001Heat. Heat. You are down. Heat. I got you. Hallelujah. Oh yeah. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Since this is the organizational meeting for the board, I'll be presiding over the meeting for the board's selection of a new chair and vice chair. The school board of Hernando County is now called to order at 10:03 with board members Bonszik, Duval, Hawkins, Johnson, and Rodriguez present. At this time, we'd like to do a reflection and a pledge to the flag. So, as we come upon the Thanksgiving uh season, I'd like us all to reflect on the many blessings that we have um at this time of the year and all year. Um and have a moment of silence with that. And now the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to
002the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We'll begin with agenda item number 26-3383. Approval to adopt the agenda dated November 18th, 2025. Can I have a motion and a second and a vote? And that item passes 50. We'll move on to the reorganization of the school board. Agenda item 22 26-3417 election of a chairperson to the school board. I'm now going to call for nominations of a board chair. >> Susan, >> I nominate Casey Hawkins. >> Casey, >> I nominate Shannon Rodriguez. I think that she did a fabulous job this past year. Any other nominations? Okay. I'll now close the nominations. >> Can I have a motion to elect Casey Hawkins as chair? >> Do I have a motion? >> A motion. >> Second. and
003a vote. >> It's a verbal. >> Okay. Sorry. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> No. No. So that passes 300 >> 32 Agenda item three, 26-3418, election of vice chair to the school board. I'm going to call for nominations of a vice chair. >> I nominate Shannon. Say what would you say? >> I nominate Shannon Rodriguez. I So I'm not sure. You voted no against your own nomination. So, does that mean that you don't want to be chair? >> I definitely feel like I am new. Um, so there was a little hesitant for that, but I feel like if the other board members feel like I should do it, then I will. >> So, >> okay. Okay. I'm hoping that my vice chair will and Mr. Bender will help support me as I'm learning in
004this. I think you'll do fine. Okay. >> Um, agenda item 326-3418, election of vice chairperson to the school board. I'm going to call for nominations vice chair. One nomination was made for Mr. Rodriguez. Any other nominations? At this time, I'll close nominations. Can I have a motion to elect Shannon Rodriguez as vice chair? >> Make a motion we elect Shannon Rodriguez as vice president. Chair. Sorry. >> A second. >> And a vote. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, the vote is 50. And at this point, the I hand the gavl to the new chair. Okay. The board will now recess at 10:11 a.m. The board will now reconvene at 10:15 a.m. We'll move to agenda item 426-3419. approval of the schedule of regular board meetings from December 2025 through the organizational meeting in November 2026. Can
005I have a motion and a second? Any discussion? Please vote. and that motion passes. 5-0. We'll move on to agenda item 5 26-3420. Designate schoolboard members to serve on various committees. Yes, Mr. you all. >> I would like to give up the calendar committee, the uh inclusion committee, >> and the STC advisory committee. >> Can you repeat that please? >> Like to give up calendar committee. Got it. >> Inclusion and STC, Simpson Tech Advisory Committee. Give up that. Okay, Miss Rodriguez. >> Thank you. >> Um, I would like to keep the ESC and the Small School District Council Consortium, the FSBA advoc advocacy committee. >> Can you repeat that one more time? The ESSE advisory committee. >> Uhhuh. >> What's the next one? the small school district council, the FSBA advocacy committee and the liaison
006to legislatives. >> Okay. And which one did Mrs. Duval give up? >> She would like to give up. She is um alternate for calendar committee. Give up that >> she wants to give up alternate for inclusion committee. and she wants to give up um current board member for STC advisory committee >> Simpson Tech. >> Um I'll take Are you um on the Simpson Tech? Are you Are you first or second on that one? >> She's first. >> And how often does that meet? >> It just depends. Could be two or three times a year. >> Okay, I'll take that one. STC advisory committee Miss Rodriguez is going to take. >> All right, Mr. Johnson. >> I have no changes. >> Okay. >> I'm fine with what I have to. >> Okay. Would anyone like to
007take truency? I'll take the calendar second as well and take. Okay. >> Oh, sorry Casey. >> Would anyone like truency? >> I'll take truency. >> They meet sometimes twice a month. Mr. Johnson, you okay with that? Okay, I'll keep the rest of mine and I will take I will take the um I'll be back up for inclusion. Business Duvall was wanting to give up that. Other than that, I think everything's taken. Is that right? >> Yes. >> The priorities >> for the strategic plan, are we leaving those as is? >> Sure. >> Yes. >> I think that's all of them. Okay. Any further discussion on that? I tried. Okay. Okay. Says please vote. That motion passes 5 Z. Okay, moving on to agenda item 6, 26 3421. Approval of the minutes from the interlocal governmental
