001the hearing of citizens please pick up a card in the back of the chambers print your name and top it clearly and return the card to our board assistant Kathi Thompkins at the appropriate time I will call you up to speak please stand for the flag salute on to the direction of retired sergeant major Roger Mitchell and Riverview high school color guard [Applause] Thank You revered next I would like to introduce our student representative Emma Belle Rudd welcome can you please tell us a little bit about yourself thank you good evening everyone my name is Emma Bella Rudd I attend Riverview high school and I'm a senior this year this summer I was I was privileged to be honored with the girls nation senator so this summer I went up to DC to create bills
002with women across the mirror America and we were able to go to the White House and meet senators in the Capitol and it was amazing experience and I'm happy to be here I plan on applying to Georgetown University next year and I'm happy to be here thank you well welcome and thank you for spending your time with us I know earlier I had given you a certificate of appreciation and again best of luck in the future and look forward to seeing what the future lays for are you moving on to special presentations I like to invite mrs. cowling ellington director of elementary curriculum for the connect our worlds presentation welcome thank you good evening madam chair members of the board mr. hardy superintendent Boden and Miss Rudd I'm very happy to be here tonight it's
003my privilege this evening to introduce a very special presentation to you one that certainly epitomizes the power of partnerships and collaboration we know that highly effective professional learning involves collaboration we also know that teacher leaders take ownership of and seek opportunities for their own professional growth thanks to the partnership and collaboration with the Education Foundation of Sarasota County and the good work foundation three exceptional teacher leaders from Philippi shores Elementary School will share with you this evening their recent professional learning journey all in barth once remarked the question for educators is not whether all humans can learn but what conditions can we devise so that they will learn tonight you will hear from educators who created amazing conditions in which others can learn and turn their collaboration with each other and with others across the
004globe resulted in their own enhanced learning so at this time I would like to introduce Jennifer vine executive director of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County so she can briefly explain how this collaborative partnership evolved and how Philippi shores was selected good evening so I'm just real quickly how this kind of evolved and how it kind of took root for us is as we partner with you all with ignite education the Teacher of the Year recognition program we wanted to look for ways in which we can continue to amplify the value of the teachers that we have here in our County we know that Sarasota County not only has some of the nation's best we also know they have some of the world's best and so for us having that opportunity to put them on
005a global stage well at the same time they're going to be given opportunities to be the master teachers for which we know that they are but to also really take that time to also be learners so that they could come back and provide opportunities to our own students and so for us it was a real pleasure to work with our board and the good work foundation to create this opportunity because at the same time some of the things that we have found are simply priceless and I'll say to that that is really restoring and giving them just the opportunity I just love those guys so much to just replenish the spirit of teaching because by doing that that will exponentially make impact and so we were able to partner with the good work foundation I'm
006really because we have mutual benefactors and so it was a slam dunk easy decision for us to partner with them as we piloted this program and so we had a great joy an opportunity to work with them and then how did Philippi shores kind of come to fruition well it really started off with talking to executive director of elementary schools Chris ran off and he caught our vision and he was very enthusiastic about it which was awesome and so with that conversation knowing that we were looking for a team of teachers a team of teachers that would help us really kind of groundswell the work in one school we knew we needed to do that and so Chris said I think I have the right person for you and so we knew also when you
007pilot a program you also look for great leadership and we had that at philippi shores with Alison Foster and so then the very great thing that really just made it a wonderful win-win all the way around is that Philippi Shores just happens to be an International Baccalaureate world school so it all made sense and so with that I just want to turn it over to principal Allison Foster good evening thank you for giving us the opportunity this evening to share the experience our three teachers had this summer in South Africa when Chris Randolph and Jennifer vine talked to me about this opportunity to send three teachers on a global professional development experience I immediately knew it was the perfect connection to our Ivy philosophy as an International Baccalaureate school we promote intercultural understanding and respect
008as an essential part of life in the 21st century in the words of Gandhi be the change you wish to see in the world this learning experience gave our teachers and the foundation the opportunity to be the change when we started on the journey the plan was wide open allowing for an incredible experience to unfold this summer the Education Foundation had the vision to create a learning experience for educational leaders from our district to make a difference not only outside of our local community but across the globe I shared the opportunity with our staff and I asked for volunteers to participate and I think we assembled the perfect team we have Samantha kattiline natural performer who teaches our Spanish drama class and she leads our school-wide musical production which this year will be the Lion
009King so connects with the African trip we have Anne Matthews who's our isaw liaison our Technology Pro and experience professional development trainer and we have Jennifer Willis our first-grade gifted teacher who's a curriculum expert with a passion for providing individualized instruction to meet the needs of all learners the three teachers created the perfect mix for this PD experience spent three weeks in South Africa working alongside new educators in a digital learning center created by the good work foundation they worked day and night providing professional development workshops designing lesson plans and sharing proven instructional strategies they also took the time to share their journey online on Facebook Instagram and an online blog the global professional development opportunity created a lasting relationship between our staff at Philippi and the educators at the Digital Learning Centre in hazyview
