School Board Action Meeting: May 9, 2023

001good evening ladies and gentlemen thank you for being so patient as everybody was able to come in we are ready to begin this evening's board meeting Sergeant arms just Lobby clear thank you at this time we request all electronic devices to be turned off or put in silent mode also we ask that you please refrain from using flash photography except during the press the special presentation portion of the meeting it is my pleasure to welcome you to the May 9 2023 school board meeting the time is 608 p.m this meeting is called to order prior to the start of this evening's meeting we have been enjoying music by students of the horns Marsh Middle School Maybe This Crowd came here just to hear y'all about the Middle School choir and Orchestra programs these students are

002under the direction of Candace sunby harness Marsh Middle is heavily involved in the Arts Community performing at events such as wicked walk and the Sounds of the Season please give these students another round of applause as they perform one more song we will now take a brief pause to clear the performance area we would like to take this opportunity to remind the members of the public of the district's Mission which is to ensure that each student achieves his or her highest personal potential and the district's Vision to be a world-class school system this evening agenda includes the invocation presentation of colors and Pledge of Allegiance acknowledgments recognitions one item under information public comment consent action items which include two items under Board office one item under executive Services four items under academic services three items

003under Business Services two items under human resources and 10 items under operations one of which is a good cause Dr Bernier would you please provide an explanation of the one item under good cause he happened to Mr chair the item is for the Fort Myers Beach Ila it was added to the agenda as good cause in order to eliminate any further delay thank you as presiding officer I find there is good cause to add this item to the agenda there's one item under public hearings and four items under the good of the order of their business board members is there a motion to adopt the agenda Miss Jordan I move that we adopt the agenda as written thank you is there a second my second the motion was moved by Miss Jordan and seconded by

004Miss Langford Fleming please record your vote all right the motion carries 7-0 as is the custom of the board Miss Lankford Fleming will lead us in the invocation after which which Miss Morgan will lead us in the presentation of colors and the pleasure of Allegiance please stand thank you please bow your heads Heavenly Father tonight I come to you asking for wisdom and your will to be done is we make decisions that impact the children families and staff of Lee County and even in what seemed like an incredibly trying year I am grateful to come out on the other end and thankful to be a part of a community where we come together for our children I pray you continue to cover the students and staff of Lee County schools with your blanket of safety

005I pray for the students Lee County schools in Lee County Schools to be taught what they need to become good moral productive citizens of our great country I pray for God's wisdom to make the right decisions for all the administrators teachers and superintendent and all board members I pray for all of our non-instructional staff that's involved in the day-to-day process with our children I am grateful for them I pray for the safety of our sros and our officers on school property I pray for safety in all of the classrooms in our hallways in the lunchrooms on the buses out on the athletic fields and every place our students and staff might be please watch over us all as we leave tonight keep us safe bless our entire County bless our beautiful state and God bless

006this great country amen amen introducing the cadet who is presenting the national colors for our Pledge of Allegiance tonight is Sergeant First Class Baxter Pittman Army instructor from Riverdale High School Sergeant First Class Pittman served 22 years in the Army and numerous assignments and retired as the station Commander for the Plant City recruiting center this is Sergeant First Class Pittman who's sixth year as a JROTC instructor in the district thank you presenting the national colors tonight is Cadet Captain Victoria Lockhart for that Lockhart is a member of the National Honor Society and she maintains a 3.6 weighted GPA Cadet Lockhart has participated for the last four years in the JROTC program and has attended many parades community service project service learning activities and Leadership camps Cadet Lockhart is a Cadet S5 public affairs officer of

007the Riverdale High School JROTC connect Lockhart is actively involved in JROTC drill color guard and Robotics it serves as the commander of the Color Guard team please join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance Supply and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you foreign thank you please be seated next on the agenda our acknowledgments for the month of March the character word for March is patience which is the ability to wait calmly without complaining as you all did at the beginning of this meeting the design you see displayed on the screen was created by Alex Hodge a 10th grader student at Fort Myers High School the school board of Lee County analogists the following events for the month of

008May 2023. National teachers day was May 2nd 2023 the National Day of Prayer was May 4th 2023. Nationals school nurse day is tomorrow May 10 2023 National missing Children's Day May 25th National Teacher Appreciation Week May 8th through the 12th 2023 National military appreciation month is May Jewish American Heritage Month an Asian Pacific American heritage month we have recognitions tonight we have the Florida school related employee of the year winner we have the JROTC program accreditation recognitions we have the 20 22 23 Sunshine State Scholars 2022 Invention Convention U.S Nationals and 2022 Global Invention Convention winner we have the 68th annual Florida State science and engineering engineering fair winners the Florida dance performance assessments recognition and the 2023 Florida Odyssey of the Mind board members if you will join me in the pit foreign tonight

009is Michelle Freeman principal of Franklin Park Elementary and Dr Marsha Burr executive director Elementary School development y'all come on up the Florida school-related employee of the year program recognizes outstanding education support Personnel for the significant contributions they make to their schools district schools systems the program honors one state representative and four finalists in accordance with the section 1012.215 Florida Statutes the bureau provides coordination and technical assistance in the nomination selection and recognition process this Florida school related employee of the year winner was announced during a surprise School visit on April 19 2023. this Florida school-related employee of the year winner is often seen walking with an upset student providing breaks for over-stimulated students encouraging young men to be gentlemen or hosting small group reading interventions with students that require a few more repetitions to meet

010their goals he is also an advisor for the young gentlemen's club in addition he generally meets with 10 to 12 young men in the third through fifth grade to enhance their ability to make wise decisions during difficult situations establishing table manners and creating an understanding of the importance of volunteering in the community while conquering these tasks and supervising his team he still continuously shares that he is living the dream the school board and superintendent are proud to recognize Mr James buschert as the 2023 Florida school-related employee of the year go ahead Mr James currently serves as a building supervisor at Franklin Park Elementary thank you it's miles okay congratulations James joining me at the lecture tonight is JROTC director of army instruction Lieutenant Colonel Barnett okay okay Cape Coral Ida S Baker Island Coast Lehigh

011North Fort Myers and South Fort Myers High Schools JROTC Department completed the JROTC program accreditation during the 2022-2023 school year all units scored between 95 and 100 percent earning the highest level honor unit with distinction the accreditation score was based off of the following criteria Service Learning brief Cadets were required to select a service learning projects to discuss to discuss plan and implement the cadets then presented their artifacts process and data outcomes in a formal presentation two continuous Improvement brief Cadets were required to select an area of their program in which they believe needed improvements discuss plan and implement the plan the cadets then formally presented their artifacts process progress and strategies moving forward and for continued improvements three select select the candidates from each level underwent a portfolio inspection on lessons contact throughout the

012school year five each instructor there's no numbers here I'm just numbering it each instructor is also underwent a portfolio inspection evaluated platoon routine performed by the JROTC drill team when your name is called please come up to receive your certificate and join the board member board members and superintendent in the pit for photos tonight we recognize the following high schools Cape Coral high school Lieutenant Colonel John bleeler and Brigade Commander Cadet Colonel Jessica Ratliff oh did I say the whole name Ida S Baker High School major Greg geese and we're great but I'm sorry Brigade Commander Cadet Colonel Alexa Williams Island Coast High School Lieutenant Colonel Mario Johnson and Battalion Commander Cadet Colonel Desmond Goodman Lehigh Senior High School Lieutenant Colonel Tim Walters and the great Commander Cadet Colonel Adam Hernandez North Fort Myers High

013School Sergeant Major Robert Hightower Brigade Commander Cadet Colonel Ryan Ziegler South Fort Myers High School congratulations you're like everywhere South Fort Myers High School Lieutenant Colonel Jim Spyro Brigade Commander Cadet Colonel Isabella neeves congratulations the school board and the superintendent are pleased to recognize and congratulate these schools on the accomplishment and thank the JROTC Cadets and instructors for representing the school district of Lee County so highly in the national accreditation program thank you thank you foreign tonight is Daniel Knapp coordinator of coordinator teaching and learning the Sunshine State Scholars recognition program hello for high school students began in 1997 to recognize excellence in mathematics and science it has since evolved into a program designed to recognize Florida's top high school science technology engineering and math stem students and recruit them to pursue their post-secondary education

014Florida every school district chooses its top 11th grade stem students during the months of September and October using predetermined criteria recently the Lee County School District was pleased to announce that Fort Myers High School student and excuse me on the names correct me please if I get these wrong so Nathaniel burs d Dunbar of Fort Myers High School Dunbar High School student Ada Mina Menon and Cape Coral high school student Gabriel Wright is a 2022 2023 Lee County Sunshine State Scholars in April our Lee County Sunshine State Scholars along with their families traveled to Orlando for a two-day program there they received recognition for their achievements talk to stem industry leaders about careers and internships and met with representatives from Florida's colleges and universities to learn about programs of study and available scholarships when your

015name is called please come to receive your certificate and join the board members and superintendent in the pit for photos tonight we recognize the following high school students Nathaniel bursby of Fort Myers High School next up is Ada Menon of Dunbar High School next up is Gabriel Wright of Cape Coral high school thank you the school board and superintendent are pleased to recognize Nathaniel adveth and Gabriel is this year's Lee County Sunshine State Scholars we are proud of the accomplishments of these students and wish them the best in their future endeavors thank you joining me at the lectern tonight is Danielle Knapp a coordinator of secondary science Southwest Florida students competed in the 2022 Thomas Alva Edison Regional science and inventors Fair resulting in 25 finalists who were eligible to compete in the 2022 Invention

016Convention U.S Nationals our Region's Invention Convention finalists were among nearly 300 award-winning K-12 inventors that participated in the virtual competition hosted by the Henry Ford in total 135 000 K-12 inventors from across the United States competed at local affiliate events last year while all 25 students from Southwest Florida when your name is called please come up to receive your certificate and join the board members and superintendent in the pit for photos Florida represented our region well on this National stage the following students were recognized for their outstanding performance Gateway Charter School and again correct me if I'm wrong I'm sorry Natalie Eaton received second place in the kindergarten Division and was also awarded the global impact award accessibility for her invention mermaid crayon holder thank you Dunbar High School nashini Fernando received first place in

017eighth grade division and was also one of the industry Innovation award for their project energy metamorphosis Fort Myers High druva Sharma received first place in the ninth grade division and also received most energy sustainable award for their project die sensitized solar cells optimized with Xylo electricity Fort Myers High drove I'm sorry if I said that wrong place first in the 11th grade division and received the global impact award environmental and Society for their project Vision bound Bridging the Gap between technology and preventable retinal diseases boom and Nicholas were also invited to The Invention Convention globals and won second place in their category oh congratulations congratulations Fort Myers High Youssef mustaba received the patent application award for their project walk an Innovative smart sneaker using thermoelectricity congratulations great job the school board and the superintendent are

