's how that was initiated. Kipp submitted their request, and we've had several meetings with them as well as as you mentioned, you have also had some meetings with them to, to really discuss the outlook and ensuring that we're following state state rules and policy around this. And here we are today. Okay, so Doctor Hepburn, does Broward County schools, do we have an option when these requests are made to deny any particular co-locating entity as far as schools that are identified and and fulfill the requirements for as set forth for this to happen. Not that I'm aware of. Okay. So can you describe the process to ensure a smooth functioning during the upcoming school year? Considering that William Dandy will now have a
358second entity occupying the school premises? So can you describe the process that you've gone through with Kipp to ensure that this process will be smooth in AUGUST when this takes place? Yeah, so this isn't for the upcoming school year. This is for school year start of 2728. So we have a full year runway. Okay. To meet with Kipp and hammer out any concerns, go over logistics and operations of co-location before the start of the 2728 school year. Okay. So you do intend to have multiple additional meetings with Kipp to ensure that in 2728 that there will be a smooth functioning of both entities? At William Dandy. Yes, that's correct. Okay. Is there any intent to change the name of William Dandy Middle School? Now, there's no intent. Okay, so is there a process in place
359to handle when it does occur to handle ongoing emerging issues that occur between the two entities? Are there any plans currently in place or intended to be in place for when this happened? And both entities are on the campus to resolve emerging or ongoing issues between. The two? We will plan all of that out. So right now everything is in preliminary stage, and then we will sit down and go over great detail of the logistics and operations of the entire campus and the co-location of Kipp on that campus, along with our district operated William Dandy School as well. Okay. So yes, go ahead. MR. I think Doctor Wanza wants to add that there's another item that has to come to the board in terms of how we are going to share that space. So that'll
360be a shared use agreement. I believe. That is correct. Okay. And Doctor Hepburn, when will we when should we expect to have that item. In the coming board meetings? But once we figure out the exact board meeting, we'll let the board know. Okay. And Doctor Hepburn, have you met with Kipp in discussing any any of these issues as yet, or the plan is still in action as far as what it would look like, what it will look like when they co-locate. The planning is still in action. It's still in action. Okay, so you're I'm assuming that from this point onwards, we're going to have additional and multiple discussion on, on how this will look to ensure that the students at William Dandy and the staff and and so on, that there's a smooth transition and
361smooth operation when this takes place. I think this is a first for us. So certainly careful planning would be needed. Yes, absolutely. That's correct. All right. Thank you so much, MADAM Chair. Thank you, MISS Hixon. Thank you. I just wanted to say I really appreciate the fact that Kipp reached out to I know more than just me, a number of different board members to have a conversation about the idea that they didn't want to swoop in and necessarily just take over, but they looked at it as as a type of partnership, and they will be a middle school and they're looking to add something that would then allow the students from middle school to move into our high school area. So I think there's a way to make it work where it doesn't feel parasitic
362and feels more as a partnership. So I do appreciate that them asking, you know, what kind of curriculum or what kind of magnet themes do you think might be useful and where we could partner together? So I appreciated that. But I have some questions to the superintendent. So I know they don't have to pay rent, but what about like, what if students need transportation? How are they going to eat in the cafeteria? So we're responsible for also taking care of that also in terms of like for free and reduced lunch, all of those kind of things. Because originally all that was in a bill that I know the legislation went back and looked at it, but beyond just giving them a space, what else are we responsible for in terms of having them co-locate? Absolutely.
363So I know that's part of the shared use agreement. I'll throw it over to Doctor Wanza to give a little bit more specifics of what our obligations are. So thank you, Doctor Hepburn. So again, so just so that the board and the public are just well aware of the conversation, the item today is just a performance based agreement. We have been in multiple conversations with the leadership at Kipp. And we will sit down. When I say me, it involves multiple departments in the district, right? So it's definitely the regional office, the central regional offices. Absolutely. The leadership at William Dandy Middle School District, police, food service, transportation, everyone. And then we have to actually develop two documents that will come back to the board. Right? One is the shared use plan and then one is
364the mutual agreement, right. So so it's, it's how both schools are going to co-locate and coexist on one campus and how we look at just those things. You're talking about security. If they are going to access our transportation system, what does that look like? Our food service. And there are things that statutorily. You are correct, MISS Hixson, that we must provide. And then either MR. Sullivan or MISS Dupree can jump in, can jump in at this point where there is a. So. So, for example, one part of the the rule talked about if they are going to access like our security and they get safe schools allocations, then we would have access to those dollars. Same thing as it relates to transportation, things of that nature. So all of that is what will be delineated
365in the shared use plan and the mutual management agreements. Okay. So great. So there's, it's not that the expectation is that we have to cover the cost of those additional things for them. Because my concern is the state gives us money for one student, but we're paying for one and a half because we have to cover that. It will be through agreement, and there's things we MAY have to pay for and things that if the state gives them money for it and we're providing the service, we will get that funds. Okay. So I look forward to when that item comes because that that's the most concerning part. I think about all of it. Thank you. Thank you. Any other board discussion? MISS Bulman. This is statutory right. So we don't really have a choice on
366it. Through the Chair yes. We don't have a choice. It's statutory. Okay. So if you're voting, you're following the statute. If you vote against it, then you're not following the statute. No. Or you're. Vote against the agreement. It's an agreement. Yeah. So DR. Zeman is correct. You are voting for the agreement. The agreement is the first step to move us forward, to follow the statute. So. Okay, it's in the statute that we have to have the agreement. The statute requires us to allow for those relocations. MR. Sullivan. No, I was just going to say there's I believe there's a penalty associated with us not moving forward. I believe that penalty is they withhold our charter school administrative fee. So you're talking millions until we. Right. Okay. I just make I'm just making sure the. Yep.
