001good evening ladies and gentlemen we are ready to begin this evening's board meeting Sergeant arms Lobby is clear thank you we request that all electronic devices be turned off or put in silent mode also police refrain from using flash photography except during the special presentations portion of the meeting I am pleased to welcome you to the August 8th 2023 school board meeting the time is 601 pm and this meeting is 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 highest personal potential and the district's Vision to be a world-class school system this evening's agenda includes a moment of silence the Pledge of Allegiance acknowledgment public comment consent action items which include one
002item under Board office three items under academic Services one item under Business Services two items under Human Resources ten items under operations and four items under the good of the order or other business board members is there a motion to adopt the agenda Mr chairman is there a good cause item this evening yes there is a good cause item thank you is there motion I moved to I'm so sorry I moved to approve the agenda as written thank you second second moved by Miss Jordan and seconded by Mr Fisher Mr chairman yes just for the record if the superintendent can read the explanation for the good cause items so we have that okay I'm sorry Please Mr chair members of the board members of the public the motion is the board member will move to
003direct a superintendent to use the media access form originally supported by the staff and the curriculum advisory committee until such time as the board can pass on media policy I do not so Mr chair we have one item which is for good cause that is the motion is likely to be made under good costs sir okay thank you would you everyone please record their vote okay there you go the motion to approve the agenda passes seven zero Matt may I ask a question yes I don't recall having done a board member motion as good of the order I always thought it was good cause so does that mean that we will or will not be permitting public comment when I make my motion there will be public comment this attorney thank you Mr chairman just
004for clarification my script indicated that there was a good cause item but apparently there is not a good cause item so that's why I mentioned it because I was following my script but there is nothing your emotion will come in during good of the order board member comments as normal with your public comments okay thank you and thank you for that clarification as a customer of the board Mrs Patricia will lead us in a moment of silence afterward Miss Jordan would lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please stand please bow your head silently in a moment of Silent prayer or reflection thank you Miss Jordan I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice
005for all all right thank you please be seated the character word for August is responsibility Winston Churchill wrote the price of greatness is responsibility the design you see displayed on the screen was created by Samantha curls a ninth grade student at North Fort Myers High School foreign on the agenda is public comment Mr Pay Bruno please address the item of public comments thank you Mr chairman and good evening 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 comment are posted
006in the back will be made from the podium in the front center aisle please be advised that the board will not respond during public commentary remarks made by speakers concerns will be addressed by the superintendent or his staff as necessary and the chair may come in as deemed appropriate at the conclusion of public comment the superintendent may also comment if he deems it appropriate the purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on District issues such as duties responsibility fees decisions in the general operation of the school district the school board is Viewpoint neutral during public comment we ask that decorum be kept in respect be shown which is what is expected when a government agency conducts official business therefore abusive language such as cursing insults derogatory language levity against an individual or a class
007of people are prohibited further personal attacks such as name calling are prohibited in addition clapping hissing and booing are a display of temper during public comment is prohibited speakers who fail to follow Prophet de corpsman the chambers will be ruled out of order by the board chair or the parliamentarian 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 per board policy zero one six nine point one the time for speakers three minutes if there are 20 two minutes if there are 30 in one minute if there are 31 speakers or more the maximum time allotted for public comment is one hour 60 speakers you will find a countdown on the big screen in the front
008of the room once your time has elapsed the microphone will automatically shut off please state your name when you're approach the microphone I will call your names five speakers at a time please follow staff's Direction when lining up Madam Mr chairman there are 28 speakers that wish to address the board this evening two minutes per speaker thank you make sure you have completed a public comment card if you intend to provide public comment the card is a public record identifying those who speak in providing contact information for staff to follow up is there anyone in the audience who wishes to speak but did not we have one so we will have 29 if y'all will fill out a card and we'll go ahead and get started Mrs Bruno thank you very much Mr chairman will
009the following individuals please line up Frank Mamon Jamie Merchant Naomi Thompson Bobby de Lisandro Deb nesselhoff let's restart the clock yeah restart the clock oh good evening can we restart the clock sorry okay good evening thank you hello my name is Frank mamoni I'm a retired chemist my wife and I permanently reside in Cape Coral we wanted to thank the school board for approving a process for challenged books that protects kids and honors parental rights to have input into the materials their children are reading our students need to succeed in all studies notably stem topics Global competition is intense and our students teachers and parents need to work together to provide our students with successful futures that's all I wanted to say thank you good evening board I'm Bob Adele Sandro and tonight I'd like
010to speak to you as a former superintendent and also as a community member that loves their community and loves the school system I've been so encouraged by the activity of the board in the challenge process by adopting the policy and having a wonderful process piece with input from the community parents and from the purple group all who have very different ideas and a form was made that actually is stateworthy I think is the best one in the state we were surprised however to know that we had to change or maybe update our media consent form which is what gives parents the right to speak and say what they want their children to do I as a superintendent was very surprised when at the briefing meeting the superintendent brought the consent form forward and asked not
011just for your input but for your direction now that puts you in a very precarious position in him too on a slippery slope because that's beyond your purview and you did give input and you did give a direction that night and provided an option which is the most restrictive of all and by the way two board members were not there and this is such an important item thank you for I think tabling it tonight that they should have had comment from their constituents I just want you to keep doing the good work because it's so important to have Community comment but I must urge you as a foreign watch your language please do superintendent watch the language because it gets you in a bit and them in a very vulnerable position thank you School Board
012my name is Naomi Thompson this is the first time I'm addressing the school board and the first time I'm attending one of these meetings I did not realize when I filled out the blue card that it was not an attendance card and that it was a public comment card so my name was called so I just would like to say I am honored to be here and see all of you at work I remember standing in the election lines and helping people to register and Jada's family was there and I'm really happy to see the Democracy work and all of these good people here participating and I hope fantastic work is done and consensus is reached tonight while the following individuals please line up James winham Amber Ware Jerry Ware Robert Daniels Denise Everly first
013of all thank you for what you do and the opportunity to speak my name is Deborah nestlehoff I have been a resident of Bonita Springs and now Estero for almost 12 years I tell people that I'm a retired educator but Educators never really retire I was a teacher and principal for over 30 years in public education in Missouri I was also a teacher at a children's hospital and a preschool director for many years I have multiple degrees in education Administration with emphasis in curriculum human resources and child psychology and development but my most important job was parent and now grandparent I've tried very hard to be a listener and a supporter at the many meetings I've attended over the last few months of the school board and ad hoc meetings I truly don't enjoy being
014the speaker but I am concerned I understand that the recommended procedures to address media access and stakeholder challenges may have been Rewritten by some board members now I understand that's going to be discussed again later and I hope it is I'm really appalled that you would create a committee of Educators attorneys and parents and then have them work for days weeks months to dissect current policy new estate statutes laws still addressing the needs of the students and while I may not have personally agreed with everything the committee came up with I would never disrespect their work and our tax dollars that went into this by rewriting them to my liking thank you hello Jamie Merchant I'll be super quick to get through a public comment but just wanted to say thank you to the board
015members for the support for parental rights and creating a process document an opt-in policy for Media Center materials this year I appreciate it thank you good evening my name is James Windham and I live in a small community called Alba and they're building I want to build a school right directly across from my home which changes the whole reason that I moved out there I'm not opposed to the school I understand we need schools because we have a lot of children that are coming out there but I find it odd that we don't have enough teachers to teach the children that we have now in the schools we have available but yet we're going to put one in a place that it seemed that no one wanted before because it was put up for sale
016just two years ago and now all of a sudden it's going to become us high school and a middle school and my rural community will be ruined over it where they're going to put it thank you good evening my name is Amber Ware and I am the senior center manager for the city of Fort Myers Stars division the reason why I'm here is because I want to address the issue of busting I did not attend the last meeting where the bus routes were approved because I had had several discussions with members of the transportation Division and we had worked on an agreement where everything was to be settled and the current bus stops that had not been assigned to Brown and Edison Avenue would remain the same it had come to my realization on Friday
017and Monday that brown in Edison would no longer be a bus stop for four of the schools that it used to be a bus stop for it seems that this was done as a overall concept to eliminate day cares as a courtesy stop and I understand the reason why the district did that however yes I do feel that star is an exception to that rule Stars not only Services all of the students that is in our after school program but we service the entire Community more than 250 students from various walks of life attend a varying programs within the Stars 30 percent of our population are School District employees now of which would have no way of it actually attending work because their students have they have to get home to get their students at
018two and three o'clock in the afternoon these are your bus drivers these are your cafeteria workers these are your teacher's assistants and some teachers now they will have to leave their jobs to go pick their students up you cannot accommodate the need you are going to need these Services eliminating thank you good evening boy Jerry Ware and I'm again speaking about the transportation of after school programs we thought we had this all ironed out and I was here last Schoolboy meeting I thanked Mr Jared for helping us to get that bus stop back in place however at the meeting last night with the parents the parents kept saying no we are told that the school district are in our school meetings that the bus stop is not available and the Transportation will not be provided
019now let's keep one thing in mind buzzing goes back to the integration of the schools and unfortunately the children in the Dunbar Community have always had to suffer however we have as parents and Community leaders and workers we work through it and so once again I'm asking you the proximity plan I understand but we've got to keep in mind who's being affected and that's our children we cannot have electricity kids we have too many of them already Mrs Webb that spoke before me addressed and tried to begin your mind the kind of kids and parents that we are Servicing so I don't know what is happening what games are being played but I think that you need to go back to the board and Thursday is not the time for parents to be wondering what's
020going to happen to their children while they're trying to work I don't know what happened I really wish I could answer I know you don't like to respond tonight but missed persons I'm calling on you my friend for us to have some kind of conversation by tomorrow so parents can know Thursday what's going to happen to their children that need to be serviced to the book while the following individuals please line up Julie Windham Erica green and Alexandria Davis I have you as one speaker Betty Ann Sherman arlise Williams and Joe Phillips hello my name is Robert Daniels I myself as a latchkey kid can I and I can speak to the lack of safety involved in that particular kind of Lifestyle for a youth and I also used to live in Dunbar three blocks
021from the Stars complex and I would as a teacher sometimes watch the kids walk in the streets more than once I had to chase away a stray dog that was bothering the students going back and forth to the bus perk it being a virtual teacher living in that house I also found bullet holes in the walls that particular stop that star stop that's more than just money that's safety for the children in that neighborhood that's something we need to take a second look at and perhaps other not-for-profit organizations that were on that stop past that I actually came here today to say thank you for whoever was behind the change in the PD exercises at the start of the school year for the teachers I actually managed to get it all done in the first
022week I can't explain how many times it took me to October trying to squeeze it in around work to get through all those trainings I found it much more helpful much more informative and much more respectful of my time that being said not only have I been a teacher for 12 years now I've been a biology teacher for most of that time and I've taught U.S history and one of the things we learned is that there's just some topics you don't tell the kids what you think about because you want them to think for themselves and those are conversations for them to have for their parents if I have to stricture and censor myself in the classroom at the very least we can make sure that the books that present those ideas and challenge those
