School Board Action Meeting: June 3, 2025

001Good evening everyone. We're ready to begin this evening's board meeting. Sergeant- Arms, has the lobby been attended to? Thanks, Chief. request that all electronic devices be turned off or put in silent mode. Also, please refrain from using flash photography except during the special presentations portion of this meeting. I am pleased to welcome you to the June 3rd, 2025 schoolboard meeting. The time is 6 p.m. and this meeting is hereby called to order. Board member Juvenelli will be participating via Teams pursuant to board policy 0164.1. She is eligible to vote on items tonight. During tonight's action meeting, board member Shaveaniano will be participating via Teams pursuant to board policy 0164.1. She is not eligible to vote on items during tonight's action meeting. Real quick, can we confirm if they are currently available right now? Board member

002Shaveaniano and board member Juvenelli. Do we know if they are currently on the meeting? I'm here. Okay, we got one. Okay, I will continue on and I'm sure Miss Juvenelli will join us. So, prior to tonight's meeting, we've been enjoying music performed by the Lee County Clarinet Choir. This ensemble is directed by Julian Grub, band director at Idas Baker High School and is composed of clarinet students from various high schools across Lee County. As one of the newest interchool chamber music ensembles in the county, they have been rehearsing together since March. Be on the lookout for their performances in the community this fall. Now, we're going to listen to one more song from this group. Great job, students. We're going to give them a moment to clear their performance area and take a brief pause.

003Thank you. Great job again to the students. We'd like to take this opportunity to remind the members of the public of the district's mission, which is ensure that each student achieves his or her highest potential and the district's vision to be a world-class school system. This evening's agenda includes invocation, pledge of allegiance, acknowledgements, recognitions, public comment, consent action items which include four items under board office, four items under executive services, five items under academic and student services, eight items under school choice administration, six items under human resources, 12 items under business services, two items under information systems, 14 items under facility operations, two items under safety, security and fleet operations, two items under legal services, one item under Lee County Schoolboard Leasing Corporation, one item item under resolutions which is good cause. Whenever you're ready,

004superintendent, please provide an explanation for this item for good cause. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. good evening. So, I am bringing forward one item as good cause resolution 2025-063 establishing salary incentives for teachers relating to low performing low achieving schools and critical subject areas. This is being brought forward as a good cause item due to the urgent staffing needs identified in many of our schools, especially in our schools who have the greatest academic needs. Florida statutes 10001.42 42 subsection 21A and B and Florida statute 101, excuse me, 1012-2315 authorize the school board to implement mitigating strategies to place highquality teachers in low performing schools. These statutes enable the board to offer differentiated salary incentives for teachers based on the subject areas they teach, to assign highquality teachers to low performing schools, and to provide additional compensation

005to attract and retain high-quality teachers in the most academically challenging schools. Per statute, these actions are permissible outside of the collective bargaining process as a management right. The goal is to have a certified teacher starting on the first day of school. Given the timing and the critical nature of this situation, immediate action is necessary, which is why I bring the resolution forth this evening. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. As a presiding officer, I hereby find good cause to add that to the agenda. Additionally on the agenda will be two items under public hearing and four items under good of the order. Other business board members, do we have a motion to approve tonight's agenda? Make a motion to approve. We have a second. I second it. Okay. motion moved by Mr. Rible, second by Mr. Persons.

006Please record your votes. Just Oh, we need to member Juvenelli. Yes, I'm muted. Muted. Thank you. Are you an I or an A? Your vote. Yeah, I voted. I voted. Thank you. Oh, couldn't hear you. Sorry. motion passes 6. Okay. As is the custom of the board, Mrs. Langford Fleming will lead us in the invocation, after which Miss Jordan will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Please stand. Heavenly Father, we come to you with grateful hearts for the opportunities and experiences of this school year. Thank you for the wisdom imparted, the friendships formed, and the challenges that have helped us grow as a district. We thank you for the challenges we faced this year, for they have made us stronger and more resilient. Help us to see your hand in every difficult decision and

007to trust in your plan. May we carry these blessings with us and continue to grow in your love. We ask for your guidance over our students, teachers that play we play pray that you keep your loving hand over them throughout this summer and ahead. Watch over our graduates as they embark on their new journeys. Father, we thank you for our men and women in law enforcement and the military. Please continue to keep them safe so that we may enjoy our freedoms. Thank you for our educators, staff, healthcare workers, administrators, coaches, and all of the staff of this district. Please bless them with rest, renewal, and inspiration for the seasons ahead. And thank you for our children. What a gift they are to all of us. May they continue to grow, explore, and make countless memories

008this summer with families and friends. May your grace and wisdom lead us always. It is in your name. Amen. Amen. Jordan, please lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. You may be seated. Good job. Next on the agenda is the character word for June. Character word for June is cooperation. Working together for a common purpose. The design displayed on the screen was created by Annabelle Brightites, a 12th grader at Eststerero High School. Great job. Now, we're going to move on to recognitions. So, board members, please join us in the pit for recognitions. recognize the 2025 Florida High School Athletic Association boys weightlifting state champion. Joining

009me at the lectern tonight is Dave Larosa, athletic and activities director. We are proud to recognize the 2025 Florida High School Association boys weightlifting state championship and a student near and dear to my heart in the Olympic category. Competition took place at RP funding center in Lakeland on April 11th and 12th of 2025. He's already up here in the district 2A14 139 pound weight class senior from Fort Meyers High School, Nicholas Bloomston. Nick won the state title with a total lift of 460 pounds. The school board and the superintendent are pleased to recognize Nick and his coach Pat Casey for their commitment, determination, and hard work that led to this remarkable accomplishment. If his coach or administrators are in the building, please join us for a picture. is our coach. Congratulating you, sir. Thank you

010very much, Miss Glad here. All right. Now, we're going to move on to the 2025 Florida High School Athletic Association stake state track and field champions. The school district of Lee County is proud to recognize the 2025 Florida High School Athletic Association stat state track and field champions. The state competition was held in the University of North Florida in Jacksonville May 9th through 10th in 2025. When your name is called, please come forward. You guys are on it. With a winning jump of 5 feet and 5 and 3/4 in, a senior from Gateway High School Balabriel Bedabriel Johnson. Applause. Yes. Wonderful. Our next champion is a senior from Ida Baker High School, Mike Luma. Mike won the class 4A triple jump with an outstanding distance of 47 feet and 9 and 1/4 in. Awesome. If

011these athletes, parents, coaches, or administrators are in the building, please come forward. Good seeont. Seriously, that it for you. Okay, just checking. Okay, next up are the 2025 Florida Invention Convention Awards. Joining me at the lectern tonight is Danielle Knap, coordinator of teaching and learning. How you doing? The first annual Florida Invention Convention was held at the University of South Florida on April 12th, 2025. Among the many talented students from across Southwest Florida, several from the school district Lee County earned top honors and now have the opportunity to advance to the invention convention US Nationals. We are proud to recognize the following outstanding students. First up is Haley Couttow Cruto from Pinewood Elementary who is on a bill be with us tonight received first place and best in show for a project titled P Brave.

012Next up is Celia Alvarez and Alana Mayna from Gateway Charter Elementary School earned third place for their project titled Infinity Umbrella Holder. A Okay. Okay. Next up is Nashini Fernando from Dunar High School received first place for a project titled Baby Beats 2.0. I just feel right. Okay, next up, next up is Gabriel Centron and Tanish Madhar from Fort Myers High School earned third place for their project titled BDE, a machine learning tool for early detection of autism. Next up, Darua Chararma, also from Fort Myers High School, received first place and the best prototype award for the project titled Dextera Revolution. revolutionizing assist of technology. The school board and superintendent are proud to congratulate Haley, Celia, Alana, Nashini, Gabriel, Tanish, and Daruva on their truly world-class STEM accomplishments. Thank you for representing the school district

013of Lee County with excellence in this prestigious state level academic competition. Great job. Joining me at the lectern tonight is Dana Philpot, coordinator. ator for professional development. Dana, do you here? Okay, good. All right. Each year, the school district of Lee County proudly recognizes the dedication and impact of our firstear teachers supporting through the apples program. Now, if you don't know what the apples program, it stands for accomplished professional practices for Lee County Education System. This program provides job embedded support to teachers during their first year in the classroom. First year teachers bring energy, innovation, and fresh perspective to our schools. Their commitment to student learning helps lay the foundation for long-term instructional excellence. This year, the new teacher of the year recognition was expanded to include the selection of regional finalists, educators who exemplify

014excellence in their first year. A selection committee then interviews these outstanding individuals to determine the district-wide honore. At this time, we're pleased to acknowledge our teacher of the year regional finalist. As I read your name, please come forward and be recognized. Junah Froman, North Fort Meyers High School, North Region. Carly Crumbl, Spring Creek Elementary School, South Region, and Tia Tia Lavina, Sunshine Elementary School, East Region. Please join me in congratulating yourself. Congratulations, Last month, the new teacher of the year received the exciting news of her selection during a surprise visit to her school. This evening, we're proud to formally celebrate her achievements in the presence of the school board and our community. The school board and superintendent are honored to recognize Julia Johnson, third grade teacher, Kousa Elementary, as 20242 new teacher of the year.

015Congratulations. Congratulations. Picture with you. Okay. Okay, joining me at the lecturing tonight is Kendra Ben Penk and I apologize Kendrick I'm so sorry honey coordinator of professional development. Each year the school district of Lee County takes great pride in honoring the work and contributions of the mentors who support our firstear teachers through Apple's program. Apple's accomplishment professional practices for Lee County Education System provides job embedded support to new teachers through the guidance and trained Apple mentor. The skilled and compassionate mentors who walk alongside our new teachers nurture their growth and help lay the foundation for sustainable instructional excellence in our schools. This year, the Apple's mentor of the year recognition was enhanced to include selections of regional finalists who exemplify excellence in their roles. A selection committee interviews the regional finalists to determine the district-wide

016recipients. At this time, we would like to acknowledge our Apple mentor of the year regional finalist. As I read your name, please come forward to be recognized. Laura Blackburn, Golf Middle School. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you, Nancy Rosie. Gateway Elementary School, East Son. Congratulations. Stephanie Ella Green, Riverhaul Elementary School, North Region. Congratulations, honey. Thank you so much. Please join me in congratulating these outstanding educators. Your work is helping shape the future of education in Lee County. Okay, I'm going to read one more, guys. Okay, please. Last month, the Apple's mentors of the year received the exciting new news of her selection during a surprise visit to her school. This evening, we are proud to formally celebrate her achievements in pres in her presence of the school board and our community. And I and I'm going

017off script, but I have to say in us going and sharing all of this and seeing how you all do what you do, I am and we owe you a dance, Miss Susan. The school board and superintendent are honored to recognize Miss Susan Barnes, a reading teacher at Lexington Middle School. As the 2024 2025 Apple's mentor of the year, on behalf of the entire district, we thank you for your dedication, unwavering commitment of excellence, and the last impact you have made to your students and school communities. Congratulations. Now, you need to show us how to do the giddy all the way. gritty. We're doing the gritty. Hold this for me. We're doing We're doing the gritty. I'm just saying. Come on, guys. Wonderful. Woo. You're done. You're done. You're done. Oh, you come back. I

018come back. I'm done. You go. All right. Joining us once again at the lectern tonight is Kendra Pennis, coordinator of professional development. The school district of Lee County is proud to celebrate the exceptional accomplishments of educators who have achieved high reliability teacher level one certification. These dedicated teachers join a distinguished group of fewer than 300 educators nationwide who have earned this recognition. High reliability teacher level one certification represents a significant professional milestone. It honors educators who demonstrate a deep understanding of in effective instructional models, engage in purposeful, deliberate practice to advance their growth goals, and rigorously monitor the impact of their instruction on student achievement. To earn the certification, teachers volunteered to participate in training, complete application tasks, and submit artifacts evaluated by expert educators. On behalf of the school board and superintendent, it is

019our great honor to recognize the following teachers for their outstanding achievement and earning high reliability teacher level one certification. Alicia Frank, third grade teacher, Allan Park. Thank you. Christopher Morales, biology teacher, Fort Myers High. Congratulations, Don Kafalleti, social studies teacher, Lehi Senior High School. Andrina Dennis Pier Pier collaborator teacher LM Teal Middle Congratulations. Thank you. Anita Ramos, another peer collaborative teacher, Lemule Teal Middle, Heather Garlic, peer collaborative teacher, Hns Marsh Elementary. I think so. Amanda Burroughs, literacy coach, Veteran Park Academy of the Arts. Okay. Do we want to break this up or do them all together? Keep going. Okay. Carla Tennant, peer collaborative teacher, Veterans Park Academy of the Arts. Thank you, Julia Tommpkins, peer collaborative teacher, Veterans Park Academy of the Arts. Are you level two or level one? I'm level one. Okay, good.

020I'm on the right page. Suzanne Garrett, peer collaborative teacher, Veterans Park of the Arts. Dr. Ashley Sleptic, peer collaborative teacher, Manatee Elementary. And then next up is a very special recognition. We are proud to recognize Laura Jordan, peer collaborative teacher at Kousa Elementary for an extraordinary achievement. Laura was previously celebrated for earning level one certification and since then she has continued to excel completing levels two and three of the high reliability teacher certification. This is a remarkable accomplishment that places her just among 41 educators nationwide who have earned level three. Congratulations. Mhm. Joining us now at the lectern is Diana Winebomb, a representative from Cogna. Cogna is a go hi is a global nonprofit that provides accreditation, certification, certification and continuous improvement services to schools and education systems. KAIA works thousands of institutions across the

021US and international to help improve education outcomes through researchbased standards and evaluation process. She is here today to present a special honor to the school district of Lee County. Please help me welcome Diane Webb. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be with all of you today. After almost 130 years accrediting schools, Cognia launched the Schools of Distinction Award program in 2021 to recognize schools and systems that truly stand out in their service to learners. Across the world, educators are working hard every day to provide highquality learner centered education. This award highlights those institutions that are doing it exceptionally well. To earn this recognition, schools undergo a rigorous accredititation process that includes extensive internal reflection and a detailed review by a team of outside educators. At Cogna, we use performance standards that reflect the

022latest research on learning and define what highquality education looks like today. The school district of Lee County demonstrated excellence during their 2023 2024 accredititation review. They not only met but exceeded our standards by showing high quality instruction, strong organizational effectiveness, and a deep commitment to continuous improvement. Most noteworthy is the district's dedication to using a systemic range of data to cultivate a dynamic and impactful learning environment for students in targeted professional development for your staff. It is my honor to recognize the school district of Lee County as a 2024 Cogna system of distinction. Congratulations and thank you for your unwavering dedication to all learners. Yeah. Is that Great job everyone. What a way to finish this school year. I'm going to give a moment for those who want to leave at the moment. I'll take

023a quick break as we wait. Thank you. We're going to begin in a moment. Okay, we're going to resume and get into the item of public comment. Okay. Thank you for everyone who signed up to speak tonight in regard to Fort Myers Beach Elementary. Your participation in the process is greatly appreciated and critical to our decision-making process. Before we begin, I want you to know the school board will not be voting on anything related to Fort Myers Beach tonight. We'll be taking your comments along with the information presented by the constituents analysis at our afternoon workshop under consideration for a future recommendation and a schoolboard vote. When we have reached the point we're ready to make a decision, it will be clearly posted on our agenda and you'll once again have the opportunity to participate.