367I just want to make that clear. For the record. Knows why we would be voting for this. That's the only reason I would be voting for this is to make sure that we're not getting further penalized. Thank you. Thank you. Any other board member discussion? All in favor of m4? Say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no item passes unanimously. Could I get a motion and a second on jj three moved by DR. Zeman, seconded by MISS Hixon. There is no public comment. Is that correct? All right. DR. Zeman. My apologies chair. We jj three. jj three. Wonderful. Thank you so much. I asked earlier about the timing of this because when we were doing repurposing last year, we had some visions about the year in which this would be done. In that year was 2728.
368And so my understanding is it is possible to get this done. You know, the budget side of me says that's great, because if the two elementary schools therefore don't need to operate because we get the k eight going, one, it's better for education. They're going to get a better experience in a k eight than they would have gotten in Under-enrolled k five. So that's kind of my academic hat. My budget hat is that's a couple million dollars per school that we have to pay for fixed cost to run it. And so it seems that it would make great business sense and great academic sense to accelerate this to the superintendent. Can we finish this in time by doing things more efficiently, by giving it some special priority, so that we can open the k eight
369in the school year? 2728 yes, that's correct. We're staged and ready to move forward as soon as this is approved. Terrific. What level of commitment can we make to the community right now that this will open in 2728? It will open in 2728. So the community has it. That's Doctor Hepburn seven 54321 2000. You can give him a shout number is no I'm not going to. Give Third Avenue. You guys have my number two. So 2008 you can call me. And MISS Thompson MAY be willing to take a few of those calls, but I really believe this is important, not just for MISS Thompson, but for all of us, that when we make a commitment through repurposing to get something done, that we giddy up and get going. And if that means we do Saturday
370construction, if that means we chunk it in different and better ways, or give them special lay down areas, maybe do design build instead of design, and then gmp that we can we can get this done. I'm also a little bit concerned about the price. I know there's other things besides the bathrooms, but if you divide the bathrooms by the amount of money that's being reserved in this item, it's equivalent to what I paid to build my house. And so I think 370 zero zero $0 of construction money to build a bathroom is just a lot of money. And so I'm not going to make a big scene about that here, but I'd be I'd be curious that the audience could also do that same division. And I just want to be careful that we're building
371what we need to build. According to Esref, rather than trying to build the Taj Mahal of bathrooms, because the Taj Mahal is just going to extend the length of time it's going to take as well. So I'm just kind of throwing it out there. That seems like a lot of money per bathroom. I mean, I literally my construction costs, my house was $370,000. It's a house. It's got four bathrooms, right? I mean, it's like a house. So I don't, I don't and nor would the public, you know, quite understand why it would cost so much to do that. The last point is I think there's other opportunities going through the repurposing going forward. And I don't want the $370,000 price tag per bathroom to be a discouragement, to doing what's better for kids and better
372for our community. So I hope we can find a way to do it faster, do it cheaper, and get it done. But 754321 2000. That's Doctor Hepburn's number. If you want to call him and deal with the commitment he made today. Thank you Doctor Hepburn. Thank you MISS Thompson. Thank you. I'm going to go a little deeper into this. Who does who prepared the design estimate of 400 000. Go ahead, MR. Dorsett. Good afternoon. Mark Dorsett, chief facility officer, task assigned. We had we're looking at a design consultant, one of our internal design consultant to provide the drawings for this. Okay. And who prepared the construction cost estimate. We consulted with Aecom cost control vendor and they provided us with the the the cost for this. And then I think there needs to be some
373clarification. Are we planning to do 24 bathrooms on the first or second or 24 on the first 24 on the second. So that would be 48. No, it would be 12, I think 13 on the first floor and 12 on the second floor. And then can you expand on why you guys believe the best route is to do both floors and not the first? As originally discussed. So I'll I'll I'll take that question. Valerie Wanza I, I believe the conversation as we were discussing it was that. So there isn't a restriction, right? Because when when you talk about the restrooms that are needed, obviously for the earlier grades, we want to make sure that there isn't a restriction that you only have 13 classrooms. You can put the students in. And then the the other
374part was when we look at the schools that will, through domino effect, have to potentially be affected because of this process, we want to make certain that we have enough in what what's in the facility so that it can accommodate what MAY be the total enrollment. Thank you. And then historically, what has been the price per bathroom for during the Smart program, and how long has it taken to construct each bathroom? I would have to get that information from Atkins on. That is. I can send a follow up. Sonia Kohli again, we'd have to do a follow up for you on that question. Okay. And then building four is the building we're planning to do this in because it is currently unoccupied. How soon could the construction begin? We are waiting. I guess we anticipating
