001welcome to the Orange County School Board's work session which has been scheduled today, Thursday, May 8th, 2025 for the purpose of discussing BEDH, public input at schoolboard meetings, KCE ethics and lobbying policy and JCA assignment of students to school. The public will not have an opportunity to participate in this work session to provide public comment because this is this is not a regularly scheduled schoolboard meeting. No action will be taken and there will be no open public comment period in which the public normally addresses the school board on relevant topics that are related to the work of the board. Thank you so much for being with us. you few in the audience. I am vice chair Bird. We have member Salamanca, member Ferrant, member Douglas, member Vanos, member Gallo, and member Felder. Hello. Chair Jacobs
002is on the phone, I believe. Chair Jacobs, are you with us? Oh, okay. She's not on the line. As a reminder, board members will not be engaging in outside electronic or digital communication during the meeting so we can focus on the matters immediately before us. To my fellow board members and district staff when speaking, please make sure your microphone is turned on and speak directly into it so that our viewers can hear you clearly. Again, thank you for participating and attending today's meeting. We are going to start with a moment of silence and the pledge of allegiance. And now for the pledge. 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. Okay, I'm
003going to turn it over to Dr. Vasquez. thank you, Madame Vice Chair. We will start today's policy reviews with policy BH public input at schoolboard meetings. for those that are listening in or tuning in, the board has had discussion on this particular policy at a previous work session. Our general counsel, Mr. Palarini, is bringing back changes that were discussed at that meeting and he will present them at this time. Mr. Palmerini. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Members of the board, good morning. policy. Beedh is our public participation and public input at schoolboard meetings policy. we've made some changes as you all know, but for anybody who's listening, we've had a pilot program for the last year or so with regard to how we do our public comment at our 4:00 meeting and then how we do
004public comment in our regular school board meetings. and what most of this policy is meant to do is to put into the policy what we've been doing as part of the pilot program. So, I'm not going to go over in great detail. I'm just going to say u a couple things. One, we've changed pre-aggenda meeting to open public comment period. That's done all over this policy, so I'm not going to go over all of that. the other things of note, the open public comment period in paragraph B here on your screen shall begin 1 hour prior to the regularly scheduled meeting. That's what we've been doing. So it just codifies it and conclude no later than 45 minutes after commencing. you all have had a 45minute public comment period. So it just codifies that concern.
005and in paragraph C here it says, if you want to provide public comment prior to the for the school board's consideration at the regular meeting, public hearing or rule development workshop, you can send an email to public comment at OCPS 5:00 p.m. the day before. Again, as we discussed, the reason why is 5:00 p.m. the day before so we can, as our staff can have time to get them, gather them, and send them to you so you can read them before the school board meeting. and then scrolling down here. let's see. Excuse me. the public open public comment period only occurs during a pre-aggenda meeting before a regularly scheduled meeting. We only do that prior to a regularly scheduled meeting. You all know that, but in case the public is wondering about that. And then
006paragraph 2C, this is the period where we allow speakers from the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, Orange Education Support Professionals Association, and the Orange County Association of School Administrators. so each of those groups gets three minutes during the regular agenda period to speak if they wish to do it. That was part of the pilot program. We're adding it in because the board indicated it wanted to keep that period. a lot of time for speakers. As we said, it's up to 45 minutes for each speaker. if we have between 1 and 10 speakers, they'll each get three minutes. If we have between 11 and 20 speakers, the speakers will get two minutes. And if we have 21 plus speakers, they'll each get one minute. And we have a priority list of who gets to speak in
007what order. Of course, parents, legal guardians, students, and employees are priority one. Residents of Orange County are priority two, and anybody who does not reside in Orange County is priority three. we got rid of the provision that says we would take telephone comment during the public input period because that was a leftover remnant from the time when we had COVID and people were calling in. We are not doing that anymore. signing up to speak. this is obviously done through the electronic system that we have. if the electronic system were to somehow have issues, we also have the ability for folks to sign up with cards, but it's mostly through the electronic system at this point. And then relevant topics is the portion where we made the change and we had debate on it last time.
008So want to get the board's input. the relevant topics that we do not allow during or the topics we do not allow during the public input period or the public comment period is as follows. We added pending litigation. We have always prohibited folks from speaking about pending litigation. When the chair gave her remarks, she would say, "We're not addressing pending litigation. We're actually just making sure that the policy reflects what our long-standing practice has been." And then the other one is the new provisions that were added as a result of the case that we discussed previously the last time. And so this is certainly language that you all will need to give your input on. it was about whether or not people can speak about employees. And as you remember the case that we discussed
009Moms for Liberty versus Bvard public schools said that you know teachers and employees if you have the comment period open they can get addressed and they can get addressed negatively. As you remember what the court said giving offense is a viewpoint and you can't engage in viewpoint discrimination. So the language that we crafted would be closing the field entirely on about students andor employees. So it would say comments prohibited topics include comments and behavior about the behavior and performance of individual employees and comments about the behavior and academic performance of individual students. I want to be clear this would prohibit both good and bad comments. It would close the field entirely about comments about individual employees and individual students, good or bad. because if you allow the good comments, you have to allow the bad
010comments. And so that is the language that I crafted coming out of the board's discussion, what I thought represented the general consensus. I know there may or may not be full consensus on that, but you all need to that's the discussion point you all are going to have to engage in whether or not you want this language or not. And then down here in the code of civility you know we say that the speakers will abide by the code of civility to the extent it does not conflict with the right of a speaker to state his or her viewpoint consistent with current federal law. This was you know just to ensure that if people want to speak negatively about a policy or about a direction of the that the board is taking in general that
011they have the ability to do that and not have it be considered a code of civility violation. So this is meant to ensure that we're consistent with people's first amendment right to come to the board and address their grievances to the board. and then I think the rest of the changes in this policy is just changing the nomenclature to open public comment period. So, I'm going to scroll back up to the language which I think is going to be the discussion point and I will now turn it over to the board for any comments or questions they may have. Thank you, Mr. Pomearini. we have member Gallo first. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, I can't even do it with a straight face because I the first thing I was going to say is I would
012like I would like people to be able to submit their willingness to speak at till 5:05 p.m. and not just 5:00 p.m. Do you allow five? I'm just teasing. I told John I was going to give him a hard time. So, yeah, back on track. it's it's just so much fun having him sitting in front of us versus beside us. so on the comments, I want to I just want to make sure that I'm I understand. So, when we talk when we're closing the loop and I understand that we have to do it both ways. that is for individual speakers or would that apply to comments by the board as well? I know we're not going to have negative comments, but I know a lot of times we share stuff about our schools, about the
013principles, blah blah blah. Will we still be allowed to do that? So, I think you all will be able to say as part of your remarks, making comments about congratulations to this principal or that principal. This is meant for folks coming in to address you. So it's the speakers who come up during the open public comment period to say you know this is unfortunate you know Mrs. Palmerini is a great ma art teacher just pulling an example at random you know that would be prohibited because you know that another member of the public should have the right to come in and say Mrs. Palmerini is not a great teacher and here's why and that's the concern that I think the board members had with this is well Mrs. Pomerini doesn't necessarily know that she's going
014to, you know, somebody's going to come in and criticize her and in a public meeting and maybe what they say about her is true or not true. And so those comments probably are best addressed with school administration if that fails than with the principal leader of that particular school and then on up the chain before it's done in a public meeting like that. So, this is designed for anybody coming to speak over at to you all during the open public comment period to not have these matters addressed in the first instance. Criticisms especially, but if you're going to prohibit criticisms, you're going to have to prohibit the good stuff as well. No, that's understandable. But it would not preclude cuz preclude anybody from coming up and say I really love my art teacher or I
015really I mean if you don't mention names cuz we allow that on the negative side too. I mean if someone come up and doesn't specifically mention a name and say I there's a teacher that's doing blah blah blah blah. As long as they don't mention the school or the name, we usually don't we usually don't ask them to stop talking or to right refrain. It would depend on the nature of it. Right. So, let's say it was, you know, I love my child's art teacher. They're great. You wouldn't necessarily know what school that is. You wouldn't necessarily know who that is. My child's art teacher at Wolf Lake Elementary is horrible because she does this. That's identifiable. That's identifying, right? So, it depends on how they phrase it. And I would suspect that the chair
016would ask for my assistance if I thought the policy was being violated for me to step in and say, "Madam chair, I think this violates the policy that we have." Okay. Thank you. And I support this change in language. I know we had a discussion about what to do, what we could do in light of the recent litigation. However, I I stand by that. that's an operational and doesn't really fall under governance. And I think that through that we can say no, this is this isn't the place. We're not going to discuss it here. You have to go, you know, contact Dr. Vasquez directly. But operationally, there's nothing that we could do to help that person. So, it's really not within the purview of the board. So, I like this. I understand that it's got
017to close a loop and it's unfortunate that they won't be allowed to say great things because we have great teachers that are doing awesome things, but I would rather shut that down than allow people to come and be negative towards our teachers or our staff. You know, we all signed up for this. You can attack us all day long because we decided to run, but our teachers didn't and all they ever wanted to do was teach kids. and our admin just wanted to be a part of an education system and do good things and support our children and they didn't sign up for that. And I already feel that there's so much on them. Like they've got to be careful what they post. They got to be careful when they're out. If someone's at a
