School Board Briefing Meeting: September 5, 2024

001good afternoon everyone it's Wednesday September 5th the school board briefing this is the school board briefing and the time is 1:00 p.m. Sergeant arms has the front lobby been cleared yes thank you board member Morgan is joining us today by phone I want to confirm Miss Morgan are you on the line I am hello everyone thank you there are eight items on the agenda today job descriptions construction projects bonly update civil rights and Equity guide briefing first reading policy review District advisory Council or DC agenda review or of September 5th 2024 public comment and good of the order other business per board protocol each board member should strive for four minutes for initial comment two minutes for followup with a total of 10 minutes for discussion we're going to begin today with job descriptions welcome

002Angela Mont Morano she will be presenting thank you good afternoon board members and superintendent and board attorney today we have one job description that is before you it is a revision to the Executive Director of Human Resources just putting it into the appropriate new format as well as some wording changes is that is all I have today okay thank you superintendent you have any comments I do not Madam chair board members any comments regarding job descriptions curious U we just received one for director of Transportation Services would just hand it to us that's on the action item meeting for this evening there was questions about that and the questions that came through but that we did that briefing on August 21st thank you Miss Morgan do you have any questions any more questions or followup

003board members okay thank you thank you next is our construction projects by monthly update Scott rickenbacher and Melissa RI Rivera will be presenting welcome this afternoon good afternoon board members Dr Savage Esquire Deo Bruno this is a bonly capital update well this is bringing it up on the show I want to make you all aware before we begin that this was recommended by the RSM audit that you request for the Riverdale High School process we set a target of every two months because to get information every month would be very repetitive you''ll be getting the same slides as we get the information from our design professionals and construction professionals so today we're going to give you a little bit of both the presentation that was uploaded into board docs approximately a month ago and we

004also are going to be some doing some verbal updates of information has recently come in in the last few weeks to give you a current look at where the each project is in the presentation all right ready here we go so first up is the base Shore K8 expansion as you can see we're in the design schematic phase right now District staff is working with school staff and our design professionals to lay out that project which is to be turned open in October of 20126 there will be portable set out in the summer of 2026 to accommodate the influx of those middle school students that will be arriving in that fiscal year right now we have a 30% estimate due for a Bay Shore has come in yet and it has not come in yet

005so we're pushing to get that estimate to us from the architectural firm so as we get that information we will bring it forward to either Chief Operating Officer Larry Steven so he can have it in your one-on-one so you know but that's a delayed submission by that design team are there any questions on any of the other data the items in each one of these sheets are exactly that was portrayed in the RSM audit recommendation so we followed that criteria we have one question Mr persons yes it just what is the cost to put the Portables basically out there for two months is there any way to I mean that's what it looks like to me like it's should be finished in October the end of October is the anticipated October September and a little

006bit of August I know there's a cost there is it worth trying to expedite to save that cost I mean I know it could be overtime it could be a number of things but I don't know the problem is ex Expediting of materials and labor aren't always guaranteed okay but August 8th or 12th whatever opening date will be in that physical year is always guaranteed and if I don't have Suites for students then someone has to pay that price and takes about 4 and 1/2 to 5 and 1/2 months to set up a small campus like that we have to bring in brand new utilities for that portable campus meaning electric and I think last time when Dr berer was in the seat we estimated about $750,000 in utilities and I believe we were saying

007somewhere in the neighborhood of $75,000 for each portable to be set refreshed and prepared and ready for school I believe there's eight Portables that were required there right okay I just wonder if there any way to save as we get money you get you don't even have the design done yet so I know it's hard to say correct but please look into that if there's any way to if there's a way if there's a way to accelerate the project the problem is our long lead items like our switch gear our air conditioning units and things of that nature are preventing us from really advancing and Es escalating the construction timeline earlier because of those long lead items right next on the list is Bonita Springs Elementary School re build you can see right now that

008we have a budget estimate of about $40 million which was approved the current estimate for the project is 35.3 million we're in the middle of the castaldi review process with the state we're told that we're number three so we've moved up substantially from 21 I think at the last reporting you guys have had we have engaged with a historic survey which has been issued to the superintendent and his staff for review it looks at how we could save the historic designation of that campus and the only way to do that is to save and leave that building in place now what that basically means is that the outside skin would have to be maintained in its current position why we basically gut the entire interior structure all of it somehow manage the outside skin tie

009it all together and then create some new space that can be done the cost of that is estimated between $8 to10 million and right now I believe the chief of operations has discussed this with the superintendent and I believe they'll be having discussions with you guys as to whether we move forward with that concept or proceed with the original concept which was the demolition has not been determined today okay right we have 30% estimates that are due on a Miss janelli question so the Bonita Springs the historical part of the school I know we have we've have several other schools that had has a histo that's historical like the Fort Meers Beach I is and I thought ala was also when were're so we just kind of restored Fort Meers Beach so when was Bonita

010was it ever restored with the Historical Society at any point in time as well as ala I had heard that they were and I was just curious when that was when the that happened ala was restored I actually did that job it was their theater area there had been a previous years before I came to work here where they did some cleanup of the woodwork in the actual historic classroom building the fort Meers Beach was not done with capital funding it was actually it's part of the hurricane funding line so the money expanded to maintain Fort Meers Beach is part of that hurricane hopefully we get reimburse for it funds whereas Bonita would be pure Capital Andor tax referendum depending on how we choose to pay for it so but my question is has Bonita

011ever been historically renovated through any historical grants or anything like that I was not during my tenure that I'm aware of I know that maintenance has done some window work there painted the building added some HVAC whether or not it was part of a historic restoration program I can't speak to that can could you find out cuz I'm being told that it was and there was money spent for that and I would be curious if that's the case we could certainly look into it thank you put it down okay a few more we have a few more questions Mr Fisher then Mr thank you and this may be more of a question just comment to Dr Savage I just want to make sure that we're keeping in touch with the stakeholders and the City of

012bonina as we make these changes and as things progress yeah yes chair fiser just I want to make sure that the whole board is aware but also just you know I'm sure Mr Rick Boer is also aware part of after they received the additional feedback the city Bonita they had asked us to get a dollar value of what it would cost to do that and so once we had that report commissioned it was Architectural Review The Next Step was to make sure that they were aware of the findings of that report then how does that then reconcile with potential options that we have at that site understanding that there's a significant additional cost for that potential option thank you sir absolutely Miss Patria yeah does my memory serve me correctly the in addition to FEMA

013funding for Fort mys Beach didn't we weren't we able to avoid the 50/50 rule by preserving that historic building thus saving us money on the rebuild there they gave an exemption for that particular building so that it didn't have to get raised to the appropriate flood plane level which is currently in place at this time so when we do the cafeteria building which we're now starting we're in our design process for that cafeteria expansion that slab on that approximately 13 ft above plane so it's about 13 ft taller up in the air than the existing historic SL right so really I mean that saved us quite a bit of money on that restoration and that savings would not be available to us at Bonita Elementary correct I cuz there's no there's no flooding there was

014there was no storm damages that occurred to Bonita Elementary so I don't see where that would be applicable okay thank you and before we move on I just want to make sure miss Morgan do you have any questions regarding this no I don't thank you okay go ahead and then one last item on Bonita Springs you'll notice that it said a 30% estimate was due August 20th we have pushed and allowed the designer to push that back to a September 20th delivery of that design estimate what we've done is when we engaged with the city and our AR and our Architects to come up with a historic Salvage plan we've redesigned that entire building concept from when it was presented to you folks several several several months ago and it's two options that we'll have

015when this estimate comes in so if it's determined not to move forward with the salvaging we take option b which that estimate will come on the 20th if it is determined to engage in Salvage we have option A that's part of that package that we can move so we've given them an extra month for the delivery of that so we're we're poised to go either direction very quickly and the end delivery date of the project is not affected by this one month addition in time for design Miss Jordan and what you just mentioned so does that mean that so now there's two designs so does that double our no cost no it didn't we stopped and redirected our efforts knowing that there's a potential it could go either way so the design that's coming in

016will serve the purposes if it if it becomes where we Salvage the historic building that's mostly going to be a media center and mechanical rooms if it turns where that building comes down then we have a way of creating that whole area with a new structure in that square footage same footprint that will house classrooms and things of that nature so it's just it was adapting the design so we could quickly shift knowing that this could go either way thank you Mr persons I believe I heard that the new design would look a lot like the old building would not be historical but it would have the same the intent is to trying the original design was definitely to mimic that it will have those features to it okay it may not our original presentation

017of what that look would be was much closer to a historic mimicking this will have historic components that come as close as practicable thank you okay okay thank you next up cap Coral Technical College a lot here and there's some additional information that I'll speak to that's not on your slide currently we have a project estimate approved by the board of $25 million we're working towards a design for that expansion we've gotten the approval from our Risk Management Department to go ahead and demolish the old Hector caffara School building which the extension for Cape Tech actually moves into that property profile so we've already got a designer the designs are done and right now we're putting together an ITN to do the demolition similar to what we did down at Fort Myers Beach we have

018right now is at August 15th our 60% estimates came in now this is the CM is $22.9 million the architect is at 20.7 million that's at 60% design documents so between August 15th and when I put this in the board docs that's the new information I want you guys to be of and this will be represented two months from now in the next update you get you'll see this in the actual lines the we're doing value engineering because those fees are not inclusive of our FFN on our phase one fees so obviously if you take the assumed 20 million and 22 million and you add a potential of 5 to 6 million to that we've gone through the board approved budget of 25 million so at this moment in time we are doing ve to

019try and reduce the cost to design two budgets there's still a lot of wiggle room between 60 and 90% drawings where people start losing their allowances design allowances and like a safe Kitty money and we get closer to the real number so this doesn't scare us we feel that we will be able to bring this in within the $25 million budget at the end of the day but I'm just alerting you to the fact that right now the dollars are showing that we're going to be probably over the 25 million which was approved but it's our job to do ve and if no ve can be done and it affects the program it's our job to come here two months from now and let you know what your potential options could be either increase the

020value or accept the value engineering to decrease it to stay in budget and that's part of what this presentation will be to alert you to all these projects does that make sense can you please tell me so because of the fact that we've moved the location of the new building does that you know because it was supposed to go in the back end but now it's going to the side it is that affecting the cost on this no no it's the square footage is a square footage the demolition of cafar will come from a separate funding line this is just the cost of square foot construction right now okay Adult Educational vocational facilities are running upwards of $650 a square foot when you add all of the equipment and the specialty designs that are needed

021for these vocation it's gone through the roof we normally would put about a $450 value on that about a year and a half two years ago it's gone up that high we're not the only County U Joel De Guzman from planning has recently attended the fesa meeting they held up there and all the other counties are also seeing these astronomical increases in square foot costs for student space okay and then one more thank you for that and then one more question I know in the past when we were speaking about this we were looking at possibly going out and looking for nameing rates to help some of the cost for the garage or I can't speak that might be another division okay I I'm I'm not involved in school nameing thank you Mr fiser this

022is a question probably you're probably going to need to answer later and from Finance so I might put this as well to Dr Savage I just want to see if when we're looking at the budgeting on this just that it reflects the two legislative Appropriations for that so if we could get a follow up on that when we're looking at the budget I know for the phase one and the two on it so yes when we discussed a $25 million budget that is inclusive of the legislative dollars okay so thank you any more questions on K Tech okay moving on Cypress lake Middle as you can see see the budgeted amount for that project was $ 120 M $120 million was approved in fy2 by the board we currently have estimates at 30% that have

023come in from the architect at 85.7 million that's the Architects number and the CM had estimated 108. 7 million that's at 30% mind you again this is schematic design first blush padded with a lot of contingencies in it we currently have just received and this is information that's not on your slide but will become slide material two months from now we received the architect 60% estimate and we're at 88.5 million so what you can see as you go from the 30 to the 60 you can have a dramatic range and change in the numbers because a lot of the padding starts to come out of it but again I want you to be aware the $88 million does not necessarily include FF and all of the phase one preconstruction dollars which I believe on this

024project I just came back to you I think it's around 10 million plus or minus so we're still tracking we're still tracking on the approved budget of the $120 million and I think we're going to be where we need to be so that job is moving forward are there any questions and we should have the cm's number I'm sorry 9113 is usually two weeks after the architect delivers the percentage drawings the CM has 2 weeks after that to provide his number to us so on the 13th of September we'll have the cm's number to correspond with the $88 Million number Mr persons the more or less $10 million for the portable campus how long do we think they will have to be in the schools for well we go back to the other book then

025oh sorry I knew I was going to I need this so I brought it and is there additional charge each year sheets for each one of our large capital projects right now substantial completion for that campus is June 1st of 2026 okay so they'll be in Portables as soon as we get the portable set we can occupy them with the principal then we'll start some selective demolition and they'll be in there until June of 26 are these Portables that we own already when not to leas them or anything okay sir thank you they've already been refreshed we've already gone out there with our portable refresh budget they sit at Franklin Parks we've already gone out there and refreshed them carpeting ceilings paints blinds doors window all those things in preparation for the move to that

026site so it's one last step we have to do so again just in closing on that 60% 88.5 million from the architect 9913 we'll get that similar number from the construction manager so you can see how it St in next item is Franklin Parks nothing really to report here it was a 83.5 million project approved by the board in February of 2023 substantially complete July 1 it opened and the students are in there as of August there's no action by the board required on this job and the second slides are just a couple of pictures the interior Courtyard area playgrounds the gymatorium and just some of the interior pictures as you go through the hallway ways with the various colors of luxury vinyl tile and so forth any questions Mr rickenbacher are there any lingering

027construction like any activities going on this campus or is it completely we're still doing punch list okay Mo all the punch list should be complet at this time with the exception that I'm aware of is the playground we've been trying to get the playground installer specialty installer to do that they are slammed obviously all the schools are opening up and they're trying to button up playgrounds in all districts so hopefully in the next week or two that'll be done we have entered what we call the closeout phase so this is where all the asilt drawings warranties guarantees manuals that we provide a full set to the school staff and we keep us set over at the Canal Street Annex and then prepare for auditing to go to the external auditor to audit the project okay

028thank you any other questions thank you Hector cafeta this is the PPP project replacing the hector caffara campus the total board approved cost was $14.9 Million which you approved in June of this year the substantial completion for this project is August 1st of 2026 right now we are in schematic design the 30% drawings are done we do we have held meetings typically about once a month plus or minus where we bring in the school BAS B administrator the principal in this case to par participate in the schematic design and any changes or alterations that we can do within the parameters of the contract the next meeting is actually scheduled for tomorrow morning at the Canal Street Annex so we've had the principal there we've had some of your new AC academic or assistant superintendent Regional

