001Good evening. It is Monday, June 9th. 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, board, members of the audience. Um, moving on to item two, changes, amendments, additions, or deletions to the agenda. Board, do we have any changes this evening? Superintendent. There are no changes. Perfect. No changes. Moving on. Um approval of the minutes. Superintendent, do you have a recommendation? I recommend approval of the minutes from the school board workshop May 5th, 2025. Executive session for collective bargaining May 5th, 2025 and the regular
002school board meeting May 12th, 2025. So moved. Second. Got a motion by Mr. Matias. Second by Dr. Luke. Um all those in favor. I passes 5. Um representation uh 4.0120. 1 2024 2025 educator plus internship recognition uh Miss Laney Abondo. Good evening chairman, superintendent, school board members. Lake County Schools has partnered with the University of Central Florida's School of Teacher Education to fill instructional vacancies through the Educator Plus program. This program allows pre-ervice teachers to serve as a teacher of record while completing their final semester of a teacher preparation program. Interns participating in the educator plus program are assigned a supervising teacher who coaches and supports them throughout the duration of the program. This semester, Lake County Schools had three teachers who served as supervising teachers. Michelle DC and Jessica Bus are both third grade
003teachers at Sarrento Elementary. Miss DC has been teaching for 16 years and Miss Bus has been teaching for eight. Lost Lake Elementary's literacy coach, Lauren Rouletter, who's here with us this evening, has been teaching for 13 years. We'd like to acknowledge all three of these amazing educators for their contribution of supporting Educator Plus interns. So, please join me in acknowledging them. We are so pleased to share with you this evening that this year's educator plus interns Bethany Coffee, Madison Beach, and Angelica Rodriguez have all been offered instructional roles in Lake County for the 2526 school year. Joining me this evening is Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, who you know well, our executive director of the Education Foundation. Thanks to the foundation's continued support of Lakes educators, both current and aspiring, each supervising teacher receives a $500 stipend
004from the Education Foundation of Lake County for their hard work and support. Additionally, student interns receive reimbursement for their coursework during their semester of interning. So, while two of our uh supervising teachers are beginning their welldeserved summer break, we are pleased, as I mentioned, to have Miss Lauren Rowletter here with us this evening. Miss Rolleter, if you will come up and join us, we would like you to uh represent the the group and be acknowledged for your hard work and support this year. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you, Laney. All right, moving on to public input. We do have two cards this evening. Uh, first up, Farmer Banks. Farmer Banks Helfrick, Clay Road District, South Lake County. Um, farm tip of the day of three hacks for watermelons. Um, when a watermelon is growing, um, if
005you put a piece of cardboard underneath, it lifts it off the ground, keeps the pest away. The second one is you can rotate it every few days, it gives a uniform coloration, and also it keeps the pest away. Uh, the third one is the vine coming from the plant and the vine coming to the actual fruit. Um, on the opposite side there's a curly. When that curly queue is black or brown, it's time to harvest the watermelon. Um, madam superintendent, uh, board of distinguished guests, um, in 19 in 2023, uh, John Hopkins University did a study to find, uh, the leading cause of death in children in the United States. Um, no, it was not drownings. No, it was not, um, car accidents or even cancer. The number one cause of death in children uh
006between the ages of 1 and 17 was actually firearms. So what do we do about it as a community, as a society? In 1965, Ralph Nater, lawyer um up in Connecticut, wrote a book, Unsafe at Any Speeds. It was to bring awareness to the fatality of automobile accidents. By 1968, seat belts were law. Um, today we have crumple zones, we have airbags, we have um anti-lock brakes which are pretty much in every single car made in the United States. Um, so what are we doing today as far as the safety of our children? Um, city of Groveland Police Department uh offers free courses for its citizens in um firearm safety and awareness. uh AW Peterson uh gun shop actually offers courses also those are paid. Uh this is a start. Um so I asked you
007a question and I'll end with a comment and that is the question who will be our Ralph Nater of our generation and two no parent uh who has ever lost a child to a firearm incident wants another parent to ever have to experience it again. I'm Farmer Banks. May you all be blessed. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Thank you, Former Banks. Um, and our second card this evening is Miss Kathy Smith. Good evening everyone. How are you doing? Um, it's been a pleasure to help our students and educators with the student progression plan. We worked very well with the district, Mr. Felner and um and the district leadership to work with things in the past several years and we've improved tremendously although we still have some a little ways to go I believe
008but it's been very collaborative and very welcoming and that's wonderful. Uh but I do want to take a little bit of time to um kind of give some more specifics around some of the student retakes uh which we were given some ideas from some of the teachers because we usually ask for their ideas and um it has come around but we did offer in the elementary on page 34. The middle school is 49 and the high school is 68 and 69 where we also have um that we added make an initial attempt in the retakes because we found out that there were some students that were just not doing anything at all and then all of a sudden they wanted all the retakes that they were doing. Um unfortunately that didn't work. So at least
