OCPS | 2025-10-14 School Board Meeting

001Well, good evening everyone. Welcome to the Orange County School Board's regular meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 14th, 2025. Thank you all so much for joining us tonight. So to we have with us member Ferrant, member Douglas, vice chair Bird, member Vanos, member Gallo, member Felder, and the only person was who is unable to join us is member Salamanca. As a reminder, board members will not be engaging in outside electronic or digital communication during the meeting so that we can focus on the matters before us. To my fellow board members, district sta staff, and any members of the public that might be speaking to the board, please make sure your microphone is turned on and speak directly into it so our YouTube and Orange TV TV viewers can hear you. And again, thank you for joining

002us. Before we pause for a moment of silence, I wanted to share with you why there's so much pink here today. Well, first of all, I probably need to get everybody to stand up because we're all short. So, you can see that there's pink here today. Okay. Oh, and there we go. All right. Thank you. That's blush. Well, we could All right, we could get critical. There you go. And red is pink without white. Pink minus white equals red. There you go. Okay. Anyway, al all kidding aside, October is a very serious month. It's octo October is breast cancer awareness month, but it's not just about awareness. It's also time for us to promote early detection through screenings and self- exams. We even had a mobile mammogram bus right here yesterday doing exams. So, I

003wasn't aware of that. but I very glad that OCPS did that. So, thank you. Thank you, Superintendent. You probably know the statistics, but it's more than statistics. It's 300,000 women who are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the United States. So, this month, you'll see pink ribbons on our DAS. And today, of course, we're all wearing pink. It's a small gesture that honors the members of our community that we've lost. Our friends, our neighbors, our parents that we've lost. It honors the strength of the survivors. So many of them who are fighting every day to just stay alive. And I'm sure are all saying, "Please make sure you're getting your mamograms, you're taking care of yourself, you're reminding your grandmothers, your sisters, and your daughters to do the same." We stand in solidarity with

004the millions of individuals and families who have been impacted by this disease. So now, if you'll join me in a moment of silence and then I invite you to join us in the pledge of allegiance. And now for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And before we move on, I'm reminded that breast cancer doesn't just affect women. So that message needs to go out to all the men in our audience, all the men in our lives. So now, Dr. Vasquez, do we have any changes to the published agenda? No, Madam Chair, there are no changes. All right. Seeing there's no changes, I'll entertain a motion to adopt the agenda

005as posted. Motion by member Ferrant, seconded by member Gallo. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. Motion carries with all members present voting in the affirmative. Before we move forward, there's there's a group in the back of the audience there and I was curious what they were doing here. I thought maybe the superintendent was going to introduce one of her appointments and this was the crowd with that came with them, but that's not the case. So, do we have a spokesperson for the group? Somebody that's brave enough to stand up and tell me who you are and why you're here. Well, thank you so much. It's an honor to have you all here. I'll just remind the board we need to be on our best behavior. Anyway, thank you so much for taking the

006time to join us and thank you for for the path that you've chosen. All right. Dr. Vasquez, I think I've already determined that you don't have any newly appointed. Okay. And we have no recognitions for this evening. So, we do have some students from University High School who are joining us this evening as members of the Superintendent Student Advisory Council. So, can we hear from them? No. well, first, I do have an introduction. Oh, okay. All right. May I? Of course. I promise you'll hear from university. I promise. Okay. so we have opportunities within our district to have interns in various departments. especially over the summer. We've had them with the foundation. we've had them in our IT department and obviously we have student interns that it's part of their programming. And so we have

007the opportunity now at the beginning of the year to have an intern that is funded through the Orange County Government Citizens Commission for Children. and during the 2425 school year, including this past summer, 188 high school students participated in the program as paid interns, including 79 working in five different OCPS departments. Well, I don't want to be left out of the fun. And so I am so honored to be able to introduce to you my social media intern. would you come up to the podium? His name is Zaden Sjo. I am so sorry if I mispronounced it. and I'm going to let him tell you his experiences, but this is an incredible young man. not only because he is a Mets fan but he kind of sought out OCPS when he was living up in

008in New York. And so I don't know if you're going to tell us that story, but I do want everyone to hear about the incredible talent that you have and how you have come to become social media intern for the superintendent of the eighth largest school district in the country. No pressure. So, my name is Aiden. I'm a senior at West Orange High School. And the story started when I was moving from New York earlier this year. And I emailed Principal Turner and I was like, I really want to attend West Orange High School. Can I come there? And he was like, "We're open enrollment, so fill out the form." So, I filled out the transfer and I started attending there. And I was in this executive internship program and I got placed with Principal

009Turner. I was doing I was telling him one day Fox was at our school and we were doing a Fox 35 segment for football and I was like I was doing something similar at my old like in my old New York time when I was managing a K to8 social media. So I was like I would love to do something similar here and I made like a short video about the Fox segment and then it kind of spiraled from there. I became his social media intern for West Orange and then he told me about this opportunity with board member Douglas. I interviewed for that and then the superintendent was like I want one. So I interviewed for that and I'm doing that now and I'm really excited about this opportunity and the experience that I

010think it was perfect because I was doing something similar in New York with IKA 8 school and I'm really excited to help OCPS and their initiatives. Wow, that's so cool. Yeah. So we've had some Yeah. We've talked about our strategic plan, our portrait of a graduate, and really about being able to highlight on my social media, and I do have a great social media team, that is part of the communications team, but as you know, there's so much that is going on and they are incredibly busy as well. But we talked about how important it is to me to be able to highlight what's going on across the district on my social media, not necessarily about me, but about the great things that are happening in our schools, the incredible students we have, teachers, support

011staff. And so I know he's going to do an incredible job. When we did the interview, he even brought the little camera, the little port, he's zipping it out. I go, "Oh, this is going to be very interesting." So, we are thrilled. And again, just another testament to the incredible young men and women that we have in our district and I do believe that we are the number one choice and we are thrilled that you're going to be part of the team. Can't wait to see all of the great stuff you're going to put out. Thank you so much. Excited. Thank you. And speaking of incredible people that we have, we also have incredible leaders throughout Orange County, including our amazing principles, one of which is Matt Turner at West Orange High. And I don't

012know how you got so lucky as to call him, but yeah, you hit the gold mine and just incredibly inspiring human beings to work with. So pretty lucky. Pretty lucky guy. very lucky superintendent. I think she pulled a fast one on all of us with the might be a lot of demand for the social media interns. Just saying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think we all do. We'll get Bridget on it. Oh, of course we'll get Bridget on it. All right. She's blushing. All right. Well, anyway, and I had the opportunity to meet to meet him last week and I was like when I found out, darn, that was a good idea there. All right, let's we're going to move on. I'm pleased to say that we have Mr. Pard with us, president of

013the Orange County. You're going to speak, right? Orange County Support Professionals Association. You are going to speak. Okay. All right. Thank you. Mr. Pard is always with us and we greatly appreciate his his dedication. But well what I wanted to say was though as the president of our support staff O Espa I just wanted to take an opportunity to thank you all as our employers. We don't ever forget you're our employers for realizing that our support staff are drowning in this runaway inflation and uncertainty about their futures. This are trying times for all of us. I want to give a shout out to my bargaining Oesa bargaining team who couldn't be here tonight and also your OCPS bargaining team led by Miss Leanne Blackmore and Mr. Tim Smith. They probably in the back back there,

014but they all work really hard to reach an agreement for now. So, I wanted to thank you all. I won't go into any more details. I'll let that be an announcement or whatever that's made. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for your hard work and your and your dedication and commitment. Let me also turn to the superintendent to introduce our students for this evening. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, we have started the superintendent advisory group again this year. and we started bringing the groups of young men and women to the board to share what they were doing in their schools and it we've had the superintendent's advisory committee for over 10 I believe over 10 years but we started to sh have them come and share at the board meetings because some

015of their ideas were so impactful and what they were doing in their schools depending on the topic. really was making a difference. And so this year, this school year, we are starting out with representatives from the University High School, the Cougars. And it's my pleasure to introduce Xavier Vega and Abraham Sitiki. Yes. who are going to present to us what they are doing at University High School this year. focusing on connectiveness, relationships, and I'm thrilled with what they've come up with. So, please come to the podium. I also want to say that they're here as well with principal a and two other representatives from the university high school student population. Okay, we can start. You're ready. So, good evening, Chair Jacobs, Vice Chair Bird, and the members of the board, as well as our amazing

016superintendent. we would like to thank you for the honor and privilege of being able to come up here and present before you today. My name is Xavier Vega. My name is Ibraham Sadiki. And joined with us, we have the other members of our council. Sophia Machuka, Nikki Janssari, and of course our amazing principal, Mr. Aught. and today we're going to be representing University High School. Here at UHS, Kuru culture is an important aspect of our student body. Some important aspects of our crew culture is to present the different ways we are able to get involved and connect with each other. Traditions like spirit weeks, pep rallies, and many other events make us proud to be Cougars alongside events like connectivity day that let us explore clubs and establish roots in the community of our school.

