001good evening ladies and gentlemen we are ready to begin this evening's board meeting Sergeant arms as a front lobby been attended to thank you we request that all electronic devices be turned off and put in silent mode also please refrain from using flash photography except during the special presentations portion of the meeting board members Patria and Gia vanelli will be participating via Zoom pursuant to board policy 01641 both board members are eligible to vote on the items during tonight's Action meeting prior to the start of this evening's meeting we have been music from members of the Paul Lawrence Dumar Middle School Wind Ensemble perform their Veterans Day show this group is under the direction of Katherine May and not in my script this young gentleman next to me said you were a sixth grade music
002teacher I'll be introducing him a little bit later he said you were very good though this past year Dunbar Middle School received excellent ratings at both Jazz and concert B band music performance assessments they had over 20 entries perform for solo and Ensemble Festival students in the band consistently make the all count concert and Jazz Band ensembles coming up in January they will have a member of the Wind Ensemble pres represent Paul Lawrence dumbar Middle School in the All State Middle School honor band I am pleased to welcome you to the November 7th 2023 school board meeting the time is 6:01 p.m. this meeting is called to order now we'll hear one more song from this amazing group you may be seated we will pause briefly to allow the clearing of the pit area was
003we would like to take this opportunity to remind the members of the public of the district's Mission which is to ensure each student achieves his or her highest personal po potential and the district's Vision to be a worldclass school system this evening's agenda includes the invocation presentation of colors and Pledge of Allegiance acknowledgements public comment consent action items which include two items under the board office two items under executive Services three items under academic Services four items under Business Services 16 items under under Human Resources one of which is good cause Dr berer would you please provide an explanation of this good cause Mr chair members of the board the good cause item is the administrative salary schedule which is being brought forth as good cause this evening The District staff and administrators worked pretty
004diligently on this all last week to determine the 8% salary increase and to stay within the board's bargaining Authority I therefore request that the matter be approved as a good cause this evening as providing officer I find there is good cause to add this item to the agenda we have one item under Information Systems eight items under operations four items under the good of the order and other business board members is there a motion to adopt the agenda Miss Jordan I move to adopt the agenda as written is there a second second Mr fiser Seconds please record your vote what the vote carries six I'm sorry 60 Mr janelli is not voting tonight at this particular time okay I think I can vote I'm sorry oh I'm sorry and I'm not it did not come
005up and your vote is M ganelli it's it's yes all right motion carries 70 thank you welcome as is a custom of the board Miss lenford Fleming will lead us in the invocation afterwards Miss Jordan will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance if everyone would please stand tonight I would like to wel welcome Pastor Sean Bunger he has been the lead pastor at Gateway Trinity Lutheran Church for the past 13 years on behalf of the board in Lee County School District thank you for joining us let us pray loving and gracious God you are The Giver of all good gifts and we thank you today for the gift of Education we give you thanks for students and teachers for administrators and bus drivers for janitors and parents for this community and all our schools
006as the school board meets on this night we ask that you bless them abundantly and Grant them wisdom guidance courage and strength be with them in their deliberations and guide them to be wise in the decisions they make give them insight to lead with Integrity that their decisions May reflect what is right and good and to the benefit of all students in Lee County dear God grant us the humility to seek your will in all that we do and say in your precious name we pray amen amen amen introducing the cadet who is presenting the national colors for our Pledge of Allegiance tonight is Captain Venice Walker senior Army instructor from dumbar high school Captain Walker served 27 years in the Army in numerous assignments and retired as the assistant professor of military science at
007grumbling State University for the US Army candidate command this is Captain Walker's fifth year as jroc instructor in the district thank you so much thank you presed the national college tonight is Cadet Colonel Nathan Portugal the Brigade commander of the Dunbar High School jltc program Cadet Colonel Portugal is also a dumbar tiger Raiders Commander Cadet Portugal's planned following High School are to attend the University of South Florida Army's Roc program in purs of becoming an army officer please join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance IED aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you may be seated representing leeh High Senor is Braden Robinson Adams Braden is a Florida native whose parents
008Kagan and Dean are very proud and believe that he is capable of doing anything that he sets his mind to he is described by his teachers as being respectful and ambitious his Pleasant deposition and comical approach to life has aided him in his educational Journey when adversity has hit him and hardships have lingered around him he has always tried to find the positives he is a senior and attributes his academic goals to to the rigorous work he has always been given while attending school Braden is a member of the local Home Depot team and takes great pride in completing all tasks are given to him with Precision no matter the Grandeur of the tasks that are given to him Braden is looking forward to graduating from high school and applying to Florida State University where
009he plans pursue a pre-law degree Braden is passionate about ensuring things are done fairly and equably for all who are involved which is why he eventually plans to seek his jurist doctorate degree it is important for bra that people View High School students not as the future of the world but as a viable and important members of society today he recognizes that he and his peers have much to offer if given the opportunity to express their opinions beliefs fears and dreams please welcome Braden the character word for October is citizenship citizenship is the quality of an individual's response to a membership and Community the design you see displayed on the screen was created by Coral Brennan an 11th grade student at a stero High School the school board of luk County acknowledges the following events
010for the month of September or sorry November 2023 National stem steam day for November 8th National Education support Professionals Day for November 15th school psychology awareness week November 6th through the 10th veterans appreciation week is November 6th through the 10th American Education week is November 13th through the 17th Holocaust Education week November 13th through the 17th Florida family engagement and education month and National American Indian Heritage Month thank you Braden before we take the picture down I got to talk oh we took it down I got to there he is I got to talk to the girl that did this and she said citizenship to her meant giving a hands up to someone that explains the hands voting that's the middle one there and of course respecting the flag in your country so that was
011her thoughts behind that so very good Carol all right next on the agenda are acknowledgement oh I'm sorry excuse me the next item on the agenda is public comment attorney dupe Bruno would you please address this item thank you 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 please complete a public comment card and put it in the basket provided if you need a public comment card they are provided by our staff the rules concerning public comment are posted in the back and will be made from the podium in the front center aisle please be advised that the board will not respond during public comment to
012remarks made by speakers concerns will be addressed by the superintendent or his staff as necessary and the chair May comment as deemed appropriate at the conclusion of public comment the superintendent may also comment if deemed appropriate the purpose of public comment is to provide feedback on District issues such as duties responsibilities decisions and the general operation of the school district the school board is viewpoint neutal during public comment we ask that decorum be kept and respect be shown which is what is expected when a governmental agency conducts official business therefore abusive language such as cursing insults derogatory language levied against an individual or a class of people are prohibited further personal attacks such as name calling are prohibited in addition clapping hissing and booing or a display of temper during public comment is prohibited speakers
013who fail fa to follow proper deor in the chambers will be ruled out of order by the board chair or the parliamentarian any speaker continuing with such remarks will be required to relinquish the microphone per board policy 01691 and may be removed from the chambers by the Sergeant at Arms for board policy 01691 the time for speaker is 3 minutes if there are 20 2 minutes if there are 30 speakers and 1 minute if there are 31 speakers or more the maximum time allotted for public comment is 1 hour 60 speakers you will find a countdown on the big screens in the front of the room once your time has elapsed the microphone will automatically shut off please state your name when you approach the microphone I will call your names five speakers at a
014time please follow staff's Direction when lining up Mr Speaker there are 13 individuals that wish to address the board this evening the time for speaker is 3 minutes is there anyone in the audience who wishes to address the board but did not fill out of comment carard saying none you please proceed thank you Mr Speaker Mr chairman I mean will the following individuals please line up Megan Shaw Bruce Shaw Dr Paula Porter Donna Hornsby Kevin Daly can we lower that can lower it can we lower it good evening excuse me one moment can we lower the dis a little bit so the child can be seen by the board cool there you go hey there he is thank you my back good you're good thank you thank you good evening my name is Megan Shaw
