001Welcome to the school board, regular meeting and public hearing of August 23rd, 2022 for Manatee county at the Walter Miller school support center. We will now have invocation pastor Rick Starrett. Oh, I'm so sorry about all of that. Good morning. I'm wonderful To see you too. I'm sorry. Okay. I'm sorry. Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Mr. Chu. Other way. Yeah. The other way, if you want to do it that way, I apologize, pastor Ash. Well, thank you very much this morning for allowing me to come. What an honor it is. We love and appreciate all that you do. So I'm pastor Rick Sterrett. I'm from United Methodist church. I'm the executive pastor, let us pray Gracious and loving God. I want to thank you this morning for every person here for each mind and heart
002that fills this room this morning, you know what they are setting out to accomplish. And so I pray that you would give them wisdom as they discuss the many important issues that lie before them father empower them to make their decisions wisely. I'm asking also that you would send your holy spirit, the creative spirit upon them, open their hearts to recognize your presence in this place. And may they draw upon the wisdom and the experience of yesterday as they respond to the questions and concerns of tomorrow, please give them the freedom to speak the truth boldly with kindness and patience, and to listen openly without prejudice. God gives them the confidence to discover and explore new possibilities. Give them wisdom to discern what is right and good, and give them courage to participate in your
003ongoing work in this county father. I want to lift every principal, every assistant principal teacher, staff member, and every child to you this morning and ask for your continued blessing over every life and bless this gathering today and all those present. And finally, God, we place this meeting into your hands, trusting you to lead, to guide and to protect our schools. As we move forward into the future. And we ask this in the name of your son, Jesus, and everyone said, amen. Yes, Thank you. Please let us stand and recite together. The pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. 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.
004The only information on the item that we have for the public is that they leaves for August 23rd, 2022 have been published. We now move to the approval of the agenda. The chair has found good cause to amend the agenda to include all items listed under agenda on the August 23rd, 22, 20 22 agenda updated August 22nd, 2022 and posted to the district [email protected]. The chair will call for an approval of number one, the agenda amendments as added and the approval of the agenda and moved and seconded that that'd be approval of the agenda with the amendments as apple stated, you heard the motion. And second, is there any unreadiness hearing none. The chair will move to call the question. All of those who are in favor, let it be known by the sign of
005aye. All opposed the motion passes unanimously. We will now move to approval of our minutes of August 9th, the shade meeting of August 9th and board meeting. I'm sorry, board meeting of August 9th and the August 12th board workshop. Is there a recommendation coming to us from the superintendent? Yes. I recommend the approval of the minutes from the exempt shade meetings and board meeting on August 9th, 2022 and the board workshop on August 12th, 2022. It's been moved and seconded that the minutes from the exempt shade meeting from the board meeting, August 9th and the August 12th workshop be approved. You've heard the motion. And second, is there any unreadiness hearing none. The chair is prepared to call the question. All of those who are in favor of the approval of the minutes, let it
006be known by the sign of all the polls here. Now that I's have it. And the motion passes unanimously, we will not be having a recognition for our brain health initiative. Mr. Baba wants you to please come forward. Thank you Mr. Board chair, board members and superintendent Saunders. You know, the school district has earned as a well earned reputation for being a leader in education with innovation and imagination. And the item that we're going to talk about this morning is certainly a, an example of that. So to tell us a little bit more and about this recognition, have the districts, executive director of administration, Kevin Chapman, you all know him. So Kevin, Thanks Mr. Barber. Good morning board. So on teams via teams, we're joined by the executive director of the brain health initiative, Dr.
007Stephanie P buddy. I'll introduce her in a second, but what is the brain health initiative as probably what the question of day is? So the brain health initiative was founded in 2020 here in actually in Lakewood ranch. And it's a joint effort with the Massachusetts general hospital mass general, probably the best hospital in the, in the country, which is also probably obvious it's part of the Harvard medical school system. So it's kind of a joint effort between mass general and the Harvard medical school. And it's, it's really to study the neuroscience, the brain health of, of, of all people from, from young people all the way up to elderly people in the community. And the brain health initiative was founded by Dr. Peabody and between mass general, herself and, and Harvard medical school chose this
008Suncoast region to, to be a pilot for the brain health initiative. And our school district was chosen to be a pilot in this brain health initiative. And this initiative is really to create schools of brain health. And Dr. Peabody will kind of explain that, but we've chosen six schools to be pilots in this, in this area, Lakewood ranch, high school, Mona Jane, middle school, gullet elementary, Bayshore high school, Bayshore elementary and Lee middle school. Those six schools are our pilot schools in this initiative that just started this year. And again, Dr. Peabody kind of we'll, we'll go into that a little bit about really what, what that means to be a pilot school and be a school brain health, and really what this initiative is all about. But let me just introduce Dr. Peabody, Dr.
