001good evening dr. Atkins and members of the board my name is David Martin and I'm an hour educator at Bonita Springs Elementary in the coordinator for designs and dreams and this evening I'm here to discuss the impact art has on communities months ago dr. Santini brought together our educators and the community leaders and challenged us to advocate for the Arts because of that meeting we developed a vision of cultivating and connected community through the arts a mission to establish and nurture connection in which the arts are a fundamental and organic component of the whole County culture and goals to improve the networking system between schools and community professionals because of that meeting the spring student arts festival was founded and I would like to invite all of you to attend the Bonita Springs student Arts
002Festival at the historic shangri-la Springs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on April 17th and 18th you'll witness firsthand the impact art has on the community and most importantly on our students students from the five schools will showcase the visual and performing arts and we hope that you come and visit us and the artist and Professor Kevin McCartney performed a study and he found that the Performing and visual arts builds healthier communities and an overall healthier individual the arts create interpreter interpersonal ties and promotes volunteering increases opportunities for self-expression and enjoyment and reduces delinquency and high-risk youth cognitively and expression and cognitively and psychologically the arts increase a sense of individual efficacy and self-esteem and improves individual self belonging and a sense of self belonging or attachment to their community when participating in the arts
003students and community members benefit enter personally and socially building individual social networks and enhanced ability to work with others and communicate ideas the arts create social capital by getting people involved by connecting organizations to each other and by giving participants experience in organizing and working with local governments and nonprofits so board and doctor I couldn't thank you for listening I appreciate that thank you Mitchell McGowan hello I'm Mitchell McGowan capo resident 23 years they got three kids nine six and two I assume you guys saw my Facebook poll the other day about in school choice where 75% of the people voted on the poll that they would like to meanwhile much of that 25% remaining or their their main thing was about the high schools which I agree we should keep the high schools in
004school choice as a start there are many young children walking and standing in the dark which is not safe as well many of the ride and bus that they're on the bus for some of them for an hour and a half going to the bus at 5 504 in the morning I believe the first stop is so my question is what are we going to do to ensure we the people's wishes are met on this is there any way we can get this done research shows that if we were to end school choice in just elementary middle schools it would save the schools around 22 possibly up to 40 million dollars a year which that money could be used to make the so call not good schools even better more equal to the better schools
005the whole state of Michigan drops school choice a few years back why can't Lee County I have heard that some organizations might try to sue us if we try to change school choice I feel that we the people have the right to know what organizations are although after the future failure of our school choice has brought us I believe that they might not sue us after all so please be open honest with us we the people that elected you another way to make our schools better and safer is with the money being received from the half cent increase which was projected to be around 450 million over the next ten years but in January's numbers it looks like it's going to be around 750 million or better there would be a positive thing so as
006long as the money is being used properly I see no reason why we can't have more money for our schools and to make them better and safer as for the 22 million dollars that was found why don't you explain to the people why that money can't be used to make our school safe I also find a lot of things in schools being political a lot of the money in the board home sorry I'm just gonna skip over that but lastly I just want to leave another thing on school safety that we had the drag queen story our sweep in the nation and I would like to see that kept out of her schools you know that's the they just found two people convicted rapists and we could just should not have that in our schools
007either yeah I guess that's it Thank You Terry Jones thank you board members dr. Dickens let's talk about the school bus safety that 1989 my cousin Carrie hits he was killed hit Singh was killed by a hit-and-run driver and here we are 30 years later all of this money that could have been saved from school choice could have already been put in there 7 what 7,000 bus stops in Lee County for the schools then why aren't there 7,000 streetlights and 7,000 sidewalks to those bus stops you know and it's time to abolish school choice that alone would save 25 million to 40 million that could be keeping these kids safe and now here you've got the blood on your hands of three more kids that have been killed how many more is it going to
008take before something is done to save these children how many more kids are going to have to die before something is done you know and we're here tonight to hold you accountable for the job that you do because you work for us we pay you and if you can't do the job that we're paying you to do well it's time to have it every one of you removed and I've already reached out to Governor DeSantis and you know I love my new governor that I hired and I hope that he does with the Lee County School District and the board members exactly what he did to the Southwest Florida Water Management because it's beyond time to save these kids and you know that I took my daughter out of public school to keep her safe
009over two years ago when I stood right here talking about kids being safety with their safety so yes it's time to make the change and that change is now and we are going to hold you accountable not just today every day this already should have been done thirty years you've had what is the excuse where my aunt left off after she fought it for many years I'm still fighting for it and I'm gonna keep on because these kids are the future of this country in it's high time that you started caring about how they are treated and their safety and if you don't think so each one of you should get on the school bus and ride for about a week and see what the things that we see as parents and I thank God
010every day that I took my daughter out of public school when I did she probably wouldn't even be alive right now if I hadn't because nobody did anything to save her and if you don't think so check the documentation in your school computer your system computer I know for a fact it's there because my attorney has the information thank you yeah excuse me yep Durr bahamian hi honey and Lehigh Acres Florida man I'm sheriff keep up the good work I think you're trying hard my comments are I have a few here I hope the governor is pushing this common core deal let's get rid of it we had a member last time that wavered on it then go for thing against it let's super turn the napkins let's get something going when it's ready to
011go let's have it going that's not delaying this is crap this common core gun safety and the in the schools I'm disappointed I believe somebody that can handle a gun and it's qualify your blood their bloods on you it's kids get killed you don't want somebody there with a gun so think about it street lighting I've been to the lighting board meetings trying to get street lights on Leonard Boulevard pitch is darker in hell and there's a lot of school bus pickups there at the meetings apparently the lighting companies are building priority this is what they say in a brilliant and school stops now there's a million I hear different there's a million to two million dollars next year they think three million dollars for street lights so let's get out of them the lighting
012companies say they're trying to do something I'll enter Boulevard I think I see some new lights up there I don't know it's because me bitching about it but somebody's been getting done and the last thing got to say is I want term limits on school boards I hope the legislators in Tallahassee vote for that you people been up here too long some of you but others that are new but hopefully we get better street lights hopefully our kids are safe when they wait for buses thank you John Jacobs evening school board members and dr. Atkins my name is John Jacobs I'm president of northwest cape Neighborhood Association I represent over 1200 members who are taxpayers of the Northwest cape area considering recent events in the Cape regarding the safety of our school children there are
013many changes being examined to improve their safety including additional sidewalks additional street lighting in adding benches at school bus stops these changes are currently being considered by the city of Cape Coral which I commend them for expecting our children to walk the bus stops during pre-dawn times in the street with flashlights is a complete disregard for their safety also expecting children to cross a major roadway like Byrne store Road in total darkness to get to their schools is pure insanity additionally how does it make sense to have school bus stops on burned store Road here's a picture of the darkness of the child that just got hit the other day on burn store road completely dark and because he lives less than a two-mile distance for school busing he has to walk to Marriner every
014day many other students do also in the opinion of many of the Northwest Cape residents there is a need to be changes adopted by the school board of Lee County the first change is we would recommend reducing the school of choice offerings it has created a logistics nightmare there's an unnecessary amount of school bus traffic there's an unnecessary amount of school bus stops it's caused the schools the schedule pick up times during pre-dawn times it has also created an enormous budgetary cost for the school district of which could be better allocated to teacher salaries some of the school offerings from the Northwest Cape area or a 13 to 15 mile bus trip each way offering two to three schools which are geographically closest to the students home is a more reasonable plan this is a
015listing right here of my area under schools that are offered 14 Elementary School's seven middle schools and five high schools that's that's way too it's not necessary the second change is figuring out how to stop the pre-dawn school bus stop pickups in the Cape with a lack of sidewalks and street lights you're scheduling methods are a major contribution to these unsafe conditions to our children the third change is providing school bus transportation to students that don't meet the two-mile minimum that would have to cross burn store Road it's like a Speedway there finally do not schedule bus stops on burn store Road it has no legitimate crosswalks or stoplights all vehicles are traveling at least 60 miles an hour after reading dr. Atkins letter regarding this major issue the perception is there's no sense of
016urgency in solving this child safety problem our hopes are that the school board realizes the urgency and seriously considers these recommendations from our residents Thank You Marvin gets I'm here to dr. Atkins board members I'm here on behalf of the guests teachers at Lee County there are three points I want to bring out tonight point number one after almost a year of me complaining we are having a training program for all substitute teachers this summer so I want to thank human resources for planning a training program for all my substitutes thank you also we need to have some sort of an insurance policy to cover any injuries if a teacher is a substitute guest teacher receives a permanent injury an example I received the note today from Houston Texas from the teacher who was shot
017last year about 11 months ago she workman's comp covered everything but it only covers so long she has to go to physical therapy and training to get her body back in shape to walk and there is no insurance coverage I believe it would be a very little cost to the district when you take that sheer numbers involved yes workman's comp covers that but it doesn't cover a permanent injury to a substitute teacher finally at the current time we are undergoing the substitute teacher guests teacher Silver Apples we are now in the process of selecting oh they are currently being nominated by teachers in every school building last year we had 680 nominated we only select for one elementary middle high school and special need joining the committee our three administrators three full-time teachers for substitutes
018and our chairperson so I want to thank you and I look forward to seeing everybody that's here in the audience if they'd be nice if they turned out on May 21st for our meeting when the board will recognize the nominees thank you very much Lew Navarro just mr. zark your turn I'll hold them up sorry good evening superintendent and board moon of our retired teacher inkay president I once again want to ask you for my extra half a cent on the roundup of the sales tax increase on the odd numbers I'd like my half a cent back I don't want it at the state or wherever I have heard nothing I want to address the tragic death of Lela Aikens seems like many Lee County uns she escaped core residents as a bunch of old
019grouchy retirees with an authoritarian police department the outcry of the city of Cape Carr was heartwarming by the people the death is really Lee counties districts fault we have asked for bus reform time and time again and it falls on deaf ears fact going back to 2010 with former Bob shamanic school board member asked to do away with school choice he said school choice has not improved academic performance the system has failed chemonics said we should use that money to equalize all programs in all schools instead of burning it up on transportation and I have a sheet from Duval County out sources they move more students and save money and have less bus stops and they have a magnet program not a school choice so privatization you need it we've it suggested it falls on