015this is Oliver Shaw this is Bru Shaw we are here tonight again to ask the school board to please move Oliver's bus stop to a safer spot we have tried through the district and it has not gotten anywhere our requests have been denied and the reasoning doesn't logically make sense to me while I understand that there are recommendations by the education system where bus stops should be the reason that I keep getting is that they can't block the exit to my community for a bus stop which doesn't make any sense because if there's a bus stop people shouldn't be exiting the community anyways or entering or entering so it doesn't make any sense I know the bus will fit where we're asking it to go we're not asking the bus to go out of its
016way it's on its way to its next stop it's just a little bit closer and off the road and so we just really request that this be taken into consideration and A Change Is Made please move the bus stop so as it stands now we pick or I pick came up the bus lets him off in a turning lane on Summerland and gladiola which is one of the busiest streets at the hour his bus drops him off and when he gets off the bus he has to go down a grass hill that's at a slope to get to the bike path which is easily 100 yards from the entrance from where she lives so you have bikers coming by he has to go down the grass slope and he's just a tin I mean he's
017he's just a tiny little guy so the bu stopped at the beginning of the turn lane and we were told at one point the reason being is because cars were going around the other side no matter where the bus stops they're going to go if they want to go around they're going to go around I would find it safer if the bus was blocking the turn lanane that then the cars would actually if if if by any chance a car was going to try to go around they would have to go in the grass as opposed to him walking 100 yards down the bike path you know stopping Summerland with three lanes of cars cuz if you're going to go by you're going to go around no matter what so that's it's just it's to
018me it's not it's by no means as Chief stated makes any sense where he where the bus is dropping him off because if you're in the turn lane you can only go around on the street side not on the you know you'd have to go down the hill in the grass on the bike path to go around so we're about out of time we thank you for your time than consideration thank you thank you before the next speaker comes down there are two cars that are blocking our bus from being able to move a silver Accord plate kaf Q66 and a Toyota Venza white plate sy14 so if you could please move your car so that our bus and our children can get home and back back to where they need to go thank you
019Dr Paula Porter Lehi Acres first of all I want to commend Dr Spiro and his team on the outstanding efforts they've made in setting up the ad hoc meetings to review book challenges I have participated in two such committee meetings in October and was impressed with the professionalism and open minds of all participants however there's an issue with the book challenge forms and how they are completed by individuals submitting them in the two book challenges I reviewed the completion of the forms were not properly filled out with relevant answers to the questions for example in asking about the theme and all the questions on the forums were answered with one phrase irrevelant because it is against the law to expose minor children to sexual content like this book does that is not properly filling out
020the form nor is it properly answering the questions the forms were welld developed Prov explicit instructions however the submitter merely merely copied and pasted the same answer and then to add a little fuel to the fire copied and pasted content from the website book looks about the issues with the content in the book all of which likely took the submitter less than 10 minutes of time these forms should be rejected as they are not completed properly and they should be given back to the submitter and allowed to go and explain the differences and what is expected of them there's nothing in your policy that I found or in the state laws that I've been reading that states challenge forms have to be accepted when com incomplete nor is there any indication that the forms cannot
021be given back to the originator and resubmitted correctly completed with the relevant answers I know of no other government organization agency or even a business that would accept an improperly completed form try filling out a building permit a FEMA application or even a bank loan in this matter it is not wrong to require complete and accurate information on the forms these false submissions take away resources and funds from our schools for example take action for libraries website note in Florida it costs anywhere from 34,000 to 135,000 per school year per school district for book challenges these costs involve the time and efforts of the seven ad hoc reviewers who must read the entire book prepare an analysis other cost of the time involved by the staff to complete paperwork as well as the cost of
022books brought for the members of the committee the best interest of parents students taxpayers of Lee County are ignored by a small minority taking advantage of this opportunity to require or ask for a book challenge thank you thank you will the following individuals please line up Robert Daniels Anna witon Sheridan Chester Marge Cox Linda Carter Donna Hornsby I'm here to ask you to disapprove the agenda item number seven regarding the piggyback of Orange County Public School substitute teacher Services I am currently a guest teacher I have emailed each of you and Dr berer to express my concern concerns about Outsourcing the guest teachers to Kelly Education Services a for-profit company we all recognize there's a shortage of available guest teachers and this is making it difficult to provide the quality education our students deserve this
023shortage of guest teachers only developed after the coid school closures recruiting and hiring needs to happen pay is the most motivating consideration if you have a willingness to substantially increase the hourly pay rate why does that raise need to be tied to the approval of this Outsourcing during the workshop on November 1st a committee was thank for their hard work who was on this committee how did they make their decisions when did they ask for input as a guest teacher the first I was informed was via an email invitation to please join us to discuss some exciting news regarding our guest teachers the meeting will be held at the district office we look forward to seeing you there there is no mention of the topic of Outsourcing the guest teachers that meeting was conducted on
024October 3rd I'm sure Mr doig was not surprised by the low turnout it appears it was designed for low participation has it been kept quiet in order to be approved without any opposition does the contract piggy being piggybacked on have any of the following amend agreements a requirement to notify kill of a minimum notification notice period customer should now H Kelly responsible for any unfilled assigned employee request received after the minimum notice period and the unfilled request as described in this paragraph shall not be used in calculating any fill rates Andor service level agreements associated with Kelly is this how they are able to maintain their High fill rates do we use the same disclaimers when Cal calculating our fill rate the fill rate was discussed and repeated multiple times at the guest teacher meeting
025and the workshop as the main goal to achieve that 80 plus% fill rate if there is wording in the Kelly Services contract that allows for a minimum notice period before using those numbers and the calculation of their fill rate it is not a true comparison of their performance to our current percentage rating nor is it an accurate prediction of the expected success the most frequently unfilled positions are the last minute call outs Kelly Services members will look good their numbers will look good and we will still have classrooms split for coverage and the school district is taking on an extra cost 275% profit thank thank you ma'am chair Parsons Dr Bernier and board my name is Kevin Daly and I'm the president of the Teachers Association of Lee County and I'm speaking to you all
026tonight to ask you to approve the new tenative agreement between tal and the district this year's ta passed the tal bargaining unit with a 93% approval rate the employees have spoken loudly about this year's ta and I want to highlight what I believe is the major factor to explain the overwhelming approval this year the board set a new standard for monies set aside for employee compensation through the new standard we have been able to start the process of dealing with the compression that was thrusted Upon Us by lawmakers in Tallahassee without adequate funding to handle the very compression it created and to start bringing back the idea that experience matters we look forward to the commencement bargaining and February and working together to address the continued challenges faced by the employees of the school district
027of Lee County a livable wage that continues to offset compression continuing to offset medical inflation and special attention to supplements that employees take on to enrich the school experience for students we're hopeful that the bargaining Authority in February will match or surpass the standard that was set with this bargaining in session it is imperative that we remain competitive in retaining and recruiting the best talent for the students and families of Le C good evening I'm Sheridan Chester and I'm the president of the Lee County Association of professional substitute teachers and I want to thank you for all that you are trying to do for us the substitute teachers are more than willing to work they just want want to know that they're still going to be a part of the of the Lee County School
028District and not Kelly that's the that's the concern that we're going to be separated from and that we're not going to have the same kind of input so I would like to let everyone know that the teachers are willing and ready to work as long as we're working with you and not against each other thank you I'm March Cox I live in Bonita Springs Florida and I just wanted to come this evening to say how impressed I was when I served on the ad hoc committee to look at one of the books about how well read the group was but how well-run the meeting was really was a tribute to Dr Sparrow and his crew that did that I also want to say that I really appreciated that you've made a move toward getting hiring
