001We have somebody for the Pledge of Allegiance. Yes, sir. Leading us in the pledge today will be Miss Riley Hornish. 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. I recommend the board adopt the agenda as presented. So moved. Second. Hearing none, the agenda is adopted. I recommend the board approve the minutes from the May 5th, 2026 school board meeting. So moved. Second. Hearing none,the minutes are approved. Now we're going to recognize some exceptional educators, coaches, students, and food service professionals. Good evening, everyone. If I could invite the board chair and the superintendent to join me at this time. I'd also like to ask Mr. Pat LaFeer, Executive Director of Operations and Food Service, including food
002service, to come on down. And I would like to bring up Miss Lucia Cuccolino, Denise Pollack, and Susan Lawson, if they would please come up for outstanding service to our district. While they make their way up here, I'd like to share with you these three ladies exemplify the very best of dedication, professionalism, and teamwork during a critical transition period while the district searched for a new director of food services. These three exceptional leaders ensured the department continued to operate seamlessly and at the highest level. With unwavering commitment, they made certain that every student received nutritious meals. They supported school staff with responsiveness and genuine care, and they met each challenge with grace, resilience, and determination. Their ability to maintain the stability, inspire confidence in the staff, and go above and beyond in service to our
003schools reflects extraordinary leadership on their part. Their contributions have not gone unnoticed, and they are truly deserving of this recognition of GEMS Award. Congratulations, ladies. Wait a minute, stand for a picture. I know you hate getting pictures. Stay there for a picture. Again, thank you so much for all you've done. At this time, we are going to recognize a phenomenal group, the Key West High School Lady Conchs, and I'd like to call them up, coaches and players, to please join the superintendent and chairman of the board, Mr. John Dick. Coach Jake Jason Garcia. Coach Eric Snow. Coach Jules Castillo. Coach Jade Castillo. This is a dynamic foursome that leads the group. And players: Kaylee Williams, Mia Waldner, Jelani Rodriguez. Eva Norwood. Kai Malagon. Ariana Garcia. That's Kai. Riley Harnisch. Macy Gage. Lily Gage. Kalia Cervantes,
004Brianna Brenner, Charlie Brasher, and Aaliyah Arensibia. Now, as they stand up here for their recognition, I'd like to share a little bit about them. The Lady Conchs delivered a truly unforgettable softball season defined by resilience, excellence, and heart. Under the outstanding leadership of Coach Jason Garcia, the team captured a regional championship and earned a remarkable trip to the CHSAA Final Four, showcasing their grit against the state's top competition. Along the way, they achieved incredible milestones, including a stunning 27-inning scoreless streak and a season filled with record-breaking performances on both offense and defense. Although their season ended in a hard-fought semi-final battle, their determination, their teamwork, and most of all, their unwavering spirit never wavered. This team not only elevated the standard of Lady Conks softball but also inspired our entire community and their passion with
005their passion and their perseverance. Their success is a testament to their dedication, the leadership of Coach Garcia and his staff, and the bright future that lies ahead for this exceptional program. We are very proud to recognize them at this time for the great educational moments that they have created throughout the season. Congratulations, ladies! Come on, man. I'm short. Yeah, you got to take the two photo. I know you all are practices. Pretend this is Burb Ruby telling you what to do. Yep, this time we have citizens' input. Do we have anybody signed up? Yes, sir, we do. First up to speak We have Miss Jessica Johnson requesting 3 minutes. Well, presentations to the board are limited to 3 minutes for each individual speaker and 5 minutes for the representative of a designated group. Transfer of
006time between individuals and/or groups is not permitted. Letters submitted to each board member and/or the board secretary prior to a board meeting will not additionally be read into the record at the meeting. All statements must be directed towards the board. No person may address or question board members individually. And board members will not engage in a dialogue with persons making public comment. Furthermore, all speakers agree to abide by the Code of Conduct of Citizen Input, School Board Policy 0169.1, and will begin their presentation by stating their full name and their city or town and residence for the record. Good evening, my name is Jessica Johnson. I'm a Monroe County resident. I live you need my address? No? Okay. I'm a physician, taxpayer, and proud parent. I grew up right here in Florida Keys, a native