375passing of this item today so we can get started right away. We believe the design portion of it would take about three months. We believe going through the building approval process is another two months. So I'm thinking probably NOVEMBER, DECEMBER we can start construction. We have the entire building that we can stay there and do the construction and meet the timeline that we discussed. And then is building approval. Does that include permitting? Yes, yes it does. And then what about the fire marshal. That would be included in the in the overall process of the project? Okay. And then how long has it been taking to get fire marshal approval and substantial completion before moving? Well, it has because of situations sometimes out of our control. At this point, it's been taken for the fire marshal
376to make some some some different difficult decisions. We believe, because this one is wide open, if you will. The building is wide open. We have access to having the fire marshal review everything as it stands now, what it's going to look like when we design it and get a proper approval before we start construction. We believe we can get a better result. So the fire marshal has to come in before we start construction. He's going to be a part of the the overall approval process of the design construction before we build. Okay. And so the designs three months building approvals, two months, including the fire marshal. How long do you think the actual construction will take? I believe this we can construct this in 6 to 8 months. It's just a renovation. It's bathroom, additional
377bathrooms inside an existing building. So 6 to 8 months, I think we will be able to as far as construction goes. And then what? Once construction is completed, what is the next step? Well, once we get the the final approval from the building department and all the permits have been satisfied, then. So it goes back to permitting after. No no no no no. Once once the work is complete and all of the inspections have been satisfied, we can get an occupancy certificate of occupancy for the building. So we're thinking, based on your estimation, three, five plus eight months, like 13 months. Close too that. Y Yes And thehen we d a f facilitie assememe o on this bldining. Correct. I believe we did yes. That's correct. Yes. Do we have any concerns on building for
378about their ability to handle new bathrooms? Have we looked at sewage, water drainage and venting. No concerns there. Again, it's it's a basically a shell. We're looking at a shell. It does have water there now. So just tapping into existing. Utilities and so forth. Okay. And then we are according to the item, we're planning to use an existing c, s, m p contract for the 7.8 million. What are our current levels and do we think that will we will be able to use utilize that. Yeah. We believe and Sonia can can speak to this. We do have csmp contracts that can do this work for this amount. We have a contract on existing right now that we can use. This is what's going to help us expedite the the completion of this project. And is
379there any limits to that existing contract, like the amount of money that can be spent on per project, or this would fall in lines with all those. This would fall in line with with one of the existing contract contracted amount. Okay, I can I can add to that if you want. Mark, we have the contract for the csmp is up to 7.5 million. And just so you're aware that the cost that is presented before you also includes a contingency. So we would not exceed that that cost. And it also includes the playgrounds, correct? Correct. So it's the 24 bathrooms plus the two playgrounds correct. Correct. Okay. Thank you for providing that timeline. I think we will be holding you to that timeline. Me especially, and I just want to thank my colleagues for continually supporting
380this project. I think when DR. Holness has brought this up a lot, that we need to start thinking about what's going to bring kids back to our our schools and what is innovative. And when I had my 12 community meetings about redefining, the majority of the parents wanted k through eight, but they wanted all the amenities that come with it. The the band room, the gym, this bigger facility. And that's simply not possible to construct at the four elementary schools we were going to create to be k through eight. So I think this provides an amazing opportunity. This also in district two, we have the most charter schools and no other charter school can offer these amenities. So I'm really excited about this project going through. And I appreciate staff committing to this timeline and
381to the superintendent and for DR. Zeman for sharing his phone number. I don't think he shared his phone number. You shared the superintendent's MISS Hixon. Thank you. I, I just have a couple of questions. I, I've looked at all of the things and I know that we did, but can you tell us when the the board made a formal vote about changing Glades Middle School to a k eight. Yes, absolutely. I have Doctor Wanza to go through the the the history of of direction from the board. Thank you sir. So as we all know, as we went through the redefining our schools process at the DECEMBER 8th board workshop, the superintendent recommendations were presented to the board and the public in those recommendations was a recommendation to do a few. Well, there were a few