018pleased to recognize Natalie nishina Drew drewva ohm Youssef on their truly world-class stem accomplishments and thank them for representing the school district of Lee County so well at these National and Global competitions please give them one more big round of applause thank you I will not call Danielle Knapp to the podium because she's standing there permanently last one though the 68th annual science and engineering Fair of Florida was held in Lakeland Florida from April 4th through the 6th 2023. among the 23 students from Southwest Florida that participated three students from the school district of Lee County received High honors when your name is called please come receive your certificate and join board members and superintendent in the pit for photos Dunbar High School advaith Menon received a third place category award for their project entitled

019get this Legion Gan a generative adversarial network-based image augmentation algorithm to improve CNN performance in lesion detection Dunbar High School again nashini Fernando received a second place category award for a project entitled get this phytochemical analysis and comprehensive evaluation of antimicrobial micro microbial an antioxidant properties of six native plant species Innovations for novel drug discovery and finally we have Cape Coral high school Mason Huffman received a third place category award for a project entitled this one's easier to say but no less impressive data analysis of gravitational wave signals using python board members and superintendent are pleased to recognize and congratulate advaith nashini and Mason on their truly world-class stem accomplishments and thank these students for representing the school district of Lee County so well at the state competition thank you joining me tonight at the

020lectern is Dr Jason tomaszewski coordinator fine oh performing arts and there he is each year the Florida dance Education Association holds its Statewide dance performance assessment in Tampa Florida dance performance assessment is a standards-based evaluation of student performance that provides invaluable feedback to teachers and students this past February 45 of our outstanding dance students from Lee County Schools competed at the state recognized event and I gotta say for anybody who went to the musical theater awards ceremony I'm sure some of these people participated in that which and it was an extraordinary evening when your name is Paul please come up and receive your certificate and join the board members and superintendent in the pit for photos tonight we recognize the following middle and high school All-State dance students from Cypress Lake High School principal Angela

021Rawls teachers Nancy Burnham and Sarah Thornburg okay the students are Julia best Ashley Buckley Juliana kabai Sophia Flavio Annette gorney Kalyn hegemeyer Faith McCarthy izmin Menendez Casey Morissette Michaela Rivas Emma Washington Emma Smith and nevia Stanley seniors at an event from Lehigh Senior High School principal Jackie Corey teacher Lauren Gomez okay and the students are Kayla clavel Alyssa LaFlamme Brenda Munoz Rodriguez Keenan Jackson Emily Lago Ivy Glasser Michelle Mendez Andrea Garcia vanica laguerre Naomi Roche and Nava Estrada and finally from North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts principal Andrea guns teacher Lori Mattel the students are Yuli Ben Ovid Riley Campbell Cason Dobson Avery Drury Catherine Engel Megan French Marianne fuger Gabriella santiovanni Allison skokik Carrington slabaugh Skyler Sosi and Madison wolter thank you we do yes and finally Oak Hammock Middle School principal David

022howdyshell teacher Faith Bosco students Alexa pierra Britton piasecki Olivia Xiao Avery Cowles Amelia Puckett Brynn Jackson Jenna Mammon do I forgot to turn the page foreign thank you Awards night joining me at the lectrine Oh wrong one yeah that's right sorry Linda Mayer executive director of school development and Middle School Linda mayor here oh thank you Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literally classes students develop problem-solving critical thinking teamwork math language arts science writing engineering and performing art skills they then bring their solutions to competition on the local state and World level this year the world state competition was held on

023April excuse me this year the Florida state competition was held on April 8 23. at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando Florida five teams placed competition and qualify for Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Michigan State University May 24th through May 27th team iMac which includes current and former students at Allen Park Elementary School team iMac Finish First in the most dramatic problem ever division ID the team coaches are Rachel Victoria and Vienna bush team members are Carly Bush Cami Varela Reese Sims dahea John Batiste Grayson price and Emily Edwards in the most dramatic problem ever division IB Gateway Elementary placed second place the this the team is led by coaches Deanna Martin and Tracy heiner team members include Liliana Martin Ethan Beach Sophia Beach Abigail Orr Adelie collar and Charlotte Walsh and

024Kurt D Christopher North Fort Myers Academy of the Arts Academy for the Arts placed in two different problems in Pirates and the treasure division two they placed first the team who also qualified for worlds last year is coached by Marianne Hodges and at I don't know I'm sorry team members include Macy Hodges Isaiah Diaz Elizabeth Clements Aiden Booher Laney boor and Julia humble in where the structure division two they placed third place the team is coached by just Janisha and Corian Corey cotherman team members include Maya cotherman Rayna cotherman and Chloe Deeds Bruno Bravo and David Spencer mirror Lakes Elementary placed third in the classics the wall of Troy division one the team is coached by Linda damn kala Jewel Kelly Collins and Francis Figueroa team members include bradya ganarsky Samar Lubin estefano Navarro Xavier

025Achilles Kate rahus Kennedy Stratton and Preston towns this is the second year in a row mirror Lakes Elementary has qualified for World spinals tonight we recognize the following recipients but however they've all come up here so I'm just going to finish off by the school board and the superintendent are pleased to recognize and extend congratulations to these gifted talented students and coaches we wish the very best at the Odyssey of the Mind World Cup competition in may go ahead yeah just keep going guys there's a lot of you so congratulations thank you okay Chloe yeah and David thank you and I am the coach do you know okay okay good job guys good job thank you Kennedy and last but not least Mr Preston again the school board and superintendent are pleased to recognize and

026extend the congratulations to these gifted and talented talented students and coaches who wish them the best of the episodicy of the Mind World competition in May thank you foreign we will break just a moment while everybody makes their way out that was the most Awards we've given out since I've been on the board that's great next on our agenda is the hurricane Ian Community update Dr Bernier Mr chair members of the community no slides tonight other than just some some reminders that we're in the long term project and we have 81 percent of all hurricane Ian related player repairs have been completed those are the work orders that have been completed during our maintenance area major roof repairs are continuing throughout the district we are working very very hard to get ahead of our rainy

027season to make sure that prior to our pretty consistent afternoon rains we have permanent roofs in price Roofing repairs have been completed on two of the highly impacted schools both Success Academy and North Fort Myers High School bids were executed for additional two School roof projects Diplomat Middle and Skyline school that then the expectation of that being over about a four million dollar cost work is expected to begin following board approval on May 23rd I'm also happy to report that the county of Lee working very closely with our EOC and their County and our County Commissioners we have finally received payment of just approximately over 1.2 million dollars for our Sheltering costs for during em so I'm very proud of the team and our partnership with our community and our County leaders for providing us

028that opportunity to pay our costs regarding to opening and housing this community during the crisis as we think about long-term projects I think it's important to say that we are also looking at mitigative opportunities meaning we're trying to improve some of our existing Roof Systems so the community understands that we could go back and just put shingles back on particular roofs but we noticed during the hurricane and it's aftermath that utilizing metal roofings such as standing seam Roofing is much better and will help us with our insurance costs so we are insuring in those particular cases that we are you going to be utilizing those standing seam roofs in order to prevent some damage as if or when another hurricane would come ashore major trade works such as new flooring ceiling tiles and new Cabinetry

029are continuing to be installed throughout the district and I'm hoping in our next board meeting in the end of May we'll be able to get you some pictures of maybe some before and afters of some of the projects we're not nearly as complete as we'd like to be but we're hopeful before the school year opens that all of our major repairs would be complete Mr chair thank you for the update the next item on the agenda is public comment Mr dupay Bruno please address the item of public comment please thank you Mr chairman and good evening the school board policy provides the opportunity at this point in the meeting to address the board concerning any matter on this meeting's agenda or any other matter relevant to the operation of the school district please complete a

030public comment card and put it in the basket provided if you need a public common card they are provided by our staff the rules concerning public comment are posted in the back and will be made from the podium in the front center aisle please be advised that the board will not respond during public commentary remarks made by speakers concerns will be addressed by the superintendent or his staff as necessary and the chair May comment as deemed appropriate at the conclusion of public comment the purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on District issues such as duties responsibilities decisions and the general operation of the school district the school board is Viewpoint neutral during public comment we ask that you keep the Quorum be respectful and that respect be shown which is what is expected

031when a government agency conducts official business therefore abusive language such as cursing insults derogatory language levied against an individual or a class or group of people are prohibited further personal attacks such as name calling are prohibited in addition clapping hissing and booing or a display of temper during public comment is prohibited speakers who fail to follow proper decorum in the chambers will be ruled out of order by the board chair or the parliamentarian any speaker continuing with such remarks will be required to relinquish the microphone for board policy 1.11 and may be removed from the chambers by the sergeant-at-arms for board policy 1.11 the time for speakers three minutes if there are 20 two minutes if there are 30 and one minute if there are 31 speakers or more the maximum time allotted for public

032comment is one hour 60 speakers you will find a countdown on the big screen in the front of the room once your time has elapsed the microphone will automatically shut off please state your name when you approach the microphone I will call your names five speakers at a time and please follow the staff Direction when lining up if you are making a comment on the guardian policy there is a special section on this meetings agenda for the guardian policy that will be during public hearing thus we would ask that you hold those comments until that time at this time Mr Speaker there are 13 individuals who would like to speak at least two or three are for the guardian program the time per speaker is three minutes thank you please make sure you've completed a

033public comment card if you intend to provide public comment the card is our public record identifying those who speak and giving us information for follow-up for the staff to follow up is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the board but did not fill out a comment card saying none attorney whoops sorry and possibly two okay while they fill up their cards Mr dupe Bruno if you'd like to proceed thank you very much again we would remind you to please speak with regards to the guardian policy during the public hearing that is designated for that time well the following individuals please line up Tiffany Tyson Sharon McGill Jenny tardav Paradiso Robert Daniels John Koss thank you foreign my name is Tiffany Tyson I'm with Early Childhood I'm just coming before you I'm so

034sorry that the clock is not okay there you go oh thank you sorry about that I'm just coming to you I'm concerning our wages as a family Advocate as cultural support starting pay is 15.75 hour family Advocate is 1589 which is a 14 cents difference family advocates has 10 times as much responsibilities we have a caseload that range from 36 to 54 families that we have to complete home visits for twice a year Sometimes some inceptions we have to go out more than that we're taking applications and uploading them we have some have bus do assigned bus duties assist with parent drop off and pick up we're subbing in classrooms we're giving breaks sometimes we have to leave from our campus to go to a different location from Early Childhood for example to Colusa to

035give breaks we do a lot with attendance and tiredness despite having social workers we take attendance from focus and put them into child plus monitor attendance weekly deal with all attendance and Target issues complete contracts with family we're a Leisure between the parents and the teachers which whatever issues they may be dealing with we intervene in health responsibilities we have with following up with making sure that physical immunization sharp record dental vision and all referrals are followed through and updated we've been told on instance to call parents to inform them that their child could not return to school because their immunization shot record was expired we complete all health record information along with any other duties or things that required of us which can be very overwhelming as far as our work duties we do

036know that they're going to be added duties upcoming because we took driving a driving course which I'm pretty sure they're going to implement taking parents to doctor's appointments and stuff which I heard that is some from the past but this is something that I would really like for somebody to come sit down with our department and discuss so we can try to figure out is there any type of way that an increase could be implemented with all the duties and responsibilities especially since we're so close in pay with instructional support and they don't do near as much as we do that's it Sharon McGill good evening everyone I would first like to say thank you to all of our teachers whether they're in the classroom or virtual or in a different kind of setting that