009Stephanie Peabody is the executive director and founder of the brain health initiative. She is a neuro-psychologist and a global brain health expert, and has been doing this for over 25 years, connected with Harvard medical school and mass general. And this is a, as I've gotten to know Dr. Peabody and begun this work with her, this is really kind of like Mike said, really an innovative way to figure out and study kind of what's going on in our community when it comes to, you know, any everything from mental health to nutrition, to the environment, to what's going on here in the Suncoast region and, and then figure out ways that perhaps the school district, the county business nonprofits can come together to improve the brain health our, of our, of our region. So there is a
010letter of intent or an agreement in your consent agenda today that kind of, you know, starts this partnership with, with the brain health initiative. So with that, I'll lead it to Dr. Peabody. Hopefully I did a good job of introducing you here, Dr. Peabody, and I'll let you kind of explain a little bit here what, what we'd been up to. Fantastic. Thank you so much, Kevin. And I think there's a delay. That's okay. If you just start talking we'll, we'll catch up to you. All right. Fantastic. Anyway, Kevin, thank you so much for the introduction and to the board of the Manatee, the school district of Manatee county. Thank you so much. It is a pleasure and privilege to be with you today. And we, the brain health initiative in our entire faculty and team
011are absolutely just delighted about this opportunity to work together, to increase brain health, performance outcomes for all ages. And what I thought is I would start by sharing with you a little bit of context about why schools for brain health. And I think it's important even though you all are leaders in this sector. I think it's important to remember that by the time a student graduates high school, they will have spent more than 15,000 hours in school, which is the second largest exposure time after their home for more than 50 million K through 12 students enrolled in school. This is a time of critical, psychological, social, cognitive, and emotional growth and development, which can be enhanced by an explicit focus on increasing brain health, protective factors, reducing brain health, risk factors, and optimizing brain development
012and performance within both the school, as well as home environments. The brain health initiative work is fundamentally rooted in the science of brain health in the science of brain performance in the science of brain illness, in lifestyle medicine and the implications to brain plasticity, which is the brain's ability to adapt in response to experience here. We're talking about the combined experience of home and school through the schools for bringing health programs. The brain health initiative is going to extend our work of building brain healthy communities to bring scientifically proven methods for improving brain health optimizing and overall wellness, while reducing the risk of brain illness to not only your students, but to your S to their support and family caregivers, as well as to the school personnel file. Unconventional crisis is really the core driver
013of the brain health initiatives mission. Currently you may or may not be aware of this. There is a global brain health. There is a global crisis public health crisis that exists outside of the current COVID and pandemic that we are experiencing. And that is related to brain illness. Its scale is unprecedented and it's numbers, which are already tragic, are growing rapidly. The crisis for youth is reflected in the recent national emergency declared in child and adolescent brain health by the American academy of pediatrics, the American academy of child and adolescent psychiatry and the children's hospital association, and many other national and global groups during the COVID 19 pandemic, the numbers of youth experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness, suicidality, eating disorders, and substance misuse that will have lasting impacts on them and their families
014and our community have grown exponentially through the schools for brain health programs. The BHI is going to extend its work and provide participating schools with a means of assessing across the community for our youth 14 and up and all of our adults who choose to participate and then improving the school communities, brain health and performance, including participants, cognitive skills, social, emotional health, overall wellness, and wellbeing. We're also looking at buildings and how facilities and the supplies that we use for maintaining our facilities and our green and blue space, how all of that impacts our overall health, performance and wellbeing upon execution of a shared strategic plan. We will partner with the school district in every step, which we have done really quite well. They've worked with school districts all across the country, and I just
015want to applaud your leadership. It has been a fantastic collaborative effort. We will work together on implementation assessment training, and also results results that our students and our families, as well as the district personnel can apply and benefit from every day in the classroom, as well as personal lives, we've initiated the schools for brain health, which we have, the aspiration will lead to something that is unique. First of all, the schools for brain health program, you are it, you are the pilot, the global pilot for this initiative. And what we hope is that ultimately we can get to the point where we can certify schools and our school district as a brain health and performance center of excellence that will lead to engagement, research and innovation efforts regarding ways that educating with brain health in
016mind can have a significant benefit to all life outcomes. That includes development, maturation, aging, academics, overall health, and wellbeing, and it's for the entire community. Again, students, parents, caregivers, and personnel, and the ripple effect to our larger community understate, understanding the needs and the current state of brain health and illness and innovating and innovating brain healthy innovations and partnerships with this sector of the community that can be measured, that can be documented and replicated has the opportunity impact the greater good. And we are so thankful for this collaboration. And we just look forward to getting to know you and working together to improve outcomes together. Are there any questions? Absolutely. Yes. Thank you very much. Is the list of schools that have already been selected a conclusive, or is it possible for additional schools to
017be added? I'm going to leave that to all of you from our perspective, there certainly are opportunities, absolutely. For schools to be added. We look to your direction for that input. Thank you. Absolutely. Reverend golden. At this time, we selected those as a pilot and the reason we try to limit the initial group as a pilot it's so that we're able to get all the initiatives worked out, the collaboration worked out. We certainly can add when it's deemed appropriate at the levels and support, but we also felt that due to all the changes that were coming from the state this year, as well, with the new standards, et cetera, that we really needed to fine tune this group. We needed to make sure the leadership at the schools were on. And then the hope I'm
018sure that Dr. Peabody would like is that we will see this expand to far more schools than just those that were initially selected. The reason I raised the question is because there's a significant demographic that is missing from the schools that have been selected. And I'm concerned about the fact that we might get skewed results as a consequence of the schools that have been selected. Well, we do have three title, one schools, and we have three non title. So that is how in part, we did that to make sure that we were representing the title as well as non title demographic as well. So the, the Bayshore track is our title. One track. The demographic that I'm talking about is race. And the fact of the matter is, is that central, the central part of
019the community here in Manatee county is not represented in either of those six schools, whether they are title one or not. And that's why I raised the question. Thank you very much. I'm sorry. Hi, Dr. Peabody. This is Charlie. I had a question kind of related, not about this specific initiative, just more about your research in general. And if you could share with us, I know you could probably go on for hours, but the direction of my question is that obviously we all know that living in growing up and being born into and growing up in poverty is a significant obstacle to brain development, brain health. And so if you could talk a little bit about what your research has found as far as ways to, you know, ways, ways to improve brain functioning, especially
020that zero to four age group before they enter a schools. Thank you. So yes, the early childhood group really prenatally across the lifespan, but what you're specifically talking about is that prenatal to early childhood development period, which is a crucial period for setting up all types of life outcomes, including those of brain mind, and body health and wellbeing. And what we know is that social determinants of health combined with lifestyle have the greatest predictors on outcomes, whether, and I'll pause for a moment to say that social determinants of health are often not able to be controlled, but what can be controlled are our lifestyle behaviors for better or worse? We can one first be informed about how lifestyle impacts our outcomes, our development, our health, our wellness, our wellbeing, our achievement, and then how can
021we work together to inform what those lifestyle protective factors are and what can we do in the school setting in the home setting, in the community setting to enhance the access, the availability, the adoption of lifestyle behaviors. And so that's what we're really focusing on. What can we control related to impacting outcomes? Not only in the, in the immediate, so what is the performance of my brain today, but also then that ripple effect across the lifespan. So our research is heavily focused and our interventions are heavily focused on what we can do something about always keeping in mind that social determinants of health have a significant impact and looking, w we also think it's really important to understand what interventions can best be integrated at what time in development or across the lifespan to even