020deaf ears I demand that our half cent sales tax be used for safety and security for handy huts at all school bus stops just like the city has why build new schools buy more land you have plenty of land in your portfolio then when we could put these Hut's up for the children that would certainly help lastly I think it's with all due respect I think dr. Atkins it's time for you to consider down we need a superintendent who's gonna be open to new ideas and will have new ideas from out of our district in the last 15 years we've had 13 years of homegrown superintendents it's time for a change somebody out out there you have your platinum parachute and most super-dense the last five years in this district so you've done really well
021here's the pictures of the bus huts I can leave them with you the audience can't see them I brought your present I'll give it to Susan their flashlights little flashlights you can go out and meet the children on their night vigil and wait for year-round daylight savings time you think we got a problem now because they want to do the tourists over children's lives thank you John Larson's shoveling so your time starting Chairman Giddens it's a pleasure to see you exactly where you're sitting and with the authority you have Mary Fisher Melissa Gianelli Deb Jordan yes Kathleen Morgan and Chris it's good to be here I come representing the ambit's post 81 of North Fort Myers on the auspices of Kevin but well my commander Scott Brown my vice commander and Peggy Mills she's the
022president of the AMVETS post 81 auxilary I'm here to help the situation as best we can it's the National Americanism contest that I'm promoting with our post veterans 81 the contest consists of three grade levels and we have flag coloring for grades K and one we have the posters for second third fourth and fifth grades and then we have the various essays for the from sixth grade to twelfth grade now everybody in Lee County that has their children in school is possible to be a part of this I mean it's parochial schools private schools public schools of anybody that has the Boy Scouts Girl Scouts anyone else and home schools so what we do is we are the ones that fund three things we ask the people and the ones that are participating and they're
023winners the first-place winner gets a plaque and they get a certificate a visa certificate the second and third place winners get the plaque not not the plaque but the certificates and so your time your time self Kevin Daley good evening chair getting's board members dr. Atkins and mr. dodyk Kevin Daly I'm the president of the Teachers Association of Lee County but I'm also the proud parent of two students at South Fort Myers high school who most days have to wait at a bus stop and so I rise here in support of safer bus stops and I think my members and the employees of the support Association and the employees of all the district believe that believe in the safety of students at the bus stops as well as in the school buildings and so I
024emailed chair Gittens late last week about perhaps putting together some ideas to find ways to make the bus stops as safe as they can be I mean I think we're dealing with multi jurisdictions here I think the school board has some responsibilities I think the county has some responsibilities and some aspects and the individual cities do as well so I think we should sit down and really look at the bus stops and perhaps develop a program and use all of our collective that the power of the parents are power of the employees and the power of the district to move forward a partnership and a plan to do something like adopt a bench or adopt a stop where local businesses are able to adopt that stop and provide some of the funding necessary to make
025it as safe as it can be so I look forward to hearing your response chair Gittens I unfortunately have to scoot right away I have a daughter who's been at her worksite for forty-five minutes longer than she should have been but it's okay she has Wi-Fi food money and shelter so everything a 15 year old girl needs to be safe so thank you very much for your time and I look forward to hearing from you all and working with you guys to kind of partner and leverage our collective power to make school bus stops as safe as they can possibly be thanks Don Armstrong good afternoon board for the record my name is dawn Armstrong I'm a proud parent I'm too great eighth graders who will be moving on to North Meyers high school so
026what I wanted to talk to you guys about was not only my parent I'm also a former board member as you guys remember so in 2011 dr. Atkins you was in administration and I brought up school bus stop safety lights had a bus stops I went to your office and even talked to you directly about him back then putting reflective vests on the backpacks of these students I had several meetings in Cape Coral over this mr. Sherr I believe you even went to one of the meetings with me these issues back then we was being proactive and trying to resolve these issues we knew that was a problem then eight years later we're here because of a tragedy that's not the only tragedy the tragedy is why we didn't do anything about it long before
027it got to this point this is our future and our kids and it's up to you to come up with solutions and ideas and since no one here seems to be thinking that it's that important this time there's plenty of ladies out there we're gonna let you know different it's important it's our kids the other thing I wanted to address to you is neighborhood schools and school choice you heard that there was a abundant people out there who was for neighborhood schools I've suggested to go back to elementary and middle schools as neighborhood schools leave high schools for school choice which would save on transportation our students would not be standing out at the dark you know you guys have to remember something on your chart organizational chart it says we the public at the
028very top you work for us and you need to do something and start looking at the school choice the neighborhood schools not in a few years now because this is our kids it's our education system it's our school district it is not yours remember that because if you don't remember that I promise you people right now are talking about when it's time for election they'll remember it then Thank You Randy Romanoff I have your card oh yeah okay just hand it there thank you I have her name here Thanks okay all right who your time's tickin so okay good evening this is my third time speaking in public and every time I think it's going to get easier it never does I'm pretty sure most of you know who I am by now but I'm
029gonna reintroduce myself my name is Randy Romanov and I am one of the founders for lights for Leila two Monday's ago my friend Kathleen akin lost her eight-year-old daughter Leila in a tragic accident that could and should have been prevented although there was one driver that literally ran his pickup truck over an 8-year old little girl we are all at fault the school board transportation city officials and us as teachers parents and our entire community Terry John stated at the last city council meeting that we all have the blood of Laila on our hands and we do for nearly two weeks I've asked myself how I as a mother to four have not taken this matter more serious and I'm asking you as the people that represent over 90,000 students in our district how you
030have allowed the safety of our children to fall so low on your to-do list since January 1st 2019 we have had three school bus stop related accidents with two being fatal I don't know about you but to us that is three too many since lights for Laila has started we have raised a large sum of money we have over 1,400 followers on our Facebook page and over a hundred daily messages over 50% of our messages are from either parents scared to send their kids to the bus or parents reaching out about their child being scared to go to school the future of this county is scared to go to school it seems to us that the school board is just being careless Leila Aikens mom and my good friend Kathleen reached out to transportation and
031the school board to have her twins stop changed just to be told that it cannot be done and that its district policy to force to nine-year-old boys to stand at the bus stop where they watched their sister die is district policy if you ask us district policy needs to be changed and lights for Lila is a force to be reckoned with lights for Lila is determined to not just put benches and lights at all bus stops we are determined to change the way things are done we are joining together as a society driving down the road you'll notice handmade benches and a community that was once all strangers are now working together and we're taking a stand and writing you're wrong with so many options between changing school choice to only having three or four
032schools to choose from or starting elementary school times later are putting lighting at all bus stops this never should have happened the death of both Alana Tamplin and Lela akin should rest on all of our conscience --is whatever we need to do as lights for Lela we will do we're just a group of moms on a mission and this is just the beginning thank you so much Jerry where no clapping plays sorry just can't Jerry we're bored dr. Atkins I had the opportunity last week of going along with 350 other ladies to meet the legislature in Tallahassee to address issues that concern our community tonight I'm going to be brief because one of them is of urgency to me and that is because on Thursday the Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hear Senate bill
0337 3703 zero along allowing the arming of teachers I pleaded with Senator benefit store and all of the rest of them as I was there I had to have been a teacher and I said if I had wanted to be a policeman I would have gone to school to be that and I'm asking for consideration and asking you all to please let them before this last chance because it scared it to to the finishing line that you all call and get others to say please do not our teachers the responsibility is enough we're gonna lose more teachers as you begin to put more responsibilities on them and putting them in prejudiced situations and in situations that will prejudice their lives it's not safe for them and I'm really begging you all to please get on
034the phone and ask them to not pass Senate bill 7 zero three zero Thank You Diana Geraldo evening my name is Diana Gerardo I am the president and co-founder of a nonprofit called streets alive of Southwest Florida our mission is fostering a livable community through activities advocacy education and service we have been in Lee County area and serving Southwest Florida since 2012 and some of the things that we have done are in line with bicycle and pedestrian safety and other activities we have worked closely with some of the schools in Lee County we have brought forward some issues to the local governments about conflicts around the schools where we don't even have school zone slow speeds and those are issues that are outside the district's responsibility I understand the school board they have percent tax
035is dedicated specifically for some things but also understand the government responsibility to step up and take action in this the liquor that cape coral that has stepped up in this issue of bus stop safety is outstanding we have been bringing forward these issues with other local governments for many years and they go unheard pretty much we have issues of infrastructure that are not just the responsibility of the school district this is a wide community issue now that's called district only issue and a lot of times community do not understand that I understand your responsibilities and I understand the government responsibility because I worked in government for over 15 years my background is in architecture and urban design so I know that there are some things that are urgent and some things that are costly but
036there are other alternatives that are low hanging fruit I'm going to share something that kind of made me think today so in Northport this sex-offender someone wrote across in front of his driveway sex offender so it was a big deal so the know port public works when in paint that over that was faster that we could have had Lee County authorities on any jurisdiction going out there where this school board school bus stops are in putting some reflecting reflective paint it's not the responsibility of Jersey school board so some of the things that I want to bring forward to you is to request the crackdown and distracted driving and reach out to your local legislature so the law is not watered-down that's another issue we have and all the other safety the cutbacks on the
037impact fees that's taken away from infrastructure that goes for the entire community and this is not just a School Board district issue so when these things are being spoken about at the local governments you guys do have to be at the table you have to be informed because this will impact the school board thank you Christine Kobe good evening hello my name is christine kobe and i'm a violence prevention educator with our local certified domestic violence and sexual assault center act i'm also a full-time teacher at Lehigh senior high school prior to teaching in a traditional classroom I spent over a decade going into health classrooms at the middle and high school levels as a guest speaker I would spend a couple of weeks at each school facilitating a curriculum on healthy relationships this curriculum
038addressed risk and protective factors associated with being a victim or perpetrator of intimate partner violence these factors have been identified by the Center for Disease Control the data that I collected each year proved that the programming was successful but the domestic violence centers boss funding at the state level which decreased the number of schools and students that I could do programming with I missed working with students so I hopped on to the career change route and became a teacher I began as an English teacher for 12th grade and presented the 8th session curriculum to two of my classes using English language arts and reading standards my data showed that the positive change increased from about 25% to 75% and I assumed it was the age that I was working with or that it was simply