037we appreciate you we respect your professionalism and your dedication and compassion to our children the Fort Myers Beach school has not been economically viable for years now why this was never brought to anybody's attention prior to now I can't address but it's a situation that's been going on for years and now that the board and the district knows about it and it's it's a difficult situation because of the circumstances that had happened in they've been more than diligent in trying to come to some kind of conclusions to accommodate the school that being said after looking at the agreement giving a four-year window before anything is taken into consideration as far as canceling the Ila I think is just extreme because for the next several years the school is still going to continue to cost the

038district money I mean it's going to lose close to two million dollars over the next two years over the last five years it's lost five million dollars and I'm not saying something shouldn't be done because it should but taking it out for years before any kind of agreement is really put to the test I think it's just it's an injustice to the tens of thousands of other kids in the district and I mean the Fort Myers Beach kids have been accommodated they were all kept together they all went to the same school this District went out of their way to help them now yeah I know they're having to go take a bus to school right now but so do tens of thousands of other kids in the district take the bus to school every

039day so I'm saying that it should not go on for four years it should have been a three-year maximum to test this out to see if it works there's no reason it should go on for four years with the density that they're proposing and the new Resorts that they're saying these people are going to bring their kids in a lot of these are going to be up and running within the next year so there should be some knowledge of what's going to happen over there within that time frame so I just think that should have been taken into consideration and not saying it shouldn't be done but that it's just too big of a window thank you Robert Daniels once more back here to talk about teacher pay and I don't understand that you guys

040are hearing from everyone with their hands out from the top to the bottom everyone is looking for more money and I completely understand that there's only so much to go around but the teachers have been extremely patient we were patient the year Irma came through and the board then said not this year maybe next year we've had extra expenses we were patient when the new teachers got a 20 increase coming from the state level and the you know veteran tried true experienced teachers either received no rays and like or in my case and a number of others took a pay cut as the grand programs that we were getting money from were eliminated we were patient through covid and the nightmare the teachers were put through virtual and regular school otherwise with that experience and

041I don't need to remind you of how many teachers chose to retire rather than endure that nonsense the ones who are not so Patron are the bill collectors in the county the price of housing is up 73 for purchasing house and in the last five years rent 33 in the last five years electric 19 water eight percent car insurance in the county a blank at 33 percent food costs an average of 17 percent used cars because let's face it no teacher's buying a new one 25 to 50 percent gas 50 percent here's the incredible one house insurance anywhere between 50 to 300 percent when I bought my house five years ago I paid twelve hundred dollars a year my last renewal was thirty nine hundred dollars a year that's where all the bonus money gave

042me this year went to but there have been again the need for raises not bonuses and the results be for themselves even with our recruitment fare that we just had it was applauded as being very successful down PeopleSoft today oh man was there still a lot of positions open may have been more open after than before with those anticipated anticipated openings for next year foreign when I look in the news I see that now the state is looking at trying to force another teacher pay raise that means at that point if it goes to the state you'll be competing with every other district for teachers that you could be ahead of the ball on offering the more money to get them to relocate here it's considered practice common practice with the banking industry that anyone

043should be making you know shouldn't spend more than 33 percent of their income on housing well for the average price of housing your teachers would have to be bringing home 4 500 after taxes for that thank you well the following individuals please line up Jim after halt Patrick vaness Andrea Sierra vocanazetis Sebastian kanazetis hi my name is Jenny tarda Paradiso and I'm a parent and alumni of Fort Myers Beach Elementary I'm also a member of the ad hoc committee I'm here to talk to you today about why we need you to open up our school the school is a piece of history as I've said before it was built in the 40s survived down in the 60s helped launch kindergarten in the 70s became a Marine Science Center in the 90s and now with your

044blessing it will hopefully be transformed once more by voting yes you'd be giving this time honored institution one more chance one more chance to say I survived Ian I'm very thankful for the lovely group of individuals who had the foresight to put our school on the national register for historic places we all know had that not been done none of us would be here right now which brings me to why I'm really here as a parent of a beach school student I'm here to make sure she gets to finish out her next two years as an alumnus I want to do my part to protect the school for future generations and when Marina my daughter graduates Fort Myers Beach Elementary we will still be here helping the school and the beautiful thing is that we

045won't be doing it alone we'll be working with the school the Town Council community members businesses large and small not to mention the numerous non-profit organizations on our Island all these entities want nothing more than to see the school succeed they're on board now and they will be on board years from now just like myself with all of us working together there's no reason why the school can't continue to not only be a part of this District but a shining example of it thank you hi my name is John Coss I'm a Fort Myers Beach parent business owner resident September 28th is a day that was an end to a lot of things on our Island hopefully not permanent and a temporary end we lost our homes our businesses our possessions some of my fellow

046residents unfortunately lost their lives can't explain to you the turmoil that that's caused our life that we are getting through you have an Ila in front of you right now that I like Ila came from a lot of hard work from your staff and from our people I believe that Ila gives a great footprint for going forward none of our resorts are going to be ready next year maybe one 95 of our businesses we need four years to get our kids to start building our enrollment on that island I believe that your staff has worked pretty hard to cut our operational costs so hopefully we're not a two million dollar burden over the next couple years you supporting that Ila and giving us a path forward is our real beginning it's the start of us

047bringing our community back our community cannot exist without a school we've worked hard I'm pleading with you please support the Ila and give our community a chance to get started to really start recovering from this I brought my son up here with me his name is JC he doesn't want to speak but these are the kids that you're giving a real shot to and we appreciate this isn't an end it's a beginning our community has a lot of hard work in front of us I've remind you guys that Sanibel was in our same position 25 or 30 years ago they had 50 kids they were about to lose their school they now had almost 200 kids before this storm you're going to see the same thing happen in Fort Myers Beach thank you very much

048have a blessed day good evening members of the school board Mr superintendent members of the staff my name is Jim aderhold I'm the vice mayor for the town of Fort Myers Beach I'm also a privilege to serve on the ad hoc committee that's been working so cooperatively with your team to find a local agreement I'm in a bit of a disadvantage tonight because my colleague John King who I'm so thankful is here tonight but because John is here Our Town Council has advised us because if this aislea is to pass tonight it would be heard before the Town Council on May 15th at nine o'clock at the Diamond Head Resort normally people meet in a town hall but we don't have a town hall so we're using the Diamond Head Resort for our meeting because

049it's the only building on the island that's open that can accommodate those those that many people but because it's coming before us on the 15th the sunshine laws prevent me from discussing the Ila specifically so you're in luck in terms of the brevity of my remarks but I would say a couple things through this process I've gotten to know the parents better and the kids of the beach school they're extremely special people and there's a lot of skepticism towards government right now and I just want to thank the school board the superintendent and the staff for hearing them thank you for hearing them and thank you for what's before you tonight I heard the first Speaker talk a little bit about Fort Myers Beach I'm not sure unless you live on the island you fully

050appreciate what Fort Myers Beach is still going through most of the folks on our Island are either either leave it living in tents RVs rental housing or they're living off the island now that's going to change but right now this summer and this fall is going to be extremely extremely difficult so I ask respectfully for the school board of the school district to work cooperatively with the town to see that we can get that Beach School open as close to August 10th as possible I know there's a lot of hurdles but as close as we can get that to August 10th to when those kids can come back to school I know that would be a Herculean task but together I think we can we can get close to that I also ask respectfully and

051look forward to working with the school board the superintendent the school district as we move forward these next few years to work collaboratively to make the Fort Myers Beach beach school once again one of the finest elementary schools in the country thank you so much and God bless foreign my name is Patrick vanass I'm a proud parent of Beach school children one that's already moved on to the elementary school and my son Jake over here I'd like to thank you for bringing this item to a vote this evening to re reiterate some of the previous comments that we've had the ad hoc committee the town the parents the teachers and the overall community stand United in support of option b we believe that it's a favorable option that reopens our Beloved School and gets our

052children back on the island in the fall a vote for option b will bring resolution to eight months of uncertainty anxiety and will bring Comfort to families and to the entire Community who's working very diligently in rebuilding their homes and rebuilding the Island community we understand that as this chapter closes a new one will begin we are committed to working very closely with the district and they can continue building collaboration and trust and to find long-term Sustainable Solutions for the beach school again as vice mayor aderhalt I think that unless you live on Fort Myers Beach or I've been there to see the devastation you don't have a full appreciation of what this community is going through nor do you understand how important this beach school is to the community we have a lot of

053people here this evening I don't think everybody's going to speak but if you may I just like to ask him to stand up and to see that they are all here in support of option b and the beach School thank you for your time thank you for for your assistance and your staff in working with us and we look forward to a favorable vote before the end of the meeting thank you well the following individuals please line up Elijah Cruz Sergio Cruz Linda Merlot Lucas Rogers Angeli Vasquez thank you good evening my name is Andrea canizaris and I am a resident of verdana Village in Estero Florida off cork through Road I am here before you today because we on up until today our bus stop was located on Corkscrew Road at the residence entrance

054which was very unsafe there was no place to for the parents to park for the children to have their bikes and for the children to safely stand as that it was on a busy road we are proposing that the bus stop email moved to the mail kiosk was this which is within the community's amenities parking lot the address for that being 20074 verdonna Village Boulevard in Estero I have sent you all numerous documents to include an engineer report as it relates to the old bus stop the Publix parking lot bus stop as well as the bus stop that we are proposing at the mail kiosk in addition I sent you a letter from the camaretta family that offers her support for the male kiosk as well as a map of the mail kiosk bus stop

055also I have sent you notification that Lee County Schools was aware as of August 2022 of this male kiosk bus stop location additionally I sent photos of the corkscrew bus stop which was the original bus stop as well as the verdana Publix bus stop and the mail kiosk bus stop as of today May 9th the bus stop was moved to rodana Boulevard at the Public's entrance and while this is a Band-Aid it is not a permanent solution and has its own issues there is Publix traffic that will be coming once the Publix is complete there is construction traffic while it's being built there is no safe place for the children to park or for the parents to park the children are standing in a grassy area that's not covered there's no area for their bikes

056the male kiosk offers safe parking it offers an area for their bikes it offers a safe area for the children to wait we are a community of 2400 homes that will be built and construction is booming when the new school year begins I anticipate even more families being at the bus stop and going to the Lee County School District Additionally the place which is the nearest community to us has their bus stop within the male kiosk past the main entrance within the parking lot where the children wait it's a covered area there's bus stop there's an area for their bike racks or they can be safe and there's a safe area for parents to park additionally Stony Brook's butt bus excuse me Stony Brook the Bella Terra The Preserve all have sites within their community

057and we are asking for the bus stop to be moved at the mail kiosk I do have the copy of the engineer report that I'm asking to be part of the record may I approach next speaker please foreign bus stop in my neighborhood verdana Village the bus stop up until today was on the side of Corkscrew Road offering no lighting along with various other Hazard hazards I have personally witnessed a car accident at the border of our neighborhood less than 500 feet from where my current bus stop is and while the school district has decided to change it to outside of our neighborhood's main entry this is extremely problematic as in the same vicinity as the bus stop as a bus stop there stands and entrance to the Publix Plaza currently being built the increased

