Lake County School Board Workshop - December 15, 2025

001Good morning everyone. Welcome to the December 15th workshop. And for all those out there, four more days before winter break. Before we begin the work of the district, let us stand for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Do we have any public input? >> No. >> Okay, let's move right into the agenda. 3.01, Legislative Priorities. Mr. Stewart. Do we need to Oh, we're good. Okay. >> Good morning. >> Uh, Mr. Chairman, members, Mr. Cornnegie, thank you so much, uh, for having me today. Robert Stewart with Gay Robinson. Um on behalf of the whole firm uh and my team

002that works alongside you in Tallahassee, um thank you for your years of confidence and partnership and for the chance to be here today. Um Diane knows this. There was a there was about a 2 or three hour window last night where I didn't know that this was going to happen for me. I was stuck in Boston uh trying to get back from a trip with my wife and we were delayed for 4 hours, then we were cancelled, then we were rebooked and we finally made it home uh very very very early this morning. Um but thrilled to be with you today uh to go through uh not just uh the upcoming legislative parties but to talk a little bit about uh last session um what we worked on what happened and kind of prepare for

003this coming year uh the session of which starts the legislative session starts in January I think it's the 13th whatever that Tuesday is of that week uh and then runs for 60 days but before I do that I want to say uh a massive word of congratulations uh to your board, to your staff, to your faculty, to your students, uh, a school district superintendent of the year, like to be able to be your voice in Tallahassee is like the best gig ever because the there's so much good stuff happening in Lake County. Uh, your delegation uh, in Tallahassee that you work with um, that we work with on your behalf every day. uh couldn't be more proud of the work that's going on here uh in Lake County and and we're just thrilled to be,

004you know, a tiny little piece of that puzzle uh and being your voice up there. So, thank you for that and and congrats again. Um I'll start kind of talking a little bit about last session. It's been a little while, although the session feels like it just ended because it was extended for 45 days. So, the 60-day session that began in March ran 105 total days. Uh that was in uh large part really most part due to uh the inability of the legislature to pass a budget. Uh the one thing that the h that the house and senate have to constitutionally do every year is pass a balanced budget. They could not do that and it ultimately took until about the middle of June before they did and the governor had his quick time at

005the end of June for vetos. And so July 1 that budget uh became law as y'all know and then by September we were back in it uh for committee weeks leading up to this coming session. So it's really not been much of a downtime. Um and that was a bit of the challenge in getting me here for a for a post session update which we would usually do in the late spring early summer because the session hadn't ended yet. Uh and so there wasn't much that we could report on. Uh but we are uh really excited about the year ahead. It's going to be a tough session. I'll talk about that a little bit. Uh they they almost all are these days. Um and the politics of Tallahassee are just um very unique, very divisive

006uh in a lot of ways. And uh for for a town that has one party universal control, they're they're struggling to get along and to agree on a lot of things right now. And we'll talk a little bit about about that. But last session, the two main topics that we worked on on behalf of Lake County were the ACE and CAPE and AP and dual enrollment funding. >> Um, and school start time. Uh, and so I'll start with school start time. You'll recall four or five sessions ago. Uh, there was legislation passed that by the start of the 2027 school year, all of the school start time changes were were modified. Um, high school would start later. uh and then elementary and then middle or it might have been high school, middle, elementary would have

007been the would have been the uh um the the the the the back and the the the backtobacks. Um there was uh couple of years in a row of legislation just to repeal that all together. Those didn't pass last year. Uh last session I should say this earlier this year there was real momentum that finally got behind changing that. Um, and so what started out as a full repeal of the House and the Senate of that law ultimately was modified to what you now have, uh, which is the option to repeal as long as you go through a public process and get input. Um, so that was a a win really for most school districts, although the the the the the leadership of Lake County was was critical in that uh because the stories that

008you were telling and able to tell and we were able to tell on your behalf about the impacts of those start time changes uh were compelling. Uh and and so in partnership with FADS and the schoolboard association and other like-minded districts, uh ultimately they did pass what you now have. Uh and and you're going through that process of of getting that public input so that you can then make an informed decision about whether or not to stick with what the law was passed about three or four or five years ago or to keep yours as they are with the public input that you've received. So, that was a nice win uh there on the Cape A uh ACE AP dual enrollment funding. Um you'll recall and and um Mr. Ward um who I lean on

009on all financial matters uh for for schools will know more about this will have forgotten more about this than I'll ever know. But the House and the Senate uh had uh competing proposals that both would have reduced that funding uh within the FFP. That categorical was going to be reduced. um Senates was reducing it a little bit more than the House. Uh but both in their initial budgets reduced it. Um through some really aggressive advocacy on behalf of school boards. Um the House ultimately modified their position to not cutting it. Uh the Senate still remained in a in a reduction posture all the way until June. Uh when they ultimately passed their budget and the House's plan, I'll cut to the chase. The House's plan won. Uh and while they did change the FEFP model,

010the categorical model in the way that those funds are funded, um ultimately it did result in 100% full funding. Every district got at least what they had gotten the year before uh under that categorical change. And so uh Representative Persons Mullica, the House um uh chair of education appropriations was absolutely critical in that. Um Diane knows this. Uh persons Mullica and I were talking almost daily. It felt like through May and June as the budget was being negotiated to make sure that the House held their position, the Senate ultimately acquiesced on that piece uh and so that funding was restored uh to at least the level that you received the previous year uh for for this current year. So two two nice wins um last year even in the midst of all the other sort

011of difficulties that school boards are facing uh with the legislature. So, um, before I talk, that's a little bit about last year. Um, I want to talk about the the draft priorities that you have in front of you and we can go through those and it doesn't have to be a presentation, Madam Superintendent, unless you want it to be. We can go back and forth a little bit kind of whatever you guys want uh, in terms of format. But to give a little flavor of what's going on in Tallahassee, I think it's important to set the stage. Usually uh this time of year, a month out from a start of a legislative session, you've got a decent idea of what the big issues are going to be, but you don't really know the one or

012two or three issues that are going to drive all the narrative. Um this year is very different. We know the issue that's going to be front and center of this legislative session and will be sort of the shade under which everything else happens until it's until it's settled and that's property taxes. Um you've heard um the House, the Senate, the governor have all been very clear about a desire for property tax reduction, abatement, call it what you will, but a reduction of local revenues. Um the governor uh has not yet released a proposal, at least an official proposal, although every time he's either on cable news or in front of a microphone at at a press conference, he talks about elimination of homestead property taxes. Uh the House has six competing, not competing, but six

013proposals right now that they're moving through their committee process. Those proposals range everything from outright elimination to a doubling of the homestead exemption and kind of everything in between. Um one's a phase out, one's a um one's a elimination for certain property owners and a massive reduction for others. And those pro those bills are moving through kind of a standard house process from the select committee on property taxes which was appointed by the speaker uh at the end of last legislative session. Uh they've been through um the budget committee uh and they're preparing those bills for the floor. Uh the speaker's been very clear. He wants, if not the first bill, certainly one of the first bills passed off the floor uh to be their property tax reduction measure or measures uh if it ends

014up being multiple bills. The Senate has not released a formal plan. Um although they're going to probably take everything the House does and sort of figure it out from there and then ultimately pass something that can be negotiated between the two parties. And then of course the governor, while he doesn't have um he doesn't have the same sort of power over um constitutional amendments put forward by the legislature as he would a bill, he can't veto it. Um certainly his influence is is significant. Uh and he's talked about, you know, if there's not something on his not something that goes to the ballot that meets his approval, he'll just call them into special session all summer until they pass the one that he wants. So his his influence is still very uh very much there

015despite not having the veto pen that he would over a bill. Um you know quick civics on constitutional amendments in Florida. Uh three-fifths of both chambers in order to put something to the ballot. That's an easy threshold to get to in supermajority controlled uh house and senate by the republicans. And then 60% of the vote plus one is the threshold once it goes to the ballot in November. So, there will be something on the ballot. Good news, if you want to call it that, for school districts, is in all of these proposals, school district property taxes are exempt. They're not impacted. Um, but your local government partners are obviously significantly impacted. Reduction of services is very much on the table. The Florida League of Cities just this week uh released a fairly comprehensive study of

016what an elimination of property taxes could look like for them. Um 43% of local revenues statewide come from advalon property taxes. Uh all of the house proposals interestingly uh require that um public safety or police uh be held harmless. Not all public safety but but but police. Um and there are I heard the um the League of Cities testify to this a couple of weeks ago in committee. uh if you eliminate property taxes and if you require that police can't be cut, there's 17 cities right now uh that could not comply with that provision that that if you reduced all of their advalorum from Homestead, they'd have they'd be in they'd be operating in the red in order to keep police safe uh untouched. If you modify that to include all public safety, so EMS,

017police, fire, that number jumps to like 60 or 70 cities around the state that couldn't comply with a provision that reduces their homestead and requires you to keep public safety whole. So, some of those details are just going to have to get worked out in the process. And I think the Senate will probably be the place where whatever ultimately goes to the ballot will be will be vetted. Um, I don't believe that an outright elimination of homestead property taxes is really on the table in the Senate, at least not today as we sit here in December, but those things can change. And, you know, if staring down the barrel of of multiple special sessions throughout the summer in order to get something to the ballot, there's no telling what will ultimately come out of it.

018But that's as we look ahead to the start of session in a month. That is the issue uh that really is driving the politics, driving the narrative, driving the the discussion uh and everything else that the legislature is going to try to do. The the 2500 bills that'll get filed, the need to balance pass a balanced budget, all that will sort of happen under the umbrella or the shade that property tax is casting until that's settled. Um so it's just going to be a really difficult session as a result of that. Yeah, Robert, to that point, um I think if I understood it correctly, late last week, um the house did settle on uh 209, so the one that increased the exemption 200,000 provided that the homestead of property was insured. So, it looked like

019from my understanding that one got through Ways and Means at a 105 vote. So, I assume that's the one as of now that the House is going to put forward. >> The House has five that they're moving through at the moment. So, there was several that went through Ways and Means that day. Um, my guess is they will, well, I actually don't know, so I'm going to be careful not to guess. One option that they have is to take all of their ideas that have >> three-fifth support and wrap them into one bill and pass one. Or they could pass several >> and just send them over to the Senate and then start negotiating from there about which one passes. I think they won't put more than one to the ballot, >> so it may

020include several pieces. is one of the ideas that's been talked about is, you know, whether it's um uh the whether it's senior citizens in Florida that have been in their house for 30 years and they've been paying their property taxes, maybe you wipe those out completely and you just increase the homestead exemption for others. >> You know, there's a lot of kind of moving parts and when you move one dial, another one goes up and vice versa. So, some of that stuff just remains to be seen, but that is one of the ones that move forward. Seems to me that the governor is really going to have to support whatever makes its way through both the House and Senate regardless if he thinks it goes enough to at least get some relief to keep this

021ball moving forward. So, I would agree it doesn't seem like the House is too interested in doing much more than this and I'd agree the Senate is even more conservative in their thinking on language than the House tends to be right now. So just trying to think and again it doesn't really affect us at this level but the city and county side what might actually make it across the finish line. >> I think that's one to just really keep a close eye on and I and I'll be sure to keep y'all posted on what we're hearing. >> Um but a lot of that will start to get vetted out in the first couple of weeks of session. I think I think by the end of January, we're going to have a pretty good idea of

022what's going to the ballot and or if they can't agree on something then whether or not they're going to be back in special session to figure it out. >> Um well I I'll pause there Mr. Chairman just briefly to if there's any questions about last year or just kind of the general tone of session or if not we can go right into the priorities whatever your preference priorities. >> Okay perfect. Um, so looking at the document that you have in front of you, uh, these draft priorities, I think, do a really good job and and credit to your staff of sort of laying the laying the groundwork for what is in the realm of the possible this coming session. Um, and and kind of picking some things without, you know, without listing 20 things. I'm

023sure there's a hundred that we could list uh, of changes that we'd like to see or things we'd like to work on, but this, I think, is a really good starting point for um, for for working on it this coming year. um curriculum and instruction. So um last year um really I'll I'll bundle the first two topics together, required instruction and recruitment and retention. Um you'll recall the last two sessions uh the Senate has really led the way on what they've called deregulation. So um under uh President Pasadomo and now under President Albert and in the Senate, there has been a sort of a philosophical recognition that if we Florida are going to have school choice in the in the macro, which we now have, uh that we need to simultaneously unloose some of the

024strings on local school districts so that they can compete in a in a true open market uh for education. So, um, after the passage of House Bill 1 in two, the scholarship bill, I don't know, the years all run together for me, but after the passage of that, the Senate then the following year and ever since has has tried to run a fairly comprehensive deregulation bill so that school districts can better compete in that open market. Um, some of those pieces that they've pushed have gotten to the finish line, others haven't. um the the the wholesale deregulation bills that they've filed the last two sessions have not made it. They filed it again this year. And a lot of these topics that that we want to see really fit into they're either already in the

