001Uh-huh. Come on. Heat. Heat. Good evening. I would like to call this meeting to order at 6 o'clock p.m. Tonight we will have a reflection by Mr. Johnson followed by the pledge of allegiance by Suncl Elementary School. >> Mr. Johnson, >> if we all stand, please. We've had a relatively quiet two weeks. So, if we'll just have a quick moment of silence to uh continue our good streak, it would be appreciated. Thank you to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may be seated. Miss Dubal, will you introduce our lovely students from Sun Coast or let them introduce themselves? Thank you. >> I am Reagan from Sun Coast Elementary School and I
002am part of the safety patrol member and that is my science teacher, Miss Mizuko. Amazing teacher. and my other boss, Deputy Gains. He's a raising. >> I'm Emma and I'm from Sun Coast. >> I'm in fourth grade. I'm ASA and I'm in fourth grade and from Sun Coast Elementary School. >> I'm Summer and I'm from Sunost Elementary School. >> I'm Benny and I do and I'm from elementary school and I'm part of the safety patrol. My name is Dylinger and I'm from Sun Coast Elementary School. I'm captain of safety patrol. My name is Leila. I go to Sun Coast Elementary School and thank you for having me. >> So, Sun Coast, thank you for coming out. I think almost everyone's on safety patrol. Or is everyone? Almost everyone. >> Okay. Okay. So, uh, thank you
003for coming out. Parents, thank you for being here. And I love the way that you supported each other when some when we needed a little encouragement to get through. Public speaking isn't easy, but uh, you guys did a wonderful job. Thank you for being here tonight. Parents, thank you. Teachers, everyone, thank you for being here. >> Great job. Okay, and now we'll have um our school spotlight by Miss Hughes for Sun Coast Elementary. Welcome. All right. Good evening, Madame Chair, members of the board, and superintendent Pender. My name is Daisy Hughes, and I am the proud principal of Sun Coast Elementary, and I'm excited to be here this evening to share some of the great things that are happening at our school. I'd like to begin by taking a moment to recognize our outstanding safety
004patrol members, some of whom are here this evening, and let us in the pledge. These students take on an important leadership role each day, helping to keep our campus safe while modeling responsibility and pride in our school. A sincere thank you as well to their dedicated sponsors, Mrs. Mazuko and Deputy Gaines, for their time, guidance, and commitment to developing student leaders. One exciting addition this year has been our newspaper club. Some of these students also led us in the pledge tonight. They work diligently to publish a monthly edition of the manate team messenger which highlights school events and recognizes both students and staff. Our I Ready snack cart has returned this year due to our student uh positive student feedback. Students who achieved 50% or more stretch growth on I Ready were able to select
005a snack from the snack cart. Literacy remains a strong focus at Sun Coast Elementary. Each year we encourage students to read the Sunshine State books. Students who complete books on the list uh receive a brag tag and if they complete them all, they're highlighted on our Facebook page. Additionally, kindergarteners and first graders have implemented star reading and reading challenges focusing on site words and high fluency words. Uh we are committed to building community partnerships. One of our valued partners is Tampa General Hospital adjacent to our school. Last year and again most recently last week, our kindergarten students participated in a walking field trip to the hospital. Hernando County Fire Rescue joined in showing students an ambulance teaching basic emergency response skills and students learned about various departments of the hospital. They received teddy bears to
006practice their patient care, making it both educational and memorable. Another partnership we are especially proud of is our collaboration with Nature Coast Technical High School. Thanks to Nature Coast SRO Deputy Lebler for the idea and the Coast to Coast Partnership title. This relationship continues to grow. Students from Nature Coast student government along with their football team and cheerleaders have volunteered at Sunost events, including our PTA trunk or treat. This week, as part of literacy week, several of those high school students will also be visiting our campus to read to our students. As family engagement continues to be a priority at our school, December we hosted um another successful winter wonderland where families enjoyed free crafts sponsored by grade levels, complimentary photos with Santa, and performances by our dance and chorus clubs. Looking ahead this week,
007we're excited for our bingo for books event as part of literacy week. And on January 29th, we're going to host a fifth grade parent night, providing families the opportunity to learn about the different programs offered at Hernando County Middle and High Schools. And they'll also have the opportunity to directly ask questions of middle school administrators. As a result of the collective efforts of our staff and students, Sunost Elementary has shown an increase in our school grade percentage for the 2425 school year. We are currently just 1% away from earning an A. very proud. This growth is a direct reflection of the dedication, collaboration, and instructional excellence demonstrated by our teachers and staff. We're incredibly proud of the work happening at Sun Coast, and we truly live by our motto, one school, one man in a
008team. Thank you, Miss Hughes. And I hear exciting things are coming. You're adding We're adding a VPK over at Sun Coast. >> We are adding VPK for next year. Yes, we just announced that this week. >> Exciting. I know every time I walk on campus at Sun Coast, it feels like a family and your leadership um guides that family. So, we really appreciate you. >> Thank you. >> And Mr. Pender, would you like to announce our >> So, Mr. Ellerman, do you want to talk about our next phase of this, our 30-year employees? some special recognitions. Thank you. >> Yes. Good evening, Madame Chair, members of the board, Superintendent Pender, community members, students, faculty, and staff. At this time, on behalf of the Hernando County School District, I would like to recognize the following Sun
009Coast Elementary School employees for exemplary service with the district for more than 30 years. As I call your name, please receive your certificate and stay up front for a group photo. Amy Howard, Karen Savino, Joanne Cheney, Okay. Yeah. Thank you ladies for your dedication to our schools. Okay, we'll move on to the adoption of our agenda. Item number one, 263566, approval to adopt the agenda dated 127206. I have reviewed the revisions to the agenda dated January 27th, 2026 and find that there is good cause to permit the revision of item number 20.26-3540. Approve the renewal of bid number 23-670-22 RN plumbing products, fixtures, parts, and supplies awarded to the Best Plumbing Specialties Incorporated and Golden X Plumbing Supply Incorporated and authorized purchases for an estimated annual spending of $55,000. Can I have a motion and
