Superintendent's Workshop 12_45 p.m. 11-17-25

001It is 12:45. I wish to welcome you to the superintendent's workshop being held in the Joe N Idollet Jr. TEC. I ask out of respect to everyone, please silence all devices. Also, if you have any material you wish to share with any board member, please give that to our executive assistant, Mrs. Moray. She's seated right there. We'll take a break every two hours if needed. Before that, I'd like to recognize the superintendent to explain the purpose of this workshop. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. The purpose of this workshop is to present items and engage in discussion with the school board uh for things that will require approval in future dates. The first item on the uh agenda is a presentation which will provide an update on our innovation work that we're now doing in the

002school district of Indian River County. Want to begin in the most appropriate spot in this presentation is not only thanking my staff but thanking all of their staffs. We have been out pretty much every night of the week engaging in conversation with our community with our respective staffs. This is not an innovation project that is happening to Indian River County. This is something that's happening for Indian River County and with Indian River County. So, we've had the opportunity to engage in about 18 19 different presentations. At this point, I've actually lost count in terms of providing the opportunity to engage in discussion, receive feedback to ensure that we get this right because not only do our children in Indian River County deserve it, all other counties are are watching in terms of what Indian River

003County does. So, this is very, very important work. This update provides a it's a twofold approach. Uh one, the quarter one update and then ultimately the innovation update as well. As you recall, you all approved a two-year strategic plan uh that's focusing in on three key areas. Uh our community being fueled by innovation and driven by leadership. When you look at what we've accomplished during the first quarter, a significant amount of work uh has taken place. uh the digital discovery uh critical thinking courses. Enhancing the quality of programming in our critical thinking courses is something we were able to accomplish this year. We were able to adopt the classical curriculum uh for Pelican Island Magnet School. We were able to integrate through a grant process and uh extend K8 Middle School's electives offering uh to

004integrate both uh STEM and CTE programming. We restructure collaborative planning uh which is a district-wide initiative from just not the planning how the lesson but uh well how the lesson would be actually be delivered versus what the lesson would be significant opportunities for impact based on that work. Uh once again reaching beyond the classroom into our community um and creating additional partnerships whether it's Riverside Theater, FPL, uh Florida Department of Education, Cleveland Clinic, uh McKe Botanical Gardens, just outstanding programming. We're having the opportunity to get beyond classrooms and into our community. Extended new8 K8 collaborative planning for our sixth grade teachers. So those sixth grade teachers are not planning in isolation. They're planning together. So even though they're the only sixth grade teachers in one of the four different schools, they still have the opportunity

005to connect and engage uh from other adults who are doing the same work. Uh we lifted which was humongous our new website which enhances the opportunity to connect across our system. Uh we finding great signness uh success in connecting our community through our pillar events and then uh a brand new standard response protocol uh under the leadership of Mr. Haimeia Berte who's not with us right now. Uh but significant enhancements and partnerships with the sheriff's office, local law enforcement uh in the in that specific work. Um from the last time that we've met, we did receive a improved financial rating. So we're very very happy of this work. This is just not only a positive fund balance and fiscal responsibility, but strategic planning. Uh so our default rating went from a double double A to

006double A. Long-term liability is the strongest you can have and certificate of participation A+ to double A negative. So significant work being done. This isn't something you would find to be the norm across the state. So we're very very proud of of this work and we need to be doing everything in our power to protect those ratings uh as we engage in this upcoming conversation. Um, as I was saying, we have been out and about throughout the community really listening and driving innovation. So, we've driven innovation across our system and and the board knows, so I will not regurgitate the entire presentation, but I do want to talk through our innovation uh initiatives. Um we're doing this in order to ensure long stable um innovative programming across the board, enhance the ability to have programming

007in our schools that is ultimately aligned across each and every single feeder pattern uh while at the same time ensuring fiscal responsibility. This is a balanced approach uh and it really really begins with innovation looking at the programming in schools the alignment of programming uh while it considering all things that make up public education in the school district of Indian River County. So we have looked at trends and choice we look at demands in terms of what parents want and then problem solved around underused facilities to in order to determine if we're really going to act in the best interests of our community. uh we have to step back from the current way of work, evaluate demand and then create offering that ensures every single child has the opportunity to be successful uh in the

008future. So we looked at our facilities capacity, how it's being used uh and the impact and long-term impact actually as it relates to schools of hope and underenrolled schools. And as a result, we've come up with a number of innovative projects. One is the freshman learning center uh moving into the main campus because they would fit um and because it would uh have a opportunity to increase students time in class. A third of the students at the uh freshman learning center have to be transported to the main campus to receive their programming. We've been very intentional increasing the number of course high school courses being offered in middle school going from 57th in the state to number two in the state. and the advanced programming impact as well as the visual and performing arts are

009requiring about a third of the students to get on a bus in the middle of the day to go to the main campus because those courses are not offered at the main campus and then transported back when that class is over. We can't do that in four minutes. So students are missing seat time and we need to fulfill seat time requirements. In addition to that, there's vocational programming that is absolutely outstanding at the main campus. uh culinary arts would be the first one that comes to mind. Uh you can't take that course until you're in 10th grade because it's not offered on the freshman learning center and courses like that that could be the spark for some children when they get introduced to the thing that they're going to fall in love with or the

010thing that they're going to spend the rest of their life uh chasing or pursuing. So we need the opportunity to connect our students to those programs of study as quick as we possibly can. The operating cost of this innovation initiative uh results in a savings overall savings about $1.2 million. Oslo Middle School uh moves into the freshman learning center. Uh Oslo Middle School, as I said, has a perception problem. I've spent a great deal of time in that particular school. Very happy with what I see the teachers doing. They're loving, they're caring, they're providing quality instruction, but yet 24% of the students who are zoned for that particular school do not attend that school. They choose out of the particular school. So we believe we have a perception problem and we need to rebrand and

011ensure that the quality that's taking place inside the school uh is the reality across our entire community. We want to enhance programming the visual and performing arts. Uh they have a stellar program and expanding that and increasing connectivity to the high school allowing students to take orchestra with some of the programming uh that is at the high school. Sports and athletics expanding some of that programming into what would be Vero Beach Middle School. Uh developing the entrepreneurial program in connection with the high school. So it is a complete rebrand strengthening uh the connectivity to one of our strongest brands which is Vero Beach Senior High School and continuing to grow upon the advanced and uh rigorous academics that are being provided at that particular school. Uh innovation number three is expanding our K8. There's two

012very similar initiatives. First and foremost, Oyola is a high demand program. We transitioned it to a K8 last year and doing so we were able to extend about twothirds of their sixth grade class chose to stay. The third that left and the same holds true for Rosewood left because they didn't have the opportunity to participate in the advanced I'm sorry in the afterchool activities uh the some of the clubs the orchestra the chorus that the middle schools traditionally offer as well as the afterchool sports programming. about a hundred stu uh families apply between Oyola and Rosewood each year. They're turned away and about 30 of those students uh never enroll in our school. So that is a high demand program where we're losing the opportunity to engage and connect with our families because we simply

013don't have the seats available. So transitioning it into Oslo, retrofitting the Oslo space to make sure that it is kindergarten and first grade ready, which is moving playgrounds, retrofitting uh classrooms with the appropriate uh furniture for those students, modifying um bathrooms so they're are feasible for our students. Had great conversations with both the Rosewood faculty as well as the Oyola faculty. Each time we have these conversations, we have the opportunity to learn, to listen in order to ensure as we make these transitions, the traditions of both Rosewood and Oyola continue to be strong while at the same time enhancing the programming. So, we're excited uh to move forward with this innovation. This will allow us to expand both in sixth uh and seventh grade next school year. Oyola would not have an eighth grade, but

014they would be able to take in uh a few additional sixth graders and seventh graders expanding seats there. About a total of 150 between 120 [clears throat] between the two grades depending on which students stay, which students uh transition in. So exp extend expending expanding offering as well as offering in a new kindergarten class uh and then transitioning each year moving forward one additional kindergarten class until it grows until its full capacity. So, we're excited about that. Uh, Storm Grove, same exact theory of action. Our middle schools currently sit at 54% capacity. 54% capacity with only four K8s uh that are transitioned having sixth grade. So, next year they'll add seventh grade. The year after that, they will add eighth grade. So, the projected uh enrollment, if we choose to do nothing, is 45%. It

015is clearly something that needs to be rebranded. It is clearly something a choice that parents are not making. So we cannot justify enrollment of four middle schools when the current programming is only at 54%. So we would uh move Storm Grove, allow the Rosewood students to come in and populate that building without displacing the current sixth and seventh graders at Storm Grove. So they would continue on at their current facility. uh and they would allow to to finish the the program so we're not displacing uh any Storm Grove students and then redo the boundaries and I'll show you what those boundaries would look like in a minute for to function as a three high school community for Vero Beach Middle School uh uh Gford Middle School and Sebastian River Middle School and while at the

016same time enhancing the programming at both Gford and Sebastian River. Gford has a very strong advanced academic programming. We're going to align the gifted program that is very strong in our elementary schools across the system in order to really enhance some of that programming, some of that feeling in the gifted space, moving it into the Gford programming which is already established. It's the only middle school that is actually growing in our community. And then the IB programming on the north side of town, which is at Sebastian River Middle School, strengthening the pipeline, not only at Liberty, which has a strong IB program, but at Sebastian Elementary, at Treasure Coast Elementary, uh we believe if we can be intentional around programming in elementary school and ensure that there's a place that feeds into uh a middle

017school and that we're not running schools in isolation where programming is ultimately aligned and parents know this is the p this is the pathway for me when I choose into elementary school or AK8 you know exactly where that programming is going and then I have discussed the move from from from Rosewood it is the same exact con concept we would then go into Rosewood uh keeping the current sixth and seventh graders uh a large number of which are all already went to Rosewood um so we think that's going to be very very strong programming um in that particular space. Now, we're looking at our elementary schools. When you look at Glendale Elementary, currently sitting around 54% capacity and a very large campus, Citrus Elementary sitting at 62, uh we're able to combine those campuses, take

018the strong programming around the the A program at Glendale, and enhance that programming with better facilities, uh better better materials for those animals and continue to grow that programming at Citrus Elementary School. So had the opportunity to meet with the Glendale faculty uh meet with the Glendale parents and and there's a high level of excitement in terms of being able to expand the programming that's working really really well at that particular school. Then IR Prep to Treasure Coast IR Prep is a very uh it's an alternative school for students who uh have continuous disruptive behaviors or um end up in lie of expulsion being assigned to this IR prep school. we would shift the programming uh into the Treasure Coast technical space and afford those students the opportunity to participate in some of the uh

019vocational programming that that is there. And then as they find success in those traditional programs and earn their way back to the school, we'll continue to provide access to those programmings and and transport those students if they choose to stay or if they choose to return to their home school. still providing access to that programming that may help them reconnect to the um schooling space. Now, this is the current zone of the four middle schools across our community. Once again, at 54% capacity. So, you can see Storm Grove is just kind of cut out into the middle. So, if you're watching now and you're in sixth grade or seventh grade, uh you will still be picked up and transported to Storm Grove next year as you are a seventh grader or eighth grader. So there's

020no change or impact to you even though your neighborhood zone may be changing. So very slight changes only going from 5th to 6th. And we've already had a meeting with those parents to help uh ensure they understand the impacts uh of those changes. And that was held right here in this very space. If you looked at the enrollment of the shifts this next year, this is nice size middle schools moving to the three repurposed zones. And then you all right, this is the three zones that you see here where Gford Middle School is expanded. Sebastian River Middle School, although it you it doesn't look like it was changed. The VLE is taking up the entire VLA community and extends out a little bit closer to past US1 on the north side of town and then

021Vero Beach Middle School drops down a little bit more into the south side of town which results in these three particular zones. So, we will continue to share this out uh with our entire community um in order to ensure everyone understands the transition plans that we have in place next year uh with as little movement as possible as we transition into these three areas. You have to keep in mind we are a complete and total choice district. So about a third of our students participate in choice. So there's significant movement within boundaries which is something that we as a community absolutely support. Now this is Gford uh Glendale Elementary School and Citrus Elementary School. This is extremely straightforward. Glendale has a very small condensed zone which is not uh filled with young children in the