017Being a part of the student council, sports teams, programs, or clubs gives us a sense of unity and belonging. Our teachers help create a supportive environment through encouraging participation, recognizing student achievements, offering extra help when needed, and making classrooms a place where everyone feels comfortable sharing ideas. Furthermore, activities that celebrate diversity like Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian night, multicultural night, Black History Month, and many more celebrations help every student feel included. All these things together make our school more than just a place to be. They make it a community where students feel connected and valued. And one of the ways that we connect our students is through our homecoming festival. That is one of the best ways that our school really connects our students via like involvement with interactive activities. So, it's where we have tons

018of different clubs come and set up these booths and each of them can have various foods, drinks, games that they want to present to these students. And it's really just an opportunity where everyone can come and see what's offered at University High School, what we have to to give. Another aspect that we have been eagerly implementing this year was Cougar Connectivity Day at our school. So, it's a day that gives students the chance to explore new clubs, meet people they might not usually talk to, and find groups that align with their interest. So, from a student's perspective, it's a day that reminds us that school is more than just education. It's a community. So, by being a part of different activities, we get to see where we fit best and how we can contribute to

019our school spirit as a whole. Getting involved is important because it helps students build friendships, gain confidence, and feel like they belong. When students participate, it allows for a stronger and more supportive environment where everyone can be included and connected. So this year, our Cougar Connectivity Day took place on October 3rd where we had approximately 2500 students participate in the 77 different offered clubs, performing arts, athletics, and personal interests that we presented on connectivity day. They also had the opportunity to meet with our student government adviserss which we called their club counselors for the day to help them find their connections. Everyone was involved in making this day a success. And on the screen we have some some quotes from our staffy. As you can see, even the staffy saw the importance and impact of

020this event. As a performing arts and magnet school, we have many students who enjoy the performing arts and challenging themselves to get involved. Programs like dance, theater, music, and visual arts let our students explore their talents, perform, and collaborate with others to share their passions. Educational pathways like our IB and dual enrollment programs via different colleges pushes for students to thrive academically. These avenues help students build confidence, creativity, and a sense of pride in their work. For students interested in athletics, our school offers a wide range of sports including cheer, football, basketball, golf, bowling, and so much more. Participating in sports teaches team building skills, discipline, and dedication while also giving students a chance to stay active and form strong relationships with their peers. There are also many clubs focused on hobbies and future careers

021from robotics and debate to gaming, anime, pingpong, whatever interest they have. These clubs allow students to explore their interest, develop new skills, and connect with those who share a similar interest. We're all very proud to be part of a school that offers so much to our students and we thank you for your generosity this evening and in exchange we would like to offer a hand of generosity back to you guys by gifting you some of our amazing Cougar swag. So if you would let us we have some stuff for you. may we pass it out? Thank you. Of course. All right. Ah here we go. Straight up front. Yeah. That's a little You know I was pencil for years. They never gave me a football. I blame my dean. Oh, wait. Was that Mr. G

022today? I got one. Thank you. You did so good. You did great. Where's my baby? Happy presents received. I'm present. Situations. Excellent work. I need my Thank you, baby. She's so bashful. Felder. Thank you. I love football. I can't believe that. What? You want a picture of me throwing that? Oh, okay. I know. I was afraid it was going to hit your Okay. Thank you guys. Can we get the right graphic up guys in the back? That might have been on your Did you guys use your computer as you did? Oh, yeah. Oh, that was yours. It's okay. Oh, well. We just click it. Oh, the mouse is gone. That's cute. Yeah, it's all right. That's okay. It's all right. Back it up. Let's go. There it is. I can't believe I threw that. Wow,

023that was a good catch, Vicky Lane. Yeah, nice catch. That was we cougar culture. All right, I'm gonna take a couple. All right, so everyone's smiling. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. All right, thank you guys. Thank you. Thank you. It was just like statistics. Good job. Thank you. Huh? It was the Wait, wait, wait. Don't go anywhere yet. Principal a great job. Great job with these kids. Wonderful job. All right, let's hear from member Gallo. Thank you, Madam Chair. To do some bragging. Of course, I'm going to. that was awesome. Thank you guys so much for doing that presentation. Y'all did a great job. You're very well spoken. You make me proud to represent your high school. So, University, fun facts, is the oldest high school in my district. Then it'd be Timber Creek and

024then East River. so a couple of my good friends actually went to university. and I hear all about the U all of the time. but University is just very a very unique campus and a very unique high school and I couldn't be more proud to represent them in district one. Fun fact, their colors are the same colors as my alma monoral high school in Bvard County. The blue and gold were our colors, too. So, it's very symbiotic for me. But, great job and I'm so glad that y'all enjoyed the connectivity day. I want to come out for the next one. I was out of town for this one or just got back into town. but I'm so glad that it's gone over so well. And that was the brainchild of our superintendent. And I just

025love it. I just love how it connects in a time where as students were really encouraging that engagement and that working together and that bond and and making your high school experience a valuable one, one that you enjoy and one that you talk about for years to come. I think this is this is heading in the right direction and this is where your memories are made. so congratulations and you guys did a great job. So, thank you for coming. And member Bird, vice chair. Yeah, I she kind of pretty much said what I was going to say. I was actually going to give some kudos to our superintendent and Jose Martinez and the high school team for just listening to the kids all year last year. And then and what they were saying to you

026at all those town halls where it was challenging for so many kids to get involved and to get connected because of everything outside of school. and then to bring it to the school like with this connectivity day. It was just it's really visionary and I love that you that you heard them and that you did something like this across the district because everything I've seen I was out of town as well so I wasn't able to go but everything I've seen it went terrific and this the kids were really engaged and I really appreciate you guys sharing your pictures about it and talking about I can't believe you had 77 different different clubs or activities these things to do. I've It's just so neat and what member Gallow said is so true that this is

027helping to kind of change the narrative about about what we want high school to be for for you guys and what we want you to find in high school, right? It's not just about the academics. And for so long, that's been like the sole focus. And what that's done is has created this sense of anxiety and stress in you guys that we don't want to see, right? There's just so much more to life than just that. So, I am so excited that we're taking the time to just kind of slow down, let you guys get connected, let you enjoy high school, and sending that message to you that it's important for you to slow down and to just enjoy the scenery a little bit, connect with your friends, and have a good time because it's

028also about making memories. So, great job as always. We have terrific kids. We really do. the future's in good hands. So, thank you to everybody that made that day happen and thank you guys for sharing. Thank you, Vice Chair. Member Douglas. Yeah, I just wanted to say I'm always amazed of young men and women coming here and speaking in public so flawlessly. Just not be scared. You're doing it with confidence. And it's just so wonderful to see you do this. Okay. Congrats to you for future. I don't know, politicians, whatever you want to be. And I just wanted to say congratulation to our superintendent or so because it's very intentional. Not only she has this connectivity day, she also have those town halls to listen to the student voice, not the teachers or the students.