025deregulation package like recruitment and retention or they fit very nicely into that like required instruction changes um and then also the the GED changes that the last one on your on your um on your topic. So, we're working closely with uh State Senator Cory Simon, who's the chair uh of the House, excuse me, of the Senate Education Policy Committee and running the deregulation bill. Uh and so he and his staff are are constantly looking for good and better ideas to include into that deregulation package to see what they can negotiate with the House on what's on what's possible to actually pass. So, um I think required instruction, um recruitment and retention and uh GED changes all sort of fit into that more global deregulation conversation. And so I think those are really good ones. Uh

026and you've got a very open ear and welcome audience in the Senate uh on some of those topics. On funding, um one of the things that I do think you'll see this year uh is some changes to the scholarship program. Um, so two years into it, uh, the House and the Senate have held, um, over the last several months, some of the most brutally honest and at times uncomfortable committee hearings that that I've seen in a decade in Tallahassee around this topic. Um there's an audit auditor general report that the Senate um uh dug very deep into around the mismanagement of some of the funds, the uh the lengthy delays that school districts are experiencing in terms of receiving your funding and the the cumbersome and and and difficult crosscheck process that the department and

027the scholarship funding organizations and the school districts are having to go through to find out, you know, here's a kid who's or has a family who's claiming a scholarship, but they're sitting in I don't know to various high school and so why why is that happening and and where is that funding going so I think you're going to see some some pretty significant changes to how the money follows the child so with the with the tone of the money should follow the child which the legislature has been very clear that that's what they want you make sure that happens in the real world uh becomes the challenge um and I think you're going to see changes around that they're they're they're all but admitting that they built the plane while they were flying it and

028and there needs to be some some changes made now that we've seen 24 months of data of how this is actually working and how it's impacting our local school districts uh and the way that you're funded. So, um the the one thing that so I think there's broad agreement across both chambers that there needs to be changes. What those changes look like, we've got a couple of months to figure out as they go into session. The one place where they remain not in agreement is, and I'm going to I'm going to sort of maybe phone a friend for for Scott if I need him here, but in the FEFP, uh there is um this concept of above the line and below the line. The Senate for the last two year, last session and again this

029year has talked about we should just take the scholarship program if we're going to have school choice and we want the money to follow the child. The simplest place the Senate or the simplest way the Senate believes to do that is to simply remove the scholarship program from the FEFP and it's a separate categorical. You can fund it however much you need to fund it. You can go back in with the legislative budget commission and add money if you need to later on in the year, but remove that from the FEFP so that it's not tied to public education funding when what you're really talking about is scholarships to private schools. The House isn't very keen on rem on uh on removing it from the FEFP and and by not very keen, I mean not

030at all, at least at the moment. They want to keep it there, but they want a more uh that they want to better align how the money follows the child and the role of the department versus the role of the school districts versus the role of the uh scholarship funding organizations so that those work better and more seamlessly together. So, broad agreement on making changes that I think will be better for districts. um less agreement on the details of what that looks like, but but there is absolute commitment from uh Senator Don Gates, who's the chair of the uh K12 education appropriations committee in the Senate, former Senate President. Um and Representative Persons Mullica, who I mentioned earlier on the ACE and the CAPE stuff from last year. uh those two will be working together

031probably daily between now and the end of session to figure out how these changes are going to be made and we'll be right there at the table to to make sure that we're aligning your desires and your wishes and that of your sister school boards uh with what's happening. But um again, I I can't I can't stress enough some of these hearings that that I've sat in over the last couple of months have been, you know, real political theater in some ways of of honest answers to hard questions that aren't choreographed on the front end as a lot of this stuff can be. uh with real concern being being uh being u uh uh let known by Republicans and Democrats, leadership and non-leership alike about how this program has been rolled out. Um so there's

032a there's a recognition that it needs to be a lot better. So I think your your funding uh one there is really important um on fairness and funding. You'll recall a couple of years ago compression used to be, you know, the big topic that we worked on on behalf of the of Lake Schools. And a couple of years ago, they kind of removed compression from the FEFP during one of their FEFP restructuring exercises. Um, getting something back in there, whether you want to call it compression or not, call it whatever you want, but there are districts like Lake that are simply falling behind on the statewide average because there's not that extra buffer uh to help fill the gap. And so, um, we will and and your your, um, delegation, particularly Representative Cobb and Senator

033Trunow, understand this topic incredibly well. Um, they have, you know, Trun now has lived it in his days in the House and now his days in the Senate. Um, and I think there's a commitment, at least from the local level, to work on that. There are other districts that are similarly impacted uh, to Lake. Sort of those medium districts, medium-sized districts are the ones that really get squeezed the most in the FFP. And I'm tell I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Um but I think that's a topic to continue to keep front and center um to again call it whatever you want. Uh but there needs to be something there for these medium-sized districts that are that are getting squeezed uh as the balloon is pushed. Funding goes up and down. It's

034not always staying where it needs to stay uh in the middle. So we want to work on that. >> I'm going to pause you for one second. >> Yeah, please. So you anyone that watched any of the K12 with the Senate and the response to the audit, there's $600 million in play was the number that they're looking for from the scholarships >> from the scholarship. >> Yes, sir. >> So in updating this and by now I feel this is an update. We moved guys from 65th to 59th by the way. So, um, but if we were at state average, that would mean another 13 million to lake. Everyone below this line would benefit. And so, I think that this is updated. So, I ran it out. I forgot to bring it in this morning. So,

035you'll have this good. This is in Tallahassee. To bring everybody to just average would be $473 million. So, if they can find any part of that 600 million that they gave away, that would be really cool if they would throw it towards bringing all counties up. So, I'm going to give this to you to take with you. >> And here is, by the way, in red, here is the scholarship dollars. And $62 million was taken away from us >> for scholarships. Craziness. >> Um, oh, by the way, yes, sir, please. I don't know if y'all are tied to any of the charter schools groups who that's where it seems like the direction of education has been pushed but academia is on board because they realize that some of these counties they have a presence in

036all of them. >> So if you know any of their lobbyist that could be a joint effort together >> to at least get us fairness. That's all we want by the way just the state average. >> Perfect. No I'll I'll I'll look. We don't represent academia. We the only charter school. No, no, but if you know, cuz you guys probably hang out at the bar together a lot. >> Matias, you're not supposed to tell people that. Um, no, that's very helpful. Uh, and a good thought. >> Okay. Now, >> um, the last two um, uh, that that I'll talk about and then happy to answer any questions that you've got. Uh, is the collocation um, topic. Um you'll recall uh that was a issue that 99% of the legislature thought was dead uh at the

037end of the regular session in May. Uh and it resurrected itself uh in the budget negotiations at the very end. Um and of course you've seen now the real world impacts of that um with some of these um charter school companies and schools of hope companies um claiming space uh throughout the state that they that they arguably are uh have a right to under this legislation that was passed back in June as part of a a broader budget conforming bill. So um there is good news on that front. I think I can share um across the board similar to the scholarship um conversation a couple of minutes ago. Uh there there appears to be pretty broad understanding that that this was rushed um and perhaps cart before the horse type idea. Um and there needs

038to be some roll back out outright repeal. I shared this with with Miss Corn as I was walking in this morning. Outright repeal is is probably off the table. Um, but I do think there's going to be some um some modifications to it that are that make it more reasonable and more consistent with the original schools of hope idea that was already in the law uh prior to this this past um legislative session. So among those ideas that I've heard discussed are defining what capacity means. So right now it just says if you're under capacity then you have to give your space up. I'm over generalizing but that's effectively what it says. Um but defining what capacity means is important. Per for instance, if you build a new school uh for growth that you know

039is coming when you open that school, chances are it's not full because the growth has not completed itself yet, but you know it's coming. Um those schools I've heard discussed ought to be exempted from this for x number of years until you see whether or not there's uh there's been an impact um once the growth materializes in the way that you and your local government partners are planning. That's one of the ideas. Another idea is ensuring grade alignment. Um so not having a high school school of hope in an elementary school. Uh or vice versa, not having an elementary school of hope in a high school. Um and making sure that there's some great alignment around this uh if it's going to go forward. Um another idea I've heard is exempting some of the specialty

040facilities, the um whether it's a um uh I'm I'm having a blank Diane. the um uh ELS um uh facilities, like if you're if you've got a if you've got a specialty um facility for a particular type of student, uh just because there's an empty classroom in there doesn't mean that it's not going to be needed at some point and you want to have consistency in the type of education that you're providing on various locations. So, some of that has been discussed. Uh and then the other one uh that I've heard discussed is a is a appropriate fee for maintenance, custodial upkeep. uh that right now arguably those schools of hope are not required to pay even though they're coming into your facilities or they want to come into your facilities and operate within uh

041your footprint. Uh having some sort of appropriate give and take um if you find the right fit that they're going to pay for custodial maintenance, upkeep, you know, power, you know, all the things that you're having to do as you operate a school. Sharing that cost burden is one of the other ideas I've heard. Um, just last week when I was in Tallahassee, I had a conversation with Senator Burgess, uh, who is, um, a top leader on, uh, education issues in the Senate. Um, and and he and many others that we've talked to in the Senate have and and in the House have said, "Yeah, we we need to probably sit down and figure out how to make that work a little bit better. This what's happened since the law became effective on October 1st

042is not exactly what I think they envisioned. um perhaps it could have been forecasted and people may have been telling them that it was coming. Um but it it's been a bit more um unmanageable than I think they even anticipated. So I expect some changes on that front. >> Can I stop you again on that one? >> What's that? >> Can I stop you? >> Yes sir. >> The other issue is and again this goes back to charter school versus public school. school of choice charters and private when we are when we and correct me if I say anything wrong Kelly but when we are looking at capacity and forecasting we can't consider their student stations because someone we have to provide a free public education and that creates some capacity and so if charter

043schools particularly in this conversation had to have an attendance boundary or could be counted then that would go a long way I think in reducing those open stations Is that right? Okay. I got a nod from the back. So, so write that down. >> Attend. You said attendance boundary, >> correct? >> Okay. >> And the folks I spoke to are not against that. And it has to count towards towards the capacity issue. >> Got it. Okay. I'll float that one too and work on that. Thank you for that. Uh and the last one um uh is a a really exciting one um that we're working on again with Senator Trunow and Representative Cobb and that's your direct appropriation. We haven't tried for a direct appropriation in a couple of years um except for the ones

044that we were doing in partnership with Lake Tech and Lake Sumpter State College, but this would um provide the funding that you need for retrofitting many of your older facilities uh for the radio uh emergency communications radio situation um that is often difficult in some of these older facilities. And so um the the district and under y'all's leadership has has provided significant funds to that. your new schools are are retrofitted appropriately, but some of the older ones aren't. Um, so, Representative Cobb and Senator Trun now are going to carry that appropriation for us um to to get that gap funding to make sure that that all of your schools that need it uh after the appropriate studies are done at each location, but the schools that need it can can have the funding to retrofit.