010South Africa I want to thank the Education Foundation and Jennifer vine for providing this incredible opportunity for our teachers our district and our community next we're gonna share a quick one-minute overview of the good work foundation and then our teachers will share their experiences with you and while you're watching the video we have a little gift that we're gonna pass out from South Africa and the funds raised from the bracelets go to train develop and educate women and children and early childhood development in South Africa so I'm gonna go ahead and turn it over to the video and learning and education and specialized free learning the most important steps creative space of wonderful learning 21st century campus must include gamification online learning coding life skills and passionate facilitators i'ma turn it over to the teachers
011thank you we never thought that South Africa would ever be in our cards it was always on our bucket list as something seemingly unattainable to our delight right after Spring Break it became a reality we learned that the Education Foundation was investing in teacher leadership through the program ignite education South Africa they were recruiting three teachers our dream was about to become a reality and just a short month later our South African journey began we flew into Johannesburg and had a one-day World Wind tour where we got to see the slums of Soweto the Mandela's house the apartheid museum and it provided us with a good background to help us understand the people of South Africa where they came from which is strife poverty and oppression and where they're headed less than 48 hours later
012we were in hazyview mum Polanco the CEO of good work Foundation took us under her wing and settled us into our housing for four weeks so on Monday we were exposed to a whole new world and it made us realize that we actually didn't understand their lives at all and we sure learned quickly our number one job was to bring professional development to a group of interns who were learning to become facilitators gwf has seven digital learning centres in rural South Africa with hazyview being the main hub where we spent our four week time they bussed in fourth and fifth graders one time a week from different schools each day to do 20 minutes one-hour sessions in 20 minute segments learning maths English and language arts they work with the facilitators in 20 minutes more
013group rotations and since gwf inception in 2000 I want to say 12:6 the test scores have jumped 30 percent and they have been maintained every year so our interns were high school graduates that didn't have many options in the way of employment South Africa's youth which is ages 15 to 34 have an unemployment rate of 56% leaving many of them without options or means of survival these 24 students applied and were selected out of 120 to go through a nine-month internship program not only did they have commutes of upwards of an hour and a half no food to eat and concerns about their family but they came every day committed to their learning they were ready for every ounce and craved more daily their devotion moved us and changed us all during the next four
014weeks we used every tool and trick of the trade that we have learned through Sarasota County's professional development to deliver and create relevant informative and progressive daily for our workshop sessions we focused on everything from classroom management behavior students learning styles critical and creative thinking lesson planning opening and questioning and team-building just to name a few we felt really empowered by giving these interns a chance at becoming a part of the career we love it was also very humbling as we got to know them on a more personal level and learn their struggles to meet their daily needs it was inspiring to us to see what they that they were so happy with so little the CEO told us that our leadership caused a ripple effect that was to come for years and we know
015that we will be changed for years we have a short video that our other our other friend that came with us our colleague put together for you to see what our journey was like and the singing you hear is actually our morning we had a morning circle every day with gwf and that's just them they just break out in song every day there's no preparation and so everything you hear is them so we hope you enjoy [Music] so as you returned we reflected on how we could make this journey last longer it was funny when we got there they said that our time would fly by so quickly before we knew it we'd be right back at the airport and we didn't believe them until we got back to the airport we were saying our
016device I mean you realize truly how fast those four weeks went by it is a happy coincidence that after our spring musical in February I decided to do Lion King kids for the upcoming school year not knowing anything about Africa and nothing like that and who knew back then the connections that I'm going to be able to make with my students starting soon we have auditions tomorrow on Thursday and rehearsals start on Monday for our musical in February and it truly will be an interactive experience and for those involved in fun fact the opening song circle of life is actually in Zulu how do I know that because our interns told us that as well as tying into our musical every student at philippi Shores Elementary has been interacting with me during my class segment
017called a minute and Africa I have the pleasure of teaching the entire school every class period we get together and I start at the beginning and I retell our journey to South Africa showing pictures video clips including the one you just saw and recalling facts and details with the kids the feedback has been great as I'm currently in my third rotation with them and they asked every time they come to class we can talk about Africa today I said we sure are and it ties right into our school being Ivy and I hope from this my students will not only think globally but also act locally and globally as well to communicate and form connections with other students for us it truly was their happiness their love of life their helpfulness and kindness that touched
018our hearts and made us want to be better people we want everyone to feel the same way we left feeling wanting more more time more smiles more singing more positive energy so in my reflections in my work with the Education Foundation I've had the need to connect at a deeper level with my colleagues like I was able to do in South Africa so I have a passion for learning and research and I've always enjoyed collaborating with others a classroom can be a really isolating place and after my experience in Africa I knew that I wanted to synergize teacher to teach her to empower others to share their expertise my co-worker Tanya Quinn and I started working right when I got back from Africa to ask ourselves what can we do to help teachers with their
