Volusia County Schools Regular Session Board Meeting 04⧸23⧸2024

001e e e good afternoon and welcome today is Tuesday April 23rd 2024 and at this time I'm going to call to order the valuch County school board meeting we appreciate all of you that are here in the audience with us today whether you're inside or you're in the Overflow area and all of you that are at home we always start our meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance will be which will be presented today by Spruce Creek Elementary School followed by the national anthem which is being presented by The District staff after those two items we will have a moment of silence and reflection so at this time I invite you to please stand and join me for the pledge hello my name is Andrea Hall and I am the very proud principal of the one

002and only Spruce Creek Elementary School I'm here with Mrs Tabitha writes fabulous second graders and we're also here with the one and only Blaze iedge Al 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 great job guys way to go Blaze give me five oh who say can you see by the dawn the light what so proudly we ha at the Twilight last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the powerless F or the r we wash was so gly streaming and the [Music] rockets the bombs buring in through the night that our flag was still there oh s that Spangled B way for the land of the free and the home of the brave

003thank you you may be seated at this time I'd like to introduce those that are here with me over on my far left we have Mr Carl perses representing District 4 next to Mr perses is Mrs Jesse Thompson representing District 3 next to her is Mr Aaron wolf our Schoolboard attorney over on my far right I have Mrs Celeste Gilmore our agency clerk then I have Mr Ruben cologne representing District 5 then I have Mrs Anita Bernett our vice chair this year representing District Two and to my immediate right I have our wonderful superintendent Dr Carmen balaman and I am Jamie Haynes your chair for this year representing District number one items for approval on this agenda are items 1.03 3 2.02 6.02 and 16.01 the first thing we will be doing shortly we'll be

004recognizing students staff teachers and community and business members for things that they have done in the best interest of our children whenever we do recognitions please know we are very happy to have you clap and participate in honoring those that we are Rec recognizing however at public participation times for items on the consent agenda you are more than welcome to fill out a green card and put the item that you'd like to speak about and we will have you speak prior to that item and then at 6 PM we have a time for items of general interest pertaining to public education in valua County a total of up to 15 minutes will be provided for public comment at that time then there will be time provided for public comment on any action item those are

005yellow cards if you wish to fill out a yellow card before a board vote is called on that item time will be provided though at the end of our meeting for public comment for items of general interest pertaining to public education in valou County before items from the board superintendent or attorney are open for discussion or announcement each speaker this evening and whether you fill out one or two or three cards will be given three minutes to speak please respect the time clock you will be able to see it from the podium where you're speaking during that speaking time this is very important we listen and we take notes to what you're saying we do not comment during public input time and I know that sometimes we have students here that don't understand that just

006please know we will answer your questions at a later time but no signs placards or other visual forms of communication are authorized except as part of an individual speaker's presentation speakers shall not engage in personal attacks abusive language or other conduct which interferes with the meeting the chair has the right to terminate any speaker's privilege to address the board if this rule is violated members of the audience should be courteous to all speakers and shall refrain from making audible comments or applauding during the meeting we do allow during public input if you'd like to give a thumbs up or thumbs down you're more than welcome or jazz hands but please do not interrupt the person that is speaking at this time I'd like to remind everyone to please turn your cell phones either off or

007put them on silent as we continue with the meeting our district vision statement is to create lifelong learners for an Ever Changing Global Society at this time I invite board members if they' like to give some comments or speak and I see that Mr clone would like to go first so this week has been really really exciting uh the West fuia Chamber of Commerce has uh we visited Heritage Middle School where they were recognized with the Danny Ganon uh award for uh their accomplishments for the students accomplishments the staff's accomplishments uh last school year and then we went over to Del tonah high and also uh had a celebration there and they too were recognized for the Danny Ganon award we know that uh we'll be at Pride later this week uh for that celebration

008as well so D5 is uh rocking on that side had the honor and pleasure of attending the military ball at uh Delona high so that was a great event there's no family involvement like family involvement at Heritage Middle School with Miss Pina and so they had their parent involvement breakfast and if you've never been there it's hundreds and hundreds of parents come out and just uh it's not something you see in Middle School a whole lot most middle schoolers you know want to be dropped off but at at Heritage I tell you what there were all there and last but not least yesterday had the honor of joining the mayor of Deltona in a ribbon cutting at the GU at their New Garden at Forest Lake Elementary and so lots of great things going on

009across the district and so it's been a busy few weeks as you know it's crazy between now and graduation but uh um other than that all is well thank you thank you Mrs Thompson thank you so Mr cologne failed to mention so I'll bring it up that he and I were at the valua County Schools Home Run 5K we were not running however there was a lot of people running what they say over 300 people uh partip yeah and uh super fast people so kids if you're ever trying to outrun your teachers there's some that are really fast um but it was a great turnout also want to give a huge shout out to Sweetwater Elementary they did the production of Finding Nemo and that school always does an amazing production I mean there's so

010many kids involved so thank you to everyone in the community and at the school that put that together I also want to give shout outs to our outstanding volunteers both in the adult and Senior category they were both from new samna Beach uh for the adult it was Miss Bartley at corado Beach Elementary and I can attest she's there every single day and I think it almost brought tears to my eyes when her mom said it gives a lot to the children but it also gives just as much if not more to her so I love hearing that and then Miss Brenda at new samur Beach High School in the a farm she keeps that place running and I know she hated to be recognized so I will do it again thank you so much

011for all that you do and also uh Spruce Creek High School their Environ team finished second at States so just huge shout out to them they are doing amazing work there and that is it for uh District three thank you thank you Mrs Bernette thank you um thank you all for attending and joining us this evening so we've we've like uh Mr clone said we've all been busy and I know well there was a night that we attended the pdk and Vasa Awards while some other um members of the district and the board attended an ESC event but that was very nice to recognize the leadership at the schools in the district level as well as in the community and a shout out to Halifax because they were recognized as the Community member that's for

012you Mr clone um and then um and then we got to I think all of us attended the Futures leader the Futures leaders graduation which is always nice to see because those are some of the the brightest kids in our community and uh they get to participate in a program led by Futures and get to see different Industries throughout the county and um again they had a great time at Halifax nice to see and then um and I just want to S my my niece and nephew play on the Miracle League which is a um baseball softball kind of League that was that was brought about for kids with special needs and a former me uh former valua County employee Amy Hall Dr Amy Hall actually um she is the big sponsor for that and

013uh Mainland Buccaneer um baseball and Spruce Creek baseball were both um buddies for for them and it was just wonderful to see and the kids were so excited excuse me and they were hitting home runs and they just run around they don't even stop they just keep running they all get home runs but it's nice to see and and it's built for them so anyway shout out to them thanks it's great Mr perses thank you madam chair uh yeah everybody's said a lot of the things that we've all been to I just want to give a big shout out to the uh Orman Beach Chamber of Commerce and to the mayor of Orman Beach we went around to uh schools last Friday to recognize teachers of the quarter I think we visited 10 10 10

014schools uh and we love doing that we just go to the principal's office and we sign in and we say who's your teacher of the quarter well well we know who the teacher of the quarter is because we have plaques made up and everything and flowers and all of that and But the teacher doesn't know that he or she's going to be teacher of the quarter then we walk into the classrooms and we surprise and disrupt everything for 10 minutes or so but it's all good and it's uh it's great to recognize the awesome work that our teachers do each and every day and speaking of awesome work in teachers we have teacher appreciation week coming up uh what May 6 through the 10th I think it is a national teacher appreciation day May the

0157th so all of you that are out there listening parents Grand grandparents uh keep that week in in mind and uh do something nice for a teacher they deserve it back to you thank you so um you've already mentioned quite a few of the things that went on but this morning we also gave um the Danny Ganon School of Excellence award to DeBry Elementary for all that they've done and it was a wonderful presentation but some of the other things that have gone on um since we were last here is while they were at the running thing not running I um I actually attended our military academy day for the Seventh District here in Florida and so it was put on by um our um Corey Mills and Rick Scott but here's what I have

016to tell you um Spruce Creek High their junior Roc came and they presented the colors and they also presented the flags for each one of our military branches and then um there was a beautiful young lady from there that sang the national anthem and it was so nice but this is what I learned okay okay because I've attended um some with Michael Waltz but this one they went in depth so parents if you are listening and even if your child is like a freshman right now in high school and they're talking about possibly wanting to go towards one of the military acmis it's time it's time to start looking into this because they brought each of the branches in and they brought someone that maybe graduated 20 years ago and then they brought a current

017student that's attending one of the military cies to do the presentation and and what's nice is you know there was that collegial like oh you know Army Beat Navy or this kind of stuff going on but they each walked through and showed a video of where they're where they're housed at talked about what kind of degrees you can get what the expectations are they talk to them about the physical piece and like the things that you need to do to be prepared and I didn't know as much about the Merchant Marine Academy but it's a amazing and where it's located is absolutely beautiful but you know yes we know about Army and Navy and Air Force and our Marines and we know about the Coast Guard but there's also the Merchant Marine Academy and when

018they walked them through all of that and they answered every question that a parent put forth or a student put forth then they also brought in that there's an academy that in the event you don't get selected your first time to go to one of these they have an academy that you can go to that basically preps you on the pieces you were missing so that you can get in so if you are listening and you're a student or a parent I would suggest um and I think we need to publicize this a little bit better um next time you want to come to that because it's a free event and you get to come and you get to learn right beside your child if that's the path that they're wanting to take and you

019know everything's paid for when you go in and um it was just amazing to hear from them and they were honest like the students that are in there now they talked about like here's the fun part but like here's the difficult part and and that and we had anywhere from like somebody who had just started at one of the aies to somebody who was three years in and there's different things that happen out there depending on where you're at but that was a great day and um I will say about the Futures tomorrow's leaders just like um Mrs Bernett said that they talked about their time at Halifax I was happy that our students this year talked about their visit here to Dak and learning more about what goes on at the district level because

020there was a young man that talked about that but we also had our teen job fairs and I was at the one for University High and there were so many businesses this out there this year so if you've missed out on um learning about our teen job fairs we hold them so that our students can come and all of the businesses are there and they'll tell them like we're looking for this and this is the age in which you can apply but we also did some soft skill pieces and I did part of the interview piece to teach them about their soft skills like but we had you know we had how should you dress and different things like that to help them how do you put together a resume but that was a great

021thing and then um um yesterday morning I was at the uh West Valia state of the region and so our six mayors that are here on this side of um the county all came together at the sandborn center and they answered questions about what's going on in each of their cities and how they're supporting education what they're dealing with the growth piece and how we're working together to hopefully always have seats for students and then the final thing is I did spend two days at the Florida Schoolboard Association Advanced Finance training and I'd already completed Finance one and finance two so this was Advanced finance and all I can say is I walked away with I've learned new things and um in my former job role you know I worked in federal programs and every

022year I had to go to fraud training fraud has taken a whole different step you know um and so we learned about fraud and you know how to protect our educational institutions from fraud and it's just amazing what people can come up with I say it always even when I used to attend fraud training years ago if the people that spent so much time trying to figure out how to commit fraud would just put that to a positive thing just imagine what they could do but um I was that that too and so there's a lot going on I will say yes we have teacher of the year coming up but we're getting closer every day to graduation so for all of you seniors out there just hang in there a little longer finish what

023you're doing because we all look forward we will be there to see you walk across that stage and get that diploma because that's what you've all worked for and so just hang in a little longer not much more before we get there but we're going to move along at this time and so we are up to item 3 point 1.03 approval of the minutes board members you've had an opportunity to read the minutes from the last Workshop session and regular session do I have someone to make a motion to approve the presented minutes yeah move approval of the minutes Madam chair thank you Mr persus do we have a second I'll second that motion thank you m Thompson any discussion hearing none I'll call for the vote all those in favor of approving the minutes

024from the April 9th 2024 Workshop work session and regular session please say I I any opposed it passes unanimously this time we are up to item 2.01 agenda changes Dr balaman are there any agenda changes before the agenda is presented to the board for approval Madam chair I have no changes thank you thank you board members do I have a motion to approve the presented agenda move to approve thank you Mrs Bernett do I have a second second thank you Mr cologne any discussion all right then all those in favor of approving the presented agenda for this evening please say I I any opposed it passes unanimously we are now moving on to to item 3.01 announcements by Dr balaman our superintendent thank you madam chair board members members of the audience what a beautiful

025audience today because as I'm looking around I see representative from Tallahasse fsba is here I see stakeholders Partners in education that's here I see our parents I see students I see um I mean it's it's such a a widespread audience here represent representation from every segment of our district and support system so thank you for being here and those of you tuning in from home thank you for doing so as well I have a few announcements and videos because I do as you know I have a reputation to uphold here but uh huh in a video and a video video that's the reputation I have to uphold as you know but a couple things and I will try not to repeat some that you've mentioned but outstanding volunteer Awards so last week we had the

026honor of surprising some very outstanding Award winners and some of you board members you were with me but Kaylee Bartley she is the outstanding adult volunteer winner at Coronado Beach Elementary um she and her service dog butterfly they are an inspiration to the entire student body and staff um this young lady really is the epitome of perseverance she has shown that no matter what difficulties we may encounter in our lives that with the right attitude and and you have to commend her mother because her mother is the kindergarten teacher there for many many years um with the right attitude you can be successful um again I want to thank you Kaylee Bartley for always looking at the positives and for giving so much of you each and every day to that entire community and Mom

027thank you for all that you have done and for being that great example for your daughter and everyone else in that community so congratulations to Katie um Brenda Hamilton Brenda is out our outstanding senior volunteer at new Samara Beach High School so Mrs Hamilton she maintains the Agro science Farm she organizes events there she secure secures a grand for the kitchen Coupe from Purdue farms for 2.5 that's how much you secured it's going to be an amazing project now I will tell you and this is for all of our CT all of our teachers but you know when you're teaching in some of these divisions like CTE naturally you have a lot love for that and you have a passion for that work and it's very clear it's very evident that the work that they

028do they're they're so involved with the mentorship programs that they provide for students so thank you so much to um Mrs Hamilton and the entire team there from that division for all that you do when it comes to CT there at um new samna beach also manate Cove they've received the VC family and Community involvement award for their mentorship with University High School this is when you have two sister schools working together um this it's 30 students from University High School part of the sgaa uh program Student Government they have been working with the elementary students from manate Cove and you have to hear about how lifechanging those experiences have been for those students that's all servant leadership right there so actually both uh schools received recognition last week so I want to thank them

029for that model and we want to see more of that model in our district Mr carong you are sharing a little bit of that with me as well so what a good example right for all of the other schools to partner up and help each other out because after all we are a community now the commissioner's academic challenge our students in here in vol County all of our high schools participated and our students last Saturday we received um a message that stated that our students finished third place in division one for the commissioner's academic challenge so congratulations to all of our high schools for participating and obviously to our winners I want to thank um coach Cliff we shimer he's from uh new samarta Beach High School Mariah brasswell from thewit Taylor Middle High School

030they've worked with our students for and as you know they've got in division one third place winner um our students that that participated some of them are Kagan Osterman Kagan couldn't be here today but Kagan is from new samna samna high Wy sakota from new samna high Ryan Pucket from new samna high Katie Thompson from spruce High School Mitchell pork Meer from Delona high and Alexander Michael Eno from uh Spruce Greek high school so we're going to be recognizing these students formally at one of the upcoming board meetings chair you talked about the teen job fair so I'm not going to repeat that but I want to thank all of our HR team that worked with all of our students we know the importance of soft skills and they they told me that the event

031was clear a full hit we had so many students attending so we want to thank the team for um making sure that it was a successful event for our students also Battle of the books who doesn't like reading in here as you can see no one put their hands up so we all love reading don't we and we know that reading is the foundation to success in every subject area so last week we were at Battle of the book I was there and it was held at detona State College we had approximately 50 schools that participated in this Challenge and it was so very nice to see so many parents there and they were so excited about having not only their students engaged but our parents are highly competitive so hudos to you congratulations but

032I will tell you the schools that um that clearly won these victories were Westside Elementary um or Beach Elementary uh mean Orman Beach Middle School sorry and thean high school so again the three School winners I see them um Westside Elementary Orman Beach Middle and D land high school but I want to thank all of our parents and obviously our Ela department they were there they received so many donations from our partners in education and it was an outstanding event and I love being an event where we can interact with our parents and hear from them for hand and again every time I congratulate a par a student know that that parent is being congratulated or that Guardian is being congratulated as well you we talked about the Danny gainan School of Excellence so um

033the school the winners as as you stated Deltona High School Heritage Middle School DeBerry Elementary and pride Elementary but a special thank you to Joe Hearn and the entire team the board for the West the greater West valua Chamber of Commerce we have have such great relationship with all of our Chambers but anytime we're doing any activity or any any event here on the West Side these the chamber is so engaged so involved and I want to thank you for all that you do on a daily basis to support our school systems it really takes a full Village so thank you our also our spelling be our national spelling be one of our very own Southwestern Middle School seventh grade student is on her spelling be Journey her name name is clar Smith and she

034was the third place winner at the scripts region two Regional spelling be um Awards I have to share with you that I try to compete with her it was very it was nerve-wracking guys I will tell you this and she clearly still is the winner but you'll see that video um I want to thank Jack quis Copeland the principal um Claire's mom and dad they were there two phenomenal individual uals um CLA moms work for us CLA dad works for Daytona estate who is a partner in Ed with us congratulations to the entire family and Claire you are going to do a really good job representing us nationally so now and also Administrative Assistant Day to all of our administrative assistants tomorrow these are the individuals that really makes us look good because they do

