001Good evening. I would like to call this workshop to order at 2 p.m. We'll start with our presentations. Item number 126-3689, presentation of Somerset and Explore K8 access agreement update by Mr. Lipy. Mr. Lipy, welcome. >> Good afternoon. Thank you very much. Uh, also presenting with us is Caroline Mopler, our staff council. >> Yes. Hello. And then we also have Kristen Kowleski and Nikki Day on um well, they're video calling in or audio. >> Teams audio. Yes. and they're with Gray Robinson and um Miss Kowleski and Nikki Day have been assisting in drafting the agreements as well and have been involved in negotiating these contracts. So um at the end of the presentation if any of the board members have any questions that um we cannot answer, they're also available to answer those questions or
002provide updates. >> And it doesn't have to be at the end of the presentation. It can be anytime during >> Oh yes, it can also be at any time during the presentation. >> Um all right, so we're going to begin with the first slide. Um, as you can see, uh, there are several agreements that have been revised since our last presentation to the board. Uh, those include the letter of no objection and, um, because the letter of no objection, the county and, um, Duke Energy have decided to instead enter into an encroachment agreement. So, um, the other revised documents have been revised to replace that letter of no objection to verbiage that says encroachment agreement. And um that is uh the extent of those revisions. >> So the balance of the presentation really just just
003helps you as a board understand which parcels of land are affected uh by each agreement. The current property ownership. The image on this slide shows who currently owns the uh parcels that are providing access to Explorer K8, which are also located within Duke's easement for its high voltage transmission lines. The image here on slide four uh shows outlined in red the part of Explorer Boulevard that's currently owned by the school board and in Duke's easement area. This will eventually be dedicated to the county for public roadway. It will be released from Duke's encroachment agreement with the school board. It will be released from the owner developers access agreement with the school board and it will be subject to Duke's new encroachment agreement with the county. Our next slide number five shows uh again here outlined
004in red the parcels that will eventually be transferred from the owner developer from Somerset to the school board uh after the improvements are completed. This will eventually become part of the Explorer K8 campus. Uh outlined in dark blue in those dashed lines, you can see the connected drainage ponds. These were mandated by SwiftMUD. uh and so that requires an easement between the uh between Somerset and the school board. The image on slide six uh shows the outline of an area for which the school board will grant to the developer a temporary construction easement uh allowing them to enter schoolboard property in order to construct the improvements. And now, so in the future, um, but not right now, um, the school board and Duke Energy will require an encro an encroachment agreement. So once the land
005is transferred to the board, um, we will need to access the facilities in queuing that are located on Duke's easement. right now. Um, we could at least um require that Duke agree to the form of the agreement um because we imagine that it would look similar to the encroachment agreement entered into between Duke and the county. Uh right now um we have followed up with Duke and um we haven't received a response. They're still looking for a location for their facilities and that is the basis for their delay, but we can't really imagine the facilities um being located outside of that area that is going to be transferred um over to the board. Um the school board can go ahead and sign the agreements with the developers um that we've listed without this encroachment agreement.
006Um, but right now the only mechanism I guess that we have in place in order to maybe put a little pressure on Duke um is maybe if the county and the developer um put pressure on Duke because we know that the developer would like to enter these agreements now rather than of course wait for us to enter an encroachment agreement. that um it would be advantageous to enter an encroachment agreement now with Duke in order to have all the documents together while the details are fresh in everyone's mind rather than wait until sometime down the line when we'll need that encroachment agreement. Now, we could wait for that encroachment agreement. The encroachment agreement is also beneficial to Duke. it um Duke would be able to maintain their rights to their easement through that agreement and
007um it would also provide of course the district access to that property and you know everybody has an interest in um maintaining that property. So, um really the the decision for the board is to today move forward with signing the agreements with the developer um and the county and then wait for the encroachment agreement or um hold off on everything until Duke at least um confirms that they will agree to the form of an encroachment agreement with the board or um wait till we actually sign off on an encroachment agreement with the board. Miss Rodriguez, >> is there any way that we could have the attorney speak on their behalf? >> Um, I don't think that I'm not sure if they're here today. >> You mean Duke's attorneys? No. Or Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, sure.
008>> You have to come up here to the microphone. >> To the microphone, please. >> Yes, please state your name. >> Brian Bulvvis. Uh, Brian Bulvas represents Somerset. And >> you can have a You can have a seat there. >> Okay. Thank you. Um the agreement that was negotiated with the county shows the same site plan and what it says is is that the um this site plan is does not interfere with Duke's easement rights and so that's going to be on record that's going to be on record um at the time of the transfer is that they that Duke has signed off on an agreement with the county that says this does not interfere. They've not only signed letters of no objection, they've also now signed an encro have signed an encroachment agreement which
009says this design which includes all of this, not just Explorer Boulevard, but your side as well does not interfere with their with their easement rights. Um, and in in this particular case where the easement rights are, you're crossing perpendicularly, which is consistent with the final judgment which gave Duke their easement. Um, so it I mean it it shouldn't be a complication. And it'd be shocking if it were. They've already signed off on this plan. >> Mr. Johnson. >> Thank you. So, this is before us now, I think, for the third or fourth time, and it all has to do with Duke and and the county and the developer. I I I would love to see us get out from under and approve this today so they could move forward. I think the easements and and
010and the continuation of the project can do nothing but benefit have beneficial results for the school board. We're going to gain property out of it. We're going to be able to build at some point another extension on to Explorer. I I can't see delaying this and let them fight it out. Let them have the headache. Let's get rid of the issue on our end is the way I see it. Okay, Miss Rodriguez, >> the superintendent and myself have been in a direct dialogue with the developer as well, and it seems to me like with everything that they've been through, I think everything is we're we're in a good spot. I don't think that that seems to be hindering us to go ahead and make a decision tonight. >> Mr. Myers. >> Yeah, I mean, I
011I I agree. I mean, I think there's minimal risk if you approve this without the encroachment agreement, especially in light of, you know, the agreement they have with the county. I I I I would recommend going forward. I wouldn't be concerned about that. Is there a reason not to approve it tonight or today? >> Thank you, Mr. Pender. And not that I have a vote, but um my um initial concern I feel has been addressed of this area after we transfer it and that we develop this area at some point in the future. I just didn't want it to be a problem then. So >> Mr. Rodriguez, do you have any further questions? >> I I feel that we're safe to move forward. I think that naturally we'd like to see you finish up and
012make sure that we have everything that we need for documentation. >> Well, this this is on for tonight as well. >> No, just no. >> This is just if we concur have a concur on it today kind of consensus, we they can go ahead and approve it. We're good. >> I'm fine with it. >> You want to say >> I'm fine with it. >> So, we're all good for it. So, it's concurrence. So, I What was the question? >> He's asking does this have to come before the board to be voted or can they just move forward now? >> Mr. This is not you can't vote here. So you're con you're by consensus you're saying move it forward. So you have to vote at a regular board. >> So it'll be at the on the
013next workshop I mean on the next board meeting agenda. We don't have it on this agenda. >> Didn't we we voted on on is it is it because there's a change in agreement. We have to vote on it again. >> The agreements have been um revised. We've never officially voted. Um there is a resolution um which provides a summary of all of the documents and then you will formally approve and then >> um I believe the I would have to look at it again but I believe um some authority is provided to the superintendent to close out those documents. So it's just a one-time approval and then you can just sign. >> Okay. Any further discussion? >> I think we're good. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, at this time we'll move on
014to item number two, 26-3674, review of Pineapple Cove Classical Academy, Brooksville Charter Proposal by Miss Williams. Okay, you're welcome to start when you're ready. >> Thank you. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, school board, uh, Superintendent Pinder. Um the purpose okay that's the purpose of this presentation is to give you a visual overview of the application evaluation process that the evaluation committee undertook in um determining whether or not to make um a recommendation for approval or denial of the PCCA Brooksville Pineapple Cove Classical Academy Brooksville Charter application submission. And so that was the overview. And with me here, I'm sorry, my apologies. We're supposed to have Dr. Kelly Gunter um teamsing in. And this is Mr. Mark Chaffy. He's one of the founding board members. My apologies. >> Staff council. >> Do we have somebody on teams?
