001special school board meeting for December 9, 2025 . Dr. Jones, you lead the prayer . Thank you. Let's pray . Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you for all things tonight . We thank you for your grace and mercy . We now ask for your guidance, your instruction, and above all, your wisdom. Bless all the staff of Dothan City Schools . Bless our customers , parents and children . Bless this city, this state, and this nation . Forgive the sins of us, your children . We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Please stand up for the national anthem . I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all . Does anyone propose
002to approve the program and the proposed program changes ? I propose . Okay. Madam Speaker, I move that the program and the proposed program changes be approved . Okay. Is there anyone to support ? I support. Okay. Is there any discussion? Okay. All those who are supportive? Yes. Okay. The resolution was passed. Okay. We are gathered here to select a company for audit. Does anyone propose to recognize the institution before us ? McDaniel and Associates. I propose . Is there anyone to support ? I support. Okay. Discussion. Yes. We talked about this. Yes, sir. The leader herself. Yes, sir. Were there any other suggestions? We called the state department, we asked the people who have the local audit department, and they were the ones who recommended these guys , because they audit the city of
003Dothan and the Ozark City schools . Regarding the question. Yes, sir. Thank you. Okay. So, I have some questions and comments . When we look at the contract price between this company and our previous audit firm, Parsons, it seems comparable. So, it gives me satisfaction. I have one concern with this current contract, and here's what they say in it , and I quote: During the audit, we may look for opportunities for savings or improved controls in your operations . We will bring such matters to the appropriate level of administration, including the current chair of the Dothan City Board of Education, either verbally or in writing. It further stated that they would get back to DCS management and the board chairman at the end of the audit engagement . So my question is, why does it
004have to go only through the chairman and not be given to the entire board ? Why should audit findings , any important audit results, be shared only with the chairman and not with the board? They needed a contact person, and eventually they would present it to the entire board . But when you look at the Parsons Agreement , it doesn't mention that . The Parsons Agreement states that we will provide copies of our reports to the Dothan City Board of Education . Moreover, it talks about many things . So I want to understand , I don't want anything to go through a person . One person is not superior to the entire board . So I don't want anyone to keep feeding me audit findings . If there are any findings, why shouldn't we have
005them during the process, not just at the end of the audit ? I was not given anything from the Parsons group when I was the chairman . But in many situations matters are referred to the chairman , who immediately presents them to the board . That's the process. So I wo n't say I know how this should work, but I'm not sure if we're getting everything from the leader. So that's my concern . I want it changed in the contract so that it applies to the entire board, not just the chairman . I don't want anyone to keep feeding me information . I would like to read it myself . You need to mention the things you don't get and talk to him about them , he will fix it, but you need to mention
006them. So, for today's purpose , I know there's a resolution pending , but I'm bringing forward a resolution to change the wording in this agreement and grant it to the entire board, not just the chairman . Leader. Tell me, sir. I support that resolution . We are still in the early stages . Okay. Okay, Chairman, I know what Miss Walton said, and I agree with that . I received this recommendation last week . This is the first time I've heard of this, I'm a doctor. I asked a question. I asked about the recommendation, and I asked who did this? What happened? He said Julie. He said Julie. Yes. He did. And I asked, did he speak to the entire board? He did n't know if he had come to him. The board consists of all
007seven of us, not just two, three, or four. It's seven of us , and I don't see that cooperation as I wait and see what happens. I ask the doctor because I know that all recommendations must come through him in some way. But, I was really upset about this , not about the company, because, I don't know , of course I was going to support this . I can say that we need to continue this because we are in a situation now, and this company needs to start working in order not to miss the deadline . So, coming to what Ms. Walton said, it's very disappointing that the leader, who is part of the board, is not cooperating with all of us . I would like to add one more thing , I would like
008to know if anyone on this board has any connection with this company . They do my taxes . Please add this to the record. Mrs. Larissa. Does anyone else want to answer ? I do n't know anyone at this company. One of their children attends Dothan City schools , so I know their children. I do n't know anyone at this company. I don't know either , as far as I know. To be clear , I have no problem with this company . I believe they have a good reputation locally. I'm only talking about the process of how we got here. Coming back to my point, I think we can vote on that resolution once we're done with this , what I want is for the audit results to be presented periodically and the final report
009to the entire board, not just to the chairman . I think eventually they should come and talk to us, sorry I do n't have a voice, they should present their findings to the entire board . So, you're asking them to give it to all of us from time to time , not just at the end . Yes. I want them to mention this , if they have something to say , I'll repeat it , but I'm trying to read from this , so we can make sure . But during the audit, we may notice opportunities to make savings or improve controls in your operations . We will bring such matters to the attention of the appropriate administrative level and the current chair of the Dothan City Board of Education, either verbally or in writing .
