School Board Action Meeting: July 29, 2025

001Good evening everyone. We're ready to begin this evening's board meeting. Sergeant-at-arms, has the lobby been attended to? Yes. Okay. We're going to 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 this meeting. I'm pleased to welcome you to the July 29th, 2025 schoolboard action meeting. The time is 6:08 p.m. and this meeting is hereby called to order. This here this meeting was delayed due to the ending of our special board meeting that ended at 6:05 p.m. We are going to take a brief recess. We appreciate your patience. Thank you everyone. Welcome back everyone. The meeting is reconvened at 6:14 p.m. We'd like to take this opportunity to remind the members of the public of the district's mission,

002which is to ensure that each student achieves his or high hers his or high his or her highest personal potential. It's been a lot of reading already. Sorry. And the district's vision to be a world-class school system. On the agenda this evening includes invocation, pledge of allegiance, acknowledgements, recognitions, public comment, consent action items which include one item under board office, 15 items under academic and student services, 12 items under school choice administration, six items under human resources, two items under business services, four items under safety, security and fleet operations, 37 items under facility operations, one item under legal services, and four items under good of the order or other business. Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda? Mr. Person, make a motion to approve tonight's agenda. Second. Okay. Moved by Mr. Personson, second by

003Mr. Rible. Please record your vote. Motion carries 70. As is the custom of the board, Mrs. Chaviano will introduce her guest to lead us in the invocation, after which Mr. Persons will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. We're now moving to invocation. So, please stand, everyone. For tonight's invocation, we have Pastor John Solari of Faith Generation Church in Cape Cool. Thank you for asking me to be here today. I'm I'm truly honored that you would ask me. as I stand here, I'm reminded of the children of Israel as they entered into the promised land. Moses, their leader, who would not be going in with them, wanted to give them the best wisdom, the best guidance he possibly could so that they could pass on what they had learned to the next generation, that they

004would prosper in the land, and that they would last as a nation. And so, this is what he said here. O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your strength. And these words I command to you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall walk talk with them when you sit in your house. And when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be on the frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. The key to prosperity is what they

005passed on to the next generation. And that's the decisions that you as a board are making. And that's why I am honored to be here and to pray for you. So let's pray. May God, you bless this government, the United States of America, our great state of Florida and Lee County. God, for those who have fought to protect our freedoms, both in the military and our civil servants. Lord, we pray right now for our school system, the administration, the staff members, the teachers. We pray for the success of the school events and programs that are going to happen this year. also for this governing body. Lord, we pray that you would give them wisdom and discernment when it comes to the needs of our next generation, guidance for the difficult and challenging decisions that they

006will face, humility to govern well for the good of those who have placed their trust and confidence in this leadership, and also integrity, courage, and strength to do the right thing even when it's hard. God bless this board and our next generation. Thank you for hearing our prayer. Amen. Please join me in the pledge. 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. Thank you. And please be seated. Thank you, Pastor Next item on the agenda is the character word for July. Character word for July is self-control. The ability to direct or regulate your actions, emotions, and words. The design displayed on screen was created by Parker Johnson, a 12th grade student at

007North Fort Meyers High School. Great job, Parker. Okay, next up is our favorite part, recognitions. So, board members, please join us in the pit for recognitions. Okay. Good evening. Joining me at the lectern tonight is Kendra Pinis, coordinator in organizational development and retention. Okay. The school district of Lee is Lee County is proud to announce the formal recognition of schools that recently achieved level one certification in Marzano high reliability schools. Level one certification means that each school has created a safe, supportive, and collaborative culture. These schools join existing cohort of previously certified level one schools in Lee County, increasing the county's total to 72 certified schools. Nationwide, there are 790 level one certified schools. To achieve level one certification, teachers, administrators from each school participated in training, collected feedback from parents, students, faculty, sta faculty,

008and staff members, and implemented action plans to address school culture. An independent expert reviewed the artifacts to ensure the schools met the required standards for certification. A safe, supportive, and collaborative environment is foundational for student achievement. The school board and superintendent are honored to recognize the following schools as level one certified. Please come up to the podium when your school is called. G Elementary School Principal Jessica Dr. Jessica Duncan. Thank you. Careful. Sorry. Okay. Next up, Pine Island Elementary Principal, Dr. Michael Galbreth. Next up, Skyline Elementary Principal Stephanie Mezer. Okay, next up, Tanglewood Elementary Principal Linda Buckley. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Okay, last but not least, Three Oaks Elementary School Principal Candace Elev. Thank you. How dare you? Joining us again at the lecture and tonight, Kinder Pennis, coordinator of or organizational development and

009retention. The school district of Lee County is proud to announce the formal recognition of schools that recently achieved level two certification of the Marzy Marziano High School, oh, excuse high re re reliability schools. Level two certification means that each school has created conditions to foster effective teaching in every classroom. These eight schools join a cohort of 372 level two certified schools across the United States. To achieve level two certification, teachers and administrators from each school volunteered to participate in training collective feedback from the parents, students, and faculty and staff members and implemented action plans to promote effective teaching in every classroom. An outside expert reviewed certification artifacts to achieve certification. Increasing teacher effecti effectiveness is key to improving student achievement. The school board and superintendent are honored to recognize the following schedules, excuse me, following

010schools to level to level two certified. We recognize the schools in two groups. Please come up to the podium when your school is called. Group one, Alan Park Elementary, Principal Melissa Booth, Dr. Dr. Carrie Robinson Little Elementary Principal Monica Brotten Franklin Park Elementary Principal Dr. Mia German and Orangewood Elementary Principal Dwayne Bazina. Pelican Elementary Principal Michelle Stanford. River Hall Elementary Principal Scott Cook. All right, y'all need to shift back. Going to do a picture and then I've got another group. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. Okay. Congratulations. Thank you Lord. Group two, Gateway Elementary Principal Cherry Gibson, Mirror Lakes Elementary Principal Amy Bovac, and Spring Creek Elementary Principal Jillian Flora or Fiora. Thank you. Congratulations on earning level two certification. Yes. Thank you. congratulations to all our schools and leaders. That's amazing and that's something what we're

011about here. So, we're going to move on to the next item on the agenda, which will be public comment. Whenever you're ready, Attorney De Brun, please address the item of public comment. Thank you. Thank Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good evening. School board policy provides the opportunity at this point in the meeting to address the board concerning any matter on this meeting's agenda or any other matter relevant to the operation of the school district. Please complete a public comment card and put it in the basket provided. If you need a public comment card, they are provided by our staff. The rules concerning public comment are posted 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

012made by speakers. The purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on district issues such as duties, responsibilities, decisions, and the general operation of the school 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 display of temper during public comment is prohibited. Speakers who fail to proper 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.

