001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good afternoon. I would like to call the April 14th, 2026 informal meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. Mrs. Hawkins is out of town taking a tour of the White House, so I will preside over the meeting. Hello, board. An informal meeting of the school board has been scheduled for general discussion among board members on educational matters. Who would like to go first? I'll go first. Go ahead, Mr. Johnson. >> Yeah, uh Thank you. Something that that's been handled, but I I would have liked to figure out how we can avoid it in the future. Um As you know, you all know I'm a member of the SAR. Excuse me. The SAR. And a gentleman is going to awards night at uh actually it's Springstead. He was told he had to have
002a level one security to present an award at awards night to a student. Now, the policy doesn't call for that. It's a one-time event. The public is there, the parents are there. There's probably 20 presenters at at the ROTC awards, more when they get to the night of excellence, which would mean all those people would have to have level one clearances, which we all know is wrong. I think I think Mr. Pender will will will verify. The only thing they need to do is to show a license or ID and and they're good to go. But to be told that is the issue. It is lack of communication. I think we need to set up a reminder system to people both at the high schools, the schools, and and in security that it's not required
003on that night for everyone any presenter to have a level one security clearance. That it's it's an a an occasional visit lack of a better term where you can produce a driver's license and be sufficient. And I know it's been resolved, but I'd like to see something in place so this doesn't happen again. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Mr. Pender. So I don't I mean someone coming in for a awards ceremony at the most I think is a license swipe. So we'll reiterate that message going out. I think that's already probably been done. Um but we'll let people know that that's the procedure. In all fairness, I did >> remind them not let them know. >> Pender know and and and he did address it. Okay, good. >> addressed. Oh, good. I just wanted to bring
004it up. I just I guess something we should put on on an automatic to go out every year. Hey, awards time. People who are presenters just need to drive a license swipe. It'll it'll create a less aggravation on the other end. You know, cuz you got not for this particular award, but when when you talk nice of excellence, you got students getting scholarships. And if you turn away somebody with a scholarship, they're going to they'll think twice about offering it again the following year. Yeah, as far as I know that was an isolated case. It's not necessarily I think what we do across the board. So we'll it's been addressed and we'll do what we can to remind people along the way. Thank you. Anything else, Mr. Johnson? Not right now. Thank you. Mrs. Bonzelet.
005Okay. So I want to talk I know our schools do a lot of things, but World Down Syndrome Day was March 21st. Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day was March 25th. Epilepsy Awareness Day was March 26th. April 2nd is Autism Awareness Day. Every day there are children in our schools with different abilities and there are days that are set for awareness, but every day in our schools there should be awareness and acceptance. Challenger K through 8 wore blue for Autism Awareness Day. Suncoast Elementary made a human ribbon of students holding blue balloons. I thought that was something that they actually took the schools took the time to make sure that they brought awareness to the things that are going on in their schools. So, I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention because there are days
006for different things and we do have a lot of children in our schools more so every day enter our schools with disabilities. So, and I think, you know, sometimes as adults we forget these children have such disabilities that are in our schools and things that happen in our schools and it's due to their disabilities. Um it's not that they're doing it because they want to, right? So, I just wanted to bring the awareness up to there are many different disabilities in our schools and every day they're brought in um kindergarten, you know, they start in VPK third three three years old with a disability and come in our schools and sometimes stay until they're 22. The day they turn 22 they age out and the reason why we do that is to make sure that
007these kids can either learn life skills or job skills through our schools. So, I just wanted to bring that awareness out. Thanks. That was a good point. Thank you. Mrs. Duvall? Mr. Johnson, go ahead. Yeah, I I've I've working in the background with Mrs. Dent from Wilton Simpson uh to bring back a program that my wife and I had started back in 2018 to teach uh helpers for electricians, plumbers, and AC mechanics. And hopefully there'll be started a helpers program for electricians and hope in the fall. Um when we did it, it was 10 weeks, 2 hours, 1 night a week. Basic skills, no theory, so they can get so they can be employed by an electrician to get a job. If they're employed by a journeyman or a master electrician working 40 hours a
008week to qualify for a state-sponsored apprenticeship program. And after 4 years, they they can take the journeyman's exam. It's a career path. This was not for do-it-yourselfers. This is to learn to do it uh commercially, professionally. Uh we we taught them how to They were taught how to uh wire a room, how to bend conduit, how to complete a service. Skills that would make them useful to a contractor. And hopefully this will come back in the fall to to our uh to Wilton Simpson at a low cost. We charged back in 2018 $25 for this 10-week course. And the idea behind it is to give a person, an individual enough experience to see, "Well, yeah, this may not be for me." Or, "Yeah, I think I can do this as a career." without spending a
009great deal of money they may or may not have. So, hopefully this program will come back. And um um my wife and I have been offering guidance to uh Mrs. Dr. Dent to get this done. And we hope it comes to pass. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Mr. Pender? I don't have anything. Thank you. So, I want to bring up um something that I know that we've done that we've been doing for years and years and I understand that there's real meaning behind it, but what I'm hearing um that frustrates a lot of teachers is announced walk-throughs because they often don't land the way that districts intend. They're usually meant to support, but the way that they're done can easily feel performative or even demoralizing. Teachers feel that they create a show instead of real teaching.