029more media specialists in the district since the end of last school year the legislature basically gave you unfunded mandate by saying all this work must be done but no we're not giving you extra money so I appreciate that you made a start for that you will find in your email tomorrow when you look at it that I've written a letter to the board Dr Sparrow and Dr barire to give some ideas of ways that might help to get additional staff members that are trained as media specialist as well as a sample of what it would look like if you had media specialist in every building how that would support your curriculum your staff and your students so I hope as you look at your email tomorrow you will take a time to read through that
030thank you so much for your time this evening ladies and gentlemen of the school board my name is Anna Whitten and I am a fourth grade teacher I stand before you today on behalf of the dedicated Educators in our school district and I want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your commitment to supporting teacher pay increases the financial support that you have provided has allowed us to negotiate a historical salary increase of at least the past decade your investment in our teachers is a testament to your recognition of the pivotal role we play in shaping the future of our community we are grateful for the progress we have made in addressing the issue of teacher compensation which will allow us to attract and retain talented Educators that are dedicated to the success of our student
031however while we celebrate these accomplishments it is important to acknowledge that our work is far from complete we must continue to work together to ensure that our teachers receive the salaries and benefits they truly deserve as the cost of living Rises it becomes increasingly challenging for our Educators to make ends meet and provide for their families our commitment to education is unwavering and we ask for your continued support in addressing the maining the remaining disparities and teacher salaries it is critical that we strive to offer competitive compensation packages that reflect the value of our teachers contributions and dedication to our students thank you again for your ongoing support and for being champions of Education we are eager to continue our journey towards fair and Equitable teacher compensation working hand inand with you to make it
032a reality for our dedicated Educators thank you will the following individuals please line up Linda Carter Lou Navaro jacqulyn Perez Joe Phillips Sergio Cruz hello my name is Robert Daniels I'd like to ask Echo the other speakers and thanking you for the step in the right direction that this contract between the teachers and the district represents I will echo my previous comments made here that until we reach parody with the historic average of teacher pay which J as for inflation is $770,000 with the district average for teacher pay we will continue to have work to do and we'll continue to see losses in our Workforce and every loss every one teacher that we see is six other teachers affected in the course of their day if a guest teacher cannot be found that's 175 students
033give or take that are affected by extension how many of those students are Esau students how many of them are ESC students that are not receiving the services they need from a regular classroom teacher as they have a parade of substitutes if they have substitutes furthermore when I was watching the workshop with the discussion of the switch to Kelly education a lot of good questions were asked by the board but some important ones weren't such as why was the number that we were given for the cost of switching to Kelly Services deflated by 33% not showing the true cost of what that would actually be did we take any time to investigate by a phone call and not a survey that would pass by and be forgotten in an email but a phone call to
034any of the thousand of substitute teachers that have chosen not to continue working and substituting in our schools asking them why it is have we taken the time to contact other school districts that have tried to rectify this simply with a pay increase we're paying at best $593 to experience teachers to come back and substitute they can make more than that driving Uber making their own schedule not having to be out of bed at 5:30 in the morning or earlier they can make more than that working at race track starting at $22 an hour to work overnight and we're offering people with college degrees less than that is it a small wonder that we have a shortage so I truly hope that you take these ideas into consideration and all the management perks you might
035get with Kelly Bluebook what you think you might save you have an immense it Department full of talented individuals if any role in the world can be replaced by a computer algorithm it's that of the managerial staff how easy would it be to tie into the teacher request for absence another program that flags up to the substitute teachers and sends an automatic notice that there's an opportunity to work that day to be booked in advance thank you I just drive it underneath it good evening board and thank you for your support for the subs one of the things or the major things I need to talk about are five things first one is telephones our students are in the classroom almost all day long with telephones and we and they're not doing the classwork you
036ask them to put it away they don't listen they treat us and guest teachers as babysitters they don't want to listen to us so we need to make sure we have a policy to get phones out of the classroom to improve their education Orlando has already started doing that and I think we need to follow suit that ties into Behavior behavior in these classrooms are outrageous they have been getting worse and worse ever since pandemic and before and it seems like the kids are running the schools and not the teachers you know and you know it should be the other way around we need the support of the administration to teach the kids and so forth the next item I want to bring up is involvement in the pre-planning for Kelly Services I know it's
037almost a done deal but months ago when you all started talking about Kelly Services Us guest teachers should have been involved in that pre-planning to find out out some of the issues we had to take and resolve them to make sure Kelly was going to be able to resolve that we were not involved that I know of and after tonight's vote if you vote to approve it we do need to be involved until the it becomes out in the open I am the Web Master for our organization I post everything for our guest teachers right in hell I'm I get calls what's going on are we going to do this I have no information except here say we need to have accurate information and be involved and that leads into communication between KY Services guest
038teachers substitutes and the district all three of us are going to end up being a triangle without one the triangle collapses so that means you have to have all three in order to make it work and if we have that you can conceed but that only means we have to do better communication skills the last thing I want to talk about is active SC shooter I know that's the last thing you all want to talk about but because we've had more students with guns this year and last year being on campuses and having l Downs I have tried to get to find out what our school district policy is for active shooter depart there thank you sir thank you your time your time is up thank you please go outside I'm with my hands up
039and drive the chair nobody will give me any information your time is up time is up I'm sorry okay I understand I just want to make sure you get understand the point right I understand your point security Tate on how we do act shter planning lunar retired teacher School District retired T member first I would like the board to consider postponing this vote on privatization of substitutes you never took any input from these people you just made made it a done deal that's wrong folks we need to meet and have some more discussion so I am asking you to consider postponing this vote for a month that's fine let me say this about that in the immortal words of John F Kennedy I like privatization but you're leaving the bus drivers out the cooks the
040custodians how we going to save money you're just picking on the substitutes you can't get bus drivers so don't play this game and it's a problem the superintendent said with spout I doubt it they can still negotiate let's look at the facts you've not proved Kelly Service will save money you don't know that and you spoke that they're going to charge 33% a month to run this program why can't we see the contract from Kelly Services it's a public record and you have not shown it to even the board what are we hiding folks why was why has the board not shown the contract redundancy there are questions like the discipline and the format and how they're going to treat the teachers I challenge you and the board and the administration here and the principles
041that you should sub and see how it is I made this challenge only gwy gens did it conclusion at the end of the day if the school district would have paid the substitute teachers a decent wage with Social Security and workman's comp you might not need teley Services just like you still have fallen short to pay the T and the teachers 50K you're getting your own raise for 50k and you are part-time so much for a civic duty folks Mr getts and I put forward all these things eight years ago and by the way your per Dum is only $17 you're still behind with Kelly Services doing it raise it to 20 let's find out let's meet and then we'll go from there and Bard I challenge you to substitute and all the administrators and
042my shirt you help listen Jacqueline Perez good evening board in December of 2022 the district received the findings of the Taylor English investigation which in turn was sent to several law enforcement agencies this investigation was initiated out of a deposition from a lawsuit in which the plaintiff Mr Oaks entered an investigation of the school district he paid for with a private investigator to uncover corruption at the district the findings in Mr Oak's investigation and the $85,000 cost of the Taylor English investigation were exactly what several employees for years had been reporting to the district and I wanted you to remind you of these employees that we have lost over the years who had loved children and were dedicated employees to the district who had come forward and had been bullied and harassed Carlos bionis Wilson
