001Good evening and welcome to the Orange County School Board's regularly scheduled meeting this Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. I'm going to begin because we don't have all of our members present in the chambers. Let me begin with a roll call vote. Let's begin with member Gallo. Present, Madam Chair. Member Lopez. Good afternoon, Madam Chair. Member Cobert. Good afternoon, Chair. Vice Chair Gold present. Good afternoon. Thank you. Dr. Gordon, present, Madam Chair. Thank you. Dr. Caster Dennel. Member Bird present. Thank you. Member Caster Dennel was with us, I believe, earlier and I think she'll be calling in or connecting with us shortly. We'll check back with her to to make sure when we know she's on the line. we want to begin this evening as we begin every
002meeting with a moment of silent reflection followed by the pledge of allegiance. And I know this is a meeting that is especially important to member Lopez. So member Lopez, I'm going to ask if you'll lead us in a moment of reflection and moment of silence and pledge of allegiance. Thank you. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation and justice for all. Thank you, Member Lopez. All right, as we begin this evening's meeting, we have several important recognitions. And the first one is a special recognition. And this is coming to us tonight from the executive director of the Orange County Farm Bureau and a friend of Orange County Public Schools and a friend to every one of us up here personally, and that's Bobby Beagles. Bobby,
003you want to come on up to the mic? You can you can take this one if you prefer. And Bobby is got a few words that he wants to share with Dr. Gordon who is not able to be present with us in person which is going to be particularly disappointing to Dr. Gordon when she finds out that Bobby Beagles has brought his banana pudding. And it's very unusual. Gosh, you're kidding. No, it's okay. I told him I will take it home. Bruce will be very happy to have No, no, no, no. I told Dr. Jenkins to request if I take them all off, I'm gonna lose my hearing aids. So, Dr. Gordon, and I'm in serious trouble. Dr. Gordon, forgive me. He didn't really bring it. I just couldn't resist. I asked him where it
004was and he told me he already Well, I'm gonna go out there. I will be out there. Miss Miss Gordon, can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Mr. Be, my wife My wife delivered a message. You don't have to come to the house to get your banana pudding. I will. I will. I will. Thank you. On behalf of Orange County Farm Bureau and our 5,000 members, we would like to present you with a plaque for the 45 years that you have served Orange County and Oyola County as a librarian and as a teacher. I learned 20 years ago not to pick an argument with you because it would never win and I thank you still that way today. But Mr. Gordon, we thank you for your dedication to secondary education and the FFA chapters of Orange
005County. And I will present this plaque to Miss Jenkins to see that you get it. Oh, wow. Wow. That is Do I get to say something? Of course you get to say something. Well, listen. I want Oh my god. Oh, to Mr. Beagle and Miss Listen, you all have just been wonderful friends. Wonderful friends over the years. And Mayor Demings, when you see him, he couldn't understand how you treated me better in Christmas than we treated him. But I explained it to him and when you see him he will share. You have just been outstanding. We didn't always agree but we found out that we were very agreeable on so many things. And then when a lot of people didn't understand me, you stood with me. Your family stood with me. Christmas stood with me
006because the first time I ran I was running a 95 for 96 seat. Your community supported me 100%. And we ran the entire county. You are a friend. You have taken your organization to the highest height. you always included Orange County even when Orange County didn't see what you could do for them. And then Dr. Jenkins and Mr. Blocka came along and they just tipped the iceberg by adding extensions to your program and you went out with scholarships. Just so many good things. I could say so many things, but you know my favorite event that is at where we go every year to get our fish fight at the county fair. That was the epitome of fellowship and camaradership. Mr. Beagle, I love you, your family. I love the east side. The east side was
007very supportive of me and I love Christmas. You know that. and coming out there. And I thank you for your support over the years. And yes, you will see me as soon as we get through this pandemic. You and your wife and your family will see me. Thank you for all your support. Thank you. I have one question. You still have that red hat? I threw all of those acts away when the mayor, you remember my other friend, you were on the east side and the mayor of McCoy was on the west side and one day he threatened that hat. So I took it off and never put it back on. I love you both. You both of were just wonderful, wonderful men to work with and wonderful mentors. I got rid of all of
008my hats. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all you've done over these years. Thank you. Thank you. I'd like to say one other thing. As a grandparent who has a sevenyear-old, six and a half hours a day or maybe seven and a half hours a day, he's in y'all's custody. We thank you for the outstanding job y'all are trying to do. I know for a fact is not easy. I lived in this county since 1942. I went to public schools and there's only one of them left built that I went to and that was Evans High School. But let me say to the school board, to the staff, to the principles, and to all the teachers, thank you for keeping our kids as safe as you can. Miss Jenkins. You know, I have a
009phone that you can touch, call anytime, day or night, that you need something. Orange County Farm Bureau has supported these school programs for for the last 30 years, and we will continue to support the FFA kids going to the national conventions. And I see Miss Gallow back there. you and I have got a grant to write soon as you get get a chance to come out east and coach P said he would assist us in getting it wrote. Thank y'all. God bless you. Thank you. I know it's not an easy job, but thank you for what you're trying to do to make everybody happy. Thank you, Bobby. I was afraid you were gonna tell me that seven-year-old was in launch ed and you and your wife were having to assist him with technology. So I'm
010glad that wasn't I was afraid that was going to be a bad conversation here. Thank you so much. I Dr. Gordon said it. We just it values so much the relationship that we have. We love him. We love the Eagles. We love him. Okay, we'll remember that. That road that runs west runs east. Thank you. Bye. All right. We have a number of proclamations we're celebrating tonight. We're celebrating the breast cancer breast cancer awareness month in Orange County Public Schools. We are also celebrating the proclamation to recognize LGBTQ October as LGBTQ plus awareness and history month here in Orange County Public Schools. And for that, we have a special guest. We invited Clinton McCracken, one of our teachers and no stranger to our board members. I think most of us know Clinton personally. And I
011wanted to ask Clinton if he would read this proclamation. and Clinton as you come forward. I had the opportunity right after I was elected when I was out touring schools to meet Clinton and as we were just touring the school and he broached me broached with me the fact that we had not ever proclaimed LGBTQ awareness month here in Orange County Public Schools. And so the reason I reached out to Clinton in particular is we wouldn't probably be doing this. We should be doing this. We should have been doing this I believe all along. but but for you coming up and having that conversation with me and bringing that to my attention. So I wanted to invite you here personally to help us proclaim that. So if you would share with us a few words
012and then if you would present the proclamation and read it on behalf of the board, we would be most honored. I would be glad to and thank you for having me. I think I'll keep my mask on. Can you hear me? We can. You know what? Try if you don't mind. Are you okay with using that mic over there? because I think it might be a little bit better. Can you hear me? Better. Thank you. Good. Good evening, Madam Chair, board members, and Superintendent Jenkins. I want to thank you for the wonderful honor to be able to read this proclamation. It's special to me. Research studies have shown that having just one positive role model can make an enormous impact on the life of an LGBTQ plus student. I want to briefly share my story
013to make this clear. I endured a childhood with no such role model. I have vivid memories of how difficult it was growing up gay and closeted in a small Midwestern school with no support system for gay kids. There were no GSAs, no days of silence, and no safe space stickers on doors. There were no out teachers and none who claimed publicly to be an ally. Instead, there were teachers who harassed and teased me for acting too gay and laughed when kids did the same. I was called horrible names every day in the halls of my high school. I was physically assaulted. For me, school was a daily terror. I want you to contrast my experience with what can happen today when a student walks into a classroom with a rainbow safe space sticker on its
