SCPS School Board Meeting - 03-11-2025

001no matter what age your child is you want the best for their future what do they want to do after graduation what career path do they want to take these questions can be overwhelming that's why you should ask them this question what's your e Simo County Public Schools e- pathway program is designed for your student to choose their own path in life from as many options as we can offer whether they're looking to enlist enroll or be employed we're excited to help you and your child make it happen want them to enroll in a college or university we'll help you find the best school for them to continue their education learn about grants and programs to help your child obtain their degree and a pace and a cost that works for you both are they

002looking to go straight into employment discover a variety of Trades and skills will Propel their future they can learn aviation maintenance automotive repair culinary arts and more to hone their talents in growing Industries is your child interested in enlistment will help them find the right path of service whether it's military law enforcement fire response or EMS they can serve the community while learning skills that will last a lifetime what's your e explore options with e Pathways by visiting us online at the link [Music] below what inspired me to get into engineering was Lego so I started as a kid as most kids do uh working with Legos and just kind of doing your own thing building the Lego sets and I would often take apart my Lego sets mix together and build something completely new

003then in about fourth grade I was introduced to Lego robotics which is where you have a actual uh robot that you could program and you start with this brick and that would feed information to Lego motors and it would all communicate as a system and you could do a lot of really cool robotic tasks with that and that was really the start of me looking into engineering the engineering I'm looking to pursue at first is mechanical engineering this is what I'm going to go to UCF for and this is going to be the start of my career a mechanical engineer can really do anything um they work with a lot of thermodynamics and a lot of vibrations and really just anything that moves so a lot of fields use mechanical engineering I want to go

004past that and specialize into biomedical engineering which is more along the lines of surgical Robotics and medical Machinery I wanted to develop surgical robots and with that I need to know exactly how the human body functions and how it functions with robotic systems essentially I'll be able to design a system where a person will be able to communicate with a motor and hopefully improve their quality of life whether this be through a surgical robot that a doctor is controlling or whether it's prosthetic that's motorized I taught Josh his freshman year he was so good with that inventor material he picked up on it very quickly he was ready to jump in and help other students which I really really appreciated and he is carried those characteristics with him as he has moved through the program

005and now with his journey moving forward in bioengineering I can't wait to see what he's going to make with his knee brace and the Orthotics that he's trying to produce the current prosthetic I'm looking at developing is a loadbearing knee brace in which I'm going to take a motor or Servo and attach that to the knee which will enable the a person to be able to push past what their muscles currently are able to do whether that be because of of muscle fatigue or osteoarthritis in the kneecap where they're not able to put a lot of pressure on their knee current knee braces really only work when walking there's still a lot of pain when there's extra forces being applied to the knee such as walking upstairs or standing up from sitting down things you

006and I normally don't think about but for someone that has severe arthritis in their knee this is hugely painful the strongest advantages of project-based learning that hands-on experience that allows you to manipulate that material really solidifies in the brain exactly how those things work the thing I would say about this program where it exceeds the most is the more you use it the more it'll benefit you e e e your they have they cannot bring those we're live ladies ready to go okay good evening everyone if I could ask you to please take your seats got thank you thank you thank you well welcome everyone I'd like to call to order the March 11th 2025 school board meeting uh today we have students from Lake Brantley High School to provide the invocation and lead us

007in the pledge of Allegiance um the director of Esau Miss mini Cardona World languages will introduce our Student please yes good evening superintendent bman and school board members it is with great pleasure that I introduce this amazing student from Lake Brantley High School um Sebastian Pomo he is a senior um and he is going to share some of his highlights of what he's doing currently right now at the high school but just a little bit about um Sebastian he has taken World Language the four years that he has been at Lake Brantley he took three years of French French 1 2 and three and two years of Spanish so um he has a overall GPA of 4.63 wow just amazing he is 14th of his class and has scored level five you named a Tess

008he has done it five on Fast Five on AP Lit which he took last year this year is an AP language and just an amazing human being so at this time I would like to also recognize his brother that is here Luise Pomo he's a former graduate of Lake Brantley High School too and just graduated from UCF very proud of him too so at this time I will have Sebastian come on up and do the invocation and the pledge good evening good evening uh good evening board members thank you for inviting me and giving me this opportunity to talk to everybody um as you know I'm Sebastian F Hernandez uh I was born inal huras and I came here to the United States around 10 years ago and I would like to talk to you

009guys about the world the languages the world languages yeah at our school so um like a lot of other AP Spanish students I had already spoke Spanish I already was very familiar with the language understanding it Reading Writing and all that before taking the classes right however I like a lot of the other AP Spanish students it wasn't exactly at a university level and that's a lot of that's one of the greatest strengths of the AP Spanish program is being able to improve on what's already there and also just get to that University level right like go beyond not just be good enough um it also set me ahead a lot on my English classes like it really taught me how important it is and how helpful it is to be bilingual because it a

010lot of the skills that I learned in AP Spanish just carried over through my AP English classes every other class class I took uh some of the rhetorical devices that I learned in AP Spanish I would able to just copy and paste them directly to apit really literally so really being bilingual is a big strength and I think that's another really important part and helpful part of the uh language program and taking languages in high school right so I also competed in the world language festival for SEO County uh over two years the first year I competed in the impromptu and the second year competed as a recital so I memorized the poem and then said it and those two experiences really taught me how to make stuff up on the spot really because in

011the impromptu really you get no time to think you just got to stand up there and then start talking and hope you find your point along the way right so meanwhile the poem really also taught me a lot about public speaking in general because before that you don't have a lot of experience talking directly to people right you have your one-on-one conversations you talk to a teacher but you never have that experience of uh really projecting your voice and talking to a large group a large crowd of people and so those two years of competing there also helped me with that now because my admissions essay and my college essays were a lot about my experiences immigrating into the United States I think that taking these World languages and learning other languages in general was

012really crucial for my uh admittance into MIT the Massachusetts instit insute of technology so uh now that I'm going there I plan on majoring in aerospace engineering and then hopefully in the future getting some flight experience so that might maybe I could become an astronaut at NASA or SpaceX you know and represent really so those are the future plans and with that said thank you all and please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance 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 thank you so very much um and congratulations on the MIT that's fabulous okay um please let the record reflect that uh board member delinger board member Davis Vice chair Garrick and

013myself are present member Abby Sanchez has caught the flu bug and she sent her reg regrets um superintendent Beeman attorney C pommer and of course the wonderful Jil our board board clerk are present in attendance um we have one acknowledgement uh Christina dorno Riviera from Midway Elementary she's uh SAC representative Christine where are you nice to see you thank you for being here this evening um are there any other acknowledgements Jo okay thank you superintendent do you have any agenda modifications the agendum for a good cause is marked on our electronic agenda by a green flag named addendum item thank you school board members the roll call order today is member delinger member Davis Vice chair Garrick and then myself um do you have any agenda modifications member Dinger member Davis Vice chair no modifications

014I have no modifications thank you um is there a motion to approve the agenda outline so moved and a second thank you member Dinger any discussion okay seeing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed motion passes uh superintendent do we have presentations or recognitions yes we have a number of presentations tonight um we'll start with our veteran of the month Miss ree stock from Jackson Heights middle schools and miss stock will be introduced by principal clamy Pierre thank you board members join me d by the superintendent why [Applause] well welcome everyone V graduated from Air Force basic military training in the summer of of 2009 as an Honor Graduate he completed his technical school at lacklin Air Force Base in Texas and went unto his first Duty station in

