001[Music] I know. All right. Heat. Heat. [Music] I'm down. [Music] I'm ready. Happy [Music] birthday. Heat. Heat. [Music] Sorry. Good afternoon. Uh, welcome to the Pulk County School Board's work session on this fine day. Uh, we're looking at May 6th. It's right at 12:30. I think it just turned 12:31. So, we're right on time. Um, pretty impressive that you all found your seat in order orderly fashion. Pretty amazing. Um, not sure if anybody follows the, you know, the this day in history, uh, type of things. Um, but, um, I mean, obviously there's so many things that have happened in the context of time, but a couple that stuck out to me was on this day, uh, Sigman Freud was born. I don't know if anybody follows, uh, psychoanalysis. Um, I'm probably more intrigued with Edward
002Bernay, which was his nephew, um, and the work that he's done. uh in communication theory and so forth. But the other person too that stuck out to me was uh Willie Mays. Uh Willie May's birthday is today. And then on top of that, historically we had the H Highenberg disaster that took place uh quite some time ago. Um but all that to say is we're probably going to and I'm going to say these words later this evening as well. Uh but we're going to think deeply today. Uh we're gonna try to hit some home runs and then hopefully we're gonna try to avoid some disasters. Right, Superintendent? Um we are pleased to we are pleased to welcome the third cohort. Right. We've got the third cohort with us today of the inside PCPS and really
003appreciate you being with us today. Um, Miss Long, I do read all the updates and it's really impressive uh how much you all have done in the last 10 months. So, thanks for being with us today. Um, and if you look behind you, I actually see intermingled within you all as well is our staff. I really appreciate our staff uh for being available and accessible to us today. And uh hopefully we'll have some really good questions for you as we work through some of these decisions. Uh we're humbled uh to serve alongside of you and the most highly educated workforce and dedicated workforce in the United States. Um I would like to start by reading this uh who are we statement and it goes like this. We are uh the PK County leadership governance team.
004If we were to pick one phrase to define us, it would be student centered. Uh because when we come together to work, we lean on our on our diverse backgrounds. And you heard a little bit about that today. uh and those experiences to ensure that our decisions are focused on providing a highquality education for all students. Uh the four most important things to our governance team would be one operating with integrity. Two, respecting our students, our staff, families and each other. And then three, we want to establish this culture where stakeholders feel valued. You're supported and then there's the opportunities for personal and professional growth. And then lastly, supporting an approach of continuous improvement to ensure student outcomes. And then collectively uh we need to work on behalf of the children that we serve. And
005we're going to find these avenues of agreement. And that's uh really important to us so that we can govern the district in this an effective manner. There's really no acceptable alternative to that. Um we will always collaborate in a respectful manner in order to enhance opportunities for each student and staff members. We will not disparage others. Our students will thrive because we will remain committed to supporting the whole child. Um, we hope to engage and empower our students and stakeholders to create a community of lifelong learners. At this time, I would like to turn it over to Superintendent Hyde to lead us in our work session today. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board, members of committee, and our inside PCPS class. Thank you for joining us today. Our first item up for today,
006I'll bring Miss Kim Long and Dr. Northern up to the podium and they are here to provide a presentation and an update as to the third class. I did it. I advanced the slide on my own. Thank you, Superintendent Hyde, Chair Allen, and members of the school board for allowing us to join your work session today. We are here to celebrate the successful completion of year three of Inside Pulk County Public Schools leadership program. Pulp Vision is honored to be partnered with PCPS in delivering this course. It provides a unique access and insight into the complex challenges and significant accomplishments of this great public school district. Through this program, local leaders from across the county have had the opportunity to hear directly from the superintendent and district staff to see and hear firsthand the tremendous
007breadth of administrative support and experience a wide variety of schools and classrooms interacting with principles, teachers, and most enjoyably your students. But rather than my telling you about this, why don't we watch this video that the communications team has put [Music] together inside PCPS gives community and business leaders in Pulk County an indepth look at the triumphs and challenges of a modern public education system. Spanning 10 months, this unique program provides an immersive experience exploring what it takes to manage a $2 billion organization responsible for offering a high quality education to all students. Inside PCPS class members receive an upclose view of all education levels from early childhood to high school careermies and everything in between. Class members will learn how they can better partner with Pulk County Public Schools to support public education and
008help students reach their highest potential. The inside PK County Public Schools program is great because it gives you a behindthescenes look at everything that's happening in the district. I think it's really exciting to see uh the participants learn about like the financial aspects of the school and the challenges and the limited decision making authority that we have at the district level and how much relates back to the state. It's fascinating to see people gain that understanding and and just the shock and awe of of how challenging that is. I think we look at the school system as this big huge organization and all of these different moving parts, but the in the ability for us as business leaders in the community to rally around a community school or the neighborhood school or the the one
