001good evening ladies and gentlemen if you'll please be seated we are ready to begin this evening's board meeting Sergeant arms is the lobby cleared thank you at this time we request all electronic devices we turned off or put it in silent mode also please refrain from using flash photography during except a special presentation portion of the meeting it's my pleasure to welcome you to the June 27 2023 school board meeting the time is 601 PM this meeting is called to order we would like to take this opportunity to remind the members of the public of the district's Mission which is to ensure that each student achieves his or her highest personal potential and the district's Vision to be a world-class school system board member Chris Patrica may be participating and will vote by phone this
002evening pursuant to board policy 1.11 this evening's agenda includes the invitation Pledge of Allegiance one item under information public comment consent action items which include two items under Board office one of which is good cause Mr dupe Bruno will please provide an explanation for this one item thank you Mr chairman and good evening Florida statute 194.015 requires the school board to appoint a citizen member to serve on the county value adjustment board in preparation for the value adjustment board organizational meeting the county has requested that the school board confirm its citizen member appointment for the coming year during the briefing today the board made its selection and this is why this item is coming good cause this evening as presiding officer I find there is good cause to add this item to the agenda there
003will also be four items under academic services 13 items under Business Services four items under Human Resources 13 items under operations 11 items under public hearings and four items under good of the order or other business board members is there a motion to adopt the agenda I motion to adopt tonight's agenda okay okay the motion was made by Miss Langford Fleming and seconded by Miss Jordan would you please vote the motion carries seven zero as is accustomed to the board I will lead us in an invocation after which Miss Morgan will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please stand thank you joining us this evening is Pastor Blake Hansen of first Faith Assembly of North Fort Myers Blake and his wife Brittany have been part of Faith Assembly since 2019. when they took a
004big step of Faith leaving Los Angeles with what only would fit in a moving Pod and made the cross-country Trek to Florida pursuing God's call on their life of ministry Pastor Blake became the lead Pastor on March 5th 2023. Blake has a heart for Southwest Florida and seeing lost people find Jesus and start a relationship with him Blake graduated from Central Bible College in 2011. Blake and Brittany have been married since 2014 and have served in various roles in Ministry in Las Vegas Los Angeles and Florida they now have three beautiful children Bodhi Breyer and Blakely in their spare time you can find them spending time on the ball field playing outside and trying to make it to the bench when they can family time is the best time welcome Pastor Blake absolutely school board
005thank you Mr persons thank you for this invitation I'm going to ask you if you're comfortable if you'll pray with me about your heads God we give you this time right now and we just pray for this meeting specifically you pray for wisdom we pray for guidance we pray for our leaders Lord Lord we pray for all the parties involved from the students and them being the Forefront of this meeting and the reason we gather but we pray for wisdom for our administrators or School Board to make the proper policies and procedures Lord we pray for Unity Lord we pray that even though there might be disagreement at times we can come together and we know we can gather because the central cause is to help our students better perform and better to participate so
006when we pray for Unity this evening Lord there might be challenges and there might be conflict we pray for a peace that your spirit can provide Lord we pray for just your ability to move here this evening and to lead each party involved we give you this moment we give you this evening and we be with please continue to be with our leaders and this evening's events and activities at tonight's school board meeting and Your Great Name we all say Amen Miss Morgan I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republicans which it stands one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you please be seated the next item on our agenda is the community update Dr Bernier would you please provide us
007chairman members of board members of the community thank you very much for the opportunity the hurricane update continues to look and examine the repairs that are underway we have several things to report and we do believe that in the course of this report the pictures will speak a thousand words once we get to the pictures foreign before we get to the pictures I can certainly start a verbal report the demolition of Fort Myers Beach Elementary School in the outer buildings is now 50 complete if you were to see the pictures of Fort Myers Beach Elementary School there is always in the course of a demolition or construction projects where things begin to look worse before they look better but we're excited about this big first initial step the design for Fort Myers Beach Elementary Schools
008the renovation is now complete so we have the necessary plans and other things to move forward we'll be putting together a gross a project estimate cost and be bringing that to the board for moving that forward as well invitation to bid for construction services for Fort Myers Beach Elementary School reservation was advertised last week so we will be doing that work for Fort Myers Beach as well the solicitation for Hector a cafaretta the K-8 rebuild is due July 14 2023. for members of the public this is a unique opportunity to put the solicitation out as it does look at a private public partnership as an opportunity though all of our local actors are eligible to bid against the public The public-private Proposal ongoing hurricane related projects including Roofing floor wall drywall painting Etc are underway
009approximately 88 percent of all hurricane related service requests submitted to our maintenance department are done I share with you that I drive home every day past Dunbar Middle it's nice to see those repair Crews on the roof putting that roof back together we don't think of Dunbar as being one of our most heavily impacted buildings but it was this is picked these pictures are pictures of the Fort Myers Beach Elementary School demolition where you see are former buildings that have been torn down remember we are not touching the historical building the historic building will stay in place and that's what the former bullet points where I talked about both the repairs and the process for renovation those plans and other things are now done and we are bidding the project hurricaneian repairs both before and
010after this is an example at Fort Myers Technical College of what we've done post hurricane to remove damaged flooring fix walls and then install new flooring the next picture is at Diplomat Middle this is a little tougher to see but in all of our science rooms that were impacted by water these are primarily on the second floor as people will recall Diplomat Middle lost its roof we had soaked cabinets those all those cabinets had to be removed and in the pictures on the right hand side you can see some of the same tables and chairs however all the Cabinetry and sinks for these science labs have been replaced good our next example is from Lexington Middle School Lexington Middle School primarily was a flood-damaged building you can see that we are making progress regarding all
011of the work on the first floor carpets and tiles being laid and you can see the difference between what we had post storm this as many of you will recall as board members you toured when these walls were still wide open and we could see the aluminum studs and there were actually individuals down with paper towel actually cleaning the individual studs and then spraying them and coating them so that they wouldn't continue to corrode and wouldn't grow mold so only after that process was completed we then close it up begin and we have begun the drywall paint and flooring at Lexington Middle Orangewood Elementary School seems like a little thing but every little thing we talked about incrementality in all of this process every incremental step towards being fixed is a step towards being fixed
012this is the Orangewood Elementary School walkway cover between two of its buildings that's what was remaining post-storm and that's what has now been installed and replaced this is Paul Lawrence Dunbar Middle School the roofing project I remember flying over Dunbar and on the way back to the Emergency Operations centers to land I made the pilot Circle back because I could not understand how one corner of a roof could be peeled back like that dunbars just there I would call it I'm going to try to get my directions right in Fort Myers I would call it's southwest corner had been exposed to the wind for so long the wind got underneath it and peeled it back but just to a certain extent it almost looked like for the handyman out there that if you're not with
013a hammer you could have just like put it back tacked it back down and everything would have been fine that is not what has to happen when that happens to a school building it's a pretty involved project removing the damaged materials getting down to the core of the roof as you can see here reinstalling the materials and then again going back to ensuring that the roof has the correct materials on it again this was a standing seam roof which made it interesting that this one was impacted by that wind it just had to do with the torrential direction of that wind for such a length of time golf middle school working on the roofing there this is a different type of roof we're sanding standing seams is not appropriate it is a pan roof so
014the work is continuing there in order to ensure that the Gulf Middle School's Roofing is complete and that we can keep the water from intruding inside of the building I believe finally one of the last pictures is of one of the most extensive pieces of damage this is also back at Lexington Middle this is the shared use gymnasium between the County Rec Center and our school building normally during the school day that large divided door on the left hand side is closed this is a secure area for the middle school then to have PE and other classes in there and it can be opened for as you see on the picture to the right all the subflooring is now in the wood for the gym floor is currently in the facility and if those of
015all any of us who have laid a wood floor you know you have to give the wood time to acclimatize adjust to the moisture and humidity in the room and then the process can begin for the hardwood to go down so we look forward to updating you more these are just a sample of the pictures that are going on and of the work going on in our in our school buildings we could be here all night showing before and afters we will continue to use different examples as we move forward and continue to keep our community updated we had a great meeting with Imperium the other day it was actually yesterday we are moving forward all of our projects for A and B if you've been reading in the news there is a deadline of
016June 29th for all of the A and B A was debris removal and B was all of the emergency preparedness responses all of those claims have to be filed by that date all of our claims have long since been filed and we've actually as you as you will recall receive partial payment we are still working towards a better understanding of when the federal government will move to the 90 10 rule meaning they will replace 90 percent of and only leave us with the 10 percent remaining for us to cover that is a pretty standard process it should happen within the next couple of months as the claims continue to rise and I would refer to the community just to be thankful for not only our local delegation but for the Governor's signature on the on
017the budget they have allocated a significant hundreds of millions of dollars for those District like Lee County that have been impacted so that 10 percent Gap we will have the opportunity to apply directly to fdm the Florida Department of Emergency Management and we'll be able to receive those Gap dollars back from the state of Florida so thank you to our local delegation the board members who helped Lobby our lobbyists and the governor for signing that budget so that's our update on Hurricane repairs and where we are as of this moment thank you Dr paneer next on the item next item on the agenda is public comment attorney to pay Bruno would you please address this yes thank you Mr chairman School Board policy provides the opportunity at this point in the meeting to address the
018board 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 backup will be made from the podium in the front center aisle please be advised that the board will not respond during public commentary remarks made by speakers concerns will be addressed by the superintendent or his staff as necessary and the chair May comment as deemed appropriate or the superintendent May comment at the conclusion of public comment the purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on District issues such as duties responsibilities decisions and the general operation of the district the school
019board 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 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 and booing or display of temper during public comment is prohibited speakers who fail to follow Prophet decorum 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 1.11 and may be removed from the chambers by the sergeant-at-arms for board policy 1.11 the time for speakers three minutes if there are 20 two minutes if
020there are 30 one minute if there are 31 speakers or more the maximum time allotted for public comment is one hour 60 speakers you will find a countdown on the big 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 there are 16 individuals that would like to address the board this evening three minutes per speaker thank you please make sure you have completed a public comment card if you intend to provide public comment the card is our public record identifying those who speak and providing contact information for staff to follow up the cards are located with the staff
021in the hallway is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the board but did not fill out a comment card okay it looks like we have two we could get them a card almost okay all right would you please proceed thank you Mr chairman the following individuals please line up Madeline Stewart Joe Phillips Jesse Phillips Michelle pescatrice Joe M Stone and if you could please if you would please ma'am if you could please sit in the back because the line starts in the back we don't want to have anybody directly behind the speaker thank you very much thank you Mr chairman good evening everyone thank you so much for the opportunity to speak to you tonight may I ask that my purple colleagues just stand for one moment so they can be acknowledged
022granted thank you so much good evening again first I want to thank all of you who have helped me and my colleagues in purple in the purple group understand the nuances and complexities of defining policy and procedures for the school district of Lee the work each of you does is Central to our District's future success so thank you very much for your for your input to us so that we could understand how how things work but I've been thinking about our District's tagline and personal passionate and Progressive and I was so interested to learn that it came about through work with the entire community it represents a thoughtful approach to Quality education and to what a public school can hope to be personal because ultimately all learning is personal the teacher's personal knowledge and understanding
023of the student the students growth and knowledge and the world and their own growth as a person passionate because what we care about most and are most committed to motivates us to learn and to grow and Progressive because progress means developing new knowledge moving forward with the commitment to a better world which is really the goal of Education we have learned so much from you and I hope you have learned from us that we are committed to supporting the Professionals in the district to make the best decisions for all of the children in Lee County thank you so much thank you I am smoking Joe Mark train Twain wrote in the beginning God made idiots this was for practice then God created school boards when the discussion first began to elect a superintendent versus appointing
024one I boldly stated this would be a huge mistake for Lee County politicians in Lee County are not elected they're either appointed or paid for and I have Beyond proved this pointing out the fix where your current three new members were positioned on the board by a political strategist I even taught you exactly who your chair and your Vice chair would be days before the vote ever came up several key points that are already being set in motion the public needs to understand what is about to happen currently the superintendent is supposed to be directed by the by the school board even though we have witnessed at least the chair has already willingly surrendered his direction to the superintendent the elected superintendent will not answer to the board nor be under their Direction he will
025answer to his self and the voters and we all know how they expedite to answer our questions if they answer at all Dr barnier is moving to put forth substantial pay increases those will recede them have nothing but praise he is really looking out for his people don't get excited yet teachers bus drivers maintenance Transportation support staff this doesn't apply to you Theodore Roosevelt said a man who has never gone to school May steal from a freight train but a man who has a university education will steal the entire railroad we are all aware that Dr Bernier has decided to run even though when I told several people that after the election they argued he would not because he would not take a substantial loss in Pay even though Dr Bernier was revered chair for
026the Dei committee and his former employee at his previous job I still agree he's a very intelligent man and he approves it by increasing the salaries of directors and executive level positions which start at the minimum of 130 thousand six hundred dollars and the maximum of 205 annually whatever increases these salaries go he has to earn more than his employees but I'm sure that never crossed his mind kind of sticks in the back of your throat like a high in your biscuit done it there armor I don't think you're as bad as some people say but it seems you're much worse now I know you're fixing to bring up a thing where only one onions talk to the people that is a Terry Miller plant for more control if you only allow one of these
027members to speak I promise you I will be here every Community you have thank you I'm smoking hi I miss smoking Joe my children husband and myself are products of Lee County School System I have I am one of the few privileged to have to receive a Beach Elementary education that is that experience was incredible the day I am here on behalf of Fort Bonita High School Employees who brought serious allegations of unfair treatment and treatment during their employment at the district the superintendent assured these women and my husband The Last Action meeting someone at the Last Action meeting someone would reach out to this one no one has we had a parent who we who we have spoke about in District failure to properly Implement their child 504 plan after sending emails phone calls
028and text messages this week finally someone called them the mother to acknowledge their child situation was being looked into only after my husband having to inform the superintendent that our attorney would be the next person asking why they failed a child and look government funds for took government funds for services unprovided the district broke the law by having meetings about the student without informing the parent several sources inside the district have informed our staff this is going on all across the district even going as far as saying the entire ese program in the district is fubar this is your staff's comment not ours everyone from our staff family and family would like to express our sympathy to the families of the five recent graduates that the community lost you are in our prayers I will
