001e we're we're on daylight time yeah that's right all right our daylight standard all right good good morning folks welcome to today's Schoolboard workshop and so as usual we'll go through each item and colleagues and superintendent if you have anything please just let me know and we'll stop there and and take care of that all right so of course uh we'll go through each item the first item is call to order and then second is to approve the agenda and we do have an agenda change for this evening we've added item 7.18 School Readiness contract at the request reest of Brooke Baron director 1 curriculum and instruction we added item 7.19 appropriation of District 3 School Board member Capital outlay funds to Edge Elementary School for Clear touch panels okay so those are the changes
002that we have and then that brings us down to section three and these will be recognitions and we have two tonight 3.1 recognition of ruckle Middle School dance team 2025 Universal dance Association Junior High High division game day state champions presented by superintendent Chambers and then 3.2 recognition of ruckle middle school cheerleading team 2025 large Junior High division national champions presented by the superintendant Dr White yes sir I have a just a curious question all right yes sir uh we changed to middle high stat or you Middle School status yes sir still Junior High throughout the state and the nation I was just curious on that well I know I know that that many districts have middle schools like we do now and and and uh I've been around so long I was part of
003the conversion we went from Junior High to Middle School in Okaloosa County uh I don't really know superintendent if we have Junior highs still in the State uh you may have some superintendent associations that do I'm not aware so I'm not aware not to say that that's not the case but I know our surrounding districts and uh principles that I excuse me superintendents that I speak with I know they have middle schools um structured as as we do but I know that uh Across the Nation there're still Junior highs which is some of these uh cheer or dance competition still go towards that uh that designation but I know our surrounding districts and I believe many of the districts across the the state have middle schools and of course Kats as well and but we
004do have a a Relic left from the uh junior high years and uh it's really one of the things that I think the school district is very proud of and that's the fact that we have a full complement of Middle School athletics and student uh student groups band and music and all different kinds of things and uh we're very unique in that respect in the State of Florida uh surrounding districts that do have middle schools I don't think they have the full complement of activities that that we do I think you're absolutely correct and I like the word that you use Dr White which is unique and I think that's very true uh there are school districts that uh that do have Middle School sports around us but we have a full compliment and then
005there's many that do not have Middle School um Athletics it's all after school type of uh events in the community and then of course our band and coral programs like you talked about at the middle school level I think they're Second To None yeah I think those other other districts maybe those activities are more akin to inter murals is what is what they call them but but ours are actual competitive uh events and uh and that was left over from the our school district decided to keep that okay and and by the way I I would say that uh that that wasn't something that was cheap either that is correct that's what I was going to say and pay for it oh yeah that's a big big thing all right is that is that good
006Mr highy yes thank you very much all right okay so uh then 3.2 uh did I already read that one you did ruckle okay all right we make sure we didn't miss it all right section four admin appointments there are none section five uh would be public comment for agenda items section six 6.1 financial and federal single audit for the fiscal year ended June 30th 2024 report number 202-1184 2025 presented by Miss Perry Chief Financial Officer Dr white yes sir I have quite a few comments on this one so all right um first off kudos to Miss Perry and your whole staff for no findings I mean to me and I I want to put this out on public record you know it's a legal responsibility and one of our main responsibility as board members
007is the fiduciary side of a taxing Authority which we a very large taxing Authority and um Miss Perry having no findings in audit which I have a lot of experience looking at audits is excellent so it thumbs up but just for the public record I want to looking at our financials so we had a total net position decrease of approximately 7.5 million from the previous years now in that our total revenues down and correct me if I'm wrong if I have messed up my numbers here but from year to year our total revenues are down about 7 million our property taxes total went up about 15 million in our district our sales tax went down by about a half a million and where our largest was grants were down about 25 million over year to
008year am I wrong one thing we have to remember is that we were coming from Esser funding to not Esser funding when you say s sir you mean all that covid funding that came from the federal government sir yes sir right yes sir and so we had expended most of that to to make sure that we could use it and set money aside but in 23 24 we really didn't have as much Esra money as we did the previous year right and then of course this year but Miss Perry would it be fair to say that every school district experienced the loss of that funding so you might find similar sure I mean I wasn't be negative on it I was just saying we had 34 million ahead the year before so I mean it's
009what we've done is great and the expenses have increased from year to year 42 million now I just want to say in that that includes facilities acquisition constructions that went up 16.6 million from the previous year and we all know that because we've been to all these ribon cutting which is great but what I want the public to know is our instructional piece increased 16.7 million so it's not like we're throwing all our money into the infrastructure only so I mean I mean I think that's huge and that's what the public needs to know because the number one question I get from my constituents is about money because you know uh I mean even being a board member and trying to read these financials is very difficult uh much less when you're you know before