022greater enhance outcomes or vulnerabilities to ACEs or social determinants, other social determinants of health. Does that answer your question? It does. And it leads me to a follow-up, which is you're. I, I think what I hear and you can confirm or not, but you're talking about behaviors. We can change from parents and expectant mothers more so than, than kids in that age group, or both Great question. So if we take one example of a brain health protective factor, so if we just look at the implication, if nutrition, many individuals, most of society is not familiar with the we're familiar with the implications of nutrition on health in general, but we're less familiar and less knowledge of level about the implications of nutrition on brain health and development and performance. If we can identify opportunities to
023integrate evidence-based information, content, contexts, curriculum, to support moms, to support families, to support early childhood educators and support systems about the importance of nutrition, or we could take another protective factor, which is simplification of sleep. Oftentimes people devalue the importance of sleep until they begin to understand what sleep does to fortify the, the brain's health and performance. You can also take physical activity. We live in a sedentary lifestyle and sedentary lifestyle contributes to diminished brain health and performance. So again, we could, we could move through all of the 10 pillars or protective factors of brain health. And then also remember the risk factors of brain health and begin through public health efforts, community health efforts, through our education systems, through our early childhood efforts, we can begin to raise awareness and inform the public about
024what we can do to support our, our optimal health and performance. There are some, there are so many ways to approach this, but education and training information, building community engagement, meeting people, where they are to help them understand that brain health is health. That brain health matters that there is something that we can do to control the outcomes of our brain health, just like we do our heart health and, and other systems in our body. I think it's also important to understand that something that is particularly important to the brain health initiative is that across our region, across our sectors, we are working to create a brain health, excuse me, a brain health continuum of care. So that brain health is assessed just like heart health or head circumference or height or weight at every
025possible opportunity, whether those be in annual wellness checkups, or whether those be annually at school, where we have the opportunity to understand what our individual health and risk factors and what can we do about that. Okay. Thanks so much. Thank you. This foreman, Mr. Choate, finally, the vice chair. Did you have any Listening to her brings to mind? I think this was Mr. Kennedy's starting in high school. Yeah. Later in the day. Do you all, do you have a comment on that or, or Yes, yes, but that's, that's a topic that we probably don't want to address in about a minute. There's a great deal of science. Of course, that talks about our bio rhythms and we have natural bio rhythms that we really need to pay attention to whether we are a newborn or
026whether we are in the healthy aging group. And yes, there's a great deal of science to support it. School start time for the young, as well as for our high schoolers and happy to have schedule a separate time about that conversation and consider implications with you. Thank you. Thank you. It's true. Okay. Thanks. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chapman, and thank you doctor for the presentation. All right. Take care, everyone. At this time, we have a consent item agenda containing 27 items. We're going to ask the superintendent if she has a recommendation. Yes. I recommend the approval of the consent agenda for August 23rd, 2022. It's been moved and seconded that the consent agenda and paying the 27 items be approved is any, any unreadiness hearing? None. The chair will call the question. All those
027in favor of passing the consent items agenda, let it be known that it's time to buy all the poles here. And none of the item passes unanimously. At this time, we're going to close the regular meeting and open the public hearing for the board to hear public comments regarding the proposed changes to policies and answer questions related to who will be under the ages of the vice chair of the school board show. Now open the public hearing for consideration to amend school board policies. Okay. I'm just going to read our typical spiel. Public comment is not an open forum to discuss matters, unrelated to education, to support or oppose candidates for public office, or to engage a commercial speech attempting to sell a service or product to the school board of public. Also public comment
028is not a forum to attack individual school system employees or board members. Any such complaints should be submitted in writing to the superintendent for appropriate handling. Finally, this is not a forum for addressing issues involving individual students because of privacy concerns, such issues should be submitted in writing to the superintendent for appropriate handling. Each speaker is allowed three minutes to address the board. Speakers must stand at the podium and not approach the diocese. This is a business meeting of the school board and the public expects that we conduct an orderly efficient, effective, and dignified manner. We request that the speakers keep this in mind when making your comments. We also request that the audience keep that in mind and not demonstrate or approval or disapproval of what a speaker has said by clapping or moving.
029The board appreciates the public's input and Melissa attentively consider each comment and usually will not respond, enter into debate or answer questions during comments on agenda items or during the public comment section. Before you begin speaking, please provide any handouts to the agency clerk. Please identify yourself by your full name for the record. You have no more than three minutes to speak. Please stop speaking. When the bell rings, Florida required law, Florida law requires all citizens to conduct themselves in an orderly fashion of public meetings. Any individual who interferes with the expeditious orderly process of a school board meeting will be subject to removal from the meeting pursuant to Florida statutes at the discretion of the chair, orderly fashion is deemed as at a minimum, no profanity, no vulgar language, no discourteous disrespectful or disparaging
030conduct. And with that, we have two that have already signed up for the public hearing. And, and then after that, I'll open it up to anyone else that would like to speak. So I'm going to call on Scott Woodworth and after Scott Woodworth is Selena and I Selena does not have a last name and is just Selena. So Mr. Woodworth, if you are here, Mr. Woodworth, okay. Selena. Okay. I, is there anyone else here that would like to speak on the proposed changes to these policies? Okay. Seeing none. I think I read that whole spiel for nothing back to you, chairman, We will close the public hearing for consideration to amend school board policies. We will reopen public meeting of the school board and we'll consider item number two approval to amend the school board
031policies with a recommendation coming from the superintendent. Yes. I recommend the approval to amend the school board policies, policy 1120 dash 1, 1 31 20 dash 11 41, 20 dash 11 40 14, 30 dash 1 34 30 dash oh 1 44 30 0.0 1 24, 10 61, 10 61 14 63, 25 65 30. Okay. You've heard the recommendation coming from the superintendent. That's a motion and a second, Mr. Choke to prove all of the amendments as Afro stated. Is there any unreadiness okay. Ms. Foreman, Mr. Chair, I would like to, for the public site to, to have Mr. Chapman or the superintendent, just give a quickie on Mr. On all of them, Just a statement, you know, On all of them. We have discussed these in workshop, but anyone who would, did not see the
032workshop, You want a statement on all of them? Yes. All right. Thank you, Mr. Jeff. All right. These policies, we'll just kind of run through them. The first set that 11 20 31, 20 and 41 20 is to add provision that that's part of recent Florida statute, which permits an employer to waive post-secondary education requirements for a otherwise qualified veteran applicant. And also requires the employer to come up with a veterans recruitment plan. The next set, 14 30, 34, 30 and 44 30 is to add a, a sentence to our FMLA policy treating for the condition, which essentially means that for somebody to, to have FMLA documentation needs to be from the doctor, who's treating the condition 24 10. The next policy is a reflection of recent, again, change in Florida, statute that as related
033to COVID-19 and masks and, and vaccinations for, for students under 18. So that will reflect a Florida statute. 61 10 is changes that have come down from the federal us department of education. So those will be reflected on our policies. 61 14, same thing. Again, federal changes to weigh federal funds are handled same for 63, 25, and then 65 30 is to reflect changes in, in, in employment law that a Florida made to Florida statutory again, reflect the statute. So these again are all changes that reflect changes in Florida statute or in federal policy or federal law. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Kennedy. Yeah. Mr. Chatman, while you're here. I just had one edit. Sorry. What happened to my doctor? It's in that, I'll just tell you what it is. It's in a couple of
034places and it says the board will develop a plan that kind of strikes me as day-to-day operations. So I think that should read the superintendent will develop a plan it's around the recruitment and hiring changes based on the governor's latest announcement. Okay. Yeah. And just a second, Mr. Attorney recommendation is that there'll be a subsidy change from the board developing a plan to the superintendent because we think that this might be more operational than policy making. Do you have an opinion on stuff? 31 to pull it back up? It's 31, 20 as the first, Well, 1120s, the first one. Oh, thank you. I'm inclined to agree. I read that, but I didn't want to say anything. I agree with the principle. I think we, we need to make sure we track the statute, Right? Okay.