010a second? Any discussion on that board? No. Okay. Please vote. Okay. And that motion passes 5-0. Do we have any elected officials in the room that would like to speak tonight? Okay, we'll move on to our student representative. Item number 22 26-3567 student representative Jera Abdul Raheem from Springstead High School to share an update of related activities and events with the board. Good evening everyone. This week our school updates will be a little different. Since it's literacy week, I will be sharing what took place at our quarterly delegate meeting yesterday for all of the student delegates in Hernando County. When planning this event, we wanted to do something fun, but also educational, something that would set students up for success and that they could go back and share with their peers. We decided to set
011up stations led by each of the senior delegates. For station number one, oh no, sorry. For station one, we had Patrick Palano. He ran a college and career station. Elementary and middle school students had the chance to participate in interactive discussions where they share their favorite subjects, future career plans, and the steps they plan to take to achieve those careers. Students were informed about the career paths available after high school and the programs offered in Hernando schools to guide them toward success. At station 2, we had Ammani Henderson. She led a team building activity divided into four roles. The reader, strategist, word searcher, and communicator. The objective was to work together to find Miss Henderson's hiding location before time ran out with only the communicator allowed to speak. The success of the team depended on
012communication, the strategist's strengths, and trusting each role's limitations. Students had to use decision-m, listening, paraphrasing, and communication under pressure to locate Miss Henderson. Questions used to reinforce the objectives included who felt the most pressure, what information got lost or misunderstood, which strength actually mattered, and who wasn't hurt enough. At station 3, it was run by me along with my junior delegates, Trisha Wen, Parker Moore, and Hugh Huddleston. Our focus was school survival. I created two list of tips in collaboration with Parker. one geared toward fifth graders entering middle school and the other towards eighth graders entering high school. We spoke from our different experiences sharing expectations and lessons we've learned along the way. Students were then given a sheet to write down five tips they would give to students entering their grade along with one
013takeaway from the list. The biggest takeaway that most of the students identified with was be yourself. At station 4, we had Regan Williams. She led a vision board station where students work together to create boards using p uh pictures they cut from newspapers and printed images to express who they are. Regan shared this statement. I had so much fun helping the younger delegates make their vision boards. My favorite part was just talking with the kids. They were also excited to share their experiences and goals. Their energy was amazing and it was really refreshing to hear how excited they were about their futures. At station 5, this was run by Liliana Norton, senior delegates vice president. Liliana Robble Robbles the delegate for Nature Coast was unable to attend. Their station was grows and glows pledge bag
014charms which allowed students to choose colors for a bag charm with each color representing a personal trait such as growth, confidence, kindness, courage, or responsibility. Students reflected on why they chose each color and what it meant to them. They then set a personal growth goal by identifying something they want to improve, explaining how they plan to achieve it, and describing how they can let their glow shine at school, at home, or with friends. I wanted to thank all of the adviserss who attended and enjoyed the coffee and dessert bar while the students collaborated. And a big thank you to Mountaineer Coffee for donating the goods and Wendy's on Commercial Way for providing lunch for all of the student delegates. Okay, the students I believe yes this is the video. The students truly enjoyed the day
015and were fully engaged at each station and they returned to their school to participate and kickoff in literacy week with many events taking place over the next few days including Springstead's books and brownies tonight and Nature Coast Literacy Night on Thursday. Thank you. >> What an awesome presentation. Thank you for that. I think that you missed one thing and that was um a video of you singing at our teacher of the year event. She did phenomenal. Springstead graced us with their chorus um singing at the event. It was beautiful. >> Thank you. >> All right, we will move on now to item number 326-3478, recognition of the January Hernando County School District Veteran presented by Aaron Ellman. Mr. Elellman. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board, superintendent Pender, community members, students, faculty, and staff.
016At this time, on behalf of the Hernando County School District, I would like to recognize the January veteran of the month, Miss Casey Tobias of Sun Coast Elementary School. Casey began her military service in August of 1992 when she enlisted in the United States Army serving as an automated logistics specialist. During her service, Miss Tobias was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Camp Casey, South Korea, and Fort Stewart, Georgia. While at Fort Campbell, she was responsible for dispatching vehicles and manning logistical operations. In South Korea, she worked with class one supplies, ensuring soldiers nutritional needs were met. At Fort Stewart, she served in the division support command where she handled mapping responsibilities as well as food and logistics support. Miss Tobias completed her active duty service as a sergeant and was honorably discharged on February 5th,
0171998. Following her military service, she pursued higher education at St. from Leo University, earning a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's degree in reading. In 2004, she began her teaching career at Sun Coast Elementary School, where she has now served students for 20 years. In 2008, Miss Tobias continued her commitment to service by joining the Florida National Guard in Date City. While serving in the Guard, she balanced her military responsibilities with her role as an educator, dispatching vehicles during weekend drills. In 2010, she was deployed to Kuwait for one year. During her deployment, she worked in the mayor cell where she managed inventory of shipping containers and ordered supplies to support drills and tactical training for both Army and Marine units. After returning from Kuwait, Miss Tobias resumed her teaching position at Sun