029end by saying we are speaking up while you're covering up there's no I in team but there is a you and y'all suck foreign good evening my name is Joe Stone and I'm a full-time resident of Bonita Springs the presumption of innocence until proven guilty is a fundamental Concept in the United States and is supported by the 5th 6th and 14th amendments of the Constitution in other words individuals charged with a crime are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law flagging books for a potential book ban essentially locks it away prior to a policy review to determine if that book passes the Miller test while those who want to flag a book may see it as a means to protect children from potentially harmful or objectionable material the book deserves a fair
030trial when books are flagged before a policy review there are several potential consequences first it limits educational opportunities until the book is reviewed and could affect the ability of students to explore different subjects cultures or even historical events written from a different viewpoint second according to the National Council of teachers of English in their 2018 position statement on flagging books it can reduce complex literary themes to a few isolated features as well as limit students access to a range of relevant and Quality quality literature the council encourages reading and reviewing the entire book as a whole instead of just pointing out sentences or keywords finally by flagging books it may just make students even more curious about them if the book is flagged and found acceptable after a challenge review students May line up to
031read it as soon as it's put back into circulation after all the concept of flagging implies that a book has been marked dangerous either real or imagined once a challenge book has gone through the rigorous and time-consuming review process and is deemed appropriate please put it back on the Shelf flagging is unnecessary I'm confident that you will do what's best for the students of Lee County thank you well the following individuals please line up Kathy James Bobby delisandro Mara virtress Dr Paula Porter Sharon McGill foreign ER members of the school board my name is Michelle paskatris and I'm retired principal from Lee County and currently I'm the executive director of lcea the organization that represents administrators here in the district I come before you concern from our building level administrators he says come to their
032attention that a proposal to raise the salary schedule for upper level administrators including executive directors and Chiefs is on the agenda for this evening's meeting this new schedule opens the opportunity for executive directors currently earning the top pay of 131 879 to move up to a new high of 170 thousand dollars while a chief currently earning the top pay of 838 dollars to move up to a new high of possibly two hundred thousand dollars these pay raises would be approximately a 28.9 percent pay raise for Chiefs and a possible 13.7 to 19.7 percent hike for executive directors I believe it is of note that most of these people holding these positions were just moved to the top salary in their pay range during the 2021-22 school year the reason giving behind this change has been
033that we need to attract quality people from out of the district for new positions at the district level and the current salary schedule isn't adequate the county schools has always prided itself on growing our own yet it appears that we are now looking outside the county for those very qualified people rather than the ranks of our very own qualified and knowledgeable administrators it's important to note that in the last two school years building level administrators faced many new challenges including covid and of course hurricane Ian many of them had severe damage to their homes and or lost their homes completely yet came to work each and every day to guide their schools with compassion love and strong leadership despite these conditions these very same people received no pay raise during the years 2021-22 or 2022-23
034I do not believe it is necessary to say that they are currently feeling undervalued and disrespected I don't believe it will surprise you when I point out that we have lost 32 administrators in the past six months 10 of them being principals as you discuss this proposal please take into consideration how this may affect these diligent caring building level administrators who literally are the leaders who are moving this District positively thank you well good evening Dr Bernier let's go board members and attorney Bruno well here we are again it's been a long summer I've been back before you many times with the same message and I do appreciate your respectful attention we in the purple group are very resilient and we represent many local residents who County schools and having the best for our students
035families and teachers we strongly support the process which is being developed by your staff to make the challenge process which will accompany your policy decision fair and Equitable to all sides both sides of the issue so I'm very proud of that not just our opinion but everybody's we strongly believe in parental rights and strong will leave your staff are developing one of the greatest and best challenge process in the state and we've read just about every one of them stay strong in your support of an equitable process I have previously and flagged in the past the idea that some books would remain flagged even after going through a process which one of our early Speeders talk about once you've been through the process is right that book go back on the Shelf unflagged thank you
036for your fair and equal decision the process going forward I know you'll make the best decision for our children thank you very much thank you school board members superintendent and members of the public although I'm wearing my purple the reason I'm speaking to you tonight is about the proposed administrative pay raises my name is Mara vertrees and I'm a retired teacher and principal here in Lee County the concern about the pay raises is it's called administrative but it only provides this reward to some administrators the package includes raises of up to twenty four thousand to thirty nine thousand dollars per year for some District personnel and provides zero nothing for school-based administrators for the people who directly touch the lives of our children our parents and our teachers every day these people are right now
037creating schedules managing their school budgets hiring personnel and desperately trying to figure out how they're going to cover classes in a teacher shortage this pay package sends a message to them and it is a message that is hurtful and insulting I am not against fair pay for the people at this building many of them I have worked with I love some of them I respect them and I honor the work they do but is it fair for someone to get a 29.8 percent raise where someone gets nothing are those people not also valued are they also not working so what I want to say is I'm retired now I'm a voter though and I'm a taxpayer and I have been for over 40 years I don't think this is the best way to spend my
038tax dollars when it comes to compensation I just want to ask two questions of the school board members first of all does this seem fair to you and secondly does it reflect the value you place in our school-based administrators thank you very much good evening my name is Kathy James and this is my first school board meeting I probably won't be my last but we got to start somewhere I'd like to thank Dr beignet for moving away from the flag so you didn't block the flag when we said our Pledge of Allegiance that's very important and I know you all have a very difficult job ahead of you determining the policy and procedures for this book ban the only thing I would ask you to do before you're making any important decisions is review what
039happened in Germany in the 1930s when you're looking at a book and you're looking at a child's ability to study the world study his environments study his community we have a very diverse Community here and I think all of their needs need to be addressed every child who goes to our school our school districts deserves the opportunity to learn no matter what their interest is I don't get me wrong I don't think you ought to put Linda Lovelace in the schools don't get but you know some of the books that I've heard being questioned providing for children at appropriate ages you know if a child can read the words that are in the book say that's an appropriate age book for that child and that's what I think our parents and our teachers are there
040for is to guide that child and maybe explain to them what they're reading if they have any questions because sometimes kids just don't understand the whole thing and you know if you encouraged the child to ask questions about what they're reading I think it would help everybody and I don't envy you your jobs thank you foreign good evening I'm Dr Paula Porter and I'm here to talk a little bit about reading entire books at the school board meeting on July 13th there was some discussion about why an entire book under consideration for removal from the school library or classroom should be read I offer this analogy I'm a teacher I like to give a lot of analogies if would you only kick the tires of a car to determine if you should buy it or
041not we wouldn't so why read a page or a chapter and expect to know the content of an entire book The rationale behind reading an entire book before requesting to ban it for school children is rooted in American principles of intellectual Freedom critical thinking and reasonable decision making at the very least with books being reviewed for elementary school children and adults should be able to read most books within half an hour for longer chapter books used in Upper Elementary a typical book can be read by an adult in a few hours at most spending a few hours to review a book is not asking too much to consider the literary value and to protect our students without reading The Complete Book it's difficult to form a fair and informed Judgment of age-appropriate suitability for children
042by engaging with the text we can better evaluate the author's intent reading the entire book allows for comprehensive understanding of the context themes and messages conveyed by the author in addition reading the entire book enables an assessment of its literary value per the Miller test as guiding aspect of determining suitability removing a book without considering its literary value not only goes against the policy of the Miller test but could deprive Learners of valuable literary experiences when a book is read in its entirety we're promoting critical thinking skills it's also necessary for those assigned to review books in the school the ability to assess age-appropriateness in terms of language content and themes this will without a doubt ensure books selected for children align with their developmental ages promote positive values and provide appropriate knowledge and depth
043of understanding without being overly explicit or harmful requesting removal without reading the entire book risks censorship and limits intellectual Freedom taking books away from an audience of readers without a thorough evaluation deprived students of the opportunity to explore diverse ideas engage with different perspectives by engaging a thorough evaluation process we uphold the principles of intellectual Freedom responsibly protect students and promote a rich and diverse reading opportunity thank you well the following individual lineup please Robert Daniels Jacqueline Perez Jerry Ware Robert Roper Gwen gittins thank you Sharon McGill good evening everyone I would just like to address the zoo bean bean stack issue I didn't have a chance to really get into it and watch the presentation but it's obvious that an outside company is going to come in and try to help the district adhere
044to and facilitate the new statutes regarding access to book lists but what I didn't see in there is how the district Personnel are going to have to be involved in that and included in that and how much time is it going to take away from their regularly scheduled responsibilities since there are not media specialists at each individual school and we're talking thousands of books so I was just a little concerned that I didn't see anything that addressed that in the presentation and I just I just wanted to follow up on that and then the other thing is I would respectfully request some kind of an update on the outcomes of the legislative priorities that the district took to Tallahassee this past session and what were the outcomes and what happened with all those priorities that
045were taken to Tallahassee thank you thank you my name is Robert Daniels I'd like to start by recognizing the incredible amount of community interest and what books are available for our students to read I only wish it was as much interest in the community and ensured that our students had a teacher in each classroom to help them gain the ability to read those books so we could then fight over what they were going to learn from books in our recent reading scores show that's on a decline I thought I was done talking about teacher retainment teacher salary well comments are made by a board member the last time I was here that indicated they still didn't understand that the decision to become a teacher was an economic one and it used to be that we
046were offered a trade-off job security 10-year a position of respect in the community and a rather decent wage if I say so myself for the time in return for the public service teacher I have in the past gone to detail about how for the last 50 years going sorry 40 years going up to 2010 adjusted for inflation that salary was right around seventy thousand dollars on average for teachers in Florida I started teaching in 2011. ever since I started teaching not only has tenure been off the table but the salary is just for inflation have gone down to the equivalent that I'm now making 52 000 and the average teacher is making fifty three thousand so somewhere there needs to be raises going in there because as we've acknowledged for the administrative side of things
047salaries draw Talent and we want to tell it in our classrooms not just warm bodies that are going to avoid us from getting sued and I've already gone through and explained what happened in Hawaii where you have hundreds of students being held in cafeterias libraries everything else the very first time I came up here and spoke I talked about this and here we are with the 29 turnover rate that's only going to get higher 400 open positions that are still going up and it's not that hard to look at why I want you to if you're wondering why you're not seeing new teachers put yourself in the position of an 18 year old you just graduated high school you're signing up to drag yourself through four more years of school you might go 20 30
04840 50 000 in debt to get that degree four or five years of your life to get a bachelor's degree would you choose without tenure to take a position where you are going to make 33 percent under the market average for somebody with your degree when you could instead go and do something else I have two brothers both of whom have a bachelor's degree the same as I do they both considered me to be the smart one even though I chose to be a teacher known that I was going to take a lower salary just not as low as I found out it was going to turn out to be after 10 years in the pool one of them makes 150 000 and works four days a week as an investment broker the other one
049makes three hundred fifty thousand dollars getting flown my name is Robert Roper today I'll be making a series of statements to set the record straight each statement will reveal if the statement was true or false number one my first book challenge was a complete disaster I took another organization's list I refused to fill out any forms I did not follow the procedures and I put the district in a bad spot that statement is true When Miss McGill pointed that out that my error I immediately made Corrections filled out all the individual forms for each book and profoundly apologize to the district and in public number two this movement is all about me false I work alongside a group of very concerned citizens that would like to see children protected from potentially harmful material I am
050not and have never acted alone I am not nor have I ever been the group's leader but I do put my name on the forms to protect the book readers from the treatment that I receive number three I do not have any children currently attending the Lee County public schools that one is true however we have moms and grandmoms and of children that attend Lee County schools within our citizens group number four we have filed challenges to books that are about dragons and wizards that one's false we've never ever listed any of those I don't know anybody that actually has in the form of a book challenge number five one of the things that we've done is called a nuisance Challenge and we regularly challenge Classics of Education that one's false our group has never
051ever even one time hinted about any classic literature or making any nuisance challenges not once number six all of our book challenges call for the book to be banned well that one's false on the form where it says to do what to do about the book we never one time asked for a book to be banned not once in fact every instance we ask for it to be retained just provide parental advisory number seven our goal is to regular regulate every book that we do not like into the dark section of the library that is inaccessible to students that is false all we ask is to leave the parent in the position in the driver's seat is that so evil because I'm a pastor I Endeavor to invoke my religious beliefs into the process that's
052false well my faith is very much a part of who I am I've gone out of my way to advocate for fair resolution to all parents and all students we don't have anything in common with those that oppose our efforts that's false you'll be amazed at the amount of things that we have in common our primary area that we part company is parental rights over teachers calling the shots thank you well the following individuals please line up Lou Navarro Tara Jenner Sergio crew good evening while some of you enjoy your new celebrity status and like to go on radio shows to exaggerate your accomplishments you've forgotten that many of us know the truth you have an agenda that was cleverly disguised without a clear reference to cost and to who may be the receiver you
053are approving a pay raise to all executive directors and Chiefs this pay raise does not apply to principals assistant principals teachers bus drivers or any support staff I am I am above appalled for the employees of the Lee County School District you presently have 500 openings for teachers and 555 openings for other non-instructional positions please I'm begging you to consider these employees who are struggling to pay their bills please consider these employees before you vote for this increase for Chiefs and executive directors as for your proximity plan I believe you need to consider revamping it again as I have three complaints of children in elementary schools being sent to schools that are not close to their homes for example I have one child in San Carlos Park who is being sent all the way to
054Bonita Springs Elementary and the parents did not request that I have another complaint of the amount of violence in District 5 in the middle schools there are countless videos on the internet being posted on social media which I'm sure is just a drop in the bucket to what is actually happening I'm advocating right now on the behalf of a child who was beaten ruthlessly and I have the video and the pictures to prove that and this was posted on social media Pages there was not one place on this child's body that didn't have a black and blue or a welt the parent complained several times and even that day before the child was beaten and bullied she was offered no protection and as a matter of fact the parent was lied to about what happened