045So, we're going to be working really hard on that in the budget process, which really is sort of already starting, as crazy as that sounds. um they're in the process of of sort of beginning the budget hearings uh in January uh and uh again assuming that they can pass a balanced budget on time uh that will be completed by March. Uh and so we we've got our our hands full and our work cut out for us to to do everything we can to put that appropriation in the best possible posture uh for passage. So, um, with that, that kind of runs through your proposed agenda, um, and then some of the just political realities in Tallahassee for the coming year. But, um, happy to answer any questions that you've got or or go down any

046any rabbit hole you want me to go down. >> That's funny. I'm >> good. I think we're good. >> I'll just hand you this. >> We got, please. >> And you go get some sleep. >> I had some questions, you know. >> Yeah. Oh, sorry. Uh, not that I'm opposed to anything on here, but just some things to consider. So, the GED changes, I wondered if if they're not willing to give on that, counting these people as high school graduates. I wondered if maybe some sort of half step there would be just remove them from the denominator so they don't really count against us, you know, but then similarly then they don't have to call them a high school graduate if that's what they're opposed to doing. But, I mean, I'd rather this of course,

047you know, because >> I mean, they've got, you know, some sort of certification there, >> right? Um, I wanted to go back to recruitment and retention. There was a spot there about removing the financial penalty for dropping from professional certification during the renewal process. Um, I wondered um on the other on the other end of that um teachers are are out there getting their reading endorsements. You I mean it's required for them to to do the tier three interventions and they're having to pay for those. you know, it's it's um I think it's kind of like insulting to the teachers to say, "Okay, now do all this extra work that we're adding all these new requirements on you and now you got to pay for this." And I think that with that there's been some

048hesitation for people going out and completing that endorsement. And certainly our kids benefit from a teacher who's, you know, just deepened themselves in the professional learning side. So, I'm I'm wondering about um and I don't even know how many what percentage of teachers that we still have that maybe are lacking that endorsement, but if anybody has any sort of ballpark number, I'd love to hear it at some point, but um that's why I I don't know why they have to pay for that. >> Okay, I'll find out I'll find out statewide what that number might be. Um I I was just looking for clarification what this this kind of what this means here about um about um pushing for additional expansion of temporary cert certification options. Um which which ones have we felt have been

049helpful to the district and and what would an expansion of that look like for us? What what are we what are we pulling for there? >> Um Mr. Zamore, this was one of your items. Um is this can you provide some clarity around those temporary certificates? >> You need to come up there, please. Yeah, >> I apologize. I was reading an email. >> Can you repeat the the >> Yeah, so I was I was um curious about the so the push for additional expansion of the temporary certification options which have been helpful to the district. I was wondering which pathways have we found to be helpful and what are we pushing for in terms of expansion? Well, that's a very good question. And I will have to get with my certifications specialist to see which

050ones they've seen mostly being used or applied for by the by the >> by the teachers applying for certificate. >> Sure. >> I don't have an exact answer to that one because I will have to like go them and see what they've been applying for. >> Yeah. I was curious if these were some of the pathways that I think the governor had promoted over time and and and while certainly I'm excited about filling vacancies. You know, I also want to ensure that we're filling vacancies with a qualified person so that everybody has a great teacher by design rather than by chance, right? And so >> I think I think my kids have had some of these teachers and I've had some serious questions. Uh some of them come in very qualified and some don't. And

051so >> military was one that was not used a lot. We had one candidate, but I'm not sure if that one went all the way through. Right. Yeah. So, I guess I'm just curious about this and that if we if we expand this to just, you know, potentially unqualified people get the job, >> then how does the district then support them on the back end after they get that job? So, now they are able to to be effective in the classroom. >> Correct. You know, >> I'll check with certification and bring that bring that back forward to the board. >> All right. So, those I think those were really my primary questions about about this one. >> And and somewhat related to that, Mr. I I can tell you there's there's legislation out there >>

052and as I sit here, I can't recall if it's a standalone bill or if it's part of deregulation, but um last year they uh they removed the requirement for the teacher general knowledge test. Am I calling it the right thing? The whatever the they removed that for school social workers. >> Uh and there's discussion about removing it for school counselors now. Uh which are I guess technically different things. Uh social workers now don't have to have that, but counselors still do. So, there's some discussion about removing that requirement to perhaps get more counselors into the schools. Um, so that's one to keep an eye on to and it's sort of related to that topic. >> Anything else, board? >> Okay. Thanks a lot. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um, I

053know >> by the power vested in me. >> Go for it. >> A little a little jetlagged, I'm sure. And we appreciate you coming over to to spend some time with us this morning. So board, we will um provide some clarity around the recruitment and retention item. Um we'll also consider adding um I still want to keep the GED option on the table with um >> Robert's understanding that we that we would look for a compromise if if that one just doesn't seem to >> Yeah, I didn't want to publish that compromise, right? But just know that maybe that's an option that might exist that might get us >> No, I think that's a very good good suggestion. So, um, we'll get these back to you and then, um, for your consent on the next

054board agenda if that's all right. There's no no further feedback on that. >> Perfect. >> Yeah. >> Okay. We're going to move 3.03 Eustace Elementary Design ahead of 3.02. That's okay with you. It is. So, Miss Randall. >> All right. Good morning board. >> Morning >> everybody. Um so in November we had the board meeting where you um agreed to a design for Eustace Elementary School on its current site. And I think we kind of took you by surprise with some discussion about the design capacity. Um not enough information and and not enough um ahead of time. So this is an attempt to to kind of provide some clarity on that um answer some of the questions that came up during that meeting and um fortunately I am joined by a group of gentlemen who

055are much smarter than me. So um they are here to answer any questions that are specific that you might have. So we have um Pat Rous with Shankl Schultz and Shane Wolf and Jamie McCandless from DACG your construction managers and also Dave Patterson Jr. who is your project manager from facilities. Great. >> So, um that will be the team that will actually be doing all the hard work on this project. Um let me see if I can get this moving. I am not. No. Oh, there we go. All right. So, um just as a reminder, this is the basic concept plan for Eustace Elementary School, um that we did decide upon at the uh the work or at the meeting, I'm sorry, in November. Um and I think you're basically familiar with this. You don't

056probably need to spend too much time on it. Um there is a question. So if you see that building on the bottom that has a gray roof and it's existing classrooms that is building seven. So if go next slide um we did one of the questions that came up was about adding a second floor to the existing building 7. And I will say I think, you know, I may be responsible for some of this because since I've been with the district, it's always kind of been a rumor that they had designed that building for um adding a second floor at some point in the future. We had had uh BBM Structural, who are structural engineers for this project, take a look at that. Um and then we got an official letter of opinion after the

057meeting and they basically said, "We don't think that it was designed for that." Um, and so basically I think that is kind of a non-starter. Um, so okay, so we'll keep moving. Um, next slide. So just as a reminder, this is kind of what the design basically looks like at 750 student stations, right? And so this will kind of get refined as we go through depending on what you know is decided about the design capacity, but just really where we've talked about being able to reduce this to 650. The easiest way to do that is essentially to look at the second floor of one of the twotory buildings. So there are two twostory buildings proposed in this design um along the east side of the campus. And so really where we're talking about is that

058second floor um of the second building closest to building 7. So I just kind of put this in there as a reminder of where that is. So um next slide please. So we have four options for you today to talk about it. So option one is essentially just taking the whole campus down to 650 student stations. Um, I would recommend that we build the core capacity still close to 750 or at 750 student stations. Basically, if you look at how our schools function, they're comfortable. They have elbow room at about 80%. Right? So, um, so that if we get to 650 students there, that extra core capacity kind of gives them that elbow room that makes it a little bit more flexible for them, allows them to function a little bit better. 650 core capacity

059is actually a a pretty tight core capacity, right? So 750 allows them to have functions, just allows that extra kind of space for itinerant um employees and just makes it a little bit more more comfortable. Um it's that's approximately 83,000 square foot. And um again, these are ROMs, so rough order of magnitude costs. they're, you know, don't don't come back and yell at me if they don't come in quite exactly right. But, um, the estimated savings, or actually, you can go yell at Jamie and Shane. Um, the estimating savings for doing that is about 1.5 to 2 million. Um, so option two is basically building that 650 stations um, and designing that same building structurally to have a second floor added. Um the space again is the same initially and then um the estimated savings

060is about a million dollars. It's you know the cost of not doing that second floor but actually adding in some costs for those additional structural elements. Um, I will say one of the reasons that I wanted to have Jamie and Shane here is because um, I think about 10 years or 15 years from now trying to build a second floor on that building and I can't wrap my head against around the logistics of that, right? So, um, I think it would definitely take somebody smarter than me to figure out how you actually do that and keep your students safe on a really small campus. Um, so anyway, next slide. You got option three is basically that 650 initial student stations but taking the second floor and essentially what we would call shelling it out. So

061um we don't finish it out and you know what level exactly that looks like could vary. It could be everything from we're putting up the walls. We're putting in all of the the plumbing and the electrical and running all that wiring and data wiring and then just having it so that when you come back in you're doing finishes, you're putting in fixtures and you're actually putting in, you know, receptacles and that kind of thing. Um or you could go just it's just a rough concrete um shell. So the cost estimate, the estimated savings of 500,000 is basically um the higher level of initial finish, right? So basically running wiring and plumbing and then not and adding in those interior walls um but not actually um finishing it out. So, no flooring, no drywall, no um

062no bathroom fixtures, but basically having the infrastructure so that you're just doing essentially what's a tenant build out. Um and then option four is um just the 750 stations that we initially contemplated. And so that's the base cost that we're working from. So I see Mr. Dob looks like he has some questions. Well, well, I was just wondering, okay, so if we if we shell this thing out, um, what's it going to cost later to go back and >> obviously depends on what construction costs are at the time, whether we do this in two years, 5 years, 10 years or whatever it is, >> right? So, um, so basically, you know, it's going to depend if we did it immediately, probably about $500,000, right? So um if we do it in 10 years or however

063many years it is and it's also going to depend on what that level of finish is um that we do initially. So, you know, maybe slightly more than that given some >> some of the inflationary factors, >> right? Cuz that's $500,000 in today's money. >> So, what it will cost, >> right? Who knows? So, inflation factors, but um you know, you think that's basically six classrooms and right now we're running about $150,000 a portable to bring in portables and then the the cost. So, you know, honestly, I mean, I think I can honestly say that my opinion is going to be less than bringing in a portable. >> Can we get someone from DAG to come up because I think there some questions now are going to be really involving. >> Okay. >> How we

064reach that number? At least that's where it's going to come from for me. So, and this last option, three, we'll just start there and go backwards. >> Mhm. >> Is that like a vanilla shell? >> Yes. >> And it would have air conditioning. All that would all be already in. Is that right? >> Yes, sir. >> As a big open space, >> it would be a big open space, but we would have to make accommodations for life safety, like programming of the elevator that goes to the second floor. There's special programming there. If a student or somebody jumps on, gets to the second floor. We still have to follow state regulations for means of egress to get out. So, hallways, signage, things like that would be put up. We would have to have lighting. Um,

065and HVAC programming would be a cost there because it would be kind of custom, not for what the engineers are are used to programming for with student capacities. So, there would be special accommodations have to be made, >> but it's still just one open space. It's not divided up in classrooms already. >> That's what that that looks for. Yes, sir. >> That's what that one is. >> Y Okay. >> Can you go back to two then explain that one? >> Can you go back to the previous slide? Thank you. So can you explain your process on that one? Number two. >> So that would be the the singlestory building with the option designed into it for to if we wanted to add a second floor. So if you're going to add a second floor, we

066would go from like bar joist to I-beams, have a temporary roof, but not temporary, but a permanent where if you did go to the second floor, um you wouldn't have to make structural changes to the building. you would just run additional walls up on the outside. Um, take it from a a roof scenario down to So, we would probably use polyiso uh sloped insulation. So, where if you tear it off, what's down below is a permanent concrete structure that's flat to be able to be utilized for floors. Um, all the plumbing would have to be stubbed, you know, underneath to accommodate adding a second floor. So, it's, you know, it's it's kind of based on budget and capacity. if we know the the the increase is going to come, does it financially make sense to

067go through this process if if you know it's coming. So, we try to do the best we could to because we don't do a lot of this. I mean, it's done, but it's not common in today's element. So, there's a lot of of planning. You're going to spend more for the structural elements than you would just to put a single story and come back and add it. So, it's it's kind of a a shell game. >> And uh and I imagine this would probably be pretty disruptive to the the campus to have to do that level of construction later. >> Knowing your building official, it wouldn't be a lot. We would have to vacate those buildings for construction to do this second floor. >> And what kind of timeline would that take >> to um

068>> when it's occupied on campus? Yeah. I mean, it's not it's not a summer job. That's >> pretty much what it would take to if we want to work within your school cycle, >> right? Right. So then you'd have to >> use a school year. We could do it in a full school year. I'm I'm fairly certain. >> So you have to send those kids elsewhere for another school year later on. That would work. >> No. Or or bring in portables, you know, to set it up temporarily. I think I think we can officially >> and even beyond that, Jamie, I find it hard to imagine that you think building code may change as dramatically again as it did before on some of our other campuses, Carver and Sarrento where we did try to do

069something like an option two um to where we could come back and build later and then building code changed and then those those sites weren't viable. Do you envision in your best guess today? I know that's asking a lot, but do you think building code would change that dramatically up? I agree. I don't believe in option two, but even if let's say we got to that point, is there a chance greater than 50% that it would change and then we couldn't even do it in the future? Patrick, that might be more of a question. >> We 100% are even going to do number two. >> I hear you, but it's a matter of we've done this in the past. So, it's a matter of I just would like to get that question asked for the

070sake of the argument. I mean, we're not going to do it. >> Yeah, but to your point, no one knows magic ball. No one really knows. But typically within the next 10 years, there's going to be another substantial building code update that you would see that would affect structural things. So, um, there's definitely updates all the time and there's amendments to those building codes and they change, but you can definitely expect within the next 10 years a substantial change most likely. >> Cool. Thank you. >> Don't leave. >> How familiar are you with um, Sarrento Elementary at familiar? >> Okay. So why is that particular option not included in one of these? >> So I think what you're talking about is could you leave out a notch that would be both first floor and second

071floor as expansion. Is that >> No, no, no. On the second floor >> at the time it was constructed. The classrooms were built. Everything was there. They just weren't the furniture wasn't assembled. >> Okay. >> Um it was purchased but it wasn't assembled. And so we didn't have any of these concerns like building code changes, um extra money at the time, not knowing >> Mrs. Cunningham, that basically is is option three. >> So with the with the shell, >> okay. >> Um it's just a level of so at Sarrento they they probably went further than we're proposing. Um they had finishes, they had flooring, they had drywall, they had everything else there, right? Right. >> We're proposing a a step back from that. >> And why are we considering that? >> So, part of it

