001It's an expensive date. >> Oh yeah. Say no. >> Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our Valuchia County School Board workshop for Tuesday, November 18th. We will call this meeting to order. We're ask you to please stand for a pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence soon thereafter. Algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. You may be seated. >> So our first item on the agenda totally fitting uh for today uh is wings for success. Dr. Balgaban. >> Yeah. Thank you, Chair Cologne. Um I would like to invite at this point uh Miss Colleen Carvin. Colleen Carvin is our coordinator for educational enhancements. she will come forward. But also,
002we have with us here today a strong partner in education with Valuchia County Public Schools, which is the board chair for Wings for Success, and that's Miss Jessica Love It. Not only is she the board chair for Wings for Success, but also she's the president CEO for VMA, um a strong partner again, Valuchia County Public Schools. and I would like to welcome both of them with a um presentation that they have regarding our our wings for success program here in Valuchia County. >> Wonderful. Thank you and welcome. >> Thank you for having us. We appreciate your time today. >> I'm I've never done this thing. So, okay. So, good afternoon members of the school board and superintendent Dr. Balgabin. I'm Colleen Kervin, coordinator in student services for Valuchia County Schools alternative residential education program. After
00329 years with Valuchia County Schools, I can truly say this work is where my heart belongs. Today, I am excited to share how our programs are transforming lives, providing hope, opportunity, and measurable impact for students who need us the most. I'll walk you through our scope, approach, and goals and highlight outcomes that show we're not just meeting expectations. We're changing future paths for these atrisisk youth. Joining me today is Jessica Lovevet, board chair for Wings for Success, a nonprofit created to champion our AR and expand opportunities for our students. As we move through this presentation, I do invite you to jot down any questions you might have or ideas. And at the end, we'll be happy to discuss how we can continue building on this momentum together. Thank you for allowing me to share the
004incredible work we're doing and the bright future we're creating for every student. This presentation reflects our commitment to compliance and best practices. It adheres to the policies that guide our work and ensure consistency across the district. Our strate our oh our strategic plan sets the vision for where we're headed. This presentation aligns with the goals outlined in that plan. Goals designed to drive innovation, equity, and excellence for every student. The mission of alternative residential education is to provide a supportive highquality education for students in residential placements. We focus on fostering awareness, action, and achievement. Helping students navigate challenging circumstances and empowering them to take control of their educational journey. Our vision is to inspire students to recognize their full potential and pursue positive pathways as they transition back into their communities. We aim to prepare
005students not only academically but socially and emotionally so they can reintegrate with confidence and purpose. Our programs operate across four unique sites in partnership with agencies committing to supporting youth. Each site serves a distinct purpose, but together they create a safety net of education, intervention, and hope. The Valuchia Regional Juvenile Detention Center is managed by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. This facility serves students who are 9 to 18 years in age, sometimes up to 20 22, and they're in grades 4 through 12 awaiting court or placement. It's located in Circuit 7. So, this serves Valuchia, Flaggler, St. Johns in Putnham County and we also receive students statewide. It provides yearround education. The students are actually attending school 230 days and the teachers work 256 days. The average stay is 21 days. Next we serve
006SMA Healthcare which also has Next we serve SMA Healthcare which also has two programs BRAP and Beach House. And this is a 30 bed facility and it offers substance abuse treatment through the RAP program for ages 13 through 18 and that stay is about 6 to nine months. Beach House provides a 21-day respbit for students who are usually in age 10 to 18. Sometimes we're getting some younger students now and that's focus focusing on um behavior and attendance and truency. Education follows a traditional calendar here as well and we immediate enroll immediately enroll those students in grades four through 12. We also provide se summer credit recovery for the wrap students. The Valuchia family resource center is a new center that I've kind of picked up and working with student services and this is a
007full-scale assessment center focused on diversion and early intervention. Youth arrive through referrals, walk-ins for families in need, and law enforcement to determine those next steps. Is it a detention or release? Operating year round, the center provides family services and educational support through a dedicated Valuchia County Schools teacher on assignment. These sites do represent more than classrooms. They're lifelines. Every day, we work to restore hope, provide structure, and open doors to brighter futures for students who need us the most. You got it. Our alternative residential education program ensures educational quality across all multiple sites with the exception of family resource center. Each year we serve over,00 students ages 9 to 22 in grades 3 through 12. We provide tailored services with differentiated curriculum virtual for secondary students and we use district aligned curriculum for the elementary
008students. supported by an academic framework aligned with district goals and ongoing professional development for our educators. Our goals are to reduce truency, improve attitudes, support academic progress, and foster resilience and hope. These efforts are paying off. In 2024 25 each school year, students did complete over six 1690 courses with us and over 15 students graduated. I know the numbers don't seem to add to a lot, but that's a lot. So, >> returning students did show improved GPA, and we also had a lot of successful grade promotions within our programs. But beyond academics, we offer mental health counseling, social emotional learning, credit recovery, and a nurturing environment that supports emotional and educational well-being. That's okay. I want to highlight how we manage academics for students in our program. First, students begin earning credit on day one.
009We don't waste any time. For nonvaluchia county students, we request records immediately and counselors review them to decide if they need original credit, credit recovery, or both. There are challenges. Records often come from multiple schools and can be delayed. Parents do not register these children when they arrive at our detention center and department of corrections. So we rely on information from like department of juvenile justice or a student interview which isn't always accurate. Sometimes students give incomplete details so extra research is needed before enrollment is finalized. To keep learning consistent we use egeneuity which is a Valuchia County platform and elementary students are using offline curriculum. 40% of our students fall under the ESC umbrella 504 ELLL. And finally, we use Egeneuity weekly and we review egeneuity progress during PLC's which we have weekly. We
010also use the Renaissance which has star reading star math for initial reading and math placement and we also use Zello for um career interest inventory. These are our enrollment trends. As you can see, um, enrollment does continue to grow and that also is including elementary. Last year, we served approximately 1,200 students. 18 of those were in elementary. This year, in just the first quarter, we're at about 375 and 15 elementary students have come in this year between SMA and detention center. They show a clear trend and we need strong community involvement to help support these at risk youth. Already clipped. Oh, this slide rep. This slide represents more than just tasks. It's about transformation. We're trying to take bold steps to support as at risk students with targeted interventions, close those programming gaps, and expand
011community engagement so every family knows the opportunities available. We're elevating recognition programs and incentives to celebrate success, boosting visibility through social media and ensuring sustainability through careful budgeting and partnerships. Every initiative from aligning guest speakers to students um needs and to celebrating those achievements with our star awards, our graduation ceremonies and yes, we hold graduation ceremonies virtually in our department of corrections and detention center and I invite families in. um build a c culture of encouragement and excellence. Our partnerships make this possible. Organizations like One Voice from Valuchia, Valuchia Recovery Alliance, Daytona State College, Daytona International Speedway, and Military Recruiters, just to name a few. And of course, Wings for Success, led by Jessica Love provides fundraising and educational incentives that empower students and our staff. And through my work on statewide committees, we ensure
012alignment with broader initiatives because collaboration is key to lasting impact. Together, not we're not just meeting goals, we're creating opportunities that change lives. Before I do turn this over to Jessica, she knows I I'm very wordy. I want to share one final thought. These programs are are have incredible people who work in teaching them with some of the most challenging youth that are at risk. This is going to give you some in insight into what we do and why we do it. So beyond academics, we teach life lessons. Lessons that remind students that a second chance is possible, that mistakes do not define them, and that hope is real. These lessons are not measured by data, but they can truly change lives. So I would like to turn this part over to Jessica Love It,