018restaurant and they want a glass of wine, they don't want to have the glass of wine in front of like there's already so much that is on their plate that's really not fair. I don't want to add anything else to it. So I support this language. Thank you. Thank you, member Gallo. Member Felder. Thank you, Chair. I too share some of the, sentiments that, board member Gallow mentioned, because I would not Oh, that's what I'm I was trying. I'm sorry. I always would want to applaud the good work that our teachers and administrators are doing. And as you said that if we talk about good behavior, we have to always talk about bad. And my sentiments is that if there is a complaint, we have protocol where you can come to the your principal leaders,
019you can come to members of the cabinet to lodge some complaints and it doesn't have to be aired out publicly because I just think again we that's not the kind of atmosphere that I would want to generate for our teachers and administration. Even though there may be some time when you know people are people they say things that are not right. They do things that are not right and they need to be dealt with. But we have something in place. We have a superintendent. We have a cabinet that they know how to to do this. So there's not a need for us to come to a open setting like this and barrage anybody's character because we don't particularly like what they've done. So I think you guys have done the best that you could do
020with the language in terms of what we say. But sometimes teachers do such great jobs. We just have to say something. just let them know like this is teacher appreciation week and I'm so excited, you know, that we can tell teachers that we appreciate your work and what you do. So, I just wanted to share that because I do know that is a concern, but I want to remind those people persons that are listening that we have something in place when there's a real serious complaint, we have protocol in place that you can lodge your complaint and it will get it'll it'll be dealt with and we don't have to put it in an open form like this for embarrassment. Thank you. Thank you, Member Felder. Member Ferrant. Thank you, Madame Vice Chair. okay. So,
021just to piggyback on that, I was that was my question as well. Just, you know, can they speak in generalities? so not naming the school then. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. Yes, ma'am. I think that would probably be the extent of of what they can do. and then for us to be able to maintain the we're not going to allow criticisms of individual employees. If it's you know generally hey my kids third grade teachers great I love them you know that's outstanding that's one thing but I think if they start mentioning schools you know then then that's getting into specific reference to the employee. So that's the line. Okay that makes sense. And then on page five number 10 it says that you know except for sections reserved for the media members
022of the public may not stand and or congregate in the back of the board chambers. but then it says likewise members of the public shall not congregate in the lobby outside of the board chambers. Why do we have that? There was usually we had enough room in the boardroom for folks to come in and sit down and so we wanted to make sure not getting into operational details with respect to safety and security. But, you know, getting them into the board chambers when there was enough place to sit, we wanted to make sure we had that just from an operational security standpoint. And when you have, you know, board the boardroom, you have to watch the boardroom, you have to watch outside, too. So, it's stretching security resources. that's part of what's going on with
023that as that provision, but you know, I'm sure your point is there are sometimes when we keep people out there before they come in. you know, that's part of a staging area when we don't have enough seats in the boardroom for all of those folks to come in. The last meeting, was it the last meeting or the one before where we had lots of recognitions, we just didn't have enough room to bring all the people we were recognizing in at the same time. So, we had to have a staging area for them. So, you know, yeah, is that technically, you know, prohibited by this language? Yes. But I think the intent and spirit of the language is when there are open spaces in the boardroom, we want to get folks in the boardroom just so
024we can have a handle on our facility. Do you think it's necessary to be in there? I mean, I guess maybe there needs to be more clarification of if there's seating available, people shouldn't be out congregating. And then at what point is this like at any time? What if they're here prior to for the five o'clock meeting and they're just kind of hanging out prior to So I saw the superintendent looked like she wanted to say something to it. So superintendent, thank you. so this language was put in around the pandemic. there were instances where staff was outside they felt threatened. There was actually a couple of instances where people got into their face and so it was put in as a measure of added safety and security. there's when they when they come in
025they are allowed to enter into the boardroom. and the police officers that we do have out there have been able to manage this. There have been times when people have been talking. There hasn't been especially when we let them go out after the recognitions and it hasn't been a problem but it has it was a an issue and it related to staff feeling unsafe if it's COVID related is there a reason we need to continue it that I'm sorry go ahead it happened it occurred during that time period I don't I still think there could be situations where people are upset and can congregate and get into staff's face and ma face and make them feel unsafe. So, I don't think this is just tied to CO. Would it need to be rewarded? Maybe in
026a way that just says because I think congregating is one thing where we're people are waiting, they're congregating. but in a way that says you know members of the public shall not any member of the public that congregates in the lobby and becomes aggressive will be removed or is not allowed to you're not allowed to do that. I don't know. So there could be so from a safety and security standpoint I'm not I want to leave maximum flexibility in there. We could do things like to the extent that there's room available in the in the boardroom or to the extent that you're not being staged out there, we would expect that you would go into the boardroom. I could try to words smmith language like that if if that's the board's desire but I you
027know operationally from a security standpoint that you know not all of our meetings are flowers and sunshine and sometimes there are controversial issues and people get you know pretty riled up about it on both sides of the issues what that we have sometimes so I would like to leave flexibility for the superintendent and her security staff to ensure that they can maintain order. So I think that I can work language that says to the extent that there's space available in the boardroom, the expectation is that folks will go sit in the boardroom for the meeting and that the only way that there will be that the congregations outside will be based upon operational determinations by the superintendent. I could work something like that. I'm not saying it great right here, but we can do something
028like that if that's the board's desire. I do think that there needs a little bit more clarification. That way people don't just say, "Well, how come they're able to congregate outside?" But if you have that kind of specification, I think it would make a little more sense. Thank you. Yes, superintendent. So, I guess my question would be why would they congregate out there that they can come in, they can still stand that area in the back, the doors are open. You know, we are living in times where, especially during a meeting, that door is open. Different individuals can come in. When you go to federal buildings, government buildings, they don't let you congregate. You walk through the security. They direct you to the place where you need to be. So, I have strong opposition of
029changing this because someone could be there with ill intent. Any individual that does want to gather, they're more than welcome to gather in the boardroom. Thank you, Superintendent. I'm going to go to our next board member, member Gallo. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have an issue with the language. I agree with Dr. Vazquez. I think in the in the times that we're in, especially given some of the subjects that are going to come before us over the next year, I think it's important because we're going to be making hard decisions about budget. and it's not always going to be pleasant. So, I agree with the language, but I do have a question. So, because it says except for sections res, it says members of the public shall not be permitted. No. Except
030for sections reserved for the media, members of the public may not stand and or congregate in the back of the board chambers. I'm only asking about this because when we have a lot of recognitions and when we have a lot of new APS or principles that we're announcing, I can remember just last month this whole back of the chamber was filled with standing people and they were public. So would that prevent us from doing it? because based on this language what happened we should not have allowed. So that's I just want to ensure that we just addressed that either this cabinet meeting or the previous one and we are not we're going to actually when we have a large number they're especially with the recognitions we're going to stage them in another area and then
031they'll be able to to be directed in so that we don't run into that safety situation. So, and you'll see that for Tuesday's board meeting because once again we have quite a number of recognitions. Thank you. Thank you, Member Gallo. I'm queued in next and I just was going to agree with the language. and specifically because I remember the time period and unless you were kind of a part of that as staff and board members, you really don't understand, I think, the fear that time period that we all experienced. So I am all for whatever safety measures have to be put in place because that was a really frightening time for many of us. So I completely agree with the language and you could even add something in there unless directed by staff or unless
032staff you know there's whatever you are good with that but no I completely agree. Thank you. and it looks I'm the last one. Is there anyone else that wants to speak on this policy? Are you good? I'm gonna So, I think I'll words smmith some language that to the extent the room is available, folks shall go in the boardroom for attendance at the meeting or unless otherwise directed as I it will be much better than what I am saying right now because English is failing me this morning for some reason. But it will be I'll draft that up and I'll send it to the board and what I'll try to do is I'll try to get it to you guys. So then on Tuesday during my attorney's report I could say I've sent you the
033language. Does anybody have any issue, any concerns? And when then we can discuss there. Perfect. Thank you. We're going to with that we're going to move on to 4.02 KCE ethics and lobbying policy. The Am I going straight Dr. Vasquez or straight to Mr. Palmerini? There you go. thank you, Madam Superintendent. I appreciate that. Members of the board, joining me, of course, is associate general counsel and ethics compliance officer Vivian Cakotus. I'm going to drive through the policy, but she will be available to help answer any questions if I have a inability to do so. But as you all know this policy was brought back and the marching direction that we got coming out of there is to the extent that we have gone beyond state law with respect to various gifts and meals and
034that kind of stuff you all wanted to pull that back and essentially comply with state law. So we have gone through and made changes consistent with that. As you will see, this policy lost, I think, seven pages from it. So, we have taken out a lot of information, but we'll go through it, you know, section by section. And I think just want to make sure, you know, madame chair, I don't know how you want to run this. if do you want me to get through various sections and then wait for for questions or I'm at the board's pleasure on that. I don't have a preference either way. Whatever is easier for you. If if what I could do is I can stop you if it looks like we're getting a lot of cues. How about