019reading instruction we knew from the past that many teachers feel lost about the most effective reading instruction because there's so many facets to it we established bimonthly meetings called coffee talk with Tony and Jen that cover everything from struggling learners to acceleration to conferring with readers we've already had our first meeting meeting and the camaraderie we felt made us feel like I had brought a little piece of Africa back with me I hope to continue this work on a larger scale at some point but the small ripple is a step in the right direction so even though there are still struggles in South Africa we laugh feeling like we made a difference and we kept coming back to the quote by Nelson Mandela education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change
020the world so with that said we would like to thank the Education Foundation Philippi Shores Elementary and the School Board of Sarasota County for supporting us on this journey we look forward to a new adventure soon thank you mrs. Goodwin well I have a question first of all are you keeping up with some of the new friends that you that you met in Africa do you intend to do some reshoring with took friends with a lot of them and when they post things in English we understand we are not quite sure they're saying there's 11 different national languages so it's you know hard to look it up but we have some that are emailing us for reference some of the facilitators that were already in place have emailed us and asked for ideas or sent
021pictures so it's really great to keep in touch great well I just want to say a couple of things first of all you know there are a lot of school districts that would never get an opportunity like this and Paige works really hard with our professional development and but Jennifer vine you're a great leader and you are doing many things with the Education Foundation that are really out of the box and and creative and collaborative and all the things we talk about with our students and I just want to thank you for your leadership because I think that that really is important to this process and many others that I know you're working so hard on thank you I also want to say to Chris run off and to allison foster who's of course one
022of my very favorite principals that you know your leadership is is phenomenal as well and we we you know the things that you are doing at philippi and chris your leadership as elementary director are really astonishing to me you know the arts integration this really touches my heart but you know these things that that are taking place in our school district professional development and the community foundation I mean the Education Foundation excuse me working together jointly for for good of teaching I just think this is such a remarkable trip and such a remarkable experience and you know thank you all because you know it's it's something that that you all need and it's something that our district needs but we are so grateful that we have the ability in this district of doing some of
023these really out-of-the-box things so thank you to all of you thank you mrs. Zucker but I'd also like to let you know what your video did what it brought back to me was smiles teeth eyes happiness that I wouldn't think I wouldn't equate with Africa so it's given me a totally different viewpoint on Africa and I thank you so much for allowing our schools janeth Jennifer for providing the funding for our teachers to be able to go over and do something like this I think it's it's it's transcending what it is that we feel about life right now because we seem to be in a bad part of history where we don't really connect with other continents and to see this was really heartwarming on all fronts and thank you again to Alison and all
024of you for the great work that you do at Philippi thank you mrs. Brown when you were in Soweto you probably saw to the museum on apartheid and I was touched by how important it was the college students really were the ones who let it and it was because they wanted that to stop them using their own languages and in college and these college students stood up and fought back but also there is these little lean tools outside of the this the city and they're just pieces of metal just stood up and whatnot but hanging behind them there were clotheslines and those little school uniforms whereas those shirts worse white as could be and those kids those parents cared about those education and those kids went to school looking like they just stepped off you
025know anybody's boss I mean you wouldn't know where they came from because they really care about their education and you at least had desks where they were at I mean I was at some of them that they didn't have the desks or maybe now we've opened the world to them and we're making sure that they have more desks but these are kids who want to learn and you think that only only children of Surgeons can be gifted you know and be really smart their parents have to be college students but we're finding no we've got kids right here in our own community that that we're looking over because we didn't think very smart kids come from there and I think the same thing was true in Africa there's there some very very smart kids there
026and and they can take us and and I think this is wonderful that we're using teachers as mentors to help other teachers because I think this is what our teachers need they need that connection especially our new teachers you know they need to help just as those interns needed to help we used to have a program national certified teachers where we used to give them bonuses for getting this national certification and I think it was like a five year program or something and it was extensive and we're saying once you get that we were going to pay them more to be mentors and they no sooner got that certification then they then they dropped it and now they're paying them for an SAT score I would like to see where this is what we do
027we reward teachers who are teaching other teachers and helping them and and and that's what I think is what we need in our schools I think because we need that sense of community in our schools just like you were having it there and thank you for what you've done thank you thank you I almost thought you guys go but I just want to say thank you for sharing this I've been watching this from afar as it's cut and I think it's so cool I could go on and on and I know a lot has been said so thank you the Education Foundation and truly thank you for putting yourself out there I just feel like it was such an amazing human experience not only is over there but what you're able to bring back here
028your Energy's infectious I I love it from a multitude of numbers I mean I think it's getting people excited about education it's the global experience is what you said which i think is tremendously important for young learners but i also think that it it's it's something that surely excuse me mrs. Brown hit on a pond when we try and I think Jennifer you've done a tremendous job from the Education Foundation is to really focus on educators and really lifting up that profession so they can be celebrated so you can be celebrated for the work that you do and all the other ones because to me those are the real heroes that we should be focusing on in celebrating and have parades for as I've said before so I loved hearing the story I think thank