010I was a board member I never looked at the financials um so uh the whole thing is my whole point is we're doing more for Less in GLA County and your staff and everything is thumbs up no findings so we're doing really good I want the public to know that and all they got to do is look in the books and it's right there so you good job thank you good comments good analysis thank you Mr he all right thank you Miss Perry all right uh then consent approval 7.2 motion to approve the minutes of the workshop meeting of February 24th minutes of of the regular meeting February 24th all recommended by the superintendent 7.3 appropriation of District 2 School Board member Capal outlay funds to florosa elementary school for professional learning room furniture in
011the amount of $1,000 presented by Mr Parker Destin and recommended by the superintendent 7.4 appropriation of District 3 School Board member Capital outlay funds to florosa elementary school for professional learning room furniture in the amount of 29,000 $1 49.76 presented by Miss Linda Vanek and recommended by the superintendent 7.5 appropriation of District 4 School Board member Capital outlay funds to florosa elementary school for professional learning room furniture in the amount of $1,347 36 presented by Mr Tim Bryant and recommended by the superintendant uh Dr White yes ma'am I want to thank uh Mr dtin and and Mr Bryant for helping uh with that big purchase at fosa she's not asked for very much in in a while but this is a a project she's had so thank you for willing to help on that expense
012all right going on to 7.6 now invoices to be approved for payment presented by Miss Perry and recommended by the superintendent 7.7 School donations presented by Miss Perry and recommended by the superintendent Dr White I just like to point out we're in an excess of $380,000 this fiscal year from the community so I never want to take that without giving the kudos to the the community that's great a lot yep very supportive thank you all right so 7.8 Okaloosa County School District proposed budget from revenue share for the Dory sburg driver education safety program presented by Miss Perry and recommended by the superintendent 7.9 tag on bid itb2 0285 dbmc walk-in cooler freezer presented by Mr wendham and recommended by the superintendent 7.10 tagon bid award sd-25 b-59 dgc large kitchen equipment and small Wares
013catalog discount bid presented by Mr wendam and recommended by the superintendent 7.11 tag on bid purchase over 50,000 to Howard technology presented by Mr wend and recommended by the superintendent Dr White I have a question on that yes sir I believe I got an email and that was the DOA schools grant that that money came in I'm not sure that is and there's 13 clear touches that are being spent yes sir all funds are coming from the 2020 DOA Grant which we're closing out this year and uh one of the advantages uh and we get incentives for writing new grants is when we spend down to zero and Jason and Miss Perry's team does we do they do a very good job of helping us spend every penny Okay I have I have a political
014question okay what what's the Matrix on the schools you chose for those those clear touches they they are well to be a DOA school you have to have a minimum of 10% military connected students which these these do right the other was these are schools that are more of our area of concern where we have some science learning gains that we really wanted to emphasize so I spoke with the principles and we agreed on what classrooms they might go be most effective in great answer thank you and Mr heinley um also great question Miss Ellis come on back if you would and this DOA Grant has been in existence for for a good bit of time but I want you to take a moment and just explain um the doia grant the emphasis in terms
015of the focus because there's a science and math component as well and what we've done yes sir so um Stephanie Gillis and I she does the math curriculum and I do I do science and these grants help support um the last two we've had four since I've been here the last two have been called engage and engage 2.0 and this is to make an interactive classroom and in and increase the technology in our secondary science and math classrooms and so these grants uh started with with adding iPads in the students hands as well as large monitors and teaching iPads so that Math and Science teachers could get up and move around the classroom as well as project um as they're moving around not stuck behind a an Elmo back in the day or a projector
016or anything so they can move around and and assist students so that's these two these grants also had a healthy body and mind Focus which we were allowed to use some curriculum to explain expl to students how being healthy with what they eat how they rest how they detch how they move around impacts their learning and that's that was the basis behind those two grants how they detch detch um mindfulness get take take a break from your phone your earbuds that's what I thought thank you yes all right and then strategically at the high school in terms of uh subject matter and then Middle School Elementary yes sir so we targeted the middle school science and math all courses and then in high school we selected our EOC courses biology algebra and geometry and then
017we did not go down to Elementary yes the DOA frowns upon we did have one Grant originally before I got here that was k12 and because that's such a enormous task doia actually recommends writing it for either Elementary or for secondary I'll just comment thank you always for sending your emails and all but when I saw that email I was sitting there thinking that's 13 less clear touches we're going to be requested so absolutely yes sir these grants have supported about 5,000 iPads and classrooms as well as uh about 150 large monitors as well as we have 80 what we call teec teachers their technology enhanced classroom teachers they came to a training in the summer and received extra technology for their classrooms excellent thank you thank you good job all right so we got
01812.5 large kitchen equipment 12.12 7.12 7.13 amendment to service agreement number 25- 9850 therapy presented by Mr wendam and recommended by the superintendent 7.14 memorandum of understanding between the school board and big smiles Florida presented by Miss schroer student services and recommended by the superintendent Dr White could I get a elaborate on that program that's new to me I don't know what it is yeah um I think Miss rer would might be but I know that she's not available so superintendent good morning this program is a great program um it is they come on a big bus and they serve serve our underserved students and uninsured students and provide dental cleanings um any reparative work that they need like such as filling sealant things like that at no cost to the families oh that's awesome