009that's closest to our business is available to us. Like we can help connect the business community in each individual neighborhood. And I thought that that wasn't a possibility before. This is an opportunity to learn about what goes on in the school uh system to learn so that you can share with the community. It's it's very important to let the community know. Before I was a school teacher, I never stopped to think about it. You need to think about what the needs are, how we can help, and how we can share this information so that we can make our community much better than it is today. Prospective participants should be ready and willing to receive the very practical detailed information but also ready to receive the heartfelt experiences cuz it's it's the engagement with the students
010that is really powerful and profound and we've all expressed how grateful we are for that opportunity. Every time I leave this program each and every month I talk to my wife about it. I talk to my family, my friends, and I say, "Man, you don't understand the great things we have inside of Pole County, understanding what everybody has done behind be behind the principles, assistant principles, staff, and teachers, and how special they are to our students because each and every day they come to school, these are the future leaders of P County, and we make sure we support them in every way possible. [Music] Good afternoon. Inside PCPS, class 3 has had an outstanding year. Class 3 is comprised of 24 completers representing a diverse cross-section of government, nonprofit, philanthropy, and business. This robust class
011has asked thoughtful questions, offered engaging perspectives, and been collectively transformed by the experience. Highlights of class 3's experience include, as depicted in the pictures, listening to presentations from Junior Achievements 3D participants, reading to kids at Pinewood Elementary, as well as serving cafeteria duty, a favorite. Additional pictures include class three. They had an opportunity to witness a variety of hands-on learning at different grade levels such as robotics building, TV production, and fashion design. And we were all astounded. Class three toured the county, reaching elementary, middle, and high schools, including career and technical schools and learning centers. All of the staff at the 23 schools we visited graciously gave their time and showcased their school. We were ecstatic to engage students in their school where classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, labs, media centers, and outdoor learning spaces affirmed who
012they are and who they can be. Class 3 is collectively grateful for the community speakers who imparted their expertise and their insights. Dr. William William Allen, thank you. Jen Lei from the Lelay Group at EXP Realy. Alex Dry from Visit Central Florida Sports. Julie Adams from City of Winterhaven Parks and Recreation. Bob Donahe from City of Lakeland Parks and Recreation and Shauna Dykes from Junior Achievement. And in your materials, you'll find reflections from class members describing the impact of inside PCPS that has made on them and is making such as presented here from MJ Carnival. We'd also like to point out the uh depth of uh engagement from the department leadership. As you can see from the list in front of you, uh no department, no division uh was not represented. and they take time
013out of their busy schedules to devote a great deal of uh thoughtful engagement to this class so that when they walk away they are truly enlightened about the programs and services delivered in the school district and therefore can better advocate and promote awareness about the great work being done here each and every day. We also want to thank our sponsors. uh these organizations have made both inind and financial investment in the production of this uh partnership. And we also have here um a nice uh comment from a former student from Duke Energy. And with that, I think it's time now to give credit to some other individuals that have not appeared on this list. The community liaison do not appear on these slides, but it is through their collaborative efforts uh that we continue to
014successfully deliver this program. So with that, I think it's time for us to ask the class members to come forward and receive their completion diplomas. And joining us at the podium will be community liaison Reeba Coyle and Pulk Vision Leadership Program Manager Anna Seedra. Thank you very much. As we um ask the class members to come forward, they're going to get a picture with Kim and um Dr. Northern. So, first uh inside PCBs class 3 member is Tanya Aquete from Healthy Start. [Applause] board members. They also received um one of our challenge coins. Um so that you're aware of that. Thank you. Christina Allen, Parker Street Ministries. [Applause] Alex Cam, Cam's Catering and Auburndale City Commissioner. [Applause] MJ Carnival, City of Winter Haven. [Applause] Sarah Corona, Florida, Behavioral [Applause] Medicine. Dr. Rod Crowley, United Way
015of Central [Applause] Florida. Ryan Devaneri, idx Image Depot Express. Lricia Fontinaut, Coca-Cola, Florida. Coca-Cola beverages, Florida. Sorry, do not get that wrong. Lquita again, Duke [Applause] Energy. Tracy Gray, Heartland for Children. [Applause] Shantel Shubs, YMCA of West Central [Applause] Florida. Kim Holverson, South State Bank. [Applause] Dr. Marsha Leap, the Lakeland Rotary Club. [Applause] Erica Lupersio, CPS Investments, investment advisor. Sorry. Kim Manning, Poke State College. [Applause] Janna Martinez, Give Well Community Foundation. [Applause] Mark Miller, Holland and Knight LLP. [Applause] Brenda Powers, Regions's [Applause] Bank, Dr. Melody Ryder, connect Ed [Applause] Pulk's not here, right? Trenton Rogers from Boswell Dunlap. He was unable to be with us today. He has like a two-day old baby, so he is not with us today. Uh Kristen Salen Beam, Creative Contra [Applause] Contractors, Major Jill Seymour, Pulk County Sheriff's Office.