013Per board policy 0169.1, the time per speaker is 3 minutes if there are 20 speakers, 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 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, there are 17 individuals that wish to address the board this evening and the time for speaker is 20 is three minutes. Thank you, Madam Board attorney. Please ensure you have completed a public comment card to provide public comment. The card

014is a public record identifying those who speak and providing contact information to staff for followup. The cards are located with staff in the hallway. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the board but has not filled out a public comment card? Please raise your hand. Okay, I am seeing none. So at this point, attorney Debris Bruno, please proceed with public comment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Will the following individuals please line up? India Palencia, Kathleen Wine, Adam Weissberger, Lou Navaro, Yolanda White. Good evening. My name is India Palencia. Thank you, members of the board and Superintendent Dr. Carlin. I sat through the workshops today and listened very carefully as you discussed areas of opportunity and conversations that really need to happen about how we support student learning here in Link County. The longer

015we avoid calling things what they are, the more our kids pay the price. So, it was refreshing to see our district face this difficult reality on this concern. And I'd like to see the same approach on other concerns as well. As discussed today, Lee County is the only large district in Florida where third grade reading scores went down. Our student growth is slower than the state. Schools are losing letter grades, grades our children and our working families can't afford to lose. And yet, while students struggle, this district keeps hiring more and more high-paid administrators. Some making more than the governor. Six figure salaries are handed out like candy. But where's the accountability? Because when outcomes repeatedly don't improve, these administrators don't get removed. Their jobs get redefined or they get moved around, sometimes even promoted

016or given raises while our students fall further behind. That's not accountability. That's job security without performance. Meanwhile, our teachers and staff are buried in paperwork, micromanaged to test scores, and underpaid for the crucial work they do every day. We've made commendable work to fill our teacher vacancies. But will those teachers stay when the system treats them like the problem instead of the solution? And still, no one up here has addressed the catastrophic failure in our ESSE department. For those who aren't familiar, these are our kids with different abilities who need assistance in our schools. My son is one of them. An audit pulled 289 student IEPs or individual plans and found only 2% of those legally required accommodations were actually being delivered. Legally required federally by the state and our own schoolboard policies. That's not

017a small oversight. That's catastrophic neglect of our most vulnerable student population. So, here's my ask of the board. Cut topheavy administration until we see real classroom results. Divert those funds to real long-term solutions for fair teacher pay. Tie administration administrative pay and position security to student outcomes. Fix the culture that protects underperforming admin while placing the burden on educators and take swift public action to expose and correct the failures in our ESC services. This is a structural problem and our children don't get a doover while adults in the system do get reshuffled. Our kids, our teachers, our staff, and our community deserve better. Thank you. No clapping. No clapping. No clapping. If we're going to clap again, we're going to recess. Thank you. Hello, I'm Kathy Wyn. You're getting a little bit of a rerun

018today. I'm a graduate of the Lee County School System, as are my daughters. After substitute teaching here for nine years, I became a prevention specialist for the Hanley Foundation. And then here in 2018, the same year that the surgeon general declared youth vaping was an epidemic, with much of the blame being placed on Jewel vaping devices. For the past seven years, my prevention colleague and I have worked tirelessly to equip the district with educational prevention materials, presentations for students, parents, and staff, quarterly newsletters, online courses for student infractions while managing two prevention initiatives funded by a United Way grant, among many other things. When the state mandated that every student have a lesson about substance use and abuse without providing us with the curriculum, we and Leicia Roy, as the in-house experts, created this urgently

019needed instructional material for grades K through 5. These videos allowed us to be in compliance. I learned after my annual review that our positions were in jeopardy due to budget. My contract has not been renewed. I was and am in disbelief that our district would consider prevention a want and not a need and be unable to find a way to keep our two teaching positions in the 2526 budget. We've received much of our $2.2 million from the 2023 Juul settlement with its intention being to remediate youth vaping. According to the Joel settlement workshop done here in 2024, we'll still be getting 268,000 more this December and in December 2026. One would think it'd be a priority to use part of this money to expand prevention services, not eliminate it. My understanding of our rightsizing initiative

020is that it's intended to reduce bureaucracy. Prevention education is not bureaucracy. It is lifesaving essential instruction. We had planned to launch a cartoon series for our K through5 students in quarter 1 this coming year. We created Prevention Pals as a fun way to engage young students while teaching them not just that vaping is unhealthy but why to help them make the decision not to do it. The topics of smoking, alcohol, peer pressure were to follow. I would love the opportunity to share this new initiative with you all, as well as the many other prevention resources we've created for this district to use to help our students make good choices when it comes to nicotine, alcohol, and drug use, as well as bullying and internet safety. I'm asking you all to consider redirecting a portion of

021the jewel monies to maintain our positions. Please don't cut lessons that save children's lives for the sake of our students, their health, and their future. Thank you for your leadership on this vital issue. Dr. Carlin, Attorney Dewee, Bruno, Chairman Fischer, and members of the school board. Good evening. My name is Adam Weissberger and I am not here today to speak to you on behalf of the budget, but rather as president of the South Golf Football Officials Association. I appear before you today to say thank you in advance for your anticipated approval of our service agreement with the school district as highlighted under item J5 on tonight's agenda. Our association enters its 53rd year officiating high school football here in Lee County, and we are very thankful for your support over that time. Last year, our

022association supported more than 300 football games in the fall across the freshman, JV, and varsity levels. And in just its second year in existence here in Lee County, we officiated 87 flag football games in the spring, representing a 25% increase over the 2024 numbers. At the annual fall sports meeting held by the Florida High School Athletic Association for Leadership within the Officials Association statewide, it was shared with us that according to the National Federation of High School Sports, participation in football has returned to its precoid levels. And we're certainly seeing that growth here and return in Florida. And we anticipate that as we close the 2526 season in May of this year of next year, the number of fall games and spring flag football games that we will have officiated will have increased over last

023year. We're also thankful to Dave Lar Roa who last week invited our association the opportunity to talk to the named captains about new roles with an emphasis on sportsmanship. I know sportsmanship is very important to the superintendent and it's incredibly important to us as guardians of the game. I accept the fact that I lead an organization of close to 100 men and women that are not liked from the moment they step onto school grounds to the moment they leave. That's part of our job as officials. But it's our strong partnership with all of you that ensures that contests continue to be played that protect the safety of all players and the integrity of the game. Finally, I'd like to personally invite all of you to our upcoming fall controlled field clinic being held at Dunar

024High School on Friday, August 8th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. This is an opportunity for you to see how officials prepare for the season, work with players and coaches on the new rules, and get everybody ready for the kickoff classics. the following week. In addition to Dunar, Fort Myers High School and Gateway High School will be participating in this event. And we thank all the athletic directors, their coaches, and their players helping us prepare for a successful upcoming season. Thank you again for your time and for your continued support. Will the following individuals please line up? David Carter, Kyle Wade, Denise Everly, Darius Cochran, Joshua Cadro. Good. Good evening, Superintendent Board Lunavar, retired teacher, Lee County, and TAC member. I see you passed a $2.8 billion budget for 2026. Mr. Fiser, we spoke on the

025phone yesterday. You told me to find money because you have no money for teachers. Well, I found your money. Here it is. High contingency balance. Use it. Cut another 10% off the administrative budget in addition to the 5%. We have everyone making six figures down here and people stepping all over each other. My associate Dave J. tripleders.org or is tracking you. Cut the busing again. NAACP dropped the court order long ago or pay drivers more. Stop spending $180,000 on a lobbyist in Washington DC. The superintendent needed to pay back Doc Mr. Miller. Is that so? Miss Giovenelli went there on an all expense paid trip. Miss Giovenelli, I love the pictures you sent me of the White House on Facebook. You know, bargain in good faith with talc. If I was there, you'd have an

026unfair labor practice. You cannot offer bonuses for teachers. I did not want to hear from you that you can't get teachers at Hans Marsh. My son worked there for 5 years. You gave him nothing extra. He was excellent. He quit. Where is my pal Radar Roger Lloyd? You can get teachers because you ref You can't get teachers because you refuse to raise a starting pay to $70,000 like I've been purporting. You don't want to use three lanes of longevity and women's parody. They don't they don't have to be school moms and nurses anymore. A woman can do much more. lobby the state. Get some retirement back. 3% I never paid a dime to FRS. You blame it on the state, but why don't you spend some money and help out if the state won't pay