058traffic flow due to reasons presented above and the parked cars alongside the road due to a lack of parking in the vicinity of the bus stop will pose a great risk to both students and parents instead I wish to propose that we moved the bus stop to the male kiosk this would provide ample parking space allow for a vast amount of lighting in the area and reduce the risk for both the parent and the student ensuring all are safe thank you good evening I'm Linda Murillo I've been a teacher for more than 20 years I'm a licensed public English teacher I've worked in public high schools for more than 15 years and I'm here to talk to you about book selection and limiting the books for classrooms and for libraries the most influential factor for

059our young people is the amount of time that they get to spend conversing with adults and that's why dinner time without electronic screens is so important and that's why our after school programs are so important and our coaches and mentors are so important to the kids and if we talk to them about books as being such a danger not only does it seem archaic as all the forms of media that are influencing them and who they are as people but it also presents us as out of touch and fragile and that's the kind kind of thing that has repercussions where if our kids are in danger or when our kids are in real danger they might want to Shield us because they see us as fragile from sharing with us some very serious things in

060our lives so I encourage you to stay open-minded about books keep it in perspective about how much influence they have in the child's lives compared to all the other messages that we could be protecting our children from and I'm a great lover of books I know that they are influential but I hope that they stay part of our free access to a child's growth thank you next speaker please hello my name is I need help Mr chairman pursuant to board Mr chairman as pursuing to board policy may we have additional time thank you so can you please reset the clock for five minutes yes she won't help me I want to meet my pretension please don't give up on me now will you help me I have gifts to offer the world to me good

061evening my name is Sergio Cruz and my son attends okemic Middle School is in seventh grade he's an ESC self-contained classroom apologize I didn't have my notes up I wish Elijah could have more time to tell you about his experience in the Lee County School District he would tell you how he has spent his entire educational journey in a self-contained ESC classroom with little to no meaningful interaction with non-disabled peers as afforded by the idea act Ada act and numerous best practices of inclusion he would tell you how his pinky was amputated by a door in his classroom while not having adequate safety measures or Personnel in place within days there was a lock installed on those doors to prevent this to happen again however Flash Forward to his current school where multiple children will

062require the locks due to elopement or other safety measures the district is treating it like a Manhattan Project something that should have been taken care of months ago if not longer still has yet to be executed at a school where one of the three School Improvement priorities is school safety a school which seems to be plagued with safety issues Elijah will tell you how he's falling behind and has been falling behind for years with the district having an attitude of indifference I have voiced these concerns for you years with emphasis on inappropriate curriculum and denial of fape unqualified paraprofessionals as his instructional one-on-one aide and inconsistent deceptive and overstated present levels and grades like many students with IEPs during the pandemic Elijah was left with little to no education for a significant amount of time

063he didn't even have a virtual teacher for much of the pandemic didn't receive any of his already established services and therapies written in his IEP he didn't receive necessary evaluations and assessments as afforded by law during this time the state and the federal government pre-approved compensatory services in recognition reconnection of this epidemic recognizing that the pandemic had created certain situations unprepared for the pre-approval was approved and money allocated with no assertion of wrongdoing they just simply stated that they knew that this was needed when we tried to access these funds we were side roaded deceived and ultimately denied access these Services could have went towards much needed Services therapies and Innovative assistive technology resources we have continued to ask the district to be proactive and less reactive there is no District ride program involving students

064with disabilities the district and even my son's school boast of the prestigious programs like Avid Microsoft Automotive Etc yet nothing for students like Elijah there was no mention of any ESC programs on my son's school open house program it's evident for any who actually look at the district that look at the evidence that the district needs helps with their ESC Department the department directors and administrators are misleading they're misinformed and they're disingenuous they are indoctrinated they are indoctrinated with verbiage like typical which is odd in a sense with dealing with students with individual and unique needs it's a status quo approach or they indoctrinated with verbiage like typical in reference to accommodations and services offered it's a status quo approach that is verified for anyone that has attended the district IEP meeting where the drop

065down boxes are often pre-filled with often used services this is a form that's supposed to be created on the spot with the IEP team but after years I see consistent drop down boxes that are used over and over again much like how your phone recognizes those websites or those words that you use most often and offer them first there are numerous options of services and accommodations I am seeking some assistance on with little to no help but in light of a proposed amendment that I wasn't familiar with before attending here today I see a possible situation where we could maybe utilize some funds that I guess are being going to be voted on today in the CR RSA ESS er2 under the technology assistant amendment 2 which involves funding for assistive technology purposes I wonder

066if there was any consideration for the ESC department and some of these new Innovations I doubt that there was I don't see if there is but I would I would charge the board to maybe re-look at that and see is there a possibility and I will propose one I would bring attention to one proposed Innovative use of technology and it's a virtual reality for career employment opportunities as well as social behavior and self-regulation for children with special needs there's a lot of the research and stuff behind it can assist with overcome the difficulties like the safety concerns the lack of opportunities for exposure to these environments and things thank you hello I came here today to talk about the increasing restriction of books and I think that it's not something that should be actively increasing

067because books are something that are part of daily life and they should be it's not something that should be alienated or banned and the definition of ban is to you know restrict something that's exactly what's happening I mean obviously you can't read everything I mean you don't see tall they're running around with Stephen King but you know excuse me chair can you please ask the young man to say his name yes I'll wait for a pause would you mind stating your name oh yeah full name yes please Lucas Rogers thank you all right okay okay so it's a part of daily life and it always has been and seeing that decrease is not something that I would enjoy to see in my lifetime just keeping books available for other children is something that is a

068cause that is very dear to me so it's pretty much all I want to say thank you hi my name is Anjali Vasquez I'm a resident of Cape Coral I'm a mother to a 10 year old fifth grader you are all now familiar with him I would just like to speak about the same topic and I drew a little bit of inspiration from this board's vision statement which is to be a world-class school system and I find it hard to live up I think it would be hard to live up to that with restrictions to books and literary materials and I would just like to urge every board member to leave selection up to Professionals in this field when I was an IB student which now feels like a trillion million years ago I chose

069a very what I know now as an adult was a very difficult topic to address for my IB extended essay and I was a you know 16 17 year old freaking out like how am I gonna do this topic Justice and I had the help of a librarian a media specialist and I left a library with a stack of books a wealth of information on a very specific topic that has given me knowledge past that time I got my extra points for my IB diploma but also I have knowledge for the rest of my life and I know that I can turn to a librarian Public Library of the many libraries that are on campuses for FGCU or fsw and I know that Lucas my son can go to his librarian and say hey I'm

070looking for this that or the other I was at his school for an curriculum night and it was pouring down rain and we were rushing to the library to escape the rain thankfully and I was looking for books in his grade level the librarian school was one of the things that made me sign him up for that school in particular and there was a dearth of books that he could read at his that were at his level and we've been to these meetings a couple of times and everybody always thinks that he is you know like a doll or you know he's so smart so well spoken he is not the only kid that thinks or speaks or has a vocabulary at this level and children need access to these types of materials to continue

071to grow and in a way that fits them and not what we think that they are able to do and before I close out I was unaware that the Fort Myers Beach Community was going to be here so I would just like to voice my support for them when I was in school I had peers and friends that were from Fort Myers Beach and they were some of the most intelligent and unique and friendly and just a pleasure to be around and I remember them fondly and Mr chairman that concludes the public comment for this portion of the agenda if your name has not been called it will be called during the public hearing when we review The Guardian policy thank you next is the approval of action items the documentation for Action items listed

072under consent is made available to board members seven business days prior to the board meeting we are expected to review all the material and we have an opportunity to speak with the superintendent with any questions we may have regarding the recommendations some of these items have also been briefed or workshop with the board in advance of appearing on the action agenda board members are there any agenda items you wish to pull Mr Fisher yes chair item l-10 Fort Myers beats merely for discussion thank you Mrs juvenile I have none thank you tarika no thank you Miss Jordan Fleming I have none Miss Morgan and I have none there's a motion to approve the agenda's consent items with the exception of the pooled item L10 do I have a motion second okay Miss Jordan I moved

073to accept the motion with the exception of L10 thank you not second that thank you Mr juvenile please record your vote okay there it is thank you the motion carries 7-0 to prove the consent items with the exception of l-10 Dr benir would you please read your recommendation for the pooled item Mr chair members of the board public L10 is for the approval for the superintendent to provide total project cost information for the restoration of Fort Myers Beach Elementary School and the interlocal agreement with the town of Fort Myers Beach the effective date of this agreement shall be the date on which the latter of the school board or town executes this agreement and to lose our copy delivers a copy to the other party parties agree that this Ila including all of its terms

074covenants conditions and restrictions shall continue enforce and effect for a term of four years the parties May extend the terms of the agreement by Mutual written agreement approval authorizes the superintendent to execute all related documents is there a motion to adopt Dr veneer's recommendation Miss Patrica I move that we adopt Dr bernier's recommendation with regard to the restoration and the Ila for Fort Myers Beach Elementary is there a second it's Jordan okay is there any discussion Mr Fisher thank you chair I appreciate it so I just want to pull this item for discussion merely as I felt it's one I know we've talked about a lot but one of big importance I didn't feel that it should be something just a consent item I support a school in Fort Myers Beach and I support reopening

075that all-speed in fall I do have some concerns about it and I've talked through with the superintendent on this I want to make sure again that we're making the best decision for the district we as a district drop the ball on Fort Myers Beach before the hurricane and I want to make sure we keep an eye on it I want to make sure that we are able to get enrollment up to a good spot I have my concerns but I'm putting the faith in the people of Fort Myers Beach of having the enrollment go up I truly do hope that happens I have a question for the superintendent chair if I may ask through you yes I want that Mr superintendent I want to ask just if you go through a little bit of what

076the school district would be doing in order to increase enrollment if you could let the public know please be happy to do that sir thank you very much for the question in the Ila as well as in our ongoing discussions between you and me and members of the board we have a responsibility to help Fort Myers Beach continue to grow that would include redesigning some of the proximity plan regarding Fort Myers Beach Elementary providing waivers as they did in the as the district had in the past related to Sanibel School in Pine Island for those of you not comfortable or understanding fully what I mean by waivers it's an opportunity for Mainland students to then join the opportunity to join those Island schools Pine Island does draw students from the mainland as well as Sanibel

077up until this point Fort Myers Beach has not really had that same opportunity additionally they think it's important to work with the principal The Faculty the sac and ptas looking at potential attractors I don't want to get into specifics because I really think it's what we would do in that first year is make some decisions about things like an entrepreneurial magnet potentially the water school but those agreements will have to be developed during the term of this Ila and during during the term of that the period of time that Ila provides us so that we can consistently find ways potentially to create attractors to the community another huge piece of this process is working hand in hand with the town of Fort Myers Beach to ensure that the community center is an improper condition and

