001e e e good good evening ladies and gentlemen welcome as I call to order the February 2025 meeting of the Scania County School Board whether you're joining us via our live stream or in the audience we appreciate your interest in the education of the students of escamia County the mission of esami County Public Schools is providing equal access to Quality public education that Embraces the uniqueness and potential of each student we are united in our mission at this time I ask that you silence your cell phones or electronic devices as a reminder there are two public for options there will be a public for for agenda items only which includes a consent agenda and student employee discipline at the beginning of the meeting and then a public form at the end of the meeting for
002any items pertaining to school district business or public education additionally if you are speaking to any of the items for public hearing you will be call to speak during the agenda during a public forum if you wish to speak at either of the forums you must complete a for located at the back table of the of the rear of the room and bringing forth to Miss Harris at the front table if you wish to speak at both forums you must fill out a form for both all speaker forms must be submitted prior to the start of the agenda public form this meeting was properly advertised in the Pensacola News Journal legal notice number 109 [Music] 55919 it is our tradition of the scami County School Board to begin each meeting with an invocation or motivational
003moment followed by the Pledge of Allegiance this month Mr Adams district 1 representative will lead us yeah I would like to invite Pastor Gary Porter to the uh Podium uh he's the pastor Encounter Church on 825 West 9mile Road Pino Florida 32534 all stand please and remain standing for the pledge let's pray Heavenly Father we come to you tonight we're Mindful and thankful that all government is on your shoulders and we're mindful too that we need your wisdom so I'm asking on behalf of all of those that rule and reign in this area of Education tonight for our County would you give them the wisdom that they need the guidance the clarity and the understand understanding necessary to make the decisions that bless each and every one of our students and each and every one
004that is in this County I thank you for everyone who Faithfully serves at every station within the school board and within all of the Departments we thank you for them we pray your protection over our students and over our schools and over our teachers and father we thank you for your goodness and Grace that rule and reign in the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all at this time we will move to the adoption of the agenda Mr superintendent are there any additions or deletions to your recommended agenda yes sir under Section 20 consent Finance item H has been added under section 24
005consent Finance procurement item DD has been added and item e has been added that's all for tonight sir thank you very much State statue of the school board rules require that changes made to the agenda after publication be based on a finding of good cause determined by the person designated to reside over the meeting and and stated in the records do I have a motion to adopt the agenda I'll move the agenda house second it's been moved in second any discussion please vote my P that Char passes 5 to zero chair thank you very much moving in the committee and Department's report special recognition Mr superintendent we will start with aamia County School District teacher of the year sir the Escambia County public schools has selected Kelly Reid as the 2026 ecps Teacher of the
006Year miss Reed please approach the podium with your family co-workers and Friends [Applause] we are pleased to recognize Miss Kelly Reid who has recently been named the esami County School District's 2026 Teacher of the Year miss Reed is a kindergarten teacher at Global Learning Academy and is dedicated to helping her students particularly those in exceptional student education reach their full potential she teaches a diverse group of students including those with with various physical and developmental challenges as well as those from low socioeconomic backgrounds upon entering her classroom one can observe her extensive experience with the SE students as it is filled with active engagement and a genuine sense of Joy among her students the learning gains Miss Reed has achieved in reading and math underscore exceptional ability to inspire and educate a diverse group of
007Learners she is not only well loved by our students and their families but she is also a valued member of the es team providing mentorship and guidance to aspiring teachers of students with disabilities Miss Reed's passion for her students and her commitment to helping them achieve their goals position her as the ideal representative of the scambia county and the State of Florida as the 2026 Teacher of the Year miss Reed's contributions to es scambi County Public Schools exemplify the dedication adaptability and innovation necessary for the preparation of our students successful and meaningful Futures she is truly an invaluable asset to her students her school and The Wider Community hold on Miss Reed will you now move on to represent the scambi County public schools in the teacher of the year competition would be my honor
008thank you so much man please come greet the board e thank you guys for this honor um I really do appreciate it um I am a product of as Gambia County schools and I am very proud to have been a graduate of scambia high school um this is comes full circle for me like I was inspired by my teachers here and I'm blessed and honored every day to get to touch the lives of the students that have been trusted in my classroom um I am humbled and honored and blessed and just overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support that have come with this um and I am really looking forward to representing this great County at the state level so thank you guys so much thank you Miss re so next we'll recognize the
009Stellar Employee of the Month the scambi County Public Schools office of community involvement is proud to recognize Miss Jackie bar as the Stellar employee for the month of February 2025 Miss bar please come forward with your co-workers families and friends very proud of you Jackie bar serves as the principal secretary at Tate High School in her role she consistently demonstrates the qualities of an exemplary employe making her an essential member of the Tate High School Community Miss bar is widely recognized for her kindness patience and standfast professionalism she engages with students staff and parents with a friendly demeanor and authentic War warmth regardless of the day's demands she remains calm and composed ensuring that every task is complete completed efficiently and effectively her remarkable ability to manage multiple responsibilities is commendable she frequently exceeds her
010role by supporting various areas of the office whether it involves stepping in for the front office during the absence of the school secretary or providing assistance in the finance office when a school Finance specialist is unavailable Miss bar takes ownership of her responsibilities and Exhibits except exceptional initiative always ready to assist wherever needed her dedication adaptability and attention to detail contribute significantly to the smooth operation of the office she Fosters an environment where everyone feels supported and her contributions are greatly appreciated I'm just going to add one little bitty thing in there that's off the cuff a school's the principal secretary you run the school you know that right Jackie bar is Stellar because of her excellent work ethic and dedication to the staff and students throughout the esami county school district she contributes to
011the healthy culture that supports High performing teachers leaders and staff it is for these reasons and so many others that she has been selected as our Stellar employee for the month of February 2025 Miss bar will receive a plaque a pen and a check for $100 from Member First Credit Union please come greet the board congratulations e thank you superintendent Mr Leonard and the board I really truly appreciate this honor of being named as scambia County Public School Stellar employee of the month I would also like to thank principle Mrs touchone and assistant principal Mrs White for their affirmation nomination nominating me excuse me for the award thank you assistant principes Mr Corson and Mr lovelyy for their Contin support as well as appreciation for my prior principal Dr vau giving back to the community
012is very important to me at Tate we are a strong family and have a strong ESP staff allows our teachers and admin to help to students succeed in academics as we all know working for the school district we work Beyond scheduled hours for me that's working on Kronos so thank you to my husband for for his patience and one last comment P employees please submit your time sheets on Friday thank you thank you ma'am okay um next we're very proud to present um some students from Fairy past Elementary School Luc Lucy griza and Milo Webster and Lillian coats they'll be performing for us um a rendition on rights and responsibilities from General Daniel chappie James Jr tonight right here with us is their teacher Mr Mark gby and they have the exhibit and they will
013share some facts about their research hey Laur do we have the you got it we participated in the scambia county History Fair Escambia is one of the very few counties that allow elementary students to participate this year's theme was rights and responsibilities we chose General Daniel chabby James as our topic we wrote a 430w process paper detailing how we researched designed and constructed our exhibit General James was a tusky Airman who trained pilots during World War II he was a combat pilot in Korea flying 101 combat missions he also flew 78 combat missions in Vietnam during this during his career General James commanded training in combat squadrons flight wings and military bases he graduated from Air Command and Staff College was awarded the man of the year for community service in Massachusetts and Florida Florida's
014outstanding American of the Year among 20 various Awards as well as four honory doctor rate degrees he was also Pro promoted to fourstar General and Commander of NORAD the first African-American fourstar general in the United States military General James fought his for his rights and let his action speaks for him when it was his time to speak he did it eloquently and with purpose letting his audience know who he was what he stood for and how fulfilled his responsibilities as an American students please come greet the board along with your teacher Mr Mark gby very very proud of each and every one of you [Applause] t [Applause] it's on me okay thank you superintendent Lenard really appreciate it um since I've been on the board I've been given the opportunity to during Black History Month
015to honor um some outstanding Educators in esamia County but before I do that I'd like to read the history of how we come about of having uh Black History Month Dr Carter G Woodson a remarkable figure born of formerly enslaved people established many studies of the Negro life and history his work which began in the cold mins of Kentucky and led him to graduate from high school at the age of 20 and earning a PhD from Harvard it's a testament to his dedication in 1916 Dr Woodson found founded and the influential Journal of negro history a decade later in 1926 he initiated negro history week choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the Black American population Fred Douglas and Abraham Lincoln so in honor of
016black hiy m as I said superintendent lonard a allowed me to pay tribute to a few Educators from the scami County School System who are pioneers we will present the exem Dr Vernon McDaniel and Dr donadelle Spence award both pictures on the wall to my left named after the first and second African-Americans elected to the scami County School Board to these very deserving individuals I'd like to have say a special thanks to Malia Adams and HR department for pro well excuse me provide me with the information of these honores couple of them could not be here tonight but I'd like to read their bio one is watching by way of um the the internet Dr Wendy Bennett 35 years of service the scaming count school system from 1991 to 2009 Mr Raymond Simmons 30 years
017of service to the schemy County School System Miss Marie young 37 young 37 years of service to the scaman County School System and also Mr horris Jones 38 years of service to the scaman County School System they were unable to make it tonight I might the first honory many of these have have been meant so much to me and I wouldn't be standing here today without them the first honory 40 I believe was 42 years of service Miss Sandra Rush Miss Sandra Rush will you come up please come on to the podium come to the podium come to you got to talk you got to say something I'm going read your bio Miss Rush was an elementary uh teacher at Hallmark taught at uh was a teacher at Beville midle uh was a teacher on
018special assignment of Dropout vention that's where I met him back in 1986 when I was a teacher teaching Dropout prevention at Pensacola High School sister PR at BW PR Brownsville midle PR at marclay elementary principal at Warrington Middle and that's why she retired I present to you Miss Sandra Rush thank [Applause] you it is so nice to be recognized and that you're not dead yet you know so thank you I appreciate that first of all I want to just thank David for being recognizing me tonight I still see quite a few people that I work with all of us have gotten older though oh God but anyway uh I enjoyed my years with the scam County School District I started off as a uh teacher at belby middle school then like you said I went
