001along with our superintendent and board attorney. And so, would you please stand for prayer and pledge with Ms. Aguilar. >> Let's pray. Dear heavenly Father, just thanking you for this beautiful day that you've given us. Lord, we just ask you to continue to bless us in all things and in the decisions that we make and that your will will be done. And Lord, that we'll give you all our praise, honor, and glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, before we adopt the agenda this evening, we have a couple of little things that we do need to make on our
002adjustments on our agenda. First of all, item number 15 is will not be a public hearing. It will be of an acknowledgement, and we will be acknowledging a presentation that will be added after the items of interest by the public. Is that clear enough? Okay. What's the care of the board? All right, motion's been made. >> What's the motion? >> Yes. >> He wants to recognize the employees. >> I'm sorry? >> Recognize the employees of the month. >> Okay, we we haven't even we haven't even adopted the agenda yet. >> We need to add it before we get >> Okay. All right, after after the items of interest before the presentation, we will we need to start putting this on the agenda where we don't have to make these adjustments as much. Employees of the
003month, okay. >> I'll make a motion. >> Okay, motion been made by Ms. Agner. Seconded by Ms. Carlton. >> Okay. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed? All right, so carried. Uh the approval of our minutes of April the 21st 26 regular school board meeting and public hearing. >> I'll motion. >> All right, Ms. Matthews makes that motion. >> Second. >> Ms. Agner seconds it. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed? All right, so carried. Uh uh this brings us down at this moment to the items of interest by the public. Do we have anyone here this evening that would like to address uh the board on any issues? If not, we'll move forward and Mr. Superintendent, you'd like to recognize some employees this evening. >> I would.
004I want to recognize our employees of the month our transportation. And if y'all are here, I would like for you just to come up. Our transportation department would be Shannon Starling. Our food service worker for the month is Brooke All. Our custodian is Ms. Lori Wright. Non- Non-instructional employee is Ms. Linda Brannon from the middle school and then an instructional person employee is Ms. Katie King. >> That's the hardest place to appear. One, two, three. That's good. One, two, three. That's good. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Y'all have a good night. >> And again, I want to thank Taylor County Community Bank and Wear All for being our sponsors for the entire year for these employees of the month which they give them $50
005gift cards and that's special and we always like to reward our people and recognize them every opportunity we get for the job that they do. >> Okay, thank you. All right, now uh we have a presentation by Miss Rudd on uh school start times. >> So, what we want to present to you tonight is the school start times Senate Bill 296. Two years ago, we wrote a grant and we did a pilot program for the school start times to start later in the school day. And so, during that school year, we didn't start high school until 8:30, middle school at 8:15, um elementary schools between 8:00 and 8:05. And so, on the presentation, what I want to show you is the difference between when we started them early compared to our current start times. Currently,
006our start times begin at the primary and elementary schools at 7:50, middle school at 7:40, high school at 7:30 and Steinhatchee School at 7:55. >> Wait. >> Do you mind? Thank you. I thought this would work. Thank you. >> So, Senate Bill was passed saying that they did research to um and they found that students need more rest in the evenings. And that it was better for mental health. Thank you. And they didn't take into consideration when they looked at the impact it would have on the districts. And so it was overturned and now districts have the option of determining their own start times based on the impact it had on the community. You can go ahead and start and do that. And so what we want to show you is the comparison from 24-25
007when we had the later start times to this year's the 25-26 earlier start times and the shift that we made and how it supports the families and the student schedules. Unintended consequences when we started the later start times we didn't realize the impact it would have with the conflicting of the parent work schedules. So, most of our families have to be at work between 7:00 and 8:00. And with the start times we were getting multiple phone calls that they couldn't get their students to each location on time because of the time they had to start work. Our students were missing instructional time in the afternoons when they would have to leave for athletic or other academic events that were taking place. And so due to us being as rural as we are when our buses
008would leave for events in the afternoon they were cutting off almost an hour of instructional time. They would still return home late in the in the evening and they would also late return get after school tutoring because our school would end later. Contract time would end later. We would start tutoring. We would normally tutor for about an hour and then teachers have a half hour planning. We lost that school year 10 students stopped coming to tutoring because of the time they would get home. Their bus wasn't getting home till almost 6:00-6:30 in the evening. Um staff, we were having more staff have to use their personal time to leave in the afternoon to um make it for doctor's appointments. And currently we don't have that. They can still leave after their contract ends and make
