001good evening tonight's character word is courage courage the personal strength to face difficulties obstacles and challenges having the determination to do the right thing even when others do not the design displayed is by Annabella Brites an 11th grade student at Estero high school thank you thank you Erica next up on the agenda is public comment Mr Huffman please address the item of public comment thank you good evening School Board policy provides the opportunity at this point in the meeting to address the board concerning any matter on this meeting's agenda or any other matter relevant to the operation of the school district please complete a public comment card and put it in the basket provided if you need a public comment card they are provided by our staff the rules concerning public comment are posted thank
002you are posted I posted in the back and will be made from the podium in the front center aisle please be advised that the board will not respond during public comment to remarks made by speakers concerns will be addressed by the superintendent or his staff as necessary and the chair May comment as deemed appropriate at the conclusion of public comment the superintendent or board attorney may also comment if deemed appropriate the purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on District issues such as duties responsibilities decisions and the general operation of the district the school board is Viewpoint neutral during public Comet we ask that you keep decor and respect be shown which is what is expected when a government agency conducts official business therefore abusive language such as cursing insults derogatory language levied against
003an individual or class of people are prohibited further personal attacks such as name calling are prohibited in addition clapping hissing booing or display of temper during public comment is prohibited speakers who fail to follow proper deorum in the chambers will be ruled out of order by the board chair or the parliamentarian any speaker continuing with such remarks will be required to relinquish the microphone per board policy 01691 and may be removed by the chambers by the Sergeant at Arms per board policy 01691 the time per speaker is 3 minutes if there are 20 speakers 2 minutes if there are 30 speakers and 1 minute if there are 31 speakers or more the maximum time allotted for a public comment is 1 hour so 60 speakers you will find a countdown on the big screens in
004the front of the room once your time has elapsed the microphone will automatically shut off please state your name when you approach the microphone I will call your names five speakers at a time please follow staff's Direction when lining up Mr chair at this time there are 15 speakers that wish to address the board this evening thank you Mr Huffman please ensure youve completed a public comment card to provide public comment the card is a public record identifying those who speak and providing contact information to staff for followup the cards are located with staff in the hallway is there anyone the audience who wishes to address the board but has not filled out a public comment card okay seeing none I would like to re-emphasize some of the key points as of attorney Huffman's instructions
005again you know as I said we want to make sure that everyone is heard but we want to make sure we're doing in a professional manner we as I said we appreciate that at this point attorney Huffman please proceed with public comments thank you will the following individuals please line up Bob jerich Marge Cox Christa Carlos Richard kley Katherine Wilson Oh this is good good evening you know you kick around ideas and you try to figure out how to present something makes an impact and even on the right here even two minutes in the back you change your scripts you start going through your head and you Resort back to your original thoughts in mind so bear with me as I try to get through this the topic is artificial intelligence impact the students and
006careers and jobs of the future as you know it's all over the media today parents are seeing it children are seeing it you're experiencing it today I'm sure you have children and grandchildren they're in the world now that AI is going to impa them tremendously but you really don't know how and when or where I do been 44 years in the computer industry last 10 years working around artificial intelligence machine learning language NLP quantum computers I left the industry four years ago I'll tell you why burn me out the changes are so severe I just had to move away from it and take it up on the side by 2030 McKinzie put a report with Accenture 800 million jobs globally will be gone 75 million jobs in the United States will be gone next three
007years that didn't impact enough I got more if you look in the past couple weeks in your it firms you know it's been laying off companies lay off people in these companies you know why artificial intelligence they're losing their jobs 60% Americans who graduate college are stuck right now they don't have what they want their careers they not in the jobs that they wanted to get into parents are bankrupt trying to afford putting their kids to college and when they graduate no place to go no jobs and it's going to get worse 50% of all the employees by 2025 and all the major corporations are going to be reach skilled based on what they did they to change their jobs and they're going to resk them because they're not going to have the Manpower behind
008it to fill the void that's needed drastically fact Millennials and the Gen z's are changing everything in the world this is why I resigned I couldn't keep up with the jenes the white Jens they were changing things so fast technology was changing things it was it was too much you meet the Fortune 50 companies see their problem you sit back and realize how major that problem is today things have changed quite a bit and you'll find I found that colleges are looking hiring different people academic scores are not number one anymore they get you in the door what they're looking for really a well-rounded critical thinking kids problem solvers when they go for interview today I know it's for a fact when they go interview today the GPI will get you in a board in
009a room but they're going to ask really critical questions tell them what you did how' you solve this problem what problems you solved in the past year thank you sir your comments your time is up thank you sir could you please state your name for the record sorry could you please state your name for the record is bobor living in B Springs Flor I'm just interested to talk to the board about this thank you good evening I'm Marge Cox I live in Bonita Springs I'm a retired educator and I've had the privilege to be one of the volunteers in Lee County at Spring Creek School for their program that they're working with at least the one I'm working with they with second graders and I just want to say how impressed I was with the
010packet that they put together for the volunteer training it was excellent and I've been to a lot of trainings over the years this training was for one group of people to work in that program it included some volunteers who were retired Educators but there were some who weren't and that training packet was so well done anybody could use it and help kids and it has been a pleasure to be a part of it I applaud Lee County for not just saying oh these kids have a problem but saying these kids have a problem with their reading and we're doing something about it and I've really appreciated their commitment to student education because and I understand I'm biased with this as a retired librarian but reading is critical for whatever they're going to do as a
011job later in life and for their pleasure of just enjoying reading and I can see a difference from the first week that I worked with my five kids who are adorable but then I tend to think all kids are adorable so that may not be a real Discerning comment but they have worked hard they are better readers and when they started with the program and I just wanted to compliment you as a board for looking at ways to make a difference for kids who may be struggling not just giving up and going well they can't learn it's like no all kids can learn sometimes they just need a little extra boost so thank you for your commitment to education to kids to all kids thank you my name is Rich kley I'm a resident of
012Fort Meers in the Marina Bay Community and I'm here to speak on behalf of the bus stop in that Community our community started really in 2005 under a master development plann a conceptual Master development plan for 2500 Acres in the tree line area it was a name of called arborwood the master development plan is actually a city ordinance it's a document produced by the city city ordinance 3226 it provides conditions for approval for the development that for that o overall development in that Master Plan item six of that Master Plan talked about school impacts the very first item on the school impacts said that the developers should cooperate on the location of school bus stops throughout the project so that was number one the first item there were two others the second one listed was
013to convey property to to deal with School requirements the property the third one was to deal with school credits tied to that and paying the school impact fees associated with that so our developer was part of that overall plan our developer GL Homes built our community and the community to the north of us botanic Lakes that was about 500 Acres of that total plot what our developer did in accordance with the second item that you listed as a requirement is they transferred they conveyed 13 acres to the school district for a school that is the 13 acres where Tree Line Elementary is located today they did that the second thing they did is they constructed a bus stop in the botanic Lakes Community and a bust up in the Marina Bay Community according to the
014first criteria that was established as a requirement by the school district under the master development plan so we did what you asked to do the developer did what you asked to do now the community to the north of us the Botanical eges Community apparently is grandfathered for their bus stop for whatever reason our community is not grandfathered for the bus stop and we our students the students of Marina Bay are being required to wait for the bus stop in an unsafe place outside the community the tree line bust up where we as to stay is not according to Florida statute 6.22 the most reasonably safe location available it just is not the location inside the community is more safe than that which of you as as as as a parent would would send your student
015to wait outside when you have a perfectly suitable bus stop in the community in front of a limited lighting area a dark highp Speed high volume unlit crosswalk limited site distri complex intersection negative traffic impact it's just the wrong thing to do you need to put the bus stop in the community thank you good evening my name is Katherine Wilson and I'd like you to consider the safety and well-being of our children in Rina Bay I'm here to advocate for the immediate Rel location of our school bus stop from a dark intersection plagued by a history of accidents and speeding with no protection from the weather to a pre-existing bus stop that offers a concrete structure a roof benches and lights first and foremost the safety of our children is Paramount the current bus stops
016location is at a dangerous intersection it exposes our young ones to unnecessary risks every day moving it to a safer location with proper infrastructure such as a concrete building will serve as a vital protective shield this change can significantly reduce the chances of accidents ensuring that our children are shielded from the hazards of passing traffic and providing parents with peace of mind the lack of proper lighting at the current bus stop poses a serious risk particularly during the early morning hours or darker evenings inadequate visibility increases the vulnerability of our children to potential dangers by moving the bus stop to a location with proper lighting we guarantee a safer waiting environment this essential change ensures that our children are visible and protected minimizing the risks of accidents and potential harm the in absence of the
017shelter exposes our children to the harsh elements of weather during their wait for the school bus a pre-existing bus stop with a concrete wall and roof provides essential protection shielding shielding our children from rain or extreme temperatures the re the relocation of our school bus stop from a dark and dangerous intersection to an existing safer bus stop is straightforward an immediate solution to answering our safety concerns I really like that the word tonight was courage and they said to do the right thing and this is the right thing to do for our children thank you will the following individuals please line up Joe Beno Paul gamos Erica kanganis Jerry wear Jennifer Kars good evening my name is Christa Carlos and I am the parent of a six-year-old boy with autism Who currently attends North Fort