008agreement meeting on October 15, 2025 and the minutes from the workshop and regular schoolboard meeting on October 21st, 2025. Can I have a motion? and a second. Any discussion, Mr. Duval? >> Sorry. >> It's okay. Okay. Please vote. And that motion passes 5-0. Now we're moving on to our citizen input on agenda items. Agenda item 7263422. Citizen input on agenda item. Agenda items green form. Do we have any green speaker forms? >> All right, we'll move on to the next item. Adoption of the consent agenda. Does anyone want to pull items from the consent agenda? Okay. If not, can I have a motion and a second? And then please vote. And that motion passes 5-0. >> Okay. Now, we're going to move on to our citizen input on Hernando County School issues on which the
009school board customarily takes action. Are there any pink forms? >> Okay, Mr. Myers, can you read the instructions for the items? >> Be happy to. Uh this is an opportunity for the public to address any general topic of relevance to the operation of Hernando County Schools. To speak at this time, you should have already completed a a ping 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 prior to speaking. Each speaker will have three minutes during the segment of the agenda. Speakers will be called to come forward by the chair. Prior to making your remarks, please state your name and address for the record. Inquiries or comments made during citizen input
010may be followed followed upon with the speaker and reported to board by the superintendent 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 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. Those are the rules. Thank you. All right, you want to pass those? Our first speaker, Robert Lewis. I'm passing out your handouts now. Thank you, Mr. Lewis. >> There's a little round button. Click that. There you go. >> Hold it down while I'm speaking. >> N just one time. >> Killer. Okay, beautiful. Good morning. My name is Rob Lewis. I'm an assistant state attorney here in Hernando County. I
011work over at the uh courthouse at 20 North Main Street. Uh I am a homicide and serious felony prosecutor here in Hernando County. I practice mainly in front of um Judge Steven Toner and Judge Daniel Merritt. I would ask that the board if you run into them, please tell me tell them I was not a don't ever tell them I'm able to present anything in three minutes or they're going to hold me to it. So um the reason I'm here is that um uh in my role in addition to being a prosecutor, I'm also adjunct faculty at PHSC and I also do training for prosecutors throughout the state um as far as how to do our job properly. Um, one of the problems that I have noticed here, and not just in the county, it's
012it's nationwide, is that while our young drivers have a driver's license, they have little or no training in how to deal with law enforcement at a traffic stop. Um, in my 20 years in Hernando County, the last seven, doing all the traffic homicides, I've seen way too many of our teen drivers end up on autopsy tables and and I'm here to try to prevent that or to try to prevent that. The the problem as I see it is even though they have the driver's license, they have little training in how to deal with law enforcement and what they get is YouTube and Tik Tok and people that are looking for clicks and likes and have real no real interest in their safety. What I have put together is a uh presentation how to deal with
013law enforcement when you're pulled over. It focus on it focuses on practical, calm, safe procedures to protect both the young driver and the officer. Uh the presentation teaches things like where to put your hands, how to communicate clearly, what documents uh they'll be asked for, how to avoid making sudden movements, and how to exercise their rights respectfully. Um it also describes common mistakes that escalate situations. Um what I have noticed is over the years is almost 100% of bad traffic interactions between law enforcement and drivers, they're almost 100% preventable. And with a little bit of training, um, that can be, um, that can be taken care of. Again, this is not a a political pre presentation or anything like that. This is not about pro cop, anti-op. This is pro-safety. Um, it's about safety and
014clarity. And one thing I want to emphasize is that it tracks uh with the Florida educational standards for safety, clarity, and injur injury prevention, specifically Florida statute 10.42, 42, which mandates health and safety and education. It also supports and supplements the driver education safety programs the students may be dealing with right now. Because I prosecute the traffic homicides, I can share actual dangerous outcomes with these young drivers and and why they're preventable. I don't think these teens need scare tactics. They need simple, practical guides from somebody who's seen the worst and wants to prevent it. Um the in in finishing up the uh benefit of this is I'm willing to present this to every driver in Hernando, every teen driver in Hernando County at absolutely no cost. I'm I will volunteer my time. I can
