001good evening ladies and gentlemen we are ready to begin this evening's board meeting Sergeant arms is the lobby been cleared thank you at this time we request all electronic devices to be turned off or put in silent mode also please refrain from using flash photography except during the special presentations portion of the meeting it is my pleasure to welcome you to the June 13th 2023 school board meeting the time is 601 pm and this meeting is called to order we'd like to take this opportunity to remind the members of the public of the district's Mission which is to ensure that each student achieves his or her Highest Potential and the district's Vision to be a world-class system this evening's agenda includes the invocation Pledge of Allegiance acknowledgments recognitions one item under public information consent items
002which include three items under Board office nine items under academic services 10 items under Business Services four items under human resources one item under Information Systems and nine on nine nine items under operations one of which is good cause Dr Bernier please provide an explanation explanation for this one item thank you chairpersons members of the board members of the community the item for consideration for good cause this evening is the demolition for the outer buildings at Fort Myers Beach Elementary School it was added to the agenda as a good cause item in order to expedite phase one of the project and to eliminate any further delays in moving forward with Fort Myers Beach Elementary thank you as providing officer I find there is good cause for this to add this item to the agenda and
003we have one item under the attorney's recommendations and four items under good of the order other business board members is there a motion to adopt the agenda this is Jordan I moved to adopt the agenda as written is there a second his second second by Mrs Fleming please record your vote the motion carries seven zero as it's accustomed to the board Miss Jordan will lead us in the invocation afterwards Miss Patrica will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please stand pastor Jerry diolio has been ministering for 15 years he has been married to his lovely wife Beverly for 11 years he is the father of two children Josiah and Layla pastor dillio is the elder at Providence church located at 5471 Lee Street in Lehigh Acres Florida he is the men's director at Bernie
004pregnancy and medical Resource Center pastor dillio and I am so sorry because I'm saying your name incorrectly probably also serves as a Chaplain for Fort Myers Mighty muscles and the Florida coast League twins rookie affiliate his favorite scripture is Jeremiah 29. but if I say I will not mention his word or speak any more in his name his word is in my heart like a fire a fire shut up in the bones I am wary of holding it in indeed I cannot the beauty of that passage is Jeremiah is complaining about how much grief Ministry has brought him he thought serving the lord would be easy and realize it was the complete opposite as he is complaining he says that even though he has been overwhelmed with grief and affliction he's unable to refrain from
005proclaiming God's glory such a beautiful reminder that Ministry is hard and there is very little pageantry to it but the word has captivated Us in such a way that we are unable to hold it in regardless of the dangers and the hardship we face please welcome pastor Jerry the diolio thank you so much I just wanted to say real quick I had to drop out when I was 14. my mother my father left us and to be here at a district meeting for the school board to be able to lead the invocation it's only the grace of God so we're here because of the grace of God this is not just a formality Lord father son and spirit thank you for your grace thank you for your kindness thank you for giving us access to
006your throne where we come to you Lord for guidance and wisdom for strength will we bring our burdens will we bring our thoughts our afflictions our sadness and our joy father as we come here before you seeking your face to lead our community to help our children to help these families Lord may you grant us the wisdom to lead with love and grace that truth may abide that our ideas that our policies that the things Lord that are in our schools may they bring you honor may they bring you glory may you give these men and women the wisdom Lord to leave with righteousness with love and with Grace May the conversations held in here today may they bring you honor may they edify may they uplift may they be conversations to help our children
007we thank you for the privilege that you give us to serve you we thank you for the prayers that you give us to serve our children thank you Lord in Jesus name amen amen to the flag of the United States of America and to other Republic for which it stands under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please be seated next on the agenda are acknowledgments for the month of June the character word for June is cooperation cooperation alone we can do so little together we can do so much from Helen Keller the design you see displayed on the screen was created by Dalton little a 12th grade student at Mariner High School the school board of Lee County knowledge is the following for the month of June 2023. it is Caribbean American Heritage
008Month board members will you please join me in the pit for further recognitions thank you Johnny made the lectern this evening is Dr Dr Jason tomaszewski fine and Performing Arts coordinator welcome the Congressional Art competition began in 1982 to provide an opportunity for members of Congress to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents since then over 650 000 high school students have been involved in Nationwide competition students submit entries to the representative's office and panels of District artists select the winning entries this year the artwork of John storm Childress of Estero high school has been selected to represent all of Florida congressional district 19. his piece titled mother otter protecting a baby from alligator will be on display in the U.S Capitol for one year storm has also received a formal invitation
009from the U.S House of Representatives Byron Donalds to attend an awards reception in Washington D.C the school board and the superintendent are proud to recognize John storm Childress for his talent representation of the Arts in Southwest Southwest Florida congratulations thank you foreign all right joining me at the lectern is executive director for school development Mr Clayton Simmons and our director of Athletics Mr Dave LaRosa apparently just Mr Dave LaRosa is joining me at the doctor and tonight we are proud to recognize the 2023 Florida High School Athletic Association track and field state champions when I say state champion in the State of Florida I understand this is the third largest state in the nation so these kids competed against some of the best in the entire country the competition was held May 17th through 20th
0102023 at the Jacks track at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville Florida the school board and the superintendent are pleased to acknowledge these athletes along with their coaches for their commitment determination and hard work that led to this outstanding accomplishment School Representatives please join me when your school is announced from Fort Myers High School champion of the class 3A women's District throw with a mark of 42.82 meters if you're like me and you don't know meters that's about 140.5 feet Miss Julia Lemon congratulations from Riverdale High School champion of four state titles in class 4A 100 meter dash ambulatory time of 24.15 200 meter dash ambulatory time of 53.53 400 meter dash ambulatory time of two minutes 14.17 seconds and javelin throw ambulatory with a mark of 7.75 meters joining join me in congratulating
011Ms Kiel Castaneda congratulations thank you fantastic thank you joining me at the lectern is executive director for school development Miss Linda Muir very soon I'll do it well okay Odyssey of the mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary Classics students develop problem-solving critical thinking teamwork math language arts science writing engineering and Performing Arts skills after placing first at the Florida state competition in April the team from North Fort Myers Academy of the Arts qualified for the OM World competition this year the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals took place at Michigan State University from May 24th to May 27th under the direction of coaches
012Marianne Hodges and Agni gadagowskate the team from North Fort Myers Academy of the Arts placed third at the world's finals in division two problem number one pirates and the treasure the school board and the superintendent are pleased to recognize and extend their congratulations to these gifted and talented students and their coaches please come on up to be recognized and receive your certificate when I call your name Macy Hodges Isaiah Diaz Elizabeth Clements Aiden Bauer Amy Bauer Julia humble congratulations thank you okay joining me at the lectern is director of exceptional student education Mr Teresa Bowen oh wow that was good super fast family initiatives annual autism acceptance Awards recognized and celebrated the everyday champions of the autism spectrum disorder community and their tireless efforts to promote inclusion education and empowerment of the autism spectrum disorder
013community and Beyond three of Lee three of the five Community Heroes honorees this year include Educators from the Lee County School District the believer Awards honors an individual or organization that effectively uses its resources for positively impact individuals and families with autism the champion Awards honors an individual who uses their resources for influence to advance the well-being of those on the Spectrum or further understanding and acceptance of autism in the community the Dylan award honors an individual who has gone above and beyond for the autism spectrum disorder community and has served as an inspiration to others this year the school board and the superintendent are pleased to recognize Joe Pace ese teacher from Diplomat Elementary as a recipient of the believer award Joe was unable to to be here this evening with us but we
014want to congratulate him anyway thank you Krista kazarek caserozak ese teacher from Rhema C page Elementary as a recipient of the champion award and Eileen skowrid ese teacher from Goff Elementary as a recipient of the Dillon Awards okay congratulations foreign is recruitment director Mrs Suzette Rivera this year the school board entered into an agreement with tpg cultural exchange to attract and hire International teachers the tpg the tpg cultural exchange is a U.S Department of State designated D1 Visa sponsor for Teacher exchange visitors teachers selected through the tpg cultural exchange meat certification requirements through the Florida Department of Education and are qualified to teach in our high-speed high-need subject areas for up to five years for the 2022-2023 school year the district well welcomed 21 teachers through the tpg culture Exchange program the school board and
015superintendent are very pleased to recognize the following teachers when I call your name please come up and be recognized first is Erica Horace she teaches England English language arts at East Lee County High next up is chizoba onochi from Nigeria he teaches science at Fort Myers Middle thank you Josephine Baker Dean teaches English English language arts she is from Jamaica at Fort Myers Middle School next up is June Ray Rosa Cena from the pillow from the Philippines at Gateway High next up is Ricardo Jones from Jamaica teaches science also at Gateway High next up is Joanna Ebola teacher she is from Ghana Juana at horns Marsh Elementary next up is Simone Kirkland teacher from Jamaica also teaching at Hans Marsh Elementary next up is Elijah oluch I say that right which is from Kenya he