018Meers Academy for the Arts in their ESC classroom he also participates in the bus transportation for ESC students and rides the bus to and from school over the past 2 months myself and other ESC families have been experiencing significant problems with the bus transportation for our children specifically the ESC buses due to underst Staffing our children on numerous occasions have been made to sit and wait at the school over an hour after dismissal waiting for their bus to arrive which in turn does not deliver them home until 2 to 3 hours past dismissal time we as parents feel it is unacceptable for our children to be delivered home after 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. after theyve been on the bus to school in the 6:00 a.m. hour and at school all day these children have social
019and behavioral difficulties that cause Stress and Anxiety when they are out of routine and structure many children including my own are non-verbal or limited verbal and cannot say to a teacher or administrator please call my mom to come pick me up these Transportation delays are causing your teachers to stay after their contracted hours to be with kids until the bus comes which we all know boats no favor with teachers especially in a time of a national teacher shortage I have taken the first steps to ask the transportation department to communicate with parents when the ESC buses are going to be double booked on routes so that we as parents can know ahead of time of these delays the transportation supervisor James Liam declined to talk such Solutions and told me we don't speak to parents
020our school administrators are unable to communicate these delays with us until an hour after school is already out as the transportation department will not communicate these delays with the schools either I have assigned statement of support from another ESC family at the school and I've also spoken to my son's teacher who agreed with the concerns that I presented however her school administrator James Sams advised her that she should not publicly sign a statement of support to the board I am here tonight to bring this issue to your attention in the hopes that the transportation department can be brought to a higher standard of care and understanding for our ESC students the least that can be done in light of short stopping circumstances is to have an open dialogue with the parents and the school so
021that our children are not sitting and waiting for hours just to be brought home thank you ladies and gentlemen of the school Bo School Board my name is Joe bino I don't have any children or grandchildren in this community but I feel it's extremely important to protect all of our children I'm here to advocate for the immediate relocation of the school bus stop from a perilous intersection to a designated bus stop within the safety of our community first the current bus Stop's location is at a dangerous intersection no matter what other people seem to say about it the absence of protection from accidents and incl inclement weather poses a significant threat to the well-being of our children by moving the bus stop to a secure building we can Prov provide a robust barrier against potential
022accidents ensuring the safety of all of our children as they wait for their school bus it's essential to highlight that buses currently enter the community gate for essential Support Services students complying with federal law for door side pickups without issue this signifies that the logistics of the bus entry into the community are well established making the proposed relocation operationally feasible and in alignment with current practices moreover the existing bus shelter within our community stands as an ideal alternative this shelter boasts a covered roof cinder block construction lighting three benches electrical outlets with safety controls a trash can and a bike rack its existence provides a ready-made solution that ensures the physical comfort and safety of our children the anticipated development of a fire station and a park across the street coupled with a new apartment
023complex is set to escalate traffic further jeopardizing the safety of our children however the city's delay in conducting a traffic study until the completion of the apartments poses a significant concern relocating the bus stop promptly would proactively address the potential rise in traffic and preemptively Safeguard our children from increased risks a sobering reality is the presence of memorials along Treeline with six memorials for individuals killed on that stretch between Daniels and Colonial the close proximity of two memorials are within 50 ft of our bus stop including one directly in front of it underscores the urgency of this situation the proposed relocation is not just about improving the current condition but is a proactive measure to prevent potential tragedies in the future we I was driving into our community two weeks ago and this is just
024an example of something that happens occasionally I'm sure it's not the plan but they bus stop in the left lane in front of our community so that the kids had to get out of the bus walk across the right lane onto to the curb which is extremely dangerous I know the bus has their stop signs up but the traffic goes extremely fast in this area a lot of times they may not see it and we don't want to risk anybody getting hurt thank you hi my name is Paul gash thank you for your time I'm also here to to advocate for moving the bus stop from Marina Bay to a safe location I'd first like to thank the students the parents the grandparents of the Marina Bay Community who have come here tonight and the
025more than 500 residents who have signed a petition to show support to move the Community Bus stop to a safe location so everyone here may know that this is not our first discussion on this topic it was very disappointing to receive a response from the Lee County School District which stated that the Marina Bay Community bust up on Tree Line not only meets what surpasses the state mandated safety requirements we as a community strongly disagree that this is a safe location and therefore we are continuing in our Endeavor because we believe that it not only falls short of being the safest available option but it's clearly unsafe period full stop but as others have discussed the tree line is an area of heavy traffic with all types of vehicles including large trucks and trailers and
026Tow SUV and cars a lot of aggressive drivers weaving in and out cutting across in every direction a lot a lot of risk there are four lanes of traffic there's no traffic light at the entrance and there's a turn turnaround area very near to where the bus stop is currently located traffic enters and exits onto Tree Line directly in front of the bus stop as mentioned there have been a number of fatal motor vehicle accidents in the area one of one of which took out one of the lights which plunges the area into darkness before the sun comes up with which further exacerbates the issue during the early morning pickup hour so all of these characteristics increase the risk and level of exposure for a student being involved in a motor accident so student safety
027should be the top priority when determining school bus routes and stops the current bus stop which requires students to leave a gated community where the speed limit is 25 miles hour and wait on the side of a four-lane road with speeds exceeding 45 M an hour is clearly not a safe choice I would encourage anyone who questions the veracity of our concerns to visit the location and directly observe the traffic ideally before Sun R and on a school day to many of us in the community who have done this thank you sir your time is up time is up sir good evening my name is Erica King ganis and I have the privilege of being one of a concerned mom at Marina Bay I'm here to discuss with you our current bus stop in September
028of 2023 the light pole directly adjacent to our school bus stop was knocked out by a driver within 1 hour after the bus stop picked up our children had the children been there they would have been injured but Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens said this is safe a fire station and park are plan to have developed across the street of this U school bus stop increasing the risk of traffic but Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens says this is safe a new apartment complex has been erected across the straight from this bus stop providing yet another ray that traffic can be increased but Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens said this is safe the city of Fort Meers will not do a traffic study until these apartments have been completed but Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens say
029this is safe the intersection has no traffic control it is often used as a U-turn there is in fact 14 different turns that can be that can occur right at this medium but Larry Stevens I'm sorry Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens say this is safe children have no shelter there is nowhere for them to sit and wait safely away from the curb and the roadway in the dark and during the early morning hours but Roger Lloyd and Larry Steven say this is safe parents wait and block the exiting traffic on days of increment weather but Roger Lloyd and Larry Steven say this is safe we provided you with video that shows a bus that did not stop at the bus stop but in fact stopped in the middle of the street causing our students to
030go onto the road in order to get on their bus but Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens say this is safe there are six memorials of people who have been killed on tree line on between Daniel's Parkway and Colonial two of them are within 50 ft of this bus stop and one is right in front but Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens say this is safe between 2022 and 2024 from tree line to Silver Ridge Boulevard there were nine crashes and 24 traffic stops on tree line and Plantation Garden Drive there is 21 crashes and 30 traffic stops but Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens say this bus stop is still safe enough for our children Lee County schools has entered all of the adjacent communities within 2 to three miles of our community which is plantation Somerset
031Colonial Country Club Plantation Bridge chall and Botanical Lakes this bus SEL in our community has never been used since its construction in 2017 it has a covered Roof Center block construction lighting three benches electrical outlets with safety control a trash can and a bike rack the distance from our entrance our kids are thank you your time is up ladies and gentlemen of the school board my name is Jennifer Kars and I stand before you today is a parent of Marina Bay I'm a parent that won't allow her child to stand at that bus stop because of how dangerous it is I have a plea for the safety and well-being of our children and a request that you move our bus stop imagine the hustle and bustle of a busy street corner on tree line where
032our current bus stop is located and I use that term loosely because there is the chaos of rushing Vehicles blaring horns the constant threat of an accident there is no bus stop structure no bench no safety no shelter they stand in the rain and darkness while speeding cars head straight at them the police department categorizes Tree Line a high-speed area this intersection has no traffic control and 14 different turns that can occur right in front of the bus stop our children are forced to navigate this perilous environment every single day and in is not only inconvenient but downright dangerous as Erica stated in September of 2023 the light pole adjusted jent to this school bus was knocked down 1 hour after our kids were picked up what do you think would have happened if they
033had been there we have nine had had nine crashes at this corner in the past two years is this the vision you have when you think of a children's bus stop is that what it looks like now let me paint a contrasting picture the is of a safety security and comfort picture an established safe concrete bus stop with a roof adorned with lights benches and a palpable sense of security this is not a dream this is our reality we already built it as per City mandate we have that very safe and very unused bus stop just sitting in our community and guess what it is a mere 90 seconds from the current bus stop our children are worth 90 seconds seconds we have asked for this bus stop to be moved several times already and
034been have been denied by Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens because it meets the criteria for safe as per the bus driver training Manual of all things is a criteria that no children have died yet in conclusion this is not about relocating a bus stop it's about making a conscientious decision to prioritize the safety and the well-being of our children you have been chosen to be the advocates for our children you have the power to change this Hazard into a safe and secure start to the school day please Safeguard our children and move the school bus stop to our established safe location in Marina Bay thank you will the following individuals please line up India Palencia Sarah braw Denise nrom John Leon and Jaclyn Perez I believe I believe I should okay I just wanted to