018Coast Elementary. She completed a total of eight years of service in the National Guard. Miss Tobias's dedication to service, both in uniform and in the classroom, exemplifies commitment, leadership, and selflessness. Sun Coast Elementary is proud to honor her as veteran of the month. At this time, Daisy Hughes, principal of Sunost Elementary, would like to share a few words about her. >> Good evening again. I just wanted to say that as a principal of Sun Coast, I'm incredibly proud to recognize Mrs. Tobias Knight. Her commitment to service did not end when she removed her uniform. She brought the same dedication, leadership, and care into the classroom. For over 20 years, she has positively impacted generations of students, and we're honored to celebrate her military service and her continued service to our community. So good. Miss Tobias,
019would you like to say anything before you sit down? >> I'm honored to share your name. My name is Casey as well. >> I know. Um, thank you so much for honoring me. I love um Hernando County. I came here uh after I moved back and I hope Sunost will always be my home until I retire. Love it there. Thank you. I love your um I love the 101 Dalmatian shirt as today is the 101th day of school. Very appropriate. Thank you. We'll move on to item number four, 26-3543. Approve proclamation P26-00003 for National Counseling Week, presented by Carrie Wilson, supervisor of school counselor services. Good evening, Madame Chair, board members, and superintendent Pender. I'm Carrie Wilson, and I'm the supervisor of school counseling services. Thank you for the opportunity to recognize and read this
020proclamation in honor of National School Counseling Week is observed each February and it serves as an opportunity to highlight the essential role that school counselors play in supporting our academic success, well-being, and post-secary readiness of all students throughout our district. Counselors work collaborative collaboratively with families, educators, community partners to ensure that every student has access to the support and guidance that they need. On behalf of our counseling department, I want to express our appreciation to the board and the district leadership for their continued support of comprehensive school counseling programs. Your commitment helps ensure that students are prepared not only for academic achievement, but life beyond the classroom. At this time, I'm honored to read the proclamation recognizing National School Counseling Week in our district. Whereas school counselors are employed in public and private schools to
021help students reach their full potential. And school counselors are actively committed to helping students explore their abilities, strengths, interest, and talents. And these traits relate to career readiness and development. School counselors help families focus on ways to further the academic, career, and resiliency development of their children. School counselors work with teachers and other educators to help students explore their potential and set goals for themselves. And school counselors seek to identify and utilize community resources that can enhance and comp complement school counseling programs and help students become productive members of society. Whereas comprehensive school counseling programs are considered an integral part of the educational process that enables all students to achieve success in schools. Therefore, be it resolved, the Hernando County School Board is pleased to commemorate February 2nd through the 6th, 2026 as school counseling
022week. Thank you for the proclamation. May I have a motion and a second? Any discussion board? Okay, please vote. And that passes 5. Thank you, Miss Wilson. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we'll move on to item number five, 26-3565. Approval of the minutes from the student expulsion appealing hearing. Employee discipline appealing hearing for Thomas Kelly employee discipline appeal hearing for Doulsece Munos Nagel informal weing workshop and regular schoolboard meeting of January 13, 2026. May I have a second? Excuse me. May I have a motion and a second? Any discussion? Please vote. And that passes 5-0. Item number 626-3541. Enter a final order expelling the student in case number E2026-01-01 for one school year. For one year, excuse me. May I have a motion and a second? Please vote. And that motion passes 5-0. Item number
023726-3542 in our final order expelling the student in case number E 202261-02 for one year. May I have a motion and a second? Please vote. And that motion passes 5-0. Item number 826-3568. Citizen input on agenda items. Green forms only. Are there any green speaker forms? No green. Okay. Thank you. All right. Moving on to the adoption of our consent agenda agenda, excuse me. Item number 9 through 23. Does anyone want to pull any items from the consent agenda? >> Miss Bonsik, >> I'm pulling 15. Is that it? Okay. All right. May I have a motion to adop adopt the agenda with item number 15 pulled? May I have a second? Please vote. And that passes 5. Item number 15, 26-3547. Approve the participation agreement for the Hernando County School District to apply for membership
024in the Florida Education Trust Health Trust. May I have a motion and a second for this item? And we discuss. Okay. And now discussion. Miss Bonsik. >> So, I have a few questions. When they did the workshop, they talked a lot about the prescription drug coverage, not so much about the risk of what would happen if we entered in and a lot of people joined on, how we get to the thing. And I understand that this is the analyst of it to for them to look at it, but then what if they come back and it's way more than what do we do? Like they didn't answer enough questions for me as a board member to sit here and go this is a great idea. It sounds good to be true, but they missed things
025like who decides are we hiring agent? What's the stop loss? There's there's a lot of questions that weren't answered. So can you answer some stuff like what if we get to this and we say we don't want it then what happens? >> Okay. >> So throughout 2026 we will be kind of f following a parallel process where we'll get a renewal from Blue Cross Blue Shield and we'll have that to compare to going self-insured and with fleet supporting us in that um endeavor. And I have I do have a timeline I can pass out to the board that kind of shows that because what I what's going to happen is probably in April May we will have a board workshop and then the board will hear from uh what work has been done in terms
026of fleet and also what the renewal rate looks like for Florida Blue. And then in June to September, we'll have a workshop and board meeting just like we did this year to make that um the insurance committee makes a recommendation to the board that the insurance that the board then can accept or or modify and then it will go to a board meeting for a vote. >> Okay. So, what if it comes back that this isn't really cost-saving? Then what happens? >> One more time. >> What if it comes back that this really isn't cost savings to our district? Then what happens? So meaning >> we would go with a Florida blue renewal. >> We would go with Florida blue renewal and we have that option even though we're paying $10,000 for this. >> Correct.