013and she's going to speak about the why for Wings for Success. Thank you. Thank you, Colleen. So, as you can see, this is not just a onestop shop. This is not just one area where we can focus our attention. She is running four facilities with some of the most needy human beings in our community. And let me remind you that these kids are in our community. This is not a place that we can send them where they just stop being a problem. This is not a place where they're forgotten. This is a place where we show them what their possibilities and capabilities are. I use the the word we and I I can't use that word we because I am not a part of the Wii. Colleen and her staff make all of these things
014possible. I want to come alongside and give her every tool that I can possibly provide to help her be great at her job. Because make no mistake, this woman sitting right next to me is the key to success. She is the person that stands up and fights and drives 100% of the success rate that these students are facing. Without her, it would just be like every other jail across the state. There wouldn't be graduations. There wouldn't be course completions. There wouldn't be guidance counselors that are literally mired in how are we going to get this information and magically coming up with exactly what these kids need so that they are not 19 and in seventh grade because they missed a few tests. Now they can start feeling good about themselves. Here's the best part. Did
015you know that the military didn't allow someone with a GED to enlist anymore? You have to have a high school diploma. She makes that happen. She makes it possible for them to remove themselves from situations that are going to continually harm them. And when they are re re-released into our community, now we have a newly changed person that are coming back. They are not creating the same problems that they were before because they have a new lease on life. They're in a higher grade or graduated. They understand that there are multiple opportunities for them that they don't have to keep doing the same thing and expect different results because nobody likes to be insane. And they can grow and grow with us. And that's the whole purpose of Wings for Success, to help fig help
016her get what she needs so she can figure out how to make them successful. Now, as you can see, Colleen has created this fabulous slide for me where our mission and our vision and what we do and how we do it can get there. This was my slide, a lot less wordy. [laughter] And so she wants to make sure you have all the information, which is fantastic. So what you just heard were some key statistics. Okay, those are daunting numbers. The fact that we have elementary school students in jail should be wildly concerning to every single person in our community. Yet, nobody wants to talk about that. Nobody wants to talk about the harsh realities of forgotten children. Nobody wants to realize what a learning disability can do and how frustrating it can get. I
017personally was recently in an online class where two minutes in I hung up. I was so frustrated that the teacher couldn't answer a simple question because she said something wrong. So, we were all on lockdown. We were all not allowed to talk and I was like, "Okay, well, I have better things to do." Imagine being a student in that classroom that is sitting there face tof face with a teacher but can't get the barrier broken down of what they what they need and where their needs are met. So, this woman leads a team of unfathomably wonderful human beings that connect with these students and figures out exactly where they are, what they need, and how to get there, and how to get them across that finish line. the staff that you guys have found for
018her. There's there's no one better and they are perfectly in their right place and they are doing things that give them joy, gives them purpose, makes them so happy to be there. How many days a year do your staff work? >> 250. >> How many days a year does a traditional teacher work? >> 196. >> Okay. A little bit extra. 60 days. Are you sure? I'm wearing my shoes, so I can't count. [laughter] So, back to why this is important. important. They live here. They're part of our community. They're part of us. There's no eye in team. And together, we are the team of Valuchia. There is an I in Valuchia, >> but no I in team. All right. So, why are we here? Just go with it. [laughter] What does this mean for you?
019What do we need? We need support. We need advocates. And we need you to help lift. Not lift up. Lift with us. Lift this mission. Lift this drive. Just be there. I'm sure that all of you have a lot of questions and I would love to answer them for you. Thank you so much. Any questions, thoughts, feelings, or concerns, Miss Goodrich? >> Well done, ladies. Always enjoyable to hear from you. Um, what what can we do? What do you need to see us do to help? What does help look like from the board's perspective? What is it? >> So, Wings for Success was created as a 501c3 charity. uh do get funding. I really don't understand why they won't let any of these kids go knocking door to door and sell chocolate uh for fundraisers,
020but you know something about >> I have no formal mechanism to raise money. I can't sell lockers, parking passes, uh school yearbooks, pictures, like my kids can't sell candy bars. I don't think they're going to let them out to do that. So there's to do anything for the children. It it it comes from us raising money and trying to go out and solicit money. You know, I'm doing a graduation and I need a cake and I need a cap and gown and I need a picture or a tassel or a cap. You know, I don't >> get the funding for any of that kind of stuff. >> A lot of those things are provided through parent purchases or fundraisers in a traditional high school. Those are things that the some students have been putting into
021their account since they were freshman. So for four years they've been adding to get that cost down for seniors. This is where Wings for Success comes alongside. Um Miss Brosmer donated last time uh for some treats for students. Colleen does this really cool thing with a wheel, right? So every time she gets a course completion, there's an opportunity to spin the wheel. what are you going to win today? So when you can take and put a positive spin on things, then people want to go and they want to have those small wins. This gives them those small wins. So what we're looking for today is awareness. We're looking for personal funding. If you want to sponsor a holiday for these kids, we love to um last year for Halloween, we went >> through and did
022a trick-or- treat. We stood indoors. who dressed up um and and did that for them. Last year for Christmas, uh the Speedway came in and bought uh a dinner in a box type of thing for for students and we actually got to present to them different opportunities that they have that they can move forward in their lives with. Am I answering the question to the to really get to where it needs to be? >> I think so. Um is it is there anything specific outside that that we're not doing or is there anything that we actually I have a question for you. If these kids aren't getting traditional resources, are there are there resources that the kids here aren't getting that kids in the in standard schools are getting? >> They do get all the
023access to their educational curriculum. It's the above and beyond. It's a PTA. It's a we do have a SAC committee. She's on it. I don't have that continuous family involvement because these children are only with us a short period of time. So it's it there is difficulty in raising money. It's more like pounding down doors, you know, hitting the streets asking for money from businesses and different things like that. >> And typically people don't go to car washes in jail. >> Yeah. So it the so the fundraising but not only that it's am I running not only that when we look at teacher appreciation week where am I getting money to do just something for the teachers and not only that we're trying to also do stuff for the staff in these facilities as well
024because detention center staff it's not an easy job so when miss like Frank Keller bought us she just mentioned you know international speedway came out he bought for all he bought for the students he bought for the staff it was about 200 lunches, let's just say. He came in, he sat with the kids, he talked about the speedway. We bring in guest speakers from everywhere. If you have a topic that you you think kids would appreciate or enjoy, our children are a captive audience. There's no cell phones. They can't leave the classroom. They can't run off and go to the restaurant. We have a captive. We've had Glen Richie from John Hall Chevrolet come and talk about the car dealership and the job opportunity. He said he'd hire one of them if they came to
025him later on. We had Frank come out. He talked about that. We have the military recruiters. We have Daytona State, ATC. Like, while they're there, let's start to expose them to some of these things that they may not be exposed to because number one, they may not be going to school. Number two, they may be in the dean's office. Number three, we also, like she said, we do course completion. I do an awards thing every two weeks. And if I hear once, I hear twice, "My cur Miss Kurvin, my name's on the wheel. my name's I mean to get their name on a wheel for finishing a course where they've never got recognition in a regular school. We're trying to build them up I think and I didn't know the wheel was going to be
026such a big deal but it is and so just >> feel for success >> just but just we and sometimes Yeah. And it's the highest star reading score, highest star math score. I tell them to beat their score like you know so there's a lot of things that we want to do but you know a bag of chips. Thank you, Donna, for doing that. You know, it was a bag of chips that goes a long way for us. So, it's not like we need millions of dollars, but just little things that we need throughout the year. And I think that's the reason that Jessica heard me and said that we do sponsor a holiday like and um Valuchia or oh my gosh, One Voice for Valuchia. They did like candy for the Halloween and they