010So, when the teachers know that somebody is coming, lessons can turn into stage performances, and that pressure makes it feel less authentic, and it's more about putting on a perfect snapshot. Um teachers say they increase anxiety and not growth. Even strong teachers can feel judged. Instead of focusing on students, the mental energy shifts to they're wondering, "Am I doing this right?" which can undermine the confidence of the teacher. And the feedback that they're getting can feel disconnected. If walk-throughs are brief or checklist-based, the feedback may not reflect the full picture of what's happening in the classroom day-to-day. So, power dynamics are real. When the administrators or the district staff do come in with good intentions, it can feel evaluative, especially if there's a history of a high-stakes accountability. If walk-throughs don't lead to meaningful support,
011coaching, or resources, they can feel kind of like gotcha moments instead of professional development. With that being said, I do not think that districts usually think that they're being harmful. The goal is often consistency across the classrooms, visibility into instruction, opportunities to support the teachers. But, what happens is these teachers, while they're intended to support all of this, the current practice of the announced district walk-through is having the opposite effect on many teachers, from what I'm hearing as a board member. When the visits feel performative or evaluative, they make the it increases their anxiety is what they're feeling. It shifts the focus away from the authentic teaching and student learning. So, if our goal is to strengthen instruction, we need to ensure that the walk-throughs are clearly non-evaluative, provide meaningful feedback, and are paired with
012real support, not just observation. And I know that, you know, as a district, that's exactly our goal and that's our intention, but the teachers do their best work in environments that are built on trust and not pressure. So, I just encourage us to revisit this practice to ensure it truly supports both the teacher and the student outcomes, because I have also been on those walk-throughs with these teachers and in the schools and at the end of the day, the district is trying to do the very best to be able to um make sure that everything is working and effective in the classroom and the teachers are on target, but the teachers, during the moment when they know that everybody's coming, it's more like a show, they feel, than it is really them being able to
013be assessed. So, I just wanted to share the feedback as a board member uh what teachers feel and what they're um getting from the walk-throughs at this moment and maybe we could come up with some different ideas, things that we can do to make the teachers feel that it's not just them coming in and they have to be on their A-game at that very moment, because it's not really a true indication that way, if that makes sense. Along with the administrators, they're doing theirs throughout the year several times, then the district's doing it, and it makes it to where the teacher does feel um I think they they feel that at the moment they just have to put on their the the best show, and it's not just it's not a true version of what
014it could be, if that makes sense. I got a question, please. Mhm. >> The uh the walk-throughs, Mr. Pender, announced and unannounced, is that a schedule that's set up by the state where they have to be announced or unannounced? No, our walk-throughs are set up through the um academic services department um and they're set up based on um a tiered system of support that they use to determine walk-throughs and then they're scheduled. No, I'm I'm sorry. What what I meant was did the does the state does the state prescribe to have both announced and unannounced walk-throughs? >> No, it's a procedure that we have, so it wouldn't be prescribed by the state or policy. I mean, the policy may say something about that we're in charge of ensuring that academic progress is made or something
015like that and this is the tool one of the tools we use to implement that policy. Mrs. Dwell, do you have any input? No, not right now. How many walk-throughs, Mr. Pender, from the district and then at the on the administrative level from the principals throughout the year, how's that? I think we well, I know that we have formal walk-throughs and then we have informal walk-throughs and um there are um department heads that do the informal walk-throughs and then there are I believe is it one per semester for the tier depending on or one per year that the district does depending on the level of support and based on, you know, data that we have from individual schools. Mr. Rodriguez, are Are you saying that they they they prefer it not be announced? I didn't
016get the exact details of what they think would be um the best practice, but they they just feel that when it's a prepared visit, it's just really prepared, if that makes sense. You know, they they feel that everybody hustles and bustles and knows that okay, they're coming, they're coming and it's just more of a performance, let's put it that way. And I know that our teachers do their best work when they feel supported and trusted and they feel, you know, I believe with a few adjustments that this process could better align with the goal of what we're trying to attempt. I just I've not heard yet from any of the teachers that the walk-through seems to be um what they think would be a good reflection of the outcome. Do you Do you have any