043Moreno Judy Johnson Sher Russ Peggy Slicker Susan Maia Matt mados and many more sadly we have lost those employees who have now it's been proven through two investigations that they were telling the truth about everything they had said and one way or another this district and this board has to vindicate them has to make them whole because their careers were lost and these investigations that we paid with public funds so much for $85,000 and more of taxpayers monies I want it entered into the records so the public can see what goes on in the district it's important that we know I know that you had a workshop where it was lightly touched and the attorney had to send an email out to allow the board to understand the ramifications and the policies that were violated
044the public needs to see that also for transparency purposes I'm going to end that speech because I'm really bothered about this and I'm going to touch Bas on the Kelly contract which is really disturbing me to hear that substitute teachers are making such a low amount of money when they're taking care of our children it's not going to kill any of you to delay this contract at least another four to six weeks and look at the cost if you're paying an outside firm 30 something per in their gain where you can add that to the salaries of these substitute teachers who are killing themselves traveling all over the county to take care of children we have so many classrooms that are at 38 children where you're going to be fined at at the end of
045the year by the by the state because you have classrooms that are overpopulated viol violating State Statute you need your substitute teachers start paying them more money you wouldn't have to hire Kelly Services so please it's not going to kill you to just pull that tonight and review it and look at the finance thank you give me a second before you start with time me my nose together I'm ready I am smoking Joe Hubert H hrey said to air is human to cover it up is bureaucratic one of our team uncovered books being thrown into dumpsters at Varsity Lakes Middle School I personally drove to vars Lakes Middle School and documented it for myself newer books never open books books about history of Florida books about the Holocaust many Publications did not appear as ones
046that would be challenged where were the purple problem promoters on this amazed the waste was still continuing on Monday I texted the superintendent and offered free of charge to send my own trucks these books could maybe have been donated to H Holocaust for Publications to synagogue I called the superintendent's desk and couldn't get past the desk secretary who accused me of cursing her mind you I have informed the district that all calls recorded for my safety because I don't trust J I received a call from Cheryl Neely claiming the recycling process per District policy resale gifting is not allowed nor part of their process this has to be another lie or an attempt to cover up your incompetence because here on your own School District website proves the very opposite seems the district has an
047online auction site I personally took the books to Temple bethl synagogue they express confusion with the timing of the destruction of books on the Holocaust I'm sure that you have all got together and concocted a story about these books are no longer part of the curriculum this is an absolute untruthful most of these books were never intended to be a part of the curriculum let's informed the public of the real reason for the purchase and destruction of these books greed so let's just say it for what it is state and federal funding and you want the same amount or more funding provided next year so it doesn't seem you're under spending so you have all this excess money to order unnecessary items this is what keeps our taxes higher simply that you're all greedy the
048fact that you have paid an employee to contact me in flat out lie surely y'all know me better than that claiming that they followed the recycling process if dumping a box into a 20 yard dumpster Bound for the landfill is your recycling Pro process apparently none of you is understanding it and I need to learn I want to make sure that's in the record the books were stored unopened untouched and they were discarded the serious question that any of these books were could be challenged even if they were not appropriate it is for you to throw our taxpayer investment away without trying to reclaim some loss of value everyone should be outrageous by the M fees within this District taxpayers Floridians Mr Mr Phillips your time thank you I'm Pro right here thank you Mr
049pH volume every volume here's proof that your employees to lied to me and said yall do not resell items don't try me like that again good evening my name is Sergio Cruz and I'm a disability and ESC Advocate and father in a rapidly changing world the concept of inclusion and Universal Design for Learning is more important than ever it's not just about accommodating students with disabilities it's about creating an educational environment that benefits all students disabled and non-disabled alike inclusion and Universal learning design aren't just buzzwords yet they are the best practice ractice standard and more importantly they are powerful tools that can transform the way we educate Our Youth and prepare them for a diverse and dynamic Society want to share some of the many benefits they offer not only for students with disabilities
050but for all Learners first and foremost inclusion and udl promote diversity and respect for differences when we design educational experiences that consider the needs of all students we Foster a culture of empathy and understanding this benefits students with disabilities by reducing stigma and increasing their sense of belonging it also helps non-disabled peers develop compassion tolerance and appreciation for the richness of diversity moreover udl encourages creative and flexible teaching methods by using multiple means of representation engagement and expression education Educators can cater to different learning styles and preferences students with disabilities may require alter alternative formats but these same adapt adaptations often engage other students more effectively making a learning a more Dynamic and enjoyable experience for all inclusion and Universal learning design also stimulate critical thinking and problem solving when students collaborate with peers who
051have different perspective and abilities they learn to approach challenges from various angles this enriches the learning environment and prepares students for the complexities of the real world where problem solving often includes diverse teams furthermore the data proves that they improve the teacher student relationship in an inclusive classroom Educators focus on individualized support strengthening their connections with students this personalized approach Fosters trust and communication which is essential for the success of all students disabled or not additionally udl promotes self- advocacy students with disabilities are empowered to express their needs and preferences helping them become more independent Learners the skill is valuable not only for them but also for their non-disabled peers who learned the importance of self- advocacy and effective communication inclusion and udl prepares students for an inclusive Workforce they experience diverse classrooms students become
052better prepared for a global job market and they value teamwork adaptability and diverse perspectives this benefits all students as they enter a world where diversity and inclusive inclusivity are highly prized in conclusion the benefits of inclusion and Universal Design for Learning extend far beyond the disabled Community they enrich the educational experience for all students fostering empathy creativity critical thinking stronger relationships self- advocacy and better preparation for the future in a world that is increased interconnected and diverse embracing these principles it's not an option it's imperative for creating a brighter more inclusive and equ thank you Mr chairman that concludes public comment for this evening okay thank you to all those who spoke Dr reneer did you have any responses at this time or yes sir I believe that the public has owed some responses to
053some of the things that were brought up first of all to the Shaws there are members of the transportation department here tonight as well as our chief operations officer Larry Stevens I want to make sure that they make contact with you before you leave the boardroom tonight I need some more information specifically I'm familiar enough with the address that you provided in terms of the turning lane and other things but I need to make sure that my team is on top of this for you and I will make sure that they respond to our individuals involved with the ad hook book challenge first of all thank you for your service we need more people involved in that and I do appreciate the information that came from Miss Cox related to our goal to to create
054more media Specialists within our own particular school buildings as I've explained to the board in the past and will explain to the public there was a period of time where Middle School where media Specialists were difficult to come by and in order to create the Gap we continued to hire par professionals and other people to look at our media centers the unfortunate part is we never returned back to looking for media Specialists you cannot find what you're not looking for so as we move into the budgetary process this year there will be an expectation that our principles have demonstrated the ability to have looked for a certified media specialist that does not mean we will find all of them in a year but it will mean we'll begin the process of bringing back that incredibly
055important professional not only to the media special not only to the media center but to their impact on student learning and student reading to the substitute Services people I do just wanted to say there is there is an item tonight as to information about what the decision of the board would be we have to wait for the board to make that decision and the board has been duly informed we've had a communication plan the over 1,000 substitutes who are on our books were contacted related to getting information and coming to meetings they didn't come I don't know why they didn't come they were invited in enough time and we invited Kelly Services to the meeting as well to better explain I think anytime there's a shift in how things are going to work I think