027brought it in. Glenn Richie said, "What do you need?" He's at Sam's Club. What do you need, Miss Kermit? know, buying boxes of candy so we could do a trick-or- treat thing. Otherwise, it is expensive to serve 50, 60, 70 youth, you know, a couple pieces of candy. So, and the guest speaker thing has been phenomenal and we want to keep that momentum going and I can bring in people and they they are totally fine with that and I and we're starting to incorporate that also at Steuart Marchman Department of Corrections is a little different. >> So, I have just a few asks for you. if you will email when there's things because I can tell you I'm not going to just remember, right? And I'm sure one of you will harass me when I
028forget. So, um, in full disclosure and transparency, it's no secret that Jessica and I are very good friends. I am happy to support this and so I want to make sure that there's no, um, conflict that anyone sees with me being supportive of this and if I spread it on Facebook, I don't want it to later come back for, you know, anyone to misread this. So, I just want to have that conversation in the open so that it's clear, but amazing work that you do you've been doing. I know several of us have been out there and seen what's going on there. So, um very very happy to support, but I will need emails to remind me, please. >> Wonderful. Dr. Balgabin, >> so going back to uh Colleen, Colleen Carvin, you've been with us
029for 29 years. I knew you were with us for many, many years. not not as many as Miss Haynes, but you're up there. Um, I will share with you that when you find employees where their passion meets purpose, that equals success. And there's a saying that your reputation precedes you. Right? So here when I joined Valuchia County Public Schools, I heard about Colleen because of her passion for what she does. And you're absolutely right. She's absolutely phenomenal. And we could not have asked for someone with a bigger heart and passion and purpose where it meets and it collides and comes together. So you are the right leader in that position. Now going back to needs. Um I've spoken because uh Frank Callaher is a is a good um partner in ed with us and I
030had actually shared with him about that program because I knew he shares that passion as well. But here's what I'm going to ask you to do and Miss Goodrich you can certainly assist also but it's going to be coordinated. Okay? If you can come up with your year, your annual like you know you have those those functions that you're going to be first quarter, second, third, fourth that you know that you're going to repeat year after year. Meet with uh Denise Ribero, Denise Ribero. And we have 25 new partners in education this year. >> Excellent. So if you have your annual plan and what needs coverage and what the coverage is that you need, then we can see which partners we can connect them with you through Denise. So um Danielle, please make a note
031of that. And Miss Goodriidge, that doesn't mean that you're off the the the equation. You can still there might be things that you you would like to, you know, coordinate and sponsor year after year. and that way you have some set partners for some of these um reoccurring activities that you'll be doing. Okay, >> we have the whole calendar laid out for the different holidays and what people can sponsor and the whole reason we created the 501c3 is to be able to give community members an opportunity for a tax write off. >> Yeah. So, and make sure that we have that really pushy person to call and email and make sure things don't fall through the cracks. Yeah. >> Great. Thank you, uh, Miss Bromer. Miss Bros., >> uh, thank you. You both know I
032love this and I, um, I greatly appreciated the tour that I was able to do. I want to add a few things to what you've described based on what I learned when I did the tour. Uh, one of the reasons I sent the box of of um individualsized snacks was because I was told that that's, you know, where the the >> I can call them kids. >> Yes. >> Um, the the kids get meals, but they don't necessarily have something sweet or salty that they can snack on. So that just seemed like something that was fairly generic. But somebody had also mentioned that they kind of rattled off a list of things that are always needed. These are not event specific, but because you have turnover, they they are things that could be used at
033any time. And they compared it to an Amazon wish list. >> We have that. So, I was thinking as you were as you were presenting that if we had a page on our website on our district website that had that wish list and how to access it and who to send to. I had to track down what address to send the box to. Um I because I wasn't sure where it should go. if we make it easier and then maybe this is something that can show up every once in a while on the VCS uh Facebook page um to remind the public that this is an opportunity um for them to to help. Uh it's not dollars per se, but it's stuff that >> that you regularly need that that we can send. So, Colleen
034put together a Facebook page for us with the Amazon wishlist. And one of my least favorite words in the English language is should. Uh because whenever I'm talking to my IT guy, that button should be there, but it's not ever there when I need it there. And I'm like, that's why I'm calling you. But anyhow, um so it should be very easy on the Amazon wish list to just click and it goes exactly to the detention center where it needs to go. >> No, not allowed to go. So, we do have our challenges because we can't just deliver to corrections and detect. >> Correct. >> So, it's delivering to our home address >> because I'm Was it Was it your house I sent it to? I know I sent it to somebody's house. >> And
035I I don't know if that looks weird. I mean, I'm not sure. But the problem is working within these facilities. They're not my school. They're not my property. And detention is not allowed to receive donations. It's against Department of Juvenile Justice rules. So I have to like ship it to my house if that make we do have some challenges that we have to work around. >> That is correct. I would I would just excuse me [clears throat] like a link between our website and yours because they um when I went to Amazon I couldn't figure out how to access that page. And that's probably me, but I suspect I'm not the only one. Uh so I I just think it might be helpful uh if we could if we could connect those two. Uh, and
036that might encourage more participation from the public. >> Absolutely. >> I agree. I want everybody to put it out there. >> Thank you, Miss Haynes. >> Thank you. Thank you for coming today and doing this presentation. And on your list, you know, or what you need. I know though even with the detention center there's things that can't like yes they can't go there but you can't even purchase them or have people donate them because when I was in federal programs and grants I would come out there you know to go over everything and you know when we were even looking at bringing additional books in you know for the students they have to have a glue binding they can't have staples in them there's all these rules and regulations So what I would say is
037I think we need to be very specific, you know, with what we're asking so that we don't end up with something then that can't be used there that has to go somewhere else because even with, you know, sending snacks, you have to think about how they're packaged and if completely you cannot give lollipops. You cannot do they're not on our wish list. Anything that's on there is only items we're allowed to bring in. >> Very clear, very specific. And the easiest thing to do is if you have $20 that you want to go ahead and throw, we will send you the link of how to get that to us. Um, so not necessarily instead of stuff and then that way the paid professionals can get exactly what's needed, >> right? because you need the things
038for the students, but there's there's a lot of restrictions on what you can and cannot do in order to keep everyone safe there and keep, you know, because there were many times I was out there, you know, spending days like just meeting with them and going through what they wanted so that we could purchase it, the academic side and all that. And you know, all of a sudden we go into a lockdown even and you know, kids lose instruction time during that. And I know you guys work so hard, but you don't have the control over, you know, what happens um when they're not with you and everything, but I do appreciate you coming today and sharing this information. I'm glad to hear that you do have an Amazon wish list and you have vetted
039what's on that. Um, I just needed the public. I mean, you have to have a disclaimer because you don't want to offend somebody if they then send you something and you can't use it because it's against the guidelines, >> eight regulations. Yeah. >> So, thank you for bringing that to attention. >> Thank you. And thank you you guys for having a huge heart and for doing what you do. I really appreciate it. I had a couple questions. I'm pretty sure they've gotten answered, but I just give me a yes or no. All right. >> You got a lot of slides. You're good. >> Okay. Um, you can donate online. Yes. >> Yes. >> Perfect. Is there any sort of like student sponsor like sponsor graduate programs or anything like that or is it strictly the
040>> We will make one up. >> I love that. >> Well, that's part of my list that he has that. >> So, yeah. And like I would love to be on whatever email list that Chris is on. You can just like put me on there too. Um, how do guest speakers sign up? >> Sign up with me. >> Okay, perfect. >> You want to come? Doors open and they're there 247. So, even if I'm not there, you could probably come in. >> Love that. >> Probably not letting you in at 3. >> My classrooms. We bring them through the classrooms. >> Okay, perfect. All right. Well, thank you so much. You guys answered all my questions. Thanks. >> Great. Thank you. Uh question. So, when the students come for So, you said you serve four
041counties. When the students graduate or they come to us from these other counties, does that affect our gra are they included in our graduation rates? working on that right this second. So, if they're Valuchia County students, there's a transition. Automatically, they transition back to their zone school. when I look at our population, um I and I'm I'm trying to keep even more accurate because we have some I mean I don't want to go into too many dynamics, but sometimes they need an assessment or sometimes they've met the credit requirement, but so they would have to return to their their district if under the special education umbrella, we can look at look at those students and see if they get waiverss and we can complete we do every service that any other school would do with