382items there. One was to extend the grades at four elementary schools beyond grade five to grade eight, the. And then the other. And then there was a recommendation also to act to close Glades Middle School, repurpose that school, repurpose Glades, and then reassign the children. A portion of the students would go to New Renaissance, and then the other students would remain at one of those four elementary schools in k to eight pattern. MISS Thompson presented an alternate proposal that looked at not extending the grades of the elementary schools, keeping Glades Middle School open and doing exactly what it's being presented today. Extend the grades of Glades down to include the elementary grades so that Glades would become. Glades would become the k-8, not extend the grades of the four elementaries and not rebounder some of
383the kids to New Renaissance and. And her proposal was. And whatever the term is, the board was using at the time, the board gained consensus or came to some majority agreement that they would that they were in favor of that proposal instead of the superintendent's proposal, proposals to extend the grades at multiple elementary schools repurposed Glades Middle School for another district use, and reassigned the children to either one of those four elementary schools in a k-8 configuration or to New Renaissance Middle School. So that that's what I remember. But everything else that. Because now that idea comes with a very large dollar amount. We never did a formal board vote like all the other repurposing things came and we did consensus at a workshop. And then it came to us at a board meeting to
384vote on. So that's what I'm asking. Did we ever do that for this proposal? So I think that that is what today does. And and I believe that there was some concern a couple board meetings ago around what took so long for this to come. And I believe that that's what this item does, is it actually formalizes the conversation from NOVEMBER and then ultimately JANUARY, when the board actually voted on what the school attendance areas would be for next school year, and Glades remained as a middle school, and those four elementary schools remained as k to five. So I believe this action today probably took a little bit longer than it should have taken. But I think that it formally that it crystallizes or it codifies what the what the board expressed in DECEMBER, when
385the proposals came for redefining. And I will say that we we did advise that there would be a cost. It MAY not have been explained what the exact cost would be. Okay, so it was about 3.5 million I think was the estimated cost at that time, because I think at that time we were just looking at restrooms on the first floor. So that is when that cost estimate was said publicly. And what today does is it actually codifies the conversation that took place back in DECEMBER 8th and January 21st. But but in in both conversations, we always talked about in order to do this, we will have to impact at least two elementary schools in that area. Thank you. And you're welcome. Just kind of my concern here. I feel like we did this backwards
386and everything else that we've done, we've voted to close the school, change the school, do whatever. And then the financial piece came afterwards. And I'm not saying I disagree with this, I'm just saying that it feels as if we did this differently and it's just not sitting right with me. We never really had a formal vote. I tried, I looked everywhere to see where we actually voted on it. We do lots of things in workshops, but then there's the opportunity to bring it back us to vote on it and have a different conversation. Once we've gone through everything. And I, I appreciate the fact that we have said, if this happens, we have to close elementary schools. But do those elementary school, you know, like, I just feel like maybe the community didn't have the
387opportunity to come when we voted formally on this to have a discussion about the rest of it. And I have a concern about there now thinking that there's going to be a third k-8. I just we haven't had a lot of great success. I mean, we've had a few successes, but taking a school who's not k-8 and turning it into k-8, we've had to close some of those down. So I, I just have a concern because we just opened Coral Cove and now we're going to have Glades k-8, and then there's a third one coming. And I just I understand there's a lot of kids in that area, but I, I don't want to to open something, spend $8 million and find that we really didn't increase any of the enrollment in our district. So
388I, I just want to express my concerns on that. So I, my board members MAY not agree and that's perfectly fine, but this feels like we didn't do it like we did everything else. And it's, it's bothering me. So. All right. Thank you, MR. Cervera. I concur. All right. Any other board discussion? All in favor of jj three say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no. No. Roll call please. Cervera. Hixon. Holness. Yes. Leonardi. Yes. Rupert. No. Thompson. Zeeman. Yes. Alhadeff. Not here. Bowman. Yes. Those. Yes. It passes 5 to 3. All right. Could I get a motion and a second on 002. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman, second by MISS Hixon. There's no public comment. And MR. Cervera, just confirming you no longer want to speak on 002. Any other board discussion on 002?