009it in time to go to doctor's appointments. We have a lack of buses and drivers, and we can't run multiple routes. In the grant when we wrote it, we did write it for two additional buses. We wrote for additional staff to monitor students before and after school. And we wrote for two drivers and two um bus aids. And then they pulled the grant. So we were blessed that we did get the drive um the two buses for our district. And we were able to use the um aids to monitor students in the morning especially at the K5 level. But we never had the opportunity to hire bus drivers or aids because we didn't have the buses in time and we knew that. We knew the a year out. But we also don't even have enough
010applications to fill the current need. And then we did not intend the higher cost of utilities for staying after school and having to have um lights on longer in the day especially during daylight savings time when it would get dark earlier. So the benefits of our current start times is we're seeing improved intention improved attendance. More instructional time is being retained. It's a better balance for students for academics and after school curriculum after school events and curriculum. More time after school for staff to be able to make it to their appointments. Students can attend tutoring, enrichment, and athletic events and still get home with sufficient time left for their family. And that's the comparison of attendance in grade 6 through 12 because that's where the impact was. It wasn't necessarily grades K through 5. And
011so blue is the 24-25 school year when we started later. And orange is the current school year and you can see the difference in attendance. And so, what we determined as a district is the conclusion is earlier start times, so we did definitely see an improved attendance. We were able to support our families in their work schedules, increase the student success, balance the student home life, support teachers with their appointments, and our instructional time remained intact. And so, at this time we'd like to ask, um, if you have any comments that you'd like, uh, other recommendations that you can make to us, thoughts on the Senate bill. >> I have a question, Jill. Um, is the recommend- Is the recommendation that we're going to stick with the start times we have now? >> We haven't
012met yet. Um, we're meeting with our district leadership team next week with school, um, administrators as well. Um, I believe it's the superintendent's wish to keep this start start times the same, not to have to go back to the earlier, uh, I'm sorry, to the later start times. >> Have we got any Are we doing any parent surveys or anything, or we just going with this data right here that y'all have looked at from this year, the last year? >> The surveys were last year, and that's where we got where the scheduling, and then the phone calls that we received at the district, especially with tutoring, that's where we noticed the major impact. Um, but the surveys were done last school year. >> Now, being that we're doing the earlier start times, um, I think
013you said something about we did get some funding, so far as the personnel that has to be here earlier to receive these students at an earlier time, is there grant funding to cover that, or >> No, ma'am. The grant funding was when we did the later start times, and what they did the grant funding was for a period of 2 years, and they pulled the grant funding from us, okay, and so we didn't even get it for a full 2-year period and it was when they had um complaints against the Senate bill. >> Okay. >> And so when they had to take it back, they took all um they took the funding back. Anything that we had not spent, we could not continue to spend. >> Okay. >> So no, we don't get any additional
014grant funding. >> Okay, so this this was just basically to provide us with information and you guys going to >> Yes, ma'am. >> discuss and then come back with the start times. You going to recommend the start times. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. All right, thank you. I like this information. Thank you. >> Having that recommendation. >> I would anticipate our June meeting. Sir, would you? >> Any other questions? >> No, thank you, Jill. This is good information. >> Um Thank you for that presentation. Uh the consent items on the agenda were approved by the adoption of the board. And this brings us down to item 15, uh which is an acknowledgement which is concerning this presentation that it has been presented to us and so forth. So uh Miss Carso makes a motion that
015we accept this and Miss Agnes seconds it. Um all in favor say I. >> I. >> Anybody opposed? I'm so curious. Um brings us down to the items of interest by the superintendent and board. Uh Mr. Superintendent. >> Um well, I've got some administrators here. I'm going to let them We'll start with uh Miss Gray. Primary school. >> Um We have started end of the year testing. Second grade for the vast majority is complete. We're at 92% but we've got a few makeups to do. Um first grade did half of their testing today. The other half of first grade will test tomorrow. Um math scores are still extremely high. Um Thank you. Right now, second grade's reading is is has met our SIP goal. And then we're going to pray that even with those makeups
016we stay Um but the kids have worked hard, the teachers have worked hard and the results are showing that they put in the work. So we are really proud of that. Um we had a great teacher appreciation week last week. Um lots of fun things going on. Um we had donations from Ms. Cindy Styles, Gibbons Barbecue, just some you know, we cooked out on Thursday. We just had a really good week, a fun week. And then the back the last working night us and the elementary school had our transition night so that all of our students could go and meet teachers for the next grade, look at classrooms for the next grade and we had a really good turnout. And I'll just say goodbye into the elementary school. >> Same. >> All right. So Ms.
