001Good evening, everyone. We're ready to begin this evening's board meeting. Sergeant-at-Arms, is the front lobby been cleared? Yes. Oh, thank you. We request that all electronic devices be turned off or put in silent mode. Also, please refrain from using flash photography except during the special presentations portion of the meeting. I am pleased to welcome you to January 13, 2026 schoolboard meeting. The time is 6 pm and this meeting is called to order. We would like to take this opportunity to remind members of the public of the district's mission, which is to ensure that each student achieves his or high or her, excuse me, highest personal potential and the district's vision to be a worldclass system. Next is the approval of our agenda. Tonight we have a moment of silence, presentation of colors and pledge of
002allegiance, acknowledgements, recognitions, public comment, consent action items which include two items under board office, eight items under academic and student services, five items under school choice and administration, four items under business services, three items under human resources, four items under safety, security and fleet operation. ations, 24 items under facility operations, and four items under good of the order. Other business board members, is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Mr. Ribble, I'll make the motion adopt the agenda. All right. Is there a second? Okay. Motion made by Mr. Ribble and seconded by Miss Jordan. Please record your vote. The motion carries 70. As is a custom of the board, Mr. Fiser will lead us in a moment of silence after which Miss Langford Fleming will lead us in the presentation of colors and pledge of
003allegiance. Please stand. I'd like to dedicate this moment of silence to two educators who recently lost. Mrs. Alex Ashby and Mrs. Tree Cordell. Please bow your heads. Thank you. Good evening. Introducing the cadet tonight who is presenting the national colors for our pledge of allegiance is Lieutenant Colonel Terrell Marorrow. Senior Army instructor from Oasis Charter High School. Lieutenant Colonel Maro served 24 years in the Army in numerous assignments to include two combat tours. He retired as the battalion commander of the warrior transition battalion at Fort Lewis, Washington. This is Lieutenant Colonel Moral Marose ninth year as a JOTC instructor. Thank you. Presenting the National College tonight is Cadet Emma New Year, the cadet commander of the Oasis Charter High School JOTC Shark Battalion. Cadet New Year is the captain of the Oasis softball team as
004well as commander of the Raider team and is actively involved in all JOTC drill and color guard teams. Cadet New Year plans to move back to her home state of Wisconsin where she will attend Blackhawk Technical College and study to become an automatic automotive technician. Please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. You may be seated. Next on our agenda is a character word for January. The character word for January is commitment. Building yourself to a course of action despite obstacles. The design displayed on the screen was created by Diego Cruz, an 11th grade student at Asterero High Schools. Moment there. Next on
005our agenda are recognitions. Board members and superintendent, please. Good evening. Tonight, we are proud to recognize four outstanding school nurses who have successfully earned the National Certified School Nurse Credentials, NCSN. This national certification represents the highest professional standard in school nursing. It is a rigorous credential that requires advanced knowledge, extensive experience, and successful completion of a comprehensive national examination. By achieving national school nurse certification, these nurses have demonstrated exceptional expertise in student health, chronic dece disease management, emergency preparedness, care coordination, and advocacy for student well-being. Their dedication goes beyond daily responsibilities and reflects a deep com commitment to professional excellence and lifelong learning. This achievement not only strengthens our district's health services, but also directly benefits our students families, school communities by ensuring the highest level of care and leadership in our schools. When your
006name is called, please line up at the ramp on the left side of the bel the boardroom. Wally Cologne, assistant director, physical and mental health services department will present your certificates. We proudly recognize Melissa Wallace, Wita Kiran, Misty Doma, and Jennifer Barnes. On behalf of the school board and the entire direct district, thank you for your commitment, professionalism, and unwavering dedication to the health and success of our students. Congratulations on the exceptional achievement. Congratulations. Congratulations. Good. Good to see you. Congratulations. Congratulations. I know. Okay, moving right along. Good evening. The school district of Lee County is proud to celebrate the Mariner High School JOTC mixed Raider team who delivered an unforgettable performance at the Florida State Raider competition taking home two first place titles. Facing off against the team in the state, the Triton Mix
007team consisting of 13 highly motivated and battle battle tested cadets powered through five intense events in one single day. A 5K team run, an allout rope bridge race, a demanding kettle day relay, a high pressure Raider fitness challenge, and the ultimate test of strength and teamwork. The cost the cross country rescue their hard work and discipline relentless drive paid off in a big way. The Triton Mix team earned first place in the state in their division and dominated the competition by also taking first place in the cross country rescue. Widely considered the toughest event for the second year in a row. When your name is called, please line up at the ramp on your left side of the boardroom. Colonel Scott Robinson, Director of Army Instruction, will present your certificates. Dylan Best, Amy Cabrera, Ethan