072goes to the the things that we just discussed, right? Um about capacity and having excess capacity and how easy that is to access. >> Nobody could claim it if it doesn't if it's not finished, if it's not suitable for classrooms or children. Right. >> Exactly. And that wasn't suitable in the state it was left in for children. So what would be the difference? >> It was very easy to bring um those classrooms that surround >> it was very easy, right? >> But that has advantages as well. I guess I'm just not understanding um the shell concept. >> We have to figure out the threshold that is just enough where it's not able to be claimed, right? >> But it's finished enough that later on it won't be, >> you know, expensive or timeconuming >> summer

073>> or disruptive that it becomes a summer job. >> Summer job. Absolutely right. So, and I think basically, you know, I think my preference would be if we're going to shell it out that we put the walls up inside, right? Um, basically that is probably the most disruptive part of it. Um, that we have it all stubbed out. What we what we don't do is we don't do drywall. We don't do flooring. >> Oh, so it's just like framed. >> It's basically framed and and ready. >> Framed and plumbed. The plumbing is a big is a big disruption for construction. >> Yeah. And so then it it it could become a summer job, right? >> Could become a summer job and nobody's going to be able to >> locate that space. >> Who's to say

074that a charter school wouldn't then claim to say we'll finish out your space and take that over. >> There is a risk in any of this. >> I mean, if we're talking about having usable space that can be used in a undercapity school, that I just think that's a option that's not going away anytime soon. There there are risks I think in either direction, right? There are risks in in having that potential capacity available and there are risks in in not having it. >> I do think with the governor's statement the other day about that this capacity in the school of hope and trying to redefine that. I I think that's going to go away. >> I we shall see. >> Well, I almost envision like you're renting a house. All right. And there's certain

075things the landlord will let you do, right? And I think maybe painting the walls is one of the things they might let you do, right? If it's a reasonable color or or you agree to paint it back. I think major renovations such as adding drywall and you know and and and so on so forth. That's a little bit different, right? I think I think that's where we as the building owner, right? Don't we maybe get a little bit of legal standing to say, "Hey, you can't manipulate our building, >> but you can you can come in >> I don't know. Can't the plumbing, can you design the building in such a way that we don't have to do all these interior walls, but we only do them in certain maybe certain areas to accommodate? >>

076You can. And and Jamie hit this earlier too. The the one thing you can't get away from is you have to make sure you have life safety that meets code. And so what that means on this building is you have to at least build the hallway framed out so in case there's a fire, emergency kids can go down the hallway and get out that stair. But inside the the classroom part of it, I mean, we have a lot of flexibility in how we frame the walls and what we do not and and do and not build. Um, but uh the thing I mentioned earlier too, I think plumbing is one of the big things that if we can get that in now, that'll make it a lot easier and quicker as far as the construction

077for the next phase. >> Yeah, walls are relatively quick. I mean, drywall is pretty quick, >> but even the plumbing can be done and stuffed up, right? And then unless you need risers to go to the roof, >> maybe that's a little different story, but >> like you don't have to put in all the toilets and sinks now, right? >> Correct. >> Right. >> So that'd be another disincentive for somebody to come in. Not only do you have to drive all the walls, but I got to buy all the toilets and >> you know, >> becomes branded student, they'll put in a toilet. >> But at what point would you say that's too much? I'm just going to go to an abandoned shopping center, >> right? >> Or to a brand new rebuilt school campus.

078I mean, I just I don't know because we're still at 411 kids on this site. So, I mean, just the standpoint of thinking we're going to get to the 650 even at Kelly's number she'll get two next and then get beyond that. I just I I don't see it even in 20 years at the current rates of what they're doing. >> What is US Heights right now? What's the >> 625 is their current cap or current population with a permanent capacity of a,0 >> Yeah. I don't think you sites has a permanent capacity of a,0. >> Yeah. on the concurrency report. They do the one that I've got on my end, >> but that's not that's concurrency capacity. That's not their permanent capacity. >> Okay? >> So concurrency capacity, if you remember it, um if

079you have a core capacity, that is over your permanent capacity. Basically, it can go to 125%. So, it's probably gosh, I can't do that math because I'm not that great at math um in my head, but basically it is a lower number than that. So, that is probably 125% of their their actual permanent capacity. >> So, let's go ahead and and there's a little bit more information um to present. So, if we can go forward next slide and then I think the one after that. There we go. Okay. Okay. So, there were some questions about the parking and stacking on site um at the meeting in November. So, basically um in conversation with our civil engineer um Jay Klema, he essentially said that the standard on-site stacking that they would look for for 750 students

080is about 112 cars. Um the proposed on-site super stack right now is showing a 100 cars. There's probably a few more on either end of that number. Um, basically as you pull around and, you know, line up to actual in the actual pickup drop off area and then kind of the tail um that goes out towards Mary Street, you can fit a few more cars in there, but essentially right in the super stack, it's 100 cars. And then um standard on-site parking for 750 students would be 100 spaces and we are actually have 141 proposed. But I just want to note that you know there's 15 to 20 that we would reserve for um St. Thomas Episcopal Church um and their thrift shop uh as part of that. And then next slide. So sorry this

081actually is a lot worse slide than it looked on my screen. Um, so I apologize for that. But basically, we just wanted to give you some information about, you know, what the attendance boundary looks like for Eustace Elementary. It is that pink one right in the middle there. As you can see, they have a a fairly small attendance boundary. Um, and those are the boundaries of the schools around it. And then, um, we have a chart of these are all the developments that we are tracking. and basically um the school the current school attendance boundary um and then um when we we kind of expect those students to show up. So, you know, we'd had some discussion about where the growth is in this area. Um it is primarily in the Eustace Heights zone which

082kind of wraps around um Eustace Elementary um literally. And so, you know, as I think we've kind of previously discussed, um, we have Treadway, uh, programmed for a rebuild in right around the time that Eustace Elementary should wrap up. So, I think it's 2829. Um, and so I I kind of anticipate that at that point, Treadway um, has always kind of been running at or over capacity a little bit. Um, I anticipate that we are probably, um, as much as I hate to say it, have to do an attendance boundary shift to kind of balance all of these schools in this area. And, um, and so I I kind of see that that is where some of that shift will take place um, and rebalancing. >> That's exactly why I asked the question about us

083Heights. >> If you did that, where would you elementary be? If you did the attendance boundary realignment, >> where would it be? >> How many students would you expect? >> So, you know, we haven't really run those numbers and it kind of depends on when those students show up, but I think, you know, we we could increase, you know, that's probably a much more complicated question than I can answer right here today. I mean, we could we can go and we can kind of run some scenarios on what we think that looks like. Um, you know, visually what I see is that that block um right above the western side of Eustace Elementary, right? So along 44, um there's there's a lot of growth in Grand Island, but there's also a lot of growth directly

084north of Eustace Elementary in kind of that 44 area um around Cobb's tractors, that whole kind of area. And so I could see shifting basically that to Eustace Elementary. It's probably closer for them than Eustace Heights. and then also shifting Grand Island a little bit um to balance out between Treadway and and Eustace Heights. What that looks like for numbers I you know I don't have that in front of me right now. We haven't run those scenarios >> and Kelly the >> but is it 100? >> I mean it could be it could be 100. It could be if you're looking at numbers like there's 59 students coming in Eustace Heights and that's probably in like a 10-year horizon. Um there's, you know, uh 250 in the next five years. Um you know, that's could

085be 100, could be 150, could be 200. Um just not sure exactly what that looks like. And to that point, Kelly, these are based on today's student generation rates from our impact fee studies. Correct? >> At 312 kids per house, which I would argue is only going to go down this next time based on birth rates before we even get into the rest of school choice and the rest. >> Um, you know, we haven't seen because of the end migration, I think our birth rate issue is a little bit mitigated. >> But do you do you envision based on today, you think it goes down a little bit or you think it stays flat or do you think goes down? on what we're seeing and I don't think it's so much birth rate for us,

086right? I think what it is is is the voucher programs that's affecting us as much as anything. Um and I do think that it probably next time we do a student generation rate, it will go down. >> Yeah. >> Um I don't know how by how much. Sure. You know, that's based on current legislation, >> right? >> So, this is fair to say this is probably on the higher end based on what we know today. And of course that changes just like Mr. Matias's chart by the minute. But this is probably the high water mark on our current numbers of where these could be within the next 10 years. >> Yes. Although I will also caution you this is always, you know, it's a snapshot of time, right? So we get new development applications all

087the time. >> Y >> um >> so everything right now is just kind of a a blip in time given a lot of different factors that most of which are outside of our control. So um basically my next slide is just kind of a precursor and just an opportunity for you to discuss it and um our plan is to bring you back a recommendation in January. You will also see um pre-construction and design fees from these fine gentlemen over here. So, um, that would come back to you on January 12th along with the recommendation. >> Um, the design fees for phase 2, the actual design of the school. So, you had previously seen the phase one master planning. That's what you approved when we did the contract with them. Um, so, you know, they they

088want, strangely enough, a little bit more money in order to design it, shockingly. Um and then also um >> they want more money than what they already spoke about. >> No, no, no. This is design fees. This is design fees. So um so we previously did a proposal for the phase one for their master planning, right? And but we have not yet gone to a purchase or for actual design fees for the the bulk of it. >> Yeah. We didn't know what that was going to look like, right? So they couldn't commit to a design fee. Um, and then the same thing with the the pre-construction fee for DACG on the actual design. Um, so both of those will come back to you on January 12th and then we'd like to put a recommendation for

089the design capacity on that meeting as well. >> But today the expectation is we're going to decide on one of these options. >> Well, because it is a workshop, >> but we do need some direction on it because we can't determine the the final design fees we're talking about. >> Yeah, you've already approved the design concept. So there really wasn't anything to come forward in terms of a vote and um so but today we need to complete we need to select an an option or at least get some direction from the board on the options so that we can bring you the final piece. >> We've had some discussions whenever we were building schools in the four corners where there was a charter school coming up and there was some concern about the capacity and

090have we seen any negative impacts of building the capacity as we did with or without the charter school? like have we seen where those schools are not fulfilling like we thought they would? >> Um >> I'm going to say no because I'm I would think specifically you're you're thinking of Lake Point and the we were the concern about the charter being in the nearby mall. >> Right. >> Um and no because there's been so much growth out there that it has balanced nicely. >> Right. Right. >> Yeah. I mean, um, you know, there's so many different factors. It's hard to attribute any one thing to them, but, um, but I do think that the growth that we've seen in Lake County has kind of mitigated those those factors. Right. >> Right. Look, based on the

091other slide for me, if we're going to be increase in five years 220 kids and we're at 400 now, >> that takes you right to capacity, >> right? >> Without any It doesn't seem smart to me that because we're not building a school for 5 years. We're building it >> true. Right. >> I really like the idea personally of opuction three of not building it out. There's no sense building fully building out 700 stations. >> Right. to your point then given >> depending on if the governor we all know about that craziness >> but anyway I do like the idea of building the shell so that it could be outfitted pretty pretty much straight away >> it seems safer >> and it seems like it captures today's construction costs like the big the big buckets

092of the construction right I get it that there's other fixtures and those types of things but that's the not the significant cost associated with building a school and it shortens the time frame >> which one do you all favor that makes the most financial sense. >> Oh, go ahead. Option three makes more sense for y'all. >> From my standpoint, option three gives you the most flexibility, too. So, it'll give you the ability to to fit it out pretty quickly, but also, you know, navigates the the school for hope issue as well. So, it gives you a lot of flexibility. From a safety standpoint, how difficult would it be for someone to get to the shell in option three? A student I'm thinking about. Is that possible? >> Um, they would be able to get to

093the corridor that leads out to the stairwell, >> but they couldn't go past >> but they couldn't go to any of those classrooms in those open areas. be blocked off or >> and even that should be relatively I mean there should be doors between it, right? So if you picture you've got basically two twostory buildings with a passageway between them and so I think that you know we can we can certainly make it difficult for the students except in a fire emergency situation. >> Um >> that concerns me especially with some of our special needs students. Mhm. So, it'll be on the second floor, right? They'll have to either go up the stairwell or they'll have to go um through up the elevator in a different building. Um the elevator will actually be in the

094>> So, there'll be no elevator in this building. >> No, it would basically be connected through the the passageway. Um, so you know, we can certainly make it so that it's difficult and we can put cameras up there so that >> You said there was an elevator >> if we Yes, there will be an elevator, but in the easiest terms possible, hard for them to get into the space, easy to get out should they get in. >> Like all the life safety will be there, fire sprinklers, fire alarms, emergency lights. I mean, programming on the elevator, if there is a fire, it's going to recall to the first floor anyway. Um, if they were up there, they could get down, stairwells to get out. We'll have panic hardware to be able to get down, but

095you could put a locking mechanism, you know, so they can't get in. >> Thank you. >> I won't go longwinded, but I am still in favor of option one from the standpoint of looking at the numbers and again the size of this campus. I mean, I agree we're up to about six a little over six acres now, but for comparison's sake, the only other elementary school we have under 14 acres for traditional elementary school is Cypress Ridge, a little over eight. And they've got a concurrency capacity of 761, which means their actual capacity is probably in the 500s, 600s based on that math. >> They're probably actually um they're probably 761. >> So, some of the concurrency numbers are >> concurrency. I'm going to give you a concurrency refresher. You're going to love it. So

096there's three different ways that we factor concurrency capacity, right? So basically if the core capacity is less than permanent capacity, permanent capacity is their their actual concurrency capacity. If it is, oh gosh, now I'm going to test myself. If the core capacity is larger than permanent capacity, it can go to 125%. And now I wish I had invited Helen because there's a third way and it is if the dining capacity is slightly larger I think it can be the dining capacity. >> Okay. >> Right. But if it's not if Okay. Yeah. So if it's the dining capacity is larger but not large enough to track figure that 125% then basically it's the dining capacity. Gotcha. >> So um I can't tell you exactly which one Cypress Ridge is but I know it's not the 125%.