024Thank you again for being here. Attorney Deb Brono, please address the item public comment. Thank you and good evening. Schoolboard policy provides the opportunity at this point in the meeting to address the board concerning any matter on this meeting's agenda or any other matter relevant to the operation of the school district. Please complete a public comment card and put it in the basket provided. If you need a public comment card, they are provided by our staff. The rules concerning public comment are posted in the back and will be made from the podium in the front center aisle. Please be advised that the board will not respond during public comment to remarks made by speakers. The purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on district issues such as duties and responsibilities, decisions, and the general

025operation of the school district. The school board is viewpoint neutral during public comment. to ask that decorum be kept and respect be shown, which is what is expected when a government agency conducts its official business. Therefore, abuse of language defined as swearing, use of profanity, or name calling is prohibited. In addition, clapping, hissing, booing, or display of temper during public comment is prohibited. Speakers who fail to follow proper decorum in the chambers will be ruled out of order by the board chair or the board attorney. Any speaker continuing with such remarks will be required to relinquish the microphone per board policy 0169.1 and may be removed from the chambers by the sergeant at arms. Per board policy 0169.1. The time per speaker is 3 minutes if there are 20, 2 minutes if there are 30

026speakers and 1 minute if there are 31 speakers or more. The maximum time allotted for public comment is 1 hour 60 speakers. You will find a countdown on the big screen in the front of the room. Once your time is elapsed, the microphone will automatically shut off. Please state your name when you approach the microphone. I will call your names five speakers at a time. Please follow staff's direction when lining up. Mr. Chairman, there are 27 individuals that wish to address the board this evening. The time per speaker is 2 minutes. Thank you, Attorney Brie Brono. Is there real quick? There was a message that we're getting some others. Two more. Two more. Looks like we're going to have two more. So the time for speaker is still two minutes. Thank you. Turn to Brie

027Bruno. Please ensure you have completed a public comment to provide public comment. The card is a record identifying those who speak and providing contact information to staff for follow-up. The cards are located with staff in the hallway. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the board but did not fill out a public comment card? Please raise your hand. Okay. And just to confirm, there's two minutes per person on public comment. Attorney Pribro. Correct. Mr. Okay. Whenever you're ready, please proceed. Will the following individuals please line up? Constance Dennis, Anthony Call, Sarah Rockwell, Joy Rockwell, Kevin Dailyaly. Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to talk to you. I am Connie Dennis, past president of Alva, Inc. and I'm very concerned about the possibility of the location of NN. I just

028want to give a little bit of history. Alba is a very small community as I'm sure you know and very close and it has been for for years. In 1970, the Alva High School was taken away and they went to Dunar for two years until Riverdale was built and then they from then on they've been going to Riverdale. At this point, we have great grandchildren of the original people that started the graduation in 1973. And I just want to say that we've had a lot of comments from the our community about the location of NN. They are not happy with where it is for a number of reasons. And I there's going to be other people from Alpha Inc. that are going to give you more details on it. But I just want to say

029that when they went to Riverdale, they had built the same camaraderie that they had at the Ala School and this has continued. And so this is one reason why we're not happy with NN and there's all of the mechanical the location. there's another location that we would like you to consider and they will tell you about it. Thank you. Good evening Lord. My name is Anthony Call back again. it's the end of the year, last day. I came to talk to you guys about hopefully we can change it next year. this is it's ridiculous. Miss Carl, I'm glad you came out to our compound. I wish you would have come out at a time where drivers could talk to you because they really did want to talk to you. all we keep seeing is more

030executive positions being split. More people, you know, you got two people doing one job in an executive position. Come on. We need drivers. Anybody want to come and drive that doesn't do anything? Anybody in this building or anything? Because we sure could use drivers. We had 900 drivers when I started 3 years ago. We're down to 500 and something. You know, it something's got to change because we're doing we're doing more work now than we were doing then. Today was our last day where we had to clean our buses. They gave us a list. That list was long enough to what I'd take my car to have it detailed. That cost me hundred and something dollars. You know what they pay us an hour? $20.87 cents to detail a school bus. If I took that

031school bus to have it detailed somewhere, like the list that they had, that cost me $450. You know who supplies the supplies, the window cleaner and stuff? Not the school board. We do. The paper towels that would the windows from streaking, we pie them. the stuff to clean the floor, the stuff they have is nasty smelling and the kids wouldn't want to get off the bus. We pay for the stuff that smells nice. So, when I tell you the kids getting off the bus today were crying and hugging me saying, "Mr. Anthony, we hope you're back next year because I don't know if I'll be back with this school district next year." And I know a lot of people that are feeling the same way because we just don't know how it's going to end.

032And we're tired of being pushed to our outer limits and we know it's not anything that we could do. You got to pay some more. You got to get some incentives because we're doing things like teachers are doing. You're going out of our way and we're not appreciated. Thank you for your comment, sir. Good evening. I'm Sarah Rockwell. 31 years ago, my mother and I joined the Fort Myers Beach Elementary Dolphin family as a kindergartenner and teacher, respectively. Attending Beach School solidified my dream of becoming a teacher, and it became my dream to teach at the beach. A dream that came true this past year. As both the current fifth grade teacher and a class of 2000 beach kid, I implore you to look past the report and consider the community, the kids, and the

033impact the school has made since being built in 1947. We are so much more than numbers and words from a company that doesn't know us or how important our school is to the culture on the beach. Please consider portables for next year so we can be in our own space and get back to growing our dolphin family. Thank you. Will the following individuals please line up? Kurone, James Ditching, Lou Navaro, Marina Paratiso, Tessa Schmucker. Good evening. I'm Joy Rockwell. I have been teaching as of tomorrow at Fort Myers Beach for 31 years. And I've taught second through fifth grade there. And I don't say that to tell you that to pat myself on the back. I tell you to let you know that I know the community and I know the school and the community

034is the school and the school is the community. They're very intertwined and we need to get back to our space so that we can begin to build our school so that we can also begin to build the community and vice versa. So again, I would like just like my daughter, I would like you to consider putting portables to get us back on the location on the beach and allow us to start growing. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Kevin Daly and I'm currently the president of the teachers association of Lee County. but I am also a 28-year district employee. And as the president of the teachers association, I know I can never leave that moniker behind. No matter where I go, that's who I am. It doesn't surprise me as the president of the

035teachers association of Lee County that the district would bend and stretch and use legislative overreach to implement a system of pay and a bonus scheme that over 2,000 people have told you they don't want in emails over the last month. None of you can tell me you haven't gotten those because I get a report at 1:00 every morning about who sends it. So, however, as an employee for 28 years, it disappoints me that you would not listen to your employees. You made a point tonight to tell the Fort Myers Beach people that no decisions would be made. You put our item on good cause. Parents come up here and community members come up here time and time again and state their problems for good reason. And you can't wait to send somebody over to talk

036to them. 2,000 of your employees told you this is a bad idea and yet you persist. You are all elected officials. We are watching your vote. We are also doing what we need to do on our end. In my business, we say it is what it is. This is not the first time this district has sought to get something unilaterally that they were unable to get at the bargaining table. And we are 2 and 0. 3 and 0 if you count the appeal. Do what you need to do tonight. There is nothing I can say tonight that will change your mind because 2,000 of your employees couldn't change your minds. Just know the first contract under the 50-year elected superintendent will have parts of it that is imposed on their Thank you for your comments.

037Your time is up. Good evening. I'm Dr. Kerazone, director, teachers association of Lee County and TAC's chief negotiator. I'm here tonight to share in President Daly's strong opposition and frankly outrage at your resolution 2025603. We don't oppose paying educators more. We oppose I mean sorry we fully support that but we oppose doing it in a way that the board is choosing moving forward in a way that is unnecessary and frankly unlawful. Let me mince no words. You are instigators in this situation. You are choosing to bypass bargaining to walk away from our shared commitment under interestbased bargaining and to push through a sweeping compensation plan without agreement. We were actively bargaining. We had even agreed to jointly develop a proposal to bring to you. Tout came to the table at the 11th hour to help

038identify criteria tiering these schools in anticipation of reaching a deal before folks left to go, you know, to go away for the summer. The collaboration was productive but incomplete and you're choosing to walk away with it or from it. By passing the resolution, you will have violated interestbased process that you agreed to and you are bargaining in bad faith. Statute 100142 does not override our ratified agreement and 100833 requires anou for these things to happen and you don't have a signed. TAC is not trying to block compensation, but we insist on doing it legally and collaboratively. And this resolution paves the way for forced transfers, unclear incentives, and chaos in an already strained district. We're the certified bargaining agent for the majority of Lee County's instructional staff, and you may want to govern by resolution,

039but we will not stand idly by as you do so. Thank you. My name is James Dickinson. I live in Alva, Florida. I'm here to oppose the new high school, proposed high school being built. It's right down the road from me. right now, I think Lehi has around 120,000 people. Alva has around 3,000. You're building a school for I think it's at least 5,000 students in a town that only has in in an area that only has 3,000 people. no existing infrastructure. There's no water, no sewer. The roads are incapable of handling the additional traffic. I'd invite you to come out early in the mornings to see the intersection of Joel and 80 and how far the traffic backs up. It backs up to where the corner of the property and pass a corner where

040you're going to build where you're proposing to build the school. my road that I live on, the next road over, when two cars, full-size cars, meet each other, you have to hug the road. So, I can't walk during I can't walk down my road during certain times of day. Now, so if you add this school with all the existing traffic, there's no there's no the roads can't handle it. We just suggest that you consider the part the pe the parcels in Lehi and keep keep the school out of Alva. Thank you. Good evening. Hi, my name is Marina Paradiso. I have been going to FMBE for 6 years. If you shut our school down, all of my kids from FMBE will be missing their small school, the school memories, and their fun activities at the

041beach school. After all our storms, CO and more, that school is still standing. Why would you shut it down after that? You promised that you would rebuild it. Thank you. No clapping, please. Good evening. My name is Tessa Moon Schmucker. A little over two years ago, I stood here and asked if we Beach Kids didn't matter to you. I couldn't understand why we were the only school you hadn't started fixing after we lost everything. Then you made a promise to all of us to rebuild our school little by little as everyone returned. Instead of giving us portables, you sent us all the way to St. Carlos Park. But in exchange, you promised us a real cafeteria by this year. My little brother then started kindergarten. I told him about your promise to rebuild our school

042and give us a chance to grow. But you've stopped. The school year is over and there is no cafeteria. You haven't fixed beach school since Milton. Don't your promises matter? You are in charge of our education. Are you going to teach us that we keep our promises or that your word means nothing? Thank you. Will the following individuals please line up? Monica Schmucker. No clapping, please. Monica Schmucker, Betsy Vaughn, Joe Maguire, Holly Schwarz, Denise Everly, Good evening, Superintendent Lunavara, retired teacher, former TAL member. I'm now over 80 years old. I look back on my career when I first came here and we worked at Franklin Park Middle because many people were under integration at that time and didn't want to even be there. And all these years superintendent elected or not elected, you do the

043same things. That's 53 years. It's called women's parody. You don't respect them and you're not paying them. You don't see many men in this profession and we know why they can't raise a family. You need to listen to the Cadrial. That plan of three lanes, removal of highly qualified is on target. You need to my son quit after five years. He was highly qualified. It doesn't mean a thing. How can you hold teachers highly qualified when they have 30 clients? Does your doctor see 30 people at once? How does the board and superintendent dare say there's no money? You got plenty. You got 37 million. You save for a couple years. And we talked about it, Mr. Persons and Samuel, your contingency fund is always 5 to 6%. You created a director of recruitment and

044you have so many people you're stumbling over each other. Raise the base salary to 70,000. Use the three longevity lanes which we used to have. Revamp the supplemental salary schedule and proceed to honor teachers. Remember I've been supporting 70,000. You can do this. You don't want it. And it's a shame. These teachers worked harder than me. And I'm a guy and they worked harder. You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. But you Thank you for your comments. Your time is up, Mr. Varo. I don't. Your time is up, sir. Yeah, I know. Good evening, Monica Schmucker. After Ian, you signed a legal agreement with our town for a phased rebuild of Beach School. You were required by law to renovate our historic building. The $5.8 million that you were going to spend to put

045us into portables. We said, "Don't waste that money on renting. Put it into a permanent cafeteria building instead." The board, pursuant to the agreement, was to bear the cost to operate Beach School until 2027. If we were then financially sustainable, we'd continue. If not, at that time, you'd decide what to do, which included allowing us to subsidize the school or other options before considering closing. This written legal agreement states that you don't get out because of a another hurricane. Nothing that Milton brought prevented you from building that cafeteria. The land's still there. Honor the agreement. Give us what you promised. Give us the three and a half years to become sustainable. We've been working to meet our end and not just the parents and the school. Businesses rebuilding are implementing into their rebuild plan plans

046to bring more kids to our school. Existing businesses are implementing it into their business plans. The town government, the chamber by resolution, everybody in the community is working really hard to meet our end of the deal. You're in charge of our kids' education. Teach them to have integrity and honor their word. Any vote to do anything else is a plan to violate a legal agreement that you implemented. In the interim, please give us our portables for next year so we can bring our kids back and until you at least figure out what you want to do next. Thank you. No clapping, please. Good evening board. I'm Betsy Vaughn. A few of you know me. I am for those of you who don't, I am a retired classroom teacher 38 years. I'm a former board member

047and I taught all levels of English grades 6 through 12. And I only say that for those of you who don't know me to let you know that I know a little bit about how things happen in schools and particularly how things happen in Lee County School District. I am here tonight to talk about the resolution that has already been mentioned. So, since I don't have that much time, I think because the couple union members have mentioned it, I'm going to skip to my next part, which is to say congratulations. What you wrote is a very very carefully constructed document. Every whereas in this document, every whereas meticulously cites Florida statutes. It cites why this is perfectly legal for the school board to do this. I know you had a couple union people who have

048spoken here. You're very very careful to say numerous times how this does not affect by state statute. It doesn't affect anything with the arbitration agreements. Good job folks. Good job also in having it at the end. Good job also in having it slipped in there at the last minute to give people like me hardly. Thank you for your comments. Your time is up. Thank you for your time and probably in attention. Good evening. My name is Joe Magcguire. I live in Alva, Florida. During your workshop today, there was a segment in the budget section about fiscal responsibility. Many of us stood before this board two years ago to talk about tripleN, about all of the problems with the site. It's eerily similar to 2017. financial headwinds, capital shortfalls, and the need to put new students