022K5 space. So this is straightforward. We would then switch it to that becomes one school zone. uh anything past of 95, there may be a handful of kids out there past 95 in this particular zone. So although it looks large, if you just kind of focus from 95 uh over, you would see that's the actual zone or proposed zone for Citrus Elementary School. As I've referenced before, this is harder to see, but way up there north is the Citrus Elementary School. And then way down there in the middle of the county is Dodger Town. And if I had the ability to zoom in, I I would. But you see two yellow arrows in which in the middle of the Dodge uh Gford community, we've squared off two sections of the community and transported students all

023the way up to Sebastian Elementary School. Uh so we are shifting that in order to ensure that those students have the opportunity to engage and connect to the school that's closest to their house. So, the only real changes you're going to see is those two squared off apartment complexes will be moved to uh the Dodgertown area. Now, looking specifically at those kids who live in that community, they are already they're already not going to Sebastian based on the space. They're choosing to go back to Dodgertown. I think it was two or three for the elementary Bruce that actually were there. So, you're really not changing anything that's already not in place. uh because those students based on how far that zone is have already choosed not to do uh what this zone says they should

024do in Sebastian Elementary School. We've also began the conversation uh this work is still in the midst of being done but we've had significant conversations whether it be with my student advisory groups uh whether it be with the faculties when we're at the high school uh we engage in the conversation about start times. I I've said it from the very beginning. I think 705 is too early of a start time. So in speaking to the faculties, I think there's consensus 705 is still uh way too early. But don't go too much further because we have students who have the opportunity to reconnect or or provide care for their siblings, the afterchool activities, uh the t the jobs. So if we're able to move it back some, that is a initial starting point. So moving from

0257:05, a 15minute push back to 7:20, getting out at 207 for our high school. Uh pushing that day back 15 minutes. And our middle schools, which currently start at 8, now starting at 8:10. So only a 10-minute uh push back for them. But we're also pushing the K8s, which currently meet with the elementary school start times of 8:50, uh back to um the 810. that aligns the afterchool and sports programming. As those middle K8s get to full capacity, we'll have the opportunity to do sports and things like that. So, we want to make sure that those times align and then only able um pushing the elementary back five minutes. So, we're able to do this because of the combination of the freshman learning center into the main campus because one bus was transporting both schools.

026So, we lost 15 to 20 minutes picking up students in one campus and then going to the other. Uh, so we're able to get the high schools to start 15 minutes later while ultimately only pushing back the middle school by 10 minutes and the elementary school by five minutes. So, uh, very proud of that. We will continue to push out information um, and sharing this with some of the faculties. Um, very very positive. Uh, Dr. Shafty, can you give us a quick update on the surveying that you're doing across the community where that stands? >> Absolutely. Uh Dr. Murray, we distributed that survey last Wednesday, November 12th, specifically for families and staff to date. Uh as about 11:30 this morning, the family feedback survey has 1,259 responses. Of those responses, 59% are very or extremely

027supportive. You add the qualifier of moderately supportive and approximately 73% of our families support this proposal with the greatest uh benefit being better alignment with their family routines. For our staff, we have 541 responses. Uh overwhelmingly 53% of those responses are classroom teachers. We also have support staff feedback and instructional staff feedback. Again, extremely and very supportive. We are sitting at approximately 63% moderately very and extremely supportive. We are just under 80%. Again, the biggest potential benefit identified is better work life balance for our staff. >> All right. So, as Dr. Shaffy said, those are very encouraging results, but we just started to collect that information next Wednesday. We're still on our road show. Uh, so we'll be out this week as well. We were out every night last week. We'll be out every night

028this week. uh with the exception of Friday, but we'll be at a district playoff game on Friday. Uh we'll be doing the town halls at the freshman learn at the main campus on >> 17th and 18th. >> I well I can't see it, but I know we're going to >> Sebastian River Middle School tomorrow and then the freshman learn uh the main campus on on Wednesday and engaging with Oslo's faculty. Um, no, I'm sorry. Citrus faculty, um, >> Wednesday morning and then Oslo's faculty parents Thursday night. This is exhausting. Um, but ultimately, we're we're taking the time uh to connect and engage with the community, to learn. Um, as I as I said, this isn't something that's being done. It's being done uh to the community. It's being done for the community and with the

029community. So I will continue to keep the board updated. Uh we are going into public hearing for the boundary changes and shifts um this evening come back on December 17th. Um and really what that does after December 17th uh pending board approval is a starting point for creating uh the most innovative school system uh in the state of Florida. Um and and doing this allows us yes to reduce the number of schools absolutely but when you look back to where our fund balance currently is the driving force is to increase and innovate flexible options for parents. And as you look at uh students choosing a way a big piece of that information is uh public education hasn't changed in 25 30 years. Uh but the students who are in our classrooms have changed drastically in

0302530 years. Uh and somebody has to be bold enough to acknowledge that and then create an environment that works for our students and create a system that has a portfolio that meets the needs of all families in our community. So that's not an easy task. But I am absolutely uh so encouraged uh when I listen to the team who is problem solving. Uh we've had opportunities to engage with pretty much the entire staff over the last several weeks. Um and this isn't something that's being done in isolation by any means. It's being done across the system. And it's so exciting uh to have like-minded individuals coming into this work to say, "Hey, let's transform a system." So work still to be done. Um but that is the update. Thank you. Madam Chair. >> All right.

031Thank you, sir. >> So, we are on uh >> Are we responding? >> Do you want to respond? You want to comment? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Are you going to give everyone an opportunity? >> Sure. >> Okay. >> All right. Dr. Moore. >> Um, a couple of things. Thank you for the presentation, by the way. Um, I know that this is tough work and I'm grateful for everyone for your cabinet and for all of the staff who are um, really doing the heavy lifting um, in this messaging and getting the word out to our community. Um, couple of questions that I have. One thing that you mentioned in the presentation was that regarding um, Oslo, you said 24% of those students are not attending Oslo as it is now. Um, you said that there

032was a perception problem and because of the perception problem there needed to be some rebranding. Are you there? Are you with me? Okay. Um, so my question to you, um, or I don't know how you want to respond to it is, is it really a perception problem or is it a real problem? We I think we at some point need to do some deep dive into the reasons why students aren't, you know, attending their local school. Um, and then we can really address those issues headon because otherwise all we're doing is just relocating the issues, right? They could there could be real issues at Oslo and why people don't want to send their students there even if it's 24%. But there that could be the same issue if we just switch location to Vero Beach

033uh freshman learning center. Um so I just I know what you're going to say. I know what your response is, which is good. And I want to have this opportunity for you to be able to say um the perception problem. Is it academics? Um is it services? Is it a lack of, you know, is it because of high uh disciplinary behavior? Uh misbehavior? what is the real issue? And it doesn't necessarily have to be there. It could be in other schools as well throughout our district. Um, with the rebranding, before you respond to that, with the rebranding, um, the reason why I bring this up is because just in general, as we're doing all these the shifting, I don't want our rebranding to just be a renaming or a relocation. And if we're really going

034to do that, then we have to really get beneath the surface and say, "What are the true issues here?" And how are we going to address it so that we don't keep repeating the same patterns. >> All right. So, no one has ever accused me, and I don't think that you are, of trying to solve um or responding to a symptom, but problem solving to get to the the deep root cause. I'm saying it's a perception problem based on what I see. Dr. David K. Moore, I know y'all say Dr. and K in the same thing uh that I see in the building. Um it is a school that missed the B by three points, missed the A by three points. Uh it has moved from a C school to a extremely high B school.

035I say perception because I spend of all the schools I spend time in, that would be the one of last year in the very beginning of this year, I spend the most time and I see the love that those teachers are pouring into their students. I see quality differentiated instruction taking place. I see student morale very very strong. I did not see that three years ago. I did not see that four years ago. Um so when you're looking in what is a a tight-knit community, changing that perception um is not easy to do. So that becomes is there an opportunity not only just to rebrand? Rebranding is is this is not slap a new name on the school. This is create and strengthen programming between uh a middle school experience and a high school experience.

036Uh the orchestra, the chorus. Um if there's opportunities to engage those seventh and eighth, sixth and seventh and eighth graders with those students and those instructors, uh that becomes extremely strong and intentional. the athletic programs. Um, look at where we are with football. Look at where we are with lacrosse. Look at the facilities that are at that high school. They are world premier facilities. And for opportunities for a student to say, you know, we can train you uh for your elective and we can give you access and connectivity uh to these coaches who can probably go on a coach at the other level. And if you could play a JV sport or on the ninth grade team, why not allow you to do so? uh looking at entrepreneurship and some of the programming at the

037high school. So it is a blending down and getting students excited about what everyone's community on the southside wants to be a fighting Indian. So um I love the question. By all means, we're just not trying to slap a new name on the school. Uh it is honoring those who are inside those schools, making sure uh that everyone in our community knows the blood, sweat, tears, and love that they're pouring into these children. uh and align that passion, that love, that perseverance with solid programming and better resources to do the work that they're doing. >> Thank you. That was a bit of a setup there, so I'm glad that you answered it in that way. >> Um there is no uh it's not a secret. Um, I have been very very um I've been a

038proponent of student internships and volunteering and getting out into the community and opportunities for kids to shadow. I think it's so incredibly important for middle schoolers to have a different experience than elementary and um that of which they would have in high school. Um, so being well this particular school that we're talking about Oslo going to the Flick I think it would be incred an an incredible opportunity for them to have all these other resources um added to them or available for them. Um I will say that I just wanted to also add not to forget our rebranding policy. Um we our policy is policy 7250. Um it is titled commemoration of school facilities. So as we go through this process, we just want to make sure that if we are going to change a

039name even to Vero Beach Middle School, we have to make sure that we follow all of that, you know, all all the protocols there as well. Um I also had a question with regard to Oyola. You said that Oyola would not have an eighth grade. I may have missed it, but did you mean they just wouldn't have an eighth grade next year? >> Correct. Yeah. They won't have they will not have an eighth grade. Next year they'll transition into it in the upcoming school. >> In the following. Yeah. So every year we're adding a grade. And so next year they won't have an eighth, but the following year they would have an eighth. >> Yes. And then we'll start one additional kindergarten class next year and then grow it up >> in in Ocola. >>

040In Ocul. Yes. >> But they would be at the current Oslo campus. >> Correct. >> Okay. and um citrus I several years ago I know I'm going to look at um Dr. shafty here. Several year maybe Miss Basur if you remember several years ago um I pushed really hard for a vette program. Um there were some tours I think that went on with uh that we had here. I think with staff went to Westwood High School in Fort Pierce to take a look at their programming um and their scheduling there because they have a phenomenal vette program at their high school. Um I don't know where it went. I know Mr. Bas was here. We even went to some uh farmers FFA meeting. Um so meetings and um to hear that Citrus is going to

041expand on this opportunity is so exciting and I can see the longevity of this program growing into, you know, a middle school somewhere and then a high school somewhere. I've always had this vision for a Vette program. I know, you know, I've said it before. I've always had this vision where the kids had land and they had cows and they had chickens and they had, you know, all all the things citrus plants and, you know, um and they can grow it and even goats and they can sell the milk at the local farmers market. like I just in my head I see such handson opportunity uh for this school um and with a collaboration with I don't know one of the colleges and universities >> UF potentially UF University of Florida if you're hearing we're

042interested in we might be interested um anyway so I have this idea so that it could be a dual you know insight um high school experience and dual enrolling experience and hands-on and all the things. So, to hear that Citrus, we're starting with Citrus here is is just it's awesome. So, I'm excited for that. I would love to see where this goes and I I I assume they have the the space for it. >> Um, but it would be fantastic um if they would. I don't know if they're adding the the the uh some kind of partnership with the fair with the annual fair and with 4. That would be a great uh partnership with them um somehow or another so that students have that opportunity as well. >> Um yeah, you wanted to say

043something? >> No, the the program at the school is is absolutely outstanding as you were saying. They don't there's not an elementary school curriculum, so they've modified uh the middle school curriculum and pulled it down. They have a number of partnerships. Um, and we're working with the staff to solidify each of those partnerships. Um, some of them we're in in the midst of to expand it across the community. And one of the commitments that I'm making is when you start an elementary school programming, it has to lead to a middle school and the middle school has to lead to a high school. Otherwise, if we have a aerospace program in elementary school and you fall in love with aerospace and it's a school run in isolation, meaning where do I go for sixth grade to