035that? Excellent. Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. so we just did some clean up in the first couple paragraphs, you know, to say school board of Orange County, Florida, consistency of terms, OCPS. just so we can use the acronym OCPS or the board where appropriate throughout the policy. we did some changes to business associate, but it's just to make it consistent with state law. going down to page two on gifts, as you will see, gifts shall be defined consistent with applicable state law. We've cut out the $5 limit there. Of course, you know, the board member gift limit is $50 under the statute. but we've cut that out. Also, you will see gratuitous meals. that definition has been taken out because the entire section on gratuitous meals has essentially been taken out and we'll you know
036we're going to treat that in the same way we would treat gifts. going down to the lobbying definition we it says lobbying shall be defined as communicating directly or indirectly with either the superintendent, any board member, any procurement official or any reporting individual. That's a change. We got rid of staff member with contracting authority. There's reporting individuals, folks that have to fill out, ethics forms and make financial disclosures, and that generally covers folks with contracting authority. But what we wanted to do is to make it very clear that it's the reporting individuals that are required by state law to file ethics disclosures and financial interest disclosures. And the term in the statute is reporting individuals. So, that's why we've made that change. with lobbying shall include without limitation all such communications regardless of whether initiated
037by the lobbyist or the person being lobbied and regardless of the form of communication be it oral, written or electronic. So we're saying however they attempt to communicate, we don't know what types of communication will be developed in the future. You know, God knows this thing wasn't contemplating direct messages, social media, all that when it was first drafted. So we want to leave some flexibility there. All right. principles of professional conduct. We're just changing the rule to to appropriately reflect it. procurement official. It's a procurement employee under the statute. So we are just changing the nomenclature to be consistent with statutes. reporting individual. We're taking the definition directly out of state law. for that we had a section in here dealing with staff members with contracting authority. We took that out. we took out the
038definition on school board because everybody knows who the school board actually is. Didn't feel like we needed to define that. specifications meetings shall be defined as any meeting noticed by OCPS procurement services office. That's just reflecting the correct name of the department. we thought everybody knew who the superintendent was, so we didn't think we needed a definition of that. and all right, so that's the definition sections. And I think that's probably an appropriate place to start. Are there any questions there? Okay. All right. The next section is gratuitous meals. And what you're seeing is a whole bunch of red. So that entire section there through A was not required by state law. It was something that this board created on its own. And so given the direction, we decided to remove all of it. All
039right. Section A, the new section A is prohibition of gifts of influence from business associates, business entities, lobbyists or principles or vendors. This is state law. Pursuant to Florida law, board members and OCPS employees shall not solicit or accept anything of value to the recipient, including a gift, loan, reward, promise of future employment, favor, or service based upon the understanding that the vote, official action, or judgment of the board member or OCPS employee would be influenced thereby. That's direct directly from statute. You cannot accept anything of value if it's meant to influence your decision on something that you're voting on. So we just reflected the law in there. we have a section on prohibition of gifts during the no contact period and it says procurement and reporting individual shall not accept a gift from the
040business associate, business entity, lobbyist, principal vendor during the no contact period. You all know what the no contact period is. It's once solicitation hits the street to the point in time essentially when you all the notice of intended award has been issued. So that is the no contact period. Of course is if there's a bid protest that is also part of the no contact period. Right? So those reporting individuals, procurement employees shall not accept gifts from business associations, lobbyists, principal or vendors during the no contact period except for the following. one, a campaign contribution otherwise disclosed on appropriate state forms. Now we had questions about campaign contributions. we have a, you know, we just had a fundamental thought that if a campaign or if a contribution is allowed by state law, we didn't think we
041should be prohibiting it in our lobbying and ethics policy. If the law allows for a contribution to be made, then we're going to allow it. to a donation made or offered to OCPS and accepted by the procurement employee or reporting individual on behalf of OCPS and not for the personal or private use of the procurement employee or reporting individual. So I give you a quintessential example is somebody sends in a gift basket of you know cookies at the holiday right and so we'll get the gift basket of cookies and we say all right if everybody in the department wants to have one great it's not being accepted by that particular official. It's okay we're getting it. Anybody in the department can have it. that's not a gift as this would be defined under the policy
042and under law. And then you see a whole bunch more red because we have gotten rid of the rest of the prohibitions on gifts because we are making sure that is compliant with applicable state law. So gifts to board members here on page eight. board members shall comply with applicable provisions of Florida law regarding the solicitation, acceptance of disclosures of any gifts. That basically says you all are governed by law and the law is what controls your behavior. So I'll stop there because it seems like a good place to stop. Are there any questions? Would you believe there are none? Okay. You were expecting some, weren't you there? I just wanted it was a natural breaking point. So Okay. and I am happy to answer any questions, but if you all don't have any, I'm
043good with that, too. All right. lobbying activities. Now, what came out of this the discussion that the board had the last time is, you know, we wanted to ensure that lobbyists were continuing to make their disclosures and to fill out the forms to indicate that they are in fact lobbying members of the board. What was being difficult for the board members was we were h having board members also filling out lobbying documents when they were getting lobbyed by lobbyists. And so ostensibly under the policy, we were supposed to have two sets of forms. And it just didn't seem with respect to what the board was indicating to us that you all thought that the lobbyists being filling the ones filling out the form should be sufficient for public disclosure purposes and for folks to be
044able to understand who's doing what lobbying. So the lobbying activities, the registration of lobbyists, that all remains in there. And we've just cleaned up some language you know acronyms. We've just made sure school board is board. Right. So all of this continues to be in there. And then we have a new provision that says each lobbyist, business associate, business entity, principal, or vendor engaged in lobbying shall complete and submit to the ethics compliance officer the district's lobbyist and vendor reporting form for any meetings or contacts with board members, procurement employees, reporting individuals or the superintendent within 10 calendar days of such lobbying contact. So it's making it very explicit who you have to report with respect to whom you've lobbied and who has to do the reporting which is the lobbyists, the vendors, etc. we've
045gotten rid of other language that didn't comport with the direction that it should be the lobbyist filling out the forms. And then we have registered lobbyed annual expenditure reports. This is all the same that we had previously. And then prohibition of lobbying during the no contact period. during the no contact period, no lobbyist principal, business associate and business entity venditor or a person may lobby a board member, the superintendent or procurement employee or reporting an individual. We're just changing the nomenclature to reflect what state law says. any designated procurement employees who may be identifying the procurement documents for purpose of receiving questions or clarifications or receiving the bid protest. So, as you all know, when we put a solicitation out on the street, some folks may have questions about what the solicitation is, what needs
046to be submitted in response. So, they can submit questions through in a period identified in the bid document to procurement and procurement will then answer them and submit and send them out to all the vendors who are applying for the work. So, this says that's not lobbying. That's something that you can do as part of the procurement process. So, we're exempting that out of the prohibition of contact during the no lobbying during the no contact period. And then we also are saying board member, the superintendent, any procurement employee or reporting individual who's lobbied on issues on matters unrelated to the procurement of goods and services which are the subject of no contact period. So, of course, we could have a vendor who does multiple types of business for us and there's a solicitation for one
047type of business that the vendor does. They can't talk to you all about the solicitation that's out on the street, but if they have other business that's not part of a solicitation, they can continue to have those contacts. So, it's ensuring that we're not closing off all communications, just the communication that involves the solicitation that's out on the street. campaign contributions during procurement matters. Again, this was our thought that if state law allows for a campaign contribution, we didn't think we should be prohibiting it. So, from that standpoint, that's why we took it out. prohibition on lobbying by the former OCPS employees absent exception below. No, an OCPS employee may not lobby on behalf of a principal, business associate, business entity, vendor, or any other person for compensation before the board for a period of
048two years. this comes from statute. there's exceptions. You know, if somebody wants to lobby you up for collective bargaining purposes, they can do that. Or if the OCPS is, employees granted a waiver by the board upon submitt of a hardship application to the ethics compliance officer. Miss Kakotus would be the one that looking at that in the first instance. you know, I don't know how often we get that, if at all. Never. Never. So she's told me we've never gotten it and she's been doing this for eight years. So all right. we have specific exceptions def that are exempt from the definition of lobbying meetings. and it shall not be subject to the requirements of such lobbying meetings. Partners for success meetings and specification meetings. That's something that we've had for a long time and
049it's an exception that quite frankly I don't ever remember coming up either in my experience. All right, Mr. Palmini, can we stop right there? Yes, ma'am. we have member Gallo. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, John and your team because I know that a lot of work went into what we've discussed already, and it's very much appreciated. I would just I think I think all of this makes sense and I want to point out that at any given time our calendars are up for they're open records. So if anybody want to know who we're meeting with or anything, all they have to do is put in a public records request of our calendar and it would show it. and I know that no other elected official that I'm aware of has to fill out
050a lobbying form. It always the burden always falls on those who are doing the lobbying, not the ones that are getting lobbyed. And in my six years of being a schoolboard member, I can count on one hand the amount of times that I have spoken to lobbyists regarding a procurement that was happening. In both of those instances, I think I talked to John and it was okay for us and many of us talked to them and that was a recent procurement. But other than that, like it I don't get lobbyists don't reach out to me about procurement. They just they just don't. They know better than to do that. And I think the board does a really good job on asking the question if we need to. So I think that this language makes sense.