039a fluke this year I am teaching critical research in thinking with ninth grade students I stretched the material out over an entire nine week quarter again utilizing ela and reading standards but also incorporating technology social media campaigns and teaching my students how to analyze and evaluate the data themselves and that is why I'm here this evening stretching out the material and adding additional content to enhance learning improve the positive behavior change to about 85% all those students enjoy having guest speakers they predict that the content is taught to them by their own teacher that they have a trusting and connecting relationship with then the impact will be more effective incorporating a nine week session unhealthy relationships is not my only suggestion throughout this year I have covered many topics related to violence prevention and social-emotional
040learning we've covered empathy bullying bystander behavior and respects all while being culturally relevant and inclusive to our LGBTQ students and students of color I am suggesting a district-wide violence prevention initiative I would like to let the board know that I have the experience as well as the academic credentials to increase this level of impact district-wide and I'm available to assist in any way this includes supporting our teachers with materials coaching professional development as well as program development and evaluation I will continue to be at Lehigh let me know if you need me Toyland Hopkins good evening my name is Tywin Hopkins I am a student at Lehigh senior high school I am speaking on behalf of miss Kelby today one in four teens is abused by a partner what is abused mean most students can't
041answer correctly because they are educated on these topics by their TVs and social media TV and social media for Internet entertainment so they are accurate depictions of how it really is so the mindset is things like that can happen to young people like us before I was introduced to the healthy relationships curriculum I can say I was a blank slate I didn't know what it meant to hold control over another by using both mental and physical force healthy relationships include having an understanding of how our own bodies work and keeping them healthy I didn't know about the type of STDs and STI as a person again or how to prevent getting them and transferring them healthy relationships extend beyond romantic partnerships they include our families our friends and the ones we sit next to in
042class we all learned about slavery in school but we didn't know that it was still going on in the form of human trafficking and we didn't know about the types of racism if we want to help prevent violence we have to know this information because knowledge is power and without it we are left vulnerable and that risk of becoming a victim or perpetrator of it we need a violence prevention curriculum through high school high school is a time of change and negative emotions we don't get it our parents don't going to teach it and many times they don't get it either so if we are misinformed who is to blame with a curriculum like this that teaches us the stuff our parent have to tiptoe around or pretend to know it can make us better
043and more prepared I believe we need a teacher to teach us this we can't rely on our parents to do it they don't want to get involved because it's awkward and weird how to avoid awkward situations we need a teacher one that doesn't just throw stuff together and say hey don't do this or hey don't do that a teacher who gives us their time to properly educate and inform us on why we shouldn't do this and how it can affect us for the rest of our lives or a teacher that teaches us how to help students or others who are being abused and need help that teaches us how to help students need it's empowering to help us make it's empowering us to help make us to help make healthy and safe decisions we go
044up learning that if a person is crying or going through something to help them show empathy but no one ever mentioned how we are left to figure that out for - right away their tears hug them make them stop crying but that's not how we need to do this to have a healthy relationship you need to have felt easy for another person and try to understand them empathy has been a major underlying theme of violence prevention topics we've discussed that's why we need a teacher that can create a bond with the student they are able to open up and communicate with students which works the other way around as well allowing students confide in that same teacher with the trust that they'll be heard and not judged by their questions or curiosities nothing is a
045simple in black and white as I originally thought I know more and now I can help and now I know the people around me better the world is changing and the students deserve to know so that they can be part of this change Thank You mr. dodyk what was the name of the last speaker her name is tail in Hopkins Jamie Michael hello I'm Jamie Michael I'm president of support no Association and I'd like to thank the board dr. Atkins mr. dodyk for allowing me to speak this evening and I also want to thank you for agreeing to the good cause item we have negotiated in good faith with the district we think the negotiating team of the district I think my negotiating team who represent each departments are elected direction to represent those departments
046it's not always easy we don't always agree but we do come to consensus when we use interest-based and we appreciate everything the board has done this year and coming forward with money even the additional half half a percent doesn't seem like a lot but it'll mean a lot to a lot of people Thank You ed bolter good evening members of the board dr. Atkins my name is Ed bolter I'm here representing the downtown club of the rotary in Cape Coral we've already presented in front of the City Council I got to tell you y'all are in a tough tough position this is going to take a multi-pronged wheel effort to get done these ladies right here they've already done a magnificent job getting the fundraising started for the family my club is interested in taking
047it a step further we're looking to fund build deploy the first 200 benches in Cape Coral we would start with the kids that go to school at the @o dark thirty we would get those deployed first we've already talked to LCC about deploying reflective tape on the poles that are at those stops from our understanding there's four hundred and twenty some odd stops that are already illuminated well let's add some reflective tape we would also add reflective tape to the leading edges of the recycled plastic benches these are unconditionally guaranteed for twenty years they're as I said they're recycled plastic and they're on concrete slabs so you'll have a depending on the piece of property up to a 6 by 6 foot slab for a two foot bench so there's additional concrete for other kids
048to sit on that don't fit on the bench the bench is six feet long and like I said it has a six by six foot slab we know looking at the circumstance it is Cape Coral and there swales that's a drainage for their water so it won't work everywhere but it will work in a lot of places and this is a start that's all we can do as an organization is help kicks this thing and we're prepared to we've already got pledges for most of the money for the first two hundred and if we if you want to use us at your test tube dummies we're good for it rotary is known our Rotary Club is known for raising the money and getting the job done so all we ask is that you let us
049get started without too many obstructions and we're prepared to move forward thank you William Goffe William pulled it down yeah hi my name is Ling Goff I'm 10 years old and I go to Patriot Elementary my mom is Randy Romanoff and is the founder of lights for Leila on Monday March 25th 2019 my good friend Layla Aiken was killed in an accident in North Cape Coral while she was waiting for her bus she was just two years younger than me my mom and Kathleen Aiken Layla's mom have been friends for years and I've known my listen to my kindergarten year fortunately for me and my siblings my mom can drive us to school every day but that wasn't the case for my friend riding through the bus should be safe walking to the bus should
050be safe and waiting for the bus should be safe Layla's dying on Monday never should have happened we're here today hoping that we can make a change money shouldn't be the reason why I'm not safe walking to the bus thank you that's it for this speakers manager thank you and Lillian you are very brave looking at the public comment the following individuals were all speaking about the bus safety and that was Mr McGowan Terry Jones John Jacobs Lou navara Kevin Daly Randy Romanoff miss divaldo I believe I don't know if I pronounced it correctly see who else mr. bolter and of coslough and of course Lillian first of all I want to invite all of you to this location on Tuesday April the 16th from 6:00 to 7:30 in here in the boardroom we will
051be having a town hall about bus safety in case anyone didn't know superintendent you want to give any more details on that for us well it is an opportunity for the public come out to come out to down here to the school board building and also to provide input so the majority that would be a listening session but also an opportunity for Q&A so I would echo that thank you for bringing that up madam chair okay and some of the I mean I know I have and I think my fellow board members have all received emails and phone calls and wonderful suggestions that people have to make safety better for our children so you know come with some of those ideas and thoughts listen to what is already going on and then add or ask
052questions to that will be your opportunity to see how we can collaborate and work together Thank You mr. bolter for that wonderful opportunity as well and please make sure that you and some of your fellow members are here for that meeting on the 16th I think that would be a good idea mr. Martin is he still here from the art thank you so much the arts are so important and we really appreciate the impact and look forward to your program that's coming up make sure we get the details mr. Darvey him I never can say your name properly on the common core strategies several of us most of the board went to Tallahassee last week and we met with the Chancellor of Education fortunately we had like a 30 45 minute meeting with him and
053it was very good and he discussed the future plans for the changing Common Core to the next generation strategies I always say it wrong the next generation standards okay so they are rolling out a an application an app online that you can go on educators can go on and parents or whatever and look at the actual standards that are out there you can make comments as to whether you think it's a good idea or if this should be changed or whatever so they really are putting it out there for common and input from the public and miss Petrak I'm going to ask you at the end during your comments can you address this issue some more if you have some more comments about that but it was a very good meeting with him and we
054are hoping and we begged and asked for the actual rollout to happen here in Lee County in September where they're rolling out the actual standards and we'll let you know more about that later also one of the things that you brought up was about the gun safety and someone else brought that up as well a week ago Monday we had a meeting right here with law enforcement and the board we had a workshop to discuss safety and security in Lee County with the law enforcement officers as well as the board one of the things we all came to a decision about unanimously is that law enforcement neither the board wanted to go any further with harming teachers and when we were in Tallahassee that was one of the things that had come up as well
055and it was we talked about the fact of whether it's an optional thing I also want to say when we looked at the at the bill during our workshop and we worked through each segment of it of things that we had to do and basically as a district we're already doing the majority of what is being requested or required of us in that bill so we are ahead of the curve on a lot of the things that they're asking but as a joint unit with law enforcement we are not for arming teachers so that should help to quell those fears mr. Getz thank you for all that you do with our guest teachers and that's excellent to hear about the training that they will be receiving and your silver apple and good luck with that
056and hopefully some of us will be able to attend let's see bus safety bus safety I think I've pretty much Oh Christine miss Coby and Kailen Kailen excellent speaking idea you would really do well talking about this program anywhere you do a great job and thank you miss Kobe for being her teacher the program we talked a lot about mental health and the importance of it and superintendent would you mind mentioning or maybe passing the idea on to dr. creole and laurie Brooks to see if there is any possibility or can you address that yes I'd be happy to do so and then also you know in I also talked to mr. Parfitt and pass taylor hopkins name on to human resources maybe she wants to be a teacher I was impressed yes because we
057certainly need teachers with that kind of passion so thank you and madam chair once you get finished I can come back to some of the bus safety and provide a little bit more information about things that we are doing moving forward okay miss we're on the state bill 70/30 I think that what we were saying about our law enforcement and our board joint meeting kind of covers things that we are doing and will be doing with that I believe I hope I haven't left anyone out and I think that's it superintendent if you want to go ahead okay just some of the things that are going on of course the number of the items have been mentioned we did have a safety meeting with the board where we invited law enforcement in and I think
058that was a good discussion and then moving forward to the town hall that we're going to have next week we've also invited other municipalities in to join us in that one so hopefully we'll get some folks due to come in and help us with that particular meeting we are going over some of us are going over to a school bus stop stakeholders group meeting it's the first one with the city transport a city cape coral and transportation safety and security in the school district I'll be going over there we also will follow it up with a meeting with the county which I mentioned before where we will also discuss this issue along with other things and then you know I think moving forward we're continuing to try to work with our other the county and