027it? Why would you build eight new schools when you cannot find teachers? In closing, we are with 48% literacy. I'm afraid to look at high school. All you revealed was grades by school. Dr. Carlin, you wouldn't even meet with me. Dr. Bernie did. Why? You don't h think I have any expertise. I'm hurt. We need to go back to an appointed superintendent. I will be discussing this with Mr. G. Lombardo. Thank you for your comments, Mr. Navaro. Your time is up. You're welcome. Call me anytime. And remember, I got thrown out of city council. Your time is up, sir. If you throw me out, Mr. Navaro, your time is up. You know the deal. Come on. You know, whatever. I value you the money. Good evening. My name is Yolanda White, Dr. Yolanda White. And

028thank you for your attention. I only have a quick question. are other instructional positions cut to be to fill specifically instructional reading positions? And to elaborate on that for the time that I do have as an experienced teacher, I've been the educator for 23 years and the process it doesn't seem like an effective process that's that's happening right now. dumping the reading on the reading the experienced teachers, dumping those responsibilities on those teachers and not training the new teachers. You're getting all the new teachers and they should be going through the same process. So again, are other instructional positions cut to fill instructional reading positions? Thank you for your attention. Hello. my name is Kyle Wade. I am a resident of Alva. I'm here before you today to request that a little bit of action

029be taken into the proposed site of Alva at Tuahoo for the new elementary school. There is a another site that you own on David and Joel which is within the Lehi acres community that I believe would serve that community a lot better. part of which is that this current plan undermines not only the fiscal logic but the district's own elementary proximity project which was designed to reduce long-distance busing which I have seen numerous reports on that is a struggle not only financially to keep up with busing but also the hiring process of finding qualified drivers for the students. I think it would benefit the community a little bit more in Lehi considering over 90% of the student body would be coming from Lehi acres and not Alva. So, I don't see how that suits our

030needs. also in conjunction with that, it also threatens vital habitats. the Alva Scrub Preserve along with Hickeys Creek Mitigation is a crucial wildlife corridor that runs throughout this area of the proposed site. I believe this will cause a financial burden not only to the school board but also the taxpayers through all the EPA and D regulations that you would incur. Also not even considering that it is not ready. the other site on David and Joel is prepared. it has city water, electric, sewer. whereas the site in Alva does not. So the amount of cost that you would incur especially in this day and age would be significantly more than I believe the 160 million that was proposed when this was looked at about 15 years ago if my information is correct. also one other thing,

031besides the wildlife, which is also very important to me as an environmental science, student of FGCU, it's something that I consider. I've seen, Florida panthers, turkeys, gopher tortoises, all protected species. but the last thing I'll leave you with, this decision will shape education, infrastructure, environmental policy, and tax spending for decades. the Joel David site offers a fiscally sound, community aligned and environmentally responsible solution. Please build where the students live and protect our wildlife. Thank you very much. How y'all doing? I'm David Carter. I live in Alas. 21911, the corner, straight across almost from where y'all wanting to build this school. Kind of touch base on what the gentleman just said. Not going to go into too much detail on each park. But wildlife, you have gopher turtles area. You have the scrub jays. You have

032panthers that live there. They go from the 2020 property on the back side of there through that property across Joel across Edwards into the next 2020. They've been there for years. I even got some pictures on my phones of them and they're still there. So, you're going to be displacing at least three animals already that are supposed to be protected. Number two, I agree with him about the busing. Y'all are having problems getting kids to and from school. Now, I have six grandkids. Half of them are late every time they try to go to school because the buses don't show up. The roads are inadequate. You got Packet House Road, you got Styles, you got Edwards on the other side of Joe. And from y'all's property, 280 on Joe. All of them roads are not

033even inadequate. There's wrecks on them all the time. But now y'all going to put buses full of kids on them. There's potholes in them. The sides of the roads are messed up. The roads are trash. And according to the last couple meetings I went to, the county is not even planning on doing nothing with them roads for at least 10 years. Next thing is water. There is no water sewer. There is no sidewalks out there. When kids have to walk home, who what are they going to be walking on? Joel Boulevard. Come down there at 6:00 in the morning. You'll see the traffic is horrid as it is now. And y'all are fixing to triple the traffic on a two-lane roads. That is a point what we're looking at it. This whole deal with putting

034in there the schools that y'all are proposing putting in there at the size they are. Y'all going to have to put in water plants, sewer plants, all the adjacent properties there. All of us are on shallow wells. Been there for years. Y'all going to run our whales dry. Who's going to come and help pay all the people in that adjacent to that property? We have like 20 25 foot wells. You're going to suck the water out to be able to pump that much water to them schools. We're talking about 5,000 students. There's what 200 students from Alvet that will go to these schools. The rest are being bust in. I agree with the gentleman. The school site needs to be at the other end at Davis. You already got city water. It's a fourlane. You

035got sidewalks. Makes a lot more sense. Thank y'all. Good evening, Severly. got a whole three minutes here. I don't know what to cover it. They pretty much said pretty much everything I'm going to say or wanted to say. Same, you know, it's exactly true. but I do want to address what I keep hearing over and over and over again, which seems to be the justification for building that school out in Alva. Keep hearing Alva, Inc. wanted it. Alva, Inc. back then consisted of about five people, five board members. I can tell you right now, the community fought against it. There weren't every person. I mean, from what I'm hearing from the school board members, every person in Alba wanted this school there. That's completely false. And I also submitted 295 signatures to you from back

036then of people who opposed it. I'm sure none of you have seen it because now it's a whole new school board and I'm sure you're not sharing that. And I and I'll go back to this petition. Keep hearing over and over again that people don't come out and speak against it. I've been to many of these meetings and some of you, maybe a couple of your new ones haven't, but a lot of us keep coming out here and speaking against this. Here's a petition again. I will bring it every time I have to. 600 signatures opposed to Alva who want it in Lehi. That's 300 of these people are Lehi. Mr. persons. I was pretty Was that like dig you took at the end of the workshop today? You're going to name it Ruby Daniels

037High School. Let me tell you something that actually does Ruby Daniels a disservice. Though maybe she wanted it there, the rest of the community didn't want it there. So if you put it there and name it Ruby Ruby Daniels High School, everybody's going to look at that in in anger because of what that school is doing to Alva. It's destroying Alva and it's basically being built for developers. That was Mr. Rickenbacher pretty much said that today. Oh, and the sewer and water that you're running will serve the further community. That's developers because none of us want sewer and water out there. We don't need it. We have wells. We have septic tanks. We have 10 acre parcels of land. We don't need it. If that comes running down our roads, they're going to make us

038hook up to it. How much does that cost? $60,000 minimum. You know how much it costs us because our livestock just to feed it water and we're and we're going to be on city water and have to pay for all that? No, we'll all go broke. We won't have our livestock anymore because we wouldn't be able to afford them. So anyway, thank you for your comments. Your time is up. Will the following individuals please line up? Holly Schwarz, Connie Dennis, James Kennedy, Sha Clarison, Christopher Mayo, Cochran, Darius Cochran is my name. I thought it was ironic that I think the word on the board word of the month was self-control. And several of the schoolboard members had very sarcastic comments about the community and about the people that spoke in the workshop previously. Several of

039the schoolboard members called and almost harassed a radio DJ this morning for asking questions. I don't think you want to answer questions. It's very frustrating. The information that we received is from you. It's from your data. I didn't even see the video of the last board meeting until 3 days ago when somebody said, "You got to watch it." when y'all asked for a recess in the middle of the meeting when several of you said that you had not been to the land site that you're going to get a loan for $162 million and you never set foot on the property. Is that true? Because that's what you said if you want to you know change the story. I mean all due respect Dr. Carlin, you said you didn't know which site was best. That's on