016teaches science at Hans Marsh Middle next up is sashay I'm sorry Amos sashay at horns Marsh Middle yawn Philippines she teaches exceptional student education next up is Charles darqua teaches science and he is from Guana Arsenal next up is Sharif oh this looked up on funky all right teaches exceptional student education from Lehigh Acres Middle and he's from Guang this is the tough one here the next up is Ricky a math teacher from the Philippines at Lehigh Acres Middle it's okay up is JoJo Alvarez H's math from the Philippines at Lehigh Acres Middle next up is Kimberly Wallace an elementary teacher from Jamaica at Lehigh Elementary next up is Nicole Martin an elementary teacher from Jamaica at Lehigh Elementary so next up is Cherry English language arts from the Philippines at Veterans Park Academy under
017fish language arts from Kenya at Veterans Park Elementary next up is Madeleine Fria an English exceptional student education at Veterans Park Academy and last but not is Francis a demon science teacher at Veterans Park Academy thank you foreign the school district of Lee County Parent University was created to increase the capacity of parents and Guardians to be actively engaged in their child's education in the third year oh yes this third this is the third year that this program was offered to families of school of the school district for the 2022-23 school year parent University provided five virtual learning sessions that included topics and activities for students of all ages and their families in order to complete the program participants must attend 75 percent of the sessions which include a follow-up survey on topics presented well
018we had hundreds of parents participate throughout the year 19 parents presenting 21 schools completed the 2023 program the names of these parents are also listed in the agenda item in the board docs and up on the screen as we have the pleasure of recognizing a few of these parents representing some of our schools who are present present here today the communications department and engagement team have led the efforts to bring this program to our district families I'd like to invite Miss Irma Lancaster director of communications to join me at the lectern and help me recognize these parents please come up and be recognized Jennifer Straley at Cape Coral Elementary School thank you thank you thank you zarnara galendez North Fort Myers Academy of the Arts Marta Cardona Pre-K and Zuni lausanne of G Weaver Hipp
019sunshine hold on there you go come on foreign take a brief recess if anyone recognition would like to leave I'd have to sit through the whole meeting while they're leaving I'll just do a quick story The International teachers had a picnic at the end of the school year or towards the end of the school year in the district bought some nice food for them and they all showed up with their native dishes to share with everybody which was unexpected and not asked for and they were just a great great group to have fellowshipped with for a few hours one afternoon so they're great and we're lucky to have them it's on I'm just not projecting quite loud enough okay next on our agenda is the hurricane Ian Community update entrepreneur please Mr chair members of
020the board on no PowerPoint this evening to the community we're still in the middle middle of a very long-term process in terms of recovering we are still making great Headway with FEMA and with our FEMA consultant Imperium under the leadership of Susan Malay in a very excellent team that really does amazing work we will tell you that all School roofs that were damaged as a result of Hurricane Ian all have proposals now in from our Roofing vendors and they're being considered by the district and the repairs are will be underway some of them will be starting as early as tomorrow some of them are as early as next week the hurricane response team which is primarily our maintenance department saw an additional 20 projects get completed last week 14 additional schools had new projects commenced
021to repair damage for hurricaneian and over the next three weeks an additional 50 schools will begin the new repair work potentially with your action tonight we'll also begin to move forward with Fort Myers Beach Elementary to that Community while the demolition should begin in Earnest they should have noticed that we've been out trying to capture their historic sidewalks so we know there were some sidewalks out there that led to graduating classes we are attempting to remove that concrete but under the direction of our chief operations officer we are doing a short quick opportunity to take a latex mold in case that when we moved one if we break it we'll be able to re we'll be able to replicate it so excited about the progress Fort Myers Beach Elementary one of the ones left additionally
022potentially on the agenda tonight and I'll mention in my comments will be some movement again on Hector cafaretta and I'll have an update regarding a public-private partnership proposal that went out last week so making that continuing to make Headway sir thank you I do believe the current class at the school went on with the tradition and had their hand prints put in this year so even though they're not in it right now they didn't want to be left out that's great okay next on our agenda is public comment attorney dupe Bruno please address the item Force good evening thank you Mr chairman the school board policy provides the opportunity at this point in the meeting to address the board concerning any matter on this meeting's agenda or any other matter relevant to the operation of
023the school district please complete a public comment card and put it in the basket provided if you need a public comment card they are provided by our staff the rules concerning public comment are posted in the back and will be made from the podium in the front center aisle please be advised that the board will not respond during public comment to remarks made by speakers concerns will be addressed by the superintendent or his staff as necessary and the chair May comment as deemed appropriate at the conclusion of public comment the superintendent may also comment if deemed appropriate the purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on District issues such as duties responsibilities decisions and the general operation of the district the school board is Viewpoint neutral during public comment we ask that decorum be
024kept and respect be shown which is what is a expected when a government agency conducts official business therefore abusive language such as cursing insults derogatory language levied against an individual or a class of people are prohibited further personal attacks such as name calling are prohibited in addition clapping hissing and booing or a display of temper during public comment is prohibited speakers who failed to follow proper decorum in the chambers will be ruled out of order by the board chair or the parliamentarian any speaker continuing with such remarks will be required to relinquish the microphone for board policy 1.11 and may be removed from the chambers by the Sergeant at Arms for board policy 1.11 the time per speaker is three minutes if there are 20 two minutes if there are 30 speakers and one minute
025if there are 31 speakers or more the maximum time allotted for public comment is one hour 60 speakers you will find a countdown at the big screens in the front of the room once your time has elapsed the microphone will automatically shut off please state your name when you approach the microphone I will call your names five speakers at a time please follow the satch direction when lining up Mr chairman there are 17 speakers that wish to address the board this evening three minutes per speaker thank you please make sure you have completed a public comment card if you intend to provide public comment the card is our public record of identifying who is speaking is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the board but did not fill out a public comment
026off cart Cody Bruno please proceed with the thank you Mr chairman will the following individuals please line up Adam weisberger Dr Paula Porter Lori Brown Kathy horn Sharon McGill you can come on up just wait till the timer comes on there you go attendant Council and board members good evening my name is Adam weisberger and I am the President of the South Gulf football officials Association this year we'll be celebrating our 51st year officiating High School football here in Lee County and on behalf of the 75 plus men and women I have the pleasure of leading we are very appreciative for your consideration tonight of the service agreement for 2023 2024 under item H9 of your agenda I certainly don't have to tell you any of you that the cost of doing business has gone
027up in the last year whether it's higher insurance premiums increased costs of technology or even a ream of paper the increases we see as a small Association is not unlike the increased costs of the schools we serve with that said and as you've probably been briefed by board Council our service agreement in front of you today represents zero change in the terms of or structure or fees as was in front of you last year well I certainly can't guarantee that going forward our board of directors was in unanimous agreement that with the change of our leadership we want to show you and the schools that we serve that we are committed to continuing to build on the strong relationship we have had over the last half century now I know of the three teams that
028are on the field on any given Friday night ours isn't the most popular but while we are extremely appreciative of the hospitality that's provided by each of the member schools that host us each week and we remain committed to ensure that high school football games in Lee County are contested fairly and officiated to the best of our ability finally I'd like to personally invite all of you to attend our fall on field officials Clinic being held on Friday August 11th at 6 pm at Dunbar High School Gateway High School and Lehigh senior high school will be the other schools participating along with the host Dunbar and they will participate in a controlled scrimmage and activities organized by us which allows for our officials to get some final on-field reps in before the kickoff Classics commenced
029the following week this will give you an opportunity to see the culmination of all the hard work and training that our members put in over the summer preparing for games and to support three Local Schools thank you for your time tonight and for your anticipated support on our agenda item good evening I'm Dr Paula Porter and for the record I have a PhD in education instructional design and I essentially teach teachers at the University level first of all I want to thank the board for their continued openness on the issue of books accessible to our children I want to commend the curriculum advisory committee for its outstanding efforts in putting together an objective and practical policy to review all books this policy that is before you in the next few weeks is as an objective
030as possible and follows a letter of the law in the Miller test this policy enables a fair and deeper review of two important qualities in the middle of test to review and read the entire book and judge it on its value to inform educate Inspire and teach children you should be proud that Lee County has strong members who have put together a policy that is far above what I have reviewed from many other Florida counties research throughout the years has proven that access to read a variety of topics and themes provided in books impact children's critical thinking skills by exposing them to new ideas and perspectives encourage them to question and evaluate information and develop unique ideas and opinions reading a variety of books with different themes can help children develop empathy creativity problem solving
