001Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome as I call to order the November workshop of the Escamia County School Board. The purpose of this workshop is an open discussion on items brought forth by the board and the superintendent along with a review of the agenda items for our regular board meeting. Please silence your cell phones and other electronic devices at this time. If you wish to speak at public forum, you must complete a speaker request form located on the table at the rear of the room and bring it to Miss Harris at the front of front table. Our first item of discussion tonight is Bula Middle School Digital Discoveries Academy. Yeah, Director Harold, you know, you've heard me say this many, many times. Uh but again, thank you so much for giving us an opportunity to
002let our young people and their teachers show off what we do in our career and technical education classes around the district. Uh and this month is no exception. Uh just like all of the others with the uh BUA Middle School Digital Discoveries Academy. There's actually three teachers that work in that program. We have Miss Eno Floyd Johnson who is here with the students today and Sandy La Renee and Tiara Thompson. Those two teachers couldn't make it today. they're back at school with other students. Um, but it, you know, they don't like to brag about themselves a lot. And I'm talking about the teacher specifically here. The students are going to talk for themselves in just a moment here. But I just wanted you to hear this that um, Miss La Renee moved from high school
003to middle school last year. And in her first year at the middle school level, she earned 665 digital tool certificates with her students. I'm gonna say that again. 665 digital tool certificates. That's the most that anybody earned last year. And I don't know if you guys were listening when I've said this before, but Libby Sears at Ransom and Allison Cameron over at Ferry Pass are very competitive. They had 526 and 487. So for Miss La Renee and her students to beat them, they had to be working diligently all year. Um, Miss uh, Floyd Johnson, uh, Ena, she took her students uh, to earn 119 social media strategist certifications and 28 additional digital tools. That's incredible. I mean, th those students are learning that they can pass these difficult tests early on in their educational careers,
004and they're building out selfefficacy early with these teachers. So, the teachers don't like to brag about themselves a lot, but they should because things like the amazing shake, the the program that uh Miss Floyd Johnson runs at Bula Middle School that teaches children to look you in the eye and shake your hand in a business-like environment. It makes a difference in those kids' lives. And the FBLA program that she helps run with those students also making a huge difference in those kids' careers and their future. So, I hope you're this is coming across that I really appreciate these teachers. I love what they do for our young people very much and they should be applauded and lauded and and held up on high for that hard work that they're doing and they don't like to
005say it about themselves but this guy's going to say it every time I get the chance. So, thank you for giving them a chance to present today and don't forget the great job those teachers are doing. Good afternoon. I'm Ena Floyd Johnson with the Digital Discoveries Academy at Bula Middle School. Thank you so much for allowing our amazing students to present today. Greetings. My name is Danielle Lean. I am a grateful sixth grader here in the digital discoveries academy here at Bo Middle School. As a sixth grader, I am learning key abilities connected to financial literacy, Google applied skills, and typing. For example, typing club, manning Google Docs, and writing sex. These skills are helping me complete semester projects that improve confidence and goals in making presentations and applying what I learned to real world
006situations. These semester projects are things like presentations, ed puzzles, and learning employability skills. Through these projects, I'm getting valuable education that will get me ready for future academic and career success. Hello, my name is Jackwin and I'm also a sixth grader in the Digital Discoveries Academy. In our academy, we're learning we're learning skills that help us prepare for the real world, even our our age. We've been practicing job application skills like filling out real job applications and creating cover letters. We're also building job financial literacy skills. That means we're we know how to fill out deposit and withdrawal slips, write checks, and understand how saving and spending money wisely can help us reach our goals. And finally, we're mastering Google applied skills. This means we're using Google Docs and Slides to complete projects, organize information,
007and collaborate just like people do in real jobs. All these lessons help us gain real world experience and prepare for success in school and beyond. Hi, my name is Mason and I'm in the seventh grade. At our academy, we learn about Google tools like slide, docs, and drawings. We practice things we need to know in our future. For example, filling out checks, job applications, and many were many [music] more real life skills we will need to know of when we get older. We also study financial literacy, which helps us understand money and how to make smart choices. We enjoy learning about technology and real life skills that prepare us to be successful in our future career. In TV production, we make and share our own bare news. We use cameras, the teleprompter, and learn how
008to record videos. Soon, we'll even know how to edit them. When we are on set, all it is is having fun while learning about TV production. We are building important skills like teamwork, creativity, and storytelling along the way. Even though TV production can seem stressful, it's actually so much fun once you get to the basics of it. I love the laughter and memories we create, and it's a great start to my morning. Miss Lauren always knows how to make us laugh and smile, even on our bad days. Good afternoon. My name is Lily and I'm also in the seventh grade. Some of the high schools we can go to include State High School's multimedia academy and Pine Forest Multimedia Academy. We've had the chance to record sporting events and special activities like our this or
009that segment in the cafeteria where we ask students fun questions such as Snickers or Milky Way. It's honestly one of the most fun parts of TV production and it gives students the chance on the show even if they aren't in the class. We also learn about different career pathways to help us explore what kind of jobs we might want in the future and the skills we'll need to reach those goals. After being in our academy, we will have a strong foundation for many future careers. The skills we learn like using Google tools, understanding finances, and working with technology can lead to exciting jobs in areas such as media, business, [music] and technology. We can become video editors, graphic designers, news reporters, or even entrepreneurs who start our own companies. Our academy helps us discover different
010career pathways and prepares us for success in whatever jobs we choose in the future. And we thank Miss Lauren for that. Good afternoon. My name is Jan Stewart and I am in the eighth grade. Career pathways are tremendously beneficial to our community. They serve as a blueprint for your life and the foundation of your achievements. This is true because they give an idea of what you will do and need to do when you enter the workforce and steps that you will need to take in order to do so. These pathways lead to very successful careers among students no matter how far they have come. As an example, I'm attending B1 Middle and using career pathways I plan to enter West Florida, major in architecture, and sometime in the future learn alongside my peers at Florida
