001Good evening. It is Monday, June 23rd, 2025. I'd like to call this regular schoolboard meeting to order. Uh please stand for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. 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. Good evening, superintendent, fellow board members, staff, audience. Uh, thank you for attending this evening. Uh, moving on to item two, changes, amendments, additions, or deletions to the agenda. Uh, superintendent, do we have any changes this evening? I have no changes. Board, do you have any changes this evening? No, sir. Can we just pull 10.02 for the discussion? We certainly can. All right. Um, any other changes this evening? All right. Moving on
002to item three, approval of the minutes. Uh, superintendent, do you have a recommendation? I recommend approval of the minutes from the regular school board meeting June 9th, 2025. So moved. Second. Got a motion by M. Matias, second by Mr. Dodd. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I passes 50. Uh item four, representation. We have none this evening. Moving on to item five, public input. We do have a couple cards. Uh first up, Miss Jessica Siki, LCA. Good evening, chair, board members, superintendent, coordin, and staff. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight and for your ongoing commitment to our students, family, and staff. First, I want to thank you for encouraging the instructional materials auditors to connect with our association and our educators, including educator voices in this process is essential. However, I do
003not I do want to share that we have not yet been contacted. We look forward to that engagement and the opportunity to contribute valuable input. I also want to acknowledge the effort the board and district made in reviewing departmental allocations. We appreciate that this is a difficult task. While we understand the need to evaluate spending, it is unfortunate these cuts were necessary, especially since instructional positions were impacted. At this time, we still do not have clear information on how many school-based instructional positions across the county have been affected. Also, how will these allocations changes? How will these allocation changes impact class sizes and case loads for our employees across our district? We ask for greater transparency and ongoing communication about these changes. At the state level, we're relieved that the legislation budget maintained AP and
004CTE funding, but the delay in passing the budget, the minimal increase to the base student allocation, and the fact that the state budget does not address Florida's rank of 50th in average teacher pay are all troubling. The teacher salary increase allocation amounts to roughly $20 a paycheck per educator. $20 is not even enough for a tank of gas. Many educa educators are already already working two or more jobs just to make ends meet. If we want educators to focus on supporting and teaching our kids, this increase is not enough. We need to do more. We must do more to compensate our educators. The strength of any school system lies in the people who serve students every day. If we want Lake County Schools to continue to be the top educational choice for students and parents,
005then we must invest in the certified professional educators who make that success possible. Thank you again for your time and your continued partnership. Thank you, Mr. Wiki. Excuse me, just one second. Superintendent, can we reach out to the auditors and find out what happened? Next up, Kathy Smith, LCA. Good evening, superintendent and board members. How are we doing tonight? First, I want to thank our LCA members for the opportunity to be the vice president and president for the last 10 years. Can't believe it's been that long, but it has. Also want to thank the LCS staff and board members for their help and cooperation and partnership to bring some things positive changes to our educators and students. I do however believe there's always room for improvements and as they say actions do speak louder than
006words. So I would like to provide some insights that might help some educators stay and continue with their careers in Lake County and hopefully you can consider some of them. First and foremost, Lake County Schools and LCA hopefully can continue the conversations and work together to secure funding from Tallahassee. As Jessica just said, $20 is not enough and we do need more. And this can help educators compensation for everything, for all their hard work, advanced degrees, mentoring, substituting, supplements, etc., not just the compensation for their performance pay. Educators are overwhelmed, so they need to find ways to reduce the workload so that they have more individual time to do what they need to do. Student discipline continues to get worse. Students need to be held accountable for their actions and given consequences when they do
007not follow directions and not just given a piece of candy and sent back to class. Educators need their referrals to mean something, not thrown out or not put together with a bunch of lumps and say that, "Oh, we're going to give one consequence for five or six referrals. Educators and students are getting hurt and student discipline needs to be addressed. We need to keep our certified educators. We're losing great teachers because they are not, whatever you want to call it, not a good fit. They don't work well with administration, that administration or some of their staff members, whatever. But I've always said, maybe there's somewhere else they can go that they can work. And we had just over a hundred people this year that left that were not reappointed. And many of them were very