015>> Um >> I'm here. Oh, hi. And this is Dr. Kelly Gunter, and she is one of the original founders of uh Pineapple Cove. Classical Academy over in Bvard County. Did you want to say hello? >> Hi, everyone. >> Thank you for having us. >> Thanks for joining us. >> So, on February 24th, um we received um the PCCA Brooksville application to establish a new charter school to be located at Cortez and High Corner Road in Brooksville. that is projected to open in 2728 with a projected enrollment of 624 students in grades K through 6. On March 9th, the evaluation committee met to review each component of the Florida Charter School application evaluation instrument and to begin preparing capacity interview questions. And the members of the committee are listed below. Um so we had representatives
016from all of the um key areas. um of the district e evaluating the application. On March 24th, the capacity interview questions were due to me um and then I shared those questions with PCC PCCA Brooksville prior to the capacity interview so that they would have them and we could have fruitful discussion when we um met together for the capacity interview. On April 1st, the public capacity interview with PCCA Brookdale took place in the boardroom. This was an opportunity for PCCA Brooksville to address the concerns each department had may have had with um the application and for the applicants to establish through their responses that they have the capacity to open and operate a new charter school. So that was the capacity interview and on April 10th that was the final day for the committee members
017to send their completed portion of the charter evaluation tool to me and April 14th was the final day um for the committee to vote on whether to recommend an approval or a denial of the application. The voting result was 11 in favor of making a recommendation to approve the application and five in favor of making a recommendation to deny the application. Per Florida statute 10002.336B2A, a sponsor shall by a majority vote to approve or deny an application no later than 90 calendar days after the application is received, unless the sponsor and the applicate applicant mutually agree in writing to temporarily postpone to vote the vote to a specific date at which time the sponsor shall by a majority vote approve or deny the application. We did have an agreement to extend the timeline. Um, and
018so on the next slide, I'm going to go over the um evaluation rubric with you um to show you the the scores. So, there are 19 components um that are um there are 19 standards that are graded um on the evaluation application tool. Um 19 in total. So, Pineapple Cove, Brooksville, um 13 met the standard. There were five that partially met the standard. And then one area that did not meet the standard. Um did not meet the standard that was in the area of budget. Uh partially met was in the area of education program design, curriculum plan, um and target population and student body, excuse me. And then the other one was for uh facilities. Um and then they met the the uh standard all the other ones. Um there were some postcapacity interview questions
019that were submitted to Dr. Kelly Gunter. Um I'm not sure if that changed any of the marks um on the partially met or did not meet. Um this was already uploaded by that time, but this is this is where we stood with the evaluation marks. So, uh, PCCA Brooksville is also seeking to establish PCC PCCA Brooksville as a high performing replication of their existing PCCA in Palm Bay. Um the evaluation criteria is on page 28 of the Florida charter school application evaluation instrument and the criteria for replicating a high-erforming uh replication is evidence that the applicant's school and the school to be replicated are designated by the commissioner of education as a high performing charter school. You have in the attachments the letter from the commissioner stating that they are are a high performing charter
020school. Another criteria is evidence that the proposed school will substantially will be substantially similar to the high performing school that is being replic replicated. Reviewers should base this determination on the response to this question as well as the applicant's proposed educational organization and business plans as described throughout the application. They are replicated in replicating indeed the um school in Palm Bay. um they're using the same education management company, their same curriculum. So they are replicating that model. And then the final criteria was evidence that the organization or individuals involved in the establishment and operation of the proposed school are significant significantly involved in the operation of the high performing school that is being replicated and the um that that has been met as well. Dr. Kelly Gunter, one of the original founders is going to
021be um completely involved in this um replication as well. Did you want to speak to any of that? >> So, while PCCA Brooksville met the standard according to the application criteria, there were still some some concerns around projected enrollment, standardsbased curriculum, and adoption of the Hernando County School District reading plan. We'll review the statute uh language regarding high performing replications in the next slide. So pursuant to statute um an application submitted by a high high performing charter school identified pursuant to statute 10002.331 um may be denied by the sponsor only if the sponsor demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that one the application of a high performing charter school does not materially comply with the requirements in paragraph A um which they do they are a high performing um school as evidenced by the letter
022from the commissioner. Um number two, the charter school proposed in the application does not materially comply with the requirements in paragraphs 9 A throughF. They are in compliance with those. Um number three, the proposed charter school educ the proposed charter schools educational program does not substantial substantially replicate that of the applicant. um they are replicating substantially the same school at as Palm Bay. And five, the applicant has made a material rep misrepresent misrepresentation or false statement or concealed an essential or material fact during the application process or the proposed charter schools educational program and financial. Let let me back up. There were no material misrepresentations um presented. And then finally, the proposed charter schools educational program and financial management practices do not materially comply with the requirements of this section. They do. They are a
023replica of the PCCA operating at uh Palm Bay. So material non-compliance is a failure to follow requirements or a violation of prohibitions applicable to charter school applications which failure is quantitatively or qualitatively significant either individually or when aggregated with other non-compliance. An applicant is considered to be in is considered to be replicating a high-erforming charter school if the proposed school is substantially similar to at least one of the applicants high performing charter schools and the organization or individuals involved in the establishment and operation of the proposed school are significant significantly involved in the operation of the replicated schools and they meet all that criteria. So here we are today meeting to um present this this presentation to you um and to offer the committee's recommendation. So by a vote of 11 to 5, the evaluation
024committee recommends the approval of the PCA Brooksville High Performing Charter School application. So this was just a presentation. It's just for your information and then the school board will officially vote at the May 26th public school board meeting. So, if the application is approved, the school district has 30 days to present an initial proposed charter contract to PCCA Brooksville. The applicant and the and the sponsor have 40 days after that to negotiate and notice the charter contract for final approval by the sponsor unless both parties agree to an extension. Any questions? No, >> Miss Rodriguez, >> what's the enrollment rate currently? What do you What do we have it set at? >> 600 total. >> 627 is their projected in um >> Yeah, let me just double check that. I think it's >> Is that
025projected at 100 students per grade? >> It's 624. Um I don't I think it was 90. You >> wouldn't mind, Mr. Chie? It's not exactly 100 per grade. It's >> wasn't it like 90 m saying 88 per grade. 88 per grade. >> And in the capacity interview um Dr. Kelly Gunter talked you know initially they're going for K6 in year one but um in reality it may be a K3 and then they would add grades. That's typically how they functioned in the past. Am I correct on that Dr. Gunter? Um, we typically do open K6 and then we will continually add grades, one grade per year, um, until we build out to a K12 as that is the classical model as a K12 school. >> Is your mascot going to be a leopard? >> I
026don't think we've gotten quite that far yet. Um, we have three schools currently that have Patriots, Pioneers, and Lions. So, anything other than that is on the table. >> Thank you. Thank you. Any further discussion, Mr. Pender? >> So, I mean, I know that this plan is based on I believe all the financial plans and everything is based on this 600 and some odd student enrollment. So, if you don't have 620 students in your first year, then how will you finance the school >> because you won't be generating enough FTE to support it? Sure. So, um, we actually are, uh, experienced operators in in tax exempt bond financing as well. So, we are actually in the middle of our sixth, uh, tax exempt bond finance project. So, we have a bond team that works with