029you for being putting it out online and I've watched you on the view and all that stuff I think it's really cool I hope it gets more people excited because I've really but I think this is the kind of thing that I I know it's got generated a lot of traction and rightfully so and there's a lot of different ways that educators are touching the lives of people not just only in students in their classroom but like you said globally so I applaud all of you awesome awesome thank you so much for sharing your experience and look forward to more thank you thank you that completes our special presentations moving on to the superintendent's report dr. Burton yes we have two officers on duty tonight I want to introduce them to you the first officer
030is officer Salvatori Giannino I understand your students have taken to calling you officer Sal officer Sal started his career with the New York City Department of Corrections in 1999 and worked in a maximum-security facility as well as part of their emergency service unit for six and a half years he transferred the NYPD in 2005 where he served as a patrol and housing officer as well as a community affairs and crime prevention officer his career reached its pinnacle when he was selected to become a member of the elite counterterrorism unit for the final few years before retiring in 2018 he's married to his wife Erica for 16 years and he has a son that's so two middle school and a daughter at Riverview high school we like to welcome you to Sarasota our other officer is
031Officer John Dominguez I understand your students call you officer JD he's a seasoned officer with 13 years of law enforcement experience and a commitment to public service he's an Army veteran serving two successful overseas deployments he began his law enforcement career with the Hobbs Police Department in New Mexico he served as a SWAT commander and a team leader for his agency he moved to Florida in 2013 and continued his career with the North Port Police Department his experience includes Criminal Investigations narcotics gangs and squat he also served as a case manager for juvenile offenders where he provided social skills training and guidance through the juvenile community corrections program he has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of the southwest and is currently working to complete his master's degree he's married to his wife
032Stephanie for 14 years and his children Ryan Alina Dominique all attend Sarasota County Schools so both of our officers are vested here in Sarasota County welcome JD that concludes the superintendent thank you very much and welcome aboard next we will move to hearing of citizens each speaker will have three minutes to speak when the time flashes yellow one minute remains and you need to begin to summarize you must stop speaking when the buzzer rings please note that the respect for divergent viewpoints and civility will be shown at every board meeting whether you agree or disagree with the speaker you shouldn't listen politely and respectfully without making any sounds of approval or disapproval including clapping so I have 10 cards first up is Brian Ellis speaking here okay good afternoon my name is Brian Ellis I'm
033with answer coalition and PSL we're here to begin the dialogue again about trans rights in Sarasota County Schools we're happy to learn that there are now trainings happening with also youth and that a critical support guide has been created I think another reason why we're here today is to learn more about these accomplishments we want to not only to speak out but to also reach out to you all personally and talk about them transgender students at Pine View in early 2016 began calling for our anti-discrimination policy to include gender expression and gender identity for trainings for teachers and staff and for a trans inclusive access to all school facilities including locker rooms and bathrooms essentially they were asking for basic respect it's very heartening that you've taken such important steps in the right direction I
034think that the rally's and speak outs really opened hearts and helped bring about these positive changes and it took incredible courage I'll never forget those moments when Nate Quinn spoke at this podium with a room full of hateful bigots dressed in white breathing down his neck as he asked for this this school board to acknowledge his dignity the time for action is now since early 2016 when students first appealed to you at least 69 transgender people have in the US have been murdered in Jacksonville there's a suspected serial killer murdering trans women right now who has killed three trans black women this year and these deaths are only an indicator of the suffering and oppression of the trans community that's why we need you to show compassionate leadership in our community moral people must take
035action we believe in this school board or we wouldn't be here and we know that you'll stand up for your most vulnerable and courageous students and that's why we're here thank you thank you next is Stella and I apologize if I do not pronounce anyone's name correctly feel free to correct me Stella shed rinsky's there you go so thank you for allowing us to speak thank you for speaking as well I wanted to expand on the trans rights issue particularly to do with mental health the thing is that our schools must encourage and foster individuality and autonomy and the development of a sense of self in our students and part of that is the way that students interact with and experience their own gender identity and I am glad for a lot of these steps
036that we're taking to move forward in allowing students to have a natural experience with their gender identity but it is important to the mental health and in turn the physical health of each of our students to feel valid to feel like they have dignity and to feel like they are respected in their gender identity thank you very much next is Vanessa Nichols hi thank you all for allowing me the floor for a few minutes my name is Vanessa Nichols and I'm the mother of a fourth grader here and I'm in Sarasota County and he is transgender several months ago before my my son's journey really began in his coming-out process I was actually planning a move out of this district due to the fear of the unknown and as a mama bear as many of
037us are we fear for the hatred and hearing all the stories of discord but I'm actually standing up here today to tell you a more positive affirming story to our knowledge my son was one of the first to come out at the elementary school level but he won't be the last as we continue to listen and use the affirmation model based on diagnostic criteria and professional guidance that all major Medical Association's have endorsed I want to highlight what a positive experience feels and sounds like so Sarasota County can can can continue and to provide a continuum throughout the district my son's schools administration met with me upon my first request at the end of last school year to discuss the cut at the coming school year the then principal coordinated a team meeting by my