040your video. That's what you said. So, and then y'all go behind or some of you go behind a back door, make it, you know, whatever y'all talk about is not it's not transparent. The community doesn't know what you're saying back there and you come back out here and vote 70. How can you blame the community? You know, I graduated from the University of Riverdale and there's math was my best subject. I'm okay with a little school in Alba. That's no problem. But you're talking about one of the biggest school campuses in Southwest Florida history and a and a population of 3,000 people. The site has that on David 2011 Joe Boulevard. Unlike some of these board members and the superintendent, I actually went to the site. Couple things I know about land. I actually sold

041a property, Tortuga Preserve on Gunry Road, 17 11 or 1701. I brokered that deal to the school district. I know what a good piece of property is and I know what a good piece of property is not. There's a couple people in Alba, I'm sure, that are probably upset because they want the school there. But I haven't talked to them. I haven't seen them. And we've got 600 people that say they don't want it. I think before you sign a note for $162 million that you need to go to the land site that you're getting a loan on. Is that unreasonable? I know you can't answer questions. Thank you for your comments. Your time is up, sir. Thank you very much. I'm going to put something on record because these allegations of board members speaking

042outside of the public, I want to make sure it's very clear given the circumstances in the statute that's applicable. At the June 3rd meeting, the board members did not go in back and have any type of conversation. The superintendent, Dr. Savage, Dr. Desmar, and a financial advisor went in the back to try to answer a question that was posed by the board. Thereafter, they came back. the question was answered and the board moved forward with their vote. So, I want to make sure that the record is very very clear because I do not want any false allegations of sunshine violations on the board. No. Okay. my name is Joshua Krakow. ironically, I find that hysterical. we are asking our taxpayers to increase our expenditures of $134 million increase this year, a total of $2.9 billion.

043I'm curious whether or not that is going towards all the lawsuits that our school district has been receiving due to protection witness protection agencies that our children have. We've had a case with a child that was a part of the witness protection agency last year that our public schools had published. I know that we are currently probably dealing with lawsuit between that family and also the FBI dealing with that safety concern. It's ironic how we talk about the safety concerns of our children, but yet we're building a great indoor parking for the elite to be able to be safe. And it seems like the priority is not our children's safety, but all of our elected officials who consider themselves majority conservative Republicans. It is not the way that our rep our constituents are supposed to

044be represented. You guys have all swore an oath to represent the people that you voted in. And I can't wait for reelection because I will continuously campaign against every single one of you. Warning, no politics. This is a political event. You guys are politicians. Warning. Okay. Nothing about campaigns. Okay. Continue. it is not about the safety of our children. We need to get back to the safety of our children and the quality of our education. was it a quality of education when our children at the young adults or young young parent school received information about sexually explicit activities involving minors and adults? Again, probably resulting in lawsuits that we as taxpayer, our taxpayers are having to pay because our board and our superintendent is not able to hold our schools accountable with their transparency and

045trying not to their transparency and actually being leaders in our community. This is not what Lee County deserves. It deserves higher educated teachers. We are importing teachers from other countries which is hysterical. How are they going to teach our kids to be leaders in our country when they are just coming to our country? This is not about our kids. It's about filling seats, making money and profit for you guys to be able to control how our taxes are funded. It is so much of our taxes go to you guys and our children's education. It is a disgrace. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Holly Schwarz and I know you've had a long day because I watched your workshop today and I just wanted to communicate with maybe some of the new board members. The

046last time a representative of the school board met with the residents of Alva on the East Zone High School NN was in 2023 at the Alva School auditorium. Some of our board members were there and we appreciate you for being there attended by Zoom because we were all getting over CO. Of course, it was promised at that time that we'd be kept in the loop as the project moved forward. Unfortunately, a lot has changed on the transparency front since then. The fiscal and capital planning advisory committees have been abolished. There's been no other community meetings with representatives of the school board. Just last month at the June 3rd school board meeting when you voted on the cops bond, five out of the seven elected officials on this board brought out issues of concern about whether

047we should have a workshop or maybe we should talk to some of the members of the community and that was encouraging. But then the staff recommended one-on ones with each of the council members, with each of the board members, and apparently, let's have some one-on- ones, and if you still think a workshop is mandatory or necessary, then then we'll have one. unfortunately, the community wasn't to benefit from any of the information that was shared with you from the one-on- ons. We don't know what happened at those meetings. let's see. Today we learned at your workshop and again after I assume that the cops bond has already been issued because it was supposed to be mid July. that things are changing regarding the utilities provided to the site. Since the beginning, we were told that this

048project would not happen unless utilities unless water and sewer were provided to that site. Now it's confusing. We heard something about water tanks. We heard something about there wasn't enough pressure to go down Joel. you know, and that there was going to be extra capacity to benefit future development. So, our this is rhetorical. Are our tax dollars going to benefit future developers? Those are the kind of questions we might be able to get some some closed door on if someone from the school board came and met with the community. Right now, there's maybe little one-on- ones going on, but the majority of us don't have that information and several of the board members made it a point today. Oh, shoot. I'm getting I'm going to have to go. But there was some inaccuracies in what

049was presented today. Water management district permit. Thank you for your comments, ma'am. Your time is up. Good evening. I'm Connie Dennis, ex-president of Alva, Inc., retired teacher from Alva Middle School. I support all of the items that Denise Everly and the gentleman in the green shirt. that basically those are the things that I was going to say. I'm very concerned about the environment and the corridor. and also the people who come to Florida want to see the animals and the wildlife and that's what's there in Hickey Creek. It's right there where people are going to. I'm also concerned okay about the two preserves. It's the location of the school would be right between the two preserves. And the last point that I want to make is presenting opportunity to the public about the issues and

050that has been mentioned by other people also. instead of making all the public decisions and forcing everyone to follow your decisions. And I had heard at one time that property was supposed to be a bus barn. So I don't and it's I don't know what happened with that. Is there something else that you could use use the property for? And following one other thing, my research has indicated that in 2024, Florida's teacher salaries are the second lowest in the nation. Mississippi was lowest. So I'm concerned about that, too. Thank you for your help, attention. Good evening. My name is James Kennedy. I live in Alvin and I'm here to oppose the school at this time. first of all, just to to to finish up Holly's points. So, in your own presentation from your workshop this

051afternoon, you said the risk management for the Army Corps and Southwest Florida Water Management District permitting was received. it's it hasn't been that's public record, right? But the bigger thing is when you're saying these things and you're and you're you're putting out that the coverage that we give in the ROAR is wrong, but you don't you don't you don't come with with counter facts. you don't provide that information. we have to go with what's available and we're going with what's publicly available. We're not pulling the stuff out of thin air, you know, and it doesn't matter what kind of sweetheart deal or or what thing that you have going on, you know, that establishing this new water plant and sewage facility creates for future development. the money that we're supposed to be spending on schools

052shouldn't be be spent on building infrastructure for what may come by a private developer later. And that's really what this what this reeks of the the school's not being built where the students are. So it's clearly not being built for the students. you know, it's it's clearly being devel built for what we think is coming and how that benefits us later. But that's not your job. Your job is not to benefit communities that haven't been built yet. It's to take care of the students that are in school now, and you're not doing that. Putting this putting the school at the at the Joel and David site puts it closer, reduces busing times, reduces the need for drivers, reduces fuel costs. It's, you know, it's makes a lot more sense to put it there than to

053put it in the middle of Alva. So, that's that's one point. And the other thing is someone brought up the environmental concerns. I'm sure that somebody that lives in Alva in the Tuco area probably has video of the Panther that walks through that area two days ago on their phone. So, that's a concern. I don't I don't remember it's one if it's one of the ones wearing a tracking collar or not, but that Panther passes through there every two to three days because it's part of the corridor. So, you're going to build in the middle of the corridor when you don't have to. You can make the argument that school site is going to be used for a school, but it shouldn't be built there now because the roads can't handle it. that Joel Boulevard