019on and got into the principal ship and as a result of that I met so many wonderful people I couldn't have gotten where I am or was at that time without without the wonderful staff that I had the outstanding parents teachers and I always remember something my mother told me when I was a little girl coming up she said always treat people the way you want to be treated and that's where I try to live my life as a principal so thank you for the honor I really appreciate it okay okay I be [Applause] next we have Dr Maran Torrance Dr Maran torren please come on [Applause] down 28 years of service to scam County school is that correct 28 how many years 4 how many 44 and a 41 okay we missed a few
020there she's a teacher at dexon Dixon Elementary English teacher at begs education community school coordinator at penol High School uh educational resource teacher at George Stone technical school coordinator of Recruitment and human uh Human Resource Services and that's where she retired if I'm not mistaken I'll present to you Dr Marian Torrance good evening my ex boss say talk quick thank you very much the teach is the love forever to work with children and families in the community is always in my heart and I'm thankful for the journey I had between the SC County Alabama and the ski County Florida and I love doing what I can to help make the difference in all kids and they can do thank you thank you very much thanks have a young man I met when I was a
021student at Brownsville Middle School uh he was the dean of students there and we thought he was the coolest cuz he had pork shop um sideburns uh and then when when I went to Pensacola high school he had had those same sideburns there as well as Mr Jerome Watson 35 years of [Applause] service Mr Watson was a history teacher at Ransom a dean of students at Brownsville Junior High Assistant PRP Pensacola High School PRP Wedgewood Middle PRP Fair pass midle area superintendent of Education Special Assistant to community service deputy superintendent director of Transportation 30 35 years 39 39 39 years of service his C County School assistant Mr Jerome Watson thank you David and uh superintendent the the last time I was here uh it was an overflow of individuals people here and they wanted
022to know what we we going to do about the bomb threats do you all remember that but it is a privilege and a pleasure to be here to accept this uh I enjoyed doing what I was doing certainly we didn't work at a factory where we manufacture automobiles or Tech but we worked with the lives of individuals that we knew was going to be the future of of our nation and I really feel that uh the educational system that we have here in Pensacola is above of any that we have in the nation when I go into battle I want my wife with me and my pastor so I brought them tonight and thank you again enjoyed it yes and the last person is near and dear to my heart I met him when I
023was 15 years old when he was trying to recruit me to go to scam High School to play basketball uh and I didn't know at that time that you can get nine young men into a Volkswagen but he was able to do [Music] that none other than our very own Mr Norm Ross 47 years of service [Applause] Mr Ross was a history teacher basketball coach at esamia administrative Dean basketball coach at esamia assistant principal at Paca High School PR P High School Deputy superintendent of schools and that's where he retired Mr Norm [Applause] Ross first of all superintendent chairman Williams you never give the microphone to a guy with superintendent in his job [Music] description this is very very special time especially with individuals that you introduced prior it is amazing the talent been through
024this District I would be remiss if I didn't share with you one of my favorite sayings which is very appropriate for what you do each and every day life without purpose is Barren indeed you can't have a harvest unless you plant seeds that's what you do it's also special because I've worked with every individual on that platform I love you thank you for this very very cherished honor I wish I had good news on my golf game but I do not but thank you so much I'm very proud of you I pray for you each and every day because what you do is a mark for our community educating God's most most precious gift children so thank you very much for this honor sure and uh my wife is with me tonight Who's uh a
025retiree of the Escambia County School District and as the one lady at the church said uh one Sunday you don't see one without the other so uh Carla who's a retired teacher and a for former teacher of the year for the Escambia County School District of 37 years there's a lot of people that talk about his basketball coaching but I was on his football team that won in the city Championship wasn't I yeah and scam you okay where we at where we at we have a couple more got Community Partnership yes sir okay if you're good all right um like for Miss Leah Harrison Lisa Smith Coleman and Dr Thomas to come to the podium please team members from the Y school that would but I wanted to make sure we had those this is
026a proclamation I want to make certain that we recognize really really Stell people in programs that occur at one of these schools in our school district whereas the Community Partnership School model uses a multiple core partner approach to help close the achievement gap for students and families to succeed in school and Life by committing to a long-term partnership with the school district a university partner a health care provider and a nonprofit and whereas Cy elementary school has exemplified the core pillars of a Community Partnership School including expanded learning opportunities access to vital Wellness supports family and community Community engagement and collaborative leadership thus ensuring the holistic development and success of every child and whereas Cy elementary school has recently been honored with earning the award of Community Partnership School of the year across the entire
027State of Florida a distinct honor that represents years of work focused on Student Success and wellbeing and whereas the Community Partnership School model aligned seamlessly with the Escambia County School scho District's core values addressing the social emotional mental physical and financial needs of students so they are ready to embrace the academic opportunities before them and whereas the scambia County Community Partnership school's core Partners including the scambi county school district in partnership with the Children's Home Society of Florida Community Health Northwest Florida the University of West Florida and other key Community organizations who aim to address educational and social challeng Alles and are committed to the collective Vision shared decision making and leverage support of the model and whereas Children's Home Society of Florida a proud partner in the community partnership school model celebrates 100 in
02822 years of tireless advocacy service and Innovation standing as a pillar of strength and support for countless Children and Families throughout Florida's communities and now therefore be it resolved that we the members of the esami County School Board proudly recognized Cy Elementary School Community Partnership school for their remarkable achievements and the transformative impact they continue to make and we extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the partners and to the cawi elementary school Community Partnership School of the year in 2024 be it further resolved that a copy of this Proclamation be spread upon the min of the regular meeting of said board and that a copy be tendered to Dr Kimberly Thomas principal Cy Elementary School and Miss Lisa Smith Coleman Community Partnership School director Children's Home Society adopted this 18th day of February 20125 if
029you ladies will come greet the board then we'll let you say whatever you want to say the resolution it's a proclamation Proclamation oh okay kind of good a second can I get a second second has been moving in past okay we we're good all in favor all in favor okay that's okay yeah good evening to superintendent Thomas Deputy superintendent Payne to the board members to all the other assistant superintendents and to everyone that's in the audience first I would like for all of the Cy's family and friends to please stand [Applause] this award could not be possible without the support of the faculty and staff students teachers the community and just everyone that makes this partnership work it um I would be remiss if I did not give reference to the leadership before me that
030paved the way to start this process of the community school it was indeed that Foundation that was laid for us to allow us to get to this point and so I would really like to give that um that honor to the to leadership that was before us but we thank you all for this honor we are so excited to be recognized by the state of Florida Lisa and I presented about our school about a week ago in Orlando and it was well received with over 50 participants in our session so we're excited and Lisa you say something thank you everyone we have one more that Miss Payne will read for us whereas the first Navy volunteer program was established between the Naval Air Station Pensacola and the school district of esami County Florida in 1983
031and whereas over 20 military commands have established Partnerships with local schools in the school district of escamia County Florida and whereas the men and women who served in the armed forces provide countless hours of vol service each year to students and teachers and whereas the dedicated military personnel serving at Naval Air Station Pensacola and Corey field Technical Training Center are consistently involved in actively engaging with community outreach programs in collaboration with the school district of Escambia County and whereas military volunteers serve as youth motivator mentors and are matched one-on-one with students and spend one hour a week at the schools and whereas military men and women who volunteer in our schools are an integral part of the education of our students now therefore be it resolved that the members of the school board of Escambia
032County Florida by this resolution recognize and Proclaim Thursday February 27th 2025 as military recognition day be it further resolved that a copy of this Proclamation be spread upon the minutes of the regular meeting of said board and that a copy be tendered to the Pensacola Council Navy League of the United States adopted this 18th day of February 2025 do I have a motion to adopt the proclamation they moved I'll second moved and second any discussion please vote passes 5 to zero and I will present the proclamation at the celebration I believe it's a week and a half from today um on behalf of you as a school board so thank you very much thank you this brings us to the um the agenda public forum all fors must be submitted at this time the purpose
033of the public of the agenda public forum is to allow members of the public to address the Schoolboard regarding any item on tonight's agenda including items for public hearing speakers must adhere to the guidelines outlining the policy and posted on the agenda you are expected to be respectful and your address to the board you also asked to use titles and not individual names personal attacks against Schoolboard members superintendent staff and employees will not be tolerated please direct your comments to the chair personal attacks against other speakers and outbursts during another speaker's time will also not be tolerated if you fail to follow these guidelines you will be warned by the chair and subject to removal if violations contined each speaker will be allotted three minutes Miss Odin will serve as a parliamentarian Miss buzwell is
034the timekeeping will start the time with your opening remarks the buzzer will sound when your time has elapsed when the time is sound please bring your comments to a close the first speaker is Miss Celestine Lewis you have three minutes superintendent chairman Williams and board members thank you for the opportunity to address the board regarding the John a Gibson property on C Street I attended John a Gibson school in the elementary days this property is especially important to me I lived at 876 North SE Street the house is still there I walk to school every day during recess mama would come to the fence and bring me one hot dog and sometimes two hot dogs I am the funding member of the jhpa that led the charge since its Inception and now we need to
035relocate from 8190 Pensacola Boulevard because of Let Me Tell You Why $116,000 monthly mortgage High electric bill we're not using the 40,000 square fet we only using half of it we would like to purchase the John a Gibson school for our new home this will be a returning back to my old school and neighborhood thank you and please consider this request thank you Miss Lewis next we have miss Patricia Dixon you have three minutes Mr chair Mr superintendent and board I'm Patricia Dixon and I concur speaking on behalf of the need for jacquel Harris preparator Academy to downsize um due to the lack of funding that we have for our operating budget for jacn Harris Preparatory Academy we are in dire need of downsizing our school and moving to a smaller facility that we can
036manage based on the finances that we receive thank you thank you next we have Mr Herman Grace you have six minutes and who donated the time to yes sir he did donate the time to me okay John a Gibson is dear to my heart I went to LA curtsy on Jackson Street and Miss leis one moment please um what does the Forum say it says uh this say six minutes at the top Herman Herman Grace where's Herman Grace can you raise okay he's giving me his time okay so she gets she gets three additional three additional minutes okay thank you Miss okay all right I just would like to say this is very dear to me and we are having a difficult time as Mrs Dixon said with our budget and we would like for