007and a proud graduate of both Sugarloaf School and Key West High School. I care deeply about this community. These schools and the children in them. That's why I'm standing here tonight with questions and demand answers. Why would a former superintendent, someone who earned a six-figure salary for 37 years, give that up to run for a school board at under $42,000 a year? Is the goal to gain a board seat, terminate the current superintendent, and trigger a buyout that could cost the Monroe County taxpayers millions? I don't know, half a million, million dollars. We don't know because we can't get the records. We've requested the records. We cannot get the records. Why has the public records request for Superintendent Tierney's contract and buyout terms been unfulfilled? These are public funds. This is public information. What is
008the board hiding? Why did the Monroe County School Board spend $800,000 on attorneys last year? Where did that money go? Why haven't the records I requested been provided? Tonight, this board is being asked to approve over $47,000 in legal services for April 2026 alone. Is anyone on this board asking why? When I attempted to obtain attorney invoices for 2025 and 2026, I was quoted $875 billed by an attorney just to produce attorney invoices. Does that seem like an appropriate use of taxpayer money to anyone in this room? Why is Brett Fink, a teacher who publicly called Republicans Nazis and posted hateful rhetoric on the same Instagram account where he solicited donations for the girls weightlifting still employed without any disciplinary action at Key West High School. The Key West Post covered this. The community saw
009it. Why has this board stayed silent? And to our teachers, are you aware that a superintendent buyout somewhere between I don't know how much is in the contract, it could be $500,000, it could be a million, I have no idea what the contract says, we've requested it, we can't get it would come directly out of the general fund. The same fund that pays your salary. Are you prepared to go years without a raise to cover, or go years without a raise to cover it, or are you prepared for a tax increase? Is that fair to you? Is that fair to our students? Don't you deserve to know the full financial picture before November? Or actually, the primary is August 18th. I went to school in these buildings. I raised my children in this community. I
010am not here as an outsider. I am one of you. and this board has a legal and moral obligation to be transparent with the people it serves. So when will the records be released? When will the legal bullying be explained? When will this community get a straight answer? We are watching, we are asking, and we are not going away. Thank you very much. Next up to speak, we have Betty Chaplin requesting 3 minutes. My name is Betty Chaplin. I am a 78-year resident of Marathon. Education has come a long way. We're not quite sure which way, but it's very impressive, and I appreciate the opportunity to come here and speak before you. In 1951, Sumo School opened, and there were only 75 students from the 1st through the 8th grade. After the 8th grade, you
011had to either be bused to Key West or to Coral Shores. We had our first high school, thank you to Stanley Switlik, and graduated 12 students in 1958. I graduated in 1962. My husband graduated in 1960. We sent both of our sons through school, and then we paid for our grandsons to go to a private school. I know your job is difficult. I know you have to put up with difficult people, and I know children aren't the same as they were when we were raised. You didn't want to get in trouble at school. You certainly didn't want your parents to find out that you had been unruly or in trouble. That has changed. I'd like to take the opportunity to invite you to a very special birthday bash on the 14th of June, which is
012just coming up, Sunday. We are having a birthday bash for Trump and for our 250th year republic. Something to be very proud of. And we hope that This will be more spontaneous so that our children are more proud of our country, have more respect for people and teachers like you, and work hard to keep this country a republic as it is. It is at the Reef Resort in Key Largo, the 14th of June. It's a fundraiser, so the tickets are $250. Mr. Uthmeyer is going to be our keynote speaker. We also expect to have a couple of surprises show up. Being close to Key Largo, you never know who may come. But I'd love for you to come and meet those people. Uthmeyer has been fantastic. And we do have a problem with a $700
013million budget for the, for the County of Monroe, which I think is outrageous. I'm a taxpayer. We really want young people to be able to afford to have a home, and we'd like for retired people to be able to have lower taxes too. So if we all work together, that can be possible. Thank you very much. Next up to speak, we have Shalyn Shaw requesting 3 minutes. Hello Shalyn Shaw, Key Largo. I too have questions about why our former superintendent of 37 years would step away from a 6-figure job to pursue Darren Hurran's seat. It just doesn't make sense. I don't know. I don't have the answers for that, but I'm curious. I don't understand it. The belief is to perhaps, and you know, this is just, we don't have the records, that Dr. Johnson