038request at my request of administrators school social worker the school psychologist the guidance counselor and pupil support with this team we devised a gender support plan which is very flexible for my son in writing which included numerous talking points such as who he would feel safe reporting to in the event of bullying and which bathroom he would use which the bathroom would heat where he feels most safe we then followed up with the same team of individuals plus my son's new teachers that were assigned to him this year prior to the start of the new year to ensure we were all on the same page in affirming and supporting my son this plan will be monitored throughout the year and like I said it's important that it's flat it's flexible having a new principal made
039me a little bit uneasy at our school for this transition but he went above and beyond and he reached out to also used to train his entire staff and to educate them on what this meant for my son and all LGBT kids in my opinion the pendulum is starting to swing in favor of growing support for our trans youth and I'm delighted that to see that Sarasota County is currently at least in our experience on the correct side of history with this discussion however my ask would be to make our experience the rule in Sarasota County for our trans kids not the exception we need this uniformity in our schools for our children's safety and their emotional well-being we all know the statistics of bullying for our LGBT kids and the suicidality that goes along
040with it school support is a must my ask is that every school's administration in our County follow this example or similar protocol so our County can be known as a safe place for every student and so parents like me don't have to consider leaving this district thank you thank you very much next is Ryan Francis thanks for having me my name is Ryan Francis I'm here with the party for socialism in liberation I'm here representing the struggle that trans students face here in Sarasota and the struggle facing trans people across the world while we celebrate the steps that Sarasota County has taken to represent the basic rights of trans students we must continue to move forward and ensure that every strand student feels accounted for and respected by their schools it's important that trans students
041feel is welcomed and respected as possible while they're in school as they often have no other place to turn to family and friends are often eager to reject them and deny their humanity trans students face significantly higher rates of suicide as compared to other students we must do everything we can to guarantee that the rights of these students are enhanced and protected as we begin the new school year and we implore you to work with us and listen to the needs of trans students in a society that is so aggressively determined to deny them their right to live their lives as they desire thank you for your time thank you next I have Brenda Kent Dix good evening my name is Brenda and that cute little human that was voted out here because he's very
042cute and very loud is my son he was assigned male at birth and I've heard a lot of initials here today and and I'm very proud that you're all here but you forgot one initial on the end and that's I for intersex that is a group of children that is never addressed at meetings in the schools in the community at large if you were to look at my child he appears meal if he was unclothed he would for the most part still look male to you but his chromosomes tell a different story he was born with extra female chromosomes and in fact with an endocrinologist help we looked into all of his cells and every cell has an extra female chromosome so what that will mean in the future we do not know but because
043of our culture he's assigned male because if you look at him that is what you see and when he goes to school here in Sarasota County in three years that is what the staff will see but that might not be what Marshall sees and medically he would be right whether he sees himself as a male as a female or as fluid he might feel both what will the school be able to do to keep my child safe will you ask him him for now to use a bathroom a gender that he knows in his heart he is not because his body tells you the staff the teachers that that is the bathroom he should use because maybe that would be exactly the same thing as you asking me to go into a male bathroom every
044single day and you would be asking him that is a five year old a six year old seven year old and the emotional and mental damage would be lifelong it is so important that we begin to understand things that we don't understand medically mentally and emotionally Marshall is a medical certainty how do I know that because I was of advanced maternal age so we had genetic testing done otherwise I wouldn't know none of you have had your your chromosomes tested I'm sure I've never had mine that's how we know that he is intersex do you know how many trans children probably have the same thing and don't know it doctors are saying one in a thousand children are born intersex but they believe that it could be as high as 1 in 500 please start
045to listen to science this is not a bunch of children that just woke up and decided that they wanted to be a boy or they wanted to be a girl these are humans and they need to be listened to thank you thank you very much and I'm actually gonna sneak out I understand thank you Lila Christ if I said that correctly Hey in 2010 after the bathroom bill was passed that forbids trans people from using the restroom that they would like to use the National Center for transgender equality conducted a survey and it's approximately 27,000 trans American adults responded to constituting only 2% of the trans population in America twelve percent of the respondents reported being verbally abused in the bathroom one percent had been physically assaulted 32 percent restricted their fluids and food intake
046so they wouldn't have to use public restrooms eight percent contracted urinary tract infections and kidney infections from restroom avoidance fifty eight percent experienced police harassment in regard to restroom use 23 states in America don't have laws protecting trans people and Florida is one of them and forty percent of the respondents had reported attempting suicide which is a true mass which is a dramatic statistic when compared to the average u.s. population being at only 4.6 percent minority stress has an indisputable significant mortality rate trans people were once children and the negative mental physical and emotional health outcomes that many trans people face are directly attributable to the institutional systems of oppression that we have in this country achieving social equity cost nothing but a collective effort no matter how small each step may seem although just