035So what does the statute say that should be done? I mean, it makes what you say makes sense, Mr. Kennedy, but She filed statute The statute to Perhaps that's the edit that's made then if, if, if the, if the board, if the understanding is, if, if, if it, if it says the school board in floor and statute, we will keep it. If it doesn't, we will add a superintendent. Is that a, is that an okay edit to, Yeah, I think so. We just want to make sure that we aren't found in violation of whatever the statutory language is. All right. Is there any other unreadiness yes. Ms. Foreman, I had expressed during the workshop concerned about the 31, 20 11, about the veterans, the substitution of military service for education. And I'm in a discussion
036with, with the superintendent. And I just want the public to know this, that she pointed out that in our job descriptions, we still require a bachelor's degree, plus a plus certification for most of our teaching positions, with the exception of some vocational, you know, and, and specific types like that, where work experience would, would be required in addition to high school diploma or whatever. So, so I'm comfortable with this. And I just, I do not want our, our instructional staff to feel slighted in the least that that we're going to be making changes to the hiring. So Thank you, Ms. Foreman, is there any other unreadiness hearing none. The chair will call the question with respect to the approval to amend school board policies as recommended by the superintendent with the one caveat, being that
037if the statutory language allows the change from school board to superintendent, that will be so without having to come back before us, if it does not allow it, then they are in there. Aren't any changes. Appreciate the amplification provided by Mrs. Foreman. After having discussed the issue of the veterans employability, then the veterans preference language. And that being said, the chair will call the question. All those in favor, say, aye, aye. All opposed here. None of the I's have it. The motion passes unanimously. We now move to the public comments and responses from the general public. And at this time we will be again under the Aegis of the vice chair of the school board. I'm going to read the spiel again. I didn't hear you, but it's say I can read it again for
038you if you'd like, Oh, I don't know. I don't think we need to do that. Mr. Nelson. We'll read it for us. He has memorized Mr. Nelson, come on down and after Mr. Nelson is Selena Again. Well, have you got my handout ready? Or did you get that? It started I'm norm Nelson. The handouts you got, It was just a theory. I put my name on it. It's my ordinary three. This is my experience with your budget process. As it been the last 10 years, one of my observations and why I think like I do, and this came to me like three o'clock one morning, I got up and started typing it up. I did on an 18th or 19th, and finally he did it on the 19th at four o'clock. But looking at what
039you call the original budget, and I looked at the timeline, step one, you really set the original budget before you do it. Any doctor, you know, Once the staff is done and before you do this, the inter fund transfers differently than you do the rest of the year. So that I showed the figure. Step one, your original budget is 1 million, 1 billion, 8 billion. That's when you start with, but then it changes on September 2nd that presents the, the tentative budget. And then you start doctoring. How do you handle inter fund transfers? And now that if you look at your printed from here printed material, you show where the budget is 1 billion, 68 million, 1 billion, six, and you're reading you do that is how you handle inner fund transfer differently. At the
040beginning of the year and the rest of the year, you would do it differently in a monster $59 million, 59 million. That'd be go to step three. You have the September 7th, which now becomes your official original budget. And once again, that's faked, it's a fake number because you're treating those inner fund transfers differently in 68. But then Mr. Bergeron comes to your savior on step four. He presents a financial record for July and August, and he shows on his chart on his pages, the budget, each one of those months, what is the original budget? The million eight or billion eight. If he's beginning with that number and ending with it, number, why in the heck are you doing steps two and three. I accuse you of what I use fabrication. The dictionary says, if
041you use that over and over again, it becomes a lie. When he creates that July and August, September, and gives you the original budget. He confirms that's a lie that's steps two and three is a lie. June 20th is a lie. It's over the last nine years that I've tracked. You read it using a fake revenue of $466 that you tell them. And you never have. Now, if you look at that laminated sheet, is it reminders for you? Plastic? That's the statute. That is not. Thank you, Mr. Nelson Is time up already. Okay. Thank you for the time. Thank you, Selena Selena. Hey Mr. Hartman. Good morning, Michael Hartman for the record, Luke 1712, Jesus went into a certain village and 10 men that were lepers met him and they cried out Jesus master have
042mercy on us. And he said, go show yourselves to the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed and only one of the nine returned and gave thanks. So I just wanted to give, thanks this morning as that as a launching point, when I come in the building, I get greeted by a security guard, very friendly, very cordial. I get greeted by the lady at the desk. Very, very cordial, very warming the secretaries. They're always over there behind the scenes, working hard, coming across the front, doing stuff. Some of the unsung heroes, especially the communications team. I had some, some dialogue with him recently and just ask them a question. And they came up with a solution. The legal team, only half of them is here today. They're very cordial. Get an opportunity to speak
043before the meeting, during the break, after the meeting, the school board. Overall, I give you a good grade. I think you do a great job. I know you get a lot of flack. We've heard that before, but Hey, that comes with the job. It's like the mailman. Why ain't you here? Well, you got tied up. He's got a lot of mail to deliver. And I just like to say, thanks for all the departments, because the labor is worthy of their reward. And you know, they used to talk about, I use this from past, where are you going to get a raise? And what's that I'm going to give you two sets of Dr. Scholz footpaths. The Bible says, let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth, but that, which is good to the use
044of edifying. And I know that I've interfaced with the superintendent and you know, and I think a lot of people don't realize, especially with the board, but I'm just picking on her today. The job that she does, I've got a chance to talk with her. I wouldn't want to do what she does. You've ever seen a circus where they're juggling the balls and they go up and down. She juggles a lot. And the thing is, is she manages people. She manages departments. She manages the whole school board of Manatee county. And I just wanted to say, thanks, God bless you all. Thank you. And that concludes public comment. Thank you, Madam vice chair, we not moved to item 11 new business discussion items full from consent that were non item 12 new business non-consent items.