010Therefore, if anything arises during this audit, it should not just reach the chairman and stop there, nor should I have to depend on him for information that I feel he deserves . If something like this arises, I would like to provide that information not just to the final report, but to the entire board, not just to one, two, three, four people . Well, it says it will also give this to the superintendent . If you think the leader won't share information with you , I'm sure he'll share any of that information with us. Are you saying you think the superintendent won't share it with us ? I feel like he should share, but I don't want to put him in that situation . Why should we operate through one or two people , Mr. from
011the previous company? I know he said that Childer didn't get anything. I can't confirm or deny this , but it was in their contract. So, they agreed to do it . I think we should have something like that with this auditing company . Well, that's unlikely to happen, because the fact that you don't trust the leader to distribute information is not the problem with this company. They need a contact person and they have that set up , and this is the procedure that works for many of the interactions with other companies we use . It is not their environment to expect them to shoulder the burden of communicating equally with all of us. They communicate with the leader and the superintendent , and they are expected to communicate with us , and as far as
012I know, that procedure works . Again, if you believe that, we return to the matter of your dealings with the leader personally , and you must be clear about the events that you believe took place . But that is a domestic situation. That's not McDaniel 's problem. This system will not function smoothly with those expectations. So, I want to be clear about what I'm asking , and it's not difficult. You can set up a group email distribution . However, I know we have one within Dublin city. I do n't know if it can be used outside. I don't expect them to call me personally , but if something important happens during this audit, I don't want to wait until then . I don't want to depend solely on a supervisor who is busy with a
013lot of work . I would like to be included in this, as was the case in the previous agreement with Parsons . The leader himself . Tell me, sir. I never heard Mrs. Walton say she didn't trust you . Have you told any board members about this organization? What are you asking about ? Prior to this meeting, did you inform anyone about the organization we will be representing and who will be requesting to represent us tonight ? As soon as I received the letter, I sent it along with the agenda . But my question is, did you inform the other board members and not just me ? No. Is it about that person or company? No, sir. Okay. In the past, we haven't seen anything until the Parsons team came before the board and presented
014. So, whatever was in that agreement, it is certain that it did not happen in practice. We were not given any information until they came and submitted it to us . I can understand what you expect . I have also been on a board where I felt that communication was not good . So, I can understand that . But it wouldn't be right to ask the Parsons or McDaniel team to contact each of us individually . You email them and say, "Hello, I have a problem with this. Could you please explain this to me ?" You might ask, instead of them coming to us as a group and explaining? So, I can see the fairness on both sides; We want to be involved in this , but many things in the organization have to come
015to us through the supervisor and the leader . As Scott said, this is something that needs to be fixed domestically. I never once received anything from the Parsons team until the audit was completed. I know they're in touch with Stephanie, right? But are they in touch with you ? Yes. So, I feel like if something happens, he can inform us about it. Do you understand that? Again , Ari, this is about some things , and I certainly respect you. I know your experiences with the previous administration and the previous board. I don't want to feel punished for what happened in the previous administration . What I'm asking is not a difficult thing. I didn't ask anyone to call me alone . If he sends something to the leader, he can send it to us too.
