Volusia County School Board Meeting - Regular Session 12⧸09⧸2025

001Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the school board Valuchia County School Board meeting. Today is December 9th. It is 4:30 p.m. and we are going to go ahead and call this meeting to order. As we do in our schools, we're going to recite the pledge and we are going to uh hear the national anthem and observe a moment of silence and reflection. Today's pledge is going to be presented by none other than Pride Elementary D5. Yes. And our national anthem, are we in for a treat? will be performed live by Miss Liliana Sky Wilson, a student from Deberry Elementary. So, Miss Haynes, woohoo. All right. So, if we could please stand for the pledge of allegiance, followed by the national anthem and moment of silence. Thank you. I aliance to the flag of the United

002States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Oh, say can you see by the dawn early light what so proudly we held. At the twilight last gleaming, who's brought stripes and bright stars through the paralous fight. Or the rim parts we watched were so gallently streaming. And the rockets spread clear. The bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night. That our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star spangled Per or the land, the free and the hope of the brave. [Music] Thank you so much. You may be seated. Let's hear it one more time for Miss Liliana Sky Wilson from GARY ELEMENTARY. [Applause] [Music] THANK YOU SO MUCH for coming out today. So, I'd like to welcome everyone

003to the schoolboard meeting. I'm going to start off by introducing my wonderful, amazing colleagues who are here with me today. Today, we're going to start off on the right hand side with Miss Celeste Gilmore, who is our amazing agency clerk. Next to Miss Gilmore, we have Mrs. Jesse Thompson, representative for district 3. Next to Miss Jesse Thompson, we have Mrs. Jamie. Miss Jamie Haynes, District 1. Next to Miss Jamie Haynes, we have Dr. Carmen Balgabin, our amazing National Superintendent of the Year. >> Thank you, Mr. Col. >> Thank you. Over to our left hand side, we have Mrs. Donna Brosmer, uh, District 4 representative. Next to Miss Brosmer, we have Mrs. Christa Goodrich, vice chair, District 2. Next to Miss Goodrich, we have Mr. Gilbert, Dr. Gilbert Evans, schoolboard attorney. And my name is Ruben

004Colon. I have the honor and pleasure of serving as the chair and representative for district 5 this year. Items for approval on the agenda are 1.03, 2.02, 6.02, 17.01 through 17.03. Public participation times for items on the consent agenda 6 p.m. for items of general interest pertaining to public education in Valuchia County. Time will be provided for public comment on any action item before the board vote is called on that item. Time will also be provided at the end of meeting for public comment for items of general interest pertaining to public education in Valuchia County. Next, we're going to uh recognize our vision statement, item 1.02, district vision statement, which is to create lifelong learners prepared for an everchanging global society. Next item on the agenda, 1.03, 03 approval of minutes. Board, we've received the

005minutes for our uh November 11th organizational session as well as the leasing corporation meeting, the workshop, and the regular session. Uh you all have had an opportunity to review those minutes which have been provided for us. Uh do we have a motion to approve uh those minutes? >> I make a motion to approve all of the minutes from the November 18th meeting. >> Wonderful. We have a motion by Miss Haynes. Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> We have a second by Miss Goodrich. Is there any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say nay. Motion passes. Next item 2.01, agenda changes. Superintendent Bal Balgabin. Are there any agenda changes before the agenda is presented to the board for approval? >> Chair Cologne,

006I have no changes, sir. >> Wonderful. Board, uh, you've heard the, uh, no changes on the agenda. Do we have a motion to approve the presented agenda? I make a motion to approve the presented agenda. >> Motion's been made by Miss Haynes. Do we have a second? >> Second by Miss Brosmer. Any further discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. >> All right. The agenda has been adopted. Next item 3.01. Announcements by Dr. Balgav. >> Thank you, chair. Thank you, board members. Good afternoon, audience. And I see so many familiar faces here in the audience. I think we recognize many of these individuals. chair. Um, and for those of you listening at home, thank you for tuning in. We have a few uh important dates

007in the month of December and January. Um, December is learn a foreign language month. So, did did you know that we had our we have Frenchmies in our schools that our students on a daily basis they're learning for those schools that have our Frenchmies, they are learning not just English but also French. We >> we and uh we also have in our schools dual language dual language program in several of our schools again many on a daily basis not just in the month of of December but our students are also learning Spanish in many of our schools they're see they're learning how to become bilingual biliterate and bicultural right in addition to that December the 8th through the 14th is computer science education week and to all of our uh IT department and all of

008you and also our science computer science teacher, congratulations. This is this is your week to celebrate. December 22nd through January 5th. That's when all of our students get an opportunity to stay home with their families and for families to spend a special season together with family and friends where you're able to reflect, recalibrate, and really taking in the meaning of what the holiday season is all about. And then we look forward to seeing you back on the 6th of January. um January also schoolboard appreciation month and I will say that our school board and for every school board out there the work that you do it's it's more than a month that we should be celebrating you because it's so much that you do behind the scene on a daily basis. So thank you for

009your governance and everything that you do for our children and our community. And January the 9th is Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. And also again, in my opinion, when it comes to safety and security, we know that our sheriff's department, our law enforcement uh division, and our own uh team here under the direction of Captain Smith, they do an outstanding job. So, thank you all for your leadership and um the ability of us being able to work together to keep our students and our community a safe one. Superintendent Reading Challenge, I want to say thank you again. It's it's underway for our winter reading challenge and we know that our students love to reach each and every day. Also, we have prizes for those students and I want to thank um our Sky Zone because for

010students that reach 600 or more minutes, they earn a 90minute jump pass at Sky Zone. And bless their hearts, I couldn't do that. You know, our our but our kids are fearless. Um, also for those who complete between 400 to 599 minutes, they will earn a oneh hour unlimited play arcade card from Emily uh, Family Funtown. So, I want to thank Family Fun Town for being a partner with Vua County. And the top three winners from each level will also receive, are we ready? A $50 gift card to Turtle and Bee Book Boutique. >> So, look at that. very fancy and $50. You can shop quite a bit for $50. So, we want to again say thank you to Skyzones Family Fun Time and Turtle TNB book boutique. And um I know that Charlie is

011ready and she's probably already embarked on her um winter reading challenge. Also, teacher finalist of the year. I want to thank the boards. You guys were there. It was really a great great evening. But congratulations goes out to our five finalists um for the 2027 Valuchia County Teacher of the Year. So these are the runnerup. We have Coach Erica Kasma and she's from R.J. Long Street PE teacher. Um M Mr. Jordan Churst from Beatside Elementary. He's the ESSE support facilitator and behavior support teacher. We have Mr. John Holland from uh Heritage Middle School. He is algebra 1 plus geometry. That's that's that's a smart person right there. Miss Bernardet Bryan from Southwestern Middle School, math instructional coach. Also, Mr. Matthew Pellegrino from Galaxy Middle School, algebra and geometry. Also, um teacher. So we are again

012congratulations to our finalists and we can't wait to celebrate you in the month of January. But you know what in our opinion every teacher here in our district deserves this because the work that you do again day in and day out in nurturing the minds and souls of our students is something truly remarkable. So congratulations to all of our teachers in our district. Great America teach in. So uh we had in the month of November over 40 of our schools they hosted this event and every student walked away with a fresh perspective and valuable insight into professional pathways. So we want to thank all of our schools for hosting this the great America teaching. Also heart of VCS congratulations goes out to Cypress Creek Elementary. uh Janine Wright uh you were there with me um

013Miss Thompson for winning the November Heart of VCS award. Um you know she's truly a phenomenal individual. Uh she's a STEM teacher for her school. She's directly responsible for shaping the lives of many many generations. We've seen that firsthand with her 3D printing entrepreneurship. She has she acted quickly to teach students about life skills on a daily basis, supply and demand, marketing, sales tactics, finances, and much much more. And the things that she does in our classroom is truly truly creative. So, congratulations to Miss Janine, right? And we met her her mom also who works at the school in the cafe. So, to the entire family, also Bistown, uh, and I know you've seen that. And um as a matter of fact recently they were at Tamoka but they've been in quite a few of

014our schools so far. So this is where our fourth graders they were able to participate is through junior achievement. We do have a video for that. We have three short videos that you'll see at the end. One of them is Bistown. Um but basically our students get get to really learn how a community operates and where they take what they learn in the classroom and they're able to apply it and see what it looks like into real life. but also developing that value and that mindset of how a community works from very early on. So, you'll see that video in in in a minute. In addition to that, the basket brigade, and I know that many of you participated in that, but we are we were very proud to be part of the basket brigade

015this year. Um, we had 1,100 boxes that were delivered to community members in need. Um, thanks to the contribution, the basketball brigade was able to hit their goal of 5,000 boxes delivered total and we helped over 26,000 members in the community. I know many of you participated, but to all the families and and staff members that contributed and and volunteered their time to make this happen, thank you. Because really when it comes to being a community, it's about being there for each other. And I think this is just a perfect example of what community coming together and working and being there for each other. >> And madame superintendent, if I may, special shout out to Deltona High who gathered over 300 boxes uh for the community uh for the basket brigade. And we're talking about

016300 plus complete box. That's a large number. So that was huge. So thank you. >> Yeah. the 1,100, right? Um, challenge coin. So, we we surprised Mr. Brett Bradner um of the land high school because he received the challenge coin last week and it's the first coin that we gave out to the um the FFA program. Uh anyone working in the FFA program, Mr. Bradner was recognized for his his commitment to our community and to our students health and well-being. Just to share a little bit with you, Officer David Juel of the Edgewater Police Department tragically and unexpectedly passed away this September. He was survived by his son Bobby who is a a student at the Land High School. And upon hearing of the incident, Mr. Bradner like he always does. He arranged for food

017to be delivered to Bobby's home to support him and his family for several days. But not only that, he also um along with the officers of the FFA, they attended both the public and private memorial services to show support for Bobby. Mr. Bradner became a trusted person for Bobby to talk to. He provided support not only to Bobby but to the to the family in general. And um basically I will tell you one of the things that I've learned is that because of how instrumental and how presently there he was for Bobby. Yes, it was very difficult for the son, but Mr. Brad made a big difference in that it provided the comfort that Bobby needed to still be in school and to feel connected to someone who had a listening ear and that was

018there for him for not just emotional support but support overall. Um so I think truly when when we showed up at the school and we asked the students what does what does it mean to be a bulldog there was a student there that described it beautifully. He says being a community and being there for each other. And he had no idea why we were in the classroom. And then we we we shared why we were there. But Mr. Bat Bradner and and like many of our staff members, when I talk about the true heart of VCS, this is what what our our our folks do on a daily basis. And a lot of stories like this, it never really hits any point beyond, you know, what where it happens. Like it it never gets this