045With the superintendent's recommendation. We have two items first approval of a new job description and position of parent engagement and outreach advocate for exceptional student education. Let us hear the superintendent's recommendation. Yes. I recommend the approval of the new job description in position, a parent engagement and outreach advocate for the exceptional student education department. All right, you've heard the motion to approve. And the second, the recommendation of the superintendent, is there any unreadiness Mr. Chuck, Can you just give a brief description Absolutely going To do and how it's gonna benefit This position is really going to be a liaison between the parents and the department. If we feel that a parent needs another advocate, some work on getting services for their child to make sure services are being rendered for their, for their child, that
046this will be their sole function of this position. So even though we have employees that that is the expectation of working and responding to parents, this is the sole purpose of this job. Thank you. Would it be fair to say that the activities of this person would literally be more to act as an ombudsman on behalf of the parents of exceptional students? Absolutely. So this, this literally becomes a first line of approach to resolving issues. We now have a single point of contact for ESE students, and that person is not just to receive the input, but they are to act on it. They are really to act on it in behalf of what they believe is in the best interest of the Parents and The students. Thank you very much. All right. Any other unreadiness?
047Yes. Ms. Foreman. I just want to commend the superintendent. I think this is a wonderful development in a thank you. All right. Any other unreadiness here? None of the chairs prepared to call the question. All of those who are in favor of approving the recommendation of the superintendent regarding this job description, that'd be known by the sign of aye. Aye. All opposed here. None of the ayes have it. The motion passes unanimously. Number two approval of a new job description and position of student assistant transportation. And we will ask the superintendent if she will make a recommendation and elaborate on what the position is. Alright, I recommend the approval of the new job description and position of student assistant for the transportation department, what this position will do and act, even though we have bus
048aides that are monitoring the students and assisting the driver while transporting the students to and from school, this position is going to be more tailored for a particular child. If we know that we have certain students that may have medical needs while on the bus, they will be assigned to monitor or assist with that particular situation. So it's a little more specific to assisting a specific individual child versus all children on the bus. Alright, thank you, Madame superintendents. Right? Second. All right. As a motion and a second to approve the recommendation of the superintendent, you heard the motion and second, is there any other unreadiness hearing none. The chair will call the question. All those in favor, the approval of the new job description and position, the students system that had been known by the
049time I, all the poles here, none of the I's have it. And the motion carries unanimously. We now move to new business, the approval of the, that they do not require a superintendent's recommendation. First item is approval of the superintendent's performance evaluation for the period of 2120 the year 20 21, 20 22. And at this time the chair will I moved that we accept performance evaluation, reading our superintendent as highly effective. Okay. You've heard the motion in the second from the, regarding the superintendent's evaluation. Is there any unreadiness hearing none. The chair will then call it. Can I just comment? Yes. I just want to say that, you know, each of us took time for the public, understand each of us took time to rate and comment and be with the superintendent to talk about
050her performance evaluation. And the culmination is she is rated highly effective by this board. And I just want to make sure that that's really clear to the public. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other unmet needs? Okay. At this time, the chill we'll call the question. All those in favor of approval of the superintendent. No, the chair will entertain a vote for the approval of the superintendent, his performance evaluation for the year 20 21, 20 22. Mr. Choke. Alright, Ms. Foreman. Yes. Mr. Kennedy. Yes. Madam vice chair and the chair also votes. So that motion is approved unanimously. Thank you all so very, very much. All right. Number two approval of the appointment of audit committee member, Mr. Jim Daniel. And I believe that Mr. Kennedy interviewed him. So if you would share with
051us people go ahead and make the motion, so Sure. Thank you, Reverend golden. I'll I'll make the motion to approve Mr. Daniel's appointment to the audit. I'll do that first. I'll make the motion to approve Mr. Daniel. All right. All right. It's been moved and seconded that Mr. Jim Daniel, is he related to the gym? Daniel in Tennessee? I think distantly related. You'll ask him. Okay. You've heard the motion and second that Mr. Jump Daniel be approved for appointment to our audit committed. Is there any, okay, Go ahead. I just want to give him just for the community and for the board, just to set this up, that Mr. Daniel is a longtime friend of the district. He has been a candidate for school board before very experienced in his field. He is very anxious
052to get started. Current audit committee member, Mrs. Mincer, and I interviewed him last Friday. And so Reverend gold. And I appreciate you amending the agenda to include this on a later notice so that Mr. Daniel can step right in on the first week of September and get to work. And he, and he is certainly ready to go. I do want to thank Mrs. Foreman for her outreach that made this happen. It was, you know, Mr. Daniel was kind of looking for a way to contribute to the district and this, he thought was his perfect way. So Mrs. Foreman, thanks for making that connection. And I, I am certainly ready to vote and looking forward to Just of question. Sure. How long is this term? Well, he, I, I, to be honest with you, I didn't,
053I haven't looked into that. We can do that with, it's going to be a three-year term, starting retro to law this previous July 1st, correct. Okay. We're getting signals from the book. Amanda just gave me a three. So three year term starting July 1st, 2022. Right? So any other questions, any other inventors here? None. The chairs ready to call the question. All those who are in favor of Mr. Daniel's appointment, that'd be known by the sign of aye. All opposed the ayes have it. The motion passes unanimously. We now move to item 14 on the agenda to discuss workshop item requests. I have here, the workshop item list for tuna nine, August 15, September the 30th of September. We have four items, curriculum presentation, best standards, material adjustments to grade three audit committee report, which
054I think we were trying to get this member on so that he could be a part of that internal auditor update benefits audit in a discussion of the board attorney evaluation form. I don't know whether we've had an opportunity to distribute that yet, but attorney and I have been collaborating on a form to evaluate the law firm that represents us under the contract that we have. And I will get that to you all it's as soon as we possibly can so that we can have a productive workshop, the strategic plan. I think we had been asked to have a workshop at a separate time and separate from any other discussion. And then the impact, the update on the sheet. I don't have a time when we're going to start. Usually we go two hours, 10
055o'clock because of the number of items that we want to start earlier with respect, particularly with respect to the items for August the 29th. Is there any druthers that anybody has about that? Yes, please. I think that's a great idea for the 29th if we could, if we could start at 9:00 AM, because I actually have to step out a little bit early, I'm going to have to step out about 1120 or so. Okay. This was on the 29th, correct? Yeah. Okay. Let me check my calendar on my phone. My handheld phone. Yes. We can do this at nine o'clock. So school board workshop on the 29th, I'm going to edit it and change the time to now. I'm so proud of myself on Your phone All by myself, but I'm still going to call