017Hopla is out. Family engagement, her daughter is moving up to middle school so she's not here tonight. And she's she's getting to be a mom tonight. So uh we had a great teacher appreciation week last week. So if you saw anything on Facebook you see how our teachers were on target. They were the real deal cuz we had the party I mean um think about it. Uh we have a lot of people to thank. Sheriff Paget, New Home, First Baptist, First Assembly, Northside, our PTO and um Ms. Tammy and Mr. Tony provided meals. And um lots of community support, lots of donations and gifts. And we are just so grateful to our teachers. Really felt the love. And our staff too because we wouldn't have all staff. Um we started testing on Friday, May 1st
018and our results are rolling in. Third grade is We did half of third grade today. It's It's looking good. So, our kids are super excited. Mr. Walker put together a great like pep rally type thing for them. We kicked it off. We made promises to our students to be uh things that we're going to do as admin, you know, like a tap the AP and that sort of thing. Um And then we have um fifth grade awards night coming up May 28th. It'll be at the high school gym, and we invite everyone to attend and recognize our fifth graders as we send them off to the middle schools. >> Thank you. Mr. McCall. >> Okay. So, we're very busy this time of year, just like everyone else. Um, we had some state finals for Florida
019FFA and the Ag Mechanics contest last Saturday. Shout out to Mr. Meow and Mr. Moses and all of our community volunteers for coming out and supporting this. We've been hosting this for several years now. It's a great marketing event for our school and how I will work in collaboration with the county. Um, Miss Andrea Flowers from Berry Aluminum and Ken Walker, she came out and did some um heavy private practices with our girl welding students. That was awesome. Great event there. Um, we had our student welding competition, which we've had for several years. Mr. Tim Brown started this and we've had it in every year since. Our judges brought over 100 years of experience into this to evaluate the students' welding. They were very impressed and we'll announce the winners on awards day. Speaking of
020awards day, that will be on May 14th at 11:00 a.m. Our pinning will be on May 18th at 6:00 p.m. And graduation will be on on May 21st at 6:00 p.m. Um, so far we have 43 GED graduates. So, we're on track to reach 60 this year. So, um we have two more test dates. We're going to push out those last 17. We have them there on April 11th. And um we also had a great staff and teacher appreciation week last week. Our theme was the best staff around the world. So, they had English breakfast. Some of my older teachers remind me that they like real meals. Wednesday we had almost an Italian, so we had a great week to celebrate them. So, I appreciate y'all and thank you for supporting us all year. >>
021All right. Thank you. Mr. McColl, Mr. Bray, tell us about the hatch. >> All right. Well, this is going to sound a lot like what the other person has been saying. So, we did have our teacher appreciation week last week. We were blessed with outpouring of support from our community, lots of food. You know I'm big on data. And so, it's about 0.75 lb per day and that was the that was the running rate there. But, we did wrap up K2 testing last week. We're pleased with the results. And uh we started third grade today. And so, I'm cautiously optimistic there as well. Also wanted to say that we're going to have a grad walk coming up on May 15th. This is a special group to us. You guys when these kids were fifth graders
022in the 2018 academic school year, that's when we went from an F to an A in one year. It's this group of kids. So, we're excited to have them back today. They really set the bar high and they you know, gave everyone else the expectation of what the school of Hatchie is capable of and they need that encouragement. So, we're really excited about that. >> Thank you, Mr. Bray. And and on behalf of the high school because they're having their awards night tonight and we're trying to get over there as quick as we can. It starts at 6:00. But, uh Mr. Fraley said they started ELA fast PM3 testing for 10th graders today. Ninth graders will be tomorrow and then the awards night is at 6:00 and they're giving out over $2 million in scholarships
023tonight. So, that's outstanding. Um we'll have the the TCS HS senior walk next Thursday, May 14th at 1:00. The baccalaureate service will be at Calvary Baptist Church on that Thursday, May 14th at 6:00 p.m. And graduation will be Friday, May the 15th at the stadium. And then we also have our big spring football game, which will be on Wednesday, May 13th at Dorsey Stadium at 6:00. Come out and support the Bulldogs. >> Graduation is at 7:00, correct? >> Yes. Yes, graduation is at 7:00. >> And where was the baccalaureate again? >> Going to be at Calvary Baptist Church. 6:00 on the 14th. >> What time you say the spring game was? >> 7:00. >> And Mr. Bray >> No, the game is I'm sorry. Yes, the game is at 6:00. Graduation is at 7:00. >>