055to the aggressor the person that the child that attacked her the violence involving children in District Five has to stop this environment is not conducive nor safe for the children nor the staff so take a break from the photo ops and pay attention to District 5 for the love of God take care of your children members Dr paneer I am Jerry Weir I am advocating this evening on behalf of the residents of Whitehead Creek they reside in the property that is adjacent to Franklin Park Campus unfortunately unfortunately when Franklin Park moved into that area that reduced the capacity for the soccer field now I'm told that they have spoken with representative Jordan and giovanelli I'm not sure if that's true or not however they said that nothing has been done the parking is atrocious it
056does not allow them to get in and out of their to their homes on a Saturday and a Sunday I will be speaking with Chief epitome and councilwoman Theresa Watkins Brown to see what we can do to alleviate the situation out there unfortunately it reduced the amount of parking for the soccer activities please make sure that something is done about it thank you thank you good evening everyone purple people red is close to purple on the cut on this game so and to everyone else that's concerned about the books I'm actually in a unique position I have often talked about communication being like a Venn diagram excuse me the way I see it the way you see it and the compromise is in the middle I have seen communication outward from your Vantage Point looking
057out at everyone that sits out here and from your perspective and I've also experienced communication from this side of the Deus one thing that remains constant for me is that it's TR that transparency and sharing of information is extremely important to both sides just because you know something doesn't mean that we know it or that we understand it and that is what leads to confusion that is what leads to some of the comments that came this evening and throughout the week I often say it's easier to prevent a fire than to have to put one out at full Blaze with that said thank you for the short explanation today many people probably didn't get an opportunity to hear the meeting this afternoon at which time there was somewhat of an explanation of the salary schedule
058when I and others first looked at it created the PTSD from previous executive salary increases and we were fearful I was glad to hear that it's not across the board it's not all executives that are getting a raise but we didn't know that the explanation was rational understandable and somewhat helped my financial PTSD the suggestion is to find a way to share the explanation before it shows up on the agenda and we as we see it have a week to come up with our explanation and thoughts about it we're able we're capable smart enough to understand the Strategic work that is being done for all children to achieve their Highest Potential here's to a future of open communication the public wants to understand you cannot represent someone that you don't communicate with thank you blue
059Navara retired school teacher Lee County I was upset about a month ago I was denied a presentation that was going to go along with the picture however Mr Fielder said I couldn't do it and Miss Berner said there's no board policy to allow visual aids I was told we do that in Cape Coral but I was told well not here now that's discriminatory I'm going to ask the board tonight too look into the policies and you ought to change them before I make complaints you can't do that you've done enough about the veterans you don't even do Veterans Day you made it a hurricane makeup day and Miss Dr Bernier and I have talked about it so I'm going to ask you to investigate it like a gentleman tonight and I'd like a report back
060Mr persons is not here I read request a committee to set up immediately I've asked several of the board members Debbie Jordan Melissa giovanelli to study an immediate 60 000 base pay for teachers and none of you have done it that's that's not right you did it for guns for the guardian program I want to study okay Mr persons but you're not here tonight I met with Dr Bernier here's our agenda and I'll make it quick I guess we went over the pay and insurance and he made a little inroads school board policy to deny visual aids I asked him to look into that I haven't heard yet from Dr B actions by the superintendent and local board we talked about the new laws the governor sat down have fun talc have fun board you're
061limited now substitute pay I'll let Miss Sheridan take care of that severe teacher shortage we talked about that and he said maybe they'd look into these Subs too guns and cops and perpetrators we talked about that and you know we question I question the school board ideology on safety the sales tax we discussed that I'm going to ask the board to look into that again because they don't follow Robert's Rules of Order and they got hacked off at Cape Coral Council yesterday I don't think you all ever read that book I gave you I really don't then we did good of the order and that was prepaid for the bottled waters and not out of school board expense good guy thank you hmm oh my gosh hello hi my name is Sergio Cruz and I'm
062a parent and ESC Advocate and just wanted to share some thoughts on inclusion as Floridians we have a reputation for finding and embracing the strength in our diversity this value however is oftentimes not reflected in our classroom which still regards which which still segregates students viability especially students with developmental disabilities there's a gap in our understanding about what we know inclusive education to be philosophically versus what we truly understand and the importance of understanding inclusion in our practice the question at hand is how can we find Value in the day-to-day practice in our classrooms in terms of inclusive education to help explain my viewpoint I'm going to use an age-old Sports analogy so let's talk about bowling in Bowling you have 10 pins you have two balls you have one lane the goal is to
063knock down as many pins as you can but if you don't get them all it's okay because you have another chance but when I bowl I roll the ball right down the middle and when I don't knock them all down what often ends up happening is that there's two pins left left standing on either end and they stare at you it's called the 710 split it's the hardest shot in bowling so how is bowling like teaching the ball is the lesson the pins are the kids we aim for the middle and we do the best we can the pins that are left standing we often have another chance to kind of get to them but at the end of the day those two pens that are staring looking at you are the kids who need
064the most support and often the most challenge have the most challenges so we end up choosing one and the other one is left standing now I don't know how many don't know how many times have you been bowling or watched a professional bowler but this past Saturday I was able to share some time with our non-profits mentee that lightning strike on Fowler and there were some experienced League Bowlers and possibly Pros there to be able to watch and the one thing that surprised me with that there wasn't one of those Bowlers who rolled that ball down the middle of the lane they all threw the ball down the lane at a curve and it was actually really enlightening so I asked one of the bowlers why and he was so excited I got the impression
065he wasn't asked his expertise on bowling often and he said simply that the reason why he throws a ball on the curve is because he will knock down more pins because it will create a bigger domino effect a bigger wave of impact if you enter at that angle but in order to do that you have to change you have to change your aim in order to knock down the most pins with the shot he would aim for the pins that are the hardest to hit thank you Tara Jenner I'd like to start off by mentioning that a Community member came and saw me this last week and he was a little disheartened because he comes from another state and he's got 14 years of teaching experience and he wanted to apply in order to become
066a substitute teacher because he heard there was a huge teaching shortage but before he could even get onto the jobs website he was told that he would have to Fork out 48 dollars for fingerprints really you guys are too cheap to pay 48 dollars for fingerprints for potential teachers when you've got all these teacher shortages but we have no problem adding 50 something thousand dollars for our administrators and yet I noticed that our teachers that have been serving for under 10 years aren't getting a big pay raise but the ones that serve more than 10 years I think if I'm not mistaken they've gone from 450 to 650 a year and so I would like to know at some point in time and I would appreciate an email back on this what number of admin
067people do we have compared to the number of teacher staff that we have and what percentage of our payroll goes to the admin compared to the percentage of our payroll that goes to our teachers I'd also like to address one of the analogies that was given earlier about you wouldn't kick just a cars tires and decide whether or not you're going to buy it or not and I would say that analogy is extremely faulty because candidly if I were going to test drive a car and they told me the brakes didn't work I wouldn't need to drive it down the road to check it out you can do a little bit of damage with a little bit of information also books are not people so the analogy that innocent until proven guilty does not apply
068to books we pay and even then we place people in confinement pending trial based on probable cause and a reasonable belief that they might actually tamper with evidence or they might commit additional crimes and so forth if you want to use an analogy use the whole thing as Pastor Roper said book Banning is an incorrect statement it's no more accurate than don't say gay it's a restating what the law says the law is parental rights period I warn people in the past that an elected superintendent would be a bad idea and one of the leading arguments in favor of a superintendent being elected was that there would be a lower salary than that which is currently available to an appointed superintendent and I would say that looking at this proposed admin raise we're all but
069eliminating that salary discrimination I'm just throwing that out there for you all to consider thank you Mr chairman that concludes public comment for this evening thank you Dr benir do you have any comments here I do I'd like to raise a couple of concerns and I'll begin with the last speaker I'll be happy to get that information Mr dotik will begin to work on that we can get you the number of support professionals the number of schedule and the number of Administrators teachers and the number of Executives and then look at the percentage of salary I do believe I'll deliver that to the board and then I'll have Mr dotic provide that information to you Mr Cruz I've asked Michael Ramirez my chief of staff to follow up with you I've always been impressed with
070your level of advocation and your words I think it's time that you and I have an opportunity to sit down meet and talk there's a lot of other things that I'm trying to save save other things the books I'm going to repeat what I've said in the past there is more agreement in this room than there is anything else we want to make sure that the young people have access to Great reading material and we want to be sure that if there is something contained within our media collection that parents aren't duly informed and they have an understanding just like when we release our children to go to a movie we'd like to know where the movie is rated R PG Etc we have a responsibility for parents to make an informed decision and we
071are trying to get there both with this policy and with our procedures we will continue to support the laws related to this issue and we have appreciated all the groups who participated in providing input to the staff we believe we're getting there but all policy and certainly all procedures are a starting point they are not ever the ending point they always evolve they're always Rewritten statutes will change and be revised and we will continue to adapt those policies as we move forward want to clarify for the board because I followed up with some of you related to the employees of Bonita high school those employees who are here at the last board meeting have been contacted they currently have meetings with our Professional Standards group their resignations though what people normally resign I do not
072allow them to take them back because there was a language barrier we offered them the opportunity to pull their resignations back because we don't believe they fully understood the decision they were making so they are working right now in Professional Standards to work to find either the location back at Bonita or at another high school for those people to continue their employment as as in the jobs that they had prior to the situation so I don't know why they believe that the speaker believes they were not spoken to they have been and we will continue to work with them I want to just make sure I didn't leave anything out before I get to the other I want to make sure that people understand a little bit about zoobean we had a free licensure software
073to deal with our classroom libraries most of the classroom libraries work with done by really wonderful powerful Educators they did the work to scan all the books they're now in what we would call a spreadsheet file or a flat file a CV file depending on how you want to speak to technology beanstack will take those files and now upload them into being stacked by zoombeam which will provide unique links for each school to all the stakeholders to view the classroom libraries in a searchable format we are looking into how we can expand this technology to do the same with our other collections yes staff time will be necessary to do this work but we have a responsibility to complete compliant with the law and I believe that this work is aligned to what those individuals
074are responsible for I'm not sure I hit everything if I did not there will be some other members in touch we certainly can do an update on legislative priorities and how that turned out Force I think we've done a phenomenal job this past year and I thank the board earlier for that work so let's speak to the issue of a salary schedule I think it's important for the community and mostly some of my administrators who are gathered in this room to completely understand that I am recommending an appropriate Transit change to the executive compensation schedule what this is not is really important since my arrival I've advocated with all of you and this board to continue to advocate for our employees compensation packages we've done amazing work prior to the hurricane regarding benefits post hurricane
075we lost the dollars necessary to do the percentage raise that I think everybody who works for this system so richly deserves I want everyone to know and I've said this since I've been here and the administrators I've spoken to in the last several days have said Dr B we understand but I would never deliver a pay raise to Executives before delivery to our schedule and our support professionals our teachers and our administrators those priorities for me have not and will not change there will be no last minute memo and our employees will always come ahead of the executive team this will not result in raises for all members of that identified classes I am not raising compensation for all so what am I doing I am recommending to this board the ability to create a
076salary structure to attack to attract and retain employees in very specific situations we are currently attempting to hire a chief operations officer a position that until recently had been vacant in this district for over six years when you think about facilities maintenance construction Transportation I watch the board meetings prior to my arrival and I've listened to this community regarding some of the expectations they have for those particular divisions and departments we need a leader to lead that division we were lucky to have two individuals at one point one is coming in from the outside and the other the gentleman I brought in just post hurricane we could afford neither with the compensation package we had this board has asked me to raise the bar it's asked me to make sure I make credible offers to
077secure Talent this board has asked me to search and find the right people with the right qualifications and I've set out to do that individuals from within this organization are eligible to apply for these positions but when the interviews were said and done the chief operations officer to replace Mr Wagner who had to leave to go back to Las Vegas is a gentleman who will be coming from out of state in order to make a viable employment offer I needed to request publicly and transparently that the structure regarding our compensation packages for these level of positions be changed that they consider the level of experience the market rate which hovers around 235 thousand dollars for a person like this clearly not in the salary update so we know we're getting the person for significantly less
078than that and in this case the COO fiscal impact to this District is eighteen thousand two hundred dollars I can pay for that from a position I created before the hurricane I had a chief operations officer and we split it with the board's Direction and support I split it into two jobs both paying 175 and change one was for a chief operations officer and the other was for a chief operations officer in charge of facilities and construction we've I felt the job was too big in my first recruitment process I ran into an individual who said you should put it back together and I can save you the money of having to pay two people to do what really is one person's job that gentleman we were unable to hire because of the compensation we
079offered him Mr Wagner upon his exit told me the same thing cash in that job description bring the salary to what will allow you to attract a candidate so the net cost to the district of that eighteen thousand two hundred dollars is zero because we'll be using residual dollars from the other job description we are also in the market for a chief of human resource officer I have heard loudly and clearly for Miss Jenner tonight for my principles gathered in this room they our district needs to do something different when it comes to how we attract recruit and retain our employees what this District needs is not a chro for 35 000 seat system it needs a chro professional for the hundred thousand children and teachers we serve and for a district that could grow
080to the neighborhood of 170 to 200 000 children we have to plan for our future so the CEO the chro replacing the communications and government relations officer and retaining our chief of staff that entire impact if you add up all the movement there it's less than eighty thousand dollars again all paid for by cashing in the one extra job that we budgeted and make sure that we use those dollars and return almost ninety thousand dollars back to the school district compensation for all employees has been a stated and shared goal of this board since I arrived benefits are part of compensation salaries and percentage raises are part of compensation I will continue to work with this board to support compensation and salaries first for our educators our support professionals our schedule and our well-deserving other
081employees including our administrators these employees will always be first to the bargaining table when the preliminary budget is settled into a real budget we believe we have a percentage raise to bring forward to all of our unions and begin the process but that is a delicate negotiation and not really appropriate for us to discuss publicly therefore I am recommending that if you're going to provide the super superintendent the opportunity to bring in the professionals we need what I needed in return and the reason why I did it this way in making it public and putting it on the agenda was so that we could attract and secure the talent that you expect me to recruit and that I believe this organization deserves therefore tonight I will continue to recommend this change knowing that is only