027>> Okay. >> So that's non-refundable once we agree to do it. >> There's no credit for the 10,000 or >> there's a couple different ways to look at it. >> Thank you. So the $10,000 there's a couple ways to look at it. The first thing to think about is um our overall health insurance. If you guys looked at the Florida Blue um renewal that we did in September, that was $21 million. And so $10,000 is a very small amount of money in the grand scheme of us paying for health insurance for employees. The second thing is that when you think about the most likely scenario of us not doing fleet will probably be for one year or two years. And so I have confirmed with them that if for some reason Florida Blue comes back
028and paints a beautiful renewal rate in order as a mechanism to keep our business similar to how any business out there does when you want to leave Spectrum when you want to leave any business out there. They're going to come back with a better deal. So it's possible. So that $10,000 would roll into the following year because eventually we probably aren't going to keep getting that next better deal. So that is a positive. >> So thirdly, >> let me jump in on that one. >> Of course. >> So that's what Bluec Cross Blue Shield will do. Um when they find out, they are going to come in and they're going to give us they're going to try >> and buy the business for a year to delay the district and retain us. But remember, Fleet
029is going to build on the long-term savings for our district. That's not possible if we remain independently insured. So for a year, you're going to see that. So for a year, fleet will sit by, let us take the savings for the year, which will benefit the district if that's what they do, and then after the year, we can go right back into fleet. So that $10,000 there's not an expiration date on. >> Yeah. I also want to make a point that it's an investment because >> part of the reason we would be doing this is that >> if we go with fleet, we have the chance to not only do like a one-time negotiation for health insurance. We're going to navigate the ASO. We're going to navigate the pharmacy piece. We're going to navigate the
030stop loss. So, we're going to have the chance to get the best deal on each of those parts of the health insurance. Plus, we don't have to pay taxes to the state, which we do on a fully insured plan. Plus, we're not paying carrier profit. Any insurance company that fully insures us is getting at least a 7% profit. And there's also a lot of um there's a lot of money in the pharmacy piece. That's a big piece. So if we spend $10,000 and se even if we go on the low side of 7% savings on the 21 million we were just talking about that's $1.5 million. >> Wouldn't that have been great to have at our workshop to show us these numbers and to show us this information and explain that a little thorough. I
031really felt that the workshop itself was very vague and kind of left me searching. And actually in the middle of the workshop, Miss Rodriguez pulled up statistics and was reading those statistics for the guys that were pitching it to us. And I just felt like we were left with so many questions and then had to do the research ourselves. that in my makes me feel a little nervous to go with them if if you know that's how they're presenting with lack of information. And his response to to me asking him during that meeting was this is just kind of an intro and we're going to come back with all those numbers and all that data for you and then you come back and say after you give me $10,000 I'm gonna do that for you.
032So that's where I think the questioning is happening. Not that we're against it because it sounds amazing and I think a lot of us I don't know I feel like this is a great for me personally I feel like it's a great >> I actually think this might be one of the best things I do as an employee of the district in my career here. >> So if I may um fleet has 15 districts currently and that's what I had last time that they were here for the workshop. I did do my due diligence to look up everything find out the savings on the different counties or 15 counties. um we would be going in contract with Collier um so Collier and Hernandez would go on their board agenda to accept the membership and Collier
033is extremely large they voted last week to come to fleet I don't think that Collier would have accepted without doing their due diligence as well so maybe that can give our board a little bit of peace of mind knowing that there's 15 districts and >> so but the 15 districts we don't we don't go with them to get our insurance rates am I correct on that Matt we're not >> we are benefiting from being with districts because of the um buying power. >> Okay. >> Especially >> Yes. So, we're all in it together. Meaning FSBA and FADS, this is their program. >> So, Fleet belongs to FADS and it's owned by the member district superintendent that make up Fleet. If you want to look at it kind of to give a comparison, it's like the
034Suno School's credit union to a typical ordinary bank. So, this is a trust. Um it's a nonprofit trust. It's it it isn't where somebody is making money off of it because somebody comes in and they're owning. There's just a a president and an owner of a company. So, this is a trust of several different all of our money is not in the same pot together. Each district is separate. >> Correct. >> And some districts are very big with different kinds of taxes and and impact fees and things that we don't get as a district. So, our money is coming from what our district does, right? So, my next question is after the stoploss insurance, how do we know how much that stoploss insurance is going to be? Like, we're going to almost guaranteed to have
035to put a stop-loss insurance on. Is that not correct with this program? >> And I want to reinforce that we do that already. In other words, when we pay our Florida Blue premium, >> we also have a stop loss. >> We also have stop loss. They call it >> that's never been we've never not had that. It's just >> yeah, we they call it pooling, they call it reinsurance, but it's the same idea. They do the same thing so that when our big claims hit and you know, if we have certain employees that have traumatic catastrophic events, that doesn't kill us or them because they have that reinsurance and pulling points that, you know, someone else is picking up that tab. >> So, so the next question would be, what happens this year? We have
036to pay Blue Cross Blue Shield for our coverage. What happens come 2027 when this starts? How are we paying a million dollars into an account or whatever we might have to pay? >> We won't besides that $10,000 capitalization fee, we won't pay fleet anything in 2026. We'll only be paying Blue Cross Blue Shield. When you guys as a board make a decision about going either with Florida Blue again for another year or starting being self-insured with the assistance of Fleet, then we only pay whichever decision you make, we only pay them in 2027. And we don't have to pay them till 2027. >> Okay. Now, what about the agent? When they do they talked about something either somebody from our district's going to handle it or we're going to have an agent. No. >> What
037do they mean by agent? >> We'll have the choice. They call it a contract effectuator >> and we'll have a choice of having a contract effectuator or not and that will all be part of the planning and there one of the benefits of fleet helping us is that we won't have to increase you know in the past we've talked about self insurance we've worried about how do we increase the staff in our risk management division to handle that >> fleet is going to help us by us not having to do that because they're going to save us on purchasing When we go out to bid for stop-loss, fleet does all that and then we'll make a decision. >> When we want a if we need if we decide to have a contractuator or not, they're
038going to they're going to >> line up those interviews and then they handle that. So, a lot of what they do is help us um get the best bid, get the best um option, set up the interviews, and they're managing that for us so that we're just left making the decision what is going to be the best to put that package together to be the best package for our district. >> And so, all that's going to come before we actually vote on whether or not we're going into this, >> correct? >> Like a workshop, we're going to sit down and they're going to give us all that information. They're not going to come and just sit here and talk about prescription plans. Correct. >> Okay. >> So, Mr. Rodriguez, >> correct me if I'm wrong.