019do that is that throughout the year or is it yes sir um and then big smiles and Miss Schroeder work together to determine the school so most of the elementary schools they go to are Title One schools okay that's that's great I saw where they had to have some infrastructure requirements do we have they plug in 250 amps that's all set for them for the bus yes sir okay they had that bus here I think it was last year when we did this and we got to go and tour it out in the parking lot it's really cool it's an incredible program we're very lucky yeah very nice Mrs Avan tried to get in the driver's seat and tried to drive the bus off but we didn't let her that's right they were Tes Elementary
020last week yep yep okay all right all right thank you all right so 7.15 secondary Workforce Development capitalization incentive program cap grant for fiscal year 2425 by Miss Jennifer Beasley program director Career and Technical education and recommended by the superintendent I'm excited about this one because this is for Baker and I saw in there they're getting a tractor ma' and all kinds of fancy neat things to go along with that a science program up there so this is going to be a real boom to what they're getting along along with in as we're working on those classrooms so it's going to be really something so this is exciting to yes yeah and as if I read it correctly with all this equipment not only they going to grow um their own crops and everything but
021then they can move into selling it and it just ends up um getting uh revenue for the program so that is really exciting and Mrs avanc I would say this is an example of the community asking for certain programs and just very proud of Miss Beasley uh Mr martello I know you've been an advocate as well but agriculture up there is a is a real thing and to be able to have a program that meets the needs of the community I think is special yes and miss wickery the teacher is all in this she is so good and uh it's exciting to have that all right very good thank you all right so 7.16 requests for course code adoption for 2526 school year for Crestview high school by Miss Gillis and recommended by the superintendent
0227.17 request for course code adoption for 2526 school year for all high schools presented by Miss Gillis and recommended by the superintendent I have a question on both of these if Miss Gillis would help me out she's like answers for you um on uh 16 this um hold on this is the American political system honors program okay so my question is it's for ninth graders yes ma'am so you're putting all the ninth graders in this honors piece yes ma'am unless they decide to opt out of it we're doing it because our government this is okay so US government was originally in 12th grade yes switched to 9th grade and we asked all of our nth grade like not all of them but a lot of our nth graders we had conversations one-on-one conversations with them
023and they felt like they were not prepared for the F like they were kind of rushed through the material and they felt like a year-long course would be more appropriate and so we looked at some course options and we would choose the American political system the regular course but that is not available so we chose the honors one and we felt like giving all of our freshmen an honors course might motivate them to see that they can be successful in honors course and allow them to go on and try other honors courses as well okay so did the state change the government back to ninth grade I don't believe that's a state thing that is no ma'am County Miss Baron come forward so one of the things that we've looked at is with the the
024US history exam also looking at the Civics exam so we've done a restructure here in our County where Civics was in seventh grade we are now I think finishing this year where it'll be in eighth grade and then having a seamless transition from Civics to the courses that Mrs Baron is going to um explain all the way to US history so they're going to do Civics in eighth grade and then when they get to the ninth grade they're going to do one semester of government which they had to have anyway uh one okay and then they're going to do a semester of this American political systems honors yes ma'am so again I'm looking at that student that might not do well in an honors class because that's going to be what what are our what's
025our backup plan if they don't do well what do we do and we have discuss this with our teachers and they feel like they can prepare them for p they're going to have to do some differentiate instruction to make sure that they prepare them for the schol like to get them where they need to be they might have to spiral back from what they learned in eighth grade and I mean seventh grade and moov them on so um they I feel like and I know other high schools have done this same thing where they offer an honors course to all of their students in other areas and so we want to try it and see what happens and see if it increases our fcl scores because right now they're very low for the nth graders
026and and do you find that ninth graders are mature enough to really because we took I remember when we had American government as seniors and so now we're moving it back to you know ninth graders are they if you're I'll give my opinion if you want but I mean you know what I'm saying Miss Baron you know we used to have that government I can speak to that yeah they um so now that the state has added a financial literacy course that has to be taken that wasn't a requirement prior to so there has to be some place in the curriculum for them to do that and what we were doing in the past they were taking Civics in seventh then they were taking American history in eth then in ninth grade they were taking
027geography then in 10th Grade they were taking world history then in 11th grade they were taking American history and then they were taking government and economics well when they added the financial literacy piece it it flows better with economics economics and finan Literacy for some schools feel that that flows better this way so we move that to senior year um some schools have chosen to do the financial literacy piece on the opposite side of government in ninth grade this is just what crust viiew progression looks like but as a district we decided that to better prepare our students for those for the American History test and to better prepare our students in Middle school for their Civics EOC that it made more sense to Civics is um High School level textbook so instead of them