027us, including our our group of investors, and we have contingency plans in place, usually with the idea of either prepaid capitalized interest to help support the school if it comes in under enrolled in the first year. Um, additionally, any management fees are um, subjugated to the debt service payments. So if for some reason the school is underenrolled um and is therefore not meeting any of its bond covenants or unable to meet debt service, the management agreement um requires that the management fees are not collected at that time. Um traditionally we start our uh enrollment fairly early in the year so that we have a good idea of where we're at um and can make adjustments if necessary. Um we also uh have the ability to do VBK as well um within our within our program
028um which can be a fund generator for the schools. Um but we are um pretty lucky. Uh in the past years of opening our schools, we have never opened a school not 100% at capacity. And I know that we're a known entity here in Bvard, but we are um engaging a marketing team um and we'll be working hard to ensure that those enrollment uh numbers are met. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Any further discussion. >> All right. Thank you so much for your time. I know you've been working really hard on this, so congratulations to this point. >> Just one, Mr. Johnson. This comes back to us May 26th. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Right. Thank you. >> Sorry. Yes, sir. >> Thank you. >> Oh, Mr. Myers has one more. >> No,
029it's just there's consensus to move forward, then I mean all board members. >> Well, according to our presentation, we we have to regardless of if we felt any differently. Well, this is a lot different than the last school that came before us a few years ago that didn't meet certain requirements. You know, uh they were looking to cherrypick who they were going to have in that particular school in the past and they were looking for only high performing students. And I know now they have to accept whoever applies until they get reached that their anybody who applies to that school is accepted up to up to their their uh capacity of what 100 roughly 100 students. So if they have more than that that it goes to a lottery. >> Is that correct? You have
030to accept any that applies to your school. >> So if we >> That is correct. >> If we had 20 ESC kids behavior, you have to accept them. >> That correct? >> That is correct. >> Okay. And if they if they exceed that then then it converts to a lottery. So that's a lot that's a lot different than I I I I see where this model will be successful. I was just looking through the uh the grades and from 22 or so forward it's been rated an A school district a school I can see nothing but good things coming out of that. And >> so you say you accept everybody. You also said you use a marketing company to get students. So, do you market for our ESC ASD kids that are beating our teachers
031up? I'm just wondering. >> We market to all students. So, we publicize ourselves as a public school, tuitionfree charter school um that is open to all students within the Herna County School District that are interested. Um, we do advertise that we provide our own ESC services including OT, PT, behavior, um, our own SLPs. We have our own, uh, ESC teachers, resource teachers. Um, we're completely, uh, we actually even have our own support specialists here in Bard County. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> And we do advertise that to parents. >> Awesome, Mr. Trophy. >> Yes. Uh, Mr. Johnson, it's uh, 90 students for K one, two, three, and four. or one, two, three, and four, five, and six are 88 students. >> Thank you. You're obviously using that as a round number. Thank you. >> Any
032further discussion, Mr. Pender? >> So, Mr. Myers, are did you just did you guys just want like do we feel we have consensus or would you be more comfortable with a >> No, >> we're good. >> No, consensus is fine because Okay, they can't. >> I want to make sure nobody objected to it. Do I have any objections >> on the board? >> No, not at this moment. >> Thank you for your presentation. >> Thank you. We'll move on to item number 3, 26-3715, review of the 2023 through 2028 strategic plan priority 1 by Miss Michael Licka and staff. You're good. Good afternoon, um board, board chair, superintendent. This afternoon, we're going to provide an update on um our strategic plan, and we are going to focus on priority one. So, in this plan, as
033you can see, we have I'm not going to read all of this to you, but we have our vision and mission statement. And um on the next slide, you'll see where we have priority one, student success. Um, our goal in this strategic plan is to provide standardsbased instruction in all classes, in all content areas to ensure all students are college or career ready to be a contributing member of society. And then we have our um three strategies that we'll review this afternoon with you. So before we move into the strategies, I just wanted to provide um you with an update that recently um we had our midyear review with Cogna for our accreditation. Um we had to um review all of the standards and provide evidence on how we're moving forward which with each of
034those standards. So, we submitted our plan in November and they provided us with feedback in January. We also had a call with them and here um I put in some of the language that was in the Cogna report. Um but ultimately we earned um high ratings on the standards um and we had to share how we're continuing to move forward even in areas where we scored very high. They want to ensure that we're continuing to move in the right direction. We were commended for our processes around student data, student ownership, pathways for students. Um, we were also commended on our district-wide implementation of facilitated lesson planning, family engagement events at our schools and district, monitoring um, new systems that we have put in place, collaboration that happens between our schools and maintaining consistency with our
035processes, processes and procedures that we have. So now we'll go ahead and we'll move into priority one. Um so priority one is to ensure that teachers visited during their administrative walkthroughs are delivering uh grade level benchmark aligned instruction. Um so over the past two years in the bottom left corner uh there you can see that we have increased uh the percentage of classrooms where teachers are delivering uh that benchmark um aligned instruction as captured through our walkthrough process. Um and to support that, schools are working hard um to track students progress uh towards benchmark uh mastery uh by use one of the ways they're doing that is by using uh resources like our achievement level descriptors um to support that planning piece. And during planning, um we as a team as academic services team are
036supporting schools through that facilitated lesson planning, curriculum maps, uh various professional learning opportunities to include our district-wide uh teachers in action, uh where teachers get to self- select the areas that they would like to receive professional development in. Uh but by keeping lesson planning at the forefront, students are receiving instruction grounded in best pract practice and aligned to benchmarks and it's actually showing in our data. All right, this slide is a comparison of Hernando to the state for ELA and math by grade grouping. Our district is continuing to demonstrate growth in ELA, an increase of 8% over the last year three years across all grade levels. Our district is also continuing to demonstrate growth in math, an increase of 7% over the last three years. Each grade grouping in math has made growth and is
037working towards closing the gap with the state. Learning gains has been a primary focus for our district. We are closely monitoring students progress towards growth and achieving learning gains. Our schools are focusing on helping students understand how to demonstrate a learning gain, setting individual goals, and creating a plan on how students can meet their goals. Schools are also encouraging students to reach their goals, demonstrating growth with schoolwide incentives. In ELA, our district has increased by 10% over the last four years and 13% increase in math over the last four years. Learning gains of the lowest 25% has been a strength for our district in both ELA and math. We exceeded the state by 2% in both ELA and math. In the 2025 school year, our district has demonstrated an increase of 19% in ELA and
03816% in math. over the last four years. Achievement gap has evolved and our focus has narrowed. We are currently targeting instructional priorities with an emphasis on acceleration, intentional facilitated planning with strategies in mind to support all learners. I also wanted to note on here we have the action step listed about our focus on early learning. Um we've been working hard on expanding our VPK programming across multiple schools as well as working collaboratively with our new early learning specialists in the ESSE department and in our academic services department um as well. >> Miss Go ahead. Sorry, Miss Bonsik. >> Miss Downey. Um are our VP VPK programs all filled at this point? We are almost full and have waiting lists at most schools. >> Okay. >> And by utilizing the these early learning programs, we're being
039we're able to focus on that achievement gap and minimize it by hitting them early. Um our district has long lasting relationships with our state IDA projects such as CARD, Fiddler's Finn, and Project 10. Those are a few who have supported our schools um on a regular basis this year. Some of our schools have card and Finn and fiddlers in monthly at least. >> Just accel we we do have VPK in all our elementary schools at this point. >> No, not yet. Um, EK8 is full to capacity and does not have the space to offer the VPK program at this time, but we do accept students from the EK8 school zone at any of our other schools as well. >> So, that's the only school that does not have one. >> And we have tried. Yeah.