056there's always some angst related to this but I will touch on a couple of things that I think are important to this board and certainly important to me number one is no matter who our substitutes are directly working for our substitutes will continue to be a group of people that we value and continue to communicate with and assure that they remain part of the family conversation about what's happening in our classrooms and in our schools with our leaders and with each other additionally to those of you spoke about salary tonight's item also includes AR raise for those with less than a bachelor's degree to $17 per hour a bachelor's degree or higher to $22 an hour a verified retired educator to $27 an hour and a bonus for 30 days of coverage of $500 so
057we are doing both and while we can argue back and forth on how fill rates will be measured this board has certainly entrusted me and I will continue to to use this phrase with Kelly Services we run a trust and verify relationship we will look at their fill rates we will compare that to the numbers reported from our schools and if there's any discrepancy between them and us we will have the difficult conversation related to the importance of covering our classrooms and the importance of important alignment in terms of relating to the number of vacancies we have each and every day or the number of classrooms filled to the board I remind you in the work session the importance of what it means to have a vacant classroom at the very best it's chaotic at
058a school building when a sub doesn't come or a class is uncovered in other cases it could lead to another sub when somebody is asked to cover a classroom and for every right and purpose they decide that they're not up to that task on that particular day we are trying to exhaust in this day and age of limited resources another manner in which by we can relieve some of the pressure on our amazing Educators in our school buildings by ensuring that we're doing everything possible to include additional substitutes and make sure that more of our classrooms are covered on a daily basis to the talc and spal sorry to the T Representatives thank you we know that we can count on your cooperation moving forward and I know this board is committed to working with
059all of you as we move forward in the February reopener we need to be talking about a lot of Vital Information not only related to continued supportive compensation packages but we need to also be talking about student workday student contact time and lots of other different issues as well they're all on the table and I appreciate the leadership of the tal Union and our negotiating team for for reaching what I think and I think I'm using not a direct quote but a quote that this is a pretty historic agreement for our school district it's a definitely a step in the right direction Mr Daniels and I appreciate your continued support here at the podium to lend teacher voice to this board and to my and this board's work and to my work as well I
060want to make sure that I'm not leaving anybody out to Miss Chester specifically I want to thank you for taking the time there will not be an adversarial relationship with our substitutes by moving to Kelly Services if that is the board action tonight that relationship between our substitutes and the school district doesn't change and would like to thank you for your leadership regarding the substitute teachers as well Miss Linda Carter I understand that there are a number of issues what I which I hope have addressed and enjoyed speaking with you prior to the meeting as well in terms of active shooter I will ensure that Dave nulan and I believe my chief of staff has already addressed you as well we'll make sure that you get that point of contact and we go from there
061to Miss Miss Perez I will have to defer to the Taylor English report to our board attorney I understand you're a very passionate person I was looking for I apologize very passionate person who has very strong feelings about this particular issue and we will continue to release and be as transparent as possible while also protecting the interests of our district to Mr Joe Phillips and to the board our schools follow certain protocols when it comes to the disposal of textbooks that are outdated beyond the adoption cycle and out of date with our current book benchmarks and standards the process includes Contracting with a vendor placing the textbooks into a proper recycling container that is a dumpster that is delivered by the by the vendor those books are then removed and recycled off campus not only
062does state law provide me that Authority but more importantly our board process and our board policy does as well state law speaks of the school board May prescribe by rule the manner of destroying instructional materials that cannot be that need to be disposed of and additionally my apologies when it comes to instructional materials policy 7310 reads the superintend the school board requires the superintendent to review the property of the district periodically and to dispose of the material and equipment that is no longer usable in accordance with the terms of this policy in terms of instructional materials it speaks to to the redistribution or possible disposal Concepts and content that do not support the curriculum goals of the new curriculum information that may not be con contract and also that is warn in and worn and
063Beyond Salvage the superintendent L later in the policy is authorized to dispose of obsolete instructional materials and other property by selling it to the highest bidder to donation to appropriate parties or to the proper waste removal in this particular case we do not have have the facilities nor the means by which to collect every used textbook begin to cost warehouse space hire employees to interact with the public and sell things out to Mr Phillip's Point regarding some other Technologies we do list some of our electronic equipment on a particular at bid website textbooks are not permitted to do this lastly I would say that by donating these books and providing these opportunities for our recycling we want to make sure that there's an opportunity that these textbooks in particular don't wind up in landfills and
064in other places where we all know that paper does not disintegrate at the rate that we originally thought if you dig up most landfills you'll be able to find a newspaper that can be well read from a number of years ago our textbooks just don't disappear if we put them in the ground we're better off recycling them sending them to a pulp pulp Factory and allowing that material to be utilized in recycled textbooks and creating additional supplies for our school system that do due to the Recycled information could be cheaper to all of us lastly to Mr Cruz I've appreciated meeting with you one-on-one and continue to appreciate your support and your drive to ensure that this school district stays true to its message of being a worldclass school system which includes definitely using aspects
065of Universal Design and how we approach our classrooms again I will make sure that myself the deputy superintendent and other people reach out so that we can have more discussion and begin to thinking about our strategic plan and where specific items that you're addressing fit within that plan Mr chair I believe and if I've left somebody out I apologize but I believe I've addressed the manner and means of which most the public comment was made attorney Bruno would you like to add yes Mr chairman I just want to quickly just touch base on the Taylor English report and its findings it is true that there were findings in the Taylor English report it is true that there were policies that were found to have been violated the employees that were implicated no longer work for
066the district and have not worked for the district for a very long time when the report came out this board did its due diligence in January of 2023 and accepted the findings of that report as well as the recommendations from that report and has diligently made progress and made assurances that these types of things will not happen again in the district it's a large District when things happen this superintendent and this board take it very seriously to make sure that things are rectified and they are corrected and we learn from the lessons of the past and we move forward unfortunately these things happened prior to my tenure prior to the tenure of Dr berer but when they have occurred with this new board they have implemented a speak up listen up work culture that protects
067individuals who bring things forward so that they are protected when they bring those things forward pursuant to law The Whistleblower protection statute so I can't speak as to what has happened in the past but I can speak as to what this board's directive is for the future that these things do not happen again thank you next on our agenda is the approval of action items in the agenda under consent the documentation for Action items listed under consent is made available to board members seven business days before the board meeting we're expected to review all the material and we have an opportunity to speak with the superintendent with any questions we may have regarding the recommendation some of these items have also been briefed or workshopped with the board before appearing on the action agenda board
068members are there any agenda items you wish to pull for discussion under unfinished business tabled items portion of the agenda Mr fiser no Miss GI vanelli I have one j7 thank you Miss Patria with us no thank you thank you Miss Jordan no thank you Miss lenford Fleming I have none and Miss Morgan I have none and I have none is there a motion to approve the agenda consent items with the exception of the pulled item j7 Mr Jordan I move to approve the agenda item with the exception of j7 as written is there a second Mr lenford leming Seconds please record your vote the motion to adopt a consent agenda minus j7 is approved 70 Dr berer would you please introduce any administrators and attendance with a new assignment we happy to do so