029She wants to hear what you have, what you think about your schools and what you want changes to be made in your school. So your voice is very important to her and we do appreciate Thank you so much for bringing that to to all of us and congratulations to you. Congrats. Thank you so much, Member Douglas. You know, I just I want to piggyback on one thing that vice chair said and it's it's it's about making memories. It's about being connected now. But I think it's equally important that what you experience today becomes the way you live tomorrow and throughout your life. That it's so many times now people are kind of just like staying tight to themselves and maybe a handful of people and they're not really seeing the community around them. And what

030you're doing is you're breaking down all those walls that keep me from you. And you know based on I'm different in this way or I think different or I feel different or I look different. You know we are all different. None of us are the same. We're all different. But what you're doing by bringing everybody together is you know is making that different not bad but something to celebrate right and cross all those boundaries. And so I look at you and I think, you know, you're going to go to college or you're going to go to work, but everywhere you go, if you keep that same concept of, you know what, this is my community. This is my new community for me. This is my community. This district's my community. This whole Orange County is

031my community. And the more you take that with you and the more you spread that, the less we're going to have of all the problems that our world is facing right now because that's that's the change maker. You're the change makers. So congratulations again, Principal A. Keep up the wonderful job to this lady. she's phenomenal. Just keep it just keep it going. Like you said, I am really optimistic about the future. People think I'm nuts, by the way. most adults, they're like, "You're crazy." I'm like, "No, I'm not crazy. Spend a little time in one of our schools and you'll see it, too. The future is looking really good." Thank you. All right, we have we're going to let you guys go and then we have one last really important presentation while I'm talking about

032our incredible leaders in our schools. I if I said it enough we have some phenomenal principles and so now I want to invite to the dis I am so sorry I'm I'm a little I can't read shoot yeah it's okay K8 I really can't K8 middle school level principal representative Sanjay Brown Sanjay I got that name right sir okay you tell me if I got it and he's representing the Orange County Association of School Administrators and we're thrilled to have you here. Well, thank you for having me. good evening, Chair Jacobs, board member, Superintendent Vasquez, Deputy Superintendent Arm Brewster, staff and neighbors, thank you for your time this evening. I'm here to speak on a very important topic and I I will also give you a call to action to come to the wall for

033Freedom Central Florida Edgewater High School on November 1st. this matters to me. human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry. roughly $236 billion a year. In 2023, the National Human Trafficking Hotline recorded 1,875 signals and 676 identified cases in Florida. Central Florida, including Orange County, remains at high risk. Tonight, I want to move us beyond awareness to practical prevention families can use right away. And that is the encouragement I want to provide to you guys this afternoon. On Saturday, November 1st, Walk for Freedom Central Florida will take place at Edgewater High School. At 3:00 p.m., we will have community partners and resources. At 400 p.m., we'll have an impactful program. And at 5:00 p.m., a silent walk. We encourage all participants to wear solid solid black and comfortable shoes. bring students, families, PTAs, faith groups,

034teams, and neighbors. We have several organizations standing with us, including A21, which is the global force for freedom. It equips communities worldwide with tools like parent guides to online safety and student toolkits. The Flight Center, which supports youth aging out of foster care, reducing vulnerabilities with independent living resources. One More Child, which is a faith-driven services safeguarding vulnerable children across Central Florida. Paving the Way Foundation, which is a Florida nonprofit educating youth, parents, and leaders with over three 38,000 reached on trafficking and online exploitation prevention. We also have partnered with OCPS human trafficking awareness and prevention advisory committee which equips K12 students, caregivers and staff to navigate social media, pornography, exposure, cyber bullying, gaming and dating apps with protective skills and the organization I represent, Okasa, the Orange County Association of School Administrators, which boasts

035400 plus leaders united to protect students and strengthen school communities through leadership, communication, and advocacy. What happens on November f November 1st is we turn awareness into action. They're ready to use tools at walkforreedom central florida.org back/resources which provides us with conversation starters, warning sign checklists, digital safety guides, many lessons for classrooms and parent nights, parent rights. These resources make it easy to start the right conversation before harm occurs. Beyond that awareness, we don't want to just stop there. We're strengthening organizations, dismantling the traps of online child exploitation and human trafficking, the traps that ins snare the vulnerable. Prevention works best when paired with recovery. We want to raise $50,000 to support A21 and our three local partners, Flight Center, One More Child, and Paving the Way Foundation so prevention, recovery, and restoration reach more

036students and families. I would like for us all to be there on November 1st at Edgewater High School. Your presence tells students their safety is priority number one. You can do this. I know my time is up. By registering and bringing your networks, your schools, booster clubs, youth teams, faith communities, come black to show unity and action. Again, the resources are at walkforreedom central Florida.org back/resources. This can be shared at staff PD's afterchool programs and in team huddles. You can give or sponsor because every dollar turns awareness into prevention that works. So, I encourage us all, let's make Central Florida one of the safest places to be a kid online and offline. On November 1st, we'll walk in silence so our students don't have to suffer in silence. Thank you all. We'll see you at

0373 p.m. for resources, 4 p.m. for the program, and 5:00 p.m. for the silent walk at Edgewater High School. Thank you so much. So, I do appreciate you guys letting me read from a script. Dr. Arusa knows if you let me stand up here by myself, you guys would have been here all night tonight. There's a trapoor. Okay, just in case he comes back with any ideas. Thank you so much for being here and really important cause. I mean, we're laughing right now, but a very important cause. The one young woman that I know of personally, Olympia High School student. Yeah, it is pretty close to home, folks. It really is. It's real and it's way too close. So, thank you for taking on this cause. All right. Yes. Oh, I am so sorry. Of

038course. Of course. Member Galla wants to say this is such an important issue to her. Member Galla, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. thank you for telling us all about it. I'm super excited about this event. The human trafficking task force will be a part of it. Many of the members will be there. so I hope that we do have a big crowd. You know, it's about education. And you know, it's it's about raising money, but it's also about educating and telling people that they're not alone and they can speak up when they see something. And the only way they know they see something is to be educated on what to look for. So just bringing an awareness to that is so important. Florida is number I think three in the country for human trafficking.

039so it and it's not what it looks like. It's not what you think about. It's not, you know, kids being shoved in barrels and taken overseas for, you know, slave trafficking. It doesn't look like that. There's a lot of online trafficking. There's a lot of manipulation. There's a lot of blackmailing. There's a lot that goes on that's adding to the anxiety. and the torture of our kids and they don't even realize it themselves that they're being trafficked or what that looks like. And it's happening in every single school. So, I'm hoping that I can maybe put something up on my page on our website just to inform people that were involved in this to encourage those to come out and to walk in solidarity for every single person who's been affected by trafficking. Thank you.

040Thank you, member Gallo. Member Fant, I just wanted to say thank you, Mr. Brown, for coming. awesome principal at Persing in District 3. So you're always just such a huge support of the community and to know that you're also supporting something as huge as the human trafficking and something that really is near and dear to my heart and my husband's heart. We work overseas in El Salvador doing missions work for 20 years. We've been over there and we've been working on a women's shelter in a children's home for people who have been trafficked. and you know, many times I think as Americans, we sit here and think that the trafficking is happening overseas and it literally is happening in our backyard, under our noses. It could be happening, as you know, member Gallo said, you

041know, it happens online. So, it could literally be happening in your own home, in your kids' room, and you don't even realize it's going on. And so, for you to be able to bring that awareness, I think this event is huge. Something I'll be, promoting. and you know, I think it's something that really it's about the communication and letting parents know this is what you need to be sharing with your children. These are the topics that need to be talked about. as uncomfortable as they might be if we don't talk about it as parents. the kids are finding out the wrong way. so I thank you and your team. Okasa is always just supporting the community, the neighbors, the parents. so thank you for everything that you do. I appreciate you. Thank you, member FRA.

042All right. we are about to move on to the strategic plan. Let me mention that while we recognized breast cancer awareness month, we have adopted all of our proclamations for the 202526 vote I'm sorry, year by a vote of the board on August 12th. And all of those celebrations and observations will remain on the agenda for the board for the rest of the year. So with that, superintendent, we have a strategic plan update. You're recognized. thank you, Madam Chair. I am very pleased to bring up to the board Mary Bridges. She is no stranger to the board. and she will be speaking about a platform that we have been engaged with for probably about 18 months. Zello. this also tied into last year's comments from our high schoolers about career pathways, career planning, knowing about

043scholarships, if I want to go to this university, what do I need to do? And so Mary and her team have done a phenomenal job in rolling this out, training staff and really getting the word out as I am visiting schools. That's one of the questions I asked. Do you know about Zello? And the hands are up. So Mary, take it away. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Jacobs, Dr. Vasquez, and school board members. This evening, I'm excited to provide you with an overview of Zello, the K12 college and career readiness program that is available for OCPS students and families. Before I begin, I do want to introduce my senior administrator, Robert Palmer. Robert has been working closely with Zello since its inception, and he will be helping me answer any questions you may have. Zello

044is a college and career platform that is available for students in kindergarten through grade 12. It helps students discover their interest, build skills, and create actionable plans for their futures. The platform is used to guide students through the process of exploring post-secary options, whether they plan to attend a university, a technical school, or pursue other pathways, regardless of their background or ability. Florida Department of Education has several state statutes requiring students to receive guidance in college and career planning. Zello meets each of those requirements. It is aligned to the standards for the eighth grade unit in career education and planning. It is also an individualized tool for each student incorporating research-based career assessments. In addition, it provides students with the ability to create personalized academic and career plans that can begin in grade six and