014has requested, so we can only surmise and think about what the possibilities could be that they would perhaps want to take Superintendent Tierney out to put someone else in his place. I don't know what's going on. So anyway, like Dr. Johnson said, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of half a million to a million to buy out the form the present superintendent's contract. And teachers, their, their pay comes out of the same funds that Superintendent Tierney's pay comes out of. So teachers would stand to lose any increases in pay, any merit increases or raises, for who knows how many years if this was to happen. There again, we don't know. We never received the records that were requested. But it doesn't make sense. So teachers need to know that if Darren Herron gets replaced
015with former superintendent or from the with the former superintendent, that they could possibly go many years without any increases because their pay does come out of the same bucket that our superintendent's pay comes out of. So I yield any time that I have. I yield my time back to John Dick. Thank you for your time. Shalene Shaw, Key Largo, Florida. That concludes citizens input. This time we close the public input and go on back to the agenda. All items listed as consent agenda items are considered routine and non-controversial by the school board and will be approved by a single motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items. Prior to this meeting, board members have had the opportunity to review each of these items and may request that any item be moved to an
016action item for individual consideration. I recommend the board approve the consent agenda as presented. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, the consent agenda is agreed. Reports. We're going to have two reports this evening. The first is going to be an update on our Ocean Guardian efforts, and then we will have a report from Steve Vincent, our athletic director for the county, on the many highlights of athletics we've had this year. Mr. Desco. Thank you for this time. I'd like to thank Chairman John Dick and the whole school, school board, Superintendent Ed Tierney, Deputy Superintendent Amber Acevedo, and members of the district leadership team for being here and allowing us this time to celebrate year 2 accomplishment of our Ocean Guardian School District. Not only are we the largest in the nation to accomplish year
0172, we're also the first on the East Coast, which is quite an accomplishment. I'd also like to, you skipped my slide, but go back one. I'd also like to recognize our primary partners in this endeavor. We have the National and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary takes care of our coastal waters and our ecosystems all the way out to and beyond our coral reefs. And the National Marine Sanctuary includes even the aquatic ecosystems of the Great Lakes. And we all know what United Way does here with us. They bring together our community and our resources and the people to help elevate community health and resilience and provide expanding opportunities for our youth. There's a difference between an Ocean Guardian School and an Ocean Guardian School District. As you can see
018in the map, an Ocean Guardian School is pervasive across our country. We have many of them in our states. We have 8 independent Ocean Guardian Schools in Monroe County. Each school has taken on their own multi-year initiative, and they could be different from one school to the next according to the guidelines that they set. An Ocean Guardian School District has one common initiative across the district. We in Monroe County, we're doing rainwater filtration gardens at our schools. There are only two, if you're looking at this map, in the entire country. We have one in California at Monterey Bay which is an epicenter of biological environmental research. And the second on the first on the East Coast is Monroe County in Florida and the Florida Keys, the East Coast epicenter of scientific research. Our rainwater filtration
019system, our gardens that are made and comprised of native species indigenous to each area along the Keys. And these native species plants are approved through our planting guide, and they function to, through the roots, absorb the nutrients of the excess nutrients, the nitrate, nitrates and phosphorus elements, before they go back into our waterways and are down that can damage our ecosystems of the mangroves, the saltwater beds, and the seagrass beds, the saltwater marshes. Year 1, we're Ocean Protectors. We accomplished this last year with the ceremony in September. One participating school per grade level. We had Key West High School, Poinciana Elementary, and Sugarloaf School. Tonight we're celebrating year 2. This is Ocean Defenders with a district-wide stewardship implementation across 35 to 55% of our schools, with Sigsbee Charter, Plantation Key School, and Stanley Switlik accomplishing
020gardens this year. And every garden is student-designed and student-led in the implementation and the planting of it. We're currently working on year 3. We will be finished year 3 with the board approval tonight of our revision of the district planting guide. And what you have before you is a copy of our Lessons in the Garden. It's a collaborative PLC curriculum piece that the schools that have gardens now have data collection, hands-on, research-based activities and labs that the kids can collect data and then do a critical reasoning of what they're finding in the data. And that was through the collaboration of some STEM coordinators at different schools and myself. These are plant, these are gardens that were planted at Plantation Key, Sigsbee Charter, and Stanley Switlik at Plantation Key. You'll see that over there to your