023ideas are flag for the parents so that those same ideas are held for the parents to discuss with their children because if you don't trust me to do it as a trained individual why would you trust an anonymous author who may have an ax to grind thank you all right here's this to you guys I know the secretaries will take it from you foreign good evening I'm Denise Eberly I represent Alva Inc this evening I am board the director and chairman of the oversight committee I'm here representing unfortunately tonight is our scheduled meeting night which is why other board members are not present Alva Inc still opposes the high school and now we just learned of an additional Middle School I had a whole presentation prepared for tonight until I heard last night's Lehigh council
024meeting with commissioner Greenwell Mr persons was in attendance as well but I did email you my previous presentation last night along with photos and even a video commissioner Greenwell seems to believe he can speed things up specific to widening of Joel Boulevard between 80 and Tuckahoe as a County Commission quote as a county commissioner I can be a pain in the ass unquote per D.O.T it would not happen in 10 15 20 years to widen an eminent domain would be required to do so per citizen at meeting last night from Lehigh neighbors are freaking out quote unquote pertaining to increased traffic impacts for landing oh four laning will increase an already heavily trafficked area it would increase speeding cause major backups especially if the track fit like is installed at school entrance major traffic safety
025concerns making left-hand turn into school from Joel per dot speaker a major thoroughfare let's not forget dump trucks which inundate Joel and then add to that the dump trucks bought in with massive amounts of fill dirt for that property there are many accidents now and you can't even get out onto Joel during morning and evening traffic will divert down the narrow residential Ditch Road of Edwards packing house and styles to bypass the light at Joel 180 causing even even further backups as they try to enter Joel this is a huge safety hazard to the residents that live on these roads but I guess heck with safety look at how long good afternoon my name is Julie Windham and I'm opposed to the high school as it does affect our living facilities our roadways the traffic
026that Lehigh is already cutting through our little rural area that you know the it's almost like a Speedway already so if you put a high school in a middle school and everybody that's coming down these little roads it's you know really going to hurt the environment it's going to hurt our living availabilities of getting out getting in out of the area that we live is going to affect our property as if they have to widen our roads that means that they're going to be taking some of our land away from what we have already we have a lot of rural areas that we have a lot of you know livestock and so forth and we try to go ahead and keep those in but sometimes if they get out that could be an issue as
027well I know we can't go ahead and possibility change your mind in regards to that but the thing is we can go ahead and ask if you guys could put a barrier wall on Tuckahoe and just make the main entrance as being Joel so that way we can still keep our area there and Joel can have the entrance of the schools as entrance wise because otherwise everybody already from Lehigh is cutting off of Joel coming through Tuckahoe at 60 miles an hour and that is a problem especially when we have a lot of rural area and animals and children and people trying to go ahead and just live their normal lives thank you foreign good evening my name is Betty Ann Sherman I am a retired teacher and reading specialist as an educator concerned Lee
028and proud Lee County citizen mother grandmother and Avid Reader I was disappointed and alarmed to learn that additional restrictions have been placed on our children's access to books without input from professional staff the consent of one present board member and with two board members not in attendance at the workshop why were book procedures Rewritten when an effective opt-out form already existed why was an option for full access to check out all library media materials including restricted ones not offered parents I have spoken to reject any books being challenged and would like their rights protected by you as it now stands they are being held hostage as they cannot enroll their children in their Public Schools without signing a form where all the choices online involve eliminating every child's access to restricted books and the choices
029by cell phone conceal half the wording so that parents cannot see their choices in their entirety this is an abridgement of individual liberty freedom is making books available indoctrination is taking away the right of exposure to a wide variety of ideas opinions and beliefs education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one our children's trust and innocence will be protected by witnessing our mutual respect compromises an impartial decision making on their behalf I hope you see this matter as worthy of further attention and fair-minded revision after giving credence to all the workable suggestions that have been brought forth since this process began thank you good evening my name is Erica green this is my daughter Alexandria Davis we're gonna come to you guys with the issue about the bus we have a
030special needs child Benny's has iemp in place that needs he needs to be put physically on the bus and taken off the bus now the issue with the bus issues not going to the daycares we both our health care workers so I schedule varies so that's why we had him put into the day care system so now with that being changed that they're not going to pick up from the daycares that leave us to try to get him on the bus at home which that kind of conflicts with our schedule because we're working so now at the end of the day he's going to suffer because we can't get him on the bus and then next thing you know they're going to have a caseworker to my home asking why he's not in school came
031to get him there is no way we can get him there if the bus is not picking him up that's why we had him ended before and after school daycare but with that taken away from us what can we do there's no nothing we can do so if he misses school he's going to suffer I have my education she has hers so he's going to suffer without the bus so that leaves us with no option but try to keep them at home if we can get him to school so I'm asking you guys to please rethink this situation and think about the parents that cannot get their kids to and from school thank you well the following individuals please line up Martha Shackleton Dr Samuel Stewart Christy divigilli Dennis Zellers Patrick finkler my name is
032Martha Shackleton I retired to Alva because I wanted a rural community not congestion which is what we're already getting in now the with the traffic on Tuckahoe and packing house which is where I reside and we don't have that many students in that area it should be the school should be built in an area where it's more dense with population we have 2020 property around us and I understand that they're interested in purchasing this property and I don't think the infrastructure would take or support building schools in in our area would be dangerous with the flooding that we have we don't have sidewalks we have ditches and we have animals cattle chickens you name it we have it out there and that's the way we like it afternoon oh good evening my name is arlise
033Williams and I am here to ask you guys the please take a look at the proximity again there's several people here talking about it tonight and the reason being is because years ago the Stars complex had a bus stop right in front of the star's door Transportation total Stars oh we have to take it out because it's too dangerous but then they had other bus stops that they was doing exactly that going into a parking lot so where the stars complexes concern it is not courtesy bus stop before covet they took it from the Stars they made a stop on Edison and brown so those students are actually at an existing bus stop I understand the proximity plan and I understand that you guys have room for improvement it is an issue we have parents
034all over this County that will quit their jobs and some have District employees and other people because they cannot leave their children at home by themselves and they don't have access to after school care the schools can't do it because most of your schools now have a waiting list so the schools cannot handle all of those kids so again we are asking you guys to look at the proximity plan and put the bus stops back at the daycares so our parents can work and take care of their children thank you I am smoking Joe meeting after meeting I come to advocate for the education and safety of our students and support staff I have requested a forensic audit everything I've ever said was with the best interest of our children and community in my heart
035while my accurate criticism of certain board members and their quest for power and fame with no accountability or shame I'm regaled as vile apparently we have a different understanding of the word bile bile to me is the lack of protection for our children bile is also our students being below average academically sexual assault cover-ups and double digits sounds vile allegations of mistreatments to staff we have received sounds pretty deviled while I agree the parents should unquestionably have authority over all media available to their child this is turned into a distraction from the issues that are mentally emotionally and physically affecting these students immediately my stance on this issue is simply if my daughter comes home with inappropriate material I will sue you for contributing to the delinquent civil minor I come here alone I have
036no Entourage no aspirations of personal political placement I'm a father and I'm here for my children you won't see me dressed as a McDonald's milkshake advertisement I'm not a former educator board member librarian or a lesbian with a family member on the board I'm just your everyday Floridian pursuant to board policy we can't show Expressions appreciation support or disagreement unless you're a purple promoter of pornography then you can email your group and instruct them on how and when to disrupt the comment and even be granted permission by the chair imagine if we eliminate the destructions into the distractions until we were able to successfully educate and protect our children everything else should be secondary if truth and proof revile consider the challenge thank you foreign Stewart father grandfather and great grandfather and a retired district
037county superintendent from New Jersey I'm here tonight to make two points one is a comment about book Banning we all want our children to have books all right readily available that are age-appropriate engaging aspirational inspirational and aspirational we believe or I believe the most qualified people to make selections or to review books under consideration for Banning our professional educators I applaud a North Dakota a politician who recently said to a parent if you have a concern about a book talk to a librarian so we applaud only two of the 35 book challenges last year were from parents the other 33 came from Community media people so keep the culture wars out of our schools protect our students protect our teachers that's why school boards are non-partisan so now about the teachers my youngest daughter had
038difficulty learning to read and as a concerned educator Advanced educational Enlightenment I was determined to fix her we went to numerous reading numerous reading clinics once when we were on our way to the testis how many tests do we have to have and anyway I couldn't so then I went to a new District I met a new teacher and I explained to her all the things I had learned and done about Jill and she said I think Jill has had enough of daddy Jill learned to read that year got a ba an MBA and reads at night thank you hi I'm Dennis Ellers I'm a resident of Alva and I believe that the school that's proposed in off of Joel Boulevard is being placed at the wrong place it should be up on the North
039side of the river where more people live and there was building a big development up there it probably should be up in that area and we're rural down there and we would really not appreciate having a school in that area thank you well the following individuals please line up David Carter Stacy imar Lou Navarro Robert Roper Randy I meant good evening my name is Patrick finkler I live near the proposed school I'm against this building of the school in Alva there are three thousand over three thousand residents in Alva and the average age is 51 and a half bringing a new school to our area is not needed ideally we'd like you to look at other locations where things are needed the last speaker talked about the north side of the river I think that's
040a great idea there's huge developments that are starting over there and there's going to be a need for schools not here on Jewel and Tuckahoe one of the things that I find interesting about this whole process is we haven't really talked to the residents we're coming down here to tell you about our opposition to building the school what would actually really like to be surveyed as a community we in Alva are agriculture land we own livestock we care about the environment conservation we care about the Panthers the birds all of the other things that are out there we don't want the additional noise and traffic that is brought with the building of additional School finally just one other point is last week when I was here I learned that there were over 350 open positions
041that the county is trying to hire for if we build a new school you have more open positions to hire for how are you going to hire people to teach in this school how are you going to hire people who are focused in the community who are local Workforce not just people who are brought in from elsewhere I would rather see this money either built build a school Elsewhere on the north side of the river give teachers raises and focus on some of the other issues that people have talked about here like Transportation books and otherwise thank you so much foreign good evening I don't get to come up here as often as I'd like to especially just to say thank you but that's what I'm here for today like to start by thanking the
042District staff for making the beginning of the year parent forms process infinitely smoother than it was last year I was able to easily consent or decline consent on all of the forms and I found the links offering additional information to be extremely helpful I'd like to thank the board for choosing to protect and on protect kids and honor the rights of parents with the New Media access form and I'd like to thank the superintendent for asking for direction from the board in regards to the media access form because he works for the board and it's his job to do what they say so I would just leave I would just say ignore the hateful rhetoric and remember that it's coming from the same people who think that the board is just a rubber Stamper that
043works for the superintendent which you do not I'll end my comments with this parents are the most qualified to decide what books their kids read period end of story thank you good evening I'm David Carter I live at the corner of Tuckahoe and Joe the property y'all talk about building the school zones right across from my house I agree with what a lot of the speakers has already said the infrastructure is not there for schools the roads are too small the road in front of the property y'all wanting to build is a two-lane road somebody was talking about the county commissioner I think Greenwell is talking about from Tuckahoe to 80. that Road's even narrower but from 18th Street clear to 80 is nothing but a two-lane road no sidewalks no nothing why don't y'all