008Castro, Shadell Chaplain, Trace Horn, Christine Howell, Nicholas Howell, Kaylee Montgomery, Suie, Sir Christristen, Connor Sanchez, Angelie Saw, Olivia Wheatley, Kaden Valencia. The school board and superintendent are pleased to recognize the Mariner High School JRTC mixed Raider team coached by Coach Sergeant First Class Jav Javier Sacristian and Coach Sergeant Major Kimberly Williams for all their dedication and hard work in their leadership. Thank you. Great job. Congratulations. That's great. Congratulations. Excellent. Congratulations. Great job. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Good evening. The Fort Myers Green Wave Unified Flag Football Team captured their first ever FHSAA unified flag football state champions at ESPN Disney Wide World of Sports on November the 14th, 2025. The team capped off their undefeated season with a 38-18 semi-final victory over Lehigh Senior High School and defeated G High School from Pasco County 24-12 in
009the state championship game. The Fort Myers Greenwave Unified Flag Football Team is coached by head coach Garrett Copelan and assistant coach James McIntyre. The team is made up of five athletes and their partners. When your name is called, please line up on the ramp to my left, which you're already there. Thanks, guys. and Mr. Dave Lar Roza, who's already there as well, the director of athlet athletics will present your certificate. I'm apologizing in advance if I mispronounce your name, so if I do, I apologize. Cody Baguidi, Aiden Gisham, Rohan Johnson, Spencer German, Gerald Pompalus, Tyrone Robinson, Jacob Saunders, Sanders, I'm sorry, Nick Tyson, Tanner Treposki, Bruce Bruce Williams. Thank you. The school board and superintendent are proud to recognize these students and coaches for their commitment, determination, and hard work to earn the FHSAA state
010championship. Congratulations, guys. All right. Next item on our agenda is public comment. Mr. Pay Bruno, would you please address the item of public comment? Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good evening. Schoolboard 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 in the back and will be made from the podium in the front center aisle. Please be advised that the board will not respond during public comment to remarks made by speakers. The purpose of public comment is to provide feedback
011on district issues such as duties, responsibilities, decisions, and the general operation of the district. The school board is viewpoint neutral during public comment. We ask that decorum be kept and respect be shown, which is what is expected when a government agency conducts official business. Therefore, abuse of language defined as swearing, use of profanity or name calling is prohibited. In addition, clapping, hissing, booing, or a display of temper during public comment is prohibited. Speakers who fail to follow proper decorum in the chambers will be ruled out of order by the board chair or the board attorney. Any speaker continuing with such remarks will be required to relinquish the microphone per board policy 0169.1 and may be removed from the chambers by the sergeant at arms. Per board policy 0169.1, the time per speaker is 3 minutes
012if there are 20, 2 minutes if there are 30, and 1 minute if there are 31 speakers or more. The maximum time allotted for public comment is 1 hour 60 speakers. You will find a countdown on the big screen in the front of the room. Once your time is elapsed, the microphone will automatically shut off. Please state your name when you approach the microphone. Mr. Chairman, there are two individuals that wish to address the speaker the board this evening. Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the board but did not fill out a public comment card? Seeing none, attorney Dupe Bruno, please proceed with public comment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The following individuals, please line up. Carol Robinson, Abraham Valdez. My name is Carol Robinson. I live at 1072 Breviny
013Lane in Fort Myers. I came in the summer. I didn't realize I only had three minutes and I ran out of time, so I'm back. at that meeting I voiced concern about the issue of of children after school who have no way to take advantage of any extra teaching because they have no way to get home. And so I asked at that time if you could figure out how to enable all students who are doing very well and want to be in clubs, but also I am tutoring fourth grade math and there are kids in the fourth grade that really need to be able to stay after school to get help. And I'm concerned about the way the math is being teached. It's my understanding that they're units. They do a unit. They take a
014test on the unit, they fail. Too bad, so sad. And I hope that there's some way that you all can figure out how to I'm a volunteer. how you can all figure out have how to add more volunteers and paid tutors that get these children at least up to third grade and third grade. two years ago I was doing second second grade and year before second grade. we all know, I'm sure you all know that if these kids aren't at third grade in reading and math, the chances of their graduating really drops. So, I hope you consider doing that. The other thing I mentioned at the other time, oh, I have lots of time, was I'm not seeing the teachers using manipulatives in the math the way they should be. the materials that I have
