001good afternoon ladies and gentlemen we're going to start this meeting momentarily we just need to wait for the lobby to be cleared for a moment so just give us a moment thank you thank you everyone for your patience I apologize on that so okay at this moment we request that all electronic devices be turned off and put in silent mode also please refrain from using flash photography except during the special presentation portions of this meeting board member Patria will be participating via Zoom pursuant to board policy 01641 she is eligible to vote on items during the action meeting tonight I'm pleased to welcome you the January 23rd 2024 school board meeting the time is 603 P3 p.m. and this meeting is called to order prior to this evening's meeting we've been enjoying Music performed by
002the students from Cypress Lake guitar Ensemble this select group of Music students is under the direction of Kayla Lisa this group is the only High School guitar ensemble in the district the guitar emble is a mix of students who have played for 1 to six years that all come together to work towards a common goal they are proud of being able to represent Lee County this evening and showcase their skills for you'll be able to hear them during all the Cypress Lake high strings concert please give the group another round of applause one moment are we go ahead with your last song sorry about that great job everyone that was amazing we appreciate it we'll now take a brief pause to pause to clear the performance area excuse me real quick I want to ask
003on the record Sergeant in- arms has the front lobby been attended to and the doors open for Public Access thank you chief okay thank you everyone for your patience as well tonight it's truly appreciated so at this moment I'd like to remind take this opportunity to remind the members of the public of the district's Mission which is ensure that each student achieves his or her highest pot personal potential and the district's Vision to be a world-class school system okay at this point we're going to go to the approval of the agenda this evening's agenda includes invocation presentation of colors and Pledge of Allegiance recognitions public comment consent action items which include three items under Board office five items under academic Services three items under Business Services two items under Human Resources 10 items under operations
004we will recess for Lee County Schoolboard lease incorporation one item under public hearings and four items under good of the order or other business so board members is there motion to adopt the agenda Miss Jordan I move to adopt the agenda as written we have a second I second okay moved by Miss Jordan seconded by Miss Langford Fleming please record your vote motion carries 70 as is the custom of the board Mr armor persons will lead us in the invocation the invocation is intended for the benefit of school board members as they proceed with their work this evening it is not directed at the audience Those Who deliver the invocation May reference their religious Faith as you might yours when offering prayer we wish to emphasize however that members of all religious faiths are welcome
005not only these meetings but as our community as a whole staff and members the audience are welcome to pray or not to pray after the prayer Mrs Melissa juvell will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please stand Mr persons please lead us in invocation let us pray Lord As We Gather here today for this school board meeting we seek your guidance your wisdom and your blessings grant us the strength to make decisions that prioritize the well-being and education of our students help us listen attentively to the needs and concerns of the parents of the teachers and of the community making choices that reflect our shared commitment to education amen amen thank you Mrs juvenile please ladies lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance great introducing the cadet who is presenting the national colors for
006the our pledge of alleges tonight is Lieutenant Colonel Derek Carlson the senior Armory instructor at Estero High School Lieutenant Colonel Carlson served 21 years in the Army in numerous assignments as a field artillery and Military Intelligence officer his last assignment on active duty was serving as the professor of military science of Morehead State University and the University of Pikeville in Kentucky Lieutenant Colonel Carlson has a Doctorate in Education and is currently in the fourth year in his fourth year at J as a jrjc instructor in the district thank you for serving our country and thank you for serving our students in Lee County thank you thank you presenting to national college tonight is Cadet sergeant major Jose Pas Cadet Pas is a member of the Spanish Honor Society and the honor art Honor Society and
007is part of the a AP and IB Program which maintains a 3.85 GPA Cadet Pas has participated for the last 3 years with the jrtc program and has attended many parades community service projects Service Learning and has accumulated over 180s of volunteer service hours Cadet p is a Cadet sergeant major for the Fort Meers High School Jed TC Greenway Battalion Cadet p is actively involved in the jrtc leadership academic Bowl the Drone team and serves as the commander for the Raider team Cadet pass his goals After High School is to attend the United States Military Academy and become an infantry officer please join me in 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
008liberty and justice for all thank you and please be seated what what yeah we still have okay before I proceed I just want to double check that board member Patria can hear us right now now and I can thank you sir thank you sorry about that this evening student representative is shenard Williams welcome sh shinard is 11th grade student at Fort Myers High he is in the IB program and actively participates in many extracurricular activities shinard has been elected as the sophomore class president and as the current junior class president since middle school shinard has played the trombone and participates in the Green Wave marching band holding the position of band captain for the last 2 years after graduation he hopes to attend the University of Florida shanard plans to major in civil engineering subsequently
009he aims to pursue a law law degree please welcome shinard now Mr Williams we're going to move on to recognitions and can you please read those yes sir oh yes sir can you hear me yes sir thank you today we have a few recognitions we have the 34th annual holiday greeting card celebration recognition presented by board chair Samuel fiser we have the Island close High School Raider team recognition presented by board member Melissa giovanelli we have the 2023 2024 school district of Lee County principal of the Year recognition presented by board me board member Debbie Jordan we have the 2023 2024 school district of Lee County assistant principal of the Year recognition presented by board member armor persons we have the 2023 2024 School related employee of the year recognition presented by board Vice chair
010Jada l for Fleming and we have the final one the 2023 2024 school district of Lee County teacher of the year recognition presented by board member Kathleen Morgan board members please join me in the pit for recognitions okay up first is joining me at the lect is the 34th annual holiday greeting card celebration winnner so Dr tomeski if you could join me sir thank you joining me at Le turn is Dr tomaseski our coordinator fine and performing arts in 1990 the superintendent Lee County Schools Dr James Adams requested high school student artwork to highlight in the district's holiday brochure we continue to highlight this tradition and showcase the artistic talents of our K through2 art students each year we request artwork from elementary middle or high school students following a three-year rotational cycle this year's
011entries were submitted from our high school programs submit Elementary oh Elementary sorry there was a typ onone here submitted entries were voted on by District staff and winners and are displayed in our lobby throughout the holiday season this year's winners have also received Gallery space at the Sydney burn Davis Art Center to Showcase their artwork when your name is called please come up to receive your certificate and join the board members and superintendent in pit for photos so first up is nah David from Allen Park Elementary School with art teacher Jennifer comperry and principal booth let leave this okay next up is Liam Paladino from Allen Park Elementary School again with Miss comperry and principal booth next up oh next up is Riley Brown from basore elementary with r teer James lefco and principal Osman
012okay next up is Ashley's Pickersgill from Gateway Elementary School with our teacher Jesse Smith as well as principal Sher Gibson okay next up is Ella Gibson from Orangewood Elementary School with our teacher Carla Gavin and principal Browder thank okay next up is Trevor price from Patriot Elementary School with art teacher Angela Johnson and principal Feliciano okay next up is y pricken from river River Hall Elementary School with our teacher Angel elza and principal pess and last but not least is Miranda Hughes from Trafalger Elementary School with art teacher Helen Garcia Valdez and principal Murphy take one time yeah joining me at the lectoring tonight is jrtc senior Army instructor instructors Lieutenant Colonel Mario Johnson congratulations to Island Coast School Raider team on becoming the 2023 2024 Zone district and state Raider Championship than when your
013name is called please come up and receive your certificate and join the board members and superintendent in the pit for the photos the Raider program at Island Coast High School features over 40 Raiders and Raider Commander Cadet Jay Adams leads the unit members of this year's team includes Shan Williams bertine venes Landon anger Antonio Snider dren fortuni Jefferson Salazar Sebastian Joseph Marcelo prenza Dominic sford Charles Peterson and lucky I'm gonna try this last name dong thank you the jrtc raer program is not only physically demanding but mentally tough and requires critical thinking students learn soft skills and they will help carry them through the life through life After High School such as attention to detail self-control discipline focus and teamwork the school board and superintendent are very pleased to recognize the island Coast High School
014Raider team under the direction of jrtc senior Army instructors Lieutenant Colonel Mario Johnson and Captain Samuel Fletcher for their success on as Zone district and state Raider Champions congratulations move the kids are taller than the mo we may have to put the board in the front m janelli closer take they do you see thank you Havey walk wait G chunk G chunk I got it okay congratulations Island Coast I would like to invite Mrs Lynn Harold executive director of leadership and professional development to please join me at the lectum join the school district of Lee County is proud to announce the formal recognition of the 2024 principal of the Year students parents and District staff were invited to nominate an outstanding principal who demonstrated Superior ability to spearhead initiatives to increase student achievement Pro promote