097>> Okay. So then they're 761 let's call it on a little over eight acres. >> I've never seen that many students there. No, they've got 573 actual students as of now for 40 day counts, but >> 600. >> Um, that's actually their their permanent You know what? There you go. Permanent capacity is 610 >> and Hather schools and portable, >> right? >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> I mean, their total capacity is 610. Their permanent capacity is probably closer to 300 something. >> That sounds about right. >> Um, so so looking at all those things, I just I think about the the size constraints we have more than anything else. And even with the growth patterns, I mean the 220 is 5 to 10 years or greater than 5 years. So I think within the five

098or like 164 estimate, which still puts a square line with where we are now and with the growth in the US Heights area and I think the permanent capacity there, Kelly, is 790. I found it on another sheet for us Heights, not the,0 I referenced from my guest 125%. But looking at that and the work we're going to do at Treadway in the room we've got at Tavveraries and some of the rest in there and the thought that there isn't a charter partner, correct me if I'm wrong, in that area as of now. Um, >> very pinest >> Pinerest there. Okay. Um, so looking at all those factors and where we're continuing to go, I just don't see us getting to that number, nor do I think that site can reasonably accommodate that number of

099students above 650 and actually still do right by kids. So, I think between the dollar savings today, I mean, if we were to go with option three, I would I would love for it to be shelled out a little more for offices of some sort, maybe for regional offices or something that's actually useful. I just don't think it's going to fly, that we're going to shell out a floor and say that, oh, we we can't have student stations in there now, so it's not eligible for some other alternative to try to state claim to it and think that we're going to get anywhere near needing that second floor for at least 10 years. So, I don't know. I just I think there's a lot of factors there and but most importantly I don't think this

100site can handle more than 650 kids at 6 acres. So that that's just my piece on that one. >> Let's hear from Miss Lucas her district. >> Miss Luke, >> I don't I think that there are a lot of variables. I think I have thought and thought like we've been the the horse is dead. I think the horse has died, right? But I also know that the current legislation, the pathway that we see from the new commissioner of all that could change or it might stay exactly the same, right? So, it's really difficult trying to see into a magic eightball. I think if we stick with what this board has traditionally done, it has never been to build a school that would meet the needs in 5 years like like we've talked about like this

101this building is 100 years old. We just celebrated that. So, we we built the existing structure that's going to stay, but other than that and we don't have a bunch of opportunity to expand beyond this build. I feel like once we get beyond this build, it's going to be completely different in regards to what we decide to do later. So, I feel like three feels the safest um with all of the legislation that we have pending in front of us. I I love the idea about using it for regional >> site, something usable, because I do think what are we going to do with a whole second floor of a building >> and that seems wasteful right now. >> Um so, that doesn't help, does it? I feel like option three is the safest and

102it and it's traditional as far as what we've done so far historically in trying to plan for the future for the students of Lake County schools despite any political influence which is what we try I think that's what we're tasked to do and it's very challenging these days they're certainly not making it easier. I even wonder like how creative this aspect of the the legislation will get when they hear school districts are always we find a way to stay in a zone where we're we're working what's best for kids and then they always come back and there's a challenge that goes along with that. So it just seems like it's getting tougher and tougher. I honestly wish they would just allow us to contribute politically and then all of this other stuff might stop. >>

103So that's my thoughts. I hear that and I think the only thing I would add is that we've got a lot of space and room to grow reasonably down the road at Eustus Heights where more of this growth really is and I get the concerns of how that school has performed the last several years. But I think under the current direction and whoever we put in there next I I I don't see that happening in the future. Um and as we continue to excel in all of our schools, I just think you got 35 acres at Eustace Heights. You've got more room. you've got the capacity that can still get it to a reasonable number without making it too large of an elementary. I think the 650 gives us enough capacity for this site in

104this neighborhood and then we can grow in other ways down the road. Um I that just I I just don't think the site can handle 650. If we had 10 acres, I'd be at 750 all day long. I'm with you. But I just think with as much as Patrick and his team have already placed this thing together as strategically as humanly possible, they've maximized every square inch of the site. I just I I don't see it being able to conducively have 750 actual students on that site and not feel really cramped and really challenging getting to school and away from school, car rider lines and the rest. So, I don't know. I just I think that we're planning for capacity there that could have a lot more unintended consequences down the road than having this

105site maxed out at 650 and then looking at other options to to fill the growth closer to where those students will live. I am 100% not in favor of increasing the capacity significantly used to sites and I never will be. So I want to say that because in the 20 the 25 years of being an educator now um that school goes through cycles. So yes I do think that under the current administration they're making shifts. I feel like they're their gains from last year to this year's time frame indicate that they're definitely doing good work there. But if you look at the just cyclic nature of that it's constantly in and out. you know, it's one of those schools that we constantly have to have on our radar. And I worry about shifting to Treadway

106because Treadway is already larger as well. And so I just feel like I don't want to not burden Eustace Elementary School that does great work that has a great community around it to shift student stations to Eustace Heights that is a more um challenged site as far as their their historical performance academically. And I'm not talking about now. I'm talking about 25 years of data. Right? So if we look if we look forward we just have to keep our I don't know that school is tricky and I don't want to put an undue burden on administration there by adding 220 500 9 700 students 400 students it's going to be tricky that was a big concern that we have so >> I agree heights is extremely tricky um >> I know that they have the

107ability to be much better than they have been in the past having been the principal there when they had 900 students and they ranged. I mean, they got an A three or four years in a row. >> Um, I think it's possible, >> but the community has changed. The the demographics have changed. So, it's, you're right, there's no way to know that. Um, Eustace Elementary is landlocked. I mean, we've spent a bunch of money trying to mitigate that, but it's definitely landlocked. I don't see it ever being able to accommodate 750 kids. Um the option two makes me really really nervous and option three makes me really nervous. Um but I think of the three I would prefer option three. >> Mr. Well, I thought my line of questioning made it obvious that uh option

108three was was the way to go. It's safest and um >> yeah. >> Okay. >> So, I will >> I'm in favor of option three, >> superintendent, and we'll develop the recommendation and bring that back to you um in January. >> All right. All right. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you, gentlemen, for being here today. >> Yeah. Thanks a lot. >> Okay. Now we're going to do our uh marketing of our schools presentation. >> Marketing of our schools. >> Good morning. >> Morning. So this morning I want to share with you a presentation that explains a strategic marketing plan to retain the students that we have and to win back some of the um students whose families have chosen um other alternatives for education. This presentation is based on the

109premise that public education is a shared civic commitment to educate all children regardless of background or circumstance. And this plan is designed to demonstrate how we honor that promise by strengthening our offerings, communicating our impact, and reconnecting with our families. So, I believe that we thrive best when the community understands and believes in what we do. And the marketing strategies in this presentation are intended to help our community do just that. So, next slide, please. So, we are all well aware and we just talked about a lot of the challenges facing us at a heightened level now and we are seeing some declining enrollment which we've been talking about largely because of state vouchers. But that's not the only reason. There are also large awareness gaps with families not aware of the breadth of programs

110and support services and opportunities available in our schools. Misperceptions about public education impact parents decision-making as well. Public schools used to be able to take the if we build it they will come approach but now we are competing for every student and every family and effective marketing can help us do that. The next slide please. The plan that I'll share with you today aims to help us increase student enrollment, enhance our public imit and visibility, help dispel myths about public education, build community trust, and help us compete more effectively. Next slide, please. More specifically, marketing can help us strengthen the Lake County Schools brand. It can help us better understand our audiences through enrollment trends and surveys, highlight our specialized programs and use them to draw and retain students. It can leverage testimonials in our

111storytelling. And it can help the public see us as truthful, transparent, and responsive in our communications even when there are crises or challenging conversations that we have to have with parents or other stakeholders. And it can help us improve customer service, which is a key element in making families feel respected, appreciated, and wanted in our schools. The next slide, please. So, we're not the only district facing and addressing these challenges. Districts all over the country and throughout Florida are doing the same thing. This was a key topic of conversation at a recent Sunspur conference. Sunspur is the Sunshine State Schools Public Relations Association. And at that conference, we examined the approach that Martin County School District took and we used it as a case study. Martin is a smaller district than we are, but there

112are some similarities as you can see from the details that I've listed on the screen. The next slide, please. Just like us, they were facing decreasing enrollment, competition, and misperceptions. And in response, they brought in a consulting team, the Donovan Group, that helped them unify their messaging, rebrand each of their schools, and collaborate across multifunctional teams. In the end, they got some positive results. Next slide. But first, a word about branding. So, some people mistakenly think that branding is limited to a logo, but it is so much more than that. Branding is the story that people tell about us when we're not in the room. It's the feeling the parents get when they walk into our schools. It's the pride students feel when they wear their school sweatshirt. It's the trust the community places in

113us when they vote on a referendum or recommend our schools to a neighbor. It's our reputation. It's our values in action. So when we think about what we want our brand to be, we have to think about what we want people to know, understand, and feel about our schools. To clarify their branding, Martin County asked school leaders for feedback on these basic questions. How would you describe your school to someone who is unfamiliar with it? What positive things do people say about your school? What makes your school and the students unique? And what adjectives would you use to describe your school? Next slide. They also took a look at each school's logo. A logo alone again is not your brand, but it certainly represents your brand. It's a visual shortorthhand for everything the organization stands

114for. And what the consultants found in Martin was a lot of inconsistencies. Multiple versions of the logos and no real guidelines to help users determine which logo was real. Consistency builds familiarity and it reinforces unity with shared values and a common mission. Inconsistent branding can look sloppy or disorganized and that affects how people perceive the organization's professionalism and credibility. So in Martin, they knew this was something that they would need to address. They created a consistent logo and mascot version for each school. In the case of Seawind Elementary, which I have on the screen, the mascot is a shark. And they use that same shark in a banner heading, a crest, and a logo that includes the school's value proposition, which for this school is learn, lead, and serve. They did this with every school

115in the district, each with a different value proposition, highlighting what was unique about each school. Next slide. They created branding style guides for each school to make sure that everyone knew what colors, fonts, and logo versions were permissible. Remember, consistency was the goal here. And then they created some templates for slide presentations, letter head, and social media posts so that same look and feel would be carried across all collateral. Each school received a brag sheet that they can use to promote themselves. These are used as handouts at public events. Local realtors share them with wouldbe buyers. They are visible in public offices and elsewhere. In a single page, a parent looking at one of these brag sheets gets an overview of what makes that particular school great. From the number of enrichment clubs they have

116to their focus on science and the arts to special recognitions they've received and other points of pride. Additionally, each school was given a promotional video and they could use this on their websites. They could use it for special events or give public presentations and they could even use the video in part or in its entirety for advertising. So, I'm going to ask for a little technical help to show you what the an example of what one of those promotional videos looked like in Martin. THERE YOU GO. HEAT. HEAT. [Music] [Applause] HEAT. HEAT. [Applause] Thank you. So the idea there was just so that parents or any stakeholder um could take a look and at a glance know um get a feel for what learning in in that school would be like. So in our next

117slide we show here that in Martin they also made it very easy for parents to see the various learning pathways offered at their schools. For example, a family interested in the Cambridge A's diploma might choose to start their child at Bessie Creek Elementary which is a Cambridge international school then send her to Hidden Oaks Middle which is also a Cambridge school and then finally to Martin County High where the ACE diploma program is offered. Or another example, a student who's interested in environmental studies might start at Jensen Beach Elementary, which is a center for environmental stewardship, then move on to Murray Middle School, which has a focus on agricultural science, and then go on to South South Fork High and focus on an industry certification in agrch. They promoted school choice within the district so