035make sure that I was moving up correctly good evening of course I am Jerry wear and you surely you're asking me why am I here today it's amazing when I rise in the morning I thank God for another day and by the way by tomorrow morning I'll be 82 82 Years Around the Sun but needless to say I ask the Lord every morning how may I serve you today and I was commissioned to come before you today with regret because I hold in my hand a worthless disingenuous document what is it the agreement that was signed between the district and the NAACP 2018 as I sat in D high school but the television screen valarian reporters there taking pictures of an agreement now this agreement I can't read you the entire agreement but it says
036that the district will create and fund an office of diversity and inclusion which will focus on eliminating racial and socioeconomic in inequities within the district to include eliminating achievement gaps and this disparities in student discipline improving learning opportunities for students of color improving diversity of district and School staff etc etc time will not permit me to address it in its entirety therefore I will have to refer to it in certain section now who am I referring to to my left and I hope you all will stand up I have with me marcaria and Brooklyn and their two parents I want you to look at their miniature statues that they were involved in a fight at horren Marsh midle School supposedly they decimated almost a principal that's almost 511 weighing over 200 lb he must be
037Mighty weak to let that 120 lb and probably 100 lb young lady Tak him out needless to say these girls were handcuffed in jail only two of the five girls that were involved in the fighting were charged with not only disorderly conduct but hitting an officer administrative person causing harm to them charged with harmful whatever you call it this is the second time that I've come before you complaining about how the sheriff department is treating our children I know my time is about the endend so I'm going to say to you all those long lawsuits are not the only reest to solving racal disparities have but done to integrate schools which was probably the worst thing to be done we'll better off with thank you Miss where your time is up Miss where your time
038is up thank you thank you thank you good evening my name is India Palencia I'm also here with Marina Bay Dr berer and Ladies and Gentlemen of the school board thank you for seeing us and listening to us again I really appreciate it earlier we provided you some folders and under tab one you will find a wealth of information and documentation supporting our mentioned pleas to relocate our bus stop what you won't find is a compelling argument from the Transportation department members of Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens who have unfortunately failed to exercise due diligence in our concern what Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens have provided is the briefest denial letter inclusive of absolutely no explanation an Antiquated policy you replaced last year and a bus driver's training manual reference as the standard which actually
039supports our claim further despite our extensive evidence Roger and Larry sens insist the current stop is safe I find it embarrassing that we as concerned parents and constituents have to seek your intervention it's disheartening that Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens have neglected the safety of our children while each of you have tirelessly strived for a professional functioning School District in Lee County and to what in to save money to save time to play to some kind of politics are they these more important than the lives of our kids I urge you maybe it's a motion I don't know what it is Dr berer I ask you please take action where Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens have faltered moving the bus stop to the club Clubhouse shelter aligns with the policies you implemented last year it
040aligns with the Florida Department of education's policies and IT addresses our very very valid concerns again what could be more important than the safety of our children it's not just us consider the email from Roger Lloyd's colleague on the transportation Review Committee sent to you last Friday which exposes his blatant and deliberate disregard for the policies you worked hard to create during our transportation Review Committee hearing not to mention Roger Lloyd and Larry Stevens failure to inform legal of the hearing and ensure a member of legal were in attendance this information is crucial and we implore each of you to review it and act in the best interest of your constituents we voted you because we knew you'd be our voice I'm looking at all of you and I know your parents and grandparents even
041great-grandparents you're us we need your voice we need you to stand up for what is right and protect our kids it is so unsafe my son was riding on a Lee County school bus on tree line and was in a wreck on Treeline it's not a safe place and that we put our kids out there is unimaginable and I can't imagine any of you would do the same so I beg you please make a motion move our bus stop thank you so much for your time hello my name is Sarah Brun and I live in Bonita Springs I'm an educator a social worker with children and Adolescence and I'm here tonight because I very concerned about the trend towards book Banning and censorship in Florida in general and in Lee County in particular I understand
042that this year Lee County removed thousands of books from classrooms and school libraries at the request of a small minority of parents I don't have to tell you that the vision statement of Lee County School District which I love is to be a worldclass school system I applaud the ambition behind that statement however if books are being banned by the thousands if teachers are afraid to be creative to share resources to bring in new resources then you don't have the foundation for a world class school system and if cultural diversity is minimized and the pool of books that reflect the cultural diversity in this community and in the world is being depleted then we definitely don't have a worldclass school system I'm not exactly sure where the impetus to ban books begins but I do
043know that people follow policies of censorship out of fear I want to thank you for not adding unnecessary language to policy 3281 at your last board meeting and I'm here to ask you the policy makers of the leak County School District to please have the moral Clarity and the courage to do the right thing even when other people aren't thank you so much good evening my name is John Leone I'm on secretary on on the board of directors at Marina Bay and I'm here to tell you guys how concerned I am of the safety of our residents and our residents children in this community at the bus stop on the corner we have I have gone to w six meetings and spoke to our councilwoman directly and asked them to put a traffic signal at
044Plantation Boulevard and I was told on when the new apartments get occupied and it could be up to 5 years before they do a traffic study we'll never get the speed down on tree line if that isn't done I all of you guys were given video footage from last night or early this morning video footage of the corner with the bus stop showing the traffic in the morning showing the kids getting on the bus some some some photos were Stills also and they were sent to you guys I don't understand what the problem is here we have a we have a bus stop and a large parking lot that we've gotten tour buses in we've gotten fire trucks in we've gotten garbage trucks in this parking lot they've gone around all of you have been
045given the video footage all of you have been given the report by Rich kley and I would like to see some type of motion made soon so we can get our children safe because the city is not going to do a traffic study and that there's going to be no traffic lights on treel line for at least 5 years and that's after they occupy the Town Center across the street from Marina Bay so please I beg of you pass a motion keep keep our children safe we had a we had a school bed board member that looked at this U location and actually agreed that it was perfect for the children and our residents and my board that I'm on right now will give 120% to ensure the safety of our children so please pass
046a motion tonight thank you good evening I wasn't going to talk about book Banning but I think I will I think there were two books that have been taken out of the library if I'm not Mis if I'm not misunderstanding since the time I've been here and I have a dozen of them at home that I've read that are highly suggestive sexually explicit it including beastiality if anybody knows what that is so before people wonder about the books they should probably read them but that's not what I'm here to talk to you about tonight tonight you're scheduled to approve social studies textbooks that will cost the district over $9 million textbooks that according to education law written by your friend and campaign contributor Senator Ray Rodriguez Mr Fisher Mrs Fleming and Mr persons and signed
047into law by our governor that was also a contributor to Mr fiser and Mr persons are supposed to be 100% free of critical race Theory last March 2022 I emailed all of you an executive summary that I wrote for Florida Citizens Alliance after conducting a Statewide Social Studies textbook review I was responsible half for half of the books I received zero response from any of you then I tried to tell Mr persons about the review in another venue and I was ignored I suppose these reactions are because I had the courage to run against the Terry Miller Matt Caldwell machine the other group that failed to review their half of the books those are the books that you now have on your agenda tonight and I wonder if you have actually looked at these books
048to know that there is CRT in them well I have because Florida Citizens Alliance asked me to so what I wonder is were the educ were the administrators and teachers trained in critical race Theory so when they were reading those books they could say no we cannot bring these books into the district one parent one was on the curriculum the curriculum committee well I remember campaign promises about having parents involved and eliminating CRT within the and for those of you in the audience that think that our governor is divisive what you need to know is that the law states that the textbooks may not may not eliminate things like slavery the civil war Civil Rights the Holocaust and contributions of African-Americans Or Hispanic people they may not eliminate those things it does say that the
049idea that racism is inherent in American society may not be in those textbooks so I'm am asking you tonight before you purchase these books to table this matter to review these books and to look at the curriculum material that was provided to you during when I submitted the executive summary last year which was comprehensive that could be purchased for less money than your purchasing thank you for your comments your time is up good evening board I'm here to speak on item 10 in your consent agenda I communicated today with Ted Waller from the Florida auditor and I gave him all the information from your agenda and just for knowledge the last three operational audits that were conducted for the school district where they found statutory violations many of the violations that were submitted were submitted
050by me so I believe this is a violation and they promised to look into it on the next operational audit I find it troubling that the school district would have spent close to $10 million to prep a land quadruple a and it includes cost for with these two properties I think these two properties were 1.5 and 2.5 million and to turn around and to literally gift it I don't care if it says lease you're leasing a 99-year lease the school district purchase purchases properties to build schools I was on the phone today with Dr Browder who was a superintendent here for many years in this school district and he was just a guas about what was going on he said you should have surplused this property first taken a vote on it and then you
051could have done what you wanted to do there weren't proper procedures taking place and if you could do all this and you can't fix a bus stop for families who are concerned about their children that's a simple fix so I expect you to take care of that tonight as well please and consider pulling this agenda item because in two years when the Florida auditor comes around they're going to come back and you all are fully aware that you are gifting land to a sterile so if you have land in dumbar or in Lehi Let's help them make a park as well let's be Equitable thank you Mr chair that concludes public comment thank you Mr Hoffman Dr berer and Mr Hoffman is there anything you'd like to address regarding public comment at this moment yes