045be continually updated throughout their senior year. Zello is provided by the Florida Department of Education to all school districts at no cost. Starting with our kindergarten students, Zello can craft the story of who they are and what makes them unique, setting the groundwork for ongoing self-reflection. As they continue through elementary school, Zello provides lessons that allow students to discover a variety of careers and their associated skills and pathways to better understand the working world. And finally, students learn vital concepts for real world readiness, making the move from elementary to middle school a smooth one. Once students enter middle school, they can begin to complete interactive career, personality, and learning style assessments to help them better understand their unique interest, skills, and strengths. Each engaging assessment encourages reflection, helps student connect who they are with relevant

046career options. Secondary students personalize their Zello experience by creating a sharable online portfolio that showcases their interest, skills, and abilities. Profiles are easily updated as students gain new experiences reflecting who they are every step of the way. Students explore hundreds of career and college options that align with their assessment results. Zello provides an authentic glimpse into their future and the critical knowledge to make informed decisions and plans. Students translate their newfound knowledge into an actionable road map by piecing together their saved career and academic options to create a personalized plan. With integrated course planning, they have a clear path to their future goals. Through their lessons, students build essential skills and knowledge that can help them succeed in the real world. Personalized based on their work in Zello lessons give students the chance to reflect,

047reassess, and build communication, problem solving, and teamwork skills to ensure smooth transitions between critical life stages. Students begin the actual process of applying to colleges, universities, technical colleges, or the military in their junior and senior years. Based on the institution to which students are applying, Zello assists with reporting that provides detailed information on each institution, including deadlines, required materials, and the students progress toward completing their application. Through a partnership with the Common App organization, students and educators can submit documents such as letters of recommendation and transcripts directly to the colleges and university that use Common App. Zello improves the efficiency of school counselors by allowing them to monitor student pro progress as well as communicate with students and parents. Zello is a time-saving tool for school counselors. Through the use of the educator tools, counselors

048gain valuable insights with readymade engagement and profile reports at the student, school, and district levels. They can instantly see whether their students are on track to meet the career and college readiness requirements. With access to student profiles, educators get a snapshot of each students skills, interest, and activities in Zello. At a glance, they can better understand who their students are and their goals, making conversations more meaningful. Profiles are sharable with parents for easier alignment on student support. Students in the spring of 2026, I'm sorry, starting in the spring of 2026, Zello course planner feature will be introduced to assist students with their course request and counselors with scheduling. This will help ensure students are on track with the right courses to meet graduation requirements and their personal post-secary goals. Counselors can ensure students stay on

049track and always know what's required. The two-way messaging lets counselors and staff extend their support beyond the classroom, confirming students complete tasks and meet deadlines to successfully achieve their academic and career goals. Zello promotes family engagement through its family portal. Parents receive an email with their unique login information. Once in the system, they can access all the advisement notes the school counselor has created for each student. After meeting with them, parents can view and explore Zello. This includes student career interest and any colleges or post-secondary institution the student has saved in their profiles. The student services department has provided schools with a scope and sequence for lessons and suggested ways to help engage students in the program. Currently, 77% of students in grades 3 through 5 have logged into Zello, indicating that access and awareness

050are well established in upper elementary classrooms. 68% of students have completed the career interest assessment, and 53 have completed the personality style quiz supporting self-awareness and career exploration. 61% of K12 students logged in at least once during the month of September. On resiliency day, over 84,000 students were logged into Zello at the same time, breaking a record for the company. Early and ongoing college career exploration through Zello prepares students for the work force and strengthens the educator student relationship. And now I'll turn it back over to Dr. Vasquez for any comments or discussions. thank you. Mary, Mr. Palmer, we appreciate all that you've done especially in these last few months to really engage our counselors and school sites to be able to understand how valuable a tool this is. members of the board, we are

051prepared to answer any questions that you might have or take any feedback. Thank you, Madam Chair. so when they're going through Zello, I know they do the personality quiz and they share their interest. So based on that information, the Zello shows them careers, like how are they exposed to different careers or jobs or pathways? Yeah, I'm gonna let Robert, he'll be more eloquent. Hello. So, based off of the students interest that they respond within the assessment, it'll give them a source of different career options based off of excellent matches, good matches, and then fair matches from there. Students are encouraged to save careers to their profile. That way, they can refer back to them and then look up specific information. For example, the growth in that particular career field. Now those responses are not limited

052limiting the options that a students can explore later on in terms of careers but just gives them a starting point. Does it give them does it show them what that career does? Like like if you haven't ever been exposed to something then you wouldn't necessarily know what it does. So how does it like tell them what that job looks like? Yes, absolutely. So, not only does it tell them what the job looks like and providing an overview of the job description, but also different paths as far as four-year enrollment, two-year enrollment, or going directly into the workforce to get to that career. It also gives them additional details on the growth of the career within their regional area. So, specifically to Orange County, the state of Florida nationally. And also, it gives them feedback on

053why that particular career matched to their interests. So it allows them to dive in deeper and be more reflective on not only their interests but also how certain careers may align with that interest. Well, that's wonderful. And so it's it it does like all like I would imagine anything any type of certifications that we offer along with something that would require a college degree for correct it cover. Awesome. And how how often are they on Zello? Like how how much time is allotted for them to be on Zello during the school year? So, as Mary shared, throughout the school year, we provide a scope and sequence to each of the schools based on their grade bands to make sure that the lessons that we recommend students complete throughout the year are based on their developmental

054age and age appropriate. For example, we wouldn't necessarily have a eighth grader automatically looking at the college application process, but we would prompt them to look into the different pathways. We had during resiliency day, we had a specific set of time at the end of those resiliency day lessons for students to navigate lessons within Zello through the leadership of their teacher in the classroom. Okay, awesome. And the last question, the common app and Zello work with each they're integrated. They work within one another. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Great job. Yes. Thank you. I love it. And I just want to say Mr. Palmer that I got a note from because I wrote about Zello in the Apakka Chief last week and I got a note from the Florida director of Zello and she said she's

055been working with you and she said because I said well I can't she said thank you for writing. I said well I can't take all the credit the team you know at OCPS gave me a lot of good information and then she praised working with you guys and what a great job and how wonderful it's been to work with you. thank you so much for all your work on this. I am thrilled to see this happening. it's something that, you know, I've been really advocating for for a long time for a place for parents and students to be able to keep all of this stuff while they're in K through 12 all in one place so it's easy to find. especially I'm especially excited about the integrated course planning that'll be starting. about showing the

056kids all the options and pathways that are available to them within OCPS and what they need to do to get where they want to go. I just have a couple of quick questions. you said that they can send they'll be able to send transcripts through Zello or through the Common App. Yes. So through the integration that Zello has with Common App, when students complete their Common Application and they're working through the steps of that process, they request their school counselor to send documents on their behalf, which would include the school transcript as well as a letter of recommendation. So then the counselors would log in to Zello, which is on their OCPS Launchpad, to send those documents. Okay. So the counselor still has to send them though. Okay. and the only reason I bring that

057up is because I hear about the transcripts a lot that we really have to work on that whole process. I'm just, you know, it's it's it's an issue, a real big issue for seniors especially that are applying. I've I had a lot of parents reach out to me last year with struggles with the transcripts and getting them there in time for applications and deadlines at schools. So that was why what interested me about that was I was thinking, oh maybe it'll be automated or easier. Yeah, it so it's still there there's still challenges with with getting transcripts in time, but this makes it much easier because the counselors get reminders about the letters of recommendations. Even teachers can put letters of recommendations in through Zello because teachers have access to Zello. we are looking at

058common app doesn't work with every university and every school. in fact I was just talking with with our legal we're we're looking at Parchment which is the other kind of big company that sends transcripts to to some of our universities like Rollins that doesn't accept Common App and things like that. So we're we're going to keep working to improve everything that Zello can do and how we can get our transcripts done. Terrific. and then on that same line of questions, can we also, and you know, this is a big one for me. I've talked to you about this for a long time, Mary. figure out a way to add volunteer opportunities and log volunteer hours within Zello, which would be amazing. Good. So, in terms of logging volunteer opportunities and volunteer hours within Zello, students

059do have the option to develop that portfolio as Mary mentioned as well as a create a resume and that information can be seen by the school counselor and other educators within the building. So, that is a feature that we're working on exploring more with Zello to really figure out the functionality behind that. Love that. Yay. terrific. And kind of jumping on to what member Gallow said with the careers yeah I have the same question about you know if it says well these careers are a great fit for you but we're talking about some kids that have never even heard of some of these careers. So, is there a way that we could I mean, if we're talking to Zello, is there a way we could put in a request maybe to have even links to