035so much behind the scene so I want to thank every single Administrative Assistant here in County and for those of you who serve in this role that you may not be in valua County the work that you do is so very important and we're so happy to have you in the role in which we do so congratulations to all of you and now chair I think that's the end of my announcements but we do have I believe two videos two short videos right one okay one come here yes I am scared because you won for the whole County right yeah I am here at Southwestern Middle School joined by the the very famous spelling be winner for the entire district and her name is Claire I got my love of reading from my mother and

036my parents were both teachers so that inspired me to pursue spelling my favorite movie is Akila and the be in which Aila wins the national spelling be I never ever thought that I could be anywhere close to even qualifying for the Nationals and well here you are here I am about to cry we wish you the best CLA we know that you are again you're a winner at the national level already in our hearts and Minds here here Ina County so I think we're doing a little bit of a spelling be challenge today and CLA please take it easy with me I have not prepared but I you know will I am Mrs Copeland principal of Southwestern middle school and I have the honor this afternoon of moderating the spelling be between Dr balabin and

037Claire Smith assumption a s s u m p t i o n assumption Global g l o b u l a r thank you thank you impromptu i m p r o m PTU impromptu thank you all right Dr Babin your next word is Pythagorean can you please give me the origined from a Greek name plus an English element p y t h o g o r e n h a there you have it thank you Dr bin Claire we have a championship word at this time Claire your word is picata p i c c a t a picata congratulations once again so proud of J proud of you it's the superintendent certificate of recognition to clar Smith a thank you Southwestern middle school for your exemplary achievements in spelling and becoming the third place

038winner at the scripts region to Regional spelling be oh thank you congrats that's so I am so glad that is Claire representing us at the national level and it's not that was good but no congrat she's an outstanding young lady and and I know that she makes us proud all right so Madame chair now we will move to the next that's that's the end of the announcements thank you all right we're actually going to um do item 4.02 followed by 4.01 we're going to switch these two so Dr baman for item 4.02 would you like to go ahead and introduce yes Madam chair we have with us here the extraordinaire Miss Andre massina um Andre massina she is the chief executive officer and for from the School Board Association and she's going to present to

039us these first two the two recognitions as you stated 401 and 402 she might decide to change the order you want need to push the button here n you're good okay perfect um it is one of the great privileges of my job that I get to come and attend school board meetings on a regular basis so it is an honor and a privilege to be here particularly honored because I get to do some recognitions and some distinctive uh distinctions that I get to recognize um the Florida school boards Association has training programs essentially on two tracks one track is the individual School Board member Knowledge and Skills and the other track is the governance team training and tonight we get to recognize both of them here at valua County Schools so first I'd like to

040mention that um all of our training and development programs are designed by Stu uh students no by Schoolboard members for Schoolboard members so we have a leadership committee which actually Ruben cologne happens to co-chair that oversees the work of our leadership department but today we're going to recognize Anita Bernette because Anita earned what we call our certified board member distinction now what that means means is that Anita by choice chose to earn Knowledge and Skills uh hours of training in school Finance policy governance bargaining advocacy leadership and knowledge and it's not just a few hours of training it's 96 hours of training and it takes a few years and there's some um some of the trainings are in prescribed learning The Forum kind of format where as Jamie mentioned she just came from a fin

041Forum there are only 87 school board members across the state who own this distinction and I'd like to present it right now to Anita Bernett so [Music] congratulations want to take at the end we can do both and then take it at the end is that okay and that distinction is evidence of Anita's commitment to her craft uh we ask all of our Professionals in our wherever we work to continue to get professional development and so this is indicative of Anita's commitment to her own personal professional development but I'd like to mention that as a board the governance team which we recognize as the board and the superintendent as the governance of the district the governance team has also committed to professional development and this team is going to be recognized here today as a

042certified Master board because you went through the recertification program you had one change but you still wanted to go through the program and essentially what this program does is it helps boards and superintendant together discuss roles responsibilities statutory alignments um it helps the goal of the masterboard program is to help whichever governance team we're working with become highly effective working team and that means you're focused on strategic goals you're focused on um the whatever the goals are in your District you're able to find common goals you're able to create action plans for those common goals and you're able to achieve those common goals so you all took seven hours of training and you worked on understanding each other's personalities and learning styles communication Styles listening skills and Future Ready leadership skills and you did that

043so that you could work better together for the goals and the future of the district so we want to take this time to recognize the valua county governance team which is the board and the superintendent as a certified Master board and we have Jamie Haynes as chair Anita Bernett as Vice chair Ruben cologne Carl persus Jamie Thompson and Dr Carmen balabin superintendent so congratulations on that good thing big smile thank you thank you I did want to mention that this is um one you are one of let me get the number correct 33 boards in the state who have earned this distinction so it's less than half of the boards in the state have made a similar commitment that you all have made to yourselves to your community and to your District to try to

044ensure focus on the work what's important so thank you for that thank you I want to add just a word I'm so proud of you for earning that and what I will tell you is now that you have it because I've had mine for a little while um when you have to go fill out all the surveys after you take courses it's much easier you earn that's a lot of a lot of filling I'm trying to encourage the rest of you you know to earn yours because I know that you know when you have to do it originally it's a lot of work work but once you get past that and you earn it it's a lot easier you you can still learn the classes but they don't make you do as much homework okay

045so that's a positive piece all right we're now moving on to item 4.03 business partner launch I know this one's hard this is a hard one um chair and board members because I will tell you there's a lot of things that makes volution county is such a special place and you know when you look at the folks in this community our parents and um our business partners our board it's like it's a group of individuals that are truly committed to our students and their success and I love many things about our County but I truly value the partnership that our Partners bring to the table because these are individuals that that truly have dedicated probably a quarter of a century to the work that we're doing here minimally right um and that takes a lot

046of it's a high level of commitment it's a high level of commitment as you know I've been around a little bit and worked in other districts and you will see that Partners they come and they go it's seasonal sometimes but here every day is the season for the partners that we have we have over 150 partners and they hold a very special place in our hearts and in the work that we do it's because of their support we're able to realize those goals that are outlin our strategic plan now this young man here not only we come from the same place right so he's a chamal but I'm going to tell you that Mr heenez put partnership to the side is truly a genuine human being a genuine human being and I'm I'm sad speaking

047about it today because he is has decided that he's going to retire but he did promise me that he's going to do a quick rebound get some good rest and you know travel a little bit not get too used to that kind of life and he's going to do a quick rebound and come back and support us continue to support us but Mr Rim man as I have here a page of things to say about you but I here is what I want you to know your commitment what you have done for our County and most importantly your genuine love for valua County and our students is something that's undeniable and for that I think thank you profusely he supported schools such as Orange City Elementary Edgewater public Daytona um South Daytona Elementary Futures are

048Futures Foundation um our CTE programs Recruitment and Retention professional learning that's just a few because I'm going to tell you something about this young man a lot of things he does he doesn't want anybody to know about it servant leadership servant leadership David and launch Credit Union are a major part of our of of this community and makes up who we are there is not an event that we have had that David does not offer to sponsor not an event David and his team believes it's never too early to learn about the importance of your finances and as you know we have launch Credit Union currently in two of our high schools branches and two of our high schools right and we're adding two more two more to come um David thank you for making

049a difference in the life of our students parents and community and we wish you the very best thank you I believe it's more than 15 years that you have been supporting us because this goes all the way back to your father-in-law all the way back to your father it's it's such a great story too so listen I can talk about you all day long but I the the chair did promise me that this is going to be a short board meeting so I'm gonna have to stop but we do have a short video that I would like to show had a relation withp for 14 years we have several branches in Bosa County uh high schools uh actually branches that the kids get to have real practical experience it's just given us a really good

050example of like careers that we can pursue I enjoyed working with the customers and seeing the behind the scenes that I never get to see otherwise thank you Mr Herz for working with the Academy of Finance here at our school thank you we are so grateful for all of your support over the years for futures foundation for the school district everything that you've done you're always supportive and and we really do appreciate everything you do you made that first year of M teaching so much better you would take me and Stephanie out to lunch and you just were so inviting with lunch I had such a great experience and you've just been a light and the sweetest person you always have a smile and you always make my day when I get to see you

051you always had a smile on your face you were always willing to give a helping hand and you will desperately be missed congratulations on your retirement and thank you for the opportunity you've given us at launch and we really appreciate it I'm looking forward to seeing all the pictures and hearing about all the adventures that you have coming up congratulations again you took a proposal when our school opened and you made it come to a reality and we have this beautiful Branch here and all of these opportunities for our students so cheers to you have a wonderful retirement you deserve it it is endless all the things that you have done is is is is remarkable and we are a better County a better school district because of you David to you and all the

052support that you've given BCS and all the support yet to be given to BCS we want to thank [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you can I say yes please come up have have to come microphone I have retired from my employer and it has been a wonderful experience but there's one thing that you cannot do is retire from your community and I'm committed uh to the bue County School Board as I am committed to my family I have a little guy back there that we're trying to do everything that we can to make him a really good human being a respectful human being somebody that respect Civics but we still need your partnership to makeing what his mother has become what his Auntie has become and those are my two daughters we are indebted

053to you and you guys can count on me for anything I still plan to do things and I couldn't leave a group of people like you I love you guys thank [Applause] you you make my heart s I don't know I don't know when we met first it was a long time back to the years of my father-in-law when the credit union started 1963 sorry you weren't even born [Laughter] getting that doesn't happen often thank you [Applause] is your family here is your family is his family here bring family up for a photo on family yes we need yes come on here they come here they come here they come beginning meeting all right you guys got get picture family in the middle family are you Grandpa your face [Applause] thank you for everything lesie

054thank you thank you thank you for everything [Music] at this time we're moving on to item 4.04 recognition of the Cambridge Awards Dr balaman thank you madam chair and board members um we have 85 students wow from vucha County that they have received this very very prestigious award which is the Cambridge International Education award um one of our students from Deltona High School Kevin nugen he received the highest Mark in the USA on the Cambridge international studies exam and was placed sixth in the world rank category in English literature wolves he was not able to be with us today because he's currently believe it or not at the University of Florida okay studying for his computer science um exam now two students from new samna Beach High School received the Cambridge scholar Award with distinction

055and are present with us here today so I'm going to ask at this time that Dr buo our assistant superintendent along with our um Dr Drayton our director for High School curriculum and Robert milholland who is dressed very nicely as you can see back there our coordinator for social studies and advanced programs they will come up to share a little bit what the Cambridge studies program is all about and do a short presentation welcome hey good evening chair Haynes board members superintendent Dr balabin um T to season for celebrations uh as we get closer to the end of the year and and this is one of the very special ones that we're excited about so I will pass it off thank you Dr bario I'm GNA have to dress up more often I guess chairwoman

056Haynes superintendent balabin board members it is my distinct pleasure to to bring bring forward to you the Ace Cambridge uh awards from the spring 2023 exam Series so last year's exams um it is Cambridge has four categories um as as Dr balamin mentioned one of the top one is top in the world category and and they place first through through 10th place in categories top in the country um which is which is achieved that student has achieved the highest marks in the country in an individual subject which um Kevin W had for English literature and the next three categories are all within the scholar designation there's scholar with distinction H scholar with Merit and the scholar uh and and the way they work as is the scholar category those students have earned a a grade

057of C on their exams on three exams or higher The Scholar Merit is they they've earned um sorry they they have earned um three BG grades or higher and then the scholar distinction they've earned three grades of a or higher on their exams from last year's spring Series so we have the The Scholar designation um in which the students have earned at least the three C grades and there were 11 students at Deltona High 16 students from New Smyrna high four students from University High School and 35 students from sebres high school the next category is um The Scholar Merit category in which these students have earned three BG grades or higher on their exams three students from Deltona High School uh five students from New Smyrna Beach High School and 11 students from from

058sebres high school and the last category um is these two students Kyla Kavanaugh and Leah orini from new smyna Beach High School um they earned The Scholar distinction award and um they've earned at least three a grades or higher on their on their Cambridge exams from the spring series of last year and uh we would like to recognize these two students in particular be they are here as Dr Balin mentioned Kevin WN is um uh at school and he's studying the finals are coming up pretty quickly at University of Florida so that's where he's his focus is most definitely um and for for Kevin um he at at well at Deltona High School he earned a 46111 GPA um he was fourth in his class and he was also a member of the sgaa and

059and the National Honor Society at at um Delona high school and his advice to current students which um oddly enough I tell my own kids is a study in advance and don't cram for your exams complete your work ahead of time and not the day it's due I need some of that advice always be on the lookout for resources that will supplement your knowledge and really the biggest one um ask for help from your peers and teachers and that is you know his his best advice and and you know moving forward to help help all of our students and not just in Cambridge but IB AP and all of our students as well um we would like to congratulate all of the Cambridge winners for receiving these prestigious Awards and your accomplishments make us proud

060and we commend your dedication to achieving high standards of education at this time I would like to invite Kyla and Leah to come forward with their principal Mr Merrick and their Ace coordinator at New Smyrna High School Susan Zona so that we can recognize you and take photos and then afterwards um I would like uh Mike mcof from the principal of Deltona High Lauren vosberg the ace coordinator at Deltona High um Mr Harris from sebres was not able to join us tonight but Dodie Gaines the ace coordinator at sebres and uh Karen chinit the principal at University High and Bill lowski the ace coordinator at University High to come up and take a picture as [Applause] well conratulations come on this way how are you spell your name was good how are you everybody in

061[Applause] [Laughter] Tona are you where's Lauren certificate it can do it but they can go school together University we were we' been talkinging fing there will be more a a ace thank you so thank you very proud of were there were four schools did we forget us thank you we forget a school stud Awards Goa now we are moving on to item 4.05 recognition of our youth volunteer of the Year Dr Balaban thank you madam chair board members Madam chair I know you're very excited about this because the the outstanding youth volunteer is presented annually as you know to volunteers who have shown outstanding dedication to the Quality uh education in the State of Florida for it's from kindergarten through 12 for public schools and I'm pleased to share with you that you and I

062had an opportunity of surprising this wonderful young lady one day she thought she was on a field trip and it was just going to be a a regular normal day but it wasn't for her because she received a surprise that day and that showed up but F Chow a senior and IB student at the land High School um she has been selected by the state of Florida for the outstanding youth volunteer [Music] [Applause] [Music] award couple things that we've learned about f is that whatever she does she will do it with true servant heart for others she really is a truly a servant lead F has created a student-led website that focuses on the importance of self-care and F I'm going to tell you I didn't know much about self-care until my daughter start talking

063to me about it and now I'm hearing more and more about self-care but how important that is right because it's connected to mental health and mental health awareness so she's been doing this she created her own website she spent 140 hours of her own time working to support mental health and self-care care F also volunteers a minimum of 100 hours over a six-month period to tutor other students in chemistry [Applause] wow so this young lady is a total package she also created what what's called a circle of kindness It's a project so that students are treated with kindness and respect and F has sold over 100 um friendship bracelets and all of the proceeds from her sales have been used to purchase nearly 100 school supply kits that are donated to Bengali schools now [Applause]

064FAA this board and I and our leadership team when we see and we hear of these stories of students like you it gives us hope for the future because we know that we're our our grandchildren and loved ones will be placed in great hands so thank you for and and I've said this before our leadership or they born they made it's both both sweetheart and you have shown both of these qualities you're born to do what you do and obviously you're indulging in that self-development that's we needed so that you can have the skill set with the emotional intelligence to execute these fun functions the way that you do we want to congratulate your fa family as well because we you talked extensively to F's dad and I did and I want to thank them

065for their dedication their commitment and the value that we place on education because it's the one thing that I say that no one can take away from you right a quality education so with that said we would like for you to come up so we can formally recognize you because we've received your certification from the state of Florida and um um also I guess the parents after oh yes yes here you go [Applause] chair she's right you good brother all right you Mom thank you so much toate of going how are you guys are you it you we need to get how you doing got this Leo you go [Applause] okay really are always recruited what a remarkable young lady absolutely at this time we are moving on to item 5.01 this is our public

066participation time concerning items on the consent agenda um so do you have any more green cards for me all right we're going to hear public participation then if someone wants to go ahead and put the podium up the first item that someone would like to speak about for public participation that's on the consent agenda is item 10.01 and 10.02 um Miss Elizabeth Albert welcome good evening Madam chair members of the board superintendent Dr balabin members of the audience so I'm speaking to you tonight on item 10.01 the uh budget amendment and also item 10.02 the financial statement so I don't know if you're looking at your documents but if you have them um we're going to follow along here with some page turning if you wouldn't mind so on page page one of the document

067it's very good to see that we are receiving increased revenues as identified under the general fund consolidation first bullet total estimated revenues increase by 1.9 million as indicated below and then you have that breakdown when you go into the SEC second section of the subheadings under that general fund Consolidated you can see that uh there was a increase in investment income of 1.4 million and I'll talk some more about that in a few minutes but it's very nice to see down at the bottom right above The Debt Service subheading that the revised budget editing in the fund balance is going to result at this moment in time in approximately $2.2 million that's really outstanding so if we turn continue to turn through the uh document here I'd like to draw your attention to page four

068on page four um about Midway down the page under local sources you'll see that line item for investment income and that 1.4 broke Bren down so just have a question where did this 1.4 million come from that's a significant amount of money and what are you planning to do with that if you go down further on that same page four you'll see under Appropriations there's a savings that's been received under instructional salaries of 415 million plus uh so but only a but a $3 increase in benefits so what's the difference because if we're saving money in salaries logically we should be saving money in benefits those go hand and glove so I'd like to just ask you to finally reference in this document page seven where you can see at the bottom the uh indication