019type of attention. But that's just another example of what makes VCS a great pe a a great place to be. It's not because of the walls and the bit the the the beautiful Taj Mahal that we have here, but it's because of the amazing people that we have that works in this county and the heart that you have and how much you give of yourself each and every day. And to be very frank with you, I know this is a season of reflection. This is this is what what makes me proud to be a superintendent in a district working with 8,200 staff members where I know many of you you lead not just with your intellect but you lead with your heart. And especially in days like today and in the world in which we

020live in, it's kindness, it's compassion, it's moments like this that makes this world a better place. So, we're counting on each and every one of you on our VCS staff each and every day. Let's exhibit a a moment or or a an act of kindness because that makes this world spin in in that in in a positive direction. So, thank you all again for everything that you do. You're absolutely a special group of individuals and I want to say thank you as I reflect here tonight. And we have three videos. So, just in case I, you know, I missed one the last time. Two. All right. There you go. Two. Better than one. Well, I thought it was Friendsgiving with my amazing special area team, but then as we were going over our creativity challenge

021and kind of trying to pick a winner, there is a special visitor that walks in and so it's Dr. B and it's Miss Thompson, our school board member. Um, so Dr. B then said, well, that I was the innovation in action award winner for the month. So innovation, did you know that that's one of our pillars for the next three years? >> Oh, yay. >> THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE AT CYPRESS STREET. It is my wonderful team. >> So it if I have here that we're so grateful for innovators like Miss Wright because she gives life to dreams to the dreams of our students. Thanks to her capitalization on opportunities like these, she helps BCS prepare students for the future by showing them what's possible and introducing them to opportunities that they may not otherwise

022think of innovation in action. This is for you. You have no idea we are coming, RIGHT? >> I just want to say thank you to all the teachers. There isn't a classroom that I go in. I don't take something back with me. It It's, you know, I try to teach the kids who's the smartest person in the room and they'll all say the room because I think that working together, I think that we can all learn from each other. And that's the way it's been for me for the last 31 and almost 32 years is that I learn from everybody else. So, it's been wonderful to be a Blush County teacher and to learn and these kids are amazing. Some real world lessons in Biztown. >> And Fox 35's Amanda Ruiz went back to school

023today to learn more about this program. >> It's a town run by Tamoka Elementary School fourth graders. >> Biz Town is now officially open. Biztown is an interactive simulated town meant for the kids to take what they've learned inside the classroom and use it towards their assigned jobs. Jobs include mayor, CEO, and property adviser. There's also some others. >> I'm a news reporter. I'm an adoption counselor. I'm an adoption counselor. >> TV tech. >> The kids were excited to jump in and give it their all. And that's what Biztown is all about. >> So, they're coming here with jobs. They are running businesses. They are acting as consumers. We have CEOs, CFOs, everything that kind of pulls the community together. I have those. >> It's really eye opening when students have that aha moment of

024what grown-ups do and they feel important. >> Hi, I'm DJ Ev. We're going to be playing. >> And while some are finding their jobs fun and a breeze, how's it been going? Others realized it's not that easy. >> Archie, how does it feel to be the mayor of this town? >> It's really stressful. >> Oh no. What's stressful about it? >> Everything. >> But in the end, the goal is to have these kids leave with some real life experience. >> What is your favorite part of this? >> My dog. Amanda Ruiz, Fox 35 News. and Sher Cologne, can you talk a little bit about that tree lighting that we had here? >> Absolutely. And so we uh right as my colleagues were probably leaving or on their way to the Florida Schoolboard Association uh conference,

025I stopped in uh to a pleasant surprise. And so m Miss Haynes, you'll be glad to hear we had the students from Freedom Elementary here and they threw on a show. And so they're going to be uh presenting Shrek at their school. And so they basically Oh, it's the Grinch. Sorry. Is it the Grinch? I get that mixed up. And so, um, they're both green, right? I think. Yeah. So, I get credit for that. >> No, Mr. Shrek is Shrek and the Grinch. >> Grinch is the Grinch. Sorry. And so the kids did such a good job. They sang their hearts out. And uh I want to say thank you to Miss Wrath who brought the students who uh they just did, as Chair Haynes would say. I'm going to channel my chair Haynes a

026phenomenal job. Uh and so I just wanted to point that out. Thank you so much, Superintendent. Next item on the agenda, 4.01. Oh, this is a good one. Aspiring Leaders Academy. Madame Superintendent. >> Thank you, Chair Cologne. Uh, I would like to ask Miss Patty Core along with Miss Brandy Hogue or coordinator for lead leadership development. They're going to come forward and share this recognition with you. We're excited about this because this is really about building that leadership pipeline and it's such incredible work that's being done and we're very excited to what they're about to present. >> Good afternoon, Chairman Cologne, Vice Chair Goodrich, school board members, and superintendent Balgaban. Thank you for the opportunity to recognize the latest graduates of our aspiring leaders academy. The Aspiring Leaders Academy is a year-long professional learning program

027designed for instructional personnel who are certified in ed leadership and are looking to pursue an administrative position within the next two years. The academy is centered on developing strong, confident leaders equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to transition into school-based leadership while also strengthening Valuchia County Schools leadership pipeline. When we launched the Aspiring Leaders Academy in January of 2022, we envisioned a program that would meaningfully prepare future leaders across the district. What began as a promising initiative has quickly become one of our most sought-after leadership development opportunities. With demand for enrollment increasing each year, the continued success and advancement of our participants demonstrates the academyy's importance in developing the next generation of VCS leaders. The Aspiring Leaders Academy has proudly enrolled 84 participants across the four cohorts. I'm thrilled to share that 37 participants,

02844% have already advanced into leadership roles, including administrative deans, assistant principles, and district leaders. While all these participants began the academy last January in instructional roles, you'll notice by their current titles as their names are announced that many have already transitioned into administrative positions this year. and I'm confident the others will soon follow. This achievement highlights both their dedication and the program's meaningful impact on strengthening our leadership pipeline. I remain inspired by the future of VCS, knowing these leaders will continue to shape our schools and positively influence our community. It is my honor to introduce the graduates of cohort 4 of the Aspiring Leaders Academy. Participants, when your name is called, please come forward to receive your certificate from Miss Core and please stand along the side of the wall until all names have been

029called and a final group picture will be taken. Timothy Acres, teacher, Dand Middle School. Hel Bar Talome, teacher, Dan Middle School. Kelly Casey, academic coach, New Simra Beach Middle School. Christopher Clark, teacher, Seabbze High School. Melissa Diamond, assistant principal, Orange City Elementary. Jamie Fato, administrative dean, RJ Long Street Elementary. Dantrell Johnson, administrative dean, Southwestern Middle School. Rachel McKenzie, teacher, Campbell Middle School. Valerie Millet, administrative dean, Dand Middle School. Jamie Monahan, administrative dean, Manity Cove Elementary. >> Bonda Morris, administrative dean, Spruce Creek High School. Esther Morris, resource teacher, TLLL for ELA. George Paris, teacher, New Simra Beach Middle School. Sutton Creser, teacher, Deltona Middle School. David Thomas, administrative dean, Mainland High School. And last, but certainly not least, Alyssa Webb, administrative dean, Seab Breeze High School. And I'd also just like to take a moment to

030ask um our principles that are with us this evening to stand to be recognized. We appreciate all the opportunities that you LEADERS That's it. two. >> Principles. Principles come on up. >> And assistant principles. >> Principal. Assistant principal. Find your person. Go find your person. >> Greg, we're gonna go on the stairs. >> Be right back. I wonder who my friends were. What do you think? Yes, sir. Yes. Sorry. >> Oh, no. No. It's fine. It's fine. I'm gonna people can't get them >> and so >> I don't care. >> You know what? Tough stuff. >> Yeah, I know. The other group's big, too. >> A I thought they were all here to see us. >> All right, next item on the agenda. And wasn't that fun? I'm so glad we are expanding our pipeline

031of leaders. There were some amazing folks in that group uh that I know personally and I am super excited for each of them. Uh next item, 4.02, 2 Florida School Nutrition Association State Awards. Dr. B. >> Yes, sir. So, at this time, I would like to ask uh Patty Core, Miss Patty Core, and Miss Heather Demiola to join us. >> There she is. >> I couldn't get it. So this is a really another special recognition, right, Miss Demiola? Yes. Why don't you tell us about it? >> This is um I'm so proud to bring forth five state award winners from the Florida National School uh Association. And um I just want to read a little bit about why they won the awards. They were recognized by the state association in October. Um so we're happy

032to bring them forth and um share the good news with you guys. Um so Miss Cox she won the state innovative idea award on the administrative supervisory level. Uh she was recognized for her creative and energy of training uh approach and she developed and performs as sparkles uh who is a fictional new hire of schoolway cafe and we do videos uh to roll out trainings to all the staff and bring a little sense of humor. Uh so her innovative um method makes training both memorable and very impactful. So Miss Cox is here with us tonight. Then we have from Cypress Creek, Moren Brown. She won the Jane Win award uh of school nutrition excellence. Miss Moren was recognized and nominated by Jessica from the afterchool facilitator for her outstanding contribution for EDP, including student food

033taste testing, cookie demonstrating activities, kitchen tours, and innovative involvement in sack. We're happy to have Miss uh Morin Brown on our team. Tanya Kazzy from Valuchia Pines. She won the super school award for elementary division and she was recognized because she creates a fun interactive atmosphere with themed games and exciting prizes making celebration unforgettable. I know some of you have visited her school and seen her in action. Miss Teresa Asivido. She's since retired, but she was recognized uh for the nutrition award for secondary and super school award. She is from she was from Creekide Middle School. She was recognized at the middle school and high school level that go above and beyond in deliveries of outstanding school nutrition services. And then we have Miss Kimberly Davis from Delayan High School. She won the super school

034award for secondary level. Uh she was honored uh each year or she was honored for her outstanding way and she contacts outside community partners to come in. I know some of you have served at her school and um she just goes above and beyond. uh she reaches out and has had the Dan mayor uh come, the chie the chief of police come, sheriff Chitwood has come, she reaches out to and and has had um our US representative Corey Mills come. She even invited a DJ to come and and have music and so um in the cafeteria. So, we're really excited to have them and their recognition and their innovative way of helping a school cafe, but also making feeding kids fun. >> Thank you so much, >> Miss Deborah Cox for the Innovative Idea Award.