009we have that in there now. So that should help with a little bit. But there are some other things to do. Um we added there's some language in there about LSAs. Some people think they should be graded, some people do not. There's other attempts but um it it is helpful but some of the comments and I will make a little bit of the few that we have. Uh limit retakes to assessments only to one attempt within a certain number of days. Clear guidelines. Parents are not getting an accurate picture of student progress due to unlimited retakes. Students are manipulating the system by delaying work, copying from others. Teachers struggle to find time to create multiple versions of of assessments for retakes. You need different formats for retakes. Measure learning and growth rather than compliance. Pushing
010students through early grades without mastering reading skills leads to long-term academic struggles. Lack of real consequences for students leads to poor habits and lack of accountability for grades attendance and behavior. Automatically promoting students to the next grade level despite failing classes confuses students and parents about their actual progress. Distinguish between honors and standard classes for GPA. Students need to be present in school to make adequate progress. Reintroduce midterms and finals and courses without end of course exams to provide retake opportunities. High school students should not be promoted to the next level without earning credits in core classes. Hopefully just some of those and I did actually take them from our responses that we have and that's why I was standing here reading them. I highlighted portions that would work for you. Uh but hopefully we
011can continue those conversations to uh ensure the student progression plan is is the best it can be for our students and our educators. Thank you so much. Excellent. Thank you Kathy. Um those are the only public input cards I have. Anybody else wish to speak this evening? All right, seeing none, moving on to reports. Um the education foundation report, Dr. Elizabeth Johnson. Good evening, superintendent, chairman, school board members. I hope everyone is doing well. At the end of May, we celebrated our take stock and children mentors and announced that Nancy Schwarz was the Lake County Mentor of the year. We also concluded our presentations of scholarships to the various seniors across the county and recognized graduates of the Take Stock and Children program. Additionally, at the end of last month, we held the final New
012World's reading event on May 22nd at the Minola City Building, which had 51 attendees and focused on sailing into summer reading. Um, it also included the Lake County Sheriff's Office marine unit with their boat out there. So, that was fun. Next year, that agreement for New World Reading will be adjusted slightly, reducing our required programs down to six instead of eight, which we did this year. For Apple Mart, our last day for teachers to shop this year was May 14th. So in total, there were 959 Apple Mart visits this year, totaling $148,456 worth of school supplies going to our teachers and their classrooms. Casey also attended a free mini conference in Tampa to hear about other education foundations teacher resource stores at the end of last month um and brought back some really great ideas
013for how we can improve our Apple Mart store um here in our three locations. And so we're really excited to implement some of those new ideas for the next school year. As we look ahead to the next school year, we are preparing for Red for Ed, the community school supply drive throughout the month of July where we partner with local businesses to compete for collecting the most school supplies by weight. This year, our weigh-ins, we're calling them our pep rallies for public education, and we're having two locations for that. July 31st, thanks for laughing. Um July 31st in South Lake, and August 1st we'll be in Tavaris. We're also piloting a virtual school supply drive this year uh for businesses and community members that perhaps don't want to go into those stores and bring things
014in, but they can purchase items online. That will be shipped to the warehouse. Over the coming weeks, we're excited to visit with a number of the school district leaders through the leadership academy as well as the bookkeepers meetings as we charge forward to the next school year. Next month, we'll be hosting the stepping out for education on July 25th and 26th and celebrating under the big top. We do still have sponsorships available for Friday, July 25th, as we celebrate our six celebrities dancing this year. And then finally, on Wednesday, the Education Foundation board will be installing our 2025 2027 officers. Matt Hackler will begin his two-year term as president. Casey Hobbs will serve as vice president and president-elect. Rich Billings will serve as the treasurer. Cindy Fanga as the secretary. Mike Degrall and Lauren Vasquez
015are the members as large. And then Lori Baker will be transitioning to the past president role. Are there any questions? Thank you. I do have one. Wait, wait. Back, back, have one. Nice. So, after your first year, what do you think? First year. I'm just getting started. You've done an amazing job. Thank you. Thank you so much. Have a good summer. Thank you, Dr. Jay. Great report as always. Um, no. Uh, 6.02. Mr. Cole, do we have an attorney report this evening? Uh, no, sir. Perfect. Uh, no unfinished business either. So, moving right along to the consent agenda. Superintendent, do you have a recommendation? I recommend approval of the consent agenda items 8.01 to 10.07. So, move. Second. Got a motion by Mr. Mias, second by Dr. Luke. Any discussion? All those in favor? I.