015safe learning environments and establish Partnerships with schools and community members through the collaborative effort of District administrators and community members a committee was created to review the written applications and select the finalists the school board and superintendent are pleased to recognize the 2024 teacher of the year Alex deser danki principal did I say principal teacher oh oh let me rephrase hold up I am so sorry oh because it says teacher I'm reading okay I can read to recognize re rewind the teacher the teacher the principal of the Year Alex dor desensi principal at hence Marsh Middle School we congratulate Dr dorski with his commitment to our students and our districts congratulations and I apologize Alex I love oh my god there the school district of Lee County is proud to announce the formal recognition of
016the 2024 assistant principal of the Year students parents and different staff were invited to nominate an outstanding assistant principal who demonstrated Superior ability to utilize teamwork leadership skills to increase student performance promote safe learning environments and establish Partnerships with parents and community members through a collaborative effort of District administrators and community members a committee was created to review the written applications and select the finalist the school board and superintendent are pleased to recognize the 2024 assistant principal of the Year Kristen Stevens assistant principal at East Lee County High School we congratulate Mrs Stevens on her commitment to our students and the district again congratulations just bring know we need like a open this the school district of Lee County is proud to announce the formal recognition of the 2024 School related employee of the year
017students parents and District staff were invited to nominate an outstanding teacher that demonstrated exceptional skill in dedication in the performance of their jobs through a collaborative effort of the support Personnel Association of Lee County District administrators and community members a committee was created to review the written applications and select the finalists the school board and superintendent are pleased to recognize the 2024 support person of the year is that where we're at yes okay it's Miss Jordan was right Miss Nora AAL instructional support person at Kusa Middle School she here awesome let me open this for you thank you thank you so much you're welcome we congratulate Miss aviz for her committed commitment to our students and to this District congratulations again yes all right one the school district of Lee County is proud to announce
018the formal recognition of the 2024 teacher of the year students parents and District staff were invited to nominate an outstanding teacher who demonstrated Superior ability to Foster excellence in education and contributed to the continuous Improvement of student learning professional growth and the school environment through a collaborative effort of the Teachers Association of Lee County District administrators community members a committee was created to review the written applications and select the finalist to be interviewed I'm just going to say one thing when she received her reward she proceeded to give an instruction that I had never seen before in her classroom and it was awesome we were all just sort of standing there going ah this is why she is such an extraordinary teacher anyway the school board and superintendent are pleased to recognize the 2024 teacher
019of the year Mrs Maria Rose teacher at Edison Park creative and expressive arts school we congratulate Mrs Rose for her commitment to our student students and our district during her 30 years of service in the school district of Lee County her students are here her students hi guys thanks for coming yes thanks for come on come oh thank you for coming yes we're so glad you're here a oh my gosh darling that's darling yeah we're going to spend a brief minute as we clear the room thank you everyone and congratulations okay thank you everyone we're going to proceed on to item e public comment Mr PRI Bruno can you please address the item of of public comment excuse me thank you very much Mr chairman good evening School Board policy provides the opportunity at this
020point 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 concerns will be addressed by the superintendent or his staff as necessary and the chair May comment as deemed appropriate at the conclusion of public comment the superintendent or board attorney may also comment if deemed appropriate the purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on District
021issues 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 an official business therefore abusive language such as cursing insults derogatory language levied against an individual or a class of people are prohibited further personal attacks such as name calling are prohibited in addition clapping hissing booing or a display of temper during public comment is prohibited speakers who fail to follow proper Decor in 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 01 69.1 and may be removed from the chambers by the Sergeant
022at Arms per board policy 01691 the time per speaker is three if there are 20 speakers 2 minutes if there are 30 speakers and 1 minute if there are 31 speakers or more the max maximum time allotted for public comment is 1 hour 60 speakers you will find a countdown on the big screens in the front of the room once your time has elapsed the microphone will automatically shut off please state your name when you approach the microphone I will call your names five speakers at a time please follow staff's Direction when lining up Mr chairman we have 11 speakers that wish to address the board this evening that's 3 minutes per speaker thank you please ensure that you have completed a public comment card to provide to provide public comment the card is a
023public record identifying those who speak and providing contact information to staff for followup the cards are located with staff in the hallway is there anyone in the audience that wishes to address the board but did not fill out a public comment card please raise your hand okay seeing none at this point attorney debris Bruno please proceed with public comment thank you very much Mr chairman will the following individuals please line up Gwen gettens meline Stewart Sam Stewart Jill Palace Denise BB good evening everyone I basically came this evening to support our principal of the year and our vice principal of the year since they both came from the East Zone don't know if you realize that and I was going to leave but I watched The Briefing this afternoon and I had to stand stand
024up and say something so however after watching The Briefing this afternoon I had to come and say thank you for giving up on the Three Oaks project a project that was proven not to be necessary even though it was a waste of time and money from the beginning I appreciate that it's done the taxpayers of Lee County I'm sure appreciate your actions finally I truly hope some of of the money saved will be put to projects in the East Zone firmly on The Five-Year Plan thank you for doing the right thing good evening what a fabulous meeting and it was so great to see all those wonderful students and teachers and administrators I'm meline Stewart I'm one of the leaders of the purple group we want you all to know that our nonpartisan group not
025affiliated with any political party or candidate has made a New Year's resolution to continue our advocacy work on behalf of the public schools in Lee County we will continue to show up stand up and speak up for student learning for parental rights and for respect for professional Educators we hope that each of you has resolved to focus your time and energy on supporting the Improvement of teaching and learning in our district legislation from the past two sessions in Tallahassee has had a profound negative effect on Lee and on districts across our state confusing bills unfunded mandates books removed and lawsuits have cast a dark shadow over our schools in Florida teachers live in fear that they that if they respond to a student's personal concerns and struggles they may lose their own license true parental
026rights to make reason decisions for their own students are pushed aside by a small group who want to make decisions for for all parents students are marginalized by misunderstanding and stigma is this any way to run an educational Enterprise is this any way to prepare young people to become active participating members in our multiethnic Multicultural democracy we the voters ask you as though as as those who are entrusted with the education of our future students to scrutinize each of the education bills that are brought forward please ask yourselves what are the implications for our schools if this becomes law how will these requirements help our schools provide a worldclass education if you in in good conscience as a person whose goal it is to do what is best for the education of all student students
027and not someone with a narrow partisan political agenda if you think the bill will be harmful we ask you to push back as hard as you were able you are the leaders of our County Schools you are the leaders we have elected to represent us if you are afraid to stand up for your convictions how can our children thank you I'm Sam Stewart and I'm just proud to be here you know this is the 80th anniversary of dday and my 88th year and so I very proud to be here and I'm proud to be able to talk to you about the importance and the significance and importance of providing teachers with the resources necessary to elevate student achievement because we all know that the success of our students depends on the success of our teachers
028we also know that not all successful teachers are born teachers teaching is hard work as I'm sure Sam knows from a book I provided him a while ago teaching is very hard work and so the effectiveness of Educators is very it's imperative so the challenges that our students face in reaching higher levels we want to provide them with those resources this includes the important resources are I got ahead of myself the important resource includes access to professional development resources and the opportunity to to observe other successful teachers observing teaching is a great way to learn to teach and teachers don't get enough time to do that they also don't get enough time to talk about how they've done and to get constructive feedback about that so in your busy schedule I'm just urging you to