049in new seats. The difference between 2017 and 2025 is that following the cost overruns of the Bonita Springs High School, there was a promise made that we learn from the problems that led to cost overruns, that we promise and assure you that we will not do this again. You're already 15% over budget based on projected cost for N. You spent a good chunk of time talking fiscal responsibility. As you consider the bond issuance this evening to pay for N and you consider the financial headwinds of reduced impact fees, millage challenges, decreased state funding, and a whole host of other projected shortfalls. Let's make sure that fiscal responsibility makes sense, that you put tripleN in the right place for the right reasons, for the right students, and more importantly, that you remember the words that many

050of you said September 19, 2023, that you would be watching the costs. As we approach the vote on phase two, I implore you to remember that and take alternative action. TripleN belongs in Lehi. Thank you. Will the following individuals please line up? India, I have Polaria, but I believe it's Palencia. So, I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name. Charlotte Fox, Gwen Gittens, Grand Fur, and Katrina Solora. Good afternoon. my name is Holly Schwarz. I live in Alva. In addition to all the other val very valid reasons you're you've either heard or you're going to hear to build NN at Joel and David rather than at Joel and Tuahoo are the many environmental and water related infrastructure requirements that will prove that the Tuahoo site is going to be much more expensive than the Joel and

051David site. here's six plus pages of from the water management district asking for additional information to the permit application to the Taho site. in addition of what you're going to have to deal with at the Tuahoo site as opposed to the David site is many issues regarding mitigation of panthers, bonneted bat, crusted caracara, all critically endangered species. I know that's not necessarily your Bailey wick, but let's move on to water. the site serves as a major flowway and water retention site during the rainy season. Eliminating this important function will take additional significant engineering and mitigation to address the huge volumes of water that flow into adjacent impaired water bodies. I see my time is going, so I'll make it quick. this is about the kids and we've heard a lot about location and we've heard

052about how important location is. 90% of the children that are going to go to NN are from Lehi. Let's put that school where the kids are going to benefit the most and not the future developers. Thank you. Denise Everly, Alba, Florida. I handed this in to you. It's a petition against the school, the NNN school at Alba. There's 600 signatures here. 300 of them are from Lehi who want it in Lehi. I speak for them tonight. The district owns fully prepared school site in Lehi Acres where most minority and working-class students live. Yet, it has chosen to build an Alva, a more remote rural area. This forces Lehi students to travel much farther to attend school while a ready site in their community sits unused. The decision raises serious concerns under the title four of

053the civil rights act which prohibits federally funded programs from implementing policies that result in racial or ethnic discrimination even unintentionally. Building far from where the need is greatest while delaying any schools in Lehi for over a decade might might violate this federal law. 70% of Lehi is minority. Alva students won't benefit from this. They already rely on busing and the new construction will only increase traffic to disrupt rural life and create new safety risks. At the same time, Lehi children who make up nearly the entire future student body are pushed out of their own community. Of the 3,400 students projected to attend the school, about 3,300 are from Lehi acres. Fewer than 150 are from Aliva. Yet, the plan calls for busing every single Lehi student to that school. That also, of course, increases transportation

054cost. Our buss are late, never on time, don't show up. The plan began under the numerous the previous administration, but the current superintendent and school board have the full authority to change direction. Now taxpayers are being asked to fund a lease of bond for a project that has grown from 140 million to 170 million with further cost increases expect. Thank you for your comments. Your time is up. My name is India Palencia. Tonight, I want to speak plainly, not just as one of your constituents or a mother of three kiddos right here in the back who are in your public schools, but as someone who believes in the promise of public service done right. The recent announcement of a $9,000 pay for some teachers who transfer to the level four schools might sound bold at

055first glance, but let's ask ourselves, what is this really? Because to those of us who are paying attention, this looks less like a plan and more like a performance. A wellp polished headline meant to suggest progress without committing to the real systemic investment our schools so desperately need. We've seen this before. Remember the proud announcement of $15.9 million and 5% cuts to administrative departments. Big numbers, big stage. But when the community asked for accountability, what was cut and where the reinvestment plan is? Crickets. Now you're offering a bonus to a select few teachers willing to take on one of the toughest jobs in the district while the rest continue to juggle second and third jobs just to stay afloat. If we are truly serious about supporting our high-risisk schools, then why aren't we raising every

056teacher's salary by $9,000? Why aren't we investing in the mental health staff, the paras, the bus drivers, the behavior specialists, people who actually create the conditions for learning? And let's be honest, this move is not perform just performative. It's undermining collective bargaining. It's a backdoor negotiation meant to road talks power just as the district hopes the union fails to meet its numbers this summer. We see that and we're not fooled. This community is not made up of passive spectators. We are parents, teachers, and hardworking people. We don't need a PR stunt. We need real policy that lifts up working people, not programs that pit one school or one teacher against each other and dangle benefit as bait. This is the moment to ask, who are you serving? Who is this really for? Because I believe

057and I think many people in this room believe that our teachers and students and our staff are worth more than empty announcements. They're worth more than selectively applied bonuses. They are worth structural, sustained, and serious investment. Let's start demanding the real thing. Thank you. Good evening board. My name is Charla Fox. I am a 24-year district school employee. I was raised in this district. I have such memories of this district and what it does to support and encourage its students and its teachers and support the teachers. You say you want to be world class. I do not see evidence of it in this resolution. This is going behind the backs of people. This is going behind the backs of your teachers. This is going doing trying to do an end run because you want it.

058For some reason, you want to look good. Okay? You want to look good. You raise salaries for everybody. And that's teachers, that's paras, that's all your support personnel. Every single individual in those schools support and create the change that you are looking for in those schools. Not one person, every single individual. Do not pit us against each other. Support every one of us. We are working ourselves and we to death. We are pitting ourselves against immeasurable odds that many of these students are seeing and working with every day. Help us. Do not make it a challenge. Don't make it worse. Be that worldclass system you say you want to be. This is a step in the wrong direction. Can you give me just a second to set up before you start the clock? Okay. Good

059evening. I didn't plan on coming out this evening, but when I looked at the calendar and saw that this is your last meeting before one week before school starts, I figured I better come tonight. You all know a shell game is. This is an example of a shell game. And basically what it is that it's a slide of hand. It's a trick. and it's getting people to look at one thing while something else is going on. So, let's play a few rounds of the shell game. First, which one is hiding $16.2 million that was earmarked for teachers? Where are where is the removal of any of the 25 to 30 year old portables? Which one is hiding the facts about the brand new administrators and directors and executive directors and all of those positions? Which

060one of these tells us the process in choosing administrators? Which one says that there is still a pool that you work towards to get into? Which one says we cannot discuss teacher salaries until after union negotiations? I've heard that many, many times. Which one says the hard data showing the effect for the last 10 years of paying new teachers more and the data showing how long they stayed? Which one is hiding the data on how many experienced teachers have left the profession because they feel forgotten or they're too opinionated? So, which one do you think gets behind? Actually, it's the same thing behind each one. Thank you for your comments. Your time is up. Student success. Will the following individuals please line up? Darius Cocrana, Amanda Crocana, Alexis Cooper, Christopher Cooper, Patrick Vaness. Good evening.

061My name is Grant Victor, president of Alva, Inc., a longtime Alva resident. want to thank you for your service. Want to thank all the teachers and faculty. My kids just got out of school for the last day. They're super happy. I'm really excited to go home and talk to them. They had a really good school year. so I'm here to talk about the NN High School and the plans for that. And I think that we can really resolve that whole entire issue if we focus our efforts on the 45 acres we have at David Avenue. I've looked at it. You've got water, sewer, sidewalks, two main roadway entrances, a four-lane road in front of it. Logistically, it meets all the criteria that you need. I understand you're looking at potentially another high school out in

062that area in 2032. Alva, you could keep that property potentially for that site if growth and the trends go that way. The MO shows no significant growth in Alva over the next 20 years. Our current developments that are underway are transient, so they're like the trailer camper communities. They're they're retirees. We have no density, nothing near what you're seeing in Lehi. that particular site at David Avenue, it seems to me to be ideal. And I remember as one of the previous speakers mentioned that early on in this process if if phase one was you know inconclusive or it was determined that it wasn't the best path forward that we would you know change direction. And so I think you know it's any one of us can get used to the idea that if we're making

063a decision that doesn't look like it's going to pan out well financially it's time to back up and punt. So I feel like this is that opportunity to back up and punt. You're not losing any ground. You're not taking anything away. you're adding to the Lehi community which desperately needs this school and we're serving them in the best way possible. So I'd love to advocate for that not against the school in in Alba but advocate for another high school in Lehigh Acres. Thank you. Next up, please Good evening. I'm Katrina Salakar. I'm here to advocate against NN going in Elva and instead going into Lehi Acres. And I don't know if you've heard about the safe streets for all initiative. It is the mandated datadriven effort to drastically reduce traffic fatalities, improve lighting, calm traffic

064and protect pedestrians and young drivers that the MO and Stantech have undertaken. those safety goals are being directly undermined by basically choosing N&N to go to Alva versus Lehi. More than 90% of the students that would be intended, they all live in Lehi. Yet, the current plan would force the kids to travel long distance by bus across some ruler roads, some with no sidewalks, no lighting, limited emergency response capacity. And literally, we're busing a kid's way away from a safer walkable transit connected neighborhood neighborhoods that are to more hazardous conditions. that isn't just inefficient, it's dangerous. So, every mile added increases the chance of crashes and the burden to the roads, the families, the taxpayers. Lee County, they've actually again been mandated to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities, but the school and the sighting plan

065would just add to that. you already own the 46.5 acres, ready to build. Grant just went over that. I suggest you speak to them a little further if you have questions. sewer sidewalks, feeder schools nearby. Choosing that site aligns with your proximity promise saves millions in taxpayer dollars and actually supports the county safety plan and their mandate. Please listen to the community. Build where the kids live. Don't compromise their safety for basically development infrastructure goals for businesses. Thank you for your comments. Good evening. My name is Alexis Cooper and I'm speaking today not only as a parent, but as a future educator, someone who's deeply invested and is interested in the success of our children and the integrity of our school system. Fort Myers Beach Elementary has been a consistent top performing school in Lake

066Lee County, not just in recent years, but in past years as well. Our students are among the highest achievers in the entire district. Since its opening, Fort Myers Beach has been an A-rated school year after year. That level of excellence is not a coincidence. It is due to our superior academic teachers and to the staff and to the students who put in the effort. When you look at the rest of Lee County, no other school has matched this consistency. The only exception is the Santael School. Yet, instead of celebrating and supporting Fort Myers Beach's success, you guys choose to ignore it. It is a disservice to our current and future children to deny them access to a superior education that is clearly not being provided at many other schools across Lake County. Rather than invest

067in our school storm profession, they are worth investing for. The aquafences, please, we're begging you. You guys are more concerned with doing things like building schools, but not fixing the teaching staff. You're not fixing the academic issues. This school district has a habit of slapping lipstick on pegs and covering up problems with surface level solutions and ignoring the real issues at hand. If this district leadership truly cared about educational outcomes, they would be studying what makes Fort Myers Beach Hall Elementary Tree so successful and replicating it instead of trying to shut it down. You want to give our kids normal back? Give us our school back. Stop busting us to different schools. As a future teacher and a current parent, I am deeply disappointed in how you all have handled the situation. The treatment of

068Fort Myers Beach Elementary is nothing short of institutional negligence, and it is an insult to the families, teachers, and the students of Fort Myers Beach. We voted for a district that would prioritize children and value educators. What we've received instead is a district that talks about excellence, but punishes those who deliver it. This is not what leadership looks like. This is not what care for children looks like, and this is certainly not what the future of Lee County education should look like. Thank you. Hello, my name is Christopher. I'm her husband. my daughter Paisley Allison Cooper, she goes to Fort Myers Beach Elementary. We spent about two and a half years doing research into this district, Collier County and other surrounding districts to make sure that our daughter gets the best education. The student toteer

069ratio is what brought us there. The community is what brought us there. The faculty is what brought us there. The community and not just the education, but the things they do within the community, the Moundhouse, FGCU, you know, more than just confined into a classroom. we chose them for a long time. I went to several schools in Collier County as a kid and I swore on my life that I my daughter will go to one elementary, one middle, one high and I can't accomplish that for her. It's one of the hardest things to accept. one thing I wanted to bring up is I want to read something here. I saw this post on Facebook from three years ago. Says, "An important reminder, words matter. Choose them wisely. Your words seow seeds in your children's hearts.

070From those seeds spring upon confidence and uncert on uncertainty, dignity and dishonor worth of worthlessness. Your words create the beginning of their life stories and will carry them for the rest of their life. My daughter asked me when our schools going to open up all the time. Only only thing I do is show her a video of Fort Myers Beach deserves a school. But that's the extent of it. just a video, no actions, just talking. And you can't you can't silence a whole community. I heard earlier saying we're going to, you know, conjoin schools with with Heights Elementary. You can't just completely erase the history of our school. I'm okay with the portables or whatever, but these are one, two, three, four future Fort Myers Beach kids, and it's either there or nowhere. Thank you

071for your comments, sir. Your time is up. Good evening. My name is Patrick Vaness. I'm a Fort Myers Beach parent and I'm back here this evening to remind you that we question the legitimacy and the accuracy of the city of the study that you received from your consultant. we believe that the report is flawed. Their demographic assumptions are flawed. Their enrollment numbers are inaccurate. And what we'd like is an opportunity to come before you with a formal presentation as an ad hoc committee, as a town in which you have an agreement, a legal agreement with, and also as a community to present to you accurate figures and the most up-to-date and most recent data. we will give you that correct information. We will give you correct enrollment numbers, correct cost per pupil based on the

072methodology that was used after Ian, not a new methodology that incorporates a bunch of additional costs. So we are happy to do that. We are happy to educate your consultant and set the record straight. And we hope that we will have the opportunity for that formal presentation before you. But if we don't, we will invite you to a workshop on the beach. You can wear your shorts, your sun hats. We'd be happy to for you to join us and we'll we'll go through the report in detail, show you the inaccuracies, correct those, and hopefully we can set the record straight. So again, we do not believe that the study should form the basis for your decision, but if you're going to put any weight to it, let's make sure that you get the accurate information.

