06/09/26 - Flagler School Board Agenda Workshop

001Call to order the Tuesday, June 9th, 1 p.m. schoolboard workshop. Let's rise for a moment of silence, followed by the pledge of allegiance and our national anthem. I pledge algiance 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. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Thank you. You may be seated. [clears throat] Roll call, please. Lauren Ramirez, present. Jamie Ruddy. [clears throat] >> Will Furry, present. >> Christy Chong, present. >> Shakamura. Are there any additions or changes to the agenda? >> Uh yes. [clears throat] I request that the legislative update that is at 11.01 be moved directly after the first public comment and board policy

002be moved to um after 18.01 before the last public comment. Okay. Which one? Where we have a board policy? Oh, the policies. >> Yes. Yes. And you want that conversation to be the last conversation of today moving into public comment. So, >> and legislative update be the first item today um after 6.01. >> Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> Uh it's moved by Mr. Mirror, second by Mr. Furry. All in favor? >> I >> moved by Ready. Second by Mr. >> Moved by Mr. Ready and second by Mr. Bur. >> Okay. Do we have anyone for public comment? >> No, we do not. >> Okay. And then we'll move on to finance consent >> before finance um legislative update. No problem. Um legislative update

00311.01. Mr. John, Mr. Sarah >> and we have Mr. Bob Sarah online. >> He needs to monitor me and give you my performance. Give me a second while I pull out my notes and just get some papers prepared. Thank you guys. If you could click to the first slide, I'd appreciate that. >> [snorts] >> You can keep going. >> Okay. >> All right. Well, um, as you guys well know, we went through a wonderful and long regular session process. Uh, 60 days turned into 60 plus days. Uh, two special sess well, multiple special sessions, two outside of our our regular session. And so we were quite busy this year dodging and shaking. Um the leadership as folks will know our governor, Governor Dantis, we had our our speaker from Miami Dade, uh Mr. Perez, and

004Senator Albrittain as the Senate President. And as we went into session, we had some discourse between the three. And so uh it was a little bumpy as we move forward. And so, um, the House, uh, presented through the legislative sess session multiple, um, multiple, uh, property tax amendment opportunities that did not get a hearing in the Senate. And so that forced the governor to request the the special session. But you could see that through the 60 days that we were dealing with from January through March that um everybody was not on the same page and we were having to work through personal differences. um next year um going 2026 to 2028 we should have a new governor and so potentially we'll have uh representative former speaker Rener or Congressman Donald's or potentially former congressman Jolly

005uh running and winning the seat and our our leadership will drastically change next year. Um and so from going from a governor de Santis to an unknown governor, we will have to um go through the process as it moves forward. The house speaker will be Sam Garrison from Fleming Allen just north of us. And so regionally, he knows some of our issues and uh should be a friend and does uh trust and believe in education. And the Senate President will be Mr. Jim Boyd moving forward from uh Bradington, Florida. So, as we move through the process and get towards uh November, um a lot of things will change and we're hoping at this stage another special session will not be called as we get through here in November. But um I will tell you we

006have are very blessed with our delegation. It's a delegation of two two but the delegation is strong and are growing and are learning as they go through the process. And so I have to truly thank both Representative Greco for his openness and the ability to meet with his office and his staff uh when needed and the same called for from Senator Leak. Um they were always very open to meet with us. I appreciate the board coming and working with me and the folks in Tallahassee. And I truly appreciate staff that had the the time to come and and and go through the process and see a little bit of of the the rhetoric and the process that Bob and I have to go through just to understand and stay on top of some of the

007issues so that you can stay here in in in Flaggler and do the good work of educating children and making sure that the community is taken care of. And so we really once again want to thank our leadership because they have been wonderful leaders to Bob and I and we really appreciate the openness both their staff and their offices have provided us. We'll move quickly into the state budget and um the [clears throat] first slide we have dealing with the state budget really shows FTEES bodies [clears throat] and and schools and um basically the conference report we had on total unweighted FP FTE 3.21 million students. um the district unweighted FTE went down to 2.7 and the scholarship unweighted um grew by almost 500,000. And so if you see with the differences where we're at,

008unfortunately um declining enrollment, uh we see there's about 1.2% of a reduction in district school participation. those choices are going to other places as we see and the largest choice has been in the scholarship arena. Um the growth in scholarships at 14% shows the drastic change in the philosophy of the state on how we are funding and and how we choose to provide opportunities to all children. The next slide we will go to is the education budget. And these are some of the highlevel uh base numbers that really we are basing our budget as we move forward. And some of these numbers we sort of use to show um positive or negative impacts. So the base student allocation went up $85. Um originally within the first house report um that number was about 50. So,

009um, by the time we got through special session, we were able to increase that number to 85, which is $35 more than what was originally proposed. That should help us. It's a 1.8 1.58 uh% increase, and um so we should be able to work a little bit with that. It's not a large increase, but it is an increase nonetheless. Save schools at $290 million. Unfortunately, this has stayed level funded for the last several years. Um, as you well know, this gives you the ability to provide different opportunities of safety within school. And this is why the board is a board, so you can make some of these special decisions to make sure you keep students safe. The ESSE guaranteed allocation went up by $94 million. And once again, that is uh ES guaranteed allocation is

010our special needs, special ed um coursework and classes. That went up by 6.7%. the mental health allocation which has been around for about 10 years and has gone up almost every year except for these last two years. So safe schools and mental health allocation has stayed level funded. Both very important uh issues the state has uh pushed forward but for whatever reason over the last two years we've maintained level. Um, it's nice that it has not gone down or disappeared, but if we believe that these two issues are compounding the safety and the instruction of our students, um, we would hope that the state would take more opportunity to fund that in the future. Total funding, total funding went up 2.5%. Now, before the the Iranian war, we were basically um, inflation was about 2.7.

011Now, after we've stepped into this conflict, inflation is around 3ish%. Um, and that doesn't even take account for for diesel prices and other costs that will go up based on the new world that is going on as we speak day in and day out. And so, unfortunately, we did not receive enough money to equal inflation, but ultimately we did receive a little bit more dollars and hopefully we will be able to maintain the wonderful services that we have provided our our community. But the majority of the increases in the ESC and not what most likely would be impacted by those inflationary um effects under base student allocation and safe schools. >> Well, at the end of the day, yes, I mean level funding those services should not be impacted, but ultimately as gas prices go

012up, um diesel prices go up, uh we will have to make decisions. um do we transport the children to school to make sure they get there safely or do we make other decisions and ultimately I believe most of the time we will air on the side of safety and make sure those children are getting to school safely so that we can educate them. Um but at the end of the day, the state provided us just enough to keep us running and hopefully as the policies change and as we move forward through having the voucher opportunity for multiple years and it's settling a little bit, um some of these dollars hopefully as we move forward will align properly. Um there are some um legal actions out there relative to some of these things and we don't

013know how they will end up uh coming to a fruition but right now we are um the increases were small >> and they still have not addressed the um the unbalanced I guess monies in the voucher system where um when students maybe start in the homeschool or private school environment and they come to a public education uh institution there is a gap in that funding and my understanding is this last legislative session they haven't fully still resolved that. >> No, they and there was a bill out there through the Senate from former President Gates to actually sort of align um the scholarship funding and and situation. Let's call it a situation. Um unfortunately it it it um that bill did not pass. The house who was in control of the budget wanted to maintain scholarships

014um below the line and so or above the line. I I always you know above the line >> um and so and what that does is exactly what you're stating. It hides the discrepancy between what is going on on this side and what is truly going on in the public. They're supporting essentially a lack of transparency and mismanagement of funds. What is the the thinking behind that? >> Um the Senate's thinking, >> which is taxpayer money that is not being accounted for correctly. >> The Senate's thinking in my eyes was let's get this in order and let's get some accountability wrapped around the program. Not that there's not accountability right now. It's just we could tighten this up a little bit better and make sure that we do not have issues in in in the

015as we move forward. The House believes and this has been a belief since the beginning of choice from choice from charter schools and choice from other opportunities that parents regardless of where they are are the best determinant of what is best for their child. And that's the answer. And so a parent makes a choice on their child, their choice is better for their child than a than commercially, >> right? But there are two things here at play as you know and I think needs to be understood is that first of all that is not choice of their individual dollars. This is taxpayer money and so it should be accounted for properly. And second, when they're making those choices, it should be informed choices. Whereas many of the alternative options do not have the same reporting

016or transparency or financial um openness that a a public school does and even performance data, right? I I agree with you 100% and as a taxpayer, I wish that the Senate bill was passed and moved forward and agreed to by both the House and Senate and signed by the governor. Uh I'm a fiscal frugal Republican and I like to see that my dollars are being used in the way that I I believe that they should be. As a taxpayer, I can come to a [clears throat] Flaggler schoolboard meeting and live in Valuchia County and complain uh with the agenda item right before I I stood up. And I can go to 67 counties and have that availability. I could be pro or I can be against. Right now, as a taxpayer, I cannot walk into

017a private school because I am trespassing. Even though my tax dollars are are are going there, the state looks at me as a as a problem. And so I agree with you that the state should have made changes. Um as a taxpayer I would have preferred that. Do I agree with the way we've created choice? That is a different conversation all together [clears throat] because I also do believe parents are the best determinant of their children. But I believe the state has made a mistake by not working forward and moving towards the Senate's accountability within this program. Unfortunately, this or fortunately, this program will not change that the will not go away, but providing accountability in this program as we move forward and hopefully with the next leadership because [clears throat] once again, as a

018fiscal frugal Republican, I I want to see how my dollars are being interacted. And I might not agree with how you have chosen, but I can come to you as an elected official and show my distrust, my distrust or or or my praise that you guys did a fantastic job on, you know, utilizing my tax dollars or the tax dollars of the state in this way. >> All right, let's stay on the presentation then we can have discussion after. Um total funds once again uh increased $150 31 and so unweighted FTE once again shows you we are we very small increase and and we will work towards making this stuff uh better. Uh loss of loss of students loss of students the various choice programs um has made this budget going forward uh challenging. Um

019as average district losses statewide is 1.5%. And weighted and only 1.6 in average unweighted FTE. Uh funding the vouchers above the line. The conversation we were having a second ago is um what confuses or what makes this confusing to the public and it makes it hard for us as a as experts in this arena um to explain. Um, no increases [clears throat] to safe schools and to uh mental health uh two years in a row is something that uh we should uh make sure that we push for in the future. The F FRS decrease will provide a little bit of money in in the district's hands, but it is a rate change. And so uh it is a one-year um $70 million. um the classroom a lot of the money the new money that is

020out there will have to be used in the new classrooms for teachers program. So 10 years teachers 10 years and over and up to $3,000. I think you guys have already done some work to figure out how to make that policy work. But that's where most of the new dollars in this budget will go is to that that um funding policy. And then in the back of the budget, because of of enrollment decreases, uh we did receive about $144,000 to make up for those students uh making other choices and us having to fund um families coming in to start the the school. [clears throat] Property tax reform um wasn't our first special session. It was our it wasn't even our second. It was like special session G. I think our our our property tax and

021this expanded homestead exemptions. Uh the nice thing we were able to through some work and it was some work to make sure that schools were held harmless and you were allowed to continue the way we request for uh fiscal opportunities uh statewide. Um, so there will be no direct impact to the district's bud budget because of special session F and special was the uh budget session. And so, however, and this is something we sort of broached a little bit earlier, but the one thing that we're going to have to do from a district standpoint over the next really 18 months is determine what are interlocal agreements, who's paying for what, and try to make sure that we get to a stage that uh services are not lost, and that we are able to maintain the