014door. They know immediately where this teacher stands with LGBTQ plus students. And this proclamation today tells these students where their district stands as well with LGBTQ plus students and employees. And it also tells our entire Central Florida community when they drive by a school and see that on a marquee what we stand for as a district. Equality and dignity for all. This proclamation is a line of demarcation just like that safe space sticker on my classroom door today. In this space and in this time, you matter and this community stands beside you to help you reach your fullest potential. I am so grateful to the many people over the years who have made it possible for me to work in a district where I am free to be my true self and free to endeavor
015every day to be a positive role model for my students. and the proclamation. Whereas all students have the right to attend school in a safe and inclusive environment free from harassment or discrimination and in which they can reach their full potential. And whereas harassment and bullying policies that specifically mention sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression are associated with students feeling more safe, lower levels of bullying, decreased incidents of harassment related to sexual orientation, increased teacher staff intervention, and greater reporting of incidents. And whereas the school board of Orange County publicly sorry and whereas the school board of Orange County policy currently provides protections for students and employees on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity or expression, language spoken, homelessness, or any
016other reason prohibited by law. And whereas LGBTQ plus students are subject to harassment, bullying, intimidation, and violence across the nation. And whereas a lack of awareness and understanding on issues facing LGBTQ plus children and youth has contributed to higher rates of isolation, depression, and suicidal ideiations. And whereas national studies have revealed that discrimination at school has contributed to high rates of absenteeism, academic underachievement, and school dropout among LGBTQ plus youth. And whereas education regarding LGBTQ plus issues increases understanding and cultivates acceptance of and respect for LGBTQ plus children and youth. And whereas Orange County Public Schools collaborates with Equality Florida and the Zebra Coalition to train staff and faculty concerning LGBTQ plus issues and support our middle and high school gay straight alliances. Now therefore, be it resolved that Orange County Public Schools does hereby
017proclaim October 2020 as LGBTQ plus awareness month. Clinton, thank you so much. Thanks for being here with us. Thank you for sharing your story and your heart. And for those who don't understand how important this is to our young people, I think your personal story is one that has been lived over and over and over again for centuries. And we're pleased to say that here in Orange County schools, we've really tried to send the message that's not a story that should be lived in the lives lived out in any of our schools today. I'm going to I see that member Caster Dentl wants to be recognized. I just for those who are not aware, I do want to point out something. suicide is a really hard thing to talk about, but sadly it is too
018common of a phenomenon in our society among young people. And vice chair will recall all too well that we had three suicides in one high school last year. 7% of our high school students admit to attempting suicide at some point. The rate for our LGBT students is 20%. That is a horrible reality and it can change by just by knowing that when you come to school there's a place where you're accepted and you can be exactly who you are and people will not just accept you but they will love you for that. So let me call on member Caster Denel. Member Caster Dentl, if you're not there, I'll go to Member Gallow. We'll come back to you in a minute. Member Galla. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to say I'm excited that
019this has come back for the second year in a row and thank Clinton for all your hard work on this. This means so much to our students and to our kids. And you're right, those stickers, they just they change lives daily. And I'm so happy for that. and being as someone who's worked closely with Equality Florida and all the good work that they do. I'm just so happy and so proud of the school district for what we do for our students and how we try to keep them safe and just we need more moments like this in the in 2020. So, thank you. Absolutely. I think we may have some callers on the line regarding this item. So, let me open item. So let me open the call lines in case we have anybody regarding
020item 204 this proclamation. We have three callers for this proclamation. Okay. Can you introduce our first caller is Ian Siljarstrom. Thank you Ian if you can give your name and address for the record and thank you for calling in. Ian absolutely my name is Ian Sastro. My address is 1011 Southwest 5th Avenue. and I'm the safe and healthy schools associate director with Equality Florida. I'm excited for the opportunity to be able to call in this year, as I watched this moment in 2019, unable to speak as I was away at a training. and one of the things I remember from last year's proclamation, was a comment from a board member about recognizing all the folks who have come before this point in time and the work and sacrifices they have made to move us to
021a new destination. And I can't help but say that this fact can't be understated. And I think about it in this moment. That recognition of leadership, that recognition of the sacrifices of others and our ancestors so that we can live, so that we can thrive. This proclamation is a symbolic moment for so many youth who continue to look up to leaders in history who have shaped this world through their sacrifice, who have given up so much to ensure that we have the rights and privileges we have today. And yes, celebrating how to for some of them their identity as being LGBTQ plus was a core component of their lives work. This board is operating in a space that none have operated before. Opening amidst a pandemic and I must say you all are making so
022many critical decisions and doing so while constantly informing and hearing feedback from the public. And you know there are plenty decisions that folks do or don't agree with, things that I have or haven't agreed with. But I appreciate each of you constantly coming to the table to listen with care, ask questions, build an understanding so that you can make informed solutions for our youth. Work in creating inclusive, accepting and affirming environments isn't easy. It often begets push back and it always requires tenacity. And we ask you to keep fighting. Have those conversations with your constituents. Continue to lean in with questions and do what you do so well. make informed solutions for our youth because we all know what's at stake. And we know that for everyone who has entered education for the right reason,
023which is to ensure our youth can feel empowered in class, excited by school, can graduate successfully, can thrive on the other side, then you know that the only way to achieve these things is through the lens of addressing inequity and supporting the needs of all youth, including our LGBTQ plus students. Madame Chair, board members, Superintendent Jenkins, each of you are incredibly valued and the work you are doing is truly life-changing. It is clear that OCPS has the structural and policy pieces in place to ensure that our youth are supported. So, it is clear the necessary next step is moving from structural support into cultural change. This LGBTQ plus awareness and history month proclamation is instrumental for this process. Thank you incredibly for all you do and I look forward to continuing to work with each
024of you. Ian, thank you and thank you for taking time to call us to share your input and support. I also just noticed in our in the chambers we have David Duffy who wants to comment as well. Pardon me. Thank you. Hello everybody. My name is David Duffy. I live at 5405 Bay Brook Avenue, Orlando, Florida, 32819. the reason I'm here is nothing about and I'll probably go out of my u what I was going to say, but that's fine. Mr. McCrack, and I respect him and everything that he said. I totally respect what Ian just called in about, but my issue that I have is with the banner that's up right now. Okay. My son just started high school here in Dr. Phillips High School. I've been a coach Lily for 30 years. and
025when I was called about this, because I take on a lot of situations, I said I didn't know anything about it. I called the former president of the teacher union. She didn't know anything about it. My thoughts were when I called the assistant principal of Carver Middle School. She said, "David, this is the equality flag." I said, "Great. I'm all for equality. Best friend's black. Was in my wedding. Many gay friends everywhere. But the problem wasn't the equality flag." Okay? it wasn't the equality flag. And of all the people we've we've we've spread this information with, they're like, "No, no, no, that's not the equality flag." And as I sent information to, I think his name is Darius Adamson, the assistant super Adamson, I believe, the assistant superintendent of where Carver Middle School is, and