073Thank you. Will the following individuals please line up? James Kennedy, Jerry Wear, Holly Smith. Good evening. My name is Darius Cochran. I'm from Alba. I also have connection to Fort Myers Beach. My father and I built a beach house down there when I was a kid. Still there. Went through every hurricane. Roofs on it. Built very well. Fort Myers Beach, Santa Island, our barrier islands and Alva are the absolute best part of Lee County. They should be almost sacred. And if you told these folks to build a school, if you're going to build a school, they said that I've talked to several people that I guess a school board gave a commitment to build them a school. I think it should be the best school in a great spot. Unless Fort Myers Beach is, you

074know, out of the family business, they need a school. And that's open and shut case in in my mind. But back to Alva. Somebody told me they're building a massive school in Alva. And I was like, why would they do that? It's like the least populated area in all of Lee County. So, there's about 2,000 on the south side of the river and about u a thousand north of the river and that's called Alba, one of the first settlements or the first settlement in Lee County. I'm a fourth generation which doesn't really not really relevant, but let's not rule out common sense. There's more cows than there is students in Alba. I think I'll just leave you with that. Thank you. He's a hard act to follow. So you here. Good evening. I'm here tonight

075to express serious concerns about the proposed location for school NN. I too am a resident of Alva, but I also have family members in Lehi. It's hard to understand how a school designed to serve thousands of students is being planned for a rural area surrounded by environmentally sensitive land with no proper infrastructure to support it and very few students that actually live in the area. Meanwhile, the district already owns a shovel ready site in Lehi Acres with high elevation, existing sewer and water, sidewalks, bike path, street lighting, traffic signal, a four-lane road, and most importantly, where the students actually live. Several months ago, I attended a Lee Planning Agency hearing on a proposed private development on North River Road. Stay with me, I have a point. Sitting in the audience that day was the Lee

076School District director of planning, growth, and school capacity. I asked what brought him to the meeting and he said the district keeps up with new developments. I had to wonder, does the director attend every preliminary planning meeting for every proposed development in Lee County? Maybe he does. Or maybe there's a special interest in this particular region of northeast Lee County for reasons that go beyond what's best for students. Given the irrational push for the construction of this school in such an ill-planned location, several in the community believe this project is being pushed not to meet student need, but a backdoor facilitation of infrastructure paid for by taxpayers on behalf of future private development. That's not responsible planning. That's politically motivated development. Let me be clear. I do support smart, responsible growth. But placing a school

077in the wrong place with the wrong demographics with the wrong environment for the wrong reasons, that's a decision this board can and should stop. Please vote vote today for the students, the families, the taxpayers, and the future of this district. Thank you. Ma'am, could you please state your name? Amanda Cochran. Thank you. I'm waving my comments. Good evening. My name is James Kennedy. I'm here to speak against this proposal for the bond issue for the school in Alva. a couple things. First of all, I'm not going to repeat the same numbers that you have heard over and over and over, not just tonight, but for months now that Denise Everly has spoke valiantly on our part for months, years even. She provides the data. If you're not listening to the data, there's not much more

078that I can say by repeating to you again. However, there are things that I think put this in perspective. one the the critical the critical part of the wildlife corridor that this is you'll destroy it. And that's a huge you know that's supposed to be this huge push statewide, but putting the school there would destroy it. That's just one thing. When people thought we were going to get a community high school to to replace the one that we lost in 1972, that's where you thought you had that's where your support came from. But when we find out that it's a Costco school that's not going to serve us, that's going to import 3,300 people and possibly drive growth that isn't even there yet, that's a that's not a mistake. That's a plan. the other thing

079that I hear is, you know, when I hear Mr. Anthony come up and talk to talk about the way the bus drivers are being treated, the teachers are being treated. It seems like the money that you put into the phase one study that two years ago you had 30 residents from Alva that have actually pretty impressive pedigrees, they're involved in surveying, in environmental law, environmental science, their teachers, they all told you what you've already been told in your phase one, your phase one study. You're not listening to the data. You're not paying attention. And you said you would. That's a problem. You know, you're continuing to not follow up on what you said you would do. You're not gonna have the bus. Thank you for your comments, sir. Good evening. My name is Jerry Wear.

080Pleased to say that I am an advocate for my community and for all children. this afternoon it is with pleasure that I come before you because numerous years ago the Dumbar community lost the middle school in our community when the construction of the new building ceased much to our dismay. However, Friday before last, I attended the fifth grade graduation at James Stevens of approximately 150 students. I shared tears of joy. I'm a cry baby anyway. I shed a tears of joy for their success as well as tears realizing that is the beginning of our new middle school in the Dumbar community. I am here to thank you very much for listening to our please. We might not have the school, but we'll have the kids. It's not just the building. It's the facilities that will

081allow us to have what we need in our community. I thank you. I thank you. I thank you. And I'm looking forward to going there next year to see our sixth graders become seventh graders and the next year eighth graders. Thank you all very much for listening to our please. Keep on fighting people. Answers are there. Thank you. Amen. Mr. Chairman, it appears that Miss Holly Smith no longer wants to make a comment. And if that is the case, then this concludes public comment. Thank you, Attorney Bruno. Again, thank you to everyone. we really do appreciate your feedback, us as a board as well as our superintendent. So, thank you. At this moment, we're going to move on to next item on the agenda, which will be approval of action items under consent. So the

082documentation for actions items listed under consent is made available to board members seven business days prior to the board meeting. We're expected to review all material and we have the opportunity to speak with the superintendent with any questions we may have regarding the recommendations. Some of these items have also been briefed or workshop with the board in advance of appearing on the action agenda. Board members, are there any agenda items you wish to pull for discussion under the unfinished business table items portion of the agenda? Miss Juvenelli, are you with us? I have none. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Ribble, none. Miss Jordan, actually I am going to pull the resolution to have further conversation. Okay. What item is that, please? It is item confirm on that. It actually is a it's under not part of

083the consent agenda. It's going to have another vote separate. Yes, I'm not pulling. Good call. Sorry. Okay. So, no polls at Miss Jordan. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Persons. no. None. Miss Langford Fleming. I'm sorry. Are we able to pull business service items? Is that what you're asking? Anything under consent items? Yes, I'm pulling L13. L13. What's L13? What do we have is can you state what L13 is just to confirm? That is approval of the resolution for the for cops. Okay. Okay. Okay. L13 then. Okay. Okay. Board members, is there a motion to approve tonight tonight's agenda consent items with the exception of pulled item L13? Oh, I had no polls. I should have said that. Sorry. No polls for me. No, you want the motion accept. I'll make the motion. Okay. Do we have

084a second? I'll second it. Okay. Motion made by Mr. Ribble and seconded by Mr. Persons. Please record your vote. Is member juvenile able to vote electronically? Oh, it came up. Never mind. So, motion carries 6. Okay. Moving to let me just double check one thing. oh before we go on to the next part, Dr. Carlin, please introduce any administrators and tenants with the new assignment approved under the consent agenda. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. It's my pleasure to introduce a number of administrators. As you know, this is our time of year that we make some moves and due to retirements and other situations, we also had a reorganization. So, I'm very proud to announce the following administrative appointments. Christine Kcara from she's going to be Manatee Elementary interim administrator. Congratulations, Michael Harris, professional standards

085assistant director. Riley Kemp, assistant director, media relations and public information officer. Rob Spicker, communications director. Ken Schwarz, deputy director, information technology operations. Patrick Weey, executive director, information technology operations. Ron Ayarusi, labor and employee relations senior director. Carrie Hardman, senior coordinator, organizational development and retention. Rebecca Savage, director, organizational development and retention. Jason Thomas, assistant director, arts, athletics, and activities. Joseé Quavvis, senior director, enterprise data systems. Rachel Gould, senior director, student services. Holly Matthews, deputy chief of staff. Megan D. Roso, assistant director, core curriculum instruction and assessment. Melissa Zemer, assistant director, core curriculum instruction and assessment. Melissa Laner, principal, Lemule Teal Middle School. Joseph Restino, principal, Success Academy. Janette Walsh, assistant principal, Fort Myers Middle School. Matt Matira, Lehi Acres Middle School, assistant principal. Steven Thorp, Bonita Springs Middle Center for the Arts, assistant principal. Jessica Duncan,

086principal, Gulf Elementary. Tanya Florian, assistant principal, Lehi Acres Elementary, and Monica Ureli, Bonita Springs Middle Center for the Arts Principal. Congratulations to all of our new administrators and those of you who have transferred into new positions. This is a very exciting time for the school district of Lake County. You've heard me speak many times about our journey from number nine out of the Big 10 in the state of Florida in terms of student achievement. We are on our way to number one and you are a big part of it. So, just thank you very much for the work that I know you will do and we're excited about the work ahead. Congratulations. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. Congratulations to everyone. I am not going to model board member person's motto usually just because I know some

087of you don't start until July 1st. So, thank you. I'll let's take a brief pause as we clear the room. So, thank you. Okay, everyone. We're going to resume the meeting. at this point, we're going to address pulled item L13. Whenever you're ready, Superintendent Carlin, please read your recommendation for pulled item L13. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This action is the approval of the resolution authorizing the issuance of certificates or participation series 2025A in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed 400 $400,000 for the purpose of financing a new East Lee County High School NN Cypress Lake Middle and Hector Cafaretta Jr. K8 schools rebuild, the sale thereof in a negotiated public sale, the execution and delivery of a series 2025A ground lease and schedule 2025A to the master lease, and the execution of related documents

088in connection with the issuance of the series 2025A certificates. Thank you, Superintendent Carlin. Do we have a motion to adopt Dr. Carlin's recommendation. Mr. Persons, I make a motion. Okay. Do we have a second? Second by Miss Jordan. Discussion. Mr. Chairman, may I correct? $400 million. I'm so sorry. 400,000. I read right through it. 400 million just to Okay, no worries. Just to clarify. Thank you. Noticed for the minutes. Thank you, Dr. Carlin. Now that we have a motion on the floor, open it up to discussion. So, I'll I'm sorry. I'll go ahead and start. the reason I pulled this, I not sure if we can go back in time whenever I have actually originally voted no on this situation and then did some research and then we moved forward and since then I've had

089numerous discussions with people in that community regarding school inn. So, the resolution itself is not my issue other than the N andN school. And I think this is the last opportunity we may have to be able to discuss this out in public before we move along. Yeah, I thought 400,000 that could buy a couple desks. So, I was a little confused there, but this day and age. So, but I do have some true concerns and they're the same concerns that continue to come before me back when I voted no quite some time ago. And these are my concerns. And I guess what I'm asking is that we have some discussion at the table to some kind of resolve as to some questions or concerns I have. So I thought this would be a great opportunity

090for us to discuss together. I am truly concerned about safety is my number one concern always with our students and being a seventh generation Floridaian living growing up in label and next to Alva. I know what Highway 80 looks like and I definitely traveled Joel and Tuahoo many for many many years in my life. So, I am very concerned about the traffic that's going to bring to that area. Palm Beach Boulevard and Highway 80 are already super congested and that's just from regular traffic of people coming in I guess I'll go back to an old phrase like we come in and out of town. If you're going to town, you're traveling Highway 80. And then we have so many people who now travel back and forth for work. It's not even just leisure any longer.

091Both communities have grown. Label has grown substantially. I'm not sure that Alva has. I haven't done the data on that. so I'm very concerned about the actual intersection of Joel and Tuck, like that actual area. I don't think we have the infrastructure yet, and who knows when that will be when when that will when that will happen. I am concerned about the sewage of that area. I've talked to a couple of people in that area that are in the building industry that are in construction. it is a huge concern for them. I am not going to sit up here and pretend that I know a lot about sewage. but I do know that it's a t plays a huge role in building any school. I'm really concerned about the lack of transportation that we already

092have and then we are taking the majority of the students from that need to go to this school quite a ways from where they actually live. So what is our plan with transportation regarding both places? We already have a shortage of transportation. I'm not sure how we're going to cover the basis of this. Lehi continues to grow. I'm not so sure Alva is because the parcels of land are so large. I don't know that those community members are willing to sell off to big developments because it looks to me like they're keeping their acreage. I am concerned about the environment and the impact that it has on the wetlands. that's a I I mean our former president of the Senate is really big about our wetlands and protecting the middle part of of of our

093state. so these are just concerns I have. I am all in favor of using this money for Cyprus Hector Cafarada. but I think it's I just think this is the last opportunity we can have to discuss East East East High School NN. And I know that surveys have been done and I know we've gone out and spent money on that property, but I just would hate to see this turn into another project, no offense, but a Riverdale project that started at 70 and ended up at 108 million. So, I don't know if chair if we can open up that discussion with the board. I'd appreciate it. I mean the board is obviously free to discuss anything in this item. Miss Jordan, then I want to also double check with Miss Juvenile and Miss Shaviano if

094they're still on the line as well. Go ahead, Miss Jordan. Yeah. What about this all? Thank you, M. Thank you for bringing this up because I have I've have always felt that way about NNN. So, I have no problems with everything else on there, but I have been concerned since the very beginning and I have gone out there and I have tried to cross over those roads and I'm a I would say I'm a pretty good driver, but just trying to to make it across there, I felt like I was taking my life into my hands just crossing over. And yes, I know there are kids down the road, you know, because I do events down there, but when I start thinking of the wildlife and the preserves and all of that, and again, I'm

095going to say this, gunshots, because people have, you know, they shoot their guns out there. And I have a and I asked that question before, what do we do? Do we continue to put our children on lockdown every time we hear a sound? And so I I just really appreciate you bringing this up. And I do believe this is this would be our last opportunity. And I know the property that they're that people speak about actually I worked on that land because it was the old Lehigh Resort area. So I know there's plenty of space there and that is in the middle of everything. Thank you, Mr. R. What? Yeah. So I don't know that much about this area, although I do know Interstate E. I do get up there once in a while and

096I know what the traffic's like, but this isn't my neighborhood. But and listen to all the speakers the last few meetings we had. What about this 46.5 acres on David Avenue, which seems like it's the alternative. It sounds like the folks that are against this NN or are steering towards that. I'm not familiar with that property. Could somebody comment on that? Yeah, I am not either. so I would be not prepared this evening to to assess whether that property is better or worse for a school. you know, certainly would need to have some opportunity to talk with my staff because I would feel highly uncomfortable recommending a one site over another just sitting at this dest evening. Could we could we pull it tonight and put it on for a workshop? I would have to

097ask staff basically at this point to know the implications for for pulling this because we do also have Cypress Lakes Middle and Hector Kevetta attached to this. so certainly we would need to have a conversation quickly with our staff to find out how this is going to impact this. so I apologize that we don't have all of this pulled together for you. My sincere apologies. you know, certainly if we had known this was going to be pulled, we would be better prepared to have this conversation. So, my apologies tonight. One second before we continue. Superintendent, do you need us to take a recess to confer with staff or Yes, that would be very appreciated. Take a brief recess. Thank you. Good. You're good. You're good. Okay, we're going to resume this meeting. The time is

0988:31 p.m. We're currently discussing a motion on L item L13. I'm going to turn this back over to Superintendent Carlin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, we have staff that we've had an opportunity to have a discussion offline and so our staff is standing prepared to advise the board about this item. Dr. Desimurs. Hi, thank you. Can you hear me? Okay. with with me I have also Mr. Will Weed who is our representative from Ford and Associates who are financial adviserss who help us put our debt instruments and our borrowings together. so we've conferred with the questions that you have. And basically what is happening here tonight is this resolution, this $400 million resolution is really about the borrowing itself. It really is neutral to the site. but what will need to happen then based on