015in the fourth grade were not sufficient. I had to bring my own and buy my own. and I'm not sure if these teachers are being taught how to use the manipulatives to really have their students understand what they're doing. the kids have some manipulatives, but but they don't they're not enough of them. They're not enough in in their little box I have to take when I go in. When I was earlier doing addition with three digits and subtracting and showing tens moving around, I had to take four or five boxes and put them all together. The kids would bring their boxes and give me all their their their manipulatives and then I could actually show the kids how to do the math. So, I would appreciate if you look into trying to figure out how
016to teach the teachers how to use this. this is really the way the light bulb lights up when they can touch the materials to understand what's going on. and also to try to figure out how to help the kids that don't do well on the test and really need additional help. There are a lot of them and the teachers, they don't have the time to do it because they're on to the next unit. So, thank you. Oh, I'm out. I'll be back next month. Thank you. Hello, my name is Abram Valdez. I am the chairperson for the Florida Concrete Products Association. our headquarters are in Orlando, Florida. Our associ our association's been around since 1955. Just kind of wanted to come today to present ourselves to the board just to introduce ourselves. our group's been
017since 1955 we've we've had over 90 companies consisting of of pre concrete producers of readymix, pre-cast and pipe as well as other associated products. Again, as mentioned, our headquarters are over in Orlando. but I also want to introduce some of our guys over here to my right. These are some of the members of our association. You guys mind standing up? we have Ron Hearn who's our co-chairperson and also Steve Klutch who's in our committee. but also have the privilege of working with Dan Croker who's working with the Florida masonry association and his incredible two teachers. Sean Rodriguez is over at Eastley County High School and Howard who's over Howard Myers who's over at Southport Myers High School. So we kind of help them out throughout the year throughout the years just in some of the
018one of the events our signature event that we have over the last six years. Our last four that we do every year have raised over $95,000 for that trade the trade education for these guys to be able to get tools to be able to take kids over to competitions, state and national competitions and other miscellaneous expenses that they need also. but I will say our fifth event that we just had in October of 2025 just recently wrapped up. We're still working on the numbers, but it looks like that's going to be probably the best event we've had so far as it continues to grow every year. And that's looking in the ballpark of about $25,000. So, we're just excited about that. We thank everybody for giving us the privilege to be able to work with
019these wonderful teachers. and we hope that you guys would recognize our efforts. also the wonderful teachers that and the efforts that they put into it. they work with these kids. We've been to the schools to be able to visit with them and to be able to get in front of some of these kids to provide and to see that they're providing avenues for these kids for some of these straight out of high school with certifications and things and ready to work into our into our trades and to our industry as well. So, we thank you so much for that opportunity. We hope that you guys acknowledge that and help us to grow it. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. That concludes public comment. All right. Thank you to the speakers tonight. Next on our agenda is the approval
020of consent action items. The documentation for action items listed under consent is made available to board members seven business days prior to the board meetings. We are expected to review all material and we have an opportunity to speak with the superintendent and with any questions we may have regarding the recommendations. Some of these items have been briefed or workshopped with the board in advance of appearing on the action agenda. Board members, are there any agenda items you wish to pull for discussion under unfinished business tabled items portion of the agenda? Mr. Fiser. Yes, Mr. Chair. Item I six, the YMCA approval. Thank you, Mrs. Gioanelli. I have none. Thank you. Mr. Ribble, I have none. Thanks, Miss. Jordan, I have none. Thank you. Miss Langford Fleming, I have none. Thank you. Miss Shivago Chaviano, I
021have none. Thank you. And I have none. Is there a motion to approve the agenda consent items with the exception of pulled item I6? I move to approve. Miss Langford Fleming makes Puce and then seconded by I second. Okay, Miss Chaviano since I messed up your name. You got Okay. Please record your vote. The motion carries 70. Dr. Carlin, would you please introduce any administrators in attendance with a new assignment approved under the consent agenda? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's my pleasure to introduce the following administrators that have just been approved through the approval of the consent agenda. So, if you are here, please stand. Christine Kara, principal, Manatee Elementary. Samantha Fields, assistant director, office of school choice. Vincent Kagluca, director, capital Planning and Maintenance. Jennifer Pearson, principal, Clusa Middle School. Danielle Pickerton, assistant principal,