042the exception of graduation. um if they're a DJJ student, Department of Juvenile Justice, because I have two different I have three different I have a lot of scenarios, but and they're coming to us from another county. Technically, I've been actually seeking guidance from the state on this because we have transition them back to their counties and sometimes the counties will pick them up and graduate them. Other times, we're we're getting some resistance. So, I'm kind of actually, it's just funny you're saying this. I'm trying to work with the state on that and Mike McAlliff and I have had some conversations about that. So to answer your question right now I actually am in a little bit of a gray area but they are getting a diploma one way or another. The DJJ kids should be
043their data should be tracking back to their district um that they were last in a regular traditional public school. Department of Corrections is a little different. >> And I remember so you mentioned the number of completions and I remember at one of the sack meetings it was mentioned something about Orange County. How many completions if you're there was a number that was said >> oh we were the highest in the state last year >> for course completion. >> Say that one more time. [applause] >> They collect that data. we have to do a survey year- end survey every year in July June and then we have to submit the data and yes we were the highest in the state and they asked us how we did it and I said a lot of community support
044and a lot of spinning the wheel and a lot of teachers that are very dedicated to these kids so yes >> and so when Jessica said they're not just in jail >> right >> that is that is a fact because you're you're getting up and you're going to school and What I witnessed when I went there was the staff loved on these kids. I I don't know how to put it any other way. They just loved on these kids. And and I think also to be admired and you said this is grade three to 12. Think about that spectrum of serving. That's huge. That's wow. That is I mean that's unlike any other school. Uh and so uh thank you for that. You said no PTA and so I wonder Dr. B as a as
045a board when we look at our funding, you know, does and and this is a question that we can take offline. I know Todd's back there hiding, but these students traditionally would uh acquire a certain level of funding in the school in which they're at. And so when they go to DJJ, when they go to Riverview, when they go to any of these alternative centers which face the same challenges, they don't have a PTA, they're not selling chocolate, the students are transitional, etc. >> And a lot of them are orphans, >> foster care. >> Yeah. And so, you know, do we look at a funding formula that will allow to again we have a gracious community, but I think that the model's a little bit different than a traditional school. Um, in real, you know,
046starting with the fact that they work year round, which, uh, again, that's not everybody wants to do that. And so, the folks who are doing it, it's because they want to do it. So, just a thought. And then last but not least, calendar graduation. Can you get that on our calendars? I I would be so >> No, I do them. Okay, another fact. These there's a lot of weird factors with our world, but I love my weird world, but I'm just saying when you graduate, you could be leaving in five or 10 days. So, I'm literally throwing this graduation together. >> Let us know. >> But I've I will put you guys because I do them virtually and I invite people in and I set up my computer. Maybe I need a podium. Anybody got
047a podium they can throw my way? No. But um >> anybody out there with a podium? You need a podium. >> And I set them up and then I invite the parents because the parents can't come into the detention center. But [clears throat] I will tell you this at Department of Corrections. Parents can come in at the county jail which is amazing because we they set us up in a big room and they let us we have to run those graduations as they happen. Like because >> so at the county jail we can do it. But at the >> detention center, I bring in the students. I think it's more impactful because the kids are all in that room seeing that kid walk down with the cap and gown and they're cheering them on and
048I open it up. It's it I've done big graduations. I've been on the jumbotron at the ocean center. I've done mainland high school. These to me and not that those aren't anything because they are, but these to me are just >> it's it's like nothing else. So because these are kids that probably against all odds may not have graduated, you know, most a lot of them. So put that in. >> But I will invite you. >> I will I will I'll put the whole us >> you guys join me and you can say a few words and >> they love it. >> It would be an honor. >> Might not be the perfect, you know, jumbotron and flowers and all that stuff, but it's a graduation. >> It will be perfect. >> It'll be perfect.
049Yes. >> And last but not least, I wonder Dr. be if there's an opportunity I know and I actually wrote this down before you said it when it comes to getting the paperwork from other school districts. I'm sure you pull your hair. And the reality is that we are in a I don't know if you all have a regional circuit 7 consortion of school districts because honestly that should be stop what you're doing and do it right now and get that paperwork to our team like now. And so I think from ESSE standpoint from I I think that maybe working with the superintendent again if we can make that a priority in the same fashion we'll do the same when the student leaves us. You know maybe there's 248 hours to get that paperwork to
050that school district so that they don't confront the same thing. I'm sure it's reciprocal. I'm sure we're both probably complaining about the same thing. Uh, and so just just a thought and I think >> so if again going back if that's a reoccurring theme then it it has to be discussed with Mike Malliff, right? Because then Mike will >> It's more because these children jump around and and Jessica's been to 10 schools and Jessica is now homeschooled and Jessica's now like and nobody knows where Jessica went and there's disappearing acts and these are these are a challenging group of youth you know and so >> to 75% of this class and 60% of that class >> and then they were kicked out of school or there was so it's more just the dynamics I would
051say, but we want to do the best job we can to re get all the records that we can possibly get for a kid and try to clean that transcript up so when they do leave us, they'll be in better shape. I mean, that's the goal and the hope. District to district, not a real my people have their contacts. They know who to call, but it's the real unique kids that or the foster kids that are in a group home here and now a group home here and a group home. And I I I will make I will make a lot of calls and try to hunt down what I need when my people get to that point where they're like, "We can't get anything else." And I do have contacts. So So, so let's
052go back. What I'm hearing, it's surveys match trying to do that survey match, which we know it's a a whirlwind, but especially for these students. >> But going back to what Mr. Cologne was saying the the the part here that we have to process. Colleen, you house the students from three other counties plus ours, right? And others. >> And we've been in education for a long time to know that removal sometimes, not removal, but temporary removal from your your home setting to a another setting. Sometimes people think tend to think that responsibilities are gone. >> Right. Right. If we're seeing that trend with the other three counties, then we need to have a meeting and let us know so that we can have the appropriate cabinet member there because it it's it's their students. We're
053providing the services and everything and anything that they need to do from their end. We have to follow through with that because if the survey match is not there, the probability of these students graduating is almost non-existent. We have to be able to to do that survey match. So we will in help emphasize that with you. >> The count like I said it's not necessarily the counties it's just that the transient these children are so transient and they've jumped from place to place to place. So it's more like a research project. >> And I think that the key to all of this is just making sure that we're all talking. >> Yeah. >> Because when we sit silent nothing can move. But when we start talking to each other and we start talking about this
054and we start shedding light to this, then nobody's left in the dark. >> That's why you're here today and we are grateful for that. >> And I am very grateful for Jessica, my former cheerleader, Atlantic High School, how I got roped into this. [laughter] I went for a tour to try and get more employees for our manufacturers, and I'm sitting in the front row, and I hadn't seen Colleen in over 20 years, and she goes, "Okay, Jessica Perry, so how are you going to help?" and I was [laughter] like, "Oh, Lord, got to ask." >> Okay, here I am. Let's go. [laughter] >> That's awesome. Well, thank you. Any other thoughts, feelings, or concerns? >> Well, again, thank you for coming and uh don't hesitate to ask ask >> and please feel free to email
055me if you have suggestions or you know somebody in the community that you think would be a great benefit a great guest speaker. Um oh, that was the last slide. and you know or that just wants to support us because I'm starting to have people come out of I am the momentum's going now. >> Awesome. >> And I I'm getting phone calls and I'm going to be going to a a jail at the Tamoka prison. Um and I'm just I'm just I don't know what the answer is, but I know these youth are they need all the support that they can get. Um, and I don't know if this is the right thing to do, but I'm just trying to build that community partnership momentum, academic success, but please, you can email me, too. Whoops.