069Sir With Your Action this evening a gentleman named Jason plucker will be accepting the position as principal of Diplomat Middle School Mr plucker Mr plucker normally there's a lot of individuals who stand up and I address a whole crowd so I'll shorten it just a bit we've had a conversation specific speically about this when I let you know that based upon the board's action tonight if you were appointed what the expectations were I think it's important for the community to understand the expectations of our principles and one of them is this is a great symbol of this board and my trust in an individual that when they move on to this particular position and begin to lead a school it is a very large symbol of trust trust is something that is a bank account
070it needs to be deposited in every day before any type of withdrawals are made I do believe Bor that Mr plucker is the right decision for Diplomat Middle I'm excited not only for him but for the faculty and look forward to him getting started and leading that school building through the remainder of this school year thank you Mr plucker we have one pulled item to address Dr berer would you please read your recommendation for the pulled item j7 yes sir item j7 is the approval to piggyback Orange County Public Schools RF p number 221 0345 for substitute teacher Services awarded to Kelly Services Inc of Orlando for a period of November 7 2023 through June 30 2024 for up to $8.5 million with an option to cancel if deemed to be in the best interest
071of the district this piggyback will provide a reliable and efficient way for our district to manage teacher absences by Bridging the Gap between classrooms and qualified substit substitute teachers Kelly Services Inc will connect with qualified substitute teachers by utilizing their large pool of guest teachers allowing them to quickly find suitable replacements for any grade level or subject area this will ensure that our schools are maintaining a consistent and effective learning environment even when a regular teacher is out Kelly Services Inc will also handle all the administrative tasks associated with the hiring and recruitment of Our Guest teachers this will include screening vetting of potential candidates and ensuring that the necessary qualifi qualifications and background checks are completed as required this also includes an increase of the daily rate to Our Guest teachers which in turn
072will save the district time and resources allowing our district to focus on the quality of education for our students in finding full-time instructional teachers and concentrating our forces there the approval authorizes the superintendent to execute all related documents Mr chair thank you is there a motion to adopt Dr B's recommendation I move Mr Morgan I move we approve the superintendent's recommendation to piggyback Orange County Public Schools RFP number I can't oh 2210 345 substitute teacher Services thank you is there a second Miss Jordan yes thank you okay the item has been moved by Miss Morgan and seconded by Miss Jordan is there any discussion on the Das here miss janelli are you with us miss Patria I'm here okay any discussion yes I'll be real quick I know we need to have help and support
073our teachers so that's I'm not trying to derail this at all at this point however I am concerned that we did not have adequate stakeholder input and that makes me somewhat hesitant in supporting and the Outsourcing of guest teachers which will be a drastic change for the district with that with that said I think we have been less than transparent in with the guest teachers and the community that we serve last Wednesday's Workshop on this topic was less than a week ago and with little notice and no public com comment was available until tonight which really concerns me we did not you know because we should have afforded opportunity for our stakeholder communication and conversation for us to really know how and what they are thinking and being more transparent this is very important specific
074specific especially since we all know this is not going to save us money we know we need to give these Reg these raises regardless if we Outsource this or not whether we like it or not guest teacher positions have also been neglected over the years we do how do we really know if the pay increase which is long overdue would not have addressed the shortage why are we rushing this through and rubber stamping it information to make we need information to making sure wise and physically sound decisions are being made and bringing our community along with us instead of telling the community this is what we're doing and with with little input of them I think that is probably my biggest concern because I know our students need to have teachers in the classroom and
075we need to provide them that opportunity so my question would be could we table this would the board be willing to table this till the very next meeting so that make sure that we're not alienate anyone and we're asking our stakeholders that we do care about them and showing that we do care about them and we want their input I think we've had a lot of conversation tonight and we know that the community is concerned and I think we need to bring them along with us not against us thank you I'd love to hear what other others would have to say okay any input discussion Mr fiser thank you chair and thank you member juvenile for bring up some of those topics I did mention last time one of my concerns was the kind of
076the chicken or the egg argument in regards to salary which one we're not going to be able to know from a data standpoint if it's going to to be the pay or Kelly or both either way however I look at this that we are in dire need right now and I believe it's not something that we wait a whole lot longer on it just based from what we've seen But I do have two questions for Dr berer and his staff in regards to this just to reiterate so first and attorney debris Bruno as well so we are we are not approving a contract tonight correct currently there is not an approval of a contract you're giving us the authority to work in and to execute the related documents those documents have begun to be reviewed
077between Kelly Services and the school district of Lee County through our legal offices and their legal represent presentation and second comment on that draft contract how quickly can we get out of this in regards to if it goes forward I do know that there's language in the contract specifically that allows us to get out of a contract as well as allow Kelly Services to walk away as well I would have to defer to Ive I've seen the original draft of the contract but I've not seen the final that will be coming for my approval thank you as I said for me personally I don't look at this as a necessary long-term solution but I will be approving this and I will give it some time so thank you okay Mr Bruno do you have anything
078to add to that or no it's exactly what Dr berer said today is the expenditure the contract is being finalized this is a piggyback off of Orange County we the terms are set through that piggyback with orang County the district has its piggyback template that will be fin finalized as well I think there's a couple of questions that Kelly Services has that we'll answer tomorrow our contracts always have a termination for convenience clause in there so that the board has that option to terminate so I I do think those are the same things Dr berer was indicating okay SL for fling Mr fiser I have the same exact question I have written down right here about the contract questions I know that we've also asked about the comparison with the other counties that have used
079Kell services and while their fill rates are incredibly high or much higher than ours it would be helpful I think if we were to be able to disclose what those fill rates were before they used Kelly Services post Kelly Services because yes while they were at I think a lot of them were at 80 83% not sure what they were before Kelly Services that's one thing and I I said I think in the workshop last week we have to do something our teachers are struggling with covering classes I know a constituent came up and talked about the member the substitutes or the guest teachers will have you I'm old school so I'm sorry if I continue to use that old term of substitutes but our guest teachers as far as I'm concerned Mrs Chester will
080always be a part of the Lee County School District that is not at all how I feel as a board member whatsoever you are we are all one team and you are part of that team so I just want to put that on record that's that's how I feel about this I do agree with Mr fiser that we are in dire need I am comfortable moving forward as long as the terms of the contract contract allow us to terminate that if we see that this is not this is in fact costing a ton of money for the taxpayers of Lee County and not fulfilling the you know the goal that we are trying to reach so I guess I do support it however I personally would like a even in a one-on-one or or obviously
081for the public a report as to how this is going once if if if we are starting in January we're starting whenever like a quarterly update how is it going as long as we keep the board up to date on the fill rate then I can continue to support this thank you any other discussion here miss Patria did you have anything you would like to add yes Mr chair thank you if I may through the chair ask Dr Bernier to please discuss the modern erization of the process of getting guest teachers into our classrooms as compared to what I would call the Antiquated process we're using right now and it's my understanding that there will be savings to the district through that because we won't have to purchase the software necessary to implement that as
082Kelly is already using it those are my comments thank you I certainly can re sorry I can certainly reiterate what I said at the work session a few days ago that the first and foremost this begins with a team of individuals as a professional organization that does this work full-time we have an HR department that works very hard and and works well and is continuing to look at their processes and continuing to improve but we need to ensure that we are giving our fullest attention to this particular need because covering our classrooms is important for school climate and for morale as well as most importantly student achievement so we are we are by this by this agreement we are entering into a service from a professional organization that does this work full-time they fulltime recruit