047mantling the negative forces that minorities face can seem like a Steve Cole as a group people can achieve anything please don't forget your trans students thank you thank you next I have Olympia vulture hi my name is Olympia I'm actually not native to this county I'm I'm native to Palm Beach County but I go to school at New College of Florida which has made amazing strides in the field of accepting all people who have different gendering identities and differing sexuality identities and we could learn a lot from that in our lower education almost everyone that I know that goes to new College of Florida says their pronouns regardless of whether they're trans or not it just makes everybody feel comfortable and makes everyone feel safe our school is also known for having a multitude of
048all gender bathrooms at every single building and that means that I don't have to choose what bathroom I go into I don't have to decide oh do I feel like a boy today or do I feel like a girl today I don't have to make that decision and every time that a trans child walks up to a set of bathrooms labelled boy and girl they have to make that decision even if that's not the way that they feel I don't feel the same way all the time I wish I would I wish I did because it would make my life a lot simpler but the reality is that I just don't and sometimes it would be a lot easier if I didn't have to think about it so much it seems kind of counterintuitive but
049just actually thinking about having to make a choice can cause so much stress especially on a young brain that's growing and learning and trying to understand themselves even as their bodies are changing which is already scary and every time that you force them to make a choice between two things which they might not even belong to you're forcing more stress on their brain and that can have physical symptoms as high stress causes high cortisol levels which can have physical impacts on their body and of course it can have mental issues I mean everybody here has listed the statistics it's shocking how much higher the trans suicides rates are and it's even more scary how much higher they are especially when you consider that most of these kids are attempting suicide or committing suicide at ages
050under 15 that's a terrifying age I myself am 20 years old and it terrifies me that I could ever have a child or know someone under the age of 15 who tried to kill themselves because they had to make a choice they were forced to make a choice between two things that they don't fit into humans don't fit into boxes very complicated creatures I don't think any one of us could say that we fit into category a or category B if it was something I don't know trivial like what is our favorite pizza probably most of us don't have a definitive answer on that and we can't really expect people to have a definitive answer when it comes to their gender identity either thank you thank you next I have a ole up Whitworth I'm
051with the PSL my name is a birth that's pray for socialism liberation and I call upon those have power to make a difference in the lives of the youth of Sarasota County take action I do not ask this simply because it benefit trans students and their peers this issue doesn't exist in a vacuum it is a systemic issue that points out the flaw in a society built specifically for white able-bodied cisgender and American people in mind rather than the diverse spectrum of identities the various people in our society have we have to acknowledge how the trans rights struggle is linked to all struggles for justice and that is an injustice to all is it injustice to one person is it injustice to all people everywhere no student is free to learn and grow in a
052healthy environment when others are forced to confirm conform to oppressive standards and expectations we must recognize that we are dealing with ear and injustice while I commend and applaud the previous efforts this administration has done in making Sarasota County Schools a good environment for trans whew I can't let this any administration forget that there is still that there's still work that must be done a community that boosts the votes is inclusive inclusivity cannot do so while not employing a trans inclusive non-discriminatory policy and now and not allowing trans students access to all student facilities and events the rights of trans students often go ignored because they are unity without the same privileges as others this links their struggle to the struggle of poor communities black and brown communities immigrants and other oppressed peoples this is
053why anyone who considers himself an advocate for the liberation and safety of all people must also consider themselves an advocate for trans rights and must take action today to defend those rights the struggle for liberation is made from steps like the lenses administration has made so far for trans rights and it's still a struggle that must be continued for the sake of all oppressed peoples thank you for your time thank you I have Ruth Beltran next we are back hello everyone I am with answer some coast and also with PSL and we are back to start the dialogue you know we figured that the start of the new school year is perfect timing so that we can start the dialogue along the lines of trans rights and what progress you can make during this new
054school year to take a stand for trans rights so I am here to recognize the efforts that you have made the trainings that you have that you have coordinated with also youth and your administrators are doing now but also to encourage you to continue this work and continue making progress and to adapt an anti discriminatory policy that does include gender gender expression and gender identity and also to have inclusive access for trans persons for all schools facilities including bathrooms and locker rooms so I'm here to just encourage you to continue to embrace the change that we see in the world which is that we do have a growing trans community and we do need to make room for them not only by tolerating but we need to embrace and you as a school board are
055able to do that in the policies that you pass in this new coming year so please do the right thing and take a stand don't wait for an incident to take place or to have you know something that happened be embracive right now you know open your arms to get Tran students and take a stand so that they can feel embraced just as the regular your regular students do thank you thank you and last I have Nathan Brimmer good evening madam chair board members superintendent mr. Hardy my name is Nathan Brimmer I'm the executive director for also youth I've met some of you but I'm just meeting you for the first time so it's a pleasure and congratulations I have been the executive director of also youth just for the last year a little bit