099the timeline of that borrowing is we were bringing this resolution of course today to give us the permission to do that. The timeline for the borrowing or for that borrowing to go to the market would be sometime in the middle of July, which would be before the next board meeting. In order to go to market for that borrowing, the location at that point would need to be locked in, right? Because the description has to be specific to where the site is and what's happening in order to put the bond on the market. So that's the timeline for it. we if we were to decide to do something else and not include that school in the borrow in the resolution or in the borrowing then where we are is that could potentially cost additional dollars in

100the cost of the borrowing because we've anticipated middle of July anticipating market conditions and all that to make it as advantageous for the district as possible. So it does potentially mean the risk of additional cost in terms of the borrowing but it also means risk of additional cost in terms of the school itself. If a different decision is made about the site then we lose potential inflationary costs which we know are substantial at this time and also time. we were able to be able to produce this school our construction partners of course in August of 27 because the expedition of the permitting which our legislative partners helped us with. if we lose that on this site then we lose substantial time with putting on a putting up a high school and that could push us

101out at least three years. So that's the the situation. And that's all of the different bullet points to consider when you're considering this resolution. And hopefully I've covered all the points, Dr. Carlin, that you wanted covered. And I stand ready for any questions. Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate it. So, we'll turn it back to the board for discussion. Thank you. Okay. let me check first. is Miss Chaviano and Miss Juvenelli still connected? I am. Okay. Miss Juvenelli. Yes. Okay. Do you have any comments, questions? So, my question would be to the superintendent if we proceed forward with the loan and choose to pull this not and decide not to build the school in this location that doesn't affect our that borrowing power. It's just money that we didn't use. Am I correct? And what happens

102to that money? That's the question and that could be a Dr. Desimore question. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Dr. Desmores. Well, if we I think if I understood the question, you said if we if we pull that school and decide not to include it within that school, then we don't borrow that money. We would only borrow up to the amount that we would need to borrow for the two remaining schools. So, if I understood your question, hopefully that's the answer. Yes. Thank you. any other questions or comments, Miss Juvenelli? no. Other than I would not be opposed to proceeding and in the in and tableabling the actual school itself to have more discussion and probably a workshop. So, because that's been requested by a board member, you know, especially a new board member, and

103I think that more conversation needs to happen, and we're not there yet for public trust. And I think that is probably really important at this point in time, for me, is to have the buyin for from the public. So, I like I said, I'm not opposed to u moving forward with the loan process and having that money there for us to use to build a school or not build a school and we it's just that we don't then we won't use that money. So, thank you. And before we move on in the discussion, I'd like our staff to to weigh in on that in terms of the site and the request that was just made relative to what if we don't choose that site, how does that impact bargaining or or borrowing or other implications

104for the school being built on time? I think I so I'll ask Will to come up and make sure that I am understanding the question correctly, but I think what I heard was if we go through with the resolution, borrow all the money for all three schools and then end up not building the school or building the school differently or on a different timeline, you know, what what's the harm in that? And I think financially that wouldn't be the way I think that we would recommend to go because if we borrow that money right now and then put it in escrow then there are financial implications to the district that are advantageous to us and then there is a timeline to have to utilize those funds once you borrow them. And then if you don't

105utilize them fast enough then you what they call arbitrage which means then we're paying penalties on that money as well. So would not be something that we would recommend. And I'll turn around and make sure that I didn't leave anything out. Mr. Reid. yes. Good evening board members. Will Reed with Ford and Associates. a couple of points I want to make. if you were to elect to go through and borrow the full amount without having that site, the security that the investors have in essence, the reason that they're lending you money is the lease payments that you'll be making on those facilities. And not being able to tell them what facilities you're going to go through and be leasing goes through and creates a degree of uncertainty. and that may have negative implications on your

106cost of borrowing for the project as a whole. as Miss Nemore mentioned as well, you do have spendown requirements because these are taxexempt dollars. the IRS goes through and requires that you have a reasonable expectation that you're going to go through and expend all of those proceeds over your over a set amount of time. identifying a different site and going through the process of of permitting all the sort of the pre-construction pieces that you've done at this site already, restarting that clock. it's uncertain as to whether or not you would be able to go through and meet those spend on requirements. also given that they are tax exempt proceeds and bond proceeds, they would need to be set aside in escrow and that escrow would be would be limited. So you don't the amount that

107you would potentially earn on those funds, those project funds sitting would likely be less than the amount that you're paying in interest on on those funds. So you're going to carry likely a negative carry there, which would cost you additional funds. So then at this point then we're at at a timesensitive situation. That's what it sounds like. So I think we need to have an another meeting to for for every board member to be comfortable e either proceeding or not proceeding with building the NN and I don't think we're there yet because the community is not my thought. So, I would recommend, you know, since like I said, we're timesensitive that, we try to have a meeting, you know, as quick as possible, another meeting workshop as quick as possible and one that we can

108vote and and put this baby to bed once and for all. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Juvenile. Is Miss Shaviano still on the line? Yes, I am. Okay. You have any comments, Mrs. Javiana, I do. So, again, this NN was about before I came in into office in November, and I've had a few conversations with members in the ABA community. I'm familiar with Joel. I taught out there many years ago. so I understand the concern with traffic. as Miss Jordan put it, taking your life into your own hands, crossing and all of those things. much to what Miss Langford Fleming mentioned as well in terms of safety. I guess my question is obviously in in with the resolution there is a specific earmark cost to NN could we if since NNN is a part of

109the discussion remove that amount and adjust the resolution request less that amount that's earmarked for NNN so those two other schools can go through we have our meeting and then make the determination of where that school will be located or what that looks like I guess moving forward. Was that a question that Dr. Desmore? It's a question. I just wanted to know if we're able to adjust the resolution by the amount that is listed for NN to then have another meeting or workshop to discuss the ins and outs of this specific location in school. Superintendent Savage, if you want to go ahead. Yes, I would love just an opportunity. so, you know, I hear kind of some of the board discussion and you know, we talked a lot about the different scenarios kind of during

110the recess. so, you know, obviously there has been a plan course of action. There's been a number of briefings and so forth. And so, today represents really just the financing side of it. what I heard the concern was would this be kind of the last opportunity the board would have knowing the specific site that is in question for one of the specific projects for which the financing is in there today. so as not to jeopardize our timeline all the current plans that we've done. My recommendation to you all to consider would be that you continue with the financing item tonight which secures the opportunity to do the school two schools that you are very certain about as well as potentially a third option that certainly we can give more dialogue around but that immediately after

111this that we will have individual briefings with all the board members where we'll provide all of the pertinent details related to all the costs that have already been expended all the utility development that's occurred all of the timeline lines all of the particular every aspect that relates to time sensitivities jeopardies of our opening schools. So there's a real clear understanding as all individual members as to what are all the implications of the things being contemplated here at the DEAS in this moment that we would really highlight that for every member of the governance team and then if the board members after receiving all that individual information that really help you feel comfortable with the current course of action that's been planned and executed up to this time since the prior capital plan a year ago

112that then what we would do is schedule a special meeting prior to any particular time which the board could take action. the public could of course attend so that you as a board if you felt that you wanted to deviate from the current schedule we could do that and take action as needed. but that way the board has the opportunity to get the information you need. we don't essentially put a pause per se because we are currently planning that's that's why this funding was already secured in alignment with all the plans that have already been made that have already been board approved. But if there was with all that information being shared again and in greater detail, particularly two of our newest board members as well who were not in place when some of these

113plans were approved, that would give you all the opportunity to really dig into all the granular details plus all the work that's happened since then, including some of the legislative advocacy that helped you know get some of the current permitting challenges that we had experienced a year ago that we no longer have that have allowed us to expedite the timeline. All those key factors brought to individual board member understanding and then if it became evident that a special meeting was necessary to be able to change course provide alternate recommendations, alternate action, more discussion and binding board action then we could schedule that at that time based on agreeable time period for the board members prior to the July meeting so that we could try to make sure we're on a proper schedule for adjustment. that

114would be my recommendation as where whereas doing any of it tonight just because the nature of what it is impacts these two critical projects all of which are already deeply underway as well as even this other one even though it hasn't had as much money expended on the site. Significant dollars I think the early estimates over $6 million potentially have been expended as well as lots of municipal engagement with our municipal partners in that work. I would just be remiss if I treated it as if it's just kind of something that hasn't already had a significant body of work associated to it. So that would be my recommendation to the superintendent to share for board contemplation. Thank you, Dr. Savage. Appreciate it. Okay, Mrs. Shaviano, do you have any questions or comments? No, that's all

115I had. Okay, other board members, Mr. Persons. The East District is over capacity, plain and simple. and we're going to be over capacity by the time this school is built even. I mean, we're it's just it's not like we don't have the kids if it's, you know, and oneonone y'all can tell me how much of a delay it will be, but just common sense tells me if it took two years to get through phase one on the Joel and Tucko, we got to add two years minimum to get through phase one. Even though the properties says it's nice and everything else, you still have to have all of the surveys, all the traffic surveys and everything else to go along. Then you have to have all new plans drawn up because the layout of this

116school won't fit the layout of the other. It's not like you, oh, we'll just cut this out and put it over there. And I personally don't care which spot it goes to. I'm worried about the timeline. That is my whole concern for my district is we need a high school ASAP. We're going to need three high schools and the three sites that they've have, you know, in our capital plan are going to be the one at Joel and Tuo, the one Savannah Lakes, and then eventually we had it in there that the David and Joel, but because we didn't have enough money, not knowing what's going to happen with the sales tax, we sort of backed that out right now. But it is planned for a high school. it's just that's the problem. We had

117one of the speakers was talking about well how what are you doing with the portables? We're adding portables because we're over capacity. We need a high school, you know. So we move them from like Riverdale. They're getting all new classrooms. Well, we're taking those and having to put them somewhere else in in the east zone or maybe even leave some at Riverdale because we got to stick more students even over there. I mean, it's it's a disaster out there. We're just growing too fast. Our problem isn't where we're putting. Our problem is growth. We're just too over capacity, you know, and I just got to think what's best for the kids is to get them into a high school. And I just know there's going to be a delay. But if we're told in our

118one-on- ones there won't be a delay or whatever, I really don't care. It's just not that important to me. whether it's a David or Joel or Joel and Taco just so we can get that high school built and the kids in it. That's the important thing for the east zone. And it's an east zone school. It's not a Lehi school for Lehi kids. It's not an Alva school for only Alva kids, you know. It's for the whole east zone. Riverdale took in all of Alva. It wasn't in Alba, you know, and I could you could just pick any school you want. There's there's people in Alba right now, students going to Eastley, you know. So the the draw of the schools are very massive there. 60% of all our kids are bust period. So you

119know, I drove my car the other day from Joel and David to Joel and Tuahoo. It took me three and a half minutes. That's about all, you know. So, if the bus was going to drop them off at Joel and David, three and a half or four minutes, you know, there was really bad traffic, 10 minutes. I don't know, but it's just it's not that far. So, so anyway, that's that's all I that's my only comment. I look forward to one-on- ones, but I just want the board to think of the timeline. That's to me the most important thing, not only just for the getting the loans at the best we can, but also just getting the whole project going forward. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Super. Yeah, I just wanted to piggy back on something

120that Mr. Person said, and that was part of our staff's discussion is it's not an eitheror. We need all of the sites in order to be able to accommodate the explosive growth out east. So, you know, certainly we can prioritize, but please understand all of those sites are desperately needed. Our schools are way overcrowded out in the east. So, so thank you. But we'll have additional conversation about that offline, Mrs. Langford Fleming. So, first of all, I want to apologize because we do have a process around here and it is to allow the superintendent know if we're going to pull something. I pulled this because of public comment and just things I feel like the community of Albanesey's they deserve to hear this conversation. We cannot do this behind closed doors because of because of

121sunshine. So, my apologies because I know that you would be prepared usually for these kind of questions. my big concern is communication about this NN school and we've been through a couple of since the original vote, we're going back two superintendents ago. I feel like we have had very little communication. Well, we've had communication, but for something this big of a decision, I feel like it should have been on a every other one-on-one or at or workshopped a few more times so that we wouldn't be where we're at right now. I completely understand the growth. like I said before, I'm from this community and growth is inevitable, but it but you know, it pulls on my heartstrings a little more because I'm a rural kid. So, I know that this doesn't even begin to touch

122on the 17 I think it's 1,700 homes that are going to be built across the river in a couple of probably in two years from by Neil. And I know that this may not be in that necessary zone, but we may have to utilize schools like this when that happens, should it happen. And I'm I'm pretty certain it's happening actually as we speak. So, I really do not want to hold up Cypress Lake Middle and Hector Cafarada. but I again like I I felt like this really needed to be have some light shed on it for the community members to know where the district's coming from. I appreciate any one-on- ones and I like Miss Janelli's suggestion of a special meeting. That's all before I give my comments. Anyone else want to say anything? Okay.