021right in the one section is a drainage area where water would run and funnel to that area. So we planted around that. Since the installation of this picture, one of the local businesses had put in stones in the pathway with a bench at the end, and on it is a dedication plaque to Lisa Taylor, the principal, for her years of dedication to that school. Sigsbee Charter School didn't have a drain, but they do have a retention pond just on the other side of that fence. So we planted a garden at Sigsbee to filter the waters that ran off from the parking lot and that grassy area before it went into the retention pond. And at Stanley Switlik, the students spent about 2 weeks during their STEM classes going outside and planting in a drainage retention
022pond around the drainage system between this parking lot and the athletic fields. This is a video that is, it froze. Oh, here we go. So we have a couple of year 2 highlights and summative actually of year 1 and 2. This is with our increased environmental stewardship across our schools. The student engagement has grown to about 3,500 students across 6 schools. Our native installations, we have installed about 400 native plants installed across those 6 schools. We have a lot of community involvement and help, especially on planting day with our coral rock. Key West Police Department has come out several times, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office several times, the fire department several times. And on the last one at Sigsbee, we even had Coast Guard. And at all the installations, we had parents and local businesses
023come to help. We even have made some international connections with our Sugarloaf School, formed an old school version of a pen pal with an alliance with a sister school in Australia. And they send videos back and forth where they are working in their rainwater garden and our kids here are working in our rainwater garden. We have some really good things coming up. Tonight is the board approval for our revised planting guide, which shows which zip code those special plants are native to. That was one thing we learned in this process, that if it's native to the Keys, it's not all of the Keys. That is by zip code. We have that Lessons in the Garden, where's two STEM lessons per school level that'll be made available to our schools. We even have additional schools requesting
024gardens. It's beyond the scope of the 3 years, but we're continuing with that. We're starting with Key Largo School and then moving it hopefully to, Horace O'Brien School. And then watch your inboxes. Coming soon, you're going to have an invitation for August 8th. That's a reception at the Eco Discovery Center downtown. That's where we'll be celebrating the completion of year 3, receiving the year 3 banner. I believe it's 5 to at night, and we'll celebrate the accomplishment as the first on the East Coast to complete the Ocean Guardian School District program. These are our community partners that we especially thank you, whether a source of advice, counsel, supplying the plants, showing up to help dig, sponsoring the program, and forming relationships with our kids within our school community. At this time, I'd like to invite
025up some visitors that we have. We have Mr. John Armour. He's the director from NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary. Jolene McGill, she's the acting deputy superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Marlys Tumalo is the team lead education outreach of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Jessica Dockery is our Reef Revitalization Project Liaison with United Way of Collier and the Keys. And Shannon Gofillay is a Florida Keys Ocean Gardening School Coordinator at United Way of Collier and the Keys. We could not have done this program without their sponsorship and their partnership. And they're with their hands up to elbows digging all the gardens with us. I'd like to please also invite Mr. Tierney, Ms. Acevedo, and the whole school board as we're going to have John Armour present the banner. I am thrilled and honored
026to be here with you this evening. You know, when you think about all the challenges facing ocean and Great Lakes right now, you know, NOAA really believes that the solutions to some of these challenges are right here in communities like this. So this community-first, community-based, bottom-up approach to what we do is really core to how we do this. And the Ocean Guardian School program. It really embodies that community-first spirit. Huge congratulations to Monroe County School District. Huge of course. And thank you for your participation in this program. I'm just, you know, again, I'm awed by the amount of participation and the and just the incredible things that you all have accomplished. So thank you very much. There we go. All right, everybody in. We got lots of paparazzi, so there we go. Thank you, Mr.