059other municipalities on this very issue with school bus safety and looking at the bus stops because I would agree with everyone this is a multi-faceted issue that involves many stakeholders and hopefully you know we have opportunity that comes out of several Trat recent tragedies where this community can come together around making bus stops and other areas in our community safer for students so I am glad to see with that we were moving forward in those areas when it comes to school choice that came up and school choices again is a very complex issue one of the things that we are doing as a school district which most of you are aware is we're moving forward and trying to move away from the zone system that we currently have and move to a proximity based student
060assignment system now it's not going to ever be a total neighborhood school but will come very close because we now have school clusters you know if you look around like skyline and Patriot and Challenger and Pelican is close by and Trafalgar elementary and Gulf Elementary are very close and meanwhile Cape Coral Elementary is way down in the Cape a lot of kids around there but no schools so you it's it's very we called to have a a pure neighborhood system but you can move toward a proximity based system where a parent and students have the opportunity to select five or six schools close in proximity to their home and then develop the transportation system around that we wanted to because there were some concerns about eliminating choice at the high school level so we are
061moving first at the elementary level we were in the process really of engaging a an outside consulting firm who had experience with this issue when we had our transition in our operations team but once we reestablish that I think we can go right back to that issue mr. Davis is has been working as a part of that because there's some significant technology challenges so to speak that we have to overcome but that's where we're moving to so you don't have 14 choices in kindergarten as was indicated before but instead you would have a more reasonable number like five or six but still retain that opportunity for a parent to make some selection within that in that school because there is good that comes out of competition and I think we want to preserve those elements
062and you know if you go pure neighborhoods sometimes you see that but competition has helped us in in some ways where we have a pretty massive reduction in the number of schools and differentiated accountability we really this year should be zero but because of a lagging indicator of a graduation rate at East Lee County it's it has remained there for one extra year but we're pretty confident it'll come out of out of that other districts have experienced continued concerns because they've had to deal with that and they haven't had as much ability to to work with some of those student assignment variables that we have in the school district however I know there are definitely some things that we can do to improve ride time and reduce costs from a transportation perspective and lastly when
063it comes to the school bus stop issue of want to commend everybody's efforts you know from the Rotarian to the lights for Layla you know I think these are the types of things that we need hopefully what we can do is work with our municipalities to establish some safer more permanent bus stops where we know that we're not going to have a lot of change there are some of those there are also ones that we do because of our mobility there will be some need to do some changes but in the meantime I think we can we can work towards some more permanent solutions without the help of our municipalities to include hopefully the sidewalks and lighting and so forth and finally I know that the bus stop change issue was raised here in my
064understanding we have done that type of thing in the past when we had a situation where we needed to change a bus stop because of something that occurred in and around the area of that bus stop including a tragedy like like we have seen here and my understanding is that you know staff is looking to do do that so hopefully we'll get an update from what we heard this evening that would that would be a positive outcome in that case so that's all the comments I have relative to that thank you okay and I fail to mention mr. Schad like thank you for the offer as well in the program and dr. Atkins I don't know how if you can pass that on to staff it sounds like a great opportunity to support Americanism in
065our country in our schools so mr. Schad like you left a card but someone will get in touch with you then about that okay thank you I believe I've covered everyone okay we'll move on to consent items to be voted on approval of consent action items the documentation for action items listed on the under consent is made available to board member seven days prior to the board meeting we're expected to review all the materials we have an opportunity to talk with the superintendent with any questions we may have regarding recommendations some of the items have also been briefed or workshop with the board in advance of appearing in action agenda board members are there any action the items you wish to pull for discussion under unfinished business table items portion is for sure no pulls
066this evening mr. Giovanelli I have two g1 approval of personnel Rebecca recommendations and i7 ratification of the agreement for the purchase of ten acre parcel on block lane within the village of Estero miss Patrika thank you Miss Jordan No thank you Miss fun I actually have the same two is mischief and Elly G 1 which is personnel recommendations and I'm going to add that I'm particularly looking at the piece that is administrative personnel recommendations and also i7 about land in Estero next to aster high school miss Morgan I have none and I have none is there a motion to approve the agenda is consent action items with the exception of the polls so shift miss Fisher miss Giovanelli is that right yes Giovanelli please record your vote I'm sorry okay please record your vote and
067it passes 7-0 okay unfinished business of tabled items we have actually two and that is g1 and I seven dr. Atkins please root polier I'll read it please read your recommendation for both items yes madam chair first item is approval the general personnel recommendation including administrative certificated support substitute staff out of field appointments and annual reacquaintance we do want to just that's his recommendation you need a motion okay there emotion for the polls item and I'm sorry miss Morgan and miss Vaughn okay items have been moved in seconded go ahead no did I do something okay discussion is right is there a discussion yes so I actually am the reason why I'm pulling is this is because my concern was that the CFO position was not advertised at all and I don't think that is
068transparent so I think that it's it should have been advertised especially now since we've got the new market rate I think we would pull in a lot more candidates qualified applicants and I think that we didn't get that opportunity to others and I'm just concerned over that and what the public and the people would say about that okay yeah all right I will add that I think it behooves us as a district with a budget as large as our budget that when we're looking for a chief of operator of chief of financials that even though I've no doubt that dr. des amor has definitely has the experience here in the district and that she has credentials you never know what's out there that actually has better and stronger credentials and could do a better job
069for the district and so when I learned that this had not been advertised nationally I was very disappointed with that way at least didn't have comparisons the information that I received is that as soon as miss this our dr. de amor indicated that she was interested in coming back to the school district upon the resignation of mr. Gregg blurtin that superintendent Atkins told HR department to go ahead and just not worry about advertising it beyond our district webpage and frankly that concerns me yes ma'am I have a question if I may attorney Jodi what what are the reasons if any legally that the board could disapprove recommendation to hire an employee sure the statute requires good cause and other were then having good absent good cause it is the responsibility of the school board to
070appoint personnel not to select persons so they're the board's role is to appoint individuals recommended by the superintendent absent good cause good cause is defined by someone that is morally or professionally disqualified the second part of that means that they don't meet the qualifications for the position all right I see your hand up but I've got a couple more things I'd like to say first of all I know I've said publicly before dr. Atkins that I've been impressed and frustrated by your hiring processes because you are incredibly deliberate but ultimately make a very very good hire in the end thankfully you didn't have to be deliberate on this one because dr. decima Mars was willing to come back to the district and I say willing in all caps because it wasn't easy sometimes when you
071were here dr. des Mars I saw you at the back of the board meeting room tonight and when I caught a glimpse of you I had a big smile on my face because I believe this is where you belong I believe the students the school district of Lee County need you they need your leadership I'm grateful that you came back I think you're eminently qualified I have absolutely no concerns whatsoever with how the hiring process took place and I if I were a hugger I would welcome back welcome you back with open arms I am NOT no not a hugger so I'm not gonna do that but you know we've talked a lot in with HR about building a bench this is the strongest bench that I've seen in for the superintendent in a very
072long time so welcome back I'm excited to work with you those are my comments well what I would say first of all a was advertised be my job is to find I think the most qualified person for the position and I know that I have done that in the selection dr. death where's another single doubt of a mind while I understand some of the board's concerned those of us who know dr. death s'mores know that she's absolutely the most qualified person to do that she has already built up the trust she has already built up good ethics and moral character we all know her to be that she's built the relationships among our principles our support staff our teachers and our administrative team no one else I don't care if you go across the United
073States no one else is gonna be able to do that like I believe she can I do not have to advertise these positions I've seen superintendents come in and I'll point their teams this is my recommendation because I think this is by far the best person for the position and I understand where you're all coming from however and all due respect I really believed that to go through a continuation of that process would be the wrong it would send the wrong message it would also you would have been on these interviews where it's a dog and pony show where the board has already figured out who they wanted and we wanted to go through and waste everyone else's time and that's the case of superintendent searches but this is a case where we it was
074advertised but when she did indicate after it been advertised that she was interested in coming back then we opened up those discussions and thankfully I think came to a good agreement I think you will be more than pleased with her performance once she comes back to the district and get started I'm disappointed to have to defend this one but because of who it is I hate to see us go through this but I will absolutely tell you that it is there is no wavering in this recommendation for dr. death s'mores I don't think you could find a finer individual to fill the position of CFO thank you yeah I just wanted to add a couple things I know my colleague asked mr. dodyk to read in black and white what it what it says but
075I viewed the policy that you mentioned in a broader sense because it is the duty of the elected school board members to ensure and especially when we're talking about a financial position to ensure that the best candidates are considered when it comes time especially to hire our administrative levels and I am NOT saying that I won't support dr. Destler more in this because I know that she is qualified but I think first of all I want it to bring it up for discussion because I think it sets a very dangerous precedent that we don't advertise nationally especially for our chief position now dr. Atkins obviously you have a different view on it but that's my view that our chief positions are advertised nationally and we do get to see because we're you know as elected
076officials it's our fiduciary duty to look out for the district when when we're done with this I actually my concern with pulling this wasn't so much dr. Destler more I just thought that I would add since mr. Jim Vannelli brought it up I thought that I would add my concern that we just did locally and stop there because I do want to talk about mr. John Franklin in in depth but that's just my opinion on it can I make a comment on that as well I have no doubt personally that dr. decimals can do the job and it's not I think the discussion in my mind is not about a personality or an individual it's more so to me process and I honestly believe in when we have our workshop next week I want to
077put forth that in future when we pull up on our consent items and it's only the person's name and their Department and their title to me to say yes I vote for that and not know all of the underlying parts of it and so I'm going to put forth for discussion that in positions that are over a hundred thousand that we have more information such as you know the search procedures the number of applicants the finalists that type of thing I'm also interested in you know knowing all the if there is any contractual or if there's anything else I just believed even for the posterity of of our minutes to have more information in there so that if you look at it or someone else says well you know who is this person that it's