015do it at a big assembly. I can do it class to class. And uh my goal is by the end of the school year to be able to uh get in front of every single teen in Hernando County that has a driver's license and give them the tools to operate safely. >> Thank you, sir. Thank you, >> Madam Chair. >> Any questions? >> Yes. >> Could we possibly have Mr. Lewis come back and make a presentation at a workshop at a future date? >> Mr. Vender. >> Absolutely. >> When when and where? >> Absolutely. >> Stay in touch. >> Okay. Absolutely. >> Yeah. Maybe you want to go to the back and speak with maybe Gina in the back and give her your information for her to contact. Thank you. >> Appreciate everyone's time. Thank
016you. >> Thank you. Okay, our next speaker, Thomas Kelly. >> Good morning everyone and congratulations madam chair and vice chair women. Uh my name is Thomas Kelly. I reside at 1023 Marlo AB here in Spring Hill. Uh I am the president of HUSW, Hernando United School Workers Union. Uh who we in our bargaining unit have over a thousand people. We have pretty much everybody other than the the teachers. We represent par profofessionals, the clerical people, food and nutrition, transportation, maintenance and custodial. Uh we are currently in uh bargaining with the county. Uh, and I just would like to make a case on behalf of the non-instruction employees. Uh, these folks are truly the backbone o of this county. Uh, these people get our children to and from school safely every day. These people feed our
017children breakfast and lunch every day. Our maintenance people keep the schools up and running uh on a daily basis and our custodial staff keeps the environment clean and disinfected for our kids as best we can do. Uh yet despite this essential role, many of our employees earn wages that are just not keeping up with with inflation and the cost of living. I don't know if you're familiar with the uh uh cost of living calculator that's online. If you look at that and put in Hernando County, you'll see that we we need help. We have we you know we have people over 60% of our bargaining unit who have said that they are living paycheck to paycheck. Uh who work two jobs and whose wife works another job. Uh these folks deserve better. They work hard.
018Uh and you know, we want to get to the point where these people don't get paid and then by the time they buy their groceries, by the time they pay their bills, they're coming up short, you know, three or four days that they're out of cash because it's, you know, it's it's just not available. uh you know this this is not a financial issue as I see it. This is an issue of dignity and fairness. Uh you know we're we're asking for your help to retain our employees to hire new employees when need be that are qualified. Uh we are going to face a critical shortage here shortly and and employees and a lot of the maintenance people uh you know our HVAC people our plumbers you know when when they leave and and they
019are going to be leaving it's we're going to be hardressed to replace them for the money we're paying. Um >> sorry about that. Uh so >> thank you Mr. Kelly, the best thing in our employees is Mr. Kelly students. >> Mr. Kelly, sorry, your time is up. Thank you. We appreciate you. >> Okay. And we'll now call our third pink form. Miss Lucot, >> forgive me if I pronounced it wrong. >> Everybody gets it wrong. It's spelled. It's not phonetically correct. And I'm going to apologize for no contact because I'm reading as fast as possible. I don't know when my time starts. My name is Misty Lashad. I'd prefer not to give my address because I think the students might watch it. Who knows? But they love me, so it's okay. I live off Omaha
020Circle. Google that. Um, I want known that I'm using my personal time to be here. I've been in Hernando County in some form since 1989 as a student, a teacher, a volunteer coach, a coach, a parent, etc. I was offered a raise of $470. That is 0.007% of my current salary. Then it was up to 700. That is 0.011 of my salary. I've been here for 22 years. The average teacher is getting 0.8%. Are you aware there are people in this county who make two to three times my salary? They get a percentage raise like they got a percentage raised last year. Did you know there are people in the county who also get $650 car allowance? My car costs $300 a month. Um did you know there are people in this county who are
021not um I'll say secretaries, that's my term I'm using that they don't have a degree or certification. They make more than I do. Teachers are becoming more and more aware of these things. We need to do better. We need to plan better. Teachers are required to plan, plan, and replan. But the district doesn't budget for raises. Teachers are forced to work outside of contract hours because technology issues. We have to create backup plans to our plans. District keeps pushing technology, but technology is failing us. We work outside contract hours to push the passing of millage and we can't use that for advertised purpose. It was asked at the bargaining what the 6 million millillage was going to be used for by the the union. No answer. I sat at bargaining meetings and witnessed a person
022who makes about $100,000 say something is better than nothing. What if teachers took on that attitude? I won't go deep into insurance costs right now even though I've had a battery at 43 put into my chest because of our amazing insurance. Yeah, I was denied a test that would have saved me 10 years ago. We have a number of programs for the new teachers. What about us veterans? We are losing veteran teachers rapidly because of this. Um, so if we can't give a proper raise, what is coming off the teachers plates and the kids will suffer because of this? Um, and it is all about the kids. We all signed up for this to do something for the kids, but we all has to pay our bills and live. And living paycheck to paycheck as