056>> That was our cell phone number that was on there, my cell phone number. So, if you have any questions, my email address, don't hesitate to reach out. Pretty sure literally all of you have my cell phone number except that guy. Not sure who that guy is, but Dr. Evans. Um, don't have your phone number, but I will know you. [laughter] >> Very good. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. It is 1:49. We'll take a 10-minute break and we'll be back at 2 o'clock. >> The Saints when she was first called to tell me she got >> ready. >> All right. Thank you so much. Uh, next item on the agenda is item 3.01, House Bill 1473, Quarterly Report. Madam Superintendent, >> thank you, chair. I would like to ask
057Miss uh Captain Todd Smith um our director for safety and security. He will probably provide you with one of the shortest presentation of this evening regarding House Bill 1473, but also we have some good news and I would like for you to share some of that good news uh here at the workshop that we received yesterday. >> Okay. [snorts] Good afternoon, superintendent, chair, board members. I'm Captain Todd Smith, the director of safety and security for Valuchia County Schools. Today, we will be discussing the quarterly safety report in accordance with Florida state statutes. This presentation aligns with policy 511, safety of facilities. This presentation also aligns with guardrail 2, provide conditions that enhance student learning. In accordance with House Bill 1473, school districts are required to report four things each quarter. The number and percentage of
058schools, including charter schools, inspected or reinspected during the quarter. The number and percentage of schools with no school safety requirement deficiencies. In the first quarter, zero schools were inspected or reinspected by the Office of Safe Schools. This represents 0% of the schools inspected or reinspected. No schools had school safety requirement deficiencies. Therefore, 0% of schools had no school safety requirement deficiencies. We didn't get audited. So, in the first quarter with the quarterly report concluding, I wanted to provide an update on safety and security in the district. Currently, we have six high schools where metal detectors are fully implemented. Pineriidge, Atlantic, New Simra Beach, High Seabbze, Pearson, and Mainland. We should have the remainder of the schools implemented within the next few months. We are currently behind our expected full implementation schedule due to vendor production
059issues. We've been working closely with student services doing culture walks and identifying the schools with the highest cessor incidents. Looking at the data, we've been working with our top tier schools to help them improve processes and reduce incidents. Additionally, we've been putting out clear communications and expectations to our students on behavior. Our reunification team has been meeting monthly training on expectations, processes, and equipment usage. Our goal has been to take a group of trained employees and develop a high performance team. The team has worked through the processes, evaluated the equipment available, practiced reunifications, and identified strengths and weaknesses and areas for improvement. In January and April, we have small-cale reunifications planned to pressure test our training and processes. We've also been training all principles, assistant principles, and deans. Each month we've done extensive training on
060threat management, office of safe school audits, metal detector implementation, and managing truency. Over the last two weeks, our team in conjunction with the sheriff's office training department and SWAT team have been evaluating cutting edge technology related to bulletproof glass for school hardening. We've joined the state's work group on threat management and continue our role as members in FS3's compliance committee. So far this school year, we've done a see something, say something campaign and a bicycle and pedestrian safety campaign. Later in the year, we will be be doing safe driving, internet safety, and the dangers of vaping and drugs. In relation to threats on our campuses, after seeing a massive spike in threats last year, we began reviewing options to address the concerns. Following guidance from the Police Executive Research Forum, we reviewed the US Secret
061Services Behavioral Threat Assessment Unit, a guide for state and local law enforcement to prevent targeted violence. The Secret Service did an analysis of 37 school attacks from 1974 to 2000. From that it was learned that 81% of attackers told someone about their plans, 93% showed concerning behaviors before the attacks and 34% had discipline for concerning behaviors. This led to additional research from 2006 to 2018. They analyzed 67 incidents where they prevented a school shooting. 94% of the plotters exhibited concerning behaviors. 75% communicated their intent to cause harm. 87% experienced stressors like bullying and family conflict. 50% had access to firearms. They also reviewed 173 public space attacks from 2016 to 2020. 73% made threats or communicated their intent of violence. Again, similar to school attacks, 94% displayed concerning behavior. Virginia implemented a threat assessment model
062statewide that resulted in a 99.8% 8% reduction of threats becoming acts of violence. This research and the research on best practices led to the publication of that document and the recommendation that agencies create a behavioral threat unit. By adopting these best practices, the program ensures a modern and effective approach to protecting schools while staying in line with proven methods used across the country. After reviewing the program, we traveled to Penllis County and learned how they managed their behavioral threat unit and observed it in action. From there, we developed a similar program based on the secret services framework and recommendations mixed with the lessons learned from Panellis and Palm Beach counties and research conduct and research conducted on local needs such as investigating fortified Florida tips and written threats to kill. Threats of violence to our
063schools are often complex. They generally require subpoenas, search warrants, have complex case law associated with the investigations, and require a specific skill set. With all this in mind, the sheriff wanted to ensure that we are at the forefront of advances in policing and created our behavioral threat unit, which is now fully functional. On stats, we compared our first quarter of 2024 2025 school year versus the first quarter of this school year and some of our major metrics. In week nine of last year, we were at 20 arrests for written threats to kill. This year, we're at 10, a 50% reduction. Last year, we were at 494 to five Florida tips. This year, we're at 136, down 72%. K9 Maverick has checked 94 classrooms for firearms in addition to the parking lots and cars that he's
064checked. That's just in the first nine weeks. Last year, at the end of the nine weeks, we recovered 13 weapons. This year we're at four, a 69% reduction. No firearms were discovered on our campuses last school year or so far this school year. We have historically averaged two firearms discovered on our campuses per year. Recently, Gaggle released its 2025 student safety report and we compared the national trends to our district. Nationwide, there was a 142% surge in gun related images being detected. In Valuchia County, there was a 23% decrease. Nationally, there was a 51% increase in elementary suicide and self harm. In Valuchia, we saw a 51% decrease. Nationally, there was a 24% increase in drug and alcohol related incidents. In Valuchia, there was an 85% reduction. Just yesterday, we were uh notified that we
065were awarded the campus guardian angel pilot program uh through the state of Florida, one of only three counties. We're super excited about that. We're very grateful uh to the state for giving us that opportunity and we look forward to uh seeing how it uh integrates with our layers of protection. There's not one thing that keeps kids safe. There's not a a magical bean that you can plant and it just keeps kids safe. It's all of the different layers of protection and all of the different strategies that we're putting together and looking at the data and analyzing how to use that data best to reduce incidents on our campuses. And this is just another layer of uh of safety that's going to be added into our safety plan. So, and with that, that concludes my presentation.
066>> Thank you. Miss Brosmer, >> would you elaborate for everybody in case they haven't read about the drones, would you elaborate on on the specifics and how that will work and all of the details that we know so far? >> I I can elaborate on the details we know so far. So, basically, the drones are stored on the campus in different locations. There's multiple drones and then they can their goal is to launch within 5 seconds. They can get across the campus in 8 seconds. Indoors they can fly 30 to 50 miles per hour. Outside they can fly up to 100 miles per hour. The goal is to make contact with a threat within 15 seconds. So obviously these situations uh any kind of a threat like that is a high stress situation. And on
067the drones they have flashing lights and uh sirens and then a microphone as well as a pepper gun. So, it can you can distract and disorient them with the lights, with the sirens. Um, if they're refusing to put down the gun or they're a threat to human, they can shoot them with the pepper gun and then if that doesn't work, then they can just hit the person with the drone. Um, obviously, uh, we have to work out all the logistics on how all this stuff works, procedures, things like that. We've been given the green light to start the pilot. From there is when we uh implement the program and how everything works and do all the research on implementing and you know things like that. But that is the gist of how it works. One
068of the questions that we got a lot was what if they're in a room you know then they would fly the drone into a window and try to create a hole so that another drone could get through. So >> and what activates the drone? So it would be integrated with our panic alert system, the strategics alert, so that when the teacher does a lockdown, then the drone would uh they would deploy and start looking for the threat. >> Okay, thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Goodrich. >> Congratulations. Great job by your team. Awesome report. >> Thank you, >> Hannes. >> Thank you. I also want to say an awesome job and um I don't know how we got selected as one of the three counties or districts in Florida, but I would say it probably
069has to do with the job that you've been doing in keeping our students safe. And I had read that piece because my thought too was how does it get inside of the room? And I read that piece that it can break through a window basically in order to have an opening to get into that classroom if that's where it is. I you know we have and there is no one thing that keeps our children safe. You know I'm I still do have the two largest high schools waiting for um the metal detectors and I understand you you're doing them by size and >> well they stopped making them. We're waiting on them to be delivered once we get them. >> I know. Um but we I am looking forward to when we get them onto
070all high school campuses and it seems to be going well, you know, where we do have them and all that, but um this this brings another layer. I mean, the whole thing is we just need everyone to feel safe when they walk on a campus so they can focus on learning. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Thompson. >> Thank you. And I just want to say thank you for everything and for always exploring all the different options for safety because you're right, it's not just, you know, one-stop shop. Is there any way you could email I mean I know I won um you all might too of the stats that was the national versus Valuchia County just so I could have that because it's extremely impressive. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you.