029Regional superintendent sorry they've been attending this meeting as well to see as this PPP we're a little more more constrained in terms of what we're allowed to change and modify but they've been accommodating to date and I think everybody it's been a pretty good meeting and tomorrow is going to be a little bit of the look of the building the elevations of the building and where we're going with that so again 30% drawings are done on that and we are moving forward on that project last meeting we held was August 13th moving on any questions on it how much of the Hector is probably going to be paid for by FEMA I mean because it's hurricane damage or insurance or is it just I you know Melissa came from the budget Department I stole her

030so she might have a little inside track but personally I know that not paying for it all because it wasn't a K8 before it's just a I know that they're still working on that Warren had from risk management had reached out to us to get what our last Elementary School cost was because they felt that the number that came back from FEMA was lower than what we had asked for so they're still in the process of that so we're not Prett you know sure just yet how much okay thank you for pursuing that don't give up Mr Fisher thank you Mr rickenbacher any idea when the guesstimate of when the shovel is going to be in the ground for that school sorry I'm so glad brought my all right let's see Hector C here we

031go construction is indicated to begin around April 2nd of 2025 and it's anticip to be anticipated to be a 16 one month construction duration thank you sir gives you plenty of time to do naming rights Fisher K8 oh we already have it named after someone sorry you have to wait for another school that's going to be a big one all right any more questions on Hector cafar okay next is innovation School okay let me start at the beginning on here obviously with the academic changes that have happened we have new partners in academic area that have become involved in our project so we're trying to bring that those staff members up to speed and all the things in the design and the thought process Dr Cupid McCoy has become actively involved in this discussion as

032well right now you had approved a original budget of 122 12 million 22 or 20 million well the original budget that oh I think it was 120 million was the original approved budget in the capital plan the capital plan that you're approving tonight has increased that to 128.57 we have had August 14th they were slightly behind schedule on the delivery of the estimate and we got the estimate just recently a couple days ago after handing them the design team if we do the full design complement that has been part of the charettes with curriculum and FGCU and all of that staff right now the estimate without FFN by the architect is 138 million so obviously even though tonight we'll be asking you to bring this to 128.57 that's how you save dollars is by reducing

033square footage they believe that they can bring it down to 115.6 million now again that's without FFN in our phase $1 so typically FFN in phase one is about 15% so if that if we were to reduce the square footage to try and maintain that 115 value the remainder between 128.57 that I think is doable to include our FF and all of our phase one implementation costs thank you this is one that I've kind of talked about before with the board and superintendent before the Innovation I mean it sounds like a fantastic idea but I'm really concerned about the cost on this especially moving forward on certain elements and I think that's one we really need to have a discussion with the superintendent the board and especially seeing you know perhaps if this is going

034to be a true partnership getting some buying on it so thank you if I could we recently met a number of us to and they was it was preceding a meeting that was going to occur with Florida Gul Coast University as well because that's it's wonderful to have innovative ideas and so forth we're always going to be about Innovation however you're also when you have constraints fiscal constraints you have to operate an environment where Sometimes the best Innovation occurs within fiscal constraints but anytime you have Innovation that is adding substantial cost Beyond what we would typically do through either one of our prototype designs or even a design build where it starts to add substantial additional cost that's something that for us becomes now A factor that we have to really weigh heavily if it

035in fact exceeds that and so that was something that we were bringing to that meeting with FGCU as well to make them aware of the significant additional cost so that's not something that we're not already on the operational side already addressing and looking at that's that's also why the specific reflection that Mr rickenbacher said of even though there is a current estimate that's why this dollar value is actually significantly lower than the current estimate provided through that design because we are certainly at the expectation of value engineering which is represented here on the slide as well but to think that we'll be able to get to that point without some type of financial contribution I think is that would be this time a significant concern administratively that I would have Mr persons you sort of

036lost meal on cutting down Open Spaces are these like lobbies or hallways make them a little smaller I don't know I just smaller bathrooms open interior play areas and expansion and group clustering and you know a lot of I'm a builder I would say back in my era it might be considered hippie space but it's design space so that would be taking that square footage out there was a lot of glass folding petitions I mean that's top end stuff so you know the glass folding petitions may not be glass anymore a lot of the folding petitions may go away for some walls and we add windows for that visual continuity again I'm not saying that's Direction it is that's part of what the entire team does but at the end of the day the budgets

037what the budget is and some hard decisions have to be made the reason I bring these to you today is to share where this is going and in order these seats are needed for that zone and that capacity oh yeah so I cannot wait an extended period of time while these hard decisions and discussions are had decisions got to be made quickly so that I can maintain that schedule that build schedule and get this opened up so you have that capacity all right thank you okay Miss ganelli then Miss Jordan I think it's really important that when you say U reduce square footage that we're not reducing seats no because I think that's really important that we're not doing that what do we know what the difference is in our the savings that we would

038have if we used our prototype and not go with the fancy design because I think basically we need a school more than we need the fancy designs and my concern is I would love to see the potential that we could that we could add seats if we need to like we're doing Bayshore I think that I watched The Briefing meeting from the 21st and that was something Mr persons's brought up and I think we need to be thinking like that they have the opportunity and the ability to add on seats because we're not obviously God's not making any more land for us to build schools on so the difficulty it is to find land I think we might have to expand versus you know building new so I just want to make I was and

039I know that this is something that Dr Savage has has asked about the fgcu's contribution and I guess at this point we've come we have we don't have one they have come to the table with any money you know for that right so up to the president I know that was going to be raised at the most recent meeting I don't have an update on if there has been either a contribution that's either intended or that there's a fundraising effort or that any of those joint legislative nothing at this point that I could share but all those things would be critical me now that we have dollar values in front of us we kind of know what these additional aspects are certainly we need to expect something or we reprioritize this at the expense of

040other critical capital projects in in our other that are designed in many cases to add seats where we need them so this as Mr Rick bucker said these are very difficult decisions we certainly love Partnerships we think they're they're essential in carrying out our business but we just have to do it within the constraints of things have gotten more expensive than what they used to be we just and we have limited dollars we have to use them wisely so these are very difficult things to to to talk through Miss Patria and is there a way to estimate the value of that partnership meaning the improvements that we'll see for our students as a result of the Innovative teaching and learning practices that are coming out of that school I don't want us to focus solely

041on the dollar amount you know like I look at look at Bonita Elementary and preserving the historic front of a building and I think how many seats does that cost us in the East Zone that was the question that I asked you Dr Savage I look at this project and I think what is the ultimate benefit to our students and our teachers and is there a real dollar value we can put on that I don't know how you estimate that but I don't I don't want us to just look at a number for a cost without considering what we're giving up in terms of that partnership and what we could do for Innovative educational programs for our students in the future thank you that's actually an excellent question we dialogued a little bit about that

042in our meeting because again you're you're trying to take intangible benefits as well and if you can create part of what's difficult in the return on investment type of analysis is that you have to try to Value certain things like that I think that was one of the challenges that we had as a team when we were trying to evaluate the nature of what made this particular approach truly Innovative other than the name of it what were the Innovative practices and then how do you really assess what is that impact those are things we actually dialogued about in terms of the impact of professional learning the type things to see in fact could we create some value for the organization out of that as well so I think that's we did disc discuss some of

043those elements and those were also things that were going to be raised with that group but in terms of arriving at a pure calculation to your point very difficult to do but certainly part of our calculus as well so thank you for giving you an opportunity to share that as well Miss Morgan do you have anything to add at this time sorry it takes me a minute to unmute no I have nothing thank you okay M Jordan I was just going to say I know we've had multiple car conv ation throughout the years prior to Dr Savage I mean this goes way back when we first started speaking of this on what is the contribution through and the partnership what does that look like and we have not yet and that's been years now and

044so we still don't have an answer what that looks like I actually did go and we're talking about 1,200 students little bit almost 13 versus 100,000 that we have in the district and I did go to one of the schools in the innovated School in Pasco County when we first started talking about this and as you said it's just everything is open and it's kind of open and free to do whatever I want to sit over here I want to sit over there so I really couldn't see because it was part of another school altogether so it was innovate was here and then regular school was here but it was just the fact that these kids were everywhere and these kids were not and so I don't know what that looks like as far as

045what does that do for our those children that the 12 1260 versus looking at the broader and know we need so many seats in because as we discussed at our meetings that we are so already over capacity and we need to have seats for our children yeah go ahead just again on that note you know so you know what what I was it was notated to me that there was no commitment to any type of financial contribution just someone to answer that question so there is no still no plan to fund ra or anything along those lines but that said part of the conversation did yield something that we did talk about before because as you mentioned Miss Jordan This is this goes way back one of the things we had also dialogued before about

046is that many of the universities that do these they actually do them as lab schools instead so instead of it being a district owned school what they do in partnership in some case many and actually most all of them that I'm aware of the universities have the ability to create a lab school environment where it is actually their school what's interesting about that in our state now is that they have the ability to access additional funding from the state that can help to contribute and offset some of those pie they have a specific trust that is set up at the state level to account for additional expenses for University lab schools again it's a separate it's not this is more of a traditional process where we'd own every aspect of it's completely our building our

047land everything along those lines but that was something that apparently was reintroduced as part of the conversation as well because those are things that potentially can help in that space I've actually worked I was a coach at one of the lab schools for University of Florida was at the at their PK young their lab school we had classes work our professors on that campus I also was in when I was in Tallahassee worked at the Florida state lab school I lived really close to their school if they moved to an offsite campus that's now a Charter system as part of that lab so those are all things that have been considered at various different life stages of this design concept again all those things are on the table in terms of that dialogue but I

048would say where we have today the way we've pivoted if if for example FGCU were not interested in Partnership which they still are very much interest interested in Partnership but if they weren't then certainly the plan would have been to continue to build a campus on our site proceed in that knowing that there's still interest in Partnership but we have to work through what that could look like and other issues we're certainly going to always value having space for kids doing anything innovatively that we can in terms of unique Design Concepts in Partnership so none of those things are off the table we just at this stage of the game we have to keep things rolling we just want to keep you a breast of every issue as it comes may I jump in oh

049you want Miss Morgan go ahead yeah thank you so it was my understanding that when when this all started that our contribution to the partnership was the building and the students and their contribution would be the teachers and the research Etc having watched one small initiative at Three Oaks or no Spring Creek beta testing with a particular second grade reading initiative I'm wondering if and I would love for Dr Cupid McCoy to to weigh in I'm wondering if we're we're think we need to think about doing Innovation on our own and within our schools and beta testing in small pilot situations what might work District wide I know that was the idea behind the lab school but I am very concerned about the extent to which FGCU it is going to be involved in anything

050other than providing the teachers and developing the strategies they're going to use and to a certain extent I think that we're developing that capacity ourselves internally and so I would like to hear from Dr Cupid McCoy in terms of where she sees Innovation happening in the school district and where what role Partners might play thank you unfortunately Dr humany is out of the country right now but I'm familiar with this as well we have a number of folks who are part of it and I can assure you she was actually part of our meeting with the FGCU school so she's well aware and committed to the idea of innovation I think it's an excellent idea that anytime we have Innovative practices let's say for example whether it's through FGCU or through our own aspect this

051is a great example that you bring up Miss Morgan where Dr CU McCoy was intimately involved in this aspect she's well aware of that piece and we have a number of Staff who were part of that so we did dialogue that if for some reason things were to not mature any deeper with this Innovation school that we would still keep an Innovative concept even if it was our own and other partnership opportunities within at today i' say it's premature to to move away from the partnership where it is we're not at that point yet I would say but certainly that is an option we did evaluate if in fact it wasn't moving in a direction that could work for both sides so just it's interesting that you mention that Miss Morgan because that was something

052we actually dialogued about as well with Dr C McCoy just a quick followup Mr janelli the our prototype canot be used on that parcel that's an odd-shaped parcel it's an under siiz parcel so the Innovation School actually is being custom designed for the that campus and that configuration just wanted to put that out there and believe it or not we actually have the Army Corps of Engineers coming down to tour that site with us next week that's that's a first that's a great opportunity and hopefully we can have a bended KNE to see if they can accelerate their review of our other Parcels as well next on the list is elementary school one moment we just have one more followup question and then I'm just going to remind everybody we have I think seven more

053schools to go through and it's 145 go ahead I just want to say thank you for to Miss Morgan because I know she was the one who's always brought this to our attention constantly with the FGCU Partnerships and then with with with Mr fiser speaking about having conversation we I think we do need to have more conversation about this but you're waiting for us to give you some kind of directions on where to go with this as well no this you have to have those start those conversations in Earnest so you're good right now to prevent me from falling behind and losing a capacity year okay perfect thank you next up is L Elementary as you all are aware that's on that State Road 82 that is our dual site where we'll be opening in

054the same year o middle in L which will be our prototype elementary and middle schools currently right now we were supposed to have 30% design drawings on August 19th that is behind schedule but there is a reason for that we are developing the site work for L with o so what you'll notice and when you approve the capital plan you'll say well wait a minute L was at like aund or $96 million and now they're only asking for 73 we've adjusted the values for the two schools L and O because oo will be the driving entire site parcel developer with utilities roadways dirt and so forth so that you'll see o went up in value in budget and L came down and it's a balancing act but still within the two budgets and we will

055have on the arc only the due date is the 4th so we will find out if those came in yesterday and get that information to you they switched it to the ninth they switched they moved it to the 9th so they've now alerted us they'll be providing that on the 9th and again I'll get that through to the chief of operations so that you can have an update you know just on your 101's where that's heading but so far all of the current budgeting we've had really good controls on that and we feel that it's within the board approved budget next up is Elementary M this is a new school out in the East Zone it's on a property that we just bought Savannah Lakes a golf course lots of lakes and we are just

056starting our design process there there're going to be a lot of legal involved with this because everything was a planed community and everything is platted so now they've got to be combined into one parcel so we're going to go ahead and start our design how we think there's going to be two schools ultimately on this site how we are going to locate those the accessibility our Lake's going to have to be filled and that retainage be pushed somewhere else on the property to better utilize it because right now it's it's all chopped up so that's where we are we're in our schematic design completion and the design completion in its entirety should be May of 2026 with and the substantial completion for that particular School M only is June of 2029 any questions good okay

057the big one nnn one moment we have one question M jelli I'll be quick the a th seat Elementary School for M Can is there ability to add on seats to that in the for the future or you know what I mean because as we're growing right now we needed those seats yesterday so by the time we get this done in 29 I'm concerned that we well in our design we will provide capacity it really falls on the parcel if there's and I believe there is space on that parcel to do that we could do a similar concept like we did for what is the new Lambs building where we put an actual addition building on the end cuz we had the parcel if there is parcel based once we do the sighting of the