040>> Thank you. >> I'll be interested to see the data after a year or two of what the gap closes there. >> I have it tracked. We tag our students in our educ program, which is another feature of our action steps. um we're able to create cohorts with those tags and then track their performance over the years so um we know how they're performing and keeping up with all of their um proficiency levels across both math and reading. >> We can share we can share that with you. It's exciting. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um, critical thinking classes create more opportunities for our students uh to achieve at higher levels and to reduce that need for intensive reading. And our participation in the USF Spock program enables us to follow a consistent system for data discussion
041with our focus schools. We have increased the number of schools meeting the 41% of the federal index in all three subgroups. In 2025, we had nine schools have all of their subgroups meeting at least 41% of the federal index. In the previous year, we only had three schools. So, there are designated task force teams within our larger achievement gap group. um those task force teams, our SWD and family engagement. And through that work, we took the strategic plan and aligned it with district data in order to create action steps that promote student achievement. Um our idea projects have supported us in this work through training at our school sites. And alongside the idea projects at the state level, we also work with our state regional literacy directors as well. So, we get a lot of
042support from the Florida DOE when it comes to providing um profession uh professional learning for our coaches, our teachers, and all of our staff. Um and really, we wanted to mention too that the achievement gap um has evolved over so like probably a decade. >> Yeah. And so, it's been really exciting to see the fruit of that labor coming out through these steps that we've been taking. >> Okay. Access for ELLs is an English language proficiency assessment for grades K through 12. The test is administered ad ministered every year to help school districts monitor the English language development of students identified as ELLLs. Our district exceeds the state by 8% and has demonstrated a 5% increase over the last three years. Through our work with Finn and Fiddlers, our inclusion settings have continued to evolve.
043Our teachers are educating our students through supportive approaches which benefit all students. We truly believe our decrease in dropout rate is a direct correlation to our collaborative approaches. And I just want to point out that our dropout rate for ESSE is 4%. Which is incredible. still. >> So, actually, this is Jen and I, but I just want to hop in there and celebrate a little bit more with our um SWD uh rate for graduation. Um we are sitting right at a 92.9% which is higher than the state, which yay, >> our district exceeds the state in five out of our eight subgroups. A few highlights. Our ESSE graduation rate increased by 7%. ELLL 2.3% and our economically disadvantaged 7.6% from the prior year. All of our ethnicity subgroups demonstrated growth from the prior year as
044well. >> May I ask a question? So, do we have someone that like looks and revisits the 504 plans to make sure the students that are on the 504 plans, maybe they may need an IEP, but we have them on the 504 because maybe the staffing in the team, is there someone that looks above that just to make sure that we are in compliance with that because just curious. So, 504 is isn't really my wheelhouse. However, I do tend to um visit quite a bit. Um really our MTSS teams and our our teams at the schools are paying attention to those students. They are constantly tracking that data. Um when we really look at that graduation rate, we have something that we lovingly call the Freddy report and it's actually named after a project 10
045um liaison that worked with our district previously. And what that does is it tracks our kids starting in, you know, as soon as they hit high school, so 8th into 9th grade, tracking them, making sure that we're paying attention to that grade point average. We're making sure that they're taking all the classes that they need to, that they're passing the tests or they're getting waiverss if they need that. So, um I think that there is an oversight for our students, especially through our MTSS groups and through our our um school-based teams. um when it comes to students that are on 504 who might need an IEP. So, you have to really pay attention to those MTSS groups, making sure that students require the specially designed instruction because that is the difference between 504 and IEP.
046A 504 is strictly for those accommodations for those students. That's all they need. they just need a little boost up thinking about that picture with our kids that are on um the stands being able to see over the fence or they may need that specially designed instruction which leads to that path of the IEP. I know that as a former teacher and even hearing from parents there's a lot of them and even I've witnessed well they'll start them on a 504 but they really need more and you push and you do everything possible as a teacher to try to get them more help. I know it's a long process, but sometimes you just feel hopeless and so do the parents. And I just question sometimes if anyone else is evaluating those and helping and and
047making sure that they're staffed or are put in the right spot with that, >> right? >> So, >> yes, and I'm sure >> I know it's a case by case. >> It is, >> but I I definitely hear from some of the teachers as well that say it's really really hard to if they have the 504 to get them more help sometimes. Thank you. Thank you. >> So strategy three is to prepare K12 students for post-secary education, employment or military service. And so just as an update, you can see our action steps there. But um we look to align our programs with the local regional demand list um to which connects with the labor market demand. And so we do that. We maintain our PHSC um Wilton Simpson, USF, UF, St. Leo dual enrollment agreements
048to provide opportunities for students. Um we have increased the per opportunities. So again making college accessible for more students across the board as well as um offering a number of of things like um ACT boot camps, SAT um and um the ACT school day administration. So students having the opportunity to take those things while they're at school. >> Beth, can I ask you a question about the boot camp? >> Oh, you probably wouldn't love it, but okay. Um, do do we announce when we're doing those boot camps? Because somebody was asking me about the other day and and forgot. Um, if we would have the boot camp for SATs and ACTs, will we have them this year? So, we're definitely looking into this summer offering um the CLT and doing a boot camp for the
049students that will be taking that >> and it'll be announced then. >> Yes. >> Okay, perfect. That's all I need to know. Somebody asked just the other day and she brought it up. >> There you go. >> And so, the next slide talks about additional um action steps. We have many opportunities to connect and engage students with um the world around them, post-secary, military, and um employment. And so some of the ones up here, we have college nights. Um we do twice a year um districtwide. We have over a thousand attendees. We have usually between 65 and 75 um colleges and or universities that show up between the two events. Um and so that's always a a fun event. um exposure for industry connections through our manufacturing day, Hernando Grone, our college and career or
050um I'm sorry, a career and internship fair and things that are outside of the classroom for students, different industry tours. Um as well as our partnership with Space Florida and the pathways that that provides to certain programs that we have here in the district that align. Um, I'm g speak a little bit and give a shout out for our ESSE transition fair that was last week and was very well attended um by vendors and um students and people in our community. So, we are super excited about our graduation from LA last year in the 2425 school year. Um, we increased by 6% and we also exceeded the state by 2%. It was our highest graduation rate in the last five years >> except for this year, right? >> We're hoping it goes even higher yet.