008good teachers. Can't say they all were, but some of them were very good teachers. Losing great teachers because they're not a good fit. It just doesn't work. Um, they need to find a path to help them, like an internal transfer so that they do not leave to another county or go to private schools like some did this year. We need to retain our educators. Thank you again. It's been a pleasure helping educators and students for over 40 years. Elizabeth and Jessica are ready to take over. Thank you. Best of luck. Thank you, Kathy, for all your years of service. We appreciate you very much. All right, that is all the public input cards I received this evening. Um, I am moving on to item six. Um, attorney report, Mr. Patrick. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I
009have none this evening. All right. Thank you, sir. Um, moving on to unfinished business. We also have none. Uh, consent agenda. Superintendent, do you have a a recommendation? Yes, I do. I recommend approval of consent agenda items 8.01 to 10.01. 01 and 10.03 to 10.08. So moved. Second. Got a motion by Mr. Matthi, second by Dr. Luke. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I passes 50. Um item 10.02. I pulled item 10.02 because of my association with Lake Sumpre State College. And uh likewise, I at least am employed in an adjunct faculty. So out of an abundance of caution, I should probably abstain from that one. Understood. Um, do we have a recommendation to move on with the agenda item? So, moved. Second. Got a motion by Mr. Matias, a second by Mrs. Cunningham.
010Any discussion? All those in favor? I I passes 300 with two abstaining. All right. Moving on to discussion this evening. Um, item 11.01, public hearing. Uh, Mr. Patrick. Thank you, Mr. Chair. At this time, we'll open a public hearing for tenative approval of policies 280, Educational Services for Students in Department of Juvenile Justice Education Programs, rescended 312.03, Athletic Coaches, 3120.08, Part-Time Extracurricular Personnel, 4120.03, 03 athletic coaches and 4120.08 part-time extracurricular personnel. Does the public have any input on the presented policies? Hearing none, the meeting is closed. Thank you, Mr. Patrick. Uh, do we have a recommendation? Recommend tenative approval of the policies as presented. So moved. Second. Got a motion by Mr. Mias second by Mrs. Cunningham. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I passes 50. And then item 11.02, the evaluation of the
011superintendent for 2024 2025. Mr. Patrick, per school board policy 1040, evaluation of the appointed superintendent and the superintendent's employment agreement, board members must complete an evaluation of the superintendent annually. The board has completed the evaluation and they have been reviewed and all the scores have been compiled. These collective evaluations and individual comments are available in board docs for public review. There are two parts to the superintendent evaluation. Part one is based on standards and professional practices with a perfect score being 375 points. The superintendent received 369 out of 375 points for part one, which is 98%. Part two of the evaluation is based on student performance objectives with a perfect score being two points. The superintendent received a score of 2.0 for part two, which is 100%. At this time, it is appropriate for Chairman
012Bradenberg to ask for a motion to approve the evaluation instrument ratings for superintendent for the 2024 2025 school year. Thank you, Mr. Patrick. Do we have a recommendation? So moved. Second. Got a motion by Mr. Dodd, second by Mr. Matias. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I passes unanimously. All right. Uh moving down to 12.01, superintendent report. All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Patrick, for filling in for Mr. Cole. We're um happy to have you here tonight. Um board, I just want to tell you thank you. I had a chance today to read through the evaluations. I I appreciate your feedback, um your comments, but mostly I just appreciate being a part of an amazing team and um just thank you for your ongoing support. Um since our last meeting, we had one letter
013of condolence that was sent to the family of Janet Carney. She's a retired food service manager for Pineriidge Elementary. Um, also just another um couple of things I want to remind you of is that um you may get some phone calls. We had a few last year. Um this time of year um to ataris elementary. It's actually happening tomorrow. If you get any calls from constituents, do not be alarmed. The Lake County Sheriff's Office is hosting a school guardian active asalent training exercise. It will be from 8:00 am to 3 pm. So there'll be lots of police activity, but it is all planned and um it's actually I had a chance to to watch it in action about a year ago. It is very interesting. So if you have a chance to go by and
