School Board Meeting | May 6, 2025

001Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Good evening. Good good evening. Good evening, man. Thanks for your patience. Uh we we've had a long day, so I really appreciate your patience with us. Um I wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone present on this fine Tuesday. It's May 6th. Um I started off earlier today in our work session around 12:30 about this day in history. Um so I'm going to focus on two things. Um this day in history, Sigman Freud um was born. That's we're celebrating his birthday today. And then secondly, uh I I thought it was interesting Willie Mays, uh his birthday was on May 6th as well. So, um our reflection on that was we're going to think deeply as board members today. Uh and then we're going to hit some home runs. Um

002so anyway um hope to uh basically the board the superintendent and I we are really pleased that you have joined us and we are here to celebrate student achievement. We have a guest with us this morning. We're going to start there uh and hear and interact with her. We're going to make some policy decisions related to the effective operation of the PK County School Board. Uh, I would like to call the May 6th, 2025 regular school board meeting to order at this time. Um, now I'd like to ask Mr. Keys if you could uh lead our invocation tonight and we can all please stand and remain standing for the pledge. Bow our heads. Lord, heavenly father, we just come to you today. We are so thankful for all the gifts that you give to us.

003We thank you how you support our endeavors, Lord. And we just thank you for the families represented here tonight, the students, Lord, the staff. We thank you for always watching out for us and our families. We thank you for the opportunity to come together in a country where we can express our opinions freely. Lord, we just hope that we as a board tonight, we would seek your will in the things that we do. Be cognizant always, Lord, Father, of your will. And we thank you for all the things that you give us in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So, Miss Dickian, if you could lead us in our pledge tonight. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with

004liberty and justice for all. All right, everybody can sit down except our special guest tonight. Man, y'all are looking great. I'm so excited that you're here with us tonight and we Wow, look at that smile. That's amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Um it's great to actually start our meetings like this because it just it it puts our mind in the right place that we're here to serve you and we just want to acknowledge you and the great work and the great things that you're doing. So, um if you can start by introducing yourself and any guests that you have with uh youth tonight. I have I have my mom, my my my principal, my assistant principal, and my teacher in third grade, Miss Doppson, Miss Perk, and Miss Dello. Wow. Wow. Very good. Um, so

005maybe tell us a little bit about you now. I like I like to play sports and I like to do art and I like to sing. Wow. So so talented. Um I don't know what are the sports that you're uh interested in? I like playing bad mitten, volleyball, and basketball. Wow, that's amazing. Okay. And you said art. Yes. Yeah. Tell like what are some things your favorite things to draw or paint? I I don't know. Do you like any particular art? And I like drawing dogs and like animals and I like drawing rainbows. Wow, that's awesome. Okay. And your f do you have a favorite subject? Yes. Reading because I I like to read the stories and I like the learning objectives we do. And I think my my teacher, Miss Dobson, send off sends

006off good vibes. To me, it makes it makes lessons really fun. Wow. Good vibes. Okay. So, did I see there was like a number? You have like a goal of how many words you want to read? Yes. In this school in this school year, I want to read 1 million words. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. How how many have you read thus far? Uh 600,000 words. What? That is amazing. That is amazing. Very good. Okay. So, um what other kind of questions I could ask you? your biggest dreams. My big my biggest dreams is to is to um get a million words at school and and to make and to make my family proud. Wow. Oh my goodness. Well, they I'm sure they definitely are because you were here. You're like so polished and professional and

007it's amazing. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here with us tonight. Um, if you could come forward over here, we would love to acknowledge you with a picture and you can have your family come forward as well. Thank you. Wow. All right, as you're wrapping up and on your way, if you can go back to the microphone for one more question, and this is your final question. It's not a hard one. Um, can you tell us something that you enjoy? Well, first of all, you got to tell us the school that you attend and something that you thoroughly enjoy about your school. I go to James Stevens Academy. And one thing I I love about my school is that I I love the activities that we do. I think that I I

008think that they're very creative about them and I just think the school in general is really fun. Wow. So, if we can give Miss Vivian a round of applause. So, so thank you for joining us tonight and your family as well and all of our staff from James Stevens is amazing. Um, so thank you and finish strong. The the rest of the school year is right ahead of you. So, and you're almost done. So, thanks. Hit that goal of a million. That is so impressive. Thanks for encouraging us. So, thanks for being here tonight. Thank you. All right, board members. Uh we're going to transition out. Uh I I got really excited seeing James Stevens um as being a part of our agenda tonight. Um I was actually thumbming through my book and all the

009pictures of my different classes at James Stevens. And I think uh in third grade I had Mrs. Scott, who was my teacher at James Stevens. So, um, great memories. So, uh, board members, the first item on our agenda tonight is to accept our agenda. Superintendent Hyde, are there any revisions to the agenda as printed? Yes, sir, Mr. Chair. Item B number one, new administrators, an item was added. Item E number two, approval of minutes for the April 22nd, 2025 school board meeting. Minutes were attached. Item G number one, board member travel for Sarah Beth Wyatt, leadership Florida annual meeting, Tampa June 5th through 8th. Item was added. Item G2, board member travel for Lisa Miller, leadership Florida annual meeting, Tampa, June 5th through 8th. Item was added. Item H2, recommendation of bid awards for the

010May 6th, 2025 schoolboard meeting. Attachment was added. Item L number two, non-instructional personnel actions. Attachment was added. Number L, number three, administrative and instructional personnel actions attachment was added. Item P, number one, outofstate field trips. An item was updated. Item S, number three, charter review team committee. Kate Wallace item was added. Item S number five, approval of the general council proposed contract attachment was added. Item S6, approval of superintendent's proposed contract attachment was added and updated. Thank you, sir. That concludes all the changes. Perfect. Thank you, Superintendent. So, at this time, the chair will entertain a motion to accept the agenda for May 6th, 2025 with the noted revisions. Do I have a motion and a second? Second. So, Mr. Keys made the motion and Miss Miller seconded. Um, so the motion on the floor

011is to accept the May 6th, 2025 schoolboard agenda as presented. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. Give you all a moment to cast your vote there on our system. All right. The next item up is new administrators. Superintendent Hyde, would you lead us through our next item? Yes, sir. So, we have Julie Thomas, assistant principal at Elbert Elementary School, being promoted to acting principal at Elbert Elementary. Good evening. Yes. I just wanted to say um thank you for placing your trust in me. I am honored to accept this position and I am looking forward to working and contributing to the school community. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. If you have colleagues, friends, family, please have them come down. Okay. All right, superintendent. And

012the next item on our agenda is special recognitions. Mr. Chair, members of the board, staff, and committee members, thank you for being here this evening. At this time, I'd like to ask board member Lisa Miller to please step down to assist with this evening's recognition events. Board members, this first rep, this first um recognition, we are in our third year of working with Florida's prepaid scholarships or pre Florida prepaid program to offer scholarships to our students. Each of the winners tonight will receive a two-year scholarship for college. The selection is done randomly and it includes all eligible students. We must have two from the kindergarten class. So we have two current incoming kindergarteners, two current and or incoming kindergarteners, one elementary age student, one middle school student, and one high school student. Winners and grade

013and school are current school year. And I'm going to look to Miss Everett. Am I announcing the names or are you announcing the names? How we can do it either way. You go right ahead. Okay. So, thank you everybody and good evening. I'm going to hit five home runs tonight. It will shock you to know these are my first home runs ever. So, when we do the prepaid scholarship, it is in the superintendent's name, but I'd also like to recognize Wendy Winchester because she works tirelessly to make sure that we are eligible to do this. So, I just wanted to be sure and recognize her. We actually pick one current preK student, one kindergarten student, a student from 1 through 4, a middle school student, and a high school student. So tonight we're going to

014start with our prek student, Carmelo Torres from Garner Elementary Academy, and we're going to invite Carmelo, his family, and administrators up up to the front. I think the check may be larger than Carmelo this evening. And he's got the best smile. He's been taking photos all evening. Sorry, Rachel. Hang on. Let's go. I got to do it. Absolutely. And congratulations to Carmelo. Thank you. Thank you so much. Our kindergarten recipient from Alta Vista Elementary School is Rachel Bagwin. So, let's invite Rachel and her family down. Family, please join Rachel. One more. Do another one. Ready? Congratulations, Rachel. Our elementary student from Wendell Watson Elementary is Levi Walker. Congratulations, Levi. Our middle school student isn't able to join us tonight, so we'll recognize her next month. So, we're going to keep her under wraps, but I

015will say it's from Barto Middle School because I know we have them in the back. And our high school student from Kathleen Senior High School is Jay Leris Kamacho Rosado. Come on down. And family. Family gets to come on down too, please. And congratulations to all our winners. Thank you. Next is Janette Crowley, director of strategic planning and partnerships for the recognation recognition of this year's mayor's art club in Barto. And thank you to Mayor Trish Feifer for being here. While they make their way down to the to the front, I had the pleasure of attending last night's event. I want to say thank you to the mayor for continuing the tradition. Um, I also want to say thank you because they took the time to blow up all of our students artwork that was

016selected and it's hanging all over their offices. So, and they did a great recognition event for our students last night. So, thank you, Mayor. All right. Thank you, chair, vice chair, school board members, and superintendent Hyde. Pulk County Public Schools is excited to celebrate our students artistic achievements as we continue to embrace and celebrate the arts. Talented students from Barto Middle, Union Academy, Barto Senior, and International Baloria at Barto Senior were recently named at a reception last evening um for the mayor's art club from the city of Barto. And their artwork is currently being installed at Barto City Hall. I gave you a pamphlet um of all the artwork in front of you and then we asked the students also to bring the poster that Mayor Aifer also gave to them last night. Um but