056my granddaughter and see if I did it right. I can tell you that. I made sure I did it right after all of this. So the one on the 29th is set for nine o'clock. Is there any appetite to move either the others earlier or do always satisfy since they're single subject at a 10 o'clock start time. I'm sorry. Okay. I heard they were at nine. The other ones, I thought it was just this 20th. That was at 10 aren't. Most of our workshops at night. Yes. Yeah. So workshop times are at nine. No wonder. Okay. Let's just See your 29th was at 10 now. At least I had that in my Cable. I was, and then the, Most of them are nine, The 15th of September. Okay. All right. And then the 30th of
057September. Yes. They both are already in the calendar for nine o'clock and that's a week until we end. All right. Are there any other subject matters that we want to add to the workshop calendar today? Ms. Foreman, Do we want to add the police athletic league to our workshop list? Cause I think we talked about that during the meeting that we wanted to explore how we could help them. I'm not quite so sure that that was a formality to what we were wanting to involve ourselves in because I'm really not wanting to complicate who it is formal. And what is legal? I, I see the superintendents hand, but I'm going to ask for Mr. Di Janet raised her hand. So Mr. Go ahead, Sheriffs. Thank you. At this point through the staff and myself and
058general counsel, we are initiating work in that regard with, with the pal organization. So it will be coming to the board at some point, but we're, we're sort of in the fact factual gathering and discussion stage. So we want to get organized, understand exactly what they do and what their requirements are and what they want to do in the future. So we'll work through all that. And then we'll once we get it organized and we'll have a presentation to the board at a workshop or a meeting. Okay. Okay. Okay. So we don't want to make any modifications or anything until the workshop schedule until we get that process done. We're not ready to schedule. All right. Reverend golden, could I just make a comment? I do have some updated information. Mr. Dye myself met today.
059So I plan on sharing that individually with each board member. And then from there, we'll continue, you know, conversations, but I do have an update for the board, but I think as Mr. Dice stated, that's probably the best way to go about it right now until we get your input and have a formalized thing. I'm not take a moment of personal privilege here to make sure that everyone is aware because of the sunshine laws, we are not allowed to discuss outside of this area, the matters that are going to come before us. And so the superintendent meets with each of us, at least a minimum of two hours to talk about workshop, agenda items, new agenda items is coming for the school board. And she does this before every meeting, not just the school board
060meetings, but the special meetings, the shape meetings, all of these involve us individually with a meeting with her. And I just want to be with, no, it keeps saying that you said, well, I'll talk with you all at we'll meet, but I want to make sure that that is, that's not an optional thing. That's an integral part of communication between the board and the superintendent. All right. I'm vice chair. You had your hand Kind of along those same lines. We know that we will close on that sale within a few months. And I was just hoping the board could hold a discussion once that happens, or once we know it's getting close on the proceeds and what we'd like to do with it. Okay. The $14 million bird in the hand with the better system
061bird in the Bush kind of thing. So why don't we make that a discussion in terms of both that we're going to decide what we want to do with the money and also make some determinations about how we're going to be helpful to, to pal going forward. Does that work If the timing coincides That's fine. All right. Any, any other comments about our workshop schedule? Okay. I, I guess this is as good a time as any, to bring this up. There are going to be some challenges that we face this, this coming year. One of them has already begun to surface and bubble up around the state in terms of our book policies, what we do in terms of how we do what we do to serve not only the classroom needs of the classroom
062teachers, but also the libraries that are under our auspices. And I just, I really liked to have a discussion outside of the limitations of the meeting, in a workshop as to how we can best meet the needs of the community without being more. I can't even think of the right word without, without creating more of a problem in the community and with soft. And the idea that I'd like to approach is how we can create restrictions on access without ending the presence of books. I do not want to limit catcher and I do not want the band catch her in the ride nor do I want the band huckleberry Finn, for the same reasons they provide knowledge and they help. But I do believe that there ought to be the same thing that happens when
063I walk into Walgreens. If I walk into Walgreen's and I want to buy what's the, what's the lady magazine thing. That's okay. You don't need to name it. No car cosmopolitan. If I, if I walk in and yeah, the book, but there are some others that I could buy, but they have a cover on. And so I'm just looking at how we can meet the parents who can say to us, I don't want my child to be exposed to cosmopolitan. I don't have a problem with that if that's what you don't want. That's fine. But I don't think that you ought to have the ability to say, I don't want any child to read cosmopolitan. And so I'm trying to figure out how we get, and that's only if cosmopolitan is on the approved list
064that comes from the state. I don't want to add to that. I don't want to subtract from that. Cause it's 67 counties that the state considers when they determine what the book list should be for the state of Florida. So I don't, I'm not trying to be the secretary of education. I just want to help us here not have meetings where we spent hours deciding whether the band huckleberry Finn or not does that. So that, that to me is, is kind of important early on in the school year that's that's, that's where I'd like us to try to get that done. Ms. I see your Hamlet's former. Yeah. I, I look Shirley and, you know, like to have a workshop on it and, and discuss these things. But my understanding is that the state we've
065got very little guidance from the state yet. And it won't be until January late January before they're offering any insight, you know, in specifics about how to do this. So I'm wondering if we are jumping the gun. I don't think so because there is a clear delineation between local control with respect to what we're doing. And I district and state oversight with perspective, what they're doing for all six to seven days. I'm not trying to interfere with them, trying to provide oversight, that they are confused, that they don't know what to do, that's on them, but whatever they share with us, we need to make sure locally that we're meeting the needs of the people in this community. And I'm not wanting to have a discussion in the community about banning them. And it's to
066be very clear banning anything, because if it is on the list, it's on the list. And all we're talking about is how we restricted. If it's not on the list, we're not going to talk about that at all, because that's not something that we can, what that we can, that we can do. It's not on the approved list by the state, but those that are on the approved list, I think we can do a good job of trying to restrict our, trying to determine, I won't say restrict. That's not a good word, trying to determine appropriateness. That's, that's what I want to do. I want to have a workshop to determine appropriateness in this community. Cause quite frankly, I might, you know, I might think cosmopolitan is a little racist to be in, in the