123thank you everyone for the discussion. I agree with M Mr. Pson said. I will say when it comes to discussions and I know we have two new newer board members. We have had a lot of discussions over these last three years in regards to NN. I know we've all had separate discussions with people in the Alva community as well. but I look at it I mean this district there's a reason that we're lobbying for reduction on permitting times right now. We're behind the times. This school district is way behind the times. I mentioned the workshop. We went up to DC and we have I believe as I said approximately six schools in Nissan in the next 5 years around 7,500 kids that's not going to touch what we need and we are so far behind

124on that. You know we talk about you know student achievement safety and security. The other thing keeps me up at night is figuring out where we're going to have places for these students and I know the rest of us up here. So as I said I mean I'm happy to have further discussions. I feel content on this discussion. We've had lots of time to work through these issues for the last many years. Obviously, I understand new board members have said they're, you know, I'm happy to hear additional feedback as a board member. That is our job and make sure we're asking the appropriate questions. I appreciate that. But, I said this is not something that has just popped up recently. And I'd mentioned, you know, I came from a rural community and I saw the

125differences that I mentioned that to the Alva crowd a few years ago, so I've seen it. but we need a school. We need to do what was best for the district. We do best for these kids in this district. So, we need to make sure that we have places for them and that, you know, we're encouraging, best use. The other thing I want to say is I'm not going to jeopardize any of this funding. we talk about Cypress Lake Middle. I'm not waiting for Hector Cavaretta. That's, as I say, sometimes that's a forgotten school after this hurricane and I'm not going to make him wait one more second. So, I'm in favor of this and, before you proceed to vote, let me know if anyone else has any comments or questions. Miss Jordan, I just,

126as Miss Fleming said and, Miss Jvenelli, I definitely would want to, and Hector was part of my district way back when the hurricane first started. So, I am with you with Hector. It has to go. And same with Cypress. But I think that the conversations that we've had for this has have been very few on the dis here. We've had a lot of one-on- ones, but just listening to each other and I, you know, I hear it all the time. Well, we all get the same information, but I think we feed off of each other and trying to to understand, you know, what we're all thinking. I think it is good for the public to to hear what we are what's on our mind as well. So I would definitely would like to have a

127workshop regarding the continuation for NNN as well as the special meeting. So thank you. Anyone else before we proceed to vote? Okay, this is going to be a roll. Oh, sorry. Just to say something real quick. So and just to shed little a little light on there's several brand new communities and not so brand new. Riverhaul is still growing by leaps and bounds. Lenar is building out in Alba. Portico is a huge community out there that has lots of kids that I know. I mean, I know families that are going to put their children at the new high school. They're going to pull out of their community and drive past Riverdale to go to the new to the newer high school. So, I mean, the growth is definitely there. Like Mr. persons mentioned. I just

128wanted to make sure that all board members are comfortable and that they're you know re bring them along in the decision making. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Juvenile. Okay, at this point for L item L13, we're going to proceed to a vote. This will be a roll call vote. What are we What are we What are we voting on here? What's what's the Okay, that would be the superintendent's recommendation. Okay. Do you need that reread? Yes, please. Okay, Dr. Carlin, can you please? Yes, sir. Happy to do it. we are seeking approval of the resolution authorizing the issuance of certificates of participation series 2025A in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $400 million for the purpose of financing a new East High School NN, Cypress Lake Middle, and Hector Keeretta Jr. K8 schools rebuild,

129the sale thereof in a negotiated public sale, the execution and delivery of a series 2025A ground lease and schedule 2025A to the master lease, and the execution of related documents in connection with the issuance of the series 2025A certificates. Thank you, Superintendent Kron. Mr. Ribble, do you have any other questions? I just want to make sure everyone's confident before they take a vote. We good? Okay. Motion on the floor. We're going to take a vote. Roll call vote. Miss Juvenile. Yes. Mr. Ribble? Yes. Miss Jordan? Yes. Mr. Persons? Yes. Mrs. Langford Fleming? I. Okay. And I'm an I. Motion carries 6. No, she's not. Yeah, that's we're six voting. Thank you. So, moving on to the next item on the agenda. Thank you everyone. Will be item S, which will be the Lee County Schoolboard

130Leasing Corporation. So, we'll now take a recess from there schoolboard action meeting to attend this matter. The time is 8:58 p.m. First up, as president of the Lee County School Board Leasing Corporation, I'd like to call this meeting of the Lee County School Board Leasing Corporation, June 3rd, 2025 to order. The time is 8:58 p.m. This evening's agenda includes public comment, three secretaries recommendations, good to the order, other business, and adjournment. Directors, the president will entertain a motion to adopt the agenda. Mr. Persons, I make a motion we adopt it. Adopted agenda. Okay. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. We will now take a roll call vote in order to approve the agenda. We'll start with Miss Juvenelli. Yes. Okay, Mr. Ribble, yes. Miss Jordan, I. Mr. Persons, I. Mr. Lang Fleming, I. And

131I'm an I. Motion carry 6. We're now going to move into the item of public comment. Attorney to Brie Bruno, please address the matter of public comment. Thank you, Mr. President. At this time, members of the public have an opportunity to comment on the items outlined on the agenda for the lease incorporation. And I don't believe anyone has signed up for public comment. Okay. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to give public comment on said item that wishes that has not signed up? Seeing none, we'll now move to the secretary's recommendations. Dr. Carlin, please state your first recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Approval of the minutes of the last Lee County School Board lease incorporation meeting held on December 10th, 2024. Okay. I'll now entertain a motion to approve minutes from December 10th. Mr.

132Persons, I make a motion we approve the minutes from December 10th, 2024. Okay. Is there a second? I'll second. Motion made by Mr. Persons and second by Mr. Ribble. Do we have any board discussion? Okay. This will be again a roll call vote. Start with you again, Miss Juvenelli. How do you vote? I'm yes. Mr. Ribble, I. Miss Jordan, I. Mr. Persons, I. Mrs. Len Fleming, I. And I am an I. Motion carry 6. We'll now move on to Dr. Carlin's second recommendation. Thank you, sir. Approval of the resolution authorizing a the issuance of certificates of participation series 2025A in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $400 million for the purpose of financing all or a portion of the costs of the construction and equipping of East High NN the costs of demolition construction

133and equipping Cypress Lake Middle and Hector Keerta Jr. K8, the sale thereof in a negotiated public sale, execution and delivery of a series 2025A ground lease and schedule 2025A to the master lease and execution of related documents in connection with the issuance of the series 2025A certificates. Thank you, Dr. Carlin. Directors, you've heard the secretary's recommendation to approve resolution authorizing a the issuance of certificate certificates of participation series 2025A in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed 400 million for the purpose of financing all or a portion of the cost of the construction and equipping of East High NN the cost of demolition, construction, and equipping Cypress Lake Middle and Hector Caparata Jr. K8 B. the sale therefore of of a negotiated public sale and C execution delivery of a series 2025A ground lease and

134schedule 2025A to the master lease and D execution of related documents in connection with the issuance of the series 2025A certificates board I will now entertain a motion for approval Mr. persons. I make a motion we approve. Is there a second? A second. Yes. The motion was moved by Mr. Persons and seconded by Mr. Rible. do we have any discussion board? Miss Javiano and Miss Juvenelli. Any discussion before we move forward? No, thank you. I do not. Okay. This will again be a roll call vote. So, whenever you're ready, Miss Juvenile, please. I'm a yes. Yes. Sorry. Okay. Mr. Rivvel. Yes. Mr. Rule was a yes. And Miss M. Juvenile is a yes. Miss Jordan. I. Okay. Mr. Persons. I. Miss. Langford. Fleming. I. And I motion carries 6. Dr. Carlin, please state your third

135recommendation. Thank you, sir. Approval of the issuance of not to exceed $75 million aggregate principal amount of refunding certificates of participation known as COPs. Series 2025B to refinance all or a portion of the outstanding series 2014 A COP and the series 2014B cops and authorizing execution of related documents in connection with issuance of the refunding series 2025B certificates. Thank you, Dr. Carlin. Directors, you've heard the secret secretary's recommendation to approve the issuance of not to exceed $75 million aggregate principal amount of refunding certificates of participation cops, series 2025B to refinance all or a portion of the outstanding series 2014 A COPS and the series 2014B cops and authorizing execution of related documents in connection with the issuance of the refunding series 2025B certificates. I will now entertain a motion for the above. Mr. Persons, make

136a motion we approve the secretary's recommendation. Second. Miss Jordan. Okay. Move. The motion has been moved by Mr. Person, seconded by Miss Jordan. Board members, do we have any discussion on this motion? Mr. persons. Just so the public knows, we met oneon-one with the financial people doing this sort of explained everything as far as the interest rates and on the cops and things along those lines. So, I know it looks like it's sort of a quick quick quick, but it's something that we have met. That's all. Thank you, Mr. Persons. Anyone else? Miss Mrs. Mrs. Chabiano or Mrs. Juvenelli. Okay. At this point, then hearing nothing else, we'll move to a roll call vote again. Whenever you're ready, please vote. Miss Juvenelli, yes. Mr. Ribble, I. Miss Jordan, I. Mr. Persons, I Langford Fleming. I

137And I motion carry 6. We'll now move on to go to the order. and please note these comments will be made in your capacity as directors of the leasing corporation andor office corporation. Do we have any comments from any of our board members in regards to this leasing session? Okay. At this point, having Dr. Carlin, was there anything? No comments. Thank you. Just checking. Sorry. At this point, having no other business come before this body and seeing no objection, the meeting of the Lee County School Board Leasing Corporation is now adjourned. The time is 9:06 PM. I'll now reconvene the regular schoolboard action meeting of June 3rd, 2025. The time is 9:06 p.m. We will now move on to resolutions resolutions. So first item is approval of resolution 2025-0603 establishing salary incentives for teachers relating

138to low performing and low achieving schools and critical support areas. The resolution shall become effective upon its adoption and will be implemented during and remain in effect through the 2025 2026 school year. Dr. Carlin, please explain this resolution. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I would like to take a moment to share the purpose of the resolution, which underscores our district's commitment to two critical strategic priorities. Recruiting and retaining high-erforming teachers and increasing student achievement. This teacher incentive initiative represents an additional strategic investment in the educators who are making a measurable impact in our classrooms each and every day. It reflects our fundamental belief that great teaching deserves to be recognized and supported in meaningful and sustainable ways. It is important to clarify that while we deeply value the important work being done at the

139bargaining table and we look forward to continuing those conversations as soon as possible, this initiative is statutoily distinct and separate from those negotiations. We appreciate the collaboration of our labor partners and this incentive program stands on its own as a key part of our broader district strategy to invest in our people to support student achievement and to ensure that we retain and uplift the incredible talent already working hard across our schools. Whether our teachers are helping students to overcome learning gaps, guiding them towards success in critical academic areas, or inspiring confidence and curiosity, our students succeed because they lead the way. Our teachers are truly the heartbeat of Lee County Schools and this initiative is one more way we are investing in them. I would like to share with you the basis of this initiative

140and I'm going to ask for some assistance from our communications team on this as we display something for you because every student deserves to have a teacher in their classrooms on the first day of school as of May 29th 2025. Here are our current instructional i.e. teacher openings. As you can see, we started with 575.3 instructional vacancies and we are now down to 263.7 instructional vacancies. I would ask that you take a look at the north, east, south, and west regions. In addition, most of the teacher vacancies are in our most atrisisk schools within the north and east regions. To clarify, there are no forced transfers. Rather, there are financial incentives for teachers based on education risk ratings and critical complimentary subject courses. Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to our school board

141members for your strong support of this resolution presented this evening. This sends a clear and powerful message. Teacher incentives are a priority for all of us, and we are united in our care and commitment to this noble profession. So, thank you all for your dedication and partnership as we continue to move Lee County Schools forward. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Carlin. Board members, is there a motion to approve the resolution? Mr. Persons, I make a motion we approve the resolution on teachers incentives. Okay. Do we have a second? I'll second. Okay. Moved by Mr. Persons, seconded by Mrs. Langford Fleming. Board member discussion. Mr. Persons. Well, obviously from that chart and being the board member for the most of the east zone, I mean, I think this is really needed. And it wasn't just for

142this year. It was the same thing last year, same thing the year before and the same thing the year before. All the openings are in the east zone, you know, compared compared comparatively, excuse me, to the other zones. So, I definitely support this. Thank you. Anybody else have anything? Miss Jordan? Yes. I wanted to clarify a comment that was made about the anou that would be for through the chair Mr. Prio about the moou the requirement that is needed. So this resolution and these incentives are specifically based on a statute that allows the board to move forward without specifically bargaining or anou. It is based on management right based on what the statute allows us to do. Okay. And then with this because I seen the so we have the form that shows us all

143the vacancies but it's it's not showing we don't have the form up that's showing all the teachers that are which all the teachers would now be getting increases and this has nothing to do with the negotiations because we would further negotiate and whatever comes out of that would still be a part of or on top of what this would be. Does that make sense what I just said? Yes. So, we will continue negotiations. Absolutely. We are still at the table with our teachers association. This is separate and distinct from those negotiations. And this is us making sure that the teachers are being taken care of and that we are because I know that's something that's always said that we don't care. We want to make sure that our teachers are taken care of. This is

144making sure that all all of the teachers are being taken care of. Correct. Th this is ensuring that our students at the highest risk schools, you know, we have the rating that was developed in conjunction with the teachers association of Lee County and the school district. The risk ratings were assigned to schools based on students coming in lower socioeconomics level of level one students or lowest students and then incentives designed to support those schools to help alleviate the chart that we just saw. As Mr. Persons recom recognized in the east zone we have a tremendous number of students that do not have a teacher. And so what we are trying to do is to incentivize our teachers to work in our highest risk schools and also to support our students in these critical needs. That's

145what we're working to do and the state law provides for us to be able to do that. It does not excuse us from bargaining. We will we're still at the table. We are still bargaining and we are still working to improve overall compensation. However, this is happening outside of that. So, yes, we are trying to take care of primarily our students, but recognizing that teachers incentives are at play. Yes. Okay. And that's all the risks from one through four. All the teachers that are the risk factors one through four will be compensated. So, let me be clear and I don't know if we're able to display this but we did provide this information for you in the one-on- ones. In our risk for schools, teachers have the opportunity to earn $2500 to $9,000. And a

146lot of that has to do are they teaching in that critical subject or course area, for example, tested areas grade 3 through 10. Risk level three, it comes down a little bit. The incentives are 2,00 to6,500. From level two, which of course we're going down in the risk level, anywhere from 1,000 to 3500. And then finally, at risk level one, which is our lowest risk schools, you are still eligible for an incentive if you teach a critical subject or course. I hope that answers the question and thank you for our team to our team for for displaying. Just want clarification for those who are thinking that we're just picking and choosing. Yes, thank you very much. Yes, and we and we have this displayed now the information I just shared. So that's helpful for the

147public. Thank you for the question. And then my last question would be the principles have been notified and the feel for how they are feeling regarding their schools and being able to get the teachers in there for the children. it has been a positive So, we did have a conversation with our principles and as a matter of fact, as I sit here, I am receiving very positive accolades from our principles, particularly in the east zone and some of our highest need schools. Thank you very much for recognizing that teaching is different at our schools. Thank you for recognizing the fact that we haven't had teachers in some of our classrooms for a very long time and our teachers have had to take on additional work because a substitute teacher or guest teacher can only do

148so many things where certified teacher is required. So those are the folks that are expressing tremendous appreciation not just our principles but our teachers link Fleming. I just wanted to kind of piggy back off of that actual topic. obviously all of our schools are somewhere in one, two, three, four. No one's left off this list. I just wanted to make sure that the conversations you are having and maybe just shed some light on conversations you're having with administrators. I often hear, you know, it's really hard when a when a teacher wants to transfer and then the release of the process of releasing teachers from school to school. I mean, it's a conversation that's been going on for years. You know, one teacher wants to go from one school to the next and not release. Can

149you just shed some light on the how how that process is happening? Yes. So, we do have contractual language about when teachers can transfer and when they cannot. We are in the period right now where teachers are able to transfer. And so that's why it's important that this is this is coming forward tonight so that teachers do have the opportunity at this point to say yes, I would like to go teach at one of our higher risk schools to be able to receive or to be eligible to receive those incentives. That's why this meeting was so important. That's why the timeliness is key so that teachers do have that opportunity in the transfer period to to go ahead and transfer. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that was talked about tonight. Thanks. Okay.