058school on this parcel if there is that room I would design it for that otherwise we would find an area where you could add Portables and we'd have a manhole to intercept future electrical conduits out the side of the building so we could bring in the power to feed the Portables and things of that nature but if there is acreage and we have an area we would allow for an extension and that would increase all we'd have to do is increase our electric and our HVAC capacity similar to what we did at mm middle or the new Lambs building thank you I just don't recommend planning for Portables we I planning for build you know building I don't like the portable idea so just for the record thank you next school up NN Middle School

059this is the new high school out in Alba as you can see we have a budgeted amount of 162 .2 million coming to the board this evening the original budget amount I believe was $1 140 obviously the cost of construction and inflation has gone up the current estimates that we have received 60% estimates from the architect are 165 million so understand the architect originally started out with a 30% estimate of 168 million so he has now come down to 165 million based on the progress at 60% of the drawings our CM at 30% has an estimate of 171 million for this school again this is without FFN in our phase one costs the 60% estimate from the CM will be given to us on September 9th there's as I spoke to before there's about a

060two-e delay from when the architect provides those 60% drawings for him to provide an estimate so we believe when you approve the budget tonight of 162 2.25 we actually believe that we'll be able to as we get closer to the 90 and the 100 those prices all of the cushion will start coming out of that we might have to do some ve to bring it in but we think we can attain that at this moment in time and that's inclusive of all off-site road work and utilities being brought to the site and so forth any questions did you say that was inclusive of that of the work that has to be done to get there the numbers I just gave to you are inclusive of all offsite road work and utilities required to power up

061the building once we build the building on that site and all of the fill the elevation the site work everything is in there I believe we're able to stay away from any Wetlands on that property we have we are not mitigating or affecting any wet lands ultimately you know the Army Corps is going to want we have we have put in for what we call a no permit required request it's still no guarantee that it won't sit in the Army Corps of Engineers before we get that approval but usually something like that can be expedited if we're clearly showing that we're not impacting wetlands and that's where we are right now we've already submitted to the Army Corps so we're just waiting to hear be really nice to them tomorrow yeah there is a Crispy

062Cream near any questions on that so again again through your one-on ones when the CM provides his 60% estimate on that around the 9th of September I'll make sure that gets forward to you as well Miss Morgan do you have anything regarding nnn no I do not thank you and just the timeline on that I just want you all to be aware that this is a school that will open in June of 2028 so you know here we are at September of 2024 so you can see the durations and the timelines with the Army Corps and all the 404 vacation that has occurred on how it affects us to ultimately deliver these seats that are so desperately needed in these these zones next school is the sister school that I spoke to earlier o Middle

063School on the 82 parcel the Dual site 100% of these drawings will be finished at the end of September and at that point in time I'll have an estimate from the architect and I will have an estimate from the construction manager but understand that this building we're not going to put this out to bid until I get the Army Corps of Engineers approval because what I bought the CM going out to bid one time that means go out solicit bids when we are at that point where it looks like the Army Corps release is imminent we will put both L and oo out for public bid to gather that information collect those bids and then I'll bring it I'll be coming to you for a total project cost approval for both of those schools at

064that time and if I go to the book I can give you a rough idea if if the Army Corps was to take their entire timeline I'm looking in a perfect world of getting something to you around August of 26th so understand where we are today 100% drawings will be ready for both of those schools at the end of this month I'll be sitting and waiting until Army Corps gets done before I put it out for public bid and hopefully coming to you in August of 26 with a total project cost for each school and by that time these assumed values that you're seeing may not support the market value so I just want you to be aware of that I can't control the market I can only you know we've put in inflationary Concepts

0655 to 8% per year perom to try when we develop these timelines but if I could tell you exactly what it was going to be I probably be on Wall Street or something like that any questions on o I know you're depressed we feel that the same way on are and these dollars are just it's crazy you will be in the budget approving tonight and it will indicate the removal of the oo West Zone high school out of the capital long-term budget plan so that will come off the books and assuming that the board approves that action then we will we will kill those contracts our intent though however is to move forward with a civil engineer on that parcel and get the Army Core permitting we can always dummy a foot foot print of

066a building showing our impact to any wetlands and water get all of our Army Core permitting started on that I think that's for that parcel I think that's money well spent so that's how we're moving forward with that and that money is in the capital plan budget already that you'll be approving River to high school I know you've all been out there you've seen the media we had a successful opening of the new science wing building that's out there and an interior renovation to the cafeteria and also some of the administration area and obviously all of the sites and the parking areas for the children we still have a long way to go so we're still working on what we call phase 2A and phase 2B and between now and August of 25 we'll be

067bringing on board the new gymnasium all of the new entries and traffic signals will be complete and all of the Interior renovation of the remainder of the interior of that campus will be complete I want you to M be aware we have been using project contingency we have roughly a million dollars of project contingency to do this phase that we are currently in that last GMP you approved we are finding that the plumbing in that school is gone when we started our design and we moveed forward on this we were told that the plumbing was in good shape so in these phases that I've just recently completed we've spent approximately $230,000 to repair the plumbing to allow us to maintain schedule through the through the project contingency which is part of the project but I'm

068just making you aware as we progress through this building and this campus I will be eating into that million doll contingency we're hopeful that there'll be enough to support this unknown extensive Plumbing failure at this school so I'm not priming you that I'm coming to you for money I just want you to be aware that there is a potential that the $108 million that you approved could go up a little bit when I said a little bit you know a million dollar maybe two at the work but I don't anticipate that we're going to use the project contingency which I will report to you and you also will see in my monthly change order reports that's another indicator because you're obviously reviewing the change orders that occur M Jordan Scott could you just I had

069written down could you explain to me please what the school building envelope will be under a separate contract what exactly does that mean please which project on I'm sorry I'm not there yet I'm sorry I'm ahead forget what they just said when I get there I will take it back to me are there any other questions on Riverdale I hope you all have been out there the place looks really great I think they're happy Mr persons do you have something I just had a question what were the pipes made of that they just you know basically I know they're 50 years old but well cast iron cast iron back then okay I was thinking that they're not now right no they're not and the best part was the electrical was for the entire campus the

070school was direct burial wasn't even in conduit so part of our project funds was obviously bringing in a new power feeder from fpnl which we coordinated with them all right thank you thank you all right and then attach you see just a couple of photos of the finished product of the revised cafeteria and then there's a side view of the two-story science classroom building and a picture of some of the interior of the science classrooms at the high school level so okay out I think everybody's pretty much thr understand it's a tough when you do we did it at dunar high school too when you're doing an existing campus renovation in an occupied fully loaded school there's going to be pain and heartburn on all sides of the fence it's our job to try and

071accommodate the school staff they put up with a lot and nobody is happier to see us leave than the principles in the teachers that are there that have had to deal with the dust the sound the disruptions up the fire alarms going off so it's a collaborate effort but I just want you to be aware these existing School Renovations that are occupied are very difficult last but not least vpaa Lam teal Black Box we are currently managing all three there's going to be a media event that Rob sper is working on for the tilt wall starting to be lifted for the blackbox theater I've approached the superintendent and his staff for thinking about what you'd like to call the blackbox theater and I know that they're working on that since originally it would have been

072you know when that was going to be a large super K8 campus it would have been whatever the name of that campus at the time would have been but now since the campus has been re Port of it has been renamed renamed L teal you still have the vpa on the other side and the black box is close to L teal we're just looking for a little Direction on what that might want to be called the board estimate that you approved was $ 55.4 million we're still on track and we're still on targeting there is an issue or we went out the brick on the Lim Lim building is failing we have gone out and do done a structural survey outside of this project for this very reason for the brick we are receiving quotes

073but right now I got a verbal quote today to do the brick and repair it's a approximately going to be at least $800,000 they recommend painting The Brick with the Stow product the Stow product is the same product we did the leek building with now for slightly more which is this is all verbal it's coming to me and writing in the next couple of days or they recommend doing the same installation process that we did on the leapac which is fixing the brick to cracks any water infiltration putting that insulation you saw the guys around this building putting up and then coming through with the Stow like stucco it's like a paint and stucco it's going to provide better insulation and it's also going to provide from future leaks with the brick there won't be

074maintenance of the brick and it'll look similar to the outside of the leek building and that's about a $2 to $300,000 add to the 800 so there'll be two proposals coming and we'll work with operations and maintenance to see you know what everybody feels is the most appropriate we don't maintain brick we never have and we're not very good at it so my recommendation would be to go with a similar product that we used here on this building that seems to be holding up pretty well I think some of the moisture issues you had in this facility have somewhat dissipated or the complaints thereof so just something food for thought but that's where the exterior envelope is the brick and the windows in the roof thank you Miss Patria thank you I just have some

075overall questions the first is in terms of consistency in reporting if you look at your first few few slides it does not tell us the number of student seats and in some cases we have an expansion going on like the hector kafara for example that's an expansion if you could going forward in these reports show us the number of student seats and if there is an expansion what the original number was and what the ultimate number will be can do that would be helpful to me at least that's the first thing and second thing is if I recall correctly when you used to give these presentations to to the board at the end you also had major maintenance projects like Roofing and HVAC and things like that you didn't spend as much time on those

076but you were reporting to the board on those if I recall am I correct you correct I would love to see that we have that right now all of my projects including the maintenance projects that we do the large that require design and Engineering we are working on over 50 products I provide this as an update it tells us status where we are design procurement design construction close out on schedule nonon schedule we can forward that if the superintendent desire I share this with the chief operations offer and officer if you would like it to be shared with you Dr Savage to distribute to the board members we certainly can do it I'd like I'd frankly like to see it be part of this report for the public to see as well because I think

077that's where we kind of get ourselves into trouble is when we're not looking at these things on a regular basis and having the public view them to help us to ask the questions we should be asking so sure we can have that at the end we used to do it if it ain't broke don't fix it wasn't broke and then we got dinged on a on our own audit for not doing it so I don't know why we don't just add it back in if that's okay with the board it's if you would like if you're done with your questions on the presentation slides which I think that was the last slide we had we can actually bring up the tracking sheet to see I can't pull it up oh you can't pull it up

078I think I think it's best if we bring that up at a later time just because of time for purposes is that okay with everyone that okay and I think that's a great Point Mr Tri I've been taking School tours and I think the things that are landing on the list what we're talking about right now you know the people that live and are around that Community you know South Fort Meers or Fort Meers or Fort Meers the there's all kinds of things that have been they've been waiting for and it would be great for them to be able to hear how close are they and how and for the families of those schools to be able to hear how close are we on Roofing a science lab carpeting Etc so I think that'll be

079helpful in the future I mean I can't tell you all of those items other than the ones that I'm physically overseeing in my department I think this document provides all of that information and status that you would like if it's being supported by tax re referendum money then I think the dashboard is supposed to give you that indication of what work is occurring and in what fiscal year so that's a tool you could use as well and then this can tell you in real time that the jobs that my department is managing for the maintenance department that'd be great okay we can add that to the end of the presentation I'm sorry going forward we can add this sheet to the end of the presentation that's exactly where it used to be and it got

080very little discussion but was I mean we were required to look at it to prep for the meeting so I just think it's a good thing for us to have our eyes on and then finally you mentioned change orders and I know that's not in this presentation but when you come in front of us with those change order reports it's not just for construction correct it's also for major maintenance projects to include my change order report is strictly my Capital work out of my department okay very good th those are my questions thank you all right seeing no other questions I have one it's not really a question it's just a comment as we're looking at Franklin Park just to remind the board that this is our community school so the building is done but

081there's still additional work working with Lee Health working with United Way to bring that to fruition Jen Robinson and Wally cologne have been leading that and we're hoping that everything will be done before the end of this semester to have those services for the community and our students that's okay thank you all right thank you thank you very much you guys have a great day next is our civil rights and Equity guide first reading Dr Jessica Duncan and Chuck Bradley will be presenting to us unfortunately Jennifer Fuller is not here today in filling under the weather but welcome to the both of you thank you for good afternoon I'm Jessica Duncan executive director of student services here with Chuck Bradley like to thank you board members superintendent Savage attorney Deo Bruno for the opportunity to

082review some of the updates to the Civil Rights and Equity guide today we'll start off by looking at the areas where we have had up so we will be in title 6 title 7 Title 9 looking at ada8 and then the updates to the equity contact information for those of you who may not have been here giving you a little bit of History the school district guide was first developed in 2022 with significant stakeholder input we had a number of meetings in community meetings where we worked on this guide we presented it in to the school board in June June 2022 and at that point it was a guide that schools could use today we will be our first review to look at this guide with the updates to be considered board policy so the

083purpose of this guide the compelling why the compelling why for this guide arose from a need to describe the civil rights guaranteed to guaranteeing equal opportunities and protections under the law regardless of personal characteristics in our district to achieve this we realize that some need accommodations to ensure Equitable access and that the school district is required to ensure Equitable access to all especially those identified by protected classes the sources of this guide were included the US US constit goodness the US Constitution and especially those parts that talk to us about speech expression and privacy Florida Statutes 101 14.02 and chapter 2022 originally House Bill 1557 the Florida Equity law and the school district code of conduct for students the philosophy behind this guide is to ensure that we are communicating with our student students our

084teachers and our parents recognizing that together they form the triangle of Student Success and that together they need to develop clear Avenues of communication and collaboration encouragement and support so we look at the first updates we're looking here at title six and there is a reference to staff attire that was removed this was just actually moved over to title 7 where it was more appropriately placed in employment the same is with hairstyle the staff reference was removed over to employment also the reference to the crown Act was removed that we placed as pending legal reference that ever actually went through it didn't change the section we're still adhering to H as we wrote it didn't change the information but just the reference to the pending legislation was removed additionally in title six we have a

085new section for discipline and that students are not discipline based on their race color and national origin and the code of conduct is followed for disciplinary incidents for title seven the changes were some combined sections on classroom office space and personal items so sort of all go together when we talk about those items and we added a discussion or display of controversial issues topics on opposing points of view have been prolongated by responsible opinion or likely to arouse both support and opposition in the community and that's in compliance with our board policy 2240 so we added that clarification added the board policy and also added information about the recent filings in the 11th circuit in this area we also this is where the employment area where we moved hairstyle ethnic Heritage cultural attire native language

086and dialect all of that was moved here for staff so anything that was previously in the title six is now in the title 7 because this is where employment information is it's more applicable here and then again for Title Five there is a discipline section this is similar to the section we just discussed in six but this is for staff for any necessary disciplinary action with staff and that should be in accordance to the law and board policy and again without regard to an individual's race color or national origin and for five we added the email signature line this information has been shared but hasn't been was not previously in the document this is a reminder to staff to use the district signature lines and the template which is provided by Communications and you can