060videos that show what the careers do or is that something you're already doing? So, within the profile for each career actually has sample interviews from individuals that are actually in that career field themselves to share what the experience would be like on a day-to-day basis for those students and also their pathway into that career specifically. It also provides the career cluster that's associated with that specific career. That way, if a student maybe sees the option of going into nursing, but maybe that is not their preferred route, they can see other careers that are in that similar career cluster and do some more exploration. So cool. I love that. And I also think a another great thing would be if we could tap into our local businesses and provide them the opportunity to somehow get listed

061within Zello or you know like this is you know these are nursing opportunities. Well, here in Central Florida, these companies are open to you coming to visit or coming to see the job in action or, you know, cuz I know there's plenty of businesses in our area that are very open to, having students come and, you know, providing opportunities for our kids. So, to just explore the career more. and you talked about messages messages with the counselor. Are they able to like is it just like an email type message that between students and the counselor or is it like a chat type so it's more of an email structure where the counselor can go into a student's profile and send a message that message also then sends an alert to the student in their OCPS

062email account as well. So it kind of gives them a double reminder. That way if they log into their Zello dashboard they'll see the alert but also in their OCPS email as well. I wanted to talk about the advisory notes also though. the advisory notes are what we're training our counselors. Anytime they have you know one-on-one meeting with the student or they're doing a counseling session or even if it's you know where they've got a couple of students and they're really talking about things they can put under advisory notes the date they met with the student. They can put what they talked about. that helps for in the future if the student says oh I was never told that. But it also the parent can see that. So, if the parent is has access to

063their students, again, they have to sign in to get access, but they can be reading those advisory notes and then be up to date on everything that's going on as well. So, great. Thank you guys. Appreciate all your hard work on it. It's terrific. Thank you, Vice Chair. Member Vanos. Thank you, Madam Chair. And just to piggyback on what member Bird said, I think to have just to work again with the local businesses to have internship opportunities because I personally when I think about children exploring their interests, I would rather not have them on a screen, but you know, actually interacting with people, you know, face to face. And so to I think to connect those mentorships and those internships like that to me is what I think Zela would be maybe a good a

064good use for. So hopefully we can expand on that. I also did want to provide some positive feedback. I was asked to write a letter of recommendation and I submitted it through Zello last night. so and it was very easy. So just wanted to share that. I had heard some feedback last year that some people who did have to submit letters it was just a little bit more difficult. So whatever kinks have been worked out. just wanted to say that was that was really positive. I was wondering did you did we use Zello last year for seniors who were submitting college applications? Yes, we did. So, last year we did utilize the platform for that piece with the common app integration. We've streamlined the process a little bit more in collaboration with Zel to make

065sure that we've built out our resources to support the counselors. Also, Zello has made some adjustments on their end to the reporting feature to try to make it a little bit more for more simple for counselors to track the process. Okay. I'm I am curious if if we got any feedback from students though on their use of it. So last year what students shared is that while initially it was an adjustment period for them to utilize Zello to link to their common app that allowed them to easily request those recommendations with their counselors and also track the process where their counselors were at in terms of submitting those recommendations. Okay. I'm I'm I'm glad to hear that because I did hear from last year some students share that there were some issues with it. So,

066it sounds like those were heard and looked into and hopefully addressed for for this year. so, that's great to hear. when you talked about the counselors, they're able to monitor the students progress on the application process through Zello. Do they actually monitor it? So oftent times whenever a school counselor is working with students who are applying to the four-year college university process, they'll have their own spreadsheets that they'll use to keep track of what institution students are applying to. Within Zello, whenever a student has linked their Common App to their Zello account, there's a reporting feature that counselors can pull up and receive up-to-date information as to where their students are in the college application process, as well as the deadlines and dates that the counselors have to keep in mind to send information on

067the behalf of the student. And that's how they tend to try to make sure they're ahead of the deadlines for their students. Okay. So, it's really about the counselor's deadline for the students, less about kind of helping like guide students on their own deadlines. There still is a support provided to the students based off their deadlines. For example, some institutions have tomorrow as their early action deadline. And when a counselor pulls a report, they're able to communicate with students who may have that deadline approaching tomorrow to do any followup based off of maybe information that was shared during a senior meeting. that was also put into the adisement notes. Okay. Okay. Perfect. I'm glad to hear that they are getting some reminders that the students themselves are as well. one of the main concerns that

068I have received from parents about Zello is about data and so I just wanted to know who has access to the data in this system. So at the school level the school counselor would have data on their students. do school counselors have it on all students? So school counselors will have user level access which will allow them to support all students at the school especially understanding that sometimes there may be situations where a school counselor is out specific to educators within the building. So, classroom instructional teachers, they only have access to view information on the students that are rostered to them in Skyward. Got it. And I assume Zello has access to this information. Correct. Okay. And is there anyone else besides that? I know it's it's paid for by the state, but I just

069want to confirm that, you know, no one outside of Zello has access to this information. No, absolutely not. we have one of our data sharing agreements with them and they follow all of Furpa and everything. So no, it's just within our district. Okay, perfect. And then my last question is you'd mentioned the parent that parents have an have an ability to access information, but they have to log on to Zello blah blah blah. Is there any way can parents just see what's going on through parent square or do parents like actually have to sign up for another thing? So in order to see what their student is doing in Zello, they have to have their unique login. and then once they log into Zello, they can see what their child's been doing. They can also

070they can explore careers and and the colleges as well. But to see their child's specific information, they have to have that unique login and login. Okay. Is there a way that the notifications from the counselors or from the school could go to parents via parent square? So, so I know I know you're saying like the profile itself you have to log into Zello to see it, but I'm just wondering because I you know there's just a lot that comes in for a parent. Yeah, I mean I'm I'm sure we can still I mean counselors are still communicating with parents in ways other than Zello. So they would still be able to communicate with them through parent square. Thank you. May I madam chair? Sorry. so the platform itself in order for it to talk to

071other platforms like parent square require adjustments that may or may not be available and so for it to link directly to parent square and I know Scott's not here we would need to have conversations I believe with Zello to see what that looks like as well as our IT department. Thank you. All right. Thank you, member Vanos. Member Ferrant. thank you. Awesome presentation. I've been really excited to hear more about Zello. And honestly, I think everybody has asked the question, so I won't, continue mine or about how are they supposed to find the different opportunities and their different interests. And you shared that. And then I love the video idea as well that they can watch a video and see kind of some interviews, get some ideas on different things. I think you know for

072the most part if we're watching something and it looks interesting, we're like okay I might you know follow that and then some videos you might go okay this is definitely not my field next you know. So I think the video at least is a good starting point. I love the idea of being connected with other people in the community, other businesses and whatnot that can connect the students where they could get maybe hands-on look and see it in real life. the only question I would have as far as like the trade school option, how does that look like when they're going in and they say they don't want to do the university route and they'd like to go to a trade school? Yeah, so I can speak to that. The beautiful thing about Zello really

073works to support all students and all pathways. While four-year college university is a popular plat pathway for some students, Zello brings a lot of attention to our career and technical education routes as well. Looking at students who may want to go into welding or students who may want to go into you know HVAC as a career pathway. So Orange Technical College is one of the institutions that's listed in the platform that students can look up and search on their own. And also we are working with the with Zello to include the different certifications we have within our district so that students can have a better idea of what certifications may align to certain career pathways as well. So again, you know, Zello, the beautiful thing about it is that it's not just for college, it's

074for all students, all pathways. I love it. Love, love, love. This is something that I feel like I've been advocating for because I out of five kids the, you know, first three are not interested in the four-year college and they're more on the trade school route. and so, you know, going to high school typically it's been more on the push of going to like the four-year college. And, I love this platform. I think it's going to help grab all the kids and make everybody feel like, okay, there's a place for me and they kind of know what they can do, what they can pursue. so really love it. It seems pretty integrative and every question we've asked, you have somehow this app has like everything that we're looking for. So the other thing that I

075love is that the Department of Education here in Florida has provided this to our district for free, which is a huge plus. And I think it just shows that they're wanting to make sure that kids feel connected and know kind of that positive like putting their best foot forward if you will as they step out of high school. I think that was my only questions and I'll just say as well I love the volunteer hours that can that we can log those in on Zello as well. I've heard a lot of parents say that their kids have submitted the hours and then somehow they've gotten lost and you know just it can be kind of a mess. and so I just think having everything right there on one app is going to be an awesome