078right there yes I understand but again you know we've talked about roles and you know if I'm going to do this job then what part of that job is that I have the opportunity to select my team yes sir I do and you have the opportunity to select me and the board attorney and so in this case I understand and I think you'll look at my track record I've repeatedly gone nationwide on these searches we've had recruitment firms we've got national searches I've brought in a lot of people from other places but in this case I knew the performance of this individual and I think it would be disingenuous to the other applicants and the process for me to go through what I think would be the motions putting everybody through that just to come
079to the conclusion that dr. dessler's would be the best candidate because I know she would rise above all other she's got experienced in the position successful experience in the position has the relationships established has the credentials everything that you would be looking for and it would be impossible in my opinion to come in with a candidate that would have superior credentials that could hit the ground running and give the district what it needs right now I need a loyal hard-working ethical member of the team who knows this district and knows how to be a high quality CFO we have that why would we waste time resources and again not be you know respectful of even the process and put people through something that would be you know just really I think a mockery of what
080a true process should be now going back to chief operations officer and this is where I start to aggravate miss Patrika is where I do go through and vet candidates and re advertise and go get a recruiting firm and all these things too because if I don't see that then I take the time to go nationally and again I've got I've got that bad track record to prove it so other superintendents of our school district have been allowed to just bring people with no vetting process in whatsoever many of them have been able to do that quite frankly and you know but I've advertised these positions and we've selected what I know is the best candidate and honestly I don't think we're we're arguing over dr. des Moore's what I'm talking about is more the
081process going forward and Matt Sherman so was I mean if you think what did I say no but and that's what I'm saying we are agreeing on certain parts because that's all those things yes and I would be clear I'm not arguing over dr. des amorous either at all in fact I was factor and I welcome her back so that's not my question my question was the process second of all my question is actually making sure that dr. Atkins is picking the right people for the bus on his bus because I can name a list out mr. law blurt and Maura Deming desam or Cody all these people left his candidate is very his cabinet is very slim and that is what I'm concerned with is your cabinet is very slim and I want to
082make sure you are picking the right people for your for you miss Morgan had her hand up I'm disappointed we're having this conversation now so when did mr. blurtin announced he was leaving and when did you advertise the position say mr. blurtin probably announced sometime in February and it was an it was advertised late February March okay so we are seven weeks into a process during that seven weeks once a week you have met with each one of us and talked about this at some point any board member who was discomforted by the process should have brought it to the full board for a discussion before it showed up on the consent agenda and we had this conversation so I just want to say that I think we're still working on how we try to
083do our business and I think this is an indication where I don't believe we have done justice to you or to ourselves as a governing team in the way that this is being handled and I want to say to dr. Destin war I was going to say this at the end welcome home you belong here and I'm so excited you know that's for sure so again following mrs. Morgan our role is clear and getting involved in personnel matters is not part of the responsibility of board members that's the superintendent's job and I you know I have some things that I want to say at the end of the meeting but this is one of them there's a book that I got when they still did things offline when I first got on the board and
084it's to do or not to do do not get involved in personnel matters you know our role is clear in the statutes so we should not be having this conversation thank you I just wanted to add that I believe it was at the last meeting that dr. Atkins and I had that we were still I was still questioning whether dr. Destler was coming on the 2 or 3 year contract that she had initially asked for and you know one time you told me that mr. Brian Williams our staff attorney was taking a look to see whether that was even legal whether that was something he would recommend which led me to believe that you were considering dr. death more for a 2 or 3 country year contract which is what she was asking for so
085from from what miss Morgan said yes I had discussions with dr. Atkins on this and again I don't think there's a problem with dr. Desmond I hear what some of the other board members who have been on this board longer are saying and things change and I'm not sure who wrote the book but sometimes you have to rewrite the book to get things right and we're not always right on personnel matters because I remember just a few weeks ago when several of us questioned the way that two spots in the diversity area were written and as a board we came together and said no we need somebody with experience and we need somebody and/or training in these things so as a board it's not unheard of and to me just because prior superintendents who are
086no longer year decided that they were just going to bring in whoever without vetting that doesn't mean that things can't change and I'm not talking about for every little position I'm talking about for the upper level positions that really determine the financial stability and the transparency and the public trust for this school district yes in we have we have an obligation for oversight and this is just all that's all this is oversight and that's something that you said to me the other day so I mean oversight and that's just all for me I just want to be transparent and that's where I'm leaving it and actually I was worried about the two to three-year contract that was the last communication I had with dr. Atkins and I had asked for this prior to yesterday morning
087and if and I never received the contract but I'm told she's employed through like all the other employees until June 30th so I'm good with that so that's all I just clarification may I respond to mr. Giovanelli okay all I was saying was it's in the statute it's the law and we also besides oversight we uphold the Constitution and the law we swear to do that so we don't need to step outside you know get over the line and that has been a consistent problem with our board in recent months and we really need to make sure that we know what we're talking about before we ask those questions thank you dr. Atkins pointed out the one thing is this statute that we are following the other piece is relatively multi-year contract everything that has
088been stated here is true mr. Williams was looking into that as I communicated all all of you know he even to my knowledge I believe even put something out on listserv and he we were working toward that and I said if that were something that would come to fruition that I would bring that back to you to let you know that was definitely the case he was unable to do that to find a comparable district that did that I did have the discussion with dr. des Moore's relative to that and that's where we are today but having stated that you know I do want to say it again that this is an exceptional extraordinary appointment in my concern in my tenure here in this job and as far as I'm concerned as a superintendent ninety
089nine percent of these and I'm making up that number but the vast majority of these appointments that I make at this level go with a national search and in some cases they have to go within the last two like operations and with our chief academic officer have to go with a recruitment firm you know so we're going to extraordinary lengths so to make it you know I mean to be honest majority of appointments follow that process this one did not and so to pull it aside and pick on the process here I don't think it's fair to the track record overall in terms of following the HR process in terms of how we operate within the school district I think personally I think the the hiccup in it was the three-year contract it was something
090that has not been done it would have been out of the ordinary and I believe if I'm correct that yourself and the attorney are the only ones that have that and I had spoken to you about it as well because there was a concern of of creating something that hadn't happened before and it might have caused an tidal wave for other people to want the same thing so that and I talked to you about that concern so all I'm saying if I'm sure if we have been told when we were talking to you that was off the table then there would not have been you know an issue at least on my part and again this is not personal against dr. death more at all it's about the process and I know the three-year part
091I only found out through the email I think yesterday that was off the table so that was my concern about him other comments okay so please direct me yes - I heard miss Baum talk about yeah one of the other yes the when I pulled this item the person that I really wanted to talk about was the candidate for transportation services director mr. John Franklin mr. Franklin was before he came into his present position in the Atlanta Public Schools he was a manager of transportation in Hillsborough County Florida and during his tenure there there was there was a very very disturbing set of circumstances that happened and in a nutshell what happened was there was a young child a little girl in a wheelchair it was a child with disability and she died on one
092of the buses and the parents sued the district eventually and this was not just something made up because there was an eight hundred thousand dollar settlement in this the part that I had some pause about in a big concern and yes I have talked with dr. Atkins and dr. Pruitt about this and so they know that I've been concerned about this all along and I've given it a lot of thought and I've gone back twice to read the deposition now again I'm not just going on old newspaper articles although I did read the articles but I actually read the diss the deposition with his testimony okay and in it one thing that bothered me was here he was in this position and he demonstrated a lack of knowledge of key protections I'm talking about key
093laws that protect children with disabilities okay that was the first thing the second thing that bothered me was that there was a demonstrated lack of training by the both the attendant and the bus driver on that particular bus where the child died now of course there was video on the bus and mr. Franklin one of the things is he would not release the video to local law enforcement until they gave him a subpoena and the thing that was most shocking about this and dr. Atkins I remember talking to you about this what's the fact that apparently the superintendent of Hillsborough did not learn about this incident until much later that it seemed like mr. Franklin helped to keep this whole incident on the Qt and that the school district's position was that the little girl
094had a debilitating condition and that's what caused her death but when the video was released because of the time span it was pretty obvious that was not the case now that's not what I'm basing my major concern on not specifically those things because hopefully mr. Franklin has grown in his knowledge of buses and transportation and especially about children with disabilities and the special needs that they have on our buses what concerns me the most is we're a district that's really really working on transparency and I feel like he was part of something that happened in Hillsborough that had a lack of transparency and that's one major concern that do we really want to bring this kind of an individual into our school system and I think secondly it speaks to a question of character of
095this man and I wandered this and I've heard the arguments and it just I will not be supporting his nomination and I may be the only one I don't care but it's just it went to my gut and it really bothered me and I think it especially bothered me in light of the fact that you know we've just had children not on a bus but we've just had some tragedies and in our school district so one thing that I would I would like to do because I am NOT going to support this nomination is if the board would like to do this is to separate these two candidates out and vote separately it's just a suggestion comments mr. juvenile my concern is the integrity of the district based on hiring him with this with the
096stigma that surrounds him and we have to be really careful right now with the situation that we're dealing with in our own situation here at the district from the recent deaths of art the children safety is the utmost importance and so I just questioned the integrity of his hire I just I'm trying really hard to to not respond to what I consider it to be just utter hyperbole I sit at this board table week after week after week for weeks now this board has been sitting on information that a member of this board violated the law by sharing confidential information we have been sitting on that information for weeks we've done nothing about it yet we claim we want to be transparent if we want to be transparent why aren't we saying how and why
097that happened okay we sit here and we question the superintendent's legal right to run this district mr. dodyk does a lack of knowledge of laws in the past disqualify mr. Franklin from this jobs as I said good cause is defined as someone that is morally or professionally disqualified does that professionally disqualify him he has the qualifications for the position I assume I'm not giving an opinion whether I know that or not that's up to the superintendent if knowledge of laws in the past disqualify a current candidate for a job what depends what the job is right obviously for an attorney he's being appointed to tonight well I think he has that some familiarity with the laws regarding transportation correct I mean I think that would be a qualification and there's been an indication tonight that