026pictures and emails, but I got no response from him. His secretary was very nice, but no response regarding this issue about the gay flag. I'm okay with that. But if we're going to put up the gay flag, LBG, you know what I'm saying? Are we going to put up one for every other flag that wants to be a flag? I mean, where where does it stop? And if it's already up in September, but the month of October is really the official month. There's a lot of questions. Okay, you're putting this flag up and stating that it's that it's hey, an opportunity, a safe zone, stickers on doors. Okay, that's something I didn't know about. But I want to read something and just for some of the little facts that and this is from Gallup and
027Wikipedia just so me I didn't make this stuff up. It says the demographics of sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States have been studied in social sciences in recent decades. It is concluded that 4.5% of adult Americans identified as LGBT with 5.1% of women identified as LGBT compared with 3.9% of men. I don't really know what that all means, but it's a very very small percentage of people that are adults in the United States. Okay. I was kind of taken back by it because again I am I love everybody. I tell everybody that every day. I love everybody. But according to the Centers for Disease Control, they print and I've given you guys copies of what schools can do for this kind of situation. And it lists all of these things, but it
028says nothing about putting a banner up. It says schools can implement evidence-based policies, procedures, activities designed to promote a healthy environment for all youth, including LGBT students. Example, schools support such as gay straight alliances. We know about that. That's fine. encourage respect for all students and prohibit bullying. We want that. We no harassment, but it lists safe spaces. That's great. It lists the curriculara or educational materials, including HIV stuff. these are things and what parents and people should do. And again, I was taken back. I have over 350 people that have signed my our district, but Miss Gold's not here. Sir, your timer that are taking their kids away from Okay. And I'm all for Puerto Rico and Roberto Fino. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Okay. let me go to Member Caster Dentl and then
029we still have some callers on the line. Member Caster Dentl. Member Caster Dentl. I think we still have two callers on the line. Let me see if Dr. Gordon, Dr. Gordon, do you want to comment now or do you want to wait and hear from the other callers? Madam Chair, I will listen to the callers and then I will speak after. Okay. Thank you. All right. let's go then to our next caller. Our next caller is Jennifer Foster. Miss Foster, thank you for calling. If you can give me your name and address for the record and then you'll have three minutes for your comments. Good evening. Certainly. This is Jennifer Foster. My address is 831 Huntington Court, Winter Park, Florida 32789. And I'm the executive director for One Orlando Alliance. We're a coalition of now
03043 organizations that advocates for and provide services to Central Florida's LGBTQ plus community. I've had the pleasure of seeing the work that Orange County Public Schools has done, especially over the past two years and this intentional work that's been done, particularly with Equality Florida as part of the state schools program and zebra coalition to ensure that LGBTQ plus youth feel safe and affirmed at Orange County schools is to be commended and something that we can all be proud of here in Orange County. So, I would just like to thank you for once again proclaiming October as LGBTQ plus awareness month. last year I had the pleasure of thanking you all and Clinton for making the proclamation for the very first time. And this year, I'm just so very grateful to be able to thank you
031again. So, to you, to all of you and all of the teachers and the staff who are committed to making sure that all kids in Orange County Public School feel safe and included, thank you so much. You know, we know that 2020 has been a very very tough year especially for our youth, but it's been particularly challenging for LGBTQ students who may not have the support that they need at home or live maybe don't live in affirming environments. You know, in in a lot of cases, school is the only place where children and youth can be their authentic self. And that's something that we have to work on as a society. but to know that OCPS stands with them and it supports them just can't be underestimated. So, I said it last year and I
032think it's even more true this year that this proclamation could truly save lives and I simply want to thank you for that and I agree we do need lots of more moments like this in 2020. So, thank you for your time. Thank you, Miss Foster. Let's take our Next caller is Heather Wilkkey. Miss Wilky, if you can give your name and address for the record and then you'll have three minutes for comments. Yeah. Hi there. Heather Wilkkey, 912 Carlson Drive, Orlando, Florida 32804. Hi everyone. I just want to echo what all of my friends have said so far. I had the pleasure of being here last year when the proclamation was read for the first time and I will tell you it was one of the most powerful moments that I've had. I'm the executive
033director at Zebra Coalition and Zebra is an organization here locally that provides support for LGBTQ plus youth ages 13 to 24. So many of the young people that you serve in your schools are also receiving services at Zebra Coalition. We focus primarily in mental health and also housing for youth experiencing homelessness. And many of the kids we see have experienced a lot of suicidal ideiations and things that you all have alluded to which we know that LGBTQ youth are at a much greater risk for a lot of unhealthy behaviors as also indicated in our Florida risk youth behavior survey that the kids take every two years. So I just want to thank you all for doing everything that you can to support our kids. We see it every day. We serve hundreds of youth per
034year and we hear from the parents. Also, we have a parent group and all the time we're hearing feedback about OCPS and how we're able to direct the youth through Equality Florida and the efforts that we have made in our school outreach committee with a lot of your staff and the ability to be able to have that network is so important for the kids and especially during a time right now when so many of our youth are isolated. So again, thank you very much for all you do. Just to share a personal story, my son this year is five years old and he just started in OCPS. And it took us a couple of years to u work with the schools at Zebra to get these lanyards that I see many of you wearing actually
035on YouTube right now. So thank you all for that have Rainbow with OCPS on it. And when I walked up to drop my son off to kindergarten for the first day, just seeing one of his teachers standing out there with that lanyard made me feel safe as an adult. And I can't even imagine the impact, the positive impact that's making on our kids on a daily basis. so you all are doing an excellent job. Thank you for standing up for our kids and we hope to see you again soon in person. Heather, thank you so much for taking the time to call in. It was wonderful having you here in person. Hopefully next year that'll be a reality. All right, let me go to Dr. Gordon for comments and then Dr. Kester Dentl 585. Madam
036Chair. Yes, Dr. Gordon. Okay. Thank you. I just want to give a little history and and sometime a lot of people really don't know and I'm kind of like a history bump because if you don't know where you came from, you really don't know where you're going. And I heard many of the speakers, you know, stating about the proclamation for the first time and the past two years, but I want everybody to know about Orange County Public Schools. I want them to know what kind of superintendence that they have had running this system for the 20 years that I've served on the board. And one of the newspapers when I was cleaning up my office, I found an article where they were saying, "Oh, Miss Gordon just talks about history." You better believe I do
037because you need to know the support that the LGBT community have always had within Orange County Public School and not only with just the adults, but with our children in elementary, middle, and high. with the help of our teachers and counselors in the past that have helped us to discover our children that were going through the various views. Okay, including my daughter and that is no secret. It's never been a secret. And I always like to thank our city commissioner Patty. Patty was a forerunner and you need to know who fought for you so you can read a proclamation today. You had two great superintendents. Mr. Blocka was not against getting the right thing for every child because he was a psychologist. And many days when we met in his office, we were figuring out
038how can we get these amendments through. We didn't do it by ourselves. It was the community that got together. Gay, straight, whatever. We all work together. Those of us who had parents of students that were gay, we all worked together. This just didn't start two years ago. It didn't just start a year ago. Cliff McInurf led the union. He was a building rep. He worked very hard because he was a teacher that looked out for students. Ralph Belchure was a teacher. Orange County Union representative and member worked very hard that we would get the first policy that this board has dug head with one OF THE FIGHTERS THAT WORKED WITH US along with Mr. Blocker. And then when Mr. Blocker left, Dr. Jenkins came in and made sure that our policies were kept up to