082for very specific positions and that I will not make any other changes to any other administrator's compensation other than the CEO chro the communication and government relations and the chief of staff and no one will get paid more than the current highest paid employee so the comment about me being self-serving I believe at the very base is inaccurate it is also disingenuous and I think it was done to inflame the community without basing issues on fact I have been here a year I have held on to my Integrity I will speak to the public like I'm speaking to you tonight and I will share with you that Integrity is non-negotiable our teachers our support professionals schedule and my principals APS and other admins deserve the first shot of whatever pie we can come up with
083in the new budget two reward them for the hard work through covid hurricane Ian and the work they do every day this is a targeted opportunity for us to try to increase the amount of applicants and land and select the appropriate candidates who can come in and do the work that needs to be done thank you Mr chair thank you attorney Bruno do you have any comments no I don't thank you Mr chairman thank you next on our consent I mean on our agenda is the approval of action items under consent document documentation for Action items listed under consent is made available to board members seven business days prior to the board meeting we're expect to review all material and we have had an opportunity to speak with the superintendent with any questions we have
084me regarding these recommendations some of these items have been briefed or workshopped with the board in advance of appearing on the action agenda board members are there any agenda items you wish to pull for discussion under unfinished business table items a portion of the agenda Mr Fisher I have no such items chair this is giovanelli I have two I was pulling j4 approval of the FYI 23 administer your salary schedule and I three approval of the award ITN number not a number n two three seven four three seven j a food and food related delivery services thank you thank you Mrs Patrica no thank you Miss Jordan I have none thank you Miss Langford Fleming I have none thank you Miss Morgan and I have none thank you and I have none there's a motion
085to approve the agenda consent action items with the exception of the items pulled for items I3 and j4 is there a motion to approve these with those exceptions Miss Jordan I moved to approve the agenda items with the exception of pulled items j4 and I3 as written okay in a second Mr Fisher seconded by Mr Fisher please record your vote Christmas the motion carries 7-0 Dr Bernier would you please introduce any administrators in attendance with a new assignment that was approved on the consent agenda I'll be happy to Mr chair one of the first individuals present in the room is Sahara Sacramento she is becoming tonight with your action the new director for English of speakers of other languages Christine calcara is not available to be with us this evening but she will be the
086new assistant principal at Manatee Elementary Cheryl Neely will be joining the middle school department and academic Services specifically as the executive director for school development in Middle School listed on the consent agenda but still not fully complete is Mr Larry Stevens he's not able to attend this evening he would be the new candidate for the chief operations officer but we will have to make decisions regarding the admin schedule because that will be contingent upon his hire change of assignment Kamara Adderley from James Stevens Elementary she will be the new assistant principal Dwayne dare I say coach Mack who is not eligible to be with us this evening he will become the new assistant principal at North Fort Myers High School Kathleen Halverson will become the new assistant principal at Ray V pardarf Elementary School Taylor
087Locke Taylor Locke will become the new assistant principal at South Fort Myers High School unable to be with us this evening but wanted me to make a point as to why he had a scheduled vacation long before this ever happened and I just in my Art and Soul believe that time is time and while this is a big appointment I do believe it was important for him also to spend time with his family and gather his energy for his new assignment that individual is Ryan Jackson who will be the new principal at Cape Coral high school with your actions tonight you are taking the coordinator from the superintendent's office and he will become the new director of planning growth and capacity Dr Adam Malloy well Madeira Johnson Dorsey will become the new assistant principal at
088Franklin Park Elementary Trayvon Davis will become the new assistant principal at Gateway High Jared Wallace will become the new assistant principal at harnes Marsh Elementary School Courtney Thomas will become the new assistant principal at Island Coast High Jillian Fiora will become the new principal at Spring Creek Elementary will become the new assistant principal at Varsity Lakes Miller Mr chair if I may I remind everybody this is a sense of commitment from your board and your superintendent in your skills but with that come very large expectations the expectations is for your hard work and your dedication to the students we serve and to never lose focus on putting our children first and making the best decisions possible for them wherever and whenever possible they are the purpose and the reason for our work and the best
089way to describe this is these appointments are a contract of trust between you your principles your supervisors this board and your superintendent we expect you to honor that trust and value it and to conduct yourselves accordingly I do want to just wish all of our families who are present tonight and those other school members of the family that turned out in support to say thank you to them for the work that you have done to get your individual to this point and for our principals and some of the support staff that will have them thank you for what you will continue to do to help them develop and become great leaders and great people within our school district Mr chair if you would we could probably send these people out for ice cream or or
090earlier dinner but I'll leave that to you to dismiss them after board members might have comments for individuals board members do you have any comments man I definitely want to say congratulations to all of y'all and if y'all would like to leave this is a good time it's going to be a long meeting thank you I know absolutely okay okay last one thank you all right we will continue the meeting we have two pulled items to address Dr benir would you please read your recommendation for a pulled item i3 yes Mr chair board members members of the public I3 approval to award ITN number n 237-437-ja for food and food related delivery services to OC trucking services Corporation as indicated on the attached tabulation sheet this ITN will be affected for three years beginning July
0911 2023 through June 30 2026 with renewal options for three additional one-year periods upon written agreement of the vendor and the district for up to two million five hundred thousand dollars for the first year of the base contract period of July 1 2023 through June 30 of 2024. services include the daily delivery of refrigerated and frozen food and food related goods from the Florida freezer limited partnership and the district's Warehouse to the district kitchens and other designated locations as needed approval authorizes the superintendent to execute all related documents is there a motion to adopt Dr veneer's recommendation it's Jordan I moved to adopt Dr bernier's recommendation regarding I3 approval to award ITN number n23743-7j8 food in food and food related delivery services thank you is there a second oh second Morgan Miss Morgan just moved
092by Miss Jordan and seconded by Miss Morgan is there any discussion Mrs juvenile yes I'm the one that actually pulled this I had requested some additional information and I did receive that this morning actually yesterday afternoon I apologize so I did receive the information I think it's just important to note that from 2019 through to 21 there was no fees nor this kind of service we picked up the OC Trucking service and food delivery in 2022 at the at the cost of 950 000 and now this is doubled I think I just want to bring it to the community's attention that I would I for me I am a conservative physically responsible and I felt that this should be just you know brought to the community's attention you know because this has doubled in a
093year so in back in like I said in 2019 through 21 we didn't even need this service through covid this became a problem and so we needed deliveries and we have a food warehouse now things have changed but I think it's important to note this is a you know quite a of an expense I am going to support this evening I did support it back in 22 as well but I just think that the doubling it was a big red flag and I was very alarmed over that so I would love to see the district look for other opportunities in this area thank you okay is there any other discussion Miss Jordan I just want to remind everyone as well that the reason that we did go to this is because of the fact that
094we did not have our Food suppliers were not able to handle all of the entire District so they were unable to deliver the food that was needed to the locations and that is why we had we changed vendors and this came to be just for those who were not here at the time Dr boner Mr chair I appreciate Mr G Benelli and I've had a couple of conversations regarding this but I think the most important thing and I appreciate melisa's poll on this item is this gets down to sometimes what we've discussed and maybe a longer term conversation about how we get some things moved to non-consent so that we can have a more open discussion Ms giovannelli brings out two very good points one clarification however though the for we were first invoiced in
095January of 22 that first time we went with the system that was for payments to OC Trucking for half a year so that's why it was 950 000 the total payments for fiscal year 23 which is the Year we're currently in did more than double but that was 2 million 215 and 511 so that was for a full year payment what happened to us prior to my arrival but I know the story was we wound up having to shift vendors those vendors would no longer deliver directly to our schools I remember listening into a board meeting about freezers and wanted to know why we were changing all the freezers in our schools come to find out that's not what we were doing we were renting refrigeration and freezer space for when our product gets delivered
096and now it's up to the school district to make that distribution OC Trucking is the people who do that distribution I think it's also worth noting Miss giovannelli pointed out to me OC Transportation was not the cheapest bid but they have been on time and dependable and they have made all of deliveries including extra deliveries we needed in the bank without any issue with us getting the food to the students into our school sites thank you for that clarification any other discussion seeing none this will be a roll call vote Mr Fisher I Mrs giovannelli aye Miss Patrica yes please Miss Jordan aye it's like for Fleming aye Ms Morgan aye and I am and I the motion carries seven zero Dr veneer would you please read your recommendation for pulled item j4 Mr chair
097the item j4 simply reads approval of fiscal year 23 administrative salary schedule thank you is there a motion to adopt Dr benir's recommendation I moved to adopt Dr bernier's recommendation approval of the FY 23 administrator Administrator salary schedule as written okay is there a second oh second Morgan Miss Morgan is there any discussion it's jiminelli thank you I also pulled this I would actually like to make a motion and before I make the motion I just want to talk about a couple things I appreciate the Dr Bernier was transparent in bringing this forward this way someone an audience a member actually an export member mentioned the fact of the of this be happening and we should probably almost Deja Vu because this happened to us about I don't know five years ago or so therefore
098it causes for me to have pause over the situation I want to be real careful because we haven't always dealt with our teachers and treated them professional and our staff professional and taking care of them first before we do this and that's why the alarm has that's why everyone's done in the alarm throughout the district including other you know the staff I received several phone calls quite several emails concerned over this item I would like to have seen more information regarding how we arrived at this you know what basis to what to justify the increase you know show me the comparisons from other districts you know the impact to the budget in November 2024 we are going to have an elected superintendent and this new schedule gives him free will to be able to do
099what he wants to do and we will never have a say and that is my concern because we have an elected superintendent that will happen in 2024 and it may be Dr Bernier it may not be Dr Bernier we don't know who it's going to be and as a board it is our responsibility to just to know the impact to the budget we didn't have that information so I you know I've always advocated for the teachers in the classroom the money staying in the classroom and I will continue to do that because I can't it's I find this difficult because I feel like this is on the backs of our teachers and our staff and even if it's not and because I trust actually what Dr Bernier is saying but how it looks and at
100the end of the day what could happen Could Be On The Backs again of our teachers our staff and I have a hard time with that I really do something that the audience someone in the audience said you know let's change our aim let's aim for the teachers and our staff first and then we'll take care of the administrators and I struggle because I know Dr Brianna has a couple hires that he really wants and that's what this is directed for and I do value and know the importance of that right now because again we are going into hurricane season without an operations even though we did appoint someone tonight I'm all excited about that but the deal is not done so my other concern when I was looking at the admin salary schedule I
101noticed that it's effective June 1st and today is the 27th of June so that means it's retro and that wasn't really discussed or talked about and that's a transparency piece that it's really important that we know and talk about that and are just open and honest so I believe let's put our money in the classrooms and that's where I'm going to be tonight but I do have a motion that I think some of the information needs to be important important and brought forward before something like this happens and so here's my motion please I move it hold it please so we have a motion on the floor because I'm asking for this motion okay Dr Bruno I mean so you're correct Mr chairman I have not also finished discussion so okay and then all right
102then I'll bring my motion fails she okay 14. that's where we're at or if you would like to can she amend devotion so my recommendation if you want to vote because my understanding the motion that Miss giovannelli has brought forth is relating to additional information that I guess you would request prior to the vote so the easiest thing would be to deal with Miss giovannelli's motion and then move forward with the motion for recommendation should her motion fail the way to do that will be to withdraw Miss Jordan your motion allow the Miss givenelli's motion to move forward and then we can move forward with the recommendation that will be the easiest and cleanest way to do it Mary so you want me to withdraw my motion to accept Dr bernier's recommendation so if we
103withdraw the motion allow Miss giovannelli to make her motion see if there's a second if there is make the discussion have that vote and then move forward then with the motion for the recommendation for clarification Mr juvenile you would basically want to table this until after you got that information is that your intent no that's not my intent because I'm just trying to understand before we my intent is to add this information to be to the administrative schedule request this my emotion I guess I need I really probably need to say the motion I think me So currently we have a motion on the floor it's been properly seconded you're in the middle of discussion if you want to address Miss giovannelli's motion then the recommendation is that the original motion be withdrawn allow her
104to make her motion and then move forward from there okay yes Mr warden so I will withdraw my recommendation regarding Dr bernier's recommendation okay Mr chairman if there's another motion yes is there another motion here Mrs giovannelli yes thank you okay okay and okay my motion is I move that the board direct the superintendent to provide the data from the economic research institute ERI and other benchmarks used for the administrative schedule changes as well as the budgetary impact for the revised salaries as shown on page 27 of the admin schedule is there a second to Mrs givenelli's motion a motion for purpose is a discussion second okay any discussion Miss Morgan this is micromanagement of the superintendent it demonstrates a lack of confidence and Trust in the superintendent and the work of his staff I
105will not support this motion thank you any other discussion I have to ask for clarification Mr Langford Fleming may I ask for clarification through the chair to the superintendent a date was mentioned June 1st can you please clarify that the date and the admin schedule and the red line does say signifying they're based upon the date of June 1 2023 that date did not concern me because these people were being hired after but but the extended offer would occur prior to July 1 so that's why we chose June 1st 2023. there is no retro activity for new employees so this would be moving forward and again for the community there is no other salary changes other than for the CEO and those other positions that I mentioned moving forward not retroactively thank you Miss Jordan
106did you have comment no thank you that was my okay question was the June anyone else all right we will do a roll call vote Mr Fisher no Mrs Javan alley yes Miss Patrica no thank you Miss Jordan no thank you Miss Langford Fleming no that's Morgan no and I am a no the motion fails six to one now is there a motion to adopt Dr paneer's recommendation for j4 Davis J Ford yes Miss Jordan I move to adopt Dr bernier's recommendation for the approval of the FY 23 Administrator salary schedule as written is there a second I'll second Miss Morgan is there any discussion Mr Fisher thank you chair I as juvenile I appreciate you bringing this out and discussing it is important I agree that agree with that I do appreciate the superintendent
107with his explanation as I said I got a lot of feedback as well from the community and there was a misunderstanding with that so I completely understand that so and I understand where the focus the target is so and as you as we've all talked about teachers staff come first and you've made that readily apparent both meetings today so I appreciate that so I do trust what you're doing I mean it is our job to verify obviously so and we'll continue doing that but I do trust that this is for the limited circumstances you explained and again as I said I beyond that I'm satisfied with the discussion I appreciate it and that's all my comments for right now like for plumbing I just want to piggyback off what board member Fisher said yes me
108and Miss Gianelli I respect that she brought this to light and you brought it up for discussion I think it's incredibly important that we are transparent as a board that is what I ran on that's what I campaigned on that's what I'm going to continue to do Mrs giddens you made a great comment tonight about putting out the fire before it we have to extinguish It Whatever the analogy was I agree with you I think it's important that in the future when we have items such as what we're discussing now perhaps we sort of in the coaching world I always call beat it off at the pass so we want to play offense you know or we want to play defense before often sometimes so I appreciate you coming forward and speaking on that behalf