024Uh Mr. Bray, what time are you doing your grad walk? >> It's going to be on the Friday, the 15th at 10:30. >> Okay. Okay. All right. >> Well, pray for the school there, so then >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. Is that it? All right. Good things. Thank you all for your reports this evening. Uh Miss Bolden, do you have anything? >> I do not. Thank you. >> Okay. Mr. Now? >> Yes. Um I want to congratulate those um instructional and non-instructional staff that was recognized um tonight. And again, as always, thank you to those community partners that are supporting the recognition of those um staff members that allow us to do that for the district. Um congratulations to um Oh my goodness. I don't forgot who I was going to say congratulations to, but
025um oh, Shelby. Yes, your your GED students. I was just telling um the superintendent on Friday um I've noticed over the years the GED students, they are We're having more and more graduates, but I notice most of those are those students that hadn't quite made it in our other academic settings. So, I think that speaks to um their resilience and their preservation that they did go on and that they were able to um go down to the GED and not only go down and enroll but that they was able to graduate cuz we do know that's not no small feat. Um so congratulations to those students. That's what I was trying to say. I do want to acknowledge that what we seen on Facebook with all of the different teacher recognitions and I want to
026thank all those community partners that help um partner with our schools and supported the different schools um and made sure we recognize our teachers and everything. So um thank you to those community partners as well. And then um just we're at the end of the year and this is always my favorite time of the year cuz we get to recognize our students and all their different accomplishments. Jill, thank you again for the presentation tonight. Um I'm looking forward to see what the if we stay the same or what recommendations you guys come. But it's always good to know why we doing what we doing and um the more we can acknowledge that to our community, I think that would solve a lot of questions. Um but I'm just looking forward to the end of the
027year and um what all we got in store with these different recognitions coming with the high school and big big um technical college. So that's all I have. >> Okay, thank you, Miss Hazel. >> Real quick so we can get to the awards. Um talking about re-recognition and the strategic planning um committee that I'm on that board with y'all or whatever you want to call it, committee committee. We Jill brought up that other districts show appreciation to their 5-year, 10-year, 15-year, 20-year people whether all employees. So we talked about it and they said it'd be nice to recognize them but we had to go back to the community and ask for more. So I made a suggestion there's no need to discuss it tonight. I'm just going to make a suggestion, take it home and
028mull over it and then we'll We'll back and talk about it. But I made a suggestion that it come from the board. That the board recognizes a 5-year, a 10-year, a 15-year, a 20-year. And, after talking to Lacy, we would have to up our sunshine uh money, I think, from 50 to 75 per check for each one of them. So, you just think on it. Some food for thought. Uh just thought it would be nice to come from the board. Uh I think it would speak volumes to the teachers and the employees. >> Okay. All right. >> I know I'm just one, but they'll we'll talk about it later. >> Okay, thank you. Uh Ms. Matthews. >> Um if everything that we just said and congratulations to y'all, and I have a paper in front
029of everyone. I'm going to talk about it real quickly, but we can talk about it more at the next meeting, but since I have this So, I would like to know if my fellow board members would like to take part in a kids farmers market. And, it would we would team up with BBTC, and it would be a kid entrepreneurship day, and we would do it the 1st of August. And, um basically, they would set their booths up, and everyone could come and shop, and they could sell their baked goods, or their slime, or their whatever they've been working on all summer. And, it would be a good opportunity for our kids, and it would really like our mission, in the end, is to raise kids that know how to be good entrepreneurs and good
030workers, and know how to earn a living, and I just think it it it it plays right into what we're all about. So, we can talk about it more at our next meeting, but I would love for y'all to think about it in the meanwhile. >> All right. Thank you, Ms. Carlton. All right, guys. I think she's got one more. >> Okay. >> Yes, I did I wanted to mention that last night we spoke at the county commissioners meeting, and they voted unanimously to put the quarter mill back on the ballot for in November. And, I did want to touch on the half-cent sales tax again, cuz there's obviously a lot of people in the community that are absolutely confused or maybe lost. Um the half cent sales tax is going to benefit this school