031skills all that we know are necessary for their adult lives providing books with diverse perspectives and ideas exposes children to different viewpoints as well as enhances their intellectual growth children's access to information and ideas presented in books will help them grow academically intellectually and emotionally finally I don't know if any of you know this but last Thursday the U.S Department of Education announced it as appointing a coordinator to take on the unprecedented issue of the removal of books in U.S schools the White House during this announcement indicated that when we limit access to books it erodes our democracy removes vital resources for student learning and can contribute to the stigma and isolation of others thank you foreign my name is Lori Brown and I'm here to request that you pay attention to the Florida statute
032it's my understanding that it does not require an entire book to be read before a challenge form can be submitted there are things in books that are on our bookshelves that our children have access to that they should not it is up to you our board members to follow the law and to do it in a way that protects our kids we trust you and yet you are allowing things into their hearts and their minds that is causing extreme High rates of suicide confusion and mutilation to their bodies I don't know how you can sleep at night knowing that those books are on those shelves with full access and it needs to be limited pay attention to the Florida Statutes we're here we're watching and we will report thank you good evening everyone Sharon McGill
033oh sorry Sharon McGill I would just like to address a additionally a few things from this afternoon but first of all I would like to thank the board and the superintendent I noticed that on the official property records the date that items were put into service was now on the list so thank you for transparency that really does help the public understand you know why these things are coming off of the record so thank you very much for that I know you probably don't have it on your screens now but I'd like to refer back to the citizens advisory committee from this afternoon and at your leisure please look at the first paragraph Because unless I'm misunderstanding it you're saying that the sac is a school board advisory committee which with my understanding is not
034the case but that's what it's saying in the first paragraph of that so if you could please look at that again and make sure the wording and how it's actually stated in that paragraph because it is confusing the next thing is this afternoon we saw the social media presentation which was incredible I mean it's it's so sad to see that's what we've come to and whether we go into litigation to recover dollars or not I think that's not the real issue the real issue is how do we try to prevent this at the district level we should be looking at this and going back and trying to find ways to help mitigate it so we don't have to get to litigation so it doesn't get to that point what are we doing to help our
035kids and when I when I go home I'm going to look up and see if there's a social media policy geared towards specifically toward that and if there is not I would certainly hope that we would consider including one in our policies thank you well the following individuals please line up Rosemary McBride Joe Phillips Jamie Merchant Robert Roper Madeline Stewart foreign Kathy horn from Estero speaking to the book policy you hire educated qualified professionals to make curricular decisions trust them that said read the policy carefully their updates read the updates carefully before you approve them while challenges must be allowed there must be a way to prevent repeated nuisance challenges or you will all be reading many many many books and spending hours and hours in challenge reviews challenges should read the entire books to
036prevent cherry picking of lines and to make sure they really understand exactly what they're challenging your policy should reflect that parental Choice means a parent may choose what their own children may or may not read don't let a small group of parents who wish to restrict their own child's education limit choices for other parents and in the spirit of the Constitution don't allow one group's religion to force their ideas of morality on others who don't share their beliefs there are many religions out there there are many that support the lgbtq people and all diversity these people have forced your staff to devote countless hours to this policy and will force them and you in the countless more hours of distraction from the true purpose of Education every time a book is challenged because of lgbtq
037African-American or other marginalized groups content children who fit into these groups will be demeaned please support all your children to quote author Judy Bloom let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them and as a final note since I have time I want to say to the subject of teen suicide having been a teenager once I can tell you that depression comes from being forced to from feeling that you are ashamed Because of Who You Are and times have changed a lot since I was a kid and I'm grateful for that for today's children and allowing diversity and encouraging kids to question and seek help and talk to people and read and see themselves in books and media discourages suicide and encourages confidence thank you good evening my name is Rosemary
038McBride following passages are from the good book from Isaiah their infants will be dashed to Pieces before their eyes their houses will be looted and their wives violated from Exodus whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death from Jeremiah I will make them eat the Flesh of their sons and daughters and they will eat one another's flesh because their enemy will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them these passages reference themes of murder stealing rape bestiality and cannibalism do these and other similar passages mean that the Bible is without literary merit or value and should be removed from school libraries without context a passage from a book doesn't convey the full meaning of the book as the author intended to judge isolated passages from books as pornographic or distasteful is
039simply an exercise and misinterpretation thank you Cooper during the briefing meeting today we had one agenda item that in a single statement repealed 250 existing tried and proven policies followed immediately by an agenda item that was the first reading of 586 new policies at first I was relieved that first reading didn't actually mean that you were going to read them it reminded me of the famous line in 2010 when Nancy Pelosi said you have to pass the bill to see what's in the bill then I thought of an executive order of the previous president executive order number 13771 I quote for every new regulation issued at least two prior regulations must be identified for elimination I will not ask if each of you has thoroughly read each policy compared it to the old policy and
040reading all the Florida Statutes that are referenced in each of these policies to ensure that the policy meets the letter of the law if you did all those things my hat is off to you but is it reasonable to think that the average citizen could do that change is hard but I wish we could look at a reasonable number of policies in any one setting that we could get back to Red Letter highlight changes that we could have each line numbered for easy rep cross reference but the thing that concerns me Above All Else is that the policies are not cross-referenced within for the procedures documents there's no longer a cross-reference to related policies and there's no longer forms Linked In the policies I don't even know where to start to find the compliance for
041how to comply with a policy without knowing what the process documents are associated with it I don't even know how to do a public records request for that in relation to challenge forms and reading a book I support what Miss giovannelli said some people don't want their name on a challenge form that they've read a book because they're a teacher or their staff or they're related to a teacher or they're a grandparent or a great grandparent people don't want to be hassled or belittled or they don't want their student harassed I have been called during public comment Ward Cleaver pastor of Darkness extremist intolerant extremist my church has received some really hateful phone calls where people aggressively curse out my secretary I could see why a person would not want to say that they objected
042this book and they read it in in its entirety when it says did you read it I read that as I could answer that yes or no it doesn't it's not a requirement thank you good evening everyone nice to see you again I want to First say kudos to your staff to Dr Spiro and his staff for a fabulous and I can say that because I've read every word of it policy on book challenges and we know that it does comply with the law and it is a fair and very sound policy I want to just take a minute to talk about the state of education public education as you know we're going through a time of upheaval and transition superintendents teachers and staff and public schools are under attack almost constantly I want to
043share my concerns about how these well-orchestrated Nationwide vitriolic attacks affect educational professionals students and our public education system anticipatory compliance is a concept that describes my concerns I fear that well-trained experienced school people will hesitate will not be comfortable relying on their best professional judgment when making the hundreds of daily decisions that are part of any school and classroom they won't be able to make these decisions because they fear reprisal if they make the slightest misstatement or mistake we know that teachers are leaving the profession and we heard this afternoon that here in Lee County we need professionals professional teachers I fear this chilling effect will work its way into book selection and curriculum development making the most Bland and least interesting the norm so that any criticism no matter how unfounded is avoided how
044does this how do these attacks affect our students and their learning a positive Cooperative understanding relationship between the teacher and the parent between the school and the parent is Central to any student's learning and growth every parent's concerns and questions should be discussed and resolved in a spirit of making the best decision for the individual student if a parent makes a decision to deny their own student access to a book that is their right however personal highly negative public attacks on teachers and schools create a terrible Conflict for students this inhibits their learning undermines their confidence in their own feelings and worsens behavior I urge those who take issue with the school to do so with respect for your own students sake and again I and the people thank thank you Miss Stewart well the
045following individuals please line up Eileen DeLuca Bobby de Lisandro Marge Cox Robert Daniels Jamie Merchant on May 17th I attempted to attempted to send you all an email regarding my frustration of what seems to be lack of transparency in the community about what types of books are being challenged in my email I described a removed book brought up in the curriculum advisory meeting and used words like naked children and masturbation because that content was in the book and for the record I will correct myself and note the book is for ages 10 plus and not kindergarten I was surprised prize goodness gracious I was surprised when I realized my email was blocked by your email servers because of the content there were no pictures attached to my email just words on May 22nd I revised
046my email to a very friendly G-rated version and received a few replies so now I wonder how many book challenges you book challenges have been missed because your email servers won't allow this content in an email thread we can't bring this content to the attention of adults because it's bad or inappropriate but children have this content available to them at their fingertips and that seems odd to me I wish the person in leadership reaching out to the community about people just trying to ban books from children actually told them what it was you were targeting we're targeting sexual content there are books that we challenge that have sexual content but were retained because the phrase contains literary value over overruled the books the parts of the book discussing oral sex on a bus and More