052sir I would if it's all possible Mr jerich who started us off with AI clearly it is the issue of the future there's no question about it's already here it's not a future issue it's a future issue you don't have to stand sir you're welcome to if you would so like to but you don't have to some of the STA itics you provided we are beginning to address AI in our code of conduct but that's more along the lines of using it in a plagiaristic format or something like that we have to continue to look at AI appropriately because it is going to impact the globe what people do for a living and how they make how they make a living I know I'm losing Miss wear so I'm going to jump all due respect
053to Marina Bay you're here and I know you're not leaving I want the board to know that Miss wear contacted Dr Cupid McCoy post this event that occurred at harn Marsh Middle and Dr Cupid McCoy along with the principal been working through this particular issue there were members of the school staff that were struck by individuals during this fight the Striking of a school board employee if I'm reading my board members correctly is intolerable and not something that we can Pro not something that we can permit no matter what the size height weight of an individual is when a person and ask students to stop fighting that should be the end of it and it should stop and if they have to weigh in to support student safety and they get hit that is a
054responsibility of the person throwing the punch we will continue to look at this I want to be clear that Dr hubben McCoy has been excellent in letting Miss wear know that she is not the parent or guardian of these two children so it's really important we hold having Communications with the parents and we will will continue to do so Mrs Cox thank you very much the reading initiative that we're doing to try to support Second Grade readers reading by grade three really is a k to prek to two initiative second grade is probably this place you'll see it most right now and we're very proud of the academic Services team lassinger Center PCG and the work that quite honestly most of our second grade teachers kindergarten first grade teachers are doing this is not work
055being given to teachers this is Teachers deciding how they're going to solve the problem and move the needle on read grade three on on reading by grade three board members you may have noticed that when Miss Carlos presented about ese buses the deputy superintendent at my direction stepped over we are going to take a look at specifically what these routes are for the es students moving from there when it comes to Marina Bay Treeline Avenue and Silver Ridge Road that's the community Entry Road I've been out there once I did not come as some somebody suggested because I didn't have the time to do it early one morning my day starts early but that's an excuse that I will solve tomorrow morning I will make sure that I'm there to take a look we do
056have state law I know we're relying on a lot of other information and I'm not saying I won't address this cuz I will I'll make sure that this gets addressed and I'll let you know how I plan to address it and then we can have further discussions but there is a state law that does not require a school district to come inside a gated community and the gentleman who presented on a planned Community is absolutely correct a planned Community should engage with the school board and the school board should engage with the planned community and develop a safe place for children to be outside of the gate that is not how this planned Community got put together I understand that now we have a problem to solve I'll will be on it I did get
057the emails I have a beautiful three- ring binder now to take home tonight for bedtime reading I will make sure I read it before tomorrow morning and my computer because it's being shifted would not open the video today I'm hopeful when I get back to my home computer that video will open on on your behalf and I can take a look at that before arriving tomorrow morning we will certainly take a look at this and I'm going to ask my team to put some other things together regarding the other neighborhoods Miss nrom thank you for your comments tonight the policies will the books will not pass today is a public hearing specifically set up for people to provide in input I do want the community to know that the books that are being recommended to
058the board are on the state approved list we actually delayed social studies adoption to ensure that we would be only choosing books from that particular list the state that the state approves we are responsible for choosing material that the state does does have approved so I want I want to make sure we're clear on that one more thing to the residents of Marina Bay there was an error in the policy process regarding the appeal process for the particular bus stop I'd like to thank Miss Diva Jilly for bringing that issue to our attention I'm addressing that with both my chief operations officer and the director of Transportation in fact we have a meeting tomorrow to go over it and we will either make the change or we will make a change in how we administrate
059the policy of the school board the legal department was not involved and there was reference made to a former policy that was sunsetted under the deel vment of a new one so when mistakes are made we admit those mistakes we make the corrections and we make sure that we're following the correct policies and the correct manner as to the purchase and the consent items on on number 10 I was looking it up because I wanted to make sure I had the right item if you'll permit me sir when you see me looking down up here it's cuz I'm taking copious notes and that sometimes put me in a position that would be L10 correct yes this is the approval of the shared Le shared agreement with the village of Estero regarding the Styles's High School
060athletic facilities yes there are two pieces of property that are involved in that one is the purchase of a piece of property at 9350 block lane that was purchased from the newquist Family Trust for $2.65 million it was paid for or 10 plus acres it was paid for by impact fees the 900 9400 block lane was the other one that was purchased for 1.5 and that's related to impact fees as well there's nothing in the state statute having work through these agreements with our attorneys and the school and the town's attorneys there's nothing in here that says we are viol violating any type of law allowing this land to be leased we're also looking into this potentially for Workforce housing where we would lease lease a land that could be given to a developer who
061could provide work Workforce location housing in those particular areas once we communicate with our local municipalities if because we certainly want to make sure they would support Workforce housing in areas that where we may be able to do it if we own land we have some rights to do what we want to do with it and we believe that this joint use to improve the athletic facilities not only in a stero high school but to also improve the communities athletic facilities including making sure that they're open to all residents not just the res residents of Estero this is open to all Le County residents and it will probably even be available for weekend tournaments and other things related to students as far as way as Orlando if they're coming for a baseball softball or soccer
062tournament so I would encourage us to move forward with the agenda that we have those are all the comments I have this evening I believe I believe sir I've covered the issues that came up this evening thank you thank you Mr superintendent attorney Huffman is there anything you'd like to address Mr ter at this time I do not have anything to add to the superintendent's comments thank you thank you the only thing I'd like to point out there was a comment in regards that we have banned thousands of books in Lee County School District that is incorrect so I just want to make sure that we have that on the record I don't know if Dr Fe want to follow up on that or not I certainly can I think it's important numbers speak a
063lot and yes there have not been a number thousands of books being banned but there's been ongoing conversation regarding the classroom libraries when the library started to have to be loaded into beant stack for review we loaded in 102,7 38 total books by 92 with only 16 media professionals available to do the work they had reviewed 8,300 by 103 they had reviewed 16,17 however our teachers are still buying books I think this is important for people to know that total of books needing to be review Rose to 117 1790 790 my apologies for an additional 15,156 books that our teachers purchased between 92 and 103 by two 29 we had reviewed 56 698 books but another additional 10,000 books have been added to the review so we are consistently making these reviews these teach please
064understand these media Specialists work at night they work outside of their regular day and weekends to complete this task and we are do believe we're getting to the point where book titles are circulating again so we've already made a review on a particular B book title as another teacher purchases it's an easier fix to move it forward into the collection so I just think it's really important the teachers have added 25533 books since 9223 when all the books had been loaded up for an original total of 10 12,630 our teachers are still buying books children still have lots of access to it we just need more certified media Specialists to help us work on solving the volume issue and we appreciate our teachers continuing to support classroom reading not only in grades prek to3 but
065all the way through their senior year and their point of graduation thank you thank you for the followup sir I appre appreciate again thank you everyone for coming out for public comment thank you thank you thank you we appreciate it at this moment we're going to move on to approval of the action items in the consent agenda the documentation for Action items listed under consent is made available to board members seven business days prior to the board meeting we're expected to review all the material we have an and we have an opportunity to speak with a superintendent with any questions we may have regarding the recommendations some of these items have also been briefed or workshop with the board in advance of appearing on the action agenda board members are there any agenda items you
066wish to pull for discussion under unfinished business or table items first off Miss juvell yes I'm going to ask to pull L9 and L10 okay L9 and L10 okay Miss Jordan I have none thank you Mr person I have none Miss Langford Fleming I have none Miss Morgan I have none and I have none so is there a motion to approve the items consent action items with the exception of the pulled items which were L9 and L10 correct we have a motion Miss Jordan I move to adopt the agenda with the exception of L9 and L10 as written okay do we have a second I second that okay motion made by Miss Jordan seconded by Mr persons please vote please record your vote d motion carries 60 before we proceed on to the unfinished business
067and table items Dr berer please introduce any administrators and attendant with a new assignment approved under the consent agenda thank you sir members of the board and members of the public as human resources is being retooled for the future that one of our guest speakers T us so eloquently tonight the world of AI it was necessary for our employee relations team and our human resources team to move on and develop a new team as you know Angela Monto Morano is our new chief of Human Resources she's here this evening she's not one of the new appointees I would like to recognize at this time Mary Hammer who will be joining the talent management group as the Director of talent management I'd also like to recognize Christine shro who will be joining labor and employee relations
068as the Director of Labor and employee relations I'd like to recognize Paula ker she will be joining human resource operations as the manager of human resource operations Fin and finally with your actions tonight susette Rivera will be joining the human it will move up within the human resources team becoming the Executive Director of Human Resources to those individuals appointed tonight I can tell you how much this board is counting on you in the direction of Angela Mont Morano we really need to do even a better job than we're already doing securing and finding staff working on the retention issue and when you think about a talent management process where we really work to ensure that people understand their value and their purpose and impact and then to open up a division or another part of