044expand on that, then that's shame on us. And we have that I say aerospace because I think that's Indian River Academy, but we don't have the intentionality of middle school programming. So, we need to make sure if we're investing in these programmings that we're not setting a kid up to fall in love with something and then not have a place to take it. So there's a lot of work to do and schools that I didn't even mention of aligning these programmings uh those programs across the system. Um and it's just really really exciting um to ensure that we have a a true pipeline created. >> Well, I appreciate that. Um it's Felmmere is a perfect example. Um, for a long time I was saying these students, a lot of the families at Felsmere with the

045dual langu language program, they want to extend it. They don't just want to stop in fifth grade. They want to extend sixth, seventh, and eighth grade dual language learning. So, this is a great opportunity for them. >> They started that and they're going into the kids are in fifth grade now just to make you feel old >> because that started five years ago. So, >> I feel old. >> But it's a great opportunity for those students. I know I know some I know a parent who had their child in Felsmere um fifth grade um uh sixth grade sent the child to a different middle school and the child said no I want to go back and so we have these opportunities because of the dual language um where the student was like no you know

046I just want to go back there and and experience that from Felsmere so I appreciate that um I'm still in favor of south a south county classical somewhere we have a north county classical um at some point I'd like us to kind of if possible I'd like us to kind of look at that opportunity because I know that there are a lot of families who are down south who can't commute or you know bring their kid all the way to the north side uh to um Pelican Island Classical Magnet um I don't know if this would be a good opportunity since we're talking about school choice to bring up the discussion on the 4day work week for middle schools. >> Um, should we just talk about it now, Madam Chair? It's a >> I think

047that's a separate item. >> It's actually not, but >> it's just coming to us, so I think it's a separate item. >> That's fine. >> Okay. >> Um, and then the timing. I personally, um, I'm not convinced that 15 minutes is going to make a difference. That's my opinion. But I do appreciate the feedback from parents and from the community. It's nice to know that, you know, we have a little bit of a majority there for support of it. Um I'm just not sure if, you know, that time is going to make a big difference. Um is there a way to do change just the high school and not change the middle school, the elementary? Probably not, right? Because the transportation, it has to work all of those together. Yeah, but I correct. But the

048fact that we're able to push the high school by 15 minutes and only push the elementary by five minutes uh to me is a major major win. Major win. >> So, let me ask why even uh why not leave things the way that it is now? >> Timing the time schedule. So, my initial response, this is just Dave Moore, you know, when he's out um super early exercising with his wife, seven days in a row, um and you're walking and it's pitch black, uh I don't feel safe. I don't I I literally I don't have the greatest eyesight, but we're walking down the street and the next thing you know there's some random um high school students almost standing in the pitch black that we didn't see 20 yards away. Uh so, I I I

049don't like that. uh the first period attendance is uh atrocious. Uh it is very clear when you look at first period in comparison to second period um we're we're missing opportunities to get kids in school. So I I know it's only 15 minutes but from the life of a high schooler 15 minutes is is huge. Um so it allows us to get to kids to school without the impact of pushing back the other configurations too late. So I think I I I just don't like SE 705. 720 is a in listening to the students and listening to the high school faculty, I felt it was a good landing spot um for year one because at the end of the day um this is we're saving the time from the transition. So we're going to have

050to evaluate reroute all buses on the south side of town. Uh, and then if we can end up saving more time because the the K8s mostly don't have transportation. They have bus depots and we're going to have to expand some bus depot stops because of the the moves of locations for parents and we we've agreed and think that's the right thing to do. Um, but most of the kids don't have a full set of buses. So, in two years from now, you're going to have the Storm Grove transportation fall off. the students who are currently at Storm Grove. We've committed um to continue to transport those children to school for the next two years. Then we're going to have a number just a lot of flexibility. They I think oh 14 rout I think they

051have 14 buses at Storm Grove. That's 14 routes that we won't be running. Not that we want to reduce the bus drivers, but we can reconfigure and repurpose those drivers and then get to where we can condense again. So phase one, push it back a little bit later and then evaluate when we fully implement um these magnet changes and K8 changes to see is there additional flexibility to condense them together a little bit more? That's a great segue into my next question because I wanted to ask with all of these changes and merging schools and relocating would it be even necessary to have depots at all where we have the opportunity every parent in our district even if they are a choice parent they can ask for transportation and transportation will be given to them.

052>> So the the answer already is yes. >> Okay. But in a few years, we might be able to uh get it a little bit closer. Um, one of the things that I've challenged the I mean, we want to solve all the right problems, the biggest problems as we dig into this work. One of them that we want to solve is the amount of time parents spend picking up children. Um, a getting buses that run on time. That's going to help because parents be like, "All right, I I'll put you on time." In the mornings, we're almost 90 95%. We do a really really good job in the morning. It's the afternoons in which we need uh the freedom from the having to pick up the kids at one school twice. But really looking at

053how do we solve that parent drop off problem? Are there different ways of doing that? Are there staggered release times within schools uh and making things more convenient? One of the parents at Rosewood said, "Why don't you just took our kids wherever they need to be and get them as close to our house as possible and let them do the afterchool care, not at IRA, but at at Dodgertown just because it makes my life a little bit more convenient." And you're running the bus. Okay, that's a great service initiative that we could look at. Um, so we'd have to evaluate that. Not not next year. We will be running buses as an update. We've agreed to this and and Mr. Falis has surveyed his staff where if you're at Rosewood right now, we've moved you

054to right across the street from where we're currently having this meeting. You can still drop off in the morning at no additional charge at the Rose Kurt and Rosewood campus. supervision will be provided and we'll shuttle you shuttle you to the school and then shuttle you back so you're not being inconvenience and we may get 35 40 car 50 cars out of the drive line at Rosewood at the new at the Storm Grove campus and then you can do your after school care at the Rosewood campus. Um, so it it becomes a opportunity to get children closer to where they're going to get picked up uh really at at no additional cost because that campus will still be there and the after school programming um will be basically you know it's just convenience. You're still

055going to have to pay for it and it'll be self-sufficient. >> So they wouldn't have after school program. They have it they'll have it they'll have it at both but whatever whatever is most convenient for you because we're we are in a >> so that's just a discussion right now it's not set in stone >> no we we plan on doing that so you can have after school care at Storm Grove where the campus will be next year or at the Rosewood campus in which we transport students back >> anything else >> no I mean yes that that that's new to me this is the first I've heard about the shuttling who does the shuttle Who who is it? A small little our bus full bus, not a man. >> Get on a bus. Yep.

056[clears throat] >> Thank you. I heard about it when I attended a town hall >> and I appreciate the fact that when parents said, "I have this this issue of trying to get all the way up to Storm Grove and I live in South County and that was a really good um suggestion." So um that's why the town halls are there so parents can give input and say this would be a concern. How can we possibly fix it? So that I think that came out of because of the town hall discussions. >> Yeah. >> Um before we go there, I just want to make a comment. We did have a at Vero Beach High School. When I lived here, the cows were running literally in the hallways the last week of school. >> Literally. >>

057If you don't believe me, there's a yearbook picture somewhere about a cow on the second floor. So, [laughter] um Okay, >> Dr. Jones. >> Well, there's a story of a bull, too, but that was homecoming. [laughter] >> We no longer endorse those. a few comments. Thank you very much. You know, when you uh develop the pillars of community connection, innovation, and leadership, they really tied in with what we're doing, and I thank you. I was gone last week, but um I'll be at the meetings this week, but I heard from several parents who attended, and the one thing that I had heard was we were listening. We were listening, and they came up with some ideas. Uh you thought they were good ideas. And uh I think that's the community connection that is so very

058important in this county and I'm very grateful um the IB programming north county making at all schools Dr. Moore as far as you know I know Sebastian Elementary School and Sebastian Middle and that connection I think that's a really really good feeder program for the high school because that's very very important that they have a plan. Um, I know we have later on our agenda about middle schools and uh I was a lone wolf when we did the middle school concept at Gford Middle in 1995. Um, and we worked on it three years before we went into Gford Middle. And I believe that's a concept that we could do again. And I think it's wonderful for our teachers, our students, and our parents. And it really, really creates a teaming method that is essential as

059far as knowing your middle school students. I was in middle school, junior high for about 17 years. it it makes a difference. Um, in River Prep to Treasure Coast Technical College, as I said last time, they've been there before. That's the absolute great place for them to learn the career in tech. Um, I know we'll get into a little bit more with um our cost and our innovation, you know, not having Glendale, Oyola, uh, Glendale, Oyola, Sebastian Elementary, and then of course Rosewood and what we'll be doing with that and how that will help us with our cost. But, you know, we're fighting a lot of things right now as far as, you know, we'll talk about schools of hope later and how many vouchers are out there, but what we are doing, I think,

060as far as and I think we'd be doing it anyway with you. Um, what we need to align our elementary, middle, and high schools a little bit better because I think when you look at the overall, you know, you look at our public schools and I'm out at a lot of meetings and events, you know, this community cares about us. This community wants us to be successful. We want to keep our wonderful teachers and I think it's just something that you going out to the classroom, I'm sorry, to the faculty meetings I think is important. Dr. W, could you just summarize quickly when you're out talking to faculties, what's their biggest concern? >> I know that's an open-ended question. >> I should have each cabinet member answer that question. Um >> because we want to

061keep those wonderful teachers. So I I think the the biggest question is what's the where do I have a job? >> That is the the number one concern >> and that's why we're doing this as far as >> well we're doing it twofold. So, and the example that I give that I didn't give in this presentation and when you have an elementary school at 2:30, 320, 340, uh, and you're because we're a student first district, right? >> We're going to provide them with the media specialist, uh, special, the PE, the art, the music, but the small number of students don't generate those positions. So simply increasing capacity in elementary schools by shortening um or expand pulling them into a better reducing open capacity expands flexibility. Yes, you won't have those two art teachers but we

062can absorb them because we're doing this now over the next two years and we can find homes for everybody. So before we said uh anything public, it was can we validate um can that we have homes for everybody over the next two years and we do this now. Um and we've built such a strong relationship um with our teachers, with our staff. Uh every time I was speaking to a a faculty, a member of the executive board for both unions were were there. Um and we were able to share this isn't something they're hearing for the first time. we know we have to recreate uh job descriptions and we're going to have to do things differently. Um but it was very thought out and thorough. Uh so I say that's that's the number one question.

063>> Good. And then we'll be talking later about what we'll do with the schools that we are how we will use those to our benefit. That'll be great. Thank you. >> All right, Dr. Pasca. >> Thank you um Dr. more for that excellent presentation that I think kind of breaks down our proposed plan right now um in a very palatable way for the community to look at. They can look at your slides and understand what's going on and and potentially how it's going to impact that family. Um and you know, I I've been pretty upfront about my priorities since I started here with you. You know, number one priority was really safety and accelerating our safety projects across the district. Um, two was expanding our CTE, our trade um, programming and as well as agg

064rolled into that. And a big one was also efficiency and trying to run this school district in a way that was going to um reach out into the future and be successful because you know as I looked at our budget and especially budgets across the state and country um and how they're running their districts there's a massive amount of waste in the district. Um it's the you know we are doing probably better than a lot of other districts. But um the problem with this waste is you know we're for instance we have less students in our district this year than we did last year and the year before. Um but we got a budget increase you know and and meanwhile a lot of people in our community and across the state are struggling to pay

065their bills. Um their property tax went up. The cost of gasoline is high. Groceries is high. um there's terrible inflation um and a number of people really can't find jobs in their preferred type of work, you know, so we're we're taking more tax dollars from people while they're really almost everyone I know is struggling to pay their bills. Um, so it's it really is imperative on our local districts, our taxing districts, and our school districts alike, um, to run with a certain amount of efficiency and to be good stewards of those tax dollars, you know, and and so this has been something we've been talking about for years and this plan is going to significantly improve this district into the future because if you can save several million dollars annually, um, probably a little bit

066more than that, every year for the next 10-15 years. That is a massive amount of money that you're going to save and be able to use in our classrooms, paying our teachers more money, improving programming, um, and it sets us up for success. And I think what you're going to do here with this plan as it's executed is really create a roadmap and a model for districts across the state of Florida that they can copy. uh you know, first you did it with how you analyze grades in real time and data-driven uh instruction. And what you're going to do is create a way for districts to become more efficient while expanding programming and increasing the quality of education across the district. Um and I think it's going to lead to a more successful district uh