011State University. The reason I'm telling you this is because I is because thanks to classes that I am taking like computer fundamental, these skills along with many others can be strengthened and [music] built through challenges that encourage thinking about my future. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Renee Robbins and I'm attending BUA Middle School as an eighth grader. I am proud to be a member of the Future Business Leaders of America. When I first joined FBLA, I didn't realize how much it would shaped the way I think, act, and dream about my future. FBALA has taught me lessons that go far beyond the classroom. It's helped me become more confident when speaking to others, more organized when managing my time, and more responsible when working on projects. These skills have made a huge difference in
012my life right now. FBA has also shown me the importance of teamwork. Whether it's preparing for competitions, planning community service projects, or organizing events, I've learned that success doesn't happen alone. Those same teamwork skills help me every day when I work with my classmates to make sure customers have the best experience possible. Because of FBLA, I don't just see myself as a worker. I see myself as a leader. I've learned that leadership means helping others succeed, communicating clearly, and always giving your best effort. FBA has truly changed the way I see my future. It's given me the confidence to chase my goals and the skills to make them happen. I'm very intrigued because at the end of this semester, we'll be working with the amazing Shaes competition from Ron Clark Academy where we will be
013learning more about professional conduct and professional skills and how to build a network community through a series of one competitions. Thank you. Are there any questions? Any questions from the board? But I'd like to say great presentation, outstanding job and congratulations to the teachers and Miss Ford and also to Dr. Merry for bringing these students down here to um pres present to us today. Great job. Anything from the board? Well, yeah, it's a fantastic job your presentation. It's tough getting up there and doing that, but y'all did a fantastic job. You're learning real life skills that you can use in the future, whether you're an entrepreneur or you are you going to be working for somebody else. So, uh I congratulate you for all the knowledge you are picking up while you're at Bula Middle,
014which is a very good school out there. A lot of good things happening. So, [music] uh, thank you, Dr. Murphy, and your staff for the job you're doing out there. Um, I taught middle school for 17 years, and as I looked and listened to your presentation today, I found you to be one of the most articulate groups I've seen in a long time for your age level. You made eye contact with board members. You were very articulate when you gave your speech. You just represented yourself and your school in an outstanding way. And that comes from the good instructions that teachers provide to help you with. So I congratulate you. Every one of you are going far in life because of the skills that you're earning. And Dr. Murphy, thank you for bringing this group
015today and uh uh before us. And uh they're a wonderful group of young people who are representing themselves, their school, and the district very well. Well, I would also like to uh reiterate what my board members have already said, but want to thank each and every one of you. I know it's very difficult [music] to get up here and speak in front of people, but you were all very professional, very organized in your thoughts. You look directly in the eyes and that means a lot. So, [music] thank you to the leadership. Thank you Dr. Murphy as well. So, thank you boys and girls. I'm going to tag it what everyone else has said. I want to thank you for coming here today and sharing your experiences. The look on your faces now is one of
016satisfaction. You've done a good job and you should be proud of yourselves. Uh what you're doing and what you're learning now and what you'll use those skills for in the future. The sky's is the limit on where you could go. Thank you for sharing that with us. Miss [clears throat] Johnson, Floyd Johnson, thank you for the work that you're doing. Let your colleagues know that we appreciate them. Dr. Murphy, it's always a pleasure to see you. Glad that you're able to make it here today, too. Proud of what Bula Middle School is doing. A great example [music] for the entire county. Yes. And I understand that we have some parents here also. We know these students don't do this all on their own. So, if any parents of the students are here, would you please
017stand? Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Johnson. Would you like to have anything else on Mr. Murphy? Dr. Murphy, I might have made a mistake on that one. Yeah. [laughter] No, I think it's important that we recognize the fact that we couldn't do our [music] jobs to and the this is just a small portion of the kids at Bula. I mean, I'm the luckiest guy in the world, but um to recognize the fact of the support that we get from workforce education with the specialist um they really get [music] into the weeds with our kids and the programming and the support and and then that comes from the leadership here that's standing before us, sitting before us to give them that autonomy to do that. So, thank you. um you know I'm competitive so
018we want to be the best and so we'll continue to do that. So thank you for the opportunity. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. And y'all are welcome to stay to the rest of the board meeting. Now if you would like to uh leave it it would be okay. Moving on to our calendar, we're looking at the rest of November and December. Board members will review November. any additions or changes that we don't have on the calendar. Yes, sir. Wanted to bring it to your attention [music] and ask if you could schedule this. I actually I thought Mr. Adams was not going to be here today and be here Tuesday, so I had it backwards, but we would like to schedule an executive session 4:15 before the 5:00 board meeting on Tuesday. We have
019a bargaining session set up for the 19th and I was trying to look to see what would be the best date. I, you know, I have experience in negotiating. Um, I know that we have had executive sessions [music] where one of the board members called in, but you got to remember that was many, many years ago. Things change. [music] Uh, so it it would just be the four. But what I could do, um, since it's all going to be confidential anyway, I could make certain that I have a conversation with a board member that would not be present. Okay. But at least if the four of you that are going to be present could be [music] in attendance. Uh, it would be very beneficial. Uh, I think I have the date right, Caroline, you would
020be back in negotiations the very next night. So I I believe I can call in though. Um I recommend against board members participating remotely in um confidential sessions simply because um there is no way for us to make certain that there is nobody overhearing what conversations are being had and that that's something that I've recommended [music] since I've come back to the office. So I'll make sure I speak to you privately tell you exactly you and I can speak as well so we can make sure your get it done voice is heard. Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you. Thank y'all. I just wanted to make sure we got that. 4:15. 4:15. And Mr. Wisden, can we meet in your facilities room? So, we'll meet over here across the way at 4:15. And Elizabeth, will you
021send us out a reminder on that? Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. But I was curious how where board members park when they when they get there's park parking downtown is is an issue sometimes. So where do where do they park when uh any of the board members been to that and can give you in the uh parking I park in the parking tower that's like a block away from about a block single you're talking about all county band all county band county band at the Sanger there's several you know the chorus is down there the band is down there and I want to attend some of those but uh parking is is is sometimes difficult [music] downtown you know So, hot tip, uh, the west, uh, [music] Spring Street on the west side