150Do we have a public comment on this? We've already had public comment. Miss Juvenelli and Mrs. Shaviano, any comments? Yes, thank you. so I would like to remind people that we used to have a teacher incentive fund. It was called It was called the TIFF. It was a federal program that used performant-based pay to incentivize teachers and school leaders to improve student achievement in high need schools. This program and its successor, the teacher school leader TSL incentive programs provides funding to districts to develop and implement compensation systems that reward teachers and their principles based on their effectiveness. We are in a critical situation right now and we are trying to have teachers in those high need school and lots of those schools where the need is out east in the east zone and it's very

151difficult and it costs lots of gas and time to get there. So, I don't know how else we're going to get people there if we don't compensate them. I must say I'm disappointed that the district and the union weren't able to come together and have an agreement before schools schools being the schools are trying to move the teachers and hire the teachers and the staff to support their their needs. But right now we have to focus on our students needs and that is a critical situation. I we don't even know if this is going to be the answer but this is the option that we have at the moment. So, we're doing the best that we can with the funds and the ability to do that effectively as well as within our legal ramifications. So,

152and for me, I just I just want to talk about this is opportunity for those that need the additional money and the do those that don't want to move or change, they don't have to. this is not going to affect the bargaining aspect that will happen once school resumes because that is the time is being taken off. I'm like again I'm disappointed that we weren't able to complete bargaining and get this done before school starts before planning for the new school year. But this has put us in a position that we were kind of forced to do this way. I'm hoping in a perfect world that bargaining is going to be successful in August and we fix the compression. I believe that the money needs to stay in the classroom ground zero and this is

153what this program will do for now. I have lots of thoughts and ideas because I do truly believe that we need to fix the compression. We need to make sure that our teachers are being paid adequately and I think that they need to be paid to stay in the classroom versus going into to administration. I will be very vocal on that. I believe that the tip program in the past was somewhat successful and I'm hopeful that we will have a you know we will have our student achievement increased. if we don't then we have to start we have to we have to do something else different and this is right now what you know not doing the same thing over and over again. I think that this will be opportunity for teachers to make the

154additional money that they need, but in the meantime, we still have lots of work to do to make sure that our students in the classroom are getting the best support and as well as our teachers. And it's ground zero is where the money needs to be. And I really want to push for that long term and fix this the compression, fix the hiring of teachers and looking out for the best interests of our of our community and retaining those and keeping those teachers. so I'm in support of this tonight. I'll be honest, I had a I did have a little difficult time with it, but then I remembered the TIP program and that's what it was designed for. And so I'm giving kudos to the superintendent for thinking outside of the box at this point

155in time to keep moving the dial forward because at the end of the day, student achievement is only going to be the measurement of our success. If it doesn't happen, then we're in trouble. So we've got to do something. And I believe for now, this is the option that we're given. And until that happens and something changes, we don't have a choice. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Juvenelli. Mr. Ribblehead. Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna make a comment in about a fifth of the time that Mr. Juvenelli did, but I totally agree with everything she said. I'm just going to lay in my labor relations experience. I know I think our labor relations managers in the back of the room can testify to this. In in most contracts with the teamsters, we have a we have

156language called maintenance of standards. And the reason the business negotiated maintenance of standards because we want our people to try to make the best decisions they make as they work each and every day. Number one, work safely, not get hurt, and provide excellent service level. And in this case, maintenance of standards in this case being applied would be achievement. And we need incentives. And even the teamsters would agree with this one. We need incentives so we get people to want to achieve. And if we don't have the best teachers, that's not going to happen. So the most difficult jobs in my in my experience, they get incentivized. If you have a guy that runs a 40ft trailer and then you have a guy that runs three 40ft trailers called triples, he gets an incentive to

157roll those extra two trailers. In this case, we're talking about educators. So I'm totally I applaud you for putting this thing together. I was excited when you first shared on the 101, and I'm going to totally support it. Before I get my comments, anyone else? Okay. definitely enjoyed this discussion. As I've said before, I have three kids in this district that are impacted by our amazing teachers every day. I know how much I appreciate them and how lucky we are. I represent district 1, which is majority of Cape Coral, Captiva, Santael, and Pine Island. And the district I'm in is mostly risk one. So, as of this morning, to get perspective, this morning I finished up, which I'll briefly talk about later, visiting every single elementary school and middle school and high school in this

158county. I completed that this morning. And the challenges in each school, especially from the west zone, are completely different. That's not taking away from anything of the amazing work for the teachers that, you know, are in these less at risk schools. But it's important that every student in this district receives the same opportunity and they have the same amazing teachers and staff. That is why I'm going to support this. I look forward to continuing through bargaining to support our teachers. This is one step, but we need to take bold action right now and I support the superintendent on this 100%. So, are we ready to move forward to a vote? Okay. This will be a digital vote, I believe, correct? Yes. So, please record your vote. Bill, how do you vote? I Okay, let me

159know when we have a vote count, please. Motion carries 6. Next item on the agenda is public hearings item V. Dr. Carlin, please please present your recommendations for this evening's public hearing items. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Approval to adopt new and revised board policies and 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 4th, 2025. Thank you, Dr. Carlin. Do I need to keep going? No. Okay. Secondly, approve. No worries. Approval of the charter contract with Charter School Organization 4, Inc. doing business as Capstone Academy Charter School. The school will serve grades K through eight for a five-year term from July 1st, 2026 through July June 30th, excuse me, June 30th, 2031 with a projected enrollment in

160year 1 of 814 students. Approval authorizes the superintendent to execute all related documents. Okay. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. We'll now recess the regular school board meeting and open the public hearing. Time is 9:27 p.m. As indicated, the public hearing this evening is considered Dr. Carlin's recommendations as previously stated. At this time, the public will be invited to speak on these two items. The time allowed for public comment is three minutes. First, for item number one, and I will go down by category, is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding the approval to adopt new and revised policies in compliance with changes in related rules, regulations, and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability? The effective ais adoption shall be June 4th, 2025. I will first start

161with a section of quadruple zero, our bylaws. Is there anyone in the audience wishing to address said policies? Seeing none, moving on to chapter 10,00 administration. Anyone in the audience wishing to address 10,00 administration policies? Seeing none, moving on to chapter 2000 program. Anyone wishing to to comment on programs chapter 2000 policy changes? Seeing none, chapter 30,000 instructional staff policies. Anyone wishing to make pro public comment on set items. Seeing none, chapter 4,000 support staff policies. Anyone wishing to make comments on support staff policies? 4,000. Seeing none, chapter 5,000 students. Anyone wishing to make policy comments on chapter 5,000 students? Seeing none. Chapter 6,000 finances policies. Anyone wishing to make comment on chapter 6,000 finance policies. Seeing none. Chapter 7,000 property. Anyone wishing to make comment on chapter 7,000 property policies. Seeing none, chapter 8,000

162operations. Anyone in the audience wishing to make public comment on said items for chapter 8000? Seeing none, chapter 9,000, community relations policies. Anyone in the audience wishing to make comment on said chapter 9,000. Seeing none, we're going to move on now to item two. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to address the board regarding the approval of the charter contract for charter school organization 4 incorporated doing business as Capstone Academy Charter School. The school will serve grades K through 8th for a 5-year term from July 1st, 2026 through July 30th, 2031 with projected enrollment in one year of 814 students. Approval authorizes the superintendent execute all related documents. Anyone wishing to make said public comment on the charter school? Seeing none, I will now close the public hearing and reconvene the regular

163schoolboard meeting of June 3rd, 2025. The time is 9:30 p.m. Dr. Carlin, please restate your recommendations for this meeting's public hearing. ing items one at a time. Certainly, Mr. Chairman, approval to adopt revised board policies and 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 4th, 2025. You've heard the super superintendent's recommendation that the board approve to adopt revised board policies in compliance with changes in related rules, regulations, and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability. The effective date of adoption shall be June 4th, 2025. Do we have a motion to approve board? Make a motion. Mr. Ribble with the motion. We have a second. Mr. P Mr. Persons moved by Mr. Ribbles, seconded

164by Mr. Persons. Do we have any discussion? Mr. Chairman, this will be a roll call vote. We're having some difficulties with board dogs. Thank you, Madam Attorney. Miss Juvenile, do you have any discussion comments? No, thank you. Okay, we are now going to go to a roll call vote. Give me one second, please. Okay, Miss Juvenelli, how do you vote? I vote yes. Okay, Mr. Ribble, I. Miss Jordan, I. Mr. Persons, I. Mrs. Langford Fleming, I. And I am a I. Motion carries 6. Thank you. Now we go on to item number two. If you could read that, Dr. Carlin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. approval of the charter contract with charter school organization 4, Inc. doing business as Capstone Academy Charter School. The school will serve grades K through 8 for a 5-year term from

165July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2031 with a projected enrollment in year 1 of 814 students. Approval authorizes the superintendent to execute all related documents. You've heard the superintendent's recommendation that the board approve the charter contract with charter school organization 4 incorporated doing business as Capstone Academy Charter School. The school will serve grades K through 8 for a 5-year term from July 2026 through June 30th, 2031 with a projected enrollment in one year of 814 students. Approval authorizes superintendent execute all related documents. Board members, do we have a motion to approve? Mr. Persons, make a motion we approve the charter. Okay. Do we have a second? Second. Okay. Moved by Mr. Pson, second by Mr. Rible. Board member comments and discussion. Miss Jordan, then Mr. Person. Yeah, I just have one quick one. it was

166approved on April 8th of 2025 and it's taken two months for us to get the information or it was it working. It looks like this was approved on April 8th of 2025 and now we're seeing it in June. Is there a reason why it took two months to come to us? We're going to confer just a moment. M Jordan, are you saying that this came before the board previously? No, I'm reading it. says that the it submitted the charter was charter organization Capstone Academy charter was approved on April 8th, 2025. That's in the public content and then it's coming to us June 3rd. So it was approved by who on April the 8th? The district. Thank you. I have to find what where you are in public content. You're looking at the actual agreement, the

167actual charter itself. I'm No, I'm looking at the actual board docks. Oh, okay. Let me see. Oh, so it's a whole process to be able to have a charter. So, this is referring to that process and when staff finally said it was okay for it to move forward. Okay. So, that was approved by staff before coming on. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Any other comments? Okay, Mr. Persons, just for public record, where's this school going to be located or is located Our technology is very slow. Hold on just a moment. We're getting we're we're pulling it up, but it's taking a moment. Mr. Persons, as we're we're running through the application, it's not readily jumping out at us. Would it be permissible to provide that information for you and the board offline? Sure.

168No problem. Okay. Thank you. Preliminary research, it looks like it's in Fort Myers. Yeah. Oak Center Drive. Yeah. Let me find it. 33967. Okay. Anything else, Mr. Person? That was all. Okay. Mr. Tuvenelli, do you have any questions? No, I'm good. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. At this point, seeing no other comments, we are going to move forward with a vote. This will also be a roll call vote. Yes. Okay. Okay. motion on the table. How do you vote? Miss Juvenelli, I'm a yes. Okay. Mr. Ribble. I. Miss Jordan. I. Mr. Persons. I. Miss. Langford. Fleming. I. And I'm an I. Motion carries 6. So now we're moving on to good of the order, other business. So I will start with Miss Juvenelli. And I will be quick because it's a been a long night.

169I just want to remind everybody that we had all the graduations and just happy graduations the class 20 25 because I think it's significant for them in that milestone in their life. I it was brought up earlier and I didn't get my mic off on or quick enough. I too would like to move forward with the board attorney contract. So if we can kind of I don't know how we can move this along and getting resolution on that so that everyone can be happy with that of closing that door. and for me I just want everybody to have a safe and relaxing summer. including those teachers that get to take the full summer off and the and including those that are having to work through their summer in planning for the 202526 school year because

170there's a lot of work. People don't realize that just because today's the last day of school and school's out and all the students are very happy as well as parents. some teachers don't they don't get much of a downtime and because they're now they're kicking it into gear for next year. So, I just want to thank all the students and staff and teachers and parents that all get us to this day. and last day of school, so school's out for summer everybody and enjoy it and thank you and y'all have a good evening. I want to see bargaining over with soon. So, I'm hopeful for that opportunity for the bargaining staff to get this done. Thank you, Miss Juvenile. Before we move on to Mr. Ribble, you had indicated about the board attorney's contract. I

171have not been given any guidance into if we're going to continue the existing process of using an outside counsel, if we're going to negotiate it ourselves, if we're going to use negotiate the complete contract or a partial part of the contract. So I have no guidance from the board at this point in order to proceed. So I will leave it up to the board either to discuss now or at a later date. I personally would like to see a quick discussion on it and because we're just keep kicking a can down the road. So I would I say let's pick up the attorney that was help facilitating and let's try to get resolution on it. I don't know if anybody else wants to put in their two cents, but we need to I feel like

172we need to get this done and I think it's fair for all parties at that point, you know, to really to focus on it, we're not we're being unfair. So, I believe if we don't really focus on those that we do hire. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Juvenile. I also want to I'll confirm what's the rest of the board right now and seeing what that is. madame board attorney did not want to continue those complete discussions at that point with outside counsel. So I want to receive guidance both from the board attorney as well as the board at this moment. So I don't want to put anyone in a difficult situation but that is what we're tasked with. So, okay. What what was your last what was your question? Are we moving forward with further

173discussions with the board attorney using outside counsel to represent us? Previously, it was indicated to me that our board attorney did not wish to complete further discussions of the entire contract at that point. So, Miss Juvenile was indicating that she wants to move forward with that. I need to make sure obviously both parties wish to move forward with that continued discussion or I mean if we're not ready to have that I would discuss that offline and then bring it back. I mean it's it's up to the pleasure of this board. I'm good with either way. I mean if we want to continue to use Mr. Duncan or or we want to have you do it yourself, I'm fine with that as a board chair. Either way is good with me. I would suggest that you

174that you sit down with our attorney and see which which option she likes to she'd like to go with so we can get this thing put to bed. Well, we did come to what the board wished as a majority and what the board attorney wanted and they were impass. So, I mean I'm happy to proceed with every whatever manner this board wishes to proceed with. So, oh sorry, attorney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So based on the responses from attorney Duncan, there were a couple of things that were not issues based on what he had provided. So from those two issu from those issues, I took two items and created an amendment to the contract just to address those two items up through April of 2026. And I did have an opportunity to speak to chairman.