023a teacher is not good when you owe $4,000 because of a pacemaker put in your chest at 43. >> Thank you. Okay, so that concludes our comments. Um, do we have any school board comments? Any closing comments, >> Mr. Johnson? >> Yeah, please. Um, on on Saturday night, the Sons of the American Revolution held a military ball at VFW off of Anderson Snow. students from the uh Central High School culinary program came and acted as servers. I was immensely impressed on how professional they were and how well they conducted themselves. These 10 students served about 100 meals. They knew exactly what to do, how to do it, got it done without without a single wrinkle. I was truly amazed. Also, the ROC cadets under Commander Cruz were there acting um in an honor capacity. They
024were truly professional and blew me away with the precision and how they conducted what they did. I just wanted to say thank you to those two groups and to the to uh Chef Connect, if I'm pronouncing it right, and to Commander Cru Cruz for bringing the students. Of course, they all get community service. We are it is a 501c3, so it'll help them with that. and I wanted to express my gratitude for their help. Happy Thanksgiving all. >> Mr. Rodriguez, >> I just wanted to say congratulations on your position, Mrs. Hawkins. I think you'll do wonderful and I'm here to support and back you up anyway, but I think you've got this and um I think cohesively as a board, it's we all are working in um a good way. So, I think that we're
025making big strides for the district and I'm looking forward to continuing that. >> Thank you. >> And I jumped over our council's comments, Mr. Ryers. Do you have any comments? I apologize for that. >> Well, other than to congratulate you and and the and Miss Rodriguez as as chair and vice chair, we look forward to working with both of you again and the rest of the board, too. >> Thank you. I think you're a great addition to our board. So, thank you. Mr. of all a couple of things >> and I have no script so this is listeners be aware. Uh, first of all, I want to make it publicly known that um I think Shannon has done a good job as chair this past year and that it my nomination has nothing to do
026with her ability as a chairperson. Um, it has been probably 98% true that we rotate the chair around every year. Um, so that's where I'm coming from. It's not that you did a poor job. I think you did a great job. So I want everybody to know that it's not something that's against Shannon because I nominated Casey. is for that reason of rotation. Um second, uh there is a Hernando High School band program this year, this year this week at 7:00. Uh it's a hundred years of music program. So I encourage anyone who can get out to attend that to please do so. I also wish a happy Thanksgiving to all. Please enjoy family and friends and remember the importance of caring and sharing at this time and every time but especially at Thanksgiving when
027we should be giving thanks. Last thing, I had to go out of state recently and as I drove across the state state line both ways going and coming, uh it was there was part of the sign that the state line said, "Welcome to the free state of Florida." And given the opportunity to reflect on that for several hundred miles coming down to uh Brooksville, Florida's not a free state. It has bothered me for a long time and it continues to bother me. We are not free. We And there's now there's been some articles in the paper about Senate Bill 180 and districts, counties going the legal route to try to retain the rights that they have as a school district. as county commissioners, as you name it, municipalities, town councils, because those we're not we're
028not free to make our own decisions. And one of the big things that's hitting this county is the fact that that this one particular right has been taken away from the BOCC is the ability to um handle development in the way that they see fit for their county, their district. That's gone. So much is gone that we used to be able to do. This board should be able to deal as a school board with the the difficulties or the positives that we have in this county and not to be told what we have to do, how to do it, when to do it, and be threatened with retribution if we don't follow their new policies and procedures. And I find this appalling. It's to me it's getting worse. Not every county is the same. We
029are not one big homogeneous state at all. Never have been. But now we're being forced to act like we are. This county, Hernando County, has no business telling Miami Dade or Madison County what to do and how to handle their school board decisions. We are unique. That's the cool thing about us. We are unique and we should stay that way and we should be given the rights back that have been taken away from us. And don't threaten me with you're going to get kicked out of your job, you're going to be removed, you're going to be fined. Don't do that. Don't do it to the superintendent. That's on them, too. So, I'll stop, but I want you to know this state is not free. And it's it's not appropriate. We need to be able to