029provide the resources to allow this kind of activity so that teachers can observe and learn from each other and by providing these resources we're not only investing in our teachers but also in the future success of our students research has consistently demonstrated that when teachers are adequately supported student achievement Source The whatw Works project in in princeon New Jersey it's a project develop it's a place called Mathematica it's an organization loaded with Economist and what they do is sift through all the research to find out where the achievement is and then what are the factors that lead to that achievement and more and more they come to the success the effectiveness of the teachers so I'm urging you to think about that and consider the transform transformative power of providing our Educators with a resources
030they need let us Empower them to inspire educate and Elevate the students to new heights of achievement together let us commit to providing our teachers with all these resources support and opportunities they deserve thereby ensuring that every student in our district thank you sir thank you sir will the following individuals please line up Joanne desel Ray closen Victoria Davenport Marge Cox good evening my name is Jill pelis Le schools received a B rating again this year and I feel we need to do better by our children yet due to our politicians in Tallahassee we're wasting time and we're wasting money pulling books off shelves and rewriting curriculum because a few parents feel uncomfortable I respectfully urge each of the board members to advocate for all stud students by personally contacting legislators to make them aware
031that their senseless policies are creating fear failure and Chaos in our schools I cast no blame on teachers or administrators they're trying desperately to address student needs while maneuvering thoughtless new laws and fearing reprisals instead of focusing on teaching and learning teachers spend costly hours and thousands of taxpayer dollars on unfunded mandates there's a direct correlation between effective instructional classroom and learning the resources in student learning yet 88,000 books pulled from classrooms last summer are still waiting to be assessed and approved classroom libraries provide relevant meaningful curriculum-based opportunities that expand learning the more children read the better they get at it put all the books back let kids choose what they want to read and reading achievement will improve student attendance is declining children can't learn if they're not in school but maybe some of
032the absences are due to the elimination of daycare bus stops many parents are at work during bus times and they have to choose between missing work or going without pay or keeping older children home to walk the younger siblings to the stops instead of wasting thousands of dollars on senseless book reviews why don't we redirect those funds to rein State daycare stops maybe kids are feeling disengaged due to limitations on what teachers can and cannot discuss with them when Educators fear termination for teaching facts and addressing student needs kids notice they become disenfranchised feeling unheard unseen and they stay home there are lots of teacher vacancies this year our teachers feeling threatened teachers are the most important factor in student learning we need to nurture and r Ain them distractions are the modus operand of
033extremists their intentions are to restrict and manipulate teachers administrators and parents please tell legislators to stop the bedum and let schools focus on teaching and learning thank you Denise Sly happy New Year here we go again first I just want to start off with I have a packet here of graphs and another thing about the minutes from the Lee County School from the Lee County Board County Commissioners about their about water and sewer and all that kind of stuff also there's a thing here about how many students are in ALA for the 2020 census and then I've got here a petition for 326 opposed to the NN in high school in ALA I speak for all of them as my I do myself so I will be giving this to you so I hope you
034all look at it I've G sent you hundreds of emails I think I'm about at the 100 Mark now so I'm here in hopes that you would agree to the alternative site at 201 Joe Boulevard for nnn high school I emailed all you an article from leh highacre citizen dated February 2022 in which Mrs janelli is quoted in related to that property is quoted in related to that property Miss G and then read reasons why it would be a better location Miss janelli quote in article is as follows I support this and a and a complete a 50 acre parcel it's a great location I'm excited for Lehi quote unquote Mr yanelli it is requested that the school board hold a meeting between yourselves a workshop and discuss this before phase one goes any farther
035that money can be transitioned to this location nothing to date has been accomplished with phase one current currently beyond the survey and that is confirmed by Dr Malloy Dr berer said this can be brought to a halt at any time I think it's time before it goes any farther especially in light that the Lee County School District budget of $2.3 billion was cut in half after you approved and voted for phase one as stated in previous emails and a board meetings to build an ala will cost an existential amount above the 140 million to build the school it's just common sense the I mean there's just so many issues with building there that can save the taxpayers so much money I wish I could go on and on about this you know per the commissioner
036Wayne it is now doubl or more to build the infrastructure for sewer and water dis discussion of raising sales taxes and property taxes for infrastructure in roads and bridges county is absent of mitigation credits needed for expansion of infrastructure projects thank you're I'm going to hand this hand it over there man thank you thank you hi there my name is Joan Dell I'm very proud to be a school bus driver here for Lee County and I thank you all for the opportunity to speak to you earlier this year you gave us all an 8% raise which is awesome thank you very much we really appreciate that I do have one concern with the way that it was implemented and I'm going to read to you just two sentences from our contract the spout contract first
037of all on page 46 regular rate of pay in parentheses hourly rate increase all eligible employees will receive an increase in base rate of pay in parenthesis hourly rate of 8% effective July 1st 2023 so again regular rate of pay hourly rate of pay and regular rate of pay hourly rate of pay and base rate of pay are all three used in that sentence interchangeably they're all the same thing apparently then when we go to page 33 of our contract overtime all authorized work performed in excess of 40 hours in any one week shall be considered overtime and shall be paid at the overtime rate of one and one half times the employes regular rate of pay which to me it seems very clear that the overtime rate of pay should be always be one
038and a half times what the base rate of pay is right that's there's nothing ambiguous about that however our payroll department was instructed to make our pay increase on our regular rate of pay effect of July the 1 but they were instructed not to increase our overtime rate of pay until November the 16th I have no idea where the date November the 16th came from it's not when the contract was signed it was after the contract was signed but someone somewhere determined that we shouldn't get paid overtime effective on July the 1st the same time that our B our base rate of pay went up I don't understand this I can tell you it's done a terrible thing for morale among myself and my co-workers they don't understand it some people people have called it
039stealing from us I'm not saying that some people have called it dishonest some people have called it a dirty trick we don't understand why it happened and I've been told that it was the school board's decision to do this I hope I sincerely hope that's not true I hope this was some kind of mistake or oversight and you're going to do something about it because if it wasn't I really just don't think it was a very honor honorable thing to do and I think you're sending a bad message regarding Integrity within our organization and whether or not people can be trusted when we relate to one another and we deal with one another I always feel integrity and character is very important I don't lie to the people I work with I try to treat
040everybody the way that I want to be treated and that's all I'm asking thank you all for your time my name is Ray clayon and I live in North Fort Meyers my children went to lead district schools and I now have five grandchildren in lead district schools I'm wondering how many here assembled believe Escambia County schools did the right thing by yanking the dictionary and other reference books from their Library shelves I can't even I can't even believe I can't even believe I'm I'm I'm saying that of course the joke is I can't find words to express my outrage but actually I did find a few words and get where I found them how about incomprehensible how about moronic and wait how about a word that sums up the whole book Banning experience how about
041censorship oh wait a minute I can hear somebody saying well maybe the dictionary went too far but some books do deserve to be banned how about to kill a mockingbird Lord of the Flies slaughterhouse 5 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Catch 1984 what do these books have in common it's not pornography what these books have in common is that they challenge the reader to think to see the world and the complicated issues there in from a different perspective you know in 1984 I taught 1984 and my students and I never imagined the stuff George Orwell warned us about authoritarianism rewriting history book Banning would be happening in our free Democratic secular society 40 years down the road I have to ask when does the craziness stop when do we stand up and say enough book
042Banning is unamerican it's not what we do in our society we are about freedom of expression freedom to read not censorship disguised as parental rights but thankfully this is not a scambia county thankfully our board has taken a more deliberate reasoned approach to these issues thank you will the following individuals please line up Sergio Cruz Dr Shirley Chapman good evening I'm Mar Cox I live in Bonita Springs I'm a retired library media specialist and I want to say first of all how wonderful it was to see the opening tonight and as I watch the people being celebrated for being the best in their category whatever it was I know they also represent hundreds of others who are doing a great job too and we have so much to be proud of in Lee County and
043as the leaders you take some of that responsibility and Glory as well for getting those people in place yay you I also wanted to share tonight some reading research I know without a doubt from the other meetings I've attended you all believe reading is important I don't think that's the issue how do we support but I wanted to give you some research so when somebody says to you yeah but how much difference does it really make about books you can respond with some facts not just an emotional response but some facts way back in 2012 ASC published an article by Richard Allington every child every day and the first thing he said was every child needs to read something he or she chooses now that assumes that he or she has access to books in