028taking Civics in seventh over the last two years we we've been making a progression to move Civics to eth um so that the students would be more successful having that extra year now they would have in Middle School American history prior to taking Civics then they would take Civics and take their exam then when you go into ninth grade they would then take government and then based on the school because different schools wanted to do different things cres is wanting to do an additional semester of government per se which is the American political systems course that we're talking about today some other schools like Fort wal Beach High School decided they wanted to instead move that financial literacy piece up to 9th grade so that if students didn't pass the course or struggled with it
029they would have plenty of time to make it up before their senior year um but some schools like crvw want to put that that piece with where it would maybe naturally flow with economics so you'd have economics and financial literacy in 12th grade so then the natural progression would be they would take the government classes at cresview 9th grade and then in 10th Grade they would we would move to take American government and take our test for American government in 10th Grade versus turning around and taking world history in between so they really have about four years of umry government I see this is for Crestview but is this going to be offered at for all the high schools not all the high schools are offering this course um some of the some of the
030schools are wanting to move the financial literacy piece up uh and take it opposite of government in ninth grade okay so each School the schools were very divided on what they wanted to do based on the needs of their own students and so crus viiew has elected to take the American political systems and that's what they want to put opposite of government they feel like that it's best for their school to do it that way we we gave them the ability to to choose what worked best for their school okay so I see on this it's weighted it's getting a 4.5 instead of a five what was the rationale on that well the honors courses only get a 4.5 there is no AP version of this or IB version of this or Ace version of
031this that's what would give them the 5.0 okay but then on 7.17 on that Capstone that gets a five so that's that ends in a certification so if it ends in a certification then you get 5.0 okay that was my question on that and and and everything okay yes okay well I hope this is very successful that'll be interesting to see how I hope so too as the state adds new requirements for graduations we we have for graduation we have to find a place to fit it in um that'll be most successful for our students it's just interesting to have um a weighted course a honors course for for every student in a Grade right and that's I think where cresview is talking about they're going to have to provide scaffolding for that um I
032think it would push kids to be able to think that they're capable of doing an honors class and and move into more honors classes after that um again she said students can opt out that it would be an elective course it's a social studies elective so that's going to be the recommendation is that they take that so that they can perform better um on their exams however it's that course would not be a required course so they could opt out and take some other social study semester elective to finish out that credit correct they could take a regular um elective there as well once so this is just crusty this year if we approve this it'll right well no I think um Baker is choosing to do this same course as well they're the ones
033that are requesting the adoption but then once it's approved then any school can offer it once that course is approved by you so it'll be open to everybody decide if they to adopt to their own School progression great good all right thank you very much Mr chairman I have a a side question yes sir financial literacy is that required by the state yes how long have we been doing that it it just started for this I knew it CU my daughter's didn't take it yeah it it's it's yes your daughters didn't have to take that piece but it it does teach all those things that you probably wish your daughters did know your daughters go to the heinley school of Finance I think it was nth graders that started last year it's a new requirement
034yes so miss SS I have a question for you who will be teaching this class at cres high school do y'all have a teacher yet um all of our government teachers which we and I will say this Mr Vanek uh a lot of those uh government teachers I know personally they're phenomenal teachers so I think uh I think we're going to see some positive results out of that oh yeah yeah and I was also going to share these are the uh standards that I pulled off the C pomms for government is on and this is regular US government as compared to the American political systems and you can see the overlap is in pink yeah so yeah it's a big overlap for our students there's only a I I think a handful that are different
035that and I would trust that the history of our US presidents is in that oh my goodness just say yes yes thank you Miss ears okay thank you thank you all right so that was 7.17 we'll go down to 7.18 School Readiness provider contract presented by Brook Baron director curriculum and instruction and recommended by the superintendent and then 7.19 appropriation of District 3 School Board member Capital outlay funds to Edge Elementary School for a clear touch panel in the amount of $ 6,133 presented by m Vanek and recommended by the superintendent and Mr chairman I'd like to thank Mr Vanek for doing that for one of my schools in my district because uh I'm basically out of money yep July one glad to help feeling GL help okay all right so that takes us now