022continuity of services that we have been able to do with our partners, with our cities and county. Um it's going to be some work and um we're going to have to make sure that we do that before we know that the the issue passes or fails. Flaggler's local budget impact. I mean once again the statewide increase was about 1.64 and the unweighted was about 1.65. Um the 2.2 million increase in total funding for district charters. Um most of that money will be spent on the teacher salary requirements. Uh still the district saves a little bit of money on the FRS and um uh once again the back of the budget we had in that $144,000. We can go to the next slide. Oh, that's why my papers got mixed up. Uh, thank you for sticking

023with me. Now, some major impacted bills. Um, I'm not going to go through all these issues and if we have some questions, um, I will quickly try to answer or we could, uh, do a little email back and forth and we can get you specifics. But, um, you know, suits against the government, big bill, changing how much, um, impact it is on on suits against the government. Um, that changed from 250 to 300,000 and 300 to 500. um the school board bill of rights. Once again, this is a way that you you all saw the the ability to interact with our legislators. Um the senator was a prime sponsor of that bill in the Senate. Uh he did take our our issues in. Some of them he accepted and some of them uh I think

024they would have accepted except for some of the tenor around the bill became a little contentious at home. I say at home but you with the counties just south of us. And so we appreciate the work that he did because uh Bob and I could see a lot of you know it's nice to see when you you can compromise and work with folks across the aisle. It's always a great opportunity. Um other big bills that are out there the athletics and public schools the graduation requires extra extracurricular activities. You can see in the past I've come here with a 100 bills right this year we've had a little bit less of legislation. And so on one side I will say it will be a little bit easier from that standpoint. Uh we do need to

025look at the fact that 1279 is like a major train bill and it has a lot of information in that. So staff will have to take a look at that. A lot of this higher ed stuff, but we will need to make sure that we capture everything in that bill. Um, from policy issues that we tried to work with the legislature, um, a small portion of the rural renaissance bill was passed and and the Northeast Florida Education Consortium will receive much more money than they have in the past and a lot of those things will come back down through their membership districts. There'll be some time for those conversations to be had. And we're really in an infasy because everything in a lot of ways was done at the um um the chair level. And

026so Bob and I are still going through each line to see how they broke things out. There are certain things in the rural renaissance that was funded, but it wasn't funded with a rural renaissance tag to it. And so we're still trying to to see where those things have fallen. But the fact of the matter is is that we will re receive a little bit of dollars from that opportunity and we appreciate the Senate for pushing that. Um the other issue was restoring the $144,000 of of of students who did not show up at the beginning of this year and we appreciate the Senate making sure that the House fulfilled that opportunity. And then I'll leave it there with questions. I know I took a little longer than I normally would have and I really

027appreciate the opportunity to uh represent you guys and work in Tallahassee um for the betterment of the community, the superintendent and the school board. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I have a question. We um also had um some additional requests besides the rural renaissance that was the funding of BPK. Can you tell us um what were the lobbying and uh efforts that you all did and what were some of the conversations and or temperature of the room in terms of what would it take to make that a reality? >> I mean the temperature of the room is that voluntary prek is a very necessary and important process of the state's education opportunities. I mean we work with prek. I mean we work with the the members of staff um mostly u committee staff to

028work through these issues. Uh unfortunately both our senator and our our representative are not on these committees. So the work that we have to do is through other members trying to align ourselves with folks who think the same way we do and work with some of their legislators. So uh work with some Miami folks who believe in the same stuff. Um unfortunately um you know there were some minor changes and honestly I I I I don't have specifics for you because at a certain point um the issue was moving forward at the level it was and so um I just have no more specifics to give you on that respect. >> Okay. So if you could follow up on some of those items that you said that it looks like there were some [clears throat]

029changes that would be helpful. Um, can you share which ones of these particular bills do you think would have the largest impact to our um budget essentially? Which ones would you recommend that might need a little bit more strategy to implement? I mean definitely 1279 because it is a train bill. >> That's right. They basically bunch into one thing. >> Absolutely. Um but most of these bills are are in some level single issue. I mean so like the epilepsy bill uh work I mean that is going to be easier to implement right we've done some of these medical opportunities. >> So we rely on some of that past information and we move forward. Um extracurric extracurricular activities. I mean, it's a thing that you're going to have to look at and see how you would

030like to maybe move forward. I mean, that bill has some of the payment of coaches in it. Um, that is a policy issue that you might have to determine or choose or allow your boosters to do. There's work to do there. Um, is it important work? It is. Um, is it is it going to change the needle on children reading more or you know, >> maybe not? to paraphrase, they're basically requiring us to pay coaches more, but that or the >> gives you the option ability and allows boosters and foundations to supplement. Doesn't mandate that you do that. It allows them allows the the the coach >> or athletic director, I believe, is still in the bill to >> come to you and redesate themselves and negotiate as a one-on-one. Um I don't know the

031legal cuz once again I I only deal with the you know the the policy issues and and from that standpoint you can do all that stuff now. Do you want to do that stuff? That is why we elect a a five member board here in in in Flaggler and you guys will make that determination along with the help of staff >> and policy will be you will have policy draft policy that's going to be coming before you to consider as to the direction the board wants to go related to that specific topic. >> Now you will have to create policy. Um will you have to do anything more from that? That once again is up to how you guys want to. Now offline you and I can and I can talk about that issue and

032I will give you my personal opinion because I I don't love that issue. >> Um because I I honestly want I I believe that in school we should be moving the needle of the education, character, and opportunity. And I'm not sure I know coaches provide a lot of that, but they're only working with those 22, 25, 50 kids. Um, I I like coaches who teach and also a coach, but that's just John Sarah's personal opinion. But those are things that you're going to have to discuss, move forward, and figure out how you would like to do. The Teddy Bridgewwater bill, once again, we passed a whole bunch of bills in a lot of respects. That will not take much work. The Teddy Bridgewwater bill will allow coaches to up to $15,000, spend some of their

033own personal money. Now, you might have given them some more money as a pay, you know, coach pay, right? But um not something I think the state needed to do, but we did. And [clears throat] so it's it's out there. Uh the school counselors bill, you're going to have to do some policy on that because you might mandate that the folks have that education component. Or you might realize that we can't hire folks. You're having trouble finding them and we won't use that as a qualifier. We want to get the best social workers. We don't necessarily need them to know educate K12, right? Um so the biggest one in a lot of respect would be 1279. Um the suits against the government is going to be important bill because potentially it raised costs. Um >>

034our our risk insurance. Is that what you're saying? Yep. >> Yeah. Uh so I mean the biggest bill that was passed this year unfortunately is this train bill that has many different aspects and and I truly would love to say to you that I'm a complete expert in it but honestly there's so much higher ed and other things that I'm still trying to pick. >> So you'll give us some updates. We will and what we normally do as well um sometime this summer Bob will do a a a workshop with staff and um that will be available and um we will go more in depth in some of these issues. My final request is co going into this next year. Um we spent a a a day with Seminal County Schools and their very robust

035CTE programs um and career uh preparation programs and they shared that beyond partners a lot of that money they received through appropriations. And so I would like us to maybe figure out how did they do that, right? Especially under this new um system of you have to contribute the 50%. um and they've received appropriations as of last year where um the when you already have that program under your umbrella that also consider is considered the 50% you're asking maybe a supplement to improve that program or buy specific equipment or material for it. So I would like us to move in that direction so we can have a more robust uh career program here within our schools. I agree with you and we'd like to help you with that as well. Um, and if there's an

036opportunity to do that, we will uh >> work to see how Semino County has done some of what they've done and >> appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Any questions? >> Just I mean, I'm happy to see the ESSE allocation. Uh, I guess my I I don't know more of a question or comment, but like with safe schools and mental health, you know, it's at a flatline again. Are other districts like are you seeing like different concerns like how adjusting budget because for the second year in a row and costs are obviously always going up for everything but absolutely especially our SRDs you know the the safety and the cost of the technology that they need to utilize. However, we're not being provided more. Right. So, I'm just curious what you're seeing or hearing and

037how do we prepare for that because now if this is going to happen again. So, that's my big concern what we need to fight for for next year. >> Sure. And I I work with school psychologists. I'm always fighting for that one specific specific uh funding source and and we we [clears throat] uh to answer your question on one side just like every district unfortunately the first thing you look at is your age of your staff. So sometimes when these funds stay flatlined, if your staff is young, you're able to um absorb some of these costs where a 30-year employee might cost you $80,000, but two new employees cost you 40 each, right? So now you get two employees for one because somebody retired. So when these cost they so some districts based on how

038the the age of their their staff absorb these in different ways and some are able to increase because if staff is getting [clears throat] to the end of their career and retire you have sometimes a two for one opportunity there. Um our staff here I don't really know you know honestly I don't know the demographics of our staff here but a lot of districts that's usually how some of that occurs. Then you make determination of what is needed, right? What are the primary um what do the feds require us? What's the department of education require us? And then you make staffing requirements based on that. So yes, some places have had to reduce school psychologists or reduce social workers based on unfortunately um what they've done over the years and how funding has come through

039from the state. Sometimes you use general ren general revenue to supplement those costs where the safe schools might be a large funding format to do safe schools but you still draw from other areas. Um we would like to see that go up so you do not have to draw from area other areas but unfortunately that's what the state sometimes makes us do. >> Sure. >> Mr. Curry. >> Okay. uh in regards to safe schools. Yeah, it it is disappointing to see that flat, you know, but um did you witness any conversation around this when it comes to how they allocate? You know, the it always um appears that if you're if you have a low crime, you get less. If you've got a higher crime, you get more, but we all have the same mandates,

040right? Um, so [clears throat] has there been any discussion up there with any representative to address that? >> I I know that the association that works with our our folks um has been dealing with that specific issue and I have heard conversations with folks in the hallways, but I have not been a part of those specifically. >> Um, those experts have been dealing with that because there are multiple issues as you know. um we there's interlocal agreements, we have our own staffing and whatnot. And so and as the state increases the needs that they [clears throat] lay back on our doorstep, um we would prefer those to go up the the cost or the the the funding source to go up to meet those needs. Unfortunately, like I said, the state has determined to level

041fund and have us make other determination. Did you witness any discussion um in regards to the property tax reform um that will be on the ballot that if it passes um how safe schools would be impacted by that because it would be indirectly uh hit because our interlocal agreements you know they our county our cities they they contribute. So therefore, we will if they they will have to prioritize as well, but we if if they prioritize to not fund uh an SRD. >> No, you're absolutely right. A >> big hole fill. >> The one place that Bob and I and the small district consortium were able to uh really champion you and us as a small rural district was maintaining that $250,000 minimum base level. >> Um the House was interested in either getting rid

042of that or or taking it down to $50,000. So, uh, maintaining that at a $250,000 level, we got no less than $250,000 and as that moved forward, um, more monies came into the district for those purposes. So, that's one of the ways that we were able to I mean, unfortunately, when we go to special session and the work is not necessarily done in the 60 days, like imagine 180 days of school and somehow we tell parents they have to come for 182 to come test, right? um unfortunately when you stop and restart um you're not necessarily in the same momentum that you were in, right? And so you not only do we have to throw ourselves in the middle of conversations that folks have been having behind closed doors for a while, we have to

043not educate quite quickly and make sure that they understand. And so that was one of the issues that we were able to make sure that at least at a minimum level that we got 250,000 instead of much less and then dealing with the the incident levels to fund the rest. >> Well, I'm just hopeful that at if if in fact the the tax really passes uh the constitutional amendment test of 60% um that going into next year that that that safe schools is part of that conversation. um to help us fill that gap because they're still going to mandate us to have the these and rightly so, but we also need the funds to pay for it. >> And then that's why I mentioned as really one of my biggest things. It's nice that they

044held us harmless. It's nice that we're not going to necessarily have any specific impact going into next school year. >> But we need over the next 18 months really lock in and find where those dollars are come from and also educate our folks. Unfortunately, if that's going away, it's going away because we made a choice to change property tax. >> And the more information we can give people moving forward on unfortunately if it's a loss of services, why the services were lost and it maybe it wasn't that we would like to lose those services, but you want us to make other choices and as a good good school board, you guys have made good choices, >> right? And and again, this is one of those areas where we don't we don't have the choice to

045lose them. We have to provide them. So that that's that's my biggest uh issue with this here is that that there are other things. You can cut a program. You can you have but we have to have these school resource deputies and no one I'll speak for myself. I don't want them to to go away either. Correct. >> Uh but uh it's not one of those things where you can just say well we don't have the money for it so we're not going to do it. >> No. And that's an area, you're absolutely 100% right. There there will be unfortunately other places where they will >> dip into one side and take away >> and I'm going to use the swimming pool because I like to use the swimming pool, but no more swimming pool.