039date. But one thing that I got to say, we had a powerful board. Susan Atkins chaired at that time. Karen Ottoman was on that board. Rick Roach was on that board. B Carrier was on that board. Linda Sutherman was on that board. and then we had one board member whose father was a representative that fought it. Well, that board member did not get reelected again, but our board stood solid together for the LGBTQ community back in the days when we first started. We worked with Palm Beach. We worked with Miami. We worked with Day County. We looked at policies to SEE WHAT OTHER DISTRICTS were doing on the National School Board level, on the American Federation of Teachers level, looking out for our children. I too was a counselor at that time. and we looked
040out what the NSBA was doing on that level. You were not alone. You've never been alone. You are just more now because everybody decided you don't have to hide it. Even our children did not hide it. We knew, we worked with them. You had a school board from the time I came on that brought the policy in through Doug H, Ralph Belchure, Cliff McInto Clerk, Ronald Blocker, and Susan Akins as chair. I felt privileged to serve on that and to work with guidance counselors in Orange County that saw to it that our children were taken care of. So, I do want the gay community to know this. I want you to know you are not alone. As a parent of a gay child, adult and cousins and friends that have gay children, transgenders, we all
041work together. This is nothing new for Orange County Public School. WE HAVE FOUGHT THIS FROM THE TIME OUR CHILDREN WERE born up until now and they're adults. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I wanted the community to know that. And I wanted this board to know how hard this school board has worked under Mr. Blocker, under Dr. Jenkins to make sure that we are fair to all children. Thank you, Dr. Gordon. And I think that is extremely important that the public know and that our entire school system knows that this is not a new a new environment for Orange County Public Schools. And you've certainly had an enormous amount of leadership in this over the years at a time when it was much more difficult than it is today. So thank you for that reminder. Let
042us never forget. All right, let's go to member Caster Denel. She's having issues with her microphone on her personal computer. She's trying to troubleshoot. All right, thank you for that. I think we took all the callers on 204. Am I correct? Can we just double check? I think we had three callers on 204. So, and we took three. I try to write down the number and then go through them. Thank you. All right, we have a couple more proclamations. Let's move on to our next proclamation is 2.05 proclaiming October 2020 as National Bullying Prevention Month in Orange County Public Schools. We are also proclaiming October is a big busy month. October 2020 as National Principles Month in Orange County Public Schools. We are proclaiming October 1st through October 16th as Disability History and Awareness Weeks
043in Orange County Public Schools. and we are proclaiming September 2020 as National PTA membership month in Orange County Public Schools. Each of these proclamations is could be a month unto themselves. Each of them are extremely important and so we want to make sure that we properly recognize all of them as we go through the next month and a half. And Dr. Jenkins, I know you and your team and principles will make sure that we recognize each and every one of them. Let's go on to the agenda. Dr. Jenkins. any changes to the agenda? I do have a request that we change the order of the agenda. but any other changes? No changes to the agenda, Madam Chair. Okay. So, in the interest of the members of the public that are here on item, believe it's
0441701, we have a number of people here in the audience for the renaming of Stonewall Jackson Middle School. I'm hoping tonight is the last time you will ever hear me refer to the school by that name again. And in fact, I am quite confident that will be the case. I know I will not refer to it that way again regardless of what happens here tonight. but in the interest of the public that's here, we're going to move that up as our first order of business if the board agrees to that change in the order of the agenda. So, if there is a motion to, amend the order of the agenda, I would appreciate it. Motion by member Lopez. Is there a second? Second. Second by member Gallo. Thank you. let me do a roll call
045vote. Member Gallo. I. Member Lopez. I. Member Cobert. I. Vice Chair Gold. I. Dr. Gordon. I. Dr. Caster Danel. She's not able to access the microphone. So, let's move on to member Bird I. And I likewise vote in favor of changing the order of the agenda. Let's move on then to item 1701. And Dr. Jenkins, let me turn it over to you at this time. And we have a number, let me just real quickly, we have a number of people in the audience. Let me just check and see if we have people on the call just so we have an idea starting this. Last count was five callers online. Okay, great. Okay, glad we took this first. Dr. Jenkins. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. We have long awaited this wonderful occasion. I'm
046going to ask area Superintendent William Bond to walk not just the school board, but the listeners through the process and the recommendations coming before the school board. Good evening. good evening, Madame Chair, board members, and Superintendent Jenkins. It's an honor to come before you this evening to present the resolution for the renaming of Stonewall Jackson Middle School. On February 25th, the school board met and directed the following four action items involving the renaming of Stonewall Jackson Middle School. Number one, have the Jackson Middle School school advisory council restart the renaming process. Number two, ensure that the school community is informed about the reason for the renaming effort prior to surveying the school community. Number three, make certain the SSC understands that the renaming recommendation should not include the current name. Number four, bring three potential
047recommendations for renaming the school as to the school board at the completion of the process. Stonewall Jackson Middle School SACE restart the renaming process. The SACE received input regarding potential school names from the community members, school faculty, and students. In addition, the students were given the opportunity to conduct research and write essays on possible school names. The SACE reviewed the top 10 most popular essay name submissions and narrow the names down to the top five most popular names based on student essay submitted. The survey was developed with the top five names for consideration by the school's community stakeholders. From February February 8 until a from August 8 to August the 31st, a survey was sent to the school's community stakeholders. Based on those responses, three names emerged as the most favored options. The names in
048alphabetical order along with a brief description are as follows. Diversity Middle School. The school is comprised of diverse cultures and ethnicities. Roberto Clemente Middle School. Roberto Clemente Walker was one of the first Latin American professional baseball stars to win a World Series as a starter, a most valuable player and inducted in the Hall of Fame. He worked to promote accessibility for Latino Americans both within baseball and outside of it. He was also known for his multiple humanitarian efforts. Seino Creek Middle School. The Seino's Native American tribe persevere in adversity and are known as the unconquered people. The Seino Native American tribe is recognized for their courage and resolve. Superintendent Jenkins. Dr. Jenkins. All right. Thank you. That concludes our report at this time, Madam Chair. All right. So before we take comments from the public,
049if we could open first member Lopez, I wanted to give you an opportunity if you want to speak to this issue before we hear from the public and I want to thank you and recognize you for your leadership on getting us to this point. No, thank you so much to the community, the leaders, the students, Dr. bone and the stack for doing an amazing job and try to be very fair and very transparent on every decision and on the survey. I have a question can what is the preferred option from all the stakeholders? The preferred option is Roberto Clemente Middle School with a 70 70.2%. 70. Okay, perfect. So they remembered for anybody who's listening in. The rule is during our formal portion of the hearing, no outbursts, no booze and hisses and cheers and
050claps, but you can wave your hand in agreement or two hands if you're really excited. You can give me a thumbs down if you're not. And I see lots of hands of waving in the audience, including my own. So I'm very excited with the outcome. I would like to make a motion. is it appropriate that we need to take public comment? Can we have a motion on the table or should we take public comment first? Yeah, you can do a motion on the table. Okay, you can put a motion on the table and then we will hear as much public comment as we choose to hear. Go ahead. Or as we can here. As we have undertaken the renaming of Jackson Middle School, I must say that I am very proud of the students, staff,