035Maybe next time she'll make a guest appearance at Sparkles. >> Miss Moren Brown for the Jane Win award nutrition. >> Tanya Kazzy from Valuchia Pines. As aido could not be here tonight. We have Miss Kimberly Davis from Dan High School for the super school award. Christmas tree. >> Whatever. Thank you so much. Next item on the agenda is >> Hey, Reuben. Reuben. >> Reuben. I just wanted to share that while while we've got our Schoolway Cafe ladies here and everyone, um, my contractor was by yesterday and he was sharing with me that his wife works for Schoolway Cafe and he keeps telling her she doesn't have to work and she keeps telling him that she loves it so much she's just going to keep on working. So, great job. Yeah. >> Awesome. Next item on

036the agenda, 5.01, public participation regarding items on the consent agenda. Uh we do have cards regarding certain topics on the consent agenda. Each speaker will be given three minutes to speak. Uh first speaker on item 8.01 which is strengthening career and technical education in the 21st century act is Mrs. Elizabeth Albert. If you'd like to come up. Miss Albert, you'll have three minutes to address the board. Thank you. >> What item number? >> What's that? >> What item? >> 8.01. It's on. >> It's on. Okay. Thank you, Chair Cologne, uh, members of the board, Superintendent Dr. Balgabin, members of the audience. So, this is a fabulous thing what we're doing in our district with CTE. Many of you know the story of my children. They're trades workers. They um are earning a great living. They

037are off my payroll. It's fabulous. But I want to speak with you tonight specifically about our intentionality of going out and recruiting young ladies to engage in our trades programs. Uh some of you have already heard this story before, but I'm going to repeat it again. Um I had the opportunity to go to the Trades Women Build Nations convention in Chicago in September. It was phenomenal. And would you believe I have it pulled up right here. Uh there is so much dedication towards having young ladies, women enter the buildings trades. There is a North America buildings trade union uh website and their whole purpose is to empower women to become trades workers. Now let me tell you just a little bit about being a trades worker. I mentioned my kids are off my payroll. At

038the end of the month, my daughter will become a fourthyear welding apprentice. She is making more money as an apprentice than many of the folks who work in our school district and it is what it is. But if we're looking to build boss ladies and we want to make sure that our children leave our system where they can be self-sufficient, this is this is an area that I think we really need to focus on. So I won't use all the time. You'll be grateful for that because I will be back. But I wanted you to know that I think what we're doing with CTE is phenomenal, but let's go after our our young ladies and let's get them involved in something where they really the sky is the limit for trades women. So, thank you

039very much. >> Thank you. Next up, Miss Albert for item 11.02. This is uh 11.02 is personnel actions. >> I didn't let you get too far. >> Okay. Well, there was one in the middle. All right. Good evening, Chair Cologne, uh, members of the board, superintendent Dr. Balabin, members of the audience. Just very quickly, I noticed that the, uh, job description position for administrative dean is changing slightly. We, uh, currently have an administrative dean position. Many of them you just awarded the uh, recognitions to for completing the leadership program, and that's fabulous. But the question that I have tonight um is related to some alterations in the requirement qualification section particularly three. So currently or and you know unless you approve this the qualification to become an administrative dean requires the individual to have already

040obtain their master's degree in ed leadership. This change will now open up the door for individuals who have not completed the process, but they're actively enrolled in an approved program with evidence of ongoing work. Two bullets down from that, uh it says candidates not yet certified in educational leadership may be considered for an intram appointment. And then it goes on to say that um you know the purpose is to I guess let them continue to work. I got some questions here. Why are we why are we doing this? Why is this change happening? How will this impact our students in our school district? Because the way it is now, candidates for these positions, they're going to school, but they're teaching and so where there's not an interruption to student learning. So, is the desire to

041pull teachers out of the classroom to fill these dean positions? I don't know. Um, and I I just have a question about folks that haven't obtained their qualifications yet going into positions of authority. Remember, administrative deans evaluate our support staff and they are positions of authority. So, um, just just curious what happens if an individual at the end of the period of time does not complete the required coursework or does not pass the feely. Sometimes that feely is a challenge for folks. Are they then going to be returned to a classroom position or are they just going to be out? We would hope not. So, just got some questions. That's all. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Uh, next up, uh, item 10.14, Alyssa Chertow. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Balgaban,

042Mr. Chair, and school board members. My name is Alyssa Turk. I'm a speech language pathologist with Valuchia County Schools and I proudly serve the students at Blue Lake Elementary. Here we are again discussing another consent agenda item that puts the district money into contract companies instead of investing in our own employees. Consent agenda item 10.14 proposes spending $1.8 million over the next two years on contracted speech language pathologist assistants. There's a clear difference between a speech language pathologist assistant and a master level speech language pathologist. A speech language pathologist can perform all responsibilities, evaluations, Medicaid billing, initial and dismissal IEPs, and other critical tasks students are legally entitled to receive. I understand why the district turns to contract companies, and that is because we cannot fill these positions internally. But we need to ask why

043we can't hire and retain our own employees. That's the big question. But yet, the answer is simple. We aren't paying them enough. Speech language pathologists with master's degree have many other options. Hospitals, clinic, private practices, nursing homes, contract agencies, just to name a few. All of which pay more competitively than VCS. During the last bargaining sessions, V proposed increasing the CCC stipen for speech language pathologists to help make compensation more competitive. That proposal was rejected by the district's bargaining team. If we want to recruit, retain, and grow our workforce, compensation for VCS master level clinicians must be competitive. Instead of continually investing into contract companies, it's time to invest in the clinicians who have committed the years, the financial burden, and the graduate level training to serve students in Valuchia County Schools. Thank you for

044your consideration. >> Thank you, Miss Taylor Long. Good evening, Dr. Baligan, Mr. Chair, and school board members. My name is Taylor Long, and I'm also a speech language pathologist, and I'm employed directly with Valuchia County Schools, and I serve students at Spirit Elementary and the staff. I'm asking tonight that you reject agenda item 1014, spending $1.8 million on contracted speech language pathology assistance, as this does not solve our problem. Our issue is not a shortage of assistance. We have a shortage of certified master level speech language pathologists. Right now, Valuchia County Schools is giving employees zero incentive to go to graduate school and become one. I currently make $9,25 more per year than my co-orker who is a speech language pathology assistant. Yet, I personally am over $90,000 in student loan debt. When I started

045in 2019, there was no option to work as a bachelor level speech language bachelor level speech language pathology assistant. If I had started then, if I could have earned nearly the same salary without taking on the debt and completing four semesters of unpaid externships, I would not have gone I would not have gone to grad school. Future clinicians won't either. The math just isn't mathing. We're asking people to take on years of schooling, intense clinical training, lensure, national certification, and an enormous debt for less than a $10,000 difference. That's why we're not able to recruit or retain qualified master level speech language pathologists in Valuchia County schools. Hiring more assistants is not going to fix that. SLPAS are not able to complete evaluations. They can't write a report. They can't determine eligibility for a student.

046and they require supervision from all of us master level speech language pathologists that we just don't have. If we want certified clinicians and we want people to stay, we need to make the degree worth earning. That means investing in our master level speech language pathologist pay and our certificate of clinical competence stipend and not or outsourcing the money to the contractors. Tonight, I'm asking that you please reject item 1014 and invest in your professionals who keep this district in compliance and support our speech and language students every day. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Robin Perkins. >> Hello, my name is Robin Perkins. I am a nationally certified speech language pathologist who has been with this county for over 28 years. I have worked in schools in Orand, Deltona, Dand and currently in Lake Helen.

047And I'm here to share a statement from a fellow colleague Sarah Ambrosio who is resigning in January. Good evening. I have been a speech language pathologist for 20 years with the last eight proudly serving in this district. Tonight, I share why I have made the difficult decision to leave my position. And the simple truth is the pay offered by this district is not a livable wage for a professional in my field. Despite my commitment to our students, my colleagues, and this community, I have accepted a position elsewhere. A place where I earn I will earn two and a half times what I make here. My degree allows me to work across settings. Like many SLPs before me, I've had to make a decision that supports my family's financial stability. What happened after I resigned speaks

048volumes. Within 48 hours, a contract company contacted me and offered me my exact same job at the exact same school, but at $20 more per hour than what I currently make. The situation is not unique. It is a symptom of a larger systematic issue. We are constantly underpaid, underappreciated, and overworked. Our stipens are significantly lower than those received by other professionals who complete less schooling and manage far smaller workloads. And yet, we are responsible for providing mandated services to ESC students, services that are legally required and critical to their success. I want to be clear, this is not about a lack of dedication. SLPs are deeply committed to our students, but we cannot continue to sustain the needs of a critical shortage department by while being compensated at a la level drive um at a

049level that drives qualified professionals out of our schools. When experienced SLPs leave, our students feel the impact. Case loads become unmanageable. Evaluations are delayed. Legally legally required services are harder to deliver with Fidelity. And the district spends exponentially more on contractors to fill the gaps rather than investing in retaining its own highly trained staff. I am leaving because I had no choice. But we are speaking tonight because you do. Competitive and fair compensation is not just about valuing staff. It is about protecting the services and outcomes for the children who depend on us. Sincerely, Sarah Ambrosio. And what concerns me deeply is that the district has approved $1.8 million over the next two years to pay outside contractors for speech language pathology assistance and it is a support that we absolutely need. Yet when county

050SLPs including myself asked for our stipend to be brought in line. >> Thank you so much Miss Susanna Sherkow. Good afternoon, Dr. Ballapin, Mr. Chair, and school board members. My name is Susanna Churau, and I've served at Valuchia County Schools for 13 years as a speech language pathologist. With a master's degree and over a decade of experience, I currently earn $42.52 an hour. I'm here to ask the board to increase the master level CCC stipen for Valuchia K County schools SLPs and to consider the impact of agenda 104 which proposes spending $1.8 million on contracted SLPAS over the next two years. SLPAS are valuable but they cannot replace certified SLPs. SLPs handle evaluation, IEPs, medical billing, compliance, and complex case loads, work that requires advanced training and lensure. District SLPs are also asked to supervise

051SLPAS, which adds to our workload. Hiring more SLPAS without increasing SLP support only shifts more responsibility onto the very people we are struggling to retain. Each year we lose SLPs because the pay does not match the workload, the cost of the degree, or the responsibility we carry. This year alone, we lost three long-term SLPs to the medical field, which offers higher pay, lower case loads, and less stress. Many others leave for contracting companies offering $55 to $60 an hour. I myself work a second contracting job after school at $60 an hour just to support my family. No full-time specialist should need two jobs to stay in this profession. It is also important to recognize that Valuchia County Schools SLPs provide stability institutional knowledge and loyalty. Yet the department relies on turnover instead of retention. If