022of the courthouse is free parking. Okay. So, if you can find a spot and you don't mind a little walk, that's one of the few areas of free parking [music] downtown. [laughter] Okay, Mr. Adams, and Miss Buswell just reminded me, uh, if you're going to park in paid parking, go for the blue signs. Do not go for the red signs. They are privately owned. They are very expensive and they are very aggressive with booting as I discovered one evening. Say that again, Miss ODM. Go for the blue spots, not the red ones. Okay. Blue, not red. [laughter] That That was one of the reasons I brought that up because I've had some friends down there that have had their cars booted. [laughter] anything else in the month of uh November. So I for the board
023of knowledge I will be going to the uh national summit on education New Orleans. You know it's the one conference I go to each year and they'll have usually got state leaders there. All the powers will be across the country in education. So, uh, the morning after we have the Florida breakfast practice and Deb Bush will come in and you'll have the commissioner of education at times and chancellors and all that. So, it's a good meeting. You kind of get a not a tip [clears throat] on what's coming in the next legislative session. You see, which which way the wind is blowing. So, uh, when I get back, I'll get a report to board at next meeting. Anything else in November? Let's let's uh flip over to December. Mr. Williams, at the beginning of December
024is the uh FB uh is the Florida School Board Association conference. I know I'm attending. I don't know if any other board members are attending or not. So, I will be in attendance as well. I think Miss Burgos and Oh, okay. There's three of [music] us going then. Yes. Okay. Thank you. If nothing else, we'll move on to public forums. Mr. Superintendent, public form update. We don't have an update today, sir. Thank you. Uh organizational meeting is next item. We have the organizational meeting on Tuesday. Uh please look at the agenda and let's discuss nomination for chair and vice chair. Just a discussion. Yeah. Yeah. For discussion. Uh I I would plan to nominate Tom Herald for chair. Uh although I will say uh Mr. Mr. Williams, I had told you before I could nominate
025[laughter] you again, but uh you've done a fantastic fantastic job and you know that kind of keep our rotation going. But uh um you did an amazing job as chair and I appreciate everything you've done. But uh I I plan to nominate Tom on Tuesday night. I think all of us need to share in the pain and being the um chairman. Uh vice chair, any anything else for chair? Anyone else? Vice Chair, I intended to nominate Mr. Adam sir, vice chair. Okay. And the reason was we talked about co and some other things that changed from the elected to appointed put us out of the rotation that we've been in going from one year to the next with Mr. Harold coming up possibly as the chair. Then the vice chair would be Mr. Adams and
026he would be presumably nominated and would go down and keep the rotation going, get back in that order again. So everybody does have an opportunity. There were specific reasons that we changed that. Some of the things that were going on, especially the change from the elected to appointed superintendent, it was the the board at that time determined it was better to keep consistency as the chair and had Miss High Totower serve multiple terms as the chair and that kind of threw us off in that rotation. Not that want to skip or anyone, but at this point we picked up with five and so we'll go. Well, ju just just to clarify, Mrs. Mrs. High Totower held over when um Mr. Williams came into office because he had indicated that he wasn't ready to go to
027serve as chair, hit hit the ground running. And so she's so seat four um served a second time and so the natural rotation was m Mr. Williams we went back to him so that he would have district 3 would have its turn in the chair and then we [music] carried on with the original rotation with Mr. Herrell. Um but that being said this is a custom of the district. The board always the board always has the ability to select whomever it wants to be the chair. It's just that this has been the long-standing practice better explanation. I just wanted to say if it's the board's wishes, I would be glad to serve as your chair. It would be an honor to serve this coming year. And also, I want to piggyback on something that uh
028Mr. Adams said a while ago. Uh and that is you're going to be a tough act to follow if it happens. [laughter] That's right. And I mean that in with the most honor and respect because some of the things that you've done has kept the board moving in a positive manner, pointed out positive things throughout the year that we need to be doing for the districts for our district as a whole. And the it just you know some of the meetings have been difficult with the number of speakers and everything we've had and you've just done an excellent job Mr. W Dr. Williams and I appreciate that. I appreciate it. But I was going to save this to the end, but I do want to give um some praise to Elizabeth Boswell who keeps us
029extremely organized and and have our scripts and in order. So I just want to thank you, Miss Boswell, making my year as chairman um pleasant. All right. Thank you. Anything any other question regarding organizational meeting or the lease corporation meeting? This brings us to Mr. Harold for Mr. Williams. Actually, if I could with regard to the leasing corporation meeting, um I just wanted to make the board aware that it again the board can do whatever it wants, but customarily when the leasing corporation selects its um officers. Um we have historically just had the existing board members serve as um I'm sorry the the board officers who are selected uh then serve as the leasing corporations officers but again if the board wants to deviate from that uh you can certainly do so but the custom
030has been that if if Mr. Harold is elected to be the chair then uh he would also serve as the um the chair or president or whatever term we use use with the leasing corporation as well. And the same with the vice chair. Okay. Thank you. I ask one question. Yes, sir. [music] Um, so we can kind of get the language ready for next Tuesday night. Is everybody comfortable with when we've been meeting, where we've been meeting, and the the number of times so we can get all of that. Okay. Good. Yeah. Thank you. And it will it will always be the um the Thursday before the third Tuesday we have workshop and then then regular board meeting is always the third Tuesday of each month. Okay. and the same time 5:30. Yes, sir. Okay.
031Okay. Uh Mr. Harold, facility uses agreement. Thank you, Dr. Williams. I put this on the agenda uh a month ago and since that time, you know, sometimes the more you study something, the the better it it looks [laughter] in hindsight. So, uh I am going to make some recommendations to the board. is uh we we had a big tournament out there this last week on Broenham and it went very well. I noticed something that was different out there this time was that that I had not seen before. The county transit service was running a transit service there and so it might have cut down the numbers dramatically because the parking lot at Lipkcom was full front and back including a big truck in the back and a big truck in the front. Uh but the
032other two parking lots had no one in it when I checked it Sunday in the final. Now I don't know what happened on Tuesday when it was going on out there. That's when all of the team started. Uh but uh it's it's a good event for our community. And I'm not taking anything away from all the wonderful things they do out there. What I'm interested in is us doing a few little things, tweaking our policy and trying to do something to make sure that that we're protecting our resources from any liability and things like that. So, here's some recommendations I'd like to make. Uh, that we move immediately to secure the parking lot so it if someone does not have a facility use agreement that we can uh that we can close off those lots.