076thing. So, thank you again. I' I'd like to just add that Zello because we've had so much usage and and we're doing so much, they're extremely open to asking us what do we need? So, as we're getting the course planner set up, they're asking us how, you know, what pathways do we want put in and how do we need to do things? And they're very open to doing that. So, as you talk about you know, looking at businesses in the area, you know, if we talk to them, I'm sure that you know, we can look at at how to do different things. So, I do see this platform as just growing as we go and and becoming more and more of something that really can help our kids. Thank you. All right. Thank you, member

077for member Felder. Thank you, Chair. First of all, thank you for the presentation. I remember when while I was teaching last teaching experience at Edgewater in 11th grade, we tried to make sure all of our 11th graders could make a decision about career, business or college and how challenging that was for them to make a decision. What I liked about when I saw the picture of the parent and the and the child at the computer together, I know that possibly could save parents a lot of money because students get to college, their freshman, sophomore year, they're going to do this, then their junior or beginning of their senior year, they change their major, you know, and so I like the fact that parents can get involved with the decisions of the children early on and

078the fact that there's video available and they can see get examples of the fact that maybe they can do some type of internship and see exactly if you go in this if you go this career path this is the type of job we're talking about if you want to do this is what you're going to the kind of job and this is how much money you're going to be making or you're not going to be making. I like that idea. one of my concerns is well I have two. one if there's a computer glitch or something when they're at home, excuse me, looking at the computer with parents. Sometimes a lot of parents may not be as computer literate as their teachers or the their children. How is that going to work out? Cuz sometimes

079when we have problems even in school, it takes some time for the tech people or whatever, you know, it just takes some time. you have to be patient to make sure that you can use the computer get what you want. And the second concern that I have is that with counselors, they have a lot to do. And sometimes you know when they have you have the alphabet from A through K or A through L and you're at a high school with 1,200 students or 1,600 students you have 900 seniors or 1100 seniors. I'm hoping that this does serve as a help and not extra work excuse me for counselors because it's a lot. I hope it's not one more thing on their their plate to try to attend to, but that it really helps and

080assists with them as they try to help their students navigate whether it's career, whether it's it's college. And I am very grateful that if they take or decide to do a excuse me, take a vocational decision that it's available. they can understand how to navigate through that. I know I said about three things you're probably trying to wait to answer, but those were three things that really was kind of pounding in my head. I'll I'll take the last one. And we really we have been working with our counselors and our assistant principles a lot over the summer and this fall. We've already had two what we call facilitative planning days. and during the second facilitative planning day, we really talked to counselors and APIs and our college and career specialist and we showed them Zello

081and kind of, you know, had discussions and had them talk with each other about how they're utilizing it. I was really impressed at that one. The biggest they were all the counselors were saying, "How do we get more parents on it?" They were so excited about it because they felt if they could get parents connected to it, they could have more communication with the parents and be able to, you know, show the parents what the kids needed. You know, it would show them you know, what courses the kids still need for graduation and a lot of those things. So I think that where it could be one more thing if they weren't trained on it well I think that if we keep talking with them and we have them talking with each other and learning

082all the ways it can help them I think it can be of very good use to them. Yeah. And to your first question as far as accessibility you know issues that may arise with technology and the computer Zello functions on a web-based browser as well. So students and families if they're having issues with their actual laptop or device, they can also utilize their cell phone if they have that available. So it's a 24-hour phone call. Correct. Yeah. And they have that additional support directly through Zeus support team, but we also make sure that students and staff at the school know that we can support them at the district level to address any issues that may arise. Well, I appreciate that because my mom her final career in high school was a high school counselor and

083I know that's a lot, you know, to try to children, you know, they changed their minds. You know, I my freshman year I wanted to be a theater major. Then I got mad second semester of my freshman year and felt like I needed to be like Henry David Theorough. So, I changed my major to philosophy. I wasn't going to work all that reading and writing. So, I went back. But I'm glad I didn't waste too much of my parents' money, you know, that I stuck with the plan that they had given me and that I too agreed with. But that was my concern and thank you so much for your work. So I think I'm the last one on this round. So I wanted to say that there's a part two that they are working

084on. and I'll just give them a little teaser. the other aspect of career planning that we've heard not only from our students and parents but from the board is the scheduling and so they're in the process right now of working with Zello so that students are able to do the course requests and the schedules. I think you're loading about what 5,000 courses right now. so we'll come back to you with that. but it's going to give students more of an opportunity for scheduling and tying it all to their pathway. so we're excited about that piece of it. So stay tuned for part two. Thank you all. Great job. Thank you very much. Okay. consent agenda. Mr. Pomerini, do we have any speakers? No, Madam Chair. Okay. No, with there being no speakers, I'll entertain a

085motion to adopt the consent agenda. Motion by member Ferrron. Second by somebody, a member Vanos. all in favor, please say I. Opposed. Motion carries with all members present. voting in the affirmative. And next up, Mr. Palarini, do you have no superintendent? Do you have a report for the four? I always feel like superintendent should come last. Like, you know that close up everything. It just feels right. Thank you. I appreciate that. sometimes our general counsel has good news, so there's always hope. Yeah, that's not exactly what I said, but so just a couple of updates. first of all, as far as Zel is concerned, you know, our teachers and our counselors really are working to be able to support our students in that area. This is a tool that I believe is going to help

086them as well as that collaborative planning time where they are there together hearing from others like how are you handling the load. We are working to try and reduce those numbers for our counselors for next year. But I do want to you know thank the team and really our guidance counselors who know how important that is and then they're juggling all of the other items. do we have slides from connectivity day? I just I can't tell you how thankful I am to the high school team, the high school division that really made this work, as well as the principles at their schools. doing something for the very first time is a little daunting let alone when you're trying to do it, you know, with 23 high schools and really just creating it because there was

087no model and they did a phenomenal job. Our teachers, support staff, and admin really put in 110% to make this a successful day for our students. And so I am thrilled and excited and looking forward to the next three connectivity days. I know we had some board members whose calendar conflicted and weren't able to make it, but there's three more opportunities for you to go out there. So I hope you do get a chance. Some of you actually participated in it, not just kind of visited. So, we're always looking for adults to be able to really help our children feel a little bit more connected to school. And then my last item, thank you. is just to give a very brief update. As you know, we had the Council of Great City Schools come out

088and do a peer visit in the area of facilities. You know, we had some minor glitches at the start of the school year and we are putting in play a plan to address the concerns or the areas of opport or opportunities that the council identified. And so I just wanted to update you and we I'm going to do this every month. We had a couple of action items to be complete completed prior to October 31st and two of them have been completed. We did transition the building code compliance office to facilities and it's and then outsourced it. So we are already hearing some positive feedback around how with this additional staff they are able to get permits in a more timely manner. and I know that our chief facilities officer has really done a fantastic

089job in that transition because I understand there's also some catchup time to projects that were behind schedule. And then we have also completed the Trimble Unity construct which was formerly Ebuilder and it has been implemented as the platform for our construction management program. It is giving both our vendors as well as our staff the ability to more closely monitor the projects where they are. And I am excited that we are also taking great steps to implement the items that have a due date of the 31st of October. So I'll bring that to you as well. Madam Chair, that is my report. All right. Thank you, Mr. Pomearini. Oh, hang on a second. member Gallow or Okay, Mr. Pomearini and do you have a report? Yeah, Madam Chair, just very briefly, a couple issues came up

090earlier today that I just wanted to just get some basic clarity on with respect to student disciplinary investigations. our code of conduct addresses student disciplinary investigations and it talks about and I want to read from it. OCPS stands in locaris, the Latin for the phrase in place of the parent while the student is in the physical custody of the school and is responsible for investigating all allegations of student misconduct within its jurisdiction using a prepoundonderance of the evidence legal standard. Therefore, OCPS employees are authorized to interview students and obtain witness statements from students involved in offenses of the code. However, any student may refuse to participate in the investigation. It is important to note that if behavior is believed to be criminal and in violation of Florida statutes, the school resource officer or law enforcement

091officer, if the school resource officer is not available, may participate in the investigation. Parents guardians may request that their students not participate in student disciplinary investigations without authorization from the parent guardian by submitting a request in writing prior to the occurrence of any disciplinary discipline matter to the school administration. Refusal to participate in the investigation does not prohibit OCPS from continuing with the investigation and administering an appropriate disciplinary consequence pursuant to the procedures outlined in the code. In addition, the refusal does not prohibit the school resource officer or law enforcement officer from continuing the criminal investigation imposing criminal penalties if warranted. So, our code clearly spells out that folks and students have the right not to participate, that parents have the right to give a written letter to administration at the beginning of the year.