051I just wanted to really point out that we're not trying to cover anything up. There's still a very strong records request and sunshine that falls into place. Thank you. Thank you, Member Gallo. Good point, member Vanos. Thank you, Madam Chair. I had a question kind of related to the same thing for the vendor forms that we no longer have to fill out. how is so let's just say if a vendor you know wants to meet with you to talk about some product that they're working on or you know something that's not you know that's just sort of like and it might be out there in the future. How are we communicating to them that they need to fill out this form? that is that just something they know or do we need to communicate that
052to them or how do we ensure that is being done? So, and I'll start and then if Miss Kakotus has anything to add, I'll let her chime in. Of course, obviously by publication of this policy and they should be aware of it. It's an official act of this board. So, they have constructive notice of it. Number one. Number two, with respect to our procurement offices, they also have vendor information that allows them to know, hey, that there's we've got lobbying restrictions and here's where you can find them, etc. So, there's when they're going to do business and they want to do business because I think we have on our website, you know, for current and prospective vendors, you know, things that you need to know about OCPS. So, that's part of what goes on too.
053But, Miss Cotus, if you have anything to add. Generally, if a vendor is going to reach out to the board members, sometimes they will call and say, "I'm an existing vendor, I have an existing contract, I want to discuss X, Y, and Z with a board member. Do I need to register as a lobbyist? What do I need to do?" and I can certainly give them that guidance. if they are an existing vendor and they want to talk to you about their existing contract, we don't require them to register as a lobbyist. If they are trying to use that position to springboard to advocate for a different position or to expand their services then they are functioning as a lobbyist and we do ask them to register. Our standard contracts specifically mention KCE. We ask
054them to abide by KCE. Our procurement officials develop relationships with the vendors over the contract period and the billing and all that. And so I think that rapport a vendor will often ask a procurement official, I want to do X, Y, and Z. Can I do that? If they have any concerns, they contact me. So we try to get at KCE through a variety of ways, not just throwing it into an agreement and then all of a sudden saying you didn't comply with it. And most of our vendors are mindful of the ethics rules and so they will inquire if they have any concerns because they don't want it to impact their existing relationship with us. So thank you. Okay, thank you for that. I I think my question was really more about people who
055are not currently vendors. but it sounds like constructive notice is enough. It's up there. So it's kind of on them. They should read the policy and we're good. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Member Vanos. Member Gallo. Thank you, Madam Chair. just to follow up on what Member Vanos said because I think she brings up an interesting point because we go to a lot of conferences where there's vendors, where there's people who are, you know, handing us cars, giving us pamphlets on their product. They may necess it not be may not be something we're in the market for, may not be a good fit, whatever. But we do we do talk to a lot of people because they're there to talk to us and a lot of times like I'll just say give me
056your information and then I'll send it to procurement and I'm like just FYI you know I met this person if there's any ever need here's a contact. Would that require that the person that reached out to me would that require them to fill out a lobby form? No, not at all. the definition of vendor in the policy is much more narrow than an than a business entity. A vendor is someone who is already registered to do business with OCPS. It excludes a host of categories, government officials, government agencies, charitable, nonprofit, volunteer organizations, folks providing us with free and gratuit gratuitous services. So for purposes of KCE, a business entity that you encounter, if they don't already do business with us as a registered vendor, they don't fall under the definition of KCE. So that wouldn't
057require a documenting of a meeting. But if they have an existing working relationship with us, we're paying them for something, we have a pending agreement, they are a registered vendor with OCPS, if they do reach out to you, they need to be mindful of of the policy. Perfect. Thank you so much. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. And that was the last question on that section. Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. continue on with conflicts of interest. no board member or OCPS employee shall have or hold any employment or contractual relationship with any business entity or agency which is subject to the regulation of or doing business with an agency for which he or she is an officer or employee. You can't do business with OCPS as a board member or employee. So, and this prohibition is taken
058straight out of the straight state law. So, we're just reproducing state law language in here. scrolling down at the bottom of page 12 is just cleaning up our language to make sure it's consistent and you will see lots of we're leaving the non-employment by vendors of current OCPS employees. Obviously that could create conflicts employ non-employment by vendors of certain former OCPS employees. We're keeping that in place. That's the to stop the revolving door of they work for us one day and then the next day they're working for the vendor that they administer the contract for when they were here. So we have the prohibition for a period of one year that prohibits that. You know, this can be waved by the ethics compliance officer, the superintendent. but that is a very I think it's pretty
059rare that we've had that occur. So, and then on to everybody's favorite section, product testimonials. this language is something that we have discussed on now multiple occasions. and it says absent the explicit contracted authority to solicit or use testimonials. Meaning it if they put it in the contract that we will give them testimonials, that's one thing. But absent that, no vend vendor shall not use the testimonial of an OCPS employee without the written consent of the ethics compliance officer, the superintendent or designate. this restriction includes testimonials in any form including written, oral or electronic communication or including written, oral or electronic and in any form including but not limited to websites or emails. an OCPS employee who provides a testimonial to a vendor without the written consent of the ethics compliance officer or superintendent. That
060should probably include or designate there to be consistent. So, we will make that change. Let me write that note to myself is subject to disciplinary action including but not limited to dismissal. Of course, that does not mean they would be dismissed. it's just they would be subject to disciplinary action and it could range all the way up to that. so and then number three, an OCPS employee may provide a testimonial for any vendor who is a charitable foundation organized under section 501c3 of the Internal Revenue Code which provides the district complimentary goods and ser or services. The following criteria sh will be utilized for such testimonials. An OCPS employees decision to participate and to provide a testimonial is entirely voluntarily entire entirely voluntary and shall be based upon the employees personal experience. OCPS will not
061be identified by name in any testimonial. No individual OCPS school will be identified by name or likeness. No filming will take place on OCPS property. No use of the OCPS district logos or individual school logos. OCPS employees who provide testimonials will be identified by first name, position, and type of school. Again, Susan Interventionist Elementary School, but it won't say Orange County Public Schools. It won't say the school within Orange County Public Schools. No quantitative data will be included in any testimonial unless the data is approved by the district's research, management, and strategy director. The vendor shall submit all testimonial secured from OCPS employees to the ethics compliance officer, the superintendent or designate for review prior to use or publication in any form. Such review shall be limited to ensuring compliance with the requirements listed above.