087add Insignia or like a logo for your school work rated certifications but the addition of any nonwork related elements any Insignia P pictures or quotes would not be allowed just using the district signature line under Title Nine we add information about the Hope Scholarship and especially in in accordance with the 2024 House Bill brings it into alignment includes some information about where the Hope Scholarship has been amended by House Bill 1403 as of July 1st 2024 and how that new mechanism will work so if I can just add to this piece we did have some input from a Community member and I think it is important to note that this was from the doe into the information I think it was it referred as to step up however the community members concern was that this

088is really related to funding I think in reviewing it further we don't disagree we're going to get some additional information before our second reading U but we think that the input that was provided has Merit so there is the possibility that we will either reward this given some doe input or maybe eliminated if it's just unnecessary for for families to know as well under Title Nine we remove the reference to gender identity under sharing information in accordance with the current injunction with Title 9 law we also in changed the and added to to the restroom and locker room information the reference to the safety and private spaces act which introduces penalties for people using a public restroom or changing facility not aligned with their sex assigned at Birth for athletics we added references to Florida

089statute 106205 and we also added a discipline section under Title 9 the section on any necessary student disciplinary action should be applied in accordance with the student code of conduct and not based on an individual sexual orientation or gender expression for employees disciplinary action should be applied in accordance with board policies app applicable statutes and the professional code of conduct and not based on an individual sexual orientation or gender expression under the names and pronouns section we added a reference to Florida statute 1.71 we added that a nickname affirmed name may be used with the submission of a nickname affirmed name form signed by the parent students who are 18 or older do not require a parent signature we added School staff will be addressed by their legal name and we added employees contractors or

090students cannot be required to refer to another person using that person's preferred personal title or pronouns if such personal title or pronouns do not correspond to that person's sex we also added employees and contractors are prohibited from providing students his or her preferred personal titles or pronouns if such preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to his or her sex further employees and contractors are prohibited from asking students to provide their preferred personal titles or pronouns in accordance with Florida statute 1,071 in the area of ADA for Americans with Disabilities Act the update to this area was that all district communication will be ADA Compliant and then finally for the equity contact we had multiple people listed in different areas but to ensure that the guide is one user friendly that users receive timely

091responses and then also aligning with the office of civil rights requirement to have a single point of contact we have Jennifer Fuller listed as the contact so one other update also from Community input we have one section in the Hope Scholarship that talks about that it can be used for bullying or violence and then it goes on to say a complete list of incidents is found in section 100024 the input was provided to go beyond bullying EnV virence and in our brief discussion up to this point because it is a user guide that should be friendly and we do want people to not necessarily have to go to the section to find the information we don't have an issue with including all of the things that hope can be used for because in our schools

092we currently provide it for all of these incidents if parents want to use it and those are in addition to bullying and violence battery harassment hazing bullying kidnapping physical attack robbery sexual offenses harassment assault battery threat or intimidation fighting as defined by the Department of Education in accordance with statute 6.09 so we will list all of those out so that if someone is using this and they're reading that section there's no ambiguity it's it's clear to the user so at this point we will open it up for superintendent's comments and any board discussion thank you just wanted to give one other piece of information for the board so we had our today our managerial meeting with our principles today where all of our principles are on a call together where we did go through the

093changes in terms of the equity guide and so forth and also the implementation talk through some of those any anything was new basically but also any particular issues trying to give clear guidance on how they Implement some of those aspects as well so just want the board to be aware that we had that conversation today with our principles and let them know that pending adoption today that would be something that how to proceed accordingly operationally board members do you have any comments or questions Miss dordan I apologize I try to get all my questions answered yes yesterday I had a whole list but then I went back and I read the red lines and I came back with more questions so if I may on page five the classroom and office spaces I know it

094refers to the board board policy 2240 which is regarding classroom instruction it does not the board policy should reflect the State Board of education's own clarification that and that's part of that settlement agreement and regarding like safe sticker space and all of that and it is that none of those are considered classroom instruction so 2240 our policy is strictly for instructional purposes am I correct on that Mr pno no I mean I pulled it and that's what it says so I'm I'm not sure I so yes you're correct that the board policy 2240 is with regards to controversial issues within the classroom right so this is basically taking that definition and putting it within the classroom and office space as part of the guide to make sure that staff is aware that there is a

095board policy one that addresses classroom discussions that may be controversial and to be careful with regards to controversial issues use in the classroom so that they are in adherence to the board policy right so it's it's pertaining to instructional programming and not personal items is what I'm referring to because we just added personal items in this as as one classroom office space and personal items where and then we refer to board policy 20 2240 as a reference to that but does it has nothing to do with personal items okay so that's going to be a very Nuance legal discussion in terms of personal items and what's in the classroom what has been shared is pretty much every single thing in a school building is the property of the school board from the walls to the

096desk to the computer that you're using so that's why we have an example in terms of what personal item is so I don't want to conflate the two CU those are two separate legal issues that you're referencing in terms of instruction I guess I'm trying to follow Miss Jordan what you're you're asking okay so what I'm saying is when I'm looking at this and then with Dr Savage saying that he had spoken to the principals if I'm a principal I'm looking at this saying that 2240 our board policy is saying that personal items classroom office space all of this is the same when it really has to do with 2240 has to do with instruction has not does not have anything to do with personal and that is based on the State Board of education's

097own clarification and their settlement agreement okay so let's let's be careful with the settlement agreement because the settlement agreement was very specific on a particular lawsuit that dealt with House Bill 1557 I believe it's the educational parents Rights bill that is speaking to a very specific set of circumstances with regards to instructing on sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom this guide is not addressing that's not the purpose of this guide this guide is addressing anything that can be in the classroom that may stir up a controversial issue so I don't want again I don't want to conflate the two because these are some very nuanced legal issues but don't don't mix them up that settlement agreement has a very specific purpose for a very specific spefic topic for a very specific law Okay

098then if I'm mistaken then I will share this with you afterwards okay so that way we can have clarification on that one and then the other is on page I just want to make sure that we're looking out for every single every single student every single parent that we respect them and we're you know making sure that we're protecting their rights all of them so and then the names and pronouns where School staff will what page I'm sorry page seven School staff will be addressed by their legal name legal name my name my legal name is Deborah but I if you call me Deborah I know you don't know me so where does that lie because my name is I go by Debbie so just with that saying it's addressing this and it's in policy

099that you must use your legal name I want to make sure that is not and I know you and I talked briefly about it but we're now telling School staff that you must use your I don't know if you're Chris or you're Christine or I mean what does that look like to us so through the chair if I may I believe you're referencing page seven page seven that says School staff will be addressed by their legal name so the and I don't know if Chuck and Jesse want to address that you want me to this the student part of that what we do right now I think she's speaking about the staff staff staff version so we do have staff that are transitioning in our schools that are transgender and so by law we need

100to make sure that they're referred to by their legal name in school it's connected to their the students transcript and it's also connected to their certification and Social Security so with our staff we do require that there's going to be any change of name in the classroom that they pursue that through the legal process of a legal name change through the court of law but I think with the other piece about a derivative we did have with our student section if you have a name with a known derivative you could use that if you used a nickname or something that was drastically different from that we had for students a nickname or firm name form but if it was a derivative so if you were Deborah or Debbie those are known derivatives that we did

101not have any additional paperwork for okay I'm just Mak I think that we could add the same yes I agreed and I think we touched on that briefly earlier that we could add that same for adults if it was a known derivative thank you I appreciate that and then the other one was page eight okay so page eight was sharing information regarding sexuality so by removing and there may be a reason why we did so by removing and or gender identity does this now say that we can share that information because we remove that as we cannot so part of the legal dilemma that we have is that the new title 9 regulation so let me go back and just make sure I explain this clearly Title Nine of course pre prevents and protects against

102discrimination based on sex in the education setting the definition of sex is what has been something that has been discussed an executive order was issued I believe in 2021 that included gender identity as part of that definition of sex with direction to the United States Department of Education to create some regulations to address that they did that in April of 2024 and that has been challenged at this point those regulations are not enforceable in the State of Florida that is why the references to gender identity has been removed from the guide so are you telling me that so then the Privacy they have no privacy then like so I'm just going to say it a trans child would not have because that would be considered more gender identity they would not have privacy I don't

103understand what you mean Miss Jordan I just want to make sure that everybody is covered when we're doing when we're saying privacy the school you know must hold uphold the Privacy rights of parents and their children that's all children but I feel that if we remove part of it that's taking and this is based on conversations I've had with when you said public input public input blowing my phone up so that's why I'm sharing so first and for for most let's make sure that we understand that the school board of Lee County the school district of Lee County does not discriminate on the basis of any characteristics to include gender identity so if there is something that is occurring that is harassment bullying Etc that will be dealt with this particular section remember is referencing

104Title 9 specifically it's not referencing all of our other discrimination policies that we have or other protections that we have this is strictly for Title 9 and the things that would fall under Title 9 and that's why that language is not there all of our students will be protected thank you and then my last one was the restrooms I just think that we and I know we've had this conversation multiple times how do we start incorporating restrooms into our new builds so that everybody if they need a single stall without having permission to go use one would have the right to use that and I even go back to my son who always felt like he could not do that CU somebody knew what his shoes look like and I just feel that every child

105or whoever it is that really needs to have a private stall we need to make sure that we have it we don't have a place in this building even for that so I just think that going forward that's something that we really should be looking at that we have that ability for or if I decided I felt like I needed more privacy if he felt whoever that looks like that we would have that opportunity to to give them that privacy so that's a very good point Miss Jordan it's my understanding that where we could placards have been changed to make them unisex bathrooms for single stalls and buildings and it's also my understanding that the new prints for new architecture and the buildings are including unisex bath friend thank you that's my questions I appreciate

106it Miss Patria Miss Morgan do you have anything I have nothing thank you okay thank you that staff would need board is direction as to whether or not they can move this to Second reading Within Corrections staff do we or excuse me staff board do we agree that this can be moved to Second reading thumbs up are they fixing that one miss Patria yeah I just if this is a guide right this is a guide this is not a policy this is not a requirement of why is the board even approving this why are we even involved why is this not operational if I may ask that question please pleas so this originated as a guide but through this process so this would be our first read to use this as part of our policy

107okay in conjunction with our other policies so today's the first reading so we heard your input what we do now and we've had Community input we'll take that back revise send you those and schedule for the second one and then I believe it goes the second reading then the board meeting for final approval where it would be then considered policy so what in side a policy there'll be a link to the guide so it through the chair if I may no there will not be a link to the guide so think of this almost like a student code of conduct something similar along those lines this will be a policy within of and stand on its own within itself all right well that being said I do have to go back and ask a question

108if I may through the chair so going back to the Privacy issue on page8 School Personnel will not disclose any information about a student's sexual orientation or questions they may have about their sexual orientation to third parties unless the student is requesting accommodations or it is absolutely necessary that means that my high school child can go and have a conversation with his trusted adult inside a school building if he's questioning a sexual identity without fear that trusted adult in inside the building is going to tell his parents correct you want me to you want to follow so I I'll follow up with what our current guidance is so we do talk we have we train our schools that if a student is questioning their Identity or their orientation they are to be directed to speak

109with a school counselor the school counselor does does instruct the student at that time if we continue with this conversation I will need to involve your parent okay so kids can't go to a school counselor if they're questioning their sexual orientation without fear of parents being told even in high school at at this time they are told that they can speak to them a certain number of times but if they at a certain point they will need to involve the parent so there so if a kid is really what is that point Mr Bradley what like how much Freedom do kids have so we have I mean in elementary school I get it if a Kindergarten kid is walking into a counselor and saying I'm questioning my sexual identity or my sexual orientation not identity

110orientation the parents should be involved immediately but if a high school kid is talking about it like I don't know that these rules should be applied across the board for every kid of every age in the same way so tell me the point at which a child can no longer have this conversation with a trusted adult inside a building without the parents being informed please so I I'll have to get back to you with the exact number but I do know that we did quantify this at one point and I your point is well taken AG should probably be a condition of that we are trying to remain compliant with state law as well okay all right I would really I'm very concerned for kids who are and I see it in here or it

111is absolutely necessary mental health emotional physical health or well-being but if a child has a genuine concern that disclosure of this to a parent will lead to abuse then we have a responsibility right we do and we and we do say that if there is a genuine fear of disclosure to a parent that the school will contact appropriate authorities so we will contact DCF if needed and but we will work with that student to make sure that student is safe but that can lead to other problems with Mom and Dad contacting DCF can be a rabbit hole that ends up being far worse for the child correct I'd like to see some kind of some consideration for the age of the student so if I may this is this part is stemming from HB h

112B 1557 in a child's emotional health and there's some other criterias that the parent must be notified so as Mr Bradley was saying at some point you know there may be a casual conversation I'm feeling this but if the child is persistent and keeps going to the counselor at some point the parent going to be notified it doesn't matter if it's elementary middle or high school now the statute also says if there is concern that there's going to be abuse in the home then the staff has the Liberty to make sure they call DCF and disclose so that's that's within the confines of the statute that's what we have to really walk that fine line with all right I appreciate that and if you could give me a sense of how long that child can

113discuss casually without involvement of DCF or families that'd be great thank you anybody else Mr persons I don't want any consideration for age they're minor children okay and so in that aspect I think legally and everything else and as a parent unless there's fear and that they're covered that I think they should be notified I don't think we should say well anyone 16 and over if they decide they want to do that you don't have to tell a parent I think one I think that would be against statute and two I just don't think that's right that's all thank you for the record I agree Mr persons Miss ganelli I was just going to say that until the child's 18 the parent is the legal guardian so I don't know how you could exclude a

114parent whatsoever because the law is the law on that so I would disagree that there's an a 16 or 17 or 18 or 15 it doesn't matter the parent is in in charge of their child and they need to be aware of the situation so that they can handle their family situation appropriately and that's up to the parent that's not up to anybody at this board table I guess just for the record to make sure that the board is clear as to the language of the statute and also for members of the public that may not be familiar the statute specifically says that a school district may not adopt procedures or student support forms that prohibit School District Personnel from notifying a parent about his or her students mental emotional or physical health or well-being

115or a change in related services and that's where the how many times is it casual or actually getting Services comes in change in related services are monitoring that encourage or have the effect of encouraging a student to withhold from a parent such information so it's not about age it's not about are you in elementary or high school the statute is very very clear in terms of those provisions and what can and cannot be done okay thank you I think we have decided with nodding of head to move on to the second reading thank you so thank you have a great afternoon next is policy review first reading attorney dupay Bruno is going to be presenting to us we're just going to give her a few few moments to to set up thank you shouldn't have

116to go very far I know Mr Bruno whenever you're ready to proceed thank you mam chair are there any questions are you ready thank you madam chair with me I have U Miss broy Berita broy and are there any questions from the board all right I'm going to start with Mrs Morgan Miss Morgan do you have any questions for attorney depay Bruno we could just get confirmation if she's still on the line anyone else on the Das have any questions for the attorney Mr fiser it's a it's actually a question for the board so I don't know if you want me to hold that until later or about one of the policies I don't know what preference of one is go ahead and proceed yeah okay can we bring up policy 131 please which is