083they full-time background check they continue to do all of that work and they make sure that they continue to help support our classrooms in terms of quarterly reporting to the board I think that is a great idea in terms of as soon as we get up and running that first report would come out sometime in March after the third nine weeks ends and then we'd have another opportunity to look at June again I think it's important for us to realize that if we were to do this we would have to modernize a system and I appreciate the idea of technical software and our it incredible talent but they are also involved in working on a human Capital management system that needs to be revised at this time I will add that the importance of this
084is the online interface both for teachers in need of a substitute to place their information out in into the system so that substitutes can see that job and then substitutes have the option if they wish to continue to work at a school that they love they can accept jobs at the school that they love Kelly does not assign people per se to those positions they allow our substitutes to make their choices to our teachers that may be listening who have their favorite substitute teacher there is a there's and I know Kelly won't like that I'm saying this publicly but there's another way by which individuals make sure they cure their favorite sub and that is when they know that they're going to be out they get before they post their vacancy they will often make
085a phone call to the individual who normally Subs in their classroom and they trust implicitly to be there and they will say I am going to be out on December pick a day December 7th that individual will know that job is being posted and there will be an amazing amount of coordination that goes on between that educator posting and that substitute a teacher immediately accepting that position for their teacher again I those are just some of the improvements and we did pull some of the district fill rates as well so we do have some of the information but I I just wanted to make sure that we are aware of that we did share that and wanted to be aware that there has been you know 30 to 40 Point 34 30 to 40 Point
086increases U where Kelly has taken over and done this work some of them falling short of 80% some of them while exceeding 80% so Miss patri I hope that answers the question yes sir thank you okay Mrs Mrs janelli did you have something you would like to add here I would I would so real quick first of all I just want to thank you for this conversation it was something that I think we just need to have a little more in-depth conversation and just for the public to know I personally what did receive the contract later this afternoon on what the you know you know what the piggyback contract is out of Orange County so I want the community to know that also I my questions for the board they were I did receive those
087questions answered this late this like I said late this afternoon but I did receive that so I want everyone to be aware of that and I really appreciate Miss Fleming's quarterly report idea and I would I will move forward with it because we are in dire need as the board as a board member has mentioned and I would agree with that we have to get help in the classroom for our teachers and this is one step forward and so I don't want like I said I didn't want to derail it but I you know we have to do better in communication and communicating to our stakeholders I would like to add to the codly report not only the district's observation and data but I would like guest teacher input I want that stakeholder input in
088that if it's a survey or or a questionnaire or something that we know that this process is actually working and working in favor for the teachers and maybe not just only not only guest but stakeholder in input as well at the school level you know are the teachers re you know receiving the relief and the support where they can if they've got a doctor's appointment they can take that time and feel comfortable and confident that their classroom is being handled and you know and they feel comfortable and being being able to be away from their classroom for a day so I will support this evening at this time I think I thank the whole board for having this healthy conversation for the benefit of our stakeholders thank you that's Elli I would just like to
089before we vote say that I would be concerned if this was the first contract Kelly ever had to do guest teachers but they have a proven track record we're not Reinventing the will here you know we're just seeing something that's worked and looking to try it out and see if it will work here so with with that said we will do a I'm sorry M Jordan yeah thank you I just want to say thank you U Miss jelli for pulling this because I do believe I would have preferred that we had more public input as well but I will say too when this did when this came before us I did reach out to other counties to speak to board members as well as the HR department and they did show a sign of relief
090because they were filling the seats teachers were able to get more help and HR was able to do what they needed to do so I think that and of course change is always complicated but in the long run when the reports that I have heard from other districts everybody's pretty happy with what has taking place and that goes along with the guest teachers as well so I just wanted to put that out there I have researched it so thank you thank you all right this will be a roll call vote you'll signify by saying yay or nay when your name is called Mr fiser I miss janelli yes Miss Patria yes please Miss Jordan I miss lenford Fleming I miss Morgan yay and I am an i motion carries 70 change it up don't you
091all right next on our agenda is the good of the order slash other B Business board members comments and reports we're going to start out with our student representative Braden feel free yes first of all I would just like to say thank you for this opportunity for me to be allowed to hear everybody's concerns and everybody's opinions and what they think about the school and the programs that I'm currently involved in and enrolled in and I would like to say thank you for being concerned for maybe your kids grandkids but also for for me and how the school I'm going to is going to be affected and things like that and I would just like to say thank you for everybody up here for continuously day after day making sure that things run smoothly within
092the district and just a major thank you to everybody trying to make sure that everything goes smoothly for the place I call home and the school I go to every day thank you and thank you Miss Morgan we're going to start with you tonight good job okay well first of all I want to thank our governance and Communications chief for the communications that we now getting from him regarding the state of business in the legislature and I particularly appreciate he's attached a little section I forget what it's called but he gives us he refers us to to articles around the state that are of interest to us as as we meet I want to call since we've been talking a lot about teachers and the need of teachers I want to call attention to the
093fact that in the board agenda approved tonight there were one two 3 four five agreements with Florida G Coast University Florida State College Jacksonville University of West Florida National Lewis University and Baylor University all with those universities to work with their students and student teaching positions in the school district of Lee County with the idea that the more teachers students we can get here as student teachers the better our chances are of bringing them in as full-time employees and so I think we continue to expand the universities we're working with in an effort to grab more potential teachers I want to congrat congratulate Fort Meers High School teacher Christopher Morales who was honored by the governor and first lady of Florida with a Hispanic Heritage Month excellence and education award he teaches biology sponsors three
094student clubs serves as an extended essay advisor to IB students and is an apples Mentor for new teachers so he's got a full plate and he's obviously making a difference in the district and good for him and congratulations and those are my comments thank you thank you M ler Fleming Mr Adams thank you so much for being here go NS I loved hearing that sorry I throw that out there but chair person's read something about you in the beginning which I loved which was your desire to be a part of the actual process of how we how we you know make our ideas and our opinions because our job as a board is yes to to run the school district but what our students go through day in and day out is incredibly important to
095us and I know that everybody up here on the board one of their favorite things to do I think is to visit our schools because it's important for us to see the success that you all are having in the classroom so thank you for being here and being a part of this as usual I absolutely love our beginning where our students perform for us and all that patriotism this afternoon about with with Dumar middle so thank you for being here thank you for everybody that came and spoke tonight you are always welcome to the teachers that came in and spoke just please know that we do provide a listen up speak up culture and we appreciate you being here and taking the time out of your evening to share with us your thoughts other than
096that I do not have anything else so thank you thank you Miss Jordan thank you Braden I agree I love the fact that you are going into pre-law and that you are you believe that the rights of the students have the right and a lot to give which I definitely believe that students do have a lot to share and it's great because we' love to hear what you all have to say and I just want to say I've been to I attended the bandm association 14 of our high schools participated in that this weekend our own superintendent conducted the opening of that event but these kids were just amazing it was like you were looking at like the NFL or the halftime it was just they just they brought it you can feel the heart
097and soul that they were putting everything out there to to show and they were they were all in sync it was it was beautiful it was a really beautiful site also wanted to share that I had I spent the last day and a half with a friend from 13 new friends that we made from across the pond of they came over from Wales and they came over here to to study and to see what Lee County is doing in our Community Partnership schools it's pretty amazing when you have people coming over from the other side of the world you know to make sure that to learn from us and to take it back to their home to to share and see what we are doing and it was just a great day yesterday and learning