047in February of 2022 parents and community members excuse me stood at the podium and read passages from books being challenged it didn't take long for then chair Jordan to call a recess and she was quick to give a Content advisory warning for people listening online this should be what is labeled as a community standard but it fell on deaf ears if I cannot send you an email that contains content and a book on District shelves and if community members cannot read the passages aloud with audit content warning why do our children have access to the book without parental consent or any content warning whatsoever nobody is looking to ban Pete the Cat Flat Stanley Charlotte's Web or the Lemonade Wars I'm pretty sure you're catching my point I hope we can all agree to protect
048the innocence of our young children and not hand them a book that normalizes sexual promiscuity thank you good evening my name is Eileen de Luke and I'm the parent of three children in Lee County schools and I've also been an educator for more than 28 years I'm here to thank the teachers the library media Specialists and other curriculum professionals who are working on the policy and also the process for the book media selection I really value the work of Educators and community members are doing to ensure the educational decisions are made by Educators and that parents retain the right to make opt-out decisions for their own children as an educator I'm concerned that removing books from the library and classroom shelves is a slippery slope I can tell you as a former High School teacher
049and also as a college professor that successful students are students who read and read a wide variety of material that is how they acquire Advanced vocabulary sophisticated syntax and the ability to analyze texts and synthesize meaning from a variety of texts students who read from all genres do well in assessments become good writers and demonstrate high level thinking these are the skills needed to do well in college and in life if we start removing books from shells because a few folks have concerns about certain topics we cut off access to college readiness for students who may be interested in or connected to the topic to use an example that came up in the curriculum meeting if a student interested in is interested in Dragons and a few extremists are offended by dragons removal of dragon
050books may be the very thing that turns a student off to reading conversely if we offer students the ability to have a personal transaction with a topic that resonates with them such as dragons it may open up a love of reading that will support them as they read required novels textbooks and non-fiction also we need to avoid the slippery slope of banning topics such as dragons which then may Empower extremists to ask for the removal of a book that include powerful female dragons inspiring dragons from Minority or historically marginalized groups dragons who come from a low socioeconomic status dragons who do not present as heteronormative or dragons who want to protect academic freedom this book challenge policy that you have all are going to approve at the next meeting continues to allow parents to make
051decisions about the content they do not want their own children to access and also has a mechanism for citizens to request an ad hoc committee to review books they feel are inappropriate for all students and complies with statute so again we are grateful the work you've done I am here to support you and the educational Professionals of this District when you make sound informed educational decisions for our children we will be at all meetings that discuss book policy issues because we are a group of people in this community with children in the schools who want children to access books thank you very much good evening attorney Bruno Dr Bernier and board members I'm here to speak about the policy 2522 I first want to thank the staff of Dr Jess Sparrow who have listened to
052the many voices and I mean there's been many in developing the challenge process which will go along with your policy and the statute we have felt heard and included in both the meetings with the staff and also the curriculum advisory committee the staff has worked diligently to be sure they are aligning the process with the statute and your upcoming policy you know every county is allowed to make its own process and the purple group has read the different processes in the counties and believe me they're quite varied and I have to say that and without prejudice Lee County has developed the most Fair policy that we have read so far or processed so congratulations to them we also believe that the that the educational processes should be developed by our educational staff and they're doing
053that we really also firmly believe in parental rights and I find it quite interesting that most of our book challenges are from the community and not our parents one situation that I'd like to flag view which I think is very important in the future there's a possibility that a situation will come to you where a book has been challenged both to the committee then it will come to the board and then it will go to the state now do you know that they're going to request or make a proposal to Quest that is the board the State Board decides to send it back on the library shelf they want that book flagged forever that had been a challenge now think about that manipulative process and how unfair that is once a book has gone through
054that process so I'm wanting you to be thoughtful when considering this and I just know and understand you'll always do the right thing for children and that's all we're asking thank you so much hello again I'd like to say whatever I think everyone else has said thank you for working so hard at your jobs and thank you for supporting the professionals on your staff that are working very hard on their jobs I've been so impressed with the curriculum committee meetings that I've attended they're wonderful the people on it are wonderful I'm coming this evening because when as I've listened to meetings and there seem to be some confusion over what would be appropriate and so I looked started through the Florida Statutes started with 847.012 then I went through every statute number that was listed
055in that statute number printed them out spread them my head started to whirl around my shoulders and thought what could I do to make something helpful to the process and it seems to me like one of the things that would be helpful to the process would to look at book reviews where it lists age groups of what's appropriate I've served 40 years in the public school system they're definitely books that I would not have at an elementary library that would be appropriate in a high school library every book is not appropriate for every child but if you can look at review sources that state this is appropriate for this age level then that gives a starting point to be able to say okay this is something we can look at within that age level that's
056appropriate to send an email with five sources that are currently in print hornbook School library Journal kirkus book list Publishers Weekly all give book reviews consistently over books that are coming out to say this would be an appropriate book within this particular age range not that it's particular for every age range and I just think as we're looking for what's appropriate for kids we need to look at the specifics of an age range not just is it a good book or a bad book but what who is it written for who's the audience I appreciate so much the hard work you've done and I appreciate what your curriculum committee has done and the policy is good my suggestion would be I would add to it and what are two professional sources that show a review
057for that book thank you so much for your time this evening well the following individuals please line up Marion Hodges Christy divigilli and Susan my name is Robert Daniels I hadn't planned to speak on this but as a young man who was inspired by books about dragons it did nothing to crimp or derive or discourage me from reading books when I didn't hear about the nitty-gritty of the made and practices of dragons well I was reading about those swords and sorcery novels what I did intend to talk to you about was a little bit about the law of unintended consequences Murphy's Law and the dunn-kruger effect lesson I was here there was mention made compared to the use of artificial intelligence to the introduction of cell phones to classrooms I have the unique experience of
058having been in school through the entire development of cell phones from the Nokia brick that you could kill somebody with throwing it at them to this latest smartphones the iPhones all of that when cell phones first came into the classroom you know we thought it was just for easier communication our students are safer parents can get a hold of them tell them when plans changed easier than calling the front office the unintended effect though was that it reduced the independence of students and enabled what we refer to as helicopter parents then came the development of smartphones well it used to be 100 euro technology that was now in the palm of your hands was now 10 year old technology the internet in the palm of your hand always there when I was in teacher College
059we thought that these would be to us enhanced learning and increased student accessibility when it actually turned into well you already know social media run rampant students being depressed destroying their self-image but more importantly it removed and devalued knowing things it ripped the bottom of Bloom's pyramid right out of things students no longer care about knowing things they don't need to care about knowing how to do things for that we have Google and YouTube so I need to learn about it now when I'd rather be doing something else which begets behavioral issues because we all know that engagement in the lesson they don't care about because they can just look it up on Google later is one of the hardest things you can do not to mention the other issues such as eating Tide Pods
060and the devious lick phenomenon which caused how much damage to our schools the artificial intelligence threats to rip the top off a bloom spearm but removing evaluation synthesis creativity from the process that our students go through how are they going to learn to judge evaluate synthesize when they can type a prompt into a district provided program that was let out an essay that has done all the hard work and thinking for them that they simply need to revise and plagiarize and submit and before any of you think that we don't already provide it there's a program called pack back that myself and a few English teachers have tested we submitted a prompt and got back an a quality essay that we could improve was AI generated good evening Dr Bernier and Ladies and Gentlemen of
061the board my name is Marianne Hodges and I'm going to admit I'm terrified to be here right now I'm going to start with thank you for everything that you guys do I a little bit about me I've resided in Lee County for 21 years I've taught in Lee County schools for 15 years and I've been a mom for 14. this is going to sound really small compared to all the big things that you guys do but I wanted to share about the process that I've been through in the last few months through student assignment and trying to get my current eighth grade going into 9th grade daughter enrolled into the school that works for me on behalf of other teachers I'd like that you guys consider adopting a policy that allows teachers to have children
062placed in schools to have their own children placed in schools that works well for them with the expectation that we provide our own transportation in an era where it's really difficult to staff our schools I feel like this is a free somewhat manageable Park that we could work The Kinks out to offer to teachers and maybe even encourage them to stick with the profession seven years ago I got a teaching position at North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts solely for the purpose of getting my Easton daughter placed at the West Zone school that offered an arts program and full-time gifted because that is what would suit her needs at the time and until today when my daughter's waiver was approved thank goodness I was ready to do the same thing again because I'm certified