054has accidents every single day. Has been previously stated. Until the roads are upgraded, which they're not slated to for a while, this is a danger. It's not just fiscally irresponsible. It's actually dangerous. Take care of the kids. Put school where it belongs. Will the following individuals please line up? Celia Ruben Katrina Salakar. Hello, my name is Sean. I'm one of the Alpha residents that oppose the school that y'all wanted to build in Taco and Joel. I mean, we're already starting the school year and we're short drivers as it is. We're going to build the school way out in East Alva and we're going to have to bust all these kids in. There's going to be maybe 20 kids walking to the school. every other kid will have to be bust there. The busting of it

055will be at crazy. I'm sorry. furthermore, our rural status you know we do I this has been mentioned before. I have come here before and mentioned this before. We are rural. We do have our outdoor gun ranges. If these kids are out on the football field playing football during the school day and Jimmy down the road is happens to be off that day and say, "You know what? I want to go out and shoot my gun a couple times, how often is this school going to be on lockdown?" It's an honest question. how about, you know, like on a Friday when there are football games going on and, you know, Jim's over there, he wants to shoot off his gun a few times. How about the chaos that's going to ensue whenever all those kids

056are trying to get off the field or all those parents are trying to get off the bleachers all at one time? How many kids are going to be hurt? How many kids are going to be talk telling their parents that, "Oh, my school had to go on lockdown today." What are you going to tell the parents? I don't know. I guess that'll be up to you. Thank you. Good evening again. My name is Christopher Mio as said earlier. I'm coming back up again just for the larger audience in the second meeting. but again I'm here to discuss the proposed school in Alba and being opposition to it. again, as most of the speakers have said, due to the demographics and the lack of the of students in Alba that will actually be able to walk

057to school, and as a parent that lives right on Styles Road, every day I have to sit at the corner of Styles and Tuo and deal with the traffic while my kids are trying to get on the bus. I have to use my personal vehicle to block traffic because people are always speeding down that road, passing the buses when they're stopped, things like that. I have many, many calls to the sheriff's department asking them to bring deputies out there to stop the speeders that are doing 60 m hour on a 30 mph road that's a lane and a half wide. That styles road, the roads are inadequate unless you are planning on building four-lane roads out there in Alva in order to to safely get these kids to these schools. You're asking for a death

058trap. I have 30 years of transportation experience. 21 in the Marine Corps and then since then. I know transportation. What you are asking for is a nightmare with these buses and these schools. The school needs to be put in the in Lehi where the other students where all the students are going to be. It's it's going to continue to be a problem. You all the again as the other speakers said these gun ranges. I really would like to an answer on what is the school's policy when a shot is fired within earshot of a school. I know that when a armed robbery happened at at the bank near Riverdale, this the students were all on lockdown and that wasn't even able to be heard in the school. So, what's going to happen when these guns

059are going off around the school? I know that doesn't that's not an issue over in Alba school because that is in the smaller area where where people can't have gun ranges because it's the actual town of Alva. But you're at you're you're having this school where this is going to be a major major problem. I've talked to all the neighbors. I've talked to them. They said they everyone around me, all my neighbors agree that this is going to be a huge problem. So please and I've also heard that the big the big reason to keep going on with the school is because of timing. Well, stop and move the school to where it's supposed to be and stop wasting time because you're going to have a school that's been going to be basically useless. Thank

060you. Good evening. My name is Celia Rubin and I can't say anything more about being opposed to the school than has already been said. And I think you really need to reconsider where that school goes. Thank you. Katrina Salakar. And no one's mentioned that at the last school board meeting, I believe you took a vote because you said that you could still replace the location of the last school in the cops bond. can we somebody look back at that and take and see if that isn't true? I, you know, a lot of the committees were disbanded inside of the school district system. So, we assembled subject matter experts to go over everything just like the committees would have. And after a couple hundred hours of work since the last schoolboard meeting, I have responses to

061one of your school board members actual email about exactly why you're doing this. So let me go over that purpose of the school sighting the schoolboard official. We don't build schools for specific neighborhoods. We build them to serve entire attendance zones. Riverdale, for example, Lehi, North Fort Myers, and Buckingham. Our subject matter experts response. This logic ignores localized impacts. Joel and Tuahoo is not a central or accessible site for the most of the east zone. Its rural are disconnected from public transit and serves in and is served by a dangerous two-lane road. Community oversight concern. The district committed in 2023 to keeping public information on this project and holding future meetings and none occurred. The community was promised transparency, but decisions are made behind closed doors without stakeholder input. History and justification of the site,

062the school board official. The property was purchased in 2007. Elva wanted a high school in 2017, but gateway was chosen. This site has been on the radar for a long time. May be true, says the subject matter experts, but public sentiment has shifted. We've covered that the Joel and David site should be developed long ago. it should have been instead delays an inaction at the district to is claimed it to be too late to change course. Now in 2024 when the request for environmental report for NN we were told that we had to file a public records request and pay $21. This public planning data should have been freely shared and the public should have had not had to pay to understand what's being built in the community. Capacity, immediate need. The high schools in

063the east zone are over capacity. Split classrooms, portable buildings are being used, and new high schools urgently needed, said the official. The SEM response is growth is not the primary issue. Student enrollment in Lee County has remained essentially flat since 2014. It is redistribution of sprawling sprawl that's causing strain. The better planning would be to redistribute the capacity effectively. the pressure could be alleviated with the new construction at the most at not at the most expensive and remote site but at the appropriate site which would be the Joel and David site. The phase one started two-year process for the design. Thank you for your comments. Your time is up, ma'am. Mr. Chairman, that concludes public comment. Thank you, Attorney Brie Bruno. Thank you everyone for your public comments. We truly appreciate We truly appreciate your

064time. At this moment, we're going to move on to the next item on the agenda, which is consent. Action items. Next is the approval of the action items under the agenda, consent. The documentation for action items listed on consent is made available to board members seven business days prior to the board meeting. We're expected to review all the material, and we have an opportunity to speak with the superintendent with any questions we may have regarding the recommendations. Some of these items have also been briefed or workshopped with the board in advance of appearing on the action agenda. Board member board members, are there any agenda items you wish to pull for further discussion? Mrs. Juvenelli, I have none. Thank you. Mr. Ribble, I have none. Miss Jordan, I have none. Thank you. Mr. Persons, I

065have none. Mrs. Langford Fleming, I have none. Mrs. Javiano, I have none. And I have none. Is there a motion to approve the agenda's consent action items tonight? I'll make the motion to approve the consent agenda. Okay, we have a second. Okay. Moved by Mr. Ribble, seconded by Mrs. Chaviano. Please record your vote. Motion carries 70. Dr. Carlin, please introduce any administrators in attendance with a new assignment proved under the consent agenda. Thank you very much, Chair Fischer. I'm very proud to introduce the following administrators who by the passage of our consent agenda have been appointed officially to their roles. So, Renee Mlan becoming the assistant principal at Mariner High School. Carlos Negrron, our Esau assistant director. Alum Sanchez Rodriguez, assistant principal, East Lake County High School. Allison Kerner, Horns Marsh Middle, assistant principal. Terry

066Patricken, Mirror Lakes Elementary Principal. Robert Lawrence, teaching and learning coordinator. New assignment. Carolyn Marsh, Challenger Middle, assistant principal. Amy Bobac, San Carlos Park Elementary principal Rose Lapsley Morris, Manatee Elementary Assistant Principal. Kim Bisby, Early Childhood Learning Services Head Start Program Coordinator. Brian Adams, assistant principal, Success Academy. Jill Cook, principal, Treeeline Elementary. Samantha Fields, interim administrator, student enrollment. And last but not least, Amy Koig, Eststerero High School assistant principal. Congratulations to all of our administrators. Thank you very much for stepping up and agreeing to be leaders in our district. You know, it is tremendous responsibility, but I can tell you as somebody who did it for 18 years. It is a tremendous joy. Thank you for stepping up into leadership. Thank you for stepping up into district leadership. we look forward to the results that are