0442015 the scholastic kids and family reading report said that research shows that giving our students a say in what they read is key again assuming they've got access in 2023 the psychological medicine Journal said that an interesting part of the study is that the researcher not only had test results and parent reports but brain Imaging data explaining the link between early reading and better test scores and mental well-being in 20124 school library Journal said reading with young children is a vocabulary building experience it also said research tells us that loving books is a key to love them they have to see them they have to get their hands on them and so that research I believe backs the fact that our School classrooms need to have books in them I know they are they have
045worked hard to get from the thousands of books to fewer thousands of books but that doesn't yet provide the books that our kids need to have in front of them and have easy access to and books that they relate to that show their lives and so I'm just here tonight to say thank you for all you've done thank you to the curriculum Department that is working hard to get through the thousands of books that are left but we need to encourage them to keep on keeping on and so I want to encourage you to encourage them that we indeed need to keep the fight up to keep books in kids' hands and where they can get to them easily thank you for your time tonight good evening my name is Sergio Cruz and I'm a
046parent ESC and disability Advocate I read once that real compassion requires action and the more I advocate for policy change and for a culture shift I feel as though sometimes true words have never been spoken so what is my ask well I came tonight to advocate for a critical Endeavor that I believe holds the key to the continued advancement of our District's Miss and educational system and that's the approval and initiation of conducting another District level best practice for inclusive education assessment or bpy assessment for short currently by Statute the district is only required to conduct the assessment at minimum every 3 years however are encouraged to conduct as many as needed as the assessment is intended to operate as a living breathing document to be monitored and maintained while the district did conduct their
047assessment last spring it is essential that we undertake this assessment once again to address potential data gaps and ensure the representation of genuine stakeholders in our decision-making processes data is the backbone of informed decision- making our previous bpy assessments have provided valuable Insight but it's crucial to acknowledge the possibility of gaps in the current data set a renewed assessment will allow us to delve deeper ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the stengths and areas that require Improvement within our inclusive education practices the assessment can even be conducted in only one day data alone cannot paint the full picture though we must also emphasize meaningful representation from genuine stakeholders particularly parents from all three subclasses that are identified within the bpy assessment their firsthand experiences are invaluable and shaping policies that imp impact the lives of our
048students by fostering an environment where parents feel heard and included we strengthen the foundation of our commitment to inclusive education moreover as we embark on this assessment let us pay special attention to some of the most vulnerable students who may not be adequately looked after within our current framework the bpy assessment should serve as a lens through which we identify and address the unique needs of these students ensuring that our inclusive practices are not only comprehensive but also sensitive to the diverse challenges they may face in summary I urge the school board and superintendent to Champion this cause the cause of inclusive education through a renewed bpy assessment by addressing data gaps fostering meaningful representation and prioritizing the needs of our most vulnerable students we strengthen our commitment to providing a quality education that leaves
049no child behind together let us reaffirm our dedication to the principles of inclusive education that form the Bedrock of a thriving and Equitable education system I also wanted to inform that I did leave my phone number and email address and I try to be as legible as I could for any of those board members that did show intention to want to reach out to me for maybe some of the advisory comedians so thank you for your time you guys have a great night good evening anything worth doing is worth doing well children my name is Shirley Chapman children don't care what you know until they know you care I was thinking I've been a little sad ever since the last voting that took place and now we're going to be electing the superintendent that made
050me sad and then after I kind of got past that I was thinking about some of the decisions that have been made with Dr berer and his top two guys that he bought in well lady and gentlemen and I've been very pleased with some positive things that I've seen going on at the various schools and with some of the decisions that were made as far the as far as hiring now I'm back to the same thing and I know you're tired of hear hearing about it and I'm tired of having to say it but we do need a middle school in the dumball community that will service the black and brown students so we're just going to continue to keep that on the Forefront and ask if you would please consider and I was thinking
051well where as I rode through the community and I said well it could work once Franklin Park is not across from James Stevens anymore and it's back over in its regular place I thought that would be a good place right across from James Stevens we would love to have a middle school in our community we need to have a middle school in our community we would appreciate very much your cooperation and I'm standing representing the NAACP president called me on the way to this meeting to say please get up and mention about needing the midle school so that's what I've done again this time and I'm hoping that we will eventually end up with the Middle School in that dumbar community and we'd be most grateful if we can help in any way please let
052us know we'll be more than willing to do so thank you thank you thank you Victoria Davenport Victoria Davenport thank you Mr chairman that concludes public comment thank you attorney debris Bruno Dr berer and attorney debris Bruno is there anything you wish to address regarding public comment Mr chair if I may I believe there are a couple of things that I think we should address and one is to thank the speakers who recognize our amazing teachers and Educators we talked a little bit about that this afternoon is our closing of the briefing we talked about the information that we know about teachers in the classroom is they are the number one impactor of student achievement followed by an effective building leader so I thank you for recognizing their efforts and their work because we need
053to do even a better job of continuing to recognize the amazing work that they do and to some of the comments this evening specifically on their impact to a child's ability and desire to read clearly the challenges of today's classroom environment are real but recognizing the hard work of this board to be reasonable in its approach is also well intentioned and appreciated lastly I would ask Mr Stewart to say thank you for your service I know you were not there at D-Day but it is important to know that this year is the 80th anniversary of that invasion in the turn of a very particular difficult History of the World I think we should also address the bus driver that came to speak much like our other employees bus drivers are vital if you think about
054it they're the first person they see every morning and the last person they see every afternoon they can make or break a child's day just by opening the door and thinking about how they receive those individuals I can tell you that the board has no hidden agenda with its bus drivers I can tell you also that this is a matter of Union negotiation and we need to be careful about how we respond but I would ask bus drivers to speak to their Union leadership we have kept open Dialogue on a monthly basis with our spal Union and we continue to address this issue of overtime 8% was the offer put on the table for our bus drivers that 8% could be U could have been utilized in various ways when the union bargained they bargained
055an 8% General salary increase there was no discussion at the time of overtime but we will reopen in March and we will have some conversations I don't know just to correct an issue and I will get additional information I don't know of any November 16th date that bus driver mentioned regarding overtime coming part of the payroll process I will confirm that with the budget and finance and payroll department tomorrow and get back to you via that opportunity as for triple N I look forward to Mrs Eberly always to the information that you provide us I think it's incredibly important Mr Cruz we will continue our dialogues both with me personally and with my Deputy superintendent and if I believe I'm not leaving anybody out I would like to also thank Dr Chapman for her test
056testimony again regarding the middle school and the dunar community we've just recently approved a 10-year plan but with the board's effort and some other examination we can continue to look and bring forward to a workshop if that's the board's pleasure so thank you Mr chair for being able to respond to the comments this evening welcome attorney de Bri Bruno I have no comments thank you Mr chairman okay thank you thank you Dr rer for addressing that again as always I truly want to thank everyone and I know this board appreciates everyone that comes out and speaks whether it's once whether it's 20 times we appreciate that's what we're here to do so you know once's you know Dr Chapman thank you Miss eel thank you so we truly mean that it's important I also want
057to take a point of personal privilege in regards to Miss dentel I believe the school bus driver I know Dr berer went into the specifics but I do want you to know thank you for speaking up we're listening and that's important that's part of that process so I want to continue encouraging our district to do that so I want to thank you for doing that so okay at this point now we're going to move on to item n which is approval of action items under consent the documentation for Action items listed under consent is made made available to board members seven business days prior to the board meeting we're expected to review all the material and we have an opportunity to speak with the superintendent with any questions we may have regarding the recommendations some