063to teach high school as well and was ready to just go teach at North High where she could participate into the pro in the programs that she's been building up over the last three years in middle school I don't believe though that this is what's best for students the process that I was going to go through for my own daughter allow or has teachers uprooting themselves from a craft that they've been refining for years just to go teach in a different area for the sake of their own child's placement I've seen many teachers leave the school where I currently work to do just that for their own children and it has created holes in our school that have been really hard to replace the clubs and programs that teachers cultivate in their schools where they've
064been working and up abandoned without someone to carry them on in my own case I've been teaching fourth grade for seven years in elementary school for 13. I'm an OM coordinator and I've gonna run out of time I've done a lot of things at my school and I didn't want to leave all of those programs just for getting my kid into the one where I felt like she needed to be unfortunately like I said many other teachers do this some even go to the extreme of lying about their permanent addresses just to play the student assignment game and I wasn't willing to do it like I said thankfully it worked out in this case for my daughter but I'm just one example of many so again I'd like to ask you to adopt a policy
065that allows teachers to have their children placed at a school that works best for them granted that we there was a woman that mentioned things that can cause depression and I can tell you another thing that causes depression and that's when you have a child on the autism spectrum and they have to take home stacks of school work that they couldn't cope with doing in school year after year after year our years in the Lee County School District have been a disaster from the beginning especially once my son needed an IEP jump to freshman year and Ida Baker I beg the guidance counselor to hold my son back a year and his response was if we held back all those needing to be held back we'd have a high school full of 20 year olds
066so parents I'm talking to you if you're watching from home kids are pushed through each year unprepared for the next step parents the Lee County School District does not teach the way many of our kids learn and some still slide through still unprepared with study skills for further education in senior year at North Fort Myers High Administration invited me to remove my son from school he was maybe not making their school look good send him to North Nicholas high school they said which is more of a completion School already really feeling rejected after a short attendance he felt the atmosphere was not the school for him while I was alarmed that he voluntarily withdrew my son enrolled himself at Northern Palms Charter High School he did this all on his own there he was met
067by a few huge hearted staff who vowed to get him through finally a school that was pleased that his parents were in regular contact about his progress one week they actually passed out raffle tickets each day a student was present wouldn't you know that by Friday my son won a flat screen smart TV and was over the moon because he's never won anything in his life the message here is it paid what an added incentive they had an idea to for daily support along with their staff their excellent staff on Saturday June 3rd we finally watched my son walk across the stage as a high school graduate a year late but who gives a rip The Pride we all feel is immeasurable in retrospect the Lee County school district has many problems they refused to
068address and resolve very quickly any parents that have kids in high school that can relate to what I'm saying I urge you to transfer to one of the two charter high schools so that thank you thank you ma'am Christy Diva jelly I'm going to start with the good stuff thank you board member Fleming for suggesting an opt-in for for comprehensive health education in today's Workshop although it was ignored I appreciate it also thank you to board member persons for your recommendation we have committee meetings to audio recordings opposed to simply just relying on minutes we all know how well that's worked in the past so thank you for that now after the to the not so fun stuff there's a saying that goes something like this people have two tongues one in their mouth and
069one in their shoe ignore what they say and watch what they do I've been sitting back and watching since the installation of our new board I've been watching The District staff to see how when left in their hands they will respond and exactly they will respond and exactly what type of pressure is necessary for appropriate action to take place will they follow up with scheduling meetings they agreed to schedule or will I have to hound them who are they currently catering to and why this brings me to the to the challenge books process first off no one is disagreeing with kids reading books about dragons parents however are disagreeing with kids reading books about drag queens there's a difference some purple in the room may think it's perfectly normal to provide content of that nature
070to other people's children but as a parent let me remind you that you have no right exposing my children to any of it but like so many purple it purple mentioned in the room before tonight it has only been community members submitting forms so far so rather than complaining me and other parents like me are ready to do something about it let me move on to a teacher at my daughter's school also North Fort Myers High School had her students put their class put her classroom library books in a closet the week before school ended because they didn't want to scan and catalog them is this the type of behavior we should expect from teachers throughout the district that don't want to catalog and scan their classroom library books because they don't want that content
071to be seen by anyone but their students I'll finish by saying Kudos Dr Spyro thanks for being such a team player Mr Phillips are you going to speak foreign I'd like to thank the board today for allowing me to speak as my capacity as an advocate and a translator for these ladies these ladies are employees of Bonita Springs High School they want to submit to the record that they feel that they have been treated unfairly and discriminated against during their employment with Lee County School District now the one passage I don't I promised the district got to be short but I do want to read one quote from this and I think the board owes it to these ladies to read this entire letter and please I want it a matter of record on Friday
072June 9th 223 the administrative staff called each of us individually into the second person Summit during the meeting I was showing pictures and accused of inadequate performance now later on today wrongfully accused me of actions I did not commit they presented me with a blank a blank piece of paper demanding that I sign it when I expressed hesitation to do this due to the nature that it was blank they coerced me into signing it saying that I would not be allowed to leave to end the just distressing ordeal I left the office in tears deeply upset now I'm telling you I'm as an advocate on this I have no real knowledge on this but if this is true y'all owe this to these ladies they were some of them were terminated and if I could
073I would like to enter this now please foreign I want to thank the board for allowing me to speak on behalf of rosalindo sisnos Maria Flores Dulce Flores and Juana Garcia and thank you board for allowing me this time for these ladies thank you ladies my time now please say hi let me get it together before you start me please thank you I'm smoking Joe the Lee County student School District performed below the state average in all but one testing category fifth grade science where the district performed on par with the state with a 48 of students receiving passes passing score there's no excuse for Lee County not to exceed the state average we can do better this is a direct quote from armored persons on July 5th 2022 during his campaign I might add
074so I've asked you are we doing better viral videos of middle school students fighting teachers arrested for abusing children administrators covering up for family members who brought drugs into our schools multiple accounts of sexual abuse yet you would have us to believe that armor is an educational utopian armor said no excuse but has not visited these troubled schools in his district instead of addressing the real problems this District wants to silence the parents and community members in so many ways this district has failed us a mother contact moves concerns regarding her child's 504 plan this reflects a failure in your ESC department and her schools propelling to provide the best in education this board continues to boast with their accomplishment recently a member received the pineapple award which is a benefiting name for a pineapple
075releases tiny needles that causes temporary ulcers in the mouth the needles are eventually expelled and become PCS and this board seems to need a laxative by letting our first amendment rights in order to stop your misdeeds from being exposed will bring on another lawsuit against the district and quite frankly the board attorney's ego will cost the taxpayers more and more money this board is pushing for a fantasy narrative that they need to protect us from the community who is in fact we're trying to practice children from you again you have turned speak up listen up to shut up and cover up again thank you for earlier Mr chairman that concludes public comments thank you I would like to mention one thing that was brought up earlier on all the policies that we are going to
076be getting rid of and adding the new policies that process has been going on well over a year the old board was meeting with Neola going over policy by policy staff has been doing that so it's not all done in one meeting so I just wanted people to know that all right next on our agenda is to consent actions oh yeah I'm sorry thank you yes Mr superintendent would you like to make some comments thank you Mr chair I want to thank this community for its public input that led to this particular part of our process in past everyone's had to sit and wait for the end of a meeting in order for a response to some of the issues I will not be able to respond to all because some of them I'm hearing
077about for the very first time that being the case I always find it better to continue to gather facts and the before making a decision so to the young women that were present with Mr Phillips I want to say that we'll look deeper into it thank you for providing the information we have organizations that will dig deeper and find out what actually transpired as to I will come back to books at the very end as to the mom of a North Fort Myers High School student who wound up at a charter school first of all I will say and I don't mean this facetiously congratulations for signing for fun that your son found the option that allowed him to graduate from high school I wish that option had been us I will have my team
078look into that matter once we get Miss Susan's last name regarding policy for our teachers it is already something that we're planning to have we've already discussed in human resources to talk about a policy that will allowed our to allow our teachers some latitude when it comes to placement that will help stabilize some of our school buildings where they would like to stay it makes complete sense however it will alienate another group of a diverse Community those will be parents who want that seat so just that's going to be my segue to the to the book process I will tell you that there is so much similarity in this room and there's so much difference I think we have to focus on what our similarities are this school district will follow the law books are