067going to occur because of your leadership. So, thank you. going to echo superintendence Carlin's words. Congratulations and I always follow off Mr. Persons of this. Go enjoy tonight with your family and we'll see you tomorrow. So, thank you everyone. Okay, we'll give a moment to clear the room. So the one was the teacher of the year at H and now she's the assistant principal. So he's always excited cuz two of his people got one's going with Joe. Yeah. Okay. Can we please clear the room so we can resume the meeting, please? These are all res. Okay. I was saying that. Yep. Okay. Everyone, can we please clear the room? So he can resume the meeting. Just have a seat. Okay. We're resuming the meeting. Thank you. Okay. It is. Okay. We're going to move on

068to board member comments and reports. We're going to start at the end with Mrs. Chaviano tonight. All right. I'll make this quick. So, we I did a tour at fire station 11 last week. We had five firemen. One of them was a new fire inspector and they all came out of our firemies which was I thought amazing. Some have been with the with the fire station for at least 5 years or or so. So, it's been a little while since they've graduated. and they had nothing to like nothing but great things to say about themies. And I made the comment when I went to school here in Lee County, thesemies weren't a thing. so for me, it's it's getting those stories out and sharing the opportunities that we have available, you know, to our kids

069so our family knows what's out there. I think we need to do a better job there. but they had inspirational stories. I'm looking forward to hear their testimonials. I spoke at the Rotary Club of Fort Myers last week as well and just going over Zello, which is another platform that we have that we're really expanding and going into this year. that's a platform that helps K through 12, our students and our families understand the opportunities outside of possibly college pathway, right? So, it touches on vocational opportunities, career opportunities, or what skill sets will lead them into those right skills. So looking forward to the release of that. I toured success academy Y pep and DJJ with principal Restino. So looking forward to seeing the changes there and some of the things that he wants to

070bring to that campus to make improvements for those students. and since they're next door to the technical academy, I think there's going to be opportunity as as well for them. And I think that's an incredible highlight and value for those students to show them that even though that they're at Success Academy, there is still a pathway for them to be successful for them to graduate and progress and move forward. So, I'm very excited for that partnership. I spoke at the bus driver active asalent training that was also here two weeks ago for for our bus drivers getting on and I know you guys actually rode the buses and were on the actual training. but just very excited to see that we're just giving them that information and equipping them to be more confident and have

071those skills to address certain issues should they happen. again, it's it's unfortunate that we have to do those trainings. but in this day and age, and I think we even spoke about it at our workshop with the most recent, you know, issue that happened in New York, it's it's better to be prepared and not need it. So, I'm glad that we had that. And then last, this 13 days until school starts. so I've already purchased my kids school supplies and we're working on our uniforms next. So, to our teachers, I see those lists and whatever the extras that you need are, just add them on there cuz I'm always like, take all the things cuz I get how the classroom works. So, I'm looking forward to our teachers getting back and our open houses that

072kick off next week as well. And I know our kids are excited to find out who their teachers are and to walk in there. So, just excited for this coming school year and the changes that we're working on that were shared in this workshop. just to move things forward. Again, it's not an immediate overnight. it takes time to to turn an organization this size. but I'm glad to see with information that was shared that we're looking at that data and making that progress. So, that's my update. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Chaviano, Mrs. Lenford Fleming. Thank you. I'm going to respond to a couple of the public comments that were made tonight. Mrs. when I would love to know about those two positions with the prevention specialists and how that is covered and I know

073they're exceptional talent in our district. So maybe we can have a one-on-one about those two positions only because I have spoken with those individuals also. Juel is clearly still a problem. It's going to continue to be a problem until we can all team up together not just the school district but also with families and get and get this under control. So, that is something I would love to get some more information on in that particular division. I want to say thank you so much for coming and speaking on behalf of the referee association. I for one am really looking forward to football season. go nullles. And I'm sorry Mr. Persons. but I also want to implore our families that our referees and umpires are human beings and as a former coach and I have refed

074other sports before. it is no easy task and you're you know you said it best when you were talking about you're immediately hated as soon as you walk out there by somebody. So, I just want to say thank you and I just want to implore families to get behind these individuals and support them. We have a referee shortage as it is with the amount of games and sports that are being added as you heard that co postco are athletic programs are finally growing and we want to keep these individuals because in my opinion they don't get paid enough. Alva in community plea, I'm not going to go into this much tonight. We didn't take a vote on anything regarding this. However, I just want the community to know that I am asking really deep diving

075questions. maybe not in public, but in but in my one-on- ones. And I just want to say I appreciate you all advocating for your community because that is that's key and whatever community you live in in Lee County, it's key to come and advocate for the people and the children and the families that you that you represent. So thank you. Tonight we approved some things that might have gone under the radar, but I feel like it is incredibly important that we call these special organizations out. And tonight we approved agreements with Salis Care, abuse control treatment, cal Catholic Charities, Valerie's House, I hope I'm not missing any, but these organizations partner with the school district and do so much for the needy in our community. So, if if there's ever any community service in your

076heart, please reach out to these these these organizations because they do so much for our children outside of our school hours. Thank you to the county commissioners who continue to provide this really cool experience for our students. It's an it's they pay for it in full. It's a really cool field trip that the kids get to take. So, I want to say thank you for that partnership. teachers. I know you are itching to get into your classrooms. I was a teacher for 20 years and August 1st hit and I would be calling the principal. Can I come in yet? Can I come in yet? I just want to urge you to also continue to take the time that you need. I know you want to get those bulletin boards up and dive into your student

077list, but I just want to say I hope everyone had an amazing summer. I look forward to an incredibly successful school year. I will continue to pray for our teachers, our children's, our families, our SRO officers, our administration in this board. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Langford Fleming. Mr. Persons, I've been visiting schools. last week I think I visited 12. This week I'm yesterday I did three and tomorrow I'm doing another three. The one thing and they're all in my east zone districts where I'm trying to go first. The one thing I can say is that things are really improving there. almost everyone I've talked to actually every one of them have had full staffs. So and compared to last year and the year before it's just a tremendous difference. So I want to thank

078the superintendent and our HR department for really making that happen. I want to give a shout out to our east region too. We had 12 out of 17 schools increase their school grade points. Gateway Elementary and Horns Marsh Middle moved from a C to a B. Over the region we had a total increase of 531 points. Some of the most notable increases were a Monastery Elementary tripledigit 117 points. It went up Lemil till middle another triple digit 110 points. Varsity Lake 60 points. Horns Marsh Middle 57 points up. Lehi Acres Middle 45. Gateway Elementary 44 points. Gateway High School 33 points. And Harris Marsh Elementary 28 points. Also, we're seeing a great movement under the ESSA subgroups. We had five schools clear one subgroup. Five other schools cleared two subgroups. Three schools cleared three subgroups.