067libraries, but realistically I want to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to express themselves in terms of what they think is appropriate and why. And that we have the opportunity to weigh in on that. This was getting, I'll be quick. Cause I was going to touch on this in my board comments at the end, but I'll just do it now and skip that part later. I think you're right. This is a really important conversation for the board to have, because these, my hope is that after these elections, some of these issues we're talking about will settle down, but then there's another election two years away. So they'll bubble back up. So for, you know, critical race theory was kind of the first issue that came up and I'm not going to get into that
068debate with anybody because I may disagree with you, but you believe what you believe in. That's fine. And then it became, the focus was on books. And I do want to thank the superintendent and Dr. Breslin, because that has bubbled up recently. Well, it's gotten hotter recently as an issue. And I think the superintendent Dr. Breslin had done a masterful job based on the feedback that I've heard from people on both sides of that issue, about how the district is handling the issue of books, the committee process, to review the books and so forth. And, and both have been very communicative with me in the process. And I appreciate that. So the next one, and this is what I was gonna touch on, but they're all in the same thread. I was really proud to
069see that the Sarasota school board last week voted four to one to continue to support their character strong character education program. And that has been work has been being done with character strong in this district already. And I would ask, I hope and I would ask my board colleagues to do the same and to support character strong because the next front in these battles that they're coming for is character education. And so how a person can object to talking to students about building self-worth and self-esteem and job readiness and support and caring for others and walking in other people's shoes. I don't, I'm not sure how character education became controversial, but we're heading that way. And I hope that we will continue down that path and not, you know, flinch something to me as easy
070as character education, because there's, there's some vocal folks out in the community who are, I believe the same, you know, it's the same folks that were complaining about CRT and, and some of the folks that want like the autobiography or the biography of Michelle Obama banned from our libraries because they, you know, I'm not sure that that was, that was literally on one of the first lists that we got on books that need to be banned. And so I asked that writer, what does this ha what is offensive or what is the controversial nature of this book? And I never got a response. So fortunately we have that process, that book committee process to deal with that. But I just want to kind of sound the alarm that this is the next thing coming. And
071let's as a district stand strong to make sure our kids have good character education. So thank you Mr. Kennedy. And you know, one of the things that was the children I've met out here on the campaign trail is why do you want to serve on the school boat? Or what's the biggest challenge facing the school? We get that question. It depends on the day to day, it's critical race theory tomorrow it's abandoned books the next day it's whether or not we still aren't emergency with, with the virus. So you know, that there's a challenge that day, but right. Not a day, I just want us to at least agree that we are not going to be a board that's going to entertain banning books. What we will entertain is an opportunity for you to have
072your child not participate in a restricted Booklist. How, how will we do I, I don't, I don't even want to get into all of the particulars of that right now. I just want to, I want us to get on record after we've had a workshop. We're not in the big book ban in business, the people perish for the lack of knowledge. And so we're going to have knowledge. Now you may not want your child to participate in a certain segment of knowledge. That's fine. I don't have a problem with that, but you're not going to dictate that not, not any one person, not any group of people should be able to dictate to all of the children, what they can and can't read. That's that's my only reason for bringing it up now as a
073workshop topic. Now there'll probably be others. I agree with you. You got, I've gotten to a point now to where people ask me, what are you think about CRT as well? I don't know which one are you talking about? Critical race theory or Caucasian replacement theory. You know, both of them are out there. And, and the reality is that neither of them has a place in public education. That's all, that's another workshop. So we will we'll do that. Any other comments about our workshops before we move on? Okay. Hearing none. Then the only specific workshop request is that we're going to have one as soon as possible to discuss, and then I can see your point that, that character strong depends on what you read and what you think. So maybe let's just try to
074get that kind of thing. Non curriculum matters in that workshop is that, does that, is that broad enough to allow us to discuss? All right. All right. Thank you very much. We don't need any continued updates for, and we have an update on, on the agenda from the legal department, the operations update and the safety and security update will be given by him. Mr. Wagner can discuss this. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Let us start with Mr. Di No formal update. Just if, if matters, come up with board members between meetings just don't hesitate to contact me if I can help with anything. All right. And Mr. Wagner, without operations and our safety insecurity update. Very good. Very good. Good morning, chairman golden members of the board. So we're kind of Saunders, just
075a couple of items today. Number one. So we're starting to push out information about our annual post-secondary education night. So it's coming in actually 19 working days. It's going to be September 15th, Thursday. It'll be at Manatee technical college this year. You know, this really is a great time for all of our students to come. It's going to be at night. It was from six to eight. And not only do we have the post-secondary schools from Florida, of course attending, but we actually get a lot of schools from out of state attending as well. So it's just a great way for students to walk around and, and meet the representatives from the post-secondary schools and learn about opportunities. That's number one, number two, we have our job fair this week. It's going to be in
076person at the Wakeland support center. It's going to be a nighttime job fair from four to seven in the evening. We really are in need of bus drivers. Truly. We need bus drivers. We need bus attendance. We have 31 drivers that we'd like to hire. We also need vehicle mechanics, skilled trades individuals, really all of our areas. So we're looking to try this in the late afternoon, like I said, four to seven. So we'll see how that goes. First time we've actually tried a nighttime one. So we're getting words out about that for safety and security. So this last Friday, you may have seen, we've pushed out a lot of news about what are we doing in our football games, the high school football games. And so you're seeing now where requiring, where we have
077clear bags being brought in. You don't have a clear bag. You have to go return to your car and stole away, or you're a bag that's not clear. So we also have any metal detectors at the football games, whether they'd be the wands or the walkthrough, and the response that we've had from the people who go to the football games are appreciative of that. So they, they, we didn't know what was going to happen this first, last Friday, but it seems to be that most of the people walking through or, you know, so thank you for having the next level of security on our campuses on during the game. So that's what we have going on. We appreciate your support. It's been a great, you know, really 10 days of school. So far people are
078really working hard to make sure that our students are learning and our, our facilities are open and, and we're addressing any, any type of concern we have. So just to shout out to our operations team as well, Mr. Wagner, is it true that the superintendent has refused to sign up as a part of the relief for bus? Now I'll ask her, she's given her report. She's given her report next steps Everywhere. She's everywhere she can, But not there, but Not that I'm not qualified or what, Not just, what about food service? Because Service absolutely Can be on the line. Okay. We still need food servers, workers as well. And people are really working hard. So our food is being pushed out there as well. And it's caring individuals who care about it and do the