044come down there about six o'clock in the morning and try to get out on that road I have the coffee ready for you something nobody has said there's no City water or sewer there so that means them schools are going to have to put in a great big water plant and a great big sewer plant everybody in that area is on shallow water wells are y'all going to guarantee us that our whales are going to be fine after y'all pump out that much water for that kind of facility that's another problem you got right there and I was at your other meetings when y'all had them in Alva and we asked the same question nobody has ever answered us on these questions of when y'all was on a build a road about the water problems
045it's going to come with this or anything else at this point I am against it there is property where you'll already have four lane roads like out on 80 to build this school there is places what has City Water and Sewer so y'all are not taking a chance on there because personally I've lived in this area for 59 years I'd like to be able to live the rest of my life there but big water plants and all that what are we going to do for water that's what I have to say about this I'm against the school at this point because of that reason you know I appreciate it foreign I'm against the school being built there and I'm going to come at it from a mom's point of view I have been hit sitting
046at that stop sign or that stop light on Joel and 80 twice sitting at the stoplight now imagine a child trying to cross our road to go to that school how's he going to get across that school if he lived over in that takahoe area how safe is he I was like is that little girl trying to cross the road I prayed every day my sunset at the bus stop on Tuckahoe and Joel trying to get on that bus he had to cross the street to get on that bus scared daylight happened to me every day he had to get on that bus I want my child across on that road one day and now it scares me because now he has it across that road now to go to school in a car let
047alone just trying to walk it I don't want that school there I don't want somebody else's kid to go through that having to cross that road nope to me that road is too scary for anybody to have to worry about their kid Crossing it especially if they open it up and make it more Lanes nope I want one want that I want on anybody else is there any it needs to go somewhere where there's a thicker density where there's more people a dense revolving of people where there's more population we're a little tiny area I'm Randy I'm in I am against the school for a few reasons one is I live on Tuckahoe also and the infrastructure just absolutely is not there Greenwell is such a pusher of all this he just pushed through all
048the big development out in right off 31 why don't we put it right there on 31 there's actually no schools in that area why don't we put a school there because then you can get all the people all the new developments right there and all the people right around there will now have a school we already have a school in alvo we don't need another one they you know in 31 since they're widening it to four lanes already and they're gonna completely reconfigure their traffic configuration be a perfect location right across from Lee Civic Center there perfect location you've got all kinds of land there there's now commercial development buy some land there and put it in the commercial Development Area be perfect and then that would get all of the new development areas perfect
049school to go to so basically that's the way I feel about it thanks for the following individuals please line up Jamie Tire Marge Cox Dr Shirley Chapman Robert Rogers John Johnson John tippins foreign School Board Lou Navara retired teacher let's start with the sixty thousand dollars starting salary with longevity I've been speaking about this I've asked Debbie and Melissa to make a study like you did for the guns in the classroom Guardians here's the facts bottom principal assistant makes 78k entry principles are knocking down six figures downtown you're knocking down six figures with the chief executive topping 255 K now we can't afford a decent teacher salary the board has given themselves a raise according to wink at the starting teacher's salary of 48.2 I thought it was 48.6 you know folks it's women's parody
050you're not going to have women teachers or nurses they're going to go the way of the Roman Catholic nun none foreign School Board I didn't like your discriminatory policy when you eliminated my little respect for the veterans all I wanted was you to put Veterans Day back as not a hurricane makeup day how inconsiderate to veterans and I don't like your discriminatory policy where I couldn't show a little picture we will take care of that Ms dupay I'm surprised at you with your stature allowing a policy like this and I'm not picking on you but I'm wondering anyway student achievement is dismal and why you can't get qualified people and you won't don't build the schools no one's going are you ready fools come on Robert Roper it's been almost two years since I gave
051my first public comment concerning objectual materials in the library and media centers all we wanted then and all we want now it's not Banning books but protecting childhood innocence tonight I want to thank you board and Dr Bernier and all the professional staff that worked so hard on this process I want to thank you that you did not follow all of my suggestions and I want to thank you for being patient with me I want to thank you for not fully adopting any particular point of view but purposely choosing to protect children and parental rights I want to thank you that there is an option for a parent to check that allows all access to all materials without any restriction removing any indication even making the challenge virtually invisible to the student I want to
052thank you for the option on this form for a parent to advocate for their own child no one else's restricting that person's child to from potentially objectional material putting the parents in the driver's seat as to when and what conversations they want to have with their own child I want to thank you on behalf of the parent that's dealing with a child struggling with unwanted gender confusion let the parent decide what reading is best I want to thank you for the parent on behalf of the parent that's dealing with a child with suicidal ideations there are more than those then you may suspect let the parent get the professional help and the need and not from a book that glamorizes suicide I think you on behalf of the single parent trying to guide her son
053away from violent tendencies and doing the best you can she can I want to thank you on behalf of the mom and the dad who want their children in the public school but at the same time trying to protect them for against worldly influences I want to thank you on behalf of the parent that later in the school year I'm not going to be able to finish my thank yous to you there are too many good evening I'm Marge Cox I reside in Bonita Springs I retired after 40 years in public education most of which was spent in some form of serving Library School libraries particularly I'm here tonight sharing words also from Dr Madeleine Stewart who couldn't be here this evening I'm here as one of the team leaders of the purple group to
054represent those who signed the letters sent to the board and school administrators on August 6th there are many others parents grandparents teachers even business owners who agree with our statements and questions my remarks represent the beliefs of many who are not here tonight first we wonder why the superintendent asked the school board whose responsibility it is to make policy to direct the drafting of a process document to the media access form which is the staff's responsibility as a result the new form that provides no option for a parent to allow their child full access to all educational materials currently accessible in the media center that violates some parental rights when they don't have that right the original media access form with appropriate choices was one of the process documents presented to the board at the
055workshop July 26th these were developed with this discussion and input over the course of many months at the curriculum advisory committee with comments from community members we ask you to remove the restrictive misleading media form currently on the website and wait until a well-constructed form is developed by staff finally we're concerned about teachers who are the heart and soul of the learning environment research tells us that teachers are the difference for the students in their education we want them to feel supported and appreciated I've been at several curriculum meetings and school board meetings and I know what a lot of time has been put into this process and I appreciate the work that those committee members have done as well as the school board thank you for the opportunity to share concerns this evening good
056evening board my name is Rob Rogers I'm also from Alva I have a 10 acre track on Packing House I'm against building the new school we have 20 20 land behind my 10 acre track we have 20 20 land on the east side of Joel I've watched the changes over the last 18 years in the area due to Lehigh build out the city of course moving out towards the east also we currently have sheet flow issues especially this time of year and going into the month of September in our area and putting a high school and a middle school in that area is just going to add to those water issues that we currently deal with on top of it is a wildlife Corridor that's why we have 20 20 land and adding the additional
057traffic and potential development of the area is going to destroy that and we are the Last Stand in the county for that type of land you know we love our agriculture we love our animals and with that I'm against building there you have 142 square miles in Lehigh Acres which already has new infrastructure that you could potentially put a school there or you could put it on the other side of the river with the new infrastructure that's been being built there also so you have options it's just our little Community is not it's not the time for it and the development is not there and the infrastructure is not there thank you good afternoon there's an old saying that says it takes a village to raise a child or children and we have places within
058the village that helps the kids as far as the Stars other after school programs boys and the girls club and other day cares and the school district of Lee County is also a part of this Village so we're asking you guys to make sure that the kids in the village gets get to their destination after school safely and that's with the transportation of the Lee County School District so we're just asking for your help and to make sure these kids be safe in within the village because we're all part of the same Village thanks could you state your name please sorry Jamie Tyree good evening board my name is Shirley Chapman and I was listening to all of the persons who don't want a middle school in the area and that's what I'm coming to
059ask for we would love to have a middle school in the Dunbar Tice area we should have had one already but that didn't work out a few years ago and I was thinking well would be a good place well once Franklin Park gets re-established in their location just where they are temporarily might be a good place but we would love to have a middle school in our community that's that's why I'm here and I want to thank I think I heard one thank you before I came up here and I want to thank the superintendent his administrative staff and the board for all of the diversity that you have already hired I know that you've been working tirelessly and I know you can't make anybody come but you have certainly encouraged people to come and
060we are hoping that teachers will continually come so that we will have enough staff for our students and because you know anything worth doing is worth doing well and if that's going to happen we've got to work together but in your working maybe you want to consider what they're saying and move the middle school on down to the Dunbar Community thank you so much and have a good evening good evening my name is John Johnson this is I want to just thank you guys and each and every one your respective positions here tonight this evening I want to talk about well first of all this is my first time speaking at a school board meeting as a born and raised resident of Fort Myers I like to address the topic of the transportation and the
061busing system I want to be a voice for the children who are being directly affected maybe the most by this change when considering the bus stops at these facilities such as daycares the Stars complex and any other child care facilities or after school programs and I feel the children are maybe the most directly affected by this change as resources are being stripped away from them as a son and Grandson of previous school bus drivers who relied on the resources such as the SARS complex Boys and Girls Club Daycare YMCA just a little tidbit I learned how to swim at the stars complex and I strongly urge this change with removing these stops to be considered and brought back to the table so their resolution can be put on the table that doesn't strip resources from
062the children and put stress on the household in the family once again I think each and every one you in your respective positions and thank you for this opportunity to voice my opinion here tonight good evening my name is John tippins I've been in a transportation from Lee County School Board 10 years going on a living I ask that you all please reconsider the proximity and the buses are picking up and dropping off at the daycares a lot of us including myself depend on that I have sisters aunts family member who drive buses been driving up buses for many years in the school district Etc please reconsider it because we don't have any we don't have anyone else to rely on y'all say that we are the first face in the last face that the
063students see so if y'all don't reconsider this then the district it'll be sending a lot of last faces of us employees because you won't give us any other chance know the choice so please reconsider it thank you thank you Mr chairman that concludes public comment thank you Mr superintendent would you like to do and I appreciate everyone who's come to speak tonight I'll try to take them in large buckets first and foremost to those of you who are talking about nnn or the school out at Alva as well as RR which is the Middle School plan even further in the future for the same site as well as oo and QQQ on August 16th this board will be considering the process for the new 10-year Capital plan it will be one of the first workshops
064we host there will be additional ones I have written down the aspect of survey also ensuring that during that presentation that we speak to the water and sewage issue I believe I know exactly what our plan is for that we will cover that with the board because the board has asked for that rather than doing it as a separate presentation we really believe that nnnn and oo can't be seen separately they have to be seen as part of the full picture of what's going to happen in the school district of Lee County with increasing enrollment a lot of you and I in my finance department even expected to be losing children this year with the number of opportunities they were provided by hb1 we've actually even with the withdrawals still grown by over 2 000