017any suggestion on how we would evaluate teachers and their performance and how they're doing in front of students without looking at them and and viewing what they're doing? Do you have an alternative? >> No, like they say a lot of times that say school started and they've had state testing and it's all brand new, everything's getting and then all of a sudden they have a walk-through. And I know that they say that on top of everything going on and then the walk-through the district comes in, that takes that whole day, that whole morning or the the day, whatever it is, that the whole school is preparing for that announced walk-through. So, I know that you have to come in. I understand that assessing the teachers, knowing the goals, knowing their objectives and what's happening is
018very important, but I just want to say the feeling of how, you know, it's not it's not the fact of what you're looking at and critiquing and the goals and but it's the feeling that they're feeling when everybody comes in the room and now they're on the show and they have to they have everybody lined up, everybody's doing exactly it's just more of a performance. I think that's the biggest word. It's a performance at the moment instead of it being more authentic. And um like I said, I know the intent behind it is clearly to do something good, but it's just I I've been hearing that from a lot of teachers. So, I don't know what exactly that would look like, what we could do different. So, I'll leave that up to you guys. I
019just want to bring that feedback to you. My daughter went through unannounced walk-through. She teaches in Maryland. Mhm. And uh four or five people came in and did an evaluation on her. It was a formal, so it counted. And uh she got the results back, but it didn't change what she was doing for It was unannounced. It didn't count It It didn't change what she was doing, how she prepared for the lesson for that day. So, I I don't know I don't know why a teacher would feel it's a performance or it's uh It feels negative is what they're saying. Well, they have to be How How do we rate them then? I don't know. >> Based on what rate? Other students? I mean, there's got to be a mechanism to rate a teacher. So,
020we have different mechanisms for that. So, the I just want to make sure that we're kind of separating out the walk-throughs and cuz walk-throughs is a general term we use and it can be a district walk-through or can be a walk-through by a principal. So, the principal and the the administration, the principal and the assistant principals at the school do the walk-throughs that are evaluative. So, in other words, they have to do I believe it's five walk-throughs now a year. Um and that's part of and they have a midterm and a final, that's part of their evaluation. The district walk-through, it was even mentioned in here, is is not evaluative, not meant to be evaluative. We don't have input into their evaluation based on the district walk-through of that classroom. And um so, those are
021two separate things. How a teacher gets evaluated is at the school level by the administration. And then the district walk-throughs come in um to walk through and see the what the schools are seeing, what the administration's seeing, so we can provide guidance and support to the schools um at a school level and they collect the data when they go through a classroom. It's did you see engagement? What level was the engagement? And then they take that data at the end and we compile that data and it becomes it it then informs some of the professional development that might be at that school. If it's low on engagement, then we may provide some professional development to that particular school and some coaching on engagement that comes out of there. So, that's the process that we have
022for the district walk-throughs. And the other part of that it feels like a a show shouldn't be. Um I've of course had the opportunity to receive district walk-throughs and be on district walk-throughs through the course of uh being in Hernando County schools, so I always told my teachers, "I don't want you to do anything different for a walk-through than you do any other day because it should be what you're doing every day every day. If you're doing something different, then my question to you is why aren't you doing that every day?" And this being non-evaluative, it's supposed to be of course the clear purpose of that is. And but I I think that they do not feel that when you're coming in that it's that way. So, whatever we need to do to try to