056longer but we have a 25-year history here in Sarasota empowering lgbtq+ youth and their allies and working to create inclusive communities I'm also a parent and a former educator in Hillsborough County I taught in six schools over a 10-year period so I represent that background but really the thousands of voices that have come through our doors in the last 25 years and even those that haven't been able to do that and I've really had the pleasure of partnering with this district almost from the first day I started and as an educator that was exciting and I didn't know what to expect because I had heard Sarasota is not like Hillsborough or Pinellas but I'm really happy to report that from the top down and the bottom up it's been a pleasure to work with you
057all in partnership and I'm excited about how start how we started this school year even stronger than ever before the superintendent Mountain put together Leadership Institute that we were proud to be a part of and one of the core focuses is how to work with and how to support the families of our LGBTQ plus youth and it was very successful and very well embraced by all of our leaders both principals assistant principals and district leaders across the board and you've heard a lot of the data our district your administration they know what the statistics are and they're committed I have worked very closely with student services I've gotten to know very you know a lot of the staff a lot of principals a lot of system principals the last year Sonia figure out Albertson and
058Debora Giacalone especially have been so committed to doing the work for the students here in Sarasota our families and students and you heard parents talk they want our educators to know about and expect us to have best practices and I want you to know we are putting those in place in partnership we've got research supported best practice happening we're doing anti-bullying curriculum we are approved to provide that training there are others that are providing the training as well and we're providing resources also to administrators at the school year at the school level and what you may not know is by supporting LGBTQIA youth really it improve school climate for all the youth the statistics that you haven't heard yet is when we do focus on that when we have 11 trained allies in the schools
059the school bullying incidents is not just for our kids but for all students drops and that's important by really focusing on just this part of the population it really improves everything I know that our district is an ally for our kids I know I can't say that for all the districts in the Suncoast but I'm really proud of the leadership our district is taking because I will tell you I do get calls from Charlotte I do get calls from Manatee and I am getting calls from DeSoto I'm honored to continue the partnership thank you all for your leadership in supporting our LGBTQ youth thank you very much mrs. Brown I know we don't normally comment but probably don't want to wait for the rest of our meeting but I want to thank you for coming
060out tonight and understanding you know where we're coming from - you know I must admit when when Nate first appeared to me to us I didn't know what that was all about I mean now I look back and I'm like oh that's what that movie was about you know they were trying to tell us and and after speaking with Nate and and understanding how he didn't just wake up one day and I mean they were struggles he had and until somebody named it he didn't realize that's what it was and and I think it's great that Vanessa you're coming here and Brenda you know we'd she doesn't know what's going to happen with her child and and that's the thing it's how these children are born it's not something that happens to them as they're
061growing up we don't know we don't understand all of those things yet but what we need to do and I hope we're working with you on that is to be accepting of these children and do every child every day what we have to do is meet their needs and help us to learn I mean at least for me I don't know everything and I'm sure you all don't know everything either but as we're learning and we're understanding this more I feel this is such a much better discussion we're having then then hurling insults at each other trying to understand and and I thank you for coming to us with understanding and and I appreciate you stepping forward and thank you thank you mrs. Goodman well I I also want to say thank you for being
062here I started working with equality Florida and Safe Schools about four or five years ago and I started going to some seminars and sessions in South Florida when that was the only thing there there were and then we started meeting in st. Pete and I think I didn't go this past year because I had a conflict like a campaign conflict or something but at any rate I believe that we we do act differently than we would at new college because these kids are not in college and you all understand you get that there's a more sensitive situation with our elementary students and our middle school students are different and our high school students but we do care and we do feel that we need to work with and be sensitive to all the needs of
063our students and I am here to tell you that I started working in the 1970s you know back in the Civil War with when I lived in Boston and and it was a different time but I think that we are on the road to doing some things give us time let us catch our breath you know it's a it's a transition and an education for a lot of people but I think we're on the right track and we do care we do have a great partnership with Nathan and and also which we didn't have before he was here and and and I really think that we're on the right track to doing a lot more in regard to our students and and yes students that have the issues of LGBTQIA are all over our school
064district and we can't say what greater what age students experience these things but we have to listen we have to respect and I think we're attempting to do that please please help us thank you and echo I appreciate everyone coming I think that I've also appreciate some very intimate and stories being shared so thank you for coming today sorry my microphone moving on to the additions or Corrections to the agenda dr. Boden yes there are a number of attachments that were added I just want to go through those items seven approval the instructional classified personnel report there is an addendum to that I don't 24 approval of the final budget amendment for fiscal year 2017 18 that summary has been attached and there are a total of five reports that make up the attachments for
065item 25 approval of the annual financial statements for the 2017 18 school year year ending June 30th 2018 very good thank you sorry I move for approval of the consent agenda with additions and changes as ii have a motion in a second any comments seeing non members please vote on the agenda before you our motion excuse me before you and there's an error so if we want to just move straight ahead along let's take a quick roll call this is brown aye mrs. sucker hi mrs. Goodwin I mr. Robinson chair votes aye and the motion passes unanimously moving on to new business I did want to and that's the item nine the reimbursement of attorneys fees this is the attorneys fees for that I would say bogus public records request that was made on not