098there was a lack of knowledge in the past does that past lack of knowledge disqualify him today I don't know the man's qualifications miss Patrika so I am NOT going to what I'm going to tell you is good cause is defined as lacking professional qualifications or morally disqualified okay that non legal opinion that you just provoked from the table I appreciate that welcome I can't I cannot continue to work under these circumstances we need to bring forth a policy that forces this board to do its job instead of what we're doing recruitment and retention recruitment and retention recruitment and retention he has deliberately found deliberatively found the best candidate for both of these positions and we are publicly rape wreaking these people over the coals who wants to work for the Lee County School District
099but that's what we're doing this particular yes that is in my estimation and in my opinion man chair that is what we are doing in your choice yes we were discuss on it there was a point of order who said that you I did okay please this is not this is not appropriate this whole thing is not appropriate we need to focus on the job that we have to do here tonight I'll not sit here any longer and watch my colleagues argue okay you mentioned morally was one of the one of the points yes and I believe that the moral issue is what was being brought up but please Scott well if I could elaborate on that a little bit more Lee has the courts have held that you can't just simply base your decision
100to find good cause on subjective community standards okay there has to be some level of objectivity today I will tell you that the Department of Education defines it morality as conduct that is inconsistent with the standards of public conscience and good morals it is conduct that brings the individual concerned or the education professor at profession into public disgrace or disrespect and impairs the individual service in the community that is the definition of immorality that's promulgated by do-e that governs instructional personnel but we also use it for other individuals as well and what an eight hundred thousand dollar lawsuit can constitute that in my opinion no mr. Sabich please refrain from commenting thank you yes yeah what what I was going to add is that miss Patrika obviously didn't pay close attention to what I said
101earlier because what I did was I gave all of those facts these are facts from the deposition as a background and then I said my concern is the fact that he contributed to a lack of transparency in the district and that I thought his character would put him in the category of you know the public conscience and the fact that he was very reticent he was reticent about even sharing that video with the police which was a video that showed what really happened and I see this clearly within our rights as a school board member and I see it as a moral issue what I said before was background and okay miss Jordan and then I have a question to ask mr. dodyk I also read the deposition and what how I read it to
102be is that he did not turn the tape over to the authorities without the request per statute so that was his job he was following the procedures in which he was supposed to handle it also when he was speaking about not knowing he was also had stated because they asked him about ie Pease and he also had informed them that the es e Department tells them they don't go to training he does not go to training for that he is told and they are told what each child needs and also I mean it was definitely unfortunate that this would happen to any child but in the deposition it also stated that the child was deceased at the hospital so I mean not that makes a difference we did lose a child was lost but there
103was 119 pages of that deposition and I read all of that twice so I mean it really depends on who's reading it and how we're interpreting that deposition because I read the comments of the attorneys as well before you speak dr. Atkins I'm mr. dodyk can I ask one question sure the question was on the floor as to whether we can separate the two or is it one consent item it's either all or nothing well did a couple weeks ago I mean you can amend the motion is I think you're familiar with having done that two weeks ago what I wasn't here so that would be one way to handle this okay dr. Atkins you want to make a comment anyone else and then I would like to either just reiterate that the board needs
104good cause to reject a superintendent's recommendation I'm so basically you're saying that either way whether we vote yay or nay it's everything is it's just gonna happen so it really doesn't make any difference well I don't know that I don't know how people are gonna vote so I just want you to understand the standard to reject a superintendent's recommendation that's all okay I not sure what to do did we make a motion to separate I think go ahead again when we evaluate staff there is a pretty lengthy process that Human Resources goes through to do that and in this case they certainly did an extensive background search they've read the deposition and all of the articles they went and got references the references from Atlanta and the reference was from Hillsboro ex and spoke to
105this man's character so these are individuals who have worked with this individual in the past and have put in writing went on record as stating that this man is of good character that he did perform well in Hillsboro and that he is still in good standing in Atlanta he's bent he was San Antonio I believe Hillsboro and then Atlanta and did long 10 yrs in those school districts to get a candidate here with what we pay and with with that level of experience and I think that compensation having been improved did help in this in this case I can't speak for him but we didn't have a candidate that had that level of experience we did the screening Human Resources did all of that stuff so it's not just reading the articles and the deposition
106and making a decision they interviewed him we interviewed him they did the background checks they did all of that talking to the references extensively to before they put forward any recommendation they had a diverse team at the table so it wasn't just you know a couple people around the table that made this recommendation you know they had to go through a process where multiple people interviewed them and came to consensus around this individual we even had the Union at the table at this one for input because it's such with spout transportation labor-management they're involved in the day-to-day activities of transportation so it is not without a lot of extensive work going into it and as far as the background before we don't go at it without all of this work before bringing a recommendation forward
107to this board so it is not something that I ever take lightly we do our homework so to speak and I do think there are multiple interpretations of of some of that but if you look at what do we expect a transportation director to do I mean he is expected to transport students and this is an individual works in the Atlanta public school district and welcome Hilton these are complex systems he's been able to do that successfully as indicated by his supervisors and therefore again this is not a process we take lightly and I again believe that this is the best candidate based on that process okay it would anyone like to make a motion to separate out if not we will go ahead with the motion as it is stated yes ma'am I'm going
108to separate mr. Franklin from our vote on this consent item so let me just give some advice he one what I think she's proposing is a motion to divide okay the question which is needs a second but is not debatable right okay so heard the motion it needs a second and then I'll second it so it's been moved in second there's no further discussion now we take the vote right the new separation out correct to divide to divide yes pig yes I'm sorry common question okay emotion to this is sin is there a majority to divide the question is the first emotion and Susan do we do that online do we just do it verbally okay all right so what's on the table is a motion to divide the two administrative positions for vote no
109no no let me just make it clear what is what you're dividing out is simply taking mr. Franklin out of the main motion which is all of the approval of of the of the personnel recommendations it's not just administrative that you're approving you're approving all of them so that includes instructional and non-instructional they remain the same with the exception of mr. Franklin who you're dividing out of it and is there a separate vote for mr. Franklin there will be if the motion to divide passes right okay so call the vote okay I call the vote then for dividing out yes the to administrative pieces no take for taking and pulling mr. Franklin out of the whole process correct not of the whole process just the emotion correct and do I call individually it does can
110we just raise your hand please if you are voting yes to remove mr. Franklin from know to divide the motion attention all those in favor aye all right okay three all those against okay okay so the divide does not happen we need to move on to the maintenance you know main motion which is all of the consent item is everyone well dr. Atkins can read his if he could read your recommendation again yes madam chair approval of the general personnel recommendations including administrative certificated support substitute staff out of field appointments and annual reappointments okay and I call the vote you already had a motion in a second okay all of those do we do that online citizen verbal okay all in favor miss Fisher are you signify by saying aye you see who says I
111signify by saying aye opposed okay okay okay all right so the motion carries five two right yes there was one other poll which was item I said y7 I said excellent the reason why I pulled this item is because of emotion I'm sorry oh I'm sorry yes we have inundated with emotion II had heavy emotion dr. active need to read needs to read his recommendation I'm sorry ratification of the agreement to purchase land and the amount of two million five hundred thousand dollars from Ronald a new quest and Terry C new quest as trustees of the new quest new quest family trust for 10 acres of block lane with in the village of a sterile and approval of attorney fees appraisal fees due diligence and closing costs estimated at one hundred and seventy thousand nine
112hundred thirty three dollars for a total cost of two million six hundred and seventy thousand nine hundred thirty three dollars approve our eise's who were known to execute all necessary documents okay motion is on the floor now you have to take on someone has to move that I moved to pull this before you have discuss you there has to be a motion has to be emotional marination organ racing I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation thank you I'll second that okay so moved in second scott discussion thank you okay so I pulled this item only because this is another example of wish of which I wish we had been briefed on because we sold property and I want the community to be oh we sold for 10 acres and now we're buying 10 acres
113near and near there and I think that the community just needs to be up to speed on this that's that's all it's this is another just a transparency issue for me because I know we sold this property 10 acres for 700,000 now we're buying another 10 acres for June two and a half million we're also paying a realtor fee of $100,000 that to me is a waste because that it wasn't listed and we could have our in-house attorney could have sent a letter to the neighbor and purchased the property why are we paying $100,000 in commission for no reason we don't have to be paying that the seller typically pays that I've talked to all my commercial realtor friends and that's not typical for the buyer to be paying the real estate commission for that's
114not necessary and I am concerned over spending a hundred thousand dollars that could be towards this two and a half million dollars property and that's my concern and if I was briefed on it I could have asked all these questions and it wouldn't be at the table yeah I mostly had questions on this and I submitted those questions last Friday late afternoon to the superintendent and I believe I got the answers maybe this morning from I think dr. Carlin I think sent sent those and it answered some of my questions on it and mostly I had questions because I wasn't sure if I was going to be in favor or not in favor of it depending and there's still a few things one of the things was finally got to see the land-use report and
115I was not never briefed on this it was never I mean individually and our meetings that one of the findings was that the building of what we talked about the elementary school or k-8 or middle school it could possibly be done but it was tight and so that we would be looking for more available land that was one thing I did wonder about the prior and I didn't know about the prior ownership of the land I just found that out after doing some digging online I know that it wasn't going to be buildable but I wondered if considering our push in this area especially for environmental education if this wouldn't have been a really prime spot to advance environmental concerns you know something an Academy perhaps and then the third thing is I'm I didn't
116get a good answer this morning about what prior agreements either more formalized or tastic agreements we have with the village of Estero there were some one of the newspaper articles that I read there were statements believe it was from mr. batas in the village of Estero and it made it seem like well we had already as a school district come together with the village and this is something that I was unaware of so I just wanted to get before I vote it blindly on something I want it to get answers to the questions that I posed last Friday and I couldn't post them earlier because frankly until I saw the board Docs and had a chance to read those I think a week ago or six days ago on Wednesday I didn't know anything about
