001Good evening everyone. We're ready to begin this evening's board meeting. Sergeant-at-arms, has the lobby been attended to? Yes. Thank you, Chief. We request that all electronic devices be turned off or put in silent mode. Also, please refrain from using flash photography except during the special presentations portion of the meeting. I'm pleased to welcome the August 5th, 2025 schoolboard meeting. The time is 6 p.m. and this meeting is hereby called to order. We would like to take this opportunity to remind the members of the public of the district's mission, which is to ensure that each student achieves his or her his or her highest potential and the district's vision to be a world-class school system. This evening's agenda includes a moment of silence, pledge of allegiance, acknowledgements, recognitions, public comment, consent action items which include two
002items under board office, two items under academic and student services, five items under school choice and administration, eight items under business services, one item under human resources, two items under safety, security and fleet operations, nine items under facility operations, and four items under good the order other business. Board members, is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda? I'll motion to approve. Okay. Do we have a second? I'll second. Okay. Moved by Miss Javiano, second by Miss Jordan. Please record your vote. I'm not getting there. You okay? motion carries 70. As is the custom of the board, I will lead us in a moment of silence. After that, Mrs. Jen Jada Langford Fleming will be leading us in the pledge of allegiance. Please stand. Fire heads. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
003United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. Next item on the agenda is the character word for August. The character word for August is responsibility. Accountability for your personal choices. The design displayed on the screen was created by Samantha Puron, a sixth grade student at Varsity Lakes Middle School. Great job, Samantha. Now, we're going to move on to item C, recognitions. Board members, please join us in the pit. Good evening. I'll be reporting on Odyssey of the Mind, the regional, state, and world competitions. Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical
004devices to presenting their own interpersonal literary classics. And the students develop problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork, math, language arts, science, writing, engineering, and performing arts skills. Each team has allowed one student from another stu from another school to compete on their team as well. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and world level. This year, regional competition was held in February. State competition was held in April and the world finals took place in Michigan on May 21st to the 24th, 2025. We would like to recognize the following teams for their odyssey of the mind accomplishments. When I read your name, please join me up here at the podium. North Fort Myers Academy of the Arts. The team from NFMAA placed first at the regionals, third at the states, and placed 13th
005out of 38 teams at the world finals. They competed in problem one, the OM Amazing Race Division 2. The team engineered a vehicle that transported one of the students through a course with obstacles to overcome while acting out their team created skit about traveling through the layers of the earth but learning to trust others and create a lasting friendship which is a more valuable prize than setting the world record. The team is coached by Maryanne Hodgeges and Ashley Weekes. The team members include Lillian Downey, sixth grade, North Fort Myers Academy of the Arts. Mallerie Hodes, sixth grade, North Fort Myers Academy of the Arts. Jackson Nickham, fifth grade, North Fort Meyers Academy of the Arts. McKenzie Weekes, fourth grade, the Beayshore School. Matthew Weekes, sixth grade, North Fort Myers Academy of the Arts. Congratulations, And
006we're not done. North Fort Myers High School. The team from North Myers High School placed first at regionals, third at the states, and placed 25th out of 33 teams at the world finals. They competed in Save Save Me the Structure Division 3. The team engineered a 15 g balsa wood structure capable of supporting over 400 lb, showcasing strength through lightweight design. Alongside the structural challenge, they created a performance that incorporated several handcrafted balsa wood animals. Drawing inspiration from their home in southwest Florida, their original script centered around the environment impact of hurricanes and pollution on local wildlife. In line with the sustainability theme, they built most of their props using recycled materials, blending creativity, engineering, and environmental awareness into a cohesive and impactful presentation. The team is coached by Jignasha Catherman. Team members included Maya
007Catherum, 9th grade, North Fort Meyers High School. Raina Cotherman, ninth grade, North Meers High School. Coh Deeds, ninth grade, North Fort Meyers High School. Hope Felican, ninth grade, North Fort Myers High School. And Katherine Hernandez, 8th grade, North Fort Myers Academy of the Arts. Congratulations. Now we got a chance here. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, joining us again at the lecture tonight is Danielle Nav, coordinator for teaching and learning. This year, Innovation Convention US Nationals was held at the Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. From June 4th through June 6th, among the many talents young inventors across the country were students from Southwest Florida and two of our very own high earned high honors from Dumbar High School. Baby Beats 2.0 earned the best prototype awards created by student Nini Fernando. Is she here? She's not
008here. Oh gosh. I'm sure we'll see her again. The school just started from Fort Myers High School. DE Dexteria revolutionizing assist of technology received second place designed by student Jervar and I just I know I asked you how to say your name and I just said it wrong. Sharma and actually he just graduated last year as well. Congratulations Nashini and Jar along with the administrators from Denver High School and Fort Myers High who are in attendance. Please come forward, which everyone just did, into the pit for the photo. On behalf of the board and the superintendent, we are proud to recognize and congratulate you both for your truly world STEM accomplishments. Thank you for representing the school district of Lee County with such innovation, passion, excellence at this prestigious academic competition. Thank you very much.