016As you know, I have over 20 years of experience in accounting . So, while I have the opportunity to comment on any issues that arise, I don't want to just get a report at the end . I respect you, of course I understand, I truly understand . The lack of trust you had from the previous board, or whatever you want to call it , but... I don't want to be punished forever for the mistakes of previous boards or the previous superintendent . I'm not trying to punish you for that. I'm sorry if I acted that way , but I didn't come here to say that . I just said that you understand what I'm saying . You didn't say that. Not just you, but it keeps coming . Okay, I don't get this . The
017previous supervisor did this, and that's probably true , but looking ahead , I don't think it's a big deal to ask . Okay. I would like to say something for the correction , when I asked Dr. Askew how this happened , he said it was through Julie, I asked, Julie, was it that boy? That. He said, they said, we did . We received this . I was thinking about this . We, even tonight, Julie said we are. When you say we, you mean the entire board . You speak on behalf of the entire board . If you are doing that, you need to cooperate with the entire board . What I'm saying is, it didn't happen. If you want to verify if I'm right, talk to Dr. Esq. This is what he told me, he's
018not here tonight. But, you can't just say "we" when you speak. Half a share of people, two, three, whatever . Okay. We are a team. We operate as a system , and when we operate as a system, we all need to be connected to each other . I think we should stop making accusations right now that the leader is not informing us, because we still have no evidence for that . As I suggested earlier , you should discuss it privately with the leader . But it is not right to come to this public place and repeatedly say that we were not informed . Without any facts or evidence , we claim that nothing was told to us. Honestly , what would you call it? Good name, reputation. We can't keep repeating this without evidence. So,
019let 's get this over with right now , Scotty. Let's finish this right now . But what I mean , what I mean is , just because the leader is here, doesn't mean he can't deny anything we say . So, I've said it before , I came here to support this recommendation, but I want to make this clear so we don't go down this road again . Yes. Well, we need to stop going down that path. I want to say one thing , I want to clarify , I have no problem with anyone here . I have just met them in person . I know Miss Guilford , I know her through the community. I had a connection with you too . So, it's not a personal matter for me, but we are all duly
020elected . There is no one in this group who is superior to the others . Scott, there are some interactions that take place between the leader and the employees that we don't know about . They should have sent us copies of them , and there are examples of that , so I don't know... I do n't know how much of an impact they have, but it's wrong to say that we are included in everything, we are not included . If you want specific examples , we can dig up the emails and show you, it may take as long as you want . So , we should n't even discuss this until we do it. We're still talking about the same thing , we need to end this now. I'm letting you sign the next 10
021million dollar contract . I didn't hear what you said . Sorry. I said you can sign the next $10 million loan. I still don't understand what you said . I said I'll let you sign the next $10 million loan. Okay. And you can contest in the next election . Unprofessional. That is unprofessional. What does that mean? Yes. What does that mean? What I'm saying is, please tell me, does the fact that he has additional responsibility as a leader mean that he has responsibility as a leader? That's right. But, that doesn't mean he has the right to hide the information . It does not mean that an institution must be elected or put to a vote. I ca n't hide information. The system is set up to treat the leader a little differently . That's how
022the system is created . This has been established for centuries . What was in the last agreement has been confirmed , you can say whatever you want, it was agreed that it will be reported to the entire board . Now, for whatever reason, you're making a big issue out of me asking for the same thing in this agreement . No, I'm not making a big issue of the agreement, but of the allegations you make . That accusation . Okay. Let's go back to the contract. Can this be changed ? I started a resolution , but I know there is already a resolution pending . What do we do now? I think we should finish the first resolution first, right? We can vote for it . Yes. In the poll . We had support . We
023had a discussion . Yes. Therefore, we must vote for the second resolution. The second resolution is that the words need to be changed . Okay. Who are in favor of changing the words? No. Who are the opponents? No. No. The resolution was not implemented . Now move on to your first resolution. Okay. Now we move on to the first resolution . Who are in favor of accepting this agreement? Yes. Who are the opponents? No. Okay. The resolution was passed. Okay. Is there a need for an executive meeting ? Okay. Yes, there is a new business. We have nothing . Regular School Board Meeting on Tuesday, December 16th. Should we bring a resolution to adjourn the meeting? Resolution. Chairman , I propose to adjourn the meeting . Is there support? Okay. Who are the supporters? Okay.
024The meeting was adjourned . Beating. If you get it, oh, did you get it?