389All in favor of 002 say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say no item passes unanimously. Can I get a motion and a second on 0019. So move. Moved by DR. Zeman. Second by MISS Hixon public comment 019 none. Board member comment. MR. Cervera. Satisfied MISS Thompson. DR. Zeman thank you so. Much, chair. To somebody maybe on the staff on this this expansion of prisms, could you give me kind of a description of of what this is in terms of which subjects, which schools, how many more students would be involved for this investment that we're making with prism? Go ahead. Yeah. I'm going to let Guy take this on. Thank you. Good afternoon, Director of Secondary Learning. Thank you for the question. DR. Zeman. So this expansion of the contract gives us 15 more carts, which is
390450 more headsets. So for a total of about 4400 headsets altogether for the district, it also comes with it 40,000 licenses to be used for every single middle school student and our eight existing high schools. So these carts will be used at our existing middle schools to expand capacity within those schools so more students can do more lessons. You also mentioned what subjects. So right now we have math and science lessons that are through the modules. And if I could continue chair were this vendor to expand the curriculum topics available. Does this license include expanding to them as well? It does. These licenses are student licenses. So once a student has a license for the prism software, they have a they have the availability to download whatever lessons are in that software, math, science, or
391whatever else they produce later on. Terrific. And do you know of any plans that this vendor has to expand to other things besides math and science? I think we've talked she talked about a little bit about civics, but I haven't really seen anything in writing and done yet. But I do know she's expanding some of her science lessons to be a little further deeper into our Florida standards as well. Terrific. Last question that I have. We've been in this a year, right? I mean, we went to 58 middle schools. It's to me like a little magic with the budget, because we get to spend capital dollars to earn back operating dollars, right? So if in fact we can spend capital, get this academic enhancement in, and then it encourages more people to come to our
392middle schools because that fifth to sixth grade year is a tough year. We lose a lot of kids, unfortunately. But if prisms is one of the things like a sports academy, like k eight, like other things where we're trying to draw people into six through eight, we're spending capital to win back operating, which I just think is, is a magic little formula. We should do it everywhere we can. What are the results that you have seen so far? And I know that it's difficult a few days after the end of the school year to have all that stuff put together. But if you could identify some schools that you think are representative of what we got out of this investment, I'd appreciate just knowing what measurable results we got. I thought the chair made a
393really interesting point earlier about, you know, if what you measure software purchased by is participation, that's kind of okay, but it's not it's not one of our strategic goals. You know, we, we imagine students will participate and sometimes we can even use participation through moral suasion. But what are some of the hard data results that we found through the use of this system? Great question. So obviously we have participation data. We have a huge participation. But I think what's what doesn't always show up sometimes is the not the qualitative but the not the quantitative, but the qualitative data. Right. And what I mean by that is our students are more motivated to go to math class in some cases. So what we're seeing some qualitative data coming out of this saying that I'm looking forward
394to go to math class. I'm looking forward to put on the headsets. And even when they're not with the headsets on, they're still looking forward to go to class because they know that that motivational piece is there. So that's there from the teacher and the student side. We are also seeing that the increased motivation has increased assignment completion. So students are completing their assignments more to be able to do some more of those experimental experiential learning experience time. So it's difficult to put a number on it right now. DR. Zeman, like you said, we just had the end of the end of the year. We have some data back from prisms that Richie's department, MR. Brown's department, is looking at for us. So I can come back with a follow up with some more with
395some harder data. But right now it is participation and qualitative motivational data that we. Have, and I can probably take some of that. And so, MR. DR. Zeman, preliminarily we started to get some algebra proficiency data already. How's it look? So it looks good. So last year we're at 62% proficiency. We did meet our targeted goal. So we're looking at 63% movement. And so we're trying to triangulate all of those classrooms that had prisms access to determine the efficacy around implementation of it. But it does look positive. So over a five year period, we started on the groundwork at 59% with 63%. So across the board, we're seeing acceleration happening. Terrific. I think just as a follow on for the board, if you don't mind, whenever you get school by school results, you know, and
396where it was applied, that'd be useful. You know, Rebecca Winthrop would teach us that just getting student engagement has a great academic reward itself. They attend more, they're more interested and more engaged in the learning. They're going to learn more. Not not a surprise to any teacher, but yeah, appreciate you sharing the results. I the expansion of this as well. It'd be neat to have you said another 400 headsets on these 15 carts. Yes, sir. Thank you sir. Thank you. I believe that is everyone. Is there any other board discussion on 019? All in favor of 019 say aye. Aye. All opposed. Say no item passes unanimously. Could I get a motion and a second on pp7. So moved. Moved by DR. Zeman. Seconded by MISS Hixon public comment on pp7. None. Board member discussion,
397MISS Thompson. My questions were answered. Thank you. Okay, I have some questions about this policy. Does this policy need to pass today? Like is there a time constraint on us with regards to this policy? Doctor Hepburn. Have MR. Bradford take that question. Good afternoon. Matthew Bradford Executive Director of Technology operations. Thank you for the question. Florida the Florida Administrative Code says that this has to be something that is ratified by SEPTEMBER 1st every year. So it doesn't necessarily have to be ratified today. But by SEPTEMBER 1st it has to be approved. Got it. The reason I ask is, and I maybe I'm my recollection isn't accurate, but I recall when we workshopped this back in MAY, I raised some concerns around ai, and I think I was told that we were going to address those
398in a separate ai policy. But I see that some some pieces about ai was were added to this policy. So are we still going to have a separate ai policy? Help me understand why those pieces around ai were added to this. If we're going to have a separate policy. Well, does he want. To go ahead, MR. Bradford? So this again, this policy is in line with what the Florida Administrative Code says. And actually ai is a part of that code. So we're making certain that we're in line with that. So if the board suggests that we communicate from an ai perspective, when it comes to a workshop or another item will definitely do that. Okay. MR. Bruno. So we are going to have additional policies relating to ai, shared use and acceptable use. It's coming.