014check that out. Um also I want to thank um Mr. Zachary um our procurement manager. He is he and his team are organizing had organized the vendor networking fair that was held last week and it's become an annual outreach event for local businesses. they had a room full and we just want to thank all of our um local businesses um that came out to participate in that vendor event event and thank you to him and his team for hosting that. And I also want to give a shout out to Mr. Felner and his team for our two days of learning that took place last week with all of our school administrators and teacher teams. we um celebrated some accomplishments from this past school year um and also had a chance to reset as we continue
015our journey of excellence um together in the coming year. So I wanted to thank those folks as well. Um to Kathy Smith, Kathy, I want you to know it has been an incredible um journey together and I want to thank you for your leadership and um for all of your ongoing support. Um we did a lot of great work as a as a team along with LCA. So, we are grateful for your leadership and I hope you have a amazing retirement. Thank you, Superintendent. Uh, Dr. Luke, um, I wanted to let you guys know, I know that Dr. Johnson wasn't here tonight for the education foundation update. Um, we did our installation meeting last Wednesday evening where they recognized some new incoming board members and they recognized some outgoing board members as well. Um, and
016they um, recognize the outgoing president and recognize the incoming president. And so there's some changes that are happening there, but all good stuff. And that organization is, I mean, we all know how wonderful they are. Um, they are actively seeking sponsors for Friday night, July 25th for the Stepping Out for Education event. And I believe she just opened up some individual tickets. She was looking forward to announcing that as well. So, if you haven't gotten your tickets for Friday's event, then there are some individual tickets available, but sponsorships are um sponsorships for that night are actively available. And then I also wanted to um congratulate you. It was nice looking at some of the data that we're we're considering. I know that there there's some a lot to be celebrated and um looking forward to
017a lot of those um numbers coming out once they've been verified and everything's been calculated and all the things. But it was helpful um when doing the evaluation process to have the data that you supplied. And it's always um I'm looking forward to the the recognition of the hard work of the district and the teachers and the staff and everybody um just seeing the fruits of their labors because I know that it's just continued labor of love. Um and it's something that's truly remarkable the work that's being done. So I wanted to congratulate you as well. It's I it's a pleasure to be on the board and to be able to serve um alongside of this board and support you and the work that you do. So that's all I have. Thank you, Dr. Luke.
018Mrs. Cunningham. Good evening. Um, I want to first say this past week or week before last, it was I guess Mr. Brandyberg and I were at the Florida School Board Association meeting and once again I um was very happy to reaffirm that here in Lake County, we have something very special going on and the citizens of Lake County have something that they should be very proud of. And I see my new friend that I met at the school board nodding his head. We have some Alabama connections and we know a lot of the same people and that's a pleasure too because we always get to meet um outstanding people that didn't come to our district and we appreciate you being here. Thank you. Um I'd also like to congratulate you Kathy. Um funny all the
019years I've known you, I've never called you Kathy before right then. But it is a pleasure. It has always been a pleasure. Um your leadership is very much valued. I'm sure we're going to miss you. Uh, but knowing one of the young ladies that's going to be stepping up to help, I know that we're in good hands and I know you're not going to go that far away. So, we appreciate you. We appreciate both of you and thank you very much. And Mrs. Cornnegie, again, I'd like to say to you that I think um all good things that happen in an organization starts at the top. You can only be as good as your worst person and your best leader. And I think you have done an outstanding job with leading us. So, thank you
020very much for that. We have some really good things going on in Lake County. We may not be perfect, but we're pretty close. So, thank you, Mr. Dud. All right. Well, I'm going to start off my report by thanking a bunch of people named Rob. Uh so, uh you know, I had a chance to attend the uh the summer leadership and I attended the secondary day, full day. Rob, you put on an amazing event and I know you didn't do it alone. had a support of a lot of great people to to be there and to facilitate and lead sessions and so I had a chance to attend those as well and it was just uh it was great to see just what uh what learning is going on in our district. Uh, you know,