022Cape Coral High School. Kathy Richards, coordinator risk management and internal compliance. And last but not least, Rhonda Boles, coordinator, teacher and teaching and learning. If there are any administrators we have neglected to mention your name, if you'll please stand. We want to make sure everybody's recognized. Okay, looks like we did a great job. So, congratulations to all of you. Thank you very much for the work that you have done and will continue to do on behalf of the students of school district county. Thank you. We're going to take just a brief pause. So, those that were just recognized and you we get to let you leave because we expect you to be at work early tomorrow in your new positions. So, you're you're excused. There goes everybody. Mhm. Next on our agenda is unfinished business
023and tabled items. We have one poll to address tonight. Dr. Carlin, please read your recommendation for Yes, sir. Approval of the memorandum of understanding with YMCA of Southwest Florida to operate a before and after school program at Ty Elementary. The term of this agreement is August 11, 2025 through the end of the school year with the option to renew for up to three additional consecutive one-year terms upon mutual agreement of the parties. Approval authorizes the superintendent to execute all related documents. There's a motion to adopt Dr. Carlin's recommend. Is there a motion to adopt Dr. Carlin's recommendation? I'll make a motion. Okay. Mr. Chav Chaviano. I'm having trouble with that tonight. It makes the motion seconded by Mr. Ribble. Is there any discussion? Mr. Fischer? There had to be one tonight, Chair. So, pulling this
024based on a technicality. I proudly serve on the board of the YMCA and while I don't incur any special gains or benefits or losses from it in consultation with our board attorney I think to make sure there's no appearance of propriety I will be abstaining from this vote and I will I have already filed the documents that are necessary. Mr. Chair, thank you. I wasn't going to mention this but I'm inclined to vote for this in spite of Mr. Fischer being on the board. No, YMCA is just a great organization and we've worked with them before. So, this is awesome. All right, this will be a roll call vote. Please signify by saying I or nay when your name is called. Mrs. Giaelli, yes. Mr. Ribble, I. Miss Jordan, I. Miss Langford Fleming, I. Mrs.
025Chaviano, I. And I am an I. The motion carries 6. Thank you. All right. Next on my agenda is the good of the order. Other business board members comments and reports. Mr. Fischer. Thank you, Mr. Chair. a couple things I'd be remiss to not point out. Today is the first day of legislative session and we all had a recent trip up to Tallahassee. I appreciate the support we received from the governor's office, the senators, DOE, and our House of Representatives. I really appreciate all the time they took. I'd also like to recognize government relations Miss Chrissy Hulahan and Luke Strowinger as well as our lobbyist Dane Eagle for all the amazing work they've done for us and help support us up there. So, thank you to them. I'd like to also point out many of
026us went to an amazing event in Cape Coral back in December, Arts in the River, which highlighted arts, music, entertainment for the West Zone students. I really enjoyed it and looking forward to even bigger and better next year. shout out to Mr. Tomeski as well as Mr. Valardi for helping put that together as well as the Weston for supporting it supporting us. As I said, I know it was a fantastic event and it was great to see something on the other side of the river. So, great job with that. last thing I'd like to mention tonight is we had an incident at Trfalgar Elementary last week and I just want to thank Principal Murphy and her team at Trafalgar Elementary, law enforcement, district safety and security and all the personnel. So, what was what could
027have been a very scary situation for for all of us ended up working out. I am just so thankful for them for what they do each and every day, all of you. it was obviously not a welcomed text message for any of us as board members or for a superintendent to see that come through. but luckily we all pushed support safety and security and our systems worked and the personnel worked and I just want to thank them all from the bottom of my heart. That's all I have. Mr. Chair, thank you Mrs. Janelli. I'll be quick actually. But happy new year and welcome back everyone. 2026 is going to be a busy year. It already started out busy. So, here we go. I just want to do a quick reminder that I still am looking
028forward to fresh fruit in our schools. my granddaughter complains about it regularly, so I'm going to be the complaining about it regularly regularly, too. and so the superintendent is going to be sick of me hearing me talk about fresh fruit in our schools. real quick, I just want to let everybody know that in February is the Edison Festival of Light and I'm on that board and Stumptastics is February 14th and they're still taking applications for sign up on that and it's on the actually foundation on the foundation website. Also, we have a junior parade that's the 15th and also the grand parade is the 21st and those are both sign up for Edison Festival Light and lots of our schools are in involved in both parades. So, I would encourage anyone that would be interested
029to participate or at least come be a spectator. It's a great parade. our grand marshall this year, it's really important. is Sammy Serriani. and he's retiring after 40 years. So, he is the grand marshal and so I'm excited about that and honoring him and his family and the legacy that they have had at Fort Meyers High School. And thank you to all the volunteers in schools because we need them. And there was a volunteer that came tonight. I don't think she's still here, but know that we could always use more volunteers. And thank you for advocating for that as well. And that's it. Congratulations on all the new appointments and I look forward to 2026. Thank you, Mr. Ribble. Yeah, I'll be real quick. I talked about this earlier today at our workshop, but I