052we want to stop losing SLPs, we must make compensation competitive and make graduate school attainable. Right now, the cost of earning a master's degree is enormous, and the financial return is minimal. We have talented employees who could become excellent SLPs, but they cannot afford it. We should build our own pine line by pine pipeline by rewarding those who already work for Valuchia County Schools rather than funneling more money into contract agencies. Thank you for your time. I hope you will consider the impact of agenda item 1014 and invest in the professionals who are committed to staying in Valuchia County if we are given a reason to stay. Thank you. Thank you, Joanne Strickland. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Bagabin, Mr. Chair, and members of the board. My name is Joanne Strickland, and

053I'm a speech language pathologist with Valuchia County Schools, happily serving students at Freedom Elementary in the land. Tonight, I want to highlight something very simple, but very important. The massive pay gap between what this district offers contract companies and what it offers to its own SLPs. We keep hearing that recruiting and retaining SLPs is difficult, but when you look at the numbers, it's not difficult to understand why. The district is willing to pay contract companies rates that are far higher than what the highly trained, long-erving SLPs working for VCS are paid. VCS pays contract companies between 58 and 78.90 per hour to find SLPs. To make that point more clear, I want to read out the real numbers for real SLPs working in this district. These are our employees, people who show up every day

054for our kids who take on high case loads, who serve multiple schools, stay late, complete evaluations, write reports, and manage compliance. Sab Sabrina Green, one year as an SLP, $36.58 an hour. Joanne Strickland, nine years as an SLP, three years in the district, $40.65 an hour. Alyssa Church, four years as an SLP, $405 an hour. Taylor Long, four years as an SLP, $405 an hour. Jennifer Gutler Henderson, 10 years as an SLP, $40.15 an hour. Susanna Churchcow, 13 years, 4252. Carla Wormington, 25 years as an SLP, $45.86 an hour. And Robin Perkins, 28 years experience, $48 an hour. Instead of investing in the highly trained SLPs already serving our students, consent agenda 10.14 proposes putting even more money into the pocket of contract companies. Our professionals deserve better and so do our students. Thank you

055for your consideration. >> Thank you, Miss Elizabeth Albert. 10.14. >> Good evening, chair, members of the board, superintendent Dr. Balgabin, members of the audience. Well, I if you're ever wondering about the level of professionalism and competency of your employees, you've just heard it. I'm going to finish Robin's statement for her real quick. Uh what concerns me deeply is the district is considering a proposal of $1.8 million over the next two years to pay outside contractors for speech language pathology assistance. Support we absolutely need. Yet, when county SLPs, including these fine ladies in front of you tonight, asked for our stipen to be brought in line with others in the district, we were told from members of the school board that request must come through view. I'll get back to that in a minute. We did

056so during bargaining earlier this year and the district rejected it. When I directly reached out to HR, I received no response at all. So, let's talk about let's talk about the facts here. So for the last two years, we've been through the process of bargaining working to increase stipens for not only SLPs but other itinerate professionals who are required in their job role to have advanced credentials. Um and in the last two years we have been rejected every time in 2526 our union this is the union teachers and support staff are the union. So when they come to you it you know that's that's them. They've met with some of you as well before. Uh we also uh requested case load caps uh as well rejected. So we brought these ladies to the bargaining table

057to speak directly to the members of the district bargaining team. They told similar stories and even more specifics at the bargaining table. We still get rejected. And the reason we're rejected is the claim that there is no money in the district to afford these supplements. Yet, one month after the agreement with instructional um staff was approved in this very boardroom, the board is now considering spending 1.8 million over the course of the next two years. 900,000 this year, 900,000 next year to contract outside employees who are not as highly credentialed as the employees that you have in the district right now. Let me give you some more facts. When we costed out our proposal, including additional expenses like taxes and all the things that we have to do for the purpose of bargaining, our proposal

058to increase their supplements was less than $300,000. You are looking at one-year cost that's three times as much as what our proposal that would have met their needs and retained that one employee was presented. Please consider this. prioritize the current SLPs who are doing more work than they ever have before. By uh pouring into them, you're creating a more competitive compensation package which will work to better recruit people that will stay in the district. And remember this, if you if you can think back to the workshop, one of the uh indicators that we need to improve on is in the area of employee advocacy. There are advocates in front of you right now. Please listen. >> Thank you, Miss Albert. >> You're welcome. All right, that uh closes public comment. Next item up 6.01, removal

059of items from the consent agenda. Dr. Bman, are there any items requiring removal from the consent agenda? >> Chair, I have none from my from my side. >> Wonderful. Board members, are there any items on the consent agenda that you would like removed for further discussion? Miss Brosmer >> 8.01. >> Which one? Sorry. >> 8.01. >> Okay. >> And 10.14. >> Okay. Anybody else? >> All right. Hearing none. >> Actually, um >> Yes, ma'am. Even though it was said on the thing that it was 11.02, actually it's 11.01. So, I'd like 11.01 pulled. >> All right. Would you all like those pulled for discussion or for individual vote? >> I I want to um change mine. I made a notation in the wrong place and and I actually have questions about 11.01 as well. So

060you can mark you can eliminate 8.01. >> Wonderful. So we'll eliminate 8.01. Do you want those for a separate vote or just for discussion? >> I'm fine with discussion. >> Discussion is fine. >> Discussion. Wonderful. Okay. So we will start with 10 uh14. Miss Rosmer. >> Oh 10.14. I may want a separate vote. >> You want a separate vote? Okay. We can separate that one. So, Miss Haynes, 11.01 >> for discussion. >> Can we have someone come forward because I asked questions about that myself? >> 10.14. >> No. >> 11.01, which is the job description, the few changes for the dean position. >> Okay. Um, Patty, Miss Core, who do we have here from John is out tonight. Drayton was on your phone. You need Drayton is Dr. Come up to as well. >> I

061mean I could give the answers that were given to me when I asked the questions. >> Welcome Miss Cor. >> How may I help you? >> Okay. So, a question came up during the public input piece about the few changes that are being made to the dean position where we're going to allow people that are currently working on getting their ed leadership. Um, we're going to give them a time period which they could go ahead and step into a dean position. So, the questions that I asked about that were number one, you know, what was going to happen with evaluations. And so what I was told is because they have not yet completed their ed leadership nor passed the FELY test that they would not be conducting evaluations. >> That is correct. They will not

062conduct evaluations. >> Okay. Number two, um we're doing when I asked why we were doing this at this time, what was shared with me was because as an opening may come up, um you know, it could come up in April and we need to finish out the year and we may not have someone else ready to go into that position, but this person is at the tail end and so that's why we would consider doing this. That is one reason and um I'll speak and then Dr. Drayton can as well because I know for high schools especially this is a a critical role um to keep our schools safe and many times our um high school administrators are working with employees on in their own staff that they're grooming that they know are in the

063ed leadership program. We wanted to make it very clear that this wouldn't just be for someone who's never taken a course. So these people are already in well with well into and being trained within the course uh for educational leadership. um as and Stson and some of the other uh colleges even online have a one-year program now. You can get your ed leadership in one year and they do that on Saturdays. So, they're already in the coursework. Um and then many times they have completed the coursework, but they're taking the Fly, which is the Florida Educational Leadership Exam that they have to take and pass. They will not be able to actually um evaluate employees until they've updated their certificate with DOE once they've passed all those requirements. But it doesn't mean that they couldn't

064provide a service at our schools, especially so our principles can have someone in the event. We have that going on right now um with a couple schools. It's midyear and they need a dean and they they may have someone in house who's a good fit who already knows the employees, knows the schools systems, knows the students, and it and it would just be a way for them to kind of mitigate that opening until they that person finishes. Did you want to add to that? Oh, yeah. And some of the employees have already been working with the principal and the leadership team because they're already you know um building their leadership capacity within the school and some of them are only like a month away or two months away from completing their masters and or passing

065the file. So we wanted to give them the opportunity to go ahead and get in but they would not um evaluate until their requirements were fulfilled. So then I guess one question that I didn't ask that I have is if we have um if we already have individuals that are qualified and are willing to step up and go into that position because at the same time I don't want someone pulled from somewhere in March, you know, where they're perfectly happy and placed on the other side of the district at that time. Will we consider those individuals first before we go to this level? Yes, they all go on a spreadsheet and we conduct interviews and so the principal selection process and then they'll be selected from there. >> Okay. I think the final question that

066was asked was what happens if say we put someone in a spot in March or April and they maybe have finished the ed leadership but not pass the feel yet. what happens at the end of the school year if they don't pass the feely >> and or I'm not worried about the I'm really not worried about the master's courses because they're going to finish that comes down to that feel. So if they don't pass the feely what happens >> uh candidates not yet certified in ed leadership may be considered for an interim appointment for the remainder of the current school year or until all certification requirements are met whichever occurs first. So by the end of the school year, they would revert back to a teaching position or, you know, they would work with their

067principal and then if they pass over the summer and the position still available, they could apply or at that point once they've added to their c to their certificate, they're back in the pipeline. >> Thank you, Miss Brer. >> Thank you. That answered most of my questions. I guess uh the only thing I'm looking for is whether there's um a stipulated uh guard rail that says this is intended for those who are almost finished uh so that so that it doesn't become discretionary and and you get to put somebody in who's two months in. >> Yep. Thank you for asking. So it is a second bullet, master degree in educational leadership or active enrollment in an approved master's program in ed leadership with evidence of ongoing coursework. So the principal and and Dr. Drayton's team

068will be monitoring that >> and they have to submit their courses to show that they're actively in the courses. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions? All right. So let's get back to my script here. So we are going to go ahead and vote on the consent agenda. >> I I still have one >> with the exception of 10.14. This one will take on its own. >> I'm sorry. Thank you. >> Oh, you're good. Uh, and so, uh, do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda minus 10.14, which will take up on its own? >> I make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented with the exception of 10.14. >> We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> I'll second that motion. >> I'll take the

069second from Miss Thompson. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed, please say nay. >> All right. Next item we'll take up is going to be uh 10.14 and Miss Brosmer. >> Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Um I am not comfortable um with this on the consent agenda. I feel like this is a subject that requires a little more conversation among the board. Um the I I think some of the um some of the comments that were made tonight and and some of the questions I've I've pursued on my own uh suggest that I need more information u to understand why we're contracting so much of that service. Um, and so I'm I was trying to think how to invoke my training from um from the the

070conference on on Robert's rules. And I think I'm supposed to ask for this to be postponed as opposed to tabled um so that we could have u more of a conversation um as as an action item u or workshopped and then an action item. But I would just like to have more information before we before we vote on it. >> Okay. Were you did you have the opportunity to meet on one-on-one with the staff on >> I did? I did not. I did. Another thing that made me uneasy was um the agenda change the change to the agenda item itself that wasn't it came in late and it it wasn't I don't think available to >> this one was on from the get- go. No worries. >> No, no. Um there there was an email