109but yes I also agree with Mrs Morgan and the fact that this would be somewhat of a micromanaging of the superintendent I think he has done a great job at explaining this to the public both this afternoon I encourage the public listening now to go back and listen to this afternoon's briefing where it was also discussed those are my comments for now any other discussion Jordan I as well appreciate Mr juvenile bringing this up because I know when I first looked at this I was not I was kind of taken back as well because to me the most important we have to make sure that our teachers and our school-based people are taking care of 100 because we know that they live and breathe that every single day but I do also know how important
110it is to have the CEO and what we have gone through without one and then when we had the one for a short time the difference that made so I really do believe that is something that we have to make sure that we have those people in place but that's my comments thank you I also want to just go on records saying this is definitely not costing the district anything and in fact it's saving money on our budget so I am all for this so if we can do a roll call vote Mr Fisher aye this is juvenile no Miss Patrica yes please Ms Jordan hi Mr Langford Fleming aye Ms Morgan aye and I am and I the motion carries six one Mr Duprey Bruno do you have any recommendations at this point I
111don't see any here but no Mr chairman thank you all right we're next on our agenda is public hearings doctor near would you please present your recommendations for this evening's public hearing items Mr chair members of the board members of the public this evening public hearing items are as follows item P1 approval to adopt the annual instructional materials for 612 Health Glencoe Teen Health 2014 and Glencoe Health Florida edition 2014 for the 23-24 school year approval authorizes the superintendent to execute all related documents P2 approval of the contract for Renewal with Athenian Academy Inc doing business as Athena Academy Charter School serving grades pre-k through grade 8 for a 10-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30 2033 item P3 approval of the contract renewal for Florida high school for Accelerated learning North Lee
112County Campus doing business as North Nicholas high school and alternative education schools serving grades 7 through 12 for a 15-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30 2038 item P4 approval of the contact renewal contract renewal for Florida high school for Accelerated learning South Lee County Campus Inc doing business as Coronado High School and Alternative High School serving grades 7 through 12 for a 15-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30 2038. item P5 approval of the contract renewal for Southwest Charter Foundation Inc doing business as Bonita Springs Charter School serving grades k through eight for a 15-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30 2038. approval of the contract for Renewal with Southwest Charter Foundation doing business as Mid Cape Global Academy serving grades k through eight for a 10-year contract
113from July 1 2023 through June 30 2033 item p7 approval of the contract renewal for Southwest Florida Foundation Inc doing business as Gateway Charter School serving students K through 12 for a 10-year term from July 1 through 2023 through June 30 2033 this contract will also allow the consolidation of the three current Gateway Charter Schools Gateway Elementary Charter Gateway intermediate Charter and Gateway High School charter into one contracted Charter School Gateway Charter School serving grades K through 12. item p8 approval to adopt the 2023-2024 code for adult students code of conduct for adult students in compliance with the changes and related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and approach transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023. item P9 approval to adopt the 2023-2024 code of conduct
114for students pre-k through 12th grade in compliance with changes and related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023 item P10 approval to repeal current board policies in compliance with changes and related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023. finally item P11 approval to adopt new board policies in compliance with the changes and related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023 thank you we will now recess the regular school board meeting and open public hearings the time is 7 52 pm as indicated the public hearings
115this evening are to consider Dr bernier's recommendations as previously stated at this time the public will be invited to speak on these 11 items the time to allow for public comment is three minutes is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding the approval to adopt the annual instructional materials 4 6-12 health Glenco Teen Health 2014 and Glencoe health Florida edition 2014 for the 23 24 school year we're going to have speakers on each one if you want to speak so it's specific do we have any speakers like to speak on that seeing none is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding the approval of a contract for renewal with the Athenian Academy Inc doing business as a theme Academy Academy Charter School serving
116grades pre-k through 8th grade for a 10-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30 any speakers seeing none we'll move on is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding approval of contract renewal with Florida high school for accelerate accelerated learning North Lee County Campus Inc doing business as North Nicholas High School yes we have one speaker my name is Robert Daniels I would just like to say that it seems odd that only one of these schools is up here for a 10 year annually so the others are for 15 each I also put in my bit of skepticism as a teacher to whom I don't even get a two-year renewal contract that entire schools of questionable Integrity should be given 10-year 15-year contracts renewal and I would also
117like to comment that's utterly ridiculous that students who are routinely failed to complete High School diplomas with our normal K-12 system due to Flat refusal to cooperate with instruction or partake in instruction can enter these facilities leave with a high school diploma that is worth the same as our students who engage and do what is I would consider their civic duty in participating in their learning and earned that high school diploma so those are my thoughts I don't think we really can address tonight the idea of the quality of instruction and the validity of the diplomas that are awarded at some of these schools but I do think we should look at these term links I'll be in the same length and at a length of five years okay is there anyone in the audience
118who would like to address the board regarding approval of contract renewal with Florida high school for Accelerated learning South Lee County South Lee County Campus Inc doing business as Coronado High School seeing none will move on E5 is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding approval of contract renewal with Southwest Charter Foundation Inc doing business as Bonita Springs Charter School seeing none P6 is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding approval of a contract renewal with Southwest Charter Foundation Inc doing business as Bonita Springs Charter School seeing none to move to seven yes do we have one oh I'm sorry oh did I say we need it twice well no there was you're right contract renewal Southwest they're solicit here twice okay so
119six was okay I'm sorry yeah Southwest Charter Foundation doing business as Mid Cape Global Academy thank you any speakers okay seeing none move the seven is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding approval of a contract for Renewal with Southwest Florida Foundation Inc doing business as Gateway Charter School serving students K-12 for a 10-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2033. the con this contract will also allow the consolidation of three current Gateway Charter Schools Gateway Elementary Charter School Gateway intermediate charter school and Gateway Charter High School into one contracted Charter School Gateway Charter School serving grades K-12 no speakers p8 is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding the approval to adopt the 2023 2024 code of conduct for adult
120students in compliance with changes in related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and to promote transparency and accountability see no speakers P9 is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding the approval to adopt the 2023-2024 code of conduct for students pre-k through 12th grade in compliance with changes in related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability we have two speakers it looks like Sharon McGill the only thing I'd like to address on this after having attended several meetings regarding this over the course of the year was that we're expecting our pre-k through high school kids to adhere and we expect them to adhere to this code of conduct well we all know that most of them aren't even going to be
121able to read the code of conduct so I take exception to the fact that we say in here everyone is encouraged to read and develop a thorough understanding well we know that's not even going to apply to most of the people that this that are expected to adhere to it so I think it really should say everyone is expected parents should be expected to be familiar with this and know what's in it ahead of time before anything happens especially if the district is expecting the children to adhere to it then who's going to make sure those children know what's in it's the parents and that's their responsibility so I really believe that should say everyone is expected to read and develop a thorough understanding of the code of conduct for students it's on page seven
122and you know we say that it's the district's policy that creates a safe learning environment to ensure academic success and that it's necessary that's the word that's used it is necessary that the school environment be a safe and supportive Community well then it should be expected that the parents read and know the code of conduct and what's expected of their kids because we're expecting their kids to act that way thank you foreign Ford the quote was it's easier to prevent a fire rather than to put one out I have something to say about this but I do want to piggyback on Miss McGill really quickly in many times in the code of conduct there are links to further information and I really agree with her on the word expected and if whatever you put in
123there it would be a good thing to put a link to a comment or whatever of resources that if they don't understand what they're expected to do that they can find more information at this particular venue so that's just a thought I suggested at a couple meetings ago about translating the draft of the student code of conduct and my rationale was many of the people that are bilingual are the ones that are the most on our you know assessor reports and discipline and all of that and I am a staunch believer that discipline and academics are definitely married if a child does not know how to read they will do whatever is necessary to get out of doing that work so my question is had was there a translation for our bilingual stakeholders that they
124could understand prior to you voting it in and expecting them to follow it if yes kudos and if no a follow-up may be in order especially if they're required to sign an agreement that they have not had input to that they don't prop maybe don't understand parts of it and because their children are very likely to be in that list of being called to come to school and the first thing they're given is well this is what Johnny did and here is the code of conduct saying why he shouldn't have done it and what the repercussions are I kind of go back to what I said before you can't represent someone you don't understand and you can't follow something if you don't understand it thank you P10 is there anyone in the audience who would
125like to address the board policy regarding the approval to repeal current board policies in compliance with changes in related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability seeing none 11. and I want to mention here we're going to break these oh I'm sorry I did not see y'all back there please come on up oh for 11. okay just one moment let me explain we are going to break this up by the nine different chapters we have here so I'm going to read it and then I'll read each one and then you can speak is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the audience regarding the approval to adopt new board bylaws in compliance with changes as related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and to
126promote transparency and accountability and it says please state state the policy number that you're referencing your comments we will begin with board bylaws that's zero one hundred through zero one seven six so anyone wants to address the board bylaws sure coming up Robert Daniels again this is a categorical concern as before not just the bylaws but of the new board policies I'm out of work for the summer and due to certain elements of chaos within things beyond my control I have not had a chance to read this and I'm one of the few people that get the agenda emailed in though many of us you know opt in on that not everybody is able to read that but this is again one of those putting out the fire before you have to fight the fire
127ideas I would recommend that all new board policies be postponed to be voted in under the July meeting and a greater effort be put forth to get out to the public what those new policies would be to provide the time between now and the next meeting for your public feedback to you I am not going to lie when I sat down today in the brief time I had to do my research I got to watch part of your board meeting earlier the briefing meeting and I had enough time to read about the administrative salary things which is why I did not have an OB objection to that I was not able to get down to this and I would very much like to myself and other members of the public be able to know what
128these are before you vote on them so you have a chance to provide you feedback on these policies as well as give those of us more long-minded like Mrs Jenner a chance to review them and see how they would line up with you know the citizen bills of Rights for Florida thank you smoking Joe I want to kind of agree with what Mr Daniels just said y'all are pulling with some 200 you're pulling and you're adding five and you're not implementing none of them well and the public has not had time to see this we have no say in what y'all do other than this three minutes I think that you really ought to pull this like the gentleman before me said and let the public have time to see what you're really trying to
129push in on us I don't agree with some of your policies as they stand and I don't agree with y'all know I bring the receipts if I've got something to say I'm going to have proof I'm not going to come without it I didn't come here to inflame the public but I hope they get inflamed everyone should be inflamed by what this board is doing and I assure you I have a lot of things from when Savage pulled the same thing Dr Bernier so I don't appreciate you trying to discredit me because I'm not trying I'm trying to be factual and I will sit down with you any day and show you my paperwork please think about the people the children instead of yourself serving trying to keep a job Nexus chapter 1000 Administration policies
1301001 to policy 1600. any speakers Nexus policy 2011 to 2 policy 2 800. any speakers let's stop it what's the topic of that one this is to pay Bruno the chapter Chief thousand is titled programs yes I'm sorry it was written there my fault okay chapter 3000 instructional staff policy three thousand one hundred and eleven to policy three thousand six hundred that's instructional staff any speakers chapter four thousand support staff policy 411 to policy four six zero zero foreign student policy 5000 111.01 to policy 5895 any speakers chapter 6 000 finances policy 6100 to policy 6910 chapter 7 000 which is property which is policy 7100 to policy seven five zero zero any speakers chapter 8 000 operations policy eight one zero zero do policy 8910 see no speakers chapter 9000 community relations policy 9100
131to policy nine eight zero zero yes please come up Sharon McGill I think you all know that I'm pretty passionate about Community involvement in the district and so rather than trying to go through all of the policies I focused on a couple and one of them is the citizens advisory committees 9140 and after the last meeting I mentioned that there it looked like there were some typos and it looks like that got corrected and I appreciate the fact that you went from three to two meetings for somebody to be expelled but I still really have an issue with citizens may serve multiple terms because there's no limit on it if there was a limit it would be fine but there's no limit which means it could go on for perpetuity and that it states it
132doesn't state that a member can only sit on one committee at a time if we're all about transparency and trying to evolve involve as many people as possible in this whole process you know we've got enough people in this community that we don't need to have the same person sitting on multiple committees and if you're having problems getting people to sit on committees I'll make a commitment to you that I will go out and actively try to get people to sit on committees because I think the people are out there they just need to know how important it really is and so before you approve this I really wish that you would take another look at it and you were talking about the some wording about directing versus May and should or will and I
133think you might need to take a look at this again because it looks like some of that was not corrected in this revision and in paragraph f the second paragraph of f there still is something that needs to be corrected there's typos in there so before you approve this one I would pull it and make sure you go through this again thoroughly and check it for all the changes thank you all right that takes care of our policies here and the public hearing I will now close the public hearing and reconvene the regular school board meeting of June 27 2023 the time is 8 13. Dr Bernier please restate your recommendations for this evening public items one at a time Mr chair members of the board members of the public the first item is item
134P1 approval to adopt the annual instructional materials for 612 Health Glencoe Teen Health 2014 and Glencoe Health Florida edition 2014 for the 22-23 2024 school year approval authorizes the superintendent to execute all related documents you had heard you have heard the superintendent's recommendation that the board approved to adopt the annual instructional materials for 6-12 health clinical Teen Health 2014 and Glencoe Health Florida edition 2014 for the 2023-2024 school year approval authorizes the superintendent to execute all related documents is there a motion to approve Mr Fisher motion to approve item P1 is there a second I'll okay is there any discussion all right I'm sorry Mr chairman I didn't write down who seconded Morgan thank you okay please record your vote the motion carries 7-0 Mr neighbor do you please read item two item P2 approval
135of the contract for the renewal of Athenian Academy Inc doing business as Athena Athenian Academy Charter School serving grades pre-k through 8th grade for a 10-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30 2033. you've heard the superintendent's recommendation of the board approved the contract for Renewal with Athenian Academy Inc doing business as a theme Academy Charter School serving grades pre-k through eighth grade for a 10-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2033. board members is a motion to approve P2 approval of the contract for Renewal with Athenian Academy doing business as a the Athenian Academy Charter School I'll stuck at that okay Mr juvenile seconds is there any discussion saying none please record your vote motion carries 7-0 Dr benir please continue item P3 approval of the contract renewal for Florida high