046We need resource officers, >> right? And I hate to use that as an opportunity. Usually every time I come to the board meeting, we talk about the pool. This is the first time I've shown up and there's no pool talk, at least that I know of. And so I wanted to add some pool talk just since I was here. And actually we're at a double disadvantage because already at safe schools being 0% increase, we have to absorb the increases in the SRD's salary that is determined through the sheriff's office, not us, in addition to the increase in their insurance contributions. Absolutely. because we do not have a contract that aligns um the increase in our contribution with the increase that uh were provided for safe schools. >> And I think to um to both of

047your points, Mr. and Miss Ruddy. The [clears throat] reality of it is right now we can only afford to have resource deputies in our schools because we have a community through our county commissioners and the city of Palm Coast that aid us heavily in doing that. And so as we talk about property taxes and them having to make different decisions, you know, we are having to look, we're going to have to look as a community back into what are our values and what are the things that are our core responsibilities to fund. Um and so though we know that schools are excluded in that way, schools are not excluded from the supports and services that are provided through our community through our county um commissioner specifically. >> And this is the type of decision where

048it can look on the surface we're receiving the same funds, but we would have to cut a program in order to pay for required expenses we have to carry. Absolutely. >> Just something I wanted to touch on is as we go into the next session, um hopefully advocating with our legislature is to increase the base student allocation and [clears throat] get more FEP of teacher salaries. It's a conversation right now and I think a lot of people don't realize it's not entirely it's not in our hands. It comes from the state. So, >> um you know, Florida has a surplus. So, that's just something I'd like to see in the future that hopefully we can advocate. >> And both Bob and I agree with you. Um, one of the main things, I mean, the base

049statement allocation is the easiest way to explain people the increases and opportunities that you have as a board member. Like you, when you come home and you look at your paycheck after you've taken everything out, you sort of have an idea of what their extra change is. And unfortunately, the state has only been giving us extra change in a lot of respects. They've been making us make decisions with historic funding. this historic funding is going, but it's not coming necessarily to where me as a taxpayer has an ability to talk to us elected official. There's a lot of monies that are going in other places and over the last two years, we would have seen those increases if the state choice opportunity did not change. But with the fact that our communities have chosen that

050they believe that their children should have every opportunity to go to any opport any scholastic uh school out there. Uh we're going to have to tread water and u get to a certain stage that we are able to have this level out and then be able to once again build our story from there. We are in a situation right now that choice is the better option. Even though we are the largest choice of the majority of the parents statewide come to public school. And I guarantee that's the same thing in Flaggler County. The majority of your parents, your students, if they like it or not, they chose you. And you should be proud of that and you should thank them for that. But the fact is is there are small groups of people who make

051other choices. And unfortunately, the state has allowed this and has profered profered this to to give more parents more opportunities. I agree with giving parents opportunities. I [snorts] don't agree how we've chose to fund those. >> Any other conversation? >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Good to see you. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate you guys having me. >> Thank you, Bob. >> Hi, Bob. >> Thank you, guys. >> All right. Moving on to finance consent 7.01. Good afternoon, madam chair, board members, and superintend Mrs. Bush and I are here to answer any questions you have on finance consent beginning with 7.01 uh charter school financials. I will just make note before any questions on this one. Um, I did reach out to their regional finance director as when getting their financials for April,

052there were more um overages that were pointed out last year in the last four or five pages. And he did let me know that they're having um software glitches with their budget software that is causing uh extra cost in the fringe budget data. Their board has been made aware of this and it will be adjusted uh in the summer to match final year in numbers. As our board docs is about two months behind, you'll continue to see these overages for the next two months until theirs is adjusted in the summer. >> Do they for what program are they using? Because I feel like I've heard this a few times like glitches. Is that do they need >> I'm not sure what program they're using, but they this is this 2526 is a new program for

053them. They ran parallel last year and then they they switched this year. >> Okay. And then maybe the prior program had [clears throat] I I just remember hearing they've had glitches several times, but >> all right. Any questions on Imagine Charter School. Going on to purchase orders over 10,000. Um, can you share or representative share a little bit about the handto-mindes that are being p purchased? Um, I don't recall that as being part of the curriculum pieces. Is this it looks to me like a supplement for BPK? >> That is um teaching and learning. It's on page four. >> Yes, page four. I'll see if Dr. O'Brien can speak to that or if not um she'll be able to get your response. >> Thanks so much. >> It is being supplemented in VPK through our

054CLSD grant um as a supplemental resource in um our VPK program. >> We had an additional million allocation in that grant as it extended. about the resources with I >> um no I I'm happy to see that uh when I visited um Benel VPK they were talking about some additional resources for supporting some of the different strategies they want to uh use. So hopefully that will fulfill that need. That's exciting. >> And all of that came out of that grant um the CL CLSD grant. Any other questions on purchases over 10,000? Okay. 7.03 vendor payments. Um, I'm pulling up the line item, but there was um a payment for look like construction. Um, let me get the number [clears throat] and I just wanted to get an indication of what specifically that was around what

055project that is for and how that's how their services are being provided. One second here. Is it the Charles Perry? >> Yes. Partners. >> Thank you, Charles. Yeah, it's like 66,159 um construction project >> 66,000 >> 66159. >> It's on page >> to replace that's to um replace AC equipment at the MHS building 811. Um Mr. Bush, can I answer any direct questions about that project? >> Okay. Uh so uh replace um HBAC equipment. Is this was this part of the five-year plan or is this an item where um there's a malfunction and had to be replaced? >> Um you said it was building 11. Um that was the the building that we had. We then have issues with the HVAC system out there where we um when we did the addition, we did run

056chilled water lines for future to be able to change that over. We had to ramp that up a little bit because there was some issues with the air condition, the fresh air unit. So, we took the opportunity since we are finishing that up to add air to that. >> Is that related to the air situation that was happening in the um uh the >> locker room? the locker rooms. Okay, perfect. >> Yes, ma'am. Same project. >> Okay, thank you. I'm glad they'll have some relief out there um >> during the heat. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Um I did have one question on an item here. It's on page one and it was uh um barbaison [clears throat] Charlotte >> Barbazan >> Barbazison >> the 43,000 137 and 16,381 >> that is for um

057the FPC school audio system upgrade and Mr. Ding can answer any direct questions on that. I think there's there's two payments and there's I think three or four different projects that were tied to it. So, uh, Barbazon, uh, is a company out of Orlando. They hold a couple of state contracts. So, we were able to work with them on fixing some of the audio systems and gymnasiums, um, some of the multi-purpose rooms. So, that's that's what those projects were, but there was multiple projects that are tied >> under that those two dollar amounts. There were multiple projects within those. >> Yes. 43,000 and 16,000. >> I I'd have to go back and look what [clears throat] the specific ones are because that's the under payment side of it. >> Um but yes, there's there's a

058few. >> So where what were these improvements exactly? Speakers or >> uh all across the board. Some of it included wiring where there was some old wiring that was causing issues. Some of it is new speakers. Uh some of it is amplifiers. Um, some of it is uh some secured Bluetooth to make it a little bit easier for for our folks to kind of manage uh some of those uh some of those spaces. >> So that's it's kind of a I want to say a peace meal, but it's upgrading some of this older systems within the district. So um we've got multiple projects going through. There's another vendor that we use as well. Um but those particular projects lend themselves well to the contract that Barbazon uh currently holds with the state. >> Gotcha. And

059are the are are some of those systems that things have just aged out these uh some of the components that you were talking there? >> Yeah, some sometimes they're just getting, you know, get old. Amplifiers are good for a certain amount of time, you know, with power issues sometimes impact some of the stuff. >> Um, you know, some of the work that was done is uh at Flagler Palm Coast High School in their gymnasium. um they had some issues uh with some some some power fluctuation issues or lightning along those lines. So that that systems kind of been peacemeal along the way a few different times as we had to repair. So this kind of uh gave us the opportunity to bring in an audio consultant that was able to work through that contract and

060then make some recommendations to us um on what would fulfill the needs for the school. I don't know if you'd seen, but some of these we had speakers that were not working properly. They weren't tuned correctly, and sometimes when you fill those rooms up, it's very difficult uh to even hear audio, let alone, you know, announcements uh announcing uh games and things within them. So, >> okay. So, the these investments should give us many years of for this investment like this. >> Oh, yeah. I would say several. Most of this stuff is over 10 years old. >> That's what I was getting at. I wanted to see how old what we were replacing. I mean, I know in electronics, you know, actually getting 10 years out of a speaker or an amplifier. That's pretty >>

061one of the long-term goals you'll see along the way is we're trying to move everything to digital. Some of these are still on analog. >> Uh, and moving into digital, we can set parameters within the system because there's a lot of different folks that that use these. you know, we don't always have an engineer or an audio person there to run these systems within the schools. So, moving these over to uh digital uh will will give us an opportunity to protect the equipment because, you know, any anything analog you can, you know, accidentally shove the the volume all the way up and you have potential to damage the speakers, uh damage the amplifiers, those types of things. >> Very good. Thank you for that clarification. >> I have one more question on page 20. This

062might relate to you, Mr. Ding. the blastoff tutoring. >> Blastoff, which one is that? >> Um, uh, my question is, you know, we have varsity tutoring and >> it's not, it's the company is called Blastoff Tutoring. Yeah. What that software actually is is um some software that we're utilizing with our website and forward- facing uh information related to ADA compliance. >> Oh, okay. So it it's able to kind of work through and identify we can load documents into it and and it gives us feedback and some of the situations can actually update those documents so that when we are posting them uh [clears throat] publicly available that it a lot it it gives feedback and or make adjustments to those documents to ensure that it's the ADA compliance and so >> like meeting WCAG accessibility

063requirements. >> Yes. All of those all under the whole umbrella. I guess my question on that is is it because it contains secure information because a lot of that could be done through some of the agentic AI tools at no cost. >> Uh some of some of it I think the the nice part or the piece that is attractive to this is that we are able to roster those uh individuals. So, our staff uh and when we've got those set up um it will constantly scan as well through our website and identify monitors it. Yes. >> Okay. And triggers it as opposed to just hey I I need to create this document, take a look at it as WCG guidelines change, it will trigger things and then you can fix them. So that's really >>