065students this past weekend we grew by 197. we continue to grow we are currently and I was going to share this in my final comments but it's come up several times about this particular school so for our Alva Community we hear you we will host workshops we'll do the work please come bring the other individuals and we will make sure that we continue to have an open dialogue as long as we can about nnnnnn and then has received approval to move into phase one we already have a contractor and we have some contractual relationships that is a board we are going to need to honor but I want to impress upon the board I was going to share this at the last part of the meeting but it's since the people are here I think
066it's best to share it now we are currently 95 staffed in our classrooms we still are looking for 220 teachers that was more than 450 at the beginning of the summer our humans resources department led by Mr dotig Hillary McLean and their amazing team has reversed engineered how we go about finding Educators and bus drivers last year foreign over 181 bus drivers this year we're down to needing only 60. it's still a huge number I'm not proud of being 95 staffed the goal is to be 100 staff but if you build it they do come and we've added over 2 000 seats we've staffed two brand new schools and the additional Staffing at Lehigh Acres Middle so we are finding teachers and we are going to continue to grow at least according to the demographic
067data but I am sensitive to the speakers tonight and hope that we can continue to dialogue about this particular issue with Transportation when we approve the proximity plan we were very clear that as superintendent I have a responsibility to ensure students get to school and from school safely and on time my bus drivers our bus drivers this team these incredible Souls that I will see at 5 a.m on Thursday morning I don't know how they do what they do they have my most respect and you are correct you are the first and last person that they will see every day and thank you for your service to our students in our community but we have to consider all of our students and if my bus drivers are here and really with me they will support
068me in saying what we do to our middle schools children and the time we get them home is inappropriate it's also inappropriate that due to our current scheduling we last year were arriving 20 to 30 minutes late to a school day and our middle school students missed their first period of Education it's not appropriate in it and we had to make changes by doing the proximity plan we are saving over 15 000 miles per day in bus transportation that's fifteen thousand less miles on our buses on our drivers on our warranties but it's 15 000 miles erased from a route that will allow our high schools elementary and middle schools to increase their on-time percentage both to and from school as a board I've shared with you we've planned and approved a proximity plan for
069our students which will utilize the current bus stops in order to bring students as close as possible to the locations without deviating from our established roots we have stops surrounding the Stars some as close as 200 feet some as close as 1700 feet we are going to be able to get students to the Stars complex we are currently working with the queue in order to be able to do the same thing but I would also share that before the board member asks me any individual with an IEP has a different set of rules and I've already asked Dr Cuban McCoy to get that family's name and parents with an IEP because their financed differently regarding How We Do transportation we have a responsibility to those students and we will make sure we make good on
070that promise because that's what I promised the board we would do when it comes to books I did look for Direction I did look for Direction but I looked around direction for one particular item I wanted to know what the board's pleasure was and to hear their discussion so that I can make an informed decision with staff as to what would be the check mark for a parent not filling out the form I suspected not what I received I got the third option being identified of some access to the media center but until such time as the parent filled out the form certain books would be restricted from that individ from that individual student it is my commitment to this board into this community just like the forms for our Clinic we will find those
071parents who have not filled out those forms and we will get them to make a choice because it's too vital I can't agree with both sides any more than I can agree reading is fundamental to the educational trajectory of a student being entertained reading what I wanted to read finding the opportunity to read books that my parents were reading and they felt at an appropriate age were okay for me to read I will never forget the book that hooked me into reading and ever because it was the first time I really understood what it was like to be captured and to be taken to a different place and I can assure you every night just before these eyes closed usually with the book on my chest I read before I go to bed because it's
072an important skill it continues to open the mind it continues to introduce us to new ideas and I don't believe any member of this board or your superintendent wants to remove that right lastly I want to thank our teacher who comes all the time Robert there's a lot of people to thank the fact that you can be here tonight not working on your required compliance training certainly our professional development department is probably the key leader and you've met Miss Harold before but everybody who has a role whether it's a safety video or a all the other different videos we watch if you can think about who's in charge of that particular department or division those individuals took a hard look and thank you to the board for helping me with providing the resources to my
073team in time so that we could ensure compliance of our employees but at the same time reduce the amount of time I believe those are all the public comments that I'm prepared to speak to this evening sir thank you Ambassador attorney first attorney Bruno I have nothing at this time okay Miss Jordan has a question through the chair for the superintendent if I if I may just regarding Transportation I know we received the list and I think the biggest question was especially for the Stars complex was that bus stop that was at Edison and brown which I see that it is there that's one of the questions regarding the Stars complex clearly but there are more questions than that I have seen now an additional list and I want to get with staff before I
074speak openly and ensure that we are utilizing all of the possible stops surrounding the stars for the buses that normally would stop there for parents who are concerned about other day cares we're doing the same thing for other day cares we're doing the same thing for other locations we are getting our students within proximity and walking distance of those locations we need to because we have responsibility to get our students on time so Mrs Jordan I'll make sure I follow up with you and the entire board on that particular question thank you next on our agenda is the approval of consent action items the documentation for Action items listed on the consent is made available to board members seven business days prior to the board meeting we're expected to review all material and we have
075had an opportunity to speak with the superintendent with any questions we may have regarding the recommendations some of these items have also been briefed and workshopped with the board in advance of appearing on the action agenda board members is there any agenda items you wish to pull under unfinished business or tabled items Mr Fisher I have no set items Jim and Ali I have none thank you Ms patrika no thank you it's Jordan I haven't done thank you it's like for Fleming I have none and Miss Morgan I have none thank you and I have none is there a motion to approve the agenda's consent action items Miss Jordan I moved to approve the consent agenda items as written yeah is there a second I'll second Morgan Miss Morgan has been moved by Miss Jordan
076and seconded by Miss Morgan would you please record your vote foreign next we will be going to the good of the order and other business Mr Fisher do you have any good of the order No Tara I do not okay Miss giovannelli I would just like to say that we approved tonight the mou with the sheriff regarding the guardian program and I am excited to see that finally come to fruition this has been a long process and I'd like to thank the superintendent for leading that in that direction and getting this over the Finish Line as well as the sheriff marcino that also worked diligently together with staff to and thank the staff that also worked very hard with the sheriff's department and the graduation was exciting I look forward to that program growing thank
077you thank you Mr chair Valley we will have time for board comments after they get the order if you have any additional ones okay Miss Jordan do you have any good of the order Morgan Miss Patrica thank you I move to direct the superintendent to use the media access form originally supported by staff and the curriculum advisory committee until such time as the board can pass a media access policy okay is there a second a second Miss Jordan the motion to move the superintendent to use the media access form originally supported by the staff and curriculum advisory committee until such time as the board can pass a media access policy was made by Miss Chris Patricia and seconded by Miss Jordan discussion Patricia thank you I would beg your patience in terms of the length
078of my comments given the fact that I wasn't here for the first time it was discussed so my concerns lie in two areas the first is the Constitution and the second is policy board protocols way of work superintendent Land versus Board Lane Etc what I'm asking for really in this motion is time we've really rushed through this and ended in a place that I believe is far more likely to lead to lawsuits filed against us aren't we good aren't we doing things backwards here why is the board approving procedures why are procedures written approved and implemented before policies are created is it not supposed to be the other way around at the briefing the board was advised that additional direction from the board would come in the form of updating policy 2522 policy 2522 has
079nothing to do with media access it is our book challenge policy we have no media access policy approving this form without a policy cuts the public out of the process there were no first and second readings and no widespread opportunity for public comment I'm on the board and I didn't even know that this was going to be a topic of discussion at the board until mere days before before it was discussed we have rules or ways of work that guide us for a reason we get bad results when we don't follow them so beyond the lack of policy we exhibited a complete lack of consideration for the amazing work done by staff in conjunction with our curriculum advisory committee both of which supported a much simpler media access form after each qack meeting Ms giovannelli
080reported back to the board about the wonderful work being done by qack and staff I watched those meetings and I shared her enthusiasm it was not easy work for sure but it was collaborative work and it was good work those meetings included a ton of public comment we got feedback from Community both at those meetings and in the boardroom people on both sides of this issue came to us praised the work of the committee and agreed that although not perfect in the sense that each individual person didn't get what they wanted the form represented the best that we could do given the confines of the law bottom line is that all stakeholders in that process felt heard despite the praise for the committee and the staff's work the board met and abruptly changed the form
081none of the reasoning of kuak was discussed none of the reasoning of our professional educated certificated staff was discussed instead we discussed protecting children some legal questions were posed thank you Mr Fisher but those questions were not answered at the briefing I understand from a conversation today that one-on-ones were conducted with board members but I was not privy to that so I'm not I'm not laying blame I'm just making an observation that those questions were not answered in the public had I heard a deep discussion about the First Amendment how stigmatizing books can lead to a chilling effect on students freedom to receive information how restricting access to books on behalf of parents violates a parent's fundamental right to raise their children as they see fit I probably would not be making this motion right
082now my view of the Constitution is that of a strict constructionist who leans originalist I believe in the words chosen by our founding fathers who believed that we possess certain natural rights that are bestowed upon us by God not government those fundamental rights are so precious that government should almost never interfere with them even if the interference is perceived to be minute our first five rights as laid out in the First Amendment are at the very core of our freedoms in the same way that the words gun and control should never appear in the same sentence the words book and restriction should never appear in the same sentence the board had lots of discussion about protecting students but what about protecting students rights logically the best way to protect students from gun violence is to
083have stricter gun laws legally that is not permissible if you believe in the Second Amendment logically the best way to keep objectionable material out of the hands of children is to restrict access to books legally that is not permissible if you believe in the First Amendment so really this is a question of where we as boards scan in terms of the spectrum of protection for the First Amendment do we want to take a permissive view or a restrictive view of the First Amendment a restrictive view actually violates the Constitution because opting in will deny some students the opportunity to receive ideas and information and it denies parents the right to decide whether their own children can receive ideas and information the loss of first the loss of First Amendment rights even if it is minimal
084is injurious there are no Supreme Court cases on this point if I may through the chair ask attorney to Brie Bruno if there are any mandatory or persuasive cases that you have found on this topic specifically when you said there are no Supreme Court cases on this point specifically explain that for me please so I can understand the question Library restrictions I know Tinker give us gives us a good foundation but I'm not sure that there's anything out of the Supreme Court on restricting books and libraries so there is a case other than Pico sorry that's the case I was going to cite there is a case that's very specific it's a plurality decision however it does specifically talk about removal of books from a school library and gives us some type of a legal
085test to follow of course there's a whole line of First Amendment cases that start with Tinker there's Hazelwood there's all kinds of First Amendment cases but I think what we always have to remember is First Amendment rights for students are different than First Amendment rights for adults and the Supreme Court has made that very clear as well in addition I think one of the cases that's probably very helpful in the board's discussion is a case called Frasier versus Fraser which is an 11th circuit case which is our Florida federal district case and that is the case with regard to the Pledge of Allegiance the statute says that a student can opt out from standing up and doing the pledge of allegiance but it requires a parental consent to allow the student to opt out that