069the team in employee relations we have always had a Professional Standards department but you interact with them when you're in trouble employee relations is about building a relationship between the central office the school sites and the staff excited about the future of the school district and the difference it can bring to make sure that our vacancies are much better moving into the new school year thank you Dr berer congratulations to everyone it's truly appreciate all the work you do and the work you will do I'm hoping that you all have a great night I'm going to continue to Echo what Mr person said just make sure you're here in the morning tomorrow so everyone if they want to go they're dismissed at this moment so at this time we're going to move on to the
070pulled items so that would be L9 and L10 so for L9 Dr berer Mr chair the recommended action is the approval of the land dedication agreement for 83 plus minus Acres of the Tower Road property with the city of Bonita Springs in BG mind LLC BG bgm shall pay the school board a dedication fee approval authorizes the superintendent execute all documents the district is dedicating an 8.3 Acres of Tower Road property 40 plus acres to the city of Bonita we've done this in the past with rways and turn Lanes where there's a minimum impact to the property we already own leaving it for the opportunity to still continue to use it as a school property to build a school on the city of Bonita is pursuing the necessary entitlements to construct improvements to the existing
071Bonita Grand Drive Northeast of Terry Street that will serve as a city park and the public in BG mines property the action will allow necessary infrastructure improvements the effective date shall mean that the date when the last one of the three parties has signed the agreement bgm shall pay the school board a dedication fee as defined for a dedicated property which shall be delivered to the school board by wire transfer the dedication fee is equal to the greater of $150,000 or the appraise value of the dedicated property so that's the recommendation thank you Dr berer board members is there a motion to adopt Dr bernier's recommendation for item L9 Miss Jordan I move that we adopt Dr berer recomendation for approval of the land dedication agreement L9 okay do we have a second I'll second
072Morgan okay item is moved by Miss Jordan and seconded by Miss Morgan do we have any discussion I'll be brief I'm a realtor so I just I have a hard time giving away property or releasing property or dedicating property or any piece of property I find the Val I personally find Value in it when you start chiseling away a property given a piece of it here and a piece of it there then it lessens the value of what you really have I believe that when I see we don't we aren't doing this in other parts of the county and I would like to see more of that being more Equitable in other parts of the county versus in Estero so I just am not going to support this tonight and I'll just leave it at
073that I don't expect a lot of conversation we don't have to prolong this but I just wanted to say my pece and that's it thank you this was the Bonita one right L9 yeah it's the it's the 3 acres or yeah I just wanted to confirm based on your comments so little yes okay I have talked about a couple things okay I just apiz just for the records for the minute so do we have any other comments anybody else okay anything else you need to add Dr berer nothing other than just to that this we're not giving the piece of property away we'll either receive a dedication fee of $150,000 or the value of the apprais value of this 83 Acres thank you there's no other discussion then we're going to move to a r
074call vote so one more question yes of course just but for the record we never discussed this being a piece of surplus land correct so we never talked about this being surplused we did not talk about about it being Surplus because we're not getting rid of the entire piece of property we've done this before and you have approved particular items that have occurred in Cape Coral and other places where we've built an easement based upon releasing part of a piece of property or we've provided access an area for turn Lanes right is that but that's not what's being this is not going to be a turn lane this is about Road improvements in the things necessary for the entitlements to construct improvements to the existing Bonita Grand Drive North of of East Terry Street okay
075thank you anybody else before we move on to roll call vote okay seeing none VI a roll call vote Mrs juven Elli no Miss Jordan I Mr Pon yes Miss Langford Fleming yes Miss Morgan I and I am an I so motion carries 51 next up will be item L10 Dr berer please read your recommendation for the said pulled item the recommended action is the approval of the lease and shared use agreement with the village of Estero for the development of the Estero High School athletic facilities into a shared Sports Complex approval authorize the superintendent to execute the related documents the approval of the lease and standard agreement with the village of Estero for the development of the Estero High School athletic facilities into a shared Sports Complex is a 99-year lease with the village
076of Estero to provide the 54 plus acres that comprises the Estero High School athletic facilities to the Village of Estero for the construction development maintenance of a community Sports plex the shared use agreement codifies the prioritization of Estero High School athletics and access to the community Sports Complex only when not in use by a stero high school or its students the village is obligated to contribute no less than $10 million in the next 5 years to the agreement to the development of these facilities the initiative highlights the district's commitment to maximizing resources enhancing athletic opportunities for both Estero high school and the broader community okay do we have a motion to adopt Dr berne's recommendation for item L10 Mr persons yes I make a motion to adopt his recommendation for L10 the agreement with the
077city of Estero we have a second I second okay motion moved by Mr person second by Miss Langford Fleming do we have any discussion again I'll be brief because I've asked questions about this in the past but I just had a hard time with the 99 year relase I kind of mentioned that before I don't believe we should be landlords and we didn't decide to Surplus this land and this land was purchased for specifically for the Innovation School K8 which I know is now being moved and we pivoted to somewhere else but the fact that we specifically was directed to buy this property to in joint with the Estero city council and then that plan did not come to fruition and we pivoted without really talking about a plan and having things in place for
078the future with the 10-year plan and I so I just again my realer hat I decide I decided I just can't support this at this time thank you and I'll leave it at that thank you do we have any other board comment go ahead Mr psons yeah I just think this is a great situation first off they're giving us 10 million you know which is great but that's only a drop in the bucket compared to the maintenance over 99 years and the building of the additional facilities will be much more than 10 million I can guarantee that so I think it's a very good deal for the district for that reason anybody else board comments okay any anything you'd like to add Dr berer no sir okay I agree in regards to this I hope
079and we talk about a St I hope this model though is used in other places in the county so I I agree with that part very much so seeing no other discussion correct we're going to go to a roll call vote so item L10 we will start with Miss juvell no thank you okay Miss Jordan hi Mr person yes M lenford Fleming yes Miss Morgan I and I'm in I motion carries 51 at this point we're going to move into public hearings Dr berer please present your recommendation for this evening's public hearing item Mr chair members of the board members of the public item q1 is the approval to conduct a public hearing to receive comment on the proposed 2024 2025 instructional materials plan for social studies we'll now recess the Schoolboard meeting and open
080the public hearing the time is 7:24 p.m. as indicated the public hearing this evening is to receive public comment on the proposed 2024 2025 instructional materials planned for social studies at this time the public will be invited to speak on this one item the time allowed for public comment is 3 minutes is there anyone the audience who would like to address the board regarding the proposed 2425 instructional materials plan for social studies please approach the lecturn please also state your name for the record Denise nrom Dr Bernier thank you for explaining what you explain to me I actually appreciate it I did actually already know that and I know exactly what happened up at FLD dooe and I know how many people were given information including the commissioner and so on about what was in
081those books unfortunately a lot of the senior reviewers are putting books with CRT through they just simply are okay Florida Citizens Alliance asked if we could re-review the books that we had initially reviewed to see if the Publishers would update them accordingly we were refused and the other thing is that it is within your perview to purchase any materials that you want you do not have to go with the books that are on on the state approved list so I'm saying once again I'm asking you to table it and review it I know you've already held off for a long time but there is critical race theory in those books and they will be in the hands of our children now I know not everybody really cares too much about that but I do and
082I know that some of you do also thank you any other member of the public wishing to comment on the social studies textbooks okay seeing none I will now close the public hearing and reconvene the Schoolboard meeting of March 5th 2024 the time is 7:26 p.m. Dr berer attorney Huffman is there anything you'd like to address regard the public hearing I think the only thing I'd like to do is respond I may have misspoken Miss nrom you're right we don't have to pick from the state list there's a lot of my recommendation though to the board is to stay within the state list there's a lot of safety involved in in in the current climate to ensure that we're adopting from the state approved adopted materials thank you attorney Huffman I have nothing to add
083at this time thank you Mr chair thank you sir so now we're moving on to item R good of the order other business so board member comments and reports and I promised I will start with Erica so before I want to start I want to thank my principal Mr Scott cook for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of riverdell high school during during the pandemic my parents made the ultimate decision of moving from New York City to Fort Meers Florida only being the Lee County School school department since my freshman year in 2020 I haven't been capable of witnessing the dramatic changes over the years but I've seen many similarities and differences compared to the New York City Department of Education for the last four years I had the opportunity of being the
084international baloria program a program only offered in about a dozen schools in the entire New York State I truly believe that I have had a much better High School experience with Lee County than I would have had in New York the IB Program requires me to take rigorous college level courses which has allowed me to be prepared for college if not more about every High School in Lee County holds the option of taking Advanced programs that would allow would that would Aid towards Bright Futures it would be my hope that all students whether in IB Ace or general education classes receive high quality instruction whether or not a student is in advanced classes in New York they are placed in a program of their interest that will prepare them for either their specified occupation or
085college being a general education student in middle school when I was in New York the teachers never saw a difference between honor students and those in general education they always held the same expectations now having friends who have never been in IB I noticed that teachers not teach all of the same standards I understand that general education students are not supposed to be taught at the same level as IB or Ace but it's essential that all students are taught basic life skills that students are supposed to develop over the four years of high school these skills might be like public speaking and time management from the moment students step into their freshman year the idea of moving into adulthood should be on their mind I'm not saying College because I understand that college isn't for