009Let me just get to hang out here. Joining us once again at the lectern tonight is Danielle Knap, coordinator of teaching and learning. The 2025 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair was held in Columbus, Ohio from May 10th through the 16th, 2025. Among the talented young scientists representing Southwest Florida, two of our very own received high honors from Fort Myers High School. The project titled Optimizing Random Forest Algorithms for Autism Prediction. Wow. Enhancing diagnostic accuracy through machine learning earned presidential scholarships from Long Island University. a merit-based scholarship valued at 40,248 per year. This ex exceptional project was created by Ton Tannis or Tanish Madar and Gabrielle Centin Tonnis and Gabriel along with any administrators Fort Myers High School are in attendance. Please come forward to receive your certificates and join the board members, superintendent and
010your school administrators in the pit for photos. There we go. Hey, daddy. Move. Move. Great job everyone. This is why we do what we do. So, it's always exciting to see all the celebrations and achievements of our students. Thank you everyone. Next up on the agenda is public comment. So, I'm going to turn it over to Attorney Huffman if you can go through public comment. My pleasure. Thank you, Chair. School board policy provides the opportunity at this point in the meeting to address the board concerning any matter on this meeting's agenda or any other matter relevant to the operation of the school district. Please complete a public comment card and put it in the basket provided. If you need a public comment card, they are provided by our staff. The rules concerning public comments are
011posted in the back and will be made from the podium in the front center aisle. Please be advised that the board will not respond during public comment to remarks made by speakers. The purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on district issues such as duties, responsibilities, decisions, and the general operation of the district. The school board is viewpoint neutral during public comment. We ask that the quorum be kept and respect be shown, which is what is expected when a government agency conducts official business. Therefore, abusive language defined as swearing, use of profanity or name calling is prohibited. In addition, clapping, hissing, booing, or a display of temper during public comment is prohibited. Speakers who fail to follow proper decorum in the chambers will be ruled out of order by the board chair or the
012board attorney. Any speaker continuing with such remarks will be required to relinquish the microphone per board policy 0169.1 and may be removed from the chambers by the sergeant-at-arms. Also, per board policy 016.169.1, the time per speaker is 3 minutes if there are 20 speakers, 2 minutes if there are 30 speakers, and 1 minute if there are 31 speakers or more. The maximum time allotted for public comment is 1 hour and 60 speakers. You will find a countdown on the big screens in the front of the room. Once your time has elapsed, the microphone will automatically shut off. Please state your name when you approach the microphone. I will call your names five speakers at a time. Please follow staff's direction when lining up. Mr. Chair, there are currently seven speakers that wish to address the
013board this evening. Thank you, Mr. Attorney. Please ensure you have completed a public comment card to provide public comment. The card is a public record identifying those who speak and providing contact information to staff for followup. The cards are located with staff in the hallway. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the board but has not filled out a public comment card? Okay. Seeing none, Mr. Attorney, please proceed with public comment. If the following individuals can please line up, Denise Eberly, Kathy Ween, Bill Jones, Sergio Cruz, Katrina Salak. Hello again. The Lee County School District continues to If you could please state your name for the record. Can you stop the clock? Tenise Ely. The Lee County School District continues to demonstrate a pattern of poor planning that disproportionately affects students in
014Lehigh acres. The proposed NN high school project in Alva is the latest and most costly example despite overwhelming evidence that the need lies elsewhere. Originally estimated at 140 million, the NN project is now expected to exceed 160 million. This increase is driven by 22.5 million in additional infrastructure costs solely because the selected site now lacks the necessary infrastructure, roads, utilities, water services, which now must be built using public funds, our taxpayer dollars. These expenses would not be required if the school were built in Leah acres, where infrastructure is already in place and capable of supporting the project. Despite this, the district has chosen to move forward in rural area with sparse development rather than build in the area with the largest student population and the greatest need. This decision is not only fiscally irresponsible but
015educationally harmful. Lehi students are currently bust out of their community to attend schools like Riverdale and Gateway. These are not short trips. They are long daily commutes for hundreds of students. Yet Alva, which already has Riverdale High School, is being prioritized for another high school, while Lehi, home to the fastest growing population, remains underserved. Further, if Lehi students get a school or schools where they live, they will shift out of Riverdale and Gateway, opening hundreds of seats. The district's ongoing justification that students are already being bust is deeply problematic. This is not a justification. It's an admission of failure. Busing Lehi students outside their community should not be normalized. It's a symptom of a broken, inequitable system. Building a new high school in Lehi would immediately leave overcrowding at Riverdale and Gateway and allow Gateway
016and allow students to remain in their community. Even more concerning, the district appears to be disregarding its own policies. Phase one of the site selection process exists precisely to prevent these types of missteps. Yet that policy is being ignored. The process is supposed to evaluate the suitability of the site and ensure that community needs and costs are properly weighed. Here those factors have been blatantly dismissed. Dr. Christopher Near, superintendent of Lee County Schools, has publicly stated that the project can be halted at any time. That acknowledge it acknowledgement makes it clear that continuing with this project is a choice, not a requirement. There's still time to correct course. Finally, it's worth noting that other projects in Lee County have been relocated during phase one when was determined that the original site no longer made sense.
017The NN high school should no be no different. The community is not asking for special treatment. We are asking for fair datadriven decision-making. The NN project is the latest example of a larger pattern. Thank you for your comments, ma'am. Your time is up. Thank you. Hello, I'm Kathy Wyn. I spoke at last week's meeting requesting that the district reconsider cutting its two prevention specialist teaching positions. In light of the district's rights sizing strategy, having two prevention specialists for a district with well over 90,000 students would be better than what we have 2,000 students would be better than what we have now, which is none. In 2023, Juul Labs, Inc. accepted responsibility for the increase in youth vaping and began making payments to thousands of school districts to remediate that. This was because Jules's marketing practices
018targeted youth and due to the extremely high levels of nicotine found in Juul products. Our district was granted a settlement amount of over 2.2 million from this class action suit. And we still have over $500,000 coming in. With one Jewel Pod having as much nicotine as a whole pack of cigarettes, our kids didn't stand a chance. The use of settlement proceeds section of the settlement says quote the settlement proceeds are intended to be used for compensatory restitution or remediation. They didn't list or define specifically how it must be used in order to provide us with a flexibility on how to use the settlement proceeds to address the problem of youth vaping and nicotine addiction. But the money is to be used for this purpose. Using jewel money on vape detectors is counterintuitive. Many experts on