064I think the reason that this works is because we have a lot of different folks within the uh district that are uploading and and updating information that is publicly available whether through the web or or um even some of our newsletters and things that that schools are putting out. Uh it gives them the opportunity to kind of push it through there and then gives them real direct feedback [clears throat] because as you know getting uh up to speed with what it means to be compliance down to hey these are the colors that you can and can't use. These are the contrast levels that you can and can't use. >> This is the correct header footer. Yeah. So >> you know we've done a lot of training with that over the course of the last couple

065of years based off of some of the some of the things that we've ran into. Um, but this really is a userfriendly opportunity to do that. Will I say that, you know, as other things come about? Absolutely. We're we're continuing to look at those. Uh, this is not a multi-year contract with this particular >> for one year. >> That is a one-year contract. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> So, when looking at it, the potential exposure and the amount of training and things to look at. So, you know, it's around what $1,100 a month give or take. Um it just that made sense to us as a expense. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> Okay. Any others? >> 7.04 [clears throat] finance budget amendments. We'll go on to 7.05 district financial statements. [clears throat] >> Um

066so this was as of April uh you know and we're almost two months from this. But um one of the things that I had noticed is kind of the year year-over-year changes on uh page two. um where it kind of gave the picture of where were we in comparison to previous years. And it looked uh to me that we were we had larger overages this year in um October, November um particularly as compared to previous years. >> Are you looking at the last section? Uh the page uh >> I mean page two. >> It's page two. Flaggler County School District monthly change in operations comparison general fund. >> Yes. Yes, that is correct. >> Just get your takeaways on that. >> Sure. Um the overages tend to increase last year and this year because of

067the lost of all the grant funds. >> Okay. >> So in previous years we were able to funnel what would normally be a general fund cost into grant funds and now you're seeing the reality of those grant funds being completely gone. >> Okay. But we're still continuing the those expenditures. >> Yes, under those. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. And so what type of grant funds would have expired that we still are carrying costs from? Do we have kind of a summary of what those might be? >> Well, I mean, we've gone through it in a previous board meeting. I'd have to look, but all of the ESR funds paid for all of our textbooks every year, paid for some staff. We didn't keep all the staff, but the ESTR funds paid for a lot of stuff

068that we were able to shift from general to those funds. And then when those funds went away, the cost such as textbooks, which is a a large one, has to come out of general fund. >> But ESR funds were always temporary to overcome the challenges of learning during and after, you know, the [clears throat] pandemic. So prior so what we're seeing is a return to normalization to where th that money is normally coming out of is that what you're saying? >> Yes. Okay. >> Yes. We were we were fortunate and if you go back and look at the fund balances from those years that's how we were able to build general fund fund balance because we didn't have to absorb those costs in the general fund. >> So now we're kind of getting back to

069normalization which is >> if we were to look before 2020 it would be more in line with what we're seeing this year. I would have I would have to look before I >> would love to just double check that to see that we're not see seeing a bulge of something that maybe is anomalous. >> Sure. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Thank you. All right. Academic services 9.01. Mr. Walker. >> [clears throat] >> Good afternoon, chair, school board members, superintendent more. Um, this afternoon you have three uh articulation agreements in front of you. Um, from UNF, WCU, which is West Coast University and Grand Canyon University. You will notice with 9.01, this was a previous agreement. Um, however, talking with legal counsel, they

070had a material change that came up after the fact. So, that's before you for 9.01. And then 9.02 and 9.03 03 are standard agreements expanding our higher education partnerships and talent pipeline. This is what allows us to have uh students from those colleges uh do their internships with Flagler schools. >> Um with regard to 9.01, it says the material change has been with regard to um sexual orientation in provision 9. Um can you narrow that down a little bit in terms of what letter under provision 9? like what is what's the context around that change? >> I'm going to go ahead and ask if Mr. Spence Smith could join me up here on the ta at the table for that one because this was something that was going >> non-discrimination. That's what I was thinking.

071>> We were looking at the sexual orientation update regarding the UNF one. Okay. >> This was one that had gone back from them and we just need to find where it came out of. >> Oh, of the language. Yep. Yeah, >> sure. >> Um, that's going to take one second. >> It said it was under provision 9. Um miscellaneous should discriminate against same person based age, race, color, religion, gender, national arrest. While we're reviewing that, I'll pull up the last one that we that was approved were reviewed back in April. Correct. So when you look under 9 and F, when you look at the agreement that was brought forward to you in April, it states during this agreement, neither party shall discriminate against any person on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual

072orientation, national or ethnic uh ethnic origin, disability, or veteran or marital status. So this agreement uh struck through the update with sexual orientation. >> [snorts] >> So, >> I guess that's confusing to me because is sexual orientation a protected class? Why would they remove that from the non-discrimination portion? >> And I had a similar question with that. And Mr. Delaney, I sent you an email, so it kind of goes with this. Um, and so I'll wait for you, Miss Ready, and then I'll add [cough] [clears throat] because it looks like they had an update internally at their university. So, they removed that wording in their policies, but I guess >> so. Why is it affecting our which I thought was our template, >> but then there's a part and that's where Mr. Delaney I reached

073out. But um I'm wondering like for legal concerns for us as a district, would it impact our ability to enforce our own policies? But in this contract and I just I just want to make sure because in this contract it actually states um that the Flaggler schools so Flaggler schools um overrides. So our policies would override. So even though it doesn't state that in their contract anymore, are we still covered with our policy? So that's >> I see what you're saying, right? How does >> So we it appears that we still override no matter what if a student were to to you know do something with a a teacher of you know like you know an intern while they're serving in our schools. But our district pol policies override what their contract states. That's my

074interpretation. So if that is correct, then it wouldn't matter if they removed that wording or not. But if it's not correct, then I'm wondering if we could be liable. >> Um, I [clears throat] apologize for my delay. >> No worries. There's no sound on Mr. Delaney. I think he's starting to talk. >> I apologize for my delay. I was looking through the the email communications that I had with them to try to figure out, you know, what their reasoning for it was. It's just it's policy based. They didn't cite to any statutes >> or um change uh statutoily or rule or administrative rule. So, it's really uh something that they requested. I just I also thought in previous discussions theus we were using were the templates that were updated that we created. So is it

075that they chose to remove that piece from ourou they made that request >> a lot of times they provide the language to us >> and then we modify it to ensure that we're protecting the students mainly the uh the safety and the the privacy of the students and the educational record. um that's like a primary concern and then there's three or four other minor concerns that when I go through or I don't want to say minor but just lesser concerns that when I go through I'm checking to make sure that it's got those things but a lot of times we work within their format. That's why a lot of theus they see. Sometimes they'll ask us to to construct anou and I'm [laughter] happy to do that. Um I prefer it but a lot of

076times um >> we work within their template. Okay. And so with regard to the first question, is sexual orientation a protected class? >> Uh, I'm going to ask you to defer to your general counsel for the board for that general question, >> Mr. Nolini, because it's in the other university's contracts, but it's not in this one because they're specifically requesting it removed. This is the first request that I've gotten for that. >> But if you look at section um so Mr. Delaney, if you look at section three, if >> we could just pause for one moment because they're trying to make sure his sound is coming through. >> Well, there. Okay, turn it up. >> Wait, we can't pause him for a minute. >> Hold on one second. >> He can hear us. He can

077hear us. I we just can't hear him very well. >> So I I would imagine when he comes on he's going to talk about the negotiation between the federal standard and the state leanings. >> The federal would always supersede state. >> I'm aware of the federal supremacy clause. Yes. >> Okay. So >> let's just let's just give him a moment so that he can answer the question. [clears throat] Can I see? Yeah. [clears throat] I I know while we're waiting, I'd also offer that just because it's not in there doesn't mean now you can do it, >> right? But they made a point of it and that's concerning and it doesn't align with our policies. And um so I guess my other question while we wait is if um we were to push back to

078say that no that needs to be in there, how would that affect our uh the business that we want to do with this uh organization. [music] >> Hey, Miss Ready, >> let's take a recess and we'll come back to this. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Five minutes. >> It's good. You have to use >> three minutes. Yeah. [clears throat] Are we ready? We have sound. >> Yes. >> All right, Mr. Delaney. >> Okay. Thank you. So, uh, a couple of questions have been asked. Um, in regard to Miss Ramirez is I do believe that this contract uh permits the school board to enforce its human resources policy, its internal policies um and I think those would be preeminent um and and continue to operate. There was also secondly a question raised about what is the

079status of sexual orientation as a protected class. Um, Florida has the main Florida civil rights statute is um, Florida statute 760.01 and some sections after that that go through 767.11. It's generally referred to as the Florida Civil Rights Act 1992. Um, that covers various categories um, including sex, but it does not specifically identify sexual orientation. However, [clears throat] as it was mentioned, federal law preempts state law. State law can be broader and more protected than federal law. Uh but it can't run counter to federal law. And the term sex on the federal level has been um interpreted to include protection uh in things like marriage and housing and employment um to protect sexual orientation, but not necessarily in every single circumstance. uh and at all times. >> I'm thinking of things like certain businesses and

080whether they have to agree to cater um a wedding uh where two people of the same sex are getting married. So there are protections on the federal level that would apply in Florida um but they are not comprehensive in all circumstances to sexual orientation. Would UNF understand that a school board's policy uh supersedes thisou? >> Yes. >> So this is I guess what is the point of then removing it for them? >> They're the ones removing it, right? They're asking to remove it. >> Yes, they are. I I it would only be speculation which isn't worth much. So, they didn't provide any context when they >> they did not >> uh I had a brief conversation through email. That's why I wanted I wanted to bring [clears throat] that up to make sure that I

081was accurate when I was talking to you. >> Um but it it didn't cover um it didn't cover that part >> and they didn't cite any authority. It just [clears throat] uh >> it probably has to do something with their their board >> is my speculate my speculation. Mhm. Um I'm trying to find our policy. Does anybody know off this top? >> We're looking at non-discrimination access to equal educational opportunity. 2260 is non-discrimination and access to equal educational opportunity. >> That was 22 what? >> 2260. [clears throat] So I mean we have the word sex but we don't say sexual orientation. >> Which paragraph is that? Oh, first one. >> So then it it is in alignment with our policy >> just saying sex. >> No, they removed it all together, didn't they? >> Or

082no. >> Yeah, they >> they said gender. >> Gender is what they said. Yes. >> We do not have sexual orientation in our policy. I mean, number one, I don't there's no reason why we should discriminate against anybody, right? Number two, where do we draw the line? I mean, I could identify as Chinese, but that doesn't make me Chinese, right? Like, so I mean, but I don't see an issue here making a big deal out of it. Um, we shouldn't have discrimination anyway. >> Yeah, I agree with you. we shouldn't have discrimination, but that's where things of like this are required in order to support that um and protect our students that may be participating in these or former students that may be participating in these programs. And if it's a big enough deal for

083UNF to request that it's stricken, then it matters that much to them. Um but for me in terms uh the deal is well I you know ensuring that we've got everything tightened up and that we're going with uh you know making it clear in alignment with as close as it can be in the brief language that's provided the alignment to the federal protections. um which also protects us and and avoids confusion. >> But this is this is theirou right [laughter] >> for their interns to come to >> but anou is an agreement between two parties. It's our >> I wanted to know the original source of the language. >> Yes sir. The original draft came from them. >> Okay. So they're asking to remove this from the original draft that they provided us. our policy

084does not include sexual um orientation in our discrimination clause. Right? So then what what what is the what is the argument here? I I'm I'm failing to understand [clears throat] why this is an issue. They this this is their language. They want that removed from their language that they provided us and our policy does not extend to that specific term. So what what what are we doing? That goes back to my original question which was uh I was under this understanding that ourus that we were using for these programs were our templates and so this is the and in fact some of those were brought back to us because of the work that was done. So this is the first that I'm hearing we're using language that came from UNF. I thought it was our