086everyone but they should need they need to create life skills that they need to be successful in the future productivity communication skills time management the list goes on high school teachers in Le County school department should require their students to learn about public speaking and Pres present their ideas they should be taught how to turn into assignments on time and not push back the due dates just for them they need to learn the importance of how assignments work as having a job in the future will not approve a half-done job with the lack of these skills Our Generation and future Generations will not be successful as everyone believes it will I believe that having motivational teachers it will create motivated students and with motivated students we can create an environment of students who are prepared
087for adulthood the moment they receive their diploma thank you wow thank you thank you Erica appreciate your comments now we're going to move on to we'll go the opposite end and keep on that end if that's all right Miss Morgan well first thank you Erica as a former New Yorker I enjoy hearing your perspective on things so thank you and I'm just going to add a little bit of context I think to this conversation about books there are two essentially two things going on one is the challenge the challenge is when somebody in the community says we don't like a book and we want you to review it and see whether or not it belongs on the bookshelves we've had a number of books challenge but I would say it's probably is 100 a good
088guess maybe more no a lot more oh fewer okay and I know we've only I think pulled Al together two books right something like that anyway sorry I'm I'm diverting attention but the other that's going on and when people talk about pulling books that's really about the department of education requirement that every single book we have in our media centers and in our classrooms be reviewed and we're we've not been told to pull books off the shelves we've been told to review every book that is on the shelves and that takes time and that takes staff we have 12 staff who are certified to do it they work at night they work on weekends so when we say that we've you know we reviewed 56,000 books I think that's pretty awesome but we have probably
08960,000 70,000 more to go it's not because the books have been challenged it's because we are required we're obligated to have every single book that every child sees reviewed by media specialist so I just wanted to make that differentiation for members of the public and those are my comments this evening thank and really delightful to have you here thank you so much thank you Miss Morgan Miss lenford Fleming Eric I walked over to Eric can introduce myself and she's glowing about only having a month left of school so I'm excited for you and are your parents here in the okay they have raised a wonderful a wonderful young lady so you're going to do great my son his freshman year made his very best friend now was a New Yorker and he moved here for
090the same exact reason you described and youve you've brought a lot of culture I'm sure and your friends I'm sure adore you to our public comment thank you to everyone who came out I Echo what our chair has said we do appreciate we do hear you even if we don't make comment every time Mr urick you are correct this is a this is a crucial issue this is something that weighs on my mind when I see our children constantly on iPads and constantly on Chromebooks and not turning pages and not handwriting and thing and I'm listen I'm I'm bringing out the elementary teacher in me it's it's good to see those tangible things in children's hands to be able to man manipulate things and there's things that technology bring to the table but then there's
091times that we need to take a step back and get back to some classical learning which I talked about for 18 months on the trail Miss Cox I don't think she's here in the audience but thank you for your volunteer hours and to what you do for the students at the school that you work work in I know that we've already addressed the ESC bus situation before I get to my final comment I do want to say we I believe Dr berer is Code of Conduct coming next month I'm sorry to put you on the spot I can't remember I know doing the next two regularly scheduled workshops thank you something that's been weighing on my mind with my school visits in secondary and Mr person's touched on this today something I've been wanting to
092bring up is how his students in Tallahassee dress for success and I do believe that we need to take a closer look at our code of conduct and our dress code I've just walking the halls of some of our high schools who are young adults who are wanting us to treat them like young adults and then preparing for adulthood I think it's something we need to take a look at and and them seeing themselves as young adults dressing a little more professionally just something I think we need to tighten up if you will to our Marina Bay Community thank you I've read every single email that you have sent I'm sorry I didn't get to the video because it would not pull up I think it has something to do with our laptop switching over
093but I just want you to I want you all to know where I stand on this issue I have three children I live in a community with that is now because I am a Seventh Generation Floridian crazy but I have seen our community explode we do not have the infrastructure for the traffic that is here especially during season and I live on a road myself now where traffic is they're using it as a cut through if you will so we have people going down a 20 mph Road at 40 m hour so I understand where you're coming from I don't care if there's one kid standing at a bus stop or if there's 20 kids standing at a bus stop I just want to make it very clear where I stand on this issue for
094direction of the superintendent and his staff that every kid matters safety is my number one priority when it comes to our children and it doesn't that doesn't always mean inside the school building it means before the school after the school and even on the weekends and I and I felt that way when I was a classroom teacher as well so I'm just charging transportation and the superintendent to meet the needs of the community in this issue and the best way that we can to keep these children safe I know we can think outside of the box I know our transportation department can put heads together and make this happen other than that I have no further comments thank you Mr Langford Fleming moving on to Mr persons Erica you sound like you should be a
095teacher I know okay I know I know so I mean that's you say we need good teachers might want to think about that on the Marina Bay I will Echo what Miss lenford Fleming said you know there can be two things one the bus stop can meet the state standards and say safe but it also can be that the bus stop inside can be looked at as even safer and when given two choices I would like to see more the safest Choice available now I don't know about the turn around exactly how far you have to go I mean 90 seconds one way turn around 90 seconds back the other way it adds to it there's obviously there and that the superintendent's going to look at and he'll make his recommendation but I think we
096all say we want student safety as our number one priority above learning okay so it's I think he knows how we feel and that's why he's going to check out everything I talked earlier about taking some kids to Tallahassee last week that was fun tomorrow might be even more fun I am a kindergartener chaperone so and it may be raining so it could really be interesting and then we'll be reading the next two days to several schools so it a lot of fun things we get to do as board members and I'm looking forward to that's all I have right now thank you Mr persons Miss Jordan okay Erica thank you so much for being here I love listening to you and you are on student advising right okay I knew I knew you from
097there so thank you for being here and sharing with us cuz you I you do speak when you're at the student advisoring so you continue to do that also horns Marsh Middle School orchestra I really wanted to give them a shout out they did an excellent job I watched them this past weekend as well and then seeing them again here tonight was really great I guess Marina Bay I think they've my colleagues have pretty much spoken the same words I would say as well and I know Dr berer will be looking into it further for us and we will be coming back and I did I did have an opportunity to watch the video so I have read that and I was able to they had problems with their computers I had not but I
098did see that and I have not yet been out there but seeing the darkness I do see that not just there I see that everywhere in Lee County so if we could make it where all of our kids you know had the lights when they need it that would be an amazing task but thank you for you know your advocacy and for continue to come and I gave the rest of my comments this afternoon so thank you thank you Miss Jordan Miss juven thank you I'll be brief as well I am concerned about the safety after the close what was the thing we attended on Friday closeup with our students they're they are in fear every day at school just because of the safety of everything going around them going on around them the uncertainty
099of that and when students aren't safe they aren't learning so I think it's important that we address this has been ongoing since before I believe Christmas and here we are in March and this hasn't been resolved and it's really about student safety safy and we have the ability to make that right and yet I don't want to see this go another month out and not and if God forbid something would have happened to a student and we could have prevented that caused me to be very alarmed and causes me to pause and question how much longer is this going to be prolonged before a definite answer and procedures and protocols being followed to get to the right answer that is the other the other issue and that's a whole another conversation that I can have
100with the superintendent I am I've thought about this and I'm I'm going to make a motion tonight to direct the superintendent to move the Marina Bay bus stop to the designated Pavilion at the clubhouse and I can do it formally and for the attorney but I'm going to make a motion I would like to make a motion to have the transportation go into transportation bus stop B in the Marina Bay Community to the designated bus stop at The Pavilion at the clubhouse there a motion on the table do we have a second second by Miss Jordan motion moved by Miss juven Elli and seconded by Miss Jordan and that again to clarify the motion would be to move the bus stop within the Marina Bay Community Within development yes okay it's at it's at the
101clubhouse at the clubhouse do we have any discussion if I may Mr Mr chair we do have to open it up to public comment now that there has been a motion yes I forgot about that so okay at this time is there anyone in the audience that wishes to make public comment in regards to said motion so please proceed to the Lector would be what would be 3 minutes yes three minutes and please ensure to provide your name hard to speak all right my name is India Palencia I live in Marina Bay I know Dr berer had mentioned earlier about a state law that said that there's no requirement for them to go into the gated communities and I understand that there's no requirement but there's also nothing that I have been able to find
102in the last few minutes while looking through Florida state law and state statute that bars them from going into them or they wouldn't go into Botanica Lakes or they wouldn't go into Colonial Country Club so our ask is that we just get treated the same as our neighbors our kids are safe to me it's a very very very simple solution and a very easy one to make I understand that there are challenges with the buses because my son rides the bus I get it when the woman was up here talking about the ESC bus my kids's on an ESC bus every morning so I get it we get Communications that the bus is running late after my kid gets picked up late so you know we get it we get there's complications with the buses
103and that there's timing issues but ultimately every one of you have talked about the safety of our kids being Paramount it's the number one thing and I think we're all on the same page with that like I think we can all agree on that right the safety it's about safety so if it's about safety it's a very simple Choice it's a very simple decision to make there is one option that is the better option and it's our school bus stop in the community and I understand it's 4 miles away one way so it's A8 mile round trip 3 minutes added to the bus route but I think that those 3 minutes and that 8 miles is well worth the safety of our of our kids it's got to be made the decision is very simple
104in my eyes and I really hope that you consider that I really I really hope you do I know I look at all of you I've read all your iOS I hope that you can see the due diligence that we've done we do our homework we made sure that we were looking at this correctly we looked at the laws and we looked at the statutes and said are we crazy like is it just us are we imagining this but we're not and everyone I talk to about it is like wow that's should be a no-brainer and every time I've walked out of here I'm like wow that was a slam dunk it was a no-brainer and we come back yet again with the same answer I'm begging you please just make this right for our