019youth vaping, like the American Lung Association, do not support using vape detectors as a strategy to reduce vaping in schools because too often it leads to a punitive response rather than recognizing vaping as an addiction. It's not about catching students vaping then punishing them. It's about giving these students who very well may be addicted to nicotine the education and help they need to quit. Providing students the tools they need so that they choose not to use at all is called prevention. Dr. Carlin has said that school safety is a top priority and she'll have a zero tolerance policy to bullying and that is an admirable goal. As prevention specialists, we've created educational resources so students will know what to do if they're being bullied and how to report it. We provide presentations for students, parents,
020and staff to teach what constitutes bullying and how to recognize it, as well as videos, newsletters, and handouts about bullying. For the last two years, my colleague and I have done bullying prevention training for the city of Cape Coral summer youth camp staff at their request so that they can recognize bullying should it occur. They look to us as experts. Again, I implore the district to fund and restore our prevention specialist positions for the good of our students. Benjamin Franklin said it best. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Thank you for your leadership. Good evening. my name is Bill Jones. I'm the vice president for WastePro in Southwest Florida. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak tonight. So I'm here on a on a happy note, I think, as
021as the school season starts for everybody. We are with Waist Pro. We are celebrating our 20th year providing excellent service to the residents and businesses in Lee County. and we talked a little bit about it internally and thought that you know the best thing to do would be to celebrate with our partners in education. We're supporters of education have been since we've been here are throughout the state of Florida. We believe that an educated community is a vibrant growing community and we want to continue along that trend. So we decided that we were going to donate backpacks to students. Backpacks full of gear, full of school supplies, things like that. And we initially thought we would do 20 for our 20-y year anniversary and then we said,"Well, you know, heck, we're going to be here
022another 20 years, right? So, let's do 40." So, we have 40 backpacks we're going to donate tonight. I'm sporting the latest Bluey backpack. That's my granddaughter's favorite. So, and then, with me tonight are Tyler Bartlett and Lisa Casado from, Waste Pro. They were the ones that really came up with this idea. They didn't want to talk tonight. They wanted me to do it because I look better with the Bluey backpack, I guess. but but they really were the brains behind this. So I want to thank them for their participation. And that's all I had to say tonight. So thank you for the opportunity to continue to help out. The following additional individuals can please line up. James Kennedy, Amanda Cochran. Good evening. My name is Sergio Cruz and I'm a parent advocate, a dad on
023a mission, and a director of a nonprofit serving individuals with disabilities in Southwest Florida. it's no secret that I have my issues with how the district handles students with disabilities. the way they prioritize and their urgency towards the gaps, the huge gaps within that sub u subgroup. I'll keep it brief tonight because I just wanted to you know, bring attention to another year that we failed our students with disabilities in this district. you know, the district boasted about having a B rating for within the district. but when you look at the subdata for students with disability, second year in a row, that it's a D. and that has been ongoing consistently for several years. I know as school board members you have little to no control over the day-to-day operations of the district in those
024regards, but one thing that you do have control over is every year the student the school improvement plans come across your desk. I would implore you that this year take a hard look at that. because these are documents that are supposed to address these gaps at each individual school level. the the administrators have their own discretion to obviously run the school as they see fit, which I agree with, but a lot of times when you look at these school improvement plans, they're not prioritizing these students. and I feel like that's why we are consistently failing these students with disabilities. You couple that drating with the latest internal audit that doesn't speak great volumes to kind of how we are servicing these school, these these students. And I just would implore you to have open discourse
025and conversations with a lot of the parents of these students with disabilities. currently right now really the only recourse we have for that is the quote unquote ESC advisory. which doesn't really allow for that type of conversation to be had. It's more of a teach and take scenario than it is really a kind of conversation piece. so I just would like to implore you that when those things come across your desk, which I believe they sometime in September or I think you might vote on them in October, if you was just to really take a look at them because a lot of the school improvement plans and I looked at a lot of them for a lot of the schools, it's hard to find, any kind of priority that addresses that issue. And so I
026implore you to to engage with me, have some discourse with me and others that champion this population. and I look forward to collaborating. I think that collaboration is always the best the best move in this situation and I wish you guys a great beginning to the to the school year. So, thank you. I think I'm next. Not sure. Okay. Katrina Southcar and I am coming today to talk to Dr. Carlin specifically just wanted to overview sort of the core priorities that were declared, you know, in your campaign and things like that. The ensuring of safe schools, the increasing of student achievement, the fiscal responsibility, the teacher recruitment and retention and the empowering of parents' voices in education. And I watched last meeting as you turn to the board and kind of vision cast that across
027them. And I think it's going amazing. I think that all of those things are in line and they're cooking and you're on target. You're going to achieve the things you open the meetings with every single time. It's a master class. what I want you to maybe consider going forward is now that's sort of rolling, school is starting, can we look back at some of the things that have happened like the disbanding of the committees, the different items where we've done huge studies and maybe not followed through and maybe just even declare some of those initiatives no longer priority like proximity schools or something. Can we look at the bus situation? Can we look at the hard stuff? Because I know it happened before you, but at the same time, it might be good to go
028backwards and sort of scoop that up and deal with it once, of course, everything's moving forward, which I think it is. So, specifically though, as it relates to NNN, the school board claims that the new school is needed to serve the Ezone students, not developers. Utility infrastructure is standard and extensions are planned solely for the school, not for private development. problem with that is that we're looking at my experts, our experts, we're were looking and we're saying the school would use about 10,600 gallons of water daily. Yet, it's getting a $500,000 or $500,000 gallon tank. That's 94 times the need. Even malls and highrises don't need more than 250,000 gallons. So, why the excess? Only 135 homes actually exist nearby and surrounding developments remain speculative. At a high level, the schools should be where the
029students live. We have overcrowding in only three of the schools in the east. Riverdale is actually under 80% by our experts forecasting. after they've extrapolated numbers, we should have a look at that and ask ourselves if we did David and Joel, could we just relieve the busing to the three schools that are actually at 100 over 100? because they would instead of busing out, they would just walk to school or drive very short distances instead of seven miles all the way down to 80 for for why. So that's that's kind of where I'm at. Thank you. good evening. My name is James Kennedy. I'm actually here to talk about two two topics that again they might seem unrelated but one is the is the location of the NNN school. Right. Sure you guys are sick