118families don't feel like the only way they have choices is if they go outside of the district. and they make it really easy for families to see and access those choices for their children. And here were their results. A total of 189 students returned to the district at about $9,000 in funding for each student. And that was about $1.7 million returned to the district after one year of implementation. For our marketing plan, we decided to take some of Martin County's best practices along with a few ideas of our own and apply them here in Lake in hopes of seeing a similar return on our investment. We started with making our enrollment pages more userfriendly. It used to be that if you clicked on enrollment on any of our websites, you would see a long page

119of type. It was multicolored type, but it was still just words, lots and lots of words, and it was a lot to read and it wasn't very inviting. And for new families in our communities, this might be their first impression of us. So, we tried to make the page more inviting by adding smiling kids, adding welcoming language, and then adding buttons at the bottom so parents can easily see what information is available and then click accordingly without getting overwhelmed with information overload. We also surveyed our principles to ask them about the unique value proposition for each of their schools, how they want their schools to be known in the community. Based on the survey results, we started refreshing our school branding and creating branding guidelines to build that consistency that we talked about earlier. We've

120done this with 10 schools so far with more to come. We've also started adding promotional videos to the website. It used to be that when you clicked on a school website, you'd see a large static image of the school logo like you do at the bottom of this slide. But again, the website is often the first impression parents get of our schools. We want them to see at first glance students engaged in academics, athletics, and the arts in a safe environment where they are comfortable and enjoying the learning experience. We collaborated with the TV production students at Lake Minnola, Eustace, and Eastridge high schools to gather footage and create these videos. And so far, we've updated 23 school websites with these videos. And there are more to come. We also collaborated with other districts in

121Florida through Sunsbor, FADS, and the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations. Sunssper and FADS have teamed up to create a PIO steering committee to create a statewide campaign to promote public schools. Superintendent Cornnegie is chairing the superintendence group that is advising the PIOS from districts around the state, including ours. And as we create common themes and templates that we can personalize in our districts while being part of a push that is much bigger than any one district could do on its own. And then the consortium of Florida education foundations recently held a workshop called redesigning schools to capture market share. I attended that workshop and each district can have a team of three participate in the follow-up workshops. Some of the topics include growing our district and school leadership skills to capture market share, marketing and

122public relations with a recruitment focus, customer experience training, and then the concept of building micro schools to appeal to parents desire for smaller more intimate learning groups for their children and direct lines of communication for parents. Dr. Elizabeth Johnson from the foundation and Dr. Porsche Lee Bryant, I'm sorry, Biffield. I went to school with a Porsche Bryant. Sorry, Porsha Lee Bfield from choice and alternative education and I will make up our team for lake. We are looking forward to new insights and best practices from that experience that we can apply here. And then as we look ahead to what we want to do next, targeted advertising tops the list. And we want to place these ads on YouTube, which is the number one video platform in the world, and on Google, where people often start

123their decision-making processes. On both platforms, we can target very specifically parents with school-aged children or families of great levels where we see the greatest number of departures or families in neighborhoods where we have the greatest amount of competition. I met recently with my counterpart in Penllis where they have had some very successful advertising campaigns and he gave me some helpful pointers um for how to get started with this. We'd like to time these ads for spring and then again at the end of summer when parents may be making those crucial decisions about where their children will attend school the following school year. You heard me mention the customer service training the consortium will be offering. Well, we want to get started introducing that as soon as we can with an internal campaign to stress to

124everyone that we are all ambassadors for the district and we all have a responsibility to make sure every parent and student feels welcome, respected, and wanted in our schools. A working slogan for the campaign plays off of the LCS and Lake County schools. We listen, we care, we serve. And on the screen, you can see just a few of the high points that we'd like to include in that campaign. We learned just how important customer service is from an anecdote shared with us during that consortium workshop. A presenter mentioned how parents get frustrated when they try to reach an administrator and don't get a call back within 24 hours sometimes. But at smaller charter and private schools or micro schools or pod schools, they can text the administrator directly and often get a response within

125minutes or a couple of hours at the most. If we're going to compete effectively, we have to be just as responsive to our parents. And that's just one example of how customer service can make a difference. We know that we won't get 100% of families to choose our schools full-time, but perhaps we can get some to choose us on an allocart basis. This is particularly applicable to homeschool students, which is a fast growing population. How many of those families know that they can choose from a menu of options and have their children take a class or two with us, even if they're homeschooled? We want to do a better job of promoting those options and welcoming those homesooled students to join us. one or two classes at a time as those classes align with their

126interests and needs. And each of those who comes to us, even if it's just for a class or two, that's additional money that's coming back into the district and an opportunity for us to show them all the other things that we have to offer. We also think there's a better opportunity to promote the many, many choices students have within our district. Right now, you'd be hardressed to easily find on our website a single location where a parent can go to say, "My child is interested in X and therefore I'd like to send her to XYZ school." We want to make it easier for parents to see what we offer and then to choose without difficulty. We also want to work with our colleagues in educational choice to find a way to open up our schools

127and remove barriers to entry so that once parents make the choice, we can welcome them more often than turning them away by saying that there are no seats available. Lastly, I think we do a pretty good job telling our story on our websites and on social media pages, but that's passive storytelling. People have to come to us to learn about us or we have to be dependent on other people to share our stories with friends and families. We want to do a better job of telling our stories beyond our immediate families. A community newsletter that can be pushed out through the chambers and to local businesses in the area is a good place to start. Sharing our good news stories with audiences that may not know us very well will help push back against the

128misperceptions and help the broader community know more about all of the great things happening in our schools every day. We expect that after a full year of implementation that we can win back at least 150 students and see fewer student departures than the previous year. One word of caution. I am extremely excited to have the communications team lead this work. But we are a tiny team of three with only one person handling all of our photography, video, and graphic design demands. Now, we have part, as I've mentioned before, we partnered with our TV production students to help with some video tasks, and we will look for other opportunities to collaborate so we can expand our bandwidth. But for now, our efforts are moving. It's just not as quickly as I'd like to see them move.

129But we realize how important this work is and we want to do absolutely everything we can to make sure it's successful. And that is all that I have. Are there any questions for >> I just want to comment. So on the slides, I showed the one with the superintendent with the kids was announcing the um >> superintendent of the year. >> Yeah. >> But if you click on it, you have to be a subscriber because that was a daily commercial. Uh, it was a daily commercial story. That's >> So, so it immediately sends you to you got to sign up. Yeah. >> Or you can't see it. I don't know if there's a workaround for us. >> U just >> I have to consider the ethics of that because I could definitely print it and

130have it there, but I want to make sure that I'm not crossing any line in doing so. But >> well, I think if we're going to put a link up there, >> yeah, >> we need to make sure everyone can access it. >> I agree. You're absolutely right. >> So, just a comment. >> Thank you very much for that. >> On that comment real quick, this is a little bit in the weeds, but you might have a good answer for me on this one, Sherry. Like for example, we all get the pineapple report in our email, but however often they publish that and it is news articles from across the state that are all formatted in a way that's not behind the payw wall. So it goes to their website and then the text is

131there. So I don't know if they pay those Tampa Bay Times and whoever else a fee to do that. It just comes in our inbox. So that is a very good point. >> I end up behind a payw wall on like half of those. >> Even on the Pineapple Report, I'm not on pay wall on any of them with Pineapple Report. If you click the links through that email, we get >> Yeah, I'm clicking the links through the email. Maybe we're getting different emails. Are we getting different emails? >> I don't connected with the pineapple reporter. >> Mine says nothing about pineapple. >> So, I get one from some organization called the pineapple. >> I I received that as well. It's actually pretty informative. >> It is. Yeah. But lofas are in season. >> But

132to your point, I'll find out able to do that so that even nons subscribers can access the content. If they can do it, then maybe we can do it too. if it doesn't. >> And then what is your Cuz I I agree. You've got a very small but mighty team. I think first we can get Doug a camera and get him out there doing some of this stuff >> and he's doing that. >> He is. I I can confirm he is doing some of that stuff. But do you have a rough timeline really on like the logos and the collateral? I know Thomas has been working hard on those and they take some time. >> He has. >> But could we partner with some graphic design students or TV production to get more of those

133out? I mean, I just I'd like them to all get out in a reasonable time frame. I don't want to hold back the ones we've already done. and I'd like to get those out, but then how do we get to all 40 50 schools um with such a small team? >> To be honest, the uh the thing that bogs down the time is the >> Do you want to come up so that I know they're recording? So, >> yeah. Um, the thing that bogs down the process probably the most is the >> negotiation between myself and our team and each principal trying to manage >> probably about a dozen creative people, well-meaning people at each school who are actually contributing to the issue >> by having >> a dozen logos and those appearing. That's why

134our goal is to create a spec sheet for every school. But I can sit there and make a spec sheet in a day. Getting that spec sheet approved by each principal can take weeks, maybe months at a time. >> Got it. >> So that's that's what we're facing. >> Okay. >> Uh sorry. Go ahead. >> If I could make a suggestion because I think that you're bogging yourself down with with that. I think if you came up with the ideas, most administrators would go, "Yeah, that looks good." >> Oh, no, no, no, no. So here's No, no, no. So the parents and everybody gets very adamant about what does your osprey look like? What colors are this? And so much so that, you know, it was put out to votes. Uh, you know, I think

135>> I'm not trying to cut them out. I'm just saying that don't sit back and wait on them to provide you information that if you provided an osprey in four different colors, then you've already taken the lead of that conversation. That's all. >> No, we're doing that. So I think one possibility I know in >> very naive in other no I think that you have to in marketing you lead and so >> yeah in in other capacities where I've worked and and we've had to work with designers we would let the client know that we have you know there are three rounds of this so we'll give you something we'll take feedback and we'll go back three times but after that the third time that's the final. So maybe we could implement something like that

136so that we don't have multiple >> vac that that is what she just said. That's what we're learning is like with some schools it's just a an easy button and other schools there's a process where we have to be more and more clear and more adamant about like hey we've only got so much time there's only so many of us >> like we need to move on after this certain point. >> Well I think that even within the district I've noticed some departments have morphed into their own little logos on on communications. >> Yeah. um even right here from the district level. So >> that's true. >> And I think even beyond that point, like I just think those brag sheets are so great and all the collateral that's coming. I mean, if we're looking

137at our goals to win back at least 150 students at $1.2 million, I mean, of course, want to be mindful about the expense on the front end, but even if it was partnering with more CTE programs or a couple interns or somebody else that can help you guys get through that stuff faster, even a another employee, I mean, if we're looking at 1.2 2 million just in the first year is a conservative goal, right? And what that does on the back end, I mean, that certainly still seems like a a large return on investment in my opinion to get some of this stuff out quicker and be more proactive on the communications front. >> No, I agree with you. We had an excellent experience collaborating with those TV production students. They did amazing work. Yep.

138>> And it was all done in a day. >> Was it a day? >> Uh filming for the day. >> Filming. Filming in a day. Three groups, three different It was wonderful. So, >> and I think that tells our story really well, too. If we're using our own students to create as much of this >> marketing material as we can, I think that's powerful. >> So, I just I'd like to get it done faster. And I know you guys are working at the seams. I mean, that's not at you guys, but just how can we help you get that done faster? >> Yeah, some graphic design students would be great and others would probably need to be a little more managed >> the ones that have the skills. >> We should definitely explore that because

139it was a it was a good experience with the video students. >> Thank you. Great work, Sher. So, you know, yeah, from the I experienced Cypress Ridge, at least from the parent side, and very quickly they just put out some some polling. So, and and we all had a chance to go and weigh on on, okay, we do have like eight school colors. What are like the two or three that were supposed to like and boom, you had results and then okay, that's what you're going with. So, I I I wonder if if maybe the the stronger deadline could be a key for a lot of schools to arrive at that decision process. >> Uh, Cypress Ridge was a relatively easy one. >> Okay, say that. Well, it was it was it was a it

140was a good process. It was efficient and very much enjoyed that one. >> Here you go, community. Here's here's your chance to engage and Okay, now we're going to take that and and go with with your input. Thanks. >> Yeah. Very good. >> Are you Go ahead. >> Sorry. You go ahead. >> Are you prioritizing I think you mentioned that like you've looked in the populations where you're seeing more decrease in students and you're targeting those first whenever you do this work or is that something you're going to do? >> So, I was looking at that for the app for the advertising. target. I don't know that we we have not really applied that to the order in which we're working on these. >> We can certainly do that. Honestly, I've been prioritizing the ones

141where I I just look at them and I think >> that or maybe they got a great logo, but they've got 10 of them and there's a lack of identity there. And then the la the second thing I was going to ask is have you guys this might be something to share at the education foundation meetings because I know have connections with some of our red apples media and our supporters in that way and they would be they're that's they're powering public education right if that's what they're >> and we have late front TV that's all they have to do is produce >> right >> no we'd be happy to share with them any collaborations that would help us we're we're open >> I really love the fact that you're taking a business approach to

142this I think that recognizing we're the largest industry in Lake County and now really addressing it that way. >> I will say this though, >> okay, >> um, this group with the exception of Tyler are older and I think that the way that they communicate is different. >> Nobody's in the same group as me, but but it's different the way they communicate. And I think that the way parents communicate is they talk to other parents. And that I know >> that that uh when I came on the board some going to my 14th year >> that Lake County schools sucked. >> There was nobody talking positive. >> Yeah. >> We make a change as superintendent Cornnegie and I don't know what happened but we still sucked. But then after >> No, we did the chair.