017I also encourage you to go to Barto City Hall to see the artwork nicely displayed um in their building. The artwork will be displayed in city hall for one year and then some pieces will be hung in the halls of Barto Regional Hospital uh through a partnership with the city of Barto. But before we recognize the students and their art teachers and their administrators, I'd like to ask Mayor Trish Feifer from the city of Barto to join me and share more about the program. Thank you uh Janette and good evening everyone. Nice to see you. I haven't been here in a while. Thank you for having me, Janette. Uh, I appreciate it. And Janette is one of our Miss Crowley is one of our judges. So, how this happened was um I stole the idea

018from Paduga, Kentucky from another mayor and said, "Well, we can do that in Borto and we can showcase student art." So, um, my commissioners were kind enough to let us do a resolution. And so, it started in 2015. I was not the mayor. Uh, I was the mayor in 2016, but nevertheless, um, I facilitated it for them. And just for a clarification, I'm no longer the mayor. We rotate that. Now I'm back to Trish, the commission. So, let's just remember that. Uh, and um, Tanya Tucker is now our mayor and so, good for her. But, so we developed the program through the years. We did it with uh, middle school and high school. And we know we can't keep their art. We don't want to keep their art. So, if you could just show them

019the two pieces. So, I photograph it. I literally after we judge, I put it down on the ground and we photograph it and then we blow it up big because we wanted large scale for our walls. And so, that's the size of it. And this will be uh in um city hall. And all of these pieces are that big. And so um uh we have a very sophisticated judging mechanism via post-it notes. Um we had 64 submissions this year. And so we have city manager, myself, uh city clerk, uh school board member Janette Crowley, um Daryl Ward from Pulk um Arts Alliance. That's a long one. You know what it is. And uh he also donates $50 to every student that's selected. And so if uh two students got selected twice, so they got more

020than $50. They got double a home run. There you go. And um then uh Barto Regional did select five of these. They selected the daisies, the fish, the cat, the peacock, and the blue and red abstract. Uh and Barto Regional has over 30 pieces of art. They've almost bought the whole portfolio through the seven years and uh so we appreciate that partnership with them. Now Oh, there you are. Are we doing How do you want to do it now? We're gonna recognize the students. Yes. Okay, good. Are you doing it or not? I can do it. Okay, good. All right. Yeah. All right. So, that's how that happened. And um we appreciate the um superintendent coming out last night. Uh we had uh most of the students there. Um it's a program we love and

021like I said, my art teacher was my favorite teacher in school. Um, so I wasn't necessarily academically driven, but I was creatively driven and it served me my whole life. So, uh, I encourage the students to continue to do art. Keep art in your heart and you'll always be blessed. So, um, that's my message. Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right. You're welcome. All right. So, I would also like to thank in our fine arts department, Beth Cummings and Nancy Perry as well because they work directly with the schools and the art teachers as well. So I want to thank them and they are here with us tonight. But thank you. All right. So let's recognize our students. So from Barto Middle, we have art teacher Jessica Rothbart along with students Jose Camps Pieron and Allison

022Hart. family. There you go. Union Academy art teacher Alana Lewis and student Isabel Parings Giddens. You want to hold up both your pieces? Let me just say about uh Isabelle's piece. Look, you have to look. What is that? It's pancakes. But it's not just pancakes. It's called warm pancakes. Okay. What does that make you want? Oh, you got to get in the front, buddy. Barto senior and international balorate at Barto senior art teacher Julie Terhar and students Lydia Shanahan, Jonas Sely Hernandez, Michaela Childress, Kayla Drake, Tristan Blackner, Kylie Hill, and Ethan Turhar. We don't see You're not That concludes My presentation. Next, I'd like to invite Melody Bell, supervisor of elections, to recognize their partnership with our high schools and enrollment for our voting our students to vote. Good evening everyone. It's an honor to

023be here. Um I am not Melanie Bell, but my name is Rachel Harris and I'm representing the outreach department for the supervisor of elections office. So every year we do our best to visit every high school in Poke County to register the students to vote. And I'd like to first thank the wonderful teachers who collaborated with us in this great effort. We really appreciate it. Between August and November of this school year, we visited 15 high schools and we had 529 new students take us up on this offer and registered to vote. And that's a pretty good number. As you may be aware, we like to have a competition between the schools to make it fun and engaging for the students. So, we are here today to recognize the top two schools that registered the

024most new voters. And I know this is a little different from what we usually do. Um, usually we will recognize um the school that gets the highest number of registered voters and then the highest percentage of um registered voters. This year, however, we had two schools that were so close with their numbers, we couldn't just recognize one without recognizing the other one as well. So, without further ado, we're going to start with the runnerup for the second highest number of registrations at 82. The runner-up school is Lake Region High School. and Veronica Biennami will be accepting the award on behalf of her school. That's a beautiful award. Oh, come over. Do you want me to take a Oh, yeah. We're all taking pictures. Okay. That's a great Veronica, thank you for your dedication to your

025students. We appreciate you participating with us in this important endeavor. Now, for the first place winner, remember how we said that was 82? This was really close with just one registration more at 83. The highest number of student registrations is Winterhaven High School. And Robert Brown is here to accept the award on behalf of his school. Come on down. And Key Club sponsor and student council and student council. Thank you for your exceptional job that you do on behalf of your students. And finally, a big thank you to the school board and each of the participating high schools for your help in this cooperative effort to remind students that they can make their voices heard. Thank you so much. Have a great evening. Thank you. Board members. Next, I'd like to welcome back Janette Crowley,

026director of strategic planning and partnerships to recognize the 2024 2025 District Advisory Council participants. Yep. Chair, vice chair, school board member, Superintendent Hyde. I'm excited to recognize the 2024 through 2025 district advisory council or DAC. The council serves in an advisory role the superintendent and pays particular attention to the district's strategic plan especially regarding goals for improving student performance and overall district improvement and to serve as a link between the district, the schools and the community. This 40 plus member council is inclusive of community and faith b faith-based leaders, business partners, civic organizations, parents, and school advis advisory council representatives from across Pulk County. Each year they're tasked with focus areas that they do a deep dive into um to learn more about. So, we bring all of our district experts and those um within

027those areas to give them presentations so they that way they can get a better understanding to help advocate for our school system. As you recall in the 2024 through 2025 2023 through 24 school year, this engaged group of volunteers presented five education town halls throughout Pulk County, bringing information and awareness to our community on House Bill 733, middle school and high school start times that was passed by the Florida legislature. Two bills bills that repealed the law which were required the school start time change were Senate Bill 296 and House Bill 261. Currently, these two repeals has have successfully passed both chambers of legislature and are waiting for the governor's signature. I credit DAC's involvement and advocacy for bringing attention and change to the school start times. It's truly been an honor working with this

028dedicated and engaged group of community leaders. I'd now like to ask our DAC chair, Tanya Aued, to please join me at the podium to say a few comments. Good evening. Good evening. Okay. Thank you. Um, gracias and messy. I actually went to you two to make sure I said it all correctly. Uh, to the chair, the vice chair, school board members, superintendent Hyde, but more importantly to Miss Crowley and Daniel and Jeremy for bringing us all together. This was my first year as a volunteer for the district advisory council for the P County School District. I could not have done this without the amazing executive board, Mr. Joe, who will begin every day as a Saturday after this. Uh Jessica Corell, who is our secretary, and our immediate past year, who is my friend as

029well as my mentor, Ryan Develiner. I didn't know what to do because Ryan was a huge shoe to fill. But I said, I'm going to use my approach and what is Tanya's approach to love people right where they're at. We have over 120 schools as you all know. That's a lot of people. So I said, what can we do as a district advisory council on the local level, not just with the school start time? And our word for this year was partnerships. Every DAC member, every meeting, we made impact to make sure that we focused on partnerships. And how did we do that? We wanted to break the silos. We wanted to build and bridge connections. And we wanted to reduce the barriers. So, we created based on our bylaws the DAC district advisory council

030and the SAC school advisory council initiative. And what does this mean? Every five meetings that we had, our people that are standing next to me went back to local school advisory councils and shared everything they learned at the district level with those 120 schools that had school advisory councils. And with that, we saw an improvement and increase in family engagement with our family engagement workshops with Miss Kalia Carwell. We were the local voices from the district advisory council, reminding each and every time we came to the meeting to focus on family engagement and ultimately strategic goal number five, the whole child. Thank you so much for recognizing us today and look forward to the continued work in the years ahead. So, we have certificates um and a little goodie bag and a challenge coin for

031each um of our advisory members that are with us today. So, I would like to go ahead and go through all the names and then if we could get everybody down here for a group picture. Yeah, we could do that. Yeah. Okay. Ready? All right. our vice chair, Mr. Joseph Griffin. Our secretary, Jessica Carell, past chair, Ryan Deivani, Shereé Best, Cherries, Maria Bravo, Yavani, Nathan Bramer, Shambria Campbell, Gretchen Cerranic, Wendy Cler, Jubie, Assange Corbett, Erica Davis, Ed Flood, Sarah Giles, Francis Hadley Irvin, Sarah Hartfield, Dr. Barbara Jackson, Monica Livingstone, Lisa Mlan, Franciscoca Menddees, America Marcado, Bishop Willie Mincy, Marilyn Paul, Sherry Parin, James Peland, Veronica Roundtree, Kristen Stannic, and Axe Torres. We do have a few members that were not able to be here with us tonight, but I want to thank this group. Um,

032as you can see, I mean, this is not everybody, but um, they are dedicated. They are ambassadors for our um, school system, and they're advocates, and they're very well informed about what we have going on within Pulk County Public Schools, our strategic plan, and our goals. and I can't thank them enough for all the work that they have done for our school district, the advocacy. They're out there in the community talking every day about things that they've learned through DA DACK and the deep dive that we've done um through our our council. So, um on behalf of u myself and and Dak, I just I want to thank you all for the time that you give us. Um, and you show up, you show up each and every day, every meeting. You're engaged. Um, and