030just want to remind everyone a quick story of of success here. Last March 12th, 2025 at the Three Oaks Elementary School along with Principal Aloto, we had a town hall meeting, as it was called. Now we call them a conversation event. And anyway, long story short, we had two second grade mothers came up to us afterwards were very upset that their both their young boys were having trouble reading. the two children were best friends and the mothers got got to know each other that way, but they were looking at podcasts on the internet to try to teach their boys some other tricks about reading and they really were steering away from the phonics and the processes that we use here in the district along with the processes that FGCU teaches. we got a hold of
031the dean of education over there, Diana Shzar, and our own doctor in house there, Cuba McCoy, took on this project. And I'm pleased to say that next week on the 21st, we're going to have our f first pilot session for prek through 2 grade reading. And we just added another piece thanks to the county having a ribbon cutting at their new improved library in Asterero last week, last Friday. And now they bought into the process. They're going to partner with us as well. So they'll be in attendance next week. And Dr. M McCoy has also got involved with the county's entire library system. So as we build this in other elementary schools around Lee County, why we'll tap into that resource. So, I want to thank everyone's cooperation. I know Cheryl Neely was part of
032this process that evening and I know she'll be part of the process next week and Dr. Carlin, thanks for your support with this thing because I know relationship you have with the dean of education over at FGCU really helped move this along. So, it's really a win-winwin. So, even the county again gets kudos. So, that's all I have. Miss Jordan. Thank you. I this evening I was going to pull items J3 and J4, but I decided to just I wrote something out and I'm just going to read this. Tonight we approved items J3 and J4 regarding the additional partnerships with Coronado Charter High School and Island Park Charter High. The partnership with Coronado will continue our work on dropout prevention by creating a flexible high supporting high support evening option for at risk and credit
033deficiency students. Simultaneously we are enhancing the young parent education program by increasing flexibility in school options and services. These amendments are tied to the original charter school contracts and those legal and those legal terms and conditions. These amendments andus are not schools of hope but rather intentional partnerships to continue to serve the needs of our students because I had some real issues as I was reading it. So, I had to really think about, you know, the benefit because as board members, we understand that our student outcomes that should always remain our northstar and whatever they need, we need to focus on student success. And in conjunction with that, I would also be asking the chair, I would love to see us have a conversation or workshop regarding the certex and the continuation of that to
034help the growth of our schools because when we are looking at where our children are going and the needs of our kids, we have to make sure we have buildings for them. and I know that was brought up today at our workshop. So, I just wanted to to bring that to your attention, please. And the and the board members as well. And then I want to congratulate all the new appointees and their positions and welcome everybody back. And I want to thank Miss Robinson because I know she is a tutor at one of my schools. I've seen her there and she comes in there and she's always excited about being in there and just being there for the kids to be that extra hand. So, our volunteers, we love you and thank you. I'm looking
035forward to the year. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Langford Fleming. Thank you. okay, a couple of things. today we had two students join us in our workshop for those of you who were not able to watch that online. I thought that was absolutely fabulous. I love the way that we utilize them. And I may be wrong, but I believe that this was former chair Fischer's brainchild to use our students in a totally new capacity. And I loved it because they were interactive and we were able to have a conversation with him. So thank you, Mr. Fischer, for putting this into play. I I really enjoyed it. I also the group that came I don't know if any of you know, but Mr. Croker is a teacher at South. He was the teacher who certified our
036first Mason in the district, I want to say a year and a half ago. And you may not know this, but he drives all the way from Arcadia every day to work. So highly recommend if you have not gone to Tour South, that entire department is just outstanding. Probably really needs nationwide attention quite frankly. then my last thing I will thank you so much for everybody that was here also for all of our new appointees. I'm excited for them tomorrow to start that new role. and starting at the first of the year is you know it's great to do it in the fall but January is a fresh start for everybody. So I love that. really excited for 2026. our graduation rates going to supersede last year's? I am confident in that because of the