062This is consistent with what we have done previously and brought to this board. but we just wanted to make sure and go over it again in case there were any questions. Okay. intellectual property and goods and services sold back to OCPS, we've left that the same. The duties of the ethics compliance officer remain the same. We still thought it was valuable to have the ethics compliance officer to ensure compliance with the policy and answer questions by employees. Investigating investigations and penalties. That's the same as well. We're just cleaning up language to from school board to board to be consistent with our definition. this is all the same. appeals of final recommendations on disciplinary actions to the board. This is all the same. violations by OCPS employees. this is by any OCPS employee and violation provisions
063of policy subject to disciplinary action including but not limited to dismissal of employment. Again, it's not one of those where we're going to go directly to termination, but we want the ability to be able to terminate if it's egregious enough. avoiding or terminating a contract for lobbying during the no contact period. we have provisions to terminate contracts in our in our standard agreements anyways. We can terminate them within 30 days for no cause whatsoever. So if we had any questions about any improper contact, improper lobbying, we don't need the policy provision to be able to do it. We can just terminate within 30 days. So that's why we sort of view the language to be superolous and that's why we're getting rid of it. Outside employee employment of OCPS employees, lest anybody think that we
064are not applying adhering to a code of ethics, this is a name change under the state rules. The code of ethics for the education profession in Florida was actually deleted and then put into the principles of professional conduct for the education profession in Florida probably about 12 or 13 years ago. So it's all there but it's all in the principles of professional conduct for the education profession in Florida. So, we're just making sure the name appropriately reflects what's in the state board of education rule and you'll see that change in multiple places and I've just given you the statutory and rulebased site for that. So, that's all the same. We're not not adhering to the code of ethics. It's there. with respect to application of ethics and loving policy to outside vendors, contractors and consultants,
065we're just making changes to the nomenclature again to make it consistent. Procurement employees principles professional conduct is in there getting rid of school in front of board and now we have reached the end of the policy. Are there any questions? Thank you very much, Mr. Pomerini. the speaker board is clear. I know. And I'm going to get out while the game is good. I'm just want to say real quick, thank you. I know this was a laborintensive process for you, you and your team. So, I appreciate you really hearing us and doing all the work on this because I think this just makes so much more sense with it, you know, being aligned with state statute and you know that we already have enough to keep track of all of us and all of our
066staff that we don't need to add extra burden where we don't need it. So, thank you for hearing us on that. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. And now and now I am getting out of this chair and turning it over to Stacy. Great. Thank you. as Stacy's moving in, our next policy is going to be JCA, assignment of students to school. All right. our last policy of the morning has to do with assignment of students to school. This is another policy that the team has been working on to make some significant adjustments allowing for more choice opportunities clarifying some of the language in the policy. So I am going to turn it over to is it Alkeia or is it Stacy? I can do it. All right. What? Go ahead. Good morning
067vice chair, board members and superintendent. this morning we will be presenting to you policy JCA. the first we're on page one. The first red line in subsection one we added the definition of siblings. this came from our Magnus school policy. So, we just took that definition and put it over here so that further down in the policy when we discuss siblings that parents are on notice of what we would consider a sibling. change of address, we deleted that section. subsection B is actually going to be we added it in the application section, but we completely removed subsection A to A because we it was no longer needed. And what will be subsection two applications? We added the language, the guardian completing the application must have the authority to enroll and withdraw the child as outlined
068in board policy KBBA. we added that language so that we could strike out the language where we're requiring them to bring a parenting plan affidavit, all of that stuff. that would have been already provided to the office of student enrollment based on our policy KBBA. So we are will only allow the parent that has the ability to withdraw enroll and withdraw to complete that application. So there's no conflict between the parents. what will become subsection three 3D we just added sibling to that line and you'll see why further down in the policy just to clarify that the sibling if the sibling has an IEP and they're transferring with the student thei the sibling the school will have to look at the siblings's IEP as well to make sure that they can accommodate that. in subsection
0693E, we added the language out of county to include I know previously there was some discussion about if a parent changes their address, they should be able since they're already on a transfer, they should be able to stay. So, we just added that language that we will have to review it if the parent removes only if the parent removes out of Orange County. And like I stated before, we added subsection. We just moved subsection F from the previous section and include it so that any application containing misleading or false information may be grounds for the denial of the application and revoke revocation of the transfer and what will become subsection 4A. We took that language from our board policy JFBD the Magna School programs policy. there was some discussion at our previous meeting about how
070would we review transfers and students if they're having like any disciplinary issues or anything like that or tardies because they you know they're too far from school so they're consistently becoming late. the magnet school policy actually addressed that. So we just took that language from the magnet school policy and put it over here. and it states upon enrollment, students and guardians may be required to sign an agreement of understanding indicating certain academic attendance and behavioral requirements. Students who fail to meet the standards set forth by the transfer school may be placed on probation for one grading period. the probationary form shall be completed and signed by all applicable parties. If the violation is corrected during the spec specified time period, the probation will no longer apply. If there is insufficient improvement at the conclusion of
071the probationary period, the transfer will be revoked and the student will be required to return to his or her zone school at the end of the semester or the end of the school year, whichever occurs first. And I believe it was asked in cabinet about the form that is going to be a form that student enrollment is going to create so that it's consistent at every school. in the new subsection five, we just added the language public option to distinguish between the scholarship provided by the state and the public school option that is required to be afford offered by school districts to parents of students with disabilities under the IDA. And again we added that public option to distinguish under subsection A3 and added the language based on. So it will read the public option
072allows guardians of qualifying students with disabilities to enroll an eligible student in another school within OCPS. Students will be enrolled based on availability at the receiving school as well as the receiving school's ability to appropriately implement the students IEP. The following shall apply to FES UA public option transfers. And again, we removed school choice plan as this was a requirement under the McKay scholarship which the FESUA has replaced but is not in the FESUA stat statutory language. we currently use capacity list under the control open enrollment option to determine a school's availability. And excuse me, under subsection C, siblings, we added siblings shall be eligible to transfer with the student who is granted the FESUA public option. and we remove the language so long as the school has available seat cap seat for the sibling
073and it's not over capacity and that language was removed based on board members recommendation and you will see that removed from each of the transfer options. so same thing subsection we're on page four subsection B we that language is just up updated throughout the policy to remove that the capacity requirement we added siblings there for clarity because it said students. So, we want to make sure that it was that this applies to siblings and not all students. And sorry, it looks a little weird on the red line cuz the red line is just going to leave it as it's two paragraphs. But that paragraph a the new paragraph A will read, "Siblings may remain at the school until all grade levels at the school are completed." for example, K5, 6 through 8, 9 through 12
074with the exception of R Windy Ridge grades 68, excuse me, and our Ridge grades 68 or there is a change in placement of the ESSE student is how that one paragraph will read. we moved the entire academic transfer option because it's no longer applicable. This transfer was originally meant for, for example, students continuing in JOTC or something like Orchestra, but now these kind of programs are offered at virtually all of our schools. So, it's no longer needed. and EA we may have to update that language. There was Senate Bill 166 is requiring that to now say may require it, it hasn't passed yet, to say at least twice annually instead of every 12 weeks. Sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if we take a little break because we have several board members that are
075already queued in. Yes. So, I will go back up. Sorry. No, that's okay. I'm Let's start with Member Gallo. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, I have a couple of questions. on page five, the Windy Ridge and the Arbor Ridge, help me understand. I know that the six through eight in both schools are considered a magnet program and they have to apply to it, but if a sibling is at Arbor, is Arbor Ridge under? No. Because if they're at Arbor Ridge or Windy Ridge, they're there because they're zoned in K through five. So, correct. Arbor Ridge and Windy Ridge K through five, you're zoned, right? 6 through 8 you apply. Yes. So, it says the students may remain at the school until all grade levels are completed. And then it lists those schools, but they would
076have to they're not at that school because their their sibling is in the magnet. they're at that school because they're zoned to be there. So, I'm just curious as to why we have the language. Not necessarily. If I'm in the magnet 6 through 8 and I have a sibling that's K through five, then they would be able to go K through five, even though they're not zoned for Arbor Ridge or Windy Ridge. So if Arbor Ridge and so maybe I'm just getting confused, but if Arbor Ridge and Windy Ridge are not in the open controlled open enrollment, would the sibling still be allowed to go there? Would we still accept them just because their sibling was in the magnet school? So I'm not understanding the beginning, but if I get a seat, I get a
077seat in 6 through 8. I'm not zoned because you can go to Wendy Ridge or Arbor Ridge six through eight under the magnet transfer, but I have a sibling that's K through five, then they can come to Arbor Ridge or Wendy Ridge with me because I received a seat through magnet. Okay. So, even if the school isn't in isn't what we considered controlled open enrollment, even if they're not under enrolled, we still allow the sibling. So they could be at 100% capacity, but we would allow the sibling to go to that school as well. Correct. Because that's what I was trying to understand. Yes, the board asked for it. We did. We did. I was just trying to to clarify when I saw that I was just trying because I knew that they were a
078magnet and I'm thinking, okay, so that's what we're doing. Perfect. So that Thank you for that. and then on and I think I mentioned this before when we I think if we go back to an open school and I know that I'm in the minority, so I'm not going to I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it, but I still believe in my heart that if we accept a child to come to a school under controlled open enrollment, if they have attendance issues, academic issues, they shouldn't be treated any different than they would be treated at their zone school because that is now their home school. And if there's disciplinary actions that need to happen, that should happen. If they get suspended, they should get suspended. But they should be treated at