069of that increase in the fund balance of $2 million moving from 6,774 491 to 62 m285 180 our fund balance continues to grow and then finally I want to reference the financial statements I want to take you back uh a meeting to the last meeting on April the 9th you had a financial statement there that indicated that the ending fund balance and this is a year-to date from January 31st to June 30th was sitting at$ 21,1 127,128 in the fund balance a year prior to that we were sitting at 185 million when we look at this meeting's financial statement the fund balance is at 9,428 th000 plus a year ago 169 million our fund balance continues to grow and grow as evidenced last meeting we're H we had increased revenue generated by additional students that

070come to our district yet we continue to talk about a budget crisis make it make sense thank you Miss Albert if you'd like to stay you're the next person up for item 11.02 all right good afternoon again Madame chair members of the board superintendent Dr balabin members of the audience I'd like to talk to you a little bit about item 11.05 is what I'm looking at this is the contract renewal hold on I have you down for 1102 I have someone else down for 110 this one should be five this is the insurance for a second I wanted to talk about insurance okay I will I will change it to 11.05 and if we could go back please and restart and we restart apologize for the okay I just want to make sure we're on

071the right thing you are thank you very Chang it to 11.05 diligence appreciate that you are the numbers gal so good evening again Madam chair members of the board superintendent Dr balab and members of the audience I would like to speak about item 11.05 this is a contract renewal uh that's in front of you for employee benefits Consulting servant services so this is with brown and brown who is currently our insurance broker so when we take a look at this item I see that the cost expenditure is $150,000 now I know that's probably not a significant amount of money necessarily when you compare it to all of the other things that we pay for in this District um and the going rate of the cost of Consultants but when I went through the document I

072had to notice in the letter that was written there was a a line in there that was sent to Brown and Brown that stated we are more than happy with your performance well are we because at this board at the board meeting that just occurred uh two weeks ago this board voted 32 to approve a rate increase on the renewal of 5.9% is that the best we can do I asked you to pull it from consent you did you had conversation and the conversation that I heard didn't really lend me to believe that we're more than happy with this performance I noticed that the contract has a year base with subsequent three one-year renewals is that guaranteed I noticed in the documents that this RFP was put out to 1,75 vendors and we only received

073six responses why is that is our process as pure and high quality as it should be if we're putting it out to almost 2,000 uh potential vendors and we get six returned I think there's a flaw there that needs to be looked at I couldn't discern any key performance indicators in this document at all that would set thresholds and benchmarks of expectations for a vendor that's going to be our insurance broker we had a relationship with Aon that didn't work out we moved to Brown and Brown and yet we're still suffering from the same effects of increased insurance rate renewals that outpaced any any recent salary increase we can't continue with this so again I'm going to say Are we more than happy with this performance I noticed that the uh Pharmacy costs are Skyrock

074when you do that comparison you'll see as well and I know some of that is driven by pharmaceutical companies I get it but what kind of outside of the box thinking is this broker doing to help the employees I noticed that there was a line on the document that that suggested that we could maybe do a carve out for Rx Pharmacy costs are we looking at solutions that are going to help the average Joe and Jane that come to work every day that need insurance but don't earn what these renewals are going to cost them um our concerns should be brought forward to Brown and Brown we should ask for the ability to audit some of what they're doing as an insurance committee because we have got to do better thank you thank you we

075have a second speaker for 11:05 Valerie Jessup welcome good evening Madam chair and the board tonight I want to speak about the increase in insurance for support staff this is just another step we're going to have to overcome to make a livable wage as someone that barely makes $20,000 before tax this is putting me further and further behind in earning a livable wage one job should be enough to make a livable wage in my household I have four jobs I am going to school to become a teacher because my job is seen as just a stepping stone instead of a career that it actually is my husband has two jobs as a family that budgets literally every penny we are barely scraping by there's a lot of families that are now going to have to

076pay the district due to the insurance increase in instead of being paid for the work that they do this is absolutely deplorable for a board to say how much they appreciate your staff you sure didn't fight for the insurance thank you next item for public input is item 12.02 approval of job descriptions additions and revisions Miss Elizabeth Albert times um current positions that are within the managerial uh level here um that show a reduction from the district level pay scale of 15 down to a 13 so that that's an interesting uh note here but we have a new position public information officer where we're moving from a 12 to a 14 uh so so that's an increase there so we've got some some back and forth here that I'm wondering about but again in a

077moment in time where we're looking at reducing allocations closest to Children reducing positions within schools and classrooms the folks that uh I believe we should be priori prioritizing because remember we're in the business of educating kids that should be our primary focus uh we've got stuff going on at the top but but no visible at this moment in time reduction or changes so I would ask to that there be an updated org chart placed on the website uh the org chart that I have doesn't even include young Danielle wherever she may be uh on there and and that's a shame because we need to have some updated information on our website when people are looking at things um and again I just encourage you uh to be mindful of the reason we're all here and

078the reason we're all here is to educate kids and so we need to make sure we're making maintaining those positions in our schools and in our classrooms so that we can get the job done thank you thank you are there any other green cards I have one other green card but it's for item 20.01 which that is later on it's not part of the consent agenda okay so backup it's for oh I apologize okay so we're going back to 10:1 um Donna brossmer will you please come forward for 10:1 I will change that on here welcome you I'm sorry that was my mistake uh we have one action item on tonight's agenda and 37 items on the consent agenda uh one of those includes the budget update and so I have to assume that that

079means that we won't be discussing the budget unless one of the members uh one of your board members decides to pull that item um and that was noteworthy considering the amount of of public interest that's been taken in the covid money lately um that has been reported uh the board learned on May 10th 2022 which and this is from from that meeting uh that since 2021 the district had been spending the temporary funds for permanent positions but apparently gave no direction to staff to bring a plan forward no timeline for staff to bring a plan forward so here we are Finance 101 says you don't do that competence says you don't wait too years to fix it Integrity says you don't blame someone else for the problem and character says you don't dump that problem

080on someone else which is what has happened to the district principles the district says it's not my fault but continues to add administrative positions while the teachers bear the brunt of of these adjustments the district's website under Financial transparency says fiscal responsibility and proper stewardship of public funds are critical elements of student program support this is not Financial transparency when every agenda has dozens of items on consent but only a few action items this is not transparency when the budget update is on the consent agenda and won't be discussed unless it's pulled by a board member this is not Financial transparency I submitted a public records request several weeks ago it was a simple clerical request asking how many non-instructional personnel who had no contact with students the district had employed in each department for

081the last five years my request was assigned to a $100,000 supervisor and for five hours of that person's time I would be build $261 190 this is not transparency it's a clever way to make sure the public has no idea how this district is run with no accountability just like the consent agenda using the consent agenda for Budget updates the covid funds have brought have pulled the curtain back and it isn't pretty thank you any other green cards all right at this time we're on item 6.01 any removal of items from the consent agenda Madam chair I I request that 12.01 which is approval of the calendar committee members for school year 2526 that it be removed from this agenda and place on the May 14th agenda okay so you want to remove 12.01 which

082is the approval for the calendar committee and and place it on May what 14 May May 14th May 14th do I have any other board members that wish to remove something okay I'd like to remove anyone else go ahead okay I'd like to remove um 11.05 anything else from any yes can we have Mr C come and explain the um the budget on 10.1 and 10.2 yes well Dr B yeah all right Mr Todd seis will you please come forward we'll start with item 10.01 thank you you good afternoon board and superintendent good afternoon well um you know how much I love talking about budget so it's it's not an issue for me so I appreciate this opportunity um through the through the process as we're up through February 29th right now our budget amendments

083and our financial reports GNA kind of go through this I I won't take too much time here but um you can ask me questions as we going through this so on the front end we provide to the public a summary overview and within that within the budget amendment is um you we receive extra funds one would be for investment earnings for example yes we saw an increase over the prior year for investment earnings so we make that appropriate adjustment as we're required to um um for bance for Budget purposes so if we know that we're making more Revenue we would definitely increase our Revenue we don't have an identified um we wouldn't appropriate those funds right away especially on investment earnings that would go right into fund balance so if there's increases as as you

084know too we don't know for sure um how that will materialize we can only project at the beginning of the year and then we'll make adjustments to the year if more money comes in um other budgetary adjustments that occur in the budget for let's just talk about the general fund um one of the things that the uh um that is actually pointed out here um by the community and it's rightfully so because it is a little confusing you'll see function 5000 and that's where our instructional group really lies but really what makes up that function 5,000 you have prek programs you have charter schools that influence that number so there there's variable things that actually influence just the 5,000 it's not just justing salaries per se and benefits it's it it has to do with

085um the other programs so I'm just going to go through a couple of those just to kind of exp explain that real quick what they would be so for I'm going to just look at some of the major ones so virtual education and credit retrieval supplements for example that would be included in your 5,000 function adjustments and these are such small amounts um a little bit of adjustment here looks for like for our ROTC program of of $2,000 we have a Florida hospital um healthy Futures partnership and it looks like there was a slight reduction on that um Grant there we had also an increase on our Blended prek fee based school year program about $100,000 um so let me see here we have Early Childhood uh music education incenter program of course we had

086a a slight increase of 58,000 there so these are the things that kind of influence that 5,000 numbers it's just not s iies and benefits to the instructional group there's other programs that are accounted for in there just like charter schools are as well so if the charter school um funding goes up we would increase that number too because charter schools are charged to function 5,000 it's an instructional expense and there's a couple things here I I just highlighted as as the um Community was going through that so investment income was one uh really the um I explained a little bit about the function five I don't know if I address the function 5,000 expend expenditures that make under up instruction in your budget amendment I don't know if I clarified that just let me

087know I can add more information there um switching over to the financial statements real quick um one of those things I want to point out here is that um course investment income when up there we accounted for that in our financial statements now um we're showing that revenues of course this year in the general fund as compared to the prior year um this year we have 418 million so far8 and last year at the same time was 396 but if you drop down and you look at the total uses that also went up by um the actual moan is 334 for the um current year .5 million and prior year was only 314. eight so that's um as you can see that was an increase as well and that increase is really related to salaries

088and benefits that's why I really love the financial report because it clearly states exactly how much is it for salaries and how much is really related for benefit expenditures over the prior year so for salaries over the prior year in the general fund it increased by 20 million $20 million over $20 million in benefits that increased by over 8 million so we didn't grow but what what increased was the salaries and the salary enhancement packages that we gave out this year that's what caused that number to increase and that's that's why I love the financial um presentation a little bit better then your budget amendment again the budget amendments are required format by the state that's why we have to do it by a function major object the um so if you look at then

089the total in your excess um deficiency or um excess or deficiency of revenues over your expenditures there as you can see in the current year we're only we're only at um 84 right now 320 as compared to the prior year we are at 81 m88 5 so that's that's this um increase of only 214 to the good two two I'm sorry 2.4 million to the good my glasses are I'm not wearing the right glasses so my apologies so um with that stated that's the real number that we want to look at is that excess and deficiencies of revenues over expenditures because that's the real Revenue coming in by the state those are your real expenditures if you go below the line what's influencing that fund balance increase see how it says other financing sources where

090it says transfers in from Capital outlay funds now remember we have to pay the charter schools their Capital maintenance expenditures gets run through there that's that all those required expenses we have to book in a general fund that you can't record in the capital outlay fund I know I'm getting deep here I'm sorry I I apologize Mr cologne um but if you if you if you notice that number has increased over the prior year so that increase right there is reflected down below the line when you see net change in fund balance see how we grew it says 107 now it's because of the additional money that we're transferring in from the capital outlay fund that's causing that increase as compared to 98 million right now did I answer your questions board members yes I

091I really wanted it pulled so that we could have it explained for those who have questioned it thank you okay okay so let's talk about what the um state law says about the fund balance what is the minimum amount or per because it's not an amount Statewide it's a percentage of what your budget is what's the minimum amount you must your required by the state to keep in that fundamental okay we want to keep with 3% okay so that's what that's what we're required to do if you fall below that then it puts you in a state of um kind of an emergency if you fall below the 2% so we want to make sure that we stay right at that 3% you know or above so I just attended Advanced Finance training and so

092um on that investment piece we spent I don't know two hours going through it and asking asking a lot of questions and part of that is where we even take out the cops piece like when we take it we have a time period in which we have to spend it but we don't spend it the day we receive it so it's I mean the easiest way to make sense of it is say you're building a house okay and and you borrow from the bank and they give you the full amount you don't spend the full amount the next day you put it in and nine times out of 10 people put it into some type of a savings account while they're waiting to pay out the pieces that they're going to have to pay that's

093been to our advantage which is a lot of what even other districts Schoolboard members were talking about because even when we took out the cops piece to to do some of the buildings the prices we thought the buildings were going to be is not what they have stayed at so us earning some interest off of that money while we're waiting for the next payment that you have to make you know for the architectural piece and the land piece and the the actual materials which you know we actually purchase so that we save the sales tax pce and all that it's there and it's helping to cover part of what the additional costs are because everything keeps going up correct so that's one part of the investment piece that you have going on yeah so anytime

094we issue debt for the district um to build a new infrastructure we we have like a 60 million debt issue we'll draw that down over the term of to that it takes to actually build that infrastructure and during that time they require us we go ahead and invest those funds and it helps with if anything the cost increase we use those investment earnings within that specific fund that's tracking that um um to help um um with the cost of that new construction anything that's left over by that debt service that's not used say we have 5 million left over then that would be used that would have to be used against The Debt Service payment so we're required to do that yes and I learned that IRS is tracking that because if we make too

095much off of it we have to turn around and hand it to them correct that's correct okay so some of the issues that have been brought up are about the fund balance we have to keep it at a minimum and the way I say to people is you know we're all told you should have a certain number of months in Savings in the event an issue happens so that you can continue on well if we don't keep the minimum or even as I learned because we were asked as districts you know like where we were at you know and there are some districts that have a much larger percentage in their fund balance than what we have um and then there are districts that are similar to us but no one in the room and

096I had um there were 57 people attending this from across the state no one is sitting right at 3% because in the event something happens we still need to pay payroll and things like that well if we don't have it what are we going to do I think at that point people are going to be more upset that we can't meet what we need to pay if we have taken that down to the lowest amount and 3% of an overall budget from you know what it cost here in fuchia County what we get for a year is not very much money but yet it sounds like a lot when somebody says oh it's you know $75 million well I don't know how far $75 million would go to pay the monthly expenses of what we

097have to put out um then and and thank you for talking about the investment piece because like I said I got several hours worth of training on how the investment piece works and get works that way and I'm happy to I'm happy to I I have questions for you I have all my Powerpoints and and I just hadn't hit you up with it yet um but the one thing I do want to say is um I want to thank you because your monthly um you know like telling us like here's where we're at here's what the expenditures are I appreciate that because it's in real time so it's you know when we close a month out and we know what's been paid and what still hasn't been paid BEC because that's a you know I

098go back to my experience in Title One Like You Know back when the Grant and Miss Roman sitting back there at one time it was $25 million but it's not that anymore um but when we would get $25 million they didn't even give us all the money UPF front like you don't get it all on July one they don't say here here's $25 million you get the first quarter deposit but yet you have to sit down with all those schools and they have to build a budget and so they say I'm hiring so and so to be an academic coach well this is what they cost with their benefits and everything well we allocate that money and we Market that it's really already been spent for the year even though we haven't spent it because

099it is spent as each paycheck comes out and you know you allocate money for tutoring or you allocate money for the other things well but it's in real time because at the end of that month you pull the prj reports and you verify what have we we paid out what is still and somebody could a principal you know if they didn't know better could say oh look I still have you know $72,000 no you don't have $72,000 because it's allocated out for the rest of the year if you try to spend that $72,000 then you're not going to be able to pay the individuals that you have hired to do those jobs for the rest of the year and so that's the difference so like when people look at these amounts and say oh well

100they still have this much sitting here well we still have to pay people right now through June 30th for the jobs that they're in and pay their insurance we still have to pay right look look at how many new schools are being built right now or schools that are being renovated we can't just say well oh let's take that money and you know my feelings and I'm going to say it one more time money has come out of capital that you know I you know where I feel I don't think it should have come out of capital but it's come out of capital because of where we're at to help cover this and I understand that but I'm waiting for the day that it's going to go back into Capital so that we can continue

101with the projects that we have absolutely I hear you alone CLA is there anything you disagree with for what I shared no I I think I um um chair I I think you hit on it and um the reason why again we're tapping into capital a little bit more to help us in a general fund is really to balance a general fund I know you're trying to balance it yeah and then going forward you know is is is was shared in the media as well too and um you know we had a big task ahead of us and um I think we um were on the way to a good corrective action plan as was discussed um and I I think we have a good plan going forward and I'm excited to see hopefully um

102how we materialize next year and that's really we we just need to be at a balanced budget I love saying that to Mr colone are we G to be at a balanced budget that's exactly where I think we need to be and then U moving forward so that's and so I will say final thank you to you because I know that this takes a lot of time every month and you and your staff you know you're tracking everything I mean down to the okay the water bill was paid the electric bill was paid you know the schoolway cafe bill was paid for the food that was ordered in you know all tutoring time sheets went through payroll and we have proof you know that we've paid those people to have no idea the amount of