033That's the first recommendation I would make to the board. The second recommendation that I would make is that uh we review the uh we invite the superintendent and his staff. I don't know how many other board members have had the opportunity to go over Facilitron and learn about it. I know very little about Facilitron. I I know that you're new to the board. You probably are not familiar. I don't know if the other board members have had an opportunity to go through a review of that or if you're interested in uh maybe uh Miss Payne doing a simple thing at one of our workshops, bringing us up to date on how that works and so forth. Is are is the board interested in anything like that? What is it? Yeah, pardon me. What is it?
034It's the program that uh the district is using to schedule. Someone goes online and they schedule the use of our facilities if there's any fees or anything that take care of at that time. And it's the mechanism that we use to uh to do that is the board I would like to see that if the board is is is would like to do that, you know, just and I'm not talking about anything lengthy or anything. I'm talking about just something that uh to give us an overview. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Comment. Yeah. Y'all I'm I'm familiar with it to a to a degree. You know, I don't use it every day, but I am familiar because of past experience with um organizations using different facilities that I've been involved with and and so I have an
035operational understanding, but to a refresher would be fine. Yeah, I'm I'm the same way. I'm familiar with it. Yeah. when I was a principal uh uh we we used the paper method and this when we went to the electronic method I you know I'm totally unfamiliar with that I would just like a briefing on that it doesn't have to be anything and and I think it would also do the board good so are we I hear some nodding at least three u the other thing I would like to recommend to the board is that uh uh that we put signs up out on our property and I'm recommending that for the following reason right now when people are parking there actually they're trespassing you know and so if we put a sign up that gives
036us one more measure if something happens like an automobile accident someone trips and falls there's a fight or a brawl or anything like that going on is to put some signs out there on our property in that area so that we've got a little bit more protection when we do that and I've talked to Miss ODM about this and superintendent and they're they're comfortable with this and I'm hoping the board would be also if we bring that to the board you know or if we I don't think that have to become to the board other than the purchase of it and the superintendent wants to do that. How does the board feel about that? Yeah. Are you talking about every facility? I mean, if we do it if we just Well, I'm particularly talking about
037Rosen, but other facilities, too. If that's, you know, if if board members are around I think we already have some some signage. Yeah. In keeping with what Mr. Herrell is saying, we are in the process of pulling back some of our fence lines. Mhm. We have a lot of schools where we secure the parking lots and the gates are never closed because the parking lots have a lot of mobility. So the thought process here is any parking lot that is not within the secured perimeter should have a sign posted. Uh we are in the process of fabricating those. I I put the or I made the request today to have non-school hour parking prohibited something very simple to be posted on those lots. So it won't be every campus. It'll be those lots that where
038it's relevant. It won't be every campus. Okay. Um, didn't last time we [music] discussed this, wasn't there a thought of putting little swing gate poles? If you I'm waiting till y'all get through. Okay, you got it. Go ahead. Tell me what y'all go ahead. All right. That that was coming on my list, 7th time. I mean, just for those you when they have the big events over there, y'all can just, you know, swing it. I think that's that'd be the cheapest way, wouldn't it? I'm hoping that most of the people will uh will elect to use a facility use agreement there and then that what I'm going to recommend is that that we leave our policy the same where the superintendent has authority to approve those. But and but if they do not have facility
039use, then we need to have the ability to close off the parking lot for liability. That's a huge amount of liability on the part of this board. We could have something happen there and it cost us millions of dollars. Yeah. Uh Mr. Superintendent, did you have an answer on the swing? Yeah, I'm letting Mr. Har Oh, I I'm just asking a question now. So, yes. Okay. [laughter] Powgate. That's what I call it. Powgate. When I looked it up online, they call it a pole gate, but there cattle gate, too. allows the department. Yeah, that's what is uh at uh LD MacArthur Elementary is uh their parking their front is fenced and they have the pole gates there and they they keep the one in the front locked all the time so it forces the traffic
040in one way in and one way out for safety purposes. So that was going to be another one of my recommendations. I've had a real nice discussion with Mrs. Payne, our deputy superintendent, and it was very positive, and I commend her for her willingness to listen to me and so forth and meet with me. So, thank you, Miss Payne. And also had a a very productive meeting with Mr. Dennis about this. Uh, this is something that's not going to go away, fellow board members. We've got a big tournament coming up while we're at the Florida School Board Association in December. It's going to be huge. It's the women's finals for soccer. In March, we've got another big tournament out there that's going to be all of the soccer community soccer uh or organizations, all of
041their teams in our own county that will be there for uh for championship rounds. That's going to be another huge event. [music] And uh originally I thought my my thinking was that we would probably you know close off those gates without you know originally I was thinking that we might want to uh uh bring those to the board each time but I've had second thoughts about the facility use agreements with that. I think that my recommendation is that stay with the superintendent but that we have those facility use agreements twice a year to come come look at for the board to look at them for discussion on as board members. We need to know who is using our facilities in our district is my feeling. And so maybe in December and June or something like
042that that we might get a a list of who is using them in our district from that. So at least we're familiar with that. Uh we need to not let people arbitrarily use our facilities without a facility use agreement for the simple reason the liability is just huge, you know, huge on our part. Uh so uh let's see what I've left out here. Uh, you hit on all of them. Did I hit on all of them? I I've had two meetings with the superintendent, two with Miss Payne and one with Mr. Dennis here. So, uh, the the final one is I would like to see our policy amended where it includes parking lots and uh, roads uh, in the district. just let's let's spell it out exactly what it is and then amend our policy
043just a little bit uh by adding the fact that we're we're going to get a a report twice a year from the superintendent's office that originally I was thinking every three months but you know that's going to put a lot of work on staff and so uh uh twice a year so that we at least know who's using our facilities out there in our district and I'd love to hear from the board what their feeling is you want to go ahead Mr. before I speak. I don't mind if you want ahead. These are some things that I've jotted down over the last couple of months and then tried [music] to solidify yesterday with Mr. Harold looking at doing that signage just in the exact same uh framework that Mr. [music] Dennis has talked to talked