016Passes unanimously. Moving on to the uh discussion agenda this evening. Item 11.01, public hearing. Mr. Cole. Yes, sir. Um, at this time we will open a public meeting, a public hearing to consider final approval of policies. 0131 legislative policymaking, 0164, notice of meetings. 0165 meetings. 0165.2 regular meetings. This is a rescend. 0165.3 special and emergency meetings. Also a rescend. 0166 exempt meetings. A rescend. 2421 Career and Technical Education 2460 Exceptional Student Education 5410.01 Promotion Acceleration Placement and Retention 5610.05 Participation in Extracurricular Activities 5780 Student Parent Rights 9270 Home Education Programs and 9800 Charter Schools. At this time, is there anyone who anyone who would like to speak to these policies? Seeing none, the public hearing is closed. Thank you, Mr. Cole. Superintendent, do you have a recommendation? Final approval of the policies as presented. So
017moved. Second. Got a motion by Mr. Mias, second by Mr. Dodd. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Passes unanimously. Um 11:02 tentative approval public hearing. Mr. Cole. Sir, this time we'll open the meeting to a public hearing for tenative approval of the 2025 2026 student progression plan. At this time, is there anyone who would like to speak to this? Okay. The public hearing is closed at superintendent. Do you have a recommendation? Recommend tenative approval of the 2526 student progression plan. So moved. Second. Got a motion by Mr. Mthi. Second by Mrs. Cunningham. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I passes 50. And finally 11:03. One more public hearing. Mr. Cole. Yes, sir. We open the meeting to a public hearing for the tenative approval of 2025 2026 code of student conduct and policy.
018Would anyone like to speak to this issue? Hearing none. The public hearing is closed. Thank you, sir. Superintendent. Recommendative approval of the 2526 code of student conduct and policy guides. So move. Second. Got a motion by Mr. Matias. Second by Mr. Dodd. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I passes 5. Superintendent your report this evening. I have three letters of condolence that were sent since our last meeting. First of all, to Leonard Griffin and our parts um Department of Transportation. He lost his father, Buster Griffin. Also to Kim Davidson. She's a bookkeeper at Wendy Hill Middle and the loss of her husband Dave Davidson. And then also to Dr. Terry Seuss, the principal at Simol Springs Elementary who lost her father, Jeffrey Mark Fister. Condolences to those families. So, I hope I'm not stealing
019her thunder, but last week I had the privilege of going to the state board of education meeting and speaking on behalf of the Lake Sumpre State Colleg's proposal to launch a new bachelor's degree program in exceptional student education. This was all done by the work of Dr. Luke um in a continuation of the incredible work that she has done starting the elementary education program with 46 I think it 46 students in the program which is amazing to have that many those will we celebrated our UCF interns today we'll start to celebrate I believe in January her interns will will be doing the same thing in our schools and so we welcome them um but it passed unanimously so I want to congratulate you and thank you for your continued work to ensure that we have
020the very best teachers in front of our students every day, especially in this hard to fill area of exceptional student education. And part of the uniqueness of this application is that we'll be using Lake Hills School as a um lab site in order to provide additional training and supports. And what a great place for them to learn um along some of the most incredible teachers um that we have here in Lake County as um they will be well prepared to then enter um our classrooms as a sexual education teachers. And um a lot of these will be pair professionals in our schools right now. Um I want to say that there was 70 paraprofessionals currently that work at Lake Hill School and 24 of them were previously paraprofessionals. And so we're kind of capitalizing on
021this pipeline and so congratulations to you Dr. Luke and thank you. It was an honor to go and be able to present this to the state board. So thank you for that opportunity. [Applause] Very well said, Dr. Luke. Kick us off. Um, ditto. But I I would um be remiss if I didn't tell you that it was um Superintendent Corn's idea to host Lake Hills as the school. It was her vision. So when as a partner um institution to Lake and Sumpter counties, it's often our job to say, "What workforce do you need?" and it was her vision that Lake Hills would be a great program, a great school to really facilitate teachers in that manner. And so I appreciate you being the conduit for that work to flow through and um that made it
022much easier. And I don't know many of you it's speaking to the audience to come before a state board of education is very intimidating. Um and you you and president Bird and Superintendent Brown from Sumpre County came and there like she said there was no questions. Everybody was very supportive. But it's hard when the workforce comes forward and says these are the needs in our region and the partners come together and say we're supportive and excited. It's hard to it's hard to come up against that and have questions. And so it was really easy. Um and the partnership is really exciting. So thank you. That's all I have Mrs. Cunningham. Good evening. Um I would like to share first of all that I had the pleasure of closing out the graduations with Miss Strong and
023um our financial officer. Uh and it was the virtual school. It was very well attended. Uh it was actually a very pleasant experience and I have to tell you uh Mrs. Stron did a exceptional job. She was the commencement speaker and it was phenomenal. Um if there's a video of it I would encourage you to watch it. It was really great. Um, I'd also like to report to the board that the charter of Four Corners has been dissolved. Um, yeah. Uh, Acyola County has decided that, um, they no longer wish to continue in that role. So, the Renaissance is now going to take over being the board members and they're going to get their own board members. So, uh, having been the representative along with Jim Miller, we are no longer a part of that