036to Section 8 superintendent human resource recommendations 8.1 8.2 information only that would be employees on admin leave and deferred retirement option program 8.3 proposed revision to fiscal year 2425 salary schedule for professional technical Personnel presented by Dr hail and recommended by the superintendent 8.4 out of field report for the 2425 school year presented by Miss Duron and recommended by the superintendent 8.5 employment separations presented by Dr hail and recommended by the superintendent 8.6 Personnel recommendations presented by Dr hail and recommended by the superintendent 8.7 employ emplo transfers presented by Dr hail and recommended by the superintendent 8.8 reinstatement reimbursement of sick leave due to line of duty illness injury medical examination presented by Dr hail and recommended by the superintendent and then 8.9 leave without pay presented by Dr hail and recommended by the superintendent
037takes us to 10.1 program status report Mr hle anything today uh that report will come tonight I'll be meeting after this meeting very good thank you sir Mr attorney anything for your business just one item Mr chairman uh tonight I would ask the board if you will uh on on the last agenda the January 27th agenda we had an item 10.3 under construction program and there was a scrier error in a dollar amount the last figure should have been a an eight instead of a six and tonight I'm simply going to ask if the board will correct that Scrib's error for the record and that's all I have require a motion yes sir okay that's all I have Mr chairman colleagues okay anything else sir no sir all right uh superintendent your business sir thank
038you Dr White School Board as you know um we've always highlighted our teachers and our educational support professionals where we have a teacher of the year and an educational support person of the year and as you remember a number of years back we got with uh Dr hail the HR Group and we now have a principal of the year at the elementary and secondary level as well as assistant principal I do want to say uh because of that uh process we've we've been able to have assistant principles of the year at the state level and this year we have through the fads program we have the Florida Naes National Distinguished Principal and that's Dr Donna Kelly over at Northwood so just want to give her a huge huge uh Round of Applause yeah this is
039a national distinction so um I think to us that know her it's it's no surprise she's a hardworking smart intelligent uh principal who uh really um works with her staff does a great job academically but uh just couldn't be more proud of her you might remember the national Civics be and it this makes me proud because I know a number of years ago I'd go to different events and people would say do you teach Civics and of course we have civics has a standalone course um in middle school and then of course we have Civics embedded within countless social studies courses as well but the for Walton Beach Chamber uh came to us and they wanted to really push this National Civics be and our middle schools did a great job stepping up we have
040approximately 20 students who are going to be taking part in this uh ranging from Northwest Florida Ballet to dtin middle school ruckle middle school and prior Middle School the top three finalists will be able to go to the state level and then hopefully even go to the National level and we talk about earlier you all said um the community sponsors and we're blessed to have those here in this County and I say that all the time as well but here are some that that are helping with this endeavor Egan Federal Credit Union Cox Communications Chester and bar attorneys um Sports Clips if you need a haircut and then uh concon so just a number of different um entities wrapping their arms around around our students so we're excited to see how that's going to unfold
041when is that that will actually happen tomorrow at 5:00 um at the Greg Chapel am Life Center so that'll be uh this first round that we'll see what happens after that I'm going to briefly mention this next one because some of you were there um so you might mention in your comments if not I'll come back but stem they had their National History Day and they do a good job of really pushing that we'll have uh approximately 19 students that'll go on to the state level and have the ability to also go on to the National level but that's all I'll say right now in terms some of you might mention that but just another strong program happening at our schools about a month ago we had our science fair and we call this the
042East Panhandle science and engineering Fair which we delve out a number of different Awards and I think I'd be remiss to say if um it was not a spectacular event so I appreciate Mrs Ellis and the number of science teachers who really work hard to bring that program forward but we have individuals who will go on to the state level who will go on to the National level who will represent us and when you hear about some of these projects which I can't even uh pronunciate or even comprehend and they're doing this at the middle and high school levels it's truly um inspiring to see the type of work that our students are doing um it's pretty impressive I'll just say that in terms of community sponsorships again uh we were blessed to be at
043nville High School uh about a week or so ago and there's a senior there by the name of Zakaria flowers it was a touching moment where mullen's Auto Body they they donated a 2013 Chevy Malibu LTZ to this young lady and the owners of mullen's Auto Body Mike and Amber Carter um you talk about touching tearful I'm watching the reaction of this young lady received this uh vehicle that they completely touched up fixed it looked brand new 2013 it was just a a great moment so I appreciate Mr Mel and nville high school working diligently to find um a welld deserving student we talk about Fine Arts in the in the county and it's actually um in Essence Music appreciation month as well but we have the our Coral programs last week did their version
044of the FSA and the individual who ran this because they always bring in people who lead this from outside one of the things he said is he was thrilled that every school in Okaloosa County participated and I thought to myself well of course they participated but what he mentioned in his email to us was that many first year year teachers in Coral programs they do not participate in the mpas where our first year Coral teachers did participate in the npas so he just really bragged about the level of not only being able to sing but to be able to read the music and to be able to go through the the pressure of such an event for our Coral programs but he really really highlighted that also our band mpas are also going on last