051>> Great job. >> Um, our district has achieved a 13% increase in college and career acceleration over the last five years. Uh there's a strong focus to prepare students for post-secary education, employment, and military service by extan expanding opportunities and ensure all students have the opportunity to participate. >> And those scores for the college and career acceleration are >> that that's a combination of any student who receives an industry gets college credit and dual enrollment or uh gets an AP, IB or ACE exam with college credit. It would be a combination. So, you'd be able to provide those type of things. Did you want specifics or the overall? >> Yeah, I was wondering what the scores were. >> So, we just got it in March. It's lagging data for our school grades. So, we improved
052by 1%. I believe we were at 66% and 65 in the previous year. So, we um did increase from the prior year. And this is something that the schools have worked really really hard on um tracking students and who's um having those opportunities whether it's CTE, a dual enrollment class. So we track it and and schools the last several years have built strong processes around this. >> Do we have the acceleration scores by each high school? >> Yes. >> Are they on here? >> We c they're not on here, but we can provide that. >> Okay. Yeah. I'd like a breakdown by the school. I don't know if anybody else wants >> Sure, we can we have that. We can give that to you. >> Okay, continue. >> Um, next slide. Uh, dealing with acceleration
053as well. This goes into um advanced coursework with a main focus on AP and ACE. And the reason why we don't have IB up there is IB is specific to just Springstead and it's really kind of capped out at the level that it can go in terms of how many students can participate. But um one thing I wanted to point out was with ACE uh if you look at 2122 were odd years because of COVID they had a different kind of scoring they were doing. So that's why the percentages are so high. Um if you look at 2025 you see the number of exams go up a little bit over a thousand. That's because now we offer ACE general paper to every junior in our district at all five high schools. So every kid has
054an opportunity to leave with at least one college credit from our schools. Um, and then the chart to the right points out uh AP in terms of how many exams have received college credit by getting a three or higher. Um, and you see the increase there from the last several years where we had 1,382 exams receive a three or higher last year. Almost 50% of exams taken. >> How many how many exams were taken last year? >> You have 1300 that that or 48% >> just under 2,900. >> 29. And how much do we pay per exam? >> We we use the state funding that pays9 $90 per exam. Unless it's a lowinccome student, then it's $48. >> We pay $98. >> We get funding from the state to pay for the exams. Yes. >>
055We don't pay We don't pay a penny for it. >> We do not. Students don't pay a penny for it. We don't. We get specific funding that goes towards exams for ACIB. >> Yeah. My my question is more what does it cost things? There were 2,900 exams. Did any of that money come out of our budget? >> No, it does not come out of our general fund. Previous to this year, before they added on the categorical for academic acceleration options, it was add-on FTE that was provided that goes specifically towards advanced coursework. >> So, this doesn't you could go up to three you go up to 4,000 exams and it wouldn't cost this district a penny out of its budget. >> Correct. And when a kid gets a three or higher, it does generate revenue
056to come back to the district to continue to do these programs. >> Thank you. >> So, each high school, each high school offers a fall and spring opportunity. >> If you can move the mic closer, sorry. >> Um, offers a fall and spring opportunity for students to participate um in taking the ASVAB. As a result of offering the two opportunities, the number of students taking the ASV has increased. In addition, we also have seen an increase in the industry certifications that have been taken and passed here in the district. We offer industry certifications from 8th through 12th grade. Here I was waiting for someone else to talk and it's me. Um so with the dual enrollment classes um we have also seen an increase in the number of students who are taking dual enrollment and
057receiving credit. So if you look at this um slide again we do partner with Wilton Simpson PHSC um USF UF and St. Leo University to provide different opportunities different course selections for students. Um >> can I stop and ask? >> Yeah. >> This year were we able to get more students at Wilton Simpson to do the dual enrollment? We are working on a partnership to um in where they have a portion of their day that they don't have adults and they're not already full to open that up to high school students. Yes. So that's going to be for next year then. >> It is for August. Yes. So for August um uh Wilton Simpson or Simpson Tech, they are leading the initiative working with counselors to make sure that schools have that information. But students
058would be able to do that rather than it's great because rather than going in the evening from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. now they have a part in the middle of the day which is going to be wonderful. >> Do you know what class around like I'm sure it depends on what they take but average how many students? >> So they're looking about 18 students um which is their typical class size and it's going to be for the CNC production specialist program. >> Okay. So it's only one program >> right now. Yes ma'am. Based on space availability. >> Okay. But we're working on it. Yes, ma'am. >> That's the barrier, isn't it? >> Yeah, it's a space is where they have that right now. And their classes, I mean, they when they open up enrollment, they
059have people lining up at 6:00 in the morning, even earlier, I believe, for filling out their registration for classes. So, on the first three days, they campus? >> The one on Spring Hill Drive. >> Could we be creative and maybe use some of our space to have them? >> So, we talked about that. The biggest part is that we're hosting students that are not necessarily doing dual enrollment. We only have like let's use welding for instrument and just for an example because right now Simpson Tech has welding and HVAC in the evenings at Central and so but during the day we took a look at that and then that's a number of secondary students that would not have the opportunity to take classes to get into like the lower level classes, level ones and twos
060because we only have one teacher for welding and one classroom for welding. And so we weren't able to expand that out. Um the certification is also different. So we'd have to look at that differently because it doesn't necessarily mean that it's funded for secondary students to have in our classrooms based on the accreditation for that location. >> Okay. >> But we are looking for extended opportunities for sure. >> Mr. Johnson, >> expanded opportunities. I I had presented to Dr. Denton. I'm waiting to hear back for the longest time on starting a short program to develop helpers in the electrical field. It was a 10-week course that I offered. We we had a 65% placement rate and there's a need in the industry today for helpers with a short term. What that did is got them
061employment which qualifies them for the state apprenticeship program which is free to the student. Nice that the school can get reimbursed from from the state and I'm wondering why that hasn't gone more forward than it has. >> So I'll check with her. She and I met last week um and we also met today with Mrs. Malikica and um we didn't talk about it today but last week she and I were talking about the programs that were coming as well as expansion with dual enrollment and things and she mentioned something about electrical so I believe they are working on that like it's not pushed to the side what we did with the helper program because we were looking to place people into jobs we didn't didn't uh stress the theory behind it other than what was
062practical what was needed to pass code >> sure >> because that's all a contractor is is interested in an employee to get out and wire a room so it passes code >> and um the theory came when they went to the apprenticeship program which there is still an instructor available who was down in St. Pete who lives here in Hernando County and if we don't grab him soon he'll age out. >> Sure. Yeah. I know that they are developing several short courses. I just don't remember off the top of my head if that's one. But I know we talked about electrical because we >> I already gave her the blueprint for it. >> Oh, good. Well, we've been talking at the high school level as well about expanding our trades programs and opportunities there. So,
063um it did come up, but I know they are developing some short courses, but we'll touch base with her. >> Thank you. You may continue. >> Now, I don't know where I was. >> I'm sorry. >> Savings to families, which I think is very important, is over $900,000 in college credits. So based on that dual enrollment, we're saving a lot of money for families. Um, our students are saving a lot of money for their families, right? It's not necessarily just us. The students are taking the classes and they're doing well and with those opportunities. So that's something that's very, very exciting. So in two out of the three years, Hernando has exceeded the average H ACT composite score. All of our 11th graders are provided an opportunity to take a free college reportable ACT in