071um explaining the the changes that applied to this. >> No, that was from bus horizon. >> I'm pretty I'm pretty sure it's on this one. >> Clarification. >> Is there a clarification? >> No worries. So there's a motion to table to postpone this discussion and so uh made by Mrs. Brosmer. Do we have a second? >> It's 10.06. >> Right. Hearing hearing >> if we have a second. Does that do we I want to discuss it. >> We can have discussion either way. >> Okay. >> Do we have a second for Miss Bros's motion to postpone this. >> All right. Hearing none. That fails for lack of a second. So we'll continue with discussion of 10.14. Uh Miss Brosmer, what are your concerns? If uh Dr. B, if we can have someone who can assist

072with that. >> Uh Miss Copelan, can you join us, please? And who? >> Oh, Miss >> Yeah. Yeah. Miss please come on up. >> Go ahead and ask your questions. >> Yes, ma'am. I I think the the concerns that have been raised are uh deserve some attention about the discrepancy between um the the pay rate that goes to contract um to the contractors uh as opposed to the pay scale here and the workloads the related workloads and and why we are making no changes to what we do here. Um but those that's a pretty hefty contract amount. Uh so I'd like to understand what the rationale is for the way we're approaching it. So um in June the board approved our all of our therapy services what was neglected in the propos in the contract

073from June was listing the speech language speech language pathologist assistance. So this agenda item is not asking for new money. It is using the money from the contract in June in order to pay our speech language pathologist assistance. We only have eight in the district currently. This is also a piggyback contract. So, we are piggybacking off of another county. Not that Valuchia County would ever spend that amount of money over the two years on SLPAS because currently we have eight. And as our speech language pathologist mentioned, they have to be under the supervision of an SLP. And so we can't have more than the number that we have now because we don't have the amount of SLPs to supervise an SLPA. >> And why do we not have more SLPs? >> I mean is there

074a >> national shortage? Um >> especially in education because we are competing against healthcare and it's it's real. Well, why do contractors have have >> contractors struggle? Contractors struggle to get SLPs just like we struggle to get SLPs. And so we have had vacancies in previous years. And we work with almost 10 contract companies. And so it's not that um everybody is struggling because obviously there is higher pay rates at other places. And like they spoke about this evening, their credentials allow them to work in many places other than schools which pay higher rates. And so the speech language pathologist that sent her um her statement this evening, she is moving to a hospital. What needs to be changed aside from pay? I I'm trying to get my arms around um some of the impediments

075to our hiring hiring. So um are there are there uh state restrictions that make it um unnecessarily complicated? Are um may I interject here because I have a question that pertains to that as well. Um is there a state requirement that they have to have a mast's because it sounds like the cost of the masters is very cumbersome on them. >> Yes. to be in a speech language pathologist. >> That's a state requirement. >> That yes, >> licensing. >> That's a licensing requirement. >> Mast's plus license licensing. >> Yes. So, our SOPAs are only bachelor's level. And so, the ladies that spoke to you this evening, they have their master's degree and they have participated in extensive internships in order to retain their credentials. >> Hold on. I want to make sure I heard that

076correctly. So, everyone that spoke this evening only has a bachelor's degree? Oh, they have masters. Okay. Cuz I thought I heard master's degrees. >> Yes, they have master's degree. >> PAS have the bachelors. >> Correct. >> Okay. All right. >> All right. So, just to maintain the order, Miss Goodrich, are do you want to give up the floor or do you still have questions? Just to maintain the order. >> We can come back around. >> I'm trying to decide. Um I I am done with my questions for tonight, but I will not support the the agenda item. >> Thank you. Uh, Miss Goodrich. >> Okay. So, one of my questions was the master's degree, but what we're talking about this contract being a piggyback contract on another county, Seinal, I believe. >> Yes, it is

077piggyback on seminal. >> Um, and so, we're hiring for people that have their bachelor's degrees. >> Correct. We have hired eight. >> Okay. And the the pay that was brought up up to $79 an hour, is that the pay that's going directly to the um person we hire or is that what we're paying the head hunter? >> That's what we're paying the contract company. >> The head hunter. Okay. The contract company, whatever. Okay. Um because that is a difference, right? So the people that are getting hired are not getting $79 now. >> Correct. >> Benefits. All of those. >> That was my next question. Are the people that are getting hired um receiving um benefits? Do they get to participate in the retirement plan? not with us. >> Okay. >> Um I'll also mention with

078the piggyback, we don't have the ability to negotiate those rates and as Miss Copelan was saying in the June aboard approved item, our contract, we went out and bid. It did not include SLPAS. So from an audit perspective, this is getting us in compliance to use those same vendors, but under this seminal piggyback till we can either issue our own, but chances are we're going to see these same rates come in if not higher since this was done some time ago. >> And just to confirm, so SLPs are a bar are in bargaining, >> correct? >> Okay. So, and we've already closed out bargaining. So I and just to share my thoughts here. I'm going to be a yes vote on this, but I want to commend you as boss ladies for standing up for

079yourself and your profession and I think you should continue to do so because I think there's room here. Um I think it's too late at this moment to fix it for this past bargaining session, right? Um but I do hear you and I think we need to continue the conversations, but I don't think stopping this today will fix the immediate need of what we have. And so that's why I'm I want you to understand why I'm going to be a yes vote. >> Thank you. Uh Miss Haynes is next on the speaker board. >> Okay. So, um you touched on a few of the questions or that I needed. So, I want to ask a few things tonight. So, when um and I appreciate the person that collected the information and read off the per

080hour, but my question is, is that per hour? That's their base pay per hour. So because most of what I heard, okay, and what I know is was it it was either two or three years ago there was anou done and it was done without any board approval for $1 million. Board was not involved in it at all, but yet a $1 million expenditure was written up in anou. And in thatou it said we're going out and we're going to raise and we were raising psychologist SLPs all of these different groups. Okay. And the reason was well if we go ahead and pay them more then we will be a because we already had a contract where we were contracting for the positions that were open but then in January it's like well now if

081we add another million but we do the million through a stipend or a supplement then we'll be able to miraculously fill all the positions. Well here we are and we're we we've done the extra supplemental money. It's happening every year, but we're still doing a contract for positions because we didn't fill all the positions. And Miss Copelan was not involved in that. She's sitting here and she was not involved in that decision when it was made and that it didn't come before the board for even any approval. But listening tonight, and I'm going to start with the group. So, anybody above five got a retention supplement in addition to their base pay. Anybody 11 or higher, which that was some of the numbers, also got a longevity supplement above their base pay. Then every one

082of them sitting here tonight got the master's degree supplement or higher, depending on if you've even done additional coursework. And then you get the special program supplement. So, here's my thing. You have to take all of those amounts to talk to me about what your hourly rate of pay is, not the base rate of pay. Because when you remember when they sent us out the little calculator formula thing where anyone could plug in, you know, I asked people, plug it in and tell me what you're getting. And so the thing of it is this is this is part of the story, not all of the story. And I need all of the story. So I need to see the story on what is a 15-year SLP making when you take the whole thing into picture.

083You know, we've been talking about this. Then in addition to that, above that, which everybody's getting, there's the benefit packages. All right? which if you choose not to take it, that is your choice. There's the F FRS where the district's paying in 14.03% to your F FRS. So, you're getting a retirement piece. There is the thing of looking at the number of days that you work. And trust me, every teacher out there, every SLP, school psychologist, social worker, every one of these individuals that is attached to a school and on a school-based site, they're working hard every day. And every I don't know a single one of them that on a day doesn't give more than what their hours are that they're allocated. But at the same time, we're with children 180 days face to

084face and an additional 16 days of that which takes them to 196. Although some of some of all those groups of people will choose to work summer programs also, which means you don't have any benefits or anything taken out. you get your hourly rate of pay and into your thing which is a lot of which is a lot of additional money. So I want the whole picture before we you know now here's the thing I'm for yes we have to move forward on this tonight and we're not going to spend that amount of money. It's eight people okay it's eight people that got left out in June that are not getting that piece of the supplement. It's eight SLPAS is my understanding. Correct. Thank you. >> That got left out of the June thing. So,

085I'm going to move this piece forward tonight. But what I have learned so far in the process where we've been left out at times and all that is we're not we still haven't corrected the issue of what is happening but we need to have the whole story of what is happening because I'm going to ask you Mr. Cologne. So if one of them choose to come work at the hospital you just give them a flat rate pay. you don't have longevity, retention, um, special degrees, advanced degrees, special programs, right? I mean, it's in education because there's 20ome laws that we have to follow from the state that I don't agree with that impact teachers that we have to figure out the way around in order to pay them. So, >> I will be supporting this

086tonight, but I want if we're going to talk about it, I want the whole entire picture presented because thatou didn't get us to where we, you know, it was promised we'll save money. No, we didn't save money. We're spending double the money now. >> Thank you so much, Miss Brosmer. >> Just one more question. And, uh, something you said uh, kind of made it pop into my head. U,, this is a two-year contract. Is it if something miraculous happened and we were able to address this ourselves without this contract, is it something that could be terminated? >> We could bring it back to the board if we fully wanted to terminate the piggyback contract, but this is an internal decision on how much we spend. It's not a guarantee of what we will pay to

087the vendors. >> Okay. Um, thank you. I completely agree with what Mrs. Hayne said. Um, Mrs. Goodrich brought up a lot of the questions that I had and so they've been answered. Um, none of it changes my my approach to this, but in particular for the reason that Mrs. Haynes mentioned that I I think there's a fuller picture that needs to be that that needs to be discussed at at some point maybe before our next budget hearing. >> Thank you. Uh, and so one of the things that stuck out to me with many of the speakers today, and as you all know, I'm from healthcare. I've worked with agency my entire life. My entire life we've worked with agency in the hospital. Used to it. And one of the things that you heard them say

088over and over tonight was, "We need these folks." Do we agree? That was said repeatedly. We need these folks. Why? Because there are students who are not being served. It was mentioned by one of the speakers. There was a transition in the state and correct me if I'm wrong, maybe I misread this. There was a transition in the state that used to require M's level, right? So when you started it, you had to have a masters. And I tell you, speech pathologists, near and dear to my heart, respiratory therapist, we work very closely. Okay? Speech pathologists are some of the smartest people in the hospital. They go to school for a long time. They do a lot of hours in addition to their uh licensing and everything that they have to do. What's in question

089here is is the the master's part, all those hours, all that practicum. But somewhere in there, the state changed the requirements. Is that what I understood? Where a bachelor's person can actually serve a patient or student. Did I misunderstand that? >> As an assistant. >> Right. So did assistance exist 10 years ago >> exist when I was going to schoolor >> and so Valuchia County didn't accept that certificate but as you heard them say the need is there. I won't forget I had I was just recently at an event and I had a family member a family a gentleman walk up to me and said, "Mr. Cologne, we absolutely love you. We just wish our child with autism had a speech therapist at this school." Now, I'll be quite honest with you. I thought he