092And we have parents that do that say, "I don't want my child questioned by anybody without me being present." So that is just wanted to make sure I'm sure you all remember the code. We go over it extensively every year, but that provision is in the code. So I just wanted to make sure I reminded you all of it and for anybody who was watching that they were aware of it as well. the other thing that came up today was one of the speakers talked about conversion therapy and I guess the reason that came up on October 6th, the United States Supreme Court heard a case from coming out of Colorado where a licensed mental health therapist is seeking the right to engage in conversion therapy. Under under Colorado law, conversion therapy is illegal as

093a matter of professional responsibility based upon the consensus of the medical community that it's ineffective and actually does more harm to the child than not. The mental health counselor has sued saying that she has a first amendment right to engage in the conversion therapy. it appeared from the oral arguments which I have read that a majority of the court is poised to say that mental health counselors do in fact have a first amendment right to engage in conversion therapy. That is probably why you heard this decision tonight. Member Gallow, I see you shaking. I just report these things. I'm not the one who is in who's making the rulings or asking the questions, but that is probably why you heard that issue tonight. that may be something we have to confront once the Supreme Court

094issues the decision. So having just you know contradicted the superintendent and sometimes saying I have good information I tonight do not have good information but that is the end of my report. Oh she said one of these days you might. Right. So well so she's still she's still right that one of these days you might. Today's not the day. Correct. Today is not it. okay. I know I have comments on both of those, but right now, member Gallo, you were queued up for something before. Can we stay on this topic for right this minute? I think you have something to say on it as well. Yeah, I do. I do. And then I have something else. but it sounds like what you just said, Mr. Pomerini, would be in direct conflict with the parent right

095law in Florida, right? like we can't we don't engage with students without parental permission. So our guidance counselors could not be in the state of Florida involved in any type of conversion therapy without parents being in the know and aware and complicit. I would think that would be the case. but we'll have to see what the exact ruling of the Supreme Court is cuz they always have little nuggets of of rulings that could maybe override a conflicting state law. So, I would I would think at the end of the day your analysis will be correct, but I can't see tell you that until I see the decision. And what would happen with the because there are bans of conversion therapy in certain counties in Florida, I believe. What would happen to those bans of conversion

096therapy? I would believe that if the Supreme Court rules that those the therapists have a first amendment right to do it that all such bans would be immediately unconstitutional. Thank you. Yep. Okay. member I still wanted to stay on these two subjects. Member Vanos or you something on these two subjects? Yeah. yes. Actually, just on this, I mean, I think it's interesting that and hopefully our state, you know, in in the way that they're sort of policing people's first amendment rights right now in terms of what they can say about other people or whatnot, that would also obviously apply in this situation, too. So, there's always hope there. and then also, I did want to go back to the discipline. I I am concerned about having SRO's being in being the law enforcement that could

097be asking students questions. And so I know this isn't the place to get into a long conversation, but I just want to raise it is something I think we should think about next time we talk about this code of student conduct. So I'll just say that and we can come back. Those were the only two on this particular topic. All right. Thank you. Member Fant. yeah, in regards to the being in local parents, I do think I would say what maybe 90% of parents don't read through the code of conduct. I mean, I don't know, maybe that I'm just throwing out numbers, but I would say most parents are not pulling up the code of conduct and like reading through it. most parents are surprised at the phrase in local parents and that basically like

098we become the parents as when their child is brought to the school. and so I do think if if we could maybe be more proactive in helping parents know, maybe even just sending that part of the code as in in an email or in maybe in Parent Square and just saying, "Hey, I just want to remind you that this is you know, in the very few cases where a student is brought in, it's not like this is happening every day at every school. but in the in the off chance that your child does have this happen, this is the way that we have set it up in our code of conduct, if this doesn't, you know, align with what you'd like, please make sure that you'd send in a note to school. And just kind

099of being proactive so at least we can say that we did try to reach out. We did kind of make them aware because otherwise it does kind of feel like it's slipped in there. And unless you're really like digging through and reading everything, I mean, I can I can feel that. I can see where the parents were coming from. as far as the case in from Colorado at the Supreme Court, I've been following closely with this and it is it's for me I think what what is concerning is that the state of Colorado is not allowing this counselor to counsel a child with a parent's permission and the child comes and the counselor wants to help that child even affirming them that they're they're the way that they were born, the sex that they were

100born is who they are. And like trying to get to the root of what is making you feel that maybe you were born in the wrong as the wrong gender or you know where is that confusing confusion lying and getting to a deeper root of it. And so when they call it conversion therapy, there's a whole lot of stuff within that. I mean, I feel like the term conversion therapy sounds kind of like confusing. like it not confusing, but it just sounds like harsh. And there's harsh things within it, but they've also put in counseling a child to be okay with the body that they're in and helping them understand like where is the confusion coming from or the hurt that they're that's maybe causing this confusion. so in the same sense, I mean, we

101also had people in the state of Florida that were we had counselors in the state of Florida, even in Orange County, not as of recently, thank goodness. but counselors who were helping children, kind of pushing them to believe that they were born in the wrong body and born in the wrong gender. And so I mean, it really it's it is both ways. And I think it's really everything has to go through the parent and you know the parent has to be aware of what's going on. But I don't believe that a counselor should ever be told that they can't with the parents permission can't sit and help counsel a child and help them understand like why they're feeling this gender confusion and help them to feel comfortable in the body that God gave them. I

102don't really know where the I mean, I think just the term conversion therapy sounds harsh, but I think understanding the case and what is being required and asked of this counselor it takes a little more than just hearing the word conversion therapy. I would encourage everybody to kind of research it and understand her stance on it. Okay. U let me go back to the discipline issue. I think member Gella I think your points in terms of conversion therapy and the law I obviously I think you're right and we'll wait and see what Mr. Palarini comes back to us after that case is settled. But back to discipline, I agree with member from that, you know, we do our best to get that code of conduct in everybody's hands and everybody has to sign it and

103everybody, you know, we try to put it in language that no matter what grade you're in, it's it's down to your level. But in spite of all of our best efforts, I doubt very many, let me put it this way, I'm sure there are a lot of parents that are not reading it. And I do think when something rises to the level of needing to have law enforcement, we've had a rare instance where law enforcement was brought in, they weren't necessary, and that's been addressed by the superintendent. and that's that's not the issue. But when it's something that is literally rises to the level of being a criminal violation and it certainly makes sense that we would have law enforcement in the room. I think that's probably imperative. I think that the suggestion of not

104having SRO's is a good one. If we can logistically make that happen because I think differentiating those two roles is helpful for students as well. from what we heard today, the idea that there were two law enforcement officers in the room was another like moment for me to why two. and I felt pretty strongly that if it is something that rises to a criminal level that it goes beyond for me it goes beyond just saying, "Well, you had your chance, you know, to to tell us you didn't need to be contacted or in the room." I just I think for me, I feel like that's a time when we should be. It's not in our policy, but and it would, you know, obviously I have a strong feeling, but when we all sit down and

105discuss something and it's in policy in front of us and I hear from everybody, I may change my position, but me as a mom who had kids who went through some bad situations with discipline. and they weren't criminal or anything, but they were not handled the way they should have been handled from the school. no ifs or buts about it that I would certainly want to get a phone call saying this is what we're dealing with and have the opportunity to tell my child this isn't a time to talk you know or I'll be there so I'm a witness to what happens so if there's enough interest in the board for bringing this forward for a discussion because this isn't the time to have that in-depth discussion but I'm hearing a nod here and some

106nods down there. what I'd like to do, superintendent, is look for an opportunity. It's not you know, it's not an urgent matter. It would be if I were a parent facing that situation. obviously, but get that on our calendar so we can discuss it. And I think there's a I think there's a kind of a compromise there that I think most of us can be comfortable with. And I think I think that's all I need to say on on that at this point. let me go to vice chair. I don't need to. I Okay. Okay. Okay. then member Vanos, we're back to you for I think you had some other things you wanted to discuss. Yes. just really quickly and I think along with those lines just we talk a lot about parents rights but

107I also want to just uplift students rights too and that yes I hear that it is in the code that they have a right but I think there's a lot of things going on right now where it might behoove us to just really have that conversation with students about what their rights are if some type of law enforcement were to come to them in the school or you know for whatever reason. but the other thing I wanted to talk about unrelated to that was connectivity day. I did go to two of my high schools and I just wanted to say really quick at Edgewater I participated in the ASL club and I don't remember exactly what we learned but I know I asked what how what is run. So I learned that and hurry and