079key to learning and I heard that from the diverse speakers tonight reading is the Gateway to all other subjects writing math science social studies physics Etc they are the key to knowledge because you first learned to read and then you read to learn the diversity of our community is our strength and to our staff and our community for all the hard work that they put in because it was a joint effort in the curriculum council's meetings it was not just staff it was just not people in a colored t-shirt and was just not people who believe something else it was a good selection of our community additionally some people have had the opportunity not only to dress it in community council meetings and curriculum Council meetings but they have the opportunity to also address it
080with a superintendent with individual board members and with staff we've provided open doors to this process since my arrival well just a year just a little over a year ago we will comply with the power with the law and respect the power of our parents our parents do have parental rights but as I said tonight in the briefing this morning this afternoon the briefing with parental right comes parental responsibility we must Place ourselves in a position where our parents are empowered to exercise those rights and responsibly advocate for their children that's what they did tonight in the case of an ese student that's what they did tonight in the case of a teacher looking for an opportunity for people to stay and that's what many of you did tonight as we looked forward to determining
081the procedures that align with the policy I would like to take a second to just remind everybody that public comment does work I would like to go back and address Miss McGill Miss McGill was the one who asked us with property records to ensure that we put the correct date of when that item was purchased so we could make some determination as to how long that lifespan was there's many other examples of how public comment have worked in this community I'm glad that we have this opportunity to listen to the public I've taken copious notes as I always do to my board I will assign staff members not only to miss Hodges but to miss Susan and we will continue to work with our team and our community to reach a fair assessment and a
082fair process regarding books the access to them and while respecting the diversity of this community determining how you as a board would like to move forward so thank you for the opportunity Mr chair to address thank you Mr dupe Bruno do you have any comments no I do not thank you Mr chairman next is the approval of action items under the agenda under consent the documentation for Action items listed under consent is made available to board members seven days prior to the board meeting we are expected to review all the material and we have an opportunity to speak with the superintendent with any questions we may have regarding the recommendations some of these items have also been briefed in and or workshopped with the board in advance of appearing on accident agenda board members are
083there any agenda items you wish to pull for discussion under unfinished business or table items Mr Fisher I have no said items chair this is David Nelly I have none thank you this is Patricia no thank you Miss Jordan I have none thanks this is Langford Fleming I have none Miss Morgan I have none thank you and I have none is there a motion to approve the agenda consent items with it yes Mr Jordan I moved to approve the agenda agenda items consent items as written you got me confused now I know in a second I'll second okay Mr Morgan it's been moved by Miss Jordan and seconded by Miss Morgan please record your vote foreign carries 7-0 Dr Bernier would you please introduce any administrators in attendance with a new assignment that was approved
084under the consent agenda Mr chair and board members it'd be my honor to do so first would like to recognize with an appointment Melissa Whittington who will be working in Professional Standards as a coordinator for Professional Standards under change of assignment Brittany Fox location and curriculum instruction innovation in elementary will become the new coordinator and teacher in teaching and learning of assignment join Marx I will be joining us in accountability research and assessment as the new director of accountability assessment and research Casa did tibiosa will be joining us in infrastructure Services as the coordinator for informational technology and technological Support Services in attendance is Michael Harris he'll be joining us also in Professional Standards as a coordinator for Professional Standards I would like to remind everybody in the audience and especially those individuals who just
085stood whether school-based or Central a office space we have a great responsibility to the children and the parents of this community you've heard them in debate tonight discussing their their their viewpoints and we have a responsibility and a speak up listen up culture to not only speak up as employees and for me to listen up but more importantly for all of us to be listening to all of them no matter whether you're supervising one or 20 people there's a clear expectation that is a good supervisor and is a good leader you'll spend the time listening to your people so I would also ask you at this point to listen to your family tonight because that is amazing support structure that you have gathered with you this evening and I would ask your family members to
086wrap their arms around you give you one big hug because there's going to be a lot of work between now and when school opens take a good look at them it's not like we're sentencing them away but there's a lot of work to be done in some of these vacancies have been around for a while and we're looking forward to making progress on those projects Mr chair thank you attorney Bruno would you please make your recommendation thank you very much Mr chairman this evening I'm asking the board to approve the attorney Klein engagement agreement with Wagstaff and cartmel LLP and co-counsels Beasley Allen Crowe metvin Portis and Miles Gaza and Hollins the mayor Law Group in order to engage in the legal representation of the board to pursue claims for damages associated with social media
087litigation such as claims against Facebook meta Instagram Snapchat Tick Tock YouTube and Google as well as other defendants that are deemed appropriate and in the best interest of the school board there is no cost to the district unless a monetary recovery is obtained by Council in favor of the school board you've heard the attorney's recommendation that the board approves the attorney-client engagement agreement with wax staff cartwheel LLP and co-counsels Beasley Allen Crowe methan Portis and miles and the mayor Law Firm to engage in legal representation of the board to pursue claims for damages associated with social media litigation such as claims against Facebook meta Instagram Snapchat Tick Tock YouTube and Google as well as other defendants that are deemed appropriate and in the best interests of the board there is no cost to the district
088unless a monetary recovery is obtained by Council in favor of the board board members is there a motion to approve Miss Jordan I move to approve the attorney's client engagement agreement regarding social mediation litigation is there a second I'll second Morgan okay Miss Morgan it's been moved by Miss Jordan and seconded by Miss Morgan is there any discussion saying none please record your vote yes please I'm sorry it didn't come out on my thing motion carries 7-0 next on our agenda is to go to the order and other business board members comments and reports Mr Fisher thank you chair keep it brief the had a great visit over at the new lamel teal middle school last week a great walk around and seeing what they're accomplishing over there principal Racino is doing a great job
089and I'm really excited for them so it was it was a great time and I look at the especially the business focus they're looking at it was very impressive so congratulations on the chair on his award that was aforementioned I Believe by board member Patrica community and family award I appreciate you representing this District well I want to thank everyone for their appointments tonight as well as people service the district I would like to point out something we have a retirement for the end of this month from a person that is very special to this district and that's Dr Denise Carlin who has been here for over 30 years and I've only gotten to know her over the past couple years she is an amazing person she's been at every level from teaching to being
090a principal to being an administrator so she's and I've been a mentor to many of us I Know Myself included so she has been a true true asset to this District so I'm going to truly miss her and she is one of the things that has really helped me and I know others be able to perform this job so I don't think we would have been a successful legislatively this term without Dr Carlin's help so I just wanted to personally thank you for everything and I'm gonna miss you seeing here in the meetings so thank you Dr Carlin that's all my comments for tonight chair Mrs giovannelli thank you that for that Mr Fisher and Ashley I just want to wish you a blessed retirement I'll just piggyback off that a little bit just thank
091you for your service of Lee County we truly appreciate it thank you Dr B.A just want to thank you also for you addressing the issues that I didn't think this board for giving you the direction but all of us working together to address the issues of the people when they come forward I also have trust and faith that you will help those employees at Bonita Springs I think that Mr Phillips spoke for them but I think there might be a language issue so I hope that you'll have a translator and can resolve that issue so I really appreciate that you spearheaded those all those the things that were brought up tonight also I just want to real quick I just want to remark about the international teachers recognition I thought that was kind of that
092was a that's very new for for the district this is the first year that we did that and I mean I just I can't express how valuable I think that was and is and I'd love to see that grow and I just want to thank all those employees I don't know how long they can even stay here I'm maybe only one year I don't really understand all that if you could shed a little light on that would be awesome I'd be happy to they have an additional year at least their J-1 Visa so they're not here for a one and done stay and then we have another through the recruitment efforts of the human research Department in Suzette Rivera we have another 30 additional teachers they'll be choosing to hang their shingles here in Lee
093County when I say their shingles their professional certificates to teach here in the county so there'll be the 30 additional members from the International Community joining Lee County to lend their expertise to our classrooms thank you because I really individualities of their countries with them and I just think that spoke volumes and I think the education side of that for our children is going to speak volumes on that I've had it exchange students in and out of my home for many years and that's always just been a wonderful experience for me and my family so I encourage people to get to know these teachers from these other countries and make friends because it's really a nice opportunity I just wanted to bring up real quick and for just for the board because we haven't really