015milen Hall England unbeknown to him he met his future wife Eleanor a few days in the country before going on his first contingency deployment to kinderart Afghanistan in January 2010 upon his return he immediately took his skills from Afghanistan and trained up a team to compete at their air Mobility command Rodeo an international combat Readiness competition where his team was awarded for their High physical Readiness and combat efficiency before leaving for his next Duty station Erman star married his beautiful wife Elanor and then proceeded to a one-year unaccompanied tour Airman Stark's next Duty station was to uh kusan Airbase in South Korea where he served as both a fire team leader and began his interest in teaching as a round comeback instructor during his one-year tour with the wolfback the eighth Fighter Wing senior Airman

016star was awarded with the eighth Fighter Wing Airman of the year after Korea Airman Stark was promoted to sta sergeant and moved to Joint Base pear Harbor Hickman in Hawaii where he served as a law enforcement Sergeant before moving back into the instruction world as a combat Readiness manager during his time as jbphh he graduated from the army jungle warfare School the air force closed Precision engagement course and both the federal law enforcement training center and Air Force active shooter response courses Sergeant Stark then went on to build the first Joint Base active shooter course streamlining active active shooter responses across three different law enforcement agency and teaching Law Enforcement Officers how to deal with active threats in a dynamic and lethal manner Sergeant Stark left active duty service in 2016 and joined the Hawaii

017Air National Guard where he continued to train Airmen well this led to his nomination for NCO of the year in 2017 for the Hawaii National Guard where he was a finalist for the award and was awarded by the director of the National Guard Lieutenant General Michael low for his efforts during his time in the Hawaii now sergeant technical star completed his associate degrees in teaching with honors before transferring to the25th FAL Wing in the Florida Air National Guard and starting his educational career as a UCF Knight Sergeant Stark left service in 2019 after 10 years of service graduated from UCF and was soon hired as a teacher at Jackson Height Middle School where he has Tau life skills US History Civics jrc financial literacy and now he is the dean of students more recently Mr

018Stark has completed his Masters in educational leadership graduating again from UCF in December 2024 with aspiration to be a principal here in SEO County he lives with his wife of 13 years Dr Elanor Stark their two children I'm sure you can see them right here Bryce 5 years old and Mason who is four and that 10mon old puppy monster Ali congratulations and thank you technical Sergeant Stark for your service to our country and your continued service to our community one more picture one more time then we'll go play I promise perfect congratulations than you for being here thank you must be PR good evening in December 2024 the oton Springs Police Department welcomed a special New Edition Canan officer Bailey a highly trained German shorthair pointer with a critical Mission Firearms detection within our schools

019within our schools simal County Schools regarded as some of the best and safest in the country and Bailey's presence will further enhance that security born in August 2023 in Budapest Hungary Bailey is the newest partner of Master police officer Rob Shapiro a 23-year veteran of the alamont Springs Police Department with six years dedicated in serving as a school resource officer Master police officer Shapiro has a long has long been committed to building relationships and ensuring the safety of students and staff now with bayy by his side they form a formidable formidable team focused on continuing that mission primarily stationed at Lake brandley High School this Dynamic duel will also support other schools throughout Altimont Springs and the county at large strengthening safety across the community despite her young age Bailey has already undergone extensive Firearms

020detection training making her a valuable asset from day one as she continues to grow and refine her skills Bailey will provide an added layer of security and reassurance for students staff and parents alike with her Keen nose on a wavering detection safety is is in truly incapable of pause so p is join us all in celebrating Bailey and master police officer Shapiro superintendent believe I know okay tonight um we have a focus on student achievement superintendent yes we do miss Cardona and team will um come and our fosa is focused on National World languages month in Simo County public schools welcome everybody thank [Music] you good evening good evening superintendent bman and school board members thank you so much for allowing us this time to Showcase some of the great activities that are going on

021on the schools in the world language programs and dual language program here in SEMO County March is um National World Language month and we have actually started a little earlier we've been celebrating since February um National War language month so in today's presentation we would discuss I would like to Showcase a video that was prepared by the Communications Department with some of our students from Lyman and Lake very high and teachers too talking about the world language program we'll mention the six languages that we offer in semino County talk about the um Sealab by literacy the importance of the seal by literacy in our dual language schools so at this time we'll start with the [Music] video I think the thing I enjoy most about my Spanish class is the people I get to meet

022all the different cultures and all the different like people it's like I feel like a big sou everything has like every person is like a different ingredient that contributes to the whole thing of our culture of Spanish between people and I just feel like just meeting and getting to know them is the best thing I I can ask for so I like to integrate it through immersive learning immersive teaching which is finding a common ground within all the cultures uh for example you know laughter is universal food uh curiosity and so so finding that Common Ground among the cultures yet learning all of our differences what makes us unique and it just keeps it interesting it's taught me not to keep my eyes to have Tunnel Vision on my own culture but to think about

023the world as whole because everybody has their own personal life that's as expressive as my own the fact that I live and now live in Florida and that my family speaks smash too so it's nice to communicate my friends it's also nice to pick up they're speaking about what they're learning well I always thought like I don't know I feel like I was very closed off to other cultures and other worlds so it definitely has helped me expand my horizons and learn about how people dress how people dance the food especially the food it's been really fun achieving Milestones like being able to have like those simple conversations and learning new words the culture I'm passion for Spanish I a SE I'm a second language learner myself so I knew the struggles of speaking another

024language especially here in the United States when I came way back when you have all the resources we have today so I wanted to share where I came from so coming from the country of Panama that is not really heard of and not too many people are here that inspired me to want to give out and and let everyone know hey you know Spanish is there we have these different Traditions cultural things so just wanting others to be aware of the differences that we do [Music] have for [Music] I want to thank our students from Lyman High School Lake Mary high school and the teachers for helping us um put this video together so before I continue with the um presentation I would like to introduce my amazing staff because they are the ones that

025work behind the scenes um these are just a few of the staff members that help put everything together with all the programs that we work with and they do it with lots of love to my left I have Vanessa Brewster curriculum specialist Veronica Lopez um program specialist and liaris Maho curriculum specialist so here is our current enrollment of world languages for this year is 13 610 students that is an increase from last year of over 1,200 students that of have enrolled in a world language class um and like um we saw in the previous um um slide we do offer six languages in SEO County and I'm very proud of that we should all be because we are making those connections with language and culture and helping our students in so many areas um you

026can see here the current courses that we offer in SEMO County from beginning Spanish starting at the middle school all the way to IB and AP Spanish beginning French too all the way up to AP and IB French American Sign Language levels one through five Latin yes Latin is still out there and I love that class level one all the way up to AP and IB Latin Chinese one to AP Chinese Japanese one to level one the teacher is slowly but growing her program too having a lot of students interested in her class um and this year we started with the World Language Humanities for international studies we offer this course at two of the middle schools um for the magnet program South um South seminal Academy is one and Mark and Woods Middle School