033I just appreciate that from the bottom of my heart. So, thank you so much. Um, I would like to also let everybody know that our application process is open. Information will go out to each of you tomorrow. Um, but one of the things that, uh, Tanya tasked me with is getting it open early for the next school year. So, we've got all the dates selected. We've got them on calendars. Um, and we will get that application out very soon. So, tomorrow you'll see that and then we'll start publicizing that to the public um for nominations to come in for next year. So, I hope each of you will apply. Um, and uh just want to let you know what a pleasure it has been working with each of you. So, thank you. And if we

034could get one group picture, that would be great. And we have a Yes, your goodie bags. No. you'll get in the picture with us too. And board members, congratulations. Board members, just a little bit more background. Several of them are also in inside PCPS, so they they can't give enough of their time quite frankly. Um, and we're very appreciative. So, Good evening. How are you? Now Joe, you are too. They are too funny. It's close to 50. Oh wow. 40 40 something. Can't remember. to keep losing. Hide behind. Sir, good. Good. Oh, no. It's a big group. That room at Jim Miles is full. I'm done. I'm done. Oh, we have two more. All right, that concludes my presentation. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next, I'd like to invite Reeba Coyle, director and of

035community leaison to please come for recog to please join us to recognize some of our business partners. Good evening. Thank you, honorable Board Chair Dr. Allen, School Board, and Superintendent Hyde. Our school district is blessed to have many devoted community partners who help make public education possible through their selfless giving of their time, talent, and treasure. Tonight I am joined by my fellow community liaison. And it is our pleasure to recognize three business partners who undertook incredibly generous appreciation campaigns this school year to benefit our hardworking PK County Public School employees. First, I would like to recognize Spath Jewelers for their teacher appreciation campaign. Hundreds of PCPS teachers recently received a beautiful thank you gift from Spath Jewelers. Beautiful pearl earrings, I will say. The business recently posted on social media and invited educators to

036nominate their schools for a special present as a way to show appreciation for our teachers. SPATH then selected five elementary schools. Alurus Elementary, Bighgamtt Academy, Pulk City Elementary, Sleepy Hill Elementary, and Spessert Holl Elementary. SPath went on the road and delivered new earrings to more than 300 teachers at these schools. Thank you, SPATH Jewelers, for making educators at these schools feel truly treasured by this thoughtful gesture. If I could invite up Emily Spa with Spath Jewelers to come say a few words and receive your certificate. You know, I just wanted to take a moment and say, oh, I'm tall. That teachers change communities, do they not? They are constantly pouring and navigating and guiding and loving and supporting the minds of our future. And when you let that sink in, you realize how priceless they

037are. And they deserve nothing less than our sincerest thanks and our gratitude. And so it really was a blessing for us to be able to do this for them. And that was it was so cool. It was so stinking cool. And so this was really a blessing for us to participate in. So thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good to see you. Great job. Next, I would like to recognize Jared Wakeland of Focus Group Florida, Keller Williams Realy. Jared is another great example of a business partner making a difference in our schools. For three years now, Jared has been organizing a unique way to say thank you to our teachers and staff at schools in the Lakeland area. Through his support, he created a new appreciation program, giving away free cruises to teachers

038and staff. In his mind, there is no one more deserving of a relaxing cruise than a hardworking teacher or staff member at these schools. Jared, would you please come forward to say a few words and receive your certificate? Uh, good evening. Good to see you. Um, so 30 years ago when my wife and I got married, she was a special education teacher. So, it's been close to my heart to have educators near me and we have a special needs daughter and the our three children grew up in the system here and they were treated just so magnificently well. As we have become friends with many teachers, sometimes it can be very thankless. They do a lot outside of teaching the children and it can be very very stressful. So, when Reeba came along and said

039we have an opportunity, I thought what could we possibly do for these people? Send them away. get them out of here. Something completely different to what they're used to every single day. So, it's been a real pleasure. And some of the schools really stepped it up last year and um we did an appreciation to the school spirit. Which what was the name of that school? Which one? Which one? Winston Academy. Winston Academy. It was amazing. So, they did sports day on the day we were giving the award away. And the teacher had a number of children on these little vehicles that were like little triangles that propel with this thing. I don't know what this thing is called. Anyway, and they were racing and on the bottom of each of the vehicles was the teacher

040who was a finalist. And so the whole school was rooting for the children in this race. It was so good. And then of course when that student won and we pulled the name, the school went absolutely nuts. It was it was so good. And I really like to see the teachers or the children seeing their teachers appreciated cuz even though the children don't know how to articulate it, they know the teachers do a lot for them. And I was talking to a friend and sometimes the love they feel at school is the love that they get. And so I really really have a heart for the teachers and I'm glad I could do a little something to brighten their day. And another Last, but certainly not least, our final business partners this evening undertook an

041amazing campaign that quite literally is keeping roofs over our employees heads. In the wake of Hurricane Milton, Mike Music reached out to offer support for PCPS employees. Mike wanted to completely replace damaged roofs at no charge. Five school-based employees across the to five uh school-based employees across the district. After reviewing 1707 70 applications and inspecting finalist roofs, the winners were announced during surprise visits at Sramm Elementary, Spessor Holland Elementary, Davenport Elementary, Lewis Anna Woodbury Elementary, and Caldwell Elementary. For anyone who has had to get a new roof replaced, you know what an unbelievably um incredible gift this is. It's easy to see why many of these PCPS staff members cried when they learned their damaged roofs would be taken care of free of charge and this difficult expense would no longer be looming over their

042heads. Thank you so much to Music Roofing team, especially President Mike Music, whose father was an educator for more than 50 years. Mike, could you please come forward? Thank you very much. Um, yeah, my dad was a teacher for 50 years. My sister's currently a teacher. My other sister's a teacher. My mother uh was a support staff. My wife is a professor. Um, and my brother and I both coached. So, education's very uh important to us. I remember in 1986 there was a hurricane and big tree fell on my parents house and he had to rely on school people to help him, right? He was a teacher. He didn't make a whole lot of money back in '86. Um, so, you know, it's easy to give away. I'll be honest with you, it's easy. Um

043because we've got so many people, some in this room that have hired us and that money is what we can use to give uh roofs away and and hopefully next year we can do even more because it is it's a big expense. It's a it's a difficult thing. So, um we're just happy to help. Thank you so much. That is all for my presentation. Thank you, Miss Coyle. And thank you to all of our business partners. Uh Mike, one of the things we would ask is if you could grab with if one of our uh communication staff or one of the par uh community liaison would introduce him to Mr. Giri. The board members have asked for pictures when they start some of the roofing projects. So if you'd let us know when you're starting

044those, we can send a team out to take those photos. We'd really appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, we we have some photos. Um, but and last but certainly not least, I'd like to bring back Miss Carolyn JRO, director of recruitment and teacher engagement. You will remember that last meeting we recognized those individuals who graduated from leading from the classroom program, but several could not join us. So, we took the initiative to bring them back tonight because they deserve that recognition. So, MRO, it's all yours. Yes. Thank you guys for having us. I'm going to go through quickly what Leading from the Classroom is again for those who may not know. Um, so leading from the classroom is a transformative program initiative that empowers teacher leaders to address campus challenges using the six sigma problem solving

045protocol. So our teachers identify and analyze issues, develop an actionable plan, and share their solutions with principles, district leaders to promote best practices across schools. This program fosters a collaborative environment where educators can drive meaningful change and enhance student outcomes. So we're so excited to see them in their next steps of how they're going to initiate their action plans at their school. specifically. Um so I'm going to go through the list of teachers who could make it because you know our teachers are busy in the evenings as well and then I'll also um tell you guys the names of who could not make it tonight as well. Okay. So our first teacher is Ashley Ray. Okay. And then Jennifer Kof. Sophia Molina. She's adorable. Terry Ashley. And then Jennifer Tester with everyone last night. Can

046you come down? Absolutely. You got to get be. Sorry. I watched it live last time. I just Yeah, we want to go ahead and go somewhere. You're going to take a picture. Oh. Yeah, we're good. Here we go. All right. Okay, great. And I'm going to go ahead and announce the ones who couldn't be here tonight, please. Aisha Caldwood, Aaron Wright, Brooke Estrich, Alina Toro, Jessica Bosarge, Katie Edmund, Katie Strippling, Katie Stutterard, Leslie Smith Hayes, Meredith Brown, Michaela Kamacho, and Terrence Walsh. Thank you all. Thank you, Mr. Roi and your team. I appreciate it. Mr. Chair, that concludes recognition events for this evening. Thank you so much, Superintendent Hyde. Uh, we've had a full house. I think Miss Miller was noting that this was probably the highest number, a record of recognitions. So, well done.