021I I love the the fire and passion that our assistant superintendent brings that I think you do an outstanding job at presenting and motivating people to uh to to celebrate the success but also see where we have work to do and I think you strike that balance real well. And anyway, one of my favorite events as always to attend. So, uh, thanks for the invitation and and the welcoming there. Uh, it was it was outstanding. Uh, similarly, uh, going down my list of people named Rob Rober there in the back. I want to thank you as well. Uh and uh and I'm not sure if other people in our district experienced the same sort of inconvenience that my family did with with Premise Health. Uh I tried to bring a kid in to have some
022blood work done and and they said, "Well, even though your kid has been seen in the last year since they weren't seen by a doctor here, uh we can't accept that. You know, you have to see a doctor first, even though he's got the blood order in hand from his actual pediatrician." And I said, I feel like this is just a ploy to to try to drive up the doctor visits or make it more inconvenient for our employees or justify their own contract. Uh anyway, I I shared this with him and and next day I had a call from premise health apologizing for this policy that they are going to backpedal it back. They're not going to roll that out. And so on that note, hopefully none of our other employees are experiencing this or
023that they truly have walked it back. So on that note, LCA, if you hear of any of your members experiencing that sort of inconvenience, um Rob will help you because that policy is not supposed to be there. It's not supposed to be inconvenient and and a big hurdle for our employees. Um the idea of these wellness centers are to help save the employee money, the district money, create a more convenient uh system and and you know, it's a great benefit to our employees. So um anyway, happy to see that they jumped into action so quickly to allegedly walk that back. And and on that note, uh Kathy, I think you know just uh it's been been a wonderful working relationship with you and I know that uh the organization's in great hands and I I
024have no doubt we'll be able to continue that great collaborative spirit because that has gotten that's that's one piece of this puzzle to get the district to where it is today. And um so um I'm once again proud of where we've come and yes, I know there's always work to be done, but I am so optimistic about the work that is that is left and and being in the the right hands to make that happen. Mr. Matias, I'm gonna start out with Kathy. It seems like you've been retired for like two months now or something. I don't know. That's all I'm about. But I do want to say this that that um Kathy was one of the first people that reached out as I brought my form my chart out that shows our fairness and
025funding. And just to remind everyone, if we were just at the state average, it would be another $12 million. think of what we could do for our our teachers and support people if we had those dollars. So, I would ask y'all to continue to advocate for fairness and funding. That will go a long way even um with the other things that the state's doing. So, thank you and Kathy, I wish you all the best. The the um so the evaluations are kind of a labor of love. It gives you a chance to sit back and look and reflect. Um, and I do want to say this, Superintendent, without your leadership, we would not be where we are today. And it was a pleasure to evaluate you. Um, and to also be part of this great
026team. So, thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Matias. By this point, it's always a bunch of dittos, and it's no different tonight. Um, I'll also start with Kathy. Um, we go way back to my days as a student at Carver Middle School. um and being able to serve with you in this role has been nothing short of a pleasure. Uh thank you for your tireless efforts for LCA and our district as a whole and you've certainly left the organization in wonderful hands with Elizabeth and Jessica and I know we will continue the great work together moving forward. Um so kudos to you for a long successful career and Jessica, keep up the great work. You're off to a fantastic start. Rob, um summer leadership is always a joy. Um I got to attend most
027of both days this year. Um, and the passion you bring to those meetings is incredible. So, thank you for that. Um, and to Laneia Bondo and her team in CIA for all the work that goes into making that day possible or those two days possible. Um, it was incredible and I know we're waiting on some data back from the state by Friday and we are very um cautiously optimistic that that's going to come back um in a big big fashion and that's a credit to everybody in this room and all of our um employees and staff members throughout this district. Last, but certainly not least, tying on to FSBA that Miss Cunningham and I got to attend, it is evident every time and even more this time that we have the best superintendent in the
028state and I'd argue in the nation. And Miss Cornnegie, uh, two straight years at 98% plus in evaluation is pretty incredible and extremely welld deserved. So, thank you for what you do each and every day for kids and for our district. Um, and I am very excited for the years ahead. Um, did we miss anything this evening? Any objection to adjourning? No, sir. We are adjourned. Thank you very much.