027is also offering the course and this course offers um the students just knowledge of all the different cultures it's not one one specific culture is all cultures all over the world it's really a neat course um and I'm we also do data chats in World languages um we also have our end of the nine weeks we have common assessments so we have data chats with the world language teachers to discuss where the students are according to the standards their benchmarks um but I also wanted to highlight the AP um classes that we have the teachers have doing an amazing work um AP Spanish language from last year was at 88.8% passing rate and Spanish lit 92.7 passing rate as a former AP teacher I know how difficult these classes are and for the students native

028and non-native speakers to have these scores and have level fives on their AP exams is just amazing but again it's a whole team I say we have amazing teachers out there they are constantly working and um we have plc's for the AP World language teachers too so they're constantly collaborating and sharing best practice practices so we're celebrating National foreign language month and um I'm going to summarize the next two slides but learning a World Language it is a skill right to um really be proficient in the four domains of the language but it's also more than that it really helps our students gives them more opportunities for College and Career Readiness whether they're going to College University entrance exam like our wonderful invoker the tonai Sebastian which he forgot to mention he got a full

029scholarship for his four years of MIT based on uh everything that he has done academically um I really had the privilege of really talking to him a little bit more and he said you know I I folks will think that I knew everything about Spanish but I really didn't I learned it in my AP classes now I consider myself completely bilingual now I really I am proficient in the four domains of the language and with French too I said you didn't go on to AP French I find that so interesting he says well it's never too late who knows you know he was thinking about that but learning the world language is that pathway to really um being proficient in those competencies for College and Career Readiness the students are expanding on their communication skills

030their critical thinking inclusion leadership professionalism teamwork they do a lot of Cooperative work there in the world language classrooms technology always you already saw the World Language Labs there in the video they are still using them thank you for your support on that because we have had the labs now for about eight nine years now and they're still running the teachers are using them we're getting ready for our AP exams where those labs are being used um also career Pathways and self-development so it really helps the students once they graduate from suo County ker College wherever the student is going and all the job opportunities out there too that we know that really they're asking for bilingual employees out there so at this time I'm going to to let um our wonderful Vanessa Brewster take

031over yes okay so last month we celebrated our world languages festival and it was hosted at Lyman High School this gave the students enrolled in our world languages classes an opportunity to showcase the language that they're learning through this they did declamations impromptu skits art and they even had an entertainment section within the festival the students and teachers were bridging language while connecting with the community and making sure that they were showcasing not just the language itself but the culture our world languages overall winners was Hagerty High School and Markham Woods Middle School and we wanted to highlight the Markham Woods Middle School Spanish teacher who is the Florida state Spanish teacher Association teacher of the year so she won that this year and her kids who did participate in the world languages Festival one

032first place for the Middle School component we also had Katie KY Walla who is the American signed language teacher at Winter Springs High School she was our world languages teacher of the year so Katie is a big part of the Winter Springs ASL community and she's also part of the deaf and heart of hearing members she is part of many Innovative and engaging activities that makes these students continue continue wanting to enroll in the program our Esau students across the district had the opportunity to participate in our multilingual learner swelling beam this is where they had academic vocabulary words ac across content areas and we have rashika Sony who was our first place winner from heo elementary rashika has only been here for two years and she competed against other all students and won the

033first place then we have Leticia saspes who was the second place winner from stenstrom elementary on this slide you can see how we're bridging community and language together we have our French Tamil and Spanish represented on the screen and this is the entertainment portion of the world languages Festival we also have Alexa Lorenzo who is our bilingual journalist and was the MC of the program picture there with our superintendent in addition to the declamations skits and impromptu the students also have the opportunity to showcase the connections between culture and their language through ART we had 3D models posters multimedia videos across the entire Lyman cafeteria these were also judged but we just showcase a few of our favorites tonight um thank you as we celebrate our world languages tonight we'd like to also tell you

034about the Seal of biliteracy the Seal of biliteracy is an official designation from the state of Florida that is actually recognized on our students high school transcripts and is recognized by universities and colleges uh the Seal of by literacy recognizes a student's high level of Competency in Reading writing listening and speaking in a world language other than English this designation provides our students with an advantage whether they are pursuing post-secondary education joining the workforce or enlisting in the military colleges and universities may award scholarships give course credit or placement because of it and we all know the advantages of being bilingual and biliterate in the work in a competitive workplace uh so there are two levels of recognition for the Seal of biliteracy there's silver and there's gold earning to to earn the Silver Seal

035of biliteracy uh you can earn four credits in the same World Language with a minimum of a 3.0 GPA or a passing score on an AP or IB World Language exam the gold seal of biliteracy is earned by achieving the same four credits with the GPA requirement but on top of that you also must earn a four a level four or high higher on the 10th grade ELA fast assessment the second option for the gold would be to earn a f or higher on a world languages AP exam I'm sorry a four or higher on the AP exam or a five or higher on the IB exam um in 2024 we had 514 students earn the Seal of biliteracy and that's a 7% increase from 2023 in 2025 we are on track to meet or

036exceed that number from 2024 so we're going there um next month we will be celebrating the Seal of bil literacy recognition event ceremony at seal high school it's going to be on August 15th from I'm sorry not August April 15 from 6: to 8:00 pm and we hope that you will all be there to join us um but we know that all this recognition and these Awards don't happen by themselves we have our world languages teachers to thank for that um and as District here we also support them by providing them with resources to help them in their Endeavors so some of those resources are monthly newsletters plc's book studies and trainings such as the ones that you see on the images there um which include language and standards strategies I'm sorry World Language standards

037and strategies such as total participation techniques seven steps to a rich interactive foreign language classrooms interpersonal communication World Language lab training and a AP training on this next slide you'll see some of the offerings that are still upcoming for the remainder of the school year uh for example we have AP lab training which will help our students prepare for the AP exam uh we have best practices in the AP World languages classroom and then we also have World Language lab training for C seminal Academy for example and then also at Caroline Elementary which is one of our dual language schools back to miss Cardona I just want to mention some of the activities that are going on at the schools for in celebration of um world languages month um Hagerty High School already had their

038silent dinner at the OVO Mall um it was a huge success um a lot of participants participated in that our Japanese students from Lyman High School will be participating for the first time in the state um Japanese competition coming up in orl landel and our Spanish classes we have two high schools that will be participating in the Spanish state competition which those students that participated in the world language Festival already have been practicing for those um State competitions so good luck I know they're going to do great on those um competitions and then we're going to conclude with our dual language programs that is growing in SEO County liaris good evening I am liaris marero and I am a curriculum specialist today I am very excited to share with you how our dual language program

039support our learning student learning through a well structured instructional model we have nine schools um in grades from K through fifth and each year we add a grade level we also have around 1300 students enroll in the Dual language program the goal of the program is to empower and support our students to become bilingual biliterate and become uh Global Citizens our students receive um instructions in Spanish for Math and Science we ensure that students receive uh learning gains in the content area while maintaining a high academic standards we follow two instructional models we start with 90% of Spanish and then we gradually switch to a more um balanced model that is the 5050 and that way we ensure that the students develop Proficiency in both languages everything in our framework is aligned to the standards