023change that, I don't know. I'm not sure what that would look like. >> Well, I think some of the things is maybe just have a you know, make sure principals know that that's what we're there for. We're there to support them and and their instruction and most of all the students that are receiving that instruction. And it shouldn't be I mean, you know, everybody including teachers want to I mean, teachers of course want to put their best foot forward when they have visitors. And so, there is some pressure on them when they have someone come in their classroom, but >> Yeah, because they're saying it feels basically high pressure and disconnected from the real classroom needs. So, how we could make that change, I'm not sure. Okay. Well, we can talk I mean, we can
024we can we we hear that and we can look at you know, bring that to cabinet and see if there's something that we can do to make that any better. Thank you. Can I chime in? Thanks, sir. Um so, I've been on formal walk-throughs. In the first year, I always made appointments with all my administrators before I stepped on their campus to get to know them. Um and I've been through walk-throughs with Mr. Pender for my district schools when he goes. And more so to sit and talk with the teachers, not so much to walk through their classrooms if they have issues for them to talk to us about or Mr. Pender about. And he allows me to stay with him, which is is good. But this year, since I've been on the board and
025I know most of the administrators, I've also been on walk-throughs with ESE and went through every ESE room with all the ESE department. But my biggest thing now, I don't I don't announce that I'm coming. I show up on their campus. They're always welcoming. And I don't specifically maybe not going to every classroom or what have you like a formal walk-through might do. Um but I will say talking to some administrators that the five formal walk-throughs that they do to evaluate teachers sometimes is much on them as administrators, especially with teachers that are highly highly effective. There's nothing changing. They're still highly effective every single time they go in the room where they could use more time to work with the teachers that need extra help besides doing an evaluation on a teacher that they
026already know is very highly effective. >> Well, if I'm hearing you right, I'll chime in on that. It sounds like you're saying accountability and support are two very different things. >> Right. So, that's what I think that we need to be very careful not to confuse the two. And >> Cuz like you're saying, it's okay to go in. Right. >> But they're not feeling trusted per se and >> they feel micromanaged. Mhm. I've never felt I mean, I go into classrooms all the time now. I'll stop by a campus. I was just at Deltona not too long ago, 2 weeks ago. Matter of fact, Mr. Johnson was leaving the parking lot the same day I was there. Um and I walked in, I talked to Ms. Noise, I talked to the front staff. I said,
027all right, I'm going to go visit such and such and let her know what I was doing on her campus. She didn't walk through with me. I walked in and checked on some of my ESE rooms, talked to the teachers, make sure everything's going good. Um Um went and seen Ms. Floyd, you know, so I do this I do this on a regular basis and >> when you're there, it doesn't look like you have I'm not there to attack. >> You don't have a brigade coming in. I I think what happens is is it's and by no means am I saying the district is trying to do any such thing, not at all. You're everybody's trying to help out. But if I'm hearing Ms. Bonzack correct and I've been on these walk-throughs as well and
028I also go into the schools in unannounced. I think that when teachers feel like that they have to perform for a scheduled visit, that that's not authentic instruction, that that's just compliance. So, maybe I don't know. Um I think when they're being announced, it makes it more it seems more formal. It doesn't really seem like it's just when Ms. Bonzack walks through and just shows up and goes in, they're just doing business as usual. So, I think it's more of an authentic approach. And and in reality, as me as a board member, I'm just going to visit. I'm going to visit you and say, "Hey, you know, how's everything going? Do you guys need anything from me as a board member?" That's all I'm going for. You know, is everything good? Anything that needs to
029be looked at? You know what I'm saying? Like I'm not going to look for anything. Do you need help in your room? I I've been in a classroom. I've helped in a classroom. I've stayed in a classroom for a week to help with ESC kids when they were short at certain schools. I have no problem doing that as a board member. I will always do that. I will always help my teachers if my teachers are feeling they're unsupported or need extra help or I need to come in and and and maybe help with the classroom, do paperwork for them. I'm more than happy to do that and I tell all of them that. So, And and by you doing that, that's not creating any pressure, it's not disrupting the classroom. It's um not lowering the
