001good evening ladies and gentlemen we are ready to begin this evening's board meeting sergeant-at-arms or designee has the front lobby been attended to ensure Public Access thank you the school board meeting of November 1st 2022 is now called to order the time is 605. prior to the start of this evening's meeting we have been enjoying the music from South Fort Myers High School wolf pack jazz band the Wolfpack jazz band is under the direction of Mr Tyler Craner the South band will have their annual holiday concert on December 7th and we'll be participating in the Naples Christmas parade and I know it's not on here but this band is a new band to us and also Mr Crainer I want to thank you I hear that you are in the Army Reserves and that you
002actually play in their band so I thank you for that so we will listen to have another performance of from South Fort Myers High School thank you thank you that first piece was called serengeti's by Victor Orlando released in 2008 so it's a little bit more modern and it's just kind of a fun piece to get them get them out of the shell a little bit they're going to do a lot of experimentation and this one we're going to go really classic a song called Night Train released in 1951. when I pulled it out I simply said you'll probably recognize it because we've seen back in the future right got me faster so this is a great piece that last tune featured Emmanuel trombone and Tim up here on alto saxophone this one's going to
003feature Alex on trumpet and Joshua on tenor saxophone enjoying Night Train one two thank you good job guys great job and thank you so much and I know what you had to go through to get here this evening we really appreciate it and hope to have you back in different circumstances at this time we will break for a moment so that way we can have the pit cleared out but again thank you and thank you for your service thank you so much for having us thank you to perform so just take thank you okay we are back at the meeting I want to thank everybody who lend a hand to help South Fort Myers high school jazz band clear the pit that's what teamwork is about so I really appreciate that and thank you so
004much for doing that at this time we have taken the break everybody is gone so we will go ahead and resume this meeting we would like to take this opportunity to remind the members of the public of the addition District's Mission which is to ensure that each student achieves his or her highest personal potential in the district's Vision to be a world-class school system board member Miss Kathleen Morgan will be participating and voting by phone this evening pursuant to board policy 1.11 Miss Morgan are you with us Miss Thomas do we know if Miss Morgan has joined us thank you so we will find out about that this evening's agenda includes invocation Pledge of Allegiance acknowledgments recognitions one under item under information public comments consent action items which include three items under Board office two
005items under academic Services five items under Business Services eight items under Human Resources one item under Information Systems four items under operations and four items under other business board members is there a motion to adopt the agenda I moved to adopt the agenda as printed a second thank you Miss Vaughn so it has been moved by Miss Vaughn and seconded by Miss kittens and please record your vote okay Miss Morgan is with us right now so it is 7-0 motion carries next Miss Patrica will lead us in the invocation after which Miss giovannelli will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance Miss patrico please lead us in the invocation please stand please bow your heads in silent prayer or reflection as giovannelli yeah Stay Stay standing for you I pledge allegiance to the flag of
006the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation another God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you please be seated the student representative who is not here she will be here hopefully soon again we have the traffic on the bridge so it has taken a different toll this evening for all of us so I'm still going to go ahead and read her bio tonight is Renee Bella a member of student District advisory Council she is a junior at Cape Coral high school and has just started the IB International Baccalaureate program Renee is the managing editor for her award-winning School newspaper she is also an officer position in model un treasurer of class of 2024 student government and vice president of both theater club and dignity closet she
007is also active in honor societies such as National Honor Society and Roe Kappa Renee is passionate about being involved in school extracurricular as well as volunteering she has volunteered in dignity closet Cape Coral animal shelter and Gulf Coast Village Independent Living Renee is also a Cape Coral youth council member and works directly with council members her goal as a member is to have input on bettering the community Renee's dry for attending tonight's meeting is to be more involved in what's going on in the world she would like to be better under have a better understanding of both business world and how to make a creative impact on everything she does so when she does get here hopefully she'll make it here we will welcome her at that point in time so thank you for indulging
008so I'm going to go ahead and read Renee's portion of this and that is the character word for November the quality of an individual's respond to membership in a community the design you see displayed on the screen was created by Erica Diaz a 10th grade student at Mariner high school and if whoever can turn off their cell phones that would be wonderful thank you acknowledgments for the month of November 2022 the school board of Lee County acknowledges the following events for the members of November 2022. national stem steam Day November 8th 2022 National Education support Professional Day November 16 2022 Holocaust Education week November 7th through the 11th 2022 School psychology awareness week November 7th through 11th 2022 veterans appreciation week November 7th through 11th 2022 American Education week November 14th through the 18th 2022
009Florida family engagement in Education Month National American Indian Heritage Month there's a lot going on this month this evening's recognition it excuse me is the American Heart Association Heart of Gold Award and Miss Fisher will be introducing that and if the board members will please take your place in the pit for recognitions I'd appreciate it thank you yeah I know hey good evening at this time I would like to invite miss Emily Cooper the southwest Florida youth Market director for the American Heart Association along with some people who may not be here yet Leslie Gunderson principal of pinewoods Elementary oh she is here okay and Benjamin Osman principal of Bayshore Elementary to please join me at the Lecter hello okay and and Mr osman's place tonight we have AJ hamster assistant principal thank you for
010being with us the school district of Lee County has been selected as a recipient of the 2022 Heart of Gold Award every year the American Heart Association recognizes a lifetime of transformative contributions with over 20 000 schools participating this past school year the school district of Lee County was able to place fifth in the State of Florida and 18th in the United States this is the first time the district has received this high ranking together these 35 schools were able to raise 215 thousand dollars for life-saving research we would like to recognize the following participating schools Bayshore Elementary Bonita Springs Elementary Calusa Elementary Colonial Elementary Diplomat Elementary Edgewood Academy Edison Park created an expressive Arts Magnet School Fort Myers Beach Elementary G Weaver hips Elementary golf Elementary hardin's March Marsh Marsh Elementary Heights Elementary J
011Coleen English elementary schools also Lexington Middle School Manatee Elementary School North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts Orangewood Elementary School's Patriot Pelican Pine Island Pine Woods Elementary Ray V potorf River Hall San Carlos Park and Spring Creek Elementary schools and in continuation Sunshine Elementary School Tanglewood Elementary the Alva School the Sanibel School Three Oaks Elementary School Tice Elementary Tortuga preserve Elementary Tree Line Elementary Tropic Isles Elementary and Veterans Park Academy for the Arts because of the efforts from students and their families along with the school district of Lee County faculty our community is healthier and better off than we were the year before one out of a hundred children born in Lee County suffer congenital heart disease with our American Heart Association programs Lee County schools are truly making a difference in the heart health
012of the community special recognition is extended to the following schools for their top performance in the kids heart ChalleNGe Program pinewoods Elementary Ms Gunderson Bay Shore Elementary Mr hamstra and Gulf Elementary School which would be miss prablau the school district and the superintendent are pleased to accept this recognition on behalf of the school district of Lee County and we have the certificate and I have one for each of the top schools over here as well but the frame I need to fix it okay thank you okay so we have will somebody want to come and hold this thank you okay yes okay and then these are all the schools that are that participated all the schools are named on this so thank you so much Emily we appreciate this and congratulations Leslie and hamster yes
013thank you okay thank you so you want to come on over and we'll shake hands with the boys thank you thank you have y'all we're gonna have you guys take a picture real quick before you go before you go take a photo a little bit Miss Vaughn is a little bit blocked you scoot a little bit this way though yep a little bit spawn a little bit that way nope brother good good say cheese thank you foreign okay I would like to introduce Renee Bella so let's please give her a hand she has made it thank you okay the next item on the agenda is the hurricane and Recovery Community update Dr Bernier can you please provide an update regarding hurricane Ian and its aftermath Madam chair Madam chair members of the board gathered public
014thank you for the opportunity to provide this presentation this evening we are just waiting for it to go up all the board there it is the purpose again to remind everyone is to provide an update related to the reopening of schools and the recovery following hurricane Ian the agenda night will provide reopening of schools update information on Hector cafaretta Elementary as well as the Fort Myers Beach Sanibel school also some work that we're doing with the shelter recently opened in North Fort Myers staff and student attendance figures a finance and financial impact update as well as some information on a recently held job fair when you look at reopening our schools all school all schools have returned to academic instruction at this time that can in their buildings and those that cannot have been partnered
015with other school buildings today we are pleased to welcome the families and students of Diplomat Lexington Middle School those students did return on November November 1st I wanted to stop here for a second make a few remarks about Lexington and there's a reopening process when I interviewed for this position I promised all of you at this diocese and this community that I would be honest I never promised that I would be perfect after reviewing our team's approach I really believe and I spent time this morning almost three and a half hours talking to everybody on the first floor that I could find I really believe we should have provided the Lexington teachers an additional day to help prepare their classrooms while they were provided a reunification day early in the process at a high school
016in order to prepare for virtual learning what they came into on Monday needed additional time for them to properly prepare their classrooms and yet somehow through their efforts the efforts of our maintenance Division and the efforts of our remediation contractor and quite honestly the help of their second and third floors those teachers were ready to open school today I'm accountable for the pace of reopening of schools I know I'm extremely proud of the diligent work to get 86 out of our 88 buildings ready the Lexington staff deserves my apology and could use another day to get their learning environments ready for students I can't fix that error I can only apologize for it and I spend time this morning doing just the very same in each one of those classrooms additionally there were areas that
017should not have been that should have been cordoned off yesterday out of an abundance of caution eight areas of the building in Lexington were cordoned off by this morning by the remediation contractor we have additional air samples that were taken late last evening and delivered to the Tampa not a dental hygienist industrial hygienist available and they are available tonight I'm happy to report to this board that all rooms now at Lexington Middle School school have cleared all of the checkpoints on our checklist to reopen this is not unusual to separate specific areas or specific rooms in a building we had to do some of that work at Diplomat we had to do some of that work at Gulf Gulf Middle School where we had to close the gym because we weren't ready to have that