040we just translate everything to Spanish for Math and Science and that way we ensure that we support our students our family and of course our teachers we also use mavas as a counterpart for wonders in that way we ensure that we have consistency with the English language arts um to continue to support our teachers we offer monthly plc's where they have that time to um share and collaborate um some best practices develop instructional strategies specifically for a bilingual setting we are also committed to stay update in a bilingual um education by actively participating in the National Association for bilingual education that is na we engage with the latest research we also attend to the conference and we learn new strategies and we connect with the experts in the field last year we had the opportunity

041to present in this um conference we had a great turnout our presentation was full and we received a lot of positive feedback so that's amazing additionally we have um five Educators that receed the digit digital batch from na and I I am one of those teachers that receed that um digital batch we spend 18 months learning through models we meet once a month with um a lot of Educators from National you know it will be from New York California Florida and we share um educational strategies and this um batch serve as a credential for our professional growth and expertise in our bilingual education and this may our students from fifth grade will receive uh the Dual language medals to celebrate their achievement in the program this is a special recognition for their hard work and

042dedication to being come a bilingual learning now in this table you can see our actual enrollment and we add in a grade level each year that's why you see Bendle Elementary with 40 students because they start this year with this School academic so they only have Kinder next year they will have first grade and I want to end my uh part sharing something that happened a few weeks ago I wasn't do a language classroom and the teacher was asking can you tell me some words that start with the letter A but she was speaking in Spanish and a student a student say Manana Manana start with the letter M and I was Manana and then I make that connection Manana in English start with the letter a apple and that's exactly what we want everything

043I know in Spanish I know it in English and everything I know in English I know it in Spanish and then we have that bridge that connection between this those two languages and that means that our dual language program is working exactly the way we want it and thank you for your dedication and support to the bilingual education and I love that story she came to the office just running to my office to tell me about the monsana which monsana in in English is Apple but the non-native speaker was able to make that connection it just came out monsana because he was thinking already in Spanish so our students are really making growth we have the data too our dual language classes are doing just amazing work with fast with science math we we are

044on the right track I do want to congratulate those teachers that finished the the digital badging that was a lot of hard work for 18 months at the national level and we have actually one of the first group from the state of Florida that are that batch um so there were teachers all the Dual language teachers from Eastbrook Elementary Wicklow and liadis so thank you amazing work and thank you board members for all your support this concludes our presentation I don't know if you all have any questions um but thank you for your support and thank you all for being here uh we really appreciate the great work that your team is doing I love that story too um member delinger do you have any questions okay member Davis Vice chair I just wanted to

045say thank you I had the honor of representing the board and joining you all at the um at the world languages festival and thank you so much director Cardona for spending so much time with me introducing me to the students allowing me to come in and EES drop on the competition uh I know with the the um young gentleman who was speaking about the impromptu speech earlier I got to see that in action which was fabulous so appreciated seeing the multi layered um approach to education you all just would have loved it um of course you saw some examples here um but the art and the food thank you so much for my delicious lunch I appreciate that and I also wanted to say a special thank you to all of the volunteers not just

046the um teachers that came on their day off to support the students but the student volunteers I had a great conversation with the Latinos in Action and they were so proud not just of the the work they do um in these in these festivals and special events but building a real uh Community which I know is especially important for um students that have come from a different country and may feel like a fish out of water um until they get their their bearings and there could be no greater Testament to um embracing different cultures and making sure that we have opportunities for all our students than the young man you brought this evening who's on his way to MIT but didn't speak um a word word of English just 10 years ago so thank you

047very much for providing all of these opportunities and thank you and the other teachers for taking advantage of the professional leadership and the opportunities that we are giving you as well um it's it's a great symbiotic relationship and I'm very proud to uh to support your efforts and no one can top that so thank you all thank you all very much thank you thank you so much thank you okay it's now time for uh board comments General uh we'll do the committee reports later in the meeting so let's start with U member dallinger thank you chair um all of us have been to many events over the last um five or six weeks since we met the last time and I won't go through that long list but I do want to mention two that

048I was involved in that um pretty much exemplify um our students and the things that they can accomplish and also the dedication of the teachers and the hard work and the planning that goes into what they do the first was the History Fair um as a former history teacher I love being a judge in that contest and so I was um and my category was websites and um I was just blown away by the topics that the kids chose and also their ability to articulate um their learning and how they learned and it was really uh wonderful and I feel really proud of them but also that they are going to be amazing citizens and participants in our society as we as they go on and become adults and members of the community and then

049the other one uh was I I had the time to go and sit in on some of the band MPA at um Lyman High School actually when to ha for one and and then to alignment for another and um I am a big lover especially of percussion so I really enjoyed watching those band students they're amazing if you close your eyes you would think you were at some you know amazing film you know orchestra concert somewhere but also our band directors they spend so much time working with these students and you know all the planning involved and getting them everywhere and their season is all year long and um it's just wonderful to hear them um I do want to take a minute to provide some information to the public in general and my purpose

050in doing so is just to make sure that parents and members of the community are aware of the facts the school district and its Personnel have nothing to do with decisions that parents make regarding their children's health or medical care children under the age of 18 cannot sent to any kind of medical or surgical procedure our schools are not hospitals or medical facilities they are schools Schoolboard policies related to students Health do not allow School Personnel to provide medical care of any kind including something as simple as giving a student a Tylenol without their parents consent parents are responsible for their children's health care and I wanted to make sure that that information was shared and also to encourage folks if they have questions to call their school principal or call student support services or

051go on to our website and look at the policies related to student health care they're all available there and anyone can read them at any time so that's my little public service announcement for tonight that's it chair okay thank you very much member Davis I just want to share thank you to our superintendent Serita Bean um we all here on the school board go to individual schools um she gives uh not only a teacher U but a member of the staff and a student spark Awards um every time she goes uh one of the members of the school board usually attends with her and during these visits we get to go around and see various classrooms um usually between 5 and 7 and the principal shows us around different levels um different great things that

052are occurring in the individual schools and uh this is the best part of being on the school board and I wanted to thank her for making this happen because we really do get a look um at what each local school is doing and how great the things are in each individual schools I know we go to um functions I know we go to um places where there's festivals and there's things on display and there's theater but this is the everyday grunt work that our teachers do every day um and the relationships that they build with their students um and that is just great to see all different kind of situations um it's not always the best of the best um it's not um you know prefabricated that you know they're practicing how they're going to

053behave I mean it's just real stuff um and I want to thank you for putting that all together and for also um giving those Awards out because I can see how much those students the teachers and and other staff really really appreciate it the favorite part of of our day I think job yeah I would agree hard to agree so thank you again thank you member Davis Vice chair U I want to say thank you Dr Dinger for letting me peek in on one of your um history uh presentations it was nice to see um nice to see the student in action and nice to see your expertise as well I I really appreciated the um direct questions you asked and looking for for uh deep research thank you uh for being a fly letting

054me be on a fly on thewall um I had the opportunity um to attend the allog together now conference in Tampa um and many of our PTA one of who is one of whom is here tonight um were in attendance um PTA we uh as a mom I know I often thought of the PTA as the people that were you know raising the raising the funds from the fund run and and you know holding the the um the the Scholastic Book Fairs and and those kinds of um fun though fun events but PTA is the longest running Children's Advocacy group in the country and they do real meaningful work in addition to do things like fun runs and Scholastic Book Fairs to um make sure that that our kids in individual schools have some extra