030of hearing about it. Although you've put a lot of work in the last couple days in answering comments, establishing a landing page that wasn't there a few days ago, you know, it's appreciated. That gives us something that we can see, we can work from, we can we can take those points and evaluate. That's appreciated. you know, so that's a that's good work. But the things that I wanted to talk about addressing that because I still think it's in the wrong place. And the reason why is you know with the associated support stuff that goes in, right, the bus driving and everything else. And I know that you've improved on the bus driving, but you went from 900 bus drivers down to around 500. and I know that we put out a little bit on on
031how the busing was going to change, but you know, how many bus drivers have we improved? How many do we need? Where are these numbers? You know, where can we kind of see these to evaluate them? you know, the public, the taxpayers that are that are footing the bill for these extra transport costs that we should be able to see those. So, by placing a school like N andN out at the farthest reaches and not at the more central location, we're increasing fuel costs. We're increasing driver driver cost, their time, wear and tear on the buses, right? These are all the things that should be part of the calculus that I mean, honestly, they're not. We're looking at the we're looking at the capital cost solely and that seems to be a mistake. Now, most
032of you weren't on the board when these decisions were made originally, but that doesn't mean that you have to hold on to those hold on to errors that were made and carry them forward. This is your opportunity, and we've said it many times. This is your opportunity to take a take a look at the mistakes. If there are mistakes, acknowledge them, correct them, don't carry them forward. Right? This is where you deliver on the promises made when you ran when you ran for your positions to really support the taxpayers and the students of the county. You have one of the largest budgets of of anyone in this in the in the county. All we're asking is to get the most bang for our buck, right? We keep talking about how we've improved the quality of
033the schools. Well, Florida as a, you know, as a whole is 41st in the country. Where are we actually where are we actually ranked as a school district? And how are we supporting those things from the bottom up, right? Spending our money the most effectively. If we're not spending it correctly on bus drivers, support staff, and our teachers, then we're not getting the most bang for our buck. So, again, look at how this affects Thank you for your comments, sir. Your time is up. Well, good evening, Amanda Cochran. It is well known and deeply frustrating fact that Lehigh Acres has consistently been sidelined for years by both the county and the stool school district when it comes to receiving the services it rightfully deserves. The ongoing push to build the new high school in Elva
034rather than in Lehi Acres, where the vast m majority of the students who will attend the school actually live, only highlights this neglect. There are numerous red flags surrounding the school district's decision to pursue the Alva location. Using quote projected growth as justification for placing a major school in a rural, undeveloped area rather than in the already densely populated community of Lehigh acres is to me indefensible. This rationale fails to account for the current urgent needs of Lehi students, many of whom who've spent years learning in portables due to overcrowding and underinvestment. Claiming that this is the fastest path forward does not hold up under scrutiny, especially when the district has ignored Lehi's needs for decades. If speed was truly the goal, why has this community waited so long for a proper school? At the
035very least, the public deserves a full and transparent cost analysis comparing the Alva site and the Lehi site. We need to know exactly how many millions could be saved by building the school where the students actually live and where infrastructure already exists. We are not asking for special treatment. We're asking for fairness, accountability, and responsible stewardship of public funds. The students of Lehigh Acres deserve better. Despite a well-produced video from the district, one that not only contains inaccuracies, but that is deeply offensive to our community, despite the launch of the Q&A page on the district's website within the last few days, filled with also misleading information, claims I'm more than willing to address with each of you. Despite being told by an elected board member that if our community doesn't like where the district is
036placing schools, we can just move. And despite another elected board member proclaiming that productive public engagement has been disrupted by quote misinformation and resistance from quote certain individuals. We continue to stand and advocate for responsible, transparent decisions from the leaders entrusted with our tax dollars and our children's education. Let me be clear, the information that we've presented is factual, thoroughly documented, and sourced directly from the data provided by the district itself. We're not spreading misinformation. And we're holding our leadership account accountable using your own numbers. District 5 is my home. I'll continue to advocate for all of district 5 to include the underserved areas. Placing thousands of students. If we set aside major concerns, lack of infrastructure, environmental impact, all of those things. What should rise above all is student safety. It's not hypothetical. In
037May of 2015, my family had the heartbreaking responsibility of standing beside loved ones who lost their senior on Joel Boulevard and very near Tahoe. And to this day, they live with the very permanent and real pain from that day. To this day, there's no immediate plans to improve those roadways. And without real upgrades, it's not a question of if a tragedy will happen, it's when. We can't afford to gamble with Thank you for your comments. Your time is up, Mr. Chair. That concludes public comment. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Attorney. thank you everyone for your comments. Always appreciated. We love to hear feedback from the com public. Before we go on, staff had asked me for board members if you could please refresh your board docs. Just to make sure logged in. While we're doing that,
038we're going to move on to the next item on the agenda, which will be consent approval of the consent action items. Just let me know when everyone's good to go. Mr. Ribble, Miss Jordan, you okay? Thank you. I just wanted to make sure on there. Okay. Next is approval of action items in the agenda under consent. The documentation for action items listed under consent is made made available to board members seven business days prior to the board meeting. We're expected to review all the material and we have an opportunity to speak with the superintendent with any questions we may have regarding the recommendations. Some of these items have also been briefed or workshop with the board in advance of appearing on the action agenda. Board members, are there any agenda items you wish to pull
039for discussion under unfinished business? I will start with Miss Juvenelli. I have none. Thank Okay. Mr. Ribble, I have none. Miss Jordan, I have none. Mr. Persons, I have none. Okay, Miss Langford, Mrs. Langford Fleming, I have none. Okay, Miss Javiano, I have none. I have one item F2, approval of employment contract with Kathy Debri Bruno. I'll be asking on a poll on that. So, okay. Board members, do I have a motion to approve the action items in our consent agenda except for item F2? Make a motion to approve the agenda. Okay. I have a second with Miss Jordan. Okay. Moved by Mr. Ribbles, seconded by Miss Jordan. Please record your vote. Okay. Consent action items outside of F2 pass 70. At this point, I'm going to ask Mr. Quick, can he come up to
040the dis then? And then I will ask Oh. Oh, sorry. Sorry, Madam Superintendent. if you wish to address any administrators with new positions. My apologies, Madam Superintendent. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. it's my pleasure to introduce Michelle Hu, who is our new assistant principal at Spring Creek Elementary. Congratulations. We're very proud of you and look forward to the fantastic work you're going to do in partnership with Miss Fiora over at Spring Creek Elementary. You guys are a great team. Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Congratulations. Okay, now we're going to move on to item F2. Dr. Mr. Carlin, please read your recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is recommended that the board approve the employment contract with Kathy Dupree Bruno, Esquire, BCS, with an ending term of June 30, 2027 under the terms and