016[Applause] Joshua Schwarz, IT dynamic. [Applause] So tall. [Laughter] [Applause] And finally, Britney Warren with State Farm Insurance. [Applause] [Music] I think our photographer will position us for a group shot. School board stand. You guys stand. Oh, I love that. I don't need I can't see you. I'll move you around. [Music] Oh, they're going to stand up. I'm very sorry. like [Music] a good looking group. Look at all the brain in here. Show her best song. just a little bit right there. I know it's feels like I'm moving very slightly, but that's okay. All right, here we go. Congratulations. [Applause] I don't know if they have any comments. [Applause] See you tomorrow baby. Yeah, cool. Already leaving the room. [Music] Good to have a plan. Then [Music] they all filing back in. What are we doing?
017Are there any questions or anything? That's the end of our formal presentation. Am I for the record, am I supposed to say that? I'm sorry. I just got No, ma'am. You're fine. Okay. Thank you. There. I see no board member comments or questions. The next item, board members, you're leaning against the lights. You turn lights on. That is a tough area to have that switch. Yes. Oh my gosh. Next item. Board members, the Lina Vista Elementary School rebranding of the school logo and mascot. The school did not presently have or previously have a mascot, so this is just an update. Miss Manetra, it's all yours. Good afternoon, board, and Mr. Hyde, thank you for your time this afternoon. Miss Smith and Miss Stegman are unable to be with us. They are at the school making
018sure our third graders are doing the very best on their reading test today and everything else is going as smooth as can be. So, the need for a new look. Um, Lena Vista opened in 1956. For many years, the existing logo has been a simple paw print. Um, last year under previous administration, we were seeking to create a new look um for our school's logo that better incorporates our Wildcat mascot and to rebrand our school logo. The goal was to create a more modern logo with a distinct personality that can help set Lena Vista apart from other schools within um the city of Aubberdale. In August, we began the rebranding process. Um, and that was brought to our school advisory council for consideration. The SAC wanted to make sure that we kept our school's mascot,
019which was the Wildcat and the colors of blue and yellow. Um, however, the SAC did approve moving forward with our updates. And then the district's um PR team helped develop a new logo for us, which you'll see that sh shortly. So for our community feedback, last year Pulk County Public Schools established an official procedure outlining how to go through this process of rebranding. Um we just happened to get in at the very beginning or end of that. Um and the process has been very smooth, I must say. These procedures were followed and a new branding proposal was developed for Lena Vista. We urged the community to provide feedback through social media, focused communications, school messenger. Um we printed um some of the um logo examples and placed them around school. Um we do have a
020lot of parents that come in through our front office. So we provided the opportunity for them to um interact with the survey from the front office to provide us some feedback as well. We also surveyed our staff to find out if we went forward with this process, what are some swag that they might want to see at the school level um to help us promote our school better. Um signage was requesting uh feedback was posted around campus like I just said and the school was invited to take that brief online survey. the results of our community feedback where we had about 84 submissions. Um, which seems pretty low for a school our size. Um, unfortunately historically our feedback from parents and communities hasn't been what it should be. Um, but we are adamantly working on
021that to try to get more feedback from our parents and community members um, since they are the ones who know their students the best. Um, so the majority of our responses were favorable. As you can see, 68% um thought it was very well uh the new logo. And here's what it looks like. The new logo has been redesigned to more prominently feature and not just simply a paw print. Um, we have since had a naming of our wild cat and his name is Whiskers. The students got to select from some names um that we provided to them and Whiskers is the one that won. So the mascot Whiskers has a distinct look that's more playful and memorable and the new logo reinforces Lina Vista's core beliefs, values, and vision. So this Wildcat we hope to
022symbolize independence, intelligence, strength, and courage. The new logo hints at these traits through the mascot's cunning, confident, and kind smile. Wildcats also possess excellent hearing and sight, which serves as a reminder to our students that they must pay keen attention to everything around them um to best perform in their studies. Lena Vista Elementary, where pause leads students to successful futures. So, our mascot is whiskers and with that we have our Lena Vista pause expectations where students um display a positive attitude, act responsibly, work to succeed and show respect. And at Lena Vista Elementary, students prepare oop sorry each day for success with hard work because anything is possible. So, the benefits of adopting this new logo will create a more lo uh modern logo with that distinct personality I was speaking about. It will help
023maintain the school's heritage and identity while still launching a fresh new look. Um, and it also establishes some style guides to preserve the official logo, the marks, the colors, and the fonts for years to come. So, some important considerations. The new branding incorporates and preserves the mascot. Um, the Wildcat has been with Lena Vista, I believe, since 1956 when the school opened. Um, the colors of Lena Vista are blue and yellow. Um, and those colors also are the same for Stan Middle and Aubberdale High School. No repainting of the camp campus is ne necessary and families will not need to purchase um new shirts. They will be able to wear their existing um shirts that they do have. Um the colors will remain the same. The only difference will be the part of the logo.