117legislative policymaking under policy development I'm going to ask this board and we've had a prior discussion on this in order for us the last line of policy development any extraordinary vote of the board one more than majority essentially a super majority shall be required to make exceptions amendments or additions to or delete adopted po board policies I'm going to ask my fellow board members that I think we should amend that policy to set it as majority the reasons for that and if I recall if anyone can correct me on that we're the only board within this state that does it like that I believe they weren't able to find anywhere else in the country one of our primary statutory duties is obviously implementing and affecting policy I don't believe for something like that as our

118purpose is being essentially legisla body that we should go to an extraordinary vote in order to change policy since that is one of our primary roles within this state legislature for example is just a majority I understand there's certain things that require super majority such as setting aside rules and I would not disagree with that but as our primary action as policy makers I don't see why we need to come to that method I don't see why in order to change a policy that we need to have a super majority in order to add a policy is just a majority so in effect we could pass a PO a policy by the majority tonight that conflicts with the current policy even so we couldn't amend or remove that so I'd ask my fellow board members

119to consider that motion going forward especially as we're looking at a elected superintendent going forward thank you I agree with that Mr persons then miss ganelli did you have something I was just going to say I support that as well okay thank you I just wondering how we would go about changing that since it's in our policy we have to have a super majority to change this policy to make it not a super majority correct but I am for it so and what would be the timeline for that can we do it today to amend that or this is just first reading so if the board would like to amend that policy this evening a motion can be made and you do need the super majority at that point point to change it the other

120thing is when this comes to Second reading we can pull this policy and do the same thing but if you want to do that today you can I think probably would be better to try to do it sooner than later I mean especially since we're the only District probably in the nation that has this Mr fiser you want to follow up I'd like to ask just again what the temperature of the board is for this tonight if there's any comments questions concerns oh I missed the comment so please restate Miss Morgan I'm asking for under 131 legislative policym that instead of requiring for an amendment or deletion of a board policy that we move to amend it to a majority my reasoning for that is as a legislative body that is one of our primary

121purposes we're the only School District in the state that does it like that based on the research we were previously told and as I said I believe it's even in conflict that we can create policy with a majority but we cannot amend or move policy unless a super majority and my again reasoning is I understand there are things that are purposes of a super majority such as you know suspending rules which I agree with but as something that is our essentially main core purpose I don't see why we need an extraordinary vote I mean the Florida legislature for example does is a simple majority as well M I'll go back to our board protocol which is that we don't make motions on the same day and act on them unless it's it's extraordinary circumstances I

122I don't see why the motion has to be made and acted on today I'd be happy to consider it at another meeting but I'm just opposed to this notion that we want to do something and we do it right away and we don't have the opportunity to reflect or consult on our own as you have done thank you Mr fiser follow follow up I was actually not asking for a motion today Miss Morgan I was merely stating since we were reviewing 131 as part of the processes today to bring it up to see what the temperature of the board was I was not asking for a motion today I was asking to explore this and see what our fellow board members thought about this thank you Mr psons is there a way to as you

123said pull this from this or we have to go back and so I mean not change it now but but just not do the first reading on it or so this is first reading and we can make the change like we've done with other policies where we made changes because there is language here that has been properly noticed as part of the rulem process so we want to make sure we stay in compliance but we can make the changes and when it's time to vote on it for the public hearing the second reading we'll vote on that separately so we can have the super majority vote okay I think that's the route we should go I mean it's we're not voting on it tonight at all so that would give Miss Morgan plenty of time

124to look at it and all of us so I would say maybe if we could get a consensus with a thumbs up that will work okay you have your direction okay thank you thank you any other questions or comments regarding policy Mr persons I just want to to commend you on the AI policy I read it sounds pretty good I mean that's a whole new area and I'm sure we're going to run into a lot of things but we really needed a policy so just want to thank you for that I didn't really have any questions on it thank you Mr persons I have to give a lot of credit to Neola on that one makes sense Miss Jordan and I know I came yesterday and met with Mr P Bruno with all my questions

125regard policies and the one that I was concerned about was 1 0165 0166 the removal of briefings and when I asked I wasn't sure if that happened the day that I missed or I was sleeping through something because I've never recall us saying that we were going to remove a briefing or a workshop and just have go down to two meetings so that's my question and I and I said I would bring this up today because I wasn't sure of it so I don't know where that lies so what's your what's your actual question that is my question where where did that come from where did the removal of briefing come from in 065 and 0166 where did that where did the removal of briefings come from for this policy to be taken place I'm

126happy that yep I'm happy Dr Savage thank you Madam chair so our understanding was that through the engagement we've had with the board members and attempting to try to reduce our meetings and bring us in line with what other districts and how they operate as we've analyzed in the State in terms of what we find other districts do they do not hold briefings they hold workshops and action meetings and in far less number than what we presently do which is our six a month two briefings two workshops two action meetings so bringing us in line with other districts they hold a workshop the critical issue for us as we've been modifying and we've attempted to do this on several occasions so far is we've had to retain the title briefing strictly so that we could

127continue to offer public comment because I there was concern that perhaps the public would feel like we were limiting their ability to speak and give voice to it whereas in other districts many times they are still afforded public comment at some stage of the workshop so that the public would have that opportunity however in our policy we could not continue to call them a workshop because that did not allow for that pie and so all it's doing is kind of reflecting that adjustment in practice so that as we attempt to set a new calendar year in November we set the meetings for the year that would be consistent with what other districts in the state do however again this is all designed for feedback from the board in case it's inconsistent with what the majority

128of the board would want that's this is that opportunity to give voice that's my best answer to that thank you I appreciate that but and yes we've had conversations about this I know like in our one-on ones but never I don't recall us saying okay this is what we want to do let's because to me I feel like it has nothing to do with I want people to be able to come and speak but I also want to make sure that when we are here having workshops briefing whatever you want to call them you can call them whatever you want that we are having conversation because this is our only opportunity that we do have to speak collectively otherwise we don't have conversations about anything that's taken place so for me when we remove something

129like that and just because we have the word briefing there does not mean that we have a briefing if there's nothing to be briefed on but for us to remove that and not have the opportunity I just want to make sure that we are not taking something away and losing the ability to have conversation with one another about important things that are taking place for this District we're just too big of a district not to to be having that conversation okay Mr fer than Mr person thank you madam chair we have had discussions up here multiple times about that I know I've brought it up Miss juvell Miss Langford Fleming I know even Dr Savage we had that discussion I think it even went back to the prior superintendent as well I have a question

130for that in regards Dr Savage just because these are moved to workshops doesn't necessitate if need be that we could add more workshops correct that is cor through the chair that is correct okay because I mean I being on this board we're almost 2 years I still struggle based on the definition the board protocol of telling you actually outside of public input what the real world definition between a briefing and a workshop is so I I don't I see this as no-brainer so thank you Mr persons maybe I'm assuming something I would assume we would go over the agenda questions during the workshop would that still be part of it or presently that is the how we adapt I think that's really at the board's discretion and really what you feel meets the need because

131obviously we also do the one-on-one briefings which in mosts like for example the State Board of Education their briefings are conducted as your briefings which are one-on-one briefings that's how they receive their information that's how they are briefed the workshop is actually where the board has the opportunity to have conversation and some places public comment or not but but in our particular case that presently we don't have that ability so it's really the only distinction the ability to then utilize that meeting in a way that is consistent with what other districts do that's really the only reflective change here is just removing a briefing which does not exist for other districts they don't have that function the way we do presently so it's just that aspect of it that's absolutely the intent of this change

132in language unless I'm mistaken on on what's been added okay I just know we all send questions in and I think it's important to be answered in the public so as long as that's still part of it I'm I'm fine yeah yes historically that has occurred in the workshop that's the setting where it's been done but again that's that's at the board's discretion of whether you want those done as public whether you want your answers handled like for example U miy Dade does one Action meeting one Workshop not necessarily a workshop monthly either but like ker County for example they do one Action meeting their question questions are answered in the board member one: one so they'll they'll actually go through and give those pieces and the one: one so you'll get an answer to

133any item but it's two weeks in advance of your meeting so that way you'd have a chance you know to get questions answered before you'd come and act on that particular so it's again different districts do in different ways it really is up to the board's will of how what you feel is the best way to go about conducting your business Miss ganelli sorry so if we go to workshops this would also eliminate the at briefings you could only the topic they could only speak public speaking can only speak on a topic this would allow them at any Workshop they could speak on anything right it wouldn't have to be on topic per se I'm going to direct that to the attorney is that correct okay Mr Pay Bruno so the only thing that was

134changed in these policies is to remove a briefing and just leave the workshop and the same guidelines in terms of public comment during briefings would apply to workshops so there's there it's not allowing everyone to just talk about everything at a workshop okay because at Workshops the public can't speak at all correct so that's what would change correct okay thank you I support it thank you good okay so moving I guess we need to decide as a board if we are okay with you want to restate what your first comment was Mr Fischer about the or Excuse Me Miss Jordan do you want me to do you want to restate that so that we can I personally feel that if we are going to go to two and I hear what Dr Savage says about

135other places get their one-on ones through their superintendent me personally I believe we are here to do a job and we and yes our job is the Action meeting that's when we do the business of the board however we need to be out there and make sure we have conversation and that we that the community can see that we are actually really working and we do hear what they have to say and we are having conversations because from what I hear out there it's like you guys never talk about anything well that's true we don't talk too much up here because we get a lot of our stuff done behind the door with the super superintendent or the attorney separately not together collectively make sure I say that right on our one-on ones but I

136still believe that people want to see us working and have I personally have to have conversation because that's who I am so I don't know about all of you but I know I need to have that conversation and know how you all think and what is going on Mr fiser just a clarification question we are not addressing the number of meetings per month correct just the mode and method for workshops correct there's nothing in the policy that addresses how many meetings time of meetings or anything like that it's just literally just removing briefings and just naming it workshops thank you okay Miss Patria yeah I just I see this as a distinction without a difference we're just removing the word briefing from and we're still going to have workshops and I mean if it were

137up to me we'd meet once a month and never again you know I mean part of part of our responsibility as board members is to digest what is said behind closed doors and be able to explain it to the public when we are stopped in a grocery store or we're at a grand opening of a school or whatever it's it's not you know the whole asking a question for the public to hear is serving 300 people in the public the 300 that watch board meetings this is not the forum for public interaction the forum for public interaction is when we're out in the community in in my opinion we meet too much and so getting away from taking the word briefing out is a step in the right direction unfortunately I'm not going to get

138the benefit of the fewer meetings because I'll be gone by the time you guys get down to fewer meetings but I really just don't I see this as a distinction without a difference until you guys decrease the number of meetings Mr persons well I think today is a good example of communication between the board members we've had discussion on construction and policies and everything else today and I think that's that's good we know everybody is and we gave some direction to whoever was presenting and what to go forward with so like I say I I agree with Mr patrique I don't see a big difference there will be some months that because of budgets and other things we may have to have more meetings but I think overall I think this is fine I agree

139good okay all right thank you one policy that I did want to bring to the board's attention I have a recommended change based on Mr ricken bacher's presentation it's 6340 we added some language about when construction had to come back to the board and give presentations phase one phase two but the policy actually says that the board shall be provided monthly updates on projects given what Mr Rick and Bacher said about B monthly that you they may not be enough change for monthly I'd like to recommend that we change that to BU monthly if that's okay with the board I'm getting a few nodding heads Miss patrio what was the recommendation in the audit I don't remember if it was monthly I think we need to leave it as monthly and we could make it

140a nothing in here requires a monthly oral presentation right you could do a bonly oral and B monthly written but but that to me is dependent upon what the finding of the audit was so we'll look at the audit the only thing I would be careful with written or presentations in one-on ones for this particular policy because it says the board which means it has to be all of you at the same time but we will look if it says U monthly we'll keep it there and if it says if it doesn't we'll we'll make it B monthly if that's the will of the board yeah I mean it can be it can be provided as backup materials for the public to consume as well at a workshop or you know it doesn't have to

141be it can be provided to the board in a public way the board wants me to move in that direction yeah yes yes thank you and do is there a consensus for us to move these policies to second reading board what's our consensus can we move this to Second reading I'm getting majority of Thumbs Up head nod yes and then there were some that were just pre-brief for example the AI policy can we move those then to First reading thank you board yes thank you next on the agenda is the district advisory Council I'm going to just lead this discussion board port board policy 9140 states that the purpose of the district advisory Council or the DC is to receive information and provide actionable feedback to improve the experience of our stakeholders and our schools

142on our buses and at the district per policy before the beginning of each academic quarter the superintendent is to inform the board of the quarterly input subject for Dak that he believes or she believes would be beneficial to the work of the district and seek a consensus from the board on that topic Dr Savage do you have a subject that you believe would benefit from Dax input I do Madam chair and that would be this potential adaptation of the law that requires us to go to a new school start times to basically bring that is such a massive lift for the school system that we just in that provide Prov such Rich feedback because it's the nature of the constituency group that fulfills it connects to every single one of our schools it hits a

143variety of different levels so you have business owners you have Community leaders you have parents but it also ensures that all voices really that we impact really at each individual School those un those unintended consequences are there and Dak has given us so much over the years that we just think that for something that's this massive that would be a major opportunity to really dig into that issue and we think that would be a valuable use of the committee's time but we'd love to hear some board feedback on that as well just in case that's something that would be because it is a pretty big lift for the system it is very big politically in terms of it can be very disruptive people don't realize that it's a state law issue that it's not just

144a local decision but that how it impacts things so we just think it's a perfect opportunity to dig in deep on one really major issue and then if they do come to cure on that certainly we could come back but that would be the one that we would really advise multiple present multiple layers multiple lenses Athletics the different pieces the bus transport there's so many different layers of how it impacts our organization so that would be my recommendation for this board to at least consider as a topic okay thank you board members see how any comments Miss Patria yeah I love that and I love that I'm not going to have to make any decisions on that but my concern there is after school activities like club sports for example swimming I'm thinking about swimming

145my daughter used to swim before and after school her coaches were able to make that 5:00 a.m. practice and then change and go to work but if we're pushing Back start times what's that going to do to the morning practice and the ability of professionals who are volunteering their time or making next to nothing to do these pract how do we get those stakeholders involved through District advisory Council I don't know how to do it other than to send out a communication and encourage them to start to get involved in their local schools School advisory committee because even if they're not official members they can provide feedback during those meetings that will then be brought to the district does that make sense it's either that or a task force specific to outside stakeholders that wouldn't