105kids I you're our voice we voted for you guys because we knew that you would be and I know that you guys are like lifelong Fort Meers residents and you're pillars in our community please stand up for us be the voice for our kids I'm asking you thank you good evening again my name is Erica king ganis I just wanted to say how important it is that we don't wait on this and vote in in the future our kids at Marina Bay they're the future they are future generation there are future lawyers doctors teachers principls board members and we've told them as parents that they can be whomever they want to be and their teachers have supported them in that and you all have spent an exorbitant amount of your energy into making sure that
106you provide them with the best education so that they can be their future whoever that is and have that dream job that they want to receive but it's just the unfortunate reality that if this bus stop is not moved that is going to be impossible for a child that lives at Marina Bay CU they're not going to make it to their graduation they're not going to have their dream job because they can't get on their school bus safely and we're really asking you to make this change before tragedy strikes so please please move our bus stop thank you Rich kley I just wanted to comment Dr bener mentioned that the plan Community requirement was legitimate that it just needs to be a Bust Stop coordinated with the school board but that should be compliant with
107a bustop outside of the community consistent with I guess today's policy well the plan Community we're talking about for Marina Bay was a 2005 plan and the coordination happened at that time frame the coordination ended up with our neighboring part of the same development which we were going to be part of the same development they only deferred our community because of the real estate market in 2008 it wasn't feasible for the developer to to do it all that time so we were delayed development but the planning for all that was done back with a plan that was established in 2005 and in fact the same as the community that was is Grandfather the community North of us the Botanical eges Community built by the same developer built on the same criteria this this school department
108has grandfathered that Community and because I guess they had an established Bud stop well if the basis for that is the is the plan that we de developed our bus upop on is the same as the plan they developed on then why aren't we also grandfa under the same criteria in any event there is a bust up that's very safe versus the one that's not not safe outside the community we should take advantage of that thank you I'll be brief each and every one of you have a chance to avoid a tragedy okay these these children are out there 5:30 in the morning sometimes even earlier to catch a bus while traffic's going over 50 m per hour the city has been very upfront saying that the traffic study won't be done for at least
109until the Town Apartments are fully occupied which is going to take at least 5 years so the speed limit average right now is about 55 not 45 there's no police on the road the response to that area is always delayed avoid a tragedy vote Yes because it will be on all your consciences if some something happens thank you sir if you could please state your name John Leone I'm on the Marina Bay board of directors thank you thank you I thank you for this time my name is Jennifer Kars and I'm with Marina Bay Dr berer thank you I I'm sorry I was a little disheartened to hear some of your response earlier you said I'll do a visit state law doesn't require us to come in I'll look into it frankly Miss jovanelli and
110Miss Jordan's motion is action tonight action that you can take tonight there really isn't anything to look into there isn't a lot to look into it's moving a bus stop from here to here I understand there's Logistics that are surrounded with doing that action but that's the decision that needs to be made tonight and then the logistics of it can be handled later please take action tonight you all have that power to do this we're asking you and we're going to keep coming to every meeting and we're going to keep growing and we're going to take up half the room thank you hello Christy delli this is a very easy very simple answer like this is a very easy thing and I was very disappointed so far watching I was sitting here watching and waiting
111and as I'm watching I'm waiting for someone to make a motion and it had to get all the way to Melissa before a motion was made thank you Debbie for giving it a second there because I was getting ready to get up and walk out of this room had a second not been made I would have been extremely disappointed in all of you now this is the process that is in the policy they're following the process y'all are the next step in the process please do something about this what is the answer if you don't that what they just go back to doing what to complaining about this they've already been through the TRC they shouldn't have to go through it again it is not their fault that things were not done the right way
112in the first TRC it doesn't need to be repeated you guys are here now you can make this decision you have the authority to make this decision please do not put this on the superintendent he doesn't need to make this decision y'all have the authority to do this is one of the times you get to be the good guy please be the good guy in the situation please do not act like whatever board member it was that whomever it was here earlier mentioned that thought went to the bus stop and thought it was safe I don't know which one of you that was I'm going to maybe guess it's the person that's not here today but please do the right thing in this situation for the love of everything please please please I don't want
113to waste the last minute and a half of my time here just begging you guys to do the right thing but this is one of those moments when you get to just do the right thing and it's not going to hurt anyone it's not going to set a precedence every Community isn't going to come barking up your ear because they want this done there next this is one community that it's already been grandfathered in in their extension the evidence is overwhelming I've been to that bus stop it is extremely dangerous and if you'd like to know where that committee thinks that it's a safe place for them to sit it's on the little grassy null that's right above the sign they that they think that's appropriate that's not appropriate that's not appropriate for anyone's children
114to sit up near the sign that's not a bus stop if there's not a bus stop there put the kids kids in the community where the bus stop is please and thank you sorry for being a little loud have a good night is there anyone else in the audience wishing to make comment on this motion okay seeing none we're going to move to board discussion so Mr person followed by Miss Morgan we have many bus stops all along where I drive every morning Long Bay Shore they're going 55 M an hour and the bus stops on the road and picks up kids Winkler right out here is 45 mph speed on there going over that and they're picking up kids again I think I would like CU I don't know I hear from y'all what's
115it's out outside and that there's a place inside but there's more to the logistics of driving the bus into and turning around do they have to back up can they just do a complete circle and you know I need to to look more at that I have not seen I've not been inside and I would not want to make a decision tonight for that reason I think that's the superintendent's going to go I think if he thinks it should be moved he has the authority to move it right away but I would like to if he wants more feedback from us he should bring it back to us and then we can make a decision there but I just I don't like telling the superintendent what to do when I don't know exactly we get
116one side all the time of issues but there's always two sides to every issue and I had a child that was hit and killed less than a quarter mile from my house and that's on a 30 m hour road she's walking she'd walked her child I mean her sister to the bus stop and was walking back home on the side of the road early in the morning there's lots of bus stops you know that we need to look at and make as safe as possible and if it's safer you'll have my vote to move it but I don't feel until the superintendent has a chance to look at it because he's in charge of the operations when we elect a superintendent they'll be making this decision de ision we only will be funding it or
117making a policy you know I mean it's it's just where we are you know as a as a board and so for that reason I think we should hold back until the superintendent has a chance to look and then make a recommendation if if if he wants one or if he wants to take a change that's all next up misss Morgan so I'm going to follow along with what Mr persons had to say my question to the board is what's good governance good governance is allowing the superintendent who is responsible for District administration to make a decision with respect to this issue he has already said he will visit this site he has said that he in attorney dep pu Bruno or a member of her staff is going to discuss this situation further we
118don't as a matter of of course take motions without prior notice to the board so that board members have an opportunity to consider what's taking place so what do Mr Pon said is correct the superintendent has the ability to make this decision the board doesn't need to override the superintendent or undermine the superintendent at this point because he hasn't made a recommendation I think it is on us to give him the opportunity to do his job to provide oversight to the people who have done this work underneath him and to come back to he doesn't even need to come back to the board he can make whatever recommendation he wants and if we don't like the recommendation we can override him at that point I can't support one of these last minute motions I'm sorry
119I can't those are my comments thank you board members question Miss Langford Fleming through the chair to the super would you mind explaining just for public and the community that's here what is entailed in going and doing a site visit how long something like this would take to be able to on a dime if you go out and you see that this is in fact an unsafe environment for our students how quickly can we make that happen in transportation since I would be abiding by your policies I could make that decision tomorrow like Mr persons I would share that I have been out there I'm not been out there at the time that they're suggesting i' be out there I want to take a look at the light pole that hasn't been rep hasn't been
120replaced from my understanding I want to know who's responsible for replacing that light post whether that exists on a public side or whether that's a responsibility of the community it all you know it all depends on how the deeds and restrictions are done but you know there's there's a lot to look at that happy to do so I think there's two things that answers your question m m fing so my question is I do feel similarly to out of respect to our superintendent to my two colleagues I do also feel that this is a priority and should be taken care of tomorrow by staff I have a hard time voting putting yes on a motion that was just thrown out instead of 24 hours just so that we can I mean I may even want
121to go out there tomorrow at 5:30 in the morning and now I don't have a chance to if if if it doesn't pass or does pass so it's not that I don't support a change being made and a change sooner than later is what my comment should have said but I think it's really important that not just this Su this tra you got you all are just such a great example of multiple stops throughout our community that Mr person said and you're being actually a voice for thousands of kids who stand at unsafe bus stops and something that we all need to address but I do have I I have to weigh in we do not have thousands we do not have thousands of bus stops in our community where children are unsafe bus stops
122are selected very carefully through a process this community has brought to us a very specific opinion as to the what they believe is the situation of their children it warrants me not staff going out tomorrow morning to see what they're telling me so I can put my eyes on it I think I know a hazardous condition when I see it I mean you know and I do believe that it is in the purview of the superintendent to utilize your policies and if my staff can't reach a conclusion I can okay thank you anyone else Miss Jordan I would like for Dr berer to do that first thing in the morning to go out there well if you can I can't I've already stated that I would go I don't I don't think I need to