094talked about it and probably should have brought it up good the order regarding RSM we just renewed their contract tonight and I'm very excited about that however I still feel like we're missing an element of an in-house auditor that would deal with RSM and with us losing our opportunity as appointing a superintendent and going to an elected superintendent we're going to need that extra I believe level of an in-house auditor to facilitate and work with RSM and I don't know how that what that looks like that's something that this board could talk about but I would like to bring that up for a conversation for the future sooner than later because the elected superintendent situation is right around the corner and I just think that the statute requires us to have one and yes RSM
095fulfills that but we were not receiving all the updates regarding RSM I had had to ask for them I'm not sure if everybody's aware but I think that was an issue if we had an in-house auditor we would be able to have them facilitate and communicate back and forth with with those RSM versus having to go through staff and them being able to pull the information and there was just a little time lag there because of working through staff so it's something we need to talk about and we don't talk about it now but I wanted to bring this up I've actually spoken to the superintendent and Ms Bruno about this and I put it on our protocols and policy regarding that in in asking for you know when we were asking for updates and
096so forth recently with Dr Savage so I think it's something that we need to talk about and then I don't know Susan's last name I think it starts with a c the parent and I just want to congratulate her personally because I know the advocacy that she has done and fought for her son and I over the years and I am very proud of her and him that they he that he graduated this year and I wish him much success in his future endeavors and I know that he will succeed with a parent that works and advocates for him as she has and so I really appreciate that and respect that and I just want to give her that Kudos which as a mom she's fought very hard for her son so I just she's
097not here I think she left but I just wanted her to know personally that I see and have seen her fight for her son and I appreciate it and parents that's what that's what we're put on this Earth to do when you have a child you better fight for him and advocate for him that's how I got here so thank you have a good evening thank you so in response to a lot of the public comment tonight somebody said that the removal of books from schools was unprecedented my understanding of history is that it is not unprecedented that it is precedented not on whatever history does repeat itself and I see it repeating itself here I just watched a documentary about Judy Bloom and this was happening when I was a kid in the 80s
098so we have approximately 102 000 titles in our schools that are maintained by the district one of those books has been removed one of a hundred and two thousand I've heard some members of the public point to that book as proof of a flawed system by our media specialists that is .001 of the titles in our libraries put another way that is one one thousandth of a percent that is statistically irrelevant as a board member that's what I do I look at data I don't look at individual cases I look at data and I hold the accountable the superintendent accountable for results the whole book Banning slash removal slash restriction movement whatever you want to call it in in my opinion is a perversion of conservatism I am a conservative as a conservative what I
099fundamentally believe in is the rule of law and I fundamentally support the rule of law I believe that most often book challenges if successful actually violate the First Amendment the purpose of the first amendment is to protect ideas that some may find offensive in the name of Christianity morality protecting children I fear that some are trying to violate the First Amendment some are also attempting to violate parents rights by restricting the availability of books for all students it is not our right to determine whether other parents are engaged enough in their child's education it is not our right to determine whether other parents have fully vetted the content of a book parents rates are parents rights whether we agree with how they are exercised or not I'm proud that Lee County supports the First Amendment
100the rule of law and the rights of all parents I fear that too much staff time will be wasted by book challenge after book challenge after book challenge only to find a one one thousandth of a percent rate of error I fear that time wasted on reviewing books would be far better spent individualizing education for our students providing Rich meaningful training for our staff our amazing teachers or improving family engagement in our schools that's it on my comments about books I'm going to dovetail on Mr Fisher's statement a little bit by celebrating another employee who is retiring and this is the last time this board has to hear me gush about Leslie Gunderson Leslie Gunderson is a lot of things most of us here know her as an educator and administrator she is also a
101wife a mother a grandmother and a very accomplished Runner I met Leslie 11 years ago when I walked onto pinewood's campus for the very first time with my children we were new to Florida Lee County schools and pinewoods Leslie greeted us at the door and introduced herself to my third grade daughter by sharing that they were both the new girls we immediately felt at ease because of Leslie's welcoming Presence at that front gate about halfway through that first year Leslie hired me as a paralegal Leslie was a wonderful boss she was clear about her expectations she provided solid constructive feedback and she always has her staff's backs she advocates for those that work for her she always strives to have a highly productive and supportive work culture she does have very high expectations which brings
102out the best in my opinion and everyone around her as a parent Leslie was a dream principal she had an open door policy that made her very very accessible to everyone in the school it didn't matter whether you whether the issue was big or small she was always available to her parents and in a school of over a thousand students she knew those kids really really well if I had children my own children who were start struggling with Behavioral or academic issues I could call Leslie at any time and she was always willing to provide feedback that was in the best interest of each of my children individually at times Leslie helped me with my own children's Behavior both at school and at home it is not an exaggeration and I know I've said this
103at this table before that Leslie Gunderson made me a better mother because of her willingness to provide guidance when it was most needed finally as a school board member I can say that Leslie is one of the best leaders I have seen in any organization Leslie has two daughters that's the filter that she uses when she made decisions at that school she would not Implement anything at Pine Woods unless it was good enough for her own her own two children in this regard each child that went to pinewoods Elementary had the support guidance and comprehensive education programs that Leslie would want for her own children I really don't think it gets any better than that so Leslie will be missed for sure I wish her the best of luck much health and happiness as she
104retires and maybe she will be able to sleep in now on the on occasion those are my comments thank you Miss Jordan that was very sweet just saying thank you well some of you have already shared some of the things that I was going to bring up again for Denise Dr Carlin I wish you the very best I know this is a small town so you're not going anywhere you will be seeing out there I also want to say thank you to Mr Jeff Wagner who who will be leaving us thank you for coming and sharing your expertise and your knowledge with us getting us through Ian almost through Ian we appreciate you we know we have to give you back to your wife but we really appreciate you being here with us so thank
105you so much for being with us I also wanted to to stay tuned RSM I agree with that is a conversation that we I would like to have as well some consideration regarding an in-house audit but I know that RSM was sending their information however it was just not getting to us but it was absolutely being sent so I want to make sure that they were getting credit for doing the doing the work fsba thank you Miss Morgan for sending us your the fsba which you had gone through I hadn't had the opportunity to do that yet but we did have that this past weekend I went to several meetings the guardian and I'll put something together too so I'll be able to share with you we had conversations with the mid and large districts
106which was really I think beneficial they shared some nuances on what they use for keeping their Transportation going and keeping employees which I thought was and I know Miss giovannelli was there as well but they shared quite a bit and I think that's something that we could possibly even look at and I'll be sharing all that with you as well actually Dr B and I had an opportunity to present there that was interesting so we presented on communication is the most important most essential element to productivity working relationship between a board and superintendent and I think our rooms were packed we filled the rooms so I don't know if that's good or bad but we did our jobs there it was a great opportunity and then you know and I also just want to say
107we had an update by the representative tuck on hb1 you know telling us what is coming you know as much as they possibly could share with us they were sharing I do want to thank everybody who did come today to speak we absolutely appreciate that I do and I want to always hear what you all have to say Mr weisenberg poison and I'm sorry that I just said your name the Empire the coach I would love to I would love to be there at that to learn what you all do I think that's really important for us to to learn what takes place so that way we have some type of knowledge as well and then last wishing everybody a great summer and please don't forget that we do offer our summer break spots so
108even though we're not in school we do have areas and it's on the website where children can get still have food so please make sure that you look at our website we have a lot of great information on that we are looking for an advisory committee members that we truly truly need so please go on there fill out your information and please be a part of the solutions and appreciate you thank you thank you it's like for Fleming yes Mr weisberger I do know how hard umpires and refs work and especially in the State of Florida from about now until November because that Turf and that field is hot so thank you plan on being at the clinic just to hear a little bit more about what all of you what all you do Marianne
109Hodges thank you first of all for all that you do for the district and your students every day I have as a former educator I've always thought and my own children went to school with me and I was such a perk of the job until they went to middle school so that was a hurdle I had never crossed before when your children are with you from K through five and then you enter middle school and then you have to go through the school choice that you hear all the other parents talk about so I've always thought that was would be such a great incentive for teachers and they work so hard for our district and I know that the superintendent's going to work hard to try to make that happen so and the team but
110but as as he stated before it's a seat someone else gives up but I feel like somehow we're going to figure that out for our staff so but something I probably should have brought up this afternoon it was a four-hour meeting with policies and such so might as well just bring it up this evening something has been on my heart I do believe that the school district reflects the values and the principles of the community this desire for change is made abundantly clear throughout the last election cycle and as a new board we have been making great strides in the first few months I do believe but one thing that has bothered me since becoming a board member I do not feel like it effectively represents the community is our district Mantra slogan tagline personal