071Uh I'd like to congratulate you all with your roll out. You know, if you think about it, you're up to six schools and how many emails have we gotten regarding the detectors? >> Knock on wood here. I mean, [laughter] we we go to the airport and complain. Okay. I mean, just the just the So, that didn't happen because of the machines. That happened because of our staff. That happens because of your staff. That happens because of everyone that's dedicated to the same mission of safety and security for our students. Uh I personally witnessed it and uh put it to the test. And uh you know I I think it's it's a great it's a great layer. We'll use that term layer. We're adding layers uh to school safety. Um I know there's a lot of
072questions and and I asked you some questions and there's still a lot to learn about this. uh just like everybody else, we were all pretty much surprised that we were chosen and it's not something I'm sure there will be policies that'll have to come before us uh to consider uh in due time, but you know, again, there's still not a whole lot of detail. As he said, it's just that initial, hey, tag your it. We don't know where we're going yet, but tag your it and you're you need to go find somewhere to So, um thank you for that. Uh and and I look forward to learning more about how that all will work. Uh and again, I know there's still more questions than there are answers. And so, uh thank you for making that
073available as soon as it is. So, uh any other thoughts, feelings, or concerns? Very good. Thank you so much, Captain. >> Yes. [applause] >> All right. Next up, item 3.02, White Fleet Update. Uh at this time I would like to ask Miss Patty Core. Miss Patty Core is our chief operating officer along with Madson Kangi our director for student transportation services. We also have Mr. Chris Ber um assistant director for fleet and finance for student transportation services and they will be sharing with you a little bit about our our white fleet. I have to share also please take a seat my two gentlemen and and lady I have to do a shout out since this gentleman is here today and we we don't see him that much in in [clears throat] you know on stage
074but uh Chris Ber as you know he does our routes for transportation and Florida DOE they always uh release a report that shows pretty much what transportation the cost how districts are doing because we know it's on an average about 50% that's covered on an average but county is one of the counties that really stands out in that report and it's through the effective scheduling that Chris does so beautifully each and every year that when it comes to the return on investment we're looking at a 68% 68% right Chris or 69 68 close to 69% the one county that stands out from an efficiency standpoint and that's due to Chris and his meticulous work with scheduling. So Chris, I know we're g we're going to be surprised. We were going to surprise you, but why
075not surprise you here and then we will do a delivery at some other point. >> Thank you. Thank and I can't take all the any of the credit for that. That really has to do with our routing and our operations divisions. Uh Miss Betsy Burrist, uh Mr. Craig Pender and then also our director, Mr. Madson Kangi. Um, Miss Ba Beatric Aram in our routing department, the routing team. They just do a phenomenal job uh with regards to making sure that we're as efficient as possible. >> Well, thank you. It's team Valuchia right under your leadership. Under your leadership. >> Thank you so much, Superintendent Balgaban, and good afternoon, Chair Cologne, school board members. We are um pleased to be here today again. And I'm Patty Corey, your chief operating officer, joined by Madson Kangji and
076Chris Berer from our transportation department. And um at risk of violating I guess a copyright. Chris is our Rainman. I call him Rainman. I know that was a movie back in the day and I don't know that it's copyrighted, but um his the value of his knowledge cannot be measured. If you've known Chris any amount of time, um he is a product of Valuchia County Schools. He has grown up around transportation and buses since what eight you were eight years old or very young and um and and he just very much uh has a passion when you talk about and this is no pun intended putting the right person in the right seat on the bus when you have someone doing a job. This is the epitome of that right here. Um he knows his
077numbers, his data and that's the part he plays in helping our efficiency. Um and I have to give a shout out. He can't be here right now but uh Todd CE also compliments you. He says whenever I need anything from the financial side um because Chris's actual title in transportation is assistant director of fleet and finance and um he absolutely uh talks Todd Cece's language so Todd appreciates that because very few of us do and uh so anytime he asks Chris for anything his reports are impeccable and he never has to worry or question. So once again we were asked to come and give an update. The white fleet plays an important part. Um, we know how important safety is and from captain's side. So, what Chris and his team do is they make sure
078all of our vehicles that are on the road are also safe. Uh, as you know, in the operations department, we have people who travel every single day around all of our facilities, maintaining and fixing things and and he keeps up with with all of that. He's going to go through some important information um for you guys today. There's also a document in your executive content. If you haven't seen it, we encourage you to take a look at that. Um so I know by the next board meeting this will be updated um Mr. Cologne with the new org and this falls in line with our district policy 523 and also our white fleet guidelines. This falls under our guardrail for our strategic plan of guardrail 3 to improve our operational efficiency and maximize our resources to
079support student learning. And at this time I'd like to turn it over um to Chris to begin our presentation about the white fleet. Thank you very much. Um, as uh, Miss Corore stated, I I've been with Valuch County Schools Transportation now. This is my 27th year, and it seems like just yesterday, but, uh, the years do seem to go by fast, which now I think it officially makes me old. Uh, but I love what I do. I have a passion for safety. I have a passion for the school transportation business, and I just want to thank everyone uh, for their support over the years. So, let's talk about White Fleet. What is White Fleet? Uh basically these are vehicles that support the district's operation stakeholders throughout the district. It's also called the support fleet. Uh
080this could be anything from a warehouse vehicle to a transportation uh support vehicle, schooly cafe technology services. And uh they basically, you know, help out everyone in the district wherever they can. This can involve facilities maintenance vehicles, the tradesmen that go out to the schools and fix the HVAC or the plumbing or the electrical. And uh they're on the road every day. And we have well over 300 of these units that are on the road. >> It's not the buses. >> And it's not the buses. So the buses are a completely separate aspect. That's yellow fleet. And uh you know we uh we do meticulous ma meticulously maintain those as well. And just to give you a little bit of history uh student transportation services maintained about a third of the white fleet up until
081about 2021. And there was an audit conducted by RSM that evaluated uh the entire white fleet operation. And at that point um there were about 200 vehicles that were under the uh facilities maintenance division and they were serviced separately. So what they suggested was that we consolidate and put everything under one umbrella which which has worked out pretty well. Uh so what we did is we conducted a thorough inspection of all these vehicles as they came through the doors and we've been constantly uh maintaining them since 2021. So the safety and maintenance program at student transportation um basically we acquire we maintain and then we remove some from service if deemed uh necessary. We do have the four shop locations. I'm not sure if all of you have been out to our facilities but we
082have a Daytona location uh Deltona we have uh New Simra and then we have the Dand location. So the vehicles are serviced at various intervals. Uh when they are brought in it's usually every 5,000 miles or annually whichever occurs first. Sometimes we have more vehicles coming in uh sooner than others just based on what the usage is and the uh determining factors can be uh mileage days uh or engine hours just contingent upon uh whichever comes first. Notifications are sent out to the various departments when vehicles are due for service to keep that good communication going. [clears throat] And this is more than just a quicky oil change when a vehicle comes in for service. This is something that goes through a very comprehensive safety inspection. We have a standardized form uh that is utilized
083for all district-wide fleet and that is maintained uh in our files. We feel that every vehicle is equally as important and the student transportation team works to ensure minimal downtime as to not interrupt the overall mission of this district. Uh the great thing is you know we have a centralized process now where all vehicle acquisitions go through student transportation. So we we facilitate all of those purchases. Um and things have been actually going very well with regards to turnaround on acquiring new vehicles. Uh we also have local vendors that are close close proximity to our various terminals uh which allow us quicker turnaround on repairs. So we're able to turn uh turn those vehicles around quickly uh to minimize any any downtime. Uh we also uh came up with a vehicle justification form. So let's