041conditions as discussed by the board. This contract will supersede all previous agreements approved by the board. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Is there a motion to adopt Dr. Carlin's recommendation? I'll make the motion to adopt the recommendation. Moved by Miss Ribble. Second by Miss Jordan. welcome the dis again. Mr. Quick, I'm going to ask you if you could do a quick overview. we just did get a document in. Mr. Just point of order. We have to allow public comment on specific. Okay. Okay. I was actually going to ask something yet. Do we need to get to public comment on that. I was thinking that okay because yeah, we were already item on the agenda. Yeah, it was already Yeah, that's why I didn't address it. I appreciate your vigilance. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to ask
042real quick if you give a quick overview, Mr. Quick. Then I don't know about you, I am going to ask for just a brief recess in place. I just want to review the document that was recently uploaded if that's all right. So if that's all right, can we proceed like that? Go ahead. Can we have him walk us through? Yeah, that's what I was just asking. Thank you. Then can we Yes. I just want to double check. I'm I'm in agree. Yeah, if you can walk us through and then I'd like to take a brief recess in place. Okay. Sure. Thank you, Attorney Quick. Yep. Absolutely. good to see everybody again. so yeah, I apologize. We just got the document to you, but was working between the break when we broke until now. Was just
043able to get the draft to you. I will be honest. I do need to go back through to make sure the formatting was a little little weird and I have to make sure that there's not internal inconsistencies where it refers to other sections. So, I do have to just double check on that. But the substance is is really what's important, not the scrier's items. So, when we broke last, there were a couple of from the workshop, there were a couple of issues that were still outstanding, that we, were talking about. One of them had to do or I guess the the two biggest ones really had to do with, termination, whether it was by supermajority or majority, and then severance, whether it was a full flat 20 weeks or whether it was something that was
044up to 20 weeks. I spoke with Kathy. Her and I talked about this at at length. she is willing to reduce the amount of the severance hearing what the some of the school board members talked about earlier from 20 weeks to 18 weeks and then would also agree to remove the supermajority. So it would just be a simple majority of the board to to terminate. So, it would the agreement at least as drafted, I wanted to at least have an agreement presented to you all as drafted includes a revision to that simple majority to terminate and if she is terminated without cause, it would provide for a severance of of 18 weeks. Miss Langford filming, just to answer one of your questions before you had asked about if she would get any benefits. I know
045I answered that. There is one item I want to mention. there is the your schoolboard policy does give employees who leave like acred vacation time things like that so that's not benefits like health benefits but I did want to make sure that if if she were to have any acred vacation time or sick time under your policy that is something that would also be be included that's cons as I understand it's consistent with with the remainder of your of your other policies the that was really the remainder the remaining issue. I we drafted language. It was in terms of the delineating the school board attorney and the chief's staff attorney. It was virtually identical to what I read to you to you all in the workshop. obviously just clean it up a little bit from
046from then until now. and the remainder of of that I think we had talked about the other issues. Th those are really the only outstanding issues. The one item that we hadn't talked about that Kathy brought up when we were meeting in there was a language about a remote work policy, but she advised that you all now have a remote work policy. I guess that was a hold over from from before. so she had recommended that be removed so that the office of legal services or the office of the schoolboard attorney will be will be done consistent with whatever the board policy is on on remote work. So that's the only change that we did not that is different than what we talked about before with the addition of the these these other items. Mr.
047Chair, did you want me to go over the other items that we talked about earlier today so that the public is aware of what the other items of discussion were? Yes, attorney click. The so I so just for the public there we met earlier today in the workshop. There were really kind of seven key what I'll call key items that we had talked about. The first one I just touched on just now which was whether to include language in the contract about a the legal structure of the schoolboard attorney's office and the chief staff attorney. the second item had to do with what I'll call outside work items, which is when if if your schoolboard attorney is seeking to give a speech or something like that, whether or not she needed to seek approval to
048do that when it was outside of work hours. the third item is has to do with the termination provision. it currently requires a supermajority to terminate. and there was a discussion about whether or not to to go from supermajority to majority, majority being simple majority being just four out of seven. There was also a the current contract that there was also discussion about how whether the contract would have what what we in the legal u community call an evergreen provision which is an automatic renewal provision. so that if it's not terminated by a certain date, it will automatically renew. And then there was also some language that was put in there or that was being proposed to be discussed as to whether if if that was taken out whether it would be it would just
049roll over and renew on a month-to-month basis as a as opposed to a full renewal. the fifth and sixth items dealt with salary. the number number five was whether or not your schoolboard attorney would be provided with automatic salary increases consistent with the other I can't remember the term that you all use other other administrative staff and whether it would be consistent with that. And then there was also a request for a salary increase to 212,000 and for it to be retroactive. the last item had to do with severance and the if she if your schoolboard attorney is terminated without cause. what severance, if any, she would be entitled to. Again, this only applies to if it's she's terminated without cause. It would not apply if she terminates the agreement through retirement or something like
050that. Would not apply if she's terminated for cause and would also not apply if this contract just simply does not renew and just terminates on its own terms. so those were the items that we talked about and consistent with what the discussion was during the workshop and what I had laid out immediately before that was the draft that I was able to put together. Again, I would ask if you all are going to approve it, I would ask if you create a caveat that allows for any scriveners corrections that be made just because you know I didn't have a chance to go usually I go through it and I have a ruler and I go line by line by line to make sure I'm not missing anything. I w given the short time frame I
051just was not able to do that. So I do I don't want you all to have a contract that might have a reference to a paragraph that doesn't exist or wrong paragraph. So that would be my only question. It would be non-substantive changes obviously just scribers issues. I would I would just ask ask that to make sure you have the contract that is clean for everyone. Thank you attorney Quick. I appreciate that. as I said I'm going to ask to go to a recess in a moment. during that recess, I'm going to ask Superintendent Carlin, could you ask your staff to get us updated fiscal impact numbers based on those 18 weeks for us, please? We'll do. Thank you, sir. Okay. The last thing before I go to recess is not go to discussion now,
052but does anyone have any questions at the moment for Attorney Quick and I'd ask attorney Quick if you could, you know, if anyone has any questions individually, they can address them. Mr. Ribble? Yeah. Under the benefit question that she would qualify for Cobra though, correct? If yes, if she's terminated for without cause, yes, I believe Cobra laws would kick in. So that's there's nothing you can really do about that, though. Anything else up here before I go to recess? Okay, we're going to take a brief recess to review. Thank you, everyone. is just wanted to check with the individual board members if everyone is ready to proceed. Okay. there is one item that I wanted to mention that I sorry. Yes. Yep. Looks like I got head nods from everybody that we're ready to proceed.