143>> But then suddenly >> suddenly it changed >> and it changed because we were engaged. our superintendent was engaged and that's what changed the dynamics. >> Yeah. >> And then we just kept moving forward. >> Yeah. >> And so how we message is really I think the parents when they're moving here, they're talking to their neighbors. True. >> And they're talking to their friends, right? >> And they're going on social media groups. >> They're not looking for YouTube Google things. >> You know what I mean? >> Well, well, I'm just throwing that out because the way we communicate now is different. And the way we're going to communicate with these influencers, >> right? >> That maybe we need somebody that's Mr. Education running around hitting these kids. I don't know. No, that's that's a possibility.

144But I we we did take those kinds of thoughts into consideration because initially we were talking about advertising on television streaming channels >> and we got feedback which is exactly what you were saying that younger parents are not so much looking at TV streaming but they're more so on YouTube and so and uh like we said that's a number one >> video platform and then Google is where people go to start their decision- making. So that's kind of where those thoughts came from, but certainly not to negate any of those other things that you said, but I want you to know that we were thinking along those lines >> in the YouTube cuz I have a son that's in that realm. >> Okay. >> But he's not he's not YouTubing Lake County schools, >> you

145know? You know what I mean? >> But that's the thing that you don't have to be youtubing Lake County schools. You can be youtubing >> something >> adjacent and then we can pop up because we've targeted that family. So they it's it's not just that they're looking us up. >> It's targeted advertising. Yeah. is talking but it's advertising. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Um and I did just want to mention because you mentioned the Ed Foundation. They gave us the initial funding to be able to start the the the streaming ads. So they gave us $15,000 that she's going to be able to to look into the the idea of running these streaming ads because they are expensive for sure. >> But I also think the fact that we've been that you've been consistent particularly with

146that superintendent Sunday because I don't know what your numbers look like. Yeah. But it's always what I look for it and I think that it's going to grow. I don't know how you how you're doing with numbers but you monitor that right we monitor it. They they could be better. I mean we see depending on the content what it what it is like >> when we had um sa that was a big one. So whenever cute dogs and cute kids you know we always get um people to chime in or if it's a controversial thing we get the numbers to go up. But I do think that there there are people who do see it and share it quite frequently. So yeah, we're monitoring those numbers. >> I think you're doing a great job already,

147personally. So >> thank you. I appreciate >> I love the idea. Um back in the day when we had the Bill Gates money, >> I remember >> um that was one of the things that was pushed was creating the culture and um we visited schools that have similar processes in other states. And one of the main things that I learned from people in Maine and Memphis and other places was that you got to sell your school. You got to believe in it. And I think if with this project, if you talk to the principles and you let them know this is the goal, >> and I I do think you should engage. And granted, the parents will have to approve, but they can simply take it to the SACE, which is what we did. Um,

148and you can make some good things happen. A lot of the things that I saw in this video were things that, you know, we tried and they were very, very, very helpful. >> Um, I saw the other day where Carver has reintroduced the banners in the courtyard that have the student scholars and the student leaders. >> Um, that's an excellent way of doing things. Um, so I think we're on the right track. I think we just have to, you know, organize ourselves and make sure that we're talking to all the right people. I agree. >> So, kudos. >> Thank you for the feedback. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Is that it? >> That's it. >> Mr. Well, I've got a couple of thoughts. One, I think the marketing is just absolutely outstanding. I think

149what you've done in terms of communicating a message out to um putting us in the right light has just been I don't even know how you could put any sort of value to that because it's been been really invaluable. Um it's been amazing. Um I think I think some of this discussion was um maybe sparked by the webinar that we all watched about uh how to how to combat that declining enrollment. And I think they talked about a few different systems in that uh in that webinar. One was the marketing. And it seems like we've got a lot of thought around that and what that looks like. But um another one they mentioned was what does your tier one instruction system look like? And I think we're we're looking pretty strong in that, right? When

150we're got an A hanging on the door, we're saying okay well we're educating our kids and they're doing great, right? So, I don't think that's a weak spot for us either. Um, >> they also talked about a customer experience system and figuring out like who is asking why these parents or kids are leaving? Is anybody doing that? Is anybody calling and saying why are you leaving? Because I've had these conversations with parents at soccer games and on the playgrounds and and I say why are you leaving? And it's surprising to me, you know, how many times they think that the schools don't meet their needs. How often how rarely they might hear from an administrator or a teacher that they're trying to contact, how difficult that is. Or um or how many things that they

151just, you know, they they've spoken up, but nobody does anything to fix, you know, such as, oh, it's so difficult to um to get an answer about this, or um or I don't think they they're providing for my son's needs through their his IEP or accommodations. He's got an IEP and and they're not following it. and so they just leave or um or the misbehaviors that occur in a school or how inefficient something is or all these things. I think it's enough to to drive somebody who's maybe a little bit dissatisfied away because I I know what happens. I've had these conversations. So So I I I have to wonder what is the next step in that process? And I wouldn't be completely opposed to saying this is a small team. we need somebody looking

152at what does the customer experience look like across the district >> and that's their sole job and I don't I don't think you make this kind of a low-level person because they don't have the um the authority to to go in and talk to principles and say hey I found out at your school you can't even figure you can't even find out who the guidance counselor is because it's not on the website and you have to go to the parents Facebook group and say who is the guidance counselor for my 10th grader and then 17 people chime back and none of them are the right answer like that's the sort of frustration that's that drives people crazy. >> Um, I don't know. I I mean, >> no, I I I agree. I think part of

153it is just for all of us have to kind of take responsibility and and not be so quick to just pass on that phone call or or um, you know, tell somebody you're going to get back with them and then not follow through. I mean, even little things like that. But then more specifically, some of those other things. Um, you're right, that could very easily be a full-time job for somebody >> and you get 10 kids back from that. that person picks up the phone and calls 10 parents, gets them back. >> Yeah. >> That job has paid for itself. >> You know, >> well, and to Mark's point, bad news travels much faster than good news. >> And that and that how many times have you seen on a Facebook post someone will say

154something negative and eight zillion people join in >> and then there was one the other day where it was very positive and there was about eight or nine joined in >> every time. >> I mean, that's just human nature. >> It is. But but I think truly what Mark is talking about is almost more to me is more important than worrying about which logo or which color you pick. >> It is really that one-on-one contact because that person's out there talking trash at the soccer field and they didn't finish there. They went to Facebook. >> That's exactly what I'm seeing. That's exactly what I'm seeing. And I've got the benefit of having kids in so many age groups, right? I mean, in our schools, I've got, you know, students in elementary and middle of high

155school, right? Yeah, I mean it's it's I've got them at all and I hear it in in all these circles and and I think that those sometimes those those um social media posts do go sour like we we share a post about, you know, here's some great highlight or here's here's here's what kids in some drone program have done and what award they've won and then somebody kind of runs in in the opposite direction and now you got 35 comments >> like, okay, dude, we were celebrating the the kids and their accomplishment, right? So I'm wondering who is who is coming through those pages and and see and saying okay hey perception is reality so even if this isn't true people perceive it to be true right and so how do we combat that message

156>> and yeah >> or do you bring those positives out and just turn comments off >> right but then social media isn't social >> then they're just talking at the at the soccer game >> and then we never know we never find out that people are dis are are disappointed right >> yeah I think there's value in keeping the comments on even when They you know I I I think >> well I've seen you respond to them and that's good too. >> Absolutely. >> We need to do more of that and sometimes there you know there's a balance. You don't want to add fuel to the fire. Sometimes we have um un unofficial ambassadors are the parents who chime in and will speak positively on our behalf. And I think that comes across as more

157authentic sometimes agree than for us to do it. So um there just needs to be that understanding that we're all in this together. We're all it's not just the job of the the three of us. We're all public relations ambassadors for Lake County schools. Every single one of us who are who's employed here. >> Yeah. 100%. And and so I mean thinking about um that other component, I I think it's a job much bigger than them. So I' I'd be really interested in hearing what what what would it look like for us to try to combat that. >> Okay. >> Um >> we can we can explore that. I'll, you know, talk with colleagues to see if any of the larger districts maybe have some somebody doing that kind of work and just kind of

158explore and I'll be happy to bring that back whatever I find. >> You also said something that I thought was brilliant in this and and that was looking at that segment of the the homeschool population where they're allocarting. >> Yeah. >> Now, right now, my experience with homeschool students allocarting is that they're just receiving all these things for free from us because they're participating in our athletics, they're participating in our extracurriculars, they're doing all these things that we're we're providing. Yeah. >> And they're just they're getting nothing. They're not paying anything for that. And we don't we can't collect money for those sorts of things. But if they're taking classes, say, you know, you probably don't have somebody qualified to teach AP calculus in your in your home. Right. We have that. So come take

159a class, come take two classes. Something's better than nothing. Right. >> Right. And I I don't want to steal thunder from Dr. by Philill but she spoke to me on Friday and I am not going to remember the acronym she used but we just got approved for some threeletter acronym I can't remember now but whatever it is it would allow us from my understanding with talking to her >> to be able to draw funds for their participation in these various things. I'm sure she will bring that forward when the time is right to explain it much better than I can. >> We're being set up as a um scholarship provider basically so that Yeah. >> Yeah. and other districts are Mr. Ward can. >> So that's someone can actually speak to that. >> That's someone

160who signed up a step up and so they have a voucher. >> Correct. >> And so this is being drawn off that voucher. Yes. >> $8,500. >> That's correct. >> Does a parent have to do anything? >> Yeah. I'm not quite as familiar, but my understanding is yes. Once the parent gets their scholarship, they can set us up. We're set up as a vendor and they can go select us as a vendor and the funding will come to us >> for that >> for whatever courses they they >> now has a a cost. >> Yeah. Well, we have to set up that cost. >> So, do we not have that in place? Cuz I just got a phone call from a parent who wanted to take a class at Leburg High and she said she

161had been told it was going to cost $980, I think. So, do we have something? >> So, so what I'm not familiar with is do does the parent have to pay upfront? >> She said she did. That's why she was calling me. She was upset. >> There there are there are some um there are some that would want to let their child take the whole program and then pay at the end. >> Yeah. >> But I can tell you from my friend over at the Florida Virtual School that that's not a good idea because a lot of those students don't pass. >> Okay. >> And then they walk away and you never get paid. Um, but again, this is this is the system that the state and step up are setting up so that we

162can prevent a lot of those things from happening. >> I don't think you're going to get participation if you have to pay up front. and it'll be it'll be just deducted out of the >> I think the reason why you're education I think why you're setting up as a vendor once we set up as a vendor and everything is done proper then it gives the parent the chance to be able to select it and the funding doesn't go to the parent or they don't have to pay upfront the funding comes to us directly >> but we have it set up right now where a parent can pay to take a class >> yes >> who do they pay >> we've always had that >> they pay I didn't know that >> yeah so if I

163go to if I go to all this new. Again, all this is new. Um, and so we have we have on a few cases set up where they can pay, but a lot of them are still set up the old way where we're still counting them as FTE and they're not supposed to be. Um, so we're working through that now that the state's actually sharing some flea IDs with us. We're able to check to see what our students are. If they are getting a scholarship, Portugal's department's contacting the parent and they're setting that up correctly. What? But you can homeschool without getting a voucher. >> Correct. >> So if you homeschool and you'd elected not to be engaged with the government, >> then they have to pay cash. >> Correct. >> But I would thought

164it was like you described where if I brought my kid for second period and then picked him up, that would be a part of second period's FTE and the state would pay for that. >> In the past, it was that way. And if they are not taking a scholarship, it is still that way. Gotcha. But if they're taking a scholarship, >> we still get fun to do FTE. >> Yeah. I want to say I want to say that um and I'm shooting numbers from memory. Um we had 400 duplicate students when we looked last time. There were less than four or five that were the old style homeschool kids that were getting one class that hadn't gone to the new system yet. And we were contacting those people and correcting that. Cool. >> I believe