146normally be involved in a sec those are my comments thank you savage I think it's an excellent point and because that's that's a huge part of is those specific groups that really are negatively impacted one advantage of the DAC structure is that we don't have to just have it be live in those meetings only that group can even react to aggregated feedback of that nature so we could for example try to Target and push through the Sachs folks who who qualify for that exact subass that you kind of identified allow them to give us information via like a thought exchange something like that gives us issues what they work around things like that and then have those groups react to that so it's not just us it really is kind of acting in that kind

147of format so I think it's an excellent point but we'd have to kind of capture a lot of those subgroups that you're like that is a great example of one but if there were others we'd want the DC to be reacting so it isn't just the seven of us and then our Administration but really the whole Community is really reacting to it in that organized way I mean this disrupts entire industries that surround and support our students so I think we need to consider that in in figuring out what the feedback is thank you Mr persons boy I don't like that law so I think we should petition to have them change I think we should I know I agree I agree when you have a dollar in the legislature that's really going out there

148but the problems are huge and I know there's been some districts that have done this what I would like to see if we could reach out and find have I mean the main reason for this was that the high school students with an extra hour of sleep would do better I highly doubt that I think go to bed an hour later okay I mean that's just that's just how kids are so I don't see any up plus you know of it but I think we need some facts to back that up I mean it was a great selling point and it sounded good but I don't know in reality if it is and if it is then I'm I'm all for it I mean I will go online and I mean to the public and

149say that too I just have my sneaky feelings it's not I don't know how many districts have already implemented this there's a couple yeah I would say your instincts are definitely were echoed when the superintendent met the most recent we have another one coming up so we'll hear more about it but at the most recent joint fads fsba there were a number of superin that were talking about this well they acknowledge the intentionality of it but we're questioning the wisdom of it in actual application so I think that's one one one thing that we don't really know though presently that I think a dck assignment or something that effect to give them that body of work that could be helpful is what is the overall kind of the action that we're hearing what is it

150we could start bringing data back to this District have some more substantive conversation that's public could participate that those are things that we could do in that venue and you start to hear how what are the other sentiments between Elementary Middle parents High School parents what is the Pres prevailing sentiment that becomes powerful feedback we could share so again great great points but I'll I'll certainly be willing to bring back at the next upcoming fads which is in a couple weeks what I'll I'll raise this issue among the colleagues in here for the ones who have been implementing for a full year because there are some to get some earlier turns of how is it working for them what do they think so far and I'll bring that information back at the end of September

151early October to this board okay thank you Miss Patria then Miss Jordan to that point there was a presentation at fsba last time and there were a bunch of districts there who said the educational outcomes were completely unchanged by changing the start times so that's anecdotal I know you would have to probably do more of a nationwide sort of crunching of data but here in Florida there was there was no change at all but there was a massive disruption to the community and I am not remotely opposed Mr person to adding that to our legislative platform because there's nothing wrong with admitting that while well intention a bills unintended consequences far outweigh the potential positives there's nothing wrong with our legislature admitting that Miss Jordan Miss Patria just said what I was going to say

152okay thank you any other comments okay seeing no other comments what's that oh yeah K Morgan oh Miss Morgan thank you do you have any comments I have none thank you okay thank you for reminding me so since right now legislative we haven't been able to have our legislative platform discussions I think it appears that would be the best thing for the deak to a great topic for this quarter okay thank you thank you thank you Dr Savage next is the agenda review for this evening's meeting Dr Savage please proceed thank you madam chair so the first question that we had was on on item I2 which was the approval to piggyback the Duvall County Public Schools the fingerprinting Services so the questions were why do we pay for medical students and before and after

153school program employees be fingerprinted we do not pay for other applicant updated candidate fingerprinting last year what was the expenditure for fingerprinting medical students and after school program employees with a teacher shortage why would we not reimburse those that pass the interview process a course put param parameters on it reimbursement after 120 days if we are paying for one group why not pay for teachers as we do have such a retention issue so all great questions related to this so one thing is we don't necessarily have all the information related to the expenditure in terms of the the numbers but once we have that data we'll be starting to share it but I did want to highlight that through our budget processes here which actually one of the very first things our chief human resource

154officer wanted to do and did actually get through that process was to for all of our new employees to have their fingerprinting coverage so as not to incur any costs and so that's something that her team has been working on and they're working with a third party provider to try to get that across the finish line of what that would look like just so it actually implemented so that was something that was already being done it just hadn't yet been fully implemented because that third party piece and working through the piece of that so they're on it appreciate it do want to give some Kudos there the next one was just item I3 which is the approval to renew the agreement with the Imperium Consulting LLC for insurance you know our manages are FEMA claims

155and risk management support so the question was the contract States quote the consultant shall provide invoices on a monthly basis to the school board and then there was just concern that those hadn't been provided also if we had an in-house board auditor this would be one of their jobs to see if we're receiving with an elected superintendent a couple months the auditor needs to be in place where we stand so just want a quick of an answer to this so in fact the consultant does provide their invoices on a monthly basis to us however as as as per the terms of the contract but the board is really recognized as a legal entity as it is a legal entity for all of our contracts and so while while that be the interpretation of this case

156the reality is like a lot of these invoices they're they're very business oriented invoices they come operationally so certainly we would have the ability to provide all of those invoices that have been provided to attest that they in fact have been providing them on on the proper schedule they just didn't it's it's to the board via the superintendent like when the board executes the superintendent executes all the related Doc it's simply that piece so they have done that and we will provide those if the board members would like to receive all those invoice happy to share those with you as well yeah ma'am follow actually my point was really that if we had a board auditor that would be something they would that I think that they would receive and that was really my point

157to that and if there was an issue then that the board auditor would bring it to the board but since they would work for the board but that really was my intent thank you oh my pleasure absolutely thank you ma'am the next item is J2 approval to adopt the job descriptions for the Operations Division the question was is this a new position were there changes to job descriptions if so what were the changes so just to to recap you know this job description was brought to the board briefing on August 21st there is currently one director opening in transportation and through the recruitment for this position they looked at the director job descriptions because they were having difficulty attracting a full compliment of qualified candidates obviously you want to get the best candidate so if

158you're not getting a full compliment you're getting maybe only two people to meet these qualifications the challenge is then you don't want to lower your expectations you want that full compliment so in part of their analysis they updated the present format lowered the requirement from a master's to a bachelor's degree which was consistent with an alignment with other director positions in the district they also lowered the years of experience from five to three in in a large scale mass transportation so trying to broaden that so perhaps they have public sector mass transportation experience those types of aspects because getting a sitting you know just to give you a quick example not all other districts even large ones necessarily they may only have one director so you'd essentially be trying to attract someone to leave a

159sitting large District to come to us in which case we may be small in fact some of our recruitment efforts did exactly that and we had a difficult time getting the person who was the sold director in some of these other districts to want to come to our district in that P in that case so it's just really an attempt to try to get a larger pool you don't necessarily want your minimum calls to be something that is completely restricting your ability you want to cast a wider net and then allow the best candidates to rise through the process of the actual hiring process not being on its face overly restricted where you end up getting folks who maybe have many years of experience but aren't necessarily the highest quality applicants as well so it's

160just one of those aspects and so this reflects that piece there was an error though in the briefing that because the followup question was I would want to see the changes red line that was something that was intended to be done they have gone back to get that updated so the red line has been attacked Ed for you to LC and that's why you have that as well so great all all good questions as well follow-ups to that were please advise if there are any director openings in transportation if so how many and where are the openings if has been advertised will he advertise after these changes are being made so there is currently one director in transportation open this position would be read vertis with the new job description if the board approves this

161job description this evening followups on that after the changes do all directors meet the qualifications of the new job description I cannot help but notice that based on the new job prescription current School administrators nor District administrators will be qualified this is alarming is one of the best transportation directors we had was a prior School administrator I don't think we should be closing a door of opportunity for administrators to advance with the district looks like this Chang is just that please correct me if I'm wrong so here the changes that were made to the requirements of this job should attract more qualified applicants it did not raise the requirements to make people not qualified at less than the requirements all job descriptions have the following statement quote relevant work experience or education may be substituted

162to satisfy minimum qualifications and I and I just want to highlight we have had some extremely successful examples one of our current compound directors who's now working in the west Zone was a former administrator has done an excellent job really working very hard out in that particular area that's a great example of that piece so certainly we don't want to diminish in fact some of the prior applicants that were not allowed to interview were School administrators that couldn't because they hadn't been in transportation for that many years and so this should make that easier for us not more challenging in that case to answer those questions so those were the questions for that yes my only concern is that the director there now they had to have a master's degree so now yeah you would

163be hiring someone that has a bachelor's degree to do the same job right with someone that has master so I don't want to you don't want to you know lessen their education value yeah you know what I'm saying that's all that's as a person with her doctorate I I understand I would say to us you know ultimately the end of the day we want the most highly qualified folks in all of our jobs and I will tell you that from you know just practical experience I've worked in all aspects of this organization I would say what degree requirements a person have whether they have the bachelor's a master's a doctorate or so forth or industry certifications none of those things on on their face alone are really the determining factor or the value that folks

164will add we you know the talent matters the work eth EIC matters the skills the experiences people bring to the table what we don't want to do is have a situation where minimum quals especially in a competitive market where many folks who have you know lower degree requirements but maybe great skills can go and make more money in other Industries we want to be casting wide enough net that every time we are putting jobs out there we're getting high quality applicants not so we can lower the bar but really so that we can ensure we're not inadvertently taking folks who have great qualifications but just don't meet those ones that we've identified and are overly maybe maybe overvaluing things that in education we value such as a master's degree but don't necessarily mean a person

165can get a master's degree that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be the most qualified or best candidate for the job and so all this does is really enable that process to work for us and that's why HR has brought that forward and we why we why I bring it then on their behalf my pleasure all right the next item M2 approval to piggyback Orange County Public School ITB number 22826 lock and door hardware so the question was what was the prior lock and door hardware contract amount and the piggyback was previously taken to the board for a term of back November 16th 2023 to November 15 2024 for $450,000 as of August 2024 $ 17,520 had been encumbered the followup question was did it expire no this contract is good through November 15th 2025

166this current board agenda item is being presented specifically for the estimated annual expenditure my pleasure item M5 approval to increase the total project cost for roof replacement at Diplomat Middle School so the questions were I'm just going to take them a piece at a time what is the prior permanent roof installation date for this was July 1st 1998 with a warranty end date of June 29th 2018 so 26 so it's a 26y old roof in in that sense has this roof project been completed and if so when exactly the roof is actually scheduled for completion and final inspection this month pending approval of the outstanding change order and final repairs to the facade and the subsequent gutter and downspout reinstallation that will be completed this is the only aspect that remains to be completed for

167that project more followup question on that was as per the contract the project was to be completed by December 31st 2023 and the and per the bid 120 days please advise why the change order was not presented in April 24 when this was discovered so the project experienced numerous scheduled delays including material delivery delays lightweight constru concrete discrepancies from the construction documents electrical conduit damages due to the underlayment installation requirements and the referenced unforeseen brick facade damages behind the gutter location that was mentioned after the submission of the change order in April 2024 additional negotiations were required to finalize all the outstanding change order requests there were additional delays in submitting this to the board for approval due to the assistant director of Maintenance who left the district which was also the lead for the

168hurricane repair team new hurricane team leadership has been assigned so again more followup question on that was why are we now hearing about this increase in deficiency well the contractor did submit change order three in order four in April 2024 the district and hurricane Consulting team were not in agreement with the validity or the total requested fee for the submitted change orders after extensive negotiation with AI the change order number four was rejected and change order three was submitted for approval will the prior vendor be held accountable for the defective emergency roofing system so in that sense The District staff is working with risk management procurement and legal department to determine options for that course of action why would the job not be warranted by the other party vendor well the emergency roofing system has

169a 3 to six month life expectancy work for this new roof did not begin until 10 to 11 months after the installation so there was no warranty in place at that time one more thing a question on this as per Advanced roofings own website it states they conduct a thorough roof inspection end quote this includes examining the condition of the roofing materials checking for signs of damage or where or identifying any areas that may be at risk for leaks or other issues end quote it also States it will quote develop a comprehensive Report with their findings and recommendations end quote was this ever done visual roof inspections were completed by the vendor during the pre-bid process the RFP did not require the reference services for the roofing contractor however RG the architect of record on

170this case completed a roof inspection and provided certified drawings to support the required repairs followup question do we have a scope of work their website says they provide that scope of work was included in the hard bid RFP submitted to all the prospective vendors no additional statement of work document was requested in the RFP for submission by the selected vendor all right so I know there's a lot of questions and a lot of answers there just want to make sure yep has a question thank you thank you for asking those questions because I had all the questions down I had spoken to Mr PR Bruno and I was going to speak to Dr Savage about that because that is a 2year it happened after Ian and every time I go out there there's stuff flying

171off the roof yeah so I'm glad to see that we're working on that and the questions that are asked were are really important because are they going to be Health responsible for damage so that's something we need to I would love to make sure that we keep up on that one so thank you for that thank you ma'am and hence why we enter it in the record so you have a official response on on all those aspects if that's okay we'll move on to M5 which is the approval to increase the total project oh sorry Patria yeah so your if you could go back to B and tell me again what your response was please advise why the change order was not presented in April of 24 when this was discovered MH so as they

172as they mentioned to us and we requested some additional feedback on that there were there were delays they're attributing it to leadership delays as the leadership were leaving the district that in terms of that piece just elevating it properly up the chain did not occur and so that is the that is the answer for in this case it was cited as the assistant director who's no longer with us I can't validate beyond that piece as to why else it would have been not done all right I'd like to if I may reserve the right with my colleagues to pull this tonight if I have another question thank you all right if that's okay we'll move on to M5 which is the approval to increase the total project cost for roof replacement Diplomat Middle School quote

173per your request the internal law department has reviewed documentation related to the above reference project the following exceptions were noted the contractor's performance and payment Bond listed the owner's name as the school district Lee County instead of the school board of Lee County so the payment and performance bond reads the school district of Lee County instead of the school board of Lee County because the school district Lee County purchase order reads the school district Lee County the contractor's payment and performance bonds are being issued to the business name on their respective purchase order which reads school district of Lee County this has been escalated to the respective District personnel and a solution is being worked on to this issue they the question was we reviewed applications for payment the district's process requires two signatures from

174the maintenance department and one signature from the contract pay application for was paid with only one signature from the maintenance department again that was a finding from the audit the two signature requirement was a new process for maintenance services that's not something they did in the past some of the older projects prior to November 2023 may not have included the second signature after the new requirement has been instated the two signature requirements have been corrected and it is currently in effect with all new projects the two signature requirement has been in place since November 2023 another followup was C below number eight which is regarding these exceptions the two signature requirement are they processes or in policy this is a process the district has in place M8 was the approval for the final payment for