084say we have a uh a school. Let's say we have a department that needs a vehicle. Uh so what they do is they would fill out this justification form and there's criteria on there that they uh they would fill out to justify their need. Uh that is then signed off by a requesttor. It then goes to the director of the uh appropriate department. Um and then it is sent to uh transportation where Mr. Kangi signs off on it and then Miss Core would then sign off on it uh to allow for that uh transparency. So, this allows for us to determine what the replacement priority really needs to be. And any assignments, just to just to clarify, any assignments to vehicles are typically the responsibility of the department that is utilizing the vehicles. That's typically
085not something transportation gets involved in. Um, so anything that is requested, uh, you have to put a story behind why why you need it. Uh, we also implemented a vehicle deletion form for even more transparency. So when we remove a vehicle from service, um we go ahead and put some information on there that's that's relevant to why we are deleting the specific vehicle. Uh that is reviewed then by my director, Mr. Kangi, and then also uh Miss Core. And then you would then see it on the asset retirement report that you typically receive, I think once a month, uh you know, here. Safety is always the number one priority in transportation. We don't skimp on safety. We we make sure everything is safe going out the door. And I just have to thank my fleet
086team. Uh they have done just a phenomenal job with regards to keeping a lot of these vehicles going. We've had to keep them a little going a little bit longer than than we'd like. Um but they do a great job, a great leadership in the shops. Uh and then also thanks to my finance team for doing all the the behind the scenes aspects with regards to processing invoices and things of that nature. So right sizing a vehicle for the right application. Okay. So what we do is we evaluate the needs of the departments through collaborative meetings. Uh we review what's needed for that particular department. What are we what are we buying? What uh are we looking at replacing? And if uh you need a van, do we you know do we need ladaxs? What
087do we need for shelving? What type of tow package do we need? What's the payload? So we we ask a lot of these questions and we don't necessarily meet just one time. uh we may meet several times just to make sure that we're all on the same page and that priorities haven't shifted. Uh we may have a situation where we have every intention of replacing one vehicle, but then another vehicle goes down. So, we might have to shift some things around. And that collaboration helps making sure we get it right the first time because we are stuck with this as a long-term asset. So, we want to make sure that we're making the right decision the first time because uh we're not replacing it in two years or three years. Right vehicle for the right
088application. I I never want to see uh you know, Miss Core in an F350 DY >> [clears throat] >> uh where she needs a ladder to uh get into [laughter] the vehicle and I don't want anything too overly stylish for Mr. Kangi like a BMW because that just really wouldn't sit too well uh with a lot of people. So, we do purchase vehicles off the state of Florida contract uh and we usually get a good bang for our buck on there. Um the turnaround has been phenomenal. Uh but you know, pricing's gone up quite a bit. I can tell you that vehicles that were about 25 to 28,000 a few years, maybe about 5 years ago, or over 50,000 now, just an example of uh like a cargo van. So, we do have a five-year
089plan. Uh when it comes to the five-year plan, that's reviewed and evaluated every year uh with the budget office uh with projected needs and any estimated costs that we're able to come up with. Uh fortunately the state of Florida they do a great job with regards to keeping that contract up to date. So we're able to get the latest and greatest as far as pricing. Uh one of the goals that we have is uh 10 years 100,000 for our unled fleet and 12 years 150 for diesel. Um I think that's a pretty reasonable uh replacement cycle. Um I can use the county of Alia as an example. uh they do have a about a six-year 100,000 mile replacement cycle for a lot of their frontline vehicles and um this would be a very uh uh
090advantageous cycle to adopt. Um I do network with a lot of other districts and it is quite interesting to see what other districts are are doing. Um I think we're extremely proactive and uh treating every vehicle equally and and with equal importance. I I think that's that's definitely the uh the way to go. Newer vehicles allow for high levels of service and efficiency versus being in the shop for repairs more frequently as the vehicle ages. Uh we're seeing that a lot now with a lot of the vehicles that we inherited because there were a lot of years where we were not purchasing vehicles. Uh we do evaluate the fleet annually and we do note uh priorities that are needed. We always want to be, you know, proactive versus reactive. But I think we're still at
091the point where we're still in reactive and we're getting to where we're going to be proactive once we get everything balanced out and phase a lot of these older vehicles out. Uh we also have annual an annual usage analysis, a review, a reallocation and consolidation if necessary. Um we did we do decommission the vehicles and we sell them at auction and we do our best to recoup as much as possible when it comes to those auction proceeds. Now we did have a lot of dry years. and everything was going pretty well as far as our trend for replacement up until about 2008. And then when there was the economic downturn uh and budget constraints, vehicles weren't replaced as consistently as as they were before. Uh so this did require vehicles in service for a longer
092period of time and we're still feeling that pain, but we're we're we're getting there. We're we're we're getting through that. And as I stated, the new vehicles have a much higher cost uh plus adjustments uh for recent tariffs. So, not only were they high before, they're higher now because of the tariffs. Okay. So, this is basically an overview of what we have in the fleet. We have uh the pickup trucks and the service trucks that that totals 94 units. Uh you know, these are the cargo vans. Those are the ones that the uh facilities maintenance uh folks use. Uh plumbing, HVAC, electrical. Then we have cars and SUVs uh for administrative staff. We also have passenger vans that are typically at the uh the schools and or transportation. We have box trucks. Those are typically
093the warehouse trucks that you see making deliveries to the schools. Uh we also have uh I call them utility box vans. Those are the ones that have the uh the service uh service caps on the back uh that they have the service beds and they also have a storage area that you can kind of walk into and store your supplies. Uh we also have some miscellaneous trucks. Usually those are the tractors that are at the uh the warehouse pulling the trailers. And then we also have a few uh vintage step vans uh too uh which are left which will hopefully be phased out on this next cycle of vehicles that we have coming. Okay, just to show you a little bit of the upgrade uh progress. Um from January of 24 to October of 25,
094we made we have made significant progress. Now I know that number seems pretty high uh for the uh the new vehicles through the five years. Uh but that's because we are in catch-up mode. I anticipate that this is all going to balance out um over time. Um but the goal is is to phase out a lot of those other ones uh that are especially over 20 to 20 and then then the 11 to 15. So um like I said, we're making good progress. We're we're trying to discover new efficiencies where we can and consolidate where we can uh to to minimize. Um basically, you know, a consistent replacement cycle for the school district white fleet can be beneficial in many ways. Uh you get improved safety features and technology. Uh we do have warranty incentives
095and we're able to do some of this warranty work in house. Uh improved fuel efficiency. some of the vehicles we're getting now, especially some of these hybrids. Uh it's amazing what we get for some of the fuel the fuel the miles per gallon. Uh longer service intervals due to extended life products and manufacturers recommendations. Less chances of loss productivity and disruption of service due to major repairs and or service calls. Uh minimization of costly mechanical issues as the vehicle ages. You know, we have some vehicles now that we have to repair because we don't have a replacement at this point. Uh so we are having to to invest some dollars in uh that typically we would not be investing dollars in. Uh we also have the opportunity for better parts availability. Uh sometimes trying to
096find parts for even a a 15 a 12 to 15 year old vehicle are even getting more and more difficult. Um improve reliability, reduce vehicle downtime, and then better residual at the time of disposal. So those are just some of the uh some of the benefits of having our uh replacement cycle. And again, I'm I'm very passionate about making this happen. Like I said, we've made some really really good progress uh to make sure that we have uh a very safe and reliable uh and feasible fleet to to run >> to add anything. >> I just want to make sure that you you guys all understand, board members, the work that Chris does put in. And I wanted to allow him to showcase this for you. This is this is his passion. And um if