086was brought forward on a First Amendment basis as well and the court said again it's limited for students and there's nothing wrong with having parental consent for this particular if you want an abridgement if you will of the First Amendment so that will be one case that I think it's at least persuasive especially it's an 11 circuit case and of course the guidance from Pico and all of the other first amendment cases I appreciate that because I found a couple of cases that I also believe are persuasive out of the Western District of Arkansas and the Northern District of Texas while those cases are not on all fours with the issue that we're facing here today they certainly are about access to books and libraries and those rulings made it very clear that restricting access
087to books requiring parent permission when a parent has already granted free access to library materials are unconstitutional violations and the flagging of books is an unconstitutional abdication of the board's responsibility to determine the accessibility of books so the opt-in is the equivalent of flagging books because some parents don't like books all parents and kids have to be subjected to that objection through the approved form we have flag books based on three maybe four people's objections we have given no consideration to the educated certificate certificated professionals we employ and the determinations they made regarding the appropriateness of these books were denying access to students based on the objections of a handful of people a separate legal issue what are the demographics of the students whose parents have not completed the forms in the past will we
088have a disparate impact lawsuit because those children are members of a legally protected group and were more impacted than other groups disparate impact is a civil rights violation another legal question is it more and I don't want the answers now I'm just asking in general is it more defensible to default deny access to materials that some may consider objectionable for younger children than it is for older children to appoint Mrs Langford Fleming made should we have different forms from primary and secondary I'd like to see age-based Solutions considered getting to my conclusion Mr chair I think everyone agrees that this was rushed there was a sense of urgency with school starting everyone at the briefing and the workshop agreed that the language on the Forum is confusing I just sent you all an email if
089you have time to pull it up with a screenshot of the form so that you all can see what parents see when we try to act access this thing on our phones we can't even read the choices you can only see the full text of each of the choices if you complete the form on a computer even then the language is convoluted confusing biased and far too technical so my ask of the board is this please let us stick with the form supported by staff and qac we at least had public comment on that form let us create a policy for media access rather than having staff justify the form's existence through policy 2522 in creating the policy we can gain a better understanding of the Constitutional implications if the board wants to change what
090staff and qac have already supported bring those changes back to qac and have edac and Dak weigh in as well by then everyone on this newly seated board will have their appointees on those committees we can also take some real time to educate parents about media access what the form means why it's necessary Etc there are just too many red flags for me to feel comfortable with what we've done here so let us take this opportunity for Community input and stakeholder education please those are my comments thank you all right Mr Bernier Dr berners did you have a no I just want to make sure that it appears to the board members the aspect of the movement from the form from the internet on our computers phones was first brought up to me I believe
091the day before yesterday or yesterday it is a glitch it is a program bug with Focus we have contacted the CEO the CEO has put their project team on this as a top priority they know that we have a sensitive issue but I want to make sure because I know the board member brought it to my attention I want to make sure that the board had an update that in the transfer of this to focus on our phones there is a text wrapping issue it sounds simple for me to fix right you just click on an icon in the text wraps but it's not that simple and but I do want you to know we're working on a fix because it won't matter we have to get this fixed no matter what those words say
092right and I did the screenshot I sent you was from 10 minutes before the meeting so that I thought I could show that it hadn't been fixed and how many thousands of parents have filled that out without knowing what it even says more discussion it's Jordan thank you thank you Miss Patrica I thought what you said was very good very clear I really appreciate what you said I as well I was not one of the members that was here I was out of town and I was not sure why we were having this I absolutely did a request for it to wait until we were all here of course that did not take place everybody went ahead and still had the conversation I'm just not sure what where we how we got here there was
093a form that was already I did go back and I watched the the tapes the videos I of the meetings of the committee meetings as well and public comments to to figure out where when we're saying at the meeting that this was all discussed the conversation had we had heard from public comments we've talked about this for months that is not the case we have not talked about this form for months the first time this forum that I heard about it was when I started watching these meetings so I'm not sure where the conversation came from or where I was at when the meetings were happening and as far as the form if we already had one what was the purpose of us even bringing it up to to change the way that form even
094looked they did the work they got their information staff took it back and they did their jobs their jobs it is not our jobs to make their forms it is not our jobs to do that and I don't understand how we where does it where do we go from here the next time we don't really like what they what the staff is doing then we decide that we're going to go ahead and change or direct them or direct the superintendent to direct his staff to do that's not our job and so where do we draw the line for that I just I believe that we should use the I'm in favor of Miss patrica's motion any other discussion Mr Morgan so I do believe I'm not going to even begin to address the legal issues
095I just want to talk about the practical application and the things that we have done effectively the board has micromanaged with respect to the form but there is an essential question and that is the opt-in opt out question the unfortunate thing is that frankly it was poor management to bring this to the board just before the start of school during a time of year when board members traditionally have organized time away for vacations because that's that's the only opportunity we have I think it was unfortunate that board members essentially said by voting for three and not waiting for this conversation until the full board was seated effectively well I respect the fellow board members there is nothing that they can tell me that will change my position and that's really not how we work as
096a board on a really sensitive conversation or decision so I just think for a lot of practical reasons process reasons and for the sensitivity of this issue before us we really need as a board to give this time or all of us to have a conversation and i would support going back to the original form as approved as recommended by the curriculum advisory committee as brought To Us by staff based on their interactions with the commit with community members I think that's where we start we start with the original form if we want to engage in management of the district's process then we're going to have to do it as a policy that's the only way we can do it so that's that's where I am thank you thank you and I just want to
097say too this by no means I totally believe in parental rights and I and I say that all the time we have never as parents grandparents we've never lost our rights for our children it is our rights it is our responsibility to take care of our of our children and so when just the other day when I was at the schools and they were talking and just the parents that were telling them you have to go in Focus you have to do this you have to do that now they're they're like I have to do what for my kids to read so they were not understanding the whole process because why can my child not read a book unless I fill out a form for them to be able to do that what why what
098rights am I taking from them to be able to do that so I just want to clarify that as well so thank you Mr Fisher thank you and thank you everyone for the board for the discussion a couple things first off I as I indicated last time as I said it was not my intention nor do I believe anyone else bored to exclude anyone in this matter so and we went through a bit of that the briefing as I said everyone's voice matters on this board and I actually believe that as I said last time I felt at that time it was in our best interest to go forward with that maybe I was mistaken either way as I said that was not Our intention a couple things first off when I was referencing that
099we'd been going over for months I was talking about the policy this policy we have been going over for months that is what my reference to that was in that meeting so I want to clarify that another thing from the workshop I don't know maybe I'm confused in my recollection but I didn't believe we're asking for different wording in that Workshop I thought that was something that the administration had looked into in regards to that in order to clarify a couple things on the form that was my understanding I don't remember us directing anyone in administration at that point to change the language in that document so a couple of things truly appreciate your legal mind Miss Patrica as I said I looked through through a couple lenses I looked through it as a parent
100I look through it as an attorney But ultimately I had to look through it as a school board member because that's what my role is up here as a parent I absolutely sympathize with what you're saying and my wife and I made our own choices on that form last week in fact and I agree with my what you're saying however in this instance I don't I believe that there is going to be less litigation in this way especially how things are framed I'd ask that question regards the chilling effect I don't believe we are I don't believe in this way that the government us is not restricting those rights because it's a free and open and transparent choice and informed for the parents in this it's not that we're saying that nobody can and we're
101not going to the most restrictive means either we're not saying no access at all to the fault I think that if parents as I said we give them every opportunity for that this is for the 1.9 percent we believe this will affect and I hope it's not 1.9 percent I hope it gets closer to zero I think that's where it should be at but as I said I don't feel they're restricting that man Banner that's how I look at as a school board member as I said I may look at it different as a parent but in that I believe that is what the best interest is for the school district and for the kids in that manner and I did that analysis and looked through it in regards another thing you mentioned cases I
102believe out of Arkansas and was it Texas we also have to look at the difference that I'm not familiar with the Texas Constitution or Arkansas but here parental rights okay I know but still in accessing it using the state looking at what our state Constitutions are because they'll still look at that from a federal level we still have to remember that parents parents rights are fundamental in Florida so that's another thing we have to take in an equation when we're looking at at least that's how I look at it as I said you know I don't I respect everyone's opinion on this but as I said I believe the decision I made and the decision I'll make again tonight is in the best interest of the kids in the district I can make my own
103choice as a parent so I thank you for this discussion I think it's important for us to really understand what the law is in this tension that is here with regards to First Amendment rights as well as the school district or the school board's ability to control certain things within the Schoolhouse as well as the parents rights in addition to what Mr Fisher said there are Supreme Court cases that specifically talk about parents rights and that parents rights actually Trump students rights in that case is Washington versus glucksburg which is a well known case from 1997 is a Supreme Court case now on top of that you add the federal the Florida Statutes 1014 which is the parents rights statute and when we were talking about policies we have policies that actually interpret that statute
10457 80.01 which is our policy which is the parents Bill of Rights policy based on chapter 1014 which is very clear that the board has to recognize the right to direct the education and care of his or her minor child which is what that Supreme Court case also says in addition it says that the right to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of his or her minor child the board has to respect that again that's part of the Supreme Court case but this is also very specific to Florida because this is a Florida statute the other thing I think what provides the ability for the administration to actually create this access form as part of the discussion of the entire challenge process us to begin with but in addition we have other
105policies that I do believe allows the administration to do that and again it's coming from the parents rights policy 578.01 under promoting parental involvement subsection C it states that parents will be able to object to instructional materials and other materials used in the classroom based on beliefs regarding morality sex and religion or the belief that such materials are harmful the school board or I shouldn't say the school board but the administration did not create forms fact will not allow students to have access to materials I think they erred on the side of caution that these materials have been challenged whatever reason that they have been challenged parents you have the ultimate right to educate your child and direct their upbringing so you decide and you tell us whether or not you want your child to
106have access to this material that's based on policy and that's based on Florida statute and that is also based on the Supreme Court case I also wanted to just clarify because I said Frasier versus Frazier it's Frasier and then the parent was also listed as Frasier but it's actually against when so I want to make sure that's clear there's another Supreme Court case which is Everson versus Arkansas from 1968 and this is a fundamental U.S Supreme Court case as well because this case specifically says School Board you are ultimately or local authorities you are ultimately responsible for what is happening in your Schoolhouse from curriculum from other things that relate to the education of students so this case lays a foundation for a lot of the other decisions that we make so yes I agree
107there's a tension between first amendment of students rights as well as parents rights but I think the court as well as our Florida statute does make it clear that parents fights Will trump students rights in those instances and that's what the that's what the form does really just asking parents to tell us what you want us to do thank you it's like for Fleming we'll come back to you this morning so first of all it makes me sad that this is even a topic when it when it's regarding books but that's where we're at that's where we're at in the world and there is nothing that we can do about it other than stand up and continue to talk about it educate and bring awareness to the topic just like anything else that's going on