037you to consider this thank you so much again sorry about the confusion uh Mr Neil McDonald you have three minutes okay all all agenda items are addressed now if you wish to speak to an agenda item now is the time to do it good evening uh school board members and superintendent leard appreciate you uh inviting me to come up here tonight and I would like to this is kind of a unique thing I would like to see the scambi county move back to an elected superintendent as opposed to an appointed one and in 2018 if you all remember we were encouraged here in Escambia County to switch from an elected superintendent to an appointed one because the new system would allow Schoolboard members to search Nationwide for the most qualified candidates on the surface that
038sounds reasonable but a resume with a list of qualifications doesn't necessarily reflect the person's values as most of us know our first El SE selected superintendent came from out of town he did not know our people and he certainly did not know or share our values so in less than three years he was terminated and no longer our superintendent ironically the average time that an appointed superintendent remains in that position is just three years only three years and it's back to the drawing board again starting over with the long expensive process of finding new candidates doing interiew interviews Etc and that's not the only expense the district must still pay out the remainder of the terminated superintendent's contract I think it's interesting that the bulk of the counties in Florida that have appointed superintendents are
039in South Florida or the very large metropolitan areas where they are known for their liberal views and voting history I live really close to Tate high school and three of my kids graduated from there the other ones went P forest and West Florida but our views are very conservative and I trust that the voters in Escambia County will make the correct decision on who the superintendent will be we have a fantastic superintendent in place right now with with Mr Leonard and I believe that in addition to him having the outstanding values he knows the needs of our district and understands our District's personnel and has been able to place the right people in the right positions I believe that time has proven that elected superintendents are more successful and long lasting than appointed ones thank
040you Mr Rich hosick three minutes good evening and thank you um I I'd like to speak on the same subject the only way we will ever have a woke Progressive superintendent here in Escambia county is if he is appointed I say again the only way we're going to get a woke Progressive superintendent is if he is appointed um citing uh the the the short tenure of Tim Smith as a c a case in point it is possible for a candidate to have a credentialed resume and not be ideologically aligned with the constituents here in Escambia County and uh as Neil just pointed out um often for political reasons these appointed superintendents tend to serve out shorter terms uh elected superintendant who perform well can tap into the perks of incumbency and serve for many years
041though we're fortunate to have a strong conservative school board right now this could very well change in the years ahead uh we have several members of the board who will be soon term limited out and moving on you know after the next election when it comes to our children the position of school superintendent is arguably the most important in our local community and you can take that up with chip Simmons but I I I give the nod to you um the annual budget uh which is rapidly approaching a billion dollars a year makes you all five of you and uh your successors Downstream the potential Target of special interest groups developers lobbyist big downtown money I'd rather TR trust the generally clear thinking um 60 to 70,000 voters in Escambia County to make that pick
042than to leave it in the hands of yet to be determined um school board members just three of them just three of them uh who will almost certainly come under pressure from local prominence to compromise their loyalties here in the State of Florida 38 of 67 counties now directly elect their superintendent I personally find it to be a very weak argument that the nation is moving toward appointed superintendent we don't want to be like the rest of the nation we do things better here in the State of Florida and here in Escambia County do we do them better than in other parts of the state I thorough I I strongly encourage all of you current members uh to to put the selection of the superintendent back into the hands of the voters here in Escambia
043County uh if all continues to go well Sir Mr superintendent this may even work in your favor because you could continue to serve after your U mandatory retirement thank you m NE next we have Mr skip Butler you have three minutes thank you Mr chairman board members although I don't know all of you personally I think it's safe to assume that each of you are confident individuals not you wouldn't have saw the office and wouldn't be sitting in the seat you thought you were the best person for the job turns out your constituents agreed with you um so I must deduce that you feel the voters got it right I'm encouraging you to give the citizens of Escambia County the opportunity to get it right uh now first of all let me say is I
044stand Here supporting an elected superintendent it by no means any indic ation of any disappointment in our current superintendent in fact I strongly suggest he's the guy for the job and I look forward to supporting him and hopefully seeing him elected to the position you can weigh the pros and cons of appointed versus elected uh superintendent um I'd encourage you to consider if you are commissioned to hire the next superintendent you'll be pressed to se third party a third party to assist in uh trying to attract supposedly the most qualified individuals from across the country we could uh debate as to what those qualifications could be or should be um but the citizens of Escambia County are not interested in hiring somebody from up north or out west that doesn't know the district doesn't understand
045the district um and it wants to come here and duplicate what they've done in other areas we've seen how that works as opposed to us having the opportunity to elect someone that's invested in this community knows and understands the district and values a scambia county um that it's more than just a job for them have the best interest of this District whether they were sitting in that seat or not it's a big difference voters displayed trust in you I'm encouraging you to trust the voters and support returning this back to an elected superintendent thank you next we have Fred Gunther three minutes superintendent board members my name is Fred Gunther I'm with Gunther properties uh I've been working with Miss Lewis and jacn Harris Preparatory Academy uh for a while now um uh helping them
046with their need to downsize and finding alternative location um we just uh found out about the city's request to uh reduce the price of the former Gibson school property uh to $260,000 that's on your agenda this evening um the schools where the building's flooded you know contains mold and has a lot of problems um regardless it is willing to pay um you know $275,000 for the property uh has submitted a cash offer uh with no contingencies whatsoever with a you know a $50,000 deposit uh as good faith closing in 3 weeks um so uh anyway that uh that's a background there if you haven't seen the offer um I have it be glad to give you a copy of it if you need it and uh that's it thank you for your time kimbery Garmin
047you have three minutes attendant Leonard and board members I am an ESC pre- teacher in Escambia County I know we all want our ESC students to be successful and make learning gains during the school year I want to address two staffing issues that are impacting esc's students ability to make learning gains a few years ago the district disbanded our specialized units for students with autism and behavioral issues and went to multi-grade ve units when these changes were announced we were told multi-grade units would be capped at 12 with two esps when I specifically asked if we were told that the V prek units would also be capped at 12 and we would received two esps when we got to 12 I have the names of 11 people who were told this one who was a
048parent who was told her child had to be on a wait list because we were full at 12 now there are are many pre units with more than 12 students the ASD units that were disbanded had two asps and the behavioral units had at least two esps if not more the three VPK ve units at my school reached 12 before Christmas break but we were not given another ESP for each unit we do have one ESP floater who rotates between the three rooms to cover brakes one of the prek classes has just been allotted a second ESP because one of our students is so aggressive we are we are headed into the end of the year progression paperwork I have 11 students progressing that must have bance testing s exit cosos and transition IEPs it
049is impossible to do all of this during my contract hours with just one es I will put in many hours more than the time I already put in outside my contract hours to accomplish this in addition we are told we need to place any student who will not be in access points into gen kindergarten but we do not supply what they need to be successful in that environment our kindergarten classes started the year with 20 students and now have 24 to 25 students they receive some pushin ESC services but do not have full-time support frequently my students with extra needs are overwhelmed when placed in a class with this many students so they become disregulated and disruptive it is impossible for one teacher to adequately serve 20 to 25 students that include disregulated disruptive students
050we are doing a disservice to both the gened students and the ESC students when we fail to provide enough staff so they have the support the students required to learn the foundational skills they will need to be successful I am asking for more teachers and staff to support our students [Applause] next on the agenda is the approval of the minutes item a December 12th regular board meeting so moved I'll second so moved in second any discussion seeing none please vote 5 Z Item B December 17th regular board meeting I'll move the minutes second thank you is been moved in second any discussion no discussion please vote approved 5 to zero item C January 16th regular meeting I move that we approve the minutes for January the 16th now second any discussion please vote approve 5
051to zero item D January 31st special meeting I'll move the minutes second thank you any discussion please vote approve 5 to zero thank you we do not have any unfinish minutes on administrative appointments on proposed additions um items for public hearing we have one item for public hearing item a amendment to school board policy 2522 can I get a motion so moved I'll second thank you any discussion please vote approve 5 to zero this brings us to the consent agenda is there a motion to approve the consent agenda no moved now second are there any items to be pulled yes sir I'd like to pull item 30 C that right one 1 e no 30C can't find it now it was the item with the the building yeah that's item 31 31 31e 31 e
052and okay 31 e my glasses can we get a motion to um for a consent agenda minus item 318 we need Miss do we have to I I requested report item 31e we customarily what we do is the board will indicate what items they want to pull from the consent agenda there will be a vote on the entire consent agenda less those items and then the individual items which have been pulled will be voted on so we voted on the entire agenda L 31e at this point yes okay going I get a motion remove okay we need a second okay it's already done oh okay okay we're having those moments so we can vote approv 5 to zero now we have discussion on item the pulled item item 31e Miss beros yes I would just
053like to ask the assistant superintendent to give us some clarification on this building process and the the uh issue with the contract that was Mr Williams I'm sorry I don't mean to interrupt but there needs to be a motion in a second before discussion is had okay I'm sorry that's quite all right I make a motion to approve 31e I'll second any discussion okay now that's my turn like H some clarification from Mr jnis regarding the contract of this item uh thank you for for the opportunity the school board on September 17th of 2024 after a lengthy property offering period accepted and entered into a contract with the City of Pensacola for the purchase of the John L Gibson property that property is currently under contract having followed all the procedures uh as a part
054of that contract provision there's a due diligence period allowing the purchaser to survey the property and do what's necessary to conduct studies in order to address any concerns and in some cases discover any deficiencies or any problems that may cause a problem to the buyer not the seller our selling process is and Asis where is situation in that process the city um undertook a substantial well first of all they committed substantial funds and undertook an aggressive study of the building to see if it could be saved their intention is and still is to preserve that building in the betterment of the community commun at the request of the community and for all the appropriate reasons that study revealed substantial amounts of contribution costs that would take to preserve that building and the city is still
055willing to do so we're pretty proud of the relationship that we fostered with the city uh we've come to a mutual agreement that they will bear the cost of preserving the building that has value towards the cost of the purchase the number you have before you is essentially the value of the property not sitting up underneath the building and anything buildable beyond that point which is fair market value using our appraisals that you had as a part of the process when we've gone through purchasing so the long and short of it is still under contract Fair negotiation and what you're voting on tonight is the culmination of that with the expectation that once this is done we will move immediately to closing and the transition of the property to the city will take place can