037work that the superintendent and staff are doing. but the last thing I do want to touch on something that I really want us to have conversation on whenever we go to start discussing the next year's budget. it is it is it is high it is well past time to have a real conversation on what we are paying our coaches. They are working overtime and triple that. I know a football coach works year round. they do not stop just because it's Friday night lights is over. They get up and study film the very next day. The team comes in. you know, volleyball coaches are traveling all over to get are their girls to tournaments and giving up weekends. I mean, we've really got to start to have hard conversations about what we are paying our coaches,
038what they are worth. right now in the district, we have seven vacancies at as a head football coach in Lee County. Seven vacancies. and I'd like to know why they're leaving. I'd like to know if they're going to are they going private? Are they moving districts? because I am a firm believer that you learn as many lessons on the court and on the field as you do in the classroom to apply to life after the after you graduate. So, those are just some discussions I think we really need to to have. And I thank I thank all of our coaches and we have a ton of volunteer coaches that don't get paid anything and give just as many hours sometimes as head coaches. So, and as always, thank you so much to the gentlemen that
039are here keeping us safe every night. I really appreciate your time and your effort and hope you all had a great had a great holiday with your family. So, thank you so much. That's all I have. Thank you, Mrs. Javiano. Oh, thank you. So, I was fortunate. I was able to also attend the arts on the river, and it was nice to see the dance, the art pieces kind of on display. There was different sections of music and schools throughout. And I think it was the perfect night and the perfect setting for all of our kids to showcase their talents. so if there was anyone that missed it, I know it's coming back bigger and better next year. carousel. I'm excited to to see that happen and just to showcase our amazing again our teachers
040and our children and the talents that they have in our district. I was also able to attend the winter graduation for the Lee County Acceleration Academy and Miss Miss Jordan hit on the items she was thinking about pulling and kind of those different pathways that we have for our students here to be successful. And coming from one of those schools and working with those students and to see them not drop out or go the GED route and still be able to graduate with a high school diploma is huge. And to be able to provide that for those students here in this county, I think is tremendous and it's it's a great opportunity for those kids to still take advantage of what we have to offer up until they're 21 years of age. So, I think
041that's an untapped resource and gem that we have here. And there are many reasons that things happen in these kids' lives to to have to go that route. We had two babies in the audience during that graduation who were absolutely like perfectly quiet. You almost thought they were dolls. they were amazing. And there's again there's things that happens in these kids' lives and they still work hard and pursue that diploma and that opportunity. And so I just want to say thank you to all the schools that we have in this district that do that and provide that opportunity for those students and those families because that is huge. your graduation is right next up there with your wedding and purchasing a home. It's it's one of those milestone moments. And so just thank you to
042all those educators that are investing in and taking that time with those students. It's greatly appreciated. thank you. I hope I didn't see much come across my desk and email during break. So, I feel like everyone took the opportunity and truly unplugged. And I am so happy for each and every one of you that did that because now we're coming back refreshed for this year. It is great to again have the governor's announcement with our graduation rate and the things that we were doing and the stuff that was shared today during our workshop. We are turning the boat and the things are happening again. Rome wasn't built in a day. Nothing happens overnight. Things need to take place and you have to trust the process and change is difficult and hard. and everyone has that
043cycle. but you have to trust the leadership that's been chosen to do that job. And I am just very excited for what our leaders and our educators are doing in these departments to really showcase our district and see what we are all about. I am a proud graduate of this district. my children attend the schools in this district. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all the things and answering our questions and our emails and all the nonsense that we come up with sometimes. thank you. I I greatly appreciate it. So, looking forward to this year and to this board and all of the hard work that's going to come out of it. That's all. Thank you. I just have a few things that happened in my district. start off with the Christmas program
044for Beayshore School. It was a lot of fun. It's gotten so large they work with the Breeze Church was directly across the street and they had to go two evenings and it's a huge auditorium and stage, but that's how many parents come out, grandparents like myself to watch my grandson. had a great visit at the Alba School with the superintendent. We went out there and they're doing wonderful things there and also the blackbox ribbon cutting. Most of us went to that at Lumil Teal Middle School. That's a great facility not only for the school for two schools to be able to use. Veterans Park Academy of the Arts also will be using it because they're adjacent to each other and then the community. So, it's a wonderful thing that the district has done for them.