067with better outcomes and a lot less waste. And that's going to be really uh something that we can be very proud of into the future here. Um, and I hope a lot of other districts across the state of Florida, um, are going to be asking how we did this and getting insight into how we're doing it and are motivated to copy that. Um, because I think that right now it truly is a vital thing um to find these areas of efficiency. You know, if you have schools that are over uh less than 50% capacity um and we're just hemorrhaging money, you know, there's something that we need to create a plan and do something about that. Um, and you're obviously not just doing it for a monetary reason. You're doing it while also expanding all

068the programming that you know is popular and our best programming. Um, so it's really a win-win for everybody. Um, and I, you know, I appreciate that you're obviously doing what needs to be done and going out into the community, speaking with the community, trying to come up with a plan that is going to meet their needs because ultimately whenever you have change and you move someone's cheese, it is a very difficult struggle for them. Yes. So, even if this is a better thing for them, it's going to be tough at first and they may not think they're going to like it. Um, but you know, I think that whether it be your changes in uh school location or combinations, um even the proposed start time changes, um the proposed resoning, I think I support all

069of this right now. um as you've described it, I think it's going to be an improvement uh for our district and the vast majority of families and um you know, just continue doing what we're doing and uh look forward to the next steps here. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Dyer, would you like to say anything? >> Uh yeah, first I think it's uh a continuation of the innovation uh that you have brought to the school district. I would say the first thing is focusing on kids uh and their academic outcomes. I mean, it's no secret that we've gone from 38th to fifth in the state. We're now tied for second in terms of literacy uh reading third at third grade level and third grade. Uh academic outcomes have been outstanding and the system and procedures

070that you've put in to drive this academic success uh have really I think we've had what 15 school districts in the state of Florida have come to look and see what's going on in Indian River County. And I think it's pretty interesting because of the five years of innovation and and focusing on outcomes, sometimes innovation and opportunity uh intersect. Yeah. >> And I think that we're at one of those uh one of those uh inflection points where we find that the defunding of public schools through the state through the voucher program through the schools of hope programs and the fact that we have to uh get education. I think to align curriculum from elementary school all the way through high school is terrific. Uh I think that many of the K8 K through8 models that

071you're doing it is the preferred and actually pres and actually produces the best academic outcomes where it has been uh initiated. Uh the difference and the reason why more places haven't done it is for sports and the arts and some of the extracurricular activities which now through the uh moving to the middle schools. And that opportunity has given us the uh uh most of the objections that a parent would have uh certainly are being met because you're offering everything at these uh at these K8s. I I attended the uh Rosewood Elementary uh uh town hall that you had uh last week. Uh there was about I would say about 150 people in the in in the audience, maybe more. I don't know. There's a lot of kids too, but it was it was uh packed.

072And I would say that uh you know the one thing that I heard which I I know you're on through it is they people are very proud of the schools that they're in and everybody loves their school and they are very attuned to the culture and to the community that's been created. And I think that the one of the things that we have to continue to do is to ensure that this feeling of culture and community as we move to the larger K8s uh is going to be uh continued and that people feel like it's still their school and their community as we go forward. And I felt encouraged by what I heard uh at the uh at that town hall and also uh thought that some of the issues that were raised like the

073transportation and the hub that you addressed uh were very good and I think it's just terrific what you and your team have done to get the out the input from the community and listening and all the constituents have been listened to and have been incorporated into the plan. So, I'm uh very supportive of what's laid out and appreciate all the work you've done. >> Yeah, I'll second that. Um I think having a a good assessment that your team did of knowing and considering each school's culture, their success, and their needs is probably step one, right? You went and looked at every school campus and said, "What is it that's happening, and what can improve, and what can we save and keep?" And so, I think that's great. Um, not just the schools that are being

074moved around, but the schools that aren't being touched, I'm sure, were also assessed and looked at that way. Um, one concern that came to me were the ESC assistance. They there's a their need or afraid of their jobs being eliminated, but I I would assume that that means that the training that they had to get to do something else or what whatever the need is, um, that's a concern. Yeah. Whether or not they need to be behavior tech or whatever. So, that's the only concern I've I've really heard lately. um other than parents, you know, with pickup times and um being in lines for 45 minutes to pick up their kids, my own daughter included. Um I had to do it one time. That's a long line. So, um that's great that we're going to

075be able to solve some of those problems. I think expanding on IB is a really great thing that we need to do in the north county because that program is what's so successful and um having it only in one elementary school really doesn't help with a feeder as much as having it in two or three which I think is great. um expanding on the magnets. You know, you're looking at where are we improving, where are we doing well, and let's let's continue to expand that and um work on those problems that we've had um as far as with the other situations in schools. So, um, at FSBA, they're going to have an opening speaker that is a demographer, and she's going to talk about, um, I think it's is she she's going to talk about,

076um, the population and what's happening across the the world and in the United States, especially with what's going on with numbers of babies being born and things. And that'll be very interesting to listen to. There's also a session on downsizing, exactly this session right here. I'm actually moderating that one for the FSBA conference. and um we're looking at um small, medium, and large size school district and how they're doing this exact thing. I'm going to tell you from I met with all those um those uh board members and in a couple cases district office staff uh on a Zoom meeting with um FSBA and uh everybody's attacking it differently and I haven't heard what we're doing out there. So, I think that's really great that we're looking at at the word innovate instead of downsizing.

077And I think that's what it really should be is how are we innovating education for our kids in the future. So, I I'm excited about all of it. Um I know there are lots of parents with lots of questions and and employees still assistants. I told you that's that one came up yesterday. So, um I think just looking at that and of course with rebranding, um like you said, it's really important that everybody gets connected to their school. They feel that connection. You know, my kids were little Dodgers and um when they heard that, oh, maybe that name is going to change or something. What what we're still little little Dodgers. Now the Dodgers have moved away and times have changed and so people do get um kind of aligned with their alma modders and

078they really want to see that. I went to Glendale, my children went to Glendale, my you know my grandparents went to Glendale. We I've heard all those. So I think it's looking into the future and what our kids need for their future is what we have to keep stressing on. So I appreciate all of your um decisions and your team's effort. >> Thank you madam madam chair. Items B through D will be presented by Mr. Green and then we'll move into the much anticipated policy review uh in which each cabinet member will highlight their policies within their perspective area. Thank you Dr. Moore through the chair. Item B is an agreement for contracted services with Miller Electric. Um the specific backup documentation, these are two security projects as we have um advanced uh more projects

079this year. This will replace failed and outdated access control systems and doors um and gates at two facilities the in an amount of 189,000 at one and 217,000 at the other. There is a about a 10% contingency built in. Um and those are piggybacking a St. Augustine RFP bid. Letter C is the release of the final payment. As you remember, back in May of 2025, the school district received a grant for about $1.2 million to put uh to renovate portions of the automotive lab. If you hadn't been up and seen it, it is really awesome. It expanded the classroom space. It redid um a lot of the um the garage area. It did add some some very large fans. I know it didn't get all of the air conditioning. Wasn't part of that particular grant.

080That's something that we got to look forward uh moving forward. But that um final payment of 48,000 is due to Summit Construction as they did complete that job and met all of our requirements. >> Can I can I intercede one thing? I will say a lot of the garages in town, if these students do go out and get hired, they don't have air conditioning when they [laughter] work, so it might help prepare them. I'm not sure. >> We have two air conditioned shops. >> Oh, you do? Okay. Some do and some don't. >> Beach High School. Brow Beach High School is air conditioned. Letter D is an agreement for contracted services with window sales and services. If you've been to Felsman Elementary, you'll see the parking the uh parent pickup line is to the right,

081very long. Um and in the rain and the sun, the the cover only goes straight down and towards the cafeteria. This will extend the cover about 160 ft down to the multi-purpose room for all of those kids and families waiting. Um and that's a $76,000 agreement that has a contingency built in. And those are the three items um that we've briefed on previously. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Uh Dr. Jones, >> Mr. Green, does our capital outlay plan come at our next meeting. >> It's coming in December. Yes. Um we're functioning on that plan as you approve the budget. You already approved the budget, but the specifics we have to upload to the website. Um it's called the capital working plan. That site has not been available. So th that'll be on our December 1st

082agenda. >> Thank you. >> I I imagine there are some adjustments there with what we're proposing for changes as well. All right. Um, review of policy updates and revisions. That last one, E, is that you also? >> That is the entire review by cabinet members of all of the policy. So, do you know, is there a particular order? >> Oh, all right. >> All right. Let's take a five minute break while we wait for Dr. Moore. [laughter] Sur is going to help us move on. >> Yes. Good afternoon. Through the chair, I'd like to go ahead and present um the draft policy revisions. All of these were briefed with each board member individually. Um the first one is policy 2215. And this policy is essentially adding um disability history and awareness instruction under our required

083instruction. The next one is policy 2280. This policy is um adding it. It allows for the PE requirement to be met in the secondary. Two years of marching band will satisfy the one credit requirement for PE. Okay. Policy 2417. This one is changing some of the criteria around the CP the required instruction around CPR training. uh it was previously in 9th and 11th grade. It is now one time in middle school and one time in high school. The next policy is a career and technical education policy. This is 2421. This policy is identifying the workforce education moneybacked guarantee program. And in our district, we identify with TCTC, we identify welding, practical nursing, and medical assisting as our moneyback guarantee courses. The next policy 2520, this is around uh the selection and adoption of the instructional

084materials. After just going through the instructional materials adoption out of cycle for Pelican Island Classical, it was important that we update our policy to make sure there was a lot of clarity around what that work looks like. So, you'll notice some additional language and some deleted language. We went ahead and added uh some of the language out of the statute regarding the design serves a major tool for assisting in the instruction of subject or course that all of that language then was dropped into the section for non-state adopted instructional materials. Um, so that our policy for the non-state adopted instructional materials will follow the exact same process that we follow for state adopted instructional materials. >> I have a question. >> Okay. >> Can can >> Yes, ma'am. >> Are we going to ask questions

085now or after? >> Can we wait? Let her present her whole thing and then we can ask questions on anyone that she presents, please. >> Through the chair, I'm happy to happy to assist in either way. But the next policy is uh policy 5114 and this is around our district's foreign exchange program. Uh we went through and fleshed this out quite a bit. We did some things I'm very excited about. We redu we eliminated the um enrollment maximum enrollment number. It was five and it was two. We left that wide open. if we have seats and we have available space. Uh we will welcome our foreign and foreign exchange students. We did clean up a lot of the language around that. Um just to highlight a few things that are different and you may wonder

086why. Um in section E under the second paragraph for an exchange program section E we have students will be enrolled in grades 9 through must be enrolled in grades 9 through 11. We changed that to 9 through 12. And we also added the age requirements. The former age requirements were minimum of 15 years of age. When we went back and talked through that, some of our ninth graders are 14. So, we just aligned age and grade levels to that work. Um we identified the principal as the principal or the designate as the person um supporting the enrollment at the school level which is the way we do all of this under normal conditions. And we also identified the uh the sponsoring exchange organizations requirements to have done upfront before enrollment happens. There is one other

087caveat that this may come back in some future time where we did have a deadline and that was I'm sorry my blues are should be green. So let me find it here. We had a timeline where I think it was July 1st. All of this would be done by July 1st so that we could have consistent schedules or June 1st so that our schedule our master schedules could be completed. There may be extenduating circumstances. A student might be held up with a visa or with just a piece of paperwork. So that's on a case-byase basis. We do have that deadline to be able to complete the master schedules, but we will left that open to be reviewed based on extenduating circumstances. Policy 5410.01. This one is adding the language around the new world scholarship. very

088straightforward. Policy 5460, the graduation requirement. This is repeating that same language around the change in the CPR requirement and it also adds uh some new added language around students with disabilities. Policy 8800. This is uh under the religious observances. In this policy, we are adding the Holocaust Remembrance Day language uh January 27th and the the verbiage around that. And I believe my last one is policy 9800. And this is a charter school policy. And the language in this policy has been updated to reflect um on page four of nine. uh the additional number five, the bullet number five, a landlord of a charter school or their spouse or an officer or a director, an employee of that, they they may not be a governing a member of the governing board of that charter school. So,