085kind of practice that we were providing the template language and that they had just chosen to strike something that was in our template. So what is in the other let's sayou is there a comparable I I know we just had one recently I believe with um was it WGA or something like that u what is in that I I would find it that it would be difficult for us as well to be in agreements um for similar services and um programs withus that have you know shades of differences and quite frankly ally I find it um unsavory that they would specifically hone in on this particular group uh or discrimination practice um and so you know they made a big deal out of it. I'm I'm going to inquire about it. >> Yeah. So our

086what we use as our template is around our data privacy that that's what we have that we use as our base um for the privacy. Theus are um like they are seeking out us for this. So they will start with their template and then we will go in and make adjustments if it does not cover the items that we want to have included in any type of agreement that we are having. >> Okay. Yeah. Can I get a copy of u of let's say two or three of the most recentus that we've had with other organizations so I could decide how I may vote on this when time comes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. anymore discussion >> and I just wanted to clarify so Mr. Delaney. So with this, because it's in their contract, so

087regardless if they have sexual orientation or not, they have the section 3H1. So the UNF agreement, it requires that all interns must comply with the policies and procedures of Flaggler schools while in the program. So they have to comply with our policies according to their contract anyway. So it is that the same understanding? So regardless of what it says, whatever our policy is, they have to abide by it if they're an intern at one of our campuses. >> Correct. Correct. I think that's the >> how this uh agreement operates. >> Okay. So I feel for me that just that statement that's in that their own contract it covers everything because for recruitment for teachers counselors so everything we will supersede on their own contract. >> Yeah but there is no conflict here we our policy

088does not have this in it's not like our policy had this and they're removing it on their end. We it it it it actually brings it more in alignment with our current policy. Well, an example, if they had, say there was an intern and they did something uh for sexual orientation and someone wanted to, you know, put a grievance on it or or go further and it's an intern. So, they're at our campuses. So, this [clears throat] would protect our our campuses because we could follow our policy. So, it's just basically it they took out sexual orientation, which is fine. They can take it out. it it was in, they took it out, but just protecting if there's an intern that went against that. And >> I just don't understand. This is their language. They're

089removing it from their language. There's no contradiction or or or issue from our policy side in this discussion. We don't [clears throat] have that language in our policies to begin with. All we're approving here is they want to remove that from the language they provided. We didn't provide that to them. So, we're already by by actually removing that, it's more in alignment with what our discrimination policy states, >> but it's in the other contracts for every other university that we've had. So, that that's me. So, every other contract that I've been reading, so today you'll see it. It's in it. It is in it. It's in the other ones. It was in this one originally and then it was removed. So that's >> but we're still covered regardless. This is an agreement. So it's not

090theirs and that this is a they may provide this language. They're asking for us when we sign it. It becomes ours. So what I'm saying is my point is that you know if you have an agreement that differs from other organizations agreements that can cause confusion and we have a situation that they are specifically removing it where we can say no this is our a belief because it's different when students leave our campus or underneath a a this is an so part of when we are educating we educate all children regardless of sex sexual orientation. That's part of what we are constitutionally required to do beyond the ethos of [clears throat] it. This is a different layer of relationship. It is not a student in our public schools. This is more akin to an employment

091relationship and therefore we should ensure that it's matching um across the board those other employmentus that we have with these organizations. Can I please speak? When we go to a vote, I I want a solution. What What is it that y'all want to see? >> And then do we even have the votes? Cuz here we are again. There's four of us. >> Well, I don't believe we're supposed to share that before the vote. >> We're here in the We're in the sunshine right now. So, we >> So, uh my concern is that they should return it. So, it is consistent among our otherUS and that's the form that I would accept and vote a uh a yes for um under this format where they're specifically removing that um federally protected class um in conjunction with

092Mr. Delaney's statements of I believe and I think so that our policies would supersede this does not fill me with confidence and therefore I would rather see it within the document. So we're going to provide to Miss Ready the copies that she's asked for of the previous umus. This specificou is um the area that that you are discussing is around um the agreement that neither parties will discriminate against an individual based on these listed categories. And Miss Readyddy, your request is that we go back and ask for sexual orientation to be added into that agreement is what you would want to see happen by this board. >> Yes. >> Anything else from for that you as a board? What I don't understand is why we're debating this because you're you're just saying that that that

093that is your unilateral request to to change that. I don't have a problem with it being removed if that's what their board wanted and it aligns with our existing policies that our discrimination policy. If it was in conflict with our discrimination policies as a board, then I would say yes, then let's make this issue. I don't know why we're wasting board's time with this conversation when it doesn't create a an issue or a problem. Um, this is a a memorandum of understanding is just that it is between two parties. It has nothing to do with a memorandum of understanding with a different entity. They don't there are there are we we have other memorandums of understanding with other organizations that that are not in the same language as this or or the other one. So

094my point is is that why are we going to go through all this over something that has no impact on the situation or the ML? So I've very clearly stated my [clears throat] position and why and I'm sorry that you are unable to understand that but in my view the small things add up to large things and if you're not willing to stand for um something that doesn't align with your ethos however small then you're willing to be pushed over when the big things do come. >> Okay. All right. And I I'll just add just for the record, right, that remembering when it comes to non-discrimination, protected classes, not not protected classes, any of those things, we can't discriminate. And even if it's listed or not listed, >> exactly. >> If it is in violation

095or federal and state, and someone were to bring that claim against, then we would have to prove that we have not been in violation of any of those things. So if it's whatever is listed like if we just take out age cuz age is one that we can all agree and mean it's common that people know even if it's not listed there we cannot discriminate against someone based on their age and if we do then someone will bring litigation against us um regarding that. >> Okay. >> All right. >> I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> Uh real quick Matt just make a point of clarification. Um, so we were saying it and sometimes we were referencing sex or gender or sexual orientation. Uh, just to be clear, and everybody might know this, but I just want

096to be sure, sexual orientation is not in everyou that we that we have signed. We have a lot ofus where sexual orientation is not referenced. >> Yeah, that's that's the point I was trying to make. >> Particular phrase. Mhm. And I would like to see like what are the dates of those and and I guess what to me is as I said before it's particularly unsavory that they're it was approved which went months and weeks to get to that level and now they've specifically taken out which rises to a level of concern. What happened right why would they do that? Are our students going to be safe under thisou? >> Yes. Okay. 9.02 West Coast University. [snorts] >> So for 9.02, it's a new agreement. Specifically, this would be for speech language pathologists would be

097those who would be interning and working with us. >> Any questions on this one? Then we have Grand Canyon University. Surprised we don't already have it. Or is this just a renewal? I think it's specific for speech language and that's maybe why because I do remember Grand Canyon from last year. [clears throat] I could be wrong. [snorts] one question for when they are utilizing our logos or you know for marketing material and I believe there's another program that did something similar would we be just verifying it prior to them putting it out there for their >> so anytime they would be using our >> I assume I just want to make Yeah. So you guys just kind of check it and say, "Oh, >> and if for whatever reason we became aware of something, it's

098like, hey, that doesn't [clears throat] look quite right." We would talk to our partners to get it adjusted and in line with our expectations. >> No, thank you. >> Okay, we'll go on to 9.04 Advent Health Project Search. >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon, board chair, superintendent Moore. I [clears throat] am here on behalf of Dr. Holidayiday who's representing us at case right now um the council of administrators of special education so she is away doing that um we have threeus to come before you you have seen all of theseus these are just renewals um the first one is for project search uh with advent health palm coast um and this provides uh transition services and employment opportunities for our students who've deferred their uh diplomas uh who have uh disabilities We've had this in

099place since about 2018. >> How have the um outcomes um been with this particular partner here um in terms of those uh employment opportunities? Do we have any data on that? Um and is that comparable to expectations or the goals we hope we were hoping for? I would have to bring the data um back to you, but I do know that we've had we were just at the graduation. I do believe there was one employment from [snorts] that our particular graduation this year, but I'd have to look at um Do you mean particular employment with Athen Health following [cough] >> or with or just or anywhere? No, with the under the limitations of the services within theou my [snorts] understanding and again [clears throat] legal counsel would probably help that essentially they're are supposed to

100help prepare individuals for uh roles that they would qualify for. Um, and so I'm looking for what is their overall success rate or percentage and essentially is thisou serving the goals that we had hoped to it would. >> Okay. >> And we can get that data, but I'm going to say that the answer is definitely going to be yes once we see the the um specifics of the number of students that are successfully completing um this program. Um, I think Dr. Orion was asking because she wanted to make sure that you were not asking what was the um uh rate of students that are getting employment specifically with Advent Health. You're just asking the completion for this program. >> Well, if the goal of thisou is that they are employed, those who are interested in

101these roles because not every student is going to be interested. um whether it's with Advent or someone else, are we attaining a you know a a level of uh placement? What is our goal? Are we saying 50%, 75%? What what happens? Right? What is the what's the goal here? Um and it had looked in in thisou that they would provide some of that skills training. Are we satisfied with that skills training? How is that being evaluated? We definitely can bring that um back for project search um in general with that data. >> And I was at the graduation and it it was pretty great. And I believe from talking to the the kid or adults, you know, um young adults, they um and then they had almost like a mentor that that was working with

102them at Advent, but it was more of a pilot. So, I would like to see I'm sure they're coming up with something like Okay, I know there's only 12 that they're going to accept. >> Uh, one I know for sure in the room was already working and he he's you know, he was thrilled like it was pretty awesome. But knowing I know like this could grow and get even bigger you know c can they handle more than 12 you know eventually you know as we see that happening and then um goals I think would be good but I know it was a pilot so I feel like more is to come but that would be nice to continue with this and the partnership obviously but it was great so I was very pleased with with

103that little celebration >> we definitely can bring the data back for this program and and others like Any other questions on Atlas and MOU? >> All right. Um and so we're bringing this back to you for year two. We currently partner with Atlas Academy to expand our continuum of ESSE services. Um this allows allows us to place a student at Atlas Academy that has really complex needs um that may need to be served um outside of a public school setting. Um we do currently have one student placed at Atlas. Um and as a reminder, our FTE that that we get for that student does cover the tuition. Um there is one exception to that and that is if we need to add on um additional [clears throat] behavior services, it might go above and beyond

104um what we are reimbursed for that student and we budget that through uh IDA to cover those overages. >> So their tuition at Atlas is [cough] $15,000. Um, is that the same as it was last year or was there an increase? >> I believe that's the same as last year. Yeah. >> Okay. And last year was the first year that we worked with this group, right? And so, um, have we done any site visits? Um, any feedback from that program or from the students or parents who guardians who are involved in that? >> Yeah. Uh, our student has has had good attendance. Um, I I know Dr. Holidayiday has visited. I have not had a site visit there. Um but we have we've had we've had great uh communication back and forth as we we

105still maintain the burden of uh fate while a student is placed there. So there's certainly uh communication through the IEP meetings and with Dr. Holidayiday. >> Okay. U my last question is um it states that if we do not provide transportation, we can use their transportation which is $1,800. That's per student no matter if the number of students they pick up. like if they if there's centralized pickup or >> That's a great question. Um >> it's per student. >> I would think it was per student. >> It is. >> Um if we start to see larger numbers, I would like to perhaps explore having a discount for additional students that can ride the same vehicle if that makes sense. >> We do still have parent drop off for this so we haven't incurred. >> Yeah.