056you tell me a little bit about the contract if we decide to wait on this contract is there any issues with that or the contract has a stipulated due diligence period we are under that contract so moving beyond that would would constitute a violation of the contract and render no violation okay thank you sir and Mr Den just one question I know that Jacqueline Harris is very interested in that property um and the city is under contract with that is and I guess this would be a question for the city could Jacqueline Harris work with the city to possibly part partner with the city I certainly don't want to speak on behalf of the city but I do know their their intention is to preserve the building and the ultimate intended use to my understanding
057has not been fully defined yet so there's possibly some opportunities there okay and in in keeping with the spirit of working with our our Charter schools the district has a commitment to try and help as well so we'll keep an a watchful eye out for properties but it will be an economic challenge to work with that building so yeah and so tonight we're voted on the the amended contract that's correct sir the only all all other provisions of the contract are still in full force and effect other than the alteration of the price to adjust for the uh restoration of the building Mr chair yes sir yes um and that's what I was going to bring up as well whether they could Jacqueline if you can work with the city to see unless the city
058bails out of this contract for some reason I guess they could still step out if they didn't carry through it but if not try to work through that and as Mr Dennis said if he can locate other properties Su suitable to help you out on expense Mr superintendent did you have something no sir I was that's why I turned my light off okay I think that um yes Mr Pesco I I kind of concur with my fellow board members that I'd like to see something happen uh to give Miss Lewis some assistance I do not believe that this building is one that is a good building um there's there's so many problems with it that uh the cost to get it up and running and other issues with it i' I'd rather see if there's
059some other properties that we might know of or might be available or that that we can assist somehow to to do some things um you know to to Advocate because uh Jacqueline Harris has been a good Charter and Miss Lewis has worked well with the district and uh we do support them continuing somewhere I I understand that I have a question about properties but I'll wait until after this meeting to to talk to Miss Lewis because well now I'll just ask it um when jacqulyn Harris Preparatory Academy opened it opened at the old MC Reynolds building so I didn't know that they why they moved out of that place or that still available to the school but I'll talk with Miss Lewis at some other point but thank you is OD want to be out
060of audit for Miss Lewis to speak at this point the board is free to invite people and while you're having discussions on the side of if you would like to Mr Lewis would you like to say [Music] anything three minutes our building is up for sale uh and I don't know I know I have built four houses but when you say due diligence could you come up and just explore to me with it I know I have been retired 30 years have been running jacqulyn Harris for 24 years and this coming school year will be 25 Johnny Gibson is a school I attendant we would like to use develop that building keep it the structure there I would like for it to be the home of jacqulyn Harris Preparatory Academy I think the citizens of
061a Pensacola would like to see that happen I saw our chairman back in the back I can't believe that whatever negotiation that you have entered that you this board would deny us the opportunity to continue because where we are now we cannot make it and the chairman of our board have signed a l of intent to renovate that property to have it a school for children I shareed each one of you I gave you John Gibson way back in the day now we are African-American but it was for colored children and I was a little colored girl there at 876 North SE Street and you mean to tell me today that we cannot if you own the building you can say that we go there uh we we'll pay you whatever you ask for it
062we have been looking for property and a lot of you I've spoken to this is dear to my heart and I think it would be dear to this community heart I don't know what the city plan to do with it but it needs to be there for children la cursor was closed every school that has been in the African-American community and I don't I'm not talking race I'm talking about a fact here today I paid my taxes I've worked hard and I may now to have been in an operation and want to go back to see Street I think you need to give me that opportunity with all fairness I just wanted to add you're under contract with them um they're asking you to reduce the price there's no contract violation if you don't approve
063the price reduction uh you can choose to Simply keep the price at 700 which they currently have it under contract for they can decide whether or not they want to move 100 move forward at the price of 700 and if they don't want to then they can terminate the contract but there's no V viation for you not to approve this amendment this evening excuse me let me say something I've been in penc Co I want to set up and tell you my age cuz maybe you wouldn't want to believe it but I've seen how Deal's done I don't want to call this out but if there are some hidden agendas let it be known because I would like for that to be the home of Jaclyn Harris Preparatory Academy I rest my case Miss Miss
064Lewis we thank you so much for coming up to us and we we share your passion we and we appreciate and respect your passion we want to make sure that because we know this building is is very old and has a lot of issues H with hurricanes and a lot of damage and not just I know but we care about the money this go if you give it to me I get it if you not give it to me if you let us pay for it we are h of a school there thank you so much thank anybody else any more discussion we have the contract we have everything going through with the city have you seen Mr Dennis anything from Jacqueline Harris is stuff come across and who then is purchasing that property our
065realy representative is in receipt of a letter from Mr Gunther and a contra contct which represents a state variation of a contract not the contract that we would generally engage in um but again we're not accepting offers that and to be perfectly clear every agency in every potential buyer in this community had an opportunity to provide offers for this property and we accepted after we did due diligence and had our time out there publicly advertised we accepted the best offer at that time there was no offer tendered by this group or any other group for that property during that period and we have negotiated in good faith and fairness with the City of Pensacola I I would like to ask one more if if it's possible I guess anything's possible correct parliamentarian uh if the
066chair wills it okay uh Miss lose you said the chairman of your board is here all right Mr Alexander Captain Alexander would you come forward I I I have one question is in terms of um a contract that you would develop that property would be being purchased by who Creative Learning LLC and that is the that is the name for the board yes okay so the board from Jacqueline Harris is purchasing the property no individual no okay thank you Mr chair I got another question while you there because I work for nafac we we redid a lot of buildings on these Naval bases old buildings that's a whole lot of cost in that building to go in there and gut the whole inside of it out and rebuild those that facility back up you leave
067the brick veneer but you know the Navy's done a lot of these stor buildings and we weren't doing it to stay in business it was just to save those historic buildings is there do you got any idea what that might cost you if you decid to try to go in that building I mean do y'all have an estimate or how much we don't have an estimate but we do okay cuz I it's an extensive venue but even the city says that as well yeah but we're looking at the education opportunity of our students well I understand that but it takes money to do that and I I have been with these building bases and it's it's up there on the mount copper wiring cost a lot just for electrical wires right now but uh and
068and that's that's what I'd be curious if even if the board decided to go this way to give time to see if you you guys can come up with the estimated funds but it's going to be way more than what it is out there on that 29 that you got going on we just asking put opportunity yeah any more discussion to prend your like some you have nothing I'm just waiting okay please vote yeah Mr chair point of clarification what are we actually voting we're voting on the amendment agreement the amendment contract is that correct Miss OD we vot on motion is to approve the amendment to the sales agreement so we've had a uh so we've had the discussion and now we're at the point to vote on this okay and and a vote
069means that if you vote Yes for this it means we approve what they're some somewhere in that uh Circle a while ago with all the discussion I I lost track of what what we were actually voting on M odm could you clarify for us if if it does not pay us what what does that mean then the adjusted price that we've agreed to with the city does not go through so we're vote we're really voting on The adjusted price yes I would defer to Mr our outside Real Estate Council handles this for me um so I'm not comfortable weighing in on the spot on all of the implications Mr Dennis has been in regular contact with our real estate attorney on this matter so he may have some additional insights so Mr chair yes sir
070if if we decide to give it some time to just see if they do have an estimate or if the city would work with them I mean we could bring them back next month if we need to is it time certain is that a t that is that a table I'll postpone it neither if if you want to bring it back for conversation at a later date I because if you table it and it's not taken from the table at the next session then it dies okay and everything just nothing gets done one way or the other okay um and I understand that we are going to have one possibly two board members absent from next month's meeting MH um so it would be my suggestion that if we do want to take this up
071at a later date that um and I I like that ask Mr Dennis what does that do to the contract is there a time that we have to Mr Dennis before you talk I'd like give me just a few seconds all right the dilemma I think that you need to also consider is what you've basically already told the city you wanted to do now we have perhaps perhaps I don't know what will occur um we'd have to go back to the city and say hold on we didn't really mean what we said um and I don't know how they will react to that Miss Lewis has known me longer than in this anybody in this room except for one person all right the one thing I've always done with her and she has always done
072with me is told me exactly what she was thinking and or I've told her exactly what I was thinking we were we were friends before we'll be friends after because that's way we that's just how we are um I'm not real sure how I will how you will I guess you would ask me to be able to convey to the city what your intentions are after tonight because you'll either pass this and we'll move on like we had planned to or you will not so I'll need to know how you want me as your leader to convey that to our city partners and now Mr Dennis if you need to clarify anything for any of our school board members please do yes Mr chair um Mr Dennis a vote of yes tonight agreeing to the
073the change sale price would automatically then go on to the U automatic closing and and finalize it it will then go to the city period correct any more discussion nothing left to do but vote passage 3-2 okay thank you this brings us to um item number 43 items from the board uh resolution to elect superintendent referendum yes thank you Mr chair uh at this time I would like to make a motion to uh approve the resolution uh that the board uh looked at last month uh with the language that's in it uh hoping we'll we'll get a second and we can move forward with this so I make that motion at this time for the resolution for uh uh return to a elected superintendent I'll second that motion my question and then it will go
074to the 26 election for the resolution to be on there and then if 28 it will go 28 for the action the referendum question will be presented to the voters in the um 2026 election cycle and then the superintendent um if if it is successful then the next election for superintendent will be in 2028 28 yes um what I wanted to say about this was that uh this is I brought this to the board and the reason I brought it to the board is the overwhelming majority of the community has asked me to do this and what we're asking is not to automatically go because we can't the statute uh rules against that what we have to do is pass a resolution then it has to go to the uh uh County Commission and they
075get with Mr bender and they place it on the ballot at that time when I was campaigning this whole this whole Community seemed to be focused on this it started when I was collecting petition cards and everywhere I went that was the number one issue isue on people's minds with uh elected superintendent they had a they had a not so good feeling about what had happened to us before uh with this Mission what this is about is nothing to do with this wonderful superintendent we have next to us as he said last time during the workshop that he was uh uh that I was his teacher I've known him since he was a young man and he is doing an outstanding job for this District but as a leader most leaders lead from the middle