175I spoke to each board member about that as well. And that would be my request is that just those two items from that amendment be approved by the board and then any re renegotiations because the contract will end in April of 2026. We address it at that time. My individual personal stance is then we you know we would be then going against our own process of as I said I mean we talked about the contract this whole the four corners of the document. Again this is nothing I fully support our board attorney. She knows how I feel but we have a process here. So I mean it's up to the pleasure of this board what we want to do but I mean you know I don't think we can just pick and choose but that's

176my own personal opinion. Well I think I think under that order then we continue with the process that we have in place and from my understanding is the our the attorney that we're talking about here has has changed her her mind on a few items and she wants to get this thing put to bed. So under I mean the whole the whole the whole document's changed that's that's how I think that's how I feel about it Mr. versus April 2026. Anyway, that's I'd like to get put it to bed, too. So, M. Jordan, I agree with what he just said that we take handle it and as soon as we come January start, you know, doing this so it just does not continue on because that's what has happened since like 2020. It just keeps

177on going and going and going and because it's forced to just roll over. So, I think that we it would behoove us to go ahead and with the amendment handle that and then work on a true contract at the end, whether you do it yourself, Mr. Fischer, or we bring in Mr. Duncan. Well, I appreciate that. One of the items up for discussion was the auto renewal. So, this would thus auto renew the contract. That's one of the the sticking points that was with this board per the attorney, the outside council. So, I just want to make everyone aware of that. So, then we're just essentially negotiating two parts of it without addressing the rest of it. So, but again, it's up to the pleasure of the board. I want to Hello. I think we

178need a new contract. I think that we're we're we're going this is a contract that goes back from Melissa. One second. Persons had the floor and then I will immediately get back to you. I'm sorry. My apologies. I didn't know that. Not a problem. Mr. Persons, proceed then. Mr. Juvenile. Yeah. I mean, the way I look at it is there is a contract right now that's in force because we had auto renewal. Am I correct on that? Correct. So if we want to take that out or whatever, that would be into the next year's that I mean that sort of horse has left the gate as they say right now. Mhm. Cuz what we'd have to do for a new contract would be to void her current contract. I mean that's the way I see

179it and I don't know if that's correct or not. I would think any you know we can make an amendment to the contract but we can't really say, "Okay, you know, you auto renewed. You have a contract, but we're going to get rid of that one, and here's a new one. We would have to provide notice before of the auto seems like a lot to do. I'd rather let's get on, you know, do a couple amendments or whatever we need to do." just the two amendments. Two amendments and move on and then tackle these or or even start right away with the new contract for but not go in effect till April 26, the new one. Miss Juvenelli, I would I just said that I mean I I feel like we need a new contract,

180but I mean I it is what the board decides and I understand, but this contract's been rolling over since 2020. That's my concern. And you know, this is our employee. We can't get that done this done. I mean, I'm I'm a little concerned over that. Thank you. I mean, again, it's it's an entire contract process. We're the ones that set the terms on this is this is our employee. So, you know, me personally, I think we're going outside of our own contract process doing that. I think that we should continue to negotiate as a whole. But again, please give me feedback and the direction we need to move forward then. I thought we just did one more question. I just again I'm I'm not a great legal mind, but I just don't see how we

181get past a contract that's been autorenewed. Do we have the power to cancel? She's our employee, but she has a contract. I mean, the way I look at right now, if I was the attorney, I said it ought to renewed. That was the policy when it did. I have a contract. So, I would think that we could do amendments that might be good for her, amendments that might be bad for her. Maybe. I don't know how that works because that can't amend someone's contract without their permission if this is a valid contract. So, again, we hadn't had the auto renewal. I'd be all in your corner. But I think right now, again, that's past that point. we can do an amendment and let's start on the new contract right away in regards to that. I

182mean again we're essentially going outside of our own process at that point. But I mean you know regards from a legal standpoint I mean it has autorenewed but that's what I'm saying. These are negotiations. We're only taking piece of the negotiation that favors our attorney. I mean I mean part of a negotiation is to to go back and forth in that and again based on what the our outside council told us these were sticking points for the board some of these sticking points. So well I believe we have to have a discussion on the amendments. We might not vote for the amendments in which case it stays right where it is. I mean that's that's our that I would think we could do. attorney. Ju just for clarification, the two things that were on the

183amendment are two things that were not pointed out by the conflict council as an issue for the board. So that's why that was the two things that were picked up. So that thinking that it would not have been, you know, a conflict or a problem for the board, that's why that was brought forward. And then of course, April 2026, the contract would expire. the board can give notice and basically say, you know, we choose to keep you, choose not to keep you. we want to renegotiate. That's up to the board as to how they want to do that. but the two the two things that were pulled for the amendment was something that pursuant to Mr. Duncan was not an issue, including the specific language in the section two about. So I would I would

184ask as your employee that this amendment be added to the agenda for July 29th and then starting as as was stated in January, we can have renegotiations with outside council if we prefer and move forward in that in that way. You mean the two amendments that covered in our 101, right? Yeah. Thank you, Attorney Breuno. Again, I would reiterate then again, we're taking there are other portions we agreed on, but it the contract when you look at contracts and negotiate as a whole, we can't just pick and choose pieces out of it. At least as a legal and contractual process, at least that's my experience as attorney. As I said, I do appreciate our board attorney. I just feel we're going outside of our process. We're taking, as I said, we the whole contract is

185a whole piece of all these issues we're taking out. Granted, those were two they've agreed on, but what about the other ones? What about the stuff from our side? So, how does that put us at then on point? Well, what stuff here's what I'm missing. What stops? Let me see where where your demands are. And I don't know if I'll agree with them or not. Then that point we need to right now we have an attorney. She's just had an excellent review by everybody. Take take a look at the rubric that everyone scored her very highly. I mean, we have a lot of conflict going on with the size of this operation. We need to have we need to have a good relationship with our attorney and I think I have a great relationship with

186her and in my experience of working with attorneys. I don't know why we don't want to just get this behind us with these two amendments and then if you want to start fresh in 2026, that's fine. But let's move this thing on. We got enough fighting going on with a lot of communities around here and school issues. We don't need to be fighting with our attorney. That's my humble opinion. Mr. Ribble, this is not about a fight. This is a process. As I said, I appreciate everything that our board attorney does, but you know, it is our duty as one of our employees to make sure that we are negotiating a fair contract. That is nothing against our board attorney that I do, you know, as I said, I appreciate her work. I've told her

187that all the time. I've been very supportive of her, but we are going outside of the process. So, okay. So, show me in writing, take a week or whatever, show me in writing what you want from her to concede to what issues in your mind. what issues is she complying? But it's not me as a whole. It was the other attorney that said, "These are the sticky that had Mr. Duncan give us a list of things that he's not happy with and we could talk about them in a workshop." Again, these were our list, not his list. These are when he went from board member discussing these are the issues that arose. Now, we're doing word salad. His his view, your view. I mean, whose view? I haven't seen any of this stuff. It's our

188view. And you were open to speak to the attorney at any point before that, Mr. Persons? Yeah. I what you're saying is our process is we can take any employee that has a contract at any time and say we're going to negotiate and change it while a valid contract. I mean that's what it looks like to me. She has a valid contract. So unless both parties agree to start negotiations, then that's fine. But if one party doesn't, the valid contract would supersede. I mean, it's that way in sports. It's that way in everything else. You just can't It's like you're I mean, I'm just can't wrap my head around that. I mean, I know you're saying process that we were negotiating, but when she had her old contract, but since it wasn't done when the

189new one auto renewed, again, it's the auto renew. I don't I don't like that. I'll be honest right up front. But that's part of the negotiation that held it up was the auto renewal. That's what I'm saying. That's I know, but if we can't, you know, I don't know what you do. You can stop an auto renew and say whatever. We got to come to terms. She does have a valid contract though and terms were we were told that she no longer would negotiate at that point which is fair. I understand that and to look for the forward one. She has a current contract. That's what I'm saying. The auto renewal is part of the new part when we look at it. But again, so board, I again I just think that we don't do

190any other than an amendment is where I'm leaning toward until April 26th. We just let it ride unless both sides can come to an agreement on the amendments. And because I'm not voting on the amendments right now. I'd have to read them all over. I mean, again, I know we went over them, but there but by before the next meeting and we can discuss and I don't know. The board may decide that they're just going to leave it the way it is. That's our prerogative. We don't have to agree to the amendments. So, do we wish to bring it to a workshop or an action meeting? What is our board's pleasure? Well, it's going to be a big discussion in the action meeting. So maybe workshop to the action meeting. Yeah. But that's one of

191the few times I would not have a problem having it on the same day. Okay. Are we engaging outside counsel for the amendment or not? Board. And from what I remember of the two amendments, I think we can debate it among ourselves, especially with your legal counsel for any legal points and my judge duty. We should be able to figure it out. I from what I remember the two points, they weren't that complicated. It's not that big a deal. Neither one of them. Okay. So, we bring this forward to a workshop board. Yes, you'll need to unmult. That's what I would go for. What's the rest of the board's pleasure? Actually, the two things were salary adjustment and severance provision. That's right. Those are the two things. That's the two things I have it right

192here. Okay. Do we wish us to add to the next workshop agenda? Yes, please. Without outside counsel. Just asking for guidance before I think we can get our questions answered among ourselves. I don't think we need outside counsel. Okay, Miss Juvenelli, I would I would agree with that. I think that if we can get agree to these two issues and maybe go look at the 2020 contract, go look at the 20 the renewals that in between there. It's be you've scratched through. I think we need a clean contract. But if we can do this, I believe we could do this in a workshop and I think we need to come to the table with our ideas that we had and get this and get this done. I don't think we're going to wait till 2026

193because I'm going to be tell you the truth. I think we're going to be the same place if we don't have the respect of our first of all our processes. I would agree with Chair Fischer. We should not be going out of our processes. I think we need to get this resolved and get a new contract in place and determine if we want it to autorenew for two years or maybe autorenew for three years and what that means. This and that could be this. These are the conversations that we need to have and we're not doing it by just autorenewing and agreeing to what she wants at this point in time because obviously it's enough to change the contract for her. Well, and we're not looking at the contract and thinking about what is also

194best for the district. So, I it's just shame on us for not doing our job. This is our job and I think we need to do it. That's all. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Juvenile. I will remind you we have been doing our job through negotiations for the last little bit. So, we can't make everyone agree on everything. Obviously, that's what we were going to discuss as a board. So, I've gotten guidance. I will add this to the next workshop. I'm in agreement to put the next workshop, but I will note my objection to going outside of this process. So, Superintendent Carlin, can we have that added to the next workshop? Yes, sir. Turn to Brie Bruno. As I said, you can then thus the board has given guidance to engage with you then. So,

195thank you. Moving on to Mr. Ribble. I gave my comments earlier. I gave my comments earlier today. I know Miss Chievenelli talked about attending graduations. I attended four and I was overwhelmed with how professional they were and how professional our students were. And I hear horror stories about students doing crazy things when they get up to get their diploma. But the four I attended, they were absolutely perfect. So that's my comments. Thank you, Mr. Rel. Miss Jordan. I just want to say congratulations as well to our graduates and their families and their next chapter in their lives. And also I really want to thank the United Way. They last week they did a teacher appreciation event where over 500 teachers were able to to come by and get gifts. So I really want to give

196them thanks for that for recognizing our teachers. And that's it. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Persons. Yeah, there are several that I went to also, but the one one of the ones that made the most graduation made most meaningful impact on me was in Lehi Acres, the Donna J. Beasley technical charter. These are kids who have a hard time. They several had dropped out and they were got back in to get their high school diploma and they worked really hard. And I only did 60 of them. The year be two years before it was right around 20 students, but this year they got 60 over the finish line. And several of them also had certifications in industry. So they have the jobs waiting for them when they go out. And I went to that one

197night and then immediately went to the Lehi Rotary who came up with 10 scholarships for students in the east zone. They do that every year and I was invited to be their guest and be there when they gave out the scholarships. It's a great club. So, a lot of things happening. the only other thing I have is I did go attend a webinar and it was navigating AI in K K12 and I found that very enlightening. So, I encourage all of y'all just to keep reading up and studying at AI because it's things we're going to have to come across our desks a lot as I see in the future. That's all. Thank you, Mr. Persons, Mrs. Langford Fleming. I'll just reiterate the sentiments of my colleagues that our graduations were outstanding. it's you know

198you have listened to 10 hours of board meeting at this point and you probably you know for our public have heard a what seems to be negativity but when you go to a graduation it really does shine a light on all the wonderful things our students are achieving and the millions of dollars in scholarships that they are earning. ing is just blow your mind. So, yes, I want to wish the graduates I had one of my own this year. happy summer and and to our teachers and staff, I hope that you do take a breath, you step away, you close that laptop, you make some great memories with your families. all of our staff here at the district and in our classrooms. and I want to implore the public to please be patient. Keep an

199eye out. Our students are out of school. That means they are, you know, riding their bikes. They're they're they're not in a structured environment anymore. please be cautious driving. Keep your eyes open. and while they are away on summer, should anybody need anything, I know that we have awesome resources at the district, whether it be meals, transportation, and anything else, just please don't hesitate to reach out. And that's all I have. Thank you, Miss Langford Fleming. Real quick is, just to confirm is Mrs. Chaviano. So, she's not online. What? I have a message from Miss Chaviano. She indicated that she lost connection. but what she wanted to share is that she hopes everybody has a fun and a safe summer. Thank you, madam board attorney. I'll give my comments briefly. congratulations to all the graduates

200as well. We all had some amazing graduations with my colleagues. I really had a great time. I also had I mentioned before about schools. completed my final first visit to schools. Thank you to Gateway High School, Gateway Elementary, Teline Elementary, Paul Lensstone Middle, Arnwood Elementary, Vills Elementary, Cypress Lake Middle, Alen Park Elementary, Ramis Page, and Ray Pov. So, thank you very much. I also want to thank our teachers and staff for all the amazing work they've done. And please make sure you take your some time for yourself and your families. Thank you so much and have a great summer. Madam board attorney, do you have any comments? ju just for my clarification, you indicated that the amendment with the two items would come to a workshop and then it could be on the action meeting

201as well for July 29th. Is that the direction? Because I was not clear. If that's the direction of the board, is that the direction of the board? Yep. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. You have your direction. Yes. Thank you. You can always pull it. Okay. Was that it, Attorney Bruno? Okay. Thank you, Madam Superintendent. I'll keep my comments very brief. again, just thank you to our board for your support of tonight's resolution. what you did tonight was to establish those salary incentives for our teachers and it was a tremendous win for our children. We are so excited that our children will have highquality teachers in each and every classroom next year. That is our goal. That's what we hope to accomplish. just to reiterate, high school graduations were absolutely amazing. I'll tell you that

202music that starts when the children process in still gives me chill bumps. just to watch their faces and watch their families, how excited they are. So that just fantastic. And just to again to piggyback on what what our board colleagues have said to our staff, to our students, congratulations on a great school year. I'm just so proud. I got to join you a few months in in November. but just so incredibly proud of the work that you all have done. and just to echo again the sentiments of take time this summer please to unplug disconnect. Spend time with your family. Go outside boys and girls. Enjoy the outside. staff make sure you do disconnect from the computers and just take a moment to just be with your families. As staff we give our time and

203our effort to our kids. That's what we call them. They're our kids. They're our students. Please take time with your own families as well. and just we're excited about the upcoming school year. So many great things await this school district and we are on our way to number one in the state of Florida. So with that thank you for for the opportunity to serve as your superintendent. Thank you, Superintendent Carlin. Next scheduled meetings of the board. On Tuesday, July 29th, there'll be a schoolboard workshop at 1 p.m. A school board special meeting regarding fiscal year 2025 2026 ten of budget at 5:05 p.m. followed by schoolboard action meeting at 6 p.m. At this point, having no other business to come before this body, seeing no objection, this meeting is hereby adjourned. The time is 10:08

204p.m. Have a great evening.