044to you about. Not necessarily just at the Ashton Broenham corridor, but other school sites where we don't have that parking lot secured. That makes sense. All right. doesn't mean somebody's not going to violate it. Just means we've put them on notice that it you shouldn't be parking here. Um, a swing gate at that west [music] entrance of I call it a cowgate. Mr. Dennis calls it a swing gate. So, it would be the swing pole gate at that west entrance of Lipkcom or other places that we might deem [music] appropriate. I remember I was doing something else at the time, but I remember uh the facilitron initial training that we did here, but if and that's what I told Mr. Herald. The only two that I thought had not seen that [music] was Mr. Bgosh
045and himself. But if all five of you want to see it, we could take five to 10 minutes just a brief overview. Miss Payne is very very good at being able platform. So, we could [music] bring that. I don't want to do that in December in a minute. You'll hear what I'm talking about. What we're going to do in December. I'd rather be able to do that perhaps in the new January, probably the January board meeting. Um, semi update. That's fine. It's basically [music] a printed spreadsheet just like Miss Odum does to be able to tell you where we are on all of our legal issues. [music] That's something we could do in um June and January and provide it to you. Um the part that I had a concern about and I shared it
046with Mr. apparel was trying to make certain that we had everything ready each time each month or the next [music] month whenever it might be when somebody was going to use our facility because more than likely what would happen we would end up bringing everything to you retroactively [music] and I just don't like doing business that way and he understood and then the policy review um the SOP currently is from the old policy so yeah that makes sense to be able to bring that all u into alignment so [music] Those were the four things I had written down from yesterday that I think hit on everything Mr. Harolds talked about. And I'm not sure if that's you can ask this question or somebody else could. So when we're talking about the Southern SEC using Brozenham,
047they would have a facility usage agreement with the Scammy County School System with or with that school. Now what I uh there are two primary two primary groups that use uh the facilities out there. One is the Pensacola Sports Association and they sponsor the Southeastern Conference thing. So what we would do is get a facility use agreement from them for the Southeast. Yes. And then uh there as Mrs. Payne and I talked the other one is the soccer association. Those are the two primary groups. Now if others come along, we would send them a letter saying that you need if you want to park in our parking spaces and use our facilities, you need to do a facility use agreement. You know, so it's not going to prohibit anyone from using those, but they're going
048to be doing it the right way by and paying a fee and paying whatever fee is attached to. Most of the time those fees are waved. Sometimes they are. I think this this is going a little bit further than I than I thought. Um, I did not I had not planned on getting a facility's usage agreement each time there was an entity using Ashton Brozenale. We won't always know when there's an entity using we know when they they had the big soccer tournament. We know that that's pretty well publicized. But there's other events that are out there. Um, we all talked about it when we were raising our own children. Perhaps they were involved in those events. I I don't always know when that occurs. So that that's a little bit different than what I'm
049talking about on these four items right here. Well, I want to expand on that just a little bit then. All right. Uh [music] what uh I I call it casual use there when people uh when I was standing out there last uh Sunday during the tournament and the Lipkcom parking lot was full and I was talking to some of the people. I was taking some pictures and they wanted to know what I was taking pictures of and there were there were people there from out of town and there were people here from local. But the casual use of that facility, what I had in mind was leaving those gates open when any of these things are going on except for these major tournaments because I've been monitoring that and the casual use of our facilities
050there is is minor compared to what it is with those. Uh so and the other thing we have to remember it's your district Mr. Williams, it backs up against that. It's my district and some of the rest of you, people from all over the county use that. So, our local residents as they come in to use those facilities, I'm not saying that we need to block them off. I'm saying leave them gates open, you know, we just need to have the facility to block them off when there are major tournaments and things going on where it's really bad and and where it the liability is really large. If somebody if somebody casually parks there on our parking lot and they fall and break a leg, you know, then if we have signage up, we have
051some some leeway there. But, uh, when you're talking about the mass number that I saw last year there all up and down 10 mile road and everything, it's a lot. We we do need to have some facility use agreements. And as near as I can determine, there are two agencies that sponsor all those large tournaments. and I made uh uh our deputy superintendent aware of that and she indicated that she was going to touch base with them. So, I'm I'm sure she has, you know, but that that's where I was headed with that. I'm trying to protect our our this board and this district from eventually it's going to happen, folks. We're going to have something happen out there. Okay. I think Mr. Adams, who's I'm not sure who's next. Um go ahead. A couple
052of things. If we're going to have the gates, they need to be closed all the time. Consistency because you can't leave it open one time and not the next. And you're just as likely to be sued by somebody who lives here or somebody who doesn't. Um our attorney could attest to the number of the claims that come in and we see the records on that, too. So, if we're going to shut it down, shut it down. When it's not open for school business, it should be closed in my opinion. Number one. Um the other thing is the the report for the for the use of um to me there are so many things that are done. I sit here and think about I Forest High School, their new track is being used by so many
053different schools and and different organizations that those numbers and the the amount that goes into that. I don't need to hear all that maybe one time a year or if there's something that's out of the ordinary. At this point, the deputy has been the gatekeeper, so to speak, of what's going on with Facilitron. and if she saw something that needed to come to my attention because that's really kind of in the weeds. That's the day-to-day operation and and I wouldn't want I personally now Mr. Herrell, if you want to see the records and you want to do that, I'm I'm okay with that. I just don't see the need for me to have it because there are so many different things. There are boy scouts, there are girl scouts, there are different organizations, church groups
054and on and on and on and on that use these facilities. The the facilitron was done to to expedite that. So the paperwork didn't get bogged [music] down. On the athletic side of it, there are so many different organizations and things that happen that that I'd hate for us to to put a workload on something that really, you know, yeah, it it it's nice to know, but I don't need to know. And that's just my feeling. [music] But with the gates, if we're going to put the gates up, I think we keep them closed all the time. That's just my thing. And to to go on what Paul's saying, I agree with him on that. I I got issues in my district the other day. Uh superintendent called me about one of them, you know,