117this steel well if I could have an opportunity to respond yes we had an opportunity day in a briefing where we could have asked some of these questions and gotten answers then but we chose to wait until this evening which I find again disappointing a part of and I will say it part of the responsibility of a board member I can't read minds you have to ask questions and what I am there's not any way humanly possible that I'm going to be able to anticipate everything that you need to know there is a lot going one in-district this size so I would appreciate some patience as we work through this but I think that in in the case today we had Scott that was up at the table talking about land acquisitions would have been
118a wonderful opportunity to get a nice answer to those questions I thought the answers were the question answers were reasonable and addressed the questions that you had put out as did with mr. Giovanelli but now I'm finding out that wasn't the case now and as it relates to this piece of property the first piece of property was further away from the Estero campus so could not it's not adjacent to the campus it's further away its wetlands it's not of any use to us it would behoove us it was in our best interest that as a school district to sell that piece of property the piece of property that is in question today is adjacent to the Estero property and would as mr. Rickenbacker indicated would be a good location for this village this academic village
119concept that we have talked about we do have a memorandum of understanding with the village of a sterile and part of that memorandum of understanding is that we jointly look at the location of educational facilities relative to their municipal plan which is what we've done board members have had discussions with mr. NATO's mr. burski has had discussions with mr. Beto's and the village council we believe that this is very consistent with what they are trying to do in terms of this academic village concept this is a will be hopefully a k-8 to begin with and then eventually evolve into a tri campus with an elementary and middle school and a high school there in addition to that we are also we can utilize ten acres to make this work but we could we are also
120in the process as we indicated in the email earlier we are trying to also get an additional five acres adjacent to to really have a nice piece of property to put this academic village concept on so all of that information you know is the reason why we are I am recommending the purchase of this piece of property it makes sense moving further we are going to continue to have discussions with the village of the stero and hopefully the County Commissioners about other joint use facilities parks recreational facilities that can be used by all three municipalities as the school district the village of Estero and the county so that's why we're putting this on on the table yes I have worked very closely with Nick Beto's and I'm gonna use this opportunity to give a shout
121out to Nick and excuse me his work on this Nick was the very first mayor of Asaro and he has made education in the village sort of his passion and it's going to be the legacy that he leaves and as a result of the memorandum go and your standing with the village more village residents are in our schools and engaged in our schools and engaged with our students than we've ever seen before and the level I know that we live in two different areas mr. Giovanelli but I have gotten nothing but absolutely positive wonderful feedback surrounding the purchase of this land and the potential for an education village within within the village of Estero of course that's where I live and most of my contemporaries are parents and they are the excitement is I mean
122it's it's literally over the top and I think that we learned with Benita that it's very important to be engaged not just we're surrounding communities but with the government municipality where we are locating a school to make sure that we're doing it in accordance with their plans so this Memorandum of Understanding which is you know it was signed in large fashion there was a big you know signing ceremony and it was very exciting this is absolutely in line with that and I would invite you to come to one of our task force meetings so that you can see how engaged the principals are and how engaged the mayor is or the former mayor is and how just genuinely committed he is to bettering education for students who are served by Estero schools my concern is
123are we sure gonna be able to get to five I didn't know anything about the five acres until this morning until the email so I had knew nothing about additional five acres I was told by many contractors that 10 acres is not large enough to build a scud elementary school so I was concerned over that so you have to understand like I said if I was briefed on this I would understand better and that is one of my biggest questions I know we're selling 80 acres down the street at on three Oaks Elementary by the post office there so that's what I so I just trying to understand the need and exactly and what if we don't get that five acres then what are we doing with this ten acres I just want to make
124sure that we're making the right decisions and for vision for 2030 we need to know where we're putting these schools and have a plan and the community to be you involved in everybody to know where these are gonna be including myself well just to respond my understanding I really believe that Scott Rickenbacker did talk to us about this issue in a briefing yeah so you know as far as not understanding and not being briefed we continue he has Scott I don't know if you want to come up and respond to that but but that is why I put him on every one of our briefing agendas and so you get it right from the expert and the answer to the ten acres is and he can affirm this is yes we can build these facilities
125without the five acres but we would rather build it with the five acres and anyway let me give you a little bit of history the scrub ten acres were two five acre parcels and prior to my knowledge of the conversations with the village of Estero I believe the county had thoughts of creating this multiplex sports pavilion in that back a courage so what we are doing Bonita Springs High School they came to dawn Hoff who at that time was our property person was no longer with us and made an offer and we had a need for the traffic signals and the off-site roadwork on Imperial Parkway so they basically provided a seven hundred thousand dollar purchase price for that scrub wetland which we couldn't develop and was in fact like doctor I could said said
126it the back end of the parcel the 10 acres what we were commissioned to do because obviously dawn is it here with us so a lot of staff is pulling together to try and bring this all to fruition why the contracts are on plague we hired an engineering firm who was part and parcel of that committee with the village of a sterile and with Dano burski the realtor and we engaged him to take our prototype Elementary School in our middle school and fit it on there now I'm a skeptic I'm sorry I believe in community but my commitment to dr. Atkins was I'm not going to tell you that a 10 acre parcel of land is a good buy unless I know I can build you a school with an access road with a bus
127access and I could care less what the village of astera wants to do now once we know that we can meet those students station seats that we need in the South Zone you can have your political meetings with them and in the collaboration and make anything you want out of that and I'm on board but my obligation to you is if we're gonna need seats and we're gonna spend money I have to produce those seats so the five acres I believe and I haven't seen a contract but Danna burski is working in on that we have a letter of commitment I believe with the property owner we have I believe another 30 or 45 days to do our due diligence studies and then engage with the deposit and the contract so I've asked my engineer
128following hearing some of the comments I was the one who answered some of your questions miss upon the I call the engineer I said Jason I want you to tell me something if I can't get the five acres can I still fit our prototype elementary and middle school on the property behind a sterile high plus this 10 acres we want to buy and the answer is yes it's not going to be perfect I'm not going to have the big play fields I'm not going to have maybe a practice field at the high school but could it be done yes it could but every indication right now is that five acres is going to be there for the purchase okay what I said was before I voted on this I just wanted to know more information
129and as I said I did send out on Friday late afternoon asking these questions and I found out the answers although I still had a few questions and perhaps we could have addressed it with you except that we probably would still be this afternoon earlier we'd probably still be talking when the kids from Santa Bellwoods were singing which may not be an excuse but it's what I'm going to give D I taught at a stayer high school for eight years the village of Estero is probably that and Sanibel are probably our two stellar communities in terms of getting behind our schools and I love that because I come from a background of having taught for actually my home for 30 years in districts with community schools and with communities that stood in the back now
130Miss patrika mentioned and also I think dr. Atkins well the boards talked with mr. batas well I never I've never even met mr. Beto's I found out about this by reading a news press article okay so I don't know when those discussions occurred I am all for partnerships with our communities I think that makes us stronger and it makes them stronger but I'm also for not voting blindly on anything thus I'm supporting this tonight I'm gonna vote in favor of it but I'm saying one more time I will never vote blindly on something that's is it cost in in the millions of dollars other comment okay thank you so can we move on then to the vote on this item the motion is on the table that has been discussed so we are at just
131the vote in my correct yes call for the vote okay I'll call for the vote on item I 7 all those in favor motion carries I'll do opposed I'm sorry oh I'm sorry most everybody raised okay all right she did wrong to included in the approval for the consent items and the agenda are resolutions proclaiming April 21st - 27 2019 Administrative Professionals week as well as April 22nd 2019 as Earth Day before I turn it over to dr. Atkins to introduce the administrators dr. death Morris I just personally like to say congratulations and welcome back dr. Atkins drak that's please introduce administrators and attendants with a new assignment that were approved on a consent agenda dr. desta mores and we're thrilled to have her back okay attorneys recommendations we have none no public hearing other
132business board members reports we will start with mr. chica Thank You mr. Giovanelli thank you miss Fisher well I think after this evening's meeting I'm gonna go ahead and talk a little bit about to do or not to do I really want to thank everyone on this board for their service it is not easy being a public servant and having to answer to a multiple of inquiries however we have work to do in this district and we are not moving forward because we are not working cohesively as a team so I would like to try one more time to implore you to get the information that you need and a few of the to do and not to do that I noticed here are you know visit schools and participate in your activities recognize the
133good things about your school system don't take things personally some decisions will go the way you want and some will not that's just the way it is keep a sense of humor do you understand that legally individual board members have no more authority than any other system citizen but are accorded Authority empowered by those with whom they deal we can only make decisions for this district as a majority of the team we need to really focus on trying to get there I know I don't really know what it's gonna take I'm stumped I've never seen it like this in this district before and we need to really put our own agendas to the side focus on the mission and try to work together we each and every one of us has to be willing to
134take a step towards the center to be open to learning don't let your ego get in the way of good decision-making don't get involved in personnel matters our role is clear in the statute do be patient things don't happen overnight I've been on this board over eight years I'm still learning something new every day and you learn more by listening sometimes then speaking and so I'm just asking one more time can we get together as a team or can we not and I wanted to thank the seahorse corral from Sanibel for entertaining us this evening I wanted to thank the people who came to speak about safety and other issues and I also want to thank our staff who worked incredibly hard and take a lot of extra time when we are asking questions in
135an untimely fashion and we are getting over that line and going into the superintendent's Lane it is incumbent on us to be oversight and policy setters but it is not incumbent on us to do the job of the superintendent and his staff that's all I have this evening thank you Miss Jordan area I would love to miss fish I'd love to borrow that book to read thank you for sharing that and also I would just real quick this weekend I had the opportunity to join Best Buddies friendship walk at Miramar and it was really exceptional there was a lot of people there everybody was very excited about being there and it's about unity and bringing everybody together so I thought that was really great and then also with edik I'm the chair of that I'm
136sorry liaison let's get that straight liaison and they've been working really hard and they will be bringing us some pictures and they will be bringing some recommendations to the board at the next meeting for recruitment and retention but they are truly working very hard and these are just some pictures of the walk and also there's another picture up there that was from the art walk that our children had participated in so we do have a lot of good things taking place in Lee County that we really need to focus on some of those you know and sometimes it gets you know pushed aside but we need to you know believe that we can do do more that's all I have to say okay thank you and I forgot one thing I just wanted to thank