018open it didn't meet the safety requirement and we had to do it at Fort Myers High regarding the auditorium and come to find out we may have been doing that about a previous problem but samples are samples and the safety of our faculty and our students is Paramount I made sure to go to Lexington today as I said to connect and listen and express my thoughts and more importantly to listen to The Lexington teachers and the parents I encountered I appreciated their honesty in feedback some of it was in a word brutal but it was also honest and it was fair and it allowed me to again think and recommit to ensuring that we take care not only of our students but that we do the same for our teachers support professionals as well I'm
019grateful for their commitment to the students because regardless of how their Building looks they are back and they wanted to make sure they went back to an impacted school to make sure they provided an environment for our students for their parents and for our community Thursday I'll head out to Diplomat to do the very same Diplomat also opened very successfully today I would like to remind everybody that riaq tests our indoor air quality tests are always available we've opened that website if they're out there and we will put the Lexington and Diplomat iaqs out there as soon as we have the final reports what we always get is an initial report from the hygienist and then we're able to move forward from there I'd also like to remind everyone that we still have one school
020that we need to take care of in Terms of their engagement and retrieving their personal items we are currently involved with our new chief operations officer our temporary chief chief operations officer to set up the schedule for Fort Myers Beach Elementary we are going to ask those teachers in this particular case because of the condition of building to make a list of what they would like to get back from their rooms and then we will go in and we will secure those materials it's very different than what occurred in some of our other buildings like at cafaretta where the teachers actually did have access so I wanted to make sure I provided that as a reopening of schools update as to Fort Myers Beach and the Sanibel school they are now a community of Learners
021with their own teachers at San Carlos Elementary apparently Azon committees are meeting with both of these schools weekly we are doing that to ensure that we are have open lines of communication with both Fort Myers Beach and the Sanibel school after sport after school programs which we heard were a bit of a crisis at the very beginning are being implemented by the Administration and staff so our staff who needed additional time for children both before and after school are now getting some of that support while not perfect again we are doing everything we can to provide our teachers the opportunity to return to work and know that their children are cared for both before and after school not only for our teachers but for our parents and their in their community in terms of shelter
022support we are working with the currently the Del Toro Plaza shelter which opened on October 27th they have an Emergency Operations Center we're working with ours and theirs in collaboration to connect resources to approximately 87 students I will tell you that 87 students are should I really should say our children not all are of school age student services student enrollment and transportation have been working to support these families and reconnect our students either to their original campus or to a new one we are utilizing Island coast and Fort Myers Mill Academy the Arts the K-8 site because they have room and enrollment and we have bus stops and transportation nearby as per Hector a kafaretta we are still working on a temporary campus We'll be asking for a special meeting and I thank the board
023members seated here with me today for granting me the opportunity to bring that as a singular item don't like to work outside of the regular scheduled board meetings but it was physically impossible to work through the procurement process and get that agenda today even as a good cause item so thank you for your listening last week this path they also have apparently Azon committee we are also meeting with them weekly and last time we met which was last week they had over 250 people in attendance and would like to thank the staff who set that up but also Rosario who did all the Translating for us about four to five sentences at a time really important in a community when you're speaking to them that they understand what you're trying to relay they still Hector
024still suffers the challenge of being split campus between Hancock Elementary School and Pelican Elementary School and I will be bringing forth a recommendation for a portable campus to the board this coming Friday night which could locate them behind Cape Coral Tech in the in the in the time necessary to allow us the opportunity to plan for the future of that school building staff data I've shared this daily with the board members but for the staff and for the community I want you to know that we're still hovering in about 83 92 and 92 percent that means we're down to about 83 percent of our students attending as we've opened more schools we found more students impacted by this hurricane and we will continue to work with them and their families to get them a safe
025transition back to school our talc attendance still is above 90 percent and our spouse attendances as well I did get a question from a board member today that requires good clarification on this data this is a hundred percent of our teachers who should be at work that's what this percentage is based on this does not include current vacancies that we may have in that area we are specifically reporting on the number of Staff the number of support professionals that are here based upon their currently being employed with our school district attendance is approaching there have been several questions for me regarding what we're doing to approach attendance and when are we going to make the shift School social workers are conducting home visits they are ensuring that students families and other individuals have all that
026they need to bring their students back our parents have been surprised by the level of support this District through its board leadership and others have been able to provide them in terms of school supplies uniforms and the other necessary materials for a student who has lost just about everything to return as to a normal process without being seen as an outlier or not having the correct supplies or clothing there's been targeted communication to our families and students we are working with the Florida Department of education's homeless liaison to connect Hall connect with all homeless Liaisons around the state we are working with the Florida Department of Education on a single sign-on website to determine if a student has enrolled in another school across the state we continue to be diligent about our students and we
027will continue to track them down we will be using the week of the 14th that's the week before Thanksgiving as a test week for student attendance what a test week means is we'll be using that opportunity to turn back on our robocall systems for students who are absent so if a parent in Pennsylvania has a student who's supposed to be at a middle school they will begin to get phone calls during that week this is just a test process to alert them that we need to get them back or they need to make a decision about where their child will enroll we will use the Thanksgiving holiday as an additional week for those families to transfer and then beginning on November 28th that's the first Monday coming back from vacation that's when we will reinstitute
028our mandatory attendance rules regarding students Financial update preliminary damage assessment has been submitted to the Department of Education this was an early estimate and it's different than the last time we presented here at a board meeting in a board Workshop when we last saw this figure it was 150 million dollars we are still getting additional assessments we are getting additional understanding of what current contractor prices include and that figure has risen and we have submitted to the Department of Education today for that are we expect our area of damage to be right around 230 million and I think it's 61 000 that's where we currently are as a damage estimate and we are continuing to figure out how we're going to recover and we're trying to strategically plan for that recovery on a good note
029we also have some great information to share regarding our vendor fair I'm sorry our sld recruitment Fair we held on October this was held on October 27th we had an opportunity to meet and apply and meet our candidates who came in we actually found someone who wanted to be a teacher they were completely certified they were sitting at home and they wanted to give back we collected two instructional support individuals we picked up six additional guest teachers food and nutrition services picked up 12 and we have five who've requested to be become members of our transportation department and we are currently working through their motor vehicle records to see whether they're still eligible we did have 102 people attend and those are our numbers of the people who came out I would like to remind
030everyone also it's not in the report but I'd like to remind everybody that our vendor fair is this coming Friday that is an opportunity for our people who want to work for the school district through our bidding process and take part in rebuilding our school buildings and rebuilding our community related to the schools to come participate find out about the bidding process find out how this process works and make sure that they are updated and know how to proceed as Jobs begin to move out onto the street for them to help us with the recovery those are updates at this point I'm open to any board discussion and questions thank you so much for this the update that's really important to all of us as well as to to the public to receive this so
031really appreciate that at this time is there anyone who Mrs Fisher yes I just want to say that I this afternoon I have an opportunity to read some notes from some kids out of Middle School who are grateful that they're back to school they were going crazy at home they were bored and they were so happy to reconnect with their teachers and their friends at school because they need that stability and they're happy to be having something to do so I just want to thank Dr Vernier for this update and he and all of his staff for going above and beyond with the recent challenges and getting our kids back in school and giving them that feeling of normalcy so thank you all thank you Miss Fisher Miss Patrica yes thank you thank you very
032much for acknowledging the extra day for teachers I really appreciate that I did go in to Lexington yesterday and I expected it to be ugly and I definitely got what I expected I don't really think I mean I shouldn't make generalizations but I don't really think middle school kids care about how pretty the building is I know parents probably care a little bit more I was just not expecting the amount of work those teachers had to do that day so I'm really really glad that you acknowledge that thank you could you if I may through the chair ask could you explain why caparetta first on Friday like what's the sense of urgency with regard to cafeta I know but the public might I think it's I think it's a great question I think the community
033needs to understand that while Sanibel Sanibel is in a situation where we've got reports back from the Sanibel campus that is structurally sound so we're doing the remediation process and while they're embedded it's our San Carlos they will have a home to go go back to we do not yet have the same structural conclusions related to Fort Myers Beach Elementary there's an additional aspect to Fort Myers Beach Elementary being a historical site which is further complicating that matter with Hector there's two things they do not have a building to go back to at this time and they are currently split because they are so large they're 750 students they are currently split into the primary grades k12 and then the intermediate grades at another site for three four five it was the best solution we
034had again when you try to do what's best for children it's not something that a superintendent and his staff would come up with as the primary plan to educate children so getting them a modular campus where they can exist as a unit and families don't have to be driving to two different schools would be I believe the proper approach moving forward great I appreciate that and then we did receive an email regarding the dump I guess is what you would call it behind Lexington and concerns about safety there could are you in a position to address that I can there is a large site for where debris is being deposited it is across the fence and not on our property that property is owned by the county I have spoken with EOC leadership we have