106[clears throat] Okay. And you said we have one student there now and see and I know this this program it's not going to be I mean hopefully not used that often. Um and then with cost I know it goes through but the last one I know there was a significant cost and I know Dr. Holiday is not here but if we say we have more students like five or 10 which you know I'm grateful that we have this facility because we don't have anything local. What happens though if the cost is not covered like for that one student it was a couple budget um budget sheets ago that I mean it was about $50,000 because insurance it was like an insurance thing and so I'm just wondering like do we have a plan if we

107were to have multiple students and they had same similar medical situations how will we be able to budget for that? Do we have a plan? So, we would we would consider if that is a a placement or a part of our continuum that we would need to offer here and what that what that would cost. And we are in that process right now. We do have um a few students who um would may be able to benefit from that similar type of a placement, but it's how do we serve in particular those behavioral needs? Is that bringing on another um behavior specialist that's trained in that specific area, a behavior analyst? Um and so we're we are having those discussions uh right now on what that would look like if we were to serve um

108those students here. >> Good. Yeah. Thank you. No, that's good to have just to plan because you know and um I'm glad I'm grateful that we have something >> and hopefully we don't have to use it too often, but if we have it, I just want to make sure we're ready for the potential cost. >> Yeah. Well, to clarify, we do have an EBD program >> y already. This is these are for students who are going to that beyond that beyond that. >> So if we happen to have more students that are not a good fit for our program, >> what threshold do we hit before we say we need to build this in house? Right. >> Yeah. Just fin because the last student I mean it was pretty significant the cost >> but I

109also want them to be taken care of. >> So >> we just I just want to make sure we have a plan and so thank you. It sounds like you are working on that. So appreciate it. >> That was my only question. >> Good question. >> All right. Sure. 9.06 UF. Okay. So this is a another uh continuing uh partnership with the University [clears throat] of Florida and Fiddlers and they are providing uh comprehensive evaluations for us um in in the place of psychologists. Um this particular has afforded us two comprehensive evaluations per month um over this past year for our most involved prek uh ESSE students. It sounds too good to be true to be honest. And so uh which I'm very excited about. Do we have any idea how many um I mean

110like numbers? So they've done two. So could they potentially >> they do two? They've done >> they will do two per month. >> That's the kind of the schedule or the cadence that we have set up with [clears throat] this right now that they're able to offer at uh at no cost. >> That's great. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Any others? Thank you, Dr. Brian. >> Mr. Smith, >> thank you. >> 01 human resources approval of updated board of school retirey benefit consortium agreement with Mr. Walker. Good afternoon board. So in front of you today is a continuation with some slight adjustments for the Florida School Retirey Benefits Consortium. It's uh we refer to as the FSRBC. Essentially what this is is this is the organization that we partner with for

111our retirees who hit the age of 65 and over. um they have information that they then are able to uh give them options for Medicare supplement plans, dental, vision at either uh at the same level or better than what they had as active employees. So you'll see the adjustments that they have sent to us is in regards to the makeup of their board as well as an inclusion regarding social security number information. Um just like we do with our current medical carriers, vision, dental, and medical, they have access to those forms or those that uh secure data information. um this is being captured in this agreement. Any information that is shared with the FSR uh RBC is shared through an SFTP in a secured fashion uh with only those uh individuals that are required to

112have it. So that is what is before you today. On section 10, they've removed the requirement that the um if needed um the um financial documents are prepared by a certified public accountant. >> Why would why wouldn't we want that to be prepared by somebody with the knowledge and skills for a formal financial report? So in my experience, we we are not paying anything into this. So this there is nothing that we as a district are paying into. This is essentially working with them. They are able to send information to retirees and go forward with that. um I can get some additional information in regards to that specific question in advance of the June business meeting just to kind of >> currently so if it's not a CPA it would be Patty and her team

113or this is a this is a consortium made up of the board of a separate entity for instance Duval County Schools is a part of it no this is not under our fiscal responsibility >> okay I see so this same document is being provided to all of these different boards s to approve. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> And this has been um a bit of a process with them. They've sent it to us a little bit ago and this now is before you. >> Huh. >> That is interesting though. Then who if they're not going to have an accountant, >> right? And then >> you can have an accountant draw up your information and work with you through these processes. like they don't have to utilize this. [cough and clears throat] Our our retirees absolutely

114do not have to utilize this service. This is a service that is available to them if they so choose. >> And if they do choose to, then they need to understand that language around the fiscal responsibility. But many of our retirees don't utilize it at all. >> Don't utilize this service. They just use utilize their own accountant or financial advisor that is helping them to find resources maybe that are out. >> Oh, I wasn't I was interpreting that it's not that they would provide a CPA for the individual for the employee. This is when they have their annual reviews and their on the funds that they've been managing. Shouldn't that be just like us? we just paid over 17 grand for a CPA, right? Wouldn't they have to do the same thing? >> I can

115give further clarification on why they felt the need to make that adjustment, share it to the board. Um, but at the end of the day, I believe it's those are the funds that that organization is bringing in. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? All right. 10.02 02 insurance broker agreement amendment. >> Okay. Um board, we've had the discussion throughout the year regarding insurance. Our current agreement with Brian and Brown ended as of January 1st of this year. This just uh kind of puts it codifies the month-to-month agreement as we go through the RFP process for a new broker agreement. >> Are they charging us extra to go monthtomonth? >> No, it's the same what we pay like on a quarterly basis. It's the same amount. >> They kept it level. Where are we

116in that RFP process? >> Um, so this week it goes to the committee for uh scoring. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Okay. Personal items in 10.03. >> This is our monthly personnel items. I'm available to answer any questions you may have regarding this. >> So obviously this is a big transition time. Um, how are we comparing to previous years in the um, uh, retention of staff? >> I I hate I don't really have any wood or anything to knock, but I think we're in pretty good. >> Pretend this is real wood. >> Yes. So, we [laughter] are in a pretty good spot. Um, as we look to continuously be fiscally uh conservative and responsible with our staffing through normal attrition, folks deciding to move on, whether it be through retirement or just other opportunities, we've

117been able to use and adjust our existing staffing to fit the needs of the district while not having to restrict and say, "Hey, goodbye. Thank you so much." We are very lucky with our district compared to some of our neighboring districts to not have to forcibly show folks the door as it relates to consolidating our staffing. Um, as we head into the summer, I'm feeling pretty good and our team is feeling pretty good about being able to post our vacancies, attain uh qualified applicants, and go through that process. Uh, so we'll see as we get towards the the heat of the summer and towards the end because we always get those last minute surprises, folks that are job hunting right now and then after 4th of July they go, "Oh yeah, and by the way,

118I'm not coming back." So that'll be our true indicator is right now we feel like we're getting ourselves put in a really good spot. Uh, but we'll see as we get closer to crunch time. >> Yeah, we have a couple hard to fill um positions like science. I know that there are I think two science um related positions at um Matanzis High School um that need to be filled, but overall our schools are in a really really good place. As a district, we're in a um good place. Of course, you know, we always monitor those hard to feel um positions a little bit um closely, but retention wise um and attrition wise for our staffing, we're we're in a really good really good place. >> Great. even down to our um um non-instructional staff. >>

119Great. >> So, we are going to Thank you, Mr. Walker. 17.01, Mr. Dwlet, the um milk and dairy bid. >> And Mr. Baker, >> did we miss? Oh, that sorry [laughter] I forgot to look at my update. >> And we really should have had Mr. Walker stay and do eight, but it's okay. Just get them to come closer so that you're ready to go when they're finished. >> Good afternoon, Chair Chong, Vice Chair Furry, members of the board, and Superintendent Moore. Um, a little bit of background for this. Um, the district currently purchases our milk and dairy products under the terms of a Putnham County Schools RFP. Um, it's coded 5540072415. Um, the district recently issued an invitation to bid uh coded invitation to bid number 26-04 for milk and dairy products to establish a

120new contract with a milk and dairy supplier. Uh, the district was able to identify a responsive and responsible supplier through a competitive solicitation to ensure maximum fiscal value. After ensuring that biders satisfied all requirements in the ITB document as well as federal, state, and local law, uh the lowest average cost across all requested products was the sole factor used to determine the vendor recommended for award. DFA Dairy Brands Fluid LLC had the lowest average cost along with notable savings on our items with the most usage um such as 8 oz cartons of milk when compared to other biders. We anticipate that partnering with the recommended vendor will bring significant savings annually and over the course of the contract. This agreement will have an initial term of three years starting July 1st, 2026 and running through

121June 30th, 2029 with two additional one-year renewal terms. Uh, we recommend the board approve the award and contract with DFA Dairy Brands Fluid LLC for the provision of milk and dairy products under invitation to bid number 26-04. Uh, do you have any questions? >> I have a question. Um, when you say significant savings, what what does that uh translate into? >> Quick math. Uh, >> just a rough estimate. >> We're doing about two and a half cents a carton less. um 500,000. So that >> Yeah. So the and is there any any cost in the transition for us? Is it is it seamless? >> It's seamless. >> Okay, that's fantastic. >> Yeah, that's huge. Yeah. >> And and and to be clear, the DFA Dairy Brands is TG Link. That is their parent company name.

122>> Is that local like Florida? >> Jacksonville. >> They're headquartered out of uh the milk district of Orlando and Winter Park. and then uh their distribution plans out of Jacksonville. >> I think that's part of our savings is our current vendor at a substantially higher cost. They're coming all the way from Tampa. You mentioned a diesel earlier. They have to factor that in. So, >> and they're not getting other distribution points along the way between >> they have to come in the truck, the cooler truck. Yep. That's where the savings. >> And there's nothing in here like in, for example, let's say that something happens to gas prices again. It goes to six bucks a gallon. There's nothing that uh allows them to do a offset or a fee. I've seen this a lot in

123many industries, right? Even in airlines where they're doing they'll list the price of the ticket but then in when you go to check out they're adding >> an offset fee. >> You know and I just like to add it's it's interesting to see how such a change just in location of distribution can impact the amount we're spending significantly. I I'm thinking that do do we already take that into account when we're measuring uh vendors because I'm thinking about you know commodity prices they're always fluctuating and and fuel is the one that often translates right back into our general fund but it's our general fund but um [clears throat] I it in in in a in a long-term relationship right uh when these things happen if they're closer to us they may not be impacted So,

124we're not may not be realizing the impact of something uh uh you know, a a macro um uh economic event um now, but we might in the future. So, the fact that they're closer maybe in in the adjustments going forward, we may not get hit. So, I it might just be another measure we might take into consideration, you know, just based on what we've been seeing over the last, you know, especially since co, you know, >> I'll I'll defer to you real quick and then have a comment on that as well. >> Yeah. Firstly, to answer your question, Miss Readyddy, um this one does not have a fuel search charge clause in it. Some of our agreements do have a fuel search charge. If gas hits a certain dollar amount, then they charge us a

125great >> So, they cannot do that. >> No, but we do adjust the pricing on this uh as milk prices fluctuate, we're required to do >> because the milk prices are set by the federal government, right? Okay. >> Yeah. Um location is something uh that not in any I've done yet. we have factored but it definitely would be something to look at going forward. >> Yeah. I mean it would just seem proof positive right here and that seem I mean I don't have I don't know if it's matter of fact but it appears that that is the transportation distance makes a big difference in their bottom line and the ultimate price they charge us. Oh, okay. >> It does. The only ones I've seen in ones that I've done so far are we have requirements

126on how fast vendors have to be able to respond, how close their immediate location is in the event of an emergency for contractors and stuff. >> Um, but that could be something we look at for future solicitation. >> Well, well done on finding that savings. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. 18.01 01 special leave application. Mr. Walker, >> threes are good luck, right? Okay. So, in front of you guys today is a special application for leave for an employee who over the past two years has had anou between the district and the Florida Educators Association um to be away from our job site uh to work for uh FEA. Um, so this year instead of going out of anou, they are asking to or she is asking specifically uh to just take a one-year