045week uh I think our high schools this week are middle schools but there was also an event on Saturday and we know that we we'll receive some distinguished Awards um out of that we just recently had a uh all count band and it was neat to hear the folks who come in from out of state or even within state to lead these programs and they just talked about the caliber of the band programs in our County and I think it's a testament to our and directors and then on the coral side are coral directors just the level of um expertise and passion that exists within them so I'm just so appreciative of that we had another ribbon cutting as you know at edwins it was nice but I I I jotted this down even though
046I know a number of you were there because it's more than just the cafetorium it's also the music room the car rider line the parking the playground the track you know all of those things happening at one school again if you go back five six seven eight years ago maybe one or a portion of one but we would never have that many projects occurring at one school so I know Mrs Armstrong and her group they were uh thrilled the purle star dist uh District distinction uh Mr spolsky has been working with the military they'll be here at the next board meeting where in essence we will uh thank them even though we're receiving the recognition for what we do for those students but of course we're thankful for the military um in our schools I
047do want to bring to the attention to the board um you may have uh noticed this this past week where the school start uh time Bill from the Senate side um there was a vote to repeal it and I think that still has to go through the process well it still does have to go through the process and it'll eventually go to the governor's desk but right now there's a uh a repeal to that and not really having any words either e e either way other than to give the board uh an update on that and then of course Spring Break will be here next week and just want to wish everybody hopefully a relaxing rejuvenating time for the last push of uh the 2425 school year thank you Dr White yes sir thank you
048superintendent Dr White I have a question for the sup okay that bill that's being repealed the endgame is that puts the um power back into this board to do what we want at the local level yes sir perfect okay oh is that what there're go ahead uh is that what there's going to say in that or do you know is that what the the plan is or that are we that what you just said was filed is actually repealing the Mandate but then there would have to be another thing come out that says districts have because right now we don't necessarily have that do we so right now my understanding is it still has to go through the process it's gone through the Senate side but it still has to go through the process and
049what that would do is just like it always was before is it would put it in the hands of uh the local level gotcha thank you and that's actually a law so it would have to repeal the law but you have two big school districts right now that were really pushing that that was Miami Dade and I believe it was Orange County was the other one that was pushing like hey like Orange County actually tried it about five or six years ago and after one year they were like hey we we can't do this so that's right okay all right very good all right thank you superintendent okay so uh now that brings us down to board members business and as usual I'll start with Mr heinley Mr heinley okay um I did attend uh
050quite a few things last couple weeks uh the nice fille car thing I just want to publicly shout out to mullen's Auto Body I mean what a huge thing and um it was real Dusty we had to keep wiping our eyes during the uh so uh but uh yeah so Community involvement you know I can't say enough about it and that's just one example uh the science fair I attended and it very humbling some smart kids out there and some very uh intricate uh detailed projects they were working on I did a uh the National History Day at the stem that's another one and I found out when I was doing that last year we had one that got into the top 10 I think think in the National thing so um some very interesting
051very diverse uh projects they worked on from history also attended the nice full Val parizo chamber function where they uh identifi the teachers of the year and the support uh employees of the year for uh District 5 more Community Support so just huge in that aspect um and to continue the tradition board members today is the 10th who is the 10th who was the 10th President of the United States I did my homework it's John Tyler John Tyler his accident scene the first we had that before yeah yeah that's all I have Mr sh so who was the 25th president then the what that she said we had that before so we'll say who's the 25th president since it's the 20 2025 year oh okay you asking me I'm asking you oh that would be
052a man that had a mountain named after him M McKinley okay so like you can recite all of them is that a challenge do I smell a B I bet you can do that I do yeah okay all right Mr V all right yes okay uh all right I have some great news from our foundation uh I'm telling you this is so exciting so the first thing is uh well first of all tomorrow is the College and Career Fair that's going to be over at Beachside Community Church again another partner that helps us out with that uh we have about 300 students from Fort Walton uh nville and chto signed up to attend already which is great we have 62 vendors who are going to be there long list of people who are taken their
053time to come and help our students learn career paths College pass all that uh so we have uh financial institutions everything it's it's fabulous they're going to be there we're going to either feed them breakfast and lunch and that's coming from the foundation so um listen the the Debbie Tate and Cindy Gates and Mr spolsky all them our foundation works really hard to get this together so it's exciting it's our fifth year doing it and it continues to be very popular and well attended so that's exciting all right so they last week some big news with the foundation know we're always looking for a lot of different grants so one of the GR grants um from the deuca healthc care career Explorer and Excel goes uh we we want to go to Crestview high school
054to train and certify their entry-level students enrolled in their medical services medical skills Services Program and the initial Grant is going to be just over 33,000 but it's um renewable for two more years so you're looking at about 100 Grand on on that so that's fabulous to be able to do that so that one's good enough however there's another big one um that um our foundation won uh out of the 13 applicants for this particular Grant Okaloosa won it and said Okaloosa Vision stood out for its comprehensive approach to creating opportunities and Rural communities so again um this program is going to serve about 150 students in our um rural areas and provide them with schools uh skills in Horticulture Agri technology and hands-on experience through green houses aquaponic systems and internships so our rural