027Tedesco. Now we'll hear from Mr. Steve Vincent for an athletic update. Mr. Wait, Mr. Tedesco, I wanted to ask you something. You, you do want my vote, right? Okay, so I saw the map of all the states that had an Ocean Guardian School, and they all were on the coast except for Michigan, but they have Great Lakes around that. Absolutely. What do they do in Indiana to save the ocean? I am new to the information that the National Marine Sanctuary incorporates the Great Lakes. That would have been a great question for John. But Indiana is not on the Great Lakes. But it's probably in the watershed. Yeah. It's a wall far away from the ocean. But it's in the watershed. All water drains to the ocean. All right. All things drain to the ocean. Absolutely.
028You guys got away with that one. All right. Thank you. All right. Go ahead, Mr. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Am I on? Just make sure. Ron told me to push buttons and stuff. Okay. I was asked to be brief, so I will. If I do leave anything out, feel free. I'm on all of your phone lists. Feel free to call me anytime. I'm about 80% available throughout the day, so feel free. Let me go ahead and start this. And let me first apologize about the lack of acrobats on this PowerPoint. I'm not as great at this as some, but your first, your first graph here is showing you the overall district-wide participation at our high schools. As you can see there, it has increased from last year to this year,
029fall, winter, and spring, which are the three seasons that we participate in. I did have a question, which you'll see on the next slide. We did have a drop in the spring participation from the young ladies but let me say it was totally my mistake. Mr. Tierney, I did find those numbers. It was, I was missing the softball team at Marathon High School, so that added about 15 more students. It was still down a little bit, but not to the number that we thought. We are at 1,429 participants, which sounds like a lot, but a lot of those kids are playing multiple sports. We just count the same students count more than once. Again, the graphic you see now on your screens, that is the girl's participation The next one is our boys, and again,
030up from last year in each season. Some of the overall outstanding accomplishments, let me start by saying since we had our gems tonight, that girls' softball team, the young ladies, were outstanding this year. Starting up at Coral Shores, you had Vanessa Gabriel, 2-time state champion. What she did was the double. She won the championship in both Olympic and traditional weightlifting. I had a question as to what that was, so I did some research, and I remember as a kid watching the Wide World of Sports, and they always had weightlifting on there. And the Olympic weights, the Olympic lifts are the clean and jerk, and the snatch. What she's doing right there in that picture is the snatch. That is from the floor over her head. Those are the Olympic lifts. The traditional lifts eliminates the
031snatch and adds in the bench press. So the fact that she did the double is amazing. As we move down to marathon, you'll see once again, the young lady, Justice Lee, there, and I've been told she's one of the most decorated athletes in our district for sure. She was not only state champion in the shot put, she was runner-up in weightlifting in both traditional and Olympic. Had she been in any other, not only weight class, but division. She was 1A. If she'd been 2A or 3A, she would have been the state champion at her weight class. She also finished third place in the discus. So again, like I said those, those ladies were, representing for sure. And then, down to Key West High School for the and as Coach walked out, he, he correct he
032corrected my numbers because I was confirming with him that they were in the Final Four for the third time in the last 5 years. He says, "You can make that 4 out of 6, but next time we're gonna come back with the ring." So I hope that's actually the case. I hope I get to tell you that, Guy, when I'm here next year. Moving forward, we have our college-bound athletes. This first group here is the group from Coral Shores and let me preface this by saying This is ever-changing. I think I sent Maria, I don't know, about 5 or 6 copies. Every time they added somebody, I wanted to make sure they got put on there. But these are your Coral Shores athletes. Great group of kids there. The next group is our Marathon kids.