024Other considerations is the logo is simple, clean, and versatile. The logo will reproduce well on anything from polo shirts, t-shirts, mugs, tumblers, letterheads, email signatures. Um those um cloth bags really are what my staff is asking for that and water bottles. Lena Vista Elementary has a plan for implementing this new branding. Um initially we'll start with the changing of email signatures which won't cost anything um and can be done immediately um and also matching so that will standardize the respon um the emails coming from anyone from our school. Other updates like printing new stationery, business cards will take place gradually over time. Um the good news is is we didn't have any of that to begin with so we really don't have anything to use ahead of time. current supplies of stationery and business cards
025will be exhausted before, but we didn't have any of that. But I must say that this process has been very, very easy. It was very informative. Um, I felt like I had support as a brand new principal the entire way and didn't really have to ask many questions because it was very laid out and I'm a fan of checklist and there was a checklist. Um, it also helped us to bring it back some some feedback from our staff, um, which helped to helped us to continue building this this new community that we're building at at Lena Vista today. So, here's what it would look like. Here's some of the typography, the color palette, the logo, a vertical logo, and some samples on a child and one of those bags that everyone wants at school. And
026some other examples. Any questions? Miss Miller, thanks. That was a great presentation. Thank you. I appreciate you including the kids in the selection of Whisker's name. I think that will help the buy in. Um I can't wait for the swag. Um I would love to have that. Um thank you for on our list. Oh, yay. Thank you for um giving us feedback on the process that's relatively new and it seems to be working. You're the second person, I think, that's presented on that new process. Um, but I'm looking forward to the unveiling of whiskers. Thank you. I see no further questions or comments. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next item is Miss Candy Amados. It's an update on language and literacy for learning contract modifications. All right. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Today is something
027relatively simple. It's just a contract modification. Language and literacy will be relocating to their permanent facility mid July. So, this is just updating their contract to reflect their new address. Uh they will be keeping their what they currently are using as their central office. They will be converting that to their early childhood. It is directly across the street from their new facility. So, it is conveniently located. Uh, this contract will just update the address allowing them to update their National School Lunch Program and all the other components that will now need to be reflected in their new address. Miss Wyatt, thank you. I don't believe that building is ready yet, but they have until 15 days prior to the start of school to submit that. And we'll get that information when it's submitted so that
028we know it's they're good. It'll all be their their either their TCO or their CEO. All of their inspections have to be provided to us 15 days prior to the school starts. Um unfortunately that doesn't necessarily count the teacher contact days. It's more of the student contact days with students can enter the building. Okay. So we are we will be pushing it. Okay. But they I've talked to Dr. Cowins and they are on track to be ready by mid July. Awesome. Thank you, Miss Fields. Thank you. This is an unrelated question, but I wanted to know when does the contract end for the for uh language literacy academy? Are you I don't have that offh hand, but I will be happy to go back to my office and get send that to you. Okay. Thank
029you. Thank you, Miss M. There are no further questions or comments. Next item, board members, is the updates to the student code of conduct. Mr. Butler is here to present those to you. Good afternoon. uh every year um according to statute we're supposed to update and review and then the board approve the new code of conduct. I'm bringing forward 12 uh modifications to the code this year. Um I'll go through them and then if you have questions that's perfectly fine. First change is on page six. We added a section under rights and responsibilities on student rights to use district provided technology and the responsibilities that come with that such as use of AI tools to support learning not to circumvent academic responsibilities properly acknowledge all AI generated content and a respect for privacy. Be mindful
030of privacy and ethical considerations when using it and then we refer to the board policy. Also, the second change uh recommended is on page 10 under dress code. We are adding a section F that states student identification badges grades K through five. It is the expect excuse me it is the expectation that grades K through five have ID cards daily for purpose to use in the media center cafeteria busing and extracurricular activities. This will start preparing our K5 students to transition to secondary schools where this is a requirement. Our third change come to us on page 24 and 25. We have always had information on how a parent could contest an alternative ed or expulsion case. We have always had an uh informal process for anything less than alt ed or expulsion. This additional language