089we have that spotlighted there. And the last part of this policy that has been updated is funding language at the very end. And those are my policies. I'll take any questions. >> Questions, Miss Baser. Mr. Rosario. >> Yeah. Let me come back to that page. >> 2520. You had a question. >> Yeah. Um I bookmarked it so I'm scrolling back up. Here it is. Um thank you Dr. Pusca. So this is with my question is with policy 2520. >> Okay. >> Um I'm on page three of eight. Okay. >> With that policy. Um and so what was described and what is added here is that the same process that would happen with the state adopted instructional materials will happen with non-state instructional um but I know we've talked about this but um our nonstate adopted

090instructional materials such as our classical school uh um uh curriculum, those don't come through the state. >> Correct. >> So, it wouldn't be the exact same process. We would be able to vet those that that curriculum on our end. >> Is that correct? Yes, that is correct. uh through the chair the term and the way I've described it as it would follow the state adopted policy that's referencing the timeline and the requirements that we go through at the district level but the materials themselves that would be vetted are not coming from the state because they do not in fact have that type of a list >> um in the event that they eventually do have that type of list we would then follow that under what would be state adopted >> um but the the

091practice and the timeline line and the exercise that we go through for state adopted materials is the same practice that we will go through for non-state adopted >> and the um the clarification at the very beginning with regard to what is I forget the language that it's that we are using >> a major tool for assisting in the instruction. >> Yes ma'am. So that added language will clarify the difference between what is supplemental versus what is curriculum. >> Yes. >> Beautiful. As long as there are no questions about that. >> Yes. >> I'd be happy to support it. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Okay. Anyone have any other questions? Dr. Jones. >> Um on the foreign exchange, um hopefully this will increase our numbers. I think last time I checked, one of our high

092schools had one, one had two, but it goes through 12th grade. You're accepting 12th grade, >> correct? >> Yeah, I I know you reviewed that with me. I'm just still thinking as high school principal, and I know it's not part of graduation, but it's still still very challenging when you accept a 12th grader and all the senior >> um privileges and so forth. But >> we'll see if it changes it. We'll see if we get more numbers. I mean, I know our charter high school, and I talked to Mr. as I checked months ago. I think they have three people kind of overseeing that because they have 60 to 70 and they have a a very um strong strong um foreign exchange student. So, we'll see. >> I'd like to respond to that. Um just

093how it works at Charter High School is that if you are a senior and you are a foreign exchange student, you still participate in all of the senior activities because you're there as a senior. You just don't graduate. So, you're not receiving a school district of Indian River County diploma, high school diploma, and you won't walk across the stage, but that's an agreement that these students know before coming here, and then when they return back to their um home country, they pursue completing their high school diploma in their home country. Um >> I understand that. Yes. >> Yeah. So, it's I I hope that we actually start recruiting more. I think it would be a great thing. Um, thank you for the changes to this policy, the way that they are now written, and hopefully

094now, um, Dr. Moore will be able to, um, start recruiting. >> All right, moving on. Finance. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, the financial and business service section. Um many of these policies are going to be related as something changed in statute, a word such as um inservice changing to professional learning. You'll see it affects multiple um policies at once. So I'll cover the first one in depth and then let you know when other ones are exactly the same. The first uh set of changes affected the standards of ethical conduct. This actually affected a board bylaw 0124, an administrative 1210, um an instructional policy 3210, and a support staff policy 4210. And it um added some language about around gifts and in the board bylaw make sure that that gift is limited to $50 or

095less to anybody who could potentially be doing business with the district, a lobbyist, a vendor. you you guys have gone through all your training, but it just added that in there. It also added language around stolen valor. You'll see that across all of these policies, just ensuring that no one can misrepresent any military service in any way um to receive anything of gain. So, those uh those are exactly the same in all four of those. And then then two of the other ones, um, instructional, it just did update, um, self-reporting for felonies and certain misdemeanors listed in chapter 435, which is the new AA set of deadly sins, if you will, that um, within the 48 hours, those have to be reported to a district authority. In the policy, it just said, an authority. Um,

096so clarifying they need to go to HR and self-report that within 48 hours. Um the next set of policies are around employment. That's going to be 1120, 3120 and 4120. Um one and all of those are referencing the January 1st, 2025 agency for healthc care administration deadline. That deadline has passed. we have implemented what's commonly called AA we are using that background screening um database and on the 1120 a little bit different in the administrative it actually removed a very old requirement that all administrators had to have a landline phone accessible at their house as you can imagine I think the superintendent in those days needed to be able to access uh his or her uh administrator so it required a landline we are now removing that [snorts] Um >> 3120 adds some also some

097different language around certifications that are statutory. Um defines primary instructor. Uh district adjunct teaching certificate. Something that we don't have here but statute requires that your board policy contemplated in case we needed a certain uh someone in a certain field who had some skills. They could uh demonstrate mastery through either passing the test or taking the industry certification test and receive a certification that's uh part-time forever or if it was full-time with a maximum of 5 years. 4120 same uh changes as above, but it also uh clearly defines that discharge during your 90-day probationary period. Um that's your conditional employment period and there's no ramifications from the school district. It's just uh you're not working out in that 90 days. So, it's a conditional employment. Teachers are a year. This is support staff, which is

09890 days. The next set of policies are around background screening and employment checks. That's going to be 1121.01, 3121.01, and 4121.01. These all have to uh do with the AA, the uh Agency for Healthcare Administration. And basically it says you have to have a link to that on your website and when they're hiring people need to know that they're going to go through that process. It adds some mandatory reporting language that if you um know of an instructional staff that has um committed any of those crimes that it's mandatory uh reporting to DOE. And those are the all the changes in all of those four policies. The next set is educator misconduct and that's 1139 and 3139 and it simply changes the self-reporting that we've already discussed to a district authority not just an authority.

099The next set under professional learning 1242, 3242 and 4242. Um same thing it changes a very specific name. Um in Florida statute you must specify the Florida educational leadership standards by name which we have done and it requires um training on state approved instructional materials which we include in our process um and we do provide. The next set are the administrative salary and instructional salary compensation 1410 and 3410. And it literally changes um critical teacher shortage area words to high demand teacher needs area per Florida statute um 101.03 and that's changes in both of those policies. That's the only changes. The next section is under benefits and actually these are local policies. Um under benefits 1420, 3120 and 4120. One of the um sections within our benefits uh policies is a retirement incentive. This was

100started many many years ago and I had talked to Dr. Butch Tesy actually and did some research on how this this came about and it was uh to incentivize if you were retiring in your first year eligible without a penalty. So under FRS that's 30 years or age 62. Um you would receive a benefit. the benefit. If you read our policy, you will notice that all three policies have the exact same language and the language says members not in a bargaining unit, but then that language was in the IRCA bargaining unit section and it was in the C.WA. What's happened is over time those have been negotiated and the contracts, the CBAs have slightly different language, but it was never re-represented in our board policies. So the 3120 and the 4120 simply strike all of

101the old language which are not applicable anyway and it inserts the exact language which we've agreed upon in our collective bargaining agreements for IRCA and CWA. 1420 is for um administrators and there are some issues in the language. for example, says you must notify HR by January 1st of your intent to retire, but it doesn't say fiscal year or calendar year. So, someone came up in December, right before a January, and said, "I'm giving my intent." And was told, "Well, you had to do that last January." Well, where did it say I had to do that last January? The CWA and the IRCA specifically state six months early or one year early. So, we've adopted some language in there to say six months prior. So, we know that it's early. Um, and basically this incentive

102is a 15% of your base plus 1% for every five. So, if you were at 30 years, 15% and then every five another six, you could get 21% of your salary one time as a an incentive. However, there was some language in the administrative one, a little sentence at the bottom that says, "And if you have 25 years of continuous service, you also qualify." And it was very nebulous. Qualify for what? Qualify for the incentive. Qualify to get it as long as you work. So, we've moved that up to the top that says you can retire in your first year eligible without a penalty or if you have 25 years of continuous service and you're willing to take the FRS penalty for that, you can qualify for the retirement incentive as well. Um, and those

103were all the changes in those three areas. The next policy section is non-discrimination and the only thing in that is they changed the word inservice to professional learning and it struck the definition of school community there was an example administrators professionals and classified staff we call them support staff. So very very minor changes there under appointments, assignments, transfers, and promotions of instructional staff. 3130 is simply clarified. If you're going to be doing teacher preparation and you're going to supervise a teacher in learning and that teacher is going to be in K through three, you have to have a reading endorsement or a certification in reading to ensure that we're given high quality tutoring and development to those teachers from someone who is certified or endorsed in reading. Um the next one is the purchase of

104instructional materials. So, what this change is catching up with is if you recall, there was an a categorical instructional material allocation. The state would say you have to spend $1.1 million or whatever that categorical was. That was rolled into the base several years back. We looked at that. >> We still need to expend funds on instructional materials, but they've changed the statute to align with the fact it's not a categorical the deadlines of. So now we just need to tell them estimate how much are we budgeting, what did we spend it on, but we don't have to do the exact rules that were there when it was a categorical. And the last one is student abuse, abandonment, and neglect 8462. And it basically says if you are instructional school administrator or school support staff and

105you have contact with students, you will be required to take the new state uh training on human trafficking. The state has until December to develop that um curriculum for us and then we will deliver that to all of those individuals and there's no other changes in that statute. Any questions? Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. Any questions, board members? Um, Mr. Dyer. >> Uh, yeah. Mine is, as we've discussed, is 1420. And, uh, I, uh, I find that that, uh, is written really, uh, when you go through a reduction in force. Sometimes you want to give people an incentive to retire. Uh, in this day and time, I don't think we ought to give people an incentive to retire. I think we ought to give people an incentive to stay. Uh so my suggestion is e

106either that we completely rework that for the administrative staff or uh we eliminate the policy totally. I just don't think it's a good use of taxpayer money to incent people to retire earlier. So uh I am really feel very strongly about the uh about trying to keep people rather than trying to encourage people to leave. So, I don't know how we do the rework where it's best just to start over again and and have and then secondly, I don't like a program that just kind of runs on autopilot. You may say that somebody's retiring, but you also right now we don't even know as a board where they're getting a 21% increase to retire uh incentive to retire early. I think every one of those incentives either to stay or to or to retire needs

107to come back to the board specifically and us to have board approval either it can be through the consent agree but it needs to be pulled out and for us to know it just seems like that it's uh something that is uh not really in this uh expense controls that it's the best use of our taxpayer money or the best use of trying to retain uh outstanding staff. Perhaps it was written when we had um freezes. >> It could have been when it was written when we had freezes freezes, believe it or not. >> Yeah. >> Back in the day. >> Well, >> all right. Um so, you're asking him to relook at that. >> That's right. I don't know if there's anybody else that >> feels that way. Yeah. >> You want to comment

108on that one? Sure. >> I I would agree with you, uh Mr. Dyer, that I I would probably not recommend, um early retirement and paying for that. It doesn't seem like it helps the district in any way. You know, common sense here would dictate that we want to retain people, not >> encourage them to leave, >> right? >> And so if we're looking at approving these um then are you asking me? >> I would I would I would ask to pull that one tonight. The 1420 I guess the others are by contract. Correct. The other two >> uh [clears throat] Mr. D, correct? Those are exactly um language that have been agreed upon in the CBA. So those two you'd have to renegotiate >> probably because we had 1420s. Why why it got in drifted

109into the other contracts. It's really kind of a bad idea. Only good as a short-term thing during a reduction in force when you have to do it and you want to treat people fairly but not as just a standard operating procedure in my opinion. >> Do you want to comment on the same one? >> Yes. Um, I know there's been confusion on this because I remember a couple instances, you know, with applying by January, remember that something like that happened. But I wouldn't mind taking pulling this and looking at it because um, we're looking at, you know, doing our best to keep these people and um, this would help them. I just think overall we can look at this as a board to see what is the best alignment for our people. >> And Mr.