039Before That's okay. Before the district when we were >> tried it before and it was self-insured and it was a disaster. Um, that was before when the district was managing the program. >> And as good as our people are, they're not industry experts. But inside of Fleet, we have the independent actuaries and we have data analysis. Those data analysis along with those actuaries, they're going to provide all of the needed data. Am I saying that right? >> That's correct. >> That's everything that we need on a monthly basis. So, we're going to get that every single month if that helps make things better. Um, that allows the district to be proactive and not reactive. Yes. >> Every month, >> which wasn't the case previously. Inside of Fleet, there's a program management team that is assigned
040to our district. So, what would happen is if we signed up, if Hernando County School District signs the agreement Monday, it would go before the board. The board makes the board is made up of superintendent past and current um retired superintendents and Senator Mumford and they created this really realizing that there was a need to lower the health care cost for school districts to pull their resources to go out to bid to leverage their resources collectively. So this whole thing was made up of like-minded people that are in the school system that see that we're having an absorbent amount of insurance costs that we're spending. So that's why this was created. So it was created with us in mind, not the opposite way. So it's not something they're selling us and normally we get workshops
041up here in front of us and they're selling a robot and somebody created that robot for us to put out to kindergarten, first, second grade. They're going to make an astronomical amount of money going out to all different districts, getting the board to approve it, and that's how they make their living and they receive their paychecks. This is a nonprofit. >> They're making more than $10,000, though. >> No, that's said and done. >> I'm not discussing that. I'm discussing how this whole program works. So, I need you to just understand that this whole program works because it's a trust and that's what the board that sits on it is retired superintendent and current superintendent. >> It's just a shame that Miss Rodriguez has to explain it and that they maybe she should go work for
042them so and teach them how to explain it to boards a little bit better. But Mr. Meyers wants to comment and then Mr. Johnson. >> Couple things. First of all, I was president of the Collier County discussion because I sit as their attorney and and they they had some of the same questions that uh board member Bonszik did, but they did approve the participation agreement. Understand the participation agreement is only essentially giving the trust they have to approve you. This this is so the participation agreement if you approve it gives the trust you know that approval by the board to enable them to make a decision about whether they will allow you to participate in the program which obviously they will. Um and and the uh a couple other things I think that are significant
043is that there is also as as Matt referred to the the date that you actually you know become active then you have to pay a premium per employee uh who those employees have health insurance. So that's how they make some of their money. They're making they're making money on you know the employee premiums that they will receive every year that you're part of the program. Uh and the third thing and I've been you know I think this is something to discuss or to consider is they're collecting a lot of money and the the the the lawyer inside of me says you know what's the accounting for that money where's that money going so if they have done an audit I think it would be of some value you know to for them to provide the
044audit findings if they haven't done an audit yet I suspect there will be there is some sort of audit schedule that every organization nonprofit or for-profit have to follow. So there will be an audit at some point in time and I think that will be very useful to have that information as well. But all you're doing tonight is saying we want to be part of the program or we want them to consider us. We're under no obligation other than the $10,000. >> Okay. Thank you. And Mr. Johnson, I apologize for skipping over you. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> My my my whole point if you look at this, our investment is $10,000. If in fact we go along with this, as Mr. uh Goldrich is saying, we have a potential of saving 1.5 million. That's
045a drop in the bucket. It's like I don't I I didn't do the math. What is it 70075% or some nonsense? Um, and even if we don't go that route, if Blue Cross sees that we're looking they and they reduce our premium, it's going to be more than $10,000 in reduction. So, whatever we expend, we'll get back either way from the investment in the insurance. So, I for that perspective, I think it's worth the investment of $10,000 to see if we can save more than what Blue Cross is going to offer us. >> And >> I like that perspective. Thank you. Sorry, Mr. Rodriguez. >> The good thing that comes with that is that we're not pigeonhold. We're not locked into a time frame. So, like Mr. Johnson just stated that if Blue Cross Blue
046Shield does come back to sweeten the pot for a year, we can take that savings for the year and then we can turn this program on. We can go with fleet. So, that's going to be to me it's worth a shot. Our constituents, our employees, they've been asking for us to look at other options. Um, this allows us to do that. So, I don't think that it's a bad thing. um when it comes back to um us wondering who we're going to have as a team, um the team does show up. So they have everything that they're launching and that team is with us. So it's not in house. It's not back when we were self-employed before we had people that did it here and that's not their wheelhouse. So naturally it was a flop.