103things we have to pay in all the processes that have to go through and the receipts that have to to be collected and then you have to put it into this chart so that everybody I mean because you're TR you are transparent okay it's the most transparency I feel we've had since I got on the board since you came in and started this process and we supported you doing this like we're not trying to hide anything we're like put it out here every month but it's no different than running your own checking and savings accounts at home you don't you you don't every month go to zero and don't have a penny left and your checking or savings or whatever you're doing because you're planning for when those times come up so thank you anything

104else all right then I want to talk about 1105 which is the insurance Stephanie's not here um Mr Wes Miss Warman Insurance 1105 it is Insurance yeah now I'm I'm not I just want to talk I just want to talk about the insurance for a minute that happened at the last board meeting I'm not I'm not as worried at the moment about the Brown and Brown contract as I am about what is being said about insurance out there okay yes ma' okay so last year when the insurance committee came forward a year ago and they had worked very very hard on where it was the agreement that we accepted actually said that the insurance this year could go up to 9% do all of you remember that okay when I went into the agenda conference

105ahead of um last board meeting I was told in that agenda conference which typically there's 20 to 40 people on when that we got to that piece we were at 88.1% and once again as professionally as I could I shared how disappointed I was and then they reminded me well we could go to nine you need to kind of be happy with 8.1 which I was not happy with 8.1 but so when we finally got to the point that it got posted for board dos for everyone to see and we came in here it was down to 5.9 now I have stated since I got on this board that I wish we could do something about the insurance I have talked to Schoolboard members in other districts what I don't think a lot of people

106realize is very there are a lot of districts out there that are self-insured like they have set up to do their own insurance I have I went to two specific meetings on self inssurance Insurance you know health insurance to find out well how did your District set it up how do they manage it what does it cost it takes a lot of money to even for a district our size to even consider going to self-insured health insurance you know I asked once again last time why can't we get better rates that was part of what was shared in that document our top 100 individuals in claims last year cost us over $18 million there are people out there that have very specific medicines you know needs I can't I can't say they can't have that

107fulfilled when they're paying for their insurance so they you know they keep telling me well you know I know that prior to um Mr colone and I getting on the board Mr persus I think may have been on the board at the time uh we did a cost share at one point to try to see like we would share the cost and if some of the cost that we paid was not used we would get a portion of that back and there was like one or two years there that a portion of that came back um this is what I'd like to say to the insurance committee which they're all volunteers and I appreciate every last one of them I was not happy with Anon Aon when they were the broker I'm not so sure

108I'm happy with who the broker is now and I understand the broker fee is not much but we're in this situation every single year but I also need people to stop for a moment and do some math because when you come to the 5.9% there are there is a plan that's not changed you're there is a plan that people can elect and you don't pay anything okay now if something happens you're going to have a bigger deductible okay but there is that choice but when everybody starts talking about 5.9% and I'm just going to use a $100 for the simple math okay that's an additional like if your plan is costing you $100 whichever plan it is and I know that people have you know have put their entire families on plans okay that is

109your choice to do that but if we give an amount towards the insurance for every employee that's here okay so everybody gets the same amount put towards their insurance and there is a zero plan but I'm telling you right now this would never fly and Miss Thompson if you don't mind me I use you for a moment okay Miss Thompson's got a family and she's got two little children so if she just decided to insure her entire family she's putting her husband and her two children on that plan well we're not going to give her the same amount we give toward her having the insurance and go okay we'll give the same amount to each of your children and we'll give the same amount to your spouse because all right come over I I use

110the BL County Insurance always have since I started 38 years ago as a teacher so I would only get the part for mine because my kids are grown and they now have their own insurance okay we that's not Equitable so we give everybody the same amount but 5. 9% on 100 is $5.90 of an increase so what I would say is think about what your base pay rate is because the statements out there well we need at least a minimum of a 6% increase to cover the 5.9 I don't think anyone is making $100 that they would now need $6 to cover the $5.90 to the best of my knowledge everybody is making more than $100 so I need people to stop and think about what you're saying but the agreement last year which was

111brought before us by the insurance company could have raised it this year to 9% and there wouldn't have been anything we could have done about it now I do think when we're putting out like I I don't know what we're doing about when we're putting out for why we're not getting more insurance companies interest said I think some of us last year when we finally had an insurance company that we felt was viable to go up against Florida Healthcare when we were looking at Etna we were we were seriously looking at Etna okay but then what did we find out Etna had nothing on the west side of the county they didn't have any anybody living on the west side of the county had no place to go you were going to have to travel

112to the east side of the county to get to one of their clinics and what the insurance company come back and I mean the insurance committee come back and tell us even though I think there were several board members leaning towards will support ET and if that's what you guys tell us they came back and said we have to stay with Florida Healthcare what did they bring us this year Florida Healthcare so I just need everyone to know it could have been 9% and I made it and when they told me 8.1 I was very vocal that that was ridiculous and as far as people writing checks from the time I started teaching unfortunately I've known people that have gone into a job in valua County whether it be a pair professional an office specialist

113a bus driver schoolway cafe or anything they've gone into those positions and they've done it to because maybe their spouse you know has a their own business and they've taken the full insurance and unfortunately I've watched people write a check to have insurance coverage is it right no but I don't know what else at this point to do I don't know if we have the best representation for brokering to tell you the truth I think we're tied up with Florida Health Care here in valuch County because we're the largest employer and I think we're funding Florida Healthcare I I will be honest with you but every time we rock the boat you know it comes back and it's like we get a little bit bit of Grace for a year and then it pops back

114up so my thought would be if you'd like to serve on the insurance committee please volunteer to serve on the insurance committee submit your name and I'd like to see us actively go out and try to find you know let's ask Etna again let's ask siga let's ask United healthc Care let's ask Blue Cross and Blue Shield let's ask these people what will it take for you to submit a plan to Valia County that can be in competition with Florida Healthcare which is what we already have and and look Mr clone's looking at me because every time I say something about this he says it's not going to happen nobody's gonna do it but that's my challenge to you but I also need people to understand what we're up against we had to vote on

115we either had to vote Yes or No I voted yes because 5.9% was better than nine and it was better than 8.1 which is what they said it was going to be do I think it's perfect absolutely not but we can't go without insurance and we don't have the money to all of a sudden decide to self-insure ourselves but you also need to understand there are people out there that need medical assistance and 100 of them are taking over $18 million of what we pay in in claims anyone else Mr persus uh thank you madam chair uh you know the fact of the matter is that the insurance committee from last year as you mentioned they are they're happy with Florida health Healthcare the people that have H Florida health care when they do the

116surveys they submit positive reviews they like the fact that they can go to their urgent care centers regardless of where they live in the county and only pay $8 to go in I mean and that was the most popular service that was the thing that uh really puts Florida Healthcare way above the other uh in insurance companies who have applied for this um you know for to submit an insurance uh uh Pro provider for our school district the other thing to your point also was uh last year uh organizations that do this nationally predicting what health insurance premiums are going to be for the following year um so many of them were saying you can expect health insurance premiums to go up 25 and you're the year 24 20 25 9% uh at least 7%

117uh that's going to be the the norm of course some states will go up higher California was 11% uh but uh so the fact that ours went up 5.9% even though we don't like it uh it's not really out of the norm it's not in fact it's a little bit so uh I support the process that we have and have had uh and I I like what you said if you want to serve on the on the in Insurance committee I'm sure Mr West will be happy to take your name uh uh but uh I like our process and we may not like the outcome but that doesn't mean that the process is flawed uh it's it's the times in which we live right now right thank you Mr versus I do agree with what

118you said all right any other discussion okay any other items you wish to have removed from the consent agenda for discussion prior to voting we removed um 12.01 that's the only one we discussed 10.01 and 10.02 and and 11.05 anything else okay then I need someone to make a motion to Pro um approve the consent agenda as presented with the exception of the removal of item 12.01 motion to approve thank you Mr cologne is there a second second the motion thank you Mr persus any further discussion a hearing none I'll call for the vote all those in favor of approving the consent agenda as presented with the removal of item 12.01 please say I I I anyone opposed it passes unanimously at this time we are going to take a 20 minute break and we

119will be back here at 650 for you from one of the guys e e e he makes it lighter I I'm not sure what it is she's tried everything almond milk oatmeal good evening if I could every have everyone take their seat please we're going to do the first public participation time this is the time where we usually do um up to five cards um we're going to do seven which I have the right to do um because we're going to hear from students and if they have a parent that came with them um they're included I'm going to take them in the order though that they were turned in I've pulled them out of the overall group the rest of you that have filled out yellow cards um public participation will take place after

120the action item and we do only have one action item for this evening I am for warning you though that after we do these seven cards we are going to have to pause and take a short break because they have to set up um the technology for the one action item uh because there's going to be a demo piece that we need to see and then following the vote on that action item we will move on to all of the rest of the yellow cards so at this time you'll have three minutes to speak um you'll speak from the podium here is where you can view your time just just a reminder for students because um they don't know this lots of times but we are taking down notes if you ask questions we will

121not be engaging in answering the questions while you're talking so that you have your full time and someone will get back with you um after today's meeting on the answers to the questions that you've asked so we're going to start off with Alivia Whitaker followed by Aaron Whitaker so Olivia welcome thank you um I'm Olivia Whitaker um as a homeschooler and member of both the stem and Orchestra programs at Deltona High School of Luchia County Schools I find it diabolical that you're cutting one of the most important programs in the district stem is very important I agree but that does not mean that Performing Arts is not without Performing Arts worldwide artists would not be supported the workforce is like a food chain if the lower tier the rest will suffer it has to start

122in our schools that you may think that these programs are not important they are extremely important to the students and teachers as well as the local economy you also may think that this will not affect you but it will the vucha county schools are known for their performing arts for example my school Delona high school has gotten straight superiors at MPA for seven years the fact that you can whip it out from beneath our feet like a rug is very concerning if you're willing to do that then it really shows that you don't care about the well-being of all vucha County students if you had show been showing interest and support all along to the orchestral program you would see that Galaxy Middle School's or orchestra is one of the best not to mention it

123feeds into Delona so in the long run you're cutting Deltona Orchestra too without Galaxy Middle School's Orchestra the orchestra of Deltona High Schools will struggle so when you cut Galaxy you are therefore cutting Deltona in the future Deltona orchestra's teacher Mr Sean strght holds us to a very high standard and because of that I would argue that we are one of the best orchestras in the county he has taught at University and galaxy in the past and has helped us build build these programs but beyond the music he's given hope to kids and has shaped us to be professionals in the future the fact that you are not seeing these results in the future of your decisions now tells everyone that you do not care about the kids in this program or the teachers who

124have helped build them you did you wouldn't steal this opportunity from us the students to grow into well-rounded people for our own lives and the future of this County though Deltona orchestral program is safe as of now our chorus is not though I don't attend chorus it is a performing art and just as important as the others teachers trained in specific areas should be teaching their subject with all of this shuffling around of teachers into stop Gap positions you're making inent you you making your intentions to continue these Cuts obvious people have realized your game you may not think that this will affect you but because of your decisions you have lost trust respect and betrayed otherwise well-rounded Stu citizens that you say you strive to make with the remainder of my time I would

125like to recognize the writing on the wall behind you because as of now with the decisions you're making it does not seem like you are upholding those words thank [Applause] you thank you next up is Aaron Whitaker yes absolutely followed by Aubrey Haynes welcome Miss Whitaker evening Deltona High School senior and concert Master Jimmy Stone stood here and reminded you all of the benefits of Music on The Human Condition and the value of Performing Arts for children at the last school board meeting I hope his eloquence made you all reflect at least for a moment on the huge transgression you would be committing in taking orchestral and coral programs away from these kids you claim to have the students best interest at heart yet here we are discussing the removal of essential creative Outlets vitally

126important to the development of those students whose interest might not lie in the push for stem we always need culture and Beauty rather than reward an irrevocably broken system with more ineffective administrative positions you need to be funding and supporting existing programs as taxpayers and the parent of the students you are supposed to be serving we demand this as your constituents we need you to do your jobs and put our money back where it belongs with our students not with sorry you were not elected to cover up fiscal irresponsibility your own or inherited it's convenient to use the students when it serves your purpose but it's amazing how quickly they are forgotten when they don't streamline yourselves for once do not punish the students for your own mismanagement or their of their parents' tax dollars

127you were elected to uphold the students best interests you have a responsibility to all students in Valia County the theft of funding from the community of future musicians is unacceptable valua Community Arts is our local Orchestra we attend their concerts regularly and your shell games will eventually Rob your own community of musicians for that Orchestra and many others pay attention to the longterm effects of your actions I have spoken to many students whose only prospect for higher education is a music scholarship without an orchestra where do you leave those kids many students only opportunity to play an instrument is through their schools so as usual the so-called unintended consequences punish most those students of lower socioeconomic circumstances I have started a petition against these Cuts I'm canvasing valuchi County and will be at all the

128sold out VCA performances for the remainder of their season the outcry was immense when those VCA patrons were told a couple weeks ago of the cuts you were making those are taxpayers whose burden it is to pay your salaries you are robbing their children and grandchildren if the only way to make you amend your mismanagement is to get you out of those seats then so be it please make the right decisions for the children of valuchi County stop making them Pawns in your politics stop the reactive stop Gap measures that will be so devastating to so many students do the right thing because you know it to be the right thing and continue to fund the Performing Arts in Valia County Schools thank you thank you next up Aubrey haes followed by deita courtz welcome

129Aubrey good evening ladies and gentlemen my name is Aubrey Haynes I'm currently a sophomore at University High School as most of us here know there have been several programs cut across the county including the AVID program Avid stands for advanced via individual determination it lives up to its name in the two years this program has helped me grow tremendously and it has not only Advanced my school uh my school life but my personal life as well Avid not only teaches us important skills for our school career and college careers but it teaches us life skills and how to be functioning adults in society sadly in a school society that teaches us how we need to serve pursue higher education most of the students do not have access to the skills that the students in the

130AVID program have going into high school I had no idea what I was doing when I stepped through the doors of my Avid class freshman year I saw College and Career posters on the wall books on the shelves and all of these resources to help me succeed all at my fingertips it has changed the way I am in school I've gone from a c average student to a high b and a average student college level classes and in all honors classes at only 15 years old this program has taught me how to prepare for the future apply to fouryear universities in the future scholarships and better myself in the long run come your freshman and sophomore year you have to start planning for those last two years of high school the baby steps you take

131these years are what help you succeed in the future your senior year the first first quarter you're in there you need to be applying to colleges and not messing around because it'll be over before you know it without this program I would just be at school not knowing what I'm doing at all program has taught me so many useful things that I'm not just going to use in my last few years of high school or in college I'm going to use these in life pass down to my children my grandchildren my siblings friends family and shows us so much to help each other and it's I don't really know how to explain it it's it's just something that I think everybody should get to experience since it's being cut I only have two years of

132this education to pass on which going to eventually fade my sister she's going into high school and all I want for her is to succeed and if I can't help her and nobody's going to be there to help her how are we supposed to help not only her but every future generation coming up I hope you reconsider but thank you for your time have a great night thank you deita followed by corani welcome hello my name is deita courtz and I am from pin high school and I'm the technical adviser of tro 5532 my high school theater Department I'm here to speak about the cuts to our theater program the effects and what these cuts are going to be doing to Performing Arts but also other programs Performing Arts is an entral program to the

133development of students of all ages alike students learn the ability to understand diverse points of view empathy compassion social skills human development creativity imagination or artistic skills and brain development did you know students who participate in forming Arts are more likely to get better grades improve in literacy and are 24% more likely to graduate music in performing art program will reduce anxiety blood pressure pain improve Sleep Quality mood mental alertness and memory the theater program especially is the most comprehensive including music dance fine film and visual arts these cuts are stripping away the opportunities away from students and are stripping away their ability to grow find what they are compassionate for and limiting their ability to be creative and be imaginative and have improved growth as a person and this is stripping away the safe

134spaces of some students that of some of stripping away the safe spaces some of these students have I know of several students who would be struggling every day if they weren't in performing arts and more who would be who wouldn't be graduating or getting through their classes if not for Performing Arts teachers are also being affected and the displacement they are experiencing is putting hundreds of families in a bad spot of uncertainty and worry for the future teachers can't teach what they're compassionate about and teaching classes they don't prefer will be unfair to them and the students and there will be negative effects coming from these Cuts classes being cut will also cause overcrowding in classes as many want to take performing arts and overcrowding will cause severe stress and difficulty to maintain grades will

135drop behavior issues will increase some of these classes I wanted to take next year to benefit my choice After High School have been cut these opportunities were stripped unfairly away from me and will force me an electors I am not compassionate about these cuts are unfair displacing teachers students and taking away these benefits and opportunities will damage our community this is stripping away students ability to freely Express himself this is stripping away some of the homes some students have and I want to be able to feel safe I want to be social and I want to have developed any of my current skills without theater as I seen sports are unaffected classes with barely any student interest are unaffected but classes with the most interest and most benefit are facing major Cuts I have a

136document that I would like to share with you that holds many people in Performing Arts their experience and how it affected their life and um how they feel about these Cuts uh before I finish my teacher has been teaching theater for 12 years leaving eight years before these Co funds existed these classes have all existed before the co fund so if they existed before why can't they now thank you thank you next up coralan followed by David welcome Coraline hello my name is corani yada I was here last meeting and I mentioned how I wish to become a teacher in the future you say all the time that you need more teachers you say that there is a teacher shortage in fact that that being said how do you expect to get more teachers when