031added now has outlined in this section for a parent to contest discipline for the levels below alternative ed and expulsions and the steps that they would take to do so. Fourth change is on page 32 under cheating. The new reference to policy 5505 academic honesty has been added which includes the use of AI and that policy is listed on that page. Fifth change is on page 35 where we eliminated levels one through three to be in line with the state ranges of discipline for tobacco products and to be in line with focus actions available to our administrators. The sixth change is on page 37. This change is recommended by the committee. When a student directs abusive language or conduct at an employee, they feel the levels of discipline should start at level three and go
032up. If the conduct in question does not meet a level three, it would be coded under a minor infraction under focus and therefore not be part of abuse of language or conduct directed at an employee. The seventh change is on page 40 under section 5.08 burglary. We are adding breaking and entering to align with the state wording and coding. The eighth change is on page 44, section 5.13, false information. This change is recommended by the committee because of the severity in many cases of students uh possibly giving false information about staff members. Uh we would eliminate levels one through three and start discipline with level four. If the conduct in question does not rise to level four, it would be coded under minor infraction to allow for levels one through three. The ninth change is
033on page 49 under personal communication device. We've added the verbiage to include improper use of technology, including AI, and refers to the new AI policy 7540.08 that you all just took into consideration. The 10th change comes on page 50 under section 5.30 with the added of battery on staff so that it will align with state coding and focus coding under the description for focus. So that way if it's just not a confrontation with the school board and someone walks by and hits a staff member, then it's covered under the battery on staff. Also, the 11th change is on page 51 under 5.31 theft, grand theft, removing the words misdemeanor and petty theft to align with state uh coding. And the final change is on the uh bus form that the parents sign on item number
03417. They have asked that we add vaping with smoking on there. So that is included on that. Those are your 12 changes and I believe the attorney will request tonight that it be put out for public notice so that way we can continue on for the June board meeting. Any questions? Miss Miller. Mr. Mr. Butler. Yes, ma'am. Thanks for answering all my questions. You're welcome. Previously, I do want the public to know that there is a committee that meets and you meet twice a year. Yes, ma'am. No, actually, we meet more than that depending on what changes we have open. Um, we actually send out notifications through email. Then we send out the communication through email of the changes that are requesting. We had one face to face this year at Spessard Holland. Um, we
035probably had about 25. I have the list that showed up. uh those staff members, those community members uh and we have par profofessionals, bus drivers, teachers, administrators, community members, all on that committee. I appreciate that. Yeah, and I know that in the past we've made sure there were different groups represented, but that is still occurring so people have input on what the changes look like. Um I think the one thing I talked about yesterday had to do with the AI, and this might be for the superintendent because this is going to change. I just don't I just want equitable enforcement of any kind of code of conduct issue, it becomes difficult when it's an interpretation and as quickly as all of that world is changing, it may look different um especially access to c certain
036programming at different schools. So, how often is this? So, will you be reviewing these in your committee meetings or it's approved for the year? So, it's approved for the year, but anytime we have an uptick in anything, we can always bring something back to the board. But where these items are listed, we have a very big range of all the way from level one all the way up to expulsion depending on the infraction. And Miss Pasco and her team work with us when we have to investigate these things and they can tell us to the level of the breach because I'll be honest, I'm not technologically advanced as most. Um, so I have to rely on her team to do the investigation of how they would have done it, what systems they used, did they
037breach our system, did they bring something in from the outside and contaminate our system? And that is what rises us to the different levels in the code. And we talked about this is mainly to enforce images more than words reporting like for book reports. So under book reports that would go under your cheating clause, right? And that's a different part. Okay. The AI is covered under our PCD uh code which gives us the levels of one through eight and that also considers for our hacking and different things like that underneath it. Thank you. There are no further questions or comments. Thank you. Thank you all. Next item is Mr. Dan Talbettz. Increasing varsity football ticket prices. That's you should be here early. Mr. Talbot, good afternoon everyone. Thank you for allowing me to be here.