047But this is not the case. And according to the workshop, and I mean we could look back, it states that they either we either contract people in our department or we hire somebody that they give us. >> So I could be mistaken, but that's what I listen to twice when I listen to it. And that's again, I'm all for saving money for our teachers. I'm all for giving good insurance for our teachers, but I'm not for wasting money as a district on $10,000 or even whatever and coming out and telling our our teachers, "Hey, by the way, you're going to have to wait for treatment because this guy needs treatment. We only have this much money." I want to do that every day. >> That would that would not be common sense. >> That's not
048going to happen because if you look at it, what we do is we contract with another carrier. So, we're not paying we're not self-insured where we take on the obligation. We still have an insurance carrier who will be covering >> because back again like I stated it's only because he didn't explain it. So >> because we're we're paying a different >> You're explaining it to me as a board. You're explaining to me but I don't have that insurance person sitting here explaining that to me. So >> and they failed us on that. >> They failed us on that on the workshop. Miss Duval's had her light on for a while. Let her have a moment and then we'll come back. >> Just a moment or however long you need. Miss Duval. >> Mrs. Dval, you
049can have an hour if you would like. I just would like to remind the board that all of this you if you approve this this evening it just sets everything in motion for the insurance com committee that this >> district >> let's do that >> district has um and they will very very carefully look at Florida blue continuing or uh this fleet coming in Um, please be reminded that when they did the fleet presentation, they would also be working with Florida Blue as part of the program. So, you've got a very good committee in place and they're not going to bring you something for consideration that they have not thoroughly discussed in numerous meetings. So, I have the faith that uh this will be fine whatever they bring to us. >> All right, Miss Rodriguez,
050>> let's bring it to a vote. >> I just wanted to say that bottom line, there wouldn't be any surprises in the previous world of when we were self-insured. We didn't have that data or the industry experts. So, I know that was a big thing for you, Mrs. Bonszac, that we want to make sure that we have those people there that are employed that are going to be working for the district. um and they are employed from the trust. Um so at the end of the year we were forced back in the day to have to bring money into the program to make it whole and to keep it balanced. But inside a fleet having them the difference is lots of things but one big thing that sets them apart is there is a program
051management team that is assigned to our district. So the minute that we're in that we accept this if we decide to um they have that management team ready to employ and to be there working alongside of us and with us. So, they're the ones that know what they're doing. >> All right, board. You ready to vote? >> No. >> Almost. >> My computer is being funky. >> I broke it. >> Miss Bonsik, you good with your questions? Do you have any more any further discussion? Okay. >> I will add that if you guys want to know, you might know the date. You probably looked at it. January 1st of 27 is when we would roll this out >> and that's when um at this point we would pay our trust dues if the board elects
052to adopt the self-insured model. >> We're pausing because Mr. Johnson's computer is having an issue as you just fill in some time. >> They're trying to fix it. Give them just a minute unless you're in a hurry. Michelle, >> you can do a verbal vote if you want. having some activity. >> It's not coming up yet. >> Looks like it's showing that it's connecting, right? Just doesn't like >> I'm just going to give you a verbal. >> Do a verbal vote. Thank you, Mr. Goldberg, for helping us. Of course. >> Okay, board. We're going to vote and we'll just take Mr. Johnson's vote verbally. Go ahead and ver vote electronically, please. >> Can I vote a yes? >> And that motion passes 5. Now we'll move on to our citizen input on general topics pink
053speaker forums. Item number 2426-3569. Citizen input on Hernando County school issues on which the school board customarily takes action. Pink forms. Are there any pink speaker forms? >> Okay. Mr. Myers, if you could please read the instructions for this item. >> Sure. Uh, this is an opportunity the public to address any general topic of relevance to the operation of Fernando County Schools. To speak at this time, you should have already completed a pink citizen input speaker form located on the tables at the entrance to the boardroom. If you have any attachments you wish to share with the board, please provide them to the board secretary to prior speaking. Each speaker will have three minutes during the segment of the agenda. Speakers will be called by number to come forward by the chair. Uh, prior to
054making your remarks, please state your name and address for the record. Inquiries or comments made during citizen input may be followed upon with the speaker and reported to the board by the superintendent or staff thereafter. Although the board encourages citizen participation, please understand that no immediate action will be taken on items presented during the public comment portion of the meeting. If a follow-up board action is required, then the matter may be placed on the agenda at a subsequent meeting in accordance with school board policy. >> Thank you. May I have speaker number one? And these are the handouts for her. >> Good evening. Good evening, superintendent, madame chair, board members. >> Oh, may you speak um speak your name, please, for the record. >> Beverly Co. Um Brooksville, Florida. >> And then Miss, if we
055can pass our handouts out. Sorry. In honor of literary awareness with um with all the very serious issues we are dealing with today, Florida is still focused on dismantling the public education system and destroying free speech for students and the right to read. A House bill that was withdrawn last year has been given new life and is now HB119, which states that school districts may not consider potential literary, artistic, political, or scientific values a basis for retaining the material if it contains material harmful to minors. And therein lies the rub. If a challenged work contains even perceived nudity or suggested sexual material, it would be considered harmful to minors and school boards would be restricted from even considering any other value of the work, potentially risking the removal of some of the world's classic literature.
056Indeed, many siminal works of artistic endeavor have already been banned from Florida school libraries and English, humanities, and history classes reading lists such as For Whom the Bell Tolls, Slaughterhouse 5, East of Eden, and Dune, and on and on. virtually every independent study on the pros and cons of allowing middle and high school students, and I put an emphasis on high school, uh, giving them unfettered access to literature, resulted in students who gained insight and empathy into their own communities and into the lives of diverse peoples, learned to deal with social anxieties more effectively, had greater academic success, much improved vocabulary development, and many learned to love reading. An essential positive in this day of excessive video gaming and hours on Tik Tok where all manner of potential child exploitation can and does occur. Our
057vetting system needs serious revamping. when 5% of the parents or citizens of this state can decide what college educated teachers can assign for optimal cognition of a subject or that trained professional media specialists and I found out just recently that we don't really have any professional media specialists which is insane but okay can curate in the school library we've essentially lost the race for students to develop critical thinking skills s the importance of analysis and understanding real world world complexities. One complaint uh one complaint can remove that book for an indeterminate time and the process of returning it to the shelves is extremely arduous. Call your legislator. >> Thank you. Great. Speaker number two, please state your name for the record. Mark Chopy, Spring Hill, Florida, and I'm here to talk about the charter school
058that we all know is coming. Um, officially, I didn't want to say anything until we had the property property contracts been signed uh just recently. So, here it is. It's gotten real that the charter school is going to come. It's a K through 12 charter school. The property is on uh about a mile short of 75. If anybody knows where High Corner Road is, um that's that's where the 21 and a half acres is that we just the the ink is just about dry on that contract. So, very excited about that. You can tell I'm very excited. Um the name of the school will be Pineapple Co. Classical Academy, Brooksville. It will be affiliated with Hillsdale College. If that tells you anything about what what it's going to be about and what the curriculum is,
059you can go to hillsdale.edu and look up the curriculum and you'll see what's what's going to happen there. The U plan is to open doors August of 27. Uh it's an ambitious schedule, but uh if things keep moving, we think that that's going to be a reality. When we open, it's going to be a K through six with a building capable of K through eight. And if everything goes as planned, then we build the high school after that. But ultimately, it's a K through 12 that we're planning on doing. The numbers for this opening of K through six is in the range between six and 700 students. Um, with that said, um, you can expect the charter to come to this school board here within the next 10 days to two weeks, uh, for approval.