051school advisory council, and the surrounding community. This has been an extensive and highly emotional project. So for their enduring patience, I am grateful. I am also pleased that after a bit of a false start, we allowed the board approved process to played out for the renaming of the school. I hope that the school will continue to experience the community's support as they continue to lead all of our students to success. We need the same level of intensity and passion around mentoring, tutoring, and volunteering at the school that we saw regarding the renaming of the school. I ask for my fellow school board members support as I am pleased to offer a motion to rename Stonewall Jackson Middle School to become Roberto Clemente Middle School. I'll second that motion, chair. Okay, we have a motion for
052member Lopez, a second from member Cobbert. Let's take public comment. Let me begin if I could with Father Rodriguez. Other Rodriguez, I know you're here, but I can't see you. You're behind the There you are hiding after all this time. He's hiding. You've been such a leader on this. Thank you. Oh, thank you, Jose Rodriguez, 26 Willow Drive, Orlando, Florida. 32807. I'll try to be brief and just say that I am honored that as a Puerto Rican, as a Hispanic American, as just an American and a person that believes in humanitarian work that the name of Roberto Clemente Walker is being considered in the same meeting as LGBTQ her month. We cannot escape the reality that Orlando has an intersection of many things. And one of the things in Orlando is the intersection between the
053tragedy that hit our gay community in the Pulse massacre, but also the influx of Puerto Ricans and Latinos that have come to settle this place at home. I find it very poetic and very beautiful that when we bring down this unjust name of Stonewall Jackson, we're also dealing with other issues of injustice, bullying, and the fair treatment of all our school children. So all of them feel welcomed, valued, and wanted in our schools and protected. Iowa, sorry, this has been a long time coming. I am just thankful to all of you. I am thankful to the community. I am thankful for the fact that this 70 plus percent represents the coming together of our black neighbors, our Hispanic neighbors, our white neighbors, an entire community. I am thankful that when I drive to church, I
054see the signs that say Roberto Clemente on a variety of homes. I am thankful that when I have flipped through Hispanic television on Telmundo, I saw a white family saying they wanted the name Roberto Clemente. I am thankful that Roberto Clemente is not being judged by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character, a humanitarian that all our children can look up to. But I also want to remind the community that we didn't set out naming the school Roberto Clemente. The beautiful thing is we heard that's what the community wanted. We set out to bring down an unjust name and that name is being censored today back to history books, back to school curriculums, back to a place where it could be spoken of in its appropriate context. And as a
055byproduct of a beautiful coalescence of community and trying to bring down that name is a community gathered, a community united and a community step forward and in one voice is saying we want our middle school to be named Proto Clemente Middle School. So I want to say thank you for listening to the community. I wanted to say thank you to the community especially Aliansa. Many of us have been doing this for a very long time. But Aliansa came in and showed us the power of unity, the power of community organizing, and the power of what happens when you bring neighbors together around a common cause. This will not be the last time you hear from us because we will continue to advocate for our children. We will continue to organize and we will continue to
056stand up for all our children so they can be protected and feel safe. Thank you so much. Blessings. All right. Next speaker is Aman. Aman. It's more the handwriting I think than Prumus. Am Thomas. Oh, Thomas. That was easy. Welcome Mr. Thomas. Thank you. I will start by saying it's going to be very hard to follow an ordained minister, pastor. So, I'll try my best. My name is Aman Thomas. my address is 1247 Fountain Coin Loop, Orlando, Florida 32828. good evening, Madam Chair Jacobs, board members, and Superintendent Jenkins. I'm going to start today with a quote from Isabella Wilkerson whose book entitled Cast the Origins of Our Discontent where she discusses the thought process of looking at racism through the lens of a cast system. I recommend the book. I highly recommend this book. She
057says, "A cast system endures because it is often justified as divine will, originated from sacred text or presumed laws of nature, reinforced throughout the culture and passed down through generations. Cast is the wordless usher in the darkened theater. It's the flashlight down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. As an African-American and as an American descendant from slaves, the name Stonewall Jackson was extremely offensive to me. I have two children that attended this school and the reason we attended this school is because of the IB program. It is an outstanding IB program. I believe it still is. Dr. Maharatra, who was the principal at the time, were there and my two children were there. My two children metriculated through there. They are now in University High School and my son
058as a senior is now ranked fifth in his class. My daughter is right behind them and as a junior with a 4.0 GPA taking IB classes, right? So, I know the importance of a good program and the University High School is a great program as well as the program at Jackson Middle, but I've always had problems with the name of that school. Right. So, in 2017 when I started this entire process, when I went to Dr. my patra after you know getting advice of going to the Orange County School Board and putting it on the agenda for the for the SAT committee. and I know I wasn't the first. I know there are probably many people who lived in Orange County over the years from the 1960s when the school was named Jack I mean
059Stonewall Jackson Middle to now. So I don't propose to be the first person to do it right. but it is good to see that three years later a lot has changed. Three years later, when I was at the school, I didn't really see a lot of community involvement. Now I see community that is so behind this with a name that they really want, right? And I have another child coming up and I was, you know, debate, okay, where do I want to send them? I did not want to send my child to Jackson Middle even today before I came here. He's like, "Dad, where you going?" Well, I'm going downtown to talk about something. He said, "We talking about going to Jackson." I don't think it's going to be named Jackson after this meeting. Right.
060So that right there to me is it says a lot. And then here's another thing. What a winwin for the district for Lopez, for OCPS in general, for the city and central Florida that you're now naming a school Roberto Clemente which identifies and signifies many of the folks who live in this county. So I appreciate everyone's help in getting this done. It's been a long road, but it is done. And I is so happy to tell my son that he can probably go to Roberto Clemente Middle School now. Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Thank you. Thank you for your patience. A lot of patience. My pleasure. More patience than I have. All right, let's hear from Sam Samuel. Sam Samuel, Mr. Santiago. Welcome. Thank you. Samuel Ve Santiago 89334 Jefferson Boulevard, Orlando, Florida, 32822. Martin Luther
061King once said, "The ar let us realize that the ark of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." And what he basically wanted to say when he said this was that change takes time. And oh boy, have we realized that change takes time. For the last four years, you've had community members fighting to rename the name of this school. And tonight, finally, it is in your power to bend the ark of the moral universe toward justice. In this case, justice means allowing every Afro Latino student who goes through that school, every Puerto Rican and Latino student who goes through that school, anyone who's ever been discriminated because of their accent to realize that they can look up to incredible role models in the community and in this country and that with a
062little bit of hard work and perseverance and with a lot of humanity, they can become come exactly like that. And the most beautiful thing about this whole process is that you're not bending the arc of the moral universe alone. It is thousands of people from this community who are bending it with you. It is the students who wrote essays. It is the stack members who came and said, "You know what? We need to change this name." It is the principal who in in in one case had to even go against the SAG leadership to say these are the options that the students want. But most importantly, it is every single person in this community who has felt left out. And through this survey and through this process, they felt like they finally had a voice.