055so they they let me know what's going on. I agree about securing the gates cuz the one thing I started thinking about with these big colleges coming there is tailgating, you know. So if they're tailgating on our property, that brings a whole lot of other stuff into the mix, you know, uh as one has been to a lot of Florida State games, you know. So, uh, but but yeah, so I think we do need to have that agreement. And like Paul said, if we got a swing gate there, we should we should close it, you know, when when school closed, close it down. And and uh if people park on the rideway, well, well, you know, but uh at least keep them off our property unless they got agreement to be on there. I guess
056I'd just like to say the same thing. If the gates are there, we need to [music] close it. As soon as school is out, close it because we're likely to get any kind of legal issue by some local or by out of town. [music] So, I think that's just wise of us to do that. Um, as far as the uh twice a year review, get that's kind of getting in the weeds of things. Yes, it's it's [music] good for us to know maybe once a year what's going on in our district, [music] but as far as twice a year, I really don't I think that can be unnecessary. Yeah. Mr. Williams, can I Yes, sir. Uh let's summarize for a few minutes. What I hear the board saying is that uh you agree with the
057the gates being put up there. You agree with the signs being put up there. And if we're going to put the gates up there, then we need to lock them. And you agree with the fact that we need to get facility use agreements when they're when necessary for large tournaments and things like that. Am I am I hearing I see heads nodding? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And uh and the the part that I hear you saying that you're concerned with is the part about us us knowing what who's using our facilities. any any of us at any time could go to Miss Payne and ask if we want to know who's using the facilities in our district. So, you know, and and I I I agree with the board on that after second thoughts on
058that. So, uh so we're agreeing on four of them, but one of them we're saying that was probably not necessary. Am I am I reading the tea leaves right now? Yes, sir. We're paying him the big money to take care of that kind of stuff. Have to ask a couple of questions because you said the PSA, who was the other group you said? It's a soccer association. It's a I I can't remember the exact name of it, Mr. Leonard. It's uh there's that's why I'm asking. Oh, it because there's several. Okay. I'm not talking about the regional one. There's one group that represents a whole pot of them. Uh when you go online and you put soccer, do they do it through the county? Uh they signed an agreement with the county. Yes. The other
059one you told me about was the NIA, but the the agreement they have is with the county. That's we don't always get notified. I mean, he knows it because he's [music] in close proximity. So, what I don't want to do is set our staff up to be in trouble because we didn't get something done that we should have gotten done. Um, but I I can we can work with Miss [music] Payne and I can work with the Pensacola Sports Pensacola Sports Association and then the individual that's in charge of the county parks and [music] recreation. Hopefully, he'll know. And we've done like annual facility usage agreements. If that's [music] what we need to solidify, we can on an annual basis. I have to tell y'all because I believe in being straight up. I don't know
060that when they're having an event out there that I can keep that I would be I can try to keep both [music] gates locked. Yeah, I think the gates closes. I have been I have been called and asked open the gates to help in the flow of traffic. Yeah. And I that's [music] I said absolutely. made the phone call and we got the gates open. Uh that was from uh elected official within our our county to help with traffic [music] flow. So I just want to make certain that I'm telling y'all straight up from time to time that is what will occur, right? If that's what's needed. Uh so I'm I' I've heard what Mr. Herrell said. Signage, we're looking at the gate. Uh you want a brief update on Facilitron? We'll look to try
061to do that in January. Don't really care about the January, whatever it may update, but we can get that. If you ever were to ask for it, I wanted to know, Miss Payne pulled it not too long ago. The main thing I want to make certain of is also the policy review. Um, that it all. That's it. the uh and I assume everyone is in agreement with the policy review where we review the policy and that the [music] beginning we add the parking lot to it and we also keep the superintendent is the one that oversees that uh in the opening uh the opening and closing all all we're doing is being a little bit more specific in that policy about uh about what is covered in the facility use agreement. So uh so I
062I see at least three heads nodding. So, I I don't know where I'm at with just to be honest with you because I I've always wanted to try to keep good relationships with um everybody in the county. Um and and being ex coach, I noticed that sometimes those things, you know, people use facilities. Uh and so I was just concerned with the fee if there would be a fee. If we're going to have this agreement, I think there's a fee that's attached to it. So, um are we charging? We are not currently. Okay. Um, so we just we the paper would I guess the paper would cover the the county from any lawsuits or anything just to have an agreement. I I don't think the county would be willing to there's nothing that requires the
063county to sign a facilities use agreement and I don't think they would be inclined to do so. Okay. Um I was it was my understanding that any facility use agreement has to be with the organization that is actually using him and I are not correct they're mis right and and the county is not the one who's putting on I mean while the county owns Ash and Broham they are not the ones who are putting on the event. Okay. So if if the elected official calls and say open the gates and we don't have it in our that's that's a that's a that'll be a call the superintendent will make you know because uh in our policy I think we put the superintendent in a tough situation. Well he's in it now and has been all
064along [laughter] a little bit tougher because in closing stuff off we're talking about the road that runs behind those schools. Correct. And that's an emergency situation that if there especially if you have sports activities going on, the likelihood or the possibility of an ambulance needing to have access is even greater than it would be. for [music] traffic there, too. There's um uh I think there's uh close to 20 soccer fields there if I remember correctly, and a 2500 seat stadium where you're bringing cars in uh to a one-way road, I mean to a road that's just two lane. You've got 14 subdivisions there on 10 mile road. Two of them are at the other end down Scenic Hills and Fox Run. They allowed for another exit back out. But all the o the other two,
065they allow another exit on to 10mi road. But 10 of those subdivisions, high-end subdivisions, large ones, including mine, the one where I live, all dump their traffic onto 10mi road. So if you if you have a if you have a max crowd in a 2500 seat stadium there, you're going to have you're you're going to have a lot of cars. And the superintendent needs to have the flexibility to open it in emergency situations. He needs to have the flexibility to o to do what he needs to do there in the day-to-day operations with that. And it didn't take me long to figure that out to after talking to him and others about and I always want to have a good cooperative relationship with my community. That's the reason I was talking about the casual use
066while ago uh with it. And I always want to I always want to have a good relationship with other governmental bodies including our county. But fellow board members, we're not the one who built a 21 a 2500 seat stadium at the end at the end of a a deadend road that's L-shaped with 20 soccer fields there. So uh and they had another exit out into a uh patio home subdivision and the county went in and put uh telephone poles there so that that couldn't be used. Uh, and I don't I don't want to get negative at all. I want to be positive with this. All I'm after is having looked at that for years now. This situation [music] we're going to face, it's going to happen sooner or later. We're going to have a tremendous