053Yes, sir. I won't ask you to read again. No, please. Okay. Yes, I'm ready for it. Yeah. Okay. We are going to go back into the meeting and the time is 7:03 p.m. I will turn it back over to Superintendent Carlin, attorney quick, please. Yes, sir. so there was a request right before the recess for the total cost of severance should the option of 18 weeks be exercised that total amount and I do believe the board has this worksheet in front of them but if you would insert 106,377 I've also sent that to you via email so you have that and then the total annual cost which is the last line on that worksheet you received is $434,8 8.58. So, that is the total annual cost for 18 weeks. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. attorney Quick,
054if you can proceed, please, and address some of the items. Okay. Yeah. So, before I get to if there's any questions, I did want to mention that there was is one provision in there that does need to still be added. in the quick turnaround, I apologize. In in sub in section five, there was also a sentence that would read but in no event shall Mr. P Bruno be entitled to a salary greater than that received by the superintendent. That would be consistent with what we discussed earlier, I would that would be added into paragraph 5. Also, I wanted to remind everybody if this is approved once it's signed and finalized, this would supersede and would replace the current contract that you have with your with your schoolboard attorney and the effective date is if it's
055approved today, the effective date would be today and all the terms of it would be you would be operating under those terms going forward. Thank you. Attorney Quick, and before we get to any discussion, I just want to confirm with the board new that if we do pass this contract tonight, just taking Mr. Quick's provision that if there's any scrivener errors, we'd be all right to have those adjusted as long as it doesn't nothing to content. Yeah, I would ask that. And as well as in the motion that if there's a motion to include the language I read about the provision on the not exceeding the superintendent salary, too. So, no objection from the board on that. Okay. Now I'm going to open up to discussion please if anyone has anything. Mr. Persons. Yeah, I
056think the contract shows a good compromise from the board and the attorney and I want to thank attorney quick for his work of mediating all that. I'm sure it's a lot like hurting cats as they say. So thank you for your effort. Anyone else? I mean, I'm going to give comments, but I don't want to jump in front of anyone else. Miss Langford Fleming. So, I just want to clarify regarding the severance that it is the 18 weeks is regardless of whether or not the attorney is employed by someone else at that point in time. It's 18 weeks. I just want to make sure, you know, I'm not sure that the public listened to our workshop. So, if you'll clarify that. Yes. That as part of agreement to give up the I guess the language
057in there requiring a supermajority, Mr. Brie Bruno indicated that she would only be willing to get what what I call a flat severance which is yes it's 18 weeks regardless of if she obtains dutiful employment or gainful employment u before that time yes and in your experience is that comparable to other attorney contracts it's yeah it's not uncommon I mean each each contract is has its own terms but but there are plenty that have that. Yes. Okay. Thank you. And there are others that have what you were talking about as well, which is you would if they obtain employment before then it would get deducted against it. So both of them are common. I'm much more I mean I'm much more comfortable with 18 weeks as long as you know if he or she in
058this position were to obtain other employment. I'm I guess the way I look at it is did you say 108,000 72 108,000 would be this new 18week severance. Correct. Well, it would be 106,377 for a total cost for the total annual cost including salary benefits etc of 434,858. Okay. I'm I mean I'm I'm I guess I'm looking at this as 108,000 is it'd be one thing if he or she wasn't able to find employment. It's another thing if they are being employed also this I mean 108,000 is two brand new 106 excuse me 106,000 is two brand new teacher salaries. That's all. Okay, Mr. Persons then followed by Mr. Jordan. Yeah, I don't follow how someone making 212,000 plus 106 108,000 how that comes to $400,000. So what additional is it benefits you have? All
059the all the benefits. Yes. The paid out vacation time, the retirement, social security, health and life, all of that. Yes. And that's in the worksheet that was provided for you, right? Yes, but I mean they're entitled to that anyway. So, right and accord with the contract. Yeah. What what you all approve in terms of contract is what dictates Well, most employees get their approved vacation time and vacation and sick. That is true. Yeah. Okay. And there's Yeah. The investment account and some other things. So, just says they're delineated. Some some employees would not get that the retirement investment account. They would have FRS but not not something beyond that. Was that it, Mr. Persons? Yes, that's it. Thank you, sir. Miss Jordan, I was just going to remind every This is if if the attorney
060was terminated for no just because for the heck of it. It's not because they done they've done something wrong. It's just the fact that oh, we're done. Here you go. See you later. that's where that 18 18 weeks now would come in where I believe that by statute it's you could go up to 20 anyway but I just wanted to put that out there as well. Okay. Anyone else have any other comments at this time? I'll proceed with my comments. first off, Attorney Quick, thank you so much for being able to go through this in in such a quick amount of time. I appreciate the back and forth. I appreciate as well, Attorney Brie Bruno being, willing to work with us. I truly do mean that. And again, as I've said throughout these meetings, and
061I know you're probably getting all sick of me with it. it's not about thems Bruno, I really appreciate what she brings to the table and everything she's done for us. So, but again, I have to look at it from me from a philosophical level. So, as I said before, I look at it that all of us up here, including the superintendent, we serve at the pleasure of the public. the board attorney and the board auditors serve at the pleasure of the board and the employees serve at the pleasure the other employees serving at the pleasure of the superintendent. That's how I look at my governmental philosophy. So, I am not comfortable paying out a guarantee of 18 weeks or $106,000 of a severance no matter what happens on that. Again, under the law, we could,
062as I said, in any other circumstance, we could option negotiate that. I am not comfortable doing that. And, I will be in no vote on this. Thank you. Are we ready to proceed the vote then? Anyone else? Okay, this will be a roll call vote. Give me one moment. Miss Juvenelli. Yes. Mr. Ribble, yes. Miss Jordan, yes. Mr. Persons, yes. Miss Langford Fleming, nay. Miss Chaviano, nay. And I'm a no. Motion carries. 43. Okay. attorney quick, could you please follow up obviously with our staff and attorney de Bruno and make whatever, you know, necessary changes to implement, including any scrivener issues. Absolutely. And I would just like to thank you all for you know, I love working with you all. So, you know, thank you all for having me and I wish you, you know,