033And I do want to point out there, Mr. Dick looking very happy with his grandson signing his scholarship. And let's see, and I added Justice Lee because like I said, she has done a great job. She's chosen to, as opposed to signing a scholarship, she is gonna walk on as a preferred walk-on at Florida International University so that she could stay close to home. So good for her. And let's see what else we got. These are the college-bound athletes from Key West High School. Yeah, let's see. Now to the, to the fun stuff drug testing. Our drug testing policy, I added on there, you can read that for yourself, but, we tested 226 kids and we had 6 positive athletes. That is around 2.5%. one of the things I, I also wanted to point out,
034it's going to come with my, my next slide in reference to our, the, the requirement now that all incoming athletes, if they've all incoming 9th graders as well as anyone that has not participated in a sport at the high school level are required now to take have an ECG, an echocardiogram. It's a it is a mandatory requirement. There are some opt-outs whether it be religious, or you have your own doctor and they sign off on your clearance. One of the things that's been beneficial is, and, and I'm very happy that, that it was approved on the consent agenda, and Michael, I think, still here, he stuck around for me because I do want to ask him some questions because he's got some information that I don't have. But that partnership is vital. The things they
035do for us, they handle our drug testing, all of our drug testing, no out-of-pocket cost. They are we offered 3 clinics to have the ECG as well as the physical at no out-of-pocket cost to our kids. the numbers that we're looking at, after speaking with him earlier, we've we're at 225 kids at this point already screened. And that's great. And only 4 or 5 that we need to push further as far as receiving clearance from their own doctors. Let's see. And we are in the process right now this is the week, Key West High School is having their, their clinic. And as far as the future, for Monroe County athletes, Athletics. We are looking at where's my notes here a number of different things, but as far as our athletic directors, it's a continuation of
036supporting our athletes. They're doing weekly grade checks. They're offering I happened to be at Key West High School not long ago, and I walked in on Andrew Freeman, the athletic director, giving them a brief seminar on healthy supplements. The kids are taking a lot of things, trying to make themselves bigger, faster, stronger and he's sitting down with them individually having these conversations, which is very important. It goes right along with our drug testing, our ECGs, and, and those things. We're also looking at developing coaching initiatives where we're bringing coaches in and training them and different things like supervision. We have a lot of coaches that are, I call them, off-campus coaches. They're not teachers. They don't get the training and supervision and things like that. You know, it's a lot more than standing on the
037field and coaching during the game. You know, they got to get on a bus and take your kids 150 miles away from us. So there's different things that we're going to be working with them to improve. There are some new sports that are being approved by FHSAA, and Mr. Tierney was real happy to see pickleball as being one of those. Along with beach volleyball. And again, some of our goals, you know, it's all it's ever-changing in high school sports. We're looking at things like the Teddy Bridgewater Act, which I'm not sure what the policy is. I think it's SB 580 maybe, but that's going to be a big one. I don't know how much authority that we'll have as, as a school district. But, that's the one that's, brings in the NIL, where you can
038pay kids to you could pay for things for kids. You can also pay them through, NIL and things of that nature. So I have not unpacked that yet. That's going to be a lot. But when I do that, I'm sure that will be part of the report for next year. Let me see. And by the way, that, that picture you see up there, that's Justice, standing as a state champion on the podium. That's an awesome picture. I wanted to make sure I included that as well. And some of the other sports that we do offer, as you see there on, on those pictures cross-country, swimming, diving at Coral Shores. I couldn't find a picture of it, but we're throwing the javelin in track. I'm not quite sure how safe that is, but hey, we're doing
039it. But again, thank you guys for having me. If you do have any questions, 51313 is my extension. Feel free to call me anytime for any of it. They're going to ask some questions now. Yes, sir, go ahead. I think Dr. Woltanski. Yeah, I just want for clarification, the ECG is an electrocardiogram, not an echocardiogram. The electrocardiogram is just a measurement of the electric activity of your heart. It doesn't do an echocardiogram. It doesn't do an ultrasound of your heart. Correct. What we're doing right now is we're doing the, the electro. And what happens is every single test is going up into a portal and is actually being read by Holtz Children's Hospital through their pediatric cardiology department. And we chose Holtz because they're also reading for Baptist. And Fisherman's has the only pediatric echo
040tech in the county, so we chose to go with them. So what happens is that goes up. If they see something, it comes back down. The abnormal that we had were signed off on. We had one young lady from Marathon that is under care currently due to the test, but if they deem it that it needs additional testing, they'll either go to a Holtz facility or they can go to Fisherman's if they have insurance, and then they'll get the repeat ECG and then the echo. And depends on depending on how that comes out, they may be under care or released at that point. Thank you. Mr. Benson I just wanted to comment. Thank you for all that you do. I'm a big supporter of student sports because I believe it helps students in so many
041ways. Primarily, it helps them keep their grades up. Keeps them active, keeps them out of trouble, and I think it really opens their eyes up to what teamwork looks like, and I think that helps in their future. So thank you for all of that. I do have a question though. Is there any future for flag football in high school? it is an FHSAA-sanctioned event. It's just not happening here. Absolutely. Just curious. I've been hearing a lot about it, so I wondered. Yeah. That is some of the stuff that we do deal with on a regular basis. When you start adding sports, you start adding other things, you know, the cost. One of the things that I did leave off because I wanted to stay positive was that, you know, transportation costs are eating us up.