127unpaid leave of absence. Uh, because she would be getting uh compensation from another organization during this leave is why it has to be its own special item in front of the board. Uh, we've done this similarly in the past when [clears throat] we've had educators go overseas to do uh certain special projects and set those up. So, >> and already it's within our policies that somebody can take a leave of absence. They could receive payment. They just can't take, let's say, another educator role somewhere else or else that's considered, you know, parting, not really leave of absence. >> So, anytime they would receive uh compensation while trying to be on unpaid leave from us, it has to come before the board as a special item. Oh, even if it's not in a similar role. >>

128Correct. >> Okay. But this is not a similar rule to what she has. >> Correct. It is not. >> Right. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Thank you, Mr. Walker. We'll go back to our board policy updates with Mr. San. >> Good afternoon. >> How's everyone doing this fine, fabulous afternoon? >> Great to be with you. >> Yes. I have before you there's 10 individual policies but it's basically five policies because there's some repeated based on positions. Uh same process as always we go through these pro uh policies real quickly tell you just for your information and for um sake of community these are the last policies for this group that we're working on. After we finish today they'll come back before you for June 23rd I believe it is and then

129for a request for permission to advertise. That's where we currently are because it is June and in July Neola releases their next bunch of policies. So we'll have another group in July to be discussing from there. So to begin we can start right in if you want to start with uh 1124 3124 and 4124 >> which is drug workplace. >> Um I have some questions on this one just generally. Um, so when somebody applies, we across the board, if we're going to [clears throat] hire them, send them for a drug test. >> Yes. >> And we pay for that drug test. >> Yes. So for uh non DOT drug screens, they all go through the marathon, the wellness center through flag schools, >> and it's a pass through to the district, >> which has saved

130us money. Correct. >> Yes. It used to be uh before the wellness center, new hires were paying like $35 a pop before they would even, you know, come through the doors. And now it's a faster. >> So, didn't they take much longer? Do we get it back faster now? >> We get it back a lot faster now through the wellness center. We get usually same day results if it's a non-positive. >> Okay. Um on all of these under the disciplinary sanctions, it removed um that the statement saying disciplinary action may be instituted against an employes violated this policy blah blah blah blah instead saying on first offense or was that also there before? I I see what's being asked to be removed, but I'm not sure if the highlights came through [clears throat] on what

131was additive. Um and my question there is it says on first offense based upon mitigating circumstances you know there could be a lot you know hey does somebody their prescription is interfering you know other things [clears throat] but I guess my concern with is sometimes that could create a lot of um you know things are not black and white right and then it could make it seem like we're favoring an individual over another right so Why is it ridd and instead disciplinary action may be instituted unless barring superintendent approved mitigating circumstances falling within our policy or or um SOPs or I think that's kind of where we were trying to get to with it because the initial language where it says who the board believes will not be assisted by rehabilitation that was even grayer

132that is how do I understand exactly so we put in mitigating circumstances and under the purview of the superintendent's direction. That would be where we would go and go, you know, Miss Moore, these are the facts that we have at this time. Uh we can go this route and this allows us to to take that into consideration um as an administrative team >> and we're not making the determination on if if Joshua would be uh >> suited >> exactly suited for rehabilitation or or what? What do you think uh [clears throat] on on that where it says based upon mitigating circumstances should we have some predefined mitigating circumstances? So it does not if this were to actually come across the superintendent's table or Mr. Walker's table seem like we're favoring one individual over another and

133get ourselves into a pickle. Um, I'm I'm happy to answer your uh [clears throat] question and I definitely have a response for you. Um, but I would defer to your to your council um for his opinion on that. >> Okay. >> Well, thank you. having um broad discretion to interpret mitigating circ circumstances does raise the concern that um different individuals would be treated differently. So my recommendation would be to have a very narrow set of potentially mitigating circumstances and make an effort to define those. Um, so there would not be a broad amount of discretion that could be applied because I think that could lead to um different outcomes which would be characterized as unfair outcomes. >> That's where I'm leaning as well. >> Okay. So, we will draft we can draft Yeah, we will

134draft up some things between the um two and we'll bring back for you. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. That's something to think about. I mean, because when we all got elected, we had to do a drug test, right? Like, but what if you had an elected official that tested positive? What do you do? You know, >> should we have I did wonder why that was not done before we were like now. >> Yeah. But but I but you you have to be I would I don't know what the state statute on that, but I guess you could could you not just not be an employee of the district and not get paid? I mean, I I mean, I I don't know what the consequence is. >> Well, my understanding was that, you know, we

135were all nice in complying with that, but that >> they didn't have to. >> They don't have to, and it is up to the fine people to determine our fitness. >> Well, no one's got anything to hide up here. [laughter] >> So, yeah, but that's an interesting point that you bring up. I think that's more of a state level, >> but I will tell you that we have had um employees to um have I'm going to say false positive because I don't I don't know that that's the accurate term, but um that we've had to work with to your example around um specific medication and such that we've had to work with them um and their medical doctors for any justification related to that. If those individuals aren't able to produce that, then we would

136move towards termination if appropriate. >> And do we have certain thresholds like um and I'm ignorant to this, but you know, I've seen like if you go to uh particular uh liquor stores, >> they have a substance that says like it says THC on the can. Well, I'm like that's supposed to be illegal, right? Unless it's medical. So if somebody were to take that, [snorts] what is the threshold? How do we ensure that it's not something that is clearly approved by the state, which was news to me. See what I'm saying? >> Yeah. They they test it for a level of like cannabonoids, right, for for THC and things like that. And I would imagine I'm not an expert here by any means. >> They give us positive. >> We see positive or negative. >>

137They're going to say >> in the event in the event we have a non- negative, right, where it says like, "Hey, there could be something in here." Then it goes to a medical review officer who then looks at it and goes, "Okay, these are the levels." They reach out to the person and go, "Hey, you got POP 4X. Do you want to know, oh, I'm taking these prescriptions here?" You go, "Okay." And then they sign off going, "Yep, this is valid. They're good to continue or no, there's no valid reason for X to be positive." >> So, we do have a secondary to ensure that we're not. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Beautiful. >> Thanks. around 3124 or 412 >> 1124 3124 and 4124 all the same drug for the workplace that's the information we can

138jump that yeah we keep moving >> I'm going to jump to 1139 uh educator misconduct this is the conversation we've been having about trespassing >> uh so there was some language language that was added but the superintendent shall develop and implement procedures governing employee related trespass determinations >> uh that's the addition that has been >> placed based upon our previous workshop. >> Yes. >> Any questions? >> I I just feel that that doesn't like that already happens, right? It's not narrowing or making definitive those two scenarios that we had I had clearly outlined in in that workshop. Um this is that it may or may not be and or doesn't clearly [clears throat] state hey if you were if you resigned in lie of termination due to you could even list that legislative that that

139bill um it it it seems very light to me. I I don't know the rest of the board >> and we can go back and look but I thought that's where we landed with language to say that we would develop [clears throat] um procedures um and if we have missed the mark on that that that's fine and we can go back and uh ensure that we have the correct um we have the correct language to your point Miss Ruddy if an individual resigns in lie of or attempts to resign um in the midst of an investigation. We will continue with that investigation and move towards termination at towards and we are upfront with that individual to to say that once we've concluded we do not give an individual an opportunity to resign in lie of

140termination related to offenses um against our our students. Um >> so if it has come that you know um you have physically abused one of our students we would not give an individual an opportunity to say can I resign in lie of termination our response is no we are moving forward >> well there was a record that came to my attention which is publicly available that it's when you look it up it says resigned in lie of termination and then you know through conversations with our HR department, the circumstances around that were that the officers or the investigation did not yield enough evidence to prosecute. So, I don't know if that would that's where it kind of fell out in that it doesn't list um through the DOE on the document that it says terminated

141even though we finished that particular investigation. And that's what um you know to me a little uh you know I want to give you the ability to develop that pro policy and how that's going to be executed but some clarity around you violate this particular statute whether or not there's enough to hold you criminally liable. you know, we uh will pursue trespass uh um >> whatever it may be against you. >> Let us um so what can we add because I I will say that that particular case that you're referencing that I believe that you're referencing was prior to my leadership and this this board's um leadership. And so we want to make sure that we've codified in writing what the expectations are and [clears throat] what we are currently doing. So is there any

142guidance that you as a board can give us to what we should add here? >> Yeah. >> To make this a little bit clearer. Um um any employee um who essentially we can classify those areas will be subject to the policies that the superintendent has determined around trespass. So, uh any employee who has been um terminated due to uh um uh investigations around and you can list the the bill numbers which escape me right now then which is about you know sexual conduct and power against a student whether they're 18 or older inappropriate relationships that th those situations will be um trespassed even past your employment with this the district. I would have to s sit down and write it to make it smooth, but essentially that's >> So um you're asking that uh specific

143[laughter] offenses or statutes um are listed here as far as like um the ones that you contributing to delinquency of a of a minor um something related to and I they're escaping me as well. you you would like to see specific offenses listed here as you will and not >> well maybe we could say for example so that we're not limited um to your point um but something in there that I don't want somebody to say hey you know what the sheriff's office didn't pursue it so you don't have the right what we want to say is essentially we are going to ensure who are ultimate um uh go beyond a minimum expectation to uh uh provide a safe environment for our students. So whether or not criminal investigation or criminal uh you're found criminally

144liable, we may choose to continue to trespass you even without those criminal charges being present. >> Can we though? >> But yes, we have a question for uh Mr. Delaney. >> Well, yeah, I was listening on that. Attorney Delaney. Um, hearing Miss Ruddy's request here in in for language change here, does but not so much the words, but the spirit of what she's seeking to accomplish through this additional language. Does the the way it's written right now allow for everything that she requested to have this policy enforce as it's written now? or does it need additional language to accomplish that? I would recommend putting some additional language in there and I want to make sure that we're capturing the trend of the discussion. I if I'm understanding correctly, conduct that did not support a criminal

145prosecution but did support termination by the district would be the triggering event for the trespass. Do I have that right? Exactly. That's and that's why he's got the lawyer credentials. There you go. >> So, you want to see the termination language, >> something around that, right? [clears throat] Exactly what he said. Even though it didn't meet the requirements for a criminal charge, we um we h hold a higher standard and may trespass you. And I think something like obviously you may need to word smith it but that I think from my perspective is what the community was looking for from just you know the conversations that I have had with you know parents or teachers [clears throat] or students that they were looking for something like that. So if we can So I would misunderstood

146what you were stating earlier but but um but because I I too you know we all hear the different things but I think that would would do what every like community members and teachers may be looking for >> and what we've tried to do and I I don't u want to speak for um you Mr. uh Smith, Attorney Smith, but remembering that these uh policies, you're going to see the same language in multiple areas. And so, um we tried to make it uniform as are your other policies. So, what is the language that we can capture it in all? And so, this language may be appropriate for our visitors and volunteers, but adding the termination language specifically for under our educator misconduct Yeah. >> Or or if putting like if applicable like it's not always

147volunteer >> but not they're not getting terminated but if we stated in there so putting like if applicable like you know if if they're in that >> to so it can right >> my suggestion is that on certain language things that we defer to the attorneys to put the right words in there. Hopefully, they're hearing the spirit of our request and our conversation that we can accomplish it through the legal the required legal language that keeps us in compliance. >> Real briefly, this was something that we had a discussion about after the last meeting, but I think that we were thinking that we would just uh operationalize that through procedures that we developed, you know, uh as referenced in the language. Um, however, I I completely concur with the wisdom um behind um the fact