076and then there are those items on the perimeter that really make a difference in the life and quality of a community ladies and gentlemen of this board that this is one of those issues I have never I've been in this uh district for 50 60 years and I have never seen an issue that's more prevalent than this out in the community when you look at social media now is running about 75 to 77% in favor of an elected super intendent when you say that you want to do an appointed superintendent so many of these when they talk about the large numbers so many of these districts are one school districts or they have a K8 school and then a high school or they have a a Middle School uh elementary middle and high school but
077the bottom line is our community is different our state is a little different 57% 57% of the school districts in this state are elect Ed a recent the legislature forced more or less forced one school district to change back in South Florida that now has an elected superintendent because the overwhelming majority of the community wanted it and the board wouldn't vote for it uh there's another school district within this is this is happening all over the state there's another school district that's having uh board workshops to discuss this item right now here in Northwest Florida because their superintendent is retiring ladies and gentlemen we have to look to the Future and we also have to listen very attentively to what our community is saying to us we live and work and breathe in this community
078the the majority of this community is very conservative most of the people who seek an appointed superintendent as some of our speakers pointed out most of these individuals uh uh have ideology that just doesn't match up with this wonderful Community we live in as we witnessed uh right now we have three districts in uh in the five districts that are overwhelmingly conservative we have one that's 50/50 and one that's about 30 but when you look at the overall scope of our district we're a conservative community and our people are telling us something here so I encourage you to vote for this uh because this is something that people want this the people are are really really wanting this so let's give them what they want ladies and Gentlemen let's give them the opportunity to vote
079again okay and and any other discussion yes sir at the workshop I I made statements that I said that I wanted to find out about the dates and when things needed to happen and and I did and I got all the information I needed to be able to make my decision on voting tonight I previously said and I don't want to bore people with too much repetition but I've worked under and for uh elected and appointed um and and I've seen good and I've seen not as good um and the uh statement I made before and I say it again is it's the quality of the person in the seat it's not how they get there but I also know this I I've said it and I I've do mean it um no one should
080have given up or have taken away their right to vote and and I am going to vote in favor of this um I've had conversation with the current superintendent so that uh if things do go that in uh 2028 he will be campaigning um although we would be uh I think we would violate our U oath and Andor uh what am I trying to say Miss uh Odum the uh ethics to campaign for somebody but but since since he's not campaigning right now I will tell you that I will talk to everybody I possibly can to say that they should vote for Mr Leonard um having him say to me that that he would intend to run barring anything with his health or family health so I feel comfortable with it and uh um I
081I do believe that I've had enough people in the community make the same statements to me and it's it's for for them that I really want to do this um and also knowing as said before that three of us will not be around um you know in after another term if we have another term and so we don't know what the makeup of the sport will be and how decisions will be made if they went to an appointed so uh I am in favor of going back to the elected superintendent Mr chair yes sir yeah um and Keith I know I got personal with you the last meeting because uh Keith is underneath a retirement system that has a drop date and that's why I wanted to know when that drop date was and uh
082and for those dates that you talking about but uh so um you know a referendum where we let the people decide is a good thing uh they've seen now elected they seen two appointed they may decide it's going to be great to have another appointed okay I don't know but um but enough people have contacted me that I'm going to vote in favor of letting them have a chance for them to speak across this whole County um one thing I want to say though I I heard a comparison the other night comparing us to other school districts Across the Nation and I just want to remind I remind my elected friends in Tallahassee we are the third most populous state in the Union and we only got 67 school districts okay California has 977 Texas
083has 1,27 we're at third place them two above us New York 686 school districts Georgia which is down at number eight in the in the population count has 194 districts Wisconsin that's a favor of somebody's here in this town we know that it has 421 school districts it's rated 20th in the nation on population Alabama they are 24th in population have 140 school districts Mississippi you know Mississippi 35 uh they ranked 35 on list they got 144 school districts there is nobody like Florida nobody and matter of fact when I was at Jeb Bush conference two times now this last two times I've had other legislators come to me and said hey where we're thinking about doing the Florida way and I said don't do it do not do it you got a more intimate
084situation now if we were like them you'd have a school district in bu one in Myrtle Grove youd have them all scattered around here and uh we are not that so it is very important who that superintendent is and I'm more I trust more the citizens vote on it than any other process M bur M chair thank you very much I appreciate this conversation I'm unable to support this resolution I spoke to many people in this district and in the community as well and they are all four appointed the appointment came through our voting in 2018 the county spoke 2018 the school board Revisited it in 20123 it also uh did not pass so um the appointment is is the way to go I know um my fellow board member was talking about various States
085we we looked at over 99% of this school boards Across the Nation are appointed think about this analogy if you were going in for heart surgery and 99% of the hospitals and Physicians you know use this procedure and only 1% uses another position that they've used for a while would you go with the 1% or the 99 for your I mean this is something just near and dear I'm going to switch sides when uh we did our resolution and we did our um installation excuse me installation and we spoke all of us spoke about we make decisions based on the best of children best on the teachers and best on esps I really think this is best for the voters and not for our children so I'm really I have to go with the children
086that's my part um another thing campaigns they're stressful I see my campaign member out there very stressful wasn't it very timec consuming I was working full time and I had to take a lot of leave to campaign do we really want us to superintendent to be focused on the children for two two and a half years and then the other time kind of focus halfway on children and halfway on campaign do we really want that well I think we do not we want what's best for children so that's why I'm voting no okay Mr Harold your lights on I I know it's on I wanted to speak but I know that the rules say that everybody has a chance to speak before you come back to the person who are from the so I was
087given you a chance and I'm not at this time um UNC conflicted because my constituents are saying they like appointed I understand I respect the U the survey that you got and information all of you got but the feedback I've gotten is that they like appoint it uh I respect the wishes of the board um but I like to ask Miss Odum if I abstain does that hold up anything you would have to have a legal basis to stain okay um I I have to listen to my constituents in District 3 and they'll say an appoint it I respect the um the vote of the board did Mr um Mr Harold did you have anything yes I would like to add a couple of uh comments here the first thing I want to say that
088uh Echo something uh Mr Adams said this has nothing to do with the wonderful superintendent we have now it's about giving the people what they want and what they've said repeatedly that they want to do Mr Leonard is the type of superintendent I I heard someone say that uh they were a little concerned about the initiatives that are coming up that are these initiatives put children first I will guarantee you that this man next to me will give 110% to every single item on that list every day that he's superintendent he's got us climbing that ladder and the reason we're climbing that ladder is because he came within he knew the system didn't have to spend two years trying to learn people's names and and that sort of thing he knew all the ins and
089outs of it and he gained the trust of this community in less than two weeks so he could move forward he saved us two years of what it would have been for an appointed superintendent I've been in this system a long time working as an administrator and uh I've studied leadership many times you know and I always look to those perimeter items and ladies and gentlemen this is one of those perimeter items for our community the other thing those who know me and know me well as an administrator when we would sit down and make major decisions the one thing that we would say is this is this what's best for the boys and girls in our district and I can tell you from the bottom of my heart this is okay this is best
090for the boys and girls it's best for their parents it's best for the voters so let's get on doing great things with this District any more discussion list oh I'm I'm not through yet thank you Mr W the the other thing I wanted to say and let me get my notes out here and you know something uh I'm so glad I did have to go through all these points of these notes here but I am picking a few of them no matter what happens here tonight uh I I had written that earlier because I didn't know what was going to happen tonight I even had some other scenarios but we're we're going to forget about that this board I want I want to say this to this board it's something that the superintendent said last
091time I am so proud to work with a group of people that can sit together and and discuss an item without getting mad without getting irritated that's what democracy is all about we are a wonderful board here and we sit and we make decisions every day uh several decisions tonight were were very contemptuous but we were very calm and we went about that I appreciate this board so much I appreciate uh all the things that have been said I've listened very attentively to all of them and this is how democracy works we all have our say we vote then we move forward and once the board makes a decision we're all on the same page with everything and move forward that's that's how it's meant to be so thank you now I'm through Mr Williams
092okay yeah we got to give you those three minutes like everybody else [Applause] okay please vote it is approved 3-2 Mr chairman yes sir I have like 30 seconds yes sir all right cu no I 30 30 seconds I want to be sure that I say this because we have some of our principes and directors in the room room I did not what I told Mr fesco is the exact same thing that I told you when we were in that meeting and do you remember what that was when I was talking about we wouldn't let the noise or the outside interference or what's going on get in our way do you remember what I told you when somebody asked the question when we talked about this being on the agenda do you remember what I
093told you who'd I tell you I'd run like horse Gump just took off running that's what I told that's what I told Mr fesco and anybody else that that asked me because I don't want to ever deceive or make you think for certain something going our steps are marked not by us so I want to be sure you knew that thank you thank you Mr thank you now we move to public forum the purpose of public forum is to allow members of the public to address the school board on any matters regarding education and administration of our schools in this setting we as board members are not compelled to answer questions or respond to you and typically will not engage in back and forth dialogue in this venue however this board and the superintendent will
094note your contact information for response if appropriate as always we invite you to contact any of us by phone or email for followup our meeting times and locations are posted Onamia County School District website speakers must adhere to the guidelines outlined in the policy and posted on the agenda you expected to be respectful in your address to the board you're also asked to use titles and not individual names personal taxs against Schoolboard members superintendent staff employees will not be tolerated please direct your comments to the chair personal attacks against other speakers and Outburst during another speaker's time will also not be tolerated if you fail to follow these guidelines you will be warned by the chair and subject to removal if violations continue each speaker will be allowed 3 minutes Miss odms will be the
095parliamentarian Miss buzwell is the eke keeper will start the time with your opening remarks the buzzer will sound when your time has elapsed when the time sounds please bring your comments to a close the first Speaker tonight is Vanessa Reynolds you have six minutes believe you had time donated from Martha Perez okay Vanessa Reynolds have a a video that I'm G to play from an author of a book porcupine of truth that was um put up for to be challenged H my name is Bill kingburg as the author of one of the books that has been challenged in a scambia county District's uh School libraries it's called the porcupine of Truth the novel is about 17-year-old Carson who goes goes to Montana with his mom for the summer and meets 18-year-old Aisha who has been