067liability there, an accident or something. I've seen several accidents there in my time there on Broenham, and they were severe ones. Uh, and if we have one of those on Jack Kaufman Road or in one of our parking lots or something, and you're right, Mr. Adams, there's a lot of coolers out there, right? Well, the one thing I was going to say about chief situation that really should be handled through a interlocal agreement with the county, okay? Cuz it's two government. I know law, our lawyer knows this. So they can do some type of interlocal agreement that for that road to be used in emergency and have all the legal terminology that if something happens and it's their fault or whatever, but it'd be an interlocal agreement, right, with the county. We we could certainly
068do that, but I feel highly confident that the county is not going to agree to enddemnify us for things that happen on that road. If we open up, then don't open the road. I'm sorry. I like Steven Barry and I like the rest of them, but you know, I call wasn't from regular elected official. Well, I all of them, you know, I like all of them, but you know, like they I also like my citizens in Scami County, too, you know, but uh yeah, so they want to use a road as ours, you know, it' be interlocal agreement and that takes the [music] the weight off him. what not see where having somebody drive down that road puts us at liability any more than and the road in front of the schools puts us at
069liability. [music] Well, that's that we don't we don't own that road in front of us. We don't that's a county road, but the the road behind us we do own. You know, it's on our property school property. I I just don't see the I don't see the liability on our part if somebody uses that road and they get in an accident unless we have potholes in that thing or we put up some bullards that they run into or I I just far-fetched in my eyes. The only only way you can handle the envelope over well what's the speed any more discussion I think we've all right we quite a bit we can what I' I'd like to make a final comment what I was after with this is the beginning the talk and process to
070get uh to get the facilities a little bit more secure and reduce some liability for us there. So, anything that we do and moving in that direction will be good and positive, I believe. Uh uh and so and I thank the board for listening to me on that. And a little clean up. I heard it wasn't the county commissioner. So, you know, whichever government organization. [laughter] Yeah, we've got we we know what we need to do for now and we'll keep we hopefully it gets better. That's the goal of everyone. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. This brings us to item number three on the agenda. Mr. Superintendent any additions comments any additional comments? Yes, sir. My mic wasn't on. I apologize. This is the culmination of what you talked about collectively plus we've added the GED
071graduation metrics revision. If you are good with what you see here, we will work with Miss Buswell to have this submitted to Jessica Jay Rutled Insignia to take to our local delegation and any other legislative member that may want to help us. Um I I I just wanted to suggest something if the board would be willing to consider this. Um there was an effort last year to simplify the rulemaking process for school boards. Uh rather than following the traditional chapter 120 process that we do now that is long and attenuated. There is a proposal that would basically allow us to do it by you know basically doing what we do now with other agenda items publicly notice it let the me members of the public come in [music] talk about it provide input and then
072have the board adopt the policy. Um it is my understanding that there's a member of the Senate who is interested in going down that road, but they are trying to find someone on the House side to to get on board. Um [music] you guys know how cumbersome rule making can sometimes be. This is your legislative platform, but I did just want to throw that out there if you have any interest whatsoever. [music] Um I know I would appreciate it if we could make it a little more simple. Oh yeah, I had something else. Uh, and I I hate to bring this topic in almost. Let's finish this. Okay, let's finish that one. Okay. So, yeah, I'm okay with that. That one. I'd be I'd be good with having the rule making process simplified. We'll get
073with Miss Odum, get her language, and we'll add that to it. I think that's a good idea. We'll have to bring it back here. We'll just send it on. It's 3 months now. The process is that's just too long. Yeah. Yeah. I I'll talk about the 800 lb gorilla vouchers. Yeah. Okay. Um the vouchers. Um you saw the state put in another $40 million to catch up on the money they don't know where went. They had to back back back fund it. But so I've been hearing about these student ID numbers that's supposed to be created. No matter if the kids at Catholic or is over at the the other um private schools or whatever. But I was wondering if there's something that we should address because what I've heard from our CFO all year
074long, maybe a couple years now, I don't know, is that we're being used as a pass through on this and it should be tracked by state in the state database to step up for children, you know, uh isn't that the output is doing the uh the voucher step up? One of them. Yeah. So, whoever's got the responsibility and they my personal opinion student ID numbers will never do it. They're going to have to do it by SSN, social security numbers. Okay? I was a financial management analyst. When we paid out money, we tracked it by social security numbers because you couldn't then you could run your queries on the dupes and everything else. But maybe there should be something about bringing us out of that thing not being a pass through. [music] And I'm just
075throwing it out there that this is a love for them to take the Mr. Saints here would love for them to take the fees [music] students uh out of our database. Yes. Um, I think that would be a good ask, especially after I watched the meeting down the other day where some people were telling that one person that, oh, it's the districts that are supposed to do this, you know, and we don't have no control over private schools or anything like that. This is a state. I'm all for choice, okay? But if the state's going to do a choice program, it needs to be a state program, not 67 school districts all trying to muddle their way through this. So, just my opinion and I I would I'd like to add on to that um
076them sending the money through this school district, [music] the public looks at that money and say you're getting this much money, but it's just passed through us. So, I think that would be a cut us out. Yes. Cut us out. He He's He's holding his tongue. Um what we will what I sent him yesterday was a um email from our bordering county and it also goes to OK. So it was Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and ourselves where we're going to work through putting something together. As you know last year it was 287 students that were in our schools but also received [music] a voucher. Can you say whether we really got funded for them? Well, it's it's hard to say. Somebody got funded some money. We don't believe it was us this year. Uh in that
077second where they made us submit information and then the DOE did their report. It was the meeting you were watching. Your school district had 315 students that were in our schools that also received a voucher. So the [music] I know our three districts, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, and Escambia are working together to put some information together to give to our senator and our other local delegation members [music] to do exactly what you're talking about. And I do know that there is [music] there seems to be a laser focus by some of the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the state of Florida that are serious about doing whatever they can to fix this. So, um, we'll put something in here about that and I'll just email it to you because it's it's