030morale. The other way I think it's because so many people show up at once and everybody goes into the room and they're holding their clipboards and they're walking around and it's so many moving parts and so many things happening, it just seems like they're in being interrogated if that makes sense. And also know that most of the administrators that I've spoke with, almost everyone says every day they get in their classrooms, they walk through their classrooms, they they talk to their teachers, they're on that level, so I mean, I get the feeling of maybe they feel like they have to show, but they shouldn't. You know what I'm saying? I don't think when Mr. Pinna walks in or when Lisa Cropley walks in that they're expecting them to put on a performance for anybody. Now,
031maybe when Citizens Academy shows up and and we do want our schools to look nice, maybe then yes, put on the show as much as possible, but I still don't even think then they're doing it, but maybe. And I get as a person when your evaluator walks in, there's always that time when there's stress to it and when you have people walk in with clipboards and there's a certain amount of stress that's going to come with that, but I think that some of that stress is to some degree self-imposed and that it shouldn't be something different that you're doing on that day. It is what you're doing on that day. Our goal in coming in and and looking at instruction is we know that that day that we might be there is two days before
032a summative evaluation because that's when we walk through, we know that or it might be a day before testing or two days after or the day, you know, a couple days after we return from a break or something like that. I mean, we're we are human beings that have been there in that position before and we understand that, so I can All of that being said, we'll take it back to cabinet, see if there's anything that uh we can do, but what I can say right now to make it is to everyone administrators and teachers, it shouldn't be anything different than you're doing any other day. And I think that should take a lot of the stress off of it. So, I propose we should include teachers' voice. I think their feedback would ensure that
033we're meeting our intended goals of supporting the teacher in being able to be the best we can be. So, maybe find out from them, you know, and let them have a voice in it and see what they're feeling. That would be a start. We'll take that back to cabinet and we'll um try to come up with something and and and include as many people as we can. >> are going in the room at a time? I would say on most walk-throughs three to five, maybe, depending cuz it I mean, there's a big group that meets at the end or in that the beginning, but then we break off into language arts, math >> When I've been there, it's been, say, five usually in a room. And I feel like that's a lot. I I'm not
034sure why you need five in one room. You guys would know that. I'm not saying you do or don't, by no means I'm not. But just food for thought, five people all walking in with clipboards, understand that climate and how that feels. So, I think, you know, we we need to we expect excellence from our teachers while implementing our practices, but yet they feel like it's undermining their trust in their professionalism when that many people are showing up in one small little room and everybody's moving around with their clipboard, everyone's checking. It's just it's a lot, and I can understand especially the timing, too. I think the timing I've heard that when we're doing these, sometimes they'll say that it's right after state testing, and they're trying to get things started and going. I think
035this past year I heard it was right after school, like 2 weeks in or something, and they felt like they were just starting to um get in the groove and start, you know, and then everybody shows up. So, I don't know. I'm just bringing it back to you that I want the teachers to feel like it's authentic, to feel trusted, to feel like that they're professionals, and that we don't have five to seven people, eight people walking into one room with clipboards, and it maybe maybe we could change it up somehow. I don't know. So, can I just say one more thing? As a when I was a teacher, one of the things that we all would say was our board our board members never showed up on our campuses. They had no clue. They
036wrote policies for us and had no clue what was even happening in the schools. Um our superintendents didn't show up at our schools ever. You know, and mind you, I taught I don't know, 15 years ago. We'll keep that very quiet cuz it's a long time ago, but that was a big thing for us was that. And it's not so much show up and do a walk-through, but show up and show that we're supported as teachers in the in the school by those that sit up here and make all the rules and regulations that we have to follow, even though we don't make all the rules and regulations, and some of it comes from state. But, that was a big thing. Like when something would come down the line, it was like, well, that board
037member has never even stepped foot on our campus. So, how do they know what we're doing? You know what I'm saying? And now, I know this board is different, and I know Ms. Devol is constantly at her schools. I know Rodriguez is constantly at her schools. Hawkins is at her schools. I'm at my schools. You're at your schools. I just said it. And I go to all the schools. You know what I'm saying? So, so we are more involved than we ever have been, which I think that shows some respect for them, in my opinion. Like that's why I go to the schools, out of respect for them, because I know their days are hard, and I know their days are long. And I do believe with some refinement that this can be a stronger