110Sorry. >> Um what is the process for we would we have to wait until the next >> um turnaround for negotiations >> or would we be able to amend something like that mid year? >> I'll speak to the uh the process here. We certainly could pull this. What I would do is then just operate under current board policy if somebody happened to retire tomorrow that the current board policy would apply unless uh we went through a process for repealing the process the policy. So um maybe that's the discussion if that you know wanted to follow this process as a repeal and then we bring back one as a revision. >> I'm not sure um where that would take us. So, but I I do have a question about um language within this policy. So, if

111you look at pa the page three of four there um section L number one. Um, what is in green says and have provided at least 10 years of continuous service to the district immediately prior to the effective retirement date or have completed at least 25 years of continuous service with the district immediately prior. It's the same thing. >> So, I'm wondering if that if we were to keep it, it would need the recommendation would be to just say at a minimum 10 years. Well, the the green goes with the uh first sentence as well. So before the or has two parts >> retires within your first year eligible >> and >> with 10 years of continuous service or regardless of when you retire just 25 years of continuous service, >> but if we were going

112to keep it definitely something we would look at. >> Okay. I I just just real quick I think to pay people to stay that are good people who say it's superintendent recommendation and board approval to have some incentive to get people to stay is probably a good use of money if you have high performing highquality people that you want to stay. I I think that uh our our leadership staff has not paid enough and I would like to see us continue to support those people that we want to be here and want to be here with us. So I I think it's just almost flipping the the script here a little bit. Uh still give you some incentive, but it's a different type of incentive. One that benefits the district rather than takes good people

113away and sends them to leave. >> Hold on a second. That one is not u has not been negotiated with our union. Correct. No, >> this one is for non-bargaining employees. So, yes. >> Okay. So, that one can be just pulled. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> So, I I would finish all of the policies and see if there's any other feedback regarding all of the other policies. But at this point, it's clear we pull this policy, modify the item for tonight, so you can you can approve it without this item uh being being removed. >> Okay. >> Those are all of my items. Madam Chair, >> um I'm sorry. Uh point of clarity. pull this item. Do you mean just that one section? >> No, the uh >> the entire because there are other changes in

114this >> just that specific policy >> 1420. >> So to Miss Rosario's point, the um the other section in there, which is a state statute we're already following. When you um cashed out your vacation leave as terminal pay, you cashed out 500 hours. Well, the state statute has said 60 days. Well, 60 days at eight hours a day is 480 hours, not 500 hours. Or if you're a seven and a half hour employee, it comes out to 720. Good point. >> So, um, we could strike any changes to section L of this policy. >> Yeah. >> And simply adopt the other statutory changes within the policy. >> Yeah, we we I mean it's um state law. the reasons why the other sections in this policy are being changed. Um, so I wouldn't want to >>

115section L is the only one that references the retirement incentive. So if we struck any changes to section L >> and adopted the other changes that would be in line with statute. >> I can support that. >> Miss Holmes, did you get that? >> All right. All right. >> Are we good for Okay, moving on. Who's the next to present? >> Um the next office of the superintendent which will be presented by Mr. Alberti, Dr. Jacobs, and myself. I have the first update. It is 0131 legislative. This policy has been updated to align with current statutory requirements, specifically chapter 120 and Senate Bill 108. All of the added language in green uh comes explicitly from that Senate bill. >> The next policy is 0131.1 technical corrections. The language in this policy has been clarified so

116that it is reflective only of corrections to errors. Um and it those errors don't uh affect the substance of the policy. Um so that is the one change that you'll see reflected in that particular policy. All right. Good afternoon through the chair. Um the next update is uh policy number 8415. This policy is uh basically simplifies language. The revision simplifies language and adds uh that employees be covered in meals in case of an emergency. The next policy update is 8420 and this is the policy that kind of encumbers all emergency preparedness and response and operations for the entire district. So this kind of has some robust changes with regards to statutory language that just changed. So all that is reflected in the revised version. The next policy is 8452. This is the policy for AEDs

117which um removes some some old language and adds uh the requirements that we need to have an AED by July 1st, 2027. But as you all know, we are full compliance with that requirement. And also it talks about uh it includes to make sure we maintain um the AEDs and locations that were notifying the fire departments and that we're keeping um the AEDs according to manufacturers recommendations. The last policy is 8470 which um also was revised because it has some outdated language requiring um some things that were um that were just outdated and now there's new language that addresses the presence of sex offenders in our schools. So that language is uh pretty clear and it goes along with our strategics visitor management system. That's all I have. >> Any questions board members? >> You

118get off easy. school leadership and management around that >> through the chair. >> The first three policies are student supervision and welfare starting with 1213. This is technical changes of regarding social media and the removal of the line of transporting students which we do have a procedure for if needed. 3212 is an added line about instruction and this is for instructional staff uh as it pertains to providing proper instruction and safety matters and again the technical changes and then 4213 this is for support staff there's an added line about reporting suspicious activity and the technical changes for social media. Uh the next policy [clears throat] is and this is an added paragraph on the required aniful access training at each school per the new state statute which um is under Miss Holden's care and will

119be um coordinated through the health services coordinator. Next policy is 2431. This is regarding intercolastic athletics. There's an added annual training required for exertional heat stroke and effective administration of cooling zones which we already do and the 2627 requirement for the ECG which we have in place. The new requirement would be twice a year and we are currently using who we play for um who is rated the highest for this particular testing. 2431.06 is a new policy. This is on NIL and this is in regard to allowing the rights of student athletes to use and benefit from their name and simply states that it would be approved by the school and district staff. 5136. As you know, we have been in compliance with the new language for wireless communic communic communication devices. However, we updated

120it and anywhere that it said cell phones, we put WCD or wireless communication device. And um if you are interested, the code of student conduct meeting is coming up. If you have any input, it's on December 9th from 5:30 to 7:00 in the TC right in here. The next policy is 5200. This is on attendance. There was significant changes to the truency procedures. basically a requirement that the student be referred to sins fins which is children and families in need of services which particularly addresses truency uh running away or any behavior before there is referral for truency. is absences for religious instruction. This is minor changes just to the liability of the district versus parent. small provision to extend expulsions based on threat team uh recommendation. This would be the district threat management team working

121with cert to align in case we needed to extend the expulsion. 5530 drug prevention. This is added fentanyl awareness and education day per state statute. 5600 student discipline. There's language added about um principles being aware and giving um having the right to for any teacher or bus driver's ability to request removal of disruptive student. So they added that new language in. And then the last policy I have is 5780. This is the student and parental rights policy. They inserted a section on gluccoagen or prescribed pancreatic enzyme supplements and the self-administration of those with parent and uh doctor notes the electroc cardium electroc cardiogram requirements that were just referenced in the other policy and then there's an update to include information about virtual charter schools and that is the end of my policy. So >> any

122questions Mr. Rosario? So, um I'm not sure how um there's I don't have a question. I'm not sure how this would um stay at the forefront of planning, but just so that we're all aware, the fentinel awareness and education day um is supposed to be on August 21st. It's so early in the school year. Um, so we have a whole year to plan for it or less than a year to plan for it, but um I mean kids will only be in school for a few weeks at that moment. So it's it's just something >> what >> depending some districts start even later. So that could be first. >> Yes, I'm talking about us. Um, so >> I don't know how that would work. you know, I'm sure it'll work out fine, but I just

123I find it pretty interesting that it would be that early. I do know, and I can't remember where um it is, but if someone can remind me of the requirement to teach students about trafficking um um and the sort when is does anybody remember that statute and that requirement? We do have one somewhere. It's in the required mental health instruction. Miss Holden is nodding. >> Her head is there. She's shaking her head. That I'm correct on that. Right. Is there a particular day for that? >> No. It just says that we have to we have to teach them of that. Just wondering if there would be a way to combine those two things on that one particular day. >> So, the fentanyl uh has already been added this year into our substance awareness lessons that

124we provide. And then actually on August 21st this year, just as we were being proactive, we not that it was across the district, but we did put it out on social media that the awareness of the day. So we're kind of in front of it a little bit. Okay. So that's good that we were aware in front of it a little bit. But this says that the schools have to sponsor events and promote awareness um to the dangers of fentinel and potential overdoses including but not limited to and all these other things. So just throwing it out there that maybe it might be a good opportunity to combine those two things in that in whatever we're doing on that day. Dr. Moore, what are your thoughts? >> I mean I'll circle back with staff, but

125I'm sure they'll come up with a recommendation to get definitely look into. >> Yeah, it just seems to have something so isolated such as fentinel on that one particular day. Although it's not it's very important. It just seems if there is something else that we can add to it, it would >> I don't know. >> As I said, we have the fentanyl included. Yeah. >> In the substance awareness lessons that are required this this year. >> Thank you. >> I don't care. >> Yes. You have a question? >> Yeah. It just seems like that don't do drugs is more than one day. >> Yeah. you know, it just seems like >> I agree >> that that that is probably uh you know, if you do it August 21st and you check the box, that's not

126good enough for me. So, I think that it's uh probably a bigger issue and probably uh you know, needs to have uh more attention than that throughout the school year. But anyway, >> uh Dr. Jones, >> um just switching a little bit to attendance. Um, and I see the changes where a parent can be virtual now and so forth, but do you know what our attendance is this year so far in our high school and middle school? I mean, usually we range around 95 something and high school goes to about 90. >> So, through we are very similar to where we were at this point last year, but the followup work that's in place this year is different. So, the best way to evaluate our changes to the code of conduct in for attendance will

127come on the second side of the year in terms of the follow-up work, the parental involvement um because there's more stringent work in place for the second semester as attendance absences build. >> You know, when we shoot for 90, that would allow a student to be out 18 days and that's just too much. you know, love to hit 95 at every level, but I know that's a real community parent and school working together because um you need to be in school, you know, for the instruction. So, >> thank you. >> All right, Madam Chair, that that concludes um my items. There's a number of discussion items for board members. >> Right. Okay. Discussion item 4 A is America's 250th anniversary resolution that is called the semiquincentennial, I believe. Um, Mrs. Rousario. >> Yes. Um, so

128this came to me um and I think it's a fantastic idea for us. Many districts are um adopting a resolution similar to this one. Um, I did have it vetted. >> I had it. I don't know what happened to >> I already gave it to them. >> Yeah, I had it. >> I just gave it to them. Thank you. >> You didn't trust us. >> I did. It's It's already on your table because it wasn't there before. Um, thank you, Missy. Um, and it it's already been vetted uh through um um Miss Enville. Um so this is just a draft. It's just an outline, but certainly um to commemorate uh America's 250th birthday um coming up in July, it would be fantastic if we as a district could um support activities leading up to the

129birthday. And that's really what uh many districts are doing nationwide actually um not just many districts in Florida. And clearly it is an opportunity to show um and teach patriotism um history, civics. Um it is an opportunity to celebrate learning programs for K through2 students. um and where programs and activities um and all these things can involve the community as well. Um ensuring that students learn about their constitution and um the value the values of freedom, take pride in being an American and so on and so forth. So, I'm hoping that the board will um support this and then if so, I'd love for us to be able to um adopt this resolution in December, you know, at our December meeting. So, this way, you know, January, starting the new year, schools can just plan

130some activities throughout the year again leading up to um uh the July birthday. And then I think in July, if I re if I remember correctly, um I saw something that the county is doing um at the July 4th and I don't know if it's us or the county office or the somebody's doing a really big July 4th, you know, to do I think um commemorating all the activities or you know um and I got to find it because I did see it in passing. So it' be a wonderful opportunity to if that is the case that all of the activities in the school would lead up to that. I do believe there is something going on. [laughter] >> Figure it out. >> So that's all. So I I'm sharing it with you. >> I

131think it's great. Um you are you good with December being able to put that on? >> I mean all the work's been done. So thank you. >> Okay. >> You're welcome. Mr. >> The coordinating of activities will well we can we can get it done. Yeah. >> Mr. Dyer. >> Yeah. I I see the I I think it's a a a great idea. I only had one question and that was where it says uh that uh the school will give funding and then develop curriculum, civic activities, events. Is there anything in curriculum or anything you're going to have to do that that is out that uh is going to interfere with the other curriculum to >> So that that's that's a draft. So we'll I'll have staff go back and look at make sure everything

132that we're doing is aligned. Um >> that's what I was asking. As long as it's aligned, I think it's this is terrific. >> Dr. Jones, um yeah, I like this idea. I think if we go through with this in December, um that we then start really connecting with our veterans associations, with our, you know, county commissioners, make this a real community thing that the school district works with everyone together because um especially our veterans association because they're so active in all of this. And I'm not sure Miss Vizaro who was doing that, but Sebastian usually does a bangup job on Zilla 44. Even more so than um Vero Beach because I was part of that for many years. But um you know connecting it with our veterans just making it a community connection. >> I

133like it. >> And even the the language of it, I mean just the language alone and some for some people it's hard to say semiquincentennial even I have to take a pause. Um but yeah, I think it would be great. Thank you. If >> I could add >> Yeah. You want to comment? >> Yeah, I definitely support this resolution. I think it's a great idea. Um, next July 4th is going to be a very big celebration across the country. Um, and um, I think that our county should definitely participate in it and have some sort of a programming or party um, for our school district and uh, spearhead that for our community. I think it would be a great idea. >> Okay. >> All right. on to uh discussion 4B, redesigning middle schools. Miss Rosario.