035a great member of our team deeply embedded with them as well they're doing their very best but it was the best site they had at the time in order to store things we believe and I honestly can say our students don't go over to that area it is normally was a set of soccer fields an open recreational facilities for the community and we are divided by a fence and a road and all of our students really operate if they go in any other direction they take that they technically go opposite of that direction to their play Fields their building two and their gymnasium great I appreciate that it's not I don't consider it a attractive nuisance because it's middle schoolers if we were talking Country Kids it might be a bigger issue but you can
036tell middle school or not to go there and like you said there's a fence and then the my last one is really a comment and I say this every single time you update us about these numbers I'm just it is the thing that keeps me up at night and the variations in numbers have been quite large and I know you're working to get us accurate information and I know that you can't give us what you don't have so I acknowledge that but at the same time I have to say how just how uncomfortable it makes me I I have to agree with you we started initially with an idea that this could be a magnitude of at least 10 and we were using a very high predictor of 500 million dollars I believe in in
037oh under promising and over delivering we are definitely going to be under that 500 million dollar Mark but these numbers are much more accurate than the original estimates that Amy sorry Dr decimals provided the other day that was a adjuster total that was provided to us and I would caution everyone who is working with an insurance adjuster you know this better than all of us they do not work for the school district they work for their insurance company so their estimates are being reviewed by our construction our facilities Department we're looking at what it currently does costs to do some of the work that they're estimating and our costs are higher than that I'll do a simple mathematics I know of an individual I spoke to just a few days ago who has a cost
038estimate it for the replacement of their roof of twenty thousand dollars their insurance Chester came to visit and they offered him four thousand so now the question is what do I do what we do is we validate those figures we continue to make sure that we're paying real costs and I suspect that you will only see those numbers rise how much more I can't really tell you at this point but I know that number to be submitted to the state we talked to the state on Friday and again on Monday prior to us submitting the report and they are very very aware that all the school districts are putting in what they call an early estimate of the costs that has to do with the budgetary cycle in Tallahassee they're trying to get prepared for
039the legislators because some decisions are already currently being made regarding future legislation Etc and they wanted to get an idea from all the school districts as to where we were as superintendents we have convened and talked individually that we think it's still a little too early but that's what they wanted and we will come we will comport with what they're they're asking for because it does give us the best opportunity for the state legislature and our local delegation to know and again I remind everybody our state our local delegation has been out and toward our buildings last question of that answer if not board update is fine we do not have that answer at this time but we have also asked our own legal department as well as the State Department of Education to weigh
040in on that issue and do you want me to re-explain that to the public what we're discussing so homes homes built before 1980 if they suffer more than 50 damage there is a Florida law now that requires that homeowner to rebuild their home post hurricane the question is whether that applies to school buildings that I was told on Wednesday in our doe call that was a very good question so it is a transitional and developmental process for them as well they are investigating that they're coming back with their legal their legal opinion and I've put them in touch with our general counsel as well and her team who are doing some independent research on our behalf thank you thank you Miss kittens and then miss juvenile thank you thank you for the explanation about the
041staff and student data my question with that is because we have less students returning do you envision that we may get kind of closer to a balance of the student staff ratio or are we you know are we losing have we lost staff or losing staff that it still becomes an issue currently I've not had as much opportunity to walk buildings as I usually do to look at staff ratios I've shared with all of you in the past the first thing I do is go in and count heads it's just something as a former principal I always did and looked at how many teachers we had in place I'll have to get back to you on staff ratios we shared at the last work session that we are getting some information not only about the
042number of kids who are officially withdrawing which was at that time was approximately 700 and change but we're also receiving additional students we were getting 500 plus that are new students to the community who are joining us at the same time for instance in Lexington this morning I walked through the main office I shook a man's hand young man's hand and said how are you and he said I'm brand new I said it doesn't always look like this it'll make it better and he smiled and he said I understand that there was a big storm here that's as much he knew about what had transpired so we are getting new students at the same time and again I remind everyone that October FTE they went back to a date certain for us September 11th through
043September 26th so we're being financed going into the fall through the FTE process based upon our student enrollment at that time schools are due to submit their ftes on the 9th they will look the budget and finance department will look them on the 10th and 11th and then we have the week before Thanksgiving to make the correction and submit long before the September 15th deadline for the state of December December 15th and you reminded me of something too with the calendar committee that about the FTE that in our discussion at the last meeting we expanded the days on the calendar for FTE because it's more than just that six day period it is a week or so ahead of time that you have to be at school at least one day during the period before
044so that was why that was added on and I'm sure the calendar update will will be brought up as well I had a question too about the landfill at Lexington when I drove in there it just seemed overpowering is there any way that the city might even be able to put up a some type of a barrier or fence or something we've actually been engaged in ongoing conversations with members of the EOC in the county I mean it's a county site they are doing everything they can to try to figure out what to do and where to move it to their their options are limited they understand where it is they've heard from us it would be a county decision as to whether they move that site or not okay thank you is that it
045Miss kittens okay thank you Mr juvenile thank you my question is regarding back to the 50 50 rule the Year 1980 that would only would that only apply to the Fort Myers High School I mean Fort Myers High School Fort Myers Beach school that one's older than 1980 but what about what other schools would that apply even to apply to the only one that it would apply to in our current situation would be Fort Myers Beach Elementary but that is again further complemented by its historic designation right right so I was curious I would like to see the preliminary damage assessment report that went to doe I'd like to review that if we could get if I could get a copy of that and then my one of my other concerns when you were talking
046about the 230 million and obviously that could change I remember back in Hurricane Charlie where we had a drywall shortage and then it went into a whole nother aspect of defective drywall and my concern is obviously we already we already have shortages so I anticipate possible shortages and delays and then Rising costs and then we're already having that as it is before the before the storm so I just kind of wanted to actually just kind of reiterate that 230 million could be a lot more I mean I am concerned as miss Patricia just it keeps her up at night I understand so I would just be curious about that you know how we can tighten that up if we can but I completely understand where you're coming from when we begin with the first request
047the Florida Department of Education division of finance and operations hurricane Ian estimated damage survey will be provided to you in the board update I mean you'll get you'll get your own official copy of it's a very simple form it was meant to be easy for districts to fill out I assume that will generate additional questions and we will respond to those questions as to the second issue things are getting more expensive and I will tell you anybody who's renovated a home knows that when you start to take a wall down and start to look what's behind it you will find consistent damage or or additional damage that you did not expect to find so there this is and I get our board members concern related to I'd love to put a figure on it and
048say that is the dollar figure we just can't yet and it's something that keeps me up at night that including ain't Dr desimore's presentation on abatements which is the delay in paying your taxes as well as the information related to a house out on the beach or a house in a lot was so much value regarding the tax rolls and now if it's just an empty lot and the person owns it their tax bill has significantly reduced therefore the amount of money that we would receive is significantly less we have kind of all arrows pointed inward currently and we have to do the very best to Circle our wagons and do our best to to to move forward and not just with additional bills but potentially with less income oh we have a question from
049Miss Renee go ahead so I was just had a question about with I know a lot of my classmates say either artists placed in their homes or they lost their cars and you're talking about is there how do I ask it I guess our bus our bus is being accommodated to reach other students especially with attendance being more important within the coming weeks our bus drivers are doing everything they can I would I would remind and you don't need a reminder of this your friends talk to you often our bus transportation system was not perfect prior to Hurricane and now when we talk about 80 or 90 of our bus drivers being back on any given day we still have that Gap in the number of employees we're not reporting that gap of the number
050of people a number of open positions we have we're glad that at least five people came into the job Affair to help every bus driver anybody who can drive a bus would certainly help us and I make this plea from the dies regularly right now what we're asking students and families to do if they want to remain at their school is to get to the nearest bus stop and we will accommodate them so we are doing everything humanly possible to get them to school to the school they were attending some students have had to make difficult decisions to transfer based on the fact that they used to live in the cape and now they live far out east so I mean but that's a decision of a family to find secure housing and a secure
051environment for their children so there would be no rerouting of the bus stops it's just making that decision at this time there's no plan to reroute the bus stops but I can certainly have a conversation with our director of transportation to see whether there are other opportunities to squeeze more lemon juice out of the lemon we have I don't know how else to describe it to you I know it's difficult thank you thank you it was a great question Miss Vaughn did you have any no okay I'm Sorry Miss Fisher yes thank you just as a follow-up to Renee's question so for kids who did not ride the bus before but drove cars to school can they get on the bus they just have to get to the nearest bus 100 yes okay they still
052can get they if they drove before and they need to ride a bus that bus is available for them Madam chair I Believe Miss Morgan is on the line yeah she's my next one I have her Miss Morgan do you have any comments or questions no and seeing no other questions thank you again Dr Vernier for sharing that with us and thank you whoever fixed the microphones in a sound system because it's fabulous I feel like she's right with us so thank you for that and we will did you have any other comments to share otherwise no adjusted in the in the in between if I may just take us Personal Privilege Mr Ramirez and I noticed the Improvement as well from our interviews so kudos to the communications team and everybody wants to know
053how you did how we did it this board approved a purchase order to improve the communication system it's amazing what you can do when you have a little bit of money to purchase the equipment to make it you know a first class system for all of you as well thank you all right thank you okay so and thank you Mr Ramirez for assisting on this as well so our next topic on the agenda is public comments so Mr Prairie Bruno would you please address the item of public comment thank you madam chair and good evening School Board policy provides the opportunity at this point in the meeting to address the board concerning any matter on this meeting's agenda or any other matter relevant to the operation of the school district if you completed a public