098you know from them as well but we went to the different schools and they came here they were excited about seeing they wanted to know how that's why your lights were on because they all ran up here and they were sitting up here because they were so excited about being in here but then and that wasn't the first time you know a couple months ago we had a students from Germany come over and they attended Island Coast so I when I look at that it's like we are we don't get that out as much you know Lee County is doing a great job I really appreciate all the teachers and everybody you know that you know put their Heart and souls into making us great but and it's showing when people are coming here because
099they want to learn from what we are doing to take home to their own so I just really wanted to to share that and hopefully they'll have some pictures out there of the team that came over and they'll be traveling to Tampa and then Orlando and then back across the pond but that's all I have to say and of course dumbar U Middle School that was fabulous in the morning the symbols everything about what they were doing was just was great and thank you all for being here tonight miss Patria you're next thank you will give my board report at our next briefing so I will have no comments this evening thank you Mr vanelli Miss janelli are you there I will pass over to Mr fiser thank you chair Braden great job it was
100great to talk with you especially about your potential future career I know that you did that with attorney de PR Bruno as well so you know we gave you the some of the ins and the outs and you know keep up the great work and thing I can tell you is I tell most of the student reps up here in about 7 and 1/2 years if you go through with being an attorney come back here come back to the Lee County I always encourage our students for that so thank you I attended Chamber of Commerce Cape Coral we had a round table with members of the school district and the business Community at Ida Baker about a week ago it was a kind of a great first talk it was a listening session and the
101business owners really kind of gave us you know the pros and the cons and that's we wanted to hear what what we're doing well and what we aren't doing well and I went through this with Dr berer as well a little bit but you know we have some really great programs but one of the issues the business owners were kind of pushing back on is communication with those programs understanding what's around so there were some interesting Solutions presented and the I believe the businesses felt it very valuable we're going to kind of continue those those lisening sessions and see where we go with that but I thought it was a great first meeting and I appreciate the Chamber of Commerce and Cape Coral doing that as well as the business owners and thank you to
102some of the principls attended as well as our CT and adult dead Personnel last thing I just want to say thank you to our staff and teachers for all that you do I hope you've seen that this board supports all of you and you know we've we've been together about a year now and you know we're going to keep supporting you and I just want to say both as a board member as a parent thank you thank you thank you that's all I have for tonight thank you Miss janelli are you there nope okay I saw the no shake over there from secretary all right I would like to just steal something from the superintendent because I'm sure he'll mention it too but Friday Night Lights it's playoff time and there's going to be a
103game it wasn't very good earlier in the year between dumbar and Fort Meers High double overtime where dumbar one by one point so I'm sure to be a blowout just like that again but I'm definitely going to be there and encourage everybody else if they're not doing anything on Friday night that'll be an awesome game I believe our other two teams are playing away who's hosting dumbar is hosting so I'm all excited about that but that's all I wanted to say for the night attorney dupe Bruno thank you Mr chairman on the Schoolboard attorneys and I had an opportunity to go to our fsba conference this past weekend it's always great to be around our colleagues to think through difficult legal questions so I just wanted to share that and attorney Huffman and I had
104an opportunity to present as well to our peers so that was a wonderful experience Braden I heard three things that Mr chairman said that are secret attorney skills and I'll tell you what they are one Pleasant disposition even when you're in front of a judge that's giving you a hard time you have to and Mr Fisher's shaking his head cuz he knows you have to have that Pleasant disposition two a comical approach to life I guarantee you that there's going to be times you want to pull your hair out so you have to take it with a grain of salt everything that's going on and then three Passion for things to make sure that things are done fairly and equitably that is a driving force for most lawyers is that passion to make sure that
105there's fairness and Equitable decisions that are made so I with those three things that you already have I think you're halfway there now you just got to get the book part but you're halfway there in terms of the demeanor of how to be a lawyer so I wish you a lot of luck and I know that you're going to be you are a viable member of our society and you will continue to be a viable I stole your line you will continue to be a viable member of this Society so please please keep in touch I'm here attorney Shaya zupki is here and the rest of the legal team are well available if you have any questions or have anything that you would like to discuss with us thank you Dr berer not sure what's
106left except to mention a couple other schools that are headed to the playoffs this coming this coming Friday night Estero is headed to hard and Mariners headed to Golden Gate but the dunar Fort Myers game will be local at dunar I do think it's important to review tonight that while your actions this evening not only did we get into those agreements with our universities but there was also under academic Services the beginning of multiple contracts that'll finish out on November 21st regarding dental and other supports for our colleges and Technical Education Centers without the support of these particular community members that leads to Mr Fischer's comment about working with Chambers of Commerce and getting to know our businesses these contracts with those individuals allow our students to have the handson experience they need to complete
107their training and be viable members of our community not just when in school but outside of high school as well your action also tonight increase the pay and compensations by reaching agreement with our spal tal schedule and admin employee groups thank you very much for your leadership regarding bargaining Authority for our bargaining team thank you to the members of both our spal and tal unions for your good will and your desire to reach Equitable conclusions for all of our employees to the schedule n and the admin teams we appreciate your patience as we go ahead and settle with our Union groups first and then apply the percentage to all of your raises and I appreciate the over 242 administrators that took me up on a teams meeting yesterday at 4:30 p.m. so that I could
108talk to them about the agreement for the admin team that would be coming forward for your approval tonight so often they don't seem seem to feel like they have a voice and I thought it was important to lend voice to them quick shout out to Cape Coral and Mariner High School for the Unified sports program had a great opportunity to attend the first Unified sports program between Cape Coral and Mariner Cape Coral got to hang its Unified sports program Banner that also exhibit because they exhibit the acceptance of students with disabilities within their school I Mr wish Mr Cruz was still here because it was a great opportunity to see how wonderful that process can be but it's growing beyond our Unified sports programs here at the state championships in bowling this past week in
109Orlando at the very end they recognized clearly the teams for state championships but then they also recognize the boys and girls winner and the unified boys and girls winner for the State Bowling Championship and I will tell you getting information out of Cape Coral about their student who finished finished fourth his last bowling effort in before he had to step away from the com the competition he bowled a 278 I think if you add up all my bowling scores together in my entire lifetime they don't equal 278 and that is with bumpers so reminder about some upcoming events next Monday night is the last not the last but the last Town Hall specifically that we've been hosting so far it'll be at Bita Springs December 16th important to put on our calendars and we'll be
110advertising more about it the high school open house here in our school district office where our high schools will open to the public so they can come and see all the choice options of our amazing high schools and last but not least Braden and my favorite attorney stole my favorite line regarding your entire bio and that is Braden believes that people should View High School students not as the future not just as the future but as a viable and important members of our society today he recognizes that he and his peers have much to offer if given the opport opportunity to express their opinions beliefs fears and dreams I can't tell you how wonderful those words were to read prior to coming into the board meeting this evening and from what I know about you
111through your principal and through your teachers at your school you live that every day you're a strong voice a strong advocate for people your age and I hope as you continue to that down down that path towards your jurist doctorate that you'll continue to keep in mind young people need representation and they need that voice as well so thank you and thank you for what you've accomplished and what you will continue to accomplish and how you will be a great example of what the school district of Lee County can turn out and what our wonderful Educators par professionals bus drivers can do given the time to work with a student and a family that's supportive of the educational process thank you braen thank you Dr berer on Wednesday November 15th there'll be a board work
112workshop at 12 p.m. on Tuesday November 21st there'll be a board briefing at 1 p.m. and a board Action meeting at 6:00 p.m. at this point having no other business to come before this body and seeing no objection this meeting is adjourned the time is 7:46 p.m. have a good evening