078proper place to both afford opportunity for before and after school care so those are just some of our plans moving forward thank you Mr superintendent appreciate that Ila as I said it's gone a little bit further in time than I would like but I understand it's also a sign of good faith to community and I do believe in the few Fort Myers Beach Community so I just want to make sure in my message to the board and to the public is make sure we keep an eye on this and pretty much if we move to approve this now that from days on after this that we really make sure we're on the ball and I'm asking the same thing Community as well I know they will they have expressed that I just want to make

079sure some of the issues they do bring up again as I said you've been for the unimaginable I can't imagine with that you're a stronger resilient community and I appreciate that I just want to make sure some of the issues you have mentioned are issues that are you know prevalent throughout our entire County right now so I just want to make sure we're keeping when we're looking at Fort Myers Beach we're also looking at resources for the rest of the county including things like busing because that's a significant issue around right now which again I know we have obviously the proximity plan coming forward so those are my thoughts on I just wanted to let the board know and I just felt it was appropriate for a at least a brief discussion so thank you

080any other discussion Ms Jordan thank you for bringing that up Mr Fisher I believe we definitely need to have our eyes on this as well and as far as the waivers are concerned through the chair to Dr Bernier that would be waivers and own transportation correct we would not be providing transportation for the waivers or would we currently under our current proximity plan that for elementary schools we would not provide transportation Transportation would be requirement of the parent who would like to enter the fort B to Fort Myers Beach Elementary School who lived outside of its proximity Zone thank you I just want to make sure that was clear as well and then the community center if the community center is not ready at the same time then what you're asking me a hypothetical I

081know the plan is to work just like we did at Sanibel with the town of Fort Myers Beach and make sure that we work hand in hand to create a consistent opening date where both facilities will be ready in order to support not only the children before and after school but the family's needs related to both born before and after school care it is an integral part of that Community the town has said they are going to work in diligence with us to get both buildings ready at the same time that's what we did with Sanibel once we had approval to move forward with the repairs at Sanibel we work very closely with that Community their Town manager and their operators of that particular facility to ensure the community center could open at the same

082time as the school so that would be our plan ma'am thank you thank you any other discussion so yeah I just want to say to the community that you are amazing you have it doesn't it hasn't always appeared on the surface that you've been a priority and certainly as you go across the county I think that Mr cost made a good point of this tonight as you go across the county you don't necessarily appreciate the devastation that continues to exist on the beach and Devastation really is the appropriate word because people who have not been to the beach at all but are going there now like this week can't believe how bad it is right now never mind what it was six months ago so patience means waiting without complaining we asked you for patients

083from the very beginning and I believe that we've gotten that I found myself in very unfamiliar territory and working with you I went into the decision making on this project believing that it was inappropriate to rebuild the school because of the numbers and then we have that first town hall meeting and the unfamiliar territory I was in was an emotional place because you all came at me with emotion and what I realized was that your community needs an opportunity to have a school your community needs an opportunity to grow the school and make it work and I've said all along three to five years I believe four years is a perfect compromise right in the middle there so I believe we're doing our part and so now we you know the ball is in both

084of our courts I've heard a lot about you know 501c3s and charitable organizations and the town helping and the school building enrollment it's time to Pony up there now because the agreement's in place so over the next three or four years we have to see that stuff come to fruition or like Mr Fisher said we're going to have to make a tough decision so I appreciate your engagement the other person that needs to be recognized in this discussion is Jackie lisak the president of your chamber if it wasn't for her I don't think I would have been engaged at all she called me and invited me out to the island and said you know Chris we've got to get started working here and she put me in touch with Mr Coss so just thank you

085for your patience and Go Fort Myers Beach yeah it was juvenile thank you I just wanted to say that I'm grateful that you've been so patient Fort Myers Peach I look forward to partnering with you and getting your school back numbers back and I'm willing to help any way we can I would agree with Miss Patrica four years but I think it is a good happy compromise and you know it's but it's going to be work on all of our parts because we didn't just get here overnight it wasn't just the hurricane that got us here so and we have to take some ownership and that's what we're doing as a board taking that ownership now but we're going to be asking for your help to really increase your numbers so we look forward to

086your ideas and let's get to work thank you I would just like to say because I actually have a story where my granddaughter they were and son they were living on the beach and she went to the school she's now going to be going into high school so it was several years ago but then they moved off the island into the Iona area but because she was already going there through a lot of Hoops they got a waiver and it worked out great they had a great before and after school program and she got an excellent education so I think that's probably the best way to move forward and I really think that if we all do what we can for them and the community does that so I encourage any employees that have children

087to consider that and any employers to consider paying for their employees to have the before and after school care there's see no other discussion we'll have a roll call vote this will be roll call so if you'll say yay or day Mr Fisher aye yay yes please Mr Jordan aye there's Lancer Fleming aye Ms Morgan yay and I am a yay devotion carries 7-0. all right we're now I have a public hearing Dr Bernier would you please present your recommendation for this evening's public hearing yes sir members of the board the recommendation in front of you is to approve the approval to adopt policy 3.112 Guardian program in compliance with the changes in related rules regulation and statutes to adopt best practices and promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be

088May 10 2023. thank you we will now recess the regular school board meeting and open the public hearing the time is 7 55. as indicated the public hearing this evening is to consider Dr paneer's recommendation is previously stated at this time the public will be invited to speak on this one item the time for public comment is three minutes is there anyone in the audience I know we have a few cards already that did not fill out a card you're okay Mr Duprey Bruno do you want to call them my purchase there's three individuals Mr chairman Sharon McGill David Montross Melissa Thompson mavi foreign go ahead and just line up as well Mr chairman if we can just get maybe a minute or so to allow the chamber to clear we're going to wait for

089some people to exit so you're not interrupted there and then when the time goes on the screen you can begin you can start good evening my name is Melissa Thompson Mobby and before moving to Sanibel my family lives in the district next to Sandy Hook Connecticut Dr Bernier you might remember donning a superhero cape in my daughter's first grade classroom at the celebration of Sanibel schools reopening I fasten that cape on you myself personally I'm here to impressed 30 regarding the guardianship program and tell me if you can't hear me the first is commingling the second is evidence and third is liability commingling at the March 7th board meeting there were mentions of increase in county-wide swatting threats Miss Patrica you are understandably emotional as you recounted your personal experience but segregation is important swatting

090an active school shootings are not the same type of threat and do not have the same solution to the unique issues they present Guardians will not address swatting issues second is evidence this is the most straightforward of all there is no evidence that Army Guardians will improve safety for our students our students should not be guinea pigs we're not discussing an experimental reading buddy program our students should not be the test population for this unsupported hypothesis that involves putting deadly firearms in the hands of laymen on our children's campuses if this board votes that there is liability there's no liability insurance available for a guardianship program if this board votes the guardianship program through you will be assuming vicarious liability for adverse legal haps and accidents as highlighted by Dr Wilbur on March 7th when

091she when she used her expertise to explain an example of what statistically what happened it would be incumbent about this board and County to pay settlements to victims or their families when inevitably human error or mental illness within the permission gun toting staff leads to an accidental a mishap the death of a child earlier a woman referenced the fiscal irresponsibility of losing two million dollars for an extra year of the Fort Myers Beach program and liability for a child's accidental death would make two million dollar loss a tier in a salted sea a fiscal burden these legal actions would also bear each of your names as defendants forever written into law and history as preventable tragedies Dr Bernier we made you an honorary superhero to the Sanibel school when it reopened in honor it was

092bestowed but ultimately must be earned I ask you in the other distinguished members of this board to think if you want to be the heroes of our children or if you want to be the Trailblazer of an Uncharted potentially lethal program that would make that will write your legacies as part of the group who instituted one of the most careless thank you ma'am next speaker please Sharon McGill I know you all have stated that you see this as an additional layer of security for our schools but now we have the concealed weapon technology going into our schools that hopefully is going to be the deterrent that prevents the weapons from ever even getting into the school and why we wouldn't wait until we saw how that works before executing this I'm not quite sure it

093seems like what we want to do is keep guns out of the school and I still have some of the same reservations I did the first time that I read the proposal and after reading this changed policy I mean the ambiguity is what concerns me a lot because there's cases in here that say it's only for an active incident but then you'll go a couple paragraphs further and it'll say well they can be designated as a principles designee for discipline which gets rather confusing and if I'm confused think about how you explain that to a child okay they know what their sros are they know what their job is and what they're there to do but now you've got additional armed Personnel in the school that can do some things but can't do other things

094maybe they can discipline if the principal says they can discipline I think if if you're going down that road Guardians should not be able to be designated as a designee of the administration there has to be some delineation especially so the students can understand what the responsibilities are and what they can do and what they can't do or could it change on a monthly basis based on that situation so I think that's something to really consider how is this whole program going to be presented to the kids in the schools where it's going to take place and how are they going to know exactly what the situation is I mean discipline is a tough enough situation as it is without adding this new layer of maybe they can discipline maybe they can't they're wearing a

095gun what's going on you know and are the children going to have orientations once these people come into the schools with guns which they deserve to have they deserve to know and that's going to be really hard for the younger children especially you know that they've got these other people and I there are just a lot of a lot of ambiguous things in this policy that I just wish you would go back and really review it again thank you foreign there you go oh sorry good evening my name is Dave Montrose I am both a parent and a teacher so I have a double stake in this I have concerns we staff received an email a couple weeks ago from Chief Newlin with a link to a survey I was thinking good you can get

096feedback but it was actually seeking those who might be interested in participating in this program staff was never asked about whether or not we think we should do it parents were never asked about whether or not we think we should do it so that and that at the beginning was a concern for me second the specifics the lack of specificity you know we're basically just relying on okay we'll just let the Sheriff's Office handle the training well what does that mean what guidelines are we setting are we just going to say okay the sheriff can do it average law enforcement agency a rookie cop have about 168 hours of basic firearm training how much are the Guardians getting are they going to be at the same level also concerns about having more guns on campus

097kids are very aware they know who has the guns they know where they are people aren't always that careful with them there have been incidents where there was a teacher actually doing a backflip and had a gun in her pocket and it fell out while doing it not in this District but so some of the things that we do know there's a lot of unknowns here but what we do know when you look at the actual shootings that have taken place the shooters either were students at the school or had previously gone to school they knew the procedures they knew where to go how to have an how to have an effect they knew who to Target never has there been a school shooting in which the shooter busted through a locked door if the

098schools lock the doors then you have erased really in this case a hundred percent of the problem we don't need to put more guns especially with such an unknown regarding and this is not an indictment on law enforcement by any means but looking at what happened in Uvalde Texas that was a police department whose one job was preventing that it's hubris if we think we can somehow do it better hubris so I urge you think about the safety of my kids think about the safety of your kids of your teachers and say enough's enough no more guns in the schools and vote no thank you Robert Daniels do you remember where you were on 9 11 we all do it's burned into our minds I was in seventh grade a few years earlier when Columbine