175fortt Meers Middle Academy school gutters down spouts replacement project for bid n227 418 La the question was the contractor's performance and payment Bond listed the owner name as the school district Lee County instead of the school board of Lee County and again this very much to the last piece the same basic explanation that I just gave so if you want me to repeat that again but in this particular case the contractor performance and payment bonds are reviewed by the department handling the project in the district's auditing Department and again not a policy because it's the same backround again not a policy this is a procedure a district process One new piece was is it reviewed prior to commencement by staff or the board attorney will the payment and performance bond reved by staff prior to

176commencement if staff what department is responsible for reviewing prior to commencement the department that manages the project typically maintenance or construction as you had earlier today from Mr rickenbacher briefing on the construction maintenance for all the ones that go into theirs they're responsible for reviewing that payment and the performance bond at the time the project is being closed out and submitted to audit auditing for final review then the school district Le County auditing Department which again is our own internal audit Department which is by virtue of the budget piece say it's more of a compliance piece I don't mean to confuse because I understand the board auditor often gets confused that this is a case where it's really our internal audit that conducts this piece that re they review that payments to performance bond and

177that's precisely a document you have attached to this item as well so that said those were the questions that we had and the items that we had there any additional follow up on that Miss Patria so rather than poll tonight I'm looking at page three of the backup material for the questions that Miss ganelli raised regarding Diplomat and it appears that the change order was signed by a current employee so I'm not clear on why we would not have been informed in April when a current employee is the one who signed off on it that I knew something didn't sit right right when you brought that up I'm just I'm just going to that you're for the Mariner High School Chiller replacement no this is Diplomat I'm sorry I'm wrong one M5 I think it

178is okay well I understand the question I would just say that when we asked maintenance as to why the answer given as to why it was not escalated was this is an assistant director that reports to the director that is listed so if it was not escalated I understand I I do I understand so that's why it was not listed in the change order is that the let I mean that's the answer that's been provided to us for maintenance as to why it was not done that there was a change over in leadership and that it was missed and so that is what occurred that is what is being stated so that said what would be the ask I would say of the board in order to for you to feel comfortable with that aspect

179of this what processes weren't followed and why weren't they followed and if a process is not in place like this is I don't know how can we make sure that this does not happen again that to me is not like really an answer I'm sorry it's it's not an answer that I understand you say maintenance said what yeah maintenance said that the reason they did not it was a missed item for them that they did not that they would have but because of the change over leadership and the changing of hands they did not see and it should have been issued as a change order but it was not and so that's something that we would address with their leadership staff and to say that obviously they are obligated to follow board policy and follow

180all of our procedures and if that's not done properly then there is an expectation that they do that I can say but that wasn't that wasn't the question the question in this case we just are giving you an honest answer which is that's what they attributed to was the change in leadership and unfortunately like I'm the superintendent I have to sign all documents if there's a mistake made in by a level I sometimes don't find out about it until that mistake surfaces and then once that is done we that's just how I am the only one who can sign any of those documents and so I am doing so with the understanding that the staff that is bringing each piece to me has done a proper level of review when we find that has not

181taken place then administratively we have an issue to solve and that's what we do but we don't want to not own it when these things occur we want to own it honestly in front of the board U that's why we don't mind answering those those questions publicly but that is the response that's given I'm not saying that is I'm not saying it's an excuse I'm not saying that it's an acceptable answer what I would say is it is it was the provided answer to the situation and you as a board clearly if if you would feel that well no that because I don't appreciate that and I want something else then I'm hearing it I mean I'm just I'm not sure what else you would want us to do other than to say we it

182should have been done it was not done and that is a that is a concern to all of us the it things like this always come back to me the issue is accountability like what was the followup you don't need to say that publicly I get that you don't want to talk to us at the board table about discipline for employees but what is where's the accountability and what happened where was the followup because the answer provided at this table sounds very dismissive like well a mistake was made well you know it's kind of a big mistake when you when you look at issues as a whole so where is the breakdown in communication and what steps are we going to put in place to make sure that breakdown doesn't happen again you know we

183had an audit finding regarding runaway costs for a massive project out at Riverdale we've got to be keeping our eye on things like this as well so that I guess that would be the followup I would ask for rather than a dismissive there was a change in leadership we can't be making mistakes because there's a change in leadership there that happens all the time with elections and with superintendents and with all of that there's constant turnover in jobs what what processes do we have in place to make sure this doesn't happen again I guess that's that would be what I would like to see thank you Mr persons I agree with Miss Patria I mean all our audit findings from whether it's RSM or anyone else has all come down to where people have not

184follow policy the policy is there we have good policy so I think there just needs to be word put out that people are going to be held accountable I'm not saying fire them but you need to do something and then from that point on say okay if this is a reoccurring then there'll be other action taken to motion or something I don't know that I'm not the superintendent nor do I want to be okay Miss giovanelli then Miss Jordan so there's letter dated 31924 and if you look at it looks like there's a big open space from where this signature is can I see that I feel like that some of that's missing and I would just like to see the whole thing I feel like there's a communication piece that might be missing I

185don't I don't know why you would have a you know have a signature line that far down from and this is a actual letter it's not an email I don't think so I think there's something missing from it could you oh I see it could you just tell the board where you are I'm on the attached document documents it's not they're not oh eight it's eight of the 25 looks like or nine maybe nine it's nine I'm sorry I just I mean this contract my concern was we had a contract date that was supposed to this was supposed to be completed by of December of 23 here we are in in almost few months away from 24 I so I mean what's the point in putting a bid out for something if you can't get

186the job done this vendor is not local I think they have a local office but they're really out of Tampa in Fort Lauderdale I did a little more digging around and research on it and you know and I looked at the other bids it's still considerably lower than the other bids but the other bid those were local vendors and I feel like they have a better they had a better Insight on the job and probably what the costs were going to be I think that this vendor probably they went through their contingency and which is something that Mr rickenbacher brought up product contingency they went through that with the whole electrical issues but I mean I mean apparently there was electrical conduit on maybe this the roof or something I it was just there was

187a lot to this and I just feel like we need to have good eyes on our processes and polic policies and follow them and this aner advisory I'm I'm having it un a little bit difficult understanding where their job was because I feel like this was part of their job and I feel like they kind of maybe failed I don't know so and I may be wrong maybe it was maybe it was our the staff I just at this you know I am concerned though something that should have been done long ago yes we'd be happy to provide more comprehensive obviously the whole point of having the documentation and making that available is so that there is transparency and all of that piece I mean one of the reasons why we're happy to bring back

188the more regular Capital updates one of the reasons why we have Mr rickenbacher address directly and why we have staff from the construction as well as maintenance TR to be there to respond to aspects is for that transparency and to have that more regular follow-up so those changes and things can be explained more close to the time in which they occur not well after the fact secondarily to that one of the safeguards the guard rails we also put in place by having our internal compliance Department review and look for these things which is completely independent from that division is to give that transparency of things that should have been done that weren't so precisely why it's brought forward is to say these are things that are caught that happens for all those major construction now

189yes it's after the fact but the whole point is to identify them to identify patterns of those things and then to learn from them see are they fails process are there extenuating circumstances all those things so what I don't want to say is that it's being dismissive I think it's trying to answer the question honestly isn't attempting to dismiss it's strictly just to provide the specific answer to that question not to then validate that it was proper or that it's it's really just to say you know when asked why how did this ball get dropped and in some cases I will say that has it has often not just in this area but in many areas to vacant staff like for example when our district was had numerous eye schools that were all a sudden

190eyes that because of insufficient numbers of students tested and it involves many many different departments and areas working together the culprit was a vacant director position you know that was somehow the issue was that really the fair and accurate accounting of it I would say no that's why the accountability that's why haven't giving voice to it and saying I'm more than happy to own every mistake that is made that our staff either failure failure to follow process failure to handle you know transition of employees out that is Our obligation but I just want the board to be aware part of the reason you know about the things why you have it is because of those additional guard rails where these things then are brought to you well after the fact if errors have been made

191they're still brought to you if a if an audit report that our own folks have done not a board auditor but our own internal audit has done it and brought it forward that is a safeguard those are all check and balances for transparency so that you can just we had a whole briefing on Riverdale as an example so that you know take comments said that teachers are building schools they paid $100 million for nothing it was all done because an angry parent these are things were uttered at isok were absolutely not accurate statements we attempted to answer those things transparently with a 90-minute briefing where you had a chance to ask any question you could have multiple Vantage points together all those things are done to try to own anything that could even be perceived

192as a failure so that we owning our opportunities to improve and taking board direction we proper so now if if it's I apologize tone wise maybe that's it came off dismissive it wasn't it was just we have a you know about 30 questions in piece and we're just trying to make sure we're answering exactly what's asked but I think hopefully this is additional context that is speaking to I think what the ask is which is what is the accountability then which we'll be happy to provide more to the board absolutely be happy to do that Miss Jordan okay I just wanted to just add a couple other comments I know that this took place the roof took place during the hurricane there was a new principal that came in to this roof situation which he

193you know inherit it but I will tell you I've spoken about this roof on many occasions and the people that are on here are the people that I spoke to so we are too often we use the that the term about the turnover turnover I mean to me I feel like lately we've been using it a lot more than ever before and again regardless we still have to make sure that we are adherent to our policies and our processing to make sure that we can continue on because we have a job to do and we have to continue that so we need to stop using that those words or come up with something a different terminology because that does get old after a while thank you Miss ganelli so that thank you Mr Orton so

194in in your discussions because this is change order number three and it was brought up earlier about change orders but I don't recall especially with all the delays from the on the from the actual original contract I even went and pulled the contract back was a year ago June and so my concern is we weren't even advised that there's delays because of a numerous scheduled delays product delays I mean the things that you mentioned Dr Savage so I mean and then this again this is number three so I don't know if the change order process is working so follow up y I'm happy to so one thing that construction often does in a lot of their projects is by building in contingency they essentially give them V more discretion in this particular case I you

195know I think that's something that we have to continue to evaluate is are we are we properly you know we want to obviously bring in the best value that we possibly can at all times but in some cases if we're setting on real estate expectations especially for unknowns and things that come to us we like we have another example that was earlier in terms of you know unforeseen things under the structure that they weren't aware I mean there are things we heard it in the Riverdale earlier example even in the major construction projects where they did set aside significant level of contingency when they have found the unknown Plumbing issues that you heard about today so there's a number of examples of that I think that's one of the things that Mr rickenbacher is always

196proud of himself on was returning contingent funds that we'd set aside contingency but then returning them to the board so the board is well aware that we've budgeted but we've also done so with a sense of building a little bit of an opportunity so we don't have to come back to the board in what appears to be overruns what in case some cases the contingency maybe was insufficient so I'm happy to get with our operations folks and have a little bit more because obviously as uncomfortable as all this is for us to dialogue they are hearing every bit of it and so they're well aware of that and any and the project managers and the folks who are responsible for reviewing it and so these are things that all become lessons opportunities learned for those

197folks as well so I do appreciate it as direct as it may be but we'll continue to to try to improve with this type of feedback Miss Patria yeah not not to to beat a dead horse but you know you talked about transparency and putting this in front of the board it's not it's not in front of the public so that there's a lack of transparency there number one number two you know I had my one-on-one with you last week I think maybe earlier this week I'm losing track and this you didn't raise this as an issue you know what I mean like it was just put in as part of the agenda like no mistake had ever been made I'm I'm more accustomed to if an error has been made and it's an item

198on the agenda the superintendent bringing that to my attention so that we can have that conversation back there instead of out here if that makes sense so while you talk about transparency this feels like it lacks transparency to me so those are my like I don't want to be the data Force I just want you to be clear on what expectations are those are my comments thank you I'm just going to check with Miss Morgan Miss Morgan do you have a followup or any comments yeah I mean I listening to this conversation I'm I'm just going to make some general comments it's not enough for a superintendent to accept responsibility if you're running a tight organization with tight policy and process there are never extenuating circumstances because there are always people in the leadership chain

199who are obligated to step in who are expected to step in and who are held accountable if they don't step in the point has been made that we will always have turnover and when there is turnover there is no excuse for mistakes there just isn't somebody is always watching what's going on everybody knows what their job is and everybody knows they're going to be held accountable and I think the point being made about expectation and accountability this is the same con Jennifer Cupid McCoy Dr Cupid McCoy made this very very clear in her comments at our last board meeting expectations and accountability are what are going to transform this District not saying I own something and not having accountability for what is not working if the organization isn't tight enough it's your responsibility to tighten

200it if the policies and process processes aren't tight enough it's your responsibility to see that happens I'm just really discouraged by this conversation sorry I missed this when I read through the board meeting but I think this is a very important conversation for the board to have amongst themselves and with the superintendent and those are my comments thank you okay thank you next on our agenda is public comment attorney depe Bruno please address public comment thank you madam chair School Board policy provides the opportunity at this point in the meeting to address the board concerning any matter on this meeting's agenda if you completed a public comment card please provide it to the staff public comment will be held at the podium in the center aisle in front please be advised that the board will

201not respond during public comment to remarks made by speakers however at the conclusion of public comment the chair or superintendent May respond speakers who fail to follow proper deorum in the chambers will rule be ruled out of order any speaker continuing with such remarks will be required to relinquish the microphone for board policy 01691 and may be removed from the chambers there will be one warning per board policy 01691 the time per speaker is 3 minutes if there are 20 speakers or less 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 and Madame chair there are two individuals that would like to address the board at this briefing okay

202attorney to pay Bruno please proceed well Dr MN Stewart and March Cox please line up hi everybody hours later I'm meline Stewart I am a member of the purple group and I just wanted to remind you of who we are because we're we've been here for a while and we're going to continue to be coming I just wanted to to say that we believe that public schools should be welcoming to all students and their families and that's because public education is the Bedrock of our multiculture cultural multi-ethnic democracy so when I read the handbook on civil rights I one well certainly it is not welcoming and when I heard the speaker talk about making it user friendly the whole tone and content of the handbook seems to be on control control of teachers and control

203of students and not really on their rights I first of all I'm wondering who you there's a beautiful little triangle about the teacher the student and the parent who who is the who is this handbook intended for and where did the public I read about it on board docs I and I know it was announced in the newspaper but how does the public at large actually have a chance to digest this and to really think through what the meanings and ramifications are one of the things that concerns me you're going to you're going to create this is going to be turned into policy and what worries me is that so many of these things sound like there has to be somebody who's a police person in the school who is checking up on all of

204these things and that really scares me because we're talking about a School District that wants to be passionate and personal and Progressive and none of that has anything to do with being personal it sounds like the teacher can't be personal with the student and the student can't be personal with the teacher and that is such a terrible terrible thing when there is no trusted adult a student could actually talk to you say well okay so if the teacher's going to have to say well go and see a counselor but we already know we don't have any counselors we don't have enough counselors so it's it's how this is going to be operationalized that really concerns me I don't want the school to feel like it's a police state I want students to feel that they