137you're showing them constantly that they don't have any Security in their jobs your actions show that when funding becomes an issue teachers will be the first to go and why is that wouldn't it make more sense to start the cuts at the district level that way if it truly came down to it there wouldn't be over 200 teachers being displaced there would be less I have been learning at a valua county school for the past seven years I'm even going to of uchia County College however the recent actions of the school board have made me reconsider staying in this County after college because whether your intentions are good or not your actions have made us feel like you simply don't care so here's my question to you why didn't the cut start at the district

138level what are your reasons for starting with the teachers thank you thank [Applause] you David followed by Allison welcome David good evening School Board I was here at the last board meeting helping to get the message across of just how much is being taken from me and my peers from these funding Cuts after getting that point across I realized that the reason for these funding Cuts is more about number of kids and number of dollars to start I understand that there isn't enough money budgeted towards teachers to pay all of the position and how positions are being terminated are um decided based on the number of students being affected which makes sense however last meeting numbers of students in these affected programs were used as an example for why funding had to be taken from

139their teachers pay however these numbers were students currently involved in the program and not the expected amount to be in the course next year which in some cases make a big difference secondly I would like to address the number of dollars I know addressing all of this doesn't magically put the money in the bank that is needed to meet the request of the countless students affected but respectfully with all of the reductions and cuts happening countywide what cuts and reductions are being made at the district level before taking from the classrooms it said in the Valia County School's website that adjustments would be made on the district level only to account for retirements and contract timelines are there no adjustments or realignments being made from this funding cut what ideas were there to cut funding

140in other places before the idea was given to cut the teachers pay I understand that some teaching positions were unjustifiable considering their numbers and I also understand that there are other positions at the D District level whose salaries were being paid for with the now gone covid funding that are just just as unjustifiable is the district feeling the repercussions of the past budgeting irresponsibility or was it all being thrown onto the teaching positions thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome Mrs root good evening board members my name is Allison root and I have had a student in the valuch county school district for the last 12 years um in that time I have received zero calls from principes and zero calls from District members but in the last two weeks since I was here I've received

141multiple um so I just want to say I encourage all parents to come speak who would like to hear from your District because apparently that's how you hear it um moving on in the release sent throughout the district on Friday it was stated in reference to the Esser funds that and I quote the funds were utilized as intended but what I would like you to explain to me is we were told at the end of the last meeting that these temporary funds were used for reoccurring payments and it was made quite clear that there were board members sitting here who did not approve of that yet on Friday you're trying to convince the parents that it was all done properly you can't have it both ways um our superintendent Miss I'm sorry if I do

142not pronounce it properly Country Bumpkin not as proper as I probably should be um Miss balagon um also stated that two weeks ago that she just had inherited the problem however that doesn't seem quite accurate either um she was hired as Deputy superintendent for valua County schools in in 2020 and served as either Deputy or Acting Superintendent until March of 2022 when she left and served Broward County for just a few months and then in July of that same year was hired as our superintendent so to me that would be the better part of four years which happens to co-relate with the financial audit she spoke so much about um see the problem isn't just one school and one program that's having sections cut um the problem is having it done districtwide 284 was the

143last number I heard from the District of teachers displaced some of them placed in their field of preference some of them are said you know you need to just go teach what's open um and we'll recertify you because I guess their passion didn't matter as much um the problem is the fact that all but one of you have been serving on this board for the better part of four plus years and have been approving budgets you knew canot be main maintained the problem is the transparency from this board to its constituents and stakeholders the parents of Luchia County the problem is the fact that um you are unable to predict realignments and adjustments at the district level per the notice but can make them to the ones that actually do serve the students our most

144valuable asset which is the teachers in this District um this is about the Galaxy Orchestra the construction program at a land High School which technically was not cut they're just choosing not to replace Mr hervy so we're losing our only future Builders of America program in Valia County where does that put those kids um the programs at Pine Ridge the audio video at new subna all the music arts media programs within our district are somehow able to project project and make section Cuts or full program cuts to but yet are unable to do at the district level you stated these cuts are made closer to the end of the school year there is just over a month left in the school year how much closer do you need to be the students and teachers should

145be the last to suffer mishandling of budget items lead by example and start with your District do better thank you thank you at this time we're moving on now we are going to be moving on to item 16.01 which is um a presentation that has they need some time to set up the equipment for this demo so we are going to take a 15minute break and we will be back in here at 7:35 so that they can have it set up e e e got free from compan so how are we okay we are back for item 16.01 and Dr balamin yes Madam chair at this time I would like to ask Miss Amanda WS um we have a presentation for the board and our audience of the tool that we have piloted in 16

146of our schools and it's at modified this is that electronic log that has been piloted in our school so we're going to share with you um the committee's recommendations next steps trainings and so forth Miss Wilds thank you and good evening chair Haynes superintendent Babin and board thank you for this opportunity to share with you the digital documentation system that the ESC and its department is recommending for the district to use uh districtwide next school year the process for identifying a way for teachers to digitally document the provisions of supports and services and data documentation began well over a year ago we started working with our Focus system digitizing items while simultaneously searching for companies that had already done that hard work in digitalization we found education modified to be the most responsive and compatible

147with our current IEP system with that please allow me to introduce to you the CEO and founder of Education modified Melissa Melissa is joining us via teams and has a very brief presentation good evening everyone um good evening Madam chair superintendent the board and the audience uh my name is Melissa Cordo and I'm the CEO of Education modified as mentioned we conducted a pilot with the district this fall to streamline processes uh to support students with special needs and we would be honored to continue to work with this team uh for a brief background um educ modified was founded by myself and other special ed teachers in New York City Public Schools I was in the classroom for about 10 years and we are funded by The Institute for Education Sciences at the US Department

148of Ed we collaborate with third-party research organizations as well as districts all over the country uh to conduct R&D and build our platform um in direct collaboration with teachers administrators and outside service providers so everything that you will see tonight um from the colors to the buttons has been built in collaboration with teachers in class classrooms before working with edod uh teachers and valua were doing a lot of manual work to track data for students with disabilities um Amanda do you want to elaborate on this slide yes thank you Melissa so as you can see and and as you all know we were paper based um teachers had many different ways in which they could collect data and um they stored those papers many different ways across all of our schools so it did become

149often difficult when the district had to audit or when the state needed to audit to find all of the items that proved that we have provided all services and supports to students that are outlined in their IEP data collection is also timec consuming when you're doing it on paper you have multiple methods to collect that data not to mention pulling that data together and then creating reports for an IEP meeting or as simple as your nine every nine weeks you have to give a report to the parents on student progress so it does become cumbersome when you're dealing with multiple pieces of paper and various ways depending on the students individual need and how you're collecting that information go ahead Melissa yeah so um edod was brought in um to digitize and streamline this process

150and we decided that the pilot from the beginning was going to be teacher driven uh so we invited teachers from 16 schools to get a demo of the platform and they chose to opt into the pilot so 92% of the teachers who saw the demo um opted in to be a part of the pilot we kicked off the pilot um in October and uh we integrated with Focus completed rostering trained staff members and um were able to get teachers um onboarded and starting using the platform by November 29th um since then we've seen uh really promising results in terms of usage um as well as data submitted um so as you can see here um teacher have submitted over 117,000 support facilitation logs over 15,000 accommodations have been tracked um over 14,000 data points have

151been collected on student IE peoples and we have uh 227 total pilot users of those 205 were have been monthly active users of the platform um another great sign is that um across all use cases teachers actually increased their usage of the platform over time as an edtech company we often see um usage dips as some of you might know um but in this case as teachers got more familiar with the platform um they actually started using it more um we collected feedback before the pilot started from teachers when they saw the first demo and here's just some examples of what teacher feedback was um they thought that it looked easy and were hopeful that it was going to be much better than what they were currently doing and during the pilot um we continued

152to make that process um teacher driven um and ensuring that teachers had direct communication with us um they provided their feedback and we were able to adjust the platform and the user experience to directly meet their needs so for example teachers asked to be able to download specific reports into PDF format we were able to deliver that by February 5th next teachers asked that um we scale the data infrastructure um because they were collecting multiple data points and so we were able to deliver that by February 28th um and lastly they requested that we could align goals and objectives in um the IEP progress monitoring section and we were able to deliver on that which was a completely new feature for us on March 31st and now teachers are able to um complete and 10

153progress reports with graphs which you'll see in the demo for both goals and objectives instantly in education modified um and since the pilot began we collected more feedback um and they continued to provide um us the feedback that it was um what they had been hoping for that was much easier than what they were doing um that it really did save them time um and that it was allowing them to do the job that they were being asked to do um we've provided a lot of educator support for a district of this size we know how important it is to be able to ensure that the teachers have what they need to actually use the platform as you can see here we've provided everything from a customized resource Hub to Microsoft teams Channel support weekly

154office hours we will also be um in person um if you'd vote to move forward with us um for in person sessions um at valua learns um and we'll also be creating resources in the canvas uh courses um as we think ahead um all of the hard work uh for a districtwide implementation is is already done um the pilot is ready to scale districtwide um all Integrations are complete and working scale um infrastructure is supported uh for the number of students um the platform and all the specific features are completely built and modified based on teacher requests and their feedback um we have new resources dedicated hours of supplemental virtual trading um as well as a dedicated team um we have both a customer support manager an implementation manager um that our our senior level

155here at the company um that will be dedicated to um your team and then we do have those full IEP progress reports available um if you're ready I'll go ahead and show you quickly uh what the platform uh looks like can I just get a that you can see this screen now yes we're good um so as you can see here um this is the roster view of Education modified uh within um zero with zero clicks actually a teacher can see who in their class has an IEP or a 504 what their accommodations are um and a teacher can click in and see um specifics around uh students IP information accommodations data submissions um all automatically um integrated on a nightly basis from Focus um they can also um instantly track goals and objectives to

156those goals all in one place um once they collect data on goals they can go ahead and see a graph that is um manipulated for them in real time and create again those end to-end progress reports um they can also see strategies that are being specifically implemented for that student based on that student's need so I can click into executive functioning or math and then lastly is really the data collection Hub um and this is the really the Crux of the pilot or teacher were specifically um you know tracking that information so if you look over here on the left um these all used to be paper based forms and here instead um teachers are able to instantly add data um across numbers of students um instantly and completely customize what type of data they

157want to be able to see so for example if I click into a support facilitation log um I can see dozens of students and what data has been entered and by who allowing not only teachers to collect data instantly and saving them hours but the district visibility of what data has been collected by who and when um and then I can click into individual students um and see that data that collected specifically for them whether it's their accommodations their Sports support facilitation logs um anything um that you need to reference for IEP meetings um parent meetings parent communication um is all in one place um so if you are ready um if the board allows I'm happy to answer um any questions again we'd be honored to continue to support this work with with Amanda

158and her amazing team um and to really support your students and teachers so thank you thank you Melissa so board members if you have any questions we're going to State the question and then miss WS May restate it so that we're sure that she can hear this is there anyone that has a question Mr cologne so you we have piloted this what have been the opportunities and or I'll use the term challenges and and what is the end user experience at the end you know I'm curious to hear uh how our teachers have adapted to this how um is this meeting the need is it making it more difficult is it making it easier uh what what has the feedback been did you hear that Melissa yeah ination in one site um again we um

159get feedback from them um all the time and are still getting feedback through the end of next month um but it has been from what we can tell a drastic difference from what they were doing before in the paper based systems Amanda I'm not sure if you want to elaborate yes thank you in the beginning it was difficult as with anything when you start something new but the company has been so responsive I've never worked with a company that as soon as you give them something they're calling they're on the computer they're they're meeting with teachers they've set up times um specific the eaps at the schools or the the aps at the schools set up individual trainings during plc's for their teachers and they have never missed a session they are there every time

160we ask for them to help uh it it was difficult in the very beginning because when we would go in to look at things it wouldn't quite look what we're used to and so they would change it whatever the teachers have asked for they've gotten we have more training tomorrow it's we're not stopping we're continuing to build we're continuing to get feedback to ensure that by the end of May that it is absolutely the way everybody wants it we're very close what I'm most excited about is the progress report I'm sure you remember hearing teachers talk about how much time doing the progress reports take you got to go in you got to put what their goals are put what their objectives are input that data this the systems speak so they IEP talks to

161add modified and it pulls their goals and objectives straight into what you saw there so the teachers are not inputting anything other than numbers so I need to four out of five times a student can XYZ done all right it's time for me to run my progress report I hit run report and it's there with the graphs and everything so so you said four out of five times click click click is there an opportunity to move by exception in other words if the child takes a test and they have an accommodation that they're allowed at extra time you would only click that box if you didn't allow the extra time so that you don't have to click that box three other times in the affirmative so the accommodations part is very user friendly the we

162have teachers at cbes that requested um our its Department went out to seab breze few months ago because the administration there said we want to go ahead and get our Jed teachers using this because we've been requiring them to document AC document accommodations sebres loves it we have had their gened teachers are all over it and are using it because it's so simple they build a template they have their kids on it all right bum Bo bum done done for the day I mean it's it's so user friendly and again it's that is only because this company has just been so responsive what is the model for roll out is it a train the trainer model do you all provide that uh onsite support for implementation yes so um Melissa's team will be here the

163entire week of uchia learns they are also creating can canvas courses for anyone who does not attend vucha learns during pre-plan we already have a set schedule uh the Monday will be accommodations training for every teacher on August 5th um then on Wednesday during the ESC teachers curriculum They will receive the documentation training and then depending on if they're support facilitation teacher or a separate class teacher they get those those separate trainings depending on what they need as far as the platform goes does it all happen on PC is there an availability to have any sort of uh I iPad or anything that's a little bit more Melissa correct me if I'm wrong but we have discovered that it's best on the laptops correct we do not use it on iPads I know we had

164asked that in the very beginning and I can't remember if anybody switched over to iPad yeah sorry you're asking about iPads correct right we we have teachers using this on their laptops um I couldn't remember if anybody switched over to the iPads yeah we don't have a mobile we don't have a mobile app um it is optimized for a web browser on an iPad but it still has to be access through the browser um we don't have a mobile a mobile app um it's a it's a web- based platform um that is something you know we're we're open to um you know collaborating it's it's just a different Tech strategy that um you know specifically for the data collection piece we've thought about in the past but right now it's optimized for a browser on

165an iPad but all teachers current pilot teachers are doing it on laptops what is the notification model to in order to ensure that so let's say a student's uh IEP or hasn't been documented on in three weeks let's just say how does that get you know what are the S the safeguards that are going to notify and how does that notification go to the rest of the team to know that we're maybe out of compliance uh at one place or with one student or a handful of students how does that work you want me to take that or do you yeah I can just show you uh really quickly um in here um any administrator or teacher who has the student officially on their roster um can go in and see if data has been

166collected um or not um and then we do have a team boards notification set up I'm not sure Amanda if you want to share um what you're doing on the administrative sort of accountability side yeah so that is something that we've put in place this this year paper based or digital where the administration had to turn in an action plan and their monitoring plan so that is school-based Administration um being required to do every week XY certain things X Y and Z that they identify that they would do we are auditing every nine weeks and so that has um really encouraged our Administration to continue to closely Monitor and as the year has progressed we have seen a great increase in compliance with documentation so this is only going to Pro you know prove to

167better that so is it our expectation that this tool will be used 100% of the time yes that is correct that is correct so the paper forms have to go poof uh yes and and and you know in my world that's usually the hardest part and so uh I I think that I don't know if there's any policies that need to come back before us in order to support that right there because I think that that's going to be you know your your compliance is only as good as your as as your expectation and so I I think that and you know using this software opportunity should stick out like a red thumb you know should really stick out they they really should you know if there's an opportunity then we need to address that

168and so that way we we ensure that we're compliant uh in the best way possible for you know for our students um that's all the questions I have for now thank you thank you Mr persus thank you madam chair I think I think I have you live on my phone pH here I gotta I got give it to Jessie she can stop give it to Jessie have students in the crowd that can help to I was listening to a commercial of of you Melissa so I'm sorry about that um all right uh uh could you speak a little bit about the the this pilot group uh was it in elementary schools Middle High School what was the spread how many each level we tried to keep it pretty even I believe we had six Elementary

169um four middle and um four or six high schools Melissa do you have the numbers in of course I don't have that in front of me I don't remember but we did spread it out um we gave everybody the opportunity to sign up for it originally we had said 12 schools we were going to do four four and four but we had such an outcry of let us do it let us do it so Ed modified said we'll let you go up to 16 they didn't charge us anything extra for those extra folks as you can see we have 227 unique users that are in it right now right it's that's a lot of folks for um you know a pilot so we've got a lot of good feedback thank you for that what about

170uh the reaction then that you got the feedback was it universally liked more in high school or Elementary could you speak to that yeah secondary loved it from the git um they were all about it and they jumped right in elementary was a little um hesitant um they did find some challenges that they've been working through um and I use the I reminded Dr balabin back when I was a teacher uh and we went to electronic attendance yeah nobody wanted to do that you remember you I remember there was no way in the world I was going to take my attendance electronically what are you talking about I have my green sheets I got my sheets right um a lot of pushback and so we felt that type of a type of a response but

171as we've gone through they've gotten more comfortable um and I anticipate that to be the same thing when we roll it out districtwide everybody's going to have to get used to it and there will be growing paints I'm sure but the company is always available yeah uh what about the uh the ESC teachers that have students all day long versus the esct teachers that just have them for a class period so it depend I mean if if you're a separate class teacher right then you're doing lesson plans if you're a support facilitation teacher you have your support facilitation log those do look very different um we even have have it looking different for a teacher in the access program so that looks different because there's a little bit different information that has to go in