090was exaggerating. I said, you know, maybe there's not enough speech services. maybe he's not coded into receive the amount of services the parent thought the student should receive. And I later found out there was no speech therapist at this particular school from the start of the school year. They weren't exaggerating. And so we have how many vacancies right now? >> Zero >> in speech therap speech therapy zero >> today. Zero. So, we have filled all of our spots. If the agency could find a speech pathologist, if we could hire one. Okay. Do we have position? We don't have any positions available right now. >> We won't have one until January. We will have one in January. >> We will have one in January. So, there is a national shortage. Yes. No, ladies. National shortage of

091speech therapists in America, especially in the envir in the schools. there is and it's because they don't work as much at the hospital. Yeah, you can go to the hospital and make double the money, but you're also working twice the time, if not more. So, it's it's very complex. It really is. I think that from an agency standpoint, yes, I have worked with nurses who had therapists who were making twice as much as I were coming from somewhere else who had half the idea what they were doing, but they helped us because we needed them. Otherwise, we wouldn't have anybody to take care of patients. Here we're talking about eight folks. Eight. Because there's a limitation on how many they can be overseen. to help serve students if and we heard them. They said we

092need these folks. So big picture-wise, I think there is opportunity and I think I'm open to the conversation. Will agency always make more than than staff? Always. Always. Always. That's you all get phone calls. You get recruited. You get I get them. I get them from other hospitals saying, "Hey, come work for us. We have a $10,000 I get them from our same hospital saying, "Come work in Colorado. We'll give you an extra $15,000 sign on bonus if you want to work night shifts and four shifts, four 12-hour shifts a week. Go to go. It it it is it is a lot of money. There's a lot of money to be made in those instable jobs that don't provide the stability. They don't provide the benefits. They don't provide the retirement. They don't provide any

093of that. So the conversations that I've had with Miss Copelan and with Dr. B is a few things. Number one, our job is to serve students. And we need to find a way number one to serve students. And I think that until we're the market becomes abundant for speech language pathologists, which that want to work in schools, that's difficult, right? I see eyebrows over there. You know, that's going to be difficult. So, we're going to be faced with making tough decisions like this. I think that there should be an opportunity for our own speech pathologists to be able to pick up extra. If you want to leave the elementary school and go finish off the day at the middle school or the high school, you should be able to do that at a higher rate.

094I would even say somewhat competitive with what we're paying the agency or at least something a little bit more lucrative. Let's and I don't know what that looks like because yes, I'd rather have a speech language pathologist serving our students, but what I know is that there's a only a finite number. And so I'd also like to see and in in in the case of the the one school that I mentioned, you know, do any of them want to serve on the weekend or the evening? Speech pathology. One of the things that's really uh interesting is how teleaalth has taken off with speech pathologists. Now, how that works, I'm not sure. My own kids benefited from a speech pathologist. And I know that having that person there to say, "Put your tongue up or put

095your tongue down or sideways or whatever the case may be to get that letter to come out correctly." Okay, it was valuable. And so I'm not sure how that works, but if we could provide those ser if our own folks can help fill the gaps, then they should have the opportunity to do so. And I'm grateful for those who even in the short period thankfully they did find a speech pathologist for that school. Uh but we do have a lot of minutes that we still need to provide. And so I'm hoping that uh we will give that opportunity to our folks potentially to do that as well. So again it's a very very very complicated situation. Um could it be addressed throughou? It can. I while I think there is opportunity to improve that I

096don't know that improving the pay is going to improve the uh stretch of how much more services we can provide because there are only a finite number of speech path how many speech pathologists do we have right now? 97 >> 97. So there's only so many. And so unless you have a good group of that 97 that's willing to do a little bit more for compensation, of course, um I I don't know that we're ever going to close that gap to be able to serve all of the students and decrease that reliance on the there's just not enough hours in the day. So it's very complex. I am definitely open to hearing any proposals that will serve our students more because I don't know that, you know, if if we took, as Miss Hayne said,

097if you took the $42 an hour and you added FRS and you added because the hospital doesn't add FRS. The hospital don't you put your percentage and they give you a small percentage until you've been there 23 years and then you get 7%. you know, health insurance. Health insurance is $397 for a family every two weeks. Um, you know, there there is no stipens or no, your pay rate to your pay rate. That's it. And so I I think there's opportunity to look at it holistically and see how we compare to other school districts. We can't compare ourselves to the hospital. We can't The hospital wants to make I mean, I work in the hospital. You could there are some years you could work 90 hours a week. I could tell you I made this

098much money but I didn't not going to tell you I worked 90 hours a week because you could in the hospital you know you could work every night if you wanted to. You can work at two hospitals and so it it's just very complicated. I am hoping Dr. B that maybe our HR could take a better look at this. I noticed Miss Albert, you mentioned we wanted we we proposed stipen increases for these professions. No, I want to talk about speech language pathologists because the broad statement of to these professions that includes everybody. And so where is our shortage? Our shortage today that we're talking about today and I'm not saying that there aren't in any of the other groups. I can even tell you how many other groups are in that conversation. I don't

099know them all off the top of my head. I'm sure if Miss Workman was here, she definitely could. I don't know who those groups are, but I want to talk about speech language pathologists and what we can do to improve the working conditions that will allow us to be able to serve our students. If it's not in the interest of being able to serve all of our students the way that we're supposed to, then the we're not accomplishing anything because as Miss Hayne said, we're going to be here year after year. If we can't get more speech therapists, every single year it's going to be the same drum. And mind you, this is a national problem. This is not just Valuchia County. This is every county. Why does Semino County have the same contract? Because

100they're having the same issues. You know, Flaggler, I mean, if you go look, it's everywhere. And so, and and it's a shortage. It's a shortage in healthcare. It's a shortage because of the amount of hours that they work with us. You know, you can go to a hospital 40 hours a week to 2080 a year or you what's it here 1470. So very complicated. Uh however, with that being said, I will not be supporting this which should be of no surprise. I uh have issue and uh with this as I've been asking all along for non-compete. I think that if you in health care, if you work for an agency and a employer wants to hire an employee from that agency, they have to pay bokeu bucks. You want an amazing therapist, you have to

101pay 10 $15,000 to the agency to hire that therapist. Otherwise, they have to go work 50 miles away or more. I don't like the idea that there is a clause in there is no clause in here, and mind you, this is a piggyback. There is no clause in this contract that will prohibit them from hiring our own employees which by the way how many times has that happened >> that we've lost to a contract I have >> has come back and worked for us in recent >> that we've lost to a contract >> right so they have recruited >> I'm not employ I'm not aware of anybody that we've lost to a contract company we've lost people to the hospital >> but I'm saying that have come back to work here >> I'm not aware

102>> okay so again that was brought up But I still think that should be in there. I don't want to be their recruiting grounds and so um it's a no surprise and this is something that I have previously discussed with the superintendent as well. So that's the reason why I'm not supporting this tonight because I think that's very important uh in a contract. So uh with that being said, any other Miss Haynes? I just wanted to add that part of why years ago they had to be an SLP is because you know how we have all the different ESE programs. At one time we had a self-contained speech and language ESSE program. So when children entered at the age of three, if they didn't speak at all or they had a lot of difficulty speaking,

103they went straight in to after assessments into a self-contained speech and language classroom where it required an SLP to deliver those services because they were in that classroom all day long with that person. And so at that point, you couldn't have an SLPA teaching a classroom of students that their primary disabilities were in speech and language. But we've moved away from that model and we no longer support that model in Valuch County. I have my own feelings on that. It actually was a model that worked very well, but it's we no longer support it. And so that's why they were able to open it up. Just the same as with our school counselors. When we went and talked to DOE and said, "We've got people ready to be a school counselor. They just need their

104internship hours and we paired them with a school counselor and they got to go ahead and move into that position until they finished up their intern. It's the same thing I'm looking for for the for our u mental health because our mental health have to have like 1,400 hours and in order to get their mental health certification and we need to be able to allow the state to relax that so that they could come in the same way and be mentored by a mental health therapist otherwise we're not going to grow that program either. So but that's what happened with the SLPA. >> Thank you Miss Thompson. I I feel I have to talk now because everyone's explained they're raising. Everyone brought up great questions, great points. Um, a couple of things. I went to

105school in Valition County Schools as all of you all know and I was in speech therapy for two solid years. I mean, multiple times a week. Um, and so where I'm at right now on this, I'm going to vote in favor so that no child misses out on something because if I had missed out on even a day, I mean, I it's remarkable what was done there. Um, however, I think when we come back from the winter break, I don't think it's ever too early to start figuring out bargaining. I don't think it's too early to have the conversations on what does it look like specifically for speech language pathologists. I think when we get to the bargaining table and things, it's kind of everything's thrown on there and we're trying to get through it

106because we want everyone to get paid, you know, early as early as possible. And so, I think we should really dive into it, break it down, see what can happen and also take it to the state. haven't had a lot of luck there asking them for more money, but I just I agree that we need to work on this more. I think we should work on in preparation for the next bargaining session. Um, but I don't want to see any kids left out because of the decisions that we may or may not make tonight. So, that's where I am. I will be voting in favor of it. >> Thank you so much. Anybody else? All right. Hearing none, do we have a motion on item 10.14? I make a motion to approve um item 10.14.