079One school cleared four subgroups. And three schools cleared all subgroups. They were Lumil Till Middle, Hars Marsh Middle, and Mirror Lakes Elementary for the second year in a row. So just a shout out to all those schools. They're doing a tremendous job. I like to say we're leading the way for the district for a change. So, I'm really excited and proud of them. That's all I have for tonight. Thank you, Mr. Persons. Mr. Jordan, thank you. I mentioned earlier this afternoon that I had attended the bus drivers training where I was able to go on the buses with the bus drivers and participate in all of the training that they were taking place because I believe that if someone is having training we need to know what this that training is so that if someone's

080speaking to us about it we understand what they're going through. So I was really thankful that I had the opportunity to do that as well as doing the training for the reunification training that all the principles assistant principles administration had done and I thank Dr. Carlin and Dave Nulan for u bringing that to us and allowing us to participate in that process. Also, I want to congratulate all the new appointees, the principles and everyone else that was just tonight has a new job. And also, I really have to say I really think Miss Fleming, thank you for bringing that up about the prevention specialist because I had brought that up before when I found out that they would not be here. I've worked with those ladies for some years now. they do a great job

081in making sure that they are on point when it comes to kids safety the jewels as they said and I would love for that opportunity as well with Dr. Carlin to speak on that. So thank you for bringing that up. And then with the Alva community, I always appreciate having conversations and the advocacy that you bring to the board and every day that you know fight for for your properties over there and your community and I and I have to say I agree with you. We did when we started this and this was before you Dr. Kurlin, you know, made the statement that we would keep them informed. We would have conversations and I was at the one meeting that they spoke about in Alva, which was back when Dr. Shaker was still there. And

082at that time, we did say that, you know, we would make sure that we bring them, you know, forward information. And so to me, I just I really believe that we need to make sure that we are carrying the narrative and it's the correct information that we're giving it to them versus them getting and I don't know who their subject matter experts are, but I think that would be who we are. So if we're given that information, I think that would be better for us as far as outcome. And then also, and I've asked this multiple times, I absolutely if if you could let I want to know what happens with guns if they are being shot, if our kids will be on lockdown. So, if you could send that to us, I'd appreciate that.

083And thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Jordan. Mr. Ribble. Okay, real quick. Real quickly, I reported on the safety day of training that we had last Friday. I thought it was excellent and I know many of my peers were there that went through the exercise from 7:30 breakfast until we got out of there at 4:30. just a couple of things. I want to give attention to to our communications folks, Rob and Riley for putting some excellent communications out there, some videos getting folks ready to go back to school. I think she did they did a great job with the posting the half penny sales tax and where the money goes because there's a lot of misleading information and rumors out there what happens with the half penny sales tax and I thought they did

084a great job if you haven't seen it go on Facebook and put it in there and it'll pop up for you. the other thing I think they did a great job in getting folks ready to come back to school with the new rules of the road particularly the communications they're going to have coming out on cell phones and backpacks. So let's not forget renew our commitment to being 100% compliant with cell phones and backpacks. And if mom and dad or uncle Ned or or the grandmother needs to get a hold of a student, we got to do it like we used to in the old days. call the principal and they'll find find your child for you. Okay, that's all I have. Thank you, Mr. M. Juvenile. I'll be quick, too. I just want to

085congratulate all the new appointments tonight. That was that's really great. We always have quite a bit beginning the right around the beginning of school year. So, congratulations to all those that got got new appointment positions. But also I just want to say welcome back to all the staff and students cuz it's we're here. It's it's right around the corner. The first day of school is the 11th and I know my grandchildren are just excited for their open houses. So I hope everybody has a great successful open house and everyone gets ready and they were had a nice relaxing summer to get ready to rock and roll the 202526 school year. I thank you for bringing up the couple of things that was mentioned down the line here regarding some of the speakers because we I

086want to just piggyback off that and say that we I would like to have more information about that. regarding the board, we serve all students in all zones. We don't serve one area, one location, one street, one community. We serve all students in all zones and we that's the property we've had since 2007 and we need to build a school. The property where the that everyone wants us to jump to is going to be a school too that's already in the that's already on the in the planning towards a school there as well. So we need schools in the east zone that has been neglected. I won't even even sugarcoat that in any way, shape, or form. And the time is now. The time is we cannot wait. We have to build schools. And I

087feel bad because you're upset. The community's upset. But it's true that the Alba Inc. did did at that time in 2017 cuz I was there and witnessed that no witnessed that and they wanted the school. No one fought the school. In fact, they wanted the school. So, I'm not having a conversation. That's the first one. But I will just say that we serve all students in all zones and we do and it's they've been neglected. The zone has been neglected. There's portables and so forth. Chief, she's interrupted the meeting. Please remove her. I'm sorry, but that is the truth. And we need to build the schools. So that's the property where it was planned to be planned for schools to be built. If somebody wants a list, we can give them a list. So if

088they want to move from that area from where our new schools are going to be built, then that's their choice. But that is a choice. I mean, I don't know what else to say. I mean it's a choice to live there or not. That's your choice. The school the school was always going to be there since 2007. So interruption warning. Sergeant continue. Miss Juvenelli, like it or not, we're going to be building schools in the east zone. Dictator, please remove him. They've been warned dictators in the county. Total leadership. This is not leadership. This is dictators that and misinformation is misinformation. And you deal with that. Berico has a lot of schools with a lot of children. I sell houses in there all the time and they are going to be move going to the

089new they would prefer to go to the new school than go to Riverdale that would be across the street. There's no room for the there's no room for children anymore in the east zone. I'm going to ask the board for its pleasure on that. I did make an objection to having possibly the same day in case we had to talk with conflict counsel, but I'm going to ask what's up to the will of the board. So, Tell me what you want to do. Do you want it definitively on the action meeting that night or do we want to play it by ear in regards to what happens during the workshop? Any comments? Mr. Jordan, I thought we discussed it. We were not handling it today because we were definitely going to be taking care of

090it on the next Yeah. What I'm asking is we have asked for it to be put definitively on the next workshop, but the action meeting preceding it that night. Do we there was a request that it be put also on for vote that night. That was a request made for the attorney. I made an objection to that. I'll address the board thinks on that. It's up to the will of the board. My concern was let's say something happens, we don't finish it or we have to talk to our outside counsel or conflict counsel. So how do we wish to proceed for funding would so what I'm hearing you say is workshop should we need to have further discussion or questions answered. There's not enough time to have those answers by the action meeting. So when

091would it be the next action meeting? Is that what you're suggesting? be up to the board, but that would be that would be fine with me. We could in theory put it on for good cause that night. I not a fan of doing good calls, but if that's what we need to do, we can do that. But I want to make sure we have enough time for both sides. Not trying to put it to the side by that. I just want to make sure I know it's definitively going to be on the workshop the next one. Outside of that, I don't know if we want it up for guaranteed vote or not that night. I would prefer it to be a workshop item on August 5th followed by an action meeting in September. What's the

092board feel about that, Miss Jordan? Okay, here we go again. Moving it again. We had this conversation earlier. We said that we would bring it back at the we were going to not do it today because we're going to bring it to the next one. Put it on the agenda. We pulled it We pulled it from tonight. So, if something were to happen, that can take place again. But, we've already said that we wanted to have a council here at the same time. So there should be no reason why we cannot get that done at that next meeting. There's two meetings, Miss Jordan. That's what I'm trying to clarify. It's definitively going on that workshop. What are we putting up for vote that night? That is my question. Correct. And that's So you want to

093have it on that? Exact. I personally Yes. I want Mr. Persons. Yeah. I mean, I would like to have it on the agenda for the action meeting to take action. I mean, if there becomes a huge problem during the workshop, we can always pull it. it would not be my choice, but I'd rather do that than to say, "Oh, I want to added good cause." Because then it's going to look like, "Oh, you're trying to sneak it in there, you know, to the public." So, I'd rather have it out front. Yeah. Let's have our discussion. I agree with Miss Jordan. I think we should be able to come to a resolution and be able to vote on it that night. That's on since I'm the one who kind of kicked it around in workshop. yes,