134>> Yes, let me get my paper for that. >> You all have this as well. I put it on your It's a um four slash5day school week. I shared this with um Dr. Moore. Let me get my notes. Um during our one-on-one, and it's just an idea. um in researching some I know that um in some of our past workshops uh some of the questions were if there are any ideas for innovation to bring them forward. So I just kind of thought about this. I did some research. I sent it to your emails by the way. Please don't resp reply. Um some research that I found on um 4day work school week and four slash5day school week. I mean it it could be presented any number of ways. Um so there are some pros and

135cons that are in front of you that I just kind of drafted up based on the research that is out there. four a 4 day school week, academic school week, Monday through Thursday would be lengthened um sometimes anywhere between 20 30 minutes a day. Some districts have have it up to 40 minutes a day, but I think that's a little bit too long. Um this has been done successfully in many other districts uh to address um uh budget issues. Number one, there's a district in uh Texas, Crosby School District, um and they have implemented a 4-day work week that has been very successful. Little bumps along the way, but it is something to consider. Um, and then on that fifth day, there are districts that have done absolutely nothing on that day except allow students

136allow teachers to do their planning and professional development. And then there are school districts who have used that fifth day or the the Friday as like a fun day, right? That's the day that kids come in. They do their um their music, their art, their um gym, their uh plan, their uh academic activities, if there are any clubs or uh field trips. Uh so many things that happen in a school day that can be extended on a Friday. So there's still sea time. Um it doesn't remove sea time. Um and so there are lots of different ways in which a district can do this. Um I will share going back to um this one district in in uh Texas. They use it as a hybrid option and they found that they're that in the middle

137of the they were in a uh in the middle of a teacher vacancy challenge and they found that having a 4day work week really increased um teacher retention. So teacher hiring and teacher retention shot up significantly because teachers want to have that 4day work week and then use that fifth day. Um students and teachers came to school in Crosby um for 7 hours and 50 minutes on Mondays through Thursdays with Fridays used for staff development once a month. Teachers are not scheduled on other Fridays. Um on their one Friday workday, teachers attain attend uh training in the morning and then use the afternoon to call parents to grade papers to plan lessons. And this is just of course one school district. It can happen in a variety of ways. Uh there is an option um

138each school day has for this particular school district each school day has an additional 20 to 25 minutes added to instructional time. Um and they call it a hybrid calendar. Uh so in that way dividing up uh the same instructional time throughout those days. There are legitimate concerns. There are some cons clearly um that school districts have to pay attention to. Um it won't work for everybody. Um this one here for but with the current support um or other benefits that could happen derived from the 4-day calendar um in recent surveys conducted in preparing for the 2425 academic calendar showed support. it grow it grew from 60% to more than 80%. So you know over a short period of time that support existed among parents um and some of their skeptics from the beginning. One

139mother who staunchly opposed the proposed the proposal from the uh initial stages actually said that she now looks forward to Fridays um to check in with her kids on their weekly assignments. Another mother says Fridays give her family a breather before uh the busy weekend with soccer games and birthday parties and church activities etc. So there are some pros, there are some cons. Um, I don't know. I don't think it would hurt if you know we asked the superintendent to just explore this as a potential option if certainly not for Well, I don't see it for all of our schools. Um, but, you know, maybe there's a pilot school. Maybe there might be an opportunity for us to be able to take a look at it in terms of some of the innovation that we're

140doing. Um, I talked with the superintendent about it. he's not completely he hasn't objected to it completely uh but says you know um it's it's not a terrible idea um but it is certainly something worth discussing so here we are discussing it >> okay board members >> he's got his hand >> oh sorry >> Mr. Sorry. >> Okay. Uh you know everything that I have read or seen you know when you talk about even this the summer slide and you see what happens and you talk about uh all the research now there may be something new in one school district but uh most of the research says that extended day in school extended time extended hours year round training provides better educational outcomes. more time in school versus less time in school. So I mean

141I I think that for twofold first is I don't believe in shortening the school week will help our academic outcomes. That's my opinion. We don't have a particularly hard job right now of retaining and recruiting teachers. We opened up the school year with only one open which was full which was filled by a full-time uh substitute uh teacher. that one opening. I assume that it's been filled since. Um I I I think that with everything going on with all the change of the schools and going to K through 8 and the middle schools and new campuses, even to discuss one other thing like this is so far down the road and and and is just, you know, it just doesn't seem to make sense in the in in the current environment that we're working in

142uh to to even entertain something like this. I mean it's interesting uh you know when I was running a business everybody if you ask them would you want a four day do you want to come to work four days versus five days do you want to work from home the answer is always yes but does it really move the business forward or move the uh or move the educational outcomes forward uh I I know it didn't in business work too well I'm not so because everybody's coming back to the office >> [clears throat] >> u I'm not so sure that it would work in terms of educa the desired educational outcomes. And in this district, if you want to do that, you can homeschool. If you really want to do everything you're talking about, hell,

143you can run a three-day work week, a three-day uh week if you want to. There's so many options for people to do different things. I just don't think that in public schools that we we need to focus on academic outcomes and on the innovation that we've got and all the change that's going on in public schools right now versus uh something else that's uh some other topic. It just doesn't seem to get traction for me right now. >> Dr. when this was on the agenda, I thought we were going to talk about middle school philosophy and I'm very much in favor of that because there is good training. Um, and it's right, we just can't put a school at another school and, you know, rename it. You have to really train your teachers in the

144middle school philosophy and there's been a lot of work done on that and I think our teachers would benefit. Um, I am absolutely against this idea for a couple reasons. When we used to have Dr. I think this was before you. We used to be out early Wednesdays four times. >> Four it. We were off every Wednesday early. >> Okay. You didn't know that? >> Okay. All right. Here we go. >> I got rid of that. >> All right. I know. I know. And it just threw the entire day off. Now, as a high school principal, you were >> having lunch at 10:00 a.m. doing this and then you had to make sure you had your professional development in each of the areas. Then it went to two days, I think one day, and now

145now we're done with that. But it threw the kids off. It threw the parents off. And you know when you when you you look at this um the vast vast majority of our parents in public education are working. If they saw that we were going to be off on Friday. We would have an issue. There would be a revolution with all these other I'm telling you with all these other changes they're saying wait a minute. We're going here. We're going there. We're going there and have Friday off. And most of the parents could not stay home with their children. They're working. They've got things that they have to do. You know, we have to understand our constituents. And I think our constituents have been very supportive of us and what we're trying to do innovatively,

146but I do not see that helping us as far as pushing our academics forward, as continuing to improve, as keeping our teachers here in the district. I think this is something that um would pull us back and I do not think we would have community support. So Dr. Moore, I I am not interested in you studying this. >> Right, Dr. Pasca? >> Yeah. So it's an interesting idea. Um I'm not really going to approach it if it's a good or a bad idea. I think the real question is are there parents that would be interested in it? You know, that's really the question. Um because you know we see a a continued loss of students every year. You know the question would be would some of those families be interested in a program like this?

147And I I don't know the answer to that. Um it may be worth trying to do a little bit of survey of some of these families to see if it's something they're interested in. Um, but certainly if it doesn't have a cohort of people that think it's superior, then there's probably not a great reason to try to explore implementing it. But it it may be worth just doing um surveying some families and seeing if they have any interest in it. But I I don't feel strongly one way or the other. At the end of the day, it's not a matter of it being good or bad. You could do school in a lot of different ways. It's really just a question of um if parents have interest in it and if that will draw them

148in. I think >> um so Miss Rosario, you gave us all this and I'm assuming that you wrote all of this and you didn't get it from somewhere because there's no footnote note. >> No, I wrote it. >> Okay. You wrote all of this. >> Yes. >> Then on page three at the top where it says the fifth day can be leveraged and all that. It says fees students. What is that? FES Florida Empowerment Students Florida Empowerment Students >> Family Empowerment Students >> the voucher system the voucher kids. >> Okay. So, I don't see that written anywhere else. So, that's why it threw me off. >> Um, you know, this is kind of like an innovative idea. You know, there are lots of them out there. I remember um innovative idea that went for a

149couple years and got thrown away. Let's see. Whole language was one of them. Another one was they tore down all the walls in the schools and they had open school concept. Boy, that was crazy. Um, and I've actually put forward uh year- round school because I've seen that work very successfully in different areas. >> Um, but I have heard um of some school districts trying this and failing utterly. >> So, I I worry about that part. Um, and we are projecting a bunch of change here in the next year or two. So maybe this is something we can revisit after that. Um I'm not a proponent of it right now because of all the changes. Um but maybe in the future. >> No, I this is this is what it's all about. It's having these

150discussions. Um of course, you know, it was an idea. Um the 4day the the complete 4day work week is not something that I am 100% in favor of. I'm not championing that. Um, I'm certainly more for the fiveday. Um, but you know, depending on how schools could be scheduled, how Monday through Thursday could be scheduled, Fridays could be used for so many different things that are still academically challenging. you know, you have STEM um uh STEM labs, you can have robotics, you can have, like I said, art, you can have extended orchestra uh practices, you can have foreign language um debate, you can have um anything from the SAT or ACT training or CLT um test taking, test prep. Um, I mean these could be times where students can even go, like I said, and

151volunteer and have internships and um, and yes, it was initially thought of for the middle school. That's why I have it titled for middle school um, you know, to discuss middle schools just because our middle schools just need something different. Um, so yeah, so this was just all a brainstorming uh, weekend where it just came to me. I started doing the research and I wanted to bring it out here um to see what you all think about and um if it is something um even for you know potentially our um gifted students. Our gifted students might be able to benefit from something like this where they could, you know, use Fridays to create a projectbased learning assignment and then present it and challenge each other on that or, you know, compete or I'm not sure

152exactly what they would do, but um there are certainly ways to use Fridays academically that would still benefit students, but in different ways, right? So it's not just the traditional sit down in a seat learning, but they're still actively learning. Dr. Moore, do you Oh, >> I'll add a little Yeah, I mean, I guess from my perspective, um, >> you we're looking for innovative ideas. There's no such thing as a bad idea to bring it up and discuss it, right? I don't think anyone wants to dive into this, including member Rosario herself. Um but it's an interesting thing to discuss and as time goes on it could be something that could be useful in some niche way. Um for instance you know just continuing the discussion a a gifted school that is has different programming

153and is year long and they do four day weeks um could be a very fascinating thing to look at. Um and maybe you even mix uh middle school and high school together. It's a gifted school. It's a boutique school. >> That's interesting. >> And they it's year-long academics. Um, and what what that extra day would give them would be a lot of time to do experimentation to build their uh portfolio for college applications like legitimate experiments out in the community with uh >> other partners at, you know, for instance, the environmental learning center or such. >> Um, or even people that are gifted but also are interested in tech stuff. they could have that day where they go and shadow um a specific mechanic at Dyer or these other places and lock in, you know,

154continued constant experience in that tech industry that they're trying to get into. Um so it's I mean it's a fascinating thing to talk about. Um obviously we have a lot of heavy lifting right now. I don't think that member Rosario is trying to insert this into that complete process, but it is the best time to discuss these things and uh at least bring them up for discussion and maybe it comes back around at some point. >> Yeah, thank you Dr. uh Pusca. I think those ideas that you brought up are great. I love those ideas as well. Um it's exactly what I was hoping that we would get from a rich conversation about this topic. Um, and by all means, uh, take a look at the research that I sent you, and there's certainly research

155out there, um, that I did not include for sure, but I appreciate the discussion. >> Oh, Mr. Dyer. >> Yeah, I have two two things. One is I think discussion is good, but a rich conversation happens when you don't get it and I'm trying to read it right on the dis right before it's done. I would have had it a few days in advance. I didn't see it. >> No, not at all. But we it it was a conversation with Dr. Moore and >> um and then it was then of course he said, "Well, let's have the conversation. >> Let's board members have the conversation." >> Um >> okay, >> you're right. I should have sent over the materials ahead of time. I wasn't quite sure exactly how to bring it up, >> you know,