047Uh, a lot to celebrate for sure. All right, transitioning now. We are going to uh next item up is public comment for items on the agenda to be voted upon as adopted at the start of the meeting. As always, we have three opportunities to speak. Uh there were no uh cards. Nobody signed up for agenda items. So, we are going to now um transition down to the approval of minutes. Board members, um we need to approve uh two sets of meeting minutes. The first set of minutes is for the April 22nd, 2025 special work session um meeting. The chair will enter entertain a motion to accept the meeting minutes as written. Do I have a motion and a second? So moved. Second. Mr. Sharpless made the motion and I heard Miss Wyatt second it. Any

048discussion on those meeting minutes? Seeing none, I will now call for a vote. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. Give you a moment on your technology there. Make sure we're moving forward. All right. The second set of meeting minutes is for the April 22nd schoolboard meeting. Uh the chair will entertain a motion to accept those meeting minutes as written. Do I have a motion and a second? Second. Miss Fields made the motion and Miss Wyatt seconded. Any discussions or discussion? Seeing none, I would like to call for a vote now. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. It's not popping up. Yeah, it's not popping up over here either. Okay. All right. The next item is approval of today's consent

049agenda. The chair will entertain a motion to accept the May 6th, 2025 consent agenda as printed. So move. So I've got a motion from Mr. Keys. Do I have a second? I've got Miss Wyatt. Second it. Any discussion? Board members on the consent agenda. Here's your opportunity. We did discuss in work session today and we have discussed these items. All right. Seeing none, I'd like to call for a vote. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed. And that motion carries. That now takes us to our action agenda for tonight. And our first item up is S1 entitled Charter Review Team Nominee Angelic Sims. Uh the suggested action is to approve Angelic Sims to be appointed to serve as or serve on the charter review team for PK County Public Schools. The

050chair will now entertain a motion. So move. Miss Wyatt made the motion and I heard Mr. Keys second it. Any discussion on this appointee. Miss Wyatt, you're recognized. Thank you. I I believe I shared in work session. I um met Miss Sims as I was presenting to the Pulk Visions um lead public service leadership program. Um and ironically as I was talking about ways to get involved in in committee work, we got an email saying we had open seats on the charter review committee. Um so she was one of of two from that group that was very interested specifically in some of our charter schools and being able to help um evaluate that process. So I am happy to recommend her to serve on the committee. All right. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. Uh, seeing no

051other comments, I will now call for a vote. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. We are now moving to S2 entitled Charter Review Team Nominee, Sria Campbell. The suggested action is approve to approve um Shambria Campbell to be appointed to serve on the charter review team for P County Public Schools. The chair will now entertain a motion to accept. So all right, Mr. Keys made the motion. Second. And Mr. Sharpless second it. Any discussion board members? Mr. Keys, you are recognized. So um Mrs. Campbell was also on that public service leadership program. Um and we just saw her earlier this evening as serving on our DAC committee. Um a wonderful advocate for students and our community stays involved. We've had pleasant conversation on the phone and

052and our enthusiasm as such was so excited to be able to serve. And I think that when you find individuals that say yes, I will. Um but not only say yes, but they show up and they're active in the community. You take those individuals and you use them as much you can. So it is my pleasure to to recommend Mrs. Campbell. All right. Thank you, Mr. keys. Seeing no other comments, I'll now call for a vote. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. Uh S3 is our next one. Board members, and this is entitled charter review team member Kate Wallace. Uh the suggested action is to approve Kate Wallace to be appointed to serve on the charter review team for PK County Public Schools. The chair will now

053entertain a motion and a second. So moved. Second. Mr. Mr. Sharpless made the motion and Mr. Keys second it. All right. And uh I'll just give a little context. I'm happy to support and bring forward Miss Wallace as uh your nominee this evening as a PK County Public Schools graduate uh an experienced educational policy person. Um I I thought that she would um be great to serve in this capacity in a continued way. She brings both that deep uh local roots and the proven commitment uh to this position. So, uh, that's my nominee and recommendation this evening. And Mr. Sharpless, you are recognized. Yes. I also want to echo the comments. Uh, Miss Kate Wallace is very, uh, knowledgeable in, uh, charter um, uh, policy and she'll be excellent on this review committee. She's already

054served in, um, I believe prior to this, and she's going to add value to the comm uh, to the committee. I um also want to echo board member uh board chair Allen's comments on her roots here in the community and she will definitely be an asset to the committee. All right. Thank you, Mr. Sharpless. At this time, I'll call for a vote. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. We're now moving to S4 on our action agenda which is entitled policy updates and the suggest uh suggested action is to approve. Uh these policies as presented this came to us uh April 22nd during your public hearing. Uh these policies also came before us during work session back in February, I believe February 25th, and we're now approving

055the following policies and I'll read the policy number and the title. So policy uh 9271 entitled students receiving scholarships and then policy 7540.08 artificial intelligence. And then lastly, policy 5505 entitled academic honesty. The chair will now entertain a motion to accept these three policies as written. I'll take a motion and a second. So moved. Second. Mr. Sharpless made the motion and Mr. Keys seconded. Any discussion on these policies at this point? We have thoroughly evaluated these policies along the way and took it through a quite extensive process. So, um, appreciate the work on this as well. So, uh, at this time, seeing no comments, I'll call for a vote. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. We are down now down to S5, which is the approval

056of general counsel proposed contract. So, the suggested action is to approve James Green to be appointed to serve as the Pole County School Board's general counsel. Uh, board members, on April 22nd, we voted uh unanimously to extend an offer to Mr. James Green. Uh, before us today is the employment contract. Uh, in that agreement for James Green as our new general counsel. This contract is the culmination of our search process and reflects the collaborative work of our current general counsel, Mr. Murphy. I really, you know, thoroughly enjoy uh the opportunity to engage with you these last few weeks uh at a deep level um as we work through this. So, thank you for the work on that. Um our executive vice president of our search team, Mr. Doug Thomas, couldn't be here with us this

057evening, but he did a phenomenal job as well. and then uh myself acting on the board's behalf. So, thanks for that direction from you board members. So, the agreement um just as noted earlier establishes a three-year term from May 6th to June 16th, 2028 with Mr. Green starting in his position on June 16, 2025. Uh the contract includes a competitive salary within your proposed range and I believe this agreement properly uh represents the board's interest while offering a fair and competitive um term to Mr. Green. So Mr. Murphy, I'm going to give you an opportunity if you want to speak to this in any way before we move for board member comments. No, nothing more than what was said at the work session uh review uh previously today. Um, my only other suggestion is that

058you if if you're inclined to make a motion that you also authorize uh myself, the interim general counsel, to advertise the required public notice to designate the general counsel position uh as a senior management service class in the Florida Retirement System as is required. Um, the contract contemplates that action being taken, but I'd like the motion to also authorize that specifically. Thank you. Okay. So, board members, the chair will now entertain a motion at this time. I'd like to make a motion to approve the contract and to advertise authorize to authorize the because we have to to authorize the advertisement for the senior management class. Correct. To Yeah, you're authorizing the designation of that the designation. Yeah. All right. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. Board members, you've now heard the motion. I'll take a second on

059that. Second. All right, Mr. Keys has seconded. Uh, any discussion on this. All right, Miss Fields, you are recognized. Thank you. I am uh going to support the contract with the understanding that 6 months from the date that Mr. green starts, you all will have conversation with him to make sure that the uh agreement of him working remotely uh two two days at least two days out of the week is doable and is workable. All right. Thank you, Miss Fields, for that direction. And Mr. Sharpless, you're recognized. Um we had a conversation about this during work session. Um I want to say that I'm definitely going to vote to approve this contract. However, I uh I do have reservations about um having uh 40% of the work week be on uh remote. I uh I

060want to make sure that's in the record that I uh I think that's a little bit too much, but everything else looks great. So, I will be voting for it. Thank you, Mr. Sharpless. And Miss Wyatt, you're recognized. Thank you. I just want to thank Mr. green a for applying because it um I think we going through this process I think it's clear that we have a ve a great candidate ahead of us um and have a great opportunity um in in hiring him for general counsel. I also just wanted to clarify that it is up to 40%. I want to make sure that that is clear that it is um no more than that is what's in the contract but I'm happy to reevaluate at the six-month mark as as we discussed in the

061evaluation. All right. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. All right. So, we have a motion and a second. I don't see any other discussion at this point. I would now like to call for a vote. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? And that motion carries unanimously. Um, so board members, I did ask Mr. Green uh if he would just take a moment to uh come share some thoughts with us. So, as you're making your way, I just really appreciate just as Miss Wyatt noted as well. I mean, this has been a multi-month process and it's been very rigorous. So, appreciate that and congratulations to you. Um, and um, please share. And you are recognized, Mr. Green. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me tonight. Again, I think the only thing more rigorous

062than this process was uh going through the FBI hiring process, which which involved a physical fitness test and a polygraph exam and other things that I didn't have to endure here. But um it's been a it's been a great process to um along the way getting to meet all of you, getting to study up on Pulk County, uh the mission, the strategic um the mission, the the goals that you've got set and I'm very much looking forward to joining the team and helping you attain all of those goals. Um my as I mentioned during my hiring process I come from a family of teachers to parents who retired um both sisters are teachers cousins who are teachers so this very much feels like home to uh to join a school district and um I was

063born and raised around a a dinner table where all we talked about was grading papers and I think I was helping collating tests along the way growing up. So again, very much uh home feel and and looking forward to joining the the Pulk County School District cuz it's uh new chapter and I'm really excited about it. So thanks for thanks for guiding me through the process. All right. Very good. Thanks for joining us tonight. Thank you, Mr. Green. Thanks, Mr. Chair. Mr. Sorry. All right. Very good. Is that Is that Did I get to record three? I said all right. We are now moving to uh S6. Uh the suggested action is to approve Superintendent Hyde's new proposed contract. As uh just giving context, we uh completed our evaluation process for Superintendent Hyde and um

064we are seeking to honor the parameters within his contract as well. So I present to you the proposed new employment agreement for Mr. hide. Uh that's before you today. This agreement's been, you know, thoughtfully prepared again with the assistance of Mr. Murphy as well and then based on your direction. So, uh the contract establishes a 5-year term from July 1, 2025 to June 30th of 2030. Man, he's going to be old man at that point. uh providing really providing continuity of leadership for our district, right? Uh but I'll I'll restate that again. Um providing continuity of leadership for our district and I think that's uh an extremely important aspect of this. Uh key provisions include a performance-based increase framework that allows the superintendent um and this was unique really uh the opportunity to redirect performance