055schools are having a moment as they say and uh and getting a lot of things so I'm GNA stop there because I want Mr spolsky who got to go with debut Tate over to accept this um Grant I'm going to let him have the moment to um uh and Miss Beasley to announce about it so this this is really exciting thank you miss it was so good he called me and told me I did I did uh two hours on the way home excuse me two hours on the way home I was very excited um but uh Danny Dean will be excited because I kept it under 80 miles an hour uh as I drove home but I want to say thank you uh Mr Vanek for just a minute I'll speak to it and
056I'm going to let Miss Beasley talk so we were in a room Miss Tate and I uh with Senator Burgess Canada a lot of legislators and of course Miss Mary chance from the Florida Consortium and when they announced the Okaloosa Public School Foundation a lot of our other County Partners County um groups that have foundations wanted to know where we had a rural area in oako county and they're not familiar with the North End of the county that has Laurel Hill that serves many students up there in that K through2 environment um but the grant that was written by Miss Paula Rogers who works with Miss Beasley um really focuses in on our a program that they are going to launch this is seed money no pun intended that will actually help them get this
057program rolling we're very excited about so Miss Beasley if you want to take a second and tell them about it absolutely um yes and the and the grant was called growing agriculture at Laurel Hill we're really excited about it similar to um some of the the items we'll be purchasing for Baker um a tractor which is a big deal um fence ing supplies um they are going to have some animals as well but they're starting out Horticulture based whereas Baker is doing animal Sciences um but there's a lot of overlap in agriculture and so they'll both share a lot of um similar things so we're purchasing curriculum a tractor um farming supplies things of that nature um we're really excited about it the community is also as Mr Chambers said we've been really lucky the
058community is very much on board with this and so they are um helping some in kind donations um along the way to get both those programs really really going really yes and if you'll let me add to that it says that uh $50,000 pledged by Farm Bureau and 100,000 pending from the Yellow River Soil and Water Conservation up in the in the North End so again partners with this to a lot of times it's matching grants these things are loans so so that's um you know that's really exciting so it's calling growing Laurel Hill yes so I think this is so exciting so the the baker piece we already saw and then now Laurel Hill it's it's fabulous and the matching is very important because those Community Partners were really waiting for this Catalyst to
059to happen and it can be renewed so this is uh something that Miss Tate Miss Rogers who works on staff with Miss Beasley is very excited about and great job Miss Beasley thank you this is exciting hey you know I just you know um the two uh rural schools the principles or husband wife team so I'm going to have to talk with the Martell about uh getting this going but this is exciting this is time for our entire District but it's it's great to see those two schools getting this program to this extent and so quickly that we've gotten going with this so and I'm very proud of the foundation and everyone uh Miss Rogers everybody who was part of getting this uh done so beyond that I just want to wish everybody a safe
060and fun spring break you know it's exciting to uh live where everybody else wants to come for spring break but I hope everybody will uh be careful and uh and everything and make sure it's a a a safe one thank you very good thank you Miss Evan all right Mr Brian thank you Dr White and I I'll just piggy back on the Laurel Hill piece there real quick uh I know over the last few years this is something the community has been asking for uh to get the agricultureal program back going uh and I know the district with the uh leadership of the superintendent uh uh getting some things done up there ahead of time like redoing the greenhouse even though it's not a brand new Greenhouse that we were able to go in a
061couple years ago and get it back running uh as a matter of fact they uh over the last couple years they do fundraisers where they'll sell plants and vegetables and stuff like that to the general public so I know uh this is going to be a huge shot to arm for them as far as getting that agricultural program up and running the way it should be but uh Mr vanek's right the community has been asking for this and it's just really exciting to see this come to fruition uh I will also just point out that uh during the last couple weeks you you know a lot going on but uh I just want to say thank you to the superintendent for taking time once again to you know uh visit a few schools and uh
062uh transportation we decided um transport well actually superintendent said you you pick out where we want to go and we ended up starting at Transportation North and and I you know we recognize a bus driver we recognize some teachers at Walker and Davidson but I I'll just say this it's it's always nice to be able to go in and even though they knew we were coming you know to see the uh employees especially at the transportation department because we talk about all the great things that are going on in our schools but things like Transportation you know I mean they're the they're Catalyst of getting these kids to school they're the first people that students usually see in the morning uh if they ride the bus they're the last so they make a big difference
063but our mechanics uh one of the questions that was asked we talk about you know teachers needing supplies you know we we actually got a question about tools and stuff like that so you know uh those are things that the mechanics need to uh be able to get those keep those buses running now they did say they're not working on as many buses as they used to because we got so many brand new buses but they still have to do General upkeep and and all that but I'll I'll just say that when we go into the into the schools into maintenance you know the employees do appreciate that and I know as a board we all get into the schools and all that and I think uh you know just the uh opportunity to be