063a good night and you know, good luck with all the other issues you have coming for you. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Attorney. Okay, moving on. Just give me one moment. Okay, we're going to move on to the next order of business is board member comments and reports. I'm going to start with Miss Juvenelli tonight. Thank you. And I'll be quick. Thank you. I just want to say we serve all students in all zones. as the open houses are happening, as there were several tonight, my grandchildren, one of them is tomorrow night. I welcome back all the teachers and the staff and the students. first day of school is Monday and I'm excited for that. welcome back to all the staff members gearing up for a really busy 2025 26th year. I wanted to thank WastaPro
064that was here tonight for their partnership and I wanted to congratulate all the appointments which I think was just one but congratulations on that on the new appointment and I just wanted to thank attorney Brudo for her patience and congratulations. Thank you. Thank you Miss Juvenile Mr. Ribble. Yeah, real quickly I just wanted to congratulate our HR team again as Shannon Dr. Shannon Johnson was back there. There she is. just fantastic job. I got to attend the benefits meeting on Thursday and as we were in the in the meeting several twice during the meeting the bells rang in the in the back room so we could they hired two more people as I walked down the hall. So I guess we were at 67 went to 65. I do want to comment I like this
065talent acquisition scorecard that you put together and I would like to see some measurement on that on retention. I think with the teeth we have now in the code of conduct, getting rid of the cell phones in the classrooms and hallways and on campuses, that should drive that number to get folks to stay with us and be treated by our staff and our students with dignity and respect. I think that's a key in moving along and under the umbrella of HR, I did complete the mandatory learning while I was on vacation. So, I got my certificates on all 14. So, that's all my that's all my comments. Thank you, Mr. Ribble, Miss Jordan. that was good, Mr. Ribble. I'm almost done my learning. I think I have two more to go. But, yeah, I just
066want to say I really appreciate Waste Pro. Tyler called the other day and said, "How do I present this?" I invited them to come to the meeting and they came with the backpacks. So, I just want to say thank you to Bill, Lisa, and Tyler for the backpacks for the students. Also, I just as Miss Jvenelli said, open house is coming. I know my grandkids are so excited about going and seeing their teachers and going to new schools and just the excitement of we're going to have somebody playing football this year. So, I'm getting excited about that and just welcome to everyone you know and what you all do. And I just wanted to say I believe I read because I know there was a comment made about bus drivers. think that I had read
067that we all the bus drivers are filled. Every position is filled and congratulations on that. Really appreciate that, Jar. So, yeah, that's that's exciting to hear that. And our students are going to be picked up. They're going to be brought to school and they're going to be taken home. So, thank you all for that. And I did want to share too at the next month meeting in September, I will not be here in person, but I'll be online because I'll be in Washington. I'm going to the Cosba federal advocacy. and I'm going on my own. I'm paying myself. So, I just want to make sure I put that out there. the district is not sending me. I am going because I believe that it's important to to go and advocate for public education. And that's
068all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Jordan. Mr. Persons, you know what a difference a year makes. I try to visit all the schools in my district right before school starts. I've been able to go to every one except for two, which I'll make those last two before the start of the next Monday. But last year, we had about a hundred in just my district. We had about a 100 open teachers positions. And I'm sure the bus I don't have the number for how many bus drivers we needed at that time, but there it was significant number because they're very late in in the district in the east zone. This year with a full bus crew and every teacher and principal I talked to are so excited. Principles have all said they
069have a certified teacher in every single classroom. So, these kids are going to get a good education from day one. So, it's an exciting start and I'm sure it's going to have great results as the year goes. So, I want to put a thank you out to not only the HR team, but the our transportation team and all the staff for working so hard to make that happen. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Persons. Mrs. Langford Fleming. Yes, I know it seems like it's been a long day. Thank you, Mr. quick for your partnership and count, you know, getting us through this afternoon. thank you obviously to Waste Pro and all of our partners that partner with the public school system and you know supplying any needs. We're in a we're in a great county. There
070are honestly if you go to Publix, you go to your church, you go to your to a a football game or any other event, people are always asking how they can help. And we're very blessed to have a county that really does want to partner with our with our kids. I had bus driver announcement down in my notes, so thank you for stealing my thunder, Miss Jordan. it really is exciting and Jared, I commend you and your team. That's a that's a culture shift like that. We just saw happen right in front of us. So, thank you so much. HR is on top of their game through, you know, from from the from 5:00 a.m. or whatever. I don't know what the first bus pickup is. I'm going to guess it's around 4:30 or something
071crazy, but all the way until those kids get back home in the evening. So, thank you for all those efforts. yes, our Friday night lights happens very soon. So, that's exciting. As well as all of our fall sports. just want to reiterate that our coaches have been working around the clock since FHSAA allows them to start practice. And I mean, they hit the pavement hard. So, thank you to our coaches and there are so many volunteer coaches. also, thank you to the people that came out tonight. you know, we I'll I'll just speak for myself. I read every single email. done some really deep diving in the last couple of weeks on the proposals that have been brought to us. So, please don't think that's fallen on deaf ears at all. And I would be
072remissed if I didn't say that even though this afternoon was a taxing afternoon talking and discussing our attorney's contract, it's it doesn't go missed that she works very hard for the district and not nothing is a personal this is more about philosophy and belief on how contracts in in my opinion should work. Thank you to our SRO officers. Please I'm just going to continue to thank you so much for everything you do and those that will keep our children safe starting on day one Monday. So, thank you to you and all of the team. have a wonderful start to the school year teachers and I'm just going to pray for safety for our students and our families. And thank you for the staff's efforts to make this kickoff a one that the kids will never