065bonuses uh to recognize exceptional staff. So from my perspective this agreement reflects our commitment to a strong stable leader um while maintaining appropriate accountability uh measures through our annual evaluation process. So that's the context. Mr. Murphy, if you have an opportunity to uh speak more deeply on this process, that would be great. Thank you, board chair. Uh Dr. Allen. Yes. Um as you all discussed at the work session uh review not too terribly long ago, um we uh the provision in paragraph five, which talks about the superintendent's um salary uh was um it has been added since our work session to be $283,000. moving forward. Um in addition uh the amendment one which includes the performance pay uh the 7% uh table has been has been retained and the other two tables have been removed

066and those are the only changes that were made based on the discussion. Um, in addition to that, there's a onetime payment upon approval of $40,000 and then a $4,000 contribution to a retirement 403b plan. There is also um expectation by the superintendent that the evaluation instruments instrument that you agree on will be turned in in a timely way which is defined as within 20 business days of September 30th. It may be turned in either in paper or electronically to be considered timely. And um th those are you know the the rest of the terms um generally mirror the provisions that were in the previous contract. Um each July 1st, the superintendent will receive an automatic increase based on the uh percentage increase of the nonUN group um of administrators. and the board chair will meet

067directly with the assistant superintendent for human resources to ensure that that salary increase that's automatic actually does get processed through payroll so that it is included along with all of the other things because it goes to the base salary. All right, thank you Mr. Murphy. So we've set that up at this point. Now the chair will accept the motion at this time. So move second. All right. So Mr. He's made the motion and Miss Wyatt second it. And we are now moving to discussion. And Miss Wyatt, you're recognized. Thank you. I am uh thrilled to support this tonight and that Superintendent Hyde isn't just ditching us and that he wants to stay. Um my only regret is that State Sachute prevents us from making it longer than five years because I'd love to be able

068to lock him in for a longer period of time if we could, but we'll take the five years. Very good. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. Miss Miller, you're recognized. Thanks, um, Chair Allen. I just want to request, which I did in the retreat, but I think it's important that it's on record to prevent this from happening again. Um, in the procedure manual that's being created after tonight's vote, the our calendar should be marked with the dates these things are due so it doesn't slip by as far as um reviews of contracts andor evaluations so they're done in a timely manner. Um, so I appreciate that being updated and and being included in the procedure guide so we can um be up to date with all of our employees contracts. Thank you, Miss Miller. Mr. Keys, you're

069recognized. Just want to say happy to support this. And the superintendent, I will tell you coming new to the district um and to the board, that communication that Mr. Hyde um has with us as board members and also the things that he gets done in the community, boots on the ground. I hear nothing but fabulous comments. And so this is welld deserved. And um I second what Miss Wyatt says. It's a shame that we can only make this for five years because we would lock you up. Thank you, Mr. Keys. And Miss Fields, you're recognized. I'm not going to lock you up. Okay. Um I think the the piece uh that I really uh like and appreciate is the performance uh based uh idea that Mr. I had brought before us where he is not

070only um I think being very generous but not being selfish and keeping it all to himself and encouraging uh different uh tiers of employment of employees not just uh administrative level but all levels and that says a lot to me so I am uh very happy to uh to support um Mr. the highs contract and the performance based pay as well. Thank you, Miss Fields. All right, board members. I see no other comments. And I know that a lot of times when we uh vote to increase teacher compensation, we always say that it's not enough. And I I feel that strongly for Superintendent Hyde. So, I appreciate the leadership and the work that you do. Um, I think he's a standout superintendent across the state and I'll continue to say that. So, thank you for

071the work and the leadership there. All right, the uh we will now call for a vote. So, um those in favor signify by saying I I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. And can we get a copy of the sign? All right. So signed contracts once there's a real signature on those. If we can get a copy that's sent to all board members. I've got the originals that Mr. Green signed right here in my hand. All right. Um and the superintendent will work to get executed versions. I think Wendy or that someone Linda someone has someone has those. So absolutely. All right. Very good. Uh we do not have a public hearing this evening. So, we will now transition to the superintendent's report. Superintendent, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Board members, thank you very

072much. Um, if I could just clarify for a brief moment, um, because I don't want anybody walking away from tonight's meeting or those watching from home, assuming that the board just gave me an additional $40,000, the $40,000 actually seeks to address the fact that the compensation that was committed in my contract wasn't fulfilled at the time. So, we're we're playing catch-up. So, I I I want to say sincerely, thank you for that. Thank you for the kind words. Um, and thank you for the contract extension. You know, we've done some great work here in P County. There's a lot left to do. Um, I think we're making great strides. So, I just wanted to start with that and say thank you for that. Um, I do want to make a couple quick comments about events.

073So, the mayor's art event last night was absolutely fantastic. I love the fact that one of municipalities takes the puts forth the initiative to blow those that artwork up the way they did. Um if you if you get a chance to visit their offices, it is very impressive the scale and you saw some examples here tonight and several of those students submitted multiple pieces and and they were just fabulous. I also want to say and congratulate Tenner High School. Um many of you joined me last week, some of you will join us later this week um for the 3D performances and and summitive kind of presentations. So we got a chance to see the UPS challenge. um students were challenged by UPS um to develop a a way for them to improve improve employee morale

074for their seasonal employees um who don't often feel connected and to ensure that they come back season overseas and so our students were able to develop some really interesting ideas and concepts um some of which actually were quite intriguing to me. I'm like we maybe we should do that for some of our employees. Um so I think Mr. Keys and I were talking about a few of those saying that's actually a really great idea. Um, so we we may be having some conversations about those, but it takes a lot. These were, if I recall correctly, these were sophomores and to stand up in front of your peers and present your ideas that way and to have been as well researched and to communicate as articulately as many of them did, I I was very appreciative.

075The program really does a great job and many of you have heard the data. I look forward to being able to provide that data update to you again on how that program has really had an impact positive impact on staff uh morale. If you recall, we saw improvements with staff attendance for those that were participating. They reported a higher level of of job satisfaction and engagement as well working in that program working with our students. Our students saw improved attendance and overall academic GPA attend attainment. Um and a lot of these kids are our middle- of the road kids. It's kind of like a different version of an AVID program, but for those who don't know, uh, what happens is it's a Shark Tank model. So, I just want to say congratulations to all of

076those and good luck to those individuals that will present this week. Um, Miss Miller and I have had the pleasure of judging before. She has committed that she will never judge again and have to be the judge that issues the final ruling as to who wins because they're all so deserving. Um, so great job to the staff and to Junior Achievement and the partnership that we've established and many of you have close relationships with that organization and and so thank you for for your continued support. Um, also want to say thank you to Dr. Ryder and Connect Ed. Tomorrow night is their third annual excellence and education awards event. They'll be recognizing many of our staff for the programs that we offer our students in workforce and career development. I'll have an opportunity to say

077a few words. I was told I have six minutes. Um I will keep it short and many of you know I struggle with that but it's it's just a pleasure to have such a great partner and connected which is their new name. Um I I really cannot say enough because the level of enthusiasm and energy they bring to the district. The number of critical partnerships we've been able to establish andor um expand is quite significant with when it as it relates to our medical programs and every other industry trade program that we offer. Um, so I look forward to continue work with them. Lastly, I want I just want to kind of give it a countdown for graduation. We are seven business days away from graduations. Um, yes, thank you. Um, my own son will

078be graduating as one of these groups. So, Saturday we actually have the um center school graduations this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Then on Friday the 16th, Frost Proof will host their graduation event in the evening. Saturday, Fort Me and Auburnale. Monday we have Harrison, Lakeland, and Ridge Community. Tuesday, we have Lake Region, Malberry, and Barto. Wednesday, we have Tener Rock, Kathleen, and Hayden City. Thursday we have Lake Gibson, Gauze, Fresh Start, and Davenport. And then Friday, we wrap up with Winter Haven and George Jenkins. And so I want to say thank you for your commitment of time and effort. You know, it takes a lot to get a student across the stage. Um, special thank you to every single teacher who contributed to those students and their development. It it is not simply a high

079school initiative. It starts in preK. It starts at home, starts in kindergarten. And really kudos to all of the staff. And I'm appreciative too of all of our elected officials who will join us on stage. As you know, we expanded that initiative to have them be a part. Our mayors will provide videos or be present to congratulate our graduates. Um, and board members, thank you because you always show up. You walk out with your schools. I know Miss Fields insists on walking out with her schools as she should. Um, and it's a great pageantry of an event, but it's a culminating event, right? But as a father who's also reflecting, I just want to say thank you to the school district um for helping my son attain this. He'll be leaving, as you know, June

08020th to go to the Florida State University. Um University of Florida said no. Florida State said yes. So, we're going to prom with Florida State. That's okay. Um, but at the end of the day, the the fact that so many individuals at George Jenkins High School contributed to a young man who knew nobody here. Um, and really made an impact on him and his family and and made helped him be successful, helped him to achieve and attain the level of success that he's that he's had. And so I sincerely as a father I say thank you to our school district and the amazing staff there. Um, very appreciative of that. And I look forward to graduation. It will be an amazing event for many reasons. We will shake. Last year, we shook over 7,500 hands.

081The year before, a little over 7,000. So, we hope that number continues to climb. But I'm also excited, and I'll wrap with this before I announce the next meeting. Um, I'm excited because for the first time, the calendar will allow me to attend other events I've not been able to attend. And so, I will be able to be at Frost Proof on the 16th, and I'll be able to be at Auburnale for the first time on Saturday um, and participate in that event because I hear so much about it. and Miss Miller every year talks my ear off about Ammonary's graduation. So, I'm glad to be able to join her on stage this year at that event. So, uh, Mr. Chair, the next work session and board meeting will be held on June 10th, 2025.