055perks but they do advocacy work to make sure that each and every child regardless of um regardless of their ability regardless of their zip code regardless of their special needs has what they need to succeed in school so I would like to say thank you for those valuable partners and to remind everybody that PTA is not just for parents it's also for community members members so I'm sure many of us have joined PTA some of us are parents and so we've we've joined those first but those Community memberships are open to everyone and we would love for anyone who has an interest in um Children's Advocacy to please join a local PTA so um thank you for that uh I had um several of us did had the chance to go and celebrate at the

056math Festival thank you to teaching and learning and especially to um assistant superintendent fison um and our all of our elementary assistant superintendant for making that a joyous day 500 plus students on a Saturday got together for seven hours to for math for Math and they were just thrilled so um really excited to see to see that I was invited to Winter Springs um High School to uh to have a discussion with the wellness club um which works in conjunction with Ali's hope to uh make sure that we provide um mental health supports and information for students so that was really informative and I appreciate um I don't often get to peek over to Winter Springs High School uh and so that was nice to be there and I just want to say a special

057thank you to of course Papa GNE our principal as well as all the other folks there um and two more quick things I uh am starting my wrap which is reading acceleration program um volunteerism at Pine Crest Elementary in this last nine weeks if you have any time Talent OR treasure that you would like to share with our students in seminal County I promise you we will put it to good use I've been passionate about Early Childhood literacy and so um Dr guard heral at Pine Crest has given me the opportunity to work directly with students um our community involvement team has loads of ways you can get involved um feel free to reach out to any of us if you'd like ideas this a perfect time to start start thinking about it as we

058head into summer um and then get the get the um get your game going in the fall uh finally I we many of us were able to attend the leadership or I'm sorry um the um state of the county and where we were reminded and um proud to be recognized as the key economic driver SEMO County Public Schools to our region our a-rated high- performing Premier School District continues to be the primary reason why people move to seminal County and I want to say thank you all for entrusting us with the education of your children if um if you've got good stories to tell please share them if there are challenges please share with us because it is our responsibility and honor to make sure that every single student under our charge gets the education

059that he or she needs and with that I just wanted to write as a as a public service wanted to remind everyone that in our constitution the Florida Constitution Article 9 reads the education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida it is therefore a Paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform efficient safe secure and high quality system of free public schools that allow students to obtain a highquality education and for the establishment maintenance and operation of institutions of Higher Learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require thank you for your time thank you Vice chair I have just a a

060couple of quick things um we are all looking forward to the girls Summit coming up um that is always a fabulous day and so meaningful so um wanted to remind everybody about that um kindergarten registration is ongoing please tell your friends Neighbors um enrollment numbers are lower than they were at this point last year so we'd like to encourage you to get the word out I don't know if there was a baby boom because of covid or something but I don't know but we we're registering your kindergarteners um I had the opportunity to join our supervisor of elections and go to hegerty high school where we registered and pre-registered voters um and there were over 200 uh students that part participated and I just wanted to thank um the supervisor for for doing that for

061our for our kids in high school um they also got the first chance ever to she she made had made a um sample ballot with one Constitutional Amendment question that was a trick question and essentially the whole um student body voted for more homework which is not really what they wanted so she shared the important of needing to really research the ballots and um I just feel very fortunate that I was included in that um opportunity I would also like to thank um our Sheriff's Department Captain Shaw specifically um Sanford PD and other officers for their collaboration over the weekend I know they've worked tirelessly for our district and the safety of all of our students and teachers and just I couldn't Let It Go without saying thank you we appreciate you okay and with

062that we'll move along here it is now time for public comment agenda items Vice chair if you could read the statement please the purpose of the public participation segments of the board meeting is to allow the public to address matters within the board's jurisdiction and not to resolve individual grievances or disputes public comments related to education the board agenda and the District are welcome and encouraged but public comment segments are not forums to engage in personal attacks against school system employees or board members to maintain orderly conduct the public comment segments of the meeting may not be used as open forums to discuss matters unrelated to education to support or oppose candidates for Public educ public office including presentation of political Andor campaign issues announcing candidacy Andor campaigning or or to engage in commercial speech

063attempting to sell a service or product to the board or public nor are they forums to address matters involving disciplinary actions of any kind pending claims complaints or litigation against the district or District Personnel public comment segment durations are as follows agenda items limited to 3 minutes one group representative speaking on a proposition maximum of 6 minutes speaker must remain on to topic for agenda item proposition non-agenda items limited to 2 minutes speakers shall direct their comments only to the board and may not address the audience or other speakers no speaker May yield his or her time to any other person generally substitution of speakers will not be allowed thank you Vice chair uh when I call your name if you'll please come up to the podium I'm going to list the first three names

064um Matt Morgan your first please followed by Barbara Beasley then lesle kersen bomb uh the podium right here by Jill thank you one day one day they'll make a s foot microphone I swear um I'm a longwood City uh commissioner Matt Morgan and also uh Central Florida special needs free Advocate uh for any of our special needs families that need help I'm a autism dad of a non-verbal autistic son named Jackson and I'm here uh I wanted just to speak about what was said earlier about we can't uh D give directives toward medical Etc I just want to remind the school board here the superintendent your attorney you're their boss not the other way around and with this latest lawsuit against um uh Hayden White an 8-year-old special needs student Mr Morgan I'm sorry um

065may I have a point of clarification can we discuss someone else's lawsuit no Madam chair pursuing to the policy 169.000 which was just read it is not the proper form in which to address any personal matters of that type certainly General statements about concerns regarding educational matters including ESC General educational issues can be addressed but not the actual litigation information and personal information you can make it in more general just general terms without you so I'm not allowed to come here and stick up for the special needs kid that's being sued no I'm ask this is not the correct form for addressing personal matters as was read to you earlier regarding the policy what would be the proper form the form in which it is currently sitting which is an active litigation so at the

066end of the meeting during two minutes worth of public partici active litigation sir not at the school board meeting this is not the correct form okay you guys could keep hiding this but you guys are in five elected officials at three of five of you I know and I love you to death you guys have hearts bigger than you are tall you guys are better than this stop listening to your attorney stop listening to your super attendant do the right thing for this boy thank you Barbara Beasley followed by lesie kersen bom got to lower that microphone quite a bit yeah um good good evening board Miss bean and gathered citizens as a policy advocate for people with disabilities and the parent of two former scps students with multiple neuros spicy diagnoses I refuse to

067stay silent any longer about the escalating crisis within scps regarding exceptional student education since January alone undeniable evidence of abuse blatant violations of laws designed to protect children with diverse abilities and guarantee their right to education under fape and retaliatory actions by the this board and superintendent against some of the most medically and academically vulnerable children in this County have piled up this is unacceptable let's be clear while you've gutted the behavior and curriculum support team bcst and restricted programs like reading Eggs to elll students only sending a loud message that equity and equality don't apply to all you somehow found taxpayer money to fund an vindictive lawsuit aimed at bankrupting a family point of order okay I'll move on scps loves to boast the best District in the area maybe even the state but