148that what binds the state attorney's office or the criminal prosecution does not necessarily bind us. That's not just in light of the fact that about 98 to 99% of all cases in the criminal realm are uh subject to compromise because they're negotiated on a plea. um this isn't something that would be negotiated in that way. We would negotiate the private interests versus the safety overwhelm, you know, the very powerful uh safety considerations uh with which we contend here. You know, those two things along with the with the risk um of of um uh uh depriving the the person of the that property right of you know coming onto the campus or whatever. So uh you know because that's dictated by the court. I think the the I I'm hesitant about developing a triggering mechanism because

149it would limit our ability only in that circumstance wherein we have that ability all the time. So I there's cases wherein someone is prosecuted and then we want to trespass them from from the property for circumstances that would that are overlapped by the criminal prosecution but are not identical at all. and the evidence that we can rely upon is not as limited as that which is deemed appropriate for a court, you know, and is priv is part of that conversation. Our our um our breadth is wider, which is which is good. Um and uh I wouldn't want to I wouldn't want to limit us to just certain circumstances. I'd want to keep that, but [clears throat] I I can turn that into a sentence or two >> to embody that wisdom that the board is

150giving to us and I'm happy to do it. Yeah. And probably should have done it before, >> you know, because we did discuss that. >> It's easier to crit. >> Marcus told me to do [laughter] it. Nice try. >> Great. >> Okay. Okay. So, we're going to skip um 1139.01 as well because that will be the same language that we'll adjust that language for that. So, we could jump to 226102. This is all statutory language that came through >> um from Neiola for that. >> I love the spreadsheet by the way. >> Thank you. >> And then 9160 part of our [snorts] last conversation uh with David Bosard. He realized that there was a component we could add to strengthen this policy. Uh if you look at the last sentence on 9160 that was added

151about again starting about trespassing the people that are already at the event and we originally talked about adding that language to 9160 originally but felt it was better appropriate in the discipline side of it. So then we came back to this with this language here for person >> I noticed that cuz I thought maybe that was the new language but yeah no it makes sense. All right. So, move forward with what we have and then come back to you with the additional language. >> Thank you. >> So, we will come back at 1:00 because we have a few um edits and then we will come back at 6:00, but the purpose of 6:00 is for advertisement, not for your approval. Is >> um we're going to be requesting approval to advertise. Correct. >> Thank you

152very much. I believe that's everything. So, we'll go on to public comments. >> Board member request from me. We have a hefty list, so I'll give you some time to catch up. >> Yes, [laughter] >> I do have some empathy. >> Thank you. >> It's the first time. >> All right. closing comments. >> So, I just want to celebrate a lot of several of the highlights that we've had across all of our communities and schools. So, congratulations to our Flaggler Palm Coast High School and Matanis High School. The graduation, it was great. A long day, but it was amazing. Lots of smiles, very exciting for everybody. And uh there were so many teachers that are not some of them not required to even attend and they were there and they made sure to see their

153students walk that stage. So it was pretty great. Uh had the opportunity to attend the African-American mentorship program celebration. I haven't had a chance in the past. So it was great. It was uh really great. So this [clears throat] is a really good reminder of the mentorship and encouragement and community support for all of our students. So again, I'm always focused on more mentorship. So if you are someone looking to volunteer and assist uh with students, encourage encouraging them. African-American mentorship, that's one of very many that our schools are partnered with. So thank you to everyone. It was great to be there. Uh kickball, did we talk I don't think we've talked about the kickball tournament. Um I was uh a part of the championship team um of our SRDs. It was great. Uh it

154was so fun. So thank you for district staff for putting that together. The food, the music, uh the prizes that were given out. So it was amazing. So I highly encourage everyone to do that every year. Uh Flagler Playhouse, they have plays every year. And if you have not been to one, even if you don't like plays, it is so fun. Uh this year was my most favorite. Lion King. >> You're talking specifically the penguin project. the Penguin Project focused like they usually do it at the Flagler Playhouse. So in Benell Elementary, the past two years have been letting them do their plays. Amazing opportunity for our students. So if you have a student uh with any type of exceptionality and they love theater or they don't, I highly recommend joining. You could also be

155a mentor. So um both my nieces were in it and it was it was amazing. So uh great job to Miss Jerry Barry and thank you Benell Elementary. And then I wanted to share so I was recently appointed uh by the president of Florida's schoolboard association to serve as the co-chair for the know and grow committee. So I'm very excited. Um I'll be going to the leadership development for school board [clears throat] members across the state. And the best part is FSBA will be covering my expenses. So no need for um requesting a budget for that. But that will be in August. So, I'm excited for this um leadership and development for our helping uh fellow schoolboard members. And then Miss Ready and I, we're going to be going to the FSBA conference uh right

156after this. So, thank you to community for allowing us to be a part of that organization. And so, this week we're going to be focusing on like school safety. So, the agenda school safety, student achievement, workforce readiness, legislative updates, school finance, and then best practices from different school boards um just across the state of Florida. So looking forward to seeing what we can bring back and thank you very much for all the updates and hope everyone has a good week. Great. Uh yeah, very much looking forward to FSBA. They uh the the people who organized that really put on a really robust professional development networking. It provides a great [clears throat] opportunity for us to share ideas uh across districts in the state and take the best of what's working. Um, so I'm looking forward

157to that. Um, I will I do want to speak a little bit to some of the communications that I hear around vouchers in terms of uh the public saying, well, if that's what parents choose, then, you know, why is it affecting schools? Why are we crying about it all the time? Um, you know, we're not uh I'm not any way opposed to choice as long as you're informed. and the same rules apply. Those two items are still missing. And when people say, "Well, um, you know, you're it shouldn't affect you. They're just applying their money to other uh educational programs." That that is not the case. So, for example, today we had uh to spend money on uh $60,000 for HBAC, which is actually just small. We've spent well almost a million dollars I think

158at HVAC's for uh FPC in the past. So when we have fewer students and we have those type of capital improvements that need to be made then that means less money per student can be used for educational purposes because every student's essentially aotment needs to be um larger in order to support those uh improvements. Think about our SRD officers. We don't have a ratio of SRD officers per students. We have a minimum of one on campus. The smaller the student body, the more that that individual students um uh state contribution is going to pay for that salary. And when we look at what the school districts have been uh given from the state over the last 10 years, there are folks who are saying, "Well, look, you've gone from being receiving 220 million to 300

159million and saying, well, you must be mismanaging those funds." If you look between the last 10 years what that increase is and look at the increase from health care health care it that rate has gone up um 10 to 20% every year. Our uh just our electricity in our homes over the last 10 years has gone up uh over 100%. Water over 100%. So, a 25% increase in what we've been provided in funding is not keeping pace over that 10 same 10-year period [clears throat] for our largest buckets of costs. uh even to consider when we purchase um materials, paint, uh hammers, equipment in order to update or maintain our properties that has gone [clears throat] up because of tariffs. um the last quarter of this past school year, the tremendous amount of diesel fuel,

160which was a completely unexpected cost, those things are impacting us. And so it's the same as if you have a job where your rent goes up by 30%. Uh your food bill goes up by 25% and your salary only goes up by 3%. That's not mismanagement of funds. that's not being given enough to have um and operate your household and that's where uh what we run into. But Flaggler has done an exceptional job in being the best choice uh for families and communicating that we are fiscally transparent. we are uh transparent with our academic performance uh which is not the case amongst all of the uh opportunities or opt options you have to educate your child. [clears throat] Um so make sure that you're informed about all of these intricacies and to uh Mr. Furry's

161previous comment regarding uh on the surface it can sound like great let's let's reduce property taxes but it doesn't mean that those fees go away and a lot of the fees that the are covered by different agencies that we do work with in the county may now need to say well Flaggler you now need to absorb that uh that's a large unknown and how that may impact us [clears throat] uh coming up and we shall see uh after November. Thank you. Yes. Uh I just want to highlight again um we had an amazing graduation day for Flagger Palm Coast. I'm a Kansas high school uh and plus many promotions uh throughout our district going into middle school, some moving on into high school. So we celebrate all those achievements. uh graduation is our main event

162where we [clears throat] send these scholars off to be the future leaders and people who will service within our community. You know, I'm uh I I am asked by some people sometimes um especially based on the makeup of our community uh on why they should care about education if they don't have kids in the school uh or grandkids. Well, you inherit the product that we put out and these are the future leaders. These are the people that are going to serve you in the hospital. They're going to serve you in the fire department. Um they're going to serve you at in hospitality. And guess what? We have career and technical certifications for all three of those things I just mentioned that you can leave here with a certification and start working right away. Um and

163I'm very pleased to hear that we have increased our participation um in our diploma plus initiative uh where we have gone for from about 42% of our graduating class to now this year 65% of our graduates left with something more than just a diploma. And I want to applaud our organization for pushing that initiative. And I'm I'm even more grateful for those that took advantage of it because it's going to pay dividends to you for many many many years to come. Um, [clears throat] and the uh I also was uh honored to uh celebrate the end of the year program with the uh AMP, which is the African-American mentorship program. They highlighted some amazing mentors and mentees and they're doing some amazing work out of there and producing outstanding uh young individuals and instilling great

164values in these kids. And um I I was just uh so moved by what has been accomplished this year, many years before. and they're also mentoring young ladies now in the last few years and that is growing and uh because of the uh generous donations from the the Guy family they've been able to now add another scholarship uh for uh the the the the female mentees so great things happening mentorship is one of the the the greatest things that you can do volunteering we also have take stock and children uh which is also supported by the Ed Foundation. So, I just call out to the community if you have extra time. Um, invest in a child's future by lending your time and uh I'll yield my time for that. >> I was going to say,

165Miss Ready, that was a great way to articulate the budget. So, thank you for that. It could, you know, it's difficult when you see attacks in the community and um you feel like the district, you've all have accomplished so much. You know, we want our schools to be a great place for our children to be at and a great place for our community. You could travel to other parts of this country and their school buses look like they're from 1960. You know what I mean? Like we're very blessed to have what we have and to be able to to give our children a great place to go to school and be number one. So, um yeah, just thank you guys. and um it's been a great couple weeks just being able to celebrate uh graduations

166and the African-American mentoring program to be at all these things and FTC and there's just so much going on and just very proud Flagler school. So, thank you. I hope everybody enjoys summer. >> It has been a great 25 26 school year. Uh the last time we were together, right, school was still um going on. But I agree, uh just a great year. Graduations are always a uh great reminder of the importance of the work that we're doing each and every day uh for our for our students and for this community. So while our students are at home and the majority of our staff are at home, we are doing lots of learning. We've had lots of professional learning happening over the last two weeks and will continue into the summer. Um many people think

167that you know students are home and therefore all of us are at home as well. That is not the case. Um many of us still here and working to prepare for the upcoming um school year. Families make sure your children are being active with their bodies but also active with their minds. uh reading you uh tutoring, all the things to help keep them um engaged as they go throughout this throughout the summer. And if you're wondering how many days until we start all over again, 62 days before we welcome our students back in for the 26 27 school year. And we're super excited to do that. We do hope our our staff that are out on summer um break that they have an opportunity to really rest and we're super proud. The next time we

168come together, well, no, I guess maybe two more times we'll start talking about school grades and district grades and really so excited to share with the public all the hard work that our educators have been up to all year long. So, thank you. I hope you guys have a great rest of your day. >> Thank you. This meeting is a journal.