172there we have our consultation logs that have been digitized and are available um and then of course those accommodation logs are also available so everybody has what they currently use so they're going to be very it's going to look very similar to them but it's just on the digital platform do you have many teachers at the elementary level uh do you have many gened teachers in the elementary level participate no not as many as we did in secondary like I said we had seabies that jump right on Pine Ridge asked two weeks ago to be trained they wanted their gened teachers were like yeah let us try it um so we were doing a training um can't remember if it happened last week or this week but pin Ridge was was getting on with that

173because um they've heard other teacher saying this is easy y'all should be doing it so Dr balaman would the expectation be that if we go this route that every level would be using it and it be implemented districtwide correct because they will be assisting with the report cards as well on the progress report so it falls right into U exactly yeah everything so then my question would be uh since that we didn't have many or as many Maybe Elementary people and they were the most reluctant group um what would be our strategy to to get them to embrace this and rather than have them you know pushing and pulling and screaming and the nashing of teeth I mean it it seems like there's a yeah little re it's a comfort level and I spoke to

174our principal from the PLC Council as you know meet with them monthly and um basically what that's what they've shared with me it's a comfort level so we will have a two- praying approach the first is the training with the supports that they would need for you know holding their hands and walking them through step by step but also if we see pockets of schools that needs additional support sending out a staff member there to really work with that small group of individuals so whole group training and then pockets of schools that may need small group training training as well okay yeah matter of fact almost like having a coach to to coach them through I'm sitting a few of our it folks to some Ed modified um trainings that are coming up um they

175actually reached out to me and said I think this would be useful for us so we're we're taking care of that we have members of its that are doing training for us right now in the school so we we have that on the boots on the ground here um in addition to everything digitally that Ed modified is able to provide I'm wondering as you know anytime you roll out something new and you're presenting it um it's helpful if if the teacher the trainer is a pra practitioner at the same does what I'm doing if I'm an elementary I want an elementary person tell telling me because they understand my my life and what I go through I don't know whether that's possible but I'm just throwing it out there if you can have I think

176that was Mr so that's a strong possibility too because remember the it division they're going to have some few folks that they're going to go be attending the training just to help us with that additional support that we will need but then you're going to start seeing like with any roll out that you do that there will be some folks that will be excelling at it right so and I hear what you're saying if you can see from a teacher to a teacher so we will have those that that uh in place as well where we can say you know what this teacher over here is doing a really really good job let me see how I can get you to observe or that person to help you so we will have all that in

177place yeah change is is disrupts comfort zone I know you know and it creates anxiety I'm just uh because this sounds great and and I'm sure if but like any change uh you know some folks were like oh no it's just going to be extra work you know how how do we avoid that come coming out this is extra this is more this is something else I have to do or you know we have to do the work right we have to document this just makes that documentation a little bit more simple in the beginning it is going to be difficult you know when you're learning anything in the beginning it's like I can't believe I've got to learn how to do this but as you start using it you you saw on the graphs

178the more they use it the more they use it because they get so comfortable with it and it's just helping them so much especially when when they realize that I just got to put data in here and it's going to print my progress report for me and I don't have to spend a day doing all of my progress reports that's already in there that's that really is going to be the selling point yeah I think that's a that's a good uh selling point for sure uh not having to do those um I'm just concerned that it it sounds like this would be something that would start next school year yes but we will begin training this right after all all of the training and so you'd be you know for some teachers they may be

179getting different students or new students um and so with that new student comes a new IEP and new goals and new accommodations so and the good thing the systems talk and so at night when the system updates both systems come together they update and then when a teacher goes on they have automatic access to that new student's information good good they don't have to do anything to put anybody in there it does it for yeah um again you know I just just baby steps here with the you know make sure the training and sure who who are who are we training and can they deliver the training in the right got six trainings a day during valua learns so everybody that's listening please sign up sign up sign up sign up multiple times and virtual

180too where we can go back and r yes it will be in canvas the content correct and then we have a teams Channel where there's I can't remember how to and so we have the teams Channel where they can jump in and get a quick three minute tutorial just maybe one more question Madam chair uh I see Melissa's back at least it looks like she's back uh um I was going to ask her you could ask her how has has this been rolled out in a district our size Melissa have y'all worked with a district our size with your product yeah I was going to jump in I could hear you the whole time um I did want to share that we we are very experienced with uh Behavior change such as this and moving

181from you know paper and pencil to digital um we also um work specifically with the elementary school teachers to build out their support facilitation logs that were different than the middle and high school teachers so we can identify Champions within the elementary school um to answer your question we don't have districtwide implementation uh with the District of your size but we do work with um the top districts in um Austin Texas Springfield Massachusetts um so we do have experience of this scale um and and are um are ready to to scale for for this many schools thank you Mr colog so as I sit here and listen to you Amanda I look back at Shane and his head is about to pop off and for me uh Shane is probably one of the the people

182rev the most in that space so Dr B if yeah absolutely Shane tell me how you really feel because you never hesitate like if you were not moving your head so much Shane you probably would not have been called up here the first time you guys have invited me here my own oh we could yeah that's usually a good thing we'll make sure to invite you many times uh so this is a phenomenal day Miss ws and I actually were having this conversation years ago I don't know if you guys remember the es remember workload committee the things that I that we were talking about before about the workload for teachers and how hard it is to to do everything you need to do um when miss wildes and I first started talking about this

183you know uh she showed me a couple different programs that they were already looking at and were doing the research on um this hits every point you guys need one comp's a huge issue when when you can't prove when you get audited and you can't prove that you provided services to a child you're going to owe that comped um it could be something as simp simple as losing one one piece of paper that could record an entire month worth of services that now you have to pay comped for because you can't prove that you delivered the service the service occurred but you can't prove it so therefore you owe it um so that's Financial benefit for you guys right off the start the second one is the decrease in teacher workload uh when I would

184create progress reports I would have to go through every student's IEP find every goal um what the information that I had from the notes and the data that I had collected I could upload but but let's say I'm an Ela support facilitator I don't know what's going on in math I'm not there and while I'm communicating and collaborating with my colleagues you're not always there this allows you to update the information in real time so instead of during progress report week that week right before the report cards are due instead of waiting on an email back from the math teacher and the math support facilitator and the social studies teacher and the science teacher and then having to go through the grades and click on the grade and pull up each assignment and look and

185see what they scored in the assignment what was the standard on each assignment it would take days it takes days when you have a case Lo of 20 to 30 kids if you're writing them correctly uh this bypasses that you hit generate and then generate your progress reports am I correct Miss WS yeah so I think this is a no-brainer hands down IT addresses the issues that I came to this board and started talking about you guys four years ago the podium saying that many times yeah and I mean hats off him as wilds and her team for getting this done I mean this is a huge accomplishment and I I'm a big I'm a big supporter of Technology any way we can make our jobs easier um let the computer do it instead of

186you and there's certainly going to be growing pains there always are uh you can't get around that um the only way we can we can uh improve that is by the training that Miss won his team has already set up so I I think this is incredible thank you I've heard enough thank you this brette thank you that makes me happy because I know that you were very vocal with things that we needed to do so thank you thank you for that and that was one of the things I wanted to ask and it's sounds like we've addressed it mostly anyway but the enduser the teacher in the room using it and how how is it going to help them because we've heard all year the struggles that they're having and so I like that

187this is going to help them I trust you because you were in the room in the classroom and you you um gave us honest feedback so thank you um and then I would just like to ask that if we're going to roll it out at the beginning of next year if maybe after the first quarter um we can get an update on how how this helped um the team how it helped our students how it helped the teachers abut of course absolutely and um one other question I have about the training I I hear that they are being phenomenal with the help is this a something that they're going to support you as long as we have this program okay so it's not like we purchas this and they and they're done they're going to

188be here to support us regardless yes and any kind of training that our teachers need that they're going to be there correct written into the contract and and and it's on record now it's in the contract right Melissa just say yes Melissa she just texted me and said I'm having a hard time hearing I'm like it's okay it's all good we're good just say yes Melissa to the training piece we're good not just say it but now you're G have to do it no it's in the contract yes okay so they've already addressed a lot of the same questions I had and hearing from you Shane was very important to me because I was watching your head nodding back too the amount that you're asking us to vote on tonight this would cover every single

189school and every single teacher for next year along with the training component correct okay so then are we looking at because this is a startup year is this possibly a little higher and then like the following year no okay so this is the standard for three years for three years and so for three years though we have basically them continuing to train absolutely and all of that so um and I'll ask each of you this so do you feel comfortable with the number of teachers that participated in this and the feedback you received that this is what we should move forward with Hon Henson was one of the pilot programs uh when when they rolled it out and we had five teachers there um vot you know all at differ levels in their career um

190some of the ones that were newer to the career picked up on it pretty quickly and there were definitely challenges uh because at the time they were still working through focus and AD modified getting the right information and um from what I've heard that issue has been resolved some of the teachers that have been here a little longer kind of struggling because they're again back to Mr Pur at this point you're used to the paper that's what you've been doing um you know in elementary I know they have a lot of they're a little more specific in the goals they have more goals um I think long term if they had an iPad it would certainly be easier for them to be able to click versus having to type in a computer because they kind

191of had their hands full with those little ones uh but I I do think that they've done everything that we've asked them to I think that's exactly what we need to fix a lot of a lot of the issues that we're encountering so do you feel that you have enough support even with I wrote down all the ways that you're rolling out the professional learning model for to actually have everybody start at the beginning of the school year I do okay it's it's there's a lot in there but it's not difficult you set up your template it's ready to go and that's what they'll be doing in their training they'll set up templates they'll actually get to to do some of that work um and so then once their roster populates then it'll be they

192just build those and they're ready to go okay and um are you prepared for the additional support for the teachers that struggle its Dr is prepared to help support on that end with the te technology piece of course the ESC department is ready to help with that um specially designed instruction piece or the what goes into the template part um but its has been working very closely with the company so what is it you're expecting from the its Department they'll they just got to reach out to them are we talking about them helping with like the computer and getting into the system or are we talking about training oh uh it really is a shared burden because its doesn't know the policy pieces of it right like how they want the data put in but

193as far as how do you manipulate the system how do you get access to it you can't get it to save right you can't find the right data field all of that the edtech department will be supporting uh we've been supporting it from the get-go so we kind of know it pretty well now we are going to some more training because I had some people that were not part of the pilot so I'm expanding the training pool you might say and eventually we're also going to be putting this on our list of supported items to our help desk those will be kind of basic items but some quick calls you know like I'm new to it I just need access I need to start okay all right any other questions hey Dr balkman you have

194a recommendation yes I do mam chair board members I recommend approval of MSA 24-02 JD with education modify Incorporated I do have to ask did we have any public input for this item okay you guys already talk to me we're good [Laughter] all right then do I have someone to make a motion to approve the purchase I move approval of the purchase Madam chair uh if there's a second I do have one other question second okay Mr clone second all right Mr pur what's your other question thank you madam chair my my question is and you perhaps you already said it would there be a a a contact person at each school so if I'm a a teacher I what your administrator is going administrator someone besides the administrator I would imagine that they will

195I mean you're going to identify those people as they use it you're going to like Shane just said people who are newer to the district pick up on things a little more quickly not always um but they would identify those people be really helpful for teachers if there was a Lead Teacher and that has been happening naturally at the pilot schools um people that are just became a whiz yeah you know course they're the ones that that people rely on at those schools um but the company is at your fingertips um either by phone or on teams as has been our its Department they've been amazing thank you madam chair that was my question all right board members you heard the recommendation of the superintendent Mr persus has made a motion to approve Mr clone

196has seconded any further discussion hearing none I'll call for the vote all those in favor of purchasing the new MSA 24- 020 J D education modified please say I I I any opposed passes unanimously okay thank you thank you Melissa okay at this time we're moving into public participation item 17.01 I just need to remind everyone to be respectful of those that are speaking and there is no there's no comments clapping or whatever you can do a thumbs up thumbs down or jazz hands so that we can move um forward I'm taking these now in the numerical order in which they were submitted minus the students that we pulled out so I will announce the first speaker and the second speaker so the second speaker is ready to come up as soon as the first

197speaker is finished and then we will go on through the list so so number one Jennifer Kelly followed by number two Abby Clowers welcome thank you good evening board members chair Haynes and superintendent balabin I'm here tonight to talk to you guys about policy 320 the current advertis changes to policy 320 do nothing to make the change uh process more userfriendly or streamline in fact it does the opposite one example of that is changing the language from working days to school days I thought the principles and others involved in the challenge were 12-month employees this change would not allow for any challenges over the summer break or other working days that do not include instruction this is in addition to the concerns I've addressed with you all during the last Schoolboard meeting also there are

198are several easy Common Sense changes that I've addressed here during public comment through email in one-on-one conversations with each of you school board members in over the past two years changes that you all said made sense but I see Zero of those changes added to the policy example the policy currently requires certification that the complainant has read the entire material that is not required for purchase of the books or by law content that is not age appropriate for minors doesn't belong in a school library where they have unfeathered access without parental knowledge consent or Guidance the context is irrelevant books have been addressed in the last three legislative SE sessions and in Schoolboard meetings over the past few years I feel that such a high-profile topic as books should have been given more thorough efforts

199towards making the policy more efficient and up toate than was given to the current policy changes that were unanimously voted to approve for advertisement at the last Schoolboard meeting let me share with you the current situation 51 books are objected to currently this triggered meetings with 14 School principles and media Specialists by the way the principles have done a fabulous job with communication and setting those up if the books are being objected to because they violate Florida law they should be challenged at the district level to start this would save valuable time and resources for all involved and a side note on that I'd still like to see a current book challenge status and removals be placed either in the C card catalog if that can be done or online um for full transparency and

200good communication I am requesting that you all please take another look at policy 320 please take the time that this policy deserves to add to all the needed changes to make it more user friendly for everyone involved thank you thank you Abby Clowers followed by Randy coats welcome while writing my teacher of the year essay last school year I was asked to write about what inspires me as an educator I wrote about the Educators that instilled a love for learning in me which in turn inspired me to spread that same love of learning to others the teachers I referenced to my essay were all from por Orange elementary I am now a teacher and a parent of a student who attends there my son is a proud is proud to be a tiger and my

201daughter keeps reminding us that next year every time we pass our school that she's going to be a tiger there too I'm here to ask you to save our school if you vote to withhold the money needed to repair our schools then you are showing that you do not respect us or our Community if you vote to repair our school and to take care of your old buildings then you are showing that you do respect us and that you are willing to include us in conversations about what is best for our students and what is best for our community save our school we are Title One school you want to take a title one school and mix it with two other Title One schools three low-income schools are going to suffer if you follow through

202with this we have worked hard to be an a school we scored about 20% higher than the district and state averages in ela and math statistically test scores go down the year before and the year after a school closes these those scores are tied to hundreds of children that are going to be affected if you shut down our school don't close the doors on our children save our school many of our students walk to school every day if you shut down our school are you going to bust those students so that they do not have to walk across dun l in a street that you have deemed so dangerous every single day and if so with what bus drivers Sugar Mill is about one mile away from Port Orange elementary many of our students would

203not even qualify for a bus that means students walking across dun Len which seems a lot lot more dangerous than having a gated school next to it these students will have to wake up significantly earlier or they will simply be much later to school or not even go at all our school is very conveniently located for our students now miss Haynes I know you mentioned wanting to use your money or our money from our area to fund a CTE School in your area you mentioned that students from all over our County could benefit from it I would like to know with the shortage of Transportation staff how students from our area will be able to get all the way to West fuchia which can take around 45 minutes without stopping at bus stops how early

204will our students have to wake up to make it to school in your area on time I will say this though I watched all of the Schoolboard meetings when they were online due to covid and was inspired by your fight for the students in your area who would not have adequate internet access you fought for children who were in a predicament that the vast majority of other students in our County were not in it was very admirable you truly showed that you cared about those students and if our school was in your area I'd bet the idea of shutting us down would be a moot point please step in our shoes and see how detrimental this would be for our community you asked if our school is meeting the needs of our community and I

205can say with 100% certainty that it is smaller schools offer greater sense of relationship connectedness and opportunity among virtually all stakeholders they have increased teacher student connections we know the benefits of smaller Community Schools and I understand going forward not being able to afford building more but shouldn't we try to preserve the ones that we have we will keep coming to every meeting before and after this decision is made we will not stop advocating for our students in our community and we will not stop until you make the right decision to to save our school thank you Randy coats followed by Leslie Sparks Sor sorry um I'm here to represent Randy coats he had to um step out he had to be somewhere tonight so um I am speaking for Randy coats we share a

206grandchild we share grandchildren who attend Port Orange elementary and our second grandchild will be attending Port Orange elementary next next year next school year 20 24 25 year um or grandchild that is Thrive that goes to Port arel Min right now he is thriving and he's he's excited to go to school every single day I would hate to see that opportunity to have to change for him being an elementary school child changing schools is very difficult in any predicament but as an elementary school child it's even more difficult I've seen firsthand the positive impact OE has had on students sorry I get really emotional about stuff like this um including my daughter who attended the school and has become a competent successful young strong woman keep Poe open thank you Leslie Sparks followed by Carol

207dreze welcome thank you um I just want to tell you I'm loud and I'm going to talk really fast because I have a lot to say tonight so I just wanted to set the record straight good evening to my fellow team valua I'm going to start off this evening telling the truth I'm I really don't want to be standing here right now but since April 9th I felt the need for all of you to hear my Italian voice imagine the shock that went through our school on that Tuesday afternoon when our name out of the blue was brought up at a school board Workshop meeting our air was taken from us our heart sank why was this happening this was supposed to be the year that our damage from our hurricane inan was to be