097there's anyone in the world that's going to be able to to follow through with with your plan, it's it's going to be Chris. It's definitely going to be Chris. This is his wheelhouse and um we really appreciate you. >> Thank you. Thank you both. Any questions? M >> Thank you, board members. Anybody have any questions? Miss Haynes, >> thank you for the presentation and the update. So, I I like the fact now that you're having them complete a justification form because that is something new. And you're also when you're looking, you're using a form now for the vehicle deletion piece pro. The last time we heard about this was um right around COVID time or coming out of COVID. And at that time we you had a formula that you also used to determine who
098should or should not have it like they had to drive over a certain amount of miles for the year. Are you still using that formula as part of the justification piece? >> Right. That and that form Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Uh yes, that formula we actually have in our White Fleet procedures manual and it's uh 6,000 is what we determined at that time and I think that was actually back when uh when Mr. Akin was here is when we determined that. Well, actually, unless I'm incorrect, um I thought it had to be like over 8,500 before we assigned a vehicle. >> There was some varying information that we were receiving and and I guess it was determined at that point we were just going to stick with the six. I mean, we can always
099re-evaluate it and see what the current trends are. Absolutely. If if we need to extend that out. Absolutely. >> Okay. And I heard you say we have over 300 vehicle white fleet vehicles now that are in use. >> Correct. 323. >> And so all of the people that have those assigned to them then are um meeting the criteria of driving over what you expect for the mileage in order for them to be assigned a vehicle. >> There is information. Now, this is something that I've put together in a spreadsheet for Miss Cor and I to review. Um, but I have put together the usage for last fiscal year. So there is some data that we're going to be reviewing to identify anything that we can shift around because in in all honesty the goal is
100to re in my my goal is to actually reduce white fleet because I think we can we can realize more uh more pool vehicles uh based on those that may state okay I I need to have a vehicle but if you're only going you know 1500 or 2,000 miles you don't you don't need a vehicle either you can use a pool vehicle you can be reimbured for mileage so >> and Um, and at the time individuals, you know, over the years it's been interesting because some people poke um will park very close to their home um which I don't have a problem with necessarily to then get into a vehicle and then to drive to the work location. And so that was one of the ones I was always concerned about because everybody would qualify
101for that if you think about it. Okay, if we were using it that way. So, I'm glad to hear that you are tracking it and you are putting together something to look at it because my goal is to also reduce that piece. And also, um, and I'm I'm sure you're following up on this. At one point, we had people leaving the county, you know, with some of the vehicles and parking them at their homes outside of the county. and that, you know, and that came to our attention because people in other counties said, you know, you've got Valuchia County vehicles parked in Flaggler and Palm Coast and places like that. And so I'm hoping that, you know, we've been able to clear all that up because it's to me it's not an entitlement piece. It's
102a piece of these are the individuals that drive a lot of miles every day either going in to repair things um you know visiting schools whatever they're doing and that we need to be fiscally responsible and because it's taxpayer dollars that are paying for this and most of the time unless they're driving over a certain amount of mileage the reimbursement piece that we give them following those state guidelines is the cheaper way to go than handing them a vehicle with all of the maintenance and everything because when we're handing them a vehicle, we're handle we're handling all the maintenance, the gas, everything for it, the insurance and all of that. But thank you for giving us an update on this. I >> You're welcome. And I really think that policy 523 being revised helped clarify
103a lot of things with regards to the the outcount aspect. >> Yeah, the changes we made to it, but we can we can write a policy and publish it, but if it's not monitored, then we don't necessarily correct the action. Um thank you chair for that question. There are two things that we're working on. So u we will get together um to review we do that annually and so for those that we know I kind of have the luxury of knowing which side of the county people live and work on. So in a case like that if somebody lives on the east side and they park near their home but they work say at DAC but sometimes they have to drive around we take the total mileage and then subtract out the mileage from there
104to here. So, if it's 25 miles to get here from where they park their work car times however many days, we'll subtract that out and see what that net mileage is and see if it meets the threshold. And if not, and we have someone else who needs the vehicle, we may move vehicles around that way. Um, and the other thing we're looking at doing is putting together Chris and I talked about a spreadsheet where anyone who's assigned a white vehicle has to update us on where they park it. Uh, we haven't updated that in a while. So, I know, you know, where I live, I park at Champion. It's the one closest to my house. Um, so we'll we'll get on that and we'll have a list of anyone who has um one assigned to
105them. If it's a pool vehicle, then it gets parked either at transportation or at Olsen. You know, there's places the pool vehicles stay. People drive there and then like my environmental team, there's a there's a pool vehicle, they drive to Olsen and then when they have to go to a to a site, they jump in the pool vehicle and it never goes home. Well, and and for the situation you mentioned at the beginning of that, um you know, say they're driving here to DAC, but they're picking up a vehicle to drive it and they may only go out in that vehicle one time for the week. >> It would behoove us to >> pay mileage. Exactly. >> Pay mileage under the way that the mileage is set up. And um and you also mentioned the
106RSM audit. Um, you know, that was one of the when they do it, one of the risk factors that came up was taking a look at the white fleet. And I was in full agreement because I knew that it was split like where they were and it didn't make any sense. It's like, why aren't we putting all of them together to service them? So, I was happy that that change was made quickly and that you guys are overseeing that part. >> And I was happy to work with RSM. They they were a great group of folks and had some great suggestions and uh we implemented everything and we're we're we're good to go on on all uh all the uh corrective action. >> Thank you, Miss Goodrich. >> Um thank you for the presentation and
107I would just want to follow up with that and when you guys do go through and self audit is kind of what it sounds like going on. I'd love to have you guys come back and share with us what you found and how we were able to reduce costs because we talked about on the front end, but I'd like to see the result of that. >> Yeah, absolutely. we can do that. Um, and because as Chris said, our goal is actually to reduce and and find areas where we could use the pool vehicles because sometimes if we have pool vehicles and they're not even being utilized enough, we can reassign. Um, that would be our goal. We're not trying to add new vehicles to the white fleet that don't already exist. It's a replacement cycle
108for those, especially the workers that need those trucks and vans and and things to do their jobs. Um, so we'll be looking at that. I have denied requests um already since we've implemented that or at least since I've been in this position and um and sometimes that's a tough conversation to have but you know we have to make sure that we train them and they know how to do their mileage and then they you know put in for reimbursement >> and I uh when it comes to um the uh the new vehicles coming in um they have to turn an old one in. It's if you're getting a new one you're turning in an old one. You're not going to hold on because we might need it now. If if you've put in for it
109to be replaced, is a reason you put in for it to be replaced, bring in your your old vehicle and turn it in. And I have tracking mechanisms for all of all of that as well. >> And Chris really does get our money's worth because we [laughter] had some some beater vehicles come in and we're like, "Oh my gosh." And he still gets a couple grand at auction for it. Um, so we still usually get something back out of it, too. >> Yes, we do get some residual dollars. >> Sometimes very surprising, too. thousands of dollars for for things that you wouldn't think would bring thousands of dollars >> or would cost us more than that to keep them in in functioning and on the road. Right. >> Great. Thank you. Uh [clears throat] I
110I'm a little bit different in my thought process because I think that we may have some folks that are costing us more in mileage reimbursement than the cost to lease the vehicle. And so I know the state often wants us to re use the route that's leased. And so um I I would hope that's part of the consideration as well because you know again sometimes from a school district standpoint it behooves us to uh issue them a vehicle versus um paying the mileage which ends up being the higher option. All right. Any other questions, thoughts, feelings, or concerns? All right. Hearing none, it is 2:46 and we are adjourned. >> Thank you.