136school for Accelerated learning North Lee County Campus Inc doing business as North Nicholas high school and alternative education schools serving grades 7 through 12 for a 15-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30 2038. you've heard the superintendent's recommendation of the board approved the contract renewal with Florida high school for Accelerated learning North Lee County Campus Inc doing business as North Nicholas high school and alternative education School serving grades 7 through 12 for a 15-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2038. board member Sarah motion to approve P3 Ms Jordan I moved to approve the contract renewal with Florida high school for Accelerated learning North Lee County Campus Inc doing business as North Nicholas High School all right is there a second okay Miss giovanoli is there any discussion seeing none please
137record your vote motion carries 7-0 Dr benair please proceed item P4 approval of the contract renewal with Florida high school for Accelerated learning South Lee County Campus Inc doing business as Coronado High School and Alternative High School serving grades 7 through 12 for a 15-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30 2038. you've heard the superintendent's recommendation the board approved the contract renewal with Florida high school for Accelerated learning South locanda Campus Inc doing business as Coronado High School and Alternative High School serving grades 7 through 12 for a 15-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2038 board members is there a motion to approve Miss Jordan I moved to approve the contract renewal of with Florida high school for celery learner learner learning excuse me South Lee County Campus Inc doing
138business as Coronado High School as written okay second Miss Morgan any discussion yes Mrs Morgan I'm not going to discuss this particular item but it but in response to Mr Daniel's comment about terms tenure for employees is established by the state the state also has statutes requiring us to review Charters and they provide parameters for that approval and so these 10-year terms that you see are essentially a product of the state so just wanted you to be aware of that's my comment thank you any other discussion please record your vote motion carry 7-0 Dr Bernier please proceed item P5 approval of the contract renewal for Southwest Charter Foundation Inc doing business as Bonita Springs Charter Schools serving grades k through eight for a 15-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2038. you've heard
139the superintendent's recommendation that the board approved the contract renewal with Southwest Charter Foundation Inc the business as Bonita Springs Charter School serving grades k through eight for a 15-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2038. for board member says our motion to approve Mr Fisher motion to approve item P5 is there a second a second yes Langford Fleming second any discussion please record your vote foreign motion carries 7-0 Dr Bernier please proceed item item P6 approval of the contract renewal for Southwest Charter Foundation Inc doing business as mid-cape Global Academy serving grades k through eight for a 10-year contract from July 1 2023 through June 30 2033 you've heard the superintendent's recommendation the board approved the contract for Renewal with Southwest Charter Foundation Inc doing business as Mid Cape Global Academy serving grades
140K-8 for a 10-year contract from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2033 board members is our motion to approve I move we approve P six approval of contract for Renewal with Southwest Charter Foundation doing businesses mid Cape Global Academy is there a second it's Jim and Ali is there any discussion saying none please record your vote motion carries 7-0 please proceed Dr Berner item p7 approval of the contract renewal for Southwest Florida Foundation Inc doing business as Gateway Charter School serving students K through 12 for a 10-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30 2033 this contract will also allow the consolidation of the three current Gateway Charter Schools Gateway Elementary Charter Gateway intermediate Charter and Gateway Charter High School into one contracted Charter School Gateway Charter School serving grades K through 12. you
141have heard the superintendent's recommendation the board approved the contract for Renewal with Southwest Florida Foundation any doing business as Gateway Charter School serving students K-12 for a 10-year term from July 1 2023 through June 30th 2033. this contract will also allow the consolidation of three current Gateway Charter Schools Gateway Elementary Charter School Gateway intermediate Charter School Gateway Charter High School into one contracted Charter School Gateway Charter School serving grades K-12 is there a motion to approve Mr Fisher ocean two-proof stated item p7 is there a second a second it's like for blooming okay is there any discussion saying none please record your vote motion carry 7-0 please proceed Dr Bernier item p8 approval to adopt the 2023-2024 code of conduct for adult students in compliance with the changes in related rules regular regulations and statutes
142to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023. you've heard the superintendent's recommendation the board approved to adopt the 2023-2024 code of conduct for adult students in compliance with changes in related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and to promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023. is there a motion to approve Jordan I moved to approve to adopt the 2023-2024 code of conduct for adult students is there a second Morgan Miss Morgan is there any discussion say none please record your vote ocean carries 7-0 Dr Bernier please receive it item nine item P9 approval to adopt the 2023-2024 code of conduct for students pre-k through 12th grade in compliance with the changes in related
143rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and to promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023 you've heard this student's recommendation that the board approved to adopt the 2023-2024 code of conduct for students PK through 12th grade in compliance with changes in related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and to promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023 board members is there a motion to approve Mr Fisher motion to approve stated item P9 is there a second my second Miss Langford Fleming is there any discussion yes Mr Jordan yeah just a quick comment with the words there were several comments about encourage expect it and I know that was a conversation that we had I believe at length
144of what was the right terminology to use because we really can't force or and that's where we came up with the encouraged so I just wanted to make sure that this is not this is something that we have had multiple conversations on and that's where that word came from thank you Miss giovannelli yeah I thought we were going to have a read receipt like when they so I if the superintendent could elaborate a little bit more that's still happening thank you yes the board has been clear that we had expectations you had expectations for staff regarding when the code of conduct goes out that there be some form of receipt to ensure that parents had it received their copy additionally I would like you to know that we looked into the translation that was brought
145on by another speaker due to the redlining nature of this we got started way too late with that it would have delayed the adoption of the code of conduct but the problem the process is being put in place to translate the draft documents in advance of before we bring it to the board we needed the additional lead time in order to be able to accomplish that so well we couldn't accomplish it this year and the code will be produced in other languages the final document we have added that translation process to the developmental portion of the development of the code thank you any other discussion please record your vote foreign motions carry 7-0 please continue item P10 this is the approval to repeal the current board policies and compliance with the changes and related rules
146regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and to promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023. you have heard the superintendent's recommendations the board approved the repeal of current board policies in compliance with changes in related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and to promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023. board members is there a motion to approve I move reapprove P10 approval to repeal current board policies is there a second second Jordan is there any discussion Mr chair may I yes please thank you if I may through the chair direct a question to attorney Dupree Bruno attorney Bruno could you discuss briefly the process the lengthy extensive transparent open process this board has gone through in order
147to get to the point where we are repealing all policies and approving almost all policies in one night thank you certainly Ms Patrice go through the chair the review and conversion of our policies was a major project that was very time consuming that involved many many individuals in central leadership we started this journey last July with the goal of final adoption in June 2023 each chapter of the new policies were reviewed in public with the policies posted on the agenda for public review nearly every month since last summer there were policy workshops which were properly noticed and open to the public these took place prior to the formal rulemaking process the board received emails and feedback from members of the public on various policies during these workshops and after these workshops further it was announced
148during multiple action meetings that the board will be moving forward with the formal rulemaking process which is 28 days with the first reading at the June 13th briefing and the second reading on the June 27th today's action meetings in compliance with statute many people were involved in the process and I think I'll reserve the rest of my statement for after the final adoption of the board so chooses to adopt all right thank you any other discussion I would like to say I remember watching this before I was when I was a candidate watching it on YouTube and it was very lengthy and very the staff did great work so that's all I have to say at this time police record your vote motion carry 7-0 Dr Bernier please proceed item P11 is the approval to
149adopt new board policies in compliance with the changes and related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023. you've heard the superintendent's recommendation that the board approved the adoption of the new board policies in compliance with changes in related rules regulations and statutes to about best practices and promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be June 28 2023 is there a motion to approve I move to approve the adopt and to adopt the new board policies is there a second a second okay this is Langford let me is there any discussion yes thank you so I'm wondering whether there's an appetite on the board to allow me to make an amendment to remove 9140 the
150citizens advisory committee separately and the reason why I'd like to do that is because in my one-on-one with attorney Dupree Bruno last week I expressed concern about citizens serving on more than one committee and I think this is a little funny I think I was literally sitting on a rock in the woods in Maine and I was unable to keep notes about the fact that I wanted to pull that or discuss that more with the board if you look at 9140 the very first paragraph says that we should make every effort to reflect the racial and ethnic composition of the currently County community population whenever possible I believe it is contradictory to allow one person to serve on two committees I think it contradicts that first paragraph and then under F we could simply amend
151it to say citizens may be appointed to serve multiple terms on the same committee but may not serve on more than one committee at the same time so it's a minor change that I think we could accomplish tonight if the board is willing those are my comments thank you can we do a motion to amend the one policy now so I do believe that well we have to pull the whole because at this point you don't have any policies right so my preference would be and I understand what Miss Patrica said and I believe this came up in multiple one-on-ones that we were going to bring back 9140 when I bring it back additional policies in August so my preference would be to adopt the policy tonight as is and then allow for that change
152if the board directs me to make that change and bring that back with the other policies in August I think that would be the cleanest way to do it personally here how do we get the board to do without I guess we just go ahead and pass and then we'll bring up and to direct you there's no motion at this time so you still have this particular recommendation is what you're voting on after we finish this vote if the board wants to move forward I just need a consensus from the board that says Kathy please go ahead and change that and I'll bring It Forward because I know that in each of our one-on-ones we discussed that yeah and there will be other policies too that we'll be doing this too over the course of
153forever I mean so as things come up and we have to tweak it or amend it so Miss Patrick I think yes I was just going to ask if I could weigh in I appreciate that and I'm willing to approve the policy with the understanding that it will come back relatively quickly especially as we're appointing new committee members in August I'd really like to see that approval made quickly so I'm I'm good with voting on this but I do have another question for the board attorney if I made through the channel yes thank you so attorney Dupree Bruno are we adopting the policy regarding telephonic or virtual participation in closed sessions close legal sessions are we approving that tonight so that policy has been pulled that zero one six six that's another one that would
154be coming forward in August perfect and that was what I expected of 9140 as well I really thought 9140 was going to be pulled as well but I'm I'm happy to do it the way it has been suggested those are my comments thank you Miss Patrica any other discussion okay if you'll please record your vote on this motion all right motion carries 7-0 who should I go first here Dr benir would you do you have any comments on these first just a quick comment from me chair cat doctor I'm sorry Esquire Du Pre Bruno has the longer more direct compliment but first and foremost I'd like to recognize two of our partners in this process received in the audience the members of the Neola team who walked us through countless work sessions and board meetings
155and not only that but work tirelessly also behind the scenes to help staff get this work done I find it interesting that there's only just a couple of staff left at this point because others are off doing other things with some of our speakers but I do want to just congratulate the entire staff this has been a huge Herculean effort to restore and revise all of the policies for a school district the procedures now lie below those and some of what we heard from speakers tonight is those details are incredibly important but this now gives us the opportunity to work with Neola some of the policies from other procedures from the other school districts and begin to develop our own so that we're in compliance with what your policies say as a staff and the
156way we conduct ourselves I cannot thank Viola enough but most importantly I cannot thank this team enough who worked tirelessly to get this work before you and is that you had revisions and other things they went back to work and completed this work not only quickly and efficiently but accurately and within the time frames you set it's another example of great leadership and great commitment from the staff to do do the work that's expected of them in order to provide you the governance structures and the rules that you would then ask your superintendent and all of their staff to follow so appreciate this shout out to all the individuals involved in rewriting it and the good news for everyone is as statutes and things revise in the state Neola will help us by sending us
157draft language we will not have to revise every one of our policies they will send us revisions and then we can adopt those so this gives us an opportunity to keep things current and never allow a policy to fall two three four years behind so thank you for this work thank you to the board's commitment as well lots of work sessions and Mr persons you are correct some of that was seen when you were running we were doing that work prior to to three of you being seated at this diocese so thank you just over 580 policies this evening and just to give especially the public in terms of what took place literally staff sat looked at our current policies compared to the Neola policies some of our current policies are actually adopted as part
158of these new policies they just have new numbers it was a very painstaking process that we went through and I'm going to continue my statements because I think it's very very important that we acknowledge what staff did in this particular instance there were many people who were involved in the process the board will be called that during some of these policy workshops you had I don't know five ten staff members from each division that was sitting in the audience while you were going through them those are all of the individuals that was part of that process the work took quite a bit of time lots of reviewing meeting with board members in one-on-ones in order to move this policy this project forward the Chiefs appointed Neola champions for their divisions making the Neola project team
159leads they picked the right ones Tammy Scott with academic services and I'll keep saying her name over and over again because remember we were in the middle of a hurricane and the aftermath of a hurricane and the stretch that a project this size had on the district what we were doing with the aftermath of a hurricane is extraordinary as soon as in Malay of course Business Services Dr Jim Short Information Systems Tony Caro and prior to her was Linda Joe for operations Lisa Vasquez with HR and I know that Lisa worked hand in hand with Rob dodig Dr Ken Savage who was the superintendent's representative in addition every member of the legal team Sheena zubke Corey Huffman chorus McIntosh Benny Brophy was a part of this project thank you to Tom young for the guidance
160that he provided our Neil a representative who not only sat with staff behind the scenes and went through every single 500 plus policies with staff and challenging us when we wanted to make changes and recommending changes with his team was absolutely phenomenal thank you to Francis St James who was Tom's right hand in this process and we even had times that we had to call the vice president I think actually she's the president now of Neola yeah we had to call the president of Neola from time to time Amanda clap to get answers to some of our questions and then of course Tom led the board with its workshops thank you to Jen Shafer who made sure that the Neil a project team lead was all set up with bordock so they can do their
161work and finally to our superintendent who without his leadership we could not have gotten this done because when we needed to pause after the aftermath of the hurricane he said go ahead and pause but when it was time for us to get back to work he said okay it's nice time to get back to work and incur urged us and asked those leads to dig even deeper to find as much more strength as they could to ensure that we met the board's goal and brought these policies this evening for board adoption thank you thank you we'll now move on to good of the order and other business Miss giovanelli did you want to make a motion was yours covered earlier yeah I'm done okay just want to make sure the Florida School Board Association I'm