208fixed we've all been waiting for these repairs for over 18 months but actually there was damage with water intrusion going back to 2011 that a teacher kept putting in work orders that were never fixed it makes you wonder if the problem was fixed maybe we wouldn't be in the Limelight now why have these repairs not been done as a homeowner we we all know that the process of how Insurance works I would like that the ins I would think the insurance companies wonder why our school has not been fixed or even better that than wondering why nothing has been done it was stated that the district takes care of our older buildings well I can say that we are not feeling that re patillo has not felt that and Oola did not feel that I

209wonder how many other schools are having that same feeling yes costs have gone up but don't you think if Port Orange had been taken care of over the years and treasured for for his historical value that I would not be standing in front of you now the students are why we are there but it seems that we have forgotten that the Brewster building which houses offices and District St staff right across this parking lot it was built around the same time as Port Orange elementary it was repaired around 2016 offices for the District staff were fixed before a school it was mentioned that taxpayers don't understand why they have to pay school tax when they don't have children in school well that's been a statement that has been said for Generations we all know the

210answer we have to educate the children so that they can be active members of society to help us all Port orang Elementary is that school and that has given back to our community multiple Generations have walked the halls of this Landmark School lots of business owners who went to Poe and stayed in our town were educated at por Orange elementary do you all want to explain to the alumni that their school has not been taken care of because they are still citizens of Port Orange and if Port Orange is closed the pattern of the school board is that all the repairs will be made but for what maybe more district offices on the east side of the county or an alternative school like they're trying to do at Oola this bump in the road is

211not slowing us down we are still going to shine like Lindy friezer did when you recognized her Dr B on April 9th the great people the great Deeds award we just also just hosted Atlantic High School teal acad last week what an experience for the teal Academy to interact with five different grade levels in classroom watching those students interact together brought some positive energy back into my heart we are looking forward to our partnership with Atlantic teal Academy next year it's a win-win on our breath was taken away and our heart sank for two weeks but we are tigers and we will keep roaring for the students and the family of Fort Orange element M and thank you for the extra few minutes you're welcome good evening and thank you so much for giving me

212this time to um I'm very excited and grateful to announce the establishment of a p flag chapter in valua County if you're not familiar with P flag it is PF a g parents friends and families of lesbians and gays it has been around for 50 years it is Countrywide and P flag is the nation's largest organization dedicated to supporting educating and advocating for the lgbtq plus people and those who love them it is nonpartisan it is non-religious it is nonprofit I'm going to give you a personal story about how P flag Works um my husband from a previous marriage has a son who is gay he's very happily married to his husband and they have two children um we also have a nephew who's a very successful businessman very wise very smart we got a

213call from this nephew a couple of years ago and he wanted to talk to Jim my husband he said my son has just come out as gay what do I do my husband did not tell him what to do my husband told him how he felt when his son came out to him my husband told him what his experience was what he did this is what we do at P flag meetings we exp we we share our experiences we don't counsel we don't advise we share and um it's an absolutely wonderful group I have information here if you want it about a contact information for our monthly meetings thank you thank you next up is Mary Tilford followed by Elizabeth Albert welcome thank you hi everybody um I'm proud to say that I have been

214a teacher at Delona high for 29 years the only School I've worked at I love my school and I know we we have an amazing group of students when I saw our core students speak out at the last Schoolboard meeting my heart soared look at those young adults they spoke eloquently and respectfully they followed the rules they told you about their passion for chorus and the passion for their teacher and some of you have have been teachers and it sounds great to hear that doesn't it I looked at our mission statement Louch County Schools will ignite a passion for learning in all students to be productive citizens I visited those students last week their passion was gone their Hope was gone they thought someone in this room would listen to them they thought they would

215get help they got nothing but they keep trying to get you to listen and I'm so proud of them productive citizens yeah we have them here in Valia County I saw them my question is this why did you start by cutting teachers and programs for students Why not start by cutting VCS employees who do not work directly with students I was told the principles had to make cuts the principles did not get us into this mess why are they being forced to cut teachers and programs surely there are people here at 200 North Clair Avenue who could have been cut before teachers standing in front of students I know everyone in this room agrees that students are the most important part of Education they have voices they are not just here for pictures please let's

216listen to them they deserve it I saw you out here talking to them thank you they came back they didn't want to give up good for them please please listen to them I was a drama kid and I love drama and that's why I got up every morning when I listened to them I thought about if I had had that program taken from me I don't know where I'd be I don't think I would have been become a teach teacher so please please think about it and see if you can find a different way to help these children please thank you for your time thank you Elizabeth Albert followed by Ida Wright ID get here mind [Applause] all right good evening again Madam chair members of the board superintendent Dr balab and members of the

217audience before I go into what I've just passed out or passed to you I want to just make a statement about Ed modified looks great we want to get behind you we want to help you uh if I can make a suggestion uh since we don't have a PD day in September anymore perhaps we can use the first herle part of that time to get some feedback and provide support for those who are struggling okay now let's get into this all right what I've given you right now is a copy of some historical data uh based from the documentation that's sent to doe on our financial condition ratio so in a nutshell let's call it the fund balance shall we so you'll see here that we have captured the data all the way way back

218from 201516 through last year 2223 which is the data that we have access to what you'll notice here is there are some different colored bars there's the blue bar which is the district summary budget that's a budget that you Pro that you approve at the beginning of any fiscal year and then you have the orange bar which is the AFR the an annual financial report which is the end of the year review let's see how we did where did we spend what happened with us if you notice your annual summary your AFR line is outpacing your blue bar there's two horizontal bars also you'll see a red line there that red line indicates the 3% that you are mandated by Doe to have in your fund balance the black bar represents the 5% that you've

219set by policy to have in the fund B fund balance if you notice still your fund balance every year ends far above your policy self-imposed 5% way above the 3% mandated uh value that the state sets forth so I've got some questions under here I know you're not going to respond to me I'm going to read them out loud for the public and maybe you'll have an opportunity to ask questions or talk about them later so how does VCS justify the continued over budgeting and underspending that results in substantial growth of the fund balance or savings account why are allocations being cut at the school classroom level when the data indicates that the funds to support these positions exist how do you justify calling this nonre reoccurring funds when the balance grows every year why

220do we impose a 5% minimum for our fund balance when the state requirement is only three you addressed that earlier Miss Haynes thank you when the fund balance doubles or even triples our imposed threshold why are we not investing the additional Revenue back into the employees I have a document here that breaks down the numbers from last year's AFR uh the total unassigned fund fund balance last year ended at 74 million $21,995 three times about the 5% or three times the self hold on three times the amount that we are required to have so we have substantial revenu sitting in our savings account but we're not investing back into the employees and to finish quickly on July the 25th uh CFO Todd CE stated I'm building reserves this year to roll it back into the

221general fund talking about the fund balance and successfully transitioning away from using Esser money whatever it takes he made that statement to you Mr colog thank you Ida Wright followed by Sheila Butchart welcome good afternoon Madam chair school board members superintendent baban it's a great evening I'm not going to hold you long but you know if I'm before you it's because I have an issue or concern so to my surprise when I got a call about our budget crisis and I was asked as the former chair about some things that took place um I called Mr pures I called Madam chair at that time neither could answer so I went back and just pull some of our reports from 2020 so I'm not going to belabor on that um because a little bit was asked

222how did we get to where we are I didn't know who I was talking to at that time later found out but I decided to not really answer I defer to do some digging so after all of this we are where we are and as board members it is important that you come up with a plan you and the superintendent quickly because as long as as long as we continue to allow this to Fester the information in the media is going to get worse and we can say what we want but everybody want to know where's the plan how do we get out of where we are um I'm here to say do that my other reason for being here because I was really disappointed when we had principles put in the hot seat because

223we've never had principles do allocations without District staff and I know they were trained so I heard from the newspaper but that's not fair to them because you did put them in a very precarious situation that now have many of the schools really up in the Uproar so again board I think it is incumbent of you to find a way to try to rectify that along with the assistance of the superintendent now I'm off that salt box um today there was a meeting with valua and Flagler thank you aent help thank you Halifax Hospital for the needs assessment I'm not sure if you have someone that um is in public relations or on a governmental but everybody was there but Valia County Schools flag County Schools everybody but Belia County I know you have a

224lot going on so maybe if you have someone in public relations please let them know or someone in governmental Affairs because the assessment is very important it will help our students it will help our community and we need representation from lushia County schools and lastly um I am very disappointed on the vote about Campbell Middle School in holl Hill I was very adamant about elementary I won't deny that I told the parents who came to see me and some others they did come and see me when I a school board member we argued back and forth but at the end of the day I told them there was no data supporting elementary kids being busted however I was very supportive of middle and high school so I will like to say I am very displeased

225with the decision but we'll see how Camp will roll out next year because I do believe you're going to see some issues that you didn't anticipate thank you and have a good evening thank you Sheila Butchart okay Sarah marzilli followed by Scott Mina welcome good evening Sarah marzili uh parent and teacher at Pine Trail Elementary in Orman Beach um I'm here today with concerns about our art programs specifically at our elementary schools it has come to my attention that there are still schools that will not be providing access to an art curriculum course for the 2425 year um I would like to state that Accord according to our Florida Statutes the State academic standards must meet the following requirements Visual and performance arts PE health and foreign language standards must establish specific curricular content and

226include distinct grade level expectations for the core content Knowledge and Skills that a student is expected to have acquired by each individual grade level from K through five I have been informed that the programs that are being changed um are turning stem programs into steam programs by including art while I am for this program to now include art I am concerned that this is being used as a replacement for the art classes that have been cut according to the Institute of Art integration and steam who provide professional development trainings on how to correctly change stem into steam who I am certified as a stem steam teacher as well steam is an approach it is not a scripted curriculum for art steam is meant to encourage curiosity ask big questions and provoke creativity in the exploration

227of problem solving so I am asking my big question now how are we going to provide an art class curriculum to all of our elementary students in vucha County legally for 2024 25 school year by a certified art educator thank you thank you next up Scott Mina followed by Laurel Robinson welcome hello Madam shair hello vucha County team also all the members here in the audience also as well those are on the screen I wish I could tell everyone to stand up and you know stretch but it's been a long day but I know we have a limited time um my name is Scott MAA I am part of um The danan Pride also valua Pride equality Florida as well as P flag danan Valia and um I'm here to talk about bringing books back

228um I know that lately we've had a a lot of things happen with the uh the bill that has changed a lot of things with these books uh being banned um I don't know if you have read all the books have been banned but I know for one of them um that is called flamer by Mike corano um it is a book that has definitely impacted me and as a child I was not especially during school there were not many books like that that were out there to help me to feel like I was okay to be who I was as a gay young adolescent um and what it's been wonderful is that these books are are coming out but we have been holding them back and not being able to have these kids to

229be able to read these books I feel that and I I communicate a lot with the kids that over with Valia U pride and I help them out with a lot of events and stuff like that and uh helping them to feel wanted and the most saddest thing is that a lot of these kids feel attacked by having things taken away from them I do know that there are parents that are out there that are worried about their kids reading it but oh my goodness we have like Disney movies that talk about straight relationships and that has not t made any of these kids straight you know like that you know these kids know who they are they're smart they're intelligent they are unbelievable and they have so much love and empathy for the community

230but seeing all these things taken away from them makes them feel that they're lesser than which is unfortunate and we shouldn't be doing that for them um I I want you all to be able to just re-evaluate these things and to be able to consider this or make a program either for these kids to have their parents be able to give them permission instead of just completely taking these books away um because since this is all started with parents why not reach to them and tell them hey have these resources available and have them be able to approve of them and since you know you have their valua County Schools will ignite a passion for learning in all students to be productive citizens let's allow that to happen because I know this is also affecting

231them mentally and a lot of these kids are being hurt we see examples of next Benedict who taken their life because they don't feel accepted or wanted so let us as Valia County School Board be able to help that thank you so much for your time and have a wonderful night thank you Laurel Robinson followed by Pam Crowell yes good evening I'm Laurel Robinson I'm a resident in voter in Orman Beach Valia County Madame chair board members Madam superintendent I'm sure this board has followed with great interest the State Board of education's approval of amendment to rule 6 a-108 principles of professional conduct for the educational profession in Florida it's a group of ethical principles it's been around since the 80s you're probably very familiar with it but the new revision addresses the right to

232counter challenge a book removal it appears that the real intent of this revision is to throw School principles under the bus it makes them the scapegoat for the stur and drong of book bands that we've all been going through for the last three years ctj citizens for truth of justice and education has long advocated to put a counter challenge policy in place but this revision by the state requires that to make such a challenge a person would have to charge the principle with improper conduct and a violation of Florida statute who would want to do that not us I doubt anyone in this room the penalties for this action are extreme loss of an educator certificate and a ruined career let's keep discussing the value of a book and books and not call into question

233an Educator's right to a profession just because we wish to State a disagreement but there might be a way out I challenge this board to craft a local policy that protects the Public's rights it safeguards your employees rights and it upholds the students right to an education that values a fair Equitable and transparent process and environment it will not be easy this thing is written with true intent and it's diabolical but please do not give away your ability to craft a local school board policies without a fight thank you very much thank you pam pam Crowell followed by Alexandra hem good evening superintendent school board all those attending online and in person especially Book Lovers I'm a retired valicia County teacher and resident with two grandchildren in local schools it's my pleasure to speak to

234you about a great book I just want to shine a light on it it's called Uh the upside of unrequited contemporary book by Becky albertal and lgbtq New York Times best-selling author of young adult novels and winner of the William Morris award when this book was recommended by a friend and her two team teenage daughters I had to read it myself what a funny heartwarming amazing sweet hilarious book that brings you back to those awkward but wonderful teenage years the main character is Molly kind of chubby she's 17 anxiety ridden and she fears rejection well why not she's had 26 secret crushes and wonders if she'll ever find a relationship because all her friends have and even her twin sister so she feels Left Behind then she gets the attention of a sweet but dorky

235Co coworker while also catching the eye of a handsome popular boy from another school here's a quote with a message there's an upside here because when you spend so much time intensely wanting something and then actually getting it it's magic finding the door that you were banging on for so long is finally end locked maybe it was unlocked the whole time this book should be read for the sheer Joy of reading and getting all the feels from pulling at heartstrings to full out belly laughs this book by the way was challenged for sexual conduct not being suited for student needs and inappropriate for grade level luia County District staff reviewed this and determined it does not violate Florida statute according to Florida Freedom read it was challenged and retained not removed in clay Collier and

236Flagler after review high schoolers I feel should really read this for enjoyment and if they happen to pick up on themes of lgbtq and racial diversity and acceptance self-image sibling rivalry and relationships all the better if you have high school kids have them check it out while they still can and if they can thank you thank you Alexandra Hemi followed by Debbie Parker welcome good evening I'm a parent and Par professional at Chisum Elementary I'm here to comment that 34 days of instructional time per year are lost to testing in valua County primary schools 23 of those days are County mandated tests we have the power to give our elementary school students back 23 days of instructional time per year if we eliminate testing at the county level these 33 34 tests a year are

237a big deal there are orange cones outside of testing sites scripts read no outdoor recess students can take as long as they need to on valua benchmark assessments regardless of their accommodations they test all morning until lunch students who finish before this time can legally do nothing students who are unfinished after the break typically move on to another testing site The Curriculum maps plan for regular instruction after lunch but the students still testing are often our students who are struggling and cannot afford to fall behind our teachers know this so as a result many elect to have a when day or what I need need testing is causing our teachers to fall behind on their Curriculum maps because they are doing the right thing not leaving anyone behind fuchia allows a full week to makeup

238tests students trickle in throughout the week meaning sometimes it really is a full week of makeup testing occurring on campus fuchia schools has not hired full-time testing administrators or created computer labs for testing so who administrates the many weeks of makeup testing in my school our guidance counselor librarian and academic coach does it this means up to 33 weeks we are losing our services our students and teachers need and deserve you can give us full-time testing administrators computer labs and give back recess but nothing can fix the fact that over testing our kids isn't ethical or appropriate they are so frustrated by it some purposely skip through which skews the data they don't get the difference between fast in VBA it's all a meaningless blur of endless testing and disruption to them I was was

239able to read my students test as an accommodation as a caffeinated professional I felt mentally exhausted before the end of the test there's nothing developmentally appropriate about forcing young children to sit down for hours to take a test on a computer the data is not worth it the excessive testing is more harmful than helpful the answer is not to make testing easier but to take testing away our students are losing over a month of regular instruction and recess every year and and I know we can do something about this thank you for listening thank you Debbie Parker followed by Jamie Dory welcome good evening thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight and I speak for myself first I'd like to thank all School staff but tonight especially Library staff District administrators and the school

240board you've all been struggling to figure out how in the world to comply with the vague Florida laws of the past couple of years as of last week new Florida principles of professional conduct have further complicated the book challenge process I thank you in advance for your continued to commitment to provide a high quality education for all UIA County students extra thanks to principles at this increasingly difficult time 16 books were challenged on October 4th 2023 and we've been told by vucha County Administration that vucha County chose to have one or two media Specialists decide whether or not the books were in violation of Florida statute as a result seven of the books were permanently removed but those books were removed without the benefit of a publicly noticed committee that includes parents so valua County