038tool for our schools. So, I just think we need to take I just think we need to take into consideration that the teachers do feel this way, and figure out if there's a way that we can not make it seem so stuffy, and so stern, and so many people bombarding their room all at once, and to where they don't feel undermined and that they don't feel not trusted. That's the biggest thing. And back in the day, I mean, things have changed, but teachers went to school, they graduated, they have a degree, they were able to manage their classroom, they were able to take hold and be in charge, and every day less and less and less is happening, you know, to where now it's more like it's they're just a soldier, they're there to do
039all these um conditions and protocols that we're throwing at them and then they're having to sustain and do that. So, times have changed, I get that, you know, through the state and through everything else, but it's definitely not what it once was, the traditional way of teaching. And if I can say too that we have to have a balance because in the end it's about student learning and what's going on in the classroom. So, I get that we need a balance between how teachers feel, but we also need to keep our finger on um the you know, so that the district and um administration and all those other people know um the practices and the best practices so that we can provide support for the teachers. I know that part of it is a is
040evaluative and we can look at some things that would make it possibly feel better that we're not like coming in with clipboards maybe and doing some of that, but we still need to be in classrooms to be informed about instruction going on in the classroom for the students. It's not that I don't trust teachers, it's not that I don't trust my administrators, it's about going in and collecting information so that we can be on the same page providing support for our students learning and for our employees um in there. Agreed, and your word is support. So, when teachers feel supported then the students benefit. So, whatever that looks like, we just need to see what we can do to make it to where it doesn't feel so stuffy and um maybe so serious. Even though
041it is serious, the data that you're pulling, but just to make it not feel like I said, you you hit the nail right on the head when you said they're all coming in with clipboards and you know, you echoed what I had said to where it does make it feel um stiff and hard and you know, not where not authentic. It just seems more like a performance. So. Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Uh you you finished with that? I had one other thing which slipped my mind. Uh today is Yom HaShoah, which is day of remembrance for the Holocaust. I know in the past at Western Eno High School, the uh the congregation at Beth David was invited to say prayers and have a little service at the memorial that's there. I don't know if that's
042still going on or if it's still being offered, but I think if it's not, we should offer that again to the Jewish population in Hernando County to come and pay respects to the memorial that's at that school for that purpose. Mr. Pender. I'm not aware if that happened or not, but I can find out. Yeah, I I am not either. I'm not pointing fingers, but it is an important day. I mean, this is all about basically a attempt to genocide of a few populations including Gypsies or travelers who were basically were Romanian and were wiped out. 6 million known Jewish people that were murdered by the Nazis. So, it's an important day. Thank you. Mr. Pender, can we get an update on the maintenance for facilities and schools and what all that looks like? How
043we're doing there? We met with the maintenance staff and the facilities staff after uh the last meeting. Um we have a uh Mr. Crugnale has a um uh schedule that he's put together of things the re- the reconditioning part of it um that was brought up. He has a schedule of what he's done and then some proposed for some other areas um and they're working on that to bring that back in May to do a presentation. Thank you, sir. The last thing I want to bring up is I'd like to find out the status of the robot um Milo, I believe it was, the doll that we had approved last year and see how many I did we have five of those? I'm not real sure if my memory serves me, but I'd like to
044find out where they're at, how it's going, what our data looks like with it, and what's going on with that curriculum. Okay, we can get that for you for May I see. Thank you. Okay. Any other comments from any board members? I just tonight when I say the opening, I'm going to take a a few minutes to say a few little things I want to go over prior to the opening prayer. It won't be long, won't be involved, but I just think it's important. That's fine. Okay, if no one else has any other comments, then this meeting is adjourned at 1:35. Thank you. >> Yeah.