399So I just wanted you to be aware. Okay. I'm I'm struggling a little bit because. I thought we were going to have this conversation like at length next week. And then, you know, look at policies. So there is a lot I would, I would like to add to this, if we're going to do the bulk of addressing ai and cybersecurity in this policy, is that the intent to, to do the bulk of that in this policy, or are we going to have again, I mean, I want to go beyond like acceptable use and all of that. I think like, again, if I knew that this was going to be included, I would have conversations about like age restrictions and, you know, child safety procurement measures and adding like an ai student council, a lot of
400things that I've read a lot of research on. So again, I guess I'm wondering is that again, are we trying to do the bulk of the ai governing in this policy, or are we going to do that in separate policies? Doctor Cohen, if you go ahead, because I know we have an ai policy coming forward too. So yes, to your point, MISS Leonardi, I think so. Come JUNE 16th, we'll give you the parameters. And obviously it's public notice. You can see kind of the parameters of where we are moving towards in terms of the policy. So on the 16th we'll provide some highlights in terms of stakeholder feedback that we've gathered from teachers, students and parents, as well as our dsa committee, dac committee around what policy language should look like and be included to
401get feedback from you. Although the 16th is not a policy workshop, it is a kind of a fact finding feedback session to kind of garner where we need to go in the next steps of this. D so I Ihink tyourur pntnt ititives u us opportuninity to back bebecause we're continui too engage the stakeholrsrs around this. We got a lot of significant information on Friday with our parents, who came to the broader ai task force. They gave us some feedback as well, because we shared some of the policy language in there. So I think, yes, as we move into policy and rulemaking, we'll include some of those pieces for all to be considered. Okay. When can we the policy that you referenced, Doctor Cohn. When can we expect that to come to us. And then how
402does that fit into the neola process. So that's kind of why we put it on hold until we were able to get with Neola. And then after Neola was presented, we'll work with our general counsel to schedule the next time we meet to go over the policy. Okay. Attorney. Do you. Bruno. Okay. Okay. DR. Zeman chair, I, I think that there's a really nice opportunity to table this. It would be really cool to see the internet policy right next to the ai policy, even if one is a month later in terms of formal adoption, there's just such an overlap. And I have deep concerns, as the chair does, about getting these right. And I, I, I've talked about this. The chair has talked about, I think members, other members of the board and the community
403have talked about this as well, which is there is some things that are appropriate for the internet policy itself, and there's some statute about how to do that, but there's also some really good spade work for Broward County to do on ai so that we get that right. But I'm agreeing with the chair, I think, which is I would rather table this today, given that it's not urgent until SEPTEMBER. And let us see if we can make a little bit of progress through the Neola on ai. And then we we can at least see them together. One might get passed before the other because we might have to get this one done and to move on. But there's such an overlap. And I want to make sure, as the chair does, that the things that
404make a great difference to studts in ai in our structure are are in the right place. And what I worry about is we MAY jam them in this one instead of the other one. So I'd prefer chair to. Yeah. Attorney Dupree, we were just kind of having a conversation about timing and rule making and all of that. So if we were to table this is there, is it possible to to get this done by SEPTEMBER 1st? So on the board's direction, we could work with Doctor Cohen and team and make sure we have all of the policies that would impact cybersecurity, ai, acceptable use, etc. In one package for the board. And if we can squeeze it on a workshop in JULY as first reading, and then two weeks later I can do second reading,
405it will be there in time to meet the SEPTEMBER 1st deadline. So given that chair, I'd make a motion to lay this on the table until the first opportunity in AUGUST 2nd. That makes sense. General Counsel. Yes. Thank you. Motion made by DR. Zeman. Seconded by MR. Cervera. Public comment on the Motion Board member. Discussion on the motion. All in favor, MISS Rupert? Yes. I absolutely love the idea of of deferring this and until that point. But if I defer it, I won't be able to vote after we change the policy. Yesterday. Yesterday was a rule making workshop. We didn't change anything yesterday. Okay. So I will have the opportunity to to share what I want to feel and vote for JULY and AUGUST. Then attorney Dupree Bruno. So the policies that were reviewed yesterday
406were just first reading, second reading will be JUNE 23rd. That will be the public hearing. And then additional conversations can be had on the policies coming forward. Absolutely. Thank you. Any other board board discussion on the motion? All in favor of the motion? Say aye. All opposed? Say no. Motion passes unanimously. All right. I believe we've exhausted the list of items. Chair, if I MAY. I move to reconsider the vote on the motion regarding 004. I believe I have the. So sorry, MR. Cervera. People are saying that we need to do t one, but we'll go. To your. I thought you were done, I apologize. No, no, no. My apologies. You can. Let's go ahead and deal with your motion and then we'll go back. To. Know tt1 was already approved. Yeah. Yep. Oh yeah.