241Schools violated policy 320 and the law I'll read read next from Florida statue 1000 6.28 meetings of committees convened for the purpose of resolving an objection by a parent or resident to specific materials must be noticed and open to the public in accordance with statute 2 28611 any committees convened for such purposes must include parents of students who have will have access to such materials maybe these challenge books actually do violate the law but a committee that includes parents and is publicly noticed is legally required for this determination please bring books back the seven permanently removed books need to be brought back for a legally proper review I'm also open to a meeting with school attorney as school attorneys as well um to help me sufficiently understand if my interpretation of the law is mistaken

242it's my belief my belief that a question such as one asked last Schoolboard meeting are we following the law that kind of question absolutely cannot be answered with one word neither yes nor no as indicated in Florida statute 28611 and that covers meetings in the sunshine no resolution rule or formal action shall be considered binding except as taken or made at such meeting so as mentioned the removal decisions were made made regarding the seven books from October's challenge challenge is not are not valid the entire process for book challenges in Valia County thus abiding by Florida law must be completed for each of the 14 books challenged in October an additional 14 48 challenge in March and any future book challenges made by uchia County resident thank you thank you next up Jamie Dory followed

243by Jennifer Kelly is Jamie here yes please you may come forward and read it on her behalf no I know I said it I'm sorry um let's see she sent it to me honey here we go um I work with Jamie at Deltona High School good evening I was scared to speak tonight but I think I'm ready to speak with that being said I would like to preface with a quote from one of my favorite bands a day to remember I reserve my right to feel uncomfortable I reserve my right to to be afraid I make mistakes and I'm humbled every step of the way I want to be a better person I want to know the master plan Caster Stones Caster judgments you don't make me who I am uh her name is Jamie

244Lipton and she is an English teacher and an ESC teacher for VCS she currently works at Deltona High School and Her speech is not a reflection of the administration or the staff at Deltona High School I've been nothing but supported at Deltona High School I drive from the east side of the county to work at DHS because I love it there so much in my teaching experience and career I've been a pair professional I've been a substitute teacher I've taught both English and ese English 6 through eight English 3 English 3 honors English and social studies at an alternative school I've taught lots of other things and I'm currently teaching support facilitation for both English and social studies next year I'll going back to English 3 I have two professional certificates and an Autism endorsement

245proud graduate of new smum Beach High School class of 2007 um and I'm going to skip a l sorry Jamie uh while I've worked very hard to get here today I did not do it on my own so today I've come here to say thank you thank you to those who have loved and supported me throughout my life and my career I'm a single mom and I live off my teacher salary alone without child support or any financial assistance my child is currently in VPK and VCS and is an upcoming kindergartener I do not qualify for food stamps or Medicaid or anything other any other assistance other than my income alone while some of you make amounts of money that I can't even fathom I live paycheck to paycheck every month my rent is an

246entire paycheck so God forbid something happens where I would need a savings account some of you in this room know who I am and some of you don't either way it's okay because I know who I am I'm a loving mother who puts my child first in everything I'm a passionate educator who cares about kids their well-being their education and their success I majored in education and came into the field of education and I'm here to say thank you thank you to those who got me here today thank you to my son my mother my father may he rest in peace my boyfriend all of my teachers from my childhood my fellow Educators all my friends who believed in me for those in this room and those in this District who have said mean things

247to me bullied me acted like I was in your way I just want to ask you to take a good hard look at yourself I was raised to treat people the way you want to be treated so let's continue that philosophy the philosophy that my deceased father showed to everyone every day thank you and I second that that's why I wore this shirt again um Jennifer Kelly are there while she's coming are there any more cards okay this will be the last one then thank you welcome good evening um before I start I wanted to address some things I heard in the room tonight but chair haes I need a disclaimer for Content please do we have any students here in the audience that are under the age of 18 I'm going to ask at

248this time please if you would go out to the Overflow area no it's it's a not a curriculum book I mean if if since you're the you since you are the parent sometimes we have students here without a parent if you wish for your child to stay inside that's fine but any child that is 18 or under I'm asking them to go out unless their parent is here with them so it's your choice those of you at home that are listening if you have children at this time you will have just a few seconds to um remove them or to turn off and watch this part at a later time all right so you're going to choose for your daughter to stay in here with you okay all right all right good evening board members

249uh chair Haynes and superintendent balabin I want to first start by saying no books are being banned movies music even video games have ratings for age appropriateness no one calls an R-rated movie band or an m-rated video game band you can buy those you can get these books at the public library we are talking about a public school library where minors have unfeathered access to books without their parents con or knowledge guidance or their permission to look at them um books addressing these uh certain issues like one we heard recovering from trauma or that contain sexually explicit content to be chosen for minors by their parents not stumbled upon in the library sought out by the students or recommended by anyone other than that kid's parents um two books that we heard brought uh to

250attention tonight flamer being one of them which was removed from fuchia County Schools I am glad that that book helped that uh person with the issues that he was having um however it being in a school library where it contains parts that talk about ejaculating into a Mountain Dew bottle and if you can't come you have to drink it isn't something kids should have access to without their parents knowledge or consent the other one um mentioned tonight was uh the upside down of unrequited this book contains inexplicit sexual nudity sexual activities references to sexuality alcohol use and frequent and excessive profanity I just want to share a couple of the things that you can find in that book on page 30 maybe this is why they hired me for my smalest hands and my blunt

251rolling abilities page 36 watching you and having sex and masturbate page 60 not that there's a big hairless vagina in my face page 112 no no excuse me um anyways there there's several other uh things in here that was similar content but the profanity list for this one you have ass 11 times twice dick twice 51 times piss seven times and 45 times in that book it might have some good stuff in it however this stuff right here shouldn't be for minors in a school library to just have full access to I'm sorry thank you thank you at this time we're moving on to item 18.01 items from board members the superintendent or School Board attorney for discussion or announcement Miss Thompson thank you madam chair so I just want to thank everyone for coming

252out to speak um I want to share with you all I went to Nashville this past week and my hotel looked on many many historic buildings and there was a high school and I was so I sent a picture it to Dr Balin it was this Majestic building and when I walked by this is how you know I've been around the Schoolboard for too long I'm like look there's so much to see in Nashville I'm look at this school it's four stories tall brick building built in 1855 glorious I mean they don't make them like that anymore they really really don't and then I thought instantly of Port Orange elementary because the structures were similar and they had that Old Brick look and correct me if I'm wrong portal Orange Community but we're coming up

253to a 100y year anniversary and so and so you know I love these old buildings I went to civil Elementary and that will always be one of my favorite schools ever it had some charm and history and God bless it we had eight kids in my sixth grade class but I do agree that somehow somewhere along the way we stopped fixing things there I mean there is one classroom that I I apologize it grossed me out a little bit it was made of mold I mean literally like I there's a small hole where my finger went through the wall cuz I wasn't convinced that it was full of mold it is and so I understand the financial part of it but at the same time that school is a gem it really is so I

254mean I I want to keep it open that's where my heart is I just I want you guys to know I we talk about building schools when moving forward and building schools bigger and I get that but Port Orange elementary has so much character and so much history and it's just one of those great buildings now when we build schools they're beautiful but they're beautiful in a way that's at modern construction and we don't see these beautiful castle like buildings like I saw in Nashville or that we see in Port Orange elementary so I do want to thank everyone who came out to speak tonight um I do want one of those shirts I'll come buy one but um just wanted every just wanted to everyone to kind of know where my head's at on

255that so that's all for tonight thank you oh also um my kids perform tonight I'm sorry I try not talk about my kids too much but they're six and nine and uh they perform tonight at Coronado and my daughter who's a little person if you've seen her she's itty bitty but she was on the little drum line they did tonight with glow stick so good job Charlie that's all Mr persus that was great um sorry you missed that oh there's videos that's right of course there uh uh Madam chair I would like uh maybe if you put on a on a workshop in the future sometime uh that we could have staff give us an update on the um how our vaping policy was worked this year and what we could do to make it

256better as we continue to try to fight this very popular ever increasing um um activity that students uh continue to want to do and um so uh if you could do do that um that would be great and because I know we usually re U rewrite and approve policies before the next school school year and I'd like to get input from staff principles that'd be awesome uh and in regard to uh Port Orange or something maybe you didn't know uh I I actually interned there yeah and uh uh 1936 no don't don't don't put me way back there U uh and yeah and that's when it had six sixth grade so I was a sixth grade intern and uh my daughter went to went to school school there third third grade through uh through fifth

257grade I think at that time yeah so yeah it's a special place and when I think of Port Orange I always think of Orman Beach Elementary too because there's so many uh similarities not you know not the same kind of programs but uh certainly similarities in that they they both have the uh AUD Auditorium and you don't find auditoriums in ele elentary schools so makes them kind of special yep yep thank you Mr persus Mrs brunette thank you the auditorium with the wooden seats yeah yeah squeaky too really yes but still yet comfortable right um so I had actually sent Dr B uh and Miss core an email earlier this evening about um what what kind of Grants might there be available to help with because I know we have a a grant program here

258and what kind of Grants might be available for a historical building that's what we say instead of old right um but um what kind of Grants might we be able to find and you know they might even be outside of the educational realm um to to find to help with that and I would be curious Miss um Miss Sparks and indicated that there had been a number of um maintenance requests put in that were not dealt with I'd be curious to see uh feedback or historicals on that which probably go back aways it sound of what did you say 2011 and they couldn't make another one so she was stuck with it so she would putu down on the bottom so any anyway I would be interested to to see the the outcome of the

259occurrence or I'm sorry maintenance requests that that date back that far to see what was done um from the district side thank you Mr colone so Dr b i you know me I have a hard time talking about places I've never seen so um I'll arrange with Miss core sometime to go visit Port Orange elementary because I've never seen it rumor has it if you tell them you're coming there'll be some Snicker doodle cookies and so I am certainly uh looking forward to those right after that and so how how do do we balance that so um so I'll share with you all in the back we're still working on it okay nothing is said in stone uh and and I and I truly believe that we're going to come to a good uh resolution

260uh as it relates to the Arts because the Arts do matter so thank you thank you all right so board members I need to let you know that we were supposed to have an item on the agenda this evening that I removed um and that was when we met last time during the workshop we talked about the school board attorney piece and the Schoolboard attorney contract and you were supposed to have a contract tonight I mean ahead of time to review for us to vote on tonight and then put out for an advertisement so when the board docs went live last Tuesday I still did not have a draft contract I received that draft contract sometime on Wednesday and I read it through its entirety and I immediately sent Mr West an email that said

261I need to talk with you about this because during that discussion I was very clear on what we were trying to do because when we moved away from just putting out an RFP for um a school board attorney position and looking for an out you know an outside line like what we currently have and we moved towards looking at an in-house Schoolboard attorney we were doing that because we were looking at bringing someone inhouse and we were going to streamline and save money that was the um primary thing so what we had said was we were going to look for a Schoolboard attorney that we would hire inhouse that would attend every agenda conference Workshop Schoolboard meeting executive session be available at any time you know if it wasn't a Schoolboard day but during the

262um work hours to take phone calls from us or to answer you know questions that we might have someone that would take over the policy piece to write um to to work to update our policies so we can continue to move on the policies and write new policies as needed based on legislative changes and then there was discussion about the four buckets that are our major litigation issues which by the way even today at four o'clock I had two more Del two more lawsuits delivered here today to me so those four buckets were general liability Fleet liability ESC and workman's comp and so um I thought and because we looked at the totals for each of those areas we looked at like what what's the average that we been paying for Mr Wolf's Services which

263he does a great job what was the average like if we had gone with um buying Neola to do the policies what which we voted that down because of the cost and then what was the cost that we're spending on average in those litigation areas and so what I asked for when we summarized it all was for a job description that would say you're going to be the school board attorney and cover all the things I already mentioned you're going to take over the policy piece and that you would have um the knowledge and litigation ability to take on one or more of those buckets like take on say general liability litigation issues so we would not be Outsourcing those and that's where we were going to get the savings as well as um more

264service not that Mr Wolf is not available but you know we know that when we call him the clock starts ticking and the money continues to add um and that's what happens when you have outside legal counsel so when I received that job description that's not how it was written and so I read it again on Thursday evening and I sent an email over to Mr West saying this is what we said we wanted and this does not match this and then I had a I did not want to have a phone conference conference as I was driving back Friday from Finance training I wanted to be able to be home and pull it up to have a discussion to the parts that is not what happened so it was on a phone conference and

265so it was at that time I pulled the item because the item was not in it was not being presented the way that we had agreed on and it was not written in a way to give everybody enough time to look at it so what I'm asking of you now is that we put this on for the May 14th board meeting in a workshop I'm hoping by then to have it maybe written the way that we said it would be written um and then we can discuss it in a workshop because there's been some discussion come up about well we couldn't really have it written the way we want it and you know we had plenty of time that day when we were talking about it so I'm it just was hard for me and

266I was not going to make a decision single-handedly to put something forward that I didn't believe matched what we were looking for to vote on so put in the workshop uh we'll put it on the workshop is everybody okay for the workshop absolutely absolutely okay now is there anything because I feel we need to give some direction do you agree with what we agreed on at the last Workshop that it was going to contain in the thing or do you want something changed so that they can have a a more accurate draft made mean for the workshop I I was thinking at the at the workshop I guess we would need to get some in input from Mr penley and just find out you know what uh what options are there if we can't get

267exactly what we were talking about then what what are some other possibilities because I know we want to get something advertised and going and so that we can vote on it and have all this completed before the end of June correct well I I mean and the whole idea was not that we're going to spend more money but that we were going to we were going to take all of that and bring yeah I I think um and here's here's what is such a moving Target when we say we don't want to spend more money our money goes really not so much you know here but all the LW suits and defending and the outside Council we have to bring bring in and it varies from year to year as you said said you just

268got two today um uh so uh you know that's what I think we need to have that talk and how much are we kind of averaging spending annually and that is available and we did talk about it at the last Workshop you know what the average was over the last four and a half years for outside Council what the average was that we were spending on each of the different buckets of litigation and we knew what the Neola cost was and I know that um I know that I was told that Mr clone and Mrs Bernett had asked more about that and receive something so I did receive a chart also okay um which I think that chart should come to everybody so that you can review it but ideally we were looking at how

269to have better services but at the same time reduce the cost of what we have so I just need you to know because it that's why it wasn't on there tonight to vote on to be fair okay we can meet with Mr pendley if need be as far as troubleshooting the one that they did send so between now and then well what I've also doing is I'm reaching out to the other districts that have this because there's at least 16 districts that um follow some type of a model to get more answers on their model um and how they have it set up so that we can move forward with making the best decision so would this be the first meeting in May May 14th so everyone's in agreement for that yes M ber and

270if I remember correctly not at the last fsba meeting but the one before um I want to say it was there was a segment on that you know multiple segments about Schoolboard attorneys that we probably all attended and uh there was a gentleman there that covered some of that and maybe the fsba can provide a little bit more I know they gave you a little bit um but maybe they could go back and get some of the details from that fsba meeting that we had um about pros and cons and duties from an internal litigator I'll reach out to to them all right thank you okay all right anything else Dr balaman yeah Madam chair board members in our audience here today we have a very important partner in education with us and I'd like

271to give a shout out to our dayon Daytona Chamber of Commerce um Mr Ken Phelps as you know and Mr cologne you are talking about programs and and and so forth how do we continuously evaluate that well Mr Phelps actually through our partnership with with dayona uh Chamber of Commerce facilitated the uscience survey for us that we've been utilizing for three years which captures the aptitude and interest of our students so we can build programs accordingly and Mr Phelps would be very happy to hear that as of recent we have looked at the interest and aptitude of our students because that's important to look at along with the making sure that we have the numbers for those courses to maintain those courses but with this addition and subtraction that's taking place there we have added

27215 programs slash academies that will be in our schools for next year so I want to thank you Mr Phelps for that partnership and um it's over $300,000 that that survey was CA and completely it was free given to us by our strong partnership with the atuna chamber so thank you 15 um newms and programs will be in our schools you know some of those schools who they are and what the programs are are also Tom laboso um president for day for Daytona um State College along with his team and our team had a very productive meeting yesterday and I've shared some of the takeaways with you you but also we're looking at the ATC programs and for which we have partnership with them to see how we can um expand on that program and

273really continuously look at the needs of our students um and their aptitudes and build programs that's going to meet their current and future needs so there are some expansion that will be taking place there as well um board I want to thank you for the approval of the job descriptions that that came forth uh this even as Miss Albert stated some of them are you're going to see that it's it's replacing certain positions or either a cost saving and in one case there's not a cost saving but the bottom line is is this is a work in progress as you know and we've been working on these realignment adjustments um combining um functionalities within um roles so and it's a work in progress so but currently we're looking to to date at a $1.6 million

274um cost savings with positions either through that process correct at the district level at the district level yes um so let's talk about the orc chart that orc chart will not be fully updated until about July 1st as you know that's when the the new fiscal year begins so by that date I would hope for us to have everybody in place and getting ready to prepare in the summer as we proceed for next year but again it's it's been um a lot taking place in the past few weeks and for all the individuals out there that really wanted to understand what's taking place and they reached out to us because they want to obtain that full picture of what's what you know all the intricacies of some of the things that we're doing I want

275to thank them for being so respectful and professional I want to thank you board um for us working in the best interest of our students here in valua County I believe that you have to look at the big picture and when you want understand something and you only have certain um information in front of you but there might be more missing it's important to understand that full picture and so many of you have reached out to us directly to to obtain that full understanding our partners in education I want to thank you tremendously for your support you have done the same you have reached out to understand um so thank you than you again for your professionalism and let's remember every single day that we are the role models for our students so thank you

276and with that said good night and this is much earlier than the last all right it's 9:34 and this meeting is adjurned e e