064the spring. our students just took that um at the beginning of April. We exceeded the state's average SAT total score in the previous school year. We have demonstrated an increase of 2% over the last year and 6% over the last three years in our middle school acceleration component. Our district is working towards expanding opportunities for middle school students to accelerate through advanced coursework and career and technical education while closely monitoring data to ensure access progress and success. And talking about middle school acceleration, um we have the students just to go back that do eighth graders that do take industry certifications that work into the acceleration. But prior to 8th grade, we have uh digital tools which are things like word processing, spreadsheets, um presentation skills, things like that. And so this will show you where
065we have um seen a decrease of the number of schools that are participating, but the schools that are participating, we have an increase in students there that have had the opportunity to pursue courses um that gave them skills in those digital tools and earning there. So for our students who are students with disabilities that are enrolled in higher education um in a training or apprenticeship program or gainfully employed um we are sitting at 68.92% which is well above the state. Uh this is a little harder to track because they utilize social security numbers and not everyone um provides that. So the tracking is tougher. Um I do think that the percentage would be higher if we were able to track in a different way. >> So it very well could be back in 2020 and
0662021 the 70.9 were probably more at that average >> I would say so or even higher than that. I had a question. If we go all the way back to when we were going through our priority area, the student performance, the outcomes, etc. Um, Cognia had recommendations. What were some of their recommendations? >> So, off the top of my head, some of the recommendations was to really make sure that we had developed strong processes around pathways for students and giving them choice and exposure. Um, so the last couple years we've spent a lot of time sharing with schools. Um, and Danielle on Beth's team, Danielle Williams, has rolled out Zello and has kept that at the forefront for schools, um, and students. Um, as well as you heard Beth talk about those events, college nights,
067um, DE nights, all of those things. Um a few years ago we put together a task force and I know many of you have been part of achievement gap. Um from that we had a family communication and engagement task force team where um schools collaborate with their partner schools and feeder schools to um really uh have events for families that really um educate families on that college and career piece, right? and for families to really understand what it takes to get into a state university or if they're going the career path, you know, what that looks like as far as DE courses. Um, I know that many of you have been part of the Superintendent Citizens Academy and we share um, you know, the requirements to get into a state university. And every single time
068we share that presentation, we have families that are like shocked. Wow, my child needs six to eight AP courses or or whatever. Um, so those are things that we started to roll out districtwide, those good processes and systems for really educating our families. That was one of the areas with Cognia that um, you know, that we had to work on. And honestly, the rest of them were just making sure that those processes that we have in place that there's checks and balances because all of our scores were very high. So, when we went through this mid-year cycle, I'm like, why are we having to do, you know, this particular standard when we scored a three or a four on it? And it's just to make sure we're continuing to monitor and continuing to um you
069know have a strong vision around that um and have those strong processes. So that was really it was like those next steps on how you're going to make it even better. >> Thank you to that and hats off to all the growth that we've seen. You guys a good job on that. And then to go back to something that I didn't want to interrupt when we were starting. Um, as discussed at the past board meetings, I think it's essential that we involve our teachers in the design and the implementation of those district walkthroughs. So, I'm not sure last time had I spoke on that. I don't think you were here, Mrs. Michael, for that, but I'm sure they briefed you. So, when it comes to the walkthroughs, I think their feedback could enhance the process
070and it would create more buyin. um with the priorities of supporting the work of the teachers and the student performance outcomes. So do we have anything scheduled for some of the teachers to get their opinions to get their feedback to get anything like that? >> So every year we meet at the end of the year to kind of debrief about how to make our systems that we have in place for our district walkthroughs even better. Um, and I'm going to be honest and share over the last 10 years, I've probably presented with the team our process in Hernando County probably 10 times throughout the state at different conferences. And we're we're commended for the process. They're actually shocked that we have so many of our district staff that are out at schools on a daily
071basis, whether it's formal or informal walkthroughs. With that being said, um we have the meeting, we have a debrief meeting at the end of every year looking at okay, how can we make the tools better? How can we get input from principles? Um we don't necessarily involve teachers in that per se. Um but the principles share, you know, feedback with us. Um and because it has evolved over the many many years um we have definitely moved away from the dog and pony show and whatever this is we know this is one snapshot in time right so we're coming in we want to see what's happening on on a particular day and we know whether it's good or bad it's one snapshot so um we share that data >> as much as it's beneficial and you
072understand why you're doing it and what you're doing and you're able to get the data and address the needs. So, I do agree that it's beneficial. But with that, I guess what I'm speaking on is as a schoolboard member being in the schools, talking to teachers, hearing their hearts, hearing how you feel. That's the part not about what your conclusion is to it all. I think that that speaks for itself with your >> grades, with everything, with our outcomes, performances. So, I think that we're on point there. I guess all I want to ask and say to you guys is is what I hear is different than what you will ever hear. So what I hear a lot of it, it seems cold. It seems harsh. It seems a lot of them feel like you
073come in say five to seven people in a room and it's more staged. It's more instead of it being natural instead of it being um authentic, it seems more rehearsed and structured and they have to have everything. And I know you're still able to grab your data from it. I get that. But what I would like to see, if I could just offer any suggestion from a lay person and from talking to the teachers and from being on the outside and not being so stoic and not being so professional as all of you doing this job, but something where the teachers at your teacher meetings that the teachers were asked, how do you feel about walkthroughs? What do you think we're doing? How do you think we're performing? How do you feel when we come
074in? What's the climate like? Because instead of it being talked and discussed amongst ourselves to everybody else and instead of them feeling negatively on any level, I think that a lot of times for me sitting here, you guys are doing the hard work, but I would like to do something more simple and just bring something to your attention that teachers sometimes the value of how they feel or the implementation that they're performing and they know what they're doing and they went to school and they're educated. sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle to where they feel um not as important and they and they feel more demoralized when it comes to things. So all I do I'm just here to as as a um avenue to bring things to you that I hear so maybe
075we could incorporate discussions with them of what would make it feel better what would make what would you do differently? You know because they are ultimately the ones that we're walking through. They're the teachers. they're the ones having to get these scores to the position that they are. And with that being said, I just sometimes feel like that that it would be nice to hear their hearts and be able to ask them what we could do that would be different and at least get the feedback. I know that you can't correct everything, >> right? >> I know some things there's just non-negotiables and you have to do it because you have to do it and I understand that. But I do think that sometimes they're not asked. And I think a lot of times what