078no secret. The the what's weird about the student information as it relates to um vouchers, all of that, every student that is tied to Escambia County in some form or fashion is listed in our database. Doesn't mean the money actually comes to us. In fact, that money doesn't come to us, but we end up getting credit for having 40,000 plus students when, you know, we're really like 35,662. So, it's that other 6,000 students that where are [music] they? Did they never come here? Were they here and they left? Um, do they have the right student ID number or are they sitting in one of our schools? [music] So, that's what Terry was biting his tongue about, or at least I think it is. So, I wanted to make certain that I said that to you,
079but we'll we'll write up some good language and we'll send it to them. Yeah. Terry, you have anything to add? That is your favorite topic? Just uh uh Mr. Leonard said it uh really well. Just to clarify, we get about a 50page FEFP calculation five times a year. changes through the surveys depending on uh student count. We get a final FTE like he said of over 40,000 students. About 6,000 of those in the current year, a little over that I believe are scholarship students. So, we never see those students, but yet they're counted. We'd love to see that out of the FFP calculation. In terms of the revenue, it shows up at the beginning of the calculation, but then as you go through the calculation, there's adjustment pages that pulls it out and then there's
080final distributions to the districts. So, we never see it. It never comes to the district. It it is calculated and then it adjust and then they adjust it out. It we never get it. So we have what is called an adjusted net state FEFP net of the fees scholarships. Um so the revenue is not a problem. Not a problem. We never see it. Don't have to deal with [music] it except for what's not included. That may be the controversy that we have between privates and and uh and the public schools in terms of how many how many dollars how many of those students were actually in public or private and we don't know it's in limbo and that's what held up some of our payments last year at the end. So anyway, that if you
081have to be if we need some clarification on that, I'll be glad to talk to you. I'll show you the calculation if you'd like. Um but I just want to make that clear. We never it it is not really a pass through. I mean it it looks like it but we never get it so we never have to cut it to those private or to the students. I agree with you. Just take it off our our side of the house and then we don't have to worry about it no more. Right. We know what our true county is. That that's what we hope and they tried to do that last time and uh evidently there was too much push back um so they left it in. So, we're still dealing with that's why every time
082we try to tell you how many students are in the district, we have to go through calculations. We got to pull out the fees. We have to deal with the charter schools. We have to deal with the uh we have some contracted schools that that is a true pass through acceleration academy achieve academy. Those contracts are for all of the FPF plus minus a little bit of a holdback administrative fee. So, that's a true pass through. We get that revenue, we cut it out to the charters and to those contracted schools, but not the fees. Terry, is that uh I got asked this question the other day by a constituent. They wanted to know how much that was costing the district for scholarship and I had no idea. So, is it around 50 million that
083we're losing in that? Well, it's not all of our We don't know how many of those students were our ours. Yeah. Were ours. The amount of the dollars was Yeah, over 50 million. Okay, but that doesn't mean we would have gotten it because we don't know how many of those students would have been homeschooled anyway. How many would went to privates anyway? Um or anything else that's affected by the scholarship. So we that I can't tell you. I just know that the scholarships make up maybe 50 million, but the state does have an offset to that. So we don't see the full amount. I can if we can bring the calculation next time we talk. Maybe even it. Yeah. Let's don't do that in December. [laughter] We'll do it next next year. Tom Tom, the
084the way they're trying to do it. Mhm. Uh at the state level is a mess. And what they because they're trying to track every student across the state of Florida. They like you said, it could be a Catholic, they could be a Pensacola Christian, they could be all across the state of Florida. And there's only one way you can do it and it's through social [music] security number. That student ID number is never going to work. You got to have one person issuing that that unique number and that's the US government. And you can always track and find who's committing fraud against the state of Florida government um through that social security [music] number. Same with companies. They all got that FBI in when I was at Deepass. We can go with operation we had
085and we catch them and uh that's the only way they're going to fix it. putting that. It's billions, isn't it? Is it billions they're putting out there across the state of Florida? It's a It's a lot of money, a lot of kids. And we got enough trouble tracking the 35,000 whatever we got here in this district without trying to track theirs. [music] I I agree with what you said, Mr. Adams. We we do need to they do need to look at that. It and it's really not a true pass through like you said, but you know, and as board members, when people ask us like someone, well, how much are y'all losing to scholarships? uh you know we probably need to know that we don't but we don't you know so uh and and I
086like what you said about earlier about uh that they need to do something down there to clarify this get it better and and at the state level they handle it yeah I when I talk to Keith I ask them what is our traditional count he knows I'm talking about our public schools that's what I want to know okay is everyone okay to keep going or do we need a break anybody need a We're good. Okay. No, let's keep going. Let's keep on [laughter] making. All right. You don't have to come back, Mr. Any. All right. Okay. Let's move. Moving on. Now, no committee and departmental reports review of the regular monthly uh uh meeting agenda. Moving now. Mr. Superintendent, are there any additions or deletions? and what? Yes. In section 20, consent finance item C,
087financial statements by funds been added. Uh section 24, consent finance [music] procurement item B has been deleted. And then under 43, items from the board, item A has been deleted. Thank you. Uh it is Mr. Harold's month to bring the invocation and pledge. Okay. Thank you, sir. Next we have the minutes for October. Any discussion on the minutes from October? Hearing none. We'll move on to items four, five, six, 7. Nothing under those items. So we move into the consent agenda. Are there any items to be discussed? Starting with curriculum 8 through 19. No, I know it. Okay. Slow months, huh? Just don't overwhelm us in December. Okay. Okay. Uh, next is finance items 20 through 24. Moving into human resources items 25 through 29. operations items 30 through 39 and the consent superintendent items
088uh 40- 42 and we don't have Anything for item 43? Item 44 is items from the superintendent. There are two items from the superintendent under item 44. Any comments on that? M superintendent. We good. Her team worked really really hard to compile all that and get everything together and these both items will reflect exactly what the directive was and now is absolutely [music] in board policy. So this is this is good work. Th us complying with what you've asked us [music] to comply with. Thank you. Moving into item number 45, internal auditing. Okay. Hearing none, we move into item 46, public form. This brings us to public forum, but we don't have any forms. Anything else for the common good? Hearing none, we are adjourned.