031system in many many ways and it's going to impact the community very little, very minimal. The half cent sales tax in conjunction with the quarter mill, which that only affects 46% of the people in this county that pay property taxes. The half cent sales tax will affect everyone and a big portion of that funding will come from people traveling through here. Just like when you go shopping eating in Tallahassee, you're supporting Leon County schools. When you do the same in Alachua County, you're supporting Alachua County schools. And as one person said on social media that well, if they got to come to Perry and pay a half cent sales tax, they'll go to Live Oak. Well, let me inform them, my friends, that my friend over there, Superintendent Ronnie Gray, is implementing a half cent
032sales tax in Suwannee County. So, it's something that we desperately need. It's going to help support our schools and it's going to it's going to help as far as the quarter mill, which I didn't want to raise that because 46% of the people pay property taxes. So, we raise it to a full mill, then you're talking about those people paying three and four times the amount of taxes while the other 54% continue to not share in the cost. So, that's the purpose behind the half cent sales tax to include everyone and people shopping coming through Taylor County, staying here, eating in our restaurants and there are many. And as I stated before, 12,500 vehicles come through this county every single day. And we are a hub. There's nothing 50 miles from us, so they are
033shopping, buying gas, eating in our restaurants to help support our half cent sales tax. So, I just wanted to put that out there again. >> And I wanted to say one thing. I think people when they hear a half cent sales tax, they think it's well, yeah. But they state charges you 6% the county charges you 1% so you're paying 7%. Now you go and fill up your truck say it's $100. What it's going to cost you that $100 more than what you're paying now is 50 cents. So I like to keep it in perspective of what it actually costs. The most you would ever have to pay on $5,000 invoice is $25. You're already paying that other already so that will not be applied. Okay. >> Okay. All right. Anything else? >> That's it.
034>> I was just going to mention that briefly that I did go to the insurance trust meeting and had a very good meeting. We had a lot of training. We um we came out we talked about roof inspections which you know was one of the things that's like I guess you'd say they named the song of their insurance um adjusters but document those. But we talked about a lot of those things but the bottom line is we did um get a um our rates were given to us. I don't we don't have the amount yet because they're still tweaking some numbers but um we're able to go back and negotiate and drive the rates down. This is the first year that we've really had opportunity to do some of that and we knocked it down
035pretty good and then plus we did a there's a a distribution coming back that's going to offset the premium and even more. So hopefully we'll have a report on that before long. >> So less than what it was last year or just negotiating this year's this? >> The last number I received was about 130,000. >> less than last year. >> And then that >> it depends on we have a new option this year to add a new coverage they have. So, depending on which way you go, it's going to be between $100 and $150. And then Did that take into consideration the small amount that we'll get back to them? >> Yes, ma'am. >> The main thing is we just got to inspect our roofs on regular annually. >> And you say annually, but uh
036but I don't know exactly when that would go would start because they're relatively new now. >> Well, to keep our warranty on these new roofs, we have to have an annual inspection to keep the warranty. >> Exactly before hurricane season. >> Mhm. >> Okay. >> All right, thank you. Uh as we conclude uh this afternoon, uh again, thank you all for coming and uh trying to get back over to the high school here for the awards program. Um but in closing, now actually, high school graduation is Friday week. >> Yes. >> It's It's It's It's here. >> It's here. >> Another school year has come and gone. That's how fast time gets by all of us. Uh and all the many things that's going to be taking place, awards programs, and you just everything is
037is just uh uh for the next several weeks going to be very very busy time. Um I will say that uh and I I'm not apologizing. I'm just not going to be able to be part of a lot of this because I've got two granddaughters, the last two granddaughters that are graduating from high school. They went They And they uh were part of our Talihina County district for several several years. But I've got one in Alabama, and I've got one in Georgia. And so, I next couple of weeks, I'm going to be wrapped up. Papa's going to be wrapped up. Those two granddaughters. And so, if you don't see my face, you know that I'm having to pull Papa duty. Okay? So, um anyway, but time is and and as we get through this season
038and this next several weeks, then it's going to be time to begin to plan for the school year. All right. Yeah, that's uh Do I hear a motion second, please, sir? >> All right. Ms. Carlton makes that motion. >> Ms. Adkins seconds it. All in favor say "I." And this meeting is adjourned. Thank you for coming. >> Thank you.