076I hear is the principles are asked. Administration's asked and everything has to do and they're just kind of down here and everybody asks and the world goes around without them and they never get to put their feedback in. They never get to speak on it. And I feel like sometimes if we would just take that up a notch and realize that without the teachers there wouldn't be administration. Without the teachers we wouldn't have principles. Without the teachers we wouldn't have you. Without the teachers we wouldn't be sitting here. So I and I and I don't think at all that any of you feel any different. I just want to add what I'm hearing when I'm out and I'm about because they're more apt to talk to me and tell me things than they would any
077of you. A lot of times they just don't feel like one you care, two that you want to listen or three that they have asked before and nothing's been done. So I just want to bring that to you guys and the board because for Sunshine Law we can't discuss this behind closed doors. And I just think that I just want teachers to be able to I think more so now than any time ever, especially with the loss of teachers and the charter schools coming in and all of our competition. I think it's more important at this very moment than it's ever been traditionally. Teachers had a lot more flexibility. Back in the day, teachers did feel they navigated their room and that they were ownership and that they were able to do what they needed
078to do. Now things have changed and now there's so many different things components that they're told no to this, yes to this, you can do this, you can't do that, we're implementing this, we're stopping this, now we're adding this, now we're and I think sometimes they get lost in the realness and the genuine feel of that you guys are there and that you do have their back. So, if I could offer any suggestion, I know this doesn't seem forever, but I feel like it would be to ask teachers some of the things and find out how they're feeling about things that you guys are doing and see if we can try to work together instead of them feeling so alienated. >> Do they already know ahead of time what what you guys are looking for
079before you come in their rooms? >> Yes. Yes. That's provided to schools in the beginning of the year. We really haven't changed the process. Um but it's something we review um with administrators. So um they're aware. Yes. Okay. Mr. >> And it's pretty much the same thing that principles are looking for when they're in classrooms as well. >> So I I believe what Mrs. Rodriguez basically is alluding to. Why not have a roundt discussion with the teachers at the end and get their input and see how you can improve the process and to include them? that would satisfy everybody's needs and make them feel like they're more part of the solution than being the problem. >> So, um I know that Tiffany and John have task force meetings with teachers. Um and that's something during
080those task force meetings we can definitely um have discussion around the walkthrough process. >> But you also have exit interviews. That would be the time to have a roundhouse discussion and say, "Well, how can what would you see to improve it?" >> And that would be the simplest solution. >> But we don't always have exit interviews. There's a lot of that that needs worked on as well. So, there's so many things, but I think my biggest goal, if I could offer any suggestion, sitting as a board member at this point at this time, the climate of all the schools coming in, all the options, the school choice for all these parents in order to retain our students and retain our teachers, which is first and foremost, I think it's including them a little bit more
081than we have. I think we've gotten away from that and I think that they feel that. So if it were me and I were you guys or I was the superintendent, I think he has listened because him and I do go around to schools and we are having roundt discussions and these teachers are coming in to visit with us and tell us their hearts and what they like and dislike and I think that that speaks volumes. I think it's important. I think a lot of times teachers feel like they're not heard and teachers feel like they're just told to go in there and do your job and everybody else makes all the decisions around them and really they're the highly educated, trained personnel that keeps everything going. So, I don't know. It's just some feedback
082to tell. >> We can definitely take a look at that and figure out how to get that feedback. So, >> continue. >> Okay. So uh we also want to measure um decreasing truency for students in grades 6 through 12 so they can participate in all these wonderful uh pro uh programs that we have. Uh the way we do this is we have a annual review of CST truency procedures. We do that at every school. They all receive a training on that annually. Um, Miss Miller Royal sends out monthly reports to administrators to follow up on those students that are truent and are at risk of truency. We have a district attendance task force. We also uh have our monthly truency case staffing meetings. Um and uh parental prosecutions are taking place for um uh we
083are moving into a truency court process uh which will happen this week for the first time where the families will have to come to the court. Um so I'll turn it over to Angel to share the data. Okay. Um thank you. So this is um updated data for um we followed a cohort um for 6 through 12 from 22 23 to 2425. So it it is the number of students. It doesn't show um the hard work that we put in. Um so but I want to say that the overall is um we've decreased it in two grade levels um moving forward. But we are focusing on our elementary students. Um we are seeing the decrease there because that is going to be a carryover up to our six through 12. Um with the six through
08412 a lot of them the the habit the poor attendance habit has has been created. So, it's it's a little more challenging to to um engage them and get them motivated to come to school, but we are working hard to do some incentives, but we are working on with our elementary and we're seeing less of our elementary students coming up for truency um at our CST meetings and um you all are receiving the quarterly reports for truency, which was part of the statute this year, and those numbers are going down as well. Um so, everybody is in compliance um up through quarter three. So, um we're doing well with that. >> You do. I've sat on that committee more than once. But um at at the high school level, what aside from Endeavor, which high
085school has the most truent students? >> I would say Hernando High School >> and behind them >> Central High School. >> Thank you. >> And we are uh working on a lot of incentives to try to get our high school students there. We have limo rides coming up this week. So that just ended last week. Um, so we'll be starting those uh next week for the students that maintain 90% attendance. They go into drawings >> and the district paid for that limo. >> No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No, >> no, it was a donation. Just for the record now, Miss Bonsik, >> it was a donation. >> Goodness, Miss Hawkins. Wow. >> Um, six sixth grade. Are we do you the number? >> Yes. >> How do we separate it from our K
086through8s? Do we like do are we looking at our middle schools and then also looking at our kids with our K through eight that are in our K through eights? >> Okay. >> How do our K through eights look for tendency when we get to sixth grade? >> Is it better than a free standalone middle school? >> I would have to go back and look and say for sure. I know with Challenger in the mix that they tend to be very high, right? Um EKA they struggle a little bit more. and Winding Water is kind of, but I would have to go back and >> if you could just you can send shoot me a text. I just want to see how it looks compared to a standalone middle school if we're having a bigger
087struggle >> with those sixth, seventh, eth, you know what I'm saying? More more issues. >> Absolutely. I can pull that. Thank you. And I'll second that you do a fabulous job and you really have a hard job. You do really well with it working with families. >> Thank you. Any further discussion >> on that? Okay. Oh, we have Wait, we have more. Hold on. Is there more? Go ahead, Miss Rodriguez. >> Um, I wanted to discuss um one thing that when it comes to the I Ready progress monitoring, I have seen huge gains when it comes to my child who is in fourth grade. I also first and foremost say that Mrs. Amo and Mrs. Barker, amazing, amazing. She did not have them all year. So, they got her at the tail end of the
088year and they had to catch her up for the entire year. It was a lot of work and Mrs. Michael Leica, you've been following the process and helping with that and for what they've done and accomplished with her. Um, she made gains in every domain except geometry, but that's a difficult concept. So, that part and she's 10 years old, fourth grade. Um, but it was just amazing the where they where she was to her being so upset and not thriving to now where she is in a short time, a very very fast span. So, as a parent, I can attest to the fact that we these teachers in these tests definitely represent what's being taught in the classroom and it shows whenever they're taking these tests and where she's at now to where she was.