063They felt like they could finally be represented by the school in which they're sending their students to. So today, as an alum of Stonewall Jackson Middle School school, I ask you to retire that name and bend the ark of the moral universe toward justice. And what better time to do so that during Latinx Heritage Month. Thank you all so much and I hope you support member Lopez's motion. Thank you. All right, let's hear from Adella Lopez. And for those of you that are calling on the line, we will get to you. Please hold on with us. Good evening. Adela Lopez, 1424 Bradwell Drive, Orlando, Florida 32837, but originally from Blackie Creek. thank you. Gracias. Representation matters. And as Americans, we have to acknowledge that there's more to minorities than just stereotypes. And as a native
064of Orlando, daughter of a Vietnam veteran drafted from Puerto Rico, I am so proud of my community right now and that the local organizations and coalitions like Alian repetente and understanding school board of Puerto Rican and the school board that we are now renaming this school that's been long long in coming, Roberto Clemente. He's an afroamerican, afro Puerto Rican, former US Marine, an exemplary humanitarian who broke down cultural barriers and racial barriers during his career and lifetime. What an orua. All Americans should learn the history of this Puerto Rican hero as he is not only a Puerto Rican hero, but an American hero. And I think that is the greatest lesson out of all of this is uniting this community that has been overwhelmingly arriving Puerto Ricans every day for decades. Like I said, I
065reiterate, I am a native of this community. And I have never seen a school that represents me or a title or a person in power in that way. And this is so empowering for so many people. And for that little girl that grew up on Bogi Creek, today is a day to be celebrated. So I appreciate the time that you've given everyone to go ahead and give this public comment despite the fact that we're about to vote on this and I believe in my heart of hearts that all of you are going to vote for this but it has to be celebrated. It is an orua. We thank you. Gracias. Thank you all in my community. I am so very proud. Thank you. Let's hear from Julie Garcia. Miss Garcia. My name is Julie Garcia
066and I'm at 2314 Midtown Terrace, Orlando, Florida 3283 Reena. And I just want to say how proud I am of all my co-workers and fellow community members of all of the work that they've done and also and Marcos and Father Jose and everybody. Samuel, I am super proud of everything that they have done to get here today. I know it's been a long time coming and I want to thank Joanna as well for everything that you have done and I'm super excited and super happy. So, thank you everybody for this. Thank you so much. All right. How about Miss Santiago? Ances 8933 Fort Jefferson Boulevard 32822. Thank you all so much for giving me the opportunity to talk. I just want to say that I am in support of naming someone Jackson to do Clemente
067Middle School. Thank you so much. Thank you. Let's hear from Marcos Bilar. Good afternoon. Good evening. Madam Chair or members, there's really not much more to say than for Father Jose and all the other previous Ammon Thomas and all the other previous speakers have said. So, I'll tell a little bit of the story of how I got involved with all of this. And it starts with Father Jose. he gave me a call one night about a year ago said, "Marcos, they're going to keep the name Jackson and we can't let that happen." And I said, "Well, good luck, Father Jose. you know that there's probably seven, maybe 10, maybe 25, in fact maybe hundreds of names that people want to name the school, and it'll be easy to get rid of the name Stonewall Jackson,
068but it's not going to be easy to come to a consensus for a name." And he said, "But we got to do it." I said, "Well, let me talk to a few people." And I had a few other calls before that. I wasn't very excited about getting involved and doing this. I really didn't think that we were going to get a consensus. And I asked all the leaders that came up to me and they all had different names and I asked them would you be willing to abide by one name if that's the name that the community chose and would would you put your name aside and join the fight and one by one they said yes. And so then I said well now Aliana can become involved. Then we did a survey and we
069came here and presented the results of the survey. A survey that basically asked 10 different names and Roberto Clemente had 55% of the of the votes in that survey that we had gathered by many of the young leaders that are in this room today. Bernice, Ruben, Julie, Suma, a lot of the folks were here that were knocking on doors and we got, and we got that survey back only to be questioned here. We felt it felt kind of tough, you know, to say, "Wait, you know, it's they're questioning whether this was legitimate." So, it's very very happy for us to see the results two weeks ago where almost 3,000 people out of 4,000 people that took the survey chose Clemente as the name and I just want to end by saying that you know our
070organization Aliasa Center plans to become a partner in education and we don't we know that this is a difficult time for the schools. I myself I'm a former teacher out of Chicago and know it's a difficult time with the corona virus and every and all the other challenges that face us on any ordinary day and we want to be part of not just renaming a school but owning our responsibility as community members to support and and be be there for our families and for our students. So with that, I make our commitment to be involved with the public schools from Maryland. And I want to thank board member Joanna Lopez. you know, we met a lot of we made a lot of friends in this in this in this fight, people who we didn't know.
071And finally, I want to just recognize Ruben who is new to Orlando. but Ruben is from the town of Karolina, Puerto Rico, where Roberto Clemente was born. He was born there, too. And he's taken this on as if it was as as he as if he was always from here. Of course, because he's always been from Karolina. Thank you, Ru. Mr. Var, could we have your name and address for the record, please? We missed that at the beginning. No, I'm not going to do that. Lake District Lane, Orlando, Florida, and District 2. Thank you, Mr. Var. Thank you for your willingness to partner with Orange County Public Schools, and thank you for your years teaching in the past. You're one of our heroes. Thank you. All right, let's hear from Danna Jaguent. I probably mispronounced
072your last name. You can correct me when you get up to the podium. Thank you. And again, if you can give your name and address for the record. Thank you. Diana Ha, 256 Rio Lakes, Orlando, Florida 3282. Oh, first I just want to start to say thank you for all your hard support during those difficult days during the pandemic. I have been watching all the school meeting during this process and I'm very proud of you all your hard work and thank you also to Johanna Lopez for and Marcus Var for this support to Rene Rometo Clemente. I'm very proud proud to have a middle school that can represent my community. Five years ago, I come to the United States without know anything about the education system or about the language. And I feel very sad
073because I didn't find any school or any any like type of feeding of this that represent my community. But since I made the school board member Johanna Lopez, I just noticed that my community had to be more important all this education system because we had to keep up to keep fighting for a better education and also to represent all community and thank you for all of you for your support during this difficult fight to remain Rometo Plentes Middle School. Thank you. Thank you. now we hear from Zuma PZ Estrada. My name is Estrada 108 Golden Oak Court Orlando 32 8 06. I really I'm so happy to be here tonight to hear about the change of this Stonewall Jackson Middle School to our hero Roberto Clemente. I want to thank you madame chair the board
074the community alian for progress which I am part of it. you know, they and we together we did a an impressive job. We will continue, as the director said, we will continue working with the public school system with the communities because that's what we want we need to do and we want to do. So, we are a friend of the board and of the community. So, we need to continue this. there most all there's a lot of other things that has to be changed and we are willing to work with all of you searching for a better a better county and a better Florida. So I'm really proud because I'm a Puerto Rican although I've been here for 30 years I'm a proud Puerto Rican as well. So once again, thank you very much. And
075Marcus, you're my leader. Thanks. Thank you, Mrs. Strada. All right, let's take our callers on the line. I believe we have five callers. Is that correct? I need to clarify. We had five total. You heard three already. We'd have two about this particular topic. Oh, okay. All right. Let's hear our first caller. Our first caller is Triny Pedos. Miss Geros, Miss Teresa, welcome. Good to hear from you. Good afternoon, Madam Chairman. I will not have missed this for nothing in the world and I've been waiting since 4:00. A God bless you. The proceedings. I am so proud today because it's not who starts the race, but who finish it. And I want to thank you and the board members, especially Commissioner Johanna Lopez and my dear friend Pat Gordon. This is a moment of so
076much excitement and happiness that I'm lacking work and I am no one to do that. I want to take this moment to say that there are five people that need to be recognized that were the pioneers of this effort. And we are talking about one AfricanAmerican named Mr. Dwayne War who came before the board in 2017 and spoke on behalf of this name change. Ryan Stre who was a teacher in the system and moved to New York. Joel Salen Arcila a law student from Venezuela. Sai Rio Sandino, a proud Puerto Rican in community advocate and this servant who is from Ecuador, South America. We studied the justice project and we met with everyone that needed to be met and the story I already told that in the first meeting and in other meetings. But I
077want to say today that I had never enjoyed a Hispanic heritage celebration in many years than this one because this one has real historical change. This one is telling the Hispanic community that when they get together, things can be made happen. So with that, I want to thank Marcos Vil and Alian. I want to thank everyone that has spoken from the beginning to this moment and more than anything to the school board members that I hope in Union will vote yes to name the school Roberto Clemente. God bless America and God bless all of you. Triny, thank you. Before you hang up, our general counsel is going to jump in and say we name need your address for the record. Can you give us your address, Triny, for the record? I didn't I didn't hear
078what was the question. I said Miss Enville, our general counsel, is going to jump in and say we need your name and address for the record. Sure. Triny Kos at 1161 Sherry Valley Way, Orlando 32A28. Thank you, Triny. So good to hear your voice. Thanks for calling. Let's go to Our next caller is Bethy Santa Bria. Miss Santaia, welcome. If you can give your name and address for the record before your comments. Sure. Can you hear me? Yes. Hello. Okay. My name is Betsy Sinabria, 1409 South Conway Road, Orlando, Florida 32812. And I just wanted to take this moment to speak as a mother of an eighth grader who attends the school that will now no longer be Jackson Middle School. you know, the school's current demographics reflect that 74 74% of the students are
079Latin X and my daughter is part of that 74%. And although it's taken such a long time and there were bumps in the road and we had to get Roberto Clemente back on the list. but I am so glad that we are finally here today to officially change the name of the school. Excuse me. And at the last SACE meeting, I was so proud to see that our community got together and 70.2% of the people there, you know, chose the name. you know, what an honor it would be to have that school named after that hero. and I would love for my daughter to be, you know, the first graduating class of Roberto Clemente Middle School. And I hope that the board members support Joanna Lopez motion to change it to Roberto Clemente. I yield
080my time and thank you very much. Thank you very much, Miss Sanabria. Let's go to we have a couple of board member comments before we take a vote. Let's go to Dr. Gordon. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Can you hear me? We can hear you loud and clear. Thank you. Yes. Just to hear the community from the Englewood area is just unbelievable. a lot of memories go way back. Triny, like she said, that's my good friend for many, many years. and the Joseph Project to start it off. But for the this is just wonderful and there the community is asking us to support our Orange County teacher of the year Joanna Lopez history making which we were so proud of. And then when she got elected to the board, so proud of. And then
081fighting for the community, when she was installed, we were so proud of. And as they always stated, I've been their representative, the best that I could do. But when Joanna came on, I think the community opened up. The ministers, the priests, they all have been a very close part. My experience was with Inglewood Elementary when I became the librarian there and it was not 74% Hispanic at that time. But one thing I got to say, that community did have one of the first registered nurse in that community for the children to make sure they were well. So with that, Madame Chair, I stand with my colleague to support her motion that is on the floor to change the name of Stonewall Jackson Middle School to Roberta Clemente Walker Middle School. Thank you, Madam Chair. Absolutely.