407Yeah yeah. So we already approved t one so move forward anyway. Okay. So I move to reconsider the vote on the motion regarding 004. Second motion made by MR. Cervera to reconsider. 004 seconded by DR. Zeman public comment board member discussion. MR. Cervera. After the vote, I was provided with some additional information and subsequently learned that there's a potential that if this is not approved, entire libraries that are digitized and rely on this could be. Not able to proceed forward and not have what is needed to be able to provide those resources to students. So I think the implication of this vote is a little bit more vast than perhaps some of us realized. And just reading the initial executive summary and the contract. So I certainly don't want any student who is at a
408school that has a digitized library to be able to lose out on what has already been built there. So for those reasons, I would ask the board or the, the my colleagues who voted no to reconsider the vote because I'll be changing my vote. Any other board member discussion? I will just continue to reiterate, I am very concerned about the movement towards doing everything online, considering all of the feedback that I've heard from parents and from students, and the conversation today was very concerning to me regarding why we are, why we are doing this and the measurable outcome I find unacceptable. So again, I, and I think some of my comments were mischaracterized in no way, shape or form do I want to prevent access to digital digital materials. I think students should have a
409choice. Like I said, there are some students that find digital materials and ebooks and audiobooks to be very helpful. I listen to audiobooks all the time, so I'm not opposed to to giving this digital access, but the why of why we are doing this was concerning to me. MISS Thompson. I would just echo the chair sentiments, but also the fact that there is a free resource that we could be using for this exact same purpose. I would like a follow up comparing this program and the free resource that the library provides, which is audiobooks, multiple textbooks. It's language learning. The taxpayers are paying for both the Broward County schools and the library services. So if we can find a way to work together, that is what we should be doing. So in this follow up,
410I expect a comparison. What there might be some legal concerns that MR. Cohen brought up, and how we could proceed with a partnership with the library to replace the services, and also what the terms of canceling this contract would entail. Thank you. Thank you. Any other board discussion? All in favor of. Oh, sorry. Go ahead, MR. Cervera. I was getting ready. To vote. All in favor of 004, say aye. Aye. All opposed say no. No. No on what you're voting on is the motion. To reconsider. So all in favor? Well all in favor of reconsidering 004 say aye. Aye aye. All opposed say no. No. Motion to reconsider. Passes with two dissenting votes. Yeah. MISS Rupert and myself. All in favor of 004, say I. Aye. All opposed. Say no no no. 004 passes with
411two dissenting votes, with MISS Rupert and myself voting in dissent. All right. Do we have anything for the good of the order, MISS Hixon? Thank you. Have a couple of things. Yesterday I already congratulated class of 2026, but I just like to take the opportunity to do that again and thank our staff for all of the wonderful 44 graduations. It was a great job. So thank you for all that you've done. I also want to thank our 26 college sponsored National Merit Scholarship winners, this. Yes, congratulations to them. It recognizes exceptional academic achievement, leadership, community involvement, and potential for success in higher education. The students are awarded between 5 and $2000 annually for up to four years of their undergraduate study, and it's given to them by the college they've been accepted at. So we
412had recipients at the College Academy of Broward College, Cypress Bay, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Monarch, Nova Plantation, Pompano Beach High School and West Broward. So congratulations to all of them. I'd like to ask the superintendent, when we were talking about the b item on customer service, there was a public speaker who talked about recommendations that were given to the superintendent. And in the meantime, we got a couple of emails. So I'd like to ask you, you know, are how are you going to decide and look at those recommendations? And maybe instead of waiting for things, make an action plan now, including some of those recommendations. So can you. Yeah. So the team is already in the midst of updating and enhancing the plan for the upcoming school year. They've any information that's come my way, plus
413any experiences from myself or anybody else. We've already passed that information on. So they can consider that as they're as they're building the plan. So the but I'm specifically asking about it because it came from the Esq advisory board. So were those recommendations folded into what the action plan is like starting today or starting whenever you have updated, whatever your. Action. We're reviewing any feedback and we'll make those considerations as we build the plan. Okay, so when can we expect to have an action plan on for, I guess for the next year? I'll find out from the team. It's for the next before it'll be before the next school year. So we can roll it out with principals and other department leads. Okay. So great. That's the so that will be a follow up to
414us, right? Yeah. We will send the plan and the package and everything that it encompasses. So everybody's aware. And yesterday we asked this question, but I don't think you were sitting on the dais. I think Doctor Fulton was there. There is a concern based on the the policy that we have, but also just myself for follow ups that we get in the 48 hours, like what our requests were and who's in charge. But there's no way for us to follow up except for to print out papers and go back, which I'm in the doing right now and seeing what things have been done and what aren't. And I know you discussed having a dashboard or there's a link where we can look at something. When is that going to be? That'll be that'll be done