094moving it forward in the workshop and having it on the action plan again to the point it's there for the public. It'll have its seven days. Everyone will have the opportunity to see the agenda. Should we not reach a resolution in the workshop, then the action would be for it to be either a special meeting or that September meeting. That would be my point. Anyone else? So, the contract would be on the workshop. So, why not get the contract now so we can have that all before the workshop and have this done? I mean, if we're I mean, I don't want to wait till the workshop to get it and it seven, you know, only seven days in advance. I mean, that's right. That's we need that. We need it. So, I mean, if what

095I'm saying is that is true, but what I'm saying is both sides have to agree to this contract during that workshop. That's all I'm saying. If you all want to put it in the action, I mean, that night's fine. I just want to make sure that I'm understanding it's for procedural. So, if I may, my understanding was that it was going to be workshop on August 5th with the intention of bringing it to the action meeting on August 5th. Obviously, if there is an issue, then we can't bring in, you know, August 5th. Specifically, the board requested that conflict council be present to be able to help and facilitate the discussion and help reach an agreement. Again, the points are not major points. So, I'm not anticipating that an agreement cannot be reached. I would

096again request because this has been going on for a very, very long time and everybody knows I'm very, very patient person, but this has been going on for a very, very long time. So, I would request that it be at least a placeholder be placed on the agenda on August 5th. I've already sent you an email that has Mr. Quake, who is our normal conflict counsel and has always been the normal conflict council and very familiar on these negotiations. So, Mr. Quick will contact you. He will forward you the contract, individual discussions with you, and we will move forward on August 5th, which will be up to the pleasure of the board. Is that Mr. Ribble? Yeah. I just want to make make a comment. I mean, we couldn't agree today on two items, and

097there's no way we're going to be able to come here and do a workshop and and solve all these all all these things we're divided on unless we get I think m Miss J. Vanelli brings a great point. We need to have we need to have the information before the workshop so we're prepared when we come here and hopefully we can get this thing put to bed that night with a vote the same night. Agree. But that's not the issue. I'm just asking for procedurally so that I can tell the administration advise them so we can tell them when it goes on the agenda. So it sounds like we want the action agenda that night. Yes. Yeah. But I don't think we need to ignore the fact that we need to be prepared by the

098time we time we get here. Okay. So who's going to make the contract then? We are we already have a sample. We just have a wordsmith of things that are important to us. I just want you to be aware of that. So who is the responsibility of this contract coming forward? Will attorney Bri Bruno Bruno be working on that? No. No. So conflict we have a retained conflict council been our conflict council for years. conflict council will contact board members, go through the contract with you and then whatever discussion I mean this person has done this for a very long time and has dealt with boards, local boards, state boards, I mean just non-stop that's what this person does and have a conversation with the board prior to the workshop individually so that when you

099come together they can negotiate and have the discussion that is required at the workshop. Normally that is how it's done that you have the attorney just like I have done in the past you have the attorney speak to the other side and then at some point you come back to the board and say board here's what the position is and then they help facilitate whatever may need to be facilitated at that time that's the normal process and for clarification that's we did a few months ago I just want that on the record so but if we want to put it we can proceed with that is that what the board wants to do I just want to confirm so we can move forward I'm not trying to stall all this. I just went out the

100board's direction because I was asked that. Okay. Do you have your direction then, madam superintendent? Yes, sir. Thank you. Okay. Okay. I get back out of the fun procedural stuff. Thank you. So, I want to again, I'm going to piggyback off Mr. Ribble. such an amazing day we had on Friday with safety, security, and re reunification. Thank you, Dr. Carlin, for setting up. as well as Dr. Beth Barfield, the Glades Superintendent. Amazing job, amazing presentation. Those those videos were very intense, but it was much needed to hear. Thank you, Mr. Nulan, Mrs. Barnes as well for setting up that entire day, as well as the other staff. It was really eye opening. I truly appreciate it. So, on top of that, as our commitment to safety and security with this vote tonight for item N

101to this board, the superintendent, her staff, as well as our, board attorney and her staff have set forward that we'll be now having, swing arm cameras on our buses that will now help protect our students on buses. So, I want to say kudos to everyone here. Thank you for getting that across the finish line to Madam Superintendent and her staff. So, last thing I had is I attended the open house for Trafalgar Middle for the new super Yeah, sorry, new principal. It's been a long night. Christina Morgan, they did a great job. I appreciate it and best of luck to him. Now, I will turn it over to attorney Buno for any comments. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I do have a comment tonight. The excuse me, the state of Florida's division of workers

102compensation rates school districts based on experience modification factor. The modification factor is calculated on the workers compensation losses over the past three years and reflects the overall performance of the district's workers compensation program. The industry standard is to receive a 1.0 score. Above 1.0 0 means improvement is needed and the ultimate goal is to go below 1.0. The lowest number represents the most successful program. The score reflects how quickly employees are able to return to work after a workplace injury. This not only supports staff, but it also demonstrates the good stewardship of taxpayer dollars. I want to congratulate Kathy Richards and Warren Wilson from our riskmanagement department who represented the district at the Furma Florida Educational Risk Management Association conference a couple of weeks ago. At this conference, Warren and Kathy were presented with the

103best services award, meaning that amongst all 67 districts in the state, Lee County came in first with a modification factor of 71. So, they've been working hard on that. And that's my comments. Thank you, madam board attorney. Madam superintendent. Yes. Thank you. My comments will be brief. I believe everybody's pretty much mentioned a lot of what I was going to talk about tonight. So I'll just give a little check mark next to reunification day. Thank you very much for those of you that were able to come out and support that. safety and security is our top priority and just delighted that we had the opportunity to practice what we've had on our shelves for many years. very important because at the end of the day, the children's safety come first. So we're very very proud

104and thank you for coming out to support that. as was mentioned, the first day of school is right around the corner. two weeks from yesterday, if you can possibly believe it, teachers return on on Friday and then our support staff returns the following week. So just a always a great time. I always the night before school starts, you know, I still don't sleep. And last year I slept pretty well, I think. but I was retired, but now that I'm back in the saddle, it's always that night before where you're just kind of nervous and bundled of energy. And just want to wish all of our teachers and principles, assistant principles, all of our staff a really great first day of school. And finally, I just want to thank our board. and I said this earlier

105today, but I want to say it for this evening's remarks. You know, there are a lot of distractions that can come our way. There's a lot of things that are out there, right? And what I have noticed about this governance team is you are laserike focused on the work. Think about what we talked about today. Working towards zero teacher vacancies. That's big. And we're making great progress. We have a way to go with our academic achievement. And we talked about being fully transparent about that. Okay? We're not a perfect district, but I heard Mr. persons today talk about the extraordinary growth of a number of our schools, those teachers, students, staff members working so diligently to affect those gains. So, so while we talk about change as necessary in this district, we also want to

106take time to celebrate and I thank you to those of you that did celebrating with our staff going out and showing your appreciation that means the world to them. It really does. So, I just continue to invite you to celebrate the great things that are going on in our district. Yes, we have change to make. Yes, we're in the middle of changes. It's not always pretty. You know, change in the middle is kind of messy. but I am fully confident in our staff, in our children, and our families that we are going to achieve great things. We are going to be the number one school district in the state of Florida and we're on our way. So, just thank you for your support. It makes all the difference. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Real quick message

107from HR. if the board members madam superintendent, madam board attorney can go down to the pit after the meeting for a quick picture. Okay. next scheduled meetings of the board August 5th, Tuesday, there will be schoolboard workshop at 1 p.m. followed by schoolboard action meeting at 6 p.m. At this point, having no other business to come before this body and seeing no objections, this meeting is hereby adjourned. The time is 8:01 p.m. Have a great evening.