054comment card please put it in the basket provided if you need a public comment card they are provided by our staff the rules concerning public comment are posted in and will be made from the podium in the front of the center aisle please be advised that the board will not respond during public comment to remarks made by speakers speakers and those attending the meeting are expected to act in a respectful manner the purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on School District issues abusive language is prohibited in addition clapping hissing and booing unreasonably loud and or offensive language swearing cursing or a display of temper during the public comment time is prohibited speakers who fail to follow Prophet de corpsman the chambers will be ruled out of order any speaker continuing with such remarks
055will be required to relinquish the microphone for board policy 1.11 and may be removed from the chambers we will take recesses as necessary if there's not decorum per board policy 1.11 the time for speakers three minutes if there are twenty two minutes if there are 30 and one minute if there are 31 speakers or more the maximum time allotted for public comment is one hour 60 speakers you will find a countdown on the big 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 you five speakers at a time please follow staff's Direction Madam chair there are four speakers that wish to address the board this evening that is three minutes per speaker thank you
056please make sure you have completed a public comment card if you intend to provide public comment the card is a public record identifying those who speak and providing contact information to staff for follow-up the cards are located with staff up front is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the board but did not fill out a comment card please raise your hand is there anyone I'm going to repeat it is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the board but did not fill out a comment card CNN Mr pre-burner will you go ahead and proceed thank you madam chair with the following individuals please line up Sharon McGill Edward draft Lou Navarro Amy Burke name if you would just line up behind that gentleman Miss Burke yeah and yes thank you
057thank you good evening Karen McGill good evening everyone Miguel can you wait there you go your timer's up now okay good evening everyone I just want to say again Dr Bernier how impressed I have been with you and your team who's in the audience here tonight and anybody who may be listening the fact that you are making every effort to make sure no child is Left Behind in this horrific situation is just amazing and it's appreciated and noted by the community next I was able to watch the presentation this afternoon by Miss Messenger on the Food Services and some questions came to mind while I was watching and most of those had to do with the dod and our vendors associated with the dod and who are our local vendors that are part of the
058dod program and what happens if we don't use that vendor do we then lose those DOD commitments to you know help us financially and would we have to pay out of pocket out of our own budget for those funds so it's just the word transparency comes up here a lot and that's what I was just wondering transparency who the vendors are that we're using for those products and last I just want to say thank you to the board members who will be stepping down your compassion your commitment is noted and you're what you put into this goes so far beyond what your job description is and the fact that your mentors to individual children and you're out there in the community as a liaison that you're out there in the schools all the time and
059people see that and note it and it's your passion that's helped make this District what it is now and know that when you're stepping down you were part of the team that hired him and you're leaving the district in good hands thank you thank you good evening Dr Edward Drass good evening board members Dr Bernier and District staff I want to commend all of you for your tremendous effort and achievement in restoring the district to functionality quickly and efficiently and in the wake of hurricane Ian after the learning loss experience during the covet lockdown the students did not need more lost classroom time this will be the next of the last board meeting before some board members will be replaced I want to thank all members for the time effort and commitment invested over your
060terms in office as you know my relationship with a board and several members in particular has at times been contentious I believe some of you were misguided or misled others chose liberal politics and ideologies over what was right School mask mandates School vaccinations CRT lgbtq transgender and Banned Book issues will long be remembered we had been on opposite sides of the spectrum on major issues I do not hold you in disregard because of this our differences have motivated me to work tirelessly to bring this board into a more conservative alignment and next Tuesday will show if those efforts have been successful for those members who continue in their seats I sincerely request that you work with the new board members in a spirit of unity and the common goal of making this school district the
061best in the state you can if you choose work toward an end which will show me and members of the voting public that you have changed your views on issues of reticular interest to all of us politics and ideology have no place on the school board this is the dissension that they cause only waste time money and disrupts the harmony of the education system and negatively affects the quality of The Learning Experience your job performance is judged solely on the quality of Education of our students I would ask you the departing members to please remain in public service of some form your experience and commitment will be valuable you can help this community and the Lee County School District continue to improve to a level of Excellence we all wish to see it achieve I
062wish you all well and look forward to an improved education system in Lee County in the coming years thank you thank you good evening my new look good after good evening superintendent board members Lou Navara retired teacher I wanted to hope that I get some answers to my few points tonight and first of all I wanted to ask about public records because that one gentleman comes up here and he complained and public records is not doing well I agree with him I may not agree with some of the things he says or all of them but he's correct I'm hoping you're going to look into this it's been downhill for quite some time and I don't want to say it's a cover-up okay next I guess the honeymoon's over Dr B I think you aired
063opening these schools too soon I've talked to students Etc I don't know what the rush was in fact I don't know why you couldn't go to Virtual School till every school's fixed and not put children and teachers In Harm's Way I really feel like you aired there and you need to look at it and I've got documentation where in 2020 when we were locked down with covid the students did 49 on the FSA and when we were back in 2021 it's 48. and I know why but I don't want to waste the rest of my time maybe later well the troublemakers weren't there that's why covid I'm concerned about the students and the faculty nightmare covered mutation found in Florida triple demick warnings issued Fort Myers News Press read it was yesterday and kids are
064getting ill I know number four I don't you know I don't think we need to have these children In Harm's Way or the teachers but number five how many administrators volunteered out of the County office to substitute I've got the records here you're out to 300 teachers a day you are putting in unqualified teachers because you can't get them and you don't want to pay them my sixty thousand dollar recommendation you know you're all sitting there doing good what about the teachers and the students no one talks about their education they talk about LG tbq and all this other stuff shame on you I want to hear from you thank you Mr Navarro good evening good evening board members and superintendent my name is Amy Burke I have two kids in the South Zone and
065my issues with Transportation I understand that the buses are short-handed but I have an elementary schooler that has been late to school an hour all last week this week this week so far her bus was actually only 30 minutes late this morning we had this issue before the hurricane also in the afternoon I've been told twice over an hour after school got out that there was no bus coming to the school to even pick her up to me this is unacceptable especially for an elementary schooler the other thing is when you call transportation and you call the South Zone they either don't know what they're doing or they give you a run around I had one morning where they told me the bus was going to be there at eight o'clock and it showed up
066at 7 45. and I called the school and they said that the bus had already gone by there I had been standing on the bus stop several times and we go out there early because I follow the transportation app and on some mornings the transportation app isn't even up to date this afternoon my son goes to Lexington today was his first day back he was told this afternoon when he got out of school that his bus was given to Cyprus middle school instead of Lexington and he did not get home for over an hour after school got out and my question is there anything that can be done I know that there's shortage of bus drivers and everything but it's hard for an elementary schooler to be stuck at her school for two hours some
067days in the afternoon or waiting an hour at her bus stop in the mornings I'm a parent that doesn't drive so I Rely heavily on the bus transportation so that is my question if anything can be done or if that's all thank you thank you ma'am Madam chair this concludes public comments for this evening thank you I really want to I appreciate each and every one of you who came up and spoke today we are here to hear what you have to say and I do appreciate you coming forward with that I guess I'm going to start with and I know we keep we've spoken about the transportation and we know that there's we're still working on trying to make sure that we get each and every child we get them on a Time timely
068fashion I know my grandchildren ride the bus as well so we've been waiting for hours on them as well and fortunately enough we have other people that can participate and help with that because there we do understand what has taken place here I don't know Dr Berner if you do you want to I'm a member of my staff get Miss Burke's phone number I'll have staff from my office reach out and then we'll can we'll work with Transportation as well but I will share with all of you prior to the hurricane we had begun to have this discussion the solution to our transportation issue is our level of choice that we transport I believe as a superintendent in a family's right to choose schools but we also have to be cognizant of the fact that
069we cannot afford to transport all of that choice as soon as we can I guess I'll say as soon as we can I would like to get back out into the community to pick up where we left off with the town halls moving to those community dialogues so we can talk about proximity plan because there will need to be a decision made this coming winter January February in order to impact the transportation system for 2324 without a decision and a change in our proximity plan I do not believe the situation will get any better especially as we add more schools and add more students and each time we add new students and more schools we add the amount of choice that we're offering and transporting so I will make sure that a staff member gets
070with you tonight gets your information and then we contact you and I will reach out to you personally if Dr Malloy is sitting in the back he will make sure the collects your contact information and I want to thank you for that because I know that has been a conversation that we have been having regarding choice and how much choice we have and I know for for instance my grandchild goes from Estero all the way to Fort Myers so that's part of the zone that they have so with that it does take a lot of effort to make sure that all the children are in a to get them to and fro you know from the school so thank you for sharing that and I know we are working on that and we'll get back
071to to the proximity so thank you for that also with the food service and the vendors there was a question that was brought up Dr B I don't know Miss messenger is not here and that was part of our conversation today or Mr Primo do we have that as far as the people who are part of that can we send that get with Miss Mcgill and share that information because I don't have that on top of my head Madam chair neither do I would have to ask Miss Messenger to respond to that again if we could get one of our staff members to provide to collect the information so they can respond back to that individual we'll be happy to do so directly from the expert in our food service department which is Miss messenger