099was on the TV that's burned into my mind just as deeply I've got I guess some of you remember where you were when you heard about Columbine for the first time now has anyone here heard about Pearl Middle School in Mississippi I'm going to wage your money no one has because of the shooting at Pearl Middle School never happened that's because of the shooter who's Manifesto said that they were on their way to Pro middle school but stopped in the parking lot at Pearl High School after they killed two people and injured seven others they were not stopped by law enforcement they were stopped by assistant principle Joel Merrick who used his car to deactivate crash if you will the shooter's car and then he used his personal handgun that had been in his glove

100box to hold the shooter at gunpoint the police arrived every single school shooting ends in one of a couple ways the shooter itself terminates or they're stopped by a guy with a gun don't let anyone dissuade you from this Guardian program you're putting more guns into school because there's going to be more good guys with guns to stop that bad guy it's the only point where it stops it's the only thing that stops the death I don't have to point to all the recent examples since the last time we were here discussing this if you watch the body cam footage from the police officers going in through walking past children who were caught broadside and how fast shootings are happening you see the bodies of Staff who died as human Shields similarly to delay the

101inevitable a few more seconds so if you're going to expect staff and teachers and I've said this before to be martyrs on behalf of the children give them the chance to be Defenders of the children well I understand why those Guardian program is restricted to non-classroom personnel I'm not afraid of guns and I've had the unfortunate situation to have way more pointed at me in my lifetime than I ever thought I would for somebody who has stayed out of trouble their entire life the use of biometric safes that only release what lockdown codes are initiated can keep those guns well away from any children that might find them administrators don't have to carry guns on their person to be rapidly responding we all know what it's like to keep a gun in the house you

102keep it in a safe you keep the ammo locked up you keep it safe from your own children are we not at least as competent enough to do that in our workplaces where again when the attack happens those metal detectors aren't going to stop anyone once they get past the perimeter they're in there and somebody has to stop them good evening my name is Mike Miller and I'm Commander with Lee County Sheriff's Office I presently oversee the youth service division more commonly known as the sros sheriff Carmine mercino and the entire Lee County Sheriff's Office fully support the gardening program we also value our relationship with Dr Bernier the board and entirely County School District the county training Cadre is Bar None in my opinion best in the state and they're going to be responsible

103for training the Guardians they're well prepared they're all ready they're looking forward to it the guardian program will be enduring 160 hour training block which is about 144 hours State mandated so they're actually getting additional training out of that the Guardians will also be working shoulder to shoulder they'll be training with our sros throughout the year we do quarterly active assailant training they'll be working with us and they'll be receiving that training as well so that's another layer of training once they're trained and they're placed in the schools they'll be well ready to safeguard any school and react to an active assailant are the 67 counties in the State of Florida 46 of them have gardening programs it's not a brand new program but it is new to us and we at the Sheriff's Office

104and Sheriff columnistina want to make sure we offer the best training that we can offer that money can buy thank you I will now close to public hearing and reconvene the regular school board meeting of May 9th 2023. the time is 8 11. Dr Bernier please restate your recommendation for this evening's public hearing item Mr chairman members of the board the item is to approve to adopt policy 3.112 the guardian program in compliance with the changes and related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and to promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoption shall be May 10 2023. you have heard the superintendent's recommendation that the board approved to adopt policy 3.112 Guardian program in compliance with the changes in related rules regulations and statutes to adopt best practices and to

105promote transparency and accountability the effective date of this adoptions shall be May 10 2023. board members is there a motion to approve Mr Fisher motion to approve and adopt policy 3.112 the guardian program I second that thank you juvenile is there any discussion Stephen Ali I appreciate I don't know if you was he Sergeant Miller I remember Commander Miller thank you for coming but I fully support this tonight I have every confidence in the training and every confidence in our share of Carmine marcino that the training will be ongoing and that our Guardians will have the best training that Lee County can provide I have confidence in everything that the sheriff does and I'm really appreciate that he that Commander Miller came up and spoke because I think that was really important because I know

106that the training that they will receive will be keep will keep our children as safe as possible I mean there's no there's no always no guarantee but every added measure that we can do to keeping our kids safe and for them to have confidence and feel safe in schools this will do this will help add to that because it's really important that they feel safe for them to continue learning so I support that this evening thank you very much foreign so I am going to support this but I do have concerns about things like the infrastructure we're putting in and the guardian program making is complacent about our responsibilities to increase student and staff feelings of security inside the doors but I'll be saving that for my board member comment since it's really not specific

107to the guardian program but I wanted it to be clear that I have reservations about security overall when I vote for the guardian program thank you any other comments Mr thank you and if if I made these are Community questions that came to me and I don't think I'm pretty sure everybody knows how I feel about the guardian program it does worry me I don't know if I understand that it well it's going to take place so and I know that our staff has worked extra hard to make sure that they're working with other districts that make sure that we are doing everything and our power to make it our processes and the protocols that will come after this policy to make sure that they're strong but if I may through the chair to the

108superintendent and legal ask his questions thank you okay so what people are wanting to know is where does the liability and the accounted and the accountability with the people who are chosen to be Guardians if there are mishaps let's begin with just where accountability lies with a guardian Guardians are employees of the school district under the policy you're adopting tonight these are not people coming in from the outside so the same accountability structures regarding any employee apply to the employees who then volunteer to become part of the Guardian program so there's accountability for us there's accountability for the sheriff's office in their training and there's accountability to the individual to ensure that they follow the proper training and procedures that they are trained in that more than 100 hours I'm sorry the commander didn't go

109further into it but they are held to the same psychological background testings and other things as well as countless hours firearm training and a requirement to actually pass at a higher rate than a school Deputy as it currently stands in the law I know our deputies and our officers here gathered with us tonight are amazing professional law enforcement officers and we are proud and glad to have them in our schools for being our great First Responders this but accountability for our employees lies in the accountability structure they're for all employees as to liability I will defer to our attorney because you begin to get into an area of legality that I feel she would be better explaining so my ability meaning the who's responsible if something goes wrong so the truth of the matter is

110the district faces liability every single day there's all kinds of things that can go wrong with the best thing that we can do to avoid liabilities to try to mitigate it to reduce it as much as possible and that's what has been attempted by working very very closely with the Sheriff's Office that's why the sheriff is increasing these training above what is statutorally required that's why the training is going to be done at the Academy itself part of the training will be done at the Academy the policy that has been drafted is very specific in terms of expectations and the processes and procedures that are relating to this and there will be additional procedures that will support this particular policy so that's all part of mitigating and reducing the risk and the liability in addition

111there are background checks there are psychological testing and evaluation there's drug testing before anyone per policy can even become considered to be a guardian they have to go through a panel that will include somebody from law enforcement I'm somebody from HR which will have the history of that individual with the district somebody from Safety and Security that will go through all of the applications and on top of that the superintendent will have a say in terms of who will move forward so there's a lot of safety nets that is built into the actual policy that we think will help mitigate any risk that the district may have liability will not only fall on the district but it can also fall on the Sheriff's Office liability can also fall on the individual if they do not

112adhere to the safety training and protocols that they are taught it's my understanding that a big part of the training is safety and if they don't pass the safe be in the additional training they will not move forward to the next step for actual recommendation to the superintendent to be a guardian so that's the best thing we can do about liability okay well and I really appreciate it and I appreciate Commander Miller coming in because what the community has not I mean we have spoken about Guardian programs but they really have the details are in the pudding they really don't know all of this so you know they're concerns and I don't know if if more guns in school make kids feel safer I would have to I can I can't agree on that one

113but and thank you Mr pre Bruno because that was the second question was about the guardian themselves being the accountability on them if there were to be a mishap they would be held responsible for that so this is something that is very very fact specific in terms of mishap so there's legal analysis that would have to take place and it will again be based on the fact pattern but what I can tell you is pursuant to the policy if there's any violation of the safety protocols if there's any violations of the expectations from both the district and the sheriff that there are disciplinary actions to include termination they're very very specific guidelines in terms of how to utilize the weapon the safety of the weapon so all of those things again are part of the

114mitigation and the risk management for this particular program and if somebody is not following the expectations that have been laid out by the sheriff's office as well as our executive director of Safety and Security who will be monitoring this program very closely in the district then there will be significant consequences okay thank you and if I may get one more as as command Miller stated after their training of 160 hours and then the additional training of course and extra training then they will be placed in our schools they are not placing them in our schools correct how are how are the Guardians placed in our schools and how is that this decision made on how many at each School we need to be careful about discussions about how many at each school at least at

115this point but there would be a process and that's why Chief Newland sent out the survey there would not be placement of a stranger or an individual to a school building a school building would need someone to volunteer who successfully went through the pre-screening then completed all of the training and then became a certified individual that individual would be a person who came from that campus part of the procedures that need to be developed because that's what policy does it gives us a framework to then build procedures would be to ensure that the principal is also in a position where they believe this person could be of value to their campus we need we need to be very careful and the board has been very cognizant in their communication with me and me and with

116Chief Newlin to ensure that we are making and doing our homework at the front end of this process so to community members who think they're going to receive five six seven guardians from a guardian summer program where they're trained that is that is not going to be the reality this program will start slow it will start small and we will start with a very small cohort of people exact numbers I think we would want to talk more about in the Shaded session those types of things because now we're talking about who has what particular position I would also just share because I heard something about kids feeling safe because there's more guns in schools I don't believe anything in our policy or anything that we presented in workshops or briefings has has elaborated on that

117what we've always talked about is this identified person who does not specifically or he or she does not specifically teach a class would be available to the sros as a force multiplier in the case of an active shooter correct I did not hear that in our meetings but I thought I heard Miss giovannelli say that made that comment so that's where I was getting that from so if I misunderstood that I apologize and I absolutely do not want to know how many but I just think that the community is asking these questions and we need to make sure that we are answering the questions so I do thank you and just to say we're not going to have 20 in Dunmore high school or 20 at Fort Myers and you know like picking out certain

118schools and this is why I was asking that question so thank you for that yeah that's something definitely would be taken up in shade Mr Fisher and then Mr Patrick thank you chair I support this I wish today's reality wasn't a reality but unfortunately it is so like the superintendent said this is a force multiplier it's it's not the complete solution but it's part of the puzzle that will help keep our kids safe I have as you all know I have three young kids in Lee County schools here so whatever I do to people's kids here affect mine and I'll do whatever I can to keep my kids and everyone else's kids safe I appreciate that Commander Miller came in here I do know the sheriff has been been very supportive I do know that

119they're going to go above and beyond we have great law enforcement in this area that knows exactly what they're doing you know I appreciate we're going above the statutory guidelines I want to you know let the public reinforce with the public this is voluntary program there's no pressure for anyone to enter this so they will enter it willingly if they want to and it's also a very high burden for them to achieve to get through this I want to make sure that is clear as well so I want to thank the superintendent Mr Ramirez Chief Newlin the sheriff and the rest of law enforcement for really working hardness and coming up with solution thank you miss Patricia undergone and King on this because there's been an evolution of support from law enforcement and specifically law

120enforcement leaders so when this program first was first created by the legislature our Sheriff was very much against it and I think somebody said something about a using our children as guinea pigs and I don't think that the sheriff at the time said we're not going to use our children as guinea pigs but I think that the program was too new for us to embrace it I point blank asked to the Chief in a telephone meeting recently whether law enforcement leaders throughout the county not just the sheriff but law enforcement leaders throughout the county whether they support this policy and it was an unequivocal yes who am I to question law enforcement experts one of the issues that I have with pouring money into metal detection or you know weapons detection technology is that guns