079extra work to make sure that all our students are being fed. So we appreciate that. I got to tell y'all what I heard. The guy who was a superintendent in Hillsborough county says that they've got to pass their millage referendum because Sarasota and Manatee are stealing their people because we offer higher wages than they do. So I thought that was good that we, a part of that marketing strategy. We are, we actually are getting people from Hillsborough county. Oh, okay. That's good. Thank you, Madam superintendent. Yes. I've been very fortunate to be invited to share the good news of the district and a state of the schools report. I did a presentation last week with the chamber and I have a number of them scheduled for the remainder of the fall. I will be at
080the Lakewood ranch business Alliance this week, doing a presentation. Also I will be with the parish civic association. I've been invited to that also the Kiwanis and the community foundation. So very blessed to be able to go out and share facts and updates of not only what we've accomplished, but where we're going. So a real real for fortunate to be a part of that. Another partner in education that I wanted to make you aware of is the Pittsburgh pirates. And the brain to marauders is having a fan appreciation night on September 3rd, back to school, kickoff, spirit night, and $10 for all district staff for you to attend. So they're great partners. They support our schools, our initiatives, you know, we've had graduations there for the last few years, so anything we can do to
081partner and support them, just want to just spread the news. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Madam superintendent for the outstanding report, I would like to acknowledge that when you make your presentation before, before the chamber that present at that presentation was vice chair, Mrs. Messenger, and Mr. Choke and myself, we will, we were very proud to at the way the presentation was made and the way that it was it was received. So thank you very much. Okay. 18 board comments, Kennedy foreman, chill messaging golden in that order. Okay. I'll be, I have three things I'll be very quick. First is about the citizens financial oversight committee. I sat in for Mrs. Foreman at the last meeting. And the committee asked me to pass along to the board that they still have an
082outstanding recommendation to us, which has regarding how do we measure employee turnover? And essentially it, these are my own words, not the committees, but they're still after a way to measure why people are leaving numbers and why people are leaving. And basically an exit survey. It sounds like what, they're, what they're after. So that was our one outstanding kind of item from them. Also, Mr. Small, our new member of the financial oversight committee is here. Mr. Small. Welcome. It's good to see you here this morning and thank you for your service on the committee as well. The, just want to preview for Monday's workshop ginger mens or Mrs. Mincer will be doing the, the update for the audit committee because Dr. Russo will be out of town. And so she will be presenting. So the
083board will get a chance to see her in action for the first time. And she will bring forward her report from the last meeting and also just kind of a refresher on the items that the audit committee is still awaiting our guidance upon. And then finally, I just wanted to end with a moment to remember Brenda Alcorn, a long, long time friend of many of us in the county and especially a Manatee high school. And so she, with her passing last week, we all just, I want to take a moment to appreciate her and all the work she did for our kids and we have for our district for many years. So Brenda, you will be very much missed. So thank you for your service. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. This form. Yeah. I,
084I understand from comments, I've heard that we're off to a really good start for the school year that the it's going very smoothly, few hiccups here and there, but, but I commend everybody for a great start and reminder today is election day primary and offer best wishes to Robyn golden and Mr. Choate, whose seats are up for, for re-election and just please get out and vote. I think the importance of our local government and school boards is just, you know, it can't be, can't be overstated. So thank you. I'll be quick. So thank you to, to, I'm going to reiterate what Ms. Foreman said. I've heard nothing but great things on how the school year has started. I want to say thank you to Mr. Wagner and the transportation team. And there were some, some
085things with transportation. So they jumped on that and figured that out real quick. And that was great. Also, I'm going to reiterate too. I know Mr. Golden said, or river gold golden said we were at the chamber mint superintended, a great job representing the district. And in the little time that she had mentioning some of the new initiatives that I have probably gone on forever, that portion and, and the, and the, the things we've got going on in this district. And, and so thank you for, for representing the district very well. And to what Mr. Wagner said about, you know, some security stuff. I haven't heard anything negative at all, which is great. As far as the, the protocols with what's going on. I think it's because some of the designing purse companies or designer,
086purse companies come out with clear bags. And so I think some of the women are like, okay, it's cool to have the clear bags. I don't know, but, but no. So I been really encouraged with, with the way it's gone, excited to see what the 10 day count brings us. I know we're getting close to that it's today, I believe. Yes. So excited to see what that sees, you know, what the group was and where we're at. So other than that, like Ms. Foreman said, get out and vote. Oh, I am excited about Thursday and Friday. I believe Ms. Foreman is joining me down in Broward. Yes. Yes. Ms. Messenger. Oh, perfect. At the greater Florida consortium for school board. So that'll be exciting to see what, you know, what they've got in store. I've
087never, I've never attended. I'm sure you have being our liaison. I believe so. Is their secretary. Oh, that's right. That's Right. I'm so sorry. So we're coming with royalty. Yeah. Good. So excited about that. Excited to see what that is and report back to the board. When we get back, I thought that meeting was in. Okay. COVID It got moved. Yeah. Okay. All right. Closer to whoever else was in charge of my stuff. It didn't go towards us Last year. It was in Charlotte. It just depends on whoever's precedent right now. It's Nora Rupert and she's fabulous. So about persons, ladies look for any excuse to buy one. So that might be true, but I just want to say everyone go vote. That's really all I have to say, everyone just give up. So make
088this meeting as short as possible. Thank you very much. I'm going to be the echo. And particularly because one of the things that we were able to get the legislature to do last year was to include a specific and particular segment of sick civics education that is committed to educating our children about voting the voting process, not who to vote for, not why you vote, but just the mere act of voting. We were able to get that done, that came out of the legislative process here in Manatee county. And so I'm, I never felt as I'm in over my head, that's when I looked at one of the news reports last night and found out that that was a kid 25 years old running to be in the United States Congress. Right now, the reason
089he's running is because he is an advocate, an advocate for doing everything we could do to prevent more gun violence. And can you imagine what that will mean? If he wins? It means that our young people are paying attention. And so I, I want to leave here with, yes, I hope everyone goes to vote, but I particularly hope our young people are encouraged by the process that has worked and that is working. And in spite of all of the efforts to tear it down, it's going to continue to work, vote, vote, vote. Thank you. And may God continue to bless and keep us all as my prayer, we were adjourned.