089So, it's been amazing and I cannot even say I'm so blessed to have Mrs. Amo and Mrs. Barker that were able to pull her out of that slump and get her to where she needs to be right now. And it was a hard job and they did it. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Mr. Pender, you have something to add? >> Yes, there's I mean this is our priority one. It's not a mistake in our strategic plan that it is priority one. Um and you know we are doing great things. Do we have room for improvement? Yes. And we'll continue to do that. So, thank you to the team that keeps this priority one every day with me and everyone else and the many things that we deal with every day and keeping yourself with this as
090priority one. And I'm really intrigued by the choreography that you had today. >> Very smooth people coming in. >> It was it was very impressive. Thank you. >> Y thank you. I I want to thank my team as well. Um, as you can see, there's a lot of hands that are involved. Um, but the academic services team, they are I mean, very rarely are they in their office. They're really supporting schools and trying to keep a strong focus on student achievement because we know it starts and ends there. So, um, thank you. We appreciate your feedback. >> Y'all did a really good job. But, Coach Cup, are you part of this team? >> You got something to come up here and tell us about your priority one? Come on. >> So, when we started strategic
091plan, we didn't have him in our department. So, he's like, "Where do I fit in?" >> Okay. Well, now we're fitting him in. >> We had I had a couple lines in there. Um, when it comes >> Are you token male? >> I'm sorry. >> Are you the token male on this team? >> No. No. We got plenty. John, we got Jesse. We're good. Um, Joe pops in from time to time. No. Um the one thing I did want to touch base on was when we're talking about uh college and career readiness type of things. Uh the honest game platform that we utilize. Uh this is going on year two of that that has really really seen uh we I've really really seen a a uh how could I say this? The interest from parents
092and students wanting to learn more about that college recruiting process. Um, even, you know, I think four or five years ago, it's it's kind of the D1 or bust mentality. And I feel like now parents and students are realizing, you know what, yeah, D1's a great goal to have and and in a small percentage may get there, but we have a lot of our parents and students that are like, you know what, D2, D3, NIA could really be a viable fit for me both academically and athletically. And that honest game platform really helps guide them through that process uh both from a parent perspective and a student perspective. And then also the added bonus is that we have our guidance counselor, excuse me, school counselors and coaches and ads on it as well. So we're
093all kind of getting the same snapshot at the same time, which when I was a coach, I would have killed to have that. Um because sometimes things do fall through the cracks and we're all looking at different snapshots at different times. So that has really been great. And the other piece to that is that they've made sure that every possible course that we offer, and we offer a lot, especially when you throw in ACE, IB, and AP and the CTE stuff, every course that we offer that could possibly be um recognized and counted by the NCAA is now uh captured, which we we weren't quite there yet. I could I'll just leave it at that uh until we got Honest Game. So now now we have well over I believe 350 courses that the NCAA
094recognizes and counts towards their core course GPA. So that and we couple that with our cookies and recruiting uh events that we have. So um those are fun if you like to come out to those. >> Did you say cookies? >> Cookies and recruiting. Cookies. Get a little cookies and milk brownies. Not today. You got to come to one of the events. We do it like two or three times a year. It's fun. >> All right. Well, thank you. >> Thank you. I have um Can you talk real quick about your upcoming event? >> Yeah, absolutely. Um we have our our second annual Hernando County School District athletics award show coming up on May 15th. It is at Cross Point Church uh for the student the celebrities, right? Our student athletes, our coaches, our special
095guests, uh presenters. Uh they the doors will open at 5:45. We'll have uh some food, some light snacks, some drinks. Um and then uh we'll have a limited number of tickets for parents. Uh they will be let in um around 6:40 6:45 with the award show starting. >> The parents get good to go this year, right? >> A very we're going to have around 300 tickets. About 300 tickets. We're >> that's nice. >> We got a little bit more room at Cross Point. Um but yeah, limited number of tickets. Uh really excited about that. We have some some awesome guest uh presenters some in the room amongst us now. Others some famous alumni and whatnot. Got I got the sheriff coming too. So, should be a fun night. >> How do you do the limited
096numbers at first come first-s serve basis when they're sold out? They're sold out >> essentially. Yes. You're going to have only the people that have been invited like all conference and so on and so forth. They're going to have their student number. Um >> so it's like going to a Morgan Wallen concert. If you can get your ticket, you get it. If you can't, you can't. >> Essentially, yes, it it it will sell out. It will sell out. Uh again, we we were capped at at Cross Point still, but we were we did have probably about two to 300 more seats than we had last year. So, we're going to open it up to parents and um you know, they they get a chance to uh to experience the the fun as well. We got
097our DJ coming. We got Laura infusions uh for ice cream at the end. We got some uh LED boards up there. It's it's going to be a fun night. Lot lot of a lot of hardware, a lot of awards for scholarships. >> I know you took a lot of heat from me on the fact that I did want some of the parents to be able to be invited and to see this because it's such a milestone. So, I was pretty hard on that whole aspect and thank you for hearing me and thank you for making this difference. >> Sure. No, absolutely. We're excited. >> Thank you. >> I just wanted you to say in this this honest game program we have, how's that funded >> through millage? >> Okay. I just wanted you to say
098>> it is funded through millage. >> All right. Miss Bonzik wants to say something, too. >> Oh, boy. Coach Cup. Um, unfortunately, I get to miss it because I'll be out of town again this year. >> I know. I know. But you can give my ticket to a parent. >> Absolutely. >> Um, and I also want to say the new state law that went in for the ADA, I don't know if you're aware, but one of the children had it done. >> Um, >> the ECG >> and they found a heart problem. >> Yes. I'm I'm looking to get statistics. Obviously, we don't get names and whatnot, but I'm looking to get statistics because so far, we've done around 375 screenings through the seven days at the middle schools. We're going to have three more
099days over the summer for kind of the catchalls and the people that missed. Um, but I I know of two. >> You know of two. >> I know of two out of the 37. So, >> um, it's again, we don't get names, but we get we're getting statistics from them, but um, >> I have to know the family is how I know, but >> yeah, it was caught. And I think that, you know, a lot of people kind of gave a little push back on that like why are we doing it? My kids played before, right? But save one life. >> That's right. If we're going to save one life or a child that could drop all of our% when I heard when I when I heard about that first one, I I I had
100some goosebumps because I'm not going to lie, I had a little bit of push back myself. I was like, it's another thing. It's a lot to set up, a lot to organize. And then when I got that, I was like, I need to shut up and just be thankful, you know? So, >> I think also parents need to know it takes 10 days. I my daughter had it done and I kept looking and looking. I was like, I bet something's wrong with her because it's taking forever for it to to finally come through. >> Well, I think the majority I think the majority of districts in the state of Florida are utilizing who we play for. So, they are backlogged. So, they're doing the best to keep up. I imagine they're going to expand as
101well obviously with the with the expanded need and and and want. So, um but yeah, they they've been good and I think they're taking some, you know, they're learning as they go too as as they get the flood of these ECGs. But >> Mr. Johnson, >> I just want to add it was a great idea. Michelle had please use my ticket for to have a parent come specifically. >> Sounds good. >> I also going to be out of town on that. >> All right. >> Okay. And then I just want to say um priority one was student success and I think it's important that we acknowledge that school leadership is the backbone of student success. I feel like um if our principles and our assistant principles don't feel supported or get equipped with support that
102trickles down and I know I privately had a conversation with Mr. Pender about maybe how we can support them more maybe restructure a little. Um Gina this is I mean Miss Nolika this is your Michaela sorry this is your wheelhouse and you do amazing with this. you have so much on your plate um with balancing supporting our principles and closing this achievement gap. And I hope that we can work as a district to maybe figure out a way that we can provide more support for our principles and APS. I think that we have a lot of turnovers and a lot of new principles coming in and they need that support. I know it's money and just lack of time, but I think if we look at restructuring um some ways in which our district staff
103is working, then maybe we can provide that support. Other districts have certain um assistant principles that are assigned to maybe four schools or five schools and they focus on those and they mentor and they guide and they do PD on specific training for them. So I think that we are doing phenomenal closing this gap, but I think like Mr. Pender said, we can always have room for improvement and it starts with leadership. It trickles down. So Mr. Pender, >> I told you we had a lot to catch up on, Miss Michael. Um, >> trying to take more off your plate. >> Also, I wanted to um talk a little bit and extend that conversation about the EKG program. Um when I was at a uh at the FADS conference um I don't know three weeks
104ago or a month now ago um the American Heart Association was there and we're talking and having some meetings with them to um see if it's possible to designate our schools as a heart safe school. And that has a lot to do with um our AEDs and training and where they're located and a lot of criteria that they look at in our schools and then they can designate us as a hearts safe school at some point. Um, so I'm looking into that and seeing if there's a, you know, they had very, you know, stories that just grab your heart right away about how u people have people, students, adults, staff, everyone has been saved by having um, AEDs and a team of people that respond and some training. they provide the training and um we're
105looking into that to see if it's something that we can become a parts safe school district that I've started that conversation. So I just wanted to put that out there since we were on the subject. >> Thank you. All right. Any further comments? All right. >> Thank you. >> And Mr. Myers, do you have any closing remarks? >> Not. >> Okay. With that, the workshop is adjourned at 3:26 p.m.