066only mr. Hammond but also fellow board member Jane Goodwin and I I don't know if politics had anything to do with it but I know an ad was placed on Facebook about it but it's frustrating to me that somebody can come in throw these kinds of charges out I mean in and it seems like this this person who filed this the original complaint against us did so without really the authorization is there any thought that we can go back and and and get these fees back from the person who truly caused the problem or is that just a pipe dream yes I'm sorry mrs. Brown is that a question accounting question to counsel mr. RT originally the case was brought against three individuals that case was dismissed by the court and the case was refiled
067against the school board the organization that brought the suit later from what I read in the paper and from what I read that was filed in the court file the board of directors of that organization indicated that they had not authorized that suit from being filed and it was thereafter dismissed so that organization although the suit was brought in its name ultimately wound up disavowing that lawsuit and therefore it was dismissed I think it would therefore be difficult for the board to seek some action against that organization if that organization has its own claim for some something improper happening then I would think it would have the claim perhaps against people that it's a did something wrong did you well yeah I would imagine that would be finding out who was the real person who
068behind all of this - it's just unraveling a number of things the reimbursement is $1,400 is it theoretically possible to do something to take some action perhaps but I don't know that that would be cost-effective in this case in these circumstances and also you have the situation where the board the board would be taking action against a group that's disavowed doing something in the first place so it wouldn't be they certainly the cleanest way to go about it and the case was dismissed therefore raising the right of individuals who were sued to reimbursement but there never was an adjudication on the merits of it also there could be an issue about whether the response was it timely which was really the issue I know there was an issue about when the individuals themselves were notified
069given all of that I'm not sure it would be in the board's interest to secret thank you thank you mrs. Goodwin well I just was curious because I know that you had some fees that were involved and maybe we might have some fees that also would come up as a result of this so now we're adding more and more things I mean is there is there is there something that we should look at in the future well I think mr. Barfield or someone well if in different circumstances perhaps again it's possible certainly that the other two individuals I haven't seen any request for reimbursement but I know for example that I spoke with counsel for that was representing you so there may be something there there were some fees to to me and my firm
070once the school board was sued although given the rapidity with which the case was dismissed it was not a huge number so you're right there could be additional but I still don't know that it would necessarily be a cost-effective issue for the board in this case but that of course is a board decision that I would not encourage it on the economics of the matter Thank You mr. Robinson I would be supportive of pain if board members had legal fees that came as a result of being a member of the school board and then they were not adjudicated to have done anything at fault then I would be supportive of making sure the legal fees were reimbursed and if I don't have a problem with dr. Burton putting in that forth at the next meeting
071do you need a motion for that I don't believe any motions in order because there no one has requested I can tell you if somebody requested any such any such fees I would be inclined to vote YES for that reimbursement mrs. Ecker I think that everything that was done is done I would not want to poke a bear I think it would cost us more in the long run that we should just move ahead as we've had to do in several other instances where as doesn't concern legal fees but it concerns people that are suing us and is it gonna cost me more over here or less over here and I think we better off just leaving it go and moving on thank you seeing no other comments on that I know that was a
072comment on the consent agenda so we are moving to number seven items new business I have item number 26 I excuse me I would move that the interagency user agreement between the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office and the school board of Sarasota County Florida be approved as presented ii have a motion in a second are there any comments this was added to new business given timing I believe okay I just wanted to clarify maybe you want to explain it a little bit or dr. Baden would you like to explain the all right well looking for the chief and the executive director and they have stepped out to the lobby I can give you a brief explanation probe detailed as the chief could but this is an agreement between the school board for the police department and
073the sheriff's office to allow the use of certain computers and inputting data it's just one and you will be getting some more in upcoming weeks items where we our police department will be sharing facilities or working with the sheriff's office particularly on various items particularly of infrastructure there'll be a dispatcher agreement there'll be other similar agreements this is just a way that we can leverage with one of our partners in law enforcement their facilities and expertise that's really I'm sorry this again is where our internal police force is working with our partners in the community to bring services to us that really aren't going to cost us a lot but you know in fact I think the financial impact is zero but we're gonna have through agreements we're gonna be able to share the information
074and it's a positive I think for both of us correct and these are modeled on agreements that the sheriff already has with municipalities okay see no additional comments members please vote on the motion before you if you haven't already yeah although if there are okay so there are technical issues which is complete fine we can do a voice vote mrs. Brown yes mrs. sucker yes mrs. Goodwin yes mr. Robinson and the chair votes aye and the motion passes unanimously that concludes new business are there any additional any comments or announcements seeing none the next public hearing to adopt final millage and budget meeting is September 11th to 2018 at 5:15 p.m. our next board workshop is September 18 2018 at 8:30 a.m. the next regular board meeting is September 18th at 3:00 p.m. we are
075adjourned