082And I salute Joanna and her wonderful community and my longtime friends in that area. Awesome. Thank you, Member Cobert. Thank you, Chair. Always a pleasure to follow Dr. Gordon. I just need to say, that this is our opportunity to get this right and it is a long time coming and I think it says so much about Orange County and Orange County Public Schools, our PL proclamations that we've celebrated tonight and the opportunity. I'm sorry, we can't hear Linda. Oh, you can hear me in the room. We can hear you in the room. Is your mic on? Yes. Huh. Okay. Anyway, this is our chance to be on the right side of history and not only celebrating Hispanic heritage, black heritage, but our common American heritage. And that makes me especially proud of this tonight. And
083I'm also especially proud of the leadership of member Lopez on this issue. It has been a long, long time coming and she's had to navigate a lot of advocates and community and procedures and policy and she's done an extraordinary job to lead us here to tonight. So, I want to just reiterate my support for the motion by member Lopez to celebrate the renaming of our school to Roberto Clemente Middle School. Thank you. Thank you, Member Cobbert. Let's go to Member Gallo. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and for your support and working together as a community. It really warms my heart. You know, I said earlier 2020 has been tough. It's been really, really tough. and to see a community come together with a common goal to
084fight for such a great name for such a great school just really warms my heart. So, it is with my pleasure that I support this motion by member Lopez and thank you member Lopez for all the work that you do in your community continuously and for finally bringing about change to this name. So, thank you. Thank you. Okay, let's go to Vice Chair Gold. thank you. I am so proud of the way the community got involved to really highlight the issues before us with this name change. And I also want to support member Lopez and her community in this initiative to change the name. Thank you. Thank you, Vice Chair. Let's go to member cester dentl. Okay. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Wonderful. Can hear me? Okay, great. Thank you. I tried
085so many times to get through. I'm sorry, but I am so happy to be a part of this board at this time to change the name of this school to such a wonderful hero of Roberto Clemente. and I'm in full support and I thank member Lopez and I thank the community members for all of their advocacy and coming to the meetings week and after week after week. So, thank you all and I look forward to saying I thanks. We're almost there. I promise. Member Bird, I'll be quick. I just want to say thank you so much to fellow board member Johanna Lopez for your leadership on this. I know as as my fellow board member said, this was not an easy task. There was a lot of a lot of navigating you had to do
086and you did such a good job. You did it with such grace and leadership and it was just fantastic. So, I'm so proud of you. So, thank you for that and thank you to this community for working so hard and I really appreciate member Lopez asking you to continue this this leadership and coming together for your local schools because those children need you. We need the community to have this kind of have this kind of camaraderie with our schools. So, I I love the way you guys came together for this issue and I know that you will continue to help your local schools. So, thank you for that. And I am so excited for this vote. So, let's do it. All right. Let's do it. All right. Roll call. Member Gallo. I. Member Lopez. I.
087Member Cobbert. I. Vice Chair Gold. I. Dr. Gordon. She's there. Dr. Gordon, drum roll. We'll come back in a second. Dr. Caster Deno I. Member Bird I. Dr. Gordon. She definitely I was going to say I don't know how long we're going to have to wait, but we are not going to cast this vote without you being on record. Tell me tell me about it. This is history in the making. Absolutely. And I am so overjoyed to cast the final eye vote in favor of this renaming. I just can't tell you how proud I am of me of of you, member Lopez, for your leadership on this. I think that your decision to include the students in the essay contest was an in just incredible gift to the students to empower them to be part
088of this process. So, we haven't given a shout out for the students yet in a major way, but I think we need to. And I think we need to always remember to let them own some of this because I want them to know that when you get involved and you roll up your sleeves, you don't always win, but you never win if you don't try. And most of the time, you do change things for the better. And you have sure shown that. And then to each and every one of you. I just I mean you all have been so patient with us a couple times. Maybe not so patient, but but that was welld deserved. I wouldn't have been very patient either. It took way longer than it needed to. But we are where we
089are. And I tell you what, right now, we've said it. We've all said it. But I think we all needed big win this year. And this was it. Awesome. Yeah, it's pretty cool. All right, that was a standing ovation for every single person who has tried and been a part of this incredible success. I just I can't wait to see how we're going to unveil the naming, but I do I want to see all of our kids out there. I want to see all of you all out there. We'll all have our mass masks on. We'll be six feet apart, but we need to celebrate this together because this is this is history in the making in a wonderful way. All right, you guys can go if you want to. All right, Clinton, God bless
090you. You can go if you want to. Thank you so long for staying with us to this point. We have just a few more minutes of business, but you all, we don't need to belver this with you all. God bless you and we're counting on you staying partners. Our kids need you. Every single one of you. All right, let's go to the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion by member Lopez. Is there a second? I'll second that. Second. Second came first from member Bird, but thank you whoever the caller was with the second. I think that was vice chair. let's do roll call vote. Member Gallo. I member Lopez I member Cobbert I member Gould I Dr. Gordon I Dr. Caster Dennel I member Bird I and likewise I
091vote in the affirmative and it passes unanimously. Dr. Jenkins I think we are at your report. Am I correct? Did I miss anything? Thank you. You're recognized. Thank you Madam Chair. A couple of things. certainly add my congratulations to member Lopez and to the board for that historic moment. It is exciting and we will make sure I already sent the message to our facilities lead to say get the name ready to put on the school ASAP. and so we will look forward to that. Let me share a couple of additional things. During the pre-agenda we talked a little bit about West Orange. I want to reiterate just a couple of pieces of information so everyone is aware. So, West Orange went into a pivot because they had 10 positive cases. Folks think that's not a
092lot of positive cases. My high schoolers moved from class to class. The actual exposure and potential exposure was 158 individuals. 29 of them were teachers. And so clearly we could not continue to safely run the school with that number of teachers out. But we also need to contain any kind of outbreak that would not expand even beyond those 158. And so yesterday and today thanks to Dr. Pino, Florida Department of Health, we had testing going on at the school try to make sure we stay on top of any additional positive cases. What really was disheartening and I understand I want to thank our coaches and trainers and our young men that play football there. They had just gone through their rapid testing so that they would be eligible to play football and then the school
093went on a pivot shutting down all activities. I want to reassure you, we were in consultation with the Florida Department of Health looking for a way for those young men to still compete when another case was brought to our attention. There was an adult who last week was with those students that all of the students did test negative in the rapid testing. There was an adult who works with those students who was among the 158 quarantine. And so what we've done is thanks to Dr. Ino gotten a very early test yesterday for that individual. Try to make sure there was not exposure last week for those young people as they engaged with this one of their coaches. And so hopefully we will have that feedback. I will consult again with Dr. Pino. We'll have that
094feedback. I was hoping it would be by board meeting time. I'm still waiting for that feedback on that test. But I want everyone to keep in mind our number one priority has to be the safety of our children. Not just of the students who are on one team, but for the children that are competing against them as well. And so we're trying to prohibit the passing of the virus from team members and to other teams and from there certainly to families and community members as well. So I will commit to you as soon as we have some indication regarding that additional exposure. We will certainly get word to the team and I want to be very clear the coach and the athletic director and the principal are very well aware and have shared why we