079that school like they would at their home school. I don't know why we're sending them back to the home school to then be put if you're in your home school, you can't be put on probation. You can't you can't be kicked out. I understand magnets that we have that language and I support that language because you're applying for a seat at a magnet for like a STEM or for performing arts and you are you would be taking a spot away from someone else that not may not be able to get in. But if we're underenrolled and that students just wants to go to that school, I really truly believe in my heart that they should be treated like that is their home zone school and whatever consequences would happen at their zone school should just
080happen at that school. but that they shouldn't be they shouldn't be removed and sent back to their own school. So, I just want to make those comments. Thank you, Member Gallo. member Vanos. Thank you, Madam Chair. I had a question about the 5C and it wasn't in the red line, but I just wanted to clarify if there's a transfer based on an IEP basically for NES student that the decision is made by it sounds like reading the policy, so I just want to clarify the decision is made by the IEP team regardless of like what the next nearest school is or what has capacity. Is that true? So, for clarification, you're asking if I receive a transfer to, let's say, Arbor, and the student has an IEP and Arbor Ridge does not have a unit
081or the capabilities of accommodating that child's accommodations or needs, then it would be denied. because the school could not meet the IEP, right? But if the I guess what I'm saying is let's say if the if there's an IEP meeting and the IEP team decides, okay, your zoned middle school doesn't have the services that you need and the IEP team says we believe that X school is the best option for this particular student. That's what controls. So yes, but under transfers we don't make that decision. So the I So correct if an IEP team meeting is held and they do an ESSE placement to a school that is that placement. but if a child or a parent applies for a transfer through student enrollment to go to a school other than the ESE placed school,
082we would defer to the ESSE team to help us make a decision on whether or not the school that the parent has applied for can meet that child's needs. Got it. Okay. So, that really rests with again the IEP team, but not really with transfer. Yes. Okay, got it. Thank you. Thank you, member Salamaka. Thank you, chair. this is to Angie's comment. I'm not totally on that side of of this, but I did express concerns around giving our students and being a little bit more flexible because because life happens. And so I appreciate the new language to address the kind of probation period and one does my comment to that is it feels one is a little harsh still like I sometimes something happens you're in one probate like in probation for one grace period
083I think you have it on there that's language right so I'm hoping if we could find a middle ground between member gallows all in all the time but also having a little bit of forgiveness because life happens, cars break down, your transportation is obviously not a thing if you're transferring. So I think this is related obviously to attendance and behavior, but we see a lot of kids that learn from their behavior after one time. so yeah, I don't I don't I don't know if I'm not pushing for the other one. I just I may be saying maybe more than once. I think the superintendent wants to comment on this. This is the one I'm referring to. Yeah. So, schools are extremely generous when it comes to revoking a transfer. So, it's not that a child
084has been tardy one time, two times, even 10 times. They do meet with the family or attempt to meet with the family to see how they may be able to assist. They are sometimes very creative. So, maybe the child can't get there for first period. So first period could become an independent study course so that they are not continually being marked tardy. so the schools are incredibly flexible with trying to retain the students. to address some of the comments board member Gallow if they're not coming to school then they are it's not an incentive for them to not have any consequence and so the idea behind having some type of consequence if a child is there on a transfer because this is a choice parent for whatever reason is picking this school to attend. So,
085we want you to come to school. We don't want you to be late. We do want you to behave. And so, those are ways to help reinforce that you wanted to come here, but if you're constantly absent, you're tardy, you're disrupting the school, clearly this isn't the right place for you. And so I think that is where the schools again with limited resources and I disagree. I don't think that is their school. I think when you apply for a transfer this is a choice that you have made but your zone school is where you were you were you were supposed to go to school. and I think for administrators and for teachers, because we hear this a lot from teachers, when a child is consistently tardy, absent, or is disruptive in their class, and the
086teachers find out they're there on a transfer, the teachers are going to the administrator say, "What are the options that we have?" Because this child is causing me additional concerns. they are disrupting the class and the students in my class are not able to learn. It's a very small number very very small number of students that do not make it when they are look when they are at a transfer school. But I know that we have had a lot of feedback from administrators and even some teachers that we would take this out of there and that it would create more problems for them at the school. Thank you, Superintendent. I'm actually queued in next and I was going to talk about this as well. I can I can really see both sides of it. but
087I'm still struggling with what member Gallow said with, you know, all schools have this issue though and this is like if we're I don't know like okay tardy for example, we've got students in every school that are tardy every day. and we don't have any consequence. We're not enforcing any consequence at the zone school for those kids. So, I'm just trying to understand I don't I don't know. There's something about there's something about a teacher saying, "This child is disrupting my class and the students in my class. What can we do?" Oh, we can revoke their transfer and send them to this school. It's it's there's something I don't like about that and I and I can't I can't pinpoint it, but it just seems like it's very I don't know. Right. I mean, you're
088sending a problem child to another school for another teacher to deal with. The child's behavior still has to be dealt with. we still have to figure out why is this child misbehaving? Why is they why are they causing this disruption? There's that reason is not going to go away when we transfer them back. So, I don't know. I'm still I still gives me a little bit of heartburn, but I do understand. I mean, there's just something about this is not one of our kids. It's like this mentality of this is not one of our kids. this child's here as a visitor. I don't know. I don't like it. I get it. I get it. And I understand administrators want to be able to have this, but I just don't love it. And I want to
089make sure that if we do this that the probation form is being reviewed. and I'm assuming it would be I'm assuming it would go through at least I don't know who principal leader or somebody to look at and make sure that this is being done for the proper reason. Because this is the other thing I'm thinking a parent that goes through the trouble of transferring their child and driving them every day is probably going to be a very involved parent. And we love our very involved parents. Sometimes very involved parents can be can for certain some administrators or some teachers be a lot. I'm just going to be honest. and I don't want to see parents I don't want to see teachers administrators not wanting to deal with certain parents and therefore saying we're revoking
090this child's transfer because of that. I'm just being honest. so those are my concerns with that. So yeah, if you could just address those few things. I think it would be a very good idea for us to just pull the data because there are not many transfers that are revoked. And again, I want to stipulate that it's not that they're a that they are absent 10, 15, 20 times. We're talking students that are beyond that and they have tried interventions and sometimes the reason they're not coming to school is because they don't have the transportation. And so if you do have the transportation to get to your home school, then maybe your attendance will improve. So even with discipline, it's not that they've misbehaved once or twice because we do have the code of conduct
091that allows us to apply the consequences across all of the schools. But it is a matter of having numerous referrals, 15 20 referrals in the intervention that they have tried have not worked. So, I think it would be very helpful for the board to actually see what the number is that have been revoked and let's go back maybe three or four years and also include the number of transfers that we've approved because I suspect that you're going to see that's less than a half a percent. It's a very very small number of students whose transfer gets revoked and parents sometimes aren't even aware of some of the situations that maybe you know their child is supposed to be going to school and they're skipping. So they try to drill down to what the actual problems
092are and what the issues are. So, our teachers and our administrators work incredibly hard with all of the children that they have on their campus. So, if Stacy, if you and the team can pull that, that'd be great. Thank you, Superintendent. And yes, and I and I apologize if my comments maybe were a little harsh. I totally agree that our teachers and our administrators are fantastic. I just don't I just want to make sure that everything is kind of protected in that way. member Felder is next. Thank you, chair. Yeah, thank you, chair. And this is such a wholesome conversation. first of all, let me thank you all. Our conversation is not usually wholesome. Well, well, this is a good one. thank you for the work because I'm on a recipient on both sides because
093that was a situation that you all worked very well with me with a child in our our district and the sibling was in the magnet program and the and the smallest sibling was in like prek of fifth grade I mean first grade or something. So you all worked it out so they could go and there was a serious language barrier. So the little child needed to be with the siblings. So I do appreciate that effort. I'm also on the other end of dealing with magnet programs. I opened Dr. Phillips in 1987. It was a performing art performance arts magnet and a center for international studies magnet. And when you have a situation where students and parents, they're vying for a position, you know, I remember one time Dr. Phillips enrollment was like 4,800. We when
094the classes would change, we would literally stand like this in the hall for fear of getting run over, you know, because of so many people. And when you have a situation there and when people are desirous of going to a particular magna school and you have somebody there who's not coming and I agree with the superintendent the absenteeism when it's really looked at it has to be like 30 40 you got some kids miss 30 days and you got this one kid standing on the end wanting to be a part of the magnet program. I also understand and agree with vice chair Bird when she said, you know, who are we to just say because you didn't come to school, you can't now not come to that school. But you have to look at we're
095in the we're in the business of educating and we're in the business of trying to grow our little minds into big strong minds. And in the real world, if you don't meet the criteria, then there's a consequence. I know that sounds cold, but that's the world. The fact of the matter, you have these I I must talk to Greg at least two or three times a year about the magnet program, whether the windows been closed and on the waiting list. Cuz parents are constantly calling me asking me, can they get in? I said, well, I think you're on a waiting list. And then when they go through all that and they get there and you have this kid who's gotten there and taken a seat and is not coming, I'm not talking about two or
096three absences. I'm talking about we have some students miss 30 days, 40 days. That's a serious issue. And then I've been on the end as a teacher teaching in the magnet program where I've had a student who has just been beyond like you know and you do look and the first thing they look said well is this is this the homeschool and I mean that's human nature. That's what we do. We want to be comfortable the most part. So, I know that this probably is a policy that we may have to revisit, but I appreciate the effort that you have put in to try to make sure it's fair. But I'm a proponent of the fact that if you're have you if you've been chosen to be in a magnet program, you need to come
097to school and you need to participate and do what's necessary to maintain yourself in that magnet program because and the magnet programs we have in in in OCPS, they are numerous and they're competitive. You know, these children we have in this district are exceptional. They are exceptional. And so if you have taken a seat, then I I think you should do your best to stay there and and do what's necessary and not be a problem because to most magnet teachers, man, they so they are so in tune to that particular subject area. And it wears them out when there's a student who constantly disrupts and they can't get and because we don't have a 52 minutes in a class and 25 minutes of that 52 minutes is dealt with clerical roll call answering the intercom