096kicked out of her home for being a lesbian they strike up a friendship and his family gives her a home for the summer the two then embark on a journey to find Carson's missing grandfather who left the family Without a Trace 30 years earlier their Journey leads them to San Francisco where they learned that Carson's grandfather died of AIDS in the early 1980s that realization helps put Carson's suffering family back together along the way the two young people have a spiritual journey as well at the start of the novel both have been hurt by religion and consider themselves atheists by the end having experienced incredible Grace and having had their minds open to ideas about religion and spirituality from multiple points of view neither teen knows for sure what they believe but both are open
097to the possibilities of something greater than themselves the book ends with a one-word prayer of gratitude delivered by Carson who would never have been able to do that at the beginning of the novel thanks he says now I explain what the novel is about because well context matters more about that in the moment now there are no sex scenes in this novel my understanding of why the porcupine of Truth was challenged is that it includes sexual themes but I think that's something that deserves closer scrutiny and that's really what I want to talk about here I watched a video of your last meeting in which Mrs Vicky bagot a local English teacher expressed out her outrage about several books by describing scenes from within those books now I want to say up front that if
098Mrs baggett's Crusade is to remove actual pornography from school libraries I will help her the question here is what constitutes pornography I'm not familiar with the book she mentioned and I cannot comment on them but she described certain scenes in a way that made them sound prurient as if they were written to arouse what I can comment on is how that tactic could be used to condemn my book too now with apologies to Mrs bagot who might do it differently let me attempt to create outrage about the porcupine of Truth by describing a few scenes from the novel this novel includes two characters who say sac I things about Jesus one says ah yes the Jesus he's kind of a judgmental prick isn't he now why are we allowing sacriligious texts in our school it
099also talks about the 1970s in San Francisco and the sexual Revolution here's a line from it men lived with men and women lived with women they loved and danced and screwed and laughed and sang why are we hearing about screwing in a book at school and worst of all the main character is forced to hear from his grandfather's so-called boyfriend about the fact that his grandfather had sex with men how is this a book for children now would you agree that these descriptions Short change the book I've missed a few things about the value of this Noel have I not when we ban books based on sections read out of context it is quite possible to make something sound inappropriate when taken in context it is not the definition of pornography is printed or visual
100material containing the explicit description of or display of sexual organs or activity intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings that that definition is why the statue of David is not pornography but art that's why some books may include mature themes such as sex and sexuality even dep piics of such and not be pornography now I know for sure that the porcupine of Truth is not pornography it doesn't me the definition it's a complicated book about history and family and family trauma and it's a book that Fosters empathy understanding and resilience a school librarian purchased the book because they are a trained professional whose job it is to make sure book that books are both appropriate for the age group great N9 and up in this case and aesthetically valuable Mrs bagot has
101every right to decide and monitor what her children may read she may not want them to read a book like porcupine which questions religion and spirituality she may not want her children to have access to a book in which a lesbian character exists or a grandfather might turn out to be gay that is Mrs baggett's prerogative as a parent what crosses the line is when she tries to censor what other young people may read please do not remove books from your school libraries without looking closely at the value of those books and when it comes to books with lgbtq content please understand that this is a health and safety issue it's a fact that lgbtq youth struggle with suicidal ideology at a much higher rate than their heterosexual peers no book has the power to
102make a person gay that's not a thing however a well-written book with a gay character has the power to help lgbtq youth understand that their lives matter and that they are not alone Escambia county is the same as everywhere else lgbtq people exist do we want healthy well adjusted lgbtq people if we do removing these texts from libraries is the exact wrong choice every time thank [Applause] you next we have Mr Peter Dy you have three minutes everyone I stand before you today as a concerned parent educator and taxpayer of Escambia County and I'd like to address the ongoing lawsuit involving the book an Tango makes 3 which has cost over $600,000 in taxpayer money money that could have been used for Teacher salar school facilities educational programs and the list goes on I recently
103purchased a copy of anango makes 3 and read it to my children after hearing so much controversy I was expecting something provocative but instead I found it to be a simple story about two male Penguins raising a penguin chick together a story based on real life events and the message I took the message as that different types of families exist and that's it nothing really controversial or nothing super radical just a reflection of the diversity in our world if we don't allow our kids to be exposed to anything outside of a carefully curated bubble we risk raising children who are ill equipped to engage with the real world we do them a disservice by shielding them from the simple fact that people who are different from them in their schools and their future workplaces and
104their communities do we want our children to shut down when they encounter anything new my children are learning to read and will soon be entering the Escambia County School System I want them to read everything and I want them to talk about books to question books and yes even to dislike some of them but I do not want them to be sheltered from books I want my kids to be able to consider how they feel about things particularly things they may not fully understand or even agree with I want them to question to argue to grow to adapt and to stand strong when and where they need to and I don't want them to be afraid of two penguin dads we should be investing our resources in strengthening our education system not in costly legal
105battles over books that simply acknowledge the world as it is $600,000 of taxpayer money has already been spent on this fight how much more will we waste let's redirect our Focus to what truly matters ensuring that our children receive the best education possible thank you [Applause] next we have Carol Cleaver you have three minutes good evening members of the board and uh superintendent Leonard uh I'm here tonight to uh speak about uh the medic consent decree that Florida is already under and the Supreme Court case pler versus doe uh these are laws and policies that already support students that are in our schools um I teach at fairy pass Middle School I've been teaching there since 2013 and I love my school we have a large immigrant Community there tonight I am here because that
106Community is very scared and uh students and their families are also teachers around the district are asking me every day is it true that immigration officers will just be allowed to come into our schools is it true that I might be taken away at the bus stop this community has real fears and I think it's time time uh to get guidelines and writing now I I've told Mr Leonard I've joked around with him that I've never been in his position I don't know how to run a school district but I think that it could go a long way to cutting down on confusion if we consider some of the guidelines that other counties in Florida have already put into writing uh one example that I've sent on to uh chairwoman bgos and superintendent uh Keith
107Leonard are the guidelines given by Lee County schools in which they cite the Supreme Court case law the medic consent decree nowhere in these guidelines do they suggest that we break any laws or go against law enforcement but it just gives guidance to school administrators and emboldens School staff uh with knowledge of how we can support students and how we can cut down on fear so I'd really like for our district leadership to consider these guidelines I've brought a hard copy uh to enter into the record as well happy to answer any questions um and consider myself really privileged to work for these kids and be able to speak here tonight on their behalf thank you next we have Desa McKenzie deshan McKenzie 3 minutes good evening I just came tonight uh to Echo the
108points that were made just a few minutes ago about the school district issuing guidelines regarding um the interactions with ice officers and um our schools um I also read through the Lee County guidelines I think those guidelines are very thorough they address the actual root root of the law because the things that I as a teacher I've been hearing are will comply with the law or will comply with law enforcement which I think is a very muddied way of answering the question um because complying with the law would mean uh ice agents would have to come with uh legal warrants signed seeking specific students whereas if an ice Agent shows up without that documentation and simply asked to come on campus to search or just to uh interview students without parental uh parental permission or
109without contacting parents that administrators be in the position where they feel like they have to comply with law enforcement despite that being a violation of the law I think the Lee County guidelines are really clear and really thorough they make it um clear for teachers and administrators what is actually legal and not legal and could could provide uh a general feeling of safety for our students I've already started to see students whose parents or themselves might have um varying levels of immigration status starting to miss school out of fear um I've had uh teachers actually ask me do I know what we're supposed to do and I have to answer know because that we have not received any guidelines um so I just wanted to Advocate that we get something in writing that our administrators
110can follow that they can inform our teachers of that can give our parents and students a sense of safety um I understand that there's varying opinions on immigration and uh immigrant status but ultimately whether or not a student has a legal status or not they have a right to an education as long as they're here in our County so I would like for our students to be able to come to school safely and understand that they have protections and that their teachers and administrators will follow the law not any Rogue agents that might approach to school thank you next we have Sarah bahit you have three minutes Sarah bahit good evening um before I begin my comments I did want to briefly push back on this notion that our area is firmly or overwhelmingly conservative
111um if your presumption is that that's true of our district I really invite you to broaden your horizons and learn more about the district that you represent there's obviously no perfect metric for gauging this but it's worth noting that only about 65% of our population here is registered to voted all and of those people less than half are registered Republican elections go the way that they do here for a variety of reasons not least of which includes racist voter disenfranchisement so if this body is making decisions on the basis of such an in correct assumption it's likely to make incorrect decisions that aside I'm here tonight as a district parent I know many teachers in the district and I'm concerned about how they've been left to navigate the current political moment and balance that against
112their duty to protect their students and facilitate their learning without any clear guidance or support from the district I'm worried when I hear that my daughter's classmates are wondering if their school days will be disrupted by Ice raids I'm here today to ask this body urgently take up the task of issuing clear guidance to our school administrations about how scho uh schools and teachers can navigate this Challenge and protect our students um in the event of potential ice raids in our schools some legal protections as have been mentioned do exist and every adult in our schools should be clearly and firmly empowered to exercise them I have heard the vague proclamations about the plans to follow the law but it is unclear exactly what that means does that mean the laws that still exist that
113prevent ice from overrunning our SCH tools or doesn't mean cooperating with law enforcement even when the agencies themselves are not following the law the law empowers us to protect our immigrant neighbors including the students in our schools by not allowing ice activity without signed judicial warrants non-cooperation is an option if and when ice comes to our schools without a specific type of warrant in hand and for this District whose duty is to its students it should be the only option please issue clear guidance to every school about the legal options that they have to obstruct disruptive harassing and extra-legal Ice activity in our schools knowledge is power and our teachers and administrators need to be uh educated so that they can know their rights so they have the power to effectively protect the children that