024organization because it doesn't exist. But, um, I can tell you that the charter is doing well. Um, it looks as though their test scores are going to be very well. They're going to do well and, uh, financially they are sound. So I don't suspect that anything will change other than Renaissance will now be overseeing them rather than them having their own board that is made up of board members from all the counties. So and then the last thing I'd like to congratulate Dr. Luke and I'd like to put in my two cents about paraprofessionals becoming teachers. Um, I can tell you in my I'm not going to say how many, but my decades as being a principal, phenomenal teachers came from those ranks of people who had been paraprofessionals. When I think back on the
025individuals that I know who were paraprofessionals and became teachers, they were just phenomenal. Uh, they are truly dedicated and they go above and beyond. So, I am really really excited to hear that we have so many pair professionals who are seeking uh certification in education. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cunningham. Mr. Dud, well, certainly graduation season was filled with all the pump and circumstance and uh excitement that I could have ever dreamed it would be. I this this year's graduating class actually included students from my very first kindergarten class. So, that was that was really exciting because I haven't seen many of those kids in 12 years. And I had the chance to run into I think about six of them at Lake Manola, a couple more at Eastridge High School. And uh it was
026such a cool experience I to think. All right. I saw you on your first day of school and now I get to see you at the at the end. So uh that was it was super exciting for me. But there's one one little story that kind of stands out. A student who actually I've never met. But I mentioned in a workshop a few weeks ago, y'all when we were having this discussion, the progression plan, I think I mentioned how the um the the days of absence and and if you trigger too many, you might not get the chance to walk at graduation. And that had prompted one student to allegedly drop out of school. Well, uh, of course, superintendent and Mr. Felner and, you know, were eager to get the name of this kid. And
027so I passed that along and I'll tell you, the principal jumped into action very quickly and and made a personal phone call to that student, got him in our office, and that's where he sat for the next couple of weeks to finish up uh his his coursework because he was remarkably close. And uh so when he crossed that graduation stage, I think I I seem to know who he was because he uh looked at me with like this this um this this feeling of gratitude that I've just never ever seen before in a kid's eyes. And uh and while I I think I played one small role in that, uh really it's it's the people in the day-to-day operation who made the the big difference there, uh big shout out to Miss Llewellyn there at
028Eastridge High School to have who have been so committed to making sure this could cross the stage because made a huge difference uh in that life. So anyway, thanks superintendent and Mr. Felner for your roles in that too. And so Oh, excellent. Well, thank you for your work as well. And and I'm sure and now I'm probably missing many other people who seem to have had a hand in this and there in you know there in lies the uh the excitement. This is you know this is really a big team you know that um a school district is is not a single person operation. It takes a lot of people you know working to get this this you know touching the lives of each kid individually and anyway it was it was super exciting to
029see that. So very well done Mr. Matias. So I didn't have anything until I did and that was so listening to farmer banks and he always shares with us uh great ideas on how to grow and be sustain self- sustaining it. I couldn't help but reflect on the hard work, Stephanie, you did with planting the seeds for the program and watching how superintendent you nurturing them and occasionally putting cardboard board underneath to keep the bugs away when one day I suspect you'll have a straw hat and you'll be telling the tale of how we grew our own in Lake County. So, very well done and superintendent, thank you very much for supporting the hard work that she's doing. That's it. Yeah, I always scroll back through my calendar to see what's gone on the last
030couple weeks since our previous board meeting. And this time was a couple extra weeks. Uh so going all the way back to May 12th. A lot of graduations, a lot of excitement at the end of the year. Um also enjoyed attending several of them. But one that stood out this year that stands out a lot that Miss Cunningham and I attended was Lake Success Academy in Howie. And this year, um there was one student that was there to graduate. They they got some others across the stage, but one was there. Um, and to see him and his family as this sole graduate with his classmates around him was really, really special. So whether it's one student or 600 students or whatever, we graduated from Eastridge High School this year, they all matter. They're all important.
031Um, and just equally special to see them cross. Uh, so that was a really cool day. Dr. S and his team do such a wonderful job at Lake Success and love to give them um some congratulations when we can. Um, and also want to shout out Emmy Luke and the Eustace High School softball team. since then, uh, state final runnerups. Um, had a heck of a season per usual and continue to do great things out there. So, wanted to shout them out on another fantastic season. Um, did anybody miss anything before we adjourn this evening? No, sir. All right. Any objection to adjourning? No, sir. We are adjourned. Thank you very much.