107>> Motion's been made by Miss Haynes. Do we have a second? >> I'll second this motion. >> All right. Uh any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say nay. Nay. It passes three to two. Thank you. >> Roll call. >> Yes. >> All right. So, uh Miss Thompson, >> yay. Miss Haynes, >> yay. >> Cologne, nay. >> Yay. No. >> All right. And so again, the motion passes 3 to2. Thank you so much. We will take a 10-minute break. We will start promptly at 6:26. All right, we will go ahead and resume our meeting. We're going to go right into public comment. Uh, first card, Miss Michella Rodriguez. Michaela, sorry I don't have my glasses on. Welcome. >> Thank you. Um, good evening, Mr. Chair

108and board members. My name is Michaela Rodriguez and I'm a new hired to the district this year um in the ESC department. I served in two districts, one just as large as Valuchia County. And I stand before you this evening to highlight several practices in the district that are not only working but are directly impacting student progress, teacher growth, and long-term retention in ESC. First, I want to acknowledge the mentorship for new hires. Starting in a new district can be extremely overwhelming. Um, but having structured guidance and quick access to answers and someone to walk alongside me has been a huge difference. This level of mentorship reduces burnout and ensures that high quality support reaches teachers and students from day one. Second, the wealth of knowledge within our ESSE support staff is remarkable. From teachers

109on assignments to coordinators to upper leadership, the collective expertise is both deep and accessible. Their collaboration ensures that teachers never feel alone in navigating the complexity of student needs and instructional decisions. This culture of support is one of the strongest that I've been a part of. Another major strength is a district's commitment to specially designed instruction, especially in literacy. We are intentionally targeting reading deficits with evidence-based strategies and curriculum aligned to the science of reading. As a result, we're seeing real gains, especially amongst our students in the lowest cortile. I also want to highlight the ESE's department's strong commitment to professional development. Teachers and pair professionals are offered training that deepens instructional practices and builds capacity and confidence. Just as important, our school leaders actively support the teachers and parents attending their sessions. So, that's

110super important. This alignment between district training and school level support strengthens classroom practices and helps retain educators. As someone who's worked in a large district and who has seen a wide range of systems, I want to affirm that the district's ESSE department is doing many things exceptionally well. The mentorship structure, the depth of expertise in ESSE, targeted instruction, and meaningful professional development all contribute to student growth and teacher retention. So, I just want to take this moment to thank you all for your continued commitment to doing what is best for our students, our families, and our educators. It is an honor to be part of this district, and I thank you for your time tonight, and happy holidays. >> Thank you. >> Where do you teach at? >> Joanne, >> where where do you teach

111at? >> Oh, I So, I'm a teacher on assignment, so I support four schools on the program ESC teachers. >> Got to give them all kudos. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you, Joanne Strickland. Thank you for hearing me again and I'm sorry I had to write this quickly. Okay. So, I just wanted to um address the board and address a few of the concerns that were said earlier. I do thank you for your deliberation and thoughtful discussion of agenda item 10.14. I would like to add some additional clarification from an SLP who has worked in various settings. I also came from the hospital system. I finally resigned from Advent Health earlier in this year after working in healthcare for eight years. As an inpatient rehab SLP, I did make an annual pay higher than

112I make now. Um, however, I did work full-time. I worked all year long. That being said, however, my workload was not nearly as heavy as it is now. I saw patients onetoone for six hours a day. That was a 75 product 75% productivity rate. and that was between six and 12 patients per day. I finished all of my notes and evaluations and work as I was given ample time for documentation. Planning did not take a chunk of my time as my case load was quite small. I had no need ability, as you know, to take work home. When I punched the clock, my work was done and I honestly didn't really think about it outside of working at the hospital. Although I loved my job. Now that I'm in the schools, I still love my

113job. I would say that I love it more. I do. Um, but I now take work home nightly. Like all SLPs and teachers, I make lesson plans for my students daily. I spend my hard-earned money on materials to support their learning. I spent hours completing evaluations and writing them. Now I volunteer for extracurriculars. I was never involved in the hospital. I just volunteered to run the spelling bee. I did the trunk or treat. Um, I work for I'm a view steward. I do all these extra things. And yes, I do pick up afterchool Valuchia County stewards or stewards students for um compensatory services for less than $35 an hour. And that really quickly brings me to what um Miss Haynes said. I believe someone else is going to address it, but the prices that I

114quoted, the hourly rates that I quoted, that does include our base pay, our um CCC supplement, which is our certificate of clinical competence, and that includes our master supplement. So, my base pay is $34 and some change as a as an SLP. Um, but I do make $40 with all of my supplements. So, again, I do thank you guys for your time and your consideration and um just wanted to give you a little more clarification. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, Miss Elizabeth Albert. >> Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Superintendent Dr. Balgabin. Uh I too would like to provide some clarifications based on statements that were made after the uh SLPs came up and spoke to before. Uh first of all, there were several references to additional money outside of base

115rate of pay that w that is provided to the folks that are here tonight. Advanced degrees, retention, longevity, but I do want to point out that any eligible instructional bargaining unit member is afforded those things as well. Um, I want to talk about very quickly the fact that SLPs, not SLPAs, but SLPs are required to have uh ex additional credentiing that they actually have to pay for every year for a certain set of them. $250 a year to ASHA, which is a requirement to maintain their three C's, which allows them to stay in the job role. And then every two years they're spending $280 to the health department. And then there's an additional cost that I don't have the exact value on that they have to pay to the state. So it costs them money

116to maintain their credentials to be able to do the work for this district. And I really I'm absolutely confident that I misunderstood what was being discussed from certain members of the board. um when we're inferring that based on all that we're providing for our employees, particularly SLPs, that it is um a highly competitive rate of pay based on what we're seeing in other areas because it is not. I also want to make sure that I misunderstood what was being said when the reference to taking on additional work was made. So now we're suggesting that we not only work to complete the job that we've been hired to do, but now we take on a second job to supplement our income. Absolutely. I must have heard that incorrectly. Um, one job should be enough. Uh, and

117the in a nutshell at any time during the given year if this board or district leadership decides that they want to enter into a conversation about providing more for highly credentialed employees who the carrot is being dangled in front of them almost on a daily basis to leave this district and leave our students. I would love to engage in that conversation with you because it can be done. Um, we're continuously providing less and expecting more and that has got to stop. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Dominic Freeman. >> Welcome. >> Hello. Thank you. Um, I'm honored to be here with all of you. Uh, I will give a quick introduction myself. My name is Dominic Freeman. I work at Halifax Port Orange. Uh I am a uh a host or a clerk in some

118other words. I give patients their their food. I take their orders. I provide whatever I can do what's best for them. Uh before I worked uh a dietary or dietitian, I used to be in a school program called Project Search after my high school graduation in New Simra. Uh to be honest, without Project Search, I wouldn't I didn't know what to do or what kind of job I wanted to be. It wasn't easy. I didn't know what an interview was. I didn't know what resume was. It was difficult. It was hard. But with my uh my teachers and some of my friends, I was able to pull through and got myself a pretty neat job. An awesome one. A great one. good co-workers, great people, great smiles. That's what I love to do. I love

119to help people in any way I can. Now, at the first day that I started working for Halifax is the day that my supervisor started. It was a rough patch. I won't I won't lie. It was rough at first, but with her help and the others, I was able to climb my way up to the top being an elite, a leader for my co-workers. Well, not a a great leader, but in somewhat in some way so I can help train other clerks in the way I've been trained. So, I thank my my teachers, the Project Search, I thank my family, I thank my co-workers, I thank my supervisor, I thank everyone. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Taylor Long. Um, I just want to say congratulations. is super awesome and coming from, you know, doing

120what we do in this county, you know, that is a great example. So, first I just want to set some of the rest record straight. Um, you kind of convinced me to go to the to go to the hospital a little bit. Kidding because then I wouldn't have the opportunity um to help that kid lift their tongue for their sounds. I wouldn't be able to program that AAD AAC device. Um, and I wouldn't be able to have the opportunity to work in our hospitals with some of our project search kids. Um, I also just wanted to say that out of the 97 um, employees that Miss Copeland had mentioned, the stipen increase would only affect 46 of us because that's how many are master level CCC's. So, yes, while we have 97, there's only 46

121that it would actually affect. Um, Mr. Cologne, you said that picking up extra would be great, it's not offered to us. Um, I get my base pay when I work in the summers for summer school and it's $33 an hour. my stipens not included for my masters or my C's. Um, Pineriidge is the this uh school that you mentioned. And just so it's clear, it's being covered by our mentors who are already hired by the district. So, while we said that we have no vacancies, Pineriidge is still a vacancy. It's being covered by our mentors who are now not able to go supervise or have to split their time with our SLPAS. Um um if you want the full story, please answer our emails that we send to have these conversations. Um and lastly, we

122are behind. Uh Miss Thompson mentioned it and I know Miss Goodrich, you just mentioned it to us. We're still behind. We're making up 22 23 school year. We're making up 23 24 school year and now I'm making up I will be making up 25 26 school year because I'm having to do it during the day. So our students this year they're not being seen. Um thank you. Please stop pushing the issues though. Meet with us to find a solution. Um, and stop saying it's complicated. It is complicated, but we're willing to work to find a solution. Thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank you. And Dell Collins. >> Hello. My name is Dale Collins. I am um actually Dominic Freeman's supervisor. Um I work for Halifax Health in Port Orange. Um I've been there for three years.

123We've been there together. Um, I've worked with several of the Project Search students. Um, I've hired three myself. Um, and um, the program is definitely needed. Um, it it it showed me and taught me patience. I've been in food service for over 20 years and um, I've never dealt with um, students of the stature that I have. Um, and not only has it grown me, but it's also shown me what I can do with the students. Um, Dominic, he's a prime example of the poster child of Project Search. Um he started he was definitely very timid you know and we had bouts we had round for round but I can tell you that Dominic now is one of one the only I'll say this he's one of the only um project search student that I

124can say that has excelled and went above and beyond. He is now my team leader and the trainer over all of my clerks that I hire when I when they come in for a new job. Um, not only do I have Dominic, I also have um a couple of more Project Search students that I've hired, but I just wanted to shed the light on the program. The program is excellent. We need to keep it around. Um, I knew nothing about it until I got here and I moved to Florida and, you know, I started my dealings with Christian and you know, me and her hat bounced about too. But we've learned that, you know, there is there's things that we have to do for other people. We can't just think about ourselves. We have to

125think about the people that needs us most. Um, and I just want to continue to keep this program going. If I could do something with Valuchia County, um, with the children, I'm more than willing and able to and just, you know, continue to keep this program going. And thank you all for your time. >> Thank you. All right. Next board item is 17.01 01 value adjustment board citizen member for the remainder of 2025. Dr. Evans. >> Yes. We would like to ask recommend to this board >> into the microphone. >> Yes. Chair, members of the board, we would like to recommend that Danny Allen who is the owner of Discount Propane to serve for the remainder of 2025 on the value adjustment board. He will serve as the citizen member if this board approves such.