058of these items also 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 the unfinished business or table items portion of the agenda we will start with Mrs juven Elli I have none thank you Miss Patria no thank you Miss Jordan I have none thank you Mr persons I have none Miss lenford Fleming I have none Miss Morgan I have none thank you and I sorry about that and I have none is there a motion to approve the agenda consent action items tonight I motion to approve tonight's consent items do we have a second a second okay moved by Miss Langford Fleming and seconded by Miss Jordan please record your vote okay motion passes 70
059on the consent agenda thank you moving on is there any administrators you'd like to welcome tonight Dr berer members of the board Mr chair we have one administrative appointment we'd like to recognize tonight that is Edith Stiller who will begin her new position is the coordinator in operations beginning tomorrow congratulations edth there's a lot of work to do in Ops and we appreciate what you've been doing already and how you'll continue to help support that division moving forward thank you congratulations and enjoy this night with your family moving on to next item o on the agenda is the Lee County school board lease Incorporation meeting we will now take a recess from the regular school board Action meeting to attend to this matter the time is 7:18 p.m. so I'm going to call at this
060the order of business call to order as president of the Lee County Schoolboard leasing Corporation I'd like to call this meeting of the Lee County Schoolboard lease incorporation of January 23rd 2024 to order the time is 7:19 p.m. this evening's agenda includes public comment two secretaries recommendations good to the order other business and adjournment directors the president will entertain a motion to adopt the agenda Miss Jordan I move to adopt the agenda as written is there a second I second it okay the motion had to adopt the agenda has been made by Miss Jordan and seconded by Mr persons this will be a roll call vote all those in favor signifying by saying I yes and those opposed please signify by saying no nay okay first up Miss juven II yes Miss Patria yes please
061Miss Jordan I Mr persons I miss lenford Fleming I miss Morgan I and I'm an i motion carries 70 attorney de attorney depri Bruno please address the matter of public comment at this time Mr president there is no one who has signed up for public comment okay okay moving on to secretary's recommendations we will now ask Dr berer for your recommendation please yes sir the first recommendation this evening is the approval of the minutes of the last Lee County School Board leasing Corporation meeting held on March 28 2023 okay directors you've heard the secr secretary's recommendation to approve the minutes of the last Lee County Schoolboard lease incorporation meeting held on March 28th 2023 I will now entertain a motion Mr persons I make a motion to approve the minutes of the last leasing board
062do we have a second I'll second Morgan okay motion moved by Mr person second by Miss Morgan do we have any discussion okay at this moment this will be again a roll call vote please all those in favor signify by saying I yes those opposed by saying nay first up Miss juven yes Miss Patria yes please Miss Jordan I Mr persons I Miss lford Fleming I miss Morgan I and I'm an i motion carries 70 on the minutes Dr berer please State your recommendation for item two second recommendation this evening Mr chair members of the board is the approval of the organizational resolution of the Lee County School Board leasing Corporation for the election of the officers I will not entertain a motion Mr persons I make a motion to approve the organizational for the
063leasing Corporation we have a second a second it motion moveed by Mr persons seconded by Miss Jordan is there any discussion seeing no discussion this will be again a roll call vote all those favor in favor signify by saying I yes those opposed pleas by saying no or nay Miss juven Elli yes Miss Patria yes please M Jordan I Mr persons I miss Langford Fleming I miss Morgan I and I'm an i motion carries 70 we'll now move to good to the order other business please note that comments may only be made in Your Capacity as directors or officers the corporation do we have any comments Miss juven Elli okay Miss patrika no thank you Miss Jordan I have none thank you Mr persons I just have one when they were talking about removing all
064the books from the teachers libraries yeah we're we're on the Corp I apologize any on the leasing Corp do you have any on the leasing Corp thank you Mr person Miss Langford Fleming I have none Miss Morgan I have none Dr berer no sir and I have none at this point having no other business to come before this body and seeing no objection this meeting of the Lee County Schoolboard Le and Corporation is now adjourned the time is 7:23 p.m. okay now we're going to move on to item R which is public hearings Dr berer please present your recommendation for this evening's public hearing item and the public hearing item R1 is the approval to adopt new and revised board policies in compliance with the changes and related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best
065practice and promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be January 24 2024 okay we'll now recess the Schoolboard meeting and open the public hearing the time is 7:23 p.m. as indicated the public hearing this evening is to consider Dr Bern's recommendation as previously stated at this time the public will be invited to speak on this one item for public hearing the time allotted for public comment is 3 minutes is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding the approval to adopt the new and revised board policies in compliance with changes and related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practice and promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be January 24th 2024 okay starting off we will go down to the 2000s
066for program policy 2431 do we have anyone that wishes to make a comment on said item is that are you making a comment oh sorry about that okay saying none moving on chapter 5,000 students is there anyone that wishes to make comment on the policies contained under the 5,000 sections in the audience I'm seeing none moving on chapter 6000 finances does anyone in the crowd wish to make public comment on these policies seeing none chapter 8,000 operations anyone in the audience wishing to make public comment on the said topic seeing none okay next up any comment on the new policy civility conduct of parents Guardians viser and staffs affecting chapters 1,000 3,000 4,000 and 9,000 do we have anyone the audience wishing to make public comment in this hearing on said items okay seeing none
067I will now close the public hearing and reconvene the Schoolboard meeting of January 23rd 2024 the time is 7:25 p.m. Dr berer please restate your recommendation for this evening's public hearing item the public hearing item is R1 approval to adopt new and rev Bo new and revised board policies in compliance with the changes and related rules regulation and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be January 24 2024 you have heard the superintendent's recommendation that the board approved to adopt the new and revised board policies and compliance with changes in relative rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability the effect date of this adoption shall be January 24th 2024 board members is there motion to approve Miss Jordan I
068move to approve and adopt the new and revised board policies do we have a second I'll second Morgan okay move by Miss Jordan second by Miss Morgan is there any discussion on these policies board members okay seeing none at this point we're going to go ahead and please record your vote there we go okay motion motion carries 70 Dr berer or attorney debris Bruno is there anything you wish to address regarding the public hearing no sir no thank you Mr chairman thank you okay now moving on to good of the order and other business board member comments and reports and I promise not to mess this up this time so we'll first go to our student representative Mr Williams so please go ahead sir good afternoon everybody I first like to thank you all for
069having me if I find this a great honor to be able to talk before the school board today but I just had some things i' like to say for comment and some critiques and some things I love about the school district first I've been a part of the school district since 2012 and I came in as a kindergartener and I've seen that the school district has offered many opportunities for students such as in elementary school you have many opportunities such as Odyssey of the mind and you have many competitions and as you grow up in Middle School you have more chances to have electives and have great classes that you never thought you would have based on TV programs you watch as a child for example when I was in I went to Paul Lawrence
070Dumar middle school and when I was in sixth grade I could take culinary arts and I think that was very helpful for me I was also able to take Health classes and I was able to take computer classes and that really helped me cuz I never thought I need to be able to type but when I took computer classes I was forced to type and then coming in the high school especially into the IB program as I am at for Myers High I think it's it's very important and I think those are great things that yall have and even as you go up in the high school many schools have acmy and other programs that you're able to offer and I think that's very important for people that may not want to go to college
071but may want to be computer Majors or may want to do vocation studies like we have the boat program at our school I thank you for approving that and I think it's very helpful another thing I would say in the past few years our communication with students and parents has been very helpful there's been a lot more emails not only to just parents but also the students which can show what the school district is thinking and how they're understanding and I love the communication even though a lot of people may not look at it but it's very helpful many me and many of my friends can see what you guys are thinking and what the wellness Wednesday topic can be like it is tomorrow I think it's very helpful and like District wins and the
072district hits newsletter that you sits I always look at it cuz I like to see what's going on with other people and sometimes I can see my friends that I've grown up with and do see what they're doing cuz sometimes you don't hear about it and I think that's very helpful some things that I think could be improved though I would think would be foreign language education I when I was asked to do this by my assistant principal I asked some of my friends what things they would want and I thought about them as well as what I wanted and one thing we could all consider is that we were all struggling in Spanish class but I'm not I wouldn't say I'm very like proficient in Spanish but I do like it and I think