098and passes and that kind of madness. So you don't have about 25 to 30 good minutes of real good teaching. So when you have a disruptive student just constantly it is more than a notion. I know because I've been on I've been in that position. So I don't know. I guess we may have to revisit some things because I don't want to just put children out. I want them to have the opportunities. But I concur with the superintendent. It's not like two or three absences. Sometimes it's 30 or 40. and there's some other things they're doing making threats. I' I've had students do that, you know, and so we have to deal with that. So that's my little five cent, not two cent on the matter. Thank you. Thank you, Member Felder. Member Ferrant. Thank
099you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to chime in on the topic of revoking somebody's transfer. I think as well I agree that we from what I've seen the district goes above and beyond to make sure that students are accommodated and I've one student that I was speaking to a principal with who elementary student they are tardy nearly every single day. They live completely across town. and the principal goes above and beyond to sit with the parent, talk with the parent. How can we get your child here on time? This may not be the best placement for your child. Let's look at something closer to your home. but they continue to allow the child because they want this child to have the opportunity of the magnet program. That's in elementary. I think there is a little
100more grace in elementary because it's not the child's fault. It's really more and you know maybe even in middle because they literally can't drive themselves. So high school is definitely different. I think that's I think we the standard for high school should be a little different but so for me I do I you know I appreciate the extra comments superintendent I that is helpful for us to see that there's you know it's not like if you're tardy 10 times this is like egregious amounts I think is really what you're telling us is that when it's been it's so excessive that you say hey this really is a privilege I think transfers and the school choice, all of it is a privilege. we're zoned for a certain school. I love love love that we have these
101options. and I love that parents are able to take these options and find what's best for their child. but at the same time, we do have to there's got to be some sort of standard, otherwise it's just a free-for-all and kind of clown show if we don't have something set in place. So, I appreciate it. and I also I look forward to hopefully revisiting that policy. JFBD for magnet school programs because I do think there is some maybe tweaking that we could do to help make sure that those magnet programs stay top-notch. I think our pro our magnet programs to me is a different type of transfer than just your the other transfers that are listed here. That one to me is really a choice. You are making the choice. You're committing to behave to
102show up on time. It's a it's a commitment because it is like a four-year. You're committing. if you don't, then you're really taking from a student who who really does want to be there. and so I look forward to revisiting that along with member Felder. Thank you. Thank you, member. Member Douglas. Thank you, Vice Miss How do you say, Madame Vice? Sorry, I'm new. Okay. thank you so much. I just wanted to say that I really commend you for your for listening to our comments and making the change that you have made. thank you so much for allowing the sibling to be with their brothers and sisters in the school. That's really really I really appreciate that enormously. Thank you. and I just wanted to give an accolade to to OCPS for the you know
103really you know making an effort to make sure that our students have a you know options and choices such as MA magnets program. So when you have a magnet program for example I think it's and you are been you have been accepted into the magnet program you have an obligation to attend you know I think it's a privilege and you have an obligation to attend and if we can and if we want to remain competitive that's the only way we can make a little bit just a little bit stringent just like member Felder and member Farant u just stated we need to to to make sure that we have a level of you know obligation as far as the Magnus program are concerned in other programs as well. Okay. So, you know, making maybe that
104little, you know, difference in in the how do you call KC. Anyway, you know what I'm talking about the document will be great. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you, member Vanos. Thank you, Madam Chair. I also just wanted to share my support for the language that we currently have in the student continuation criteria. you know and I and just to sort of echo what the superintendent said and I know we're not talking about magnet schools. but I look forward to that conversation because I feel like it'll be a very long and interesting one. but but I do think you know even even just being a parent of magnet school and being on sack like even in magnet schools the links that a school will go to to keep a student there and to not
105revoke that magnet I think says a lot and so I mean that's even in a magnet school so I do know that principles and admin and teachers are working really hard. but I appreciate member Felder's comments and just the empathy she shared for for the students, but also sort of the acknowledgement of what happens in the real world on being on the on the ground, you know, in classroom in a school. And I will share that in my visits to schools, incentives are so important for our administrators to have and the links that they go to to make up incentives for students to have good behavior and to show up on time and to be in school. it's incredible. They are so creative and I think having this in their toolbox to just encourage students
106to attend and to behave and to to do what they need to do in school I think is important. So just wanted to share that I do support this language that you have. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm cued next. So I just and thinking a little bit more about it. I appreciate completely that the schools go above and beyond. I think my biggest issue is just that to be quite honest, I feel like we should have we should have probation forms for all of our students. I'm not kidding. Like this is where my this is where my issue is. Like why magnets are a totally different discussion because they are taking up a seat, you know? It's totally different discussion. But for transfers and for our regular students, we are we have nothing as
107you said like incentive wise for attendance for tardies for absences for even behavior if it's just disruption if it's not like something serious like there is these our poor teachers and our administrators have nothing in their toolbox. to be able to incentivize to get these kids to come to school every day for their zone school even. So, this is what I would propose. Why don't we have a probation form for all of our students? You get warnings when you're tardy. You get warnings when you're absent. If you don't change this, you're going to be put on academic probation. And then if you don't change it after that, then you are have to go to, I don't know, Orange County virtual. If you cannot behave and you cannot and you cannot arrive at school every day,
108why are we allowing zoned kids to cause these disruptions every day? And why are we allowing it for our regular kids and not for our transfer kids? That's where my angst is. Like I would like I don't have a problem with this language either, but I would like to see it for all of our students. Like that's my where my issue is. I feel like I don't know. I really and maybe it's just I'm having an issue with the absences right now. Maybe with my own child. I will just say I am trying to get my child to graduate in 10 days and getting you know them to go to school every day. So but you know when it's not just my child though, but I hear it a lot from parents. I mean a
109lot. I just had a parent yesterday telling me, "My child is telling me they don't have to go to school today or my child's," you know, and so we have got to find a way to hold these kids accountable somehow. And so I would I would love to see us be drastic drastically change the way we allow our kids to behave and attend school. That is kind of where I'm at with that. I know that I see the superintendent wants to comment, I'm sure, on what I just said, so I'll let her chime in. No, no. So, I was giddy cuz I don't think we've seen Greg Moody smile that much in ever. so we certainly can go back. I do believe that there are several roadblocks to what you're proposing, although I think you
110will find the vast majority of teachers, administrators in support of that. but although Orange County Virtual is an OCPS school, you know, the language around, you know, FAPE that says they c they have the right to attend the school. So, we can start to look at that, maybe look at a pilot where we're putting in more restrictions around attendance and behavior, which is the biggest deterrent right now for our teachers, our administrator, and even the parents. I mean, when you talk to parents of children that are constantly disruptive and not attending school, they're they're frustrated as well. so we'll go back and investigate what is possible and then we can come back to the board or share that information. If it is possible, I can I can tell you that it's something that would have
111great support. Thank you, Superintendent. Yes, Mr. Moody. Madame Vice Chair, if I may, anytime Orange County Virtuals, and for the record, I do smile quite a bit actually. now or so or Orange County Virtual is the largest and most successful virtual franchise in the state of Florida other than Florida Virtual. So kudos to what the team is doing over there. Got to put a plug in every time I talk about Orange County Virtual. But I just wanted to bring make you aware we are actually when you talk about attendance and chronic absenteeism, our plan for this year is to as we increase choice and provide parents more information. A lot of them don't realize that of those chronically absent students that they do have a choice of virtual so that they can go to virtual
112instead of if a traditional school day does not meet their needs for one reason or another. A virtual option or a blended option part virtual part brick and mortar is always an option. so we are going to target students who have been chronically absent in the near future in the very near future and provide opportunity make sure they're aware of opportunities that they may not be aware of of you know virtual instruction and how you know if you don't like to go to school but you are successful in school you have a and many of our kids that are chronically absent have a 2.5 GPA or higher some of them are over 4.0. Mhm. so those students who are that are being successful the traditional school 7:30 to 2:30 may not be for them. But
113I've got a virtual option for you that may be. So we are going to target those students this coming year and and provide more options for them hopefully. I love it. I love it. And thank you. And thank you, superintendent, for saying the parents are frustrated, too, because I think for for parents, you know, it's I'm always, and we were just discussing this before the board meeting, I'm a big proponent of natural consequences for kids. I feel like when they see, oh man, if I don't do this, this happens instead of mom and dad are going to be mad or mom and dad said I have to, it doesn't provide that kind of, you know, inspiration to do things. And I think if a child says, you know, oh, if I'm late again, I'm going
114to I don't know. When I was in school, it was I'm going to get detention. I'm going to have to stay after school for detention or I'm going to have lunch detention. I remember that. Oh my gosh. So, I would make sure I was always at school, you know, on time just because I didn't want to have to go through that. But there is literally nothing like that going on right now. So, it's hard to be the parent saying you got to go to school, but I know you have, like Greg said, you've got all your assignments turned in, you got all A's, and you don't get in trouble. So, I don't really know why you have to go, but other than I'm a parent and I'm telling you, you have to go, right? so
115yeah, I think that, if anything we can do to help parents out would be huge. And then I think that would also help with of course help our schools as well. U member Salamanca is next. thank you. I it's an intriguing idea. I'm I'm I'm think, you know, for me, when I looked at this, I agree. I think some part of it is around the, you know, this is, you know, not our kids. Like that's kind of where I get the heartburn of and for me it's not on the magnet schools. I think all of our magnet schools, especially in high school, they do a lot of work to get kids to one, obviously we want them to graduate, but two, like if you're a magnet, for them to to spend time developing those skills.