073forget. That's all I have. Thank you, Mrs. Langford Fleming, Mrs. Javiano. Everyone's like hit everything. So, yes, one, thank you to Mr. Quick for your patience and all the conversations that have been had since last week to get this to get this done today. And I do want to add and maybe request that now that we have the attorney contract done if we can go back to the audit and put that on September. That would be wonderful. just to kind of keep things going. so that was lift. So let's just transportation was on my list. So yes, thank you Mr. McKini and your team. Zero. I saw Zero and I was like that's awesome. And I was going to message you but congratulations and good job for you guys as well. HR, yes, I love
074getting the daily updates of like what's happening in those numbers. and seeing what's happening in our classrooms. Yes, open house is happening. My daughter had hers this afternoon. My husband brought her. She has her shirt. She is excited. She met her teacher. So, good luck at all the open houses and all the family is kind of getting in there and bringing in your supplies and doing all the things. it's tax-free month all month for your supplies, so take advantage of that. buy the extra supplies on the list, the extra reams of paper and the tissue and all that because they do need it. so do those things because that's always on my extra. but yeah, to the teachers, I know you guys are doing all the things in your classroom and getting ready for kind
075of what's going to happen this year. So I just I pray for for grace and patience for you guys and lots of rest. and I'm already enacting our regular bedtime this week cuz summer is almost over. thank you. so yes, that's just getting ready for the week and good luck to our teachers next week. And that's all I have. So thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Javiano. Yeah, in regards to the auditor, as I'd indicated last week, I'm going to try I was talking about doing a special meeting in a couple weeks. It's going to depend on our schedule, but it also HR had indicated there's one applicant they still hadn't heard back from that was still present. I will follow up with them. and actually, I'll ask Madame Superintendent through her staff if we can
076just get a quick overview the next couple days of who we currently still have as applicants. And that point, I will work with our assistants to work on scheduling something. If not, then I will go into the September meeting if that won't work. If that's good with the board. Okay. congratulations to our board attorney attorney Bruno as well. but I also want to say thank you to my fellow teammates up here. We definitely had some vigorous discussions and back and forth, but they're very productive. Nothing was ever personal. I appreciate us being able to go through a a very difficult conversation doing it so gracefully up here. So, I appreciate that from everyone. last thing I have is just same as everyone else is I am excited for this year. I'm looking forward to welcoming
077back well teachers already back, but teachers, staff, and students on Monday. I'm excited. And with everything coming down the pike that has been acted, you know, my last words will be let's go. Okay. Attorney Huffman, I'm going to excite you by saying I have no comments. on to last but not least, Madam Superintendent. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'll just echo the comments of our fantastic board. it's been so great to welcome back our teachers this week and our staff. everybody's been coming back to school and super excited. I just want to take a moment also to thank our team here at the district office. you know, some sometimes they're the unsung heroes and they work very hard all summer long through the year supporting our schools and you know, I made a commitment
078to this community when I came in to office that we would see some change and we are starting to see that change and I want to thank you for recognizing the changes that we're seeing. change certainly is happening at the leadership level. when I came into office, it's no secret we had our cabinet reapply for their jobs. Everybody that's on the team right now is because I have hired them to be there. They are committed to the work. They are committed to the priorities. And when we set ambitious goals like zero teacher vacancies, zero bus driver vacancies, they have risen to the challenge. And I just I couldn't be prouder of our staff. And I thank each and every one of you because you are the unsung heroes behind the work and I just really
079appreciate that. huge thank you and appreciation to our teachers. a lot of times people think teachers don't work over the summer and boy oh boy do they work. many of our teachers so many of our teachers are are working second jobs and also working on their their regular job which is planning. You know, so many of our teachers I can remember doing that myself, you know, coming together with my team and saying, "Okay, what what are our plans for first quarter?" And we'd have those knocked out before the school year started. And so just thank you to our teachers and our support staff who are returning this week. We know you've been thinking about your children. We're so excited to have you back and just really appreciate the work. just want to echo also some
080of the comments around our secondary teachers, our new teachers back today here at the district office. They had a wonderful session on, you know, what it requires to kick off an effective school year from classroom management to working on the standards, working on the work. So really appreciate that as well. And tomorrow we'll be happily welcoming back our elementary new teachers. So, that's that's really been exciting to see. We had a sponsor, Sun Coast Credit Union, which I want to give a huge shout out to. TALC also helped with sponsorship and I'm sure there were others. So, just thank you so much. We live in the best community who really supports public education and we want to say a special thank you to those sponsors. And then finally, I just want to give you kind
081of a new chant. We're on our way to an A. We are on our way to an A. That's going to be our new mantra for this year. on our way to an A. We are a B school district. Fantastic. That's that's okay. but you know my standards. We're always we're always working harder. So now that we have our teachers filled, we're going to get our children to school on time, which you always know the two variables, right? To increase student achievement. High quality teacher, more time. We can put all the programs we want in front of children. Programs don't teach children. Teachers teach children. That's why it's been so important to fill those vacancies. So, we're going to be moving forward on our way to an A, and that's what we're doing. Congratulations to
082everybody. Looking forward to a fantastic school year as we surf our way to an A. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent Carlin. And that's I'll re-echo. Let's go. Let's go. Next scheduled meetings of the board on Tuesday, September 9th, there'll be a schoolboard workshop at 1 p.m. followed by a 5:05 p.m. fiscal year 2025 2026 final budget mir meeting followed by a schoolboard action meeting at 6:00. At this point, having no other business to come before this body and seeing no objection, this meeting is adjourned. The time is 7:28 p.m. Have a great evening.