073it's very important that we have it and I think that we should extend this from just starting in middle school cuz in middle school a lot you don't have the opportunity to really get deep with it especially because of the schedule and it's Middle School nobody's really taking it seriously but even in high school you need that you need to have a second language I've seen studies where they say it's helps your brain development and helps you to be a critical thinker and for certain programs you need a foreign language credit and I think that it would be important to start this earlier such as an elementary school I think that would help kids to learn it and they say it's easier to learn a foreign language when it's taught to you at an earlier
074age so I don't know if that would be feasible but I think it would be important to try and strive to bring into curriculum in elementary school and another thing another thing of point that I like to bring up is extracurricular activities Not Just Sports but clubs a lot of times people at our school we only have really two or three days to do clubs Wednesday we can't do it because there's normally teacher faculty meetings and other teacher meetings and Fridays there's always in this in the fall there's a football game and if not then other people don't want to come up because it's Friday everybody wants to go home and that just leaves us with Monday Tuesday and Thursday and I can tell you Tuesday and Thursday are the busiest days of the week
075after school like today I had three clubs today I had to go to a service Club I had to go to interact Club then I had to go to mock trial then I had to go to ban and I think to alleviate that just as we have Wellness Wednesdays I think it would be useful if we had kind of a club day every like once every month on a specific day where we could carve out time in high schools and maybe even middle schools for people to have clubs I know as a freshman it's hard to get a ride and especially my mom can attest in the audience it's hard sometimes when you can't trust people on the road sometimes so I'd have to have I'd have to ask my grandparents and other stuff and
076some people they don't have that option to secure a ride from school cuz we don't have activity buses in high school and I know that's something you can't really change but I think it's very I think it would be very useful if we had some type of Club allocation in school just for 30 minutes or an hour every month and that could help people that can't go home or if they don't have a ride home or people that just have a very hectic schedule you could have people that we could have us as students go around and participate in various clubs throughout that time and I think that would be very important cuz clubs are very vital to get in the college and it's very vital part of the high school curriculum I spoke at
077my High School open house about extracurriculars it is the backbone of every High School like clubs are the most important thing that we have besides curriculum and besides what you're learning but clubs are what bring the school in the focus in the community and clubs are also what is what makes high school enjoyable for many people so I think having that option would be very helpful and I thank you for listening and that's all I have for you guys thank you Mr Williams that was fantastic and it's going to be tough for all of us to follow after that so thank you so moving on to Miss juven comment or for good of order first of all thank you I just can you stay up here I you can have my seat actually U mom
078you should be very proud you're an amazing young man thank you for that I will quick because it's we had a long day earlier I just wanted to thank the teacher of the year Mrs Rose the principal and assistant of the year and the employee of the year I just I it was an honor to to recognize them tonight and I just wanted to let everybody know that stastics is feu I'm this is going to be my PSA every till then but two on February 10th from 10 to 2 everybody's invited to to tastics at the clusa sound so it's I know Miss Morgan's been numerous times in Miss Jordan but it's it's a great a little vet to pop in for a few hours and see what the kids are up to these days
079and then the very next day is the junior parade which is the 11th and then the night parade the grand parade is on the 17th at the same time as the night parade is also the Edison fairs science fair and aventor fair which is at FGCU this year and so I won't be able to attend that this will be why like my first year not because it conflicts with my schedule but so I'm hoping others can attend that so and I just want to thank everybody for the conversation today about three CU I that was really important for me and I think for the community because I know processes are important and I feel like we weren't quite transparent in some of this process of that and in the surus LAN and then when land
080doesn't sell and we there's a lot more that's opened my eyes to this as well and I think that we have we can do better about the processes of that and especially when L we signed we think we've signed a contract that L's going to sell and then when in fact deals fall through we're not aware so there's got to be a better accountability for that's going to be really important and you know I'm probably going to ride you really hard on that Dr berer but I wanted to say thank you Dr berer for bringing it up today in the Bri I it was really important and I really love that opportunity was there instead of having it that conversation this evening because it would have cons consumed our evening so I just really want
081to say how appreciative I am of that and that is really it I do want to leave it was mentioned I know I do want to say something the bus driver mentioned something about the Schoolboard making a decision on something on on how they didn't get get paid or how when when they're getting paid that was not the school board doesn't make that did not make that decision so I hope that can get clarified and get a little Clarity with the other bus drivers and in the transportation department and I also would like for you to talk a little more in depth this evening regarding you know book Banning and what Lee County is doing or not doing because I don't believe we're Banning books and I think our process is very well thought out
082and the opport Unity is there for anyone that doesn't like a book they can bring it forward and we have a process in place that will determine if that's a book that needs to stay on the shelf or not and I will just leave with this one little note because something was mentioned about success of students to me the success of students is the success of our community so I will strive really hard to make sure that our community will be successful because we have great kids coming out of it and great teachers and staff educating them so thank you thank you Miss juven Elli Miss Patria Thank You Cher prer I will person at our next Action meeting in two weeks but I do want to say Mr Williams was that our student representative's
083name yes Mr Williams for president thank you for being here tonight young man those are my comments thank you yes thank you Miss Patria Miss Jordan okay I just have a few things shanar thank you so much for being here I really appreciate what your comments were especially with the language because all of my grandkids have been forced to take it in middle school because of their parents so I just want you to know that and where I came from up North they did take it in elementary school because it was easier so and that's really important to get a lot of that stuff out of the way before you get to high school so you have time for clubs and thank you for bringing the voices of the other students to us because that's
084really important for us to hear what what they have to say and what you have to say so thank you for sharing that with us I want to apologize to Alex horen Marsh Middle Middle School principal of the year I was just reading it and I just need to apologize because in my head I knew that he was the principal but I read teacher so I just wanted to give him a shout out again and I'm really excited because I did watch all of the people that we that came today and we honored I watched their oneon-one with Rob spicker and it was so great the words that they used and when I'm listening to that it's like this is why they are who they are so it made me really feel good of who
085we are as a district Dr Chapman I hear you I got I got it in my head I got you it's it's written down so thank you for always coming and thank you for your Advocate advocating constantly appreciate you and our bus drivers again thank you for speaking to on that Dr Dr B and M janelli and I just want to share real quick yesterday I had an opportunity to go to a Cub Scout Troop troop 3300 to speak to them because they had to to speak to an elected official in order to get their badge and the questions that they were asking is to us and they wanted me to bring it and share is how come they cannot have a hoodie because they allowed to wear hats on their head out on recess
086who keeps taking our recess back we they keep eliminating it or cutting it down and why do we only have 20 minutes to eat so I said I would definitely bring that back to everyone but they had a lot of questions they wanted to know which was the most hated subject which I could not answer that so I asked them I turned it back on them which became a whole another conversation but it was really great to to be a part of that night invited them all to come in and if they really want to see people in action come to a board meeting so that's all I have to say and I think today we had a great meeting and thank you thank you m Jordan Mr persons yes first I want to give
087a shout out to Interfaith Charities down in the Estero area they have a great food pantry and during the summer they give out food to the children with as one of our providers for the district but then they started a story hour reading stories to the kids and they're coming along really really well and they told me to thank Dr berer for letting some of our staff help organize that situation the one thing that was mentioned back staying on reading was that we took all the books away from the libraries of the teachers especially the elementary teachers where they need to the kids need the books the most but in reality we gave every single elementary teacher in the district 120 brand new books for their Library so I think they're okay and then they'll
088be getting their books back once they've been sorted through and approved and I know that's an ongoing process many already have their books back but that's just wanted the public to know that's how our district is handling that thank you that's all I have thank you Mr person Miss Langford Fleming first of all she's being very quiet about it but happy birthday to our Miss tanelli birthday happy birthday she said she's not celebrating but we're still going to make it a point to wish you one a well one I had an opportunity this meet this week to meet one-on-one with Miss Lisha Roy she is part of our health department she's done such a great job with the gardens Etc across the whole district and she threw all these schools at me that wanted one