060Have fun. 400 and some pages of very interesting reading, but it's very detailed. So, um, I hope hope that comes here shortly. It's going to go to Don Williams. Um, she's the interface that I understand that we're going to be working with that way. So, um, the, uh, Classical Education Management is the management company I'm working with. They've got three schools over in Bvard County building another one. They've been very successful at the charter school business, and we're just copying, pasting, and improving on what they've done over there. That's the plan. So, um, I'm the point of contact. There's more than one way to get out of school board. you build your own school. So, I'm uh I'm the school board member uh for that project right now. I'll be the director once the school
061does open. So, if you have any questions, it's official. Contact me. I will find the answers for you. Um it's uh it's going to be a project, but uh everybody so far in the county has been very helpful. Thank you very much, >> Mr. Chaffy. I want to thank you. look forward to the to the competition. It'll be good for the school district to up education all the way around >> and congratulations. >> Okay, general counsel, do you have any comments? Any closing comments? >> I do not, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. All right, school board comments. Mr. of all just want to shout out to Joe Herren, band director at Hernando High School for his selection as our district teacher of the year. Joe has been very passionate about his uh music program at
062Hernando and he has shared his expertise with many in the district to help improve overall the finance fine arts in the county. So congratulations to Joe Miss Bonsik. >> So sometimes we hear negatives which will always be negatives in our schools. Nothing's perfect. But last week I got to witness two incidents hear about another about how our staff and care about our students and how much more they do and they're responsible for. Last Wednesday when I was at Springstead for a meeting, um I want to give a shout out to their administration team. A student had a medical emergency which required EMS to come and be called. Did the administration not only team run to the student? They stayed with them the whole entire time until rescue arrived, even as far as going out into
063the parking lot when mom arrived on campus to make sure mom was okay as they were loading her child in the back of the ambulance. Um the next one was after I left there, I went to Sun Coast just to check in and I witnessed the AP, Miss Thomasson, Dina students, Mr. Bennett with a child that apparently was disruptive in the class with disruptive behavior and explained to him that they did understand and that he really didn't mean to do it, but they did understand and there would always be consequences. Then I was off to Westside where administrators told me about their morning that involved a fast acting former student that is now in middle school that kept an autistic child that goes to their school but had escaped had eloped from his home safe.
064All things that I have mentioned can happen at any time in our schools. As I mentioned before, nothing is perfect, but every day our district tries hard to put all of our kids' best interests first. With that being said, I agree that we all sit up here and to make sure that our teachers, administrators, and our students are taken care of and supported. Um, with that, I wish everybody a good night and thank you for coming out. >> Thank you, Jera. I hope that everyone has a lovely evening and gets home safe. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Johnson. >> Yeah, I I don't have a lot to say. It's been a quiet two weeks and uh I think we're off to a good final start to the end of the school year. Things seem
065calm. I hope they stay that way. I hope everyone stays safe and that's it. Thank you, >> Miss Rodriguez. >> Oh, good. I have so many things to say. You're not going to want to do it. Um, I did a shout out to the office, um, the front office at Winding Waters last week, and there was a lady there that I did not say her name. Her name is Mrs. Tina Gamino or Gamino. I'm not real sure how you say it, but she is wonderful, as well as the other two that I did do a shout out to. So, um, the reason she got left out is she got moved to the back end. So, she's inside the school somewhere in the back, um, doing a lot of great things. So, I don't always see
066her up there any longer, but the other day when I went there to get the girls, she was sitting there and um it just resonated that I had forgotten to mention her name because all last year she was up front and she does so many wonderful things and helps out with that school tremendously. So, I just wanted to say that I appreciate all those ladies there at the front desk at Winding Waters as well as all of our other schools. But, I have a personal relationship because all of my kids go to that school. So, I get to see them daily. So, they're doing a great job. Um, the other thing I wanted to say was I would like to um ask if you don't mind you come up and you're here, you're involved and
067I appreciate your involvement and I thank you for being involved like you are and taking the time out to always be here with us. But the books that we removed, were you here during that time? Okay. So, the books that we removed whenever they came up and they were reading excerpts out of the book at the podium for three minutes, you heard those books. So, it wasn't just books that were mediocre, maybe a little bit foul, maybe um had some cuss words, had a little bit of provocative. It was complete pornography. So, it wasn't just a little bit. There wasn't anything to that that brought to the minds of children that would do anything to um to to make them better. It wasn't good reading. It wasn't educational. There was no uh literacy value, I
068should say, to those books. So, that is the reason. It's not I don't think anyone's up here just trying to pull books and um stop freedom of speech and um freedom of being able to pick and choose what you want. But as children, children, their minds have to grow. they have to shape and for their minds to grow and shape, it needs to be content that is going to be um quality and not smut. So, at the end of the day, I don't think that my parents giving me Playboy magazines as I'm growing is important and that would be good for me to be able to grow mentally and I would get anything from that. And that's what these books were. These books were filthy, filthy, filthy. They were dirty. They were explicit. They were
069sexual. They were it was beyond things that all of us in these rooms as adults when when we have to ask the children to be dismissed out of the room because we're going to speak and legally we have to ask for parents to remove them. How can we ask that but then put those same books in the hands of those children in our school. So in our school district office right here during a meeting if we have to ask them to step out because it's going to be so runchy. How do you think that those same children when they start school from 8:30 in the morning to 3:30 under our care that they can see the books there but not in here? That doesn't make any sense. And exposure to pornography at a young age
070can lead to poor mental health, sexism, objectification, sexual violence, and other negative outcomes. It can cause addiction. What you see, what you hear, and what you see is what stimulates you. whatever you're absorbing, whatever you're around, you become familiar. It becomes a normal to you. So that's not something that consistent exposure, it raises concerns about the children's health and well-being. So as long as I'm on a board, I guess this just it's sad to me that how teens benefit from being able to read disturbing books that some want to ban. I don't understand. I'll never for the life of me and I do appreciate the dialogue. I appreciate that you have an opinion. It doesn't have to be mine. But I will tell you this, I worked really hard to sit up here to get