042And that is one of the main things that the district does put into. And, you know, we run through that budget before we even get to the spring. I don't think that people else other places realize how hard our students work just to go to a game. I mean, I had 3 daughters who were actively involved in sports, and as I said, I follow sports, and I know that the time that these kids lose traveling, you know, 3 hours just to get to the mainland to get on the field and play a game and turn around and come back and be in school the next day is really difficult so. And then like you said, it's a lot of time. It's hard to get teams to come down. Some of our teams are away way
043more than they're at home, and when they're gone, they're gone all day long. That's a whole day of school they've missed. And I love that they still have to keep their grades up, so that shows their dedication to their sport and to their academics. So I think that's fantastic. And by the way, happy birthday. Thank you. Anyone else? Yeah. Yes, sir. Since you brought it up, what happens, you know, the 6 students that you said they were positive? What, just an idea what happens to somebody when they get that result? To begin with, what ends up happening if they test positive, and we test for, I brought the list, there's so many things, a 16-panel test to test for everything. If it does test positive, we wrap it up and we send it downtown. At
044the different, in the different areas, they get sent to a different testing group They retest it. If it is positive, they are, they are correct me if I'm wrong, Ms. Acevedo that they get a 2-week, I'm going to call it a suspension from the activity, and they are retested again. And if they are, they're receiving counseling during that time. And that's the major part of it, but that's To bring them back, they do have to they will take another test. They'll be retested. And if it's clear, they're welcome back to the team. I don't know, to be honest, we haven't had any in my time that's tested positive more than once. They've all come back and been able to join the team. And the only other part on that I want to ask is, do
045you inform the family? Yes, the families are informed. The families are informed that we are drug testing them when, when the student is called down. right. I know they know it's happening, but when they when you get a positive, are the family informed of that? Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. Anybody else? Yeah, just real quick since Michael's sitting there, the Bubba Awards are July 25th, and AHEC is the beneficiary of that. So if you haven't already given a sponsorship, please do because the school district is a direct beneficiary of AHEC's beneficiary-ism, if that is a word. So thank you, Michael. Awesome. Anything else? Good. Like I said, I'm always available. Please feel free to call me anytime. Mr. Schmitz, are you awake? Absolutely. I, as I typically do, I've briefed you all before this meeting and,
046answered most of your questions. The only update I have for the board as a whole is the Tommy Roberts, mediation, update is that I will have two proposed resolutions, as I indicated at the last meeting, one to move forward and one to accept a proposed settlement. So that'll be on your next agenda, and I've briefed you guys onto the terms they're proposing. So that's the update, unless there's any questions. Yes, sir. I'd like to compliment Monroe County on the quality of the graduation ceremonies that I was privileged to witness just over a week ago. I've been to more graduation ceremonies that I could ever count, but I've never experienced the warmth and sense of community and support for the students that I saw in the Keys, and I thought it was such a fitting celebration
047for the students that were graduating at the end of their senior year. We graduated 639 students who earned a total of $13,351,800 due to, in most part, the generous nature of this community. And I thought it was just such a great ending to the year. The work continues for the class of 2026 as we are currently tutoring students who still need the Concordance score and are going to take the CLT on June 17th. Summer school started on Thursday, and we have 737 students attending summer school right now, so learning is continuing over the summer. And I'd just like to take a moment to thank the teachers and the staff members, students and parents. What was a very successful year and certainly a very enjoyable first year for me. So thank you. That concludes my comments.