082The work session will begin at 12:30 p.m. and the board meeting will begin at 5:00 p.m. The meeting will be held here at the district office located at 1915 South Floral Avenue in Barto. That concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Superintendent. Uh we are now moving to the attorney's report. Mr. Murphy, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Board Chair. And tonight, uh I have uh would like to request authority to advertise a public hearing of the code of conduct changes to occur at the June 10th, 2025 regularly scheduled schoolboard meeting. These changes were presented today at the May 6th, 2025 schoolboard work session by Mr. Butler and there were approximately 13 recommended changes to the 2025 2026 code of student conduct. So asking for a motion to approve to advertise. Thank you

083Mr. Murphy. I'll now take a motion and a second. So move. So Mr. Keys made the motion and Mr. Sharpless second it. Any discussion board members? All right. Seeing none, I'd like to call for a vote. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. Any opposed? And that motion carries. We are now moving and I'll pause for a moment here so we can get things in order. All right, we are going to now move uh past the auditor's report. You've received several audits from Miss Matthews along the way since our last meeting two weeks ago. Um so again, you can address those with Miss Matthews or the superintendent. We are down to our board members report at this point and I will go by smallest uh district number going up. So that means I will

084start with Mr. Keys. You are recognized. Thank you Dr. Allen. Um a lot going on um since our last board meeting which isn't too long ago, right? Um attended uh Pulk Education Foundation's quarterly meeting um to emphasize all the wonderful things they're doing kind of sum up the annual Susan Copeland Clay shoot and we talk about we spoke about that again and just the tremendous support from the community the changes in that event and really realizing Susan's vision for that event. It was an awesome awesome time. I attended uh Florida School Board Association School Finance 2.0 0 forum. Um we gosh so much information to consume um you know speaking a lot about uh topics such as fund balance investments that the districts makes um capital outlay borrowing um FFP and how it's all calculated

085and uh so I'd tell you just a great group of individuals there a lot of um open discussion um very knowledgeable presenters so I it's a lot to consume as a new board member so we really appreciate FSBA putting that event on and um and got a lot out of that. Um I'm going to try not to get emotional on this one. We um attended an event at Davenport School of the Arts where we um surprised uh the former principal, Mr. Kier, with naming the music building after him. He had absolutely no idea. Um but to tell you the amount of people that were in that auditorium with wonderful things to say, um Mr. Kier truly left a legacy at Davenport School of the Arts. and and to be able to honor him in that

086way um was absolutely awesome. And people coming from out of state as far away from, you know, Arizona to come fly in to honor him, it was absolutely fabulous. Um and then that that was a big event culminating into um you know, celebrating DSA's 25th anniversary and their uh last musical of the year. Um re doing Annie Jr. um to which and I'm going to get on my pedestal here and was able to watch my daughter as uh Annie Junior or Annie and Annie Jr. and to see but all the not only her but all the students in that role and the amount of time they give they started rehearsals December 12th right and we're talking about especially in being in that some nights five nights a week honing their craft and staying until at

087sometime 7:30 at night to rehearse. I will tell you if you ever have the opportunity to go to one of those performances, you will be absolutely amazed. Um it just a fantastic event. Um then spent uh a couple days uh doing school visits again, visited five more schools, uh Ridge Community High School, East Side Elementary, Laurel Elementary, Lake Marian Creek Middle School, and Sand Hill Elementary. I mean, just to hear the dedication that our administrators have to their campuses and the concerns they have to be able to share those with them, to hear about their accomplishments and achievements, we are truly doing wonderful things here in the district. Um, Superintendent Hyde mentioned um the the 3D event at Tener to see the amount of time these students put into research, learning about UPS and corporation

088and and and going as far as going to employment websites indeed, right? to get kind of uh you know reviews on what it was like to work there and things that they presented to improve you know morale amongst season employees but also to find a way to um lessen attrition right to keep retention to some of these season employees to have them come back. Wonderful ideas and the amount of work they put into there. And then um finally uh yesterday and uh the uh exiting ceremony for project search at Lakeland Region Medical Center to see um how much the students that are in that program progressed and to see them have the opportunity to gain u meaningful employment so they can be more independent as they they enter to the community and give back in

089that regards I think is absolutely fabulous. Dr. Hodgees and his team um do an absolutely amazing job in in that program. So, we appreciate that. Um that's all I have. All right. Thank you, Mr. Keys. We are now moving to district 4. That'd be Miss Wyatt. You're recognized. Thank you. It truly is the season of all of the fun stuff. Um so, first I want to congratulate um our very own Dan Talbett who was announced as the state AD of the year this past week um for the whole state of Florida. I think we've mentioned before, he's also up for the national AD of the year, which he'll go this summer. Um, he's one of three finalists for that, but we really do have the best of the best. I am hesitant to say it

090too loudly because then people try and poach him. Um, but I know he's a P County boy, so he's he sticks with us. Um, I also had the opportunity to see um, Superintendent Hyde and Mr. Sharpless present at the state of the county um, which was incredibly wellreceived. Um, I know we talked about it briefly in our retreat, but I do think we may need to preemptively say no interpretive dancing next year because there has that has been threatened by our superintendent for our presentation style. Um, but they in in all seriousness, they did an incredible job and I think um it is it is really cool to to watch the community respond to some of those presentations and and how far we have come even over the past several years especially looking back um

091postcoid which is hard to think that we're now five years postcoid but um really where we've been in the past five years and and how far we've come. I also had the opportunity to attend the video awards um which I I sat next to Superintendent Hyde and especially at the elementary school level um schools that we had never heard called before um that won several awards. I want to give major kudos to those teachers um because that is that is a big lift. Um they are very very competitive at all stages. Um, you know, my alma moater BDTV does tend to carry the high schools, but their teachers also been with us about 40 years, so they've they've got some got some experience in that category. Um, but it's always a great event and and

092a great opportunity to recognize the students. Um, I also in the Winter Haven area, we are going to have to have another parade in case you have not heard. Not only do we have the state tennis champions, but we also have the state barbecue champions. So, I know that uh Superintendent Hyde was convinced that George Jenkins was going to take that this year, but I am proud to say that uh Winter Haven team name pending is uh is coming coming for you. Um we got they right now they're working on a team name as competitive as Lake Regions's Thunder. So, they're trying to find something as creative Um, also had the opportunity yesterday to to deliver some tacos to one of our schools that a a donor had um sponsored for teacher appreciation day. And

093just, you know, as we highlighted some of our donors tonight, it really is the little things. I um the seeing how how people's faces light up just with tacos for for lunch. It really is. Um, you know, we we know that that we can never um never compensate all of our employees the way that we would like to, but it is really encouraging to see the community come alongside and and support and and recognize and honor our teachers. Um, as we enter, this is our last official meeting before summer. Um, so I just want to thank our teachers and staff for a great school year. um make the last several days count, but also looking forward to a great summer and have a safe summer. Thank you, Miss Wy. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. And Miss

094Fields, you're recognized. Thank you. I just have a couple of items. Uh I wanted to uh report that I attended the health strategy meeting last week and I had um gotten some of the uh information that was distributed to share with you all and I'm sure that there will be other information coming directly from uh Miss King and her and her department. And also I wanted to uh to thank uh Mr. Murphy for always uh being so professional and so knowledgeable and and being Johnny on the spot. you have been a blessing here for us and uh we're so happy that you are going to not disappear that you still would be here if need be. But we just want to thank you from the bottom of our heart for just being who you are

095and you are an amazing person and we we're just very happy to know you very much. Yes, sir. So, thank you very much. And that's ends my report. All right. Thank you, Miss Fields. Mr. Sharpless, you're recognized. I have a little bit more than normal this month. Um, and I'm going to share it. Uh, first thing I I I want to just tell you a story about something that really um was impactful. It um it touched my heart to see it. Um and it started in tragedy. So um there was a a Fortme FFA student uh at their high school that the night before their FFA banquet. So if you know anything about FFA that's the big event um of the year where they student rec get get recognized one of their officers so one

096of their leaders in their organization house caught on fire. They lost everything the night before their banquet and it was tragic. I mean truly tragic. What what I want to share with you and the positive that came out of it was Poke County, our FFA uh chapters as well as other chapters around Central Florida especially rallied. They got that young lady um that was an officer. They got her clothes. They got products. official dress, so you know, FFA jacket, that kind of thing, the important things. And that young lady was able to participate in her in her and she was a graduating senior, her senior awards for FFA. Um, and that's the kind of kids and that's the kind of family and communities that we have in Poke County. They rallied around that family and

097they got them the stuff they need. And um, it was just truly heart. It touched my heart. um out of a tragic tragic situation um you get to see people's character revealed and it was um you know I when I taught at Lake Wells High School there was a saying it said uh that the principal at that time Donna Dunson had it was you are your brother's keeper and I can tell you that that community um certainly rallied and they were their brother's keeper that during that time um Another thing I want to share with you, uh, my personally my number one priority when I went to Tallahassee this year was school start times. You heard Janette Crowley earlier talk about our district advisory council and the um, different uh, community sessions they had to

098talk about school start times. And I'm proud to announce that um Senate Bill 296, which is the version the House used as well, uh passed both chambers heading to Governor DeSantis's desk um to get hopefully signed. You don't ever you don't count your chicks before they hatch in Tallahassee, but I believe it's it's going to get signed. uh which really we avoided um something that could have been a very detrime detrimental to us with the mandatory start times. Um I want to thank personally thank our poke delegation for supporting that bill in both chambers. Um it giving us the flexibility to where we don't have the mandatory specific start times is really uh beneficial for our district. Um, I uh want to thank board member Wyatt for the comments earlier about the state of the