108so it was great. And also at Winter Park I just popped into Dungeons and Dragons and also to speech and debate and had an opportunity to share a few words with them which I wasn't expecting. So, it was such a great day. I love seeing all the students and schools and just wanted to just say thank you to the superintendent for u making that happen. All right, member Gallo. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm excuse me, member. Go ahead. Okay, member Gallo and then member Front. Thank you. thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted so this past week we had the leadership conference for the Florida School Boards Association and since I'm president of the association, it's we always have it in their home district. So, we had it here and the CTE right next door was

109the one that hosted us for the three days of the great work that we did with FSBA. So, I just want to thank Dr. Boyd from Orange County. Oh, we got pictures from Orange Technical College next door. She was so kind and so sweet and so accommodating with all of us. I was just thrilled. Oh, and there's me and Nancy. Well, I don't know what's going on with my hair there. That was not a good hair day. Oh, look. There we are again. I got those pants in Spain, by the way. Those are Spain Spanish pants. they're lovely. And it's not a skirt. It's pants. It looks like a skirt. but anyways, we had a great three days where we discussed our strategic plan. We discussed our leadership goals. kind of planned out the future

110and what FSBA will look like. It was very long days. There was a lot of work. Dr. boy did a tour of the facility and I cannot tell you how many board members were just blown away with what we're doing over there with the health sciences and the services and the credentials that we offer. it was so cool to see how impressed they were with our facilities and how proud I am to be a board member in district 1. So I have to give a huge shout out to Nancy and Dr. Williams because I was getting all these accolades and I'm like I didn't do anything. Like I did not do anything. I just showed up. It was really Dr. Williams and Mrs. Conover who did all the hard work. So I'm extremely grateful to

111them and thankful for their support as we had those those days in in FSBA. And so our strategic plan will be developed over the next few months and distributed. It gave all of our leadership. So, it was it included our chairs and co-chairs and all of our board of directors. U member Felder was there as the board of director for Orange County Public Schools. Member Vanos came for the legislative platform. We did that on Friday afternoon where we developed our legislative platform for FSBA for the school year on what we wanted or this upcoming session on what we wanted to ask for. and a lot of the things that you'll see on that platform are familiar to Orange County Public Schools. You're going to see prek on there, full day prek. You're going to see

112asking for vouchers to have like their own separate line items, student authentication numbers, like all of the things that are important to Orange County. Most of them, I think, were met and developed over there for our platform. So again, I just want to take a moment to say thank you so much to the hospitality of the district and welcoming schoolboard members from across the state to this great conference. Thank you. Very good. Member Fant. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to also shout out the connectivity days. They were amazing. I know that the high school office it was kind of like a you know figure this out and let's be creative. and every school. I love how there was you know, you offered it to the schools, but in a be creative. so it wasn't

113like a one-sizefits-all model. It was we're going to do it the same day, connectivity days. This is the idea behind it. but kind of like run with it and figure out what works for your school. So I love that. really shout out to your whole team for thinking of this idea. I think it's something that really sometimes you get those ideas that you're like, "Okay, thank you God for giving me this idea." You know, some of them just don't seem like they came from our own mind. But I was at so Lake Buavist I wasn't at, but I had some other people that had showed up. They were over there and so they were texting me telling me how incredible it was. And I was over at Freedom High School and then I stopped into

114Cypress Creek. But the energy, the excitement, kids were coming up to us and hey, have you seen this club and how do I get connected? Or one kid wanted a math club and he couldn't find one. So, he was getting connected on how to create his own club. And so I just think the this is really something the kids were really wanting. And so I thank you for you know, thinking outside the box. Sometimes it's a little scary to think outside the box, but I thank you for doing that and for the high school team, the principles and all the team for working together to help our kids feel connected at school. Thank you. Thank you, member. Member Felder. I should have probably come after, but I want to say that McGallo, we're so proud

115of you. she is the state president for FSPA and you know I say this all the time and I'm gonna say it again it's a poor frog that done praise his own pond let me tell you Angie had it going on and Dr. Bridget Williams, you did a presentation on our connection with the housing. Let me tell you something, baby. Listen, all of the districts and they were just so proud to know that we are really we're really setting a precedent. I'm telling you. And you know, and I found myself talking to people like I said that I said now Duvall County, you know, you all have you can do that, but another account said you all are probably too small to do it quite like this, but you can do something. I mean, let

116me tell you something. I felt so good and so proud of what we are doing in OCPS. And let me tell you, not one board member, every board member, they talked about the school OTC and our programs and they were just so thoroughly thoroughly impressed. And you know, you know, we go through a lot and a lot of times people really don't understand what goes in to making us this way. It's not us or Maria, but it's her cabinet. It's I mean, everybody stepped up to the plate. I was so proud and they were so very impressed with what we were doing. And that housing thing really it it really stood and I felt so good for Angie being the state president to come up with this new innovative thing cuz nobody else is doing

117it. Not not not like we're doing it. No, no, they're not. And Dr. Bridget Williams, baby, she came on with the stuff, honey. We were just so so very proud of the participants who came in along with her with Lyft and Victoria Commissioner Victoria Sipin that came in. So, we're doing a lot. You know, we do need to solicit prayers and support, but Dr. Vasquez, I'm just so proud of your leadership here and allowing us that opportunity to to spread our wings, to stretch out because I'm telling you, not one of them, everybody that commented on this district and what we were doing, they were so very proud. And I just need to say that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. member Douglas, I just want to say also congratulations to our president of FSBA.

118Congratulations. You're doing a great job already making a difference and showing up and showing off OCPS and the great things that we're doing here. Thank you. I just would like to switch a little bit the subject and come back to the sub subject of the scooters and the mop mopeds and ebikes and we have have we having increasing incident and accidents happening happening right now at our schools regarding these mopets and I would like to talk to my fellow board member and kind of bring a solution to that to mitigate this type of incident because two or three days ago a ago ambulances were called in one of our schools about mopeds and scooters again it happens and it happens increasingly okay and today again so what I would like to suggest and I would

119like to talk to you about that is to make sure that our students if we cannot do anything regarding the county itself but we can at least do something in OCPS. I would like the student to get off their scooters moped before entering our properties because I think that will make a difference because before even they come into seeing the cross guard they will have to get off the bike and come in. That would make a difference or a little difference in the incident that happened in front of our schools. So, I'm just bringing that to you. I would like you to reflect on this and make a decision to do that, please. Thank you so much. All right. And so, Superintendent will work on, putting that on the schedule as well, so we can

120have a more comprehensive conversation about it. Thank you. Thank you for bringing that forward because it is definitely turning into quite a mess out there, isn't it? Holy mackerel. Everywhere I go, I see little ones with some of them with no helmet either driving down the sidewalk about to run somebody over more often not in the street. It's just member Vanos. Oh, and you guys have stuck with us. I mean, I don't know like if I can sign off for an A for you or something. A+ you need any signatures, any witnesses. We have pictures we can show you were really here from the beginning to the to the end. Go ahead. Member Van, just to add on to what Member Douglas said, I I am definitely down for a further conversation. I just encourage

121everyone to to reach out to your county commissioner who maybe you share a district with. I have reached out to mine and asked that they also take note and maybe they can help create an ordinance because they're really the ones in the position to to create that ordinance. But if every single one of us contacted our county commissioner, I think that could make a big difference. Very good. Superintendent, thank you board member Douglas for bringing that up and board member Vanos. we have seen an increase in the number of accidents involving scooters. Last week I think a young lady got hit at Lake Nona on a scooter. Today I don't remember the school but there was a an accident with the scooter. and it may be that we have to take you know a stronger

122stance than just getting off your scooter. I mean we can't we do have the ability to say they're not allowed. and I will have staff pull the data so you can see when we schedule it how many incidents we've we've had with scooters. I know our school principles are having some frustrations because students are not being safe. They do not have the personnel to be all over the place to tell them, hey, stop. So, we probably do need to have an a conversation that explores not just limitations, but possibly not allowing them on on our campus because it is a safety. They're not they're going through neighborhoods. They're not even they're not stopping. They're not looking. And so cars, especially if they're on the smaller ones, they don't even see them. So, it really is

123very very dangerous. All right. All right. Well, on that scary note, if there's nothing further for the board, then I'm sorry. I think I think the folks wanted to get a photo with Could we get a photo with you guys? Oh, cool. Come on up. Cool. Who is your teacher? Wow. Oh, he probably because we didn't have recognition. Just realized we haven't seen him. So you can't be teachers. Oh, you're so wonderful. That's right. One more place. One, two, and three. Thank you. You were over next door. You seen the picture? I saw it. I'm afraid we're singing all Heat. Heat.