108with our children right now regarding movies that are inappropriate and social media so I have to look at this form as a board member but even if I'm looking at it as a teacher as a parent as a board member I believe that the parents do know what's best for their child we need to make sure as a district that we are educating all the parents to in every single way I guess I heard today that a commercial or I'm going to call it a commercial even though it's not what it is but a piece has been put out that does educate parents on what this form is what it entails and I think as a district we have to do everything we can to get the word out educate parents what this form is
109and why we are having to have it I look I thought about when children go into taking Health courses in school a parent has the right to say I do not want my child to take this class and it can be when they're 17 or when they're 10. they have that right to opt out of that class or if there is an opt-in form to take whichever way it is but that is the parents obligation I appreciate and respect all the opinions on the board I apologize last meeting for you know moving ahead I I kind of do feel like we had had enough conversations at that point and I'm sorry that we weren't all here together because I learned so much from each one of you so I appreciate that part regarding Mr Fisher's
110comment about protecting and less litigation I do feel that this form protects the board more than anything I have seen more so than the other form regarding that so when I when I look at this form I think about all the children of Lee County what their precious little eyes would see read or hear from someone else and I would rather take every single measure to be safe than sorry and that's those are my comments I have a question for the attorney yeah hold on one moment on the original form the First Choice my child has full access with no limitations for checkout from the school of the median Center literally that would mean any kindergarten could check out any high school book you know and that was not the original intention to my understanding
111and they clarified that to the way it is written now we did not ask to change that and that was really not changed it just was misworded as far as clarity and then the last one was just rather than just saying any challenge books they said they just clarify that a little bit so as Mr Fisher said they really did not change the form the only change was the opt-in or opt-out situation to my understanding is that correct other than that is correct with regards to the first form language was pretty blanket that my child would have access to any media materials however there was some confusion as we started to get feedback as to what does that mean clearly if a book has been restricted because of age or grade level your child would
112not have access to that book if a book was restricted because it required parental consent your child would not have access to that book so that's why that was clarified in the form to make sure that everybody understood that okay I just want to make sure because the public seem to think that we totally changed that first line and that was really never the intention of this form from everything I've been able to tell her Miss giovannelli oh yeah follow I'm sorry did you have a follow-up on that Mr Payne right I have something when we're finished I have something with regards to the legal exposure I wanted to mention that's fine this is Jim finale then I'll come back to you okay sorry because she hasn't spoken I forget about that thank you so
113it was mentioned you know how do we get here well I think it's really important that Tallahassee made a law because there were inappropriate books throughout our district or not District actually the state and the governor had to step in and make sure that students were being protected and making sure that parents rights were not being infringed on and that is the that is really what we're talking about we're talking about giving the power back to the parents and protecting all students I think it's really important because boards were not doing that school boards were not doing that and districts were not doing that so this is not book Banning we have not banned one book it's going through a process the process is not going to change but it makes a way it's bringing
114awareness and for parents because parents aren't reading these books parents aren't aware of that you don't know what you don't know so I think it's important it's takes a village and this is part of The Village's work and I respect the whole process the whole curriculum advisory they worked very hard in bringing the processes and the steps forward working with the community as well as the Educators making those decisions and bringing it to our attention July 1st is when that the law went into and play this was not rushed we knew and now the law is in place so we have to we have a duty and a responsibility to protect and stand by the laws and we don't pick and choose which laws we're going to protect or advise or determine what is best
115for anyone we there's the parental rights and we're going to stand strong with those and this form actually just puts the power back to the parents there's nothing wrong with that and there are some parents that sometimes don't may not sign this form I have every confidence in the superintendent that he's going to make sure and that they're going to make sure that all parents seize this form understands the form and signs it appropriately for what's best for them and their student not up to this board to make that decision I'm going to as a board member it's my duty to make sure that I follow the law and the laws from the governor and I appreciate his efforts in putting this in place to make sure that we're doing our job and that's really
116what's happening the bottom line here and is we need to do our job in I appreciate this board making sure that we're off we're following along thank you Miss Morgan so I would make the point that we in fact did give the superintendent Direction because we did change from an opt-out to an opt-in we directed the superintendent to change from an opt-out to an opt-in position I would also say having heard with a board attorney has said that we've probably not provided the curriculum advisory or staff with appropriate Legal Information when they were acting in in the whole process of working through what our procedures would be and what the access forms would be because essentially what we're saying is that they've made their recommendations and now we're telling them the recommendations really weren't valid
117because according to our legal department they do violate it if if we act on it as originally proposed by the committee and by staff we may be in violation of of law so you know really we have we have learned a lot from this process and we clearly have not done our work as a board and as an Administration in providing the appropriate support you know for people who who are acting at our as our advisors the final thing I would say is that when it comes to an educational piece did you all saw the email from a parent about the guardian program you know she's saying gosh I didn't know anything about the guardian program is my child going to have some a teacher with a who's a guardian is my is the guardian
118going to be wearing a shirt so we sent out an educational piece and didn't provide the most basic information to parents and I'm concerned about how we go about providing an educational piece on this that is that both educates and and leads parents where they where they need to be so you know I'm just saying that I'm just I'm just kind of concerned about how we got here and what kind of thinking we need to bring to future significant decisions that we have to make as a board with respect to process so those are my comments thank you Mr Pay Bruno I think there needs to be some clarity because the legal advice that was rendered to staff throughout this entire process and the legal department has been working very closely with academic services for
119months since we knew that HB 1069 was going to come has been very sound there's nothing that has changed in the process the only thing that we're talking about is the language on a form for accessing materials and there's nothing with regards to the board's choice for the first document or the second document that really is a change in legal advice it is the same legal advice I sent an email to the board you know that this form is not required by Statute we had one-on-ones with the board that specifically talked about the exposure and the legal analysis and potential defenses if we were to have a First Amendment violation this was all discussed with every single board member in addition I explained the Pico case which is the U.S Supreme Court case that talks
120about book challenges and removals and what the board would have to look to if there was to be an appeal so there is no change in the legal recommendation it's still the same legal recommendation the issue is the board's decision in terms of what it directed the superintendent to include or not include on a form and that is up to the board to decide this is not a legal thing for the board to decide in terms of what is to be on the form I can tell you the form insulates us a little bit better I said that I think I said that in public if I didn't know I set it in certain conversations I had definitely it does provide us with a little bit more insulation for sure so I just wanted to
121make sure that was cleared in addition to the Pico case we also have a Florida case which is a Middle District case not 11 circuit case which also supports and I think I'll just read a portion of this case because I think it's important foreign textbook that the board had removed and there was a students were concerned that their first amendment rights had been violated and the court said the parties do not dispute that the curriculum decision of the school board in this case was based on the board's own standards regarding sexuality and vulgarity although the court wishes that the board had imposed its standards in a manner less restrictive of speech the court recognizes that the board retains broad discretion under our constitutional system in dealing with such potentially sensitive topics so even the
122court in that particular decision indicates that there are different ways you can go about it could be more restrictive or less restrictive but it still supported the school board and its decision to remove this particular textbook Miss Jordan and then I'll make a final guess okay I just want to get clear one we have not nor have we ever violated the law okay so I just want to make sure because that was that's my job okay because I was hearing as if perhaps we were doing that by not having this form and the form is something that was an option for us for staff that they put together we did not have that nor did we actually need that per law because we are still abiding by the parents Rights bill just law in general
123I just wouldn't correct the form came about as a recommendation from the curriculum advisory committee okay and then my other concern is because we know that even our student handbooks and this it's a conversation we always have our parents we do not get enough parents signing that and I guess what when are we going to look to see what the outcome would be of how many parents or how many children how many parents did not sign that as as we found in the handbooks even just our handbooks that were not signed by the parents so and then my last and final thing is in kindergarten that comment about kindergarten high school we would not have high school books please through the chair to the superintendent we would not have high school books in an elementary
124school correct K8 there are different collections for each appropriate grade level so you would not have high school textbooks in in an elementary school library there is the appropriate collection for a cave K5 or pre-k5 AKA a middle school and a high school okay thank you and the kids would not be checking out and kindergarten is not going to be checking out an 8th grade book correct there is a possibility in a media center in a K-8 environment that there could be a book that would be eligible for eighth grade I don't know why a kindergartner would check it out but there is the possibility that eighth grade book could be checked out by a kindergartner I don't want to use any other words you want to stop there with a period I appreciate it
125okay now I just wanted that I just wanted that clear because I when I'm sitting here and I keep hearing about you know we just we are abiding by the law and the governor gave us you know you know had to do this for us to have the law we understand that laws have been passed when the laws have been passed the first thing we do is our attorney looks at that gets out of that and makes sure that we all understand what we can and cannot do so we are always adhering to the law in any case so I just you know when I hear that it just drives me crazy because I know that's what we do here and then and then the change what the change on the final version also said
126that the child is not permitted to check out books from the school media that have been formally challenged and reviewed for potential objectable materials regardless of outcome so we go through all this process for our so many hours Manpower man hours to do and read all these books to see if whether or not that they are going to be permitted back into the to be read or not but now we're saying that regardless so I don't that to me is why are we even going through the process then just it's it okay question for the attorney the first option if we had no excess form that would be the first option am I correct when you say no actually I said if we didn't have this form at all yes what it says in the
127first option would be for everybody correct okay I mean even though the wording changed that is the truth okay so the first option doesn't really come into play there the last one books with that have been challenged the process once I've been challenged and they go through the ad hoc committee that's not the end of it can then be challenged to us then challenge to a special Magistrate and then to the state school board which is a lot of time for all of us not that I don't mind looking at something because there's going to be books that come to us a lot of money because we're responsible for the special Magistrate but having this option for someone the parent has the final say I mean the thing I like about this form is that
128if a parent chooses the first option they have his full access as possible there is no book that they cannot get that they would not be able to get if there were no Farm that's sort of my point there so they have that option so there's no restriction for any parent who signs this form to any book that they're entitled to have so that's first off I don't see any problem there and if a parent doesn't want their child to check out any books that's also an option I have no problem with that and the one we have here it just puts a little red flag and some parents may not sign the form and there may be a book that they don't want their child to read or they may want the chowdery they
129would be notified and then they can check it and say oh I don't know why that was ever challenged or boy I'm glad my child did not bring that book home to read I probably be honest with you I probably myself might check the first I'd be sort of in between the two because I like to look at the books when my kids were in school so I would know what they're reading but I probably checked the default one personally just because there might be some time I didn't or something I just would want to know but that's going to be up to each parent but I think this form does not in any way restrict a child from checking out a book unless their parent says they can't check out the book because they'll