045And just want to mention I did have a state audit interview with the state auditor. They call up the chair, you know, every three years for the public to know. They do a very thorough audit of our district financials and everything and they come in and they ask you questions like, "Do you know this, do you know that?" And you know, it takes about an hour to answer all their questions, but it's very enlightening and second time I've had to do that because I've been chaired twice. But it's it's good that we're being audited by the state as you know because they do that for every district. We're not really doing anything wrong. And we have other audits that go on every year. So it's just I want them the public to know that we're
046very transparent and we have other things planned to be more transparent. I will definitely schedule a workshop on the sales tax. I mean the way I the way I look at it is the public has to vote on it. We can't put that I mean we can't pass it, you know, has to we can vote to put it on the ballot. but the public's the one that will vote for it. And if it's needed, we're still growing. probably guess where I would come down on that. Okay. budget discussion for paying coaches. I think it's a great idea having been a coach even though I was a volunteer and didn't get paid but it's a it's a wonderful thing. and it does really affect the children's lives. You know, they come up the flag football team
047that won for the boys. The only reason they won is that I taught their coach Garrett Oakland tennis. I'm sure that was the only reason they won. Okay. But, that's all I have for tonight. attorney Bruno. thank you, Mr. Chairman. as we celebrate the legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King this weekend, I've been reflecting on the work we do in the district for our students. Work that is deeply meaningful, though it has a lot of challenges. Dr. King remind us reminded us that we must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope. Even when the work is hard, we'd hold on to the hope trusting as he taught us that the ark of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. And in that spirit, may our continued hope for our
048students and our district lead us forward. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Dr. Carlin. Thank you very much, sir. just a couple of comments. first of all, you know, we talked a little bit on social media this past week about student enrollment that kicks off for the 2627 school year. we start January 20th. So, if you have a kindergartener, a sixth grader, or a 9th grader, or you're new to the school district of Lee County, welcome. we encourage you to hop on our website at lesschools.net and that kicks off like I said on January 20th through February 27th. So please make sure that you write those dates down. There is no prize for being first in the in the lottery. So please take your time to do that. make sure you have all of your
049documents before you upload and please reach out to us if we can be of assistance. want to continue to highlight the work that you all continue to support. thank you for mentioning Miss Jordan about the schools, the many ways that we are trying to support our children in getting that graduation, being able to walk at graduation, getting that diploma. So, thank you for that. I also want to give kudos to Miss Gia Vanelli. she had the foresight and the persistence to move forward and encourage us to move forward with the accelerationmies several years ago and I feel like that kicked off our conversation with really looking at things differently and so just appreciate the board for helping us and encouraging us to think differently and then fulfilling on your promise to to support those types
050of different programs that we put in place for children. Our goal is for all of our students to walk across that stage and I know I speak for everybody on this dis. so we look forward to the day when that happens and we will continue to find ways to help our students be successful. So thank you for your support. some project thrive updates. we keep working on teacher retention. Quarter 2 retention rates continue to come in at 98%. So we are holding on to our very very best and brightest teachers. We're very proud of that. Currently 21 teacher vacancies. remember we started this school year going into the summer with 575. We're down to 21. And remember we do have certified teachers, folks like me who have been around since God was a boy, stepping
051in and teaching our children. So very excited. We are not giving up. We are going to get that number to zero. We are absolutely committed to doing that. Big kudos to our team, Dr. Shaker, Dr. Johnston, Dr. Savage and all of our team members working to get that number to zero, including our principles. We really appreciate that. All of our regional associate superintendents, everybody's in on that issue, and I know we're committed to having that teacher vacancy number down to zero as soon as possible. Bus ontime arrival continues to improve. We're at least at 95% high schools, I believe, Mr. Nuland, correct me if I'm wrong, 99% 98 99% of our high school buses on time. And remember, we're in season right now. so getting to school in the morning, fighting some traffic. Obviously, our
052high schools go earlier, but 95 98% will take those numbers every day of the week. That means children are getting to first period and they have a shot at learning. So, we're very excited about that. just thrilled. And, finally, I mentioned this during the workshop, but I have some additional information I wanted to share, for the public. we received some great news today from the state of Florida. Our graduation rate for high school students with a four-year cohort is up by four percentage points. this year we have just about hit the 90% mark. We're at 89.8. so that is up four points from the previous year. it's one of our largest increases. The state was up by about 2 and a.5% so we beat the state. We are still not where we want to be.