072perfect thank you and Mr Navarro thank you very much to our public records we're always trying to make that better and thank you for bringing that to back to our attention and Dr dress thank you for your comments and I we will go ahead and move forward the next item on the next item is the consent action items the documents for Action items listed under consent is made available to board members seven business days prior to the board meeting we are expected to review all the materials and we have the opportunity to speak with the superintendent with any questions we may have regarding the recommendations some of these items have also been briefed or workshopped with the board in advance of appearing on the action agenda board members are there any agenda items you wish
073to pull for discussion under unfinished business tabled items portion of the agenda Miss Miss Morgan Miss Morgan let me try again oh they have none thank you thank you Miss kittens I am none Miss Vaughn none thank you thank you and I have none is there a motion to approve the agenda consent action items with oh is there a motion to approve the consent action items I'll move to approve the consent action item agenda thank you Ms Fisher I may have a second I'll second thank you Miss Vaughn motion by Miss Fisher and second anybody miss Vaughn please record your vote problems okay seven zero emotion carries doctor Bernier please introduce any administrators in attendance with a new assignment that was approved under the consent agenda Madam chair members of the board members of the
074public I am very pleased to announce the appointment of a new assistant principal to Gateway element Gateway Elementary School an individual is Tracy Lauren zini thank you James Tracy if you could please stand and be recognized again board members for all of you and for Tracy and her family first of all congratulations to the family take a good hard look at her now she is going to be very very busy and you should be very proud of her and I appreciate families coming out to help and support and to Tracy I think the biggest thing with assistant principal and principal positions we all we always talk about the level of trust that's been provided to you by that position the young people in your care are incredibly important to their families in this community and
075we know that you will do an excellent job and you will abide by that trust and we appreciate you taking the step forward to to working at Gateway Elementary they're lucky to have you thank you congratulations and I see you brought your whole Squad that's great beautiful next on the agenda we are wow we're already to abort comments so this evening I'm just gonna mix it up a little bit and I'm going to start with Miss Patrica thank you if I made through the chair ask Dr Bernier have you considered sending out some messaging to parents this evening to let them know that we can expect significant delays due to the bridge closure I already have the communications team I sent it to all of you the comms team's working on it they have the
076Florida Department of Transportation has closed what I am told is called the caloosahatchee bridge I know that it has other names it's the one that leads from Fort North Fort Myers right into the downtown area where you could get off and go get right onto McGregor that's the best this Rookie's got for you the Florida Department of Transportation has not put a time frame on reopening that bridge so we will get a parent messenger out I know communication was sent out District wide but it's already gone Denise is telling me it's already been set excellent thank you and I really hate it when misinformation sort of hangs out there after public comment there was an indication that opening schools after the hurricane put children and teachers In Harm's Way I couldn't disagree with that more
077every effort was made to create safe environments and if anything ensuring that those environments were safe delayed the opening of schools so I just really in a fact check kind of way wanted to put that out there I want to let my colleagues and the community know that Clause versus Jaws will occur Friday night it is the Big South County rivalry between Bonita Springs bull sharks Jaws versus Estero Wildcats Claws and it is also a fundraiser for staff that have lost you know a lot in the hurricane for schools all schools located in the Bonita Estero area I recommend that you come on out have a good time support not just our student athletes but our staff as well I wanted to mention the tours that you gave that you and your staff gave the
078board it was great to get out there and see the schools and it wasn't great to see the damage but it was good to have a sort of a first-hand view of what that damage was but what really struck me was principal verblau when she was giving me a tour of golf Elementary it was like she was giving me a tour of her home like that's how yeah well it's not just that she lives there it's that's how much she loves it and how much pride she takes in it so that was I told her that during the I told her that during the tournament I'm not I'm not sure I've said that about anybody other than an athletic director in our high school so I just thought that was really cool and I will
079be giving my very last elected versus appointed factual minute some people have asked me why if we elect our president and our Congress why don't we also elect our superintendent well your Congress passes laws and your President is responsible for executing those laws but they are not responsible for the day-to-day operations of government like a superintendent is a more apt comparison in my opinion is to compare it to the city council's slash city manager or the County Commission slash County Manager model where the council and the commission are elected and they appoint highly qualified individuals to run the day-to-day operations of massive incredibly complicated organizations I mentioned earlier today that we are the largest Food Service organization in all of Lee County in addition to that I believe we are the 19th largest transportation system
080in the country you've all heard these numbers before 13 000 employees 2.4 billion dollar budget 103 000 students we don't elect CEOs of private corporations I'm not clear why we would even consider electing the CEO of a public education system those are my comments thank you thank you for the minutes did you have a question Miss Fisher next I'm going to ask Miss Kathleen Morgan I don't have any comments this evening other than to thank my colleagues who are attending their last Action meeting for their service over the last couple of years Mary Fisher I have developed a sensitivity for the Health and Welfare of of students that I could not that I certainly didn't have when I came on the board and I appreciate your long service on the board and always keeping focus
081on the kids to Ms gittins I I think of Ms gittins and I think of Portables but I also think of someone who has been an extraordinary advocate for her community and is very proactive and informed in terms of our community needs and Miss Vaughn thank you particularly for your representative rotation of the Hispanic community and your occasional remarks that make us Flinch but also keep us honest so thanks to all of you and I will Echo a comment made earlier which is that I hope you all and I expect you all will continue to participate in some form of public service and I know that you will continue to be engaged with public education and the community thank you very much thank you Miss Morgan Miss giovannelli thank you I actually Echo what Ms
082Morgan said in fact I don't want to get emotional but each each board member that I've worked with here has a special place in my heart because I respect them I expect respect them for their time respect respect them for their advocacy for everything they've done being an ally and sometimes be in an opposition I respect that too and I'm excited for them for their next Journey what it would be I have no doubt there will be advocacy continued and I hope that it will be somewhat reflected here at the at the district for the students because their work has been well received for me and I appreciate it and respect it completely I they will all every one of you will be missed regardless what your next adventure is I hope that I'm involved
083as a friend later on because I've my friendship is goes on beyond the dice for me and but I am excited for a new day on the dice and I knew board so I'm excited for that as well and so I welcome whoever replaces these members I did want to thank or congratulate the new assistant principal for Gateway I'm excited for you also there is an open house at the foundation for Lee County schools for teachers and staff and for Saturday nine to one and it's at the foundation which is at 2266 Second Street downtown on down by Jackson in second and also oh I just want to thank the Challenger Middle School for the cards and their their appreciation for school to be back to normal and for their their day-to-day to to be
084learning because they missed it some were even made comments they were bored at home so I'm excited that they're happy to be back in school and I think every day that we move forward instead of looking backwards will be a more normal day for each student and as well as teachers and parents and I think that's it and then I'm look forward to seeing everybody next week or Friday thank you thank you Mr Vanilli Miss Vaughn please thank you well I am one of the three who will not be on this board afterwards the 22nd and I wanted to start out with a little bit of background and some thank yous I was hired to teach in Lake County Schools to 16 years ago my the song is your mic on try it again I
085was hired to teach in Lee County Schools 16 years ago my application included 30 years as a successful secondary classroom teacher that included roles in leadership mentoring writing District curriculum and facilitating professional development I had Stellar recommendations and wide-ranging experience and yet only one Lee County principal interviewed me and so my first thank you is to Mr George Clover at Estero High School Mr clover offered me a job at Estero high school before I even left his office that day I worked with some extremely talented and gifted teachers at Estero great staff during my eight years at Estero High School and I just want to give a shout out to a few of them to Melissa Katrina Bonnie Jane Norm Sandy Jen Heather and Rita all of you made my time at Estero that much
086better than it than it was it was a great experience and you regret still are great friends so why did I choose to run for school board after retiring and I did retire from Acero High School after 38 years of classroom teaching and at the age of 67 actually many of my friends when I said what I intended to do said Betsy you're crazy could be the fact is that there as I was there at estera because of my wide-ranging experience I had lots of very positive ideas on how to improve academics at the school and in in fact there were a couple things that I did talk to George Clover about that were that were enacted at that time and I decided that I was going to run this is my sole reason because
087I was totally fulfilled as a person with my years in the classroom I felt that even though I was retiring from the classroom I had more to give to the field of education and that Lee County from what I could see really needed it at that time so I came in third out of three I'm sorry third out of five primary candidates during my first run for school board in 2016. I decided to do it again two years later obviously I won in 2018 and my next thank you is to the more than a hundred and twenty four thousand Lee County voters from Alva to Bonita Springs for your support many of those supporters expressed their disappointment this December when I announced my decision not to run for a second term now for others my
088decision not to seek reelection has probably been the only thing that's made them happy during the last several years take where you can get it I am went back a while back looking at the materials I had for my campaign and I pretty much remembered what the most important things were and going back all the way back to 2016 probably 2015 when I started the journey was an issue that now I'm I'm feeling really really good about this Dr Bernier just mentioned it top of my list proximity schools true neighborhood schools are not viable in the school district of Lee County I'm not going to have time to go into that why however the proposed proximity schools for grades k through eight will resolve two of the issues that really concern me the most first
089is what was just talked about the time that is the time that kids have to spend on a bus driving sometimes up to an hour and a half which was a shocking piece of information the first time I heard it and the money that we save and especially during this time when it's so difficult to get bus drivers the other thing is we won't have true neighborhood feeder schools but bringing the schools in closer to the neighborhood not only makes the schools more accessible for the families and brings that kind of ownership to the families of a nearby School but there's benefit to the teachers and this is something else that bothered me when I was at Estero high school because I was used to lots of vertical teaming vertical planning that I did not