205are welcomed for who they are even though who they are doesn't have isn't something that other that other people may agree with that doesn't matter they are who they are and I think that's thank you good afternoon my name is Marge Cox I'm a retired educator I live in Bonita Springs and I want to start off by saying I appreciate the hours you put in to being a school board member a school administrator and the number of meetings that you have to attend and I find them exhausting and I don't come to all of them I get two of them here today because as I read through the equity civil rights guide I found some parts that I have a concern about we dealt with one of them earlier on page seven where it says

206the school staff will be addressed by their legal name and if I understood correctly then how that will actually be was that it can be a short named or nickname I think the policy ought to or the guide ought to read what's actually going to to be acceptable not here's what it says will be addressed by their legal name and then yes but here are exceptions to that put that here so that it's clear to everybody the other piece that I found concerning was in the restroom locker room section and where it talked about students not needing spatial permission and I thought please let's not make life any harder for our kids than it already is let's assume they can figure out going to the restroom and into their locker rooms and that you don't

207need special permission for that thank you for your time this afternoon I appreciate it please public comment thank you Dr Savage do you want to comment on unless there's something that board would like me to address no I don't have anything no all right next up is good of the order I just want to draw attention to the time it is 3:54 I believe we have a meeting at 5: okay next up is good to the order board members do you have any comments I'm going to start with Miss Morgan I'll come back Mr persons I have none at this time Miss Jordan I have none at this time Miss Patria I'm going to give my ITF update tonight if I may get with Chief Mont Morano between now and then because there's something in

208my notes that I don't understand if that's okay with the superintendent and then I'm going to repeat this tonight bring your car to Fort Myers Tech please if your car is broken if it's making a funny noise if you for some reason need to have some work done on your car at all those poor kids are sitting there doing this because there are no cars in their garage to work on so I will repeat that tonight I don't I don't know how it works I don't know how you pay for it I don't know any of that stuff I just know that you pay for parts these kids need to work on cars they can't just sit in classrooms and theorize how to fix a car they need to actually fix a car so please

209bring your car into Fort Ms Tech and then if I may through the chair to the superintendent where do we stand in terms of a board auditor is this a discussion this board has already had and I missed it no okay so it's my understanding that we as a board need to hire a board auditor and the two other people that we hire are a superintendent no longer in November but in the past a superintendent and a board attorney and when we did that we had HR sort of run the process for us even though HR doesn't work for us I know that we've advertised I know nothing really other than that so if this board is serious about hiring a board auditor I think that we need to have a discussion about appointing HR

210and having HR like let's put this process in place and get her done is my point so yep I'm happy to respond long yep so HR is going to be handling our piece of it I think the key for us was if you wanted them to work through you know in in past we would sometimes have it work through a specific board member whether that was the chair directly as usually or a vice chair or appointed member to kind of leas with them the plan was to have them provide the information you know to all board members in the board weekly so you're getting resumés you're getting process overview all those kinds of things trying to nail that down and get you to a highly qualified applicant and whatnot in process just so that you

211have a chance to have that routinely you can also bring issues to us through the board weekly but that was the attempt was to at least have a point person on the board that was something that I had ready to ask you all as well in case you wanted to nominate someone or if you wanted to work through the chair it was going to be working direct with our air HR System as well just to get that across the finish line for you all I don't know if chair makes sense because we're going into November I mean I'm happy to give it to the chair if he's willing to keep it after the new chair takes place or if you think you're going to be the chair we give it to you now and you

212keep it after November totally up to you guys but I do think we need somebody on the board to start to carry this so that we can get it over the Finish R Miss Jordan followup thank you and I think I had this conversation with Dr Savage regarding this just with the community out there Auditors and different people were speaking about the title of that because I think we've only had like two applications that came in for that position but because of the fact that it says Chief they believe it is under the superintendent and so that's a confusion out there and so I just wanted to bring that back up I know we did have conversation about that prior but again that was something that I did hear and I did address that with

213Dr Savage because of that reason people believing that it's under because he has the Chiefs under Chiefs are under superintendent so I just wanted to bring that back out again yeah that feedback was actually from Kevin KS when the feedback that was provided was that to consider that potential naming that's the only reason we shifted to the chief name that said we the board is free to give mean it's it's very easy for us to edit at any given time based on feedback from the collective board so if you want it called simply probably the most visible one that we had brought before was just board auditor is the most simple that's what it was before that's what we had it the job description used to be was the board auditor however it could be

214I mean as I mentioned before Palm Beach has an inspector General there are any configuration the board would want obviously it was modeled after the job description was modeled after the largest districts that have the most expansive function of it U Mii Dade Broward Palm be and so forth that's where all of the specific requirements were pulled from their aspects and so I think whatever the board wishes that was the feedback though of why we landed with a chief auditor name that was the feedback of why Miss Jordan thank you and if I would ask if we could have our HR specialist who knows you know understands all this maybe perhaps give us a recommendation on what that name would be I think that would maybe help us but I just know that even some

215of the people from the audit committee had said had spoke about the word Chief and other ex clerks Clerks of Courts also have approached me and asked me why did we call that name just wanted to thank you Mr person's then back to miss Patria yeah I mean I like was called the kiss method keep it simple we'll leave the last part off but I think board auditor is just as simple as it tells you exactly who they're working for and exactly what they're doing and I think that's probably okay good and if we need to change it later or something we can always course go back and do that as we do often okay Mr so shall we consider this board direction to the superintendent to ask your chief of HR to make that

216change bring it in front of the board number one number two can we come to some kind of consensus as to who should be in charge of this for the board forward going forward I mean I don't care who it is I think you two should fight it out and I think she'll win well you missed the meeting where we were going to have an arm wrestle so sorry I think Mr fiser is I mean as as sitting chair I think he needs to continue and if it goes past that whoever this next sitting chair is I mean maybe we can come up with a conclusion between between now and then so do we have consensus on that yeah Mr fiser do you want to yeah I mean if that's the will of the board

217I will happily carry that out thank you do you have what you need yes absolutely did you have anything else Miss I'll give the rest of my comments tonight okay Miss ganelli and I'll be quick too I am wearing pink because I don't we see received a letter a few months ago reg I forgot the student I'm going to have to Google my or search my email but she had a friend that was bullied and took her own life as was Aubrey Wyatt and yesterday was her birthday and that student had asked us to wear pink and I'm wearing pink that today to celebrate Aubrey Wyatt and wearing pink against bullying so I just wanted to bring that up because that's probably the most important thing I'm going to say today and then one other

218thing that I would I really want this board to really talk about and sooner than later is that barau took cell phones out of their school and a whole big video and I think we really need to seriously think about that I know Mr persons has brought it up a couple times but I think we really need to have a conversation about cell phones in schools or no cell phones in schools really so I just want to it's a m Jordan wanted to talk have it you know we should talk about it and this is something we should talk about it can't just come overnight you know we just can't make it make a decision on the on the flies on this we really need to talk about it and I'm really concerned over sell

219phones in schools and what it's doing to our children thank you Miss jell I'm going to let Mr person's follow up to your comment there our policy as it stands now is that the cell phone supposed to go into the backpack at first Bell or in somewhere on off I know that you know so they're there handy in case there's an emergency I can understand that parents worry about it and they can have their cell phone on the bus so the parents can track where the bus is it seems to be more accurate than ours but it's the enforcement of that we need to maybe put some teeth into and I know one District says first time they're caught with their phone out it goes to the office and they get the end of the

220day the next time the parent has to come get it so something along those lines it might be a good idea that's off I saw the video the kids are saying they don't even miss it and they're having conversation and they're but that's not happening in schools and our you know with if the phones are in their hand they I believe they got there's a grant out there for these little pocket the things for the phones and I think we need to look into that but that's a conversation like I said that we all need to talk about but I am concerned they know it's they call them the iPad kids they know it's affecting them and their learning or and so even social skills so I just wanted to bring it up and I

221it I don't know that it should be a too much of a workshop or briefing but we know because we already know the outcome we already know the data what are we going to do about it is really I'm putting it back on this board to I'm challenging the board to let's make it some decisions for accountability then thank you Mr Fisher I think had a follow up yeah go briefly yeah it was under my understanding when we did the code of conduct the guidance we gave was to follow up for this to complete perhaps this semester and part of that was to get rid of the exemptions you know lunchroom those kind of things and that was part of the policy change we're looking at so miss Patria yeah and I thought we were

222we had asked the superintendent to have a conversation with principes as well to get their feedback on whether and how this would work that's first thing the second thing is being really careful about comparing our demographic of students and families to the demographic at Bishop Fon and understanding that there is a massive difference there well I'm not really comparing them but I'm just bringing it up conversation and I obviously it's different I don't know how that we could have I mean the way I was watching the video I don't know how they even take we could go through our students and getting their phone out of the little bag the little magnet thing that they that locks them up but I the logistics of that was overwhelming a little bit for me even so I

223don't know that's the answer but I just know we need to know more about that and make accountability I'm good with I'm good with starting there thank you and my final comment is the legality of seizing student belongings at the beginning of a school day or if at any point you know it's not it's not like we're taking away a vape pen or you know marijuana or something it's a phone is a legal thing and although it might violate policy I had always heard a rumor that there was a law that didn't allow us to do that so I'm sure that the rumor is not true but if we could look at the legality of that and how we would go about dealing with parents who are claiming we're taking their kids stuff that'd be

224great thank you well the little they keep the little packet I mean the little I don't even know what the fold whatever the phone goes into the student keeps it on there on them it's never you never take it from them so I don't like iess said I don't know the logistics complet completely and how they work but I know that the students all said hey we're talking at lunch and they it was all positive rather than negative so Mr persons then we're going to move on okay I just want to say that there is a ton of data out there that shows us better not just Bishop row I mean there was an article not long ago from Naples School the there's districts that have been doing this for a while like the Orlando

225dist Orange County and there's positive things been written up on that out in California which is totally different but still not high income or anything like a Vero or something along those lines and ver is very they have a lot of divers diversity thank you and their school population but I just think it's a great idea so I just think we just need to get some accountability and enforce it and I know it's tough to take something away cold turkey but we need to see after this semester where we're at and go from there and again when I say take it away I don't mean grab it from them unless they abuse it and to me if you have a VAP pin when you're not supposed to have it yeah that's your personal property but

226we can take it from you if you have your phone but you have it out when you're not supposed to yes we can take it back from you we can't keep it and we shouldn't be able to we should have guidelines to say you can't try to open it or whatever make them open it that's all M jell do you have anything else no thank you okay Mr fiser thank you in regards to miss juv vanelli about the pouches I may when have the discussion I'll follow up because I was on the Oasis board when we had those and this it was not a success so I'll bring some of my discussion from that we can real quick the only thing I want to bring up is it's been a while but the student representative

227I'm going to kind of continue looking at i' you know continue to Administration I'd like again to see perhaps as I said instead of having the student representative we have a student or multiple students whether it's Student Government perhaps you know at every action meeting or every other Action meeting presenting perhaps a topic that is you know important to many students you know 3 to five minute presentation so I got a little bit delayed with the superintendent change in April as well as some of the July stuff but I'm looking to kind of pick that back up I just want to give you an update that had some discussions with superintendent about that's all I have for my comments thank you thank you and just a piggyback off of what Miss Gianelli has said I

228believe the last thing I had heard we were going to try to M make sure that we were following School procedure and policies and then revisit the cell phone in the second SE for second semester and possibly the next school year the cell phone packets are a great idea and like you said the logistics might be a little sticky plus obviously it's a another cost unless you can get a grant but there are other ways that I have seen in not just our private schools but other public schools that are doing this with success and you're right they the communication alone I mean not to mention the health of always having your head down and the longterm effects of that is a true thing but I'm happy to have that discussion very soon if we

229want to maybe start talking about it in our one-on ones and then bringing it for discussion here at the Das I do have comments that I will leave for this evening and but I'm going to go ahead and move on Miss and I do believe I did get confirmation Miss Morgan is off the line so Miss dupe Bruno do you have anything no I don't thank you Dr Savage yes Madam sure just in the interest of you know kind of condensing so there's nothing for this evening and just because we're you know obviously for some of our folks they just wrapped up school for the day just an opportunity to really Express condolences not just for myself but really on behalf of all of us I know and really all Educators really all Educators in

230our country and so forth you know the appalache the two teachers and the two students who lost their lives and again what is what has become a really unfortunately troubling Trend increase over the last few years of significant increases in mass shootings not just in schools but really in in many aspects of occupied spaces in our society unfortunately that's one of the things the negative byproducts of those aspects is the more numerous they become they can sometimes continue to to increase and so we we talked about a little bit today when we met with all the principles but one to to to you know highlight we spend a lot of time talking a lot of times about hardening efforts and things like as Weapons threat detection so forth those are all wonderful things we have

231Gates we have locked doors we have a lot of things that can that are really great security measures to put in place but the one thing we rarely talk about that is the most significant aspect in preventing major major threat incidents and so forth is really the personto person interaction that a lot of the best the best protection really is for human beings to build relational value together so whether that's students forming relationships with other peers whether that's students forming relationships with their with their adults who are in their lives whether it's adults really taking that effort and making that whether it's all people doing together that safety really and keeping people safe is really about building a culture where individuals are coming together and really getting to know each other so no one feels

232isolated so people see changes in aberant Behavior that's really what threat assessment is all about it's situation awareness it's everyone taking accountability for each other and building Rapport and relationships that know people Left Behind not just to prevent shootings but to prevent people from harming themselves preventing that piece that is really an interesting as I mentioned today to the principles one of the number one things that we know that has a positive value educationally is for our students to feel like they aren't isolated alone that they feel heard that they feel seen at school that they connect to people that they connect to activities they connect that they feel in their their adults that care about them that are invested in their learning and so while we have these tragic moments and we have our

233condolences and so forth there's just an all always a reminder of us being able to come together as people and work together and build relationships and so that was something we wanted to make sure we mentioned today but again not to take away from just the the absolute trauma and awful feelings that Community those families and those lost lives and so forth today as a school system anywhere we really just take we take great pause with that and wanted to make sure I'd be remiss if I didn't mention something from this Ro we did put something out last night as well just for folks to to be aware that we our thoughts and prayers are with folks as well so I just wanted to make that as the only piece of it and I'll leave

234it at that thank you very much thank you Dr Savage and thank you for mentioning that today we have a special meeting at 5:05 p.m. and a regular Action meeting at 6: p.m. at this point having no other business to come before this body and seeing no objection this meeting is adjourned and the time is 4:14 p.m. e