165January we'll see that our system has been approved. Now, it's just a matter of getting it set up at the state level, I guess. So, it'll be a couple weeks, but that will be operational hopefully by the end of January. >> That's great. I think you're going to see that grow exponentially. I do, >> too. I think once we can market that as an option because they don't know that that's an option, then you're you're right. I think we'll get um and once once you capture them, if they come and take one or two periods, >> especially with your middle and high school students, they're going to say, "You know what? I'd like to take another course or another course." And I think it just because they're going to have friends and they're going to

166start realizing how incredible our schools are that I think we're going to have them stay longer. >> You know, it's having now a couple of kids who have been getting all the college literature, right? One section that always stands out there is what is student life? That's always in the highlight of every tour is student life. Student life, you know, has nothing to do with academics, has nothing to do with athletics, but just, >> you know, what are the relationships with other students like? and and um and and so I I I see a little bit that in our videos um and >> we could see more, >> you know, right? But you're a small team, right? I mean, we've got a lot of accomplishments that you're highlighting, right? So, I'm like not trying to

167discount anything, you know, but >> but that maybe that's another one of those components because those homesooled people, they are experiencing. >> Yeah, I think that's a big draw is, you know, look look, you can find community here, right? >> And um how can you find that community? >> I agree. Yeah. >> So maybe even some of those promotional videos that we have are doing for the different schools, we can use those outward facing, you know, to push those as well. >> Along with videos, just thinking about that social aspect, I do think that there would be some benefit in some social influencers with our students. >> Yeah. >> So >> that's a great idea >> 100%. >> Great idea. Thank you. >> Social influencers nil. >> Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I just

168didn't go there. But you definitely would have some like >> that's where youth comes in because you got four chemistry. >> But they listen then they go to their parents and they say I want to do this and they say anyway we could have our students create that narrative. >> That's a brilliant idea. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Said it differently. Also in January, you'll see the kickoff of the statewide um public schools campaign entitled Florida's future powered by public education. That's the hashtag which um they actually adopted from our education foundation because Sherry proposed that because we um we know that we were already um seeing some great things as a result of that. So statewide you'll see starting in January um a monthly focus. So January will focus primarily on CTE, >>

169right? um acceleration options and then each month there will be a different focus statewide. So um yeah. >> Yeah. >> I would caution not to make it gimmicky. That needs to be very authentic what we're >> like like that shark. >> You didn't like the shark. >> It's a dolphin. >> It is a dolphin. I think >> it's a dolphin. >> The the shark was the previous page. >> It had a little It had a little >> It had a fin on the back. >> It is a dolphin. >> It's a dolphins. It's a shark. >> Anyway, >> their logo is shark. >> No, there were two schools there. One was the middle school that they were sharks. The the other one was a >> dolphin. >> If you looked at the picture of the

170school, there's a big um some type of a structure in front of the building and it's definitely a dolphin. If if if anyone would like to know for sure. >> Sure. >> Well, if Thomas ever has to create a shark or dolphin, we'll make sure that it's clear. >> Yeah, I will say that's that. Okay. That could be very confusing. >> Yes, you're right. >> Yeah. I want to eliminate confusion whenever possible. Like that that's a huge problem is like when a parent thinks of school if they can't even remember what the mascot was, >> right? >> Like if everything else is going great, that can still be a hiccup. >> So if somebody's driving down the road, >> how do they know if a school is ours or if it's a charter or somebody?

171Hm. >> Should all the schools have a >> Lake County logo, you know, underneath on the school sign or something? >> It's not necessarily clear right now. >> It's not anymore. It's not clear anymore. You know, how many times over the years that um people have told me that they thought Cypress Ridge was a charter, for example, and I said, "No, no, it's it's it's a Lake County school. You can you can pick it." >> No, that would be an easy one to do. Just make sure that we have our logo properly displayed. >> Sure. You know, you don't obviously want it too busy where now it's you're like here's a bunch of pictures but if something tasteful, you know, just on all of our schools so you see which ones are ours. >> No,

172I agree. That's a good good thought. >> Brilliant. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. >> To that point, one thing I could absolutely add is on these web banners >> that they're not there right now. >> Yeah. Yeah. And since we're talking about signs and since you're in the room, I'll tell you, you have been absolutely brilliant when it comes to the way I don't know who which architect is doing this, but the way they're writing the school names in front of those um all those horizontal um silver beams or something. You can't read it, right? >> You you're the one who showed me the the picture, right, your markup? >> Yep. >> And I go, "Yeah, you're right." Like, you can't read a really a coal >> Oh, I know exactly what Yeah, it's

173at ACA and it's at uh >> what's the other school? Horizon >> Futland Park. You're talking about the block lettering above the silver Futland Park >> like >> 100%. Yes. And he he's spot on with that. I I think that you know >> as we talk about just going forward with these schools, somebody needs to ask somebody in our >> I don't know which one of you wants to pretend to be an architect, but like >> I think Doug can do that. >> Single solid color panel behind that text >> and then you're done. >> And now you can read it. It's just that there's black and white behind it and yeah, it just messes with your eyes unless you're right up there. >> 100%. >> Anyway, okay. Since since we're on that topic, >>

174I thought it was a >> Is it a shark or >> Okay, but I guess we beat that shark to death. >> That's it. >> Yeah, >> we have one last item and this is actually um required in um Florida statute and so we're going to >> let Sher keep going with this one and hopefully this one will go relatively quick. Yeah, this one's quick. So, you heard Mr. Stewart talk about the um school start time legislation and legislation and this presentation um has been used to educate stakeholders about that and most recently it was shared with our high school students through the superintendent um student advisory council and today we'd like to share it with you let you know about some of the feedback we got from um from the students in a survey

175related to all of this. So, the state um legislature, as we all know, proposed that by July 1st, 2026, middle schools start their day no earlier than 8 a.m. and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m. to ensure that our teenage students are getting adequate sleep. The bills required school boards to inform their communities about the dangers of sleep deprivation, especially for this age group, and that's what brings us here today. Um, health experts have determined that teens need 8 to 10 hours to sleep um to support brain development, emotional regulation, physical health, and academic performance. When students in this age group don't get enough sleep, they have trouble with concentration and memory, which leads to lower academic performance. And they also can be prone to depression, anxiety, and mood swings. Their physical health can

176be impacted as well with a weakened immune system and a greater likelihood of obesity and diabetes. So what would it look like for us if we were required to change our start times in alignment with the language in the bills? >> Well, to accommodate the late times for the older students, our younger students would have earlier start times. So, as you can see on the chart, our elementary and K8 students would start their instructional day at 7:20 a.m. instead of 8:30 and 8:20 a.m. Middle school students would start at 8:30 instead of 9:20. And our high school students would have the latest start time, 9:20 instead of 7:20. So, this would next slide. This would meet the goal of allowing our teens more time for sleep, which ideally would lead to reduced tardiness and absences,

177improved academic outcomes, fewer teen driving accidents, and better behavior. But we could see some negative impacts as well, including conflicts with students part-time work schedules and afterchool sports and other extracurricular activities. There are also concerns about our younger students waiting at bus stops in the dark for several months out of the year if they are starting their instructional day at 7:20 a.m. They would also arrive home hours before their older siblings who otherwise would be there to supervise them until parents came home from work. Our high school students were asked to complete a brief survey letting us know whether they were in favor of a change to the school start times. We received 1,258 responses as of Thursday, December 11th, and 88.9% were against the change. Um, we gave responders an opportunity to provide comment.

178Those we looked at some of the comments of those who were in favor of the change and we heard things like, "I'm too tired to wake up at 6:30. It makes it easier for the kids who always come to school late and it would allow kids to get more sleep and this would make students more productive." Some of those who um were against the change said it would interfere with my part-time job. If school ends later in the afternoon, students will have much less time to complete homework assignments and study for tests. Younger siblings still need to be watched after school, and it would negatively affect dual enrollment students and student athletes. So, should you as the board decide to take a position on this proposal, we're asking on behalf of the students that you

179take their feedback into consideration. And that concludes that presentation. >> That was kind of close. Do you think we need to conduct a second survey? >> I think the students have spoken. I'm >> very impressed with the students participating. >> That's right. >> How many responses was that? >> 12200 something. >> A little over 12. >> That was um only one or two schools who had done the survey by then. I heard from Mount Dora this morning. They're doing it this week. A lot of the schools were going to use um the the latter part of this week to conduct their survey. So all of the students that are on the advisory committee, now there's two of them from each school. they've seen the presentation, they're then working with the principal to deliver the same

180presentation to the student body. Um so the that pre that um participation was from a limited number of our high schools. So when this is all said and done, we'll get thousands more responses. But um >> so but one of the things I wanted to when we did the presentation to the student advisory group um first of all, they were unanimously opposed to it and I thought their feedback was interesting. And what they said was this will not get kids to to sleep more that we will actually stay up later and the re end result will be the same amount of sleep. >> That's right. >> And um so statutoily in order to comply with what we were have to submit in which we received the template in a workshop last week um by July

1811 is where was this shared at a workshop or board meeting. So that will be today's date that we'll be able to say that we did discuss this as a board. I know we've had some individual conversations about it, but we do need some direction from the board so that we can take your recommendation and then release the same survey and information to parents in order to fully comply. So, um we did not want to um assume your recommendation without some direction from you all as to whether or not you um would like to whether or not you want to change start times or whether we are um unanimously opposed to this idea. I know that um I am certainly opposed to it >> and um would would like to submit um our waiver of

182to not participate. But >> you mean like right this minute to it? >> Yes. >> We have to document >> discussed it as I I don't have to think about it except that if you have high schools that are just now getting ready to take the survey. >> I think we >> a little premature until we get that information. >> 88 to 11%. It's not like >> did you not just hear what you said? Only two schools have done it. I know. >> So the others are doing it now and did not >> pretty statistically significant. >> Why even No, but why even have them do it then if we're not even going to >> get the information back? >> So you would like your decision to be based on the student input? We would

183like to >> I'd like to at least see the considered >> before we before we make >> 100% like we're on standby for it, but >> Okay. >> It it would >> I think that's fair. I understand exactly what you're saying. I I I do. >> This is why government moves at the speed it does. >> I get I agree because if we're not going to at least wait to hear what they say, what's the point in them doing it? >> Well, by that are we going to wait for the parents to do their part of the survey as well? >> No, I think it's appropriate for us to give like a direction. >> Finish that one. Yeah. >> I mean, we can have an opinion, >> but in as much as we listen to

184some of the students, I think it's important to hear what the others say. >> Okay. Well, we can certainly do that. we are in where there is no clock ticking currently to get this done. But um >> when this goes out to parents, could I just can I and I I trust you all will phrase this in just the right way. So I don't even know why I'm saying this, but just so that way the public doesn't know or doesn't think that we are seriously considering this, you know, because that will be the narrative and then they'll all go to homeschool. Well, I I wasn't truthfully I wasn't going to expand the survey that if we already had it scheduled to go to a certain group, which is the one that's the most affected >>

185that once we're done with them, I wouldn't survey any more surveys. >> Then we do then we do what we're supposed to do is be leaders and make a decision. >> That's my opinion about it. >> But we have to survey parents. >> We do have to get um some broader input on this. So yes, we will do the same presentation. We will be careful in how that is worded. Um, and part of our our thought was if we have before we send it out to parents, if we have a recommendation from the board, we want to include that. That would that would actually um be the last thing that they would see that say we recommend that we do not make the changes to start times or we recommend that we consider this. >>

186But we're only going to send it to parents that have kids. >> Correct. >> The board has recommended XYZ. But if you are a child >> opinionated enough, you know, >> right? Don't give them the other option. >> I don't know. >> Yes. I would like to include your recommendation along with the information from the students. I do think that that's two powerful statements that would dispel any idea that one way or the other. >> Okay. >> Like a little uh little picture of a student with a thought bubble. I'll just stay up later. >> Just tell those parents to talk to their children. >> Okay. Very good. >> Thank you. >> Just stay up later. >> Okay. >> Board member comments. >> Mr. Randberg. >> Uh, nothing today other than hope everyone has a

187very merry Christmas and a happy new year and we'll see you in January. >> Mr. Koto, happy holidays. >> Yeah, it's fun going to all these events. Uh, it's tiring for a little bit of an introvert and exhausting, but uh, you know, thanks to everybody who helped to make the season so festive for our students and employees. That was very well said. We'll see you next year. >> Next year, superintendent. >> Um, last thing, tomorrow is teacher of the year tapping. One of my favorite days of the year. Um, if you're going to be able to participate, I know that there's a group leaving from here at, I believe, 8:30 in the morning if you want to ride. Um, otherwise, you can meet at the first location. And I'm not going to announce where that

188is at this time. So, >> um, but they they plan to begin at the first school at 9:10 in the morning. >> Super. >> Let me know and I can give you more information. >> Okay, >> that's it. Okay, everyone. Merry Christmas. >> Merry Christmas.