095had to hit pause on that competition. but we have plans to move forward as soon as we believe it is greenlighted. We will keep you posted. Number two, wanted to announce share that our laptop device shortage and those shipments have seen some improvement. 2,000 this week are being distributed. Another 2,300 should be in distribution next week. That almost brings us flush with our need, but I want to reassure you every day u there are laptops that are turned in in need of repairs. And so we're going to continue to build those numbers so that we have an inventory contingency, if you will, for students who may have damaged devices. Want to remind the general public, remind our parents that those devices have to be well taken care of and there are fees fines that have
096to be paid when devices are damaged so we can get young people new devices when necessary. Again, that is thanks to the generosity of our community. That half penny sales tax is why we are able to far beyond what other districts are able to do providing those onetoone devices. Number three, everyone is curious about the shift. Friday was the deadline for parents to decide if they wanted to switch from face toface I'm sorry they could switch either from face-to-face education to launch ed at home or they could switch from launch ed at home to face toface. And as predicted, we had a much larger number shifting from launch ed to face-toface. In fact, there were 15,792 who made that decision to come into brick and mortar from our launch ed program. We did also have
097a small number, 983 went from launch ed, I'm sorry, went from brickandmortar face toface to launch ed at home. So, 983 decided to go home for their instruction. 15,792 decided to come into the brick and mortar for face-to-face instruction. Couple of things I think are important to note because of that. And we did actually have our chief negotiator contact our union president to let her know those numbers are significant. And clearly that means we will have more of our teachers who have been teaching at home will need to now come into the brick and mortar for face-toface because what drives our teacher assignments are parent registration. That 15,000 792 shift means principles are now working diligently to put together the puzzle pieces again to make sure they have enough teachers inside the school buildings to
098serve those additional students. So patience certainly is appreciated. among our teachers and other staff members that will need to be back in the school setting. The other thing I'd like to stress is if we have 15,000 students coming back, usually about a third of our students ride our buses. So that means we may have an additional 5,000 students riding buses. I want to encourage any parent who is eligible for transportation, meaning you're two miles out or more from the school. If you are eligible, I want to encourage you still, if at all possible, to transport your child on your own because the more that we have transporting their own children, the better we are able to socially distance on our buses. Currently, we project we can still put about 24 students per bus. That's one
099student per seat. with the windows and the hatch open, we believe it can still be safe for transporting even with the additional 5,000 students. But I want to encourage any parent who is switching to face toface that they would please consider transporting their own child. And then lastly, Madam Chair, members of the board, I want to acknowledge those who worked so hard when we wanted our dashboard up. it seemed like a pretty significant task, but I will tell you the teams worked weekends, night and day to get our CO 19 dashboard up and we have now also put up our quarantine information on that dashboard. want to certainly ask for patience again because it is a work in progress but we believe we far exceed what most districts are able to provide to at least
100on an immediate daily basis to their community regarding cases. If you will recall, every evening at 11:59 that dashboard updates with whatever has been put in for the day leading up to that midnight hour. And certainly all of that automation is thanks to this team that is Amal Kakarnis, forgive me for names, Tisha Williams, Mike Adana, Adani, Brent DS, Roland Welch, John Derga, Jason Bura, Christy Logan Logan, Jackie Sakamano, Tiffany Islam, and David Wheeler. Thanks to all of those who worked, as I said, night and day and weekend to get that dashboard up and running. And I want to thank again my leadership team who on top of their day jobs also are working diligently to make sure we do everything in our power to keep our children safe and keep our community informed. Madam
101Chair, that's it. Thank you, Dr. Gordon, Dr. Jenkins, and wonderful job. I just am so blown away by that dashboard. Everybody is. and you've improved it even more. So, it's just super cool and first of class I think in the state in terms of transparency which got to make people feel good. Let's go to our general counsel miss. Thank you, Madam Chair. I only have one thing. as as the board is aware, executive order 2069 waved the in-person quorum requirements and gave permission for the school board to meet virtually. the schoolboard has since that time met and we've met in the inperson quorum requirements. but as you're aware when we provided the public the opportunity to provide input, we provided a telephone number call-in. We did the public comment at ocps.net email address and they
102were allowed to once phase two was we entered into phase two they came in person. So, the most recent executive order, which is, let's see, executive order 20-193, it basically expires. and that means beginning October 1st at 12:01 a.m., the waiver of the Inerson quorum requirement that was issued by the governor is no longer in effect. So, I wanted the board to have the opportunity to provide input on whether you felt that the public needed to have still have those three methods of providing public input or as you saw today, we had a number of member of the public that came in. so, I wanted to give the board the opportunity to have that discussion. Board members I'm just waiting to see if I Go ahead, Member Gallup. Thank you, Madam Chair. I you know,
103I think that while we're still under in phase two, I think it would still be appropriate to allow people to call in. I would still support people call in anytime that we can be transparent and have members of the public participate any way they're comfortable with participating, I would support. Okay. All right. I'm seeing nods. I'm not seeing anybody. Let's put it this way. Nobody has expressed a desire to change and I'm waiting. Somebody's queuing queuing up here. Hold on. Member Gold, Vice Chair Gold. member Gallup expressed it exactly right. I think while we have any concerns about people gathering and for those that may be more vulnerable, we should offer the option to still access us virtually. Okay. Let me also since just clarify this, you said October 1st, we have to have a
104quorum present. That means five, right? Okay. Which we generally have not had a problem with that. Okay, good. October unless another executive order is entered, right? But then we can still have our other two or three members calling in. Good. Okay. Good. That's good. Good to know. All right. any further business to come before the board? Let me ask board members that are on the line by I'm sorry, Dr. Gordon, Dr. Caster Dennel. Yes. Anything else for the good of the board? No. Thank you. Wonderful meeting. Yeah, it was a wonderful meeting. Only thing I regret out of this meeting is that we that all that you guys on the phone couldn't have been here with us. I know I understand and respect your decision not to be here, but I also know that probably
105each one of you wished you could have been here present because it was just a great great meeting. Great to see all these people in the room supporting our school district and our kids and the name change. So, thank you for thank you for your tolerance when you have to call in and can't be present with us as we work through this. So, with that, I would Well, Madam Chair, you're watching it on YouTube. It's just that it's a minute behind, but we watch it live. Oh, I know you are, but it Yeah, I know. I still I Yeah, I still miss you. Still still would have been nice to have you in the room with us. I'm not complaining. I'm really glad you're Especially you, Dr. Gordon. I'm really glad you're not here because
106of you know health and safety reasons. And we're also glad that Vice Chair Gold's not here. Not worried about her health and safety, worried about ours. And and Karen, I hope you're doing okay. I'll check in with you personally just to make sure you're doing okay, but glad we had your mic working. So, show her present accounted for throughout the meeting. And this meeting is now adjourned. Good job, Madam Chair. Thank you. And thanks, Pat. Thank you for being here.