048Well, I was going to talk about AHEC and the bubbas. No, I agree. I think graduations were really great, and I want to really oh, what's the word I'm trying to say? I went to the adult ed graduation, and simply the Pledge of Allegiance gave me chills. It was a young man who had recently graduated from the ELL language, but also recently become a U.S. citizen. And he led the group, and really the cadence of him, you know, we all say it in the same cadence that we did in kindergarten, but the cadence that he did gave it real meaning. And, it was really a privilege to be there, and the speakers there were wonderful as well. So, and I hope everyone's having a safe and healthy summer. So prior to the board meeting, this
049board had a retreat on our 5-year capital plan. I want to just reassure the taxpayers that while we understand that we are technically in a carve-out position with property taxes, this board are being very good stewards of your taxpayer dollars. We have hard conversations. We have to dig deep to try to find money where we don't think money exists, but we also make sure the money that is being spent is being spent in the right way. So just, we understand that we're not going to be absolved from the property taxes forever. So while we have this opportunity, we're going to do the best we can with your hard-earned money. I won't take a lot of time. Just congratulations again to all of our students on a very successful year. have a great summer. Thank you
050to everyone who works all year long to make our schools, students, families, and communities successful. And we will continue to fight the good fight. So thank you. It really was a fantastic school year. I felt like we accomplished so much and our kids have done so well, and I'm very proud to be able to represent my district and be a part of this board and watch all the success of the students. people ask me, what is it like to go to so many graduations? And we all attended them, and you know what, it does not get old. It is so exciting to sit on that stage and on the field at Key West and watch those students cross the podium there at the stage and with so much excitement and they feel so accomplished and
051the thrill for their families. It just, it never gets old. So I enjoyed every single one of those graduations very, very much and the promotion ceremony at HOB, which was fantastic as well. And one last comment, I just want to say congratulations to Coach Lori Bosco. She is a 20-year swim coach at Key West High School, and she was recently selected as a finalist by FHSAA for Coach of the Year. So I just want to say congratulations to Coach Bosco for all of her accomplishments and her dedication for so many years to the swim team. So congrats. So I'll just stay along with the graduations, and mine was especially best because my second time, I had a grandson walk across in front of me. And then a nice ovation from all of you. Thank you
052very, very much. You too. Okay. You cried. No, I didn't. That I can assure you, I didn't cry. Anyway. Okay. Now, this time we have to recess the regular board hearing and open up for a public hearing. On reading of first reading of policies, do we have anybody here to speak to first reading of policies? No. Okay, board members. Just making sure they're all the changes that are required. Yeah, they're required, and unless otherwise indicated, these are all required. Yeah, I saw one was completely blocked out. So that, I guess we lose that one? A lot of them were consolidating policies into one. All right. Any other, anybody questions? Nothing on the second reading either. Okay, we'll close this policy hearing and reconvene to the regular board meeting. And we have action item number Yes,
053sir. I just had one update on pending that I'm required to give to the board, then I'll get to the action item. So under Rex Weech Field, school board policy 6345 authorized the superintendent to approve and execute construction contract change orders that decrease the contract amount. Rex Weech Field improvement change order number 5 was a deduct change order in the amount of $44,046.30 for additional adjustments from the owner direct purchase program. This change order was executed on May 14th, 2026. Okay, I recommend the board award RFQ 2026005, Reynolds School Renovation Construction Manager At-Risk Contract, to LEGO Construction Company. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none, the motion's approved. I recommend the board approve policy revisions for operations and planning. So moved. Second. Discussion? Hearing none, the policies for revisions for operations and planning is approved.
054I recommend the board approve combining two real estate parcels on Trumbo Road property. Move. Second. Discussion? Can you just explain to the community at large the discussion we had about the firewall? Absolutely. Thank you. The requirement, if the parcel split, the new construction would be to build a firewall within there, greatly increasing the expense of the project. The solution was to combine the two parcels, thereby eliminating that delineation line and negating the need for a firewall. And did we confirm that this won't affect the density issue? I did. Okay, thank you. Hearing none, the motion is approved. Go home.