089and she's continuing to get emails so since I am part of the health and wellness committee I wanted to just reiterate one more time how activities in clubs such as really get kids engaged and excited so let's continue to do so and if there are principles or APS that want these Gardens at their schools I know that they are there to be had you just have to reach out congratulations to again all of our award recipients tonight and this evening we I just lost it on my screen there it is we approved something tonight that's sort of a partnership with the rotary we have on piggyback on what you had mentioned we have so many great organizations in Lee County that's willing to partner with the school district and I just want to publicly say
090thank you for doing that rotary Chamber of Commerce pace for girls Community Cooperative Valerie's house Boy Scouts Girl Scouts and I know that the district is very appreciative of all this there's I know there's many many more you young man are going to be incredibly successful are you an 11th grader yeah oh yes ma' so Mr Williams went to school with my son at Allen Park and then they went on to Paul laen sunbar and he his favorite class was culinary so it's funny that you brought that up clubs and organizations you are incred you are spoton those are the things that are going to continue to keep our kids excited and engaged to come to school every day we know we have to teach them a second language as we should we know we
091have to teach reading and science and social studies and hit and hit those benchmarks but to be able to have that vent and to get to know friends outside of those areas is incredibly important so thank you for bringing that up and I absolutely love and charge the superintendent with getting with our schools about a day of clubs I love it I don't know if it can be in a month cuz we have a lot of stuff to cover but maybe every quarter a day of clubs I just I love that idea that's great best quote of the night children don't care what you know until they know you care right absolutely I'm going to put that in my office thank you thank you Miss Langford Fleming Miss Morgan yeah I have several things first
092of all Finance advisory met last week and a couple of things came up that I wanted to bring forward first of all the question again about our budget documents and where they appear and how access how accessible POS they are and the comment was made at Finance advisory that they are part of the minutes and I still feel strongly when you look at other school districts they are putting financial documents out there as Standalone financial documents and I've spoken to both Dr berer and Attorney D Bruno I think we need to do something that it makes it that information more accessible to the public the other thing they brought up because the members of the public regarding nnn Denise Everly and some others were at the finance advisory committee meeting and the question that the
093committee asked was well don't we have a facility advisory committee and I thought well no we don't the only time facilities go before an advisory committee is edac when we're acquiring or or selling property and I'm not sure that we need to create another committee but I think given the am amount of money that's being spent and the number of facilities were involved in developing managing Etc perhaps within Finance advisory we ought to be paying more attention to facilities so just throwing that out there let's see oh I'm going to ask the board to support me in my request for Gant charts which are project management tools schs for the new schools under construction Bayshore a Cypress Lake Franklin Park Bonita and nnn I would like to us to be able to see where we
094are with each department with respect to moving through these projects from a timeline point of view from a responsibility and accountability point of view I'm not sure that this is something we need long term but I think short term it's important particularly again given the comments that were made in finance the finance advisory committee by the folks representing ala we really need to know where we are on nnn and we need to know what we've invested in it and where we are in the timeline so I would like to see that I sent you all an email saying I was going to make a motion to reconsider I've been advised by the board attorney I can't do that so the question is why am I making a motion to reconsider and of course I wrote
095some notes up and now I'm going to have to enter so the reason I wanted to bring forward a motion to reconsider was because I was led to understand that I could change my vote on the Bay Shore decision the motion that was put forward by Mr persons last at the last meeting I feel and and I'm going to read this so I don't get lost in my 11 years on the board I have only twice regretted votes votes that were intended to be in the best interest of students but were made in haste votes that by means of their adoption undermined the leadership team and created the perception that best interest satisfied outside adopted Norms are okay one might argue the case for violating a norm for an urgent matter or an emergency situation
096but that wasn't the case with respect to bashore on the sixth for the members of the public the board took a public action on a high-profile decision that reflected poorly in my opinion on the integrity on our integrity as a leadership team a decision that I will propose we discuss in masterboard training as an opportunity consider how we are performing as an effective board and high performing board first the board sought to overwrite a recommendation of the superintendent during an action meeting legally permissible but incredibly poor judgment and execution especially given prior absent prior notice to board members and the superintendent the board then proceeded to direct the superintendent and staff to provide information on the Fly for an amendment to the recommendation a reasonable request for ad adequate time to prepare prepare a well-considered
097response the board request was denied I saw an undeserved rebuke of the superintendent an unprecedented board attempt to insert itself in operational and finance processes and capricious statements about District planning and management execution secondly the board took a major decision oops took a major decision for an in violation of its protocol a protocol that suggested one day's notice giving board and staff adequate notice of the board member intent to recommend an action for board approval and sta staff action though it was argued that the matter was urgent in fact it was not as was made clear by staff responses to questions about the timeliness of implementing change instead we acted not as a deliberative body we pledged to be but acted rationally rash rashly using Children's best interest as the excuse children's best interest that
098could as easily been met by postponing action to a subsequent meeting as requested by two board members and really needed by staff the board is supposed to be the district leadership Exemplar leaders below us in the organization watch how we conduct our business and make decisions when we excuse violations of our own protocol we lower expectations of those watching us who see high quality decision-making processes willfully violated when they watch us use specious re reasoning for violating our protocol we are seen as unaccountable for meeting our own expectations good decisions can come from good governance and bad governance decision the latter bodill for future decision-making and I say all of this knowing perfectly well we would have made exactly the same decision 2 weeks later and there would have been no issue other than the
099fact that we were facing par a significant number of parents that evening when we did masterboard training we were rightly proud of where we registered on the spectrum of board performance closer to norming than storming we no longer in my opinion enjoy a common Mutual understanding of our work as a governance team so therefore we need to have an honest conversation about our deliberation on the bayor motions and I ask that we in our next Master board training review our actions in this case and those are my comments for this evening thank you thank you Miss Morgan Miss sorry he was falling under Mr Stevens I think every yeah everyone as I said has has said it all I mean we've kind of joked that maybe perhaps you could be a future School Board member
100even superintendent so what you said we really appreciate was very thoughtful and was very deliberate so thank you for that so the only thing I'm going to ask you is I ask every other student up here when you complete your education come back to Lee County okay come back so we need you but no thank you very much and best of luck you know the remaining this year and next year so thank you so much on that couple brief things I just wanted to address went able to get to this in the briefing Mr persons had indicated talking about looking at fast data and parents I do want to give a shout out to the district when my daughters took pm2 recently I want to say the data I had I think for each test
101the end of the day it was fantastic so kudos to the district on that so that really you know as well as work in the state so that was the response on that was fantastic so I appreciate that and I've kept us up to date on that so I just want to note that so it's working Miss juven Elli Miss Jordan and miss persons's and I went up to Tallahassee last week it feels like ages ago but it wasn't so we went up for the fsba conference we all had some fantastic conversations with legislators with staff members people from the governor's office so and you know we you know we went around and talked to you know various people throughout the capital so it was a very that was a very good meetings very productive
102obviously one of the biggest issues right now I feel is obviously that we've talked about is deregulation so Senate is Full Steam on ahead of that house is still working on a couple things as well as the governor's office so I do expect you know positive progress on that but the one thing I wanted to note to all of you and you know we've kind of talked about it up there so one of the issues we're encountering in regards to and fsba knows this as well with deregulation is there is another side of the argument that people are saying that we're taking away accountability we're not taking away accountability so when we're speaking to people and I've tried to do this myself make sure we're reinforcing that yes we're cutting the red tape but we
103are keeping accountability so that's vitally important to make sure we get that across in that message so I believe I'm probably taking this away from Dr berer I'm looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow at our first parent University at Pelican at 5:30 tomorrow I know you can go into that more looking forward to that the last thing I wanted to mention is from drug free Lee the committee I'm on two things we have a run for prevention this Saturday so and there's still time to sign up as well as many as you also got a general invite for drug house Odyssey I went to that last year I'd truly encourage my board members to go check it out it's a fantastic experience and our law enforcement and drug free community does a great job with