111passionate and Progressive on our printed materials and website while yes we are passionate and personal Progressive is often Associated now with a political ideology and has no place in defining our district none of the words that actually focus on what our top priority are in our Mantra and that is educating students so our purpose is to make sure our students receive the best education possible while in our schools therefore I would like to ask the board to develop a new slogan that better represents what we are all here for this can be a work in progress I would defer to the superintendent on the best way to go about this but I do think having it changed for the 23-24 school year is important thank you Mr chair I could offer the board one particular
112solution to at least having a deeper dialogue we're getting ready to bring the Strategic plan and all the work that we've done from the two retreats to you so you can begin the examination of not only the Strategic plan but the outcomes and the scorecards I think that would be a most appropriate place to continue to entertain that particular discussion if it's the board's favor I'm seeing nods of heads that's I'm not seeing any heads going the other way yet so if I don't hear that before the end of the meeting I will direct Mr Savage to add that to our workshops and our continue dialogue thank you the only other thing is I just thought I would tag off one more time as to just how much I appreciate Dr Carlin I know it's
113not quite here yet but I kind of want time to slow down a little bit for the next few days even though you wanted to speed up so we've had many conversations about how much I appreciate all you do and I just thought it was so nice tonight to hear from the superintendent right after public comments so those people could hear your thoughts so I appreciate you I appreciate the board putting that into play thank you that's all I have tonight Miss Morgan well I actually will respond to something that Ms Langford Fleming said and that is the slogan that's used just for just for the new board members is a point of reference the board did not choose that particular motto it was done by the community we hired a an organization to come
114in to survey they did surveys they did in-depth interviews with community members with staff and with board members and from that extensive sort of exploration of how people perceived the district and what we were doing those three words came out so I think this is really not a board decision although if the board chooses to revisit it is a board decision but it is actually a community it was a heavily involved Community exploration of the culture and the intention of the community with respect to Lee County Schools well in the spirit of saying goodbye to people when I first came on the board I was relatively new to the county and I was certainly new to the school district so I went around and I visited every single School in the district and when you
115do that you get you and as you all know you walk into a school and right at the front office you get a feeling for what that school is about and there were some disappointing experiences for the most part I enjoyed every visit and then there were some absolute highlights and then as the second part of my introduction I went and visited the sacks in all of the South Zone to see how principles interacted with the members of their community and their staff in a public setting where they were supposed to be talking about decisions regarding the school and specifically at that time they were supposed to be talking about the money that's allocated to the schools where the sac is engaged in how do we spend the money on programs how do we support
116the needs in our schools and at that point there was a principle and she became my standard for going around to schools and that was Linda Mayer she was so different in the way she expected her parents to engage in the decision-making process how she pulled together all of the information she wanted them to have how deliberative she helped them be in making decisions about what was going on the school I was stunned I hadn't seen anything like it and I ran for this board because I believe there were great people in this District who needed better leadership but she became the person who was sort of my image of you walk in the door and the culture says this is a warm loving place we are we're eager to have you here we're eager
117to have you engage Etc and then I saw her work with the sack and ever since then she's sort of been my Touchstone Linda you know I've heard this or what do you think about that and you know she moved from a school that was that was absolutely in her heart because she was asked to move to another school that needed her and she made that school part of her heart and it's a fantastic school and raised up some great leadership in that school and then she went on to become an executive director so I just want to extend my personal gratitude to Linda for being sort of my mentor as a new school board member and ongoing so thank you Linda Mayer she's not here because I looked for her and today and I
118didn't see her so those are my comments for this evening thank you thank you that was mentioned I was got an award Statewide award but an interesting thing came out of that one of the other receptors other eight recipients came up to me she won the charter school award for running charter schools and she was from Orange County she came up to me and I said congratulations I thought she'd say congratulations back and first thing out of her mouth was Dr benir was my best boss I ever had and she just went on and on and on about him so I offered her a job here she'd want to come work here I wouldn't go miss that but that was very good Kudos when someone you haven't seen for a while just wanted to make
119that point with me on the international teachers they can actually now stay here up to five years they're committed for two and we have another 30 it looks like coming next year and that's just a tremendous help for our system right now our district as other districts all throughout the state and Nation are short teachers there's a lot of reasons for that some people say pay some people say this the biggest reason is the number of teachers graduating from colleges are way down so the force is just not feeding into the system and we have people retiring and with all the different things happening it's tough so we welcome them and they were just I guess a great and you notice they were teaching and English language arts that's expected but there we had several
120teaching science several teaching math we had several Elementary teachers and then we had several that were exceptional student educators the essays and those are really hard to find so we're really lucky to have them and I was glad we were able to honor them tonight before we close Dr Bernier do you have any I just have a couple things to add Mr persons first of all wherever we go we're always recruiting I will tell you just a quick story of the time I crime the gland Teton the guide was a physics teacher in Cody Wyoming I recruited him all the way up all the way down but he told me Florida has no mountains so he had no no desire but we have to try no matter where we go no matter who we're speaking
121with I run into people all the time who say I you know I used to teach I've settled I've settled down I'm now here have you ever thought about coming back have you ever thought about being a sub have you ever wanted to come back and volunteer in a classroom whenever we run into anybody who shows any any desire to involve themselves in our profession we should stop what we're doing we should ask them and see whether we can get them to make a commitment that being said we have to change the way we talk to our young people as they identify this as a potential career we have to encourage our young people into the teaching profession and show them the path in a way to an amazing profession which may not be as
122rich in reward monetarily but it is rich in reward to Mr weisberger I just thank you as a former coach a former principal and a former athlete you're right you weren't always the most popular man on the field but you kept control you kept us focused and a great ref and a great crew on a Friday Night Football there's no replacement for it because it allows the game to proceed and it really shows the kids talent while you take a back seat to that but you're never in the back seat you're really in the driver's seat and but you make it look easy when you have a good crew so I just want to thank you for that I think it's really important for the community to know that our officials are committed and I
123mean I know you can't commit long term I'm going to try to lock you down after the meeting but to zero change in the cost of the pricing I'd like to recognize Mr who's here this evening presenting a lot of War Awards we've just redone it again I don't know how they managed to pull it off and so short a period of time but all the artwork in the building has been retooled Mr thomaszewsky and all those amazing art teachers who spend countless hours Framing and rehanging artwork to make our hallways very kid-centered is incredibly important have you touched on the 30 additional teachers I was going to come back and add the fact that they are committed to two but they can stay for five and some people sometimes say why not more we
124are limited in terms of the number of J1 visas that we are eligible for and they're eligible for so that is a limitation to the program and quite honestly 20 to 30 years is a lot of onboarding so we'll continue to do that and looking forward thank you to the board again for this new structure regarding public comment I will share with you that it's a little different having only done it for the first time twice so far tonight and earlier this afternoon usually you get some time to gather your Steam and figure out all the answers that you'd like to have by the end of the meeting you're no longer in that position so I will tell the public if I'm not answers aren't as deep as they have been in the past it'll
125because I have not I'm truly intent on listening to every speaker it doesn't give a whole lot of time to bring all the comments back but I appreciate this community's patience with that looking forward just a couple quick things that I know you've seen or know about we're gonna there's a groundbreaking coming up for the Fort Myers field Riverdale is also doing a groundbreaking for its renovation the Cape Coral Junior Chamber of Commerce Junior leadership group will be in the boardroom on the 16th and a reminder to our community this is the beginning of our four day weeks the district will be closed this Friday and because of the newest national holiday will be also closed on Monday the 19th but it will operate Tuesday through Friday and then we'll have a weird July 4th
126week too but we'll we'll figure that out if you're coming down here call ahead if it's a Friday just make sure we're open there aren't many this year because of the way the national holidays fall there are only two that will be closed on Friday but I just the community to be aware thank you very much for your time this evening and thank you Mr chair attorney Bruno I'm sorry I skipped over you but do you have any comments just very very briefly thank you Mr chairman Mr attorney McIntosh and I have the opportunity to attend the June fsbaa conference got really delved into the law one thing that I did want to share is in support of the school district of Lee County as well as Lee County after Hurricane Ian the Florida school
127board attorneys Association has decided to hold its next conference in August in Lee County to show some support so we're very excited to have them join us great all right at this point our next scheduled meeting is on Wednesday June 21st there'll be a board workshop at 12 p.m noon on Tuesday the 27th there'll be a board briefing at 1 pm followed by board Action meeting at 6 pm having no other business to come before this body and seeing no objection this meeting is adjourned the time is 8 15 P.M