156if I should just send it all ahead. I mean, this is just kind of brainstorming right now and then I thought maybe I would send all of this to you after our initial conversation, but I appreciate that. >> Good. All right. >> Okay. Moving on. Discussion item um 4C is an update on Jimmy Graves Field. Dr. Jones, thank you for bringing this up. I ask every week, where are we with this? Because I have people asking me all the time, can I access some of that? and and so it would be nice if we communicate a little bit more um in the public about what we're doing with that field. >> And the reason I brought it up because I live off 16th and I go by and see the um great advancements every week

157and uh I know we're close on a couple things and just and I've talked to Lenny Jenowski um because we're looking to see you know when will it be ready? Will we have an opening ceremony with that our wonderful playground? So just an update Dr. Moore. >> Thank you. Um doc, so we do not have the s the occupancy seal of occupancy. Bruce, what do what do you call it? >> CO. Uh we should have it in January. There's some lighting issues and there's a punch list that you got to knock everything out. From an external perspective, it looks absolutely amazing. Had the opportunity to engage with with Joe Graves actually Friday evening. He is just ecstatic in terms of what he's seeing. Um it gives you goosebumps just to talk to him about um

158this board bringing that to life for him and our community. Amazing. Um so we plan on having a a ribbon cutting in in January. Just this week uh Dr. Jacobs and and Dr. Shafty um along with Miss Kup fi finalized the deal with FPNL. So, we're going to bring back to this board a $500,000 donation to support the U FPL Brightpot playground at the Jimmy Graves Community Coplink Center. That's a $500,000 gift. Uh, keeping in mind their um m Mr. Bracket, uh, Debbie Mayfield, um, uh, Gro, they all were instrumental in getting the $3.4 million to help build this um through the request process. Um there individuals like IA gave $500,000 as well for naming rights of the Billy Wilson track and field. The city gave $1 million uh to make this happen. So this

159really was the community coming together from multiple perspectives to give this space back to our community. So we're coordinating all of those people who made this happen for us. In January, we'll have the occupancy and then that's when it will become the track and field. um we will open up the playground uh create the procedures and process as to how you're going to supervise your children when you're in that particular playground. Um so we're very very excited to to come back in December uh accept that donation of $500,000 uh and then coordinate the opening in January u where we're celebrating all of the individuals who who made this happen um for our community. >> Thank you. Just wanted the update. Thank you. >> Okay. And 4 D is the update on schools of hope. >>

160Yes, I uh contacted our attorney and um we've had several emails from our attorney and wanted her to share with the public the specifics what's going now on since the date has passed for letters from schools of hope to the district and I know she has sent that to us. Um I think we received one at 12:01 after the deadline. Um and a lot of people are now asking questions. Board members are speaking to their public about what is happening. So I just wondered if you could give us the update where we are, the applications, what the procedure now, and I know there's a bill now I believe Senator Rousson. >> Yes. >> And what does that say? Just so many questions from the public. So I think what we So I'm going to start

161with the fact that we have received two building notices. One was received from Mater Academy at midnight on the the day starting on the 11th and then another one was received some from Somerset Academy at 12:07 a.m. Uh both were for collocation at Pelican Island Classical Magnets. um keeping in mind that the the report that they're relying upon for the fact that they believe there's um capacity at Pelican Island Classical Magic Mag Magnet School is a year behind. So um their building notice did not recognize that it now is a K8 classical magnet. That being said, we're working on draft responses to each uh with respect to Mater Academy. Um we're working on I have to haven't had a chance to meet with Dr. more yet today working on an acknowledgement letter and a confidentiality

162agreement because they we're required to provide them under the statute with their floor plans and I have some serious safety and safety security issues about that. Um and then um with respect to Somerset Academy, they were on the uh the board of education's agenda for approval as a hope operator last week and it got pulled. So, uh, we're working on a response for that as well because if they're not a hope operator, it's my position that they can't then send us a building notice because they're not, uh, they're not authorized to be a hope operator. So, working on that kind of communication as well. Um, we're working with, it's collaboration with other school boards, schoolboard attorneys throughout the state. Last I heard, there were 684 notices that were sent in 22 districts, and twothirds of

163those notices were from Somerset and another um uh academy that's not yet listed as a hope operator. So, we're all kind of working on these things at the same amount of time. Um we have 20 days in which to respond. So, I calendared that out to be December 1st. Um, and so we're going to be looking at the what the school board has already proposed for Pelican Island Classical Magnet and and how does that mesh with with that. The standard is that it is um material impracticability which is not defined by the statute. So, we're going to have to work on that. Um, there has been the issue how they came in here. I think we discussed it at our workshop before was um I'm thinking I don't know the building notices aren't specifically clear

164whether it's persistently low performing which that's we know we don't have that so my only assumption is that they're coming in under the Florida opportunity zones uh option if that makes sense. Um and so we're going to look at that kind of thing too. We do have Florida opportunity zone in I mean I think every district every every county has them as well. Um but we're working at making sure that we have those responses and that we're going forward with that. Um with with respect to the new um proposed legislation by Senator Paulson Rson Rson, sorry. Um that I don't know what kind of you know how that's going to be received, but it will the proposed red line that I think I sent to you all would uh clarify some of the issues we

165have. And um there's there's so many questions right now because the no cost is of extreme concern because with everything we're doing with innovation. I mean to as written it would appear that if we have a surplus school we'd have to go in and support it with all of the operational functions and then they move in at no cost to them. And that would defeat the whole entire purpose about what we're what we're talking about and before what we were talking about before we received any of these building notices. has been a long time, you know, assertion to improve our efficiencies. So, >> in the original bill talked about empty schools and still we would be responsible. >> So, um >> that's how the law is written now in the rule, right? >> That's how

166the law is now. >> So, we're hoping that the the glitch bill or whatever whatever is being proposed would kind of fix that for us because it does not make operational sense. We're trying to do all these innovative things to support what our students need and then to have a school of hope move in and not have to pay any of those operational expenses that it'll bankrupt the district. >> And just one more comment. I mean, I think all of us are trying to get to people to talk to them about this. Dr. Bor, have you heard anything from FADS or Miss Baronborg from FSBA? I mean, what are districts trying to do because this law needs to change. This bill needs to change, isn't it? I agree from a a superintendent's perspective. There's a

167a there was a call last Friday and there's constant communications. Obviously, there's some districts that have 80 letters or 50 letters or 40 letters. Uh we have just just the one, but it is a creating this coordinated cadence of of our responses, making sure that is united. So, in that sense, I think it's it's it's a good thing in terms of us working together from a state perspective regarding um this is a just a little too much in terms of of of truly crippling us in our ability to do our work. From from my perspective, we we continue to move forward. Pelican Island is is going will be at capacity in 2027. So, I don't there's there's absolutely no way they're going to have space in 2027. And so if you're listening, uh yeah, no

168space there. Uh because this board already took action to fill that school. Uh it's adding two more grade levels before, uh they would have access and that has been planned for that has been marketed and we fully anticipate filling that particular building. So the 300 odd seats that are available now will in fact be filled. >> And for me, it's just not Pelican Island. All of our schools >> No. And performing it's just the revolving door. And at the end of the day, um, the intent of that law and legislation is to pro help provide support to communities that have failing schools. We do not have failing schools. We do not have persistently low performing schools. Um, and if you're going to help an opportunity zone, they've identified a zone. What are you doing outside

169of that zone? It makes no sense from that perspective either. So if you have to have it to provide an additional opportunity when districts are failing the community uh by having failing schools, fair serve service those children from that school. Um or if you want to support the development and growth of a specific zone within a community, have a school within those zone within that zone. And if you did those two things for Indian River County, we would be okay. we that would eliminate them from from being in our county. In other counties, I still would have issues even with those shifts. It still wouldn't be cool with me, but at a minimum that protects uh this community, >> but also those going in would get an extra 4,000 was it per child? What was

170it? >> An additional above your base allocation, additional $4,000. >> Miss Barborg, anything going on at FSBA? I I'm on several committees, but >> yeah, there's a lot of talk about it. Um we have advocacy meeting this Friday that's on the agenda. Um the last I heard which I connected with them this morning was um you know we're working with FADS and their team to come up with a joint um kind of proposal on how to um have everyone advocate for what the need is for this bill to change. So um you should hear more about that probably by the end of the week or next week. >> Yeah. All right. I just wanted to have an update. >> Anybody else? Mr. Zarya. >> Yeah, there is a uh Senate bill that was proposed by

171Senator Rousson Rousen. Um Senate Bill 424. >> She she already talked about it. >> Oh, did you? I didn't hear you say that. Um >> the what? >> Just go ahead. I just remember the first part of the bill was pretty specific. No, the the the the senator is um suggesting that there would be a strikeout for all the things that we are hoping to be removed, right? So that would be opportunity zones, that would be the colllocating within a school district. So basically going back to what the bill originally had, the one thing that is not in here is the um personally identifiable information which is uh which has been codified in the last law um to allow schools of hope to have all of this information for um from our from our school

172district as an entire district. Um and I find that extremely uh disturbing. So, um if there is anyone who is listening um who would support the changes that Senator Rousson um has put forward, please contact your senator and your representatives, your everybody and just let them know to please support these changes. Um, I do have a question for Miss Edville, and I'd like to I I don't know if this has been if this has been raised at all, but wouldn't there be a constitutional issue in terms of authority over what the um school board um rights are over schools when this particular if schools of hope were to come into our school buildings? um wouldn't this pose a constitutional issue? >> So, we still have to um under the under the law right now, we

173have to enter into a performance-based agreement. And even though they're designated as charter schools under the statute, we don't have any sponsor obligations or authority over them. So, yes, there are there are definitely some control issues that are concerning. So the difference between that the language that you've just shared and the current uh relationship that we have with other charters is that we approved their charter. So there's still some sort of oversight even though we do not um we do not have authority over their day-to-day operations essentially. Um, and that's different from the schools of hope from what I'm understanding because with the schools of hope, there could be essentially a constitutional issue. There could be. And also, what's interesting, the legislation has written into the fact that if we do not enter into a

174performance-based agreement with the schools of hope that um, we are penalized by our administrative fee for all of our charter schools that we cannot collect it. So, it's it's it's a very interesting it's woven. is so intricately in there and it it there's so many still questions that are open. >> So, a few weeks ago when this was brought up, one of the things that I think you said when um I I don't know if it was myself or somebody else mentioned um would there potentially be a lawsuit um that school districts can enter into somehow? Um I think some what your response was that there was no standing but when it comes to constitutionality would there be standing >> if there was indeed right now we have to presume the law is valid as

175written and so our best chance is to get it repealed andor changed because try to file a lawsuit but we probably would not have standing. It would be what >> but it but if there if there poses a constitutional if there's a constitutional issue even with the authority over of the that's given to the superintendent based on Florida constitution Florida constitution doesn't that trump >> statute >> it should and you would think that that was discussed during the legislative session I'm not sure that it was [laughter] >> okay >> Dr. I would just say I I I think we I sent a personal letter to about a hundred of my friends and colleagues regarding this and please fight for us and with us because we're in this together. But I I think every school district

176should b band together on this and I guess they can punish us all. But at least band together saying this is wrong. I don't know. I don't know everybody in every school district, but I know many board members in several school districts. And I'm on the advocacy committee that Chair Baronborg runs. And we just need to get this out there. We can't be fearful. We just can't be We have to fight. We just sit here and take it. We have to fight for these public schools. I mean, our community is fighting with us. They're fighting for us. I mean, they're here. They're looking at our innovation going, "Okay, we're going to roll with it because we trust you." I just think school districts and school boards need to fight for this. Whether it's just everybody

177signing something and say, "Listen, this this is dismantling of public schools. You're taking our schools, having two people in there directing it, a principal and whoever else. They're getting extra money and they don't have to pay for a flipping thing. This is wrong." As my dad would say, "This just ain't right. We have to fight. >> I'm I'm willing. >> This just ain't right." I I do know that there is a lot of buzz on in Tallahassee right now on this. Um and I'm sure there'll be some others. There'll probably um be a matching bill in the in the um house. So, we'll just watch it. It'll be interesting to watch. >> Okay. >> All right. So, I'd like to journ the workshop. The time is 3:17.