104that so that's all I have next on we have attorney depri Bruno for public come for comment thank you Mr chairman so Mr Williams is it my understanding that you want to go to law school yes ma'am I just that's music to my ears because clearly you're on your way and you're going to do great things so I just want to share a quote from one of my favorite one of my biggest Idols none of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps we got there because somebody a parent a teacher an Ivy League crony or others bent down and helped us pick up our bootstraps I know you're going to make it and you're going to arrive just as you get there don't forget to help somebody else with
105their bootstraps yes ma'am and that's my comments Mr chairman thank you attorne debr Bruno Dr berer Mr Williams what an amazing student representative you turned out to be this evening I really really appreciate it and I guess what I really want to say is thank you for your voice and the other individuals that you represent there's a couple of themes in my comments tonight this is one of them you represent the voice of our students and you may be one individual sitting there but it was very clear in your comments you're being representative of a larger group and one that we need to continue to make sure we listen to and then not just listen but then act upon what we hear I will tell you that I think our comm's team is smiling they
106have found someone who is willing to read watch and listen to all that they put out it's it I'm sure it's very refreshing I didn't hear a cheer in the back room when they're working the video cameras but I can assure you they were very excited to hear that they have found their number one fan in the person willing to plow through all the information we put out there and thank you for recognizing their hard work I think also you rais a very important thing that we talked about this afternoon that you may or may have not heard about when you think about keeping freshmen on track back I think the most important thing our community needs to re to understand is the research is clear that an incoming freshman with great grades and great
107test scores is just at risk of not graduating from high school as a student who arrives without all that material if they don't make a connection in their school and it's the clubs and the activities that allow them to make connections you with the band and you went down a list of clubs that you have no time to go to I mean you're just must go ins sign the sheet and move on to the next one you may be ready to be superintendent we do some of the same things and to the board I'll check on instructional minutes you're you're you know we you know we have the shortest amount of instructional minutes of of the school districts in the State of Florida but we certainly can look and see what we can do to
108try to make one young man's dream become a reality so thank you I will add to Mr PR Bruno's comments to you keep in mind the shoulders on which you stand upon there's lots of people that came before you have supported you and your ability to move forward to law school and is the father of a gator not necessarily a Gator fan but the father of a gator congratulations for your goal to go to the University of Florida you'll do very well there to some of the board member comments this evening Financial document website I have meetings with some individuals responsible for making sure we can get our documents out there we've had some initial meetings we need a place for those documents to land we will finalize that work and get back with you
109backwards planning in terms of our construction process I know Mr Stevens is tired of hearing me talk about backwards planning that means beginning with the end in mind if we want to open up Franklin Park in August of 202 23 24 I want to make sure I got the date right you have to backwards plan that all the way to our first step in a in a procurement process Gant charts will help us do that and I will work with Mr Stevens to make that happen and in in phase one I believe I gave an update regarding nnn phase one that it's underway and where we are I will make sure that if not I did not send it all board members I will phase one gets us to a guaranteed maximum price we are
110processing through that and we will have more information for you as we as we gather more information ourselves right now what I do know is towards what we're sure of in phase one is that our site is amenable to both locations of the middle and high school on that piece of property and there are very limited environmental concerns regarding those locations of the building I know there are some Community concerns and I don't want to downplay those I just want to give you a clear update of where we are now Mr persons thank you for reminding all of us that we bought classroom libraries and to miss Gianelli's comment we don't ban books in Lee County we have a challenge process by which someone can challenge a piece of literature or something in our media
111centers or a classroom library and have our team look at it I remind all of us of the importance as we move into this next year's hiring season the importance of our principals being asked to try to find licensed media Specialists to join them in their media centers we don't have enough media Specialists to plow through the books that many of the individuals are talking about today and it's that lack of Manpower that we are that we are striving to overcome so we will continue to do that work I'll go briefly through the employee recognitions is a celebration of those individuals no question about it they all deserve the recognition that they got this evening but they're example of all the others who do that similar work whether it's a support professional par professional teacher
112principal bus driver whoever seems to be the lucky one to stand out above to become the person of the year I think it's not lost on any one of those individuals how representative they are of the greater class of employees that they represent and I can't think of better representatives for this District to move on in the state competition to see how far we get I can't go through tonight without talking about the graduation rate we talked about it a lot today but I think we missed something in one year we've matched the highest graduation rate ever post pandemic and ever pre pandemic the only graduation rate that was higher in the history of Lee County was the graduation rate where all of the state requirements for graduation were eliminated we are back to the
113highest point this district has ever been and while 81 85.1 is no cause to rain down the balloons in the confetti it is a reason to celebrate the hard work of our individuals who got us there and know that's not our end goal but it's the launching pad to all children graduating both College and Career ready so more to come and thank you for for your very clear attention to that I don't get you all together very often there were multiple questions about a CTE Grant an announcement from the commissioner of Education regarding CTE I want you to know that there were several Windows which our CTE team could apply there was a first second and third window our team applied in the second window there is approximately aund million $100 million in that Grant
114opportunity in the first round has awarded about about 50 55 thou 55 million of it there is another round of Awards coming let's keep our fingers crossed our CTE team does great work and their Grant is in you've approved it so now it's a matter of knowing whether we judged and whether we get money will'll keep you apprised Fort Meers Beach Elementary not just the international rotary which you approved tonight for their Grant of $230,000 to help with stem initiatives out at the beach but there was a recent fundraiser held over at Bell Tower where leadersh ship Lee which is part of the southwest Florida chamber of commerce another group that deserves recognition raised over $16,000 for the beach school as well so looking forward to seeing how that school building and how those children
115can recover and work forward I will tell you that Dr desmore and I are also working on a P per student cost analysis based upon our three Barrier Island schools at this point so we'll be sharing that with you coming thank you ton for the for the Three Oaks approval I believe consistency in our planning and communication is critical I want to thank you though for allowing the appointment of Dr Adam alloy to the planning team somebody who now can be Central stable and help that planning division become the division that you want as a school board finally oh well not finally second to last item Adam Lane Adam Lane you saw at one of our most recent Florida School Board Association conferences I'm pleased to announce that it'll be coming March 7th of 2024
116that'll be about the time our principles and leaders are facing a surplus list Surplus list Recruitment and that process and some of his strategies and other things will be helpful we'll make sure you get an invitation through Lyn Herold to attend that finally we've had some news in the community and I just want to try to address it a little bit tonight regarding some upcoming board policies as many of you already know although the school board has already has guides and policies we are in the midst of updating board policies governing political activity the use of personal property on school grounds and other related matters these revisions were pre pre-brief earlier today and they are scheduled for a first reading on February 6th and a public hearing on the 21st this will help ensure compliance
117with the district and board's expectations as to politics religion social movements and ethics in the classroom as well as it will reach our it should help us reach our goal for classrooms to be Viewpoint neutral so I want you to be aware that we are working through those policies you did some of the work today and I want our community to understand especially about some particular issues that the board is aware and is working to make the necessary corrections to the policies which would put the superintendent and his staff in a better position so thank you very much and thank you again for your work this evening Mr chairman I quoted somebody but I didn't say who I quoted so I just wanted you know I was quoting The Honorable associate Supreme Court Justice thur
118Good Marshall thank you Mr chairman thank you for the proper attribution they thank thank you Dr berer next scheduled meetings on Tuesday February 6th there'll be a Schoolboard workshop at 12:00 p.m. a school board briefing at 2:30 p.m. followed by a school board action meeting at 6:00 p.m. we all have to eat our wheedies that day it looks like so at this point having no other business to come before this body and seeing no objection this meeting is ajour the time is 8:05 p.m. everyone have a great evening