126or you've heard the recommendation. Is this Betty yet superintendent? >> Yeah. Uh chair, I would recommend that the appointment of Danny Allen as Valuchia County School citizen member to serve on the value adjusted board for the remainder of the 2025 tax year. >> Forward. You've heard the recommendation of the superintendent. Do we have a motion? >> I make a motion that we approve Danny Allen to serve on the Valuchia adjust the value adjustment board. >> Do we have a second? >> I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second. Do we have any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Right. The motion passes. 17.02 ratification of proposed collective bargaining agreement with the United Educators for support staff fiscal year 2025 presented by >> Miss

127Patt. Miss Baddy, chief operating officer slashcrew >> and Mr. Andrew Leenbach, our uh staff attorney. And I see that we also have Miss Elizabeth Albert, our view president. >> Come on up. Welcome. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. So, we are bringing before you um item 17.02. This is the ratification of the proposed collective bargaining agreement with voluited educators for support staff for the fiscal year of 2025 2026. Um some of the highlights that we have reached in negotiations uh are a 2% raise, a 1% stipened and paid bereavement leave for our staff. >> And you would like to thank the members of your bargaining? >> I absolutely would like to thank the members of our bargaining team as well as the as well as view uh for meeting. We had many many conversations at

128the table, but it was wonderful for all of us to come together, be able to finally um reach an agreement on both sides. >> Thank you, Miss Albert. I'm sure you've got some, >> you know, I love a microphone. >> Start the clock, please. No, I'm kidding. >> No, I I too want to thank uh the the teams uh particularly our uh support staff, bargaining team, and all of the support staff and community members that came out to the individual bargaining sessions to participate. uh really made a difference. I mentioned the last time I was here that we're doing things differently now. Uh and it it's really uh turning out in a positive way. Uh the agreement is what the agreement is. We were also able to uh do some uh some very important things

129hopefully that will put us in a good place in the future uh with the job description committee that is going to come back around somewhat like a reclassification, making sure that job roles match expectations, things like that. Um, and so we are um excited to bring this to you tonight. We'd like to get it across the table so we can get people paid. >> Great. Thank you. Uh, Miss Haynes, I know you have a question. >> Oh, I want it across the table and I want people paid. >> Wonderful. >> Empico. >> So, she usually will ask when >> I have I have that information. >> I already asked it. So, my understanding is it's the 1%. Yes. So, the 1% will be paid on a separate pay pay run on the 17th along with

130the instructional retention and then there's another item that's going to be discussed in a moment, but that is a separate payun. All office specialists and pair professionals in the district will receive that wonder. >> I asked the last one just to be clear. >> Very good. And so, superintendent, do you have a recommendation? >> Yes, chair. I recommend ratification by the school board of the negotiated and proposed collective bargaining agreement with Valuchia United Educators to support for support staff effective July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2026. >> Board, you've heard the recommendation of the superintendent. Do we have a motion? >> I make a motion. >> Second we approve this >> and get people paid. >> We have a motion by Mrs. Haynes. Do we have a second? >> Second by Miss Bros. Any further

131discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed say nay. And so we will move to the ceremonial signing session. Dr. B. >> Thank you all. That's very, very appreciated. Thank you. >> Go sign. Anything is possible. Okay, thank you. >> Thank you so much for that. Next item on the agenda is 17.03 stipen for all non-bargaining employees. I'll just sit back down. We are bringing before you 17.03. Uh this is a 1% stipen for the trades and services professionals u segment of view which is their new bargaining unit. And so this will in the same way as we did the 1% stipen for the others. This will cover >> this is >> I'll explain. >> Yeah. So, so prior to us winning the perk election, these individuals were considered

132non-bargaining. So, when the board made the decision to provide the 2% increase, you know, it was given to them at that time. Now that they are a part of you, uh, we have we negotiate on their behalf obviously. So we entered into anou with the district to provide the 1% stipen that we just presented to this group and also non it's my understanding non-bargaining is also getting it as well but I'm here to represent TSPs trades and service professionals. >> Wonderful. So >> I apologize. Yes, non-bargaining as well. while I was very focused on view uh given our last negotiation. But yes, this will also cover the non-bargaining as has been the district's practice for many years, which is to cover all of our employees such as the 1% stipen. >> Great. Thank you. Any

133questions? Board me superintendent, do you have a recommendation? >> Yes, Chair Cologne. I recommend approval of a 1% non-reoccurring stipen for all non-bargaining employees for the 2025-2026 school year. Thank you. Do we have any public comment cards for this? I didn't ask. We don't. Okay. Wonderful. Uh board, you've heard the recommendation of the superintendent. Do we have a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> We have a motion that was made by Mrs. Ms. Goodrich and seconded by Mrs. Haynes. >> Uh any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed say nay. Motion passes. >> Side note, this is also being paid on the 17th. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Wonderful. Very good. Thank you so much, uh, Miss C. >> And thank you. And please, um,

134send as much support and love to the payroll department because they are running, um, both December checks and this special um, payment. So, they they've got a lot of work in front of them the next week or so. >> Thank you to our payroll department for making it happen. Thank you so much. All right, we don't have any additional cards, so we're going to move on to items from board members. >> Miss Goodrich. >> So, just a few things today. Um, one, super excited about Bistown. I am actually going to visit tomorrow and I like to see the continued progression of financial literacy from our grade students all the way up through high school. There's so many great programs going on that I don't even think the public is aware of all the different things

135we're doing to try to really push Felicia County to be the strongest in financial literacy in the state. So excited continue to see all that go on. Um second is I brought up at the last meeting. I am going to bring it up again and I know um we've talked about the NDA sun setting but I think knowing that um we're not they're not really going to be enforced or anything. I think we should move that along sooner rather than later. Um I would like to ask that we have future discussions after going to um the schoolboard conference last week. It is the um standard that for I believe it's 59 districts and I'm sorry if I'm wrong on that exact number that the attorneys are separate for the school board and for the district

136and I would like us to have those conversations. Um I think we should start looking at that because I think it presents much less of a conflict of interest. So, I'm just going to bring that back up again. And um and then I wanted to also share that district two just should get a lot of accolades right now. I've been getting tons of calls and feedback of people that are thrilled and truly happy in district 2. And people are say, "How's school board going?" And I'm like, "Well, my we have a wonderful district." So, I just want to give our district shout out. Um both our business partners, our teachers, our administrators, and our students. You guys always call me with questions and you have great conversations. Whether we agree or disagree, we have really

137wonderful conversations about things and I appreciate you guys reaching out to ask me why I voted for something or ask um you know about different things going on in the district. So, I just want to give a shout out to my district to thank them for that. And that's it. The next time you guys see me, I will be a granny. >> So, merry Christmas to everyone. But I think I'm getting the best gift. >> Good. Thank you, Miss Goodrich. Uh, Miss Thompson, >> thank you. I just wanted to mention so New Summer Beach City Council has their meetings on the same night, same time as us. So, anything that they do in honor of us, I miss. It's sad. But tonight, I just shout out to NSB Middle School because they got awarded by

138the city for outstanding achievements. And I want to scream that out loud because that school has come so far in the past couple years and the leadership has made so many positive changes. So, I just want to say that out loud so parents could hear it because my daughter will be going there next year. And so I just I'm really proud of what they've done. And also congratulations on your upcoming Granny ship. I'm very proud of you. And merry Christmas everyone. Hope everyone has a great break. >> Thank you, Miss Prosmer. >> I'm going to keep this very simple. I learned more about AI at the conference than I ever meant to know. And it just told me how little I know and how little everybody else knows because even the speakers were raising more

139questions than the answers they were able to provide because because it covers such a a new frontier. Um having said that, um I've had a great year. You're going to have a great time and merry Christmas to everybody. >> Thank you, Miss Haynes. There are so many wonderful things happening in our district and have happened the first half of this school year and in each of the areas. And what I'm happy about is what I have also been seeing, you know, we opened some new schools and they're beautiful and that's great for our kids, but I've also as I've been attending some sack meetings and things like that, I'm seeing the results um coming in from the assessment pieces and the kids are they're moving, they're learning, they're growing and it's nice when you sit

140there and you have a teacher or an administrator sharing ing like here's what we've done and here's where they're at. So, I love all the support that is being poured into the schools and I've heard that we're going to pour district support back into the schools again. So, I'm just going to make my request out loud tonight. Of course, I would like to see a list of which district staff are going out and which schools they've been assigned to. I'm assuming they'll be starting in January to provide extra support. And so I would like to see that. Um I'm looking. >> Thank you. Um but I do want to go ahead and tell everyone that's going to provide that extra support how much I appreciate them that they're going to manage the job that they

141have and also go out and provide support for our students. And then I too just you're going to have listen this is going to be the best time. >> Um congratulations on a grandbaby coming into your life. There's nothing better. But I do want to wish every single um individual, no matter what role you play in our school system or our community, I hope every one of you has a wonderful merry Christmas and a happy new year. And I'm going to say this, I don't have any permission to do this, but turn your computers off, turn your phones off, and be in the moment with your family and friends. And cuz personally, that's what I'm going to do. And unless there's a building burning, I really don't I don't want to know about it. Okay?

142I would prefer to spend time with my family. And I think that's what everyone should do. Everyone has some family or friends out there. So, you have a moment to enjoy them. So, please enjoy them. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. B. So, I am pretty sure that um going back to Miss Goodriidge that your grandbaby will not be allowed to call you granny. >> No, it's Coco. >> Aba. >> I I figure that. But I want to say congratulations. I heard it's one of the most wonderful things in the world besides your own children. Actually, I heard it's better than your own children. So, that's that's what I've heard. I'll let you know when my time comes. But uh going back to what and I think I shared a little bit of this before,

143you know, for me realizing a purpose is really important. I'm beyond a job. I've been beyond a job for a long time. Um and and when I see what the you know what's happening with our students here in Valuchia County and the progress that they're making and how um when it comes to the future of of our students and our county, but in leadership roles also when you see their disposition in life, it gives me hope. Gives me hope that the work that we're doing, it's going to materialize into something absolutely wonderful for a community in the future. So, I I feel very blessed in that regard, but also I feel very blessed and and I'm very thankful for an amazing staff. I've said that I've worked in four counties and I've worked with with

144individuals who are topnotch, very dedicated to what they do, but there's an incredible level of heart here in Valuchia County um by these folks that work in our district that truly truly in the most humblest way they want to do good by kids. So, I am thankful for every department, every staff member, for the work that you do day in and day out. It's not easy work. It's easy to have folks out there that don't know what you're doing, a handful that will critique what you're doing. But for those of you who are playing the game, you know what it takes to play that game. And and to the 8,200 staff members, you know what it takes because you're playing it day in and day out. you're not sitting on the audience in the arena

145>> and you are in it. So, thank you for what you do for our kids. I want to um it's because of you you give me purpose to what I do. And last but not least, I'll be happy to share with you, Miss Goodriidge, that um policy 418 is coming. It's it the last time that it was updated, it was in 2002. And that is why now the NDAs are sunsetted so that we can enact on policy uh 418. Obviously it has to be updated and we have looked at many of the districts to see their updates. It'll be presented in January here. Um and I think that's that just thank you all. Thank you board for your governance. Um it takes a team. It takes a really dedicated team. So, I want to thank

146you again also for each and every one of you for what you do day in and day out. And to the incredible parents, thank you for choosing Valuchia County to service the needs of your students. >> It is 7:02 this meeting. Oh, wait. Dr. B. Nope, that's everybody. It is 7:02. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.