068that's a hollow claim when you're failing the weakest Among Us with an ese population nearing 25% your neglect doesn't just hurt those children it drags down this entire Community if you let this continue the state and National Spotlight will turn on you here's what I would like to see happen reinstate critical resources like bcst and ensure Equitable access to programs like reading Eggs for all students who need them no more selective Cuts drop the retaliatory issues equip our teachers with the tools and trainings they need to succeed and then respect their professional expertise instead of undermining it this isn't a request it's a mandate from a community that's watching tell us right here tonight how you'll fix this lay out your timeline and your plan because vague promises won't cut it anymore accountability starts now

069and we won't back down until we see results thank you thank you lesie chis bomb followed by Michelle manella good evening good evening everybody good evening board members I'm here because this board's priorities are a disgrace when it comes to our special needs kids let's start with my son autistic brilliant and thriving he's th driving because of a program called Reading Eggs a program that's lighting him up helping him learn and grow every day but guess what I'm not I'm the one footing the bill me out of my pocket why because this District thing special needs kids like mine aren't worth the investment oh but the typical kids the normal ones you've got no issue funding it for them tell me and explain why my son's progress and future doesn't matter match your budget why

070is he less than he's not a second class student and I'm done with him being treated like one we're not asking for handouts we're demanding fairness you've got the money use it for all of our excuse me all our kids not just the ones who fit your neat little boxes speaking of failing our kids let's talk about how you're testing these ESC students the programs you're using they're a disaster these kids our autistic kids our special needs kids are failing left and right and it's not because they can't learn it's because your tests and your systems are garbage they don't work they don't engage reading eggs does a program that is good for children ages through through 2 through 13 it's proven that it clicks with autistic brains and gets results my son's living proof

071but instead of making that the standard you stick with junk that sets them up to crash and fail why are you too lazy to change too cheap you're not just dropping the ball you're rigging the game against them and it's infuriating and then there's this other outrage using our taxpayer dollars to drag a special needs family back to court they fought for their child one and judge ruled am I not allowed to say the blanket statement that's the obvious the judge ruled yes the kids the kid gets the accommodations ma'am this is not the form to address a specific matter regarding the complaint that is already in active litigation okay well you're spending my money our money to fight that ruling to claw back not the appropriate Forum you can't hand being told you're wrong

072personal matter well because you'd rather what waste cash that supports a kid who needs it that's not just Petty it's vile you're punishing a family that's already battled enough this is not the appropriate form to address the personal matter if you would like to make the general comment that you started off with by all means address the general concerns that you have regarding any ESC matters okay I'm glad you guys are saying that on statement that they don't want to talk about it well but wait here's the kicker while you're burning our taxpayer money on that you've got the nerve to slip in pay raises for staff counsel quiet are you kidding me you're rewarding the lawyers who fight our kids with a ni bonus ABS has expired thank you have a nice day Michelle

073manella followed by David White followed by Nina Samberg order please good evening good evening good evening board and good good evening superintendent ban um to pick up on what lesle was saying it is a shocking use of our tax tax dollars to put in a very large raise for the district um attorney rather than focusing on where it really needs to go the rank and file staff the teachers the um teaching assistants the students themselves and you really need to re-evaluate how this county is spending money or how you are spending the taxpayer dollars that have been given to you you mentioned earlier the enrollment is down because people I think that that is because people are very disappointed especially with how special needs students are treated in this District this is a widespread problem

074there should be a lot more parents coming forward and giving examples of what has happen to their students their their special needs students in this District but they are afraid to because of retaliation this is something that is a huge problem in this district has been a huge problem for years and it really needs to be addressed these are vulnerable students they have a right to be educated properly to have their medical needs accommodated and you are not doing so this is not going to sit well with the taxpayers of this County myself included thank you thank you David White followed by Nina Sandberg followed by Jessica tman good evening good evening before I get started can I get clarification on your policy um M attorney your policy advises that you cannot speak regarding pending

075claims complaints or litigation against the district I believe they're speaking about something that you're the petitioner in so please it also states there show may not be complaints it also addresses Beyond just litigation against the district yeah I've got the policy up in front of me yes sir and therefore personal complaints and matters is not the correct form in which to address it if you'd like to speak to any general concerns that you have regarding ESC Matters by all means do so okay your policy specifically States against the district or District Personnel you actually file this is not the correct form to address personal matters okay or complaints however if you have General concerns regarding ESC matters and educational purpose by all means say your comment okay good evening board members my name is David

076White and I'm here tonight not only as a father but as an advocate for my son and for every family in this District whose F whose child's future is impacted by the policies you approve I want to address agenda item e the student progression plan because for too long this board has simply accepted the recommendations of District staff without truly considering the voices of the families these plans affect that must change my son Hayden medically complex and disabled his education his health and even his survival depend on carefully grafted plans plans that this district has repeatedly ignored altered or refused to follow I'm going to skip the portion about the law lawsuit that you filed against my son this is not how student plans should be developed this is not how families should be treated

077right now this board is being asked to approve changes to the student progression plan but I ask you have you personally reviewed how these changes impact children have you sought input from families affected by your policies or are you simply taking the word of District staff assuming they always get it right because I can tell you from firsthand experience they don't always get it right and when they don't children suffer I implore this board to stop blindly approving plans that impact children without first hearing from the families those plans affect the policies you approve directly determine whether students especially those with medical needs get the support they need to succeed I am asking you to hold off on approving changes until you review them yourself thank you thank you Nina Sandberg followed by Jessica tman

078please good evening I'm Nina Sandberg I would like to see what your student progression plans are for the wide variety of students with disabilities the students who have mental physical and medical disabilities and the students who have learning disabilities scps has a very long and ugly history of deliberately and intentionally preventing students who have disabilities from progressing scps denies reasonable accommodations to denies the proper instruction and even denies medical accommodations scps deliberately and intentionally refuses to follow IEPs 504s and even instructions given to them by doctors of disabled students scps tries to get disabled students out of the school system by doing all kinds of retaliation in order to deny the students with disabilities their free appropriate public school education for at least eight years or more scps has attacked the handicapped Community instead of

079trying to serve the handicapped Community professionally ethically honestly and legally I am a former teacher with both scps and ocps and I was personally taught that what scps is doing to these special needs children is a violation of their civil rights it is also a violation of professional ethical standards of the Public School teaching profession it is a violation of the rules governing IEPs in the State of Florida and it certainly constitutes a type of child abuse since a district is denying a medically fragile child his nurse to keep his him safe at school ma' the district is denying this child Fai address his opportunity to progress not appropriate form and you have been warned to stop addressing thank you have a nice night Jessica tman thank you Jeff good evening good evening my name

080is Jessica Tillman first I want to say thank you for um adding exemption information to your DTaP notification to middle schoolers so thank you for that um in simal County the district Prides itself on being a nationally recognized District number one District in the State of Florida Le leading in education Florida is leading in education however one of the largest issues in scps is you have a su us mentality with most things but specifically with our special needs families special needs families are refused services regularly most families cannot spend $30,000 to sue for a device worth $1,200 Time After Time special needs Advocates hold press conferences to bring awareness to the systemic abuse to special needs Learners with no change it seems like every board meeting there's at least one special needs family speaking up