053We're number nine out of the big 10. the 10 largest school districts in Lee County. But we worked harder this year at closing the gap. So next year, look out with our kids showing up at school on time, having teachers in the classrooms. We can't miss. And I'm just so proud of our team's work on that both in our schools and at the central office. also just wanted to highlight all 15 of our traditional high schools and Lee virtual school achieve graduation rates or of 90% or above. Nine schools reached 97% nine schools of our traditional schools reached that Fort Myers High School and North Fort Myers High School each achieved exceptional 99% graduation rate. So great things are happening in Lee County. I couldn't agree more, Miss Shaviano. you know, there change is slow,
054but boy, when you get results like this, it is so exciting. And again, it is extraordinary. Thanks to our teachers, our students who are working hard every day, our school leaders, and our district leaders, everybody working as one team, one vision. That's what we're after. And then finally, just a big thank you to Mr. Chavez and or Valdez, excuse me, and his team that were here tonight from the Florida Concrete Products Association. we talked a little bit tonight from one of our speakers about the importance of volunteers. We do need volunteers academically. We also need volunteers that will step up and help us in the area of trades, encouraging more students to go into that and also providing financial and human resources behind that. So, we just want to appreciate groups like that come forward
055and they're here just to support our children. So, 2026 is off to a great start. More good news to come and just again thank you to our board members for supporting us in our in our important work and wish everybody a safe travels home. Thank you. Oh, Miss Go ahead. I'm so sorry. And I meant to mention this earlier, but I know it'll be a while before we see one another again, but through the chair to Dr. Carlin, can you restate how many vacancies we have left currently? Teacher vacancies, 21 teacher vacancies out of 575 as we headed into the summer. Okay. So, the only reason I'm bringing this up is because in our one-on-one I had asked I asked this question every time we meet and to start possibly thinking outside of the box.
056So, I've had some conversation with staff about how we can just get over this finish line to be really creative and forward thinking. and I just wanted the board to know that these convers that I had had this conversation and that is that perhaps we start to tap into what I would consider a kind of a corporate mindset and really think about like what can we offer teachers even on a part-time basis. when I was teaching long time ago you know teachers would have Monday, Wednesday, Friday and then the other teacher would have Tuesday, Thursday and then following Monday. And at one point in time if you were a full-time teacher, whatever those hours were, you were obviously able to tap into getting insurance and benefits. but if we could somehow I know there are
057several teachers out there that have left the classroom to go raise their families and they want to work but they kind of want to be at home and or or whether it's a a you know a veteran teacher that's just not quite ready to retire. So I just wanted to the board to know that I had had this these these chats with HR is so great about getting back with me about these questions. So, I only wanted to let you know because obviously we can't discuss this offline. So, let you know some conversation I had. Let's get out thinking outside the box and fill these 21 vacancies. So, that's all. Sorry. Thank you. That was worth waiting for. Okay. That's a great idea. All right. Our next scheduled meetings of the board, Friday, January 23rd,
058the school board will have a special meeting at 1:30 p.m. Our regular board meeting will be on February 10th. We'll have a school board workshop at 1 p.m. followed by a school board action meeting at 6:00 p.m. At this point, having no other business to come before this body and seeing no objection, this meeting is objourned. The time is 7:01 p.m. Thanks. I'm so sorry. I know. I'm sorry.