137Ellison for being with us tonight and hanging in there even though she starts school at 7 a.m. okay miss Fong I just wanted to make one response to miss Fisher Mary I appreciate your expertise and the time you've served on the board however to me and I'm just gonna put it out there to all of you on the board one more time that my view is taking a step toward the center and coming together I mean that's what we do we vote and as you said sometimes things will go the way you hoped they would go and other times they don't and I'm sitting here just feeling good feeling calm and not upset or perturbed about it's it's the way of democracy we cannot make progress unless we have some disagreements and putting it out
138there for discussions I don't see the problem with that I think the community appreciates hearing some of these discussions you know some of them happen perhaps in an email and I'm hoping more things will happen when I when I hear things like from this evening well we've had this discussion with the village of Estero I'm sorry I didn't have that and I honestly do not like learning about things by having to dig through old copies of the news press archive but anyway my agenda is to make this school district the best that it can be I have two grandchildren who go to school here I was a part of this district for eight years and I know I touched a lot of lives so I know how important teachers are and touching lives I know
139that we're important in in directing and in directing the governance of this district and I may have a broader interpretation and maybe sometimes I will challenge definitions like what does it mean morality and how fast do we need to get the information and so I really do appreciate your expertise and what each of us and we discussed this when we had our training and by the way where is the rest of that training we haven't had any more training since that one time a point was made that we each bring something to the board and if it takes a couple of us being the ones that are the questioners being the ones that play the devil's advocate being the ones that are pushing the envelope so to speak so be it I don't think that's
140out of our Lane and if I hear that one more time never mind I just I'm tired of hearing that phrase sir oh yeah yep so anyway that's that's my that's my comment thank you miss Morgan I guess my comment is in response to miss Fisher we have a lot of work to do and I agree and you know however we can fall together got to do it because in my opinion in seven years on this school board we have never been in a better position to serve the kids in this district never we have a vision we have the right people on the team we have action plans our job is to be reviewing those plans on a regular basis to make certain that the district is moving in the direction our vision that
141is our job and I would agree that we are spending a lot of time not doing our job instead of doing what we need to do and I worry that we are compromising our ability long-term to hire quality employees I don't care whether it's the teaching level or at the cabinet level if we're not doing our job people aren't comfortable and so those are my comments Thank You Alison it's your turn my dear well I think you already pretty much know what I'm gonna say I'm just really really glad for this opportunity it was really great to hear all of your concerns and how passionate you are about the welfare and the well-being of the students of this district so I just thank you all for your service on this committee and for allowing me
142to be here okay thank you for being here thank you we will get you home very quickly under an answer for one thing about the training dr. Carlin and I are working with mr. Edie and trying to find the right time and all of that to continue with our training but we are working on it I feel like both sides of conversation are necessary sometimes and I think that's what people walk to here is all sides of a discussion communication and I've said this before means agreeing to disagree and in order to do that we have to get our thoughts and feelings out I honestly feel like we have we are in a better place I really do we are discussing and agreeing to disagree doing our votes and we as far as I see
143it we're doing our job I think our issue is communication and transparency like we've said many times and with that I want to I've talked to the superintendent about this as well and also with mr. dodyk I think one of the things that's happening in the process should be our briefing meetings and if we need to workshops in between and then the action meeting I think what's happening sometimes it gets kind of fuzzy we are doing the briefing meeting some some of those things do not move along to the next action meeting or they get dropped or other things get in there and we can talk about it in our workshop but I think we need to get that process a little tighter because if we do have the briefings and there are other questions
144we can have the workshop in between when we get to the action meeting we've already gotten our questions answered and I think that's what the problem is somehow or another we're not getting those questions taken care of so they don't happen in the action meeting so we need to discuss that in our workshop and figure out how do we fix that piece and if it means tightening up the schedule however we do I do want to say I just want to say publicly with some of the things that have happened in the district recently like the deep cuts in the schools I personally sat through some meetings but I was not aware of the deep deep cuts that were going to happen in the schools we heard about you know DRA and that there would
145be some cuts but to the extent I was not aware that was going to happen the other thing on a good note on Thursday at 9 o'clock correct Lauren at lehigh senior high school we will have a roll out attacks roll out event and in which we will talk about some exciting ways that you the public can follow and see what we are doing with the tax money I think I said from the first meeting we had on November 14th my question was how are we going to let the public know to come along this ride with us to see what we're doing be transparent about the tax and to know step by step and I am very happy to say that the program that's going to be rolled out on Thursday will help to
146do that and I am you know saying to the public to please follow be there if you can follow what we're doing so that you have your questions answered about your particular school that you're interested in or the district as a whole that would be a very good good program I believe one other thing that I need to say I have tried since December to get some answers about the executive pay I've gotten different things in different answers and I'm requesting publicly to get the personnel action forms non redacted except for personal information for all of the executives that receive pay in December on the 21st and I will send an email to follow this up as to receipt of that other than that superintendent I think you are I'm sorry well just a couple
147things one I would encourage you to use email because that's part of our process I think that makes it clear you were going to sit down with mr. Blart and I offered up miss Letcher so that's something that you can do relatively executive pay but we can certainly if you send that email to me we'll be happy to provide that information but you know that's what's helpful because I quite honestly believe the request also changes or at least there's miss let me put in a better way miscommunication between you and I in terms of that what the request is I know I had the discussion with mr. Burton before he left and then when he did talk to you he just suggested sitting down with him so that he could answer your questions relative to
148the dra again unfortunately we have to you know address that again but to say things like deep deep cuts we have to be careful about saying that because as I said before 5.2 million is the cut of a twenty seven million dollar compensation piece that we're putting tore salaries so if you divide that over a number of schools and over a number of different areas it's it's not as deep as I indicated also before when you have that DRA file that we've had to tweak and make changes to you know we are in the process now really of adding back when we look at a file so just I just say that just to be careful about our communication because this is a process so to say I wasn't aware of the deep cuts well
149that's because I wouldn't consider what we're doing to be deep now you may it's relative though because I you know I have one perspective you have another but I think that and they in either one of them is right okay so let's just put it that way but I would but what I would say is that let's please be careful now with what we're saying because I don't want to alarm people too much because you know like like I gave the example of the high school where staff has been working with with what initially the high school principal thought was a very very tough cut you know that would be considered a deep cut if that's what had actually happened but after working with the budget Department I believe and I look at Kelly I
150believe that school principal is where she wants to be you know in terms of staffing or at least she's you know she feels that she could make that work and that's what we are trying to do with every one of these situations now I just want to say to anyone watching this you know it's it's you know our employees work hard for us every single day and I don't want to panic anyone unnecessarily I was in this situation myself I know what it feels like I don't want to put somebody else in that situation so I would encourage any teacher or employee if you're in a school where the DRA allocation has been reduced that work with your principal work with Human Resources work with staff because the great thing about being in a growing
151school district is that there's an opportunity in the school district a growing district like us to find additional opportunities if you're an effective or highly effective teacher or employee and that's an important distinction they're working with the assistant principals you know that where we had there and again with that one there's budget reductions that's a smaller number and then there's also performance issues that we have to address and our job is we have to address all of those so because what you do find is longer somebody's on the job the more effective that they are that they are on that job a teacher is a great example because the first year of being a teacher you make incredible gains that means that we've invested a lot in you so if it didn't work out in
152this building it probably will work out in another building and so we're working with our principals to help make those types of transitions so if you know I think one of the things we have to do we set the tone for the district and so when it relates to this issue and employees lives let's be as positive as we can and be real you know that's why we produce the videos to communicate out about the tentative agreement and in in my communication I did address the DRA peace as well briefly but I think those are important you know that's why I also made myself available to the media is to try to again send that message finally you know this evening I just have to say this communication we're all responsible for communication and so
153I would I would ask that you know our staff I've never seen a staff working more diligently to try to answer questions I can't anticipate everything you know and I know there are some big issues that you think hey you should have got that one and maybe you're right but we are trying to I'm not we're trying to be more transparent than we've ever been so every individual board meeting with you all those agendas are pretty standard and we cover the same you know material I am happy to look at work with the chair on doing more in briefings you know this is a this is a different board I have also had feedback that you know provide us white papers in advance and let us do our homework and then go with a much
154shorter version so you know we're working with two different perspectives here but I'll work with the chair to try to make sure that bigger items at least come to your attention and then you can ask those questions I don't the questions don't bother me it's more of the timing it's it's more difficult to do it here and also there are things like this with the personnel stuff that I and this is again my opinion I just think we send the wrong message when we're having a debate about personnel at this table those are issues that and you did raise the questions but I also like the communication back that hey I'm satisfied with your answer I'm done or or no I need further discussion before we get here and start talking about it and you
155know that's that's all I would have to know and then this last thing this staff you know in terms of what we see in social media and other sources has been really just pummeled and I and I have to tell you that this is an outstanding group of individuals and ethical hard-working staff and I find these these things not only unfortunate but just disgusting in my mind and I and I feel they should you know we need to stand up for them because they work hard for this school district every single day and that's that's all I have to say thank you and I just want to echo that as well and I think I do it every meeting and say thank you to the staff thank you for being here at 9 o'clock at
156night anyway thank you so much for all that you do and getting answers to things our next scheduled meeting is April 23rd there'll be a board workshop at 2 o'clock immediately following the briefing meeting and a regular school board meeting at 6:00 we also have another workshop set for next week to kind of finalize our internal in our internal auditor I believe in our attorney our attorney piece anyway so look out for that at this point having no other business I'm sorry I guess we're done anybody vote to vote have to really go oh yeah Kathleen is it electronic there we go okay and we will have plus some Delta zone room D