114they care for and teach each and every day school should be a safe place for everyone to learn without any discrimination and our students deserve this minimum level of protection thank [Applause] you next we have Mr Mickey price we have three minutes minutes three minutes Mr price thank you Mr chairman board members superintendent doing a fine job yeah I appreciate your hard work um my name is Mickey price I'm a member of Marcus Point Baptist Church and Micah 68 I'm against having the seventh and eighth graders going to any High School in our area we need to fix our high schools first these are the issues that I have seen Through The Eyes of somebody else um vaping is an issue not just nicotine um overcrowding is an issue maintenance ISS are issues maintenance problems
115and most importantly respect there is no respect in our schools for the staff are the fellow students we need to put discipline back into our schools this is why private schools are thriving if you act up you're out Public Schools need to do the same in school suspension does not work fix the respect issue and your numbers will increase and maybe you can regain the trust of the parents secondly the book committees are not working I was the only one that dragged on for four months with only one book being reviewed and the other two books I brought them here tonight I forgot to bring them up here the breakaways is one book this book targets everyone as dysfunctional a horrible read for students and adults the other book is my rainbow this book is
116about a transgender child that has autism Elementary aged children do not need to be exposed to this indoctrination if you want your child to read this book you can go to the library or you can go to Amazon you can go to any Source you want to if you can't decide if a book is bad then put the book in a restricted area opted in by the approval of the parent as I always say just do the next right thing and I will continue to pray for you thank you next we have Leila holl holiday you have three minutes good evening the last time I was up here well I was probably about the same height but it was on a better note than it is now um I'm up here today I'm actually now
117a member of ecsd staff and I'm here to mimic some of the uh other people who came up here today to express my concern for the general safety of all of my students um not just the students who are concerned about their immigration status or legality um the issue of Regulation and policy has not been effectively communicated I think that goes across the board um when my students pull me aside and they say what what will my teachers do what will my school do and I really can't give them a legal answer I mean I understand the the school board it has to work within the the legality but the the fact of the matter is on January 29th we got something on WE that says Northwest Florida schools brace down for ice raids and
118then in the the third paragraph of that it just says there's no word from the school district I mean students and parents can see this teachers can see this this is our local news right this is where we're supposed to get our current information but we don't have anything from the direct word of the mouth I mean I get emails about the Schoolboard meetings every week and I'm I'm glad that we get to keep updated with that but this seems like a very pressing issue that we have to discuss I mean students are very worried about who's going to be in class the next day and what are their teachers going to do to protect them what are the regulations around that I mean teachers are students are talking about deportation and ice like it's
119a school shooting this is the reality of our classrooms they're saying who who's going to come in here who's going to take us are they bringing big guns what are our teachers going to do are our teachers going to put that that's those are real conversations that are happening and teachers are not equipped with the adequate response so I I do request on behalf of myself my my fellow teachers and my students that teach teachers and faculty staff are prepared with adequate communication about the policy to protect all of our students thank you next we have is jusa Alonso hello my name is Hiro so Alonso I am a transgender immigrant Community organizer here at Pensacola so I and many other community members and teachers in this room are here to ask that this board
120issue guidelines to all Escambia County schools that will protect this District's immigrant students from Ice and law enforcement uh from unwarranted and illegal uh raids and interactions with these um officers all students regardless of their documentation status have rights in this country I along with um other members have hosted know your rights trainings in Pensacola to educate our immigrant Community um on these rights but we're asking for your help so that this knowledge can be shared more broadly amongst our immigrant students and their and their families we as set these guidelines these written guidelines provide law enforcement or prevent law en enforcement from entering our schools without a valid Court issued warrant I emphasize valid because some there have been cases where these warrants are invalid they're not signed by a judge they have the
121wrong date on them they don't have the student or the adult's correct name on them these are invalid warrants that ice and other law enforcement officers cannot use um again they're invalid uh so if there's no valid warrant both the student and the parent do not uh they do they are not required to speak to them to be questioned by them or have their person or property searched by ice or law enforcement these are again rights um per our fifth amendment and 14th Amendment and the um the other uh Supreme Court cases that um Miss Carol mentioned so these are simple rights but there are many immigrant uh members in our community who are not aware of them that is why we have to host these know your rights trainings and that is why we
122are asking that you provide written guidelines to um all of our District's teachers so that these students and their families and also the teachers themselves can know okay we don't just have to let ice in no matter what okay um so we hope that you join us and in this effort to defend um our immigrant Community thank you next we have Kim Kimberly Gman and superintendent Leonard and school board members I would like to talk to you again about our ESC students when our self-contained units became multi-grade be units we were told each school would have an ESC Behavior coach and a behavior Tech on campus the district also moved these PES positions from a hard by the school position to a hard by the district position we have not had an ESC behavioral coach
123or behavioral check on campus full-time since then now they are Staffing students with significant behavioral concerns into ve classes that also have students with autism who are not aware of their environment and students who are medically fragile without providing the staff needed to ensure everyone is safe it also exposes the students who do not have behavioral issues to behaviors they copy creating more behavioral issues in the classro when I ask the staff who work with self-contained students at my school for 14 out of 15 had been hit kicked shoved bit scratched or spit in the days since we have snow days so 17 days last week superintendent Leonard actually helped Chase one of the behaviorally challenged students who was running through the school and trying to leave the campus after tearing up his classroom he
124is in a classroom with a three-year-old student who is unaware of what is happening in his environment this classroom is now receiving the second ESP we have been asking for since the class reached 12 students also the district has changed when safety care is offered and do not even notify everyone when the training is open we are down to four or five people that are trained for safety care this limits how many are available on campus to respond to these significant behaviors in the ESC pre program we are told we only need the deescalation training not the full training however we are being staffed with students that have significant behavioral concerns having always worked with ESC and been trained first with the CPI and then with safety care I know there are times we need
125more than the one-day deescalation training I had two different students who were very aggressive on one on Thursday and one on Friday of last week and I now have a knee injury from one one of these students my principal is awesome and does her best to provide teachers with support she routinely comes in extremely early and stays late to complete all the tasks she is required to perform because she spends a lot of the school day addressing behaviors and providing support to teachers we have another issue is the amount of paperwork required in the multi-grade classrooms there is no way a teacher can design lessons so you do have three more minutes Cynthia Brown donated you three minutes I'm sorry I said three minutes at the beginning so you had a total of six okay
126so you do have three more minutes there is no way a teacher can design lessons and provide instruction for a classroom of students who are on three to four different grade levels with ability levels ranging from students who are on access points to students who are actually on the borderline for gened but cannot function in a classroom with so many students and very little support there is also an issue finding the correct forms and clear directions for completing them I have been looking for a permission slip for an outside ABA observation as one of my parents has requested it I have not been able to find it so I reached out to my staffing specialist who was not able to find it either she contact contacted one of our program Specialists who indicated our principal
127must contact SRE Hill to get this form if this process has changed to require we go through SRE to get the form none of us knew about it in addition I had a new inclusion teacher asking about the lack of information and support to help us do our jobs correctly she was given the wrong information on how to complete some paperwork and had to go back and fix it when she discovered it was wrong we need more easily accessible guidance located in a central location where we can get the most uptate information these are the issues I am most familiar with however I know there are many other issues in Esa I am asking for a task force that includes teachers administrations and Union representatives to look at all the issues and make the changes
128required to provide the sto the support our students need to be successful thank you next we have Harper Cummings three minutes good evening um my name is Harper Cummings I'm a Pensacola resident I'm a parent I'm also a teacher um I'm here to add my voice to the many others to express our concern and to ask this board to issue urgently necessary and reasonable guidance to School Employees that they should not allow ice to enter our schools without a warrant there's a lot of confusion over what the law requires of teachers and administrators on this issue and it's the responsibility of this body to make it clear that in Escambia County in accordance with the law and with the mission statement read at the beginning of this very meeting all students have equal access to
129Quality education the law does not require School Employees to allow ice onto our campuses without a warrant and that needs to be clarified to our teachers and much more importantly to our students and to their families who put their trust in uall and in our Escambia County Schools also just want to say I really don't think this is an issue about how you feel about immigration I really don't think it's a question of that the issue is actually much simpler than that the issue is do we go beyond the law and what it requires to allow ice to use our schools as collection sites to frighten our children to undo the hard work that every school employee does every day to make our schools safe places places of learning places that students and their families
130can trust or do we simply follow the law and demand that if ice wants to come into our schools that they provide a valid warrant that's it either go beyond the law to serve ice or follow the law to serice scambia County students give them peace of mind and reward their trust this is a credibility issue for this board if you're unwilling to offer this guidance how can you say you're making decisions with our student safety in mind if you're unwilling to offer this guidance how can you say that your mission is to provide equal access to Quality education in scambia County our school workers need to understand their rights they need to have the support of this body and so they need clear and strong guidance about the legal options they have to protect
131their students our students our community thank [Applause] you next we have Aaron Snider you have three minutes good evening uh board and superintendent um firstly I'd like to say that uh no one in our community has anything to fear if they're obeying the law um that's pretty simple so I don't think any lawful citizens in Escambia County have to fear whether ice is going to come and get them or not um lawlessness does not benefit any Community um I wanted to say uh as far as this this book that was just shown um when you have something about screwing and blaspheming Jesus I think that's a good enough reason to throw away any book uh we don't need to listen to any of that kind of stuff try blaspheming Muhammad and see how that goes
132might have your head cut off but uh we Christians don't cut people's heads off so you don't have to worry about that it's still evil um this community unfortunately um it's apathetic about evil so when our friends are saying this is not a conservative Community I don't really care whether it's conservative or not um we need to obey God and being conservative a lot of the times doesn't have anything to do with that that's why we have all these books in our schools and the sexually erotic books because even the conservatives aren't going to lift a finger in a scambia county to do anything about it because they're too weak and because they don't care about showing up to to speak the truth about anything so they like going to church they just don't like