038Appreciate it. Um, is my presentation up? Perfect. All right. So, unfortunately, I'm here to talk about raising our varsity football ticket prices for the 25 26 school year. Um, we've kind of reached that point where the essential items that we need to participate have uh exponentially risen over the years. Um, one of the reasons obviously inflation, equipment safety, transportation costs, and it's not so much our district with transportation is with the shortage of officials. We're having to play district tournament games at 5:00. And so, obviously, a school bus is not available when you're traveling to Tampa and those far places. So, we rely on either rentals or um charter busing, event security, and staffing. Unfortunately, um, in our society right now, um, we're having to require security at on events that we've normally not to.
039Girls flag football obviously is one where we're targeting games when we have a high rival game that we're going to add security at for those things. And obviously, we understand the economic conditions that we're in. Um, we haven't raised our ticket prices uh since 2011. Prior to 2011, a varsity football ticket cost you $5. uh in 2011 is when we raised them from six. Um and then with the discussion in collaborative what we're going to have here today, we're looking at either possibly raising to seven or eight. Um if you look at the comparison to our large counties, uh Hillsboro's 7, Broward's at five, but they're waiting on uh my call today after this meeting, Dade's at 10, Duval is already at 8, Panelis is currently discussing going from 6:00 to 10. Brevard is also
040waiting the outcome of this meeting. meeting. We had a county athletic director meeting on Saturday. Orange County is at 9, which the average is about $7.28. Um, if you look at the surrounding counties, Hillsboro County is at 7. Oyola six for all sports. We're not asking to raise the other sports. We're three and two for swimming and diving. Obviously, we can't provide a stadium type seating at the municipality pools. And then basketball and all those sports will remain at $5. Uh, Oyola makes their money by charging district six across the board for all sports. We're not looking to do that. Pasco just raised their prices from 6 to 8 beginning the school year. Panelis again, Hardy County Lake, the average is 7.16. Um, I did provide some data. Um, basically I took over in March
041of 2016. Uh, in this position, you can look at the price the percent increases for prices. um from what we're paying basketball uh baseballs for a dozen was 51. We're now at 71. Basketballs went from $48 to $83. Uh and the most shocking one is a volleyball is a 89% increase um for volleyball. So, and those are just the items that we need. If you look at football helmets, which is our biggest expense, uh when I took over in March of 16, the lowest end of the helmet was $176 and the highriced most expensive and safest helmets were at 275. And as you can see now, the bottom of the line helmet is higher than the most expensive helmet was 8 years ago. U so we're looking at a 61 to a 46% increase depending
042on the end. Uh and then obviously the officials keep getting raises. Um, you can look at the percent of increases for officials. Baseball went up 80%. Basketball surprisingly only stayed at 24%. Uh, football officials at 92% increase over eight years, 74% 80 and 86. So, just the basic essential items to get us onto the field to participate um has increased um dramatically. Uh I will say this being a county athletic director uh we are very fortunate here in Pulk County that the school system does provide fundings. There's a lot of districts out there that don't provide any uh and they struggle on a day-to-day basis uh to to learn and go. Uh if you look at when we we're fortunate enough where we excel in a lot of sports here in P County, the playoff
043ticket prices for a regional game is $10 and then state championship games are $17 if you prepay. But if you show up on the day of the event, you're going to pay 20 and that doesn't include like basketball parking at the civic center is $12 now. The city of Lakeland raised that. Um, and that's basically it. I open the floor to questions. Dr. Allen. Thank you, Superintendent. Good to see you, sir. Good to see you. Thank you. I appreciate the the great presentation here and the history uh is really good as well. So, good stuff. Um, in general, Date County is really skewing that number, um, in in regards to the averages. Man, I can't believe Dade's charging so much. Um, but in general, um, was curious what kind of revenue we're generating currently on
044ticket prices because I'm assuming that the revenue is not funding all these initiatives, right, in regards to that list. Correct. I mean, we get we get revenue from the district every year, which helps out tremendously to buy the essentials, but what's happening is is the money. We don't take any money from schools. That seems to be a misconception. what the schools they keep all their ticket prices. They get to buy some of the items that you know what we call what the kids want versus what the needs are. Um but now with the all the price increases on that, they're having to dip into the things that we like to spend kids on to basically support the essentials. Yeah. um was thinking, you know, I I'm not sure if districts are collecting anything that would