162bringing this forward where everybody does there finishing dock here the fsba annually seeks a board member to represent the district on their districts Advocates advocacy sorry about that committee the term runs from July 1st through June 30th 2024. the average advocacy committee will Begin work in early August and will be appointing as the legislative and federal subcommittee members by September 1st tonight I would like to make a motion to select the fsba advocacy liaison and Alternate for the upcoming term and do I have a second second it's Jordan okay is there any discussion I think we all know what this is you want to I would just like to say if I would like the opportunity to take that position thank you so there will be public comment because this is emotion that's not part
163of the consent agenda but they're not at that point yet the comment will be prior to the vote yep and this would be for the efficacy yes for the fsba yes okay any other discussion man okay yes yes miss Patricia thank you so I remember when I first sat on the board I was appointed to this and it was a fantastic way to get to know fsba and get to know legislators not just in our own local delegation but across the state and we have fsba has weekly meetings during session during which everything that's being considered by the legislature is broken down and talked about in detail my point to make a long story short I believe that this is no offense Miss Jordan I believe this is appropriate for a newer board member because
164of the experience they can gain through doing in this and I also think that I mean the relationships that Mr Fisher chairpersons and Ms Jada Langford Fleming misses Jay Langford Fleming have with our local delegation I mean you just you can't beat that so I those are my two cents thank you I said a little bit we have a second motion coming up where we're going to this is going to be strictly for the fsba and then we're going to create a new liaison to the southwest Florida delegation which would be sort of what you said right there so we're we think this is a lot for just one person to be doing everything so right now we're on the fsba liaison so yes so just to be clear the motion that's on the table
165is to whether or not the board wants to move forward with selecting yes tonight right then if there is a candidate that will do a motion to actually appoint that person correct okay any other discussion before we vote on this okay please record your vote well before before we do the vote we need to have the public have comment because this is emotion not on the agenda I'm sorry okay please come up Mr Phillips smoking Joe you all know that nobody in general public knew nothing about this before tonight and I did how did I know because we already knew that the king of nepotism the dynasty over here is being conducted by Terry Miller and this is another way to control Debbie Jordan you got no chance of getting nothing with this group Melissa
166thank you for standing like you've got no chance they're going to put armor or Sam because they don't want Jada to mess it up this is another control tactic by a political strategy company who gave you your jobs you can shake your head all you want I come with receipts brother how did I know it how am I here you're gonna try me I'm telling you I've got plenty of information this is stupid we didn't elect one person to speak on our behalf since we're all elected and I can guarantee you my vote didn't go over there or over there I got a million questions for you yet thank you all right any other discussion oh hey we're done with discussion let's record our vote please it's just a hand vote okay I'm sorry yeah
167Mr Fisher I this is David Nelly hold on I don't know what we're voting on because whether I we weren't given a mo we weren't told this we were given a motion to create a new board advocacy position so I'm a little confused now are we separating it out we didn't really yes okay let may I explain or things or would you like there's a motion on the table the motion is to whether or not the board wants to select the fsba advocacy liaison and Alternate for the upcoming term so that's the first question that's on the table that is the motion it's been properly seconded there's been discussion public notion spoke now it's time for the vote Yes and an alternative okay this is I mean we've had one before this is like it's
168usually on the agenda but what happened is fsba said we needed to get the name in That's why it was added under here it's time sensitive but I don't but what are we voting on because this is normal this is just we're just voting to do this tonight is all we're voting so the vote is whether or not the board wants to proceed to appoint somebody to serve on the fsba that's step one if the board decides to do that then the board will then nominate somebody and vote on that person that will be step two so your vote right now is does the board want to move forward because the way this motion is does the board want to move forward to select somebody tonight to serve on the fsba as the fsba advocacy
169liaison and an alternate that's the that's the motion on the floor so presently who's our who who for the community for the transparency and for the public who is the representative and who's the alternate thank you this would have been done on at the reorganization reorgan yeah yeah at our reorg so when we decided when we decided committees that's when this would have been done which was last month it was not done and there was a time frame which it has to be sent in to fsba and that's where I believe is where we're at right now with this situation okay well I mean I'm a yes because I know it's down the line but I think in the future we can't do I mean we this should have been on the agenda or I
170mean we have we always have you know stuff thrown in the last minute and why what couldn't this been there I don't understand so you know and presented that way what was presented is very different than this and so I had no idea that this is this was taking place nor prepared to understand that so yeah we talked about this at the briefing it wasn't clear the board members let's get back to where we are I'm sorry and I'm a yes thank you Miss Patrica yes please Miss Jordan yes Miss Langford Fleming yes Miss Morgan yes and I am a yes now we'll open nominations Mr Fisher I would like to motion to appoint Debbie Jordan to the fsba liaison okay we will be doing the appointee and then we'll do the alternate just for
171comment there are there any other nominations saying none we'll do yes is there a second is there I'm sorry is there a second a second okay all right let's have a vote Mr Fisher aye it's giovanelli yes Patrica yes please Miss Jordan yes Fleming yes Miss Morgan yes and I am a yes so Miss Jordan you are now our representative to the fsba there okay do we have a nomination for a alternate I would like to nominate Miss giovanelli thank you but our decline thank you okay any other nominations Ms Fleming as an alternate okay do you accept okay is there a second Mr Fisher seconds do a roll call vote for the alternate Miss Lankford Fleming Mr Fisher aye MS giovanelli yes Miss Patrica yes please Jordan yes Mr Fleming aye Ms Morgan yes
172and I am an eye so you are now you passed 7-0 congratulations to both of you Mr chairman yes just to you be clear I just want to make sure I think Dr Savage will probably work on this to update the list for the Committees and this will be for a two-year term yes I'm sorry it is a two-year term as the fsba requests okay now I had another bit of the order that at one time was tied together I'm sorry about that and this is to create a representative from the board with the local delegation legislative Southwest Florida and this is not through the fsba do it do I have a second for that motion Mr chairman do you probably read the entire month yeah I should hold on I know I sent it
173to everyone but this motions create a new board advocacy position and an alternate to be named the southwest Florida legislative liaison this position will be the point person advocating as directed by the board with local and state officials do I have a second a second okay Miss Langford Fleming discussion anyone isn't it public discussion discussion then public yes Miss Morgan okay the way it currently operates and I think it operated extraordinarily effectively this last legislative session is that our lobbyists well first of all the board lobbies individual board individual members of the delegation and as a team when we go up to Tallahassee the way we worked at the last couple of years is our lobbyist has let us know when we as a board need to engage with members of the delegation and we
174are encouraged to develop relationships with members of the delegation and not all of us have the same kind of relationship with each member of the delegation I am very concerned about this motion coming forward for two reasons one if there's been consultation with Kim McDougall at gray Robinson and she feels this is an effective way for us to Lobby two we will be hiring a new government relations person and I think that person needs to have the opportunity to weigh in about how they want to work with the board and or an individual who's delegated and again I reiterate that different board members have different relationships with different legislators and I think I am just very concerned about doing this because one I don't understand the reason to do it and as I said I
175think I'd I'd like to have other people who are involved in our effort to support our platform engage with us and how we as a board are most effective so that would be my comment thank you any other comments I can I'll address that a little bit I don't think this precludes any board member from and I would encourage any board member as I did all session long and I know others did to do this I just think and I know other districts have done this to have a board member and it doesn't have to be the chair it could be anyone to go and law because you cannot Lobby too much I mean McDougall told me just when I was up there and told all y'all speak to whoever you know as often as
176you know you know that was our whole deal I mean I went to the State Legislative capital I think six times this year and spoke to people and it turned out very well and we all went up there and did it and we got more this year than we ever have so I think we just need to sort of continue that I just think we have probably a little more clout sometimes having one person speak as far as getting appointments and doing things for the board though is remember no one person it's not their agenda it's the board's agenda that we're trying to get through to the legislature what we need and why we need it so that's why I brought this up but again that's that's all I have to say about it probably
177comment s oh I'm sorry I did not if you'll just wait one moment I didn't see his hand up there Mr Fisher I'm going to support this motion I agree with it I mean at least how we were operating it was kind of a combination between fsba and legislative leads on this last session at least that's how it was portrayed so I would support splitting both of those duties as we are at this point so I agree we all do need to reach out to our leaders local and Statewide it's important but I believe it is good to have one voice one person going to make and discuss to go through these meetings so I think it does make things simpler so and more effective thank you juvenile but we really aren't all one voice
178technically we are we represent different communities different districts some of us have don't always agree with some of the things that the board has done so I mean I don't know how you can silence someone I mean we're all equal elected officials and I think doing one having one liaison silence the six others so I don't think that I can support this because I feel that it's important to go to fsba we learn so much with fsba and not all board members are attending fsba and their advocacy is huge and they are effective and so I that's unless we're all going to be on board with advocating the same because we don't so I don't I don't understand how that would work exactly because then it becomes I think one person's agenda and I think
179we have to be careful there I think it's a fine line and I think that we as our individuals and I might Advocate harder for a turf field in Fort Myers High School and somebody else might want one in Bonita so I just I don't know I'm sure when I meant voice I'm on our platform so my apologies when I was saying that doesn't preclude anyone from calling or meeting up with anyone local leaders I mean all of us have done it so I don't I don't see an issue with that part so that's what I meant in regards to that thank you we come up with our legislative ass for gender or whatever platform and that's what we took to Tallahassee and kept going over and over and over and over I know when
180I was up there I would just say the same thing that we all did as a group and but I'd be more and more people you know and it's just and I've worked with the lobbyist when I was up there and Debbie I think he went up there a separate time too didn't you with the fsba and I'm sure she was doing the same thing that we did you know and she went up with us also so I just think it's just another voice not to stifle any voice but I just think it's a little more important if you when you walk up there and you say I'm the district three representative from Lee County I want this you know you're welcome to do that but when you go and say I'm I'm representing the
181whole I'm the liaison for the Lee County School Board and this is what we want as a board it's not any one person's view whoever we pick for it's got to be the boards you know agenda to press it that was all any other discussion Mr chairman yes I don't see any arm in the creation of the position I do think that focusing legislative efforts through one person Can streamline the process I would have liked to have had Kim mcdougall's feedback going into this however I can't fathom that she would think it was a bad thing because we you know we have that at fsba and she is the lobbyist for fsba as well so I don't have a problem supporting it I do Wonder a little bit about what it is that you envision
182and how we would carry this out so for example we have our delegation meeting each year where every government entity and other groups go in front of the delegation to you know give a brief ask for the session what our legislative liaison now do that instead of the chair good question I think it's tradition that the chair do it but the liaison would be following through over and over that particular thing you're talking about where you go up in front of them you get like two minutes or less to say 20 minutes worth of stuff so it's just more it's just not much of anything but there's a way to introduce yourself and let them know that we need what I did when I went there is I just stressed the need we had because
183of the hurricane and couldn't get into any of the other priorities really so I don't see that being a conflict at all and if the board wanted to leave he's on do it instead of the chair I wouldn't have a problem with that either so one final question if I made through the chair to the superintendent and the board attorney do you see any specific positives or any potential pitfalls with this please Mr chair yeah I you know yes that's a hypothetical question I can see both pitfalls and advantages to it would give our chief of communications and government relations a singular point of contact with the board for cop for communication however if that individual is not speaking on behalf of all the board members that's a pitfall I do also agree that I
184can't speak for what I learned a long time ago because I've known Kim for a long time Kim McDougall I don't speak on Kim mcdougall's behalf I do believe it having the opportunity to at least converse with her as how this could operate within her world because she is also the one who set a great number of those appointments for us got us into staff we just didn't deal with electives remember we had a very specific direction of getting with Staff first and the governor House and Senate making sure the staff were aware of our asks and then if you recall we had a really great session with electeds who would start using staff names and you were fully prepared to say hey we've already talked to your staff about that they have all our
185information they're already working through the budgetary process I don't know that new ideas are bad ideas though right it's just we'll have to work if this is the will of the board we'll work through it and I will work with whoever the new Communications and government relations Chief is to ensure that they have not just the global they have the global view but also that individual person who's been identified as well and continue to work with our newly elected two-year term fsba person who is Debbie Jordan so I yeah miss miss Patricia you're asking me to ask a hypothetical and in all situations where new things are created there are both intended and unintended consequences we will just have to reflect this is a decision for the board and then the superintendent will be asked
186to administrate it as the board see fit thank you and the reason your feedback was to to see it differently may I continue Mr chair yes please thank you so I think that I might feel more comfortable asking to table this item until the superintendent or a member of his staff has had a moment to discuss this with Kim McDougall and perhaps you as the chair could contact Kim McDougall to find out what her feedback is I think I'd feel far more comfortable approving it under those circumstances those are my comments thank you okay I have no problem with that originally this was splitting one and then we realized that it was not the FSB fsba advocacy person was not also the legislative that they were just through the fsba so to me that's the
187only reason we went forward this tonight I have no problem with tabling it to later we were not going to pick that person tonight that was not the purpose of this just to create the position and then it would have been filled with when we do our all our committee assignments coming up here at a future date soon Jordan oh is miss Patricia finished yeah mraker are you finished I believe so okay so I would just ask the same if we could then table it and then get the information from Miss McDougall and then that way we have Clarity of what that looks like for all of us I have no problem with that I will withdraw my motion for the night okay may I may I suggest that I make a motion to table
188so that it stays alive and we don't have to go through a new motion and then we'll be forced to discuss it at our next meeting please and thank you so I am officially making a motion to table all right is there a second to that okay no discussion go to a vote yep do we have public comment on tabling he's there come on up absolutely this is piggyback off the same thing I said on the last one now I appreciate you just tabling this but the very fact that you want to put one person to represent all of us we don't agree armor we don't agree Sam you I don't want you speaking for me I've got two children in this District unlike these Purple People poisons that come in here that don't have
189kids I've got kids me and my wife's gonna fight you ever since way until you do the right thing look take it up and here's another thing I would suggest that the board attorney may be looking to how I knew this when another board member said she had no clue about this before I come in there and the one person that brought it up does that not sound like another Sunshine violation if somebody's talking out and it's getting to me as a matter of fact why don't you give me time to let my private investigator see if they can get the informant to come out and speak and let's see what's really going on how do I know it if you're not breaking Sunshine if you're not violating Sunshine where's my information coming from armor