099county. It meant a lot um that you were there and and the the the positive comments you made. It was an honor to present with uh Superintendent Hyde at that event. Um truly uh it was great to talk about the great things we're doing in Pulk County Public Schools. You know, uh we have a lot of success stories and be able to talk about some of those. Um, and I felt like, you know, even though we didn't do interpretive dance, Superintendent Hyde, uh, as as he suggested, um, I I do feel like we we played off each other well and we had a great presentation for the public. Um, as also with the other agencies, too. Um, last week, the day before my birthday, I got to attend a um, an event that I actually

100attended last year on my 40th birthday. It was on my 40th birthday last year. Um, and it was and I don't plan on missing it until uh I'm not allowed to go. I guess I plan on being there every year. It's called Flight to Honor. Um, and in this event we have um our veterans this year. It was a high majority, if not 100% were all Vietnam veterans, um, which we know were never welcome home the way they should have been. Um they, you know, get up early in the morning. Miss Winchester was also a guide with them. Uh get up really early in the morning, get on a a flight, go up to DC, they get to tour things they may have not not have ever seen, you know, some of our u memorials

101and um they get to I can only imagine what's going through some some of their heads in the reflection they have to do. But they they do that and then they they come back home. But what happens is when they get home, they've got a group of people there to welcome them home. And that's what this is all about. Um, and so, uh, I I appreciate, uh, board chair Allan being there with me, um, and, you know, welcoming back those veterans that might not have ever received the proper welcome that they deserve as heroes. So, that was a great event. Um, I attended the Florida High School Barbecue State Contest. It was held at Gauze Academy. And so I can confirm uh that board member Wyatt is correct that their shirt said Blue Devil Barbecue,

102but that may not be the the final the final title. But Blue the Winter Haven High School did win the state championship. Um I'm going to take it a step further though. Out of the top five in the entire state, four of them from Pulk County. Pulk County kicks some butt barbecue. Um, and I have to say from district 6, I'm very proud of uh East Street Barbecue from Roosevelt Academy, uh, which received third place in the state. Um, Poke and, uh, one more event that I would like to talk about. Uh, last week I attended Poke Vision's conversations in Behavioral Health, the power of hope and healing. Um, and want to also thank Superintendent Hyde for his presentation at that event, um, talking about what we're doing in Pulk County Public Schools to help

103our students and staff's mental health. I think that's important because this month is May is mental health awareness month. Um, you know, I I really hope one day we break the stigma behind mental health. Um, it takes courage to um to seek help. It does. And and I will I I'll take a a point of privilege here. I will tell you that especially our men, there's a stigma behind our men going and getting health help that their mental health. And I would and I know f I know too well some personal examples of people in my life that um they could have really used the help. And so I hope that our society one day will um embrace everyone but specifically men when they're um trying to help improve their mental health. I'll leave it

104at that. Uh, last but not least, teacher appreciation week this week. And I've got to say, um, you know, I come from I' I've said this multiple times. I come from a family of educators. Um, you know, our teachers truly care about our students. They, you know, even though we had a, um, historic raise this year, we still can't pay them what they're worth. Um, and I just appreciate you. I don't know what else to say. Thank you educators for doing what you do. You make a difference every day in the lives of children. And for that, we can't put a price tag on it. That being said, that's all I have. Board chair. Thank you, Mr. Sharpless. Miss Miller, you're recognized. Thank you. I just have a couple of quick things. Um, first of

105all, I do want to mention the project search ceremony again. um that that was started a few years back and Sandy Pearllo did a phenomenal job with it. She had recently retired and I um got to meet Mr. Nmore who's picked that up. Project Search can be done anywhere and we really appreciate that Lakeland Regionals stepped up to be the first Project Search here in PK County and it's we're going to grow it. I mean, my goal is to have more of those programs. But I want to thank Scott Demick, the senior vice president, chief human resource officer, and all of Lakeland Regional help that make that happen. This is a program who that allows students with disabilities to defer their diploma and go to work and they're interns within the hospital and they learn

106different um jobs throughout the hospital. Most all of them are either offered a job at the end or find employment in another another place outside of the hospital by the end of their internship. We had nine which is um grown from last year. We had nine interns that finished the program. This year we got to hear from Cavante Jones. I think the the school board may remember he presented to us one time and he was a graduate of the program in 2019 and he has gainfully employed at Lakeland Regional since. And if you don't know, you know, for people living with developmental disabilities, Social Security disability pays you about $900 a month. Um you're paid to live in poverty. So, people that can attend programs like this and be gainfully employed and receive health insurance

107and benefits with full-time work, it increases their income three times what they would get if they sat at home. And it gives them community and it builds meaningful engagement. So, I think this is a great project that we have and I want to see that continue. And I thank Dr. Kenny Hajes and Mr. Narmmore and everyone that puts the time in to make that program successful. I also want to recognize Tenerok High School's jazz band who received Straight Superiors. If you know anything about the band and um it's been growing, Alex Belleview came over to join Tenok and has done a lot of work with those students and Miss Reer and everyone who helps make that band what they can be, all of the musicians. I'm just super proud of the straight superiors that they've

108received and I know they're going to continue with that in the future. Um we do have graduations coming up. I want to brag on Lake Gibson. Lake Gibson has about 425. It's not the largest. It has about 425 graduates. We have 25 of them earning an associates degree at which they earned at the same time they were earning their high school diploma. Out of 425, 305 students at that school, which is over 70% took at least one dual enrollment class, and a majority of those are taught on that campus by teachers who have been certified at that level to teach those classes. So, Lake Gibson is a shining star for dual enrollment and I know that helps a lot of those students to get ahead on their college journey. So, I'm very proud of of

109Lake Gibson Braves. And I do want to mention I know Mr. Hyde cannot wait. Aubberdale High School's 100th graduation is this year. Um Aubberdale still graduates on their field. They still point towards the lake and sing their alma mater. And if you've never seen the planes f fly in um to drop streamers on the kids, it's it's an emotional time. It's a great small town, you know, kind of vibe to it, but it's proud. They're proud blood hounds. I just met with the city manager and and he wanted to, you know, reiterate that we want our kids going to Aubberdale High School. We want blood hounds. That's what we do here. Most all of the staff in the city were graduates from Auburnale. Um, I joke that I was a Blue Devil and it took

110him a little while to to let me in. They're very proud um proud community and I'm excited to celebrate the hundredyear graduation, which is a feat in itself. Um, I know they're going to do some special things this year. I probably don't have all of the details, so hopefully you'll get to see that if you're not there in person, at least pictures or online video. So, yes, we're getting into graduation. It's, if you haven't guessed, it's my most favorite time of the year. Um, the center schools will be graduating as our first real graduation ceremony this Saturday. And those are the kids who often um, you know, people don't know of their journey. So, to watch them finish and receive their diplomas is is an exciting time. So, I appreciate being a part of it

111and thank you, Dr. Allen. All right. Thank you, Miss Miller. Uh board members, y'all are extremely busy, so appreciate all the work that y'all do. Man, it's amazing. Superintendent, thank you for bringing the artwork in and allowing us to recognize these students. Uh, I've been quite busy in the last couple um months evaluating portfolios and I'm looking at Ethan's work and you know um I would be allocating thousands of dollars uh in merit-based scholarships for work very similar to this. Um so we've got some extremely talented students in our um district. Um so I just want to say congrats to our new general counsel, Mr. Green, who's out there. We look forward to working with you. So again, thanks for being with us here all day. Uh so you get to see firsthand uh what

112it's like to hang out with us. So we we look forward to seeing you at the desk. Uh Superintendent Hyde, uh thank you for everything that you do. Um you are truly a great leader. So uh we recognize you as well tonight. Um Super or um Vice Chair Sharpless noted last week was the Flight to Honor Mission 10 and he gave you all the details around that. Um the unique uh thing about this one for me uh in particular was my uncle uh Bruce and my cousin uh Brucey his son had a chance to take part in that. And um you know I just remember as well growing up um my mom always sharing u her story of her brothers both my uncle Chuck uncle Chuck and uncle Bruce coming home from Vietnam War and

113never get uh getting that honor that they deserved. Um, and over the years, especially during Veterans Day, I would take my my son and we would go over and ask my uncle to share stories. And you know, veterans, um, especially ones that served on the front lines were always hesitant to tell stories. And just slowly he has opened up to tell those stories. And man, they experienced a lot. Um he was a chief gunner um during the war off the helicopter and it's amazing uh their service and sacrifice. Uh it was on that same night that the PK County um public school 33rd annual video awards happen. So you know a lot of times these these things are overlapping. We don't get a chance to take part in all of them. But I just want

114to say thanks to Leslie Green uh who coordinated a lot of the curation and the judging around that. Uh I did have a chance to evaluate uh 19 of the student submissions and serve as a juror for the video awards. Wow, they are incredible. They do some amazing work. Uh so it's fun to take part in that on that side of the house. So again, thanks to Leslie for her outstanding leadership around that. Um this past Saturday in my Florida Southern capacity and just sort of wrapping up the semester uh you know it's been busy and again I want to say thanks to vice chair for stepping in for the state of the county. Uh that was my senior critique day and I can't miss that. Those were my students that were you know sharing

115out their senior capstone work. So thank you for stepping in on that. But I wanted to share a couple words from um our commencement speaker who was NFL legend Mr. Ronda Barber. Uh he he stated this. Stay curious. And these were in her his lasting statements. Stay curious. Um, know that learning doesn't just end because you walk across the stage in an outfit that makes you look like a wizard's intern. Um, go out there and do something so awesome that the world uh will have to take notice. So, really excited. Thanks for superintendent for setting that up as we really think about our graduations. Project Search was really the first one within the school district to take part in alongside Miss Miller and um Mr. Keys. It was quite amazing to see that as well.