045be um reflective of my question or not, but maybe the FH uh SAA would um as they increase their prices, do they have any impact on a reduction of participation? Uh like crowd-based? No. Well, crowd-based across the state is down tremendously with social media. I mean, you think about when I was in high school, if you didn't attend a sporting event to me attending a sporting event in high school was our social media. We had to go to the the event to, you know, not only decide who won the game, but to get into the know of who was doing what around school and all the rumors and gossip that we deal with on a daily basis. But now the kids get instant gratification. It's one of those things where somebody will post on Twitter
046uh what the score is first quarter, you know, 12 to 12 at halftime and more importantly that you go to any contest in America and and parents are holding phones and they're they're basically Facebook live or streaming the events on so people don't have to go to the events and we can get we can dive into, you know, one parent home versus two parent homes. You know, there's a history study on that which has decreased attendance at games and people having to work more hours than to make ends meet and do those different things. That obviously decreased, but attendance is down across the state even at the state championships. That's why they keep raising their prices because they figure that it's kind of leveled off with attendance. So, the people that are coming are going
047to come and they're not going to attract any new, you know, new people with the prices that they're currently charging. So, you got some options there for us. Um, so it's either this or or is are you looking for some direction today? Um, I just want to do a collaborative meeting with the minds. I mean, obviously when we raise ticket prices, there's going to be concerns on that. The nice thing is is the schools still have the options to um set their student ticket prices for whatever they want. It's not um at a varsity football game, the ticket price will be what it is, but the schools sell student ticket uh ticket prices during lunches. So, those probably remain anywhere from $3 to four, they always offer a student discount ticket. Mhm. Uh any preference
048on if we staggered and instead of saying we're going to start with eight, you know, start with seven and then maybe two years from now we're going to move to eight. Is that any consideration as well? Yeah, that's obviously yes. That's why I'm here today. I didn't want to jump anything. I just wanted to get, you know, on the radar and if we want to do seven this year and within two or three years decide we need at some point in time we'll have to go to eight with obviously with the current uh political situation in our country and economic standards we'll have to go to eight at some point but phasing that in is is a very good option as long as we communicate that properly through our PR department, athletic department. All right,
049that's all I have for now. Thank you, Miss Fields. Hello there. How you doing? Good. Thanks for being such a great advocate for our sports program. You do an amazing job, very knowledgeable. Uh I wanted to kind of uh follow behind Dr. Allen about what you were recommending seven versus eight. I would think maybe seven for now and then as you said u make sure that it's known that this is the beginning and at some point in time there will be an increase to the next level or something like that. I don't know what the wording needs to be, but I I think um the wording would be in 2526 we're going to raise just the varsity football ticket prices to seven and then in two years it'll increase to eight to give people an
050that opportunity to plan and prepare those different things. And and the nice thing is with our digital ticketing, you know, we're offering um season passes. We're offering students the ability to buy 20 punches to attend a sporting event and things like that. and we're going to increase those with with the company that we're in negotiations with right now to offer families, you know, season ticket prices and do those different things. But the the one thing I think the community needs to know and everybody needs to know that the money collected at the gate goes back into the school system, does not come to the district office. It's for the kids. It's an account that is designed to better our athlete experience for the student athletes. So, it's not like the money's coming to us like
051Hillsboro County centralized funding. So every ticket sold in Hillsboro County goes to the district office and then they they support the money out that way. We're in a great situation in Pulk County where that all the money that is collected from gate at every single event in Pulk County remains at the school level for the student athletes and that needs to be I apologize Miss Fields. No, you're fine. That needs to be communicated too. Absolutely. I'll work with uh the PR team, Jason Gary and his team to make sure we have the the uh correct wording and get that information out. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. Thank you. Um man, I can't think of many things that you can do for seven or eight on a Friday night that is seems like a steal
052in this this economy. Um I think, you know, it makes sense that we need to raise ticket prices. I can't believe that it's been that long because I really thought we had this conversation since I've been on the board, but I guess we did and it didn't get approved. So, I apologize. I have been dragging my feet to uh come here and wait as long as possible. wait as long as possible and looking at the budgets and we're obviously it's that time of year where we're finalizing budgets and you know the idea is if you know for schools that average you know basically on a rough end anywhere from 12 to 15,000 fans total for the season just adding $1 is 12 to 15 more,000 in that account to benefit student athletes. So people might