116And my concern falls a little bit more I think maybe mentioned like elementary and middle school students don't have a lot of control over their own transportation and attendance. And that's when this can kind of punish the student due to stuff outside of them and take away their you know opportunity to perhaps be in a program that is good. and I know I mentioned this last time which was actually along the lines of some grading exemption. Right? So, if I'm an elementary school kid and yes, my attendance isn't great, but my grades are good, then I don't maybe like that you're doing the most you can within your control as a student, but if you're not being driven every day, like I think that's hard. And so, I think it's good that we're going to
117have this period where hopefully we're sitting down with the parents and having this conversation. I think sitting down with a parent will hopefully change this. But ultimately, yeah, there there is the consequence where a student could be doing okay and is still kind of punished in this way and and that's okay. I'm not I'm not arguing to change this. But with all other schools, they're not facing that same penalty, right? We're not we're not sitting down with the parents to have this conversation because there is in this and when it's comes to discipline and really serious discipline you know we have a lot of leeway with positive pathways or with expulsion right so we kind of shift to move a student to what is best for them based on what we know but we don't
118have that with other things like attendance and so I also would be supportive of if we can if it is within our purview to say there is some prob probation period that you get even with the school you are just zoned to. If we start to see this behavior and potentially that's when we have that conversation where it's like if we don't see this get better we would highly recommend your student consider alternatives within Orange County Public Schools but clearly this is not working and it is disruptive. So I what that looks like obviously I defer to to staff but I also would be supportive of kind of providing a more of that. it's like just consequences and discipline and students having more choice on seeing that. Yeah. Well, and also I think it it
119values the other students in the classroom, right? Every time we have and the biggest thing I hear a lot from teachers is just the constant disruption, disruption, disruption, disruption. You can't ride up a kid 20 times in a class period for talking out of turn and not, you know, being rude of if they're just always rude or whatever. I don't know. like there's just all these situations where teachers have to stop and stop and stop and it's very frustrating for other kids in the class and if if regular discipline is kind of not working then at some point you have to value the other kids in the classroom too. So that's kind of my thinking on that. I'm sorry I spoke in there for a minute. member Ferrant, thank you. I think you have the
120I feel like that should be the vice chairs or chair whoever is running it. You should be able to like jump in whenever sort of like yeah the perk of being in that position. so I just wanted to jump in on this and say I really do think this would be something I would we should look into because I hear it all the time from parents from teachers even the older students get it. but they see a student misbehaving, doing all sorts of crazy stuff. Maybe they're not getting the level four to actually get expelled, but it is disruptive, constantly late, tardy, whatever it might be, that's just over the top, over and above. but to offer that free and public education at home, I mean, to me, I think that still complies with FAPE
121in my opinion because we're still offering you that education, but to have the privilege of being in a school setting, if you're not taking advantage of it, then you need to do that at home. we still offer it for free and it's available to you. So, I would be more than happy to sit down and discuss that. I don't even know how we would do that or if it's a policy or what we would do, but I think it would really empower parents. It would empower teachers, administrators. It's it would create safer environments for kids who are there because they want to learn. give them the teachers the now they're focusing on the students who are there to learn and the child who is not doing well in the classroom setting they can be removed
122and in place in a different setting that's going to u best support their educational needs. So I'm all in favor of it whatever we got to do to to bring that forward. Okay, with that the board is clear, so you can move on with the rest of the policy. so if I may, I just have one brief comment. House Bill 1255, which I believe has passed at both House and Senate, and is waiting for the governor to sign it. does have a new provision that allows frequently disobedient, violent, abusive, etc. students to be referred to send fins to child and needs of services instead of going it's usually like through the truency process but it does give the schools now more leeway to deal with those students that are frequently disobedient being written up retardies
123that are not necessarily rising to the level of a level for and that is under DJJ. So, it's not really going to put them in the criminal sense of it. But if their behavior is not improved, they provide services, they get counseling, they talk, the parents are involved. So, if it doesn't get better, then it could lead to more consequences. So, schools will have that if the governor signs this. So, I just want to put that out there. Okay, so we're picking up on page seven. that language in subsection 4, authorized for good cause in the district private or charter school board policy was updated to align with the statute for participating in extracurricular and activities. And under subsection I again we updated language to align with the request from board members that siblings shall
124be eligible to transfer with the student who is granted the control open enrollment transfer. so we moved the language about the initial. So if the initial sibling has left the school, but there still is a current sibling at the school, then the new sibling can transfer based on the current sibling being at the school. and subsection C. That's just removing that language about capacity. same thing in that section, subsection D, same thing in E. same thing in both of those sections. Removed we removed the requirement for capacity and allowing siblings to transfer. in section C, the student has been zon the student has been reszoned by OCPS and is a rising fifth or eighth grade student. Sibling shall be eligible to transfer with the student who is granted this type of grandfathered transfer. However, the
125transfer for the sibling will only be available for one school year. I'm pointing that out cuz Miss Neil wants to speak to that. No, I don't want to speak to that. Okay. Are you sure? Okay. She just wanted me to highlight that. again, under hope scholarship subsection D, we removed the capacity requirement and we removed subsection G because it's no longer applicable. Hope has been around for long enough that can be removed. And in subsection F we remove the language who reside in the same household because we defined sibling in the definitions and that is it. Thank you very much for this great presentation. I'll give it to the superintendent. thank you so much. We have a couple of takeaways or things that we're going to bring back to the board. Appreciate the discussion on
126this. I do think the changes are going to allow for more choice. more opportunities for our families to see the great things that are happening in our schools. So Greg Keavia and Stacy, thank you so much. You guys are amazing. Appreciate you. Sorry, one second. We did make a change among us while we were sitting talking. if the board would agree under the student continuation criteria, we can change that from the probation being for one grading period to a semester to allow the student to have more time to correct if you guys are amendable to that. Instead of a nineweek period, they will have a semester. When a student is right now watching the semester, sorry, I was just saying that quarter versus semester. a grading period which is 9 weeks versus a semester. So,
127it's just how long do we give a student for probation to improve the behavior before they get transferred back out to the school that they're zoned into? It's I'm I'm okay with semester. I think that gives a little bit more the way. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Stacey. Member Ferrant, my question would be if is this like so say are we saying the nine weeks it would be you'd be given nine weeks. So even if you your probation started during the eighth week of school you have nine weeks from that point. Yes. So what will be equivalent to nine weeks or a semester? So we wouldn't say if you're like halfway through the semester you only have to the end of the semester. you will get the full 18 weeks. See, I still
128feel like I'm I feel fine with the nine weeks because if you can't correct something within nine weeks, that personally I feel like nine weeks is a long time. but I'm whatever the board would prefer. Okay. I'm concerned. Yeah, maybe we just take a vote on this one because I don't really care either way. I my concern would be if if it is a big problem, if the attendance is a big problem, which apparently, you know, it is for us to even have this, then I don't know about making a school have to wait 18 weeks to make a change. I feel like 9 weeks is a long time for them to allow a behavior to change, have these conversations with parents, and hopefully make adjustments. I'm a little concerned about it being 18 weeks.
129Actually, we can leave it as is after 9 weeks. Do you want to leave it at nine or go? Yeah. Okay, we'll leave it at nine then. Okay, thank you guys. Thank you guys. Okay, so general counsel. Yeah. just want to alert you a couple things. Number one, I've drafted some language that we talked about with respect to the congregation. So, take a look at it. If you have any comments, let me know. number two, just really briefly wanted to make you aware there's been litigation going on up at the United States Supreme Court on various issues. One of them is going to be charter schools and whether we will be required to allow religious charter schools. that decision is coming down by the end of June. So they, you know, when we talk about
130transfer and choices and all that, if the Supreme Court rules that religious charter schools are required under the free exercise clause, then states were required to allow them and school districts are required to allow them, it'll be a change. So, I wanted to alert you that it's there. It's being decided, and it's something that we're keeping close track of, and whatever they do, we'll be here to get back with you, tell you what the law will now require, and then we'll go from there. Thank you, Mr. Pomearini. Any other business? All right, with that this meeting is adjourned. Heat. Heat.