030govern ourselves as we see fit. And we won't always agree on everything, but that's the beauty of talking to each other and working things out and making progress and moving forward. For us, it's all about our kids. They need the chance to succeed in what they are beginning to face once they leave high school. It is not the same world. It will never be the same world. Our focus is on those kids, our kids to get them ready, get them to have the ability to think critically, work out issues, problems, what's good for them. How can they find that? Or is the have the courses been taken away in a college or in a technical school because they seem to be of no value? >> No, that's not how this should work. I'm done. >>
031Thank you. >> Good Thanksgiving. So, I do want to agree that Miss Rodriguez did a phenomenal job as our board chair and I do agree that with a board sitting board that everybody should get a shot at being board chair at least once. Um, with that being said, that's why I nominated for her to be at least vice chair because I do know that she does a lot for our district. Um, Mr. Johnson talked about uh Central High School's ROC. I will also talk about it. They did our teachers in action parking. They did a phenomenal job. Some of those kids got up and were there bright and early to make sure teachers and vendors were parked. And I know that some of the kids heard some harsh things from either vendors or teachers, which
032was disheartening because those kids went out of their way to make sure that they were there to help on their own time. So, I do want to give a big shout out for Central's ROC program and what they did do. Um, with that, I wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. >> Oh, and congratulations, Miss Hawkins. >> Thank you, Superintendent Ender. >> So, there's an activity in the seven habits that I think is appropriate for this time of the year to give thanks. and how you think about things sometimes changes how you the words you use change how you think about things and the other way around. So there's an activity in there where uh you take about 30 seconds, two people get together and you take about 30 seconds and you unload on the other person
033all the things you have to do. You have to do the laundry. You have to mow the grass. You have to take out the garbage. all these things and then same you switch and you do the same to the other person. And the second round of this activity, you change your words. You change your words instead of I have to with I get to. And then you use that same list of things, but you say I get to do the laundry. I get to take out the trash. I get to mow the lawn. And I think that that comes in at this time of the year with our feeling of gratitude sometimes around Thanksgiving. A lot of times in our mind we have a very negative perception of things. And I just challenge everyone as
034you go into the Thanksgiving season to think about the things. And I get that saying I get to do the laundry is a little corny sometimes, but at the same time, you do. You got up that morning and you're physically able to do the laundry. You get to do it. So, just think about if you can take a moment to put that in your frame of mind over the Thanksgiving break and be f thank thankful for the blessings and the things that you have in your life. I will try to do the same. Thank you very much and we hope that you have a good Thanksgiving break, >> Miss Rodriguez. >> Thank you, Mrs. Duval, Mrs. Bonszik for the kind words. That was very, very sweet. And to piggyback off of Mr. Pender, I agree
035there's a lot of people right now that are laid up in hospitals and they don't have the opportunity to be able to go home and do a load of laundry. That would be heaven for them. So, um we are very blessed every day that we wake up and that we have our eyesight and that we can see and that we have our arms and we have our legs and we're able to walk and we're able to do um just any task is a blessing. So, I hope everyone does have a wonderful Thanksgiving and um I look forward to coming back to our next meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I want to first say thank you to um our two speakers that came. They they took their time um personal time to come out
036and voice their concerns with their pay. I appreciate that. And all the emails that we're receiving, we hear you. Um, so thank you. And I see you every morning out there smiling and waving and working so hard. Um, so thank you for the love for what you do. Um, also want to say thank you to the board for your confidence and the support um, as nominating me as chair. I'm honored and nervous. Um I look forward to working collaborative um collaboratively with all of you to continue um what we have started last year. Um and I look forward to working with our superintendent and the staff and this community and to keep focus where it belongs on our students and their success and strengthening our schools. So um I'm very thankful for all of you
037and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you. And this meeting is adjourned at 10:48 a.m.