064able to see these teachers and and employees and students uh I'll just say uh offthe cuff moment we were at Davidson and it was lunch time we're in the lunchroom and we walk in and you know Mr Chambers is the celebrity because his picture is all over the place you know Schoolboard members we're we don't have a picture all over the place so we walk in and he goes immediately and sits down with students and starts talking to them and you know and then after that it was like hey we need a selfie with with this with the superintendent and you know uh but the kids really appreciate that you know they get to see who their leaders are within the school not just their their school-based leadership but uh there people that are out
065there making decisions for them and hopefully give them a better uh opportunity for the future and we also went outside and I don't know what they called those things but I know you were really impressed that we had how many students out there four 400 students out there at one time a lot yeah so uh but we had Middle School doing recess yeah Middle School doing recess but uh it was a great visit and again thank you Mr Chambers for taking time out of your busy schedule to to uh go and visit these schools uh on a couple of sad notes though uh some of y'all might remember Miss Patty Mitchell who taught music up on the North End very prominent person within the community uh I know she never taught my kids but she
066actually went to my church for a little while and she did uh music with the kids there uh just such a sweet person and unfortunately she passed away last week and then yesterday we got the news that uh former assistant principal uh crestf High Ella Shaw passed away and those who knew Ella if you you know I put it on Facebook once the family was said it was okay to do it uh just the outpouring of just compliments people had for mhaw was was just unbelievable just to hear how much of an impact she had and you know she's not Crestview native she she married a Shaw and ended up coming back to Crestview and her first teaching job and her only teaching job was at Crestview high school and she also did Administration there
067toward the end so she spent 35 years at Crestview high school making a difference and a lot of people that make comments on on the Facebook page you know those are folks that have kids that are in high school now you know and uh uh how much of how much she made a difference so you know our thoughts and prayers go out to the Mitchell and to the shaw family today and that is it thank you Mr Bryant Mr D thank you chairman I only have uh two comments uh the first one was I I attended the Florida History Day um uh I guess the Prelude to the Florida history day competition with uh at stem uh I I missed you Mr heinley I think it came a little bit after but they said you
068were there and I know that as a fellow student in history you had to have enjoyed it just as much as I did I love going to stem because you get to meet not only uh the staff but the kids are just enthusiastic about learning and as all of us in this room I don't think it's an accident that we're here I think all of us were enthusiastic about learning and that's kind of how we ended up in in in these roles but it's always nice to just see uh ubiquitous just enthusiasm for for Education especially in history those kids are brilliant and their parents I mean I've I can't say enough wonderful things about uh the leadership of of the staff that's putting together the um uh the history um the history component over
069there and uh how excited I am to have learned like you had said that some of these students have made their um appearance at the national level and out of 50 States ended up in the top 10 that's something special and I think we're going to see another good showing this year uh I recently attended um a uh Symposium that was uh hosted by Okaloosa leadership and or leadership Okaloosa and it was about a hundred local Business Leaders came together we had a a government Symposium and I was one of the guests uh that was uh given an opportunity to speak and it was great to hear your comments today and uh Miss Baron and your staff about um how much we're investing in Civics education government education history education because uh the substantial portion
070of what we talked about in our Symposium was uh sort of the need for civic engagement amongst our adults in all levels of government and uh just gener Al trying to cut off at the past some of what we would call Civic illiteracy amongst the general public because if they don't know how it works they're less inclined to participate and how much um that's affecting any of our roles at the local level as as uh local leaders when we can when we just don't have people showing up to meetings or we have uh folks that are really really upset but they're not necessarily understanding fully what they're upset about or that their target of their ey is is pointed at the wrong institution uh just the general illiteracy part uh has been a frustration for
071everybody at the local level and that that was mirrored by uh some of the questions we got from the audience so it was very exciting to hear the Investments we're making and the things that we're doing here in Okaloosa County to make sure that uh we're changing and bucking that Trend other than that uh those are my comments thanks very good thank you Mr D a point of order Mr chairman yes sir uh I want to add this cuz I heard Dr hail say it I just want to say it so the next few weeks is spring break or it's already started so when you're stuck on Mid Bay Bridge 85 998 waiting in line in Mr Dustin's restaurant just remember they're all paying into our school system with that half cent sales tax so
072that makes it a little bit less painful that's right all right thank you all right so that concludes board members announcements we go to 14 public comment General comment comments for the yellow card we don't have any do we miss Mary all right and so that concludes today's meeting let me call on Mr attorney we're good here superintendent all right colleagues anything else medas all right staff Association all right this meeting is adjourned things started picking up at your restant oh yeah 70° weather is what we need people just people just pop out of the woodwork 7 it doesn't matter what time of year it is could be in February be March but we're so weather dependent