071elected to go do what we do to be able to win the votes of the constituents. It's a lot of hard work and it's a lot of dedication. So I'm sitting up here not because I need this, not because I have to have a job. I don't. But I want this. So I'm up here because I have four children in the school system. Uh three that are in the school system, one that's already went through it. I, as a parent, want to make sure that we do not put that ever in the hands of these children. I want to make sure that I'm a good steward up here for the parents sake and that I'm a voice of reason and that I make sure that under our care when they're with us that they're not
072going to have stuff that is nasty, that is ugly, that is runchy, that is pornographic. Not ever. So, as long as I sit on this board, I will never allow it for myself. And I hope that I have the votes to support me on this. Never ever would I allow any of those books that were read to us through the last three years as I was sitting on this board ever be back in our school systems in a brick-andmortar building in our county. So you and I will never agree on this. But I appreciate you coming, but never as long as I'm here. I guess it will always hit a wall with you and I on this. Those books will never get past me as long as I can make sure that they stay out
073of the hands of these children. >> Mr. Rodriguez, before you move forward, can we also chime in on the fact that the trained media specialist, we do have trained media specialist. I can we have three at the district office that are certified with DOE and we have several at our schools. So, absolutely since we've come back from COVID and everything has changed, they have made certain our district has that we have these specialists that are trained, certified by DOE, everything is the way it should. They do. Yes. Yes. Yes. They are certified with DOE. So everything that DOE expects. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Um the other thing I wanted to talk about is I had the pleasure of attending our teacher of the year celebration and all the teachers that were selected was a reflection
074of all of our great leaders in our district. And all of this ties in, as we heard earlier today from Mrs. Stacy Hughes from Sunost Elementary, that they are 1% away from being an A school, which is amazing. So, I think this would be a good time to follow her comment of almost being that A and give a shout out to our students and teachers for their outstanding progress on the progress monitoring data. So for our ELA for 2025 and 2026, I want to say for our elementary, 12 of our 13 schools are higher at the progress monitoring 2 this year than they were last year. On our middle school levels, six of our seven schools are higher at PM2 this year than they were last year. At our high school, four of our five
075schools are higher at PM2 this year than they were last year. And our combination schools, which is our K through eight, three of our four schools were higher at PM2 this year than they were last year. And the schools that didn't increase, which is one in every category, they stayed the same. So they did not go down, they did not go up. So how ironic that every school had all one in each category that just stayed the same. All the rest we saw a rise. So, the majority of our schools this year for PM2 are higher this year than last year at PM2. The schools are developing plans to continue to support students from now until our PM3, which that will take place April or May. I believe we do our next one there. Um,
076and that was for our ELA, that was English, our math, elementary, our kindergarten increased overall 8% from last year. First grade was 13% and second grade was 6%. our early learning initiatives that we have are contributing um to our math students that are coming into school. Our highlights for third through fifth grade, third grade overall saw a 5% increase. Fourth grade saw a 3% increase and fifth grade saw a 4% increase. Third, fourth, and fifth grade all saw the increase this year once again from last year. So that tells you that everything is moving in a good direction and we are very close to being an A through our whole district. So um that's a wonderful thing. Our graduation rate is 88.1% to 93.5%. It's the highest it's been and we are above the state
077average this year. The average is the highest rate ever with the state. So that's also something that is amazing because they've increased it for the state and we're still above the state average. It increased by 2.5% in Florida and the fact that we're still above that shows that we are making tremendous progress. So, I wanted to highlight that to tell you guys that we are moving in a good direction. Um, I think that we're stronger right now than we have been in a long time in our district and I'm extremely proud of our teachers. I'm proud of our students. I'm proud of all of our staff and you guys just keep up the good work. So, um, thank you guys for coming out tonight for everyone being here. I appreciate everyone's opinion. even if we
078agree or disagree, I still thank you for being involved and being in our district and showing the support that you show. Um, and on that note, I hope everyone has a great night and God bless each and every one of you. >> Thank you, Mr. Pender. >> So, along with our teacher of the year and what's already been said about congratulations to everyone, uh, Mrs. Duval mentioned, Hernando High School is our teacher of the year for Hernando County, Joe Harren. Um, our first runner up is Charlie Simpron from East Side Elementary School. Our second runner up, Lissa Orlando from Chocachy Elementary School. And our new category, rookie of the year, Robert Crawford from, uh, Wilton Simpson College, um, technical college. So, I just wanted to echo that we have great teachers. We have great staff
079in our district, especially teachers. as we finish teacher of the year and give a shout out to the runner-ups uh first, second, and rookie of the year for that. Also, um just want to also mention that the education foundation, their tools for school, um they're going to be doing a grand opening February 5th for um introducing their new building. Their new building is it's not a new building. They took over a building that is next to Westside. So, they've expanded their tools for schools area. Um, it's like a it's a huge like 12 foot tall shelves in there with all kinds of uh stuff for schools to share with teachers. So, after the fifth and the grand opening, um you can go visit that. The information will be on the Ed Foundation or is on
080the Ed Foundation site and they also have the bus uh that has the tools for schools that come around for schools for uh staff to um use in their classrooms. So that'll be available. All that information is on their website. And also check out their uh scholarships. Their um they post a lot of scholarships coming up as we enter scholar uh kind of scholarship season for our uh seniors and their grants are also for our staff and our teachers um to use in their schools. So check out the Ed Foundation website. >> They also have the Cinderella room for students. Yes. that are looking for a prom. >> Yes. >> Or homecoming dresses. >> Thank you. On behalf of the Hernando County School Board, thank you to our staff, admin, teachers, and families for your
081continued dedication to our students. The work we do here truly matters, and it takes all of us working together. So, with that, have a good night and thank you again for being here. This meeting's adjourned at 11 or excuse me, 7:11 p.m. Have a good night.