121don't come in schools through the front door typically guns get into schools in different ways so I'm my confidence and safety is not increased remotely by the placement of a of a weapon detection system at the front door there was a question from the public about a principal's designee it's my understanding Dr Bernier and correct me if I'm wrong the portion of the policy that was being referenced was oh page six of seven line 257-ish where it talks about a guardian can be considered a principal's designee it's my understanding based on our first reading of this that all that portion of the policy means is that if the person who's volunteering is currently in a position where they are engaging in student discipline they are not stripped of those duties or those responsibilities because they

122are now a voluntary Guardian is that is accurate it really refers to very specific positions such as like a dean of students right a dean of students is responsible for enforcing our code of conduct on a campus this Guardian program would not preclude a dean of students from also being a garden thank you and I should have asked if I could go through the chart for that and I think my final comment is Staff oh my gosh the amount of work that you put into this policy as I read this second draft it literally includes I think everything that the board asked for and I'm I'm very grateful to you so I obviously will be supporting this evening thank you thank you any other comments I mean most everything has been stated already I do

123support the guardian program I have three children of my own so when I make any decisions on this board those are the first three faces that I see regarding anything even Fort Myers Beach school all the way to what we're discussing right now safety has always been since I started on the campaign Trail my number one priority with students families the children of Lee County in any aspect I am grateful for our amazing sros that are at every school I am grateful that the sheriff's department is on board with this and I am incredibly grateful for the hours the endless hours that I Know Chief Newlin and his staff have dived in to dove into this head first and have listened to our concerns I've been able to come to the table with with the

124things that were top of mind for us as a board so regarding some of the comments made tonight during public comment I appreciate everybody who's coming up here and expressing their opinion we are in a listen up speak up culture we are trying to provide that for you because we may not agree on something does not mean we have not heard you it also doesn't mean that there's not some thing maybe even further that you may not be aware of because of a shaded session or things like that but I can assure you that this board is putting the students the staff and families of Lee County at the Forefront of this thank you I just have three real quick points number one there's been there's our 46 counties or we will be the 46

125County something along those lines that have the guardian program there is never to my knowledge and I've tried to research been any kind of accident the I have talked to several of the districts that have them and they say there are as welcomed as the sros are so because they're already employees there so I have total confidence that the children are not going to be traumatized or anything by Guardian any more than they are the sros they're like they're best friends at the door when they walk in secondly I have total confidence in our Sheriff's training not only will we be well trained I'll go out on a limb and I'll say our Guardians will probably be the best trained anywhere in the state and you can see that by the extra hours are getting

126right off the start and the ongoing training they're going to have but the most important thing and this was told to me by an SRO and it was something he said seconds equal lives every second that gunman has that gun is shooting someone's dying so having a backup to the SRO is tremendously can make total difference in how many lives are lost so hopefully we'll never even have that happen here hopefully this is an exercise that'll never be used but we don't know and for that reason I support it okay we're going to go and vote now if there's if there is no other discussion I believe that's it okay please register your vote oh I always feel we still have some kind of like Jeopardy music while we're waiting for this resolution passes seven

127zero we will now move to the good of the order and any other business board members we'll start with Mr Fisher thank you chair a couple things real quick I was able to as many of us did on Monday and we will tomorrow letters of appreciation to teachers from graduates I was at Gulf Middle and Trafalgar middle on Monday that was a great experience it really just some of the ones that you know came even from as I said teachers even one was from a completely different school that kind of followed the teacher I thought that was really amazing so and they're very heartening and it was really a positive awesome experience to see those teachers celebrated so and you know obviously thank you to all our teachers for what they do for Teachers Appreciation

128Week I know they do so much for my kids and I really do appreciate that attended along with many of you the Excellence in education Awards last night that was fantastic some really really bright and amazing kids our future is bright great to see as well as many teachers that were celebrated for their amazing work so I appreciate that thank you to the kawanis club of Cape Coral for inviting me I was able to speak about what was kind of going on on the in the school district right now and I want to thank Cape Coral high school Ida Baker High School and Mariner High School they were I finished visits at them I have now visited my initial visits of all the schools within district one and that has been quite an interesting amazing

129experience it really just gives you perspective and you know you learn so much so and we're in great shape I think in this District so that's all my comments for tonight thank you Stephen Ali thank you a couple things real quick I just want to thank this board for passing the guardian program that's something that I've kind of wanted since the governor Put It In Motion a few years ago so it'll we will be the 47th County we were there was 46. we will be the 47th and just to give a little perspective because I've actually met with a widow a parent that lost her two parents that have lost their children in in the actual Parkland and that incident was under four minutes 17 lives were lost under four minutes and that's a scary

130thought so I appreciate so I forget who said the minute that every second counters that was really that made me think of that so I just want to thank you for that also through the chair Dr B can you talk can you address the ban on books are people the or the misconception of the we're not Banning books and if you could just address that please there is a thank you Mr juvenile for the opportunity there is an opportunity here in the state to have media and other classroom materials reviewed by a committee we've had intensive work in a curriculum committee led by Mr Spyro and other members of the academic Services team to make some determinations regarding what the state law expects us to be able to do in order to provide parents information

131related to specific books and books titles that team has been working with multiple constituents from each side of an issue they are working diligently to come before the board we have always had a book challenge process within our policies within the school district of Lee County what we are attempting to do is navigate new legislation some of it just recently signed as early as this week and we are trying to make sure we are going to be moving forward in a position where we are compliant with state law as it's currently been written there is not a ban on books but yet an opportunity for individuals to continue to challenge books based upon topics or information contained within to ensure that there's a proper review Once a book has been challenged if that book is

132placed back on the Shelf it's placed back on the Shelf there's been a new development recently that while a book is challenged what we may have to do with that book but we are still reviewing that particular piece of the legislation it is possible the way that the intent of that legislation is that while a book is being challenged that book would not be available for checkout that does not ban the book that simply allows the committee to do its work and post that post approval if that book continues in the library which in our case all books challenged except for one have been returned to the library for circulation the question then becomes how do parents know and how do we help them and their children make good choices about what they read we'll

133be bringing that information forward to all of you but we are not in a book Banning mode thank you a couple more things real quick it is actually Haitian a heritage month and we all received a invite for the family fun day which is this Saturday the 13th from 11 to 3 at I think it's The Rock Church on Tarpon Street and it's also a health fair and they're offering a free health screening and education I think that's really important an opportunity for the community to be involved in also I visited or I visited I over I had my first graduation this Saturday and it was fsw's Collegiate High School and that was interesting because I didn't have a voice I'm just now getting my voice back and it's bear I'm very it's barely hanging

134on tonight and that was great it was 107 students and that's just starting our season all of our board members will be doing graduations and I'm excited for the new board members to do their first graduation it won't it won't be one you forget it's it's why you're here so I'm just excited for everyone that it's graduation time and I just wanted to talk about Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel I know everybody's there's restaurants already open for business and I want to encourage the community to go out and support both communities Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach because they need you we need you because we need that support out there to the restaurants and everything so I just really wanted to put that plug out there because I have friends that work out there and

135I think it's really important to this makes a stronger community and it will make these communities stronger because they need the support and I really appreciate that also I'll just end with teach it's teacher appreciation week I just wanted to thank all the teachers I started we are all board members are visiting schools and thanking teachers and Monday I went to three schools and I will be visiting some more tomorrow but I just want to remind everybody if you haven't hugged or thanked your teacher do that this week thank you that's patrika yes so we talked today this morning well into the afternoon about the Strategic plan and I was really upset with myself for not having told the board or suggested to my colleagues that you watch the DAC meeting well the DAC meeting

136occurred after our last board meeting and before this meeting so I had no opportunity to tell you to watch the doc meeting but it would have been great to have watched that before today but if you could just go and watch those breakout sessions and see the level of Engagement and the themes that sort of emerged today were so much the themes that were coming out of those breakout sessions from teachers from parents from administrators from it didn't matter what hat they were wearing the themes were very very similar and very much in line with what we discussed today as our own priorities so that was great I had Dak I also had edac I think it was yesterday executive District advisory Council and this may very well be Mr hertz's last meeting with Jack

137so he's been the chair for a long time Mr Hertz and I met when I was a DAC representative for pinewoods elementary school 120 years ago and that was when I first met him so he has served this District incredibly incredibly well as a parent volunteer and I will thank him profusely at our last deck meeting but I wanted you all to know as well how wonderful he's been tough day today we made a couple of really tough decisions I think that the Fort Myers Beach decision was really hard and I think nobody I think Mr Fisher you kind of talked about this isn't a fun decision to make to put Guardians into our schools none of us want to be sitting here making that decision but it's the reality of the world that we

138live in today so I feel like we had to make that decision there's nothing celebratory about rebuilding a school that was wrong owned by a hurricane so I'm not sure that celebration is how I feel about Fort Myers Beach as much as relief that we can finally take the next step and I just want to say to my colleagues that as difficult as these decisions were it's really been a pleasure to work in a professional environment to come to compromise on some of these issues and to be able to make the decisions and move forward with all of you so those are my comments thank you thank you wait a minute I do have a question for the superintendent if I may or through the chair yes if you could not now you don't have

139to answer this question right now but in a board update if you could please I know that there is always an explanation as to why we place bus stops where we do so one of the public commenters came in and asked about the verdana if you could have just a brief explanation as to why rudanna is where it is versus the other communities that have bus stops inside the inside the gates that's the first thing and the second thing is if you could in our one-on-ones please discuss with us the ese student who came to the microphone today I mean I know you can't share a lot of personal details about that but just help us to understand what is being done on your end for that I don't need the answers tonight but if

140you wouldn't mind that's it thank you Miss Jordan I have a whole page but I know this is the latest meeting you've ever had so bear with me thank you Mr trica because I was going to ask the same thing regarding the cruise family so I appreciate that and Miss juvenile thank you for recognizing National Haitian American month and we know this is at the end of the year because there's so many things that we have to be grateful for and seeing everything that has taken place with our kids we had in just two weeks alone we had 37 take second children graduation you know with four-year scholarships that we attended are SOS support our students kickoff was just this past week where we added two additional sites so we have Lambs in Lehigh we

141have Island coast and the other Zone and then we have Dunbar Community so we have three different zones with these programs for our incoming ninth graders through 12th grade getting them keeping them off the streets in the summertime keeping them active participating in a community and actually receiving a stiping at the end it's really an exciting program so if you have a child that would like to be involved we need more students actually this year we normally have too many now we have we need more so that would be my one comment we had the Red Ribbon Awards where our own Miss Mary Fisher they named an award after her and several of our students received multiple Awards and that was through the drug free coalition our high school musical awards that was just phenomenal