415sometime this summer. I know, I think the our office sends a weekly email to the board and your assistants to let you know what's where items are, what's still outstanding or what's actually. They don't they don't send that. Nothing says what nothing says like what the progress is or is it done? It's just here's what for this week. Here are the items that were captured and here's who and who's in charge of doing it. But that's all we get. Okay, so I'll check. I know we send that. Initially, I thought we also sent something every week that shows what's still in progress and what's actually late. Okay. That's kind of been the question we're asking because I'm trying to do that on my own right now. And it's very cumbersome, time consuming. And the last
416thing I'd like to ask is to the superintendent. Could you please bring back from the org chart the transportation piece, because I would like to make a suggestion based on the chief who oversees that, and that is to take out the assistant director position and reinstate the director position. And there's the cost would be absorbed with what's already already in the department budget. So it wouldn't be at an additional cost to the district. Yep. Bring it back. Do we need board consensus on that? Well, they'll vote on it when it comes back. Oh well I don't. Want to see it again. Attorney Dupree Bruno. Yeah. If the board wants to have that input, then they're entitled to do so. If they want to go ahead and just decide if they if you want to do
417that. And can you just clarify one thing for me? DR. Zeman though, were you saying to take a vote on her recommendation to do the switch now or just to bring it back? Yeah. All right. Is there any objection to bringing back the item, noting one objection, MISS Bulman, you had a. Question for the limited purpose of this, I. I don't want to reopen the org chart. MISS Thompson. You. Objection. So I'm noting two objections. So. Yeah. So. No, I know MISS Thompson was objecting, so I'm noting an objection from MISS Thompson and DR. Zeman. So the majority of the board is not objecting. So do you have your direction, Doctor. Hepburn, for the limited purpose of that one change. Yes. Okay. All right. MISS Hixon, was that everything? Yes. Thank you. MISS Thompson. Thank
418you. Chair, I have the distinct pleasure of recognizing the Wizard Award. So, Sean, Steve John, our senior security analyst. And the Information Security and Assurance Department is a model example of what the Wizard Award embodies. A composite mindset, an extraordinary work ethic, and a multidimensional leader. He was nominated by his peers and approved by the entire isd leadership team the team created. And there's an attached video. I can send us all of it to send to my colleagues announcing his or enhancing his announcement, and it's very exciting. So. Thank you. Thank you. DR. Zeman thank you, chair, for quick things. One is, after doing 18 graduations, I want to thank all of my single member district colleagues for including me in the certificate part of the ceremony. I really enjoyed the ceremonies, but part of
419it was just being with colleagues and and celebrating something awesome connected to that. Doctor Hepburn told me something. That's just a fact that I think we all should know. Our seniors earned $340 million of scholarships this year, which means the average high school student in Broward County earned $21,000 worth of college scholarships. That is such a big draw. You know, when you think about if you want to compare and contrast traditional district run public schools with public charter schools, I think there's some big differences. But one of the big differences is that our students, on average 21,000. And if we parse that denominator a little bit to those that go to college, it would be significantly higher. Maybe we'll do that in the future. But that is just a big number, and it's something that
420I hope parents are aware of. I want to thank the legislature again. We brought this up earlier about some things that they did that were very pro public education, and the $8 million was not expected. I thought it was a long, long shot, but they did it. I will also tell you that I've been asked by both sides of the aisle to give some advice about education policies going forward at the at the state level. And the things they're talking about are different than what we've had for the past 16 years. And again, not a political statement, but for 16 years, we've gone from 23rd in the nation in funding to 50th. And so if new leadership decides to to do something differently with funding, I would welcome that considerably. And just the last general
421point we I keep talking about this all y'all think about winning back students, but I want to talk more about that next week as well, because we have a real opportunity with our capital budget to be thinking about how should we. We did it with the vr glasses thing today, spent capital to get more enrollment. So that's like the best investment in the world. If you can spend your physical dollars in order to get more every year operating dollars, right. But there are other investments we could make on the capital side that would allow us to win back students. And so I'm just going to bring some ideas back and we'll talk about them. But if you if we're really into this, if we can take the facility condition assessment, if we can think about
422what improvements to our facilities would be very attractive to people to come back to the schools, or at least take a tour, that we have some real opportunities to do that going forward as we start to approve the budget here in the next couple of months. So I'm just trying to tee that up in the future. Chair. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else? MR. Cervera. I'd just like to note the time we finished both of our meetings before 4:00 yesterday and today without making any change to the public comment policies. Just saying. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. This scheduled order of business for this regular school board meeting of the School Board of Broward County, Florida, has been completed. Seeing no objection, I now adjourn the meeting.