081asking for their kids to be supported you pretend to care for face but turn your backs as soon as the cameras stop rolling you claim to support all students you claim to be a nationally recognized number one a-rated District so prove it prove that you care about these special needs kids prove that we don't have to continue litigation prove you are leading the way not leaving special kid special needs kids Behind not just running around a car pumping up the tires on a used car to make the sale we are not buying it anymore earlier today the district was presented with graduation rates which have on have been on a slow decline for a few years now getting closer and closer to the state average if the district spends our tax dollars on education and

082not litigation maybe our kids could read and do math instead the district continues to waste our P tax pay doll do better I also want to bring the attention to two of the several job descriptions on the agenda the first item J manager one human resources this job description is being changed to lower the education required while also raising the pay grade how does that make sense how is that saving the district money the other item is ax staff Council what what is the last minute agenda item changing also the pay grade is being raised so you spend all of our tax money not only to force families to sue the district but also lining the pockets of those spending the time in litigation with our families and community members we went from a board

083that traditionally follows the law to a board more concerned with Sue with suing families no matter the law this is what happens when you have a Dei attorney as a superintendent I am the chapter chair for moms Liberty s County point of order that was a personal attack on our superintendent and I don't think that that is following our policy that is not in line with the policy that is correct simal has had a chapter since August of 2021 our mission at moms for Liberty is dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying educating and empowering parents to defend parental rights at all levels of government our vision is that Americans Empower and thrive in a culture of Liberty thank you thank you that concludes our public comment section we are now up

084to the uh consent agenda superintendent do you have a recommendation yes I do that the consent agenda be approved as presented board members so moved thank you moved by member Dinger second by member Davis is there any discussion regarding the agenda okay all those in favor signify by saying I I I any post thank you the motion passes okay we are now um no no items removed for separate consideration superintendent do you have a recommendation on discipline hearings yes I do that the school board of Simo County approved the student disciplinary recommendations from 1 27 2025 23 2025 210 2025 218 2025 and 224 2025 thank you is there a motion to approve so moved and a second second any discussion all in favor please signify by saying I I I any post motion passes

085uh we have no unfinished B business um item 10 to superintendent do you have a recommendation on a new business item I do that the school board of Sao County adopt the instructional materials recommendations of the social studies adoption committee for advanced placement US history and authorized the superintendent to purchase the committee's choice thank you board members do I have a motion motion is there a second second thank you any discussion there's a little joke inside joking down here I thought I thought that our I thought Dr Dinger with her um history uh experience would would want to do that thank you any further discussion all in favor please signify by saying I I I any oppos motion passes superintendant do you have a report I do there's a number of items that are read

086only but Captain Shaw will come to give a the quarterly school safety report and so if there he is thank you Captain welcome thank you all um good evening board members and superintendent quarterly the Department of Education Office of school safe schools will provide a statistical report for compliance visits conducted at Simo County Schools as requested by Florida statute 1000 6.07 the school safety specialist must provide the superintendent and school board at least quarterly any non-compliance by the school district with laws or rules regarding school safety during Quarter Two 16 schools were inspected by the Department of Education one school inspected had no school safety requirement deficiencies documented which represent 6.25% of the number of inspected schools all other documented deficiencies were easily resolved and corrected in a timely manner thank you for your time

087thank you so much captain and uh superintendent did you have a special special comments I do thank you I I know that um you all are aware that um SCP s recently lost a a member of our Simo County Public Schools family Mr net Julian uh Mr Julian is the the longest serving School Board attorney in our District's history I believe as he provided legal counsel to the district and to the school board for 38 years before his retirement Mr Julian passed away on February 11th and his celebration of life service will take place on the 14th on Friday m k i respectfully request that we have a moment of silence um in honor of Mr Julian's exemplary service to the the district to the school board to the students um throughout cimo County and

088um just take a moment for his absolutely board members thank you um okay it's now time for board comments I would just like to add I received uh written comments from Member Sanchez um it's believed that she should report on that at our next meeting so I will not be reading those um we'll start with uh member Dinger do you have any committee updates I do I've now attended at least one meeting of the Committees I'm assigned to um uh business Advisory Board met last week and um the work continued on their deep dive into custodial services and they hope to have a tentative timeline to provide feedback by the 1st of August if not sooner than that I'm also the central Florida school board's Coalition met and they are working on their 2025 legislative

089priorities and and then advocating during the session and then finally um I am now the chair of the audit committee and if you didn't read the 200 and something page report that's in this um board book I'd like to make a couple of comments first um Mr pavle and Miss grovich reported on this uh annual comprehensive Financial report and um our audit firm RSM did not report any findings but I would like to share some noteworthy comments from this report I think it's important because I don't really think that public the public necessarily reads this 278 page report um to to just mention a couple of things um simal County Public Schools is the 13th largest school district in the state of Florida and 57th nationally the average age of the district schools is 31

090years we have some that are older than that um the Florida Department of Education reports that scps has among the lowest administrative cost Statewide and was ranked among the best in the state for energy and transportation efficiency that really speaks to the work that our people do simol County School Board is the largest employer in the county with almost 7,000 full-time employees with the newly approved Penny sales tax over the next 10 years simal County will receive an estimated $325 million all of which will be used to support capital projects and it's important to share also for the for transparency that over the last year and a half audits have been completed with no findings for data protection student discipline set management and people soft assessment and I'd also like to thank you to our

091finance department which has been awarded a certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting for 23 years and will more than likely receive it again this year so congratulations to them for an outstanding report thank you thank you so much member Davis um our next Children's Alliance which will include the children's cabinet um will be on March 19th so I'm hoping we'll we'll have some updates from them thank you Vice chair uh superintendent and I had the opportunity to um attend the foundation Retreat which was quite an honor uh there was a great breakout session keynote speaker and I'd like to say a special thank you to Triple A who hosted uh hosted the event um it's fabulous to have such uh dedicated Partners um that know the the work that's going on um in

092our district each and every day for every student so I would like to say thank you thank you to um thank you to uh Jean Van Smith for her outstanding leadership um I also had the uh opportunity to join Dr shanard heral I um was invited by Kelly asro who is the senior VP of United Way to uh join the committee uplifted which Dr guard Harold currently serves on this is um working with United Way of Central Florida in order to make sure that our um our students uh have are on path to receive college degrees or hire um certifications uh so I look forward to that work and the leadership of Dr guard Herold um we uh did not get to go to our uh Goldsboro meeting this month um had a conflict but

093the UN the UIA Gala was this weekend so though wasn't a committee it was great to be among um other folks throughout the county who are putting Education First and making sure that we we're able to serve our students particularly our most vulnerable student populations who need an extra lift so that was a um a great event and finally uh this is women's history month and um on Friday uh my mom will be 85 years old and so I would like to say happy birthday to my mom and how this Rel is she was the first person in our family to attend college her uh she attained a two-year degree which inspired my grandmother to go back to school who also earned her associates degree and at 85 my mom still works full-time and is

094a great reminder to all of us that no matter our age or station in life we can be productive and useful members of society so happy birthday Mom I love that thank you thank you so much um the D way Society met today so obviously um I was here and not there I will provide minutes from that meeting um the Orlando Science Center met last week um their neighborhood science program is in Jeopardy it is a grant from the federal government um that they issued a stop work because um the the last Administration issued the grant with for underserved communities and they wrote the response in that manner um it serves the boys and girls club and another area so it's at Jeopardy of losing its funding um so we talked about that they also