142all of our schools came together at the Barbary man they showcased their talents we have so many talented accomplished students you just can't speak enough about him it was just beautiful to see all that and to see how they all supported one another regardless if they won an award or not they were there for each other and they supported each other it was just really beautiful to see that we are autism accepted in Awards we had three teachers you know received their awards for their tireless work and dedication to our children with special needs we had law week Awards where our a teacher from Cypress Lake received an award for her accomplishment we had our empty Bowls two weeks ago where all of our schools created these beautiful bowls to make sure that our community

143to raise money for Hunger so we're we're just everywhere in our community North Fort Myers we had the performance of SpongeBob which actually SpongeBob was here tonight getting an award and that was just really a great success for them our JROTC award ceremony was held at Dunbar High many participate even our superintendent which was great and he did really well he did not drop the flag everything went great our excellent in education as Mr Fisher spoke about was wonderful and the project the new teachers project appreciation absolutely reading letters to the teachers I thought was phenomenal and if I may I'm going to read this really quick little note that a teacher sent it's really quick it just says thank you so much for making my day this morning I was so surprised and shocked

144and then I was very humbled to receive such an honor that's the best reward a teacher can receive I cried after you all left I really enjoyed what I do and this just confirms that I am making a difference for a child have a great day and that was from Miss Donnell at Carrie Robinson so she it was really beautiful to get that as well and to see the reaction and the tears of joy and what that really meant to them so thank you Dr Bernier for bringing that to us this year I really really appreciate that and now the only thing I would like to say I want to thank our sros who are in our schools who are always with us here appreciate you and I want to congratulate all of our seniors

145who will take their next step prior to our next board meeting and wishing them the very best in whatever pathway they chose or choose Thank you thank you that was pretty quick that was pretty quick it's like we're playing well a lot has already been taken care of on my list thank you I did have the two questions that board member Patricia asked jotted down so I'll wait to hear from the superintendent about those in another time we had a great collaboration today I've always been someone who believes in teamwork I could never have played golf because I love team teammates so but when you collaborate together and I think that we modeled what we're asking our teachers to do day in and day out while we tried to model that today by working together

146and coming up with just even what could be the tiniest ideas those can blossom into the best game changing strategies but I was grateful to have the opportunity to vocalize that and hear from others and others of my peers on the board today so thank you for that I am grateful that Fort Myers Beach Ila passed now I am incredibly excited to see what is to come and you have shown resilience through this entire process I'm not sure there's another community in Lee County that I can think of that has shown up to every single school board meeting for the last seven months so I appreciate your efforts and all those that all those efforts and the tireless hours of what keeps you up at night and what wakes you up superintendent so I know

147we've all been through that together you know we started this evening off with Hans Marsh Middle Mrs sunby and any of our Arts teachers I'm you know hats off to you for what you do and you put that together and it comes out in this beautiful project that we all see but we didn't see all the steps it takes to get there so I know that there's a lot of hard work and I appreciate that there that was that was a beautiful way to start the evening yes I absolutely love the idea of this the seniors writing letters and as a former teacher there is no award no trophy no apple no plaque that can replace a child coming back to you and telling you what they took away from your classroom and will always

148keep in their hearts I would like to though make a suggestion that if we continue to do this I hope we do is that we are somehow going to be able to allow those seniors to be present during that reading I mean what a joy even if it's a board member reading and the student pops out of the door and there's there's going to be tears no matter what but I think that would just be like an extra an extra step or an extra bonus so I just want to throw that out there and I know I'm probably missing something but we've had a long day but I cannot go without saying thank you so much to all of the teachers in Lee County and what you do day in and day out you're not

149forgotten even in the summertime hang in there you only have a few more weeks and I am incredibly grateful for your hard work that is all I have tonight thank you Miss Morgan as you know you get down to the end I know you promised there's something on safety here now I'm left with two comments the first is the edac meeting was last night the committee agreed on recommendations that they're going to make to the board for follow-up and action in 2023 but I do want to share a comment that was made by the committee chair about the board's use of the phrase grandfathering in our proximity plan he told us and I did not know and the committee agreed that leadership ought to be aware of the sensitivity of the phrase given its association

150with 19th century voting requirements only men who could offer evidence of a white grandfather were deemed eligible to vote in the 19th century so it is a word that has a great deal of sensitivity really attached to it so the suggestion I think we need to think as we look forward to the proximity plan for 24.25 you know the verbiage we use to describe that particular piece The Guardian program so students say student and staff safety is a district priority and I understand that the community expects us to use all tools at our disposal to ensure student safety and the legislator legislature corrected created the guardian program to provide a tool for to as by adding Force multipliers for sros we seem to think in this so I think that screening I think that people

151think that screening and other technology enhancements will keep the trouble outside our doors I am concerned that the focus on infrastructure defense is not being matched by a plan for ensuring that students and staff feel safe inside our doors I'm worried that we're creating by focusing on guns and screening we're creating an artificial sense of security we're being made complacent and I will say that yesterday when I went to a school I was led in by a staff member you know you can do anything you want with a guardian program you can do anything you want with screening I and by the way at another school weeks ago I was stopped by a student who did not let me in so it's when things are hap when let me move on to lockdowns when a

152lockdown is activated do we feel adequately prepared when it comes to our own protection are we confident that weiners around us have the training and agency to act in the self-defense of our of ourselves and others we've heard the story about students panicked in a cafeteria by allowed noise we know that a student carried a fake gun into a cafeteria we know that children are undone by what's happening on social media and although we can't affect that it affects their feeling of security and well-being in the schools so I'm just worried that by saying we've done these things from a technology point of view we're taking our eyes off of what we need to be doing in schools every single day with kids and teachers it's like soft skills an Autumn we need automatic responses

153to certain things and I made a little note for myself you know when you go to the checkout counter and somebody's and there's a little note that says if the clerk doesn't ask you for this report you know we'll give you your money back I'm beginning to think that we need to offer some sort of an incentive if somebody lets you in and you report then you get a lollipop or something like that if a door is a jar but I'm just the point I'm trying to make is that all of this emphasis on Guardians and guns to me doesn't do enough in terms of addressing whether or not the children in school feel whether that makes the children feel safe that in and of itself and I don't think it does so those are

154my comments sorry I didn't have to get to talk about the musical theater Awards and the teacher letters the other things I did but somebody else so thank you for listening those are my comments you should be in my place going really really last it is a little tough reading those letters I must say I think it was Miss Jordan told me that one of the teachers started to cry and which is touching but were they kindergarten kids or first grade kindergarten kids looked at her like why are you making my teacher cry she thought she was gonna be mugged but anyway it is it is a great experience and I also appreciate the superintendent bringing this to us hard to believe it hasn't been done here for years and everywhere it's such a great

155idea and the only other thing is I got to get to read again tomorrow morning 8 30 out at Alva so I'm not going to keep going I will go on to the board attorney do you have any comments I don't not this evening thank you Mr Bernier would you have any I just have a couple of things I do apologize but first of all the Fort Myers Beach Elementary thank you for your patience I thought it was interesting that today's character word was patience I'll also tell you that while sexy things have not been going on at the building there's a lot of sexy Architects hard at work we're expecting the interior plans for the building as early as this week possibly next week we are also in the process of a demolition plan

156which is almost finished which then will give us the ability to come to come forward to the board for that process to begin with the outbuildings that surround the historical building so while I think they're black-eyed Susans grow in in magnificent numbers don't get too used to them because you'll you'll see the movement and excited about getting started and thank you to the board for giving rco the opportunity to continue to work forward on that school building in anticipation of this with it with the money you originally gave us to begin process also to the larger community on behalf of the board a reminder that these expenses that moving forward are what we would have had to anticipate in terms of a portable campus on the facility it actually came from a suggestion from the

157community to move forward with a renovation using those dollars to make them more viable more quickly and additionally those expenses should be as we've said eyes dotted and T's crossed we will get that money back in FEMA and insurance payments teacher letters just quickly to the community all the board members are talking about it just really briefly the 22 the class of 2023 through English language arts teachers in their senior class wrote back down the chain to a kindergarten through 12th grade teacher to say thank you for their impact on their lives there are a lot of people behind the scenes a lot of people in academic Services who read 6 000 letters because believe it or not every letter has to be read we assume that they're all going to be wonderful and positive

158but we need to ensure that anything delivered is because you're reading some while other while other teachers are receiving some of those in their mailbox all through the week I just want to recognize the team in academic Services if I start naming names I will get in trouble but I also want to thank our English language arts teachers they had to deal with a revision to the instructional curriculum that added this as an assignment while taking another one away and to a board member for me I will tell you that after action research is what I'm all about and the sooner the better there is a little bit of a snag with seniors because they are in their final week they'll be released on Friday so I just in preparation for graduation there are exams

159and other things but I think we can try and try to try to move forward in that respect I want to just remind everybody that not this weekend but the following weekend the Pomp and Circumstances of commencement will begin we have lots of graduations and a really wonderful opportunity to celebrate like we did tonight some of the titles miss Patricia that you read I don't know what they mean I'm going to have to look at what that research is about because it is extremely intense and just absolutely amazing not just with our Arts programs and all those other things but just the science and the technology that our children are involved in and we're excited about our 6 000 seniors who also got a bonus today from the governor in the state legislature with additional

160changes to concordance scores so those families that may be waiting for a happier day the governor and the state legislature acted benevidently to help the this class of 2023 reach their graduation requirements moving forward additionally they also on Friday settled on a budget we have our budget team and finance team led by our CFO taking that budget apart you will get budget updates very quickly finally I mentioned at the beginning just that really proud of the work of our FEMA group and our consultant but also of the staff we're still waiting for some reimbursement from Irma we've received exactly what we spent in our invoices submitted to the county for our Ian Sheltering it's really a it's really kudos to a team who learned lessons from the previous hurricane and really worked hard to ensure

161that we could move forward and that and move forward lastly on school safety can't agree more school safety is about a climate and a culture see something say something is a piece of it speak up listen up is a piece of it but it's our principles and our staffs working with kids and saying that safety is everyone's responsibility it works in the world for our deputies and other people because most people stop at a red light right thank God we do because it makes driving home a little bit easier we have to teach that responsibility to our youngest citizens that they have responsibility for safety and I think there's a huge difference between what I used to refer into my own home about tattling to tell Ryan is making faces at me versus tattling for

162safety my daughter is on top of her bed getting ready to open the window to look outside on a second story home there's a huge difference between the two and we have to teach our children that overtly that there is a responsibility if you see drugs weapons other other things that could harm or compromise the safety of a school building you have a citizen's responsibility to step forward and to your point Miss Morgan it needs to be said every single day because a wise person reminded me as soon as you're tired of hearing it they may just start to listen so keep that in mind in our own homes and our own families and we will work diligently in our schools to do the same I will get that information regarding those particular parents thank

163you for bringing it up staff has already started to research both situations ensuring both with the bus stops and with our student who came to the podium tonight so thank you for a reminder and a good task list thank you Mr chair thank you our next scheduled meeting is on Wednesday May 17th it will be a board workshop at 12 noon on Tuesday May 23rd there will be a board briefing at 1 pm followed by a board Action meeting at 6 pm seeing no other business and seeing no objection this meeting is adjourned the time is 904.