123be directed beyond that I have to be candid I've already said I will go tomorrow morning I am not demanding that you go anywhere I'm just saying I appreciate the fact that you are willing to do that and also I just want to make sure too with Mr Lloyd and Mr Stevens they are following guidelines as well so I know they're not trying to do anything for malice or anything like that so I have to say that because I felt like it was assumed that they were doing something just because they were doing it but I know that they are following what they believe was correct so I just wanted to share that as well but I absolutely I know I will go out there as well and I would rather this be taken care
124of sooner than later again this I second it so we could have conversation but I know that we do have our policies that we are that we try our protocol that we try to adhere to as well as far as motions but I would really like to see this take place very very soon thank you m juven Elli thank you my apologies to the board about bringing this motion up last minute but after hearing their appeal to us as well as the student I thought about the safety thing today the students feeling safe this is really all as it is a safety issue however the superintendent did recognize that staff did not follow policy they were looking at an older policy so that was misrepresented in the in the Review Committee to the Review Committee
125that's a problem and unfortunately now it's become the superintendent's problem that because the information and the processes weren't followed properly like we expected it to be by based on our policy so you know staff didn't follow policy and now I'm not following protocol so it just kind of sometimes happens that way but at this point I was thinking about pulling my motion back but I'm going to go ahead and let let the motion fail because I think it's important that we not prolong something that's been going on since before December in December and that's where it's at today that's the reason why I didn't make the motion because how long is it going to go on where these people have to come and and advocate for safety for their children and that's just where I'm
126at it's a matter of safety so I will not be pulling my motion I'll speak it again when the when I'm asked to thank you by the chair thank you Miss juven Elli so and I truly truly understand appreciate your concerns to the Marine Bay residents I as I mentioned up here I have three kids two young kids especially in this district and my son back in elementary school one of the issues that I got involved with with city government was because of his bus stop and not having lights over in Cape Coral as well as a speed limit so I truly do understand that so but with this information at hand I am I'm not ready because there are consequences to this so I'm not saying that I'm not going to support this later
127on but I agree I think this is the domain of our superintendent and again that's not saying we're not going to do anything but protocol like we talk about and doing it the right way safety as I said I understand I truly do I've experiences so but we need to make sure we're doing the right thing I'd actually entertain a motion to table this at the moment from somebody if I could Mr chair I did want to address it's been alluded to during some of the comments by the board during this discussion as to whether this is in the perview of the board to make a decision or the purview of the superintendent and statute 1000 1.51 dictates that the duties and responsibilities of the district superintendent is to be responsible for directing the work
128of personnel subject to the requirements of chapter 102 it does further state in chapter 1000 1.42 the powers of the board for transportation of students that after considering recommendations of the district's school superintendent the board can make provision for the transportation of students to Public Schools so at this point I would agree with the comments that were made by various board members during this discussion that the purview of this decision does lie within the superintendent thank you I would then ask for the motion to be withdrawn I'll withdraw the motion thank you Dr berer do we have the understanding have you gotten the guidance from this board on what you need for the next steps Crystal Clear based upon the community's input and the board's input what's expected of me tomorrow morning very early in
129the morning yes sir and being able to render a decision come back deal with staff and also advise you as to implications regarding the overall transport system thank you Dr berer and thank you for discussion as Miss juvenile is there anything else you wish to add to board member comment or go to the order at this point since you've withdrawn no I this was enough thank you okay yeah Mr persons I believe technically we also have to withdraw the second yes in order to withdraw the motion okay was that Miss Jordan I will withdraw my second for the record you withdraw on the second Mr Jordan okay first and second thank you Mr persons so and you know again you know I mentioned thank you to Marina Bay for coming out here thank you for
130your continued dialogue we do we get it so and we're are listening I do want you to know that and rent for the rest of the community as well so kind of shift gears I was able to attend the or be involved with the taste of the cape this past weekend which was a a nonprofit fundraiser between the GF Coast Symphony as well as a chamber of commerce which helps raise money for scholarships for kids within our school district I thought that was a amazing event so much like many of you I have WR my favorite book oh the Places you will go to read this week I went to Pelican with many of you had a fantastic time there was really interesting one of my favorite things is I always ask after that especially
131the difference between I talk multiple first grade classes I did then a fourth grader I always ask them what do you want to do when you grow up so definitely some interesting things a lot of teachers so I told them we're going to we're going to sign them up once they get out of there Dr B so I also one of the interesting ones I heard a lot was YouTuber so I thought that was an interesting one so that went well I also spoke at or read a diplomat this morning and they provided me this cool little reader Rock I thought that was neat I also got questioned about my profession by some fourth graders that Diplomat was really amazing I got to go through and kind of explain how Schoolboard works and how we
132represent them and how superintendent so I did promise them that I would let the board know and the superintendent they said they don't like the change in the nacho chip so that was I want to convey that to everyone so I'm going to be as with many others speaking or reading the rest of this week last thing I want to add is I also went to the golden apple social I thought that was really great and it was great to see many of our current participants in past participants so I just again that's all I have at the moment I will move on to attorney Huffman if you have any comment I don't have anything from a legal perspective but one of my favorite aspects of attending these board meetings is seeing the participation and
133hearing from the student Representatives I love seeing the students get involved in their school district and Erica it was such a pleasure hearing from you tonight the school district of Lee County is very lucky to have such a motivated student and such a wellp spoken public speaker thank you for being here real quick Dr berer sorry I forgot I'm sorry to thank you Erica we had a little bit of a governance in action so I hope you really saw that you see how the process works I just find that's amazing so great job and I'm going to ask you this as every other student rep once you go to school can come back and work in Lee County so remember that please so now Dr Brer thank you for indulging me so I'm going to
134start with Marina Bay I'll be out there first thing tomorrow morning no motion tonight does not mean no action I think that's the most important I think I want you to leave with so as community members who already had to leave this evening get in touch with you via text via email and the other ways you communicate with each other please let them know that not having a motion this evening does not mean there won't be action this clearly lies in the purview of the superintendent it's an operational issue it's been reviewed it's been looked at it needs it needs to a decision needs to be made so I appreciate that coming forward Erica I'm going to take it a different way I've seen you in the student in the student role in in the
135student advisory committee I've watched you I would say grow not from the aspect of like real growth but more along the lines of watch you get more comfortable and share your leadership style with the group those attributes were already F fully developed when you walked in I have to tell you I love the fact that your New York accent Creeps in there occasionally the minute you the minute you said New York I knew where you were from and the other piece is anybody ever attending one of my album moders always gets a special place so go night I'm excited about UCF it's a great place to go school and to Mr Fischer's comment whether you come back as a forensic psychologist or something else please think about volunteering in your schools whether you become an
136educator just or just want to come in talk on a career day or like we're doing this week come in and read to a group of first and second graders your favorite book it's a lot of fun and we hope that you'll be an active member of our community when you return USDA I wanted to make sure the board and the public knew who still are listening that the United States Department of Agriculture was here over the past few weeks auditing a select set of schools they never audit all the school buildings they always take a random sample the audit for Food Service came back with no findings the national school social worker recognition week is this week if you haven't hugged your social worker find her or him and give them a hug want
137people to know based upon some of the developments late last week with a situation in Cape Coral where their where somebody who may or may not be transient or homeless had a conversation with one of our students potentially threatening Cape high and then sort of disappeared into the community put about four or five of our schools on lockdown over the course of the morning including having to transport students is because they couldn't get into their schools so buses were arriving and we couldn't accept them because we didn't want to put them in any type of danger so we had to reroute them to Gulf and tragar Elementary proud of the staff for responding thank you to the parents who were patient with us on an early release day and thankfully and most importantly thank you
138to the Cape Coral Police Department and our own safety team here for doing the hard work to bring that person in for questioning and other things today I just want the board to know at 11 11 a.m. there was an after action review one of the things we did with our swatting calls with Mariner and with South is we established an after action review so we can go over lessons we need to continue to learn how we can even better communicate during the process and our chief of staff Dave Nan hosted those individuals responsible and thank them for doing the hard work of making sure that if we're in that situation again we can do it better from every aspect because there's always a chance to improve finally I would like to take thank the
139board for taking action a number of months ago in supporting the Kelly Services contract we have moved from about an average fill rate for s for substitutes of 60% so if we have 100 vacancies we're covering about 60 classes with Kelly Services out of 100 vacancies we're now covering between 84 and 85 and those numbers seem to be improving so we'll continue to keep you updated I'm think I'm going to move just to a weekly update versus the everyday update we were providing you last week during the first week of implementation and thank you to our teachers and to our principles and most importantly probably an Information Specialist or a school secretary who is responsible for making sure they organize and ensure that Subs are in the classrooms our people do a lot of multiple
140hat wearing and wanted to recognize those individuals who make that work happen including people here at the district office specifically JN erly she is the spearhead in HR behind this particular this particular process so thank you very much for that opportunity hopefully we can continue to report great things and I'll get back to the board tomorrow after my visit thank you Mr superintendent this point next meetings on Tuesday March 26 there will be a Schoolboard workshop at 12:00 p.m. a Schoolboard briefing at 2:30 p.m. followed by a Schoolboard Action meeting at 6:00 at this point having no other business to come before this body and seeing no objection this meeting is adjourned the time is 8:15 everyone have a great evening e