130be notified if they want to check out the book on the default and that's the way it is so I like this form and I think we should stay with it that's my opinion all right I think we need to have a public opinion now comment I mean so I would ask how many people would like to comment on this if you would well I was going to ask you to stand but the answer is fine okay the comment time will be three minutes if you would like to line up and come up one at a time if Mr Payton Bruno doesn't mind me doing that but just please state your name again just for people that might be watching or whatever and Mr chairman if I may I heard a couple of things in
131the prior public comment that was kind of close to crossing the line in terms of some of our public speaking rules regarding you know making derogatory comments about groups and things of that nature so I would ask that we be respectful to each other I know this is a Hot Topic and there's a lot of opinions but everyone has the right to have their opinion and we have been listening to you and trying to find that middle ground and I know that Mr chairman and I do not want to cut speakers off we want everybody to have their full say but we do ask that you please respect the rules and respect each other when you're speaking thank you well don't start it yet okay in ckv Wentzville School District in Missouri while it's not
132a U.S case or U.S Supreme Court case it did cite Pico and Pico states that the local school board has the authority to remove School library books it considers to be vulgar or lacking in educational suitability in the Missouri case the judge sided with the school district and it was not a violation of any student's First Amendment rights these decisions don't appear to address the state Authority on this issue rather they appear to defer to the authority of elected local school boards however it seems reasonable that state law rule or policy May set parameters for local school districts to use to help them determine whether a book is vulgar or lacks educational suitability insert 1069. this is now the law and the books that are being removed violate the law I'm not quite sure what's
133so confusing about it the media center form I filled it out on Friday it was easy I selected that my child cannot read any books that have been objected to because she has personally come to me and said Mom I'm sick and tired of choosing books that have graphic content and the books that we've challenged have graphic content pre 1069 so they're still able to be read and have easily accessible accessibility to so we I listen to her I listened to my student and she can no longer access that material there's nothing wrong with the form the form is great I appreciate it you're protecting parental rights you're protecting students and there was one more thing oh there is absolutely no book that contains sexual content to minors and contains literary value my name is
134Rosemary McBride and with all due respect board members are you listening to the motion that board member Patrica has placed before you this evening this is not the time to argue about the pros and cons of the law or the form it's about process board has processes that it is legally required to follow by what the board has done in that Workshop you've not followed your own process for my professional career I was a lawyer for a company that designed manufactured and maintained nuclear submarines for the United States Navy we had a process and a procedure for everything under the sun it was the times that we failed to follow our own processes that we had in writing that we got in legal trouble that was the that was the hook that a lawyer would
135get his hands into to sue us Chris Patrica is trying to get you to understand that this motion is about process this is a do-over who amongst us has not made a mistake I think it is the mature responsible adult thing for you all to realize that's what's at stake here own up to this mistake hit the reset button go back do it the way it was supposed to have been done and let the chips fall where they may and I have to tell you as a constituent of District three I feel disenfranchised because you did not afford my board member the opportunity to represent me at that Workshop it also feels in spite of all of the campaign rhetoric and ostensible Odes to transparency that you all sing the Praises of that this was
136not a transparent transaction whatsoever so I think you really ought to listen to what board member Patrica is trying to do here tonight and follow and agree with her emotion thank you thank you good evening my name is Kathy horn I live in Estero my word for the month is dismayed at what has happened with this form I understand that you have talked about the whole policy of book challenges for months but you have only talked about this forum for the last couple weeks and I'm dismayed by what appears to be a purposeful politically driven intent to schedule a meeting when two of your board members couldn't be here and it's one thing now and you know that those two board members would probably oppose what you were bringing up and it's one thing for
137some of you now to say I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that oops it's another thing to make amends and to make amends for the apology for the with the apology is to do a board member Patricia has suggested step back from this thing that has created so much consternation in the last two weeks and rethink what you're doing and have the full discussion with the full board good secondly in terms of this form specifically if you if you have the heartfelt belief and I agree with you and I'm not challenging any of that parent has a right to stop or to challenge a book that and not have their child read that book it would be hypocritical of you not to say that another parent has the same right to say my child
138can read a book that's been challenged and with all due respect to Mr persons you've said I think tonight if I understood you correctly the form wasn't changed but the form was changed it wouldn't we wouldn't all be here tonight the form was the important part of the form that was changed was the part that said I want my child to be able to read everything so if you have a parent who can say I don't want my child to read some books you have to allow parents to say I want my child to read every book and after I have respect for both that both sides of that this discussion and last thing I've been watching board meetings for five years since I moved here and the first four of those years were nightmare
139years of of backroom maneuvering lies you guys know some of it I'm sure you know most of it for the past year you guys have been doing visibly to the to us a great job of transparency and collegiality and discussion and work until these last two weeks and I would ask you to return to what you have been doing for this past year give everybody a chance to have their say in your board meetings and reconsider what's been going on with this form thank you I've appreciated that the conversation here tonight but I think we have to think about what you're addressing you're addressing something that the community has been involved in for months we spent hours and very happy hours and your staff had developed a process around that statute that is by far
140one of the best in the state you admit it tonight you made some mistakes first of all the document should probably never have been brought to the briefing and ask for Direction but sometimes we say words that we maybe have two connotations also at that meeting you voted and you're not devoted to meeting thumbs up thumbs down in my opinion is voting and both your attorney and your superintendent knows that I think you've had two board members ask tonight let's let's follow the process which we have so appreciated since you've been aboard you have made us feel welcome and heard and respected and I hope we respect you know that we respect you the work you do as a board and the work the superintendent does but fair and honesty is important you have two
141board members that said we weren't part of that process and we represent thousands of parents please think about that and let's make we all make mistakes I've made many in my lifetime but if you have a chance to rectify it do it give those board members a chance to have an opinion just table it or take it back for discussion if you come up with the same results fine you won't hear another word from me but let's give everyone an option and this is all about kids and this is all about parent rice which we all agree on so let's right or wrong okay thank you hello Frank mamoni here I wanted to just thank and appreciate the prior work with the ad hoc committee and the curriculum committee we sat in some of those
142meetings but we didn't comment and I kind of wish maybe I commented back then it was some months ago but I appreciate the work and you could see how much activity was going on there so I just wanted to throw that out there I do appreciate the information from legal aid thank you with a child in parent prayer child and parental rights or attention and it's true it is but favoring appearance is good to know and good to know that we have that also appreciate the legal input going to a more insulating position to cover the board and cover Lee County I think that's that's good and if the new like quote unquote safer maybe the default position it seems like a more a better position overall instead of saying well it's open this way
143but it's closed and you can choose that way I think the new form is good and again I appreciate the move to a new form I think it's safer in the long run and if students want a book that happens to be flagged and they can't get then they can ask their parent to get the book if they think they need to read that book I think if the overall majority are saying no we don't want these books then it should be like that and basically if if the student wants it that bad they can talk to their parent and they can get that separately so that's my comment and again thank you for the work I know it's been difficult last the last few months we've been there was a lot of a lot
144of input and we do appreciate all the work so thank you Christy David jelly earlier today board member Patricia said that to the best of her recollection she does not make motions that is a bold-faced lie so I went back to find proof it didn't take me too long either on May 25th 2021 at an action meeting during board member comments patrika wanted a writing sample from all applicants for the interim superintendent position so during board member comments the first thing she did was try to circumvent the community's right covered by the first amendment by trying to reach a consensus on this writing sample after board discussion attorney Bruno suggested that patrika make a motion instead of a consensus after that it was open for a public comment and voted on this was only a
145little over two years ago Miss Patrica you are a master manipulator and while the newly elected board members may not know everything that happened in the past we do and we'll continue to share the story accurately when you fail to do so this is a pretty big can that this board member is trying to kick down the road I implore you to do what she would do to you if this were any one of you right now and hold the line also it's a violation of House Bill 1069 for schools to expose children to sexual conduct and yet there are numerous School libraries that as of today contain books with such content I personally have challenged 15 books so far that breaks the law at my daughter's school if we were following the law to
146the letter those books wouldn't be there to begin with I will finish by saying this she my student my rights not yours Robert Daniels I'm going to start by saying this entire process I'm going to be pointing into in a few years as a master class of my involving the government in anything is a lesson inefficiency because my appearance when they didn't want me to read something just smack me on the head with it and said don't read this anymore if you know what's good for you that being said ideas are powerful things and once the genie comes out of the bottle you don't put it back in or as my grandfather used to say some ideas are like a fart in an elevator and not everybody appreciates being exposed to that when we have
147the students it's probably going to be best for their individual well-being if there's an idea their parents don't feel they're yet ready to be exposed to to have it delayed long enough to check with the parent first we're not saying they can never read that book just we have to check with the parent and they can still go around their parents picks and read it online or at the public library or anything else furthermore it's not just the current topic of dragons and such things being in the books that we're really dealing with there's a lot of ideas out there that we really don't want our kids exposed to and we already recognize that in age restrictions you know all of us every single one of us should read the notebooks the combine Shooters Left
148Behind to really understand the mentality of those kids but none of us want an angry 16 year old to read that because they will find justification for anything they want to do there's a time and a place and a literary value for many different things I brought with me a couple of books one for each side of the debate that we probably don't want kids to read in school in one hand I have one of the ideas in here even devoted scientists philosophers won't talk about the ideas of this book They're that toxic that dangerous to their careers to speak about in the other hand this book was a huge controversy when it came out looking at this do any of you especially given the commentaries you've made about your own beliefs want to have
149your kid have access to this book they might not necessarily be in our schools but there are books that have those same ideas too which is part of why this challenge form and the challenges made to the books need to have enough details for parents to make good decisions about what's being challenged so not only is your form not only proper and appropriate in its current form but they should have access to more information because a book that says the bell curve sounds like you're studying statistics and learning how to you know look at standard deviations the other ideas in that book aren't told just by the title it needs to have a summary to explain why you might not want to have your child reading that book the same as these other books such
150as I'm proud to be me thank you Robert Roper I need about 15 minutes based on Miss Patricia's comments it leaves me questioning whether we're even looking at the same process document restrictions are everywhere you can't just go to the media center and pick up a Playboy magazine things have been restricted since as long as there's been schools it's where the Restriction is drawn where the line is drawn that we're talking about today as far as this seeming rushed there's a perfectly logical explanation I've been waiting for over a year on an official appeal of several books that wasn't yesterday it's been over a year what's delayed my appeals is the laws that were potentially coming and the district could not do anything with my appeals until the laws were ratified and came into being
151July 1st then what happened was the school year was going to start ever you could see the perfect storm coming I saw it come in six months ago there this is not a rush job this is just the way it worked out the original form was not written by the board nor was it approved by the board and it didn't work I proved it to each one of you it did not work this form the one that was proposed and given to the board on that Workshop if you look at that form and the form that's on the website today there is virtually no difference there's some clarifying languages the only real difference is the thing that's sticking in somebody else's cross and that is that a child is protected ultimately if his parent doesn't