090see happening during that time so I'm hoping that this is another improvement with academic services another thing that I've talked about numerous times more resources and emphasis on our advanced classes both the pre-advance classes I'm talking about AP Ace and IB as well as the high school classes as well as this is something I had talked to Dr Spira about years ago when I was on curriculum advisory I think my first year on the board mandatory special training for our teachers who are teaching these Advanced courses for the first time extremely important in delivery of information to our students expanded and improved early childhood education honestly I had no idea about this when I first started to run for school board but back in around 2015 as I was exploring things in the district I
091toured a couple a couple day care centers and including the Early Learning Center and I think Miss Maggie Stevens was I'm seeing a nod directing that at the time and Mrs Stevens was a godsend with my education on this and I spent a lot of time after that studying reading up because remember I taught the big kids in high school not the little kids and it has it made me such a believer in this initiative this part of our strategic plan going back to it was important to Dr Atkins as well I of course I don't I'm not going to get into the whys on it but lots and lots of reasons going all the way through better chances at high school graduation to be honest when I first studied way back probably 2015 or
092so High School graduation rates I was appalled I was appalled and I was especially appalled at the graduation rates for our English language Learners and our students of color I'm so happy and so proud of this district for year by year raising all the graduation levels and I think the most profound difference is with those the students that I that I mentioned do I want to go okay I'm going to go to this area next yeah there have been a couple disappointments one of my big disappointments and I've been talking about this periodically teachers still lack meaningful input into size site based decision making I think that's we may have some principles that use that I've talked about it enough over the past several years this is we are missing the boat by not using
093the knowledge skills and expertise of our child of our teachers in every single School to my other disappointment in a minute I told you earlier why I ran for school board and now I'm going to tell you why I did not was not part of my reason I didn't run for a seat on the board with any political agenda of my own despite the scoffing of some of you out there thinking that some of the things that I have said come from either a sense of political ideology from me or from somewhere else like from a political party absolutely not it just happens like some of you have deep felt feelings about wearing masks or not wearing masks lgbtq community and all those things to me that's ideology and those of you who say that
094ideology has no place in the school and yet you're looking forward to as some of you have said either tonight or earlier I'm looking forward to Bringing more conservative view I'm sorry that's ideology and that's fine that's fine but please understand no sense of my own political agenda I was not endorsed by or following nor did I get any money ever from political pacts or never did I have political parties send out campaign material that's never been a part of me this is not a stepping stone to perhaps getting in good with a certain party and you know moving on up to a higher elected position I haven't used my time on the board ever to secure favors for friends relatives or vendors I've never used it this time to manipulate people to my own
095will that's not part of who I am I've always told the truth you may not have liked my truth but tonight I brought out my little Pinocchio and I know my nose isn't real small some of you probably noted that when you said oh she was never a prom princess but anyway Pinocchio's been a bit of a bad boy there but he's a good reminder truth and the importance of Truth and again you may not like my truth but my truth is the same here as it is when I go to speak to other people it doesn't change it is my truth I didn't need to be on the board or on this Deus to raise my sense of self-worth or feel power I had the power I had the greatest power ever through the
096thousands of students that I taught over 38 years and I still hear from many of my kids my kids who are now some of them grandparents in their 50s finally a disappointment and then I have one I'm going to end on a very positive note one of the things that I campaigned on and ice this phrase came to me one one time when I was just when I was addressing primarily minority audience and I said one thing is I want to see that this is ain't I said this ain't your grandpa's Lee County anymore and you know this English teacher used eight because it just seemed like something better to use instead of this is not but this ain't your grandpa's well I don't feel like I've made any progress in this and as a
097matter of fact maybe some parts of Lee County is turning into great grandpas or great great grandpas Lee County and that's not something political I'm saying this is something that goes to the history of this County and that was one other thing that I was shocked about 17 years ago when I moved here when I realized the history of desegregation in this District and no I'm not going away I'm going to have different areas that I moved to although I will keep an eye on what's going on including single member districts for all seven seats one that comes up in January but it's a huge disappointment to me my optimism comes from I think Miss McGill said something about leaving the board in leaving the district rather in good hands very happy thus far with
098Dr Christopher Bernier and what he's done he has brought I think I think some very meaningful changes to the organization of this school district he has I'm not hearing the words another phrase I hate well we've always done it this way oh let's ban that and I think it is banned right now he has made strides in for instance when Mr Michael Ramirez was hired I was so happy to see that we had a high ranking Hispanic heritage person as an administrator years ago when I asked about you know what about you know we're we have more Hispanics as minorities in in this County oh well yes our we have representation in our personnel with lots of Hispanics and I said but how many of them are administrative how many of them are spout not
099there's anything wrong with spout but how many and I am hoping that a door is open and that you know we have someone who is obviously very fluent in Spanish that can can help with that finally again I feel good about Dr bernier's leadership and I have only best wishes for this County and these children I have a lot more I could say about my experiences on this board this is not the time of the place stay tuned thank you thank you Miss Vaughn Miss kittens please okay thank you because this is the last Action meeting that I will be at and I know that in the future the board is going to be recognizing I'm sure many of the community leaders and organizations that had a lot to do with helping us get the
100schools back in order and feeding people and all of the things they did in the community but I specifically wanted to recognize a team that helped with our staff that did the clothing boutique team from South Fort Myers High School and all the other groups and people I'm sure you will be recognized but I wanted to be able to do this one because personally I saw the work that was done and I believe one person that was on that team is here that helped us out so I will read a part of the letter to to them and I would like to present the letter to the one person that is here and I basically said we all want to believe there's a good in our world and Community when fellow human beings are in
101need it provides the greatest opportunity to show what it good is all about many individuals and organizations came together to do good for others after Hurricane Ian and continue to do so I just wanted to take this opportunity to show to say thank you for the showing of showing and sharing the good in our community but the participation in the Lee County Schools clothing boutique thank you to South Fort Myers clothing boutique team and that was Mary Jo Potter it was her brainchild Olivia Moses Jen Celica Andrea Gonzalez and then the next part thank you to Chico's in the art of fashion and more for donating thousands of dollars of clothing and when I say thousands of dollars of clothing I mean thousands of dollars of clothing The Village came together used their abilities to
102give our community something good to remember and they gave dignity back to many of our staff members that were able to go back to school dressed in a dignified and way that they were proud to do so before I finish what I have to say I'm going to take the Liberties ask Miss Moore to please come forward and I will give her heard that and if there's anyone else I don't think anyone else here and you can see how she's dressed thank you and she's coming back so you may want to shout and thank you for allowing me to do that the next part of what I have to say the lighthouse that's sitting there I put it up there when I first raised my right hand and said that I would abide by all
103the loss and be a good board member and I said as long as I was here the lighthouse would be there because it represents reminders that we are here to be a light to be an inspiration to be an example to others and that everything we do and say we have to remember someone is watching and learning from the way that we say it a couple of one kind of business thing the calendar committee I want to say this before we read the rest of it our calendar committee met last Thursday and after three hours and actually it was very enjoyable I mean you think three hours was going to be really really bad but it went very smoothly we got a lot accomplished I really liked the way that everybody listened to everyone else
104and suggestions and all of that and we work through very well we came to a consensus on the 2023 and 24 instructional calendars talcan spout community members were present and I was the excuse me the board liaison we discussed hurricane makeup days and spring break winter break and the last few days of school the board will be voting on the calendar in a coming meeting and I will say I know there was a desire for us to have our spring break at the same time coinciding with other counties like Collier because we do have people that work here and have children there and vice versa and it just was a little bit too difficult to accomplish for the 23 calendar but as well on the top of the list for 2024 so I just wanted
105to give you that update when I talk about my time on the board I feel that I have fulfilled the goal of of the lighthouse to be an example and I have been you may disagree but I have been fiscally responsible I have kept Children First I've provided oversight I've asked questions I know sometimes too many but I've offered Solutions as well I've supported schools teachers staff District staff more than some of them even know and I spoke up for issues and needs that at times other people would not speak up for but hopefully everyone learned from me bringing those issues forward and you've also learned that with me if you hear me the first two times I don't have to repeat it and keep pounding it so some of the issues that I did
106keep bringing forward there was a need to do that and so I kept bringing it forward see okay so now my African attire I want to give kudos to this board to my team members because of the growth that we have have done and why do I say growth because in 2019 I sat in this very seat dressed in African attire and it was I thought the sky was falling everybody was so upset that I was wearing and I quote a costume and the rest of the board had not been informed that I was going to wear a costume I wore African attire during Black History Month there were people in the audience that wore the same and we took pictures and after the meeting we still had the plus Deltas in the back room
107and the whole topic was me wearing this costume but I say I hats off to you because you have understood it's not a costume it's my heritage when I talk about exposing people to learn about other cultures this is cultural awareness to understand that me representing something in my culture that there's nothing wrong with it that's what we're all about that we have students out there that represent this same culture so thank you for the growth I am proud of my culture and I'm proud of you recognizing and recognizing and accepting difference in the Lee County area I'm still available if you need to learn any other cultural things like how to cook collard greens and stuff the next topic is on communication communication is one of the biggest issues in this district and how
108we effectively share information with all stakeholders it has been something that I have pounded on and talked about from the time I sat down here even during the time that I was a chair I think we need to lead by example and communicate in a more complete inclusive and simplistic manner now that does not mean to demean the education or the thought process of anyone in this District but it means to understand that any language or any culture needs to be included and I've mentioned it before that sometimes when we speak at a level up here to for whatever reason think about when it has to be translated and I've given you the example when we had covid issues and they had to choose between the four different processes and I spent two hours one