133coming here or they're conservative and they like to be conservative around the uh the coffee pot so I would like to just encourage us that um the scripture in Matthew 15 17 through 20 says do do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the drought but those things which proceed out of the mouth mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man for out of the heart proed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness and blasphemies so evil thoughts don't really have a place in our school if our Librarians can't control the evil thoughts that are in all these books The Librarians need to be fired and if they're allowing sexually explicit pornographic stuff in our libraries they just
134need to go breaking the law is one thing but abandoning God and teaching evil is another so thank you Linda fossil three minutes I think I have six minutes don't I have another in there another just who donated time Kelly Dy Kelly we had three minutes on Kelly Dy okay you're donating your time to miss P okay you have six minutes thank you good evening there are currently 249 challenged books in Escambia County Public Schools and there's also a myriad of books that have been removed from library shelves due to HB 1069 two lawsuit suits currently in court deciding the fate of in Tango makes three and other books removed due to their lbgt topics these lost suits seek to reinstate those removed books and put them back on the shelves but censorship is expensive
135and the amount of money spent on these lawsuits are County citizen tax dollars and I would like to think in this era of slash and burn tax cuts the board would consider cutting out the $650,000 plus spent for legal expenses to support these lawsuits please settle these lawsuits and return the contested books to the school library shelves I've I like to turn attention to a book recently banned by the book Review Committee too bright to see the recorded comments by members of the community on the Review Committee clear clearly show prejudicial viewpoints in their decision to ban this book comments such as this is absolute indoctrination of transgenderism the overall message is errant and evil and targets misgender identity for clarity the usage of transgenderism is derogatory as is the use of the gender ideology
136the term gender ideology or gender identity these terms are almost exclusively used to obscure the fact that trans people are simply people who just happen to be trans it is not a belief system these comments reflect the biases of the reviewers and are completely inaccurate with regard to the content of the book as a result of this book being removed from a scambia school libraries the author of too bright to see Kyle lucoff wrote a letter to the board which I would like to read now it took me four years to finish writing my first novel too bright to see because I kept giving up on it I told myself that it wasn't very good that I wasn't a good writer that maybe I would never get a novel published one day I finally forced
137myself to read through the chapters I had drafted and found myself thinking huh this isn't bad I was still in elementary School librarian back then and for the first time believed that this was a book that deserved to be on the Shelf I challenged myself to finish it and the rest is literally history I've worked in bookstores and libraries over half my life so when I told myself that there could be room on the shelf for my writing I knew what I was talking about I'm very familiar with the reading habits and interests of all kinds of kids all ages backgrounds and family structures I know what titles kids gravitate to which ones their parents want them to read and the books that manage to to appeal to both audiences I know what kinds of
138readers are lucky enough to see their identities and experiences explored through fiction and which ones rarely see kids like them on the page when I say that too bright to see should have a home in any library or bookstore I'm not saying that is an author seeking recognition or royalties I say that as a professional whose whole life has been dedicated to helping kids find books that they will love yes it was a national book award finalist and yes it won a new berry honor but I understand that not everyone wants to read a middle grade novel about a trans kid living in a haunted house some kids are easily scared and the idea of a ghost story is too much to handle some kids aren't interested in introspective books and prefer more action and
139adventure some kids will only read Greek mythology or non-fiction about dinosaurs and that's okay too but I have also met so many kids hundreds if not more who have read too bright to see and loved it because of the story or the writing or what it helped them learn about themselves there are a lot of reasons not to read too bright to see but none of those reasons should be because a small number of adults driven by bigoted and ideological agendas here Review Committee members appointed by the school board have decided that it should be taken away from young people none of those reasons are that the book is errant and evil according to one board appointe and none of those reasons are that the book is absolute indoctrination of transgenderism according to another I
140am none of these those things and neither is my life's work my job has always been to help kids find books they love whether that was at a bookstore a school library or from my own desk and Imagination no one's job should be taking those books away from them sincerely Kyle lcof and I want to say something that I hadn't planned on saying but I am a District 5 constituent and I am am unaware of what you mentioned Mr Harold which was I believe you said yeah the well where did the 77% you can direct it to me you can direct your comments to me thank you I will where I'm am curious as to where the 77% which is what I believe was said about social media and cons uh the for voting for
141the superintendent comes from because I would like to know what that is I'd like to know where to go to look at that and to see that because as a constituent I have never been asked my opinion by anyone that uh what my opinion is about appointed or about elected superintendent so I would like just a little clarification about that if it all possible okay thank you so not it I didn't mean I did not mean to offend ever um Paula Montgomery three minutes Paula Mont okay good evening I'm not going to talk about books and I'm not going to talk about ice I'm going to talk about actually this is sort of a public service announcement the League of Women Voters is going to well they responded to the last election when so many
142people didn't seem to know what their responsibility was about voting so many people just said I'm just not going to do it so the league decided that although you have excellent Civics and that sort of studies in your schools the people who are voting and not voting are much older than that and they've obviously forgotten what they learned so the league is going to have a six week free to the public um class well it's classes it's one day a week for six weeks and we're going to cover we call it strengthening democracy and we're going to cover a lot of the materials that we are actually taking from the public schools um and using them for adults and anybody else who wants to come if they want to bring their teenage kid they can
143do that too and this is going to be held free of choice of of charge at 6 o' of um in fact I've got this which is a a description of what it is and when it is and I want to give one to everybody on the on the school board and uh that's kind of my announcement but we're excited about doing this and we hope that next time we have an election maybe it will make a difference I don't know next we have Miss Snider I'm sorry can't make out the first thing hi thank you for having me I am a product of Escambia County school system and Mr Harold was my seventh grade marketing teacher and I'd like to congratulate him for uh his election I can tell you he is No Nonsense
144he goes by the rules he's a law-abiding citizen and I'd like to congratulate the entire board on your elections I think we have a great board now and it's very important to have a board who cares about the well-being of our children and school staff regarding the books the previous superintendent created the book Review Committee but there are thousands of books and the book Review Committee reviews one book every month it would take thousands of years to get the books out it's designed to keep the books in is designed to fail I don't know if that was intentional but it was a bad idea it's not working and it needs to change we have citizens come to the meetings and read from the books and describe why the books are bad but there's no reason
145for us to come to the meetings and try to convince you that the books are bad you know they're bad we're ped that we need a system that works incompetent was a term used by a Florida legislator to describe the Escambia County school board for having pornographic books in our schools it's not my opinion he was speaking particularly of one School Board member not about about not obeying the law I invited that legislator to come and speak at this school board meeting and offer Solutions he stated no that he's already done his job he passed the law to prevent pornographic material in our libraries and that the school board is not obeying the law he thinks so lowly of scambi County school board but he tried to pass he introduced House Bill 109 to take
146schools within the city limits away from public school board and put them in the city's control that law didn't pass but if laws are going to be made but not followed what's the point in having laws but there is a law and we're going to fight to have it followed and obeyed one solution would be to abolish the book review committee and create a new book Review Committee that is on the front end before the books are accepted this book Review Committee would decide whether or not to accept them the current book review committee is a farce it's a joke it was established to appease those who wanted the books knowing that it would fail president Trump has gotten Dei out of the government and out the military we need it out of our schools
147I don't think our school board is incompetent I think they have their hands tied because the books were exposed under the previous superintendent and he dealt with it the wrong way outside looking in it's simple you just take them out and you put in a new book review committee on the front end if they sue let them Sue they're suing for lawlessness and it will fail let them Sue follow the law let them Sue doelle Warren three minutes yes yeah the rules out of rules please abide by our wishes to not personally attack anyone and direct all your comments to me good evening to the chair to the fellow board members to superintendent Leonard good evening um pre prior to me standing here numerous um of the speakers have spoke on the same subject and
148it is about the importance of a district policy with guidelines for all employ employees concerning the immigration and custom enforcement agents coming to into our schools administrators were instructed on what to do but that information was not passed down to staff I have gotten calls I've spoken to uh teachers at different schools that I have visited as well as in some of my meetings with my site leaders and I have asked them what have they been told or have they been told about what to do if ice a Agents come to their school and the answer has been no this has led to a lot of confusion and fear staff want to know what to do to keep their students safe they feel no different than a teacher who is willing to keep their students
149safe from a gunman when it comes to keeping their students safe from Ice agents there some are even saying that they will stand there and and keep these kids safe what they haven't been told is is going to be administrator's responsibility when ice comes to the school they have not been told what their what they have not been told that there needs to be a warrant or court order by a federal judge they also have not been told that there needs to be an immediate threat to safety most of us will agree that a kindergartner first grader a second grader poses no immediate threat to anyone in the school regardless of what the political beliefs are I think we can all agree agree that our schools have always been and will continue to be a
150safe environment for all students regardless of their citizenship status I am asking that this board put in place a policy so that all employees know what that policy is Miss CER stated a little bit before that Lee County has that policy that they have put forth I have copies for everyone on the on the DI including our um Council up here concerning what they have done there in that county so that each and every employee here will know what is expected of them so that they are not afraid for themselves for those students and for the parents that those students belong to so I am hoping that this body will take a look at this and take it to heart in which in the spirit in which it was given that we do something so
151that each and every one of our employees know what is best for our students here in the Ambia County there there no more speakers this concludes our public forum uh any other discussion from school board yes sir I want to take a point of privilege uh and apologize to the board and also to the audience here earlier when I was standing that I meant no disrespect there I decided last night that I would spend 90 minutes on the treadmill that was a big mistake normally each evening I spend 60 Minutes on it and so I was standing not out of disrespect or anything trying to get rid of this cramp I had in my leg so I do apologize to the board and the audience for that I was paying diligent attention the whole time
152but uh the the 90 minutes and and then I've been in meeting since noon today that that uh it kind of caught up with me so apologies to everyone for standing and and standing back but I was listening thank you thank you this ladies and Gentlemen We Are journ