152fill out the form to open up everything there was not a vote there was a consensus that happens all the time I've seen it numerous times and the reason there was a consensus is because they were up against the wall timing wise why would the superintendent present something that he knew the board was going to disapprove it's better to get a consensus to know how to direct your staff that's very professional that's exactly what he did no child no child is being kept from Reading anything I know parents and teachers personally that applaud this vigorously I did a parental a public records request and I found out a book called The hate U give with the f word in it 90 times with the n-word in it multiple times is in an elementary school it
153was challenged it's far as I know the challenge the ad hoc committee did not remove it from that elementary school that's why we need protections for challenge materials for for cases just like that there's a hundred and two thousand book titles out there you can't possibly know what they all are thank you okay thank you for the comments y'all the motion is before us that we're going to vote on it says I moved to direct the superintendent to use the media access form originally supported by staff and the curriculum advisory committee until such time as the board can pass a media access policy this will be a roll call vote Mr Fisher no this is giovannelli no Mrs Patrica yes please Jordan yes it's like for Fleming nay Miss Morgan yes and I am Monday
154the motion fails four to three next is board members comments and reports we'll start with Miss Morgan I have nothing thank you Mr Langford Fleming I really don't have anything other than wishing all of our staff and students a wonderful start to the school year thank you for all the hard work that they have all put in the open houses have looked amazing and I know all of the hours that they put in behind the scenes on Saturdays and whenever the whenever the principal lets them in the building they are there so just hoping and I personally am praying for a safe and healthy school year for everyone that's all Jordan I feel like I've said a lot already I just again I wish everybody the best school year I will be stopping by the
155schools and visiting and hopefully making sure that everyone that I speak to goes in and make sure that they fill out their focus so that their child does have the opportunity to to receive the books that their parents wish they that they will do miss Patricia yeah I just want to thank the board genuinely for the conversation including me in the conversation and just really allowing me to vote my conscience so thank you very much for that if I may through the chair to Dr Bernier I had to step out at the beginning of your comments after public comment so I don't know what you said about Alba but when you it's my understanding you're going to bring sort of a briefing within a briefing on that property to the board when you do so
156could you please include information about utilities specifically the water comment tonight and then traffic study I assume we're doing one or we will have some kind of information surrounding traffic presented to the board at that time I would appreciate it those are my comments Mr chair Mrs Patrick will be happy to add that to the presentation I believe that some of that material has already been included but we'll ensure it Miss giampinelli thank you I set up some comments earlier and I'll just reiterate it really quick that I'm glad the mou with the Guardian program was on this agenda tonight and I'm really supportive of that and I was very excited to see the mou with the sheriff marcino and I just wanted to thank Chef marcino and his staff that trained the Guardians as
157well as the superintendent that led was the leader in this and driving this over the Finish Line with the with his staff and so I just appreciate every all of that I also attended a couple open houses yesterday was yesterday Monday yes with my grandkids and I also visited some schools because I always pass out like I take snacks for the teachers and this and that for their their week and we had actually a great time at the Villas because apparently the Villas has chickens and my grandson was infatuated we went there to see the turtle that one of the teachers has a turtle and my son love I mean my grandson loves Turtles but I think he was more infatuated with the chickens and the egg that was not in the nesting box and
158if anybody ever has that opportunity I don't even know how many chickens there they had roosters and hens and I mean there's a lot and it was it was it was actually really they fed them and my grandson didn't want to leave but we had to get to his open house so and that was actually probably their favorite school other than South Fort Myers High School that was their other favorite school because there's some kind of a marble arm that Mr Matthews has in his office that my grandson wanted to take home and that was a whole nother another but we had a great time they were my helpers and it was actually I'm gonna do that again because we had a great time doing that I did want to bring this up really quick
159because I am concerned because there were some questions about we didn't follow the process and I thought we did follow the process I'm so I'm confused on that also July 31st was always a meeting planned and on our calendar for months so I it was on my calendar and so I made a point I was out of town and I made a point to be back on the 31st and so that is our duty in to make sure that we make the meetings sometimes we can't but and that's understandable but we can't stop progress and we can't stop school starting on the 8th the super I mean on the 10th and the superintendent was concerned over waiting until the eighth to make that determination on that form so I but I don't believe we rushed
160it I believe this was a process for that was long ongoing and a very long and thorough process I think that the it was tweaked we did not make up the document the document was made up at the curriculum advisory I attended that meeting and most of it was the document is what they did other than we tweaked a couple of verbiage because it was a lot of words it was a lot it was very wordy and so I'm confident in the process I'm confident in the outcome and how we got here today and I appreciate this board and the conversation that we had and we did listen to the community but I think it's important to make sure that we protect parents rights and students rights and protecting children and if one book that
161was challenged wasn't appropriate and gets in the wrong hands then that becomes it's our responsibility to make sure that we are make making sure that we're doing our jobs and this protects us as liability wise so I'm confident in the process again and I hope all the teachers and staff has a wonderful school year I'm excited about the 20 to 33 24 school year and I look forward to working towards what's best for students thank you Mr Fisher just gonna echo my fellow board member comments just want to wish students staff teachers a amazing first day and an amazing year and as parents I'm excited to see them go back as well so thank you all right I just want to mention two graduations last week we had the guardian graduation our first group of
162Guardians that's very exciting we're going to have more safety in our schools and especially the group of students who did not graduate in May due to some curriculum you know they were shorts and credits but they persevered through the summer and they graduated and it was it was awesome they were wearing all their their robes and caps their gowns and caps I should say and their principals were there and several board members were there and at the also the guardian graduation so those were two really nice graduations they got all the honors they should have receive their diplomas board attorney Bruno do you have any comments I don't thank you Mr superintendent just a couple sir I think thank you for the sentiments for a great opening I've been speaking with principals staff attended some
163open houses yesterday Middle School was tonight we are aware that some air conditionings weren't working in certain schools and Mr Stevens is already all over it and on top of it we will have those things working and I do want the board to understand especially for new board members for their first opening Michael Rivera is our chief of staff operates an Emergency Operations Center over the first three two to three days of school that will begin as early as Believe It or Not 4 35 a.m as our principals go in and key in if there's any type of issues our facilities and maintenance department is ready for Rapid deployment in order to try to get air conditioning and cooling going just in case we don't have something on the first day of school I will
164tell our community and we put out PSAs related to this we are really focused this year year and I'm thankful to the sheriff our all of our Mayors and our police Chiefs who participated about walking safely biking safely and driving safely to ensure our student safety nothing more important this community needs to know that nearly a hundred thousand students will be out on Thursday moving about the community school buses will be present flashing red lights you will be running late you will get behind a school bus it is just the way it works so please please please make sure you obey those traffic conditions and wait you can get there safely and we want our students to get there safely as well we will work on the first days of school to work through all
165particular issues or anything that develops we appreciate the work that our team has done regarding Transportation I can share with you as an update to the transportation situation there was a specific question asked of me I have the information Edison and brown is a stop for the for one of our elementary schools the question becomes are all of our elementary schools going to stop at that same spot they are not the bus the bus stops for our elementary schools regarding the Star Center are as one is one thousand feet from the front door that's for Allen Park one is 400 feet for Edgewood one is 1300 feet and one is 110 feet away from the front door our children will be dropped off in very close proximity to the Stars program and we're excited that
166we think we've also found a solution for Ray V pardon and for Colonial as well and thank you to the Stars program and the director you met this evening for her hard work which is one thing about summer graduation it was an amazing experience I want to really thank the board members who were still there when the graduate who arrived late and we got a chance to graduate a graduate of one and to Clayton Simmons who just was the perfect Master of Ceremonies everything from her assistant principal handing her diploma all the way through the cap toss she experienced a one-on-one graduation like none other and I think we got her mother a slightly out of the doghouse it was her mom's issue about being able to get there on time the other thing I
167think is important to note is the work done for that graduation this board had a vision and directed me very early on to find a manner in means with which to open an acceleration Academy our first five graduates from acceleration Academy crossed that stage this past weekend actually four one chose not to come but we have five additional graduates that we wouldn't have had without that additional service so I want to thank the board for your leadership in that area I also want to thank the board today for your action today you approved the contractual relations with PCG and the science of reading the public Consulting Group in the UF Lassiter Center we're doubling up on our work for K2 reading with these programs the work is with our teachers not to them they are
168being utilized and their voice is being brought into the process as we work to develop the tools we need to change the academic needle regarding reading achievement in K through two an impact that very important grade three reading standard was mentioned earlier today want to know that our after school programs are up and running at our elementary schools in some cases I've heard from parents about the additional costs we did set a minimum level in order to be able to afford our teachers and our other staff members to do that but in other cases I've heard from parents being very thankful for the reduction in cost they're no longer spending the amount of money they were spending in the past because our elementary school principals came together to make this determination there are some wait
169lists developing but I have to credit Human Resources again for their hard work they have established a pool of fingerprinted young people including some of our high school students who are eligible to work after school in these programs so we will be trying to get every human being possible into our schools to eliminate those wait lists because our teachers quite honestly they put in A Hard Day's work sometimes staying after school every day is not really in their desire so we want to make sure we found other opportunities we're also working with our local universities to track Talent there as well I do think some of our systems are paying off I would like to report tonight that we're 100 staffed we are not we are at 95 percent we're still looking for about 220
170teachers last year at this exact time we were looking for 200 but I would remind everybody we have two new school buildings and one additional Wing at Lambs that meant we needed more teachers than we've ever needed in the past and yet HR is somehow managing to find the 5546 we need our bus drivers are also in better Supply this year we are still short but no longer at 181 on this very date but it's 67 instead I mentioned the presentation for nnn and the conversation attached to the Strategic Capital plan so I'll make sure that happens we are also going to be putting out later this evening or first thing tomorrow communication about the current heat that our students are dealing with the local Health boards and communities have been spoken with our own
171health expert Wally has weighed in the most important thing for parents to remember is hydrate and you can't wait and tell your students you can't wait till you're thirsty you have to drink prior to that and continue to hydrate throughout the entire day and the most best advice we've received is loose clothing that covers most of your skin exposure of skin to the sun actually does contribute to overheating so last but not least I just want to thank the board for your discussions today and appreciate the opportunity for us to move forward this was not not the best situation I will tell you that I never like as a superintendent a 4-3 vote it's not what we look for but it is the process sometimes that it comes to fruition by and I think we
172should have more discussion about this but I thank the board for the understanding yes some of these laws were passed late and options were provided but I thank the board for making the decision so our staff can continue to move ahead and I will get you an update from the CEO of focus regarding the project management and making sure that text wrapping is completed so I'll as soon as I have that information I will pass it along those are my comments for this evening all right thank you our next scheduled meeting is on Wednesday August 16th oh the board attorney oh no she had none oh yes sorry I'm so sorry it's okay our next scheduled meeting is Wednesday August 16th there'll be a board workshop at 12 p.m on Tuesday August 22nd there will
173be a board briefing at 1 pm followed by a board Action meeting at 6 pm at this point having no other business to come before this body and see no objection this meeting is adjourned the time is 8 39 pm