109Saturday afternoon on a zoom call with five Hispanic ladies that were kind of like the leaders of their Community they were the ones that the other parents came to to ask what does this mean what do we have to do and they didn't understand how to translate it we have to understand when we translate that there are nuances that don't translate well so if we start out at a seventh grade level it's much easier for everyone to understand what we're trying to say and to get that communication out whether you're white black latino Haitian all cultures are represented in Lee County and need to be on a Level Playing Field that is true opportunity now some people will say they'll look at me or they'll talk about someone that doesn't look like them and they'll
110say I don't see color however every culture wants you to see them and I just pause for a minute to let that marinate I'm not getting into a racial discuss discussion I am trying to help you understand people want you to see them for who they are what they represent their unique contribution to our community and to our society I mean where would we be without peas and rice or collard greens or pickly or Taco Tuesday we are a diverse community and people want you to see their diversity and understand just like my colleagues understood why I felt it necessary to represent my culture with my a type thank you for working with me to create a whole new Lane and no I'm not going to say the comment but thank you for helping me
111create a whole new Lane that is inclusive that is innovative that is wide enough for all cultures and all dreams of everyone wide enough for us all thank you for all of those sorry thank you to all whose son who saw me supported me and the issues that I found very important thank you to those who agreed with me and those who disagreed with me I learned from you and you learned from me thank you look for those who worked with me I want to thank my husband and my friends especially Julian and Butch we will now be able to have dinner or lunch or go out and not talk about the school board but we probably will still and to close a couple of weeks ago I was asked to do innovation and I
112wrote a reading about the Fruit of the Spirit there is so much anger and hatred in our world right now and I think about the lighthouse that's what we're showing children that this is how you get along that you disagree and you become disagreeable and I thought I've been told more than you want to know well you know you did a really good job and you really fought a good fight but you were just not a Conservative Christian if you had just been a Conservative Christian because we really didn't like what you did so I thought about it and I was sitting in church one day yes I am a Christian and more conservative than some people think and the sermon was about the fruit of the spirit and I kept saying to myself people
113that come to me and talk about being a Christian and the Bible says by their fruit you shall know them and I sat down and I wrote this so I will read it to you as my final words and I am going to donate a copy of this in a frame and I would hope to go into each office for all of the board members to stay there for whatever board member is in that office to remind them by their fruit you shall know them love I pray that we love what we do what we love and love our neighbor Joy I pray for happiness from the heart and commitment to helping others be happy peace I pray we search fervently for ways to agree with each other patience I pray we can hold our
114tongues empathize and try to understand those that don't look or Think Like Us kindness I pray we simply acknowledge that kindness means giving up of self giving your best to others goodness I pray we learn to Define good as a global term not just our individual beliefs there is good in everyone faithfulness I pray we are faithful honest and true to do what is best for the whole not just ourselves not just our own gentleness I pray we learn to work gently with others listening and understanding before judging self-control I pray we live like the camera is always on and the mic is always alive someone is always watching and learning from you Lord I pray you recognize Us by our fruit self-control gentleness faithfulness goodness kindness patience peace joy and love and the greatest
115of these is love thank you Miss kittens Miss Fisher please thank you so I came to Lee County in 1977 and took a job with the district in 1979. and for the past no I'm being serious oh 1977. I came to Lee County okay I live in the cape it's been an honor and a privilege to serve for three terms on the Lee County School Board as a board member I recognized our diverse Community the strengths and weaknesses the opportunities the awesome kids the wonderful workers and my colleagues on the board thank you for letting me serve with you these last years it's been an adventure the whole thing has been an adventure as a board member I worked to promote student growth and achievement employee Satisfaction by working with the board colleagues to practice
116effective School Board governance which fsba told us we should do communication and advocating for students while engaging the community as well as staying focused on our goals and the reason that we were here as a staff member I took a lot of pleasure in contributing to an environment that celebrates Youth and creates long-lasting bonds between people I worked at five elementary schools a high school student services did the crisis team worked for the bridges Grant which was sometime back in the 80s and it's it's just been wonderful over the years we've experienced many changes and challenges most recently a pandemic and a devastating Hurricane Ivan through it all I've noticed the real heroes are people who go above and beyond to provide the best possible safe and quality educational environment while dealing with unprecedented situations
117like our new superintendent my life has been enriched by the people I served community members students families fellow educators so now leaving behind memories and facing opportunities for new experiences I offer my gratitude and an affirmation of my commitment for continuing support as we move forward working to heal and rebuild preparing tomorrow's Workforce and strengthening the economy of our community the dedication I really want to give a special thank you to the people that have had the opportunity to work with their dedication to serving students their honesty their commitment to Excellence drives the community building what makes our district unique fellow staff members have inspired mentored and uplifted me as well as the students we served they Remain the primary reason why I know Lee County Schools will continue to work to fulfill its mission
118and vision they say children are our future teach them well and let them lead the way that is ever so true two things that I feel like I have done my motto was connecting School family and community and it was my hope to make a difference I have for the past 11 or 12 years advocated for comprehensive health education and dealing with the whole child social and emotional Wellness as well as academic achievement and success communities like ours work best as a team and can't be upheld without shared accountability it was my hope to make a difference and I hope that I have thank God I just wanted to say thank you to Renee from Cape Coral high school for being here tonight as our student representative living for being part of the student advisory
119committee and I hope I'll be able to come and visit that meeting from time to time and also to the South Fort Myers jazz band under the direction of Tyler Crainer that was excellent so thank you and the other thing is if you haven't already please remember to vote let your voice be heard thank you Miss Fisher and Miss Renee I'm coming to you next time you push that button so I just wanted to start off by saying how grateful I am to be able to be here sitting alongside such like strong-willed Innovative people just hearing everyone speak and dealing with the public I mean I feel like I've learned a lot just hearing everything but yeah I apologize if I seem a little unorganized I just took the ACT today so yeah but I
120am an IB Junior at Cape Coral high school and actually our IB program there for juniors our classes like 70 people so that's kind of who I spend my day-to-day on so just thinking about being like a District representative you know I am in high school I'm an only child so I don't really deal with elementary school kids or middle school kids unfortunately you know but I mean I have talked to people obviously and just some of the issues that I've also shared that I've also that I share that which I've always heard is kind of with you know obviously there's been covid in the hurricane you know I start my freshman year was all online and now we kind of got a year back of normalcy and then the hurricane hit and we lost
121a month of school you know and so I'm taking a lot of like AP classes and IB classes a lot of my friends are too and those dates are already set nationally sometimes even worldwide so a lot of my friends are kind of concerned like are we gonna be able to learn everything in time in order to take those tests and obviously that's not up to the district I just wanted to kind of share that concern because you know I mean there's I guess there's not too much you can do about it but and also I kind of just wanted to bring up something a little more positive that I've had the privilege of being involved in in my school we have a Club slash organization called the dignity closet it's located in our school
122I'm actually the vice president of it was started in a handful of years ago but basically a closet in our it's a storage room but within that is a closet full of clothes that people have donated and I mean it's really overfilling now which is I mean amazing but yeah we have that basically anyone in our school can come and take the clothes if they need it's all Anonymous and through guidance counselors but especially after the hurricane I just really want to make that aware not only to the students in our school because I feel like not a lot of people know about it and I always try to promote it but obviously you know this can't talk to two thousand kids but I also kind of wanted to share this idea just the whole
123District because I'm really passionate about the idea I think it's great that they have this resource and I mean like I said especially after the hurricane a lot of kids need clothes and we're doing a school supplies drive and I just want this to kind of be like a universal thing that people do where kids can help other kids and I mean we had a homecoming Drive so last Friday a bunch of people came in and donated from boutiques like new dresses and clothes and formal wear that a lot of people don't have or can't afford right now and I know homecoming isn't the most important thing right now but it's for some people it is you know to get people back to normal to see so I just thought I'd share that club that
124we have within our school and I hope that other schools can take that idea it wasn't my idea but that someone could take that idea and really just build it to be a more common thing within schools so I didn't really have too many reports I guess but that was just something I was doing today after school after my ACT test and I just thought it was really great getting all these donations and being able to help people so thank you well Renee I want to thank you so much and the dignity closet sounds great and we do have several of our schools do have such things middle schools do but we can certainly help you get the word out too and as far as supplies school supplies I have an office full so I
125can help you with that so we do have a lot of community engagement right now as you know you say you're overflowing so we have means of of assisting you as well so just so you know that and for my comments I just would like to say it has because this is my last meeting as the chair so I would just like to say it has been an honor and a privilege serving as the board chair for the past two years together we have gone through so much covet and choosing an interim superintendent thank you Dr Savage and then choose in in hiring of Dr Vernier as our superintendent thank you we have all brought our uniqueness and talents to this board of four years and through this I have continued to learn and grow
126by The Talented leadership of this governance team Miss Vaughn Miss kittens your Devotion to education community and children as well as you Miss Fisher and your heart for children and keeping us positive thank you together we have accomplished much and the future of the district is Bright Now and for years to come and I look forward as we move forward to the upcoming year because I plan on being right here so as we proceed I am that is my comments for now I really appreciate South Fort Myers high school jazz band they were great the kids were all a little bit stressed out but they still did a fabulous job and I really appreciate them being here and from there I'm going to move on to Mr Primo for any comments all right thank you