095did get the approval from Orange County government um they're going to enclose their patio outside the um outside the patio area so expand their space so we're excited about that I serve on the federal the fsba federal advocacy committee um they met and um made recommendations that then go to the advocacy me uh committee regarding um the national legislative priorities priorities through kosa and um so then after the advocacy committee digests it then they will send it to the board of directors who will present it at the annual conference um we need to stay tuned about that and those were all of my committees this month um it is now time for public comments non-agenda items and each speaker will be allowed two minutes uh nah Sandberg lesie kersin bomb David White first three speakers

096I'm Nina sanberg scps is guilty of massive waste Fraud and Abuse of taxpayer dollars which it is wasting in its legal department scps is engaging in legal activities that the taxpaying citizens do not approve of and that the district has no business engaging in the legal department in scps needs to be gutted and doed and these attorneys who are wasting our money to engage in malicious activities need to be fired the money that scps is wasting in its legal department needs to be reallocated to the exceptional education department to service the students with disabilities instead scps needs to have a properly functioning civil rights compliance office that monitors civil rights and other compliance violations in the district and that re rectifies the situations where violations are happening before these situations ever escalate into litigation in

097addition scps needs to hire a superintendent who is a former classroom teacher and a former principal and who has a Doctorate in Education and who is properly trained in teaching in a classroom and who knows what they are doing thank you thank you Lesly K bomb followed by David White followed by Rael Molina good evening board members hello again scps I'm back because this board's priorities RS and it's our kids paying the price two High School scheduling prom on the first night of passover dozens of Jewish kids and families were sidelined and they'll be unable to celebrate their last High School dance missing their prom because this Bo board dropped the ball and don't tell me it was an accident the jcrc of Orlando hands a calendar and lays it out clear as day here

098are the high holidays don't schedule anything big don't mess this up you had one job to check it but you didn't you ignored it and now our kids miss out that's just not an oversight it's a slap in the face and unacceptable they said you had it excuse me you had it in your hands and you ignored it that's not a mistake that's arrogance it's telling those kids those families and their faith doesn't matter that they don't belong well they do matter every single one and you failed them this isn't just a scheduling glitch it's an exclusion and it's wrong please I hope you guys look into this and fix it respect our families make it right we shouldn't let this slide thank you thank you David White followed by Raquel Molina followed by Jessica

099telman [Music] good evening again good evening well you already know my name you already know about my son I just spoke about it earlier um I'm going to State a few things from public record um is there an objection to that ma'am I am not aware of what you're going to State sir until you state it public final order I'm not aware what you're going to State sir until you state it okay um my child requires one-on-one nursing 15 Physicians are in agreement with that and two of them have written letters me being here is not just about my child since speaking out dozens of families have come together and we've determined that simol County doesn't want to do what's right by the child Simo County Public Schools is failing students with disabilities you ignoring

100medical directives you are forcing families into unnecessary legal battles and you are spending taxpayer dollars to fight against the very children you are supposed to serve you are hiring or you have hired you have not served you have hired an outside council with taxpayer funds to fight a family here my family here in Simo County there if you're addressing a litigation that's ongoing please keep moving um you claim you're not allowed to talk to doctors and you haven't been allowed to speak with doctors however every form you have 157 the isap the medical management plan every bit of it has verbiage in it that advises you can speak to doctors every bit of it this is a pattern Simo County makes families fight for their what their children are legally entitled to how many more

101parents will have to go through what we have you have a choice to make you can keep fighting us keep draining resources and keep risking children's lives thank you your time has expired thank you Raquel Molino followed by Jessica telman followed by Thomas bugos good evening good evening I'm trying very hard to maintain a positive attitude but seeing the things occurring in the in the ES department and the fullblown retaliation against the white family it's very disappointing scps has gone so low it's beyond repair fortunately scps is getting exposed for breaking the special education re and retaliation laws and for not enforcing your own policies and procedures if retaliation is a federal crime and the office for civil rights is just a neutral fact-f finding organization ation who unfortunately can't punish the school system then

102who prosecutes retaliation cases retaliation denile of fape predetermination gaslighting in IEP meetings and bullying Etc seems to be systemic issues that needs to be addressed and the culprits should be prosecuted for breaking the laws your dirty tactics is so is to discourage parents and employees complaints because you want the complaintants to know that they won't be taken seriously and run the risk of becoming the targets right speaking for myself I don't care if I'm a Target or not because once you treat our most vulnerable children like a second class Citizen and cover up abuse this mama here will stand up against the world to protect our kiddos from Injustice I'm sure you guys will do the same hopefully scps please please please do better for your students and ethical caring teachers you have a lot

103of good ethical caring teachers and you're treating them like crap as well do better thank you Jessica Tillman followed by Thomas pgos good evening Jessica tman Dei is a major issue within scps it shouldn't be a point of order to point out the reasoning for Miss Krauss you choosing Miss Beaman as the superintendent in your words you chose Serita so children could see people in power that look like them not my words yours the job description of the Deputy superintendent States this position is responsible for excellence and Equity the Strategic plan represents excellence and Equity we should not be focused on student races and it should and and it is race to strategically seek out staff of a particular race over another policy 2131 excellence and Equity Excellence is the best outcome for each student

104Equity means equal outcomes you cannot have Excellence if you have Equity I encourage this this District to discuss executive orders provided by the president there is one for only one flag but also one that removes all Dei from K through 12 schools I look forward to this board having robust discussion on this thank you thank you Mr buos good evening good evening good evening SCS board scps board and superintendent bean I am Thomas Joe bugas thei and for almost two years now I have served as president of the simal Education Association in that time I have witnessed how our educators are too often disrespected and treated as if they were not professionals I recently a nursing director looked directly at me and say you may not understand but nurses in the medical field uphold their

105Professional Standards as if Educators do not or worse if they are incapable of understanding what professionalism means I had an administrator looked directly at me and closed a locked door in front of me as if I as a teacher and the union president was not worthy I've had I've been talked down to simply because I am a teacher and the union president recently I had a principal and an AP look directly at me and say that they can't uphold Professional Standards because of the Union as a union president my goal is to change that to ensure that simal County teachers are recognized as the highly trained professionals they are and that our profession is upheld to the highest standards from the top down because we all know it is the leaders that set the example

106for all others to follow before I became a teacher I served as a United States Marine and one of my jobs was an aviation quality assurance inspector in the military profession professionalism was not an option it was the standard there was no room for carelessness or excuses to professionalism means upholding the highest standards at all times whether in aviation medicine or education the same expectation must be exist exist in our schools let me be clear Professional Standards are the foundation of everything a teacher does just as in quality assurance and nursing there is no room for mediocracy and education teachers follow evidence-based practices to shape lives just as nurses follow them to save lives the difference in education Professional Standards are too often ignored dismissed or worse politicized as Union president I am committed to

107ensuring the Professional Standards are not just thank you your time has expired you have written notes you can give it to the clerk yes you can leave your comments if you choose to okay thank you um any final comment superintendent no just wishing everyone a a very um good spring break some rest and then come back to for that last Dash to the the end of the school year thank you board members any comments I would just like to wish our board clerk a happy birthday this past week celebrate our birthday happy birthday Jeff love you and Abby feel better enjoy spring break everybody this meeting is adjourned e