116So, we look forward to that. I was thinking about the volunteer of the year event. Um Miss Wyatt was there and in celebrating our volunteers as well. Uh did you know that we have a bluegrass band in our school district and they sang u some really cool songs, but the one was I'll fly away. really remember that one. It was a great one. Uh but congrats to our districtwide um winners and we're grateful for their dedication and their generosity um of our sponsors for that event to take place. So, I'll just close out again to take a moment to celebrate our teacher appreciation week to every educator in our district. Uh thank you for your tireless dedication uh to the work that you do. You're compassionate um and the life-changing impact that you have on

117our students uh will never be forgotten. So, those are my comments for tonight. Board members, we will now transition to our public comments. We do have uh four public comment cards. Um, and I'll just set the context up for this so everybody knows that uh you have three opportunities to speak and this is our last opportunity would be for non-aggended items. So, you have to fill out the speaker card in the lobby prior to the meeting. Uh all speakers, you're going to be given three minutes to speak. The light will turn yellow on the dash there when you have one minute one minute left and then you'll hear a beep um when your time is concluded. Please note that although the board encourages community participation, no immediate action is going to be taken tonight on

118the items presented during this uh public comment opt option. Um, if follow-up board action is required, then the matter may be placed on the agenda at a subsequent meeting in accordance to schoolboard policy. Uh, I have a list of individuals who signed up to speak. So, I will call those out. So, Lyn Hemp, you are first. You can come forward. And then on deck, there's a red line off to the side there. And Sarah Kenny, you would be second. So, if you can stand at the red line as well. Miss Hemp, you're recognized. Thank you. Our school administrators, teachers, and support staff show up every single day to do some of the most difficult work imaginable. They lead schools through staffing shortages, behavior crisises, and constant policy shifts. They're on the front lines nurturing students,

119supporting families, managing buildings, and working around the clock to meet increasingly unrealistic demands. And yet, instead of being met with support, dignity, and professionalism from district personnel, many are being met with hostility. Too many school-based staff are being subjected to demeaning treatment, intimidation, micromanagement, and outright verbal abuse by individuals at the district level. These are not isolated incidents. There is a pattern, a culture where bullying behavior is tolerated, even normalized, and often goes unchecked. When district leaders speak to principles and staff with condensation, disrespect, or cruelty, it sends a clear message that their hard work and humanity don't matter. And where is accountability? Too often, complaints are ignored, reports disappear into a black hole, and the school board, the elected body charged with oversight, remains silent. We cannot keep pretending this isn't happening. We cannot

120demand excellence and resilience from our school staff while allowing them to be demeaned and demoralized by the very system they serve. If we truly care about return retaining our best educators, creating safe schools and improving outcomes for students, then we must also care about the culture or employees work in every day our employees. They be that begins with district leadership. That begins with you. So tonight, I'm asking the board to do more than listen. I'm asking you to act. Conduct a thorough review of district leadership. Establish real protections for school staff who report mistreatment. and set a tone clearly and publicly that abusive behavior has no place in this district no matter someone's title. Someone who has dedicated de decades of their life to a career in Pulk County schools should not be subjected to

121yelling, demeaning gestures or retaliation while doing a great job for asking questions. The district leadership and those under them at the district level should not be allowed to continue to retaliate against principles and staff in order to win with no consideration for what is right. I urge anyone in the district who's been subjected to yelling, demeaning behavior or be or blame for student behavior to speak out. You need to help us. Thank you, Miss Hemp. Miss Kenny is up. And then on deck we have Alicia McCormick. Hello. Good evening. My name is Sarah Canel and I am a parent of a special needs non-verbal child um at Pope Qu Pulk County District Schools and I'm here to advocate for one thing above all and that's access to registered behavior technicians for every ESSE student who

122needs one regardless of income, insurance or scholarship status. Right now, excess is deeply unequal and I know many parents, friends of mine who can't get an RBT for their child. They don't qualify for Medicaid. Their insurance won't cover it and they aren't eligible for fees UA scholarships. They're left with no options. They know ABA therapy would help their children learn and thrive, but they simply can't access it. That's why public schools must step up and make this kind of support available to every student, not just the ones who can afford it. Many of these students aren't just struggling with academics. They're still learning how to learn. And without an RBT to guide them, they're being held to expectations they don't understand. Some are being marked down or punished for behaviors that come from confusion and

123not defiance. And that's not fair. That's a gap in support. My own son is living proof of what the right help can do. He used to alope. He ran into the busy road during school hours in PE class. He climbed everything, had daily meltdowns, and refused to do classwork. But with the RBT helping him and working alongside with teacher and the parrot, everything changed. He completes his work and he's made the honor role. And I believe every parent should be able to have the opportunity. Now with the district's plan to combine kindergarten through fifth grade ESC students into one classroom, the need for support is even more urgent. Two instructors and a couple of pairs cannot meet that wide range of needs alone. And without the proper help, meaningful inclusion with general education peers is

124nearly impossible. RBTs can bridge that gap so students don't just attend school, they grow and thrive in it. Other states have already made this work through shared funding models, inschool partnerships, and thoughtful use of public funds like Title One student attendance funds or by accepting scholarships directly. They've made ABA support accessible for all families, and we can do that, too. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Kennel. Mr. Chair, point of clarification. There is no truth to the statement that students in grades K through five are being combined in any classrooms in the entirety of Pulk County Public Schools. In fact, that was a practice that was eliminated over two years ago. We do have multi-age units, but those students are scheduled in accordance with their specificity of their need, but they may be one or two

125grade level combos. They are not in no single instance do we have students combined K through five. We received an inquiry about this through the media today, too. and we provided a written response to the media to that effect. Thank you. Superintendent registered behavioral therapists and ABA. So I'll have to follow up with as far as how can the district seek to help parents link to those services and see if we can seek reimbursement as we have seen a significant improvement in this year in our reimburseables um almost $600,000 as compared to prior years. So happy to explore that. I took notes about the speaker. All right. Thank you, Superintendent. And Miss McCormack, you are up next. And Miss uh Leslie Trinidad. Good evening. Sorry. Good evening, members of the Pulk County School Board, Superintendent

126Hyde, and all the other members. My name is Alicia McCormack and it's my privilege to speak with you today. Not just as the Florida account executive for Yonder, but also as someone who has proudly partnered with your district in a previous edtech role before, during, and after the pandemic. I worked alongside educators and leaders in Poke County to ensure that learning continued regardless of where students were physically located. That experience deepened my admiration for the resilience of this district and it also sharpened my focus on the growing needs we're seeing in our classrooms today. Now I've shifted gears to work with Yonder, a company whose mission aligns deeply with what I know Pope County values as well. Improving student mental health, fostering safer learning environments, and driving better academic outcomes. Yonder creates phone-f free environments

127that eliminate daily distraction, cyber bullying, and classroom disruptions, helping students to re-engage with learning with each other and themselves. We've served over 1 million students across 35 countries. And here in Florida, we're helping districts implement solutions that align with the state's no phone during instruction legislation and prepare for what may soon be from bell-to-bell policy, including elementary and middle school. We've seen measurable impacts, increased academic achievement, improved student behavior, reduce teacher burnout, and most importantly, stronger student mental and emotional wellness. With the support of the Florida Department of Education's legislative team, Yonder is now working to identify six pilot districts to fully fund and implement the program statewide for the upcoming school year. I would love for Poke County to be part of this critical initiative. Our students are facing unpre unprecedented pressures inside and

128outside the classroom. Together, we have an opportunity to protect to protect their focus, their learning, and their well-being. I look forward to partnering with you to make that possible. Thank you for your time, and thank you for the work you do every day to support our next generation. And this is just an example of what the Yonder Pouch does. You simply, the students would simply put their phones in here. I'm sorry, I'm nervous. I'm trembling. um they would simply put their phone in here, lock it like so. They'll just push it in and then when they leave the school building at the end of bell, they would I guess the uh principal would put this on the uh the in front of the dismissal door and they would they would just go like this and

129it would open and then they're good to go home. So now this month is May mental health and we have to make sure that these students that are overstimulated because of the cell phones that they're going to be our future leaders one day. So we want to make sure that with with with implementing the yonder program that our next generation is mentally sound to make decisions for us. Thank you Miss McCormack. Next we have Leslie Trinidad. Good evening board members, educators, community members, and Mr. Hyde. My name is Leslie Trinidad and I serve as a school counselor at Kathleen Middle School. I'm here to speak briefly but urgently about the impact of cell phone addiction in our middle school students. Every day I witness students struggling to focus, stay engaged, or even hold conversations without

130checking their phones. Many admit that they feel anxious, panicked when separated from their devices. This isn't just a distraction, it's addiction. Research shows excessive phone use is linked to anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, even suicidal thoughts, especially in pre-teen and teens. Their brains are still developing. a constant exposure to social media and screen time is rewiring how they're how they process emotions, form relationships, and handle stress. This crisis is unfolding right in our classrooms and our lunchrooms. And it's not just emotional, it's academic. Students are losing valuable instructional time, struggling with delayed thinking, and showing a decreased ability to self-regulate. Face to face face-to-face communication is becoming rare. Conflict escalates faster and farther via social media and cyber bullying is harder to escape. But there is a simple, effective solution. I'm standing here today alongside this

131representative from Yonder, a company that provides secure lockable pouches for student phones. With Yonder, students keep possession of their phones but can't access them during the school day. This protects their focus, their privacy, and safety while restoring calm and connection in our schools. Schools across the country using Yonder report improved engagement, fewer discipline issues, and better peer relationships. We can create the same positive change here. This is not about control. This is about creating boundaries that allow our students to learn, grow, and interact in healthier ways. I urge this board to consider a pilot program using Yonder, not only in our high schools, but our middle schools. Let's help our kids reconnect, not just to school, but to themselves and each other. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Trinidad. All right, board members, we are now

132down to adjournment. That would be our next order of business. And at this time, I would say that we are now adjourned. Have a great evening.