127madam chair I do have I've been through a couple of superintendents but these seven have been the same board members during my entire tenure so I have just a few words Miss Vaughn you have always kept us honest and challenged our thoughts you made us laugh especially when you took us to Texas I remember a bad story in particular you reminded us of the diversity of our student population and always contributed to the discussion with your significant experience and educational background and lightning Mrs kittens thank you for your advocacy and representing the underrepresented you've never forgotten the students of the East Stone to each Zone and all students in the district by advocating the needs and making sure that parents and the students voices were heard you expose this to new thoughts and ideas and
128the power of communication when it is used well Miss Fisher as my first chair I will not forget our numerous discussions we truly believe in this District's ability to be a world-class school system and for each student to reach their his or her highest personal potential we believe in the utilization of collaboration and mediation and problem solving remembering always why we are here keeping the students the entire student in front and center you have lifted your district and your colleagues and our students thank you for always having your door open to me and guiding me when I was forced appointed to the board and even currently and you know I'm a lawyer so I have to say this board policy 1.06 designates the Lee County School Board philosophy which is to lead with Vision by
129keeping the focus on the future rather than the past or the present the policy offers specifics such as empowering through processes encouraging and listening for diversity in the views of all in the community as well as leading strategically Miss Fisher Miss Vaughn and Mrs kittens you have accomplished this it has been a pleasure to serve you as your board attorney I thank you for having faith along with the rest of your colleagues on this board and appointing me to this position I have learned and grown from each of you have grown and learned from each of you thank you I know you have more to give and I look forward to seeing your next chapter and the great things to come thank you for your service to the school district of Lee County thank you
130Mr Primo Dr Bernier please thank you madam chair members of the board I do have a couple of items before I talk directly to the three board members that we know this will be their last official meeting with us I wanted to provide the state some information regarding the state instructional review visits as you know the Bureau of school Improvement works collaboratively with academic services and school leadership to support three schools that earned a D grade this past year these schools fall under umbrella of comprehensive support and Improvement tier one which means they will receive monthly State visits and participate in instructional reviews the focus on the standards-based instruction and effective pedagogy at Manatee Jeep Weaver hips Fort Myers Middle Academy and the focus will be on resulting in improved student outcomes that first instructional
131review will occur this week with visits to Fort Myers Middle on Wednesday GB G Weaver hips on Thursday in Manatee Elementary School on Friday representatives from academic services and school leadership teams will participate with the state in these instructional reviews academic services will support School leadership in implementing action plans developed after these instructional reviews and we plan to bring this to a future workshop for you so you can understand more about the accountability process as it currently exists within the state of Florida question just some quick reports on nape we did get the national assessment of educational progress results those are Nationwide results the school district of Lee County does not get individual report on its own student data what is done is across the entire country certain grade levels are selected to participate in
132the nape exam and they give you an idea of how the nation is doing according to standards we don't have any comparable data with Lee County but I can share with you that the state scores in Florida like Most states did show a regression based upon the covid time where some states were out longer I will tell you that Florida has one area of which it could be proud of and that is the average score rating and reading for grade four from 2019 to 2022 which places Florida sorry I'm reading from my notes which places Florida as within the top four amongst all the states in ela and math in that grade level so there is some good news to to to say that some of what you did as a state unlike where I
133was currently when I was located during the pandemic the idea of reopening while there was great angst about it may have helped especially with our younger children so I wanted to take an opportunity to recognize that I want to just quickly put something together for Renee there was an email that I came across today that was buried in a folder called Nice Notes and it was from an educator who post storm didn't know how she was going to tackle her house and she called her principal and they mobilized the team to come and help her and she within a very short period of time knowing that she had no physical means or manner to get her house cleaned out between the athletes and the other Student Government representatives and people like yourselves who showed up
134she resorted to this at the bottom of the statement she said when people talk about these kids today let me tell you how amazing these kids today are Renee you are an example of that you are an example of what we do what your family has done for you and helping to raise you to this point but you are definitely spreading your wings and your own leadership the ACT is just a big reading test congratulations on completing that but I do want to address your concern Dr Spiro couldn't be here this evening but I know Dr Cupid McCoy and Mr spiral are receiving input from IB aps-a-t they realize there was a hurricane in Lee County and they are already working with additional time so that you and your friends and your fellow colleagues in
135school can have some of that additional time that you think you might be missing so stay tuned we're still working with those organizations to try to move some of those deadlines around on your behalf we don't know that we'll be able to move all of them but we're going to ask for all and take what we get so stay tuned try to give you some more information on that to the board I'd like to thank you as a whole body tonight for providing the first evaluation of this superintendent I appreciate the comments and am working very hard to digest all the feedback you provided the scores of the scores but I will tell you what you wrote to me is what the most important factors I have to consider because I can take evaluations from
136my entire careers 37 years as an educator and I can get a needs effective or highly improved highly effective it's in the comments of what that I'm doing is working on your behalf and what I need to continue to try to develop so I appreciate that and we'll continue to digest those and have individual conversations with you moving forward would like to recognize Gulf Elementary School who sent me a set of cards the superintendent is turning into quite a crybaby at home so I was glad I read those privately I also want to reiterate from the presentation this earlier today and early this evening I want to make sure that the community knows that we are connecting with those students and those families in the North Fort Myers shelter finally when we talk about school
137safety and other things I think it's really important that we continue to look at this as a cycle and a flow related to how people are going to go through this process I believe to some extent for those who've been back for a while for students and faculty combined some of the honeymoon of coming back to school and kind of forgetting the pressures they've been under is starting to wear off I want our students to know that there are multiple resources in the school building for them the last thing I would want a student to do is to make a permanent decision about a temporary problem so we want to encourage Renee and other students who may be listening tonight to understand that their counselors and additional mental health supports are available in this district
138and if you needed emergency 1-800 273 talk which is 8255 1-800-273-8255 and that is the National Suicide Hotline and I think every student ought to have that and I want us to get into again and our students are very aware and are very good about supporting each other the other thing I've been able to provide this evening is just a quick update on a couple of things related to our schools some of you mentioned them but I think their names deserve to be in print and on television our first set of schools they are the students are the are the schools that receive Florida recognition dollars these are schools that either maintain or approve their grade level the total amount awarded from the state of Florida to our schools which now will be a joint
139decision between the sac and their faculties was three million six hundred forty seven thousand seven hundred and ninety three dollars which does include 10 of our Charter Schools as well that he did not list here for sake of space but these schools in the midst of this post-pandemic world and our current hurricane situation have additional work ahead of themselves related what and how to use that school recognition dollars in concert with their sacs and their faculties additionally we recognized earlier today the positive behavioral intervention supports the PBIS model schools if you want a simple digestion of what this is our code of conduct is multiple millions of pages long PBIS gives students about four to five reasons for how to behave Integrity respect being on time if you do those things every day you don't
140have to worry about what's in our code of conduct because you will conduct yourselves in a manner that's aligned with what makes great young people into great leaders so I listed the bronze and the silver divisions I also will provide you the gold in the Platinum divisions clearly as the medal Rises so does the level of support and the quality of these programs but all programs deserve to be recognized because they are working hard in order to accomplish what needs to be a more simplified approach to how to behave versus a list of things about how not to behave so again we also have District distinguished schools these are schools that are still working towards implementing a full PBIS program they are supported here at the district level and that is a pretty extensive list
141of our school buildings that are heavily involved in making sure we're teaching children the right way to behave versus just focusing on all the rules finally in closing tonight I did not prepare the same remarks that Kathy Dupuis Bruno did I would like to say to Miss Fisher it's been a pleasure to sit next to you we joke about she kicks me she really does not but she has been a fabulous board member to work with and a strong advocate for all children the other aspect of this is Mrs kittens Mrs gittins you have always been available and I've always appreciated in the course of our one-on-ones the history lessons that I get related to when I wasn't here and what transpired I'm Ms Vaughn once I figured out when the best time was to
142call you we began to hit it off and I've always appreciated your honesty I think you some people would probably say that you don't have a filter I've appreciated that especially in the one-on-ones because it gives me very clear Direction in a way to move forward I would close by saying that you hired me and I'm glad to be here but I will tell you that you are representative of the core values of this organization and I think the most I think I can see in all of you is a commitment to Excellence that you have integrity that you believe in so many other values but at the very core of your belief is the belief in students and when difficult decisions have to be made you want to do what's best for children that's
143true of this entire board but to the outgoing members I appreciate that I look forward to seeing you on the 15th when we do our reception regarding being able to say goodbye and in the meantime I'll save my personal more personal comments for a more private environment because all of you have had an impact but to our three board members that we know are leaving really appreciate your help and support and your guidance for a new superintendent it's been invaluable thank you Dr Bernier the next schedule meeting of the board on Friday November the 4th there will be a board special meeting at 2 p.m on Tuesday November 15th there will be a pre-org workshop at 10 A.M on Wednesday November 16th there will be a board workshop at 12 p.m and on Tuesday November
144the 22nd there will be a board Action meeting at 6 00 PM see in no other business to come before this yes I just have one lesson Miss kittens please I'd like superintendent so that it doesn't get forgotten ever thank you Miss kittens okay now at this point okay at this point seeing no other business to come before this body and say no objections right okay this meeting is adjourned and the time is all right 8 34. thank you so much have a great evening and appreciate it