190I think you need the table and you need to think real hard before you put one of these cronies up speaking for us thank you I'm smoking Joe and I'm done for the night Ben gettings I come tonight I probably won't be back for a little bit so anyway thing is you're creating another layer of someone that has to communicate to the rest of you guys just another layer of communication and I hate saying this but I will when I was on the board the purpose of having the liaison in fsba was that they do have a broad perspective of what's going on and it was for that person and persons to bring that information back to the group not for one person just to get to have that information a suggestion and it kind
191of piggybacking on what Miss giovannelli said everybody has different thoughts so think about the concept that let's say for example your District Five you have legislators you have County Commissioners you have all these people that are also representing District Five so if each of you had a relationship with your legislators and the people that are also governing the same district here from think about it if you had a school in the sidewalks were bad and you talked to your county commissioner and your legislator then together as a team you can get that type of thing done so think about each of you being a legislative person with your group regarding who you're representing us and the needs that we have out in the community I think it's something you need to really consider that you're
192paying someone to do exactly what you're trying to elect someone to do what what's and then you're going to hire someone else as the as the legislative person to fill that empty position now you're going to have this layer on this layer and this layer and this layer that's how communication gets all muddled up so the simplest is the best create relationships with your legislators for your districts work together with them and bring that information back for all of us thank you thank you Robert Daniels I'm speaking in the vein of concerns we had the recently aborted Elementary School in the South Zone that was only stopped by Mrs giddens beaten on the drama and demanding accountability for Why students needed another school in the South Zone well in the East District Five we still
193had students in Portables that demonstrates that the board is very capable to operate only in the best interest of their own District instead of the district as a whole however we also have a number of at-large positions in the rules of governance or philosophy of governance there's the tyranny of the majority and the tyranny of the minority and we want to avoid both of those you're suggesting one position I'm going to suggest that you have a paired position one of the at large board members go to this committee be the person with a rotation of the people from the other five districts so that each district has representation in this I understand the value of a point person but by splitting the duty between two with one on rotation among all five of the districts
194we ensure there's got to be accountability for that liaison to represent all parts of the district equally thank you thank you Sharon McGill just sitting back there listening it just sounds like there does need to be more discussion on this and I'm going to go back to one of my original questions what was the success of the last legislative session what were the successes where were some of the failures possibly what could we have done better rather than jumping into a whole new position without analyzing what we already did and what we had and how it worked and maybe it doesn't require a new person and an alternate maybe it requires tweaks in how it was done versus who did it so I think you really need to go back and question that and that's
195why tabling it I think is a really good idea and analyzing the pros and cons of what happened this last legislative session thank you yes I have a couple things Miss Patrick I had asked what my thoughts were and I deferred because I actually agreed with everything that the superintendent said however based on some of the comments I would like a little clarification please the fifth liaison position with that forbade or not allow other board members to attend the other legislative sessions that are going on some of the other trips that you go to to Tallahassee who whatever board member wants to attend no absolutely nothing would change there it's just when the board says we need to ask for let's say a waiver on per student costs Station cost or something like that we
196would it would be sent by the whole board at this or that but the liaison may have should have more personal connections there and then it might help you know the same thing you know it's just another person that maybe they'll listen to I mean it's no different than sending the superintendent up there to also talk he's representing the board when he goes in the district when he goes up there also I mean it's but it carries a little more clout when he goes up there maybe Mr chair I think you give me way too much credit I do believe the elected officials do much better with other electeds I think it's important for a superintendent to go in support of the board's platform so I appreciate the comment though anyway it would not affect
197any of those and then my last question Mr chairman what was the vision in terms of getting board directive to be able to answer those questions that may come up as well as to be able to come back and share the information received by the board what was the vision for them so this should be the same thing we do when we do our legislative asks there are also things that come up all the time here that we need from the legislative people you know and sometimes it might be just good to have someone that could go to that it might not be during legislative times but and it may not only be the legislature could be the you know the County Commission or something else like that all the local officials and I agree
198with Miss kittens every District person should know the people in their District also as much as possible and I just think it just would to be good I think we could get more points across if we had someone like that rather but again I'm for I'm for tabling it I think we've had discussions so we should probably go ahead and vote on that yes Mr Fisher just to point out I mean this the concept and you know I'm good with tabling it to make sure everyone is okay and goes through the information it's not a whole lot different than how our County Commissioners operate they have a point person they send up there so I mean that's they did this last session so I just want to make that point all right we'll do a
199roll call vote Mr Fisher aye Mr giovannelli yes Miss Patrica yes please Ms Jordan aye it's like for Fleming aye Ms Morgan aye and I am an eye all right next on our agenda History Mr chairman just one more thing I'm sorry I have to put on the record board members are able to share motions they are able to share position papers they are able to share memos in between them so long as there is not a response or a discussion in those documents that is not a sunshine violation I just want to make sure that's on the record correct and this motion was sent out earlier to all the board members you know without a response from any board members such as so they were aware of it for the get in the order
200here Mr Fisher do you have any I'll keep it brief real quick we were able to host recently the first ever Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce a junior leadership that came over here for their education day it was really a good time they were able to see what we do over here they were able to ask some questions and they had a mock Board hearing so and I appreciate the my fellow board members that showed up as well as administrators and you know thank you for helping facilitate that they really truly enjoyed that so I also want to thank along the lines what we've been talking about our governor as well as our legislative delegation for appropriation success this is the from what I've been able to read one of our most successful legislative sessions
201as a school district in many many years so we're able to accomplish many of the things that we've sought out for in the beginning so besides that again my condolences go out to the families of the five teens that were in the car accident recently as I said before it's on a imaginable and we're keeping you in our thoughts and prayers so that's all I have thank you thank you Miss giovannelli I'll be brief as well just congratulations to the new promotions and a appointments I really want to welcome the new people as well and I look forward to that I also want to thank Linda Mayer and Dr Denise Carlin for their service to the Lee County students you will be missed and congratulations on your retirement enjoy and real quick just my condolence
202and thoughts and prayers to the families that and friends that a lot these students that we recently lost and they're not all of our students but graduates as well it is a tragedy and to the community and I just want to know that I just want the families and friends to know that my heart goes out to them and I it's just a terrible tragedy so I've been mulling it over for a couple days now and my heart hurts so thank you so much that's it thank you Miss Patrica I have no comments thank you okay Miss Jordan actually I think the two of you have mentioned everything that possibly could be mentioned and I do want to thank you Mr Fisher for bringing the students here and I hope to see them here again
203that was really a wonderful time and they had great questions and thank you both for bringing up the our the students and the families thank you Mr Langford Fleming yes there's been a lot of great comments made by some people out in our audience this evening I do want to just maybe get some clarification perhaps through the chair to the super maybe we can look into the child that Mrs Perez was discussing I don't know if she said that she had evidence of something happening at one of our schools with a particular child I'm hoping that's not the case but I think it's our duty to check into that and as well as Mrs Ware's comments about the parking for the soccer near Franklin Park maybe somebody can also check into that facility not sure
204if somebody's been out there from the board to even see that a lot of discussion this evening I know it seems like it was a long time ago about the books and the ball the policy that we are reviewing that is something that I think all of us are spending lots of time on it is not you know I don't want you to think that you come and speak and then we move on and it's not something that we re we don't revisit because we do I remember being a teacher in the fifth grade and a popular book came out for teens and that particular book became a movie and it was a teen book however the reading level for that book was a 4.0 which is an AR that's a fourth grader in the
205first month of school I would not have wanted my fourth grader to read the content of that book just because it's on grade level doesn't necessarily mean that it should be in a classroom in a fifth grade library with the content that it was had so I just I kind of wanted to bring that example up I do think it's important we read the books that are being challenged but I think for me personally I have three children and I envisioned their face and their age at that moment would I want them to be reading that particular book at this time in their life I just wanted to use that example I know that it's been mentioned today there are two families that were affected that I personally know with the children that had the
206accident this week and with me having a new driver in my household it's also just very close to my heart that life is very precious and I just would like to put out there that at some point in time maybe we even at the next board meeting Grant a moment of silence and memory of those children and their families and my heart breaks for them and at the end of the day I think that's what's most important is life is very precious and we need to remember that at all times so thank you that's all I have for tonight Miss Morgan I really I really have no comments although I do want to thank the superintendent for his comments regarding the students and former students this afternoon particularly with respect to principles making themselves available
207over the summer this kind of tragedy is much more difficult to for everybody to to find the connections they need to help people move through the grief process and whatever so I do thank you for your comments I it is heartbreaking what has taken place and I do agree for the families of the children involved those are my comments this evening thank you I had the pleasure of attending several I think sort of momentous occasions in the last this last meeting first was the groundbreaking at Fort Myers High School for their new synthetic turf field they're having to dig down eight feet that whole area out that's huge but that's a million dollar project that was not paid for by the district is all donations we are putting in a new track around there though
208at The District's expense because it seems silly to put a not to do that at that particular time be much more costly to do it later then a few days later I went to the demolition at the Fort Myers Beach Elementary School and that was very enlightening to see that a few days later went to the groundbreaking of the 79 million dollar renovation at Riverdale and new construction of a new science wing and gymnasium and lots of classrooms so finally be getting when it's all done be getting rid of their Portables it's been a lot of talk over the years and then I got to go to the colleagues Collegian Luigi I think that's a which is all the top teachers out had a week-long interfacing with each other and learning from each other and
209then the deduction of the golden apple teachers into the golden apple Academy that was also a very great event to have gone to so all those things happen as long as plus all the other stuff so it was it was a busy week that's all I have the night to paint Mrs dupe rental you have any more Ted just very very quickly since he's been here all night board members Tim Carver if you could stand up he is one of our law clerks from Ave Maria law school second year law student and we also have Carolyn Terrell who is also another second year law student at Alvin Maria who's clerking for us this summer she's doing more virtual Tim is more in coming in every day thank you welcome just a couple things Mr chair
210first of all thank you to Michael Ramirez it appears last week was a bad week to be out of town so I appreciate Michael filling in for me during the workshop and I'm doing an amazing job had a great opportunity to watch it we'll watch it again to ensure that I'm up to speed on all of your comments considering the topics you were discussing I don't want to just give a shout out to our professional development department our legal team and members of this staff who put on for the very first time on June 14th and 15th are law and Leadership series not only did we have all of our principals APS and athletic directors to talk about instruction and to focus on student achievement but athletic directors were given a whole day of development
211with the District athletic director and then we followed up the following day with basically legal 101 training we covered everything from payments legal contracts hiring practice student code of conduct how to conduct an investigation how to work with professional practices when to call and I'm going to lose a little this in Translation because you'd have to hear the kickoff speech in the final speed each but when I is and this is a boating community the focus of the second day was it's okay to ask for help when I first became a boat owner I took out I took out a friend who was a very experienced Captain he said very little goes on very little goes wrong on a boat when you're going slow so when you see dangerous things as those principles are navigating
212Waters and they're moving students in large schools forward they see dangerous objects they see currents that they don't understand it is okay to slow the boat down make a phone call get somebody else on board so we can be thought Partners together moving forward the training was extremely well received I can't thank the legal team enough I can't thank all the other individual people and one of the highlights just to make the newsreels was Suzette and Heather from HR presenting on the hiring is a lot like speed dating you have to you have to see a lot of people before you pick your person and they great great experience and one of the most amazing things and I wish Rob was still in the room was HR talking to all the principals and saying look
213we know we know we've got to do better that sense of bringing the community together and then that opportunity for us to begin to kick off speak up listen up was just a great opportunity I will also sentiments and I'll only say this to the community as we as people were directly impacted and know the families impacted by the tragedy of the accident we have a more difficult time during the summer because we don't get our eyes on our students every day like when they come to school so if you know of students that are struggling if you know of family members or other people who need help and support there are supports within the district you may call here you may ask to talk to Student Services you can certainly call into my office
214I'll get our chief of staff and myself on it but our principals are also a good line of approach they are working this summer and they're going to need help so the other eyes in the community the other sets of parents the other sets of students if you see someone struggling with this it's a responsibility to come forward so we can get them the help that they so richly deserve I am a law I am in a loss for words we grieve for these parents and families and I don't think there's anything we can say other than that we're thinking about them and praying on their behalf finally when I was on my return flight from the West Coast I landed to a as it always happens when you land your tune your phone you
215turn your phone back on and I received several pieces of information regarding a business that operates in the Metro Corridor that the EPA has been working with regarding the release of a particular chemical into the air that is utilized for cleaning medical instruments this really has nothing to do with the school district of Lee County but at the same time it has everything to do with it we have children living in that area we have families living in that area and we do have a school in that area as well I've shared with all the board members we don't have summer programming going on there right now the little private school is keeping kids indoors right now until we can get some more information I will tell the community if you're still tuned in there's
216a community Town Hall tomorrow night at 5 45 pm at the Word of Life Church on South Point Boulevard it's being hosted by our Congressman Byron Donalds it was a planned Community Town Hall so but this some of the topics will certainly revolve around this issue and I believe Mr persons who's gone to all the wonderful things will be in attendance and so will I again that's a community Town Hall Wednesday night Word of Life Church on South Point Boulevard and should begin at 5 45 PM that being said we also know that tomorrow is going to be a busy day in Fort Myers with a protest March our schools that are on the path of that March have been notified police presence will be in addition to what normally would be present in that
217area and the sheriff's department and other municipalities have assured us they will work to ensure our school buildings are safe and that parents can successfully navigate to and from school my understanding of the protest is around immigration laws and they're expecting up to 20 000 people so we'll see what materializes but I want you to know we're working in advance to to to help our parents and students who are attending summer programs to be able to continue to do that but we will work through some some issues tomorrow depending on how many people actually turn out so thank you very much for your time and for for the hard work this evening thank you on Wednesday July 26th there will be a board workshop at 12 p.m and on Tuesday July 31st there'll be a
218special board meeting at 505 PM followed by a board Action meeting at 6 pm at this point see no other business coming for this body and seeing no Jackson this meeting is adjourned the time is 9 38 pm