053say, "Why only a dollar?" But when you look at it, and we try to do a great job of comparing, you know, when people say, "Oh, it's only $500." Well, $500 equates to cross country uniforms. It equates to maybe getting the junior varsity volleyball team a uniform top or bottom. We try to equivate everything the money we bring in. What can we do for student athletes? and not just say it's $500 because $500 will outfit your boys and girls golf team with polos for the year. Thank you. My my question and I I appreciate you commenting on student tickets because I know we have student ticket prices for pretty much all of our events that are are lower. Um and many schools even use it as an incentive whether it's for PBIS or for testing
054or things like that which is great to make it free for students to attend. Do schools still have the opportunity? I know some stadiums have like reserve seings or chairbacks that they have the opportunity to charge more for those preferred seats. Yes. So, this is just the base and they would have the opportunity just be general admission in the booster clubs in collaboration with the schools could charge a different price for the premium seating or like Dennis Stadium has the chairbacks. Malberry High School has the chairbacks and then most stadiums are putting numbers on the on the center bleachers to charge for the premium reserve seating because families do like to be able to show up to the game right at kickoff and know their seats available and and that's an attractive, you know, item
055for them for those families. Absolutely. And then my last question is I know you mentioned this was only for varsity football. Do we need to look at other sports at some point if we haven't updated anything since 2011? Um, clearly prices have changed a lot for Yeah, I would like to see, you know, if we're looks like we're leaning towards the $7 for the next two years and then I we can come back and I can give another update if I'm fortunate enough Mr. Hyde keeps me around um to where we can look at that data and see what because obviously we want to keep the cost as minimal as possible to make sure that you know we have what we need and the student athletes have what they need to be successful. So there's
056no point to um maybe at this time, but I'd love to to see how the impact of this affects all because obviously if we don't have to raise those ticket prices, that's what we want to do. I mean, we want to make it affordable for our families to, you know, obviously not stay at home on a Friday night or a Tuesday night basketball game or a girls soccer game. We want them obviously with their student athletes and the fans and and create an attractive environment to, you know, it's like we want the kids in school. We want we want kids and families at our sporting events. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Sharpless. Mr. Talbot, um sir, want to the question I have for you is um you know, it's seven or eight dollars is what
057we've talking about. Um so an increase of one or $2. What what's going to what kind what kind of and with our cost, what's going to be our break even on that or not I wouldn't say break even, but at what point do we feel confident that is is seven going to be enough? I bet I I I'm just I'm I'm c I'm just wondering from your expertise. I know you you're suggesting either seven or eight, but there's a reason why eight's on the table and there's a reason why seven's on the table. So just I you know eight was put on the table just because other that's what other districts are going to and our families when we travel outside of county that's what they're paying. Um, and you know, if you if you
058travel to a game in Hillsboro County, all that money goes to the district office. And to rest assured our our community that the money stays at the school level and is spent on the on the student athletes at the school. Um, it's really hard to predict just for the fact that it really unfortunately we're in the times where if you're if you're doing well at that sport and you have an attractive team on the field, more people are going to come and attend because they want to see them. and if if it's a down year or rebuilding year. So, it's going to take a couple years to kind of look at that and and balance it out with, you know, cuz depending on how many home games you have during, you know, this year versus
059next year. Um, some teams right now only have about three games, four games this year, but they're going to have six next year, the following year. So, it's going to take us a two-year, you know, window to look at, you know, what the exact effect is. But, we feel pretty decent. And I mean the thing is what people need to understand is we're we're not in the business of making money. You know, we're not a business. You know, we want to provide everything our student athletes have to be successful on the court in in the field. And sports is a big part of PK County and but we're not a business and we're not an enterprise. So we're not looking, you know, to make money off this. And obviously if we're financially stable in 2
060years when we're looking at to increase the date, then we can always we can always say we're not going to. It's a lot easier to say we're not going to do it then try to surprise them at the last minute and say we're going to do it. But I agree with Miss Fields about putting it out there that we're going to and we can always if we're financially doing well then we can always not raise them if we don't have to. Like I said we're not looking to make money. Okay. cuz my my only my only concern was would be if the communication doesn't happen as clear as we want and it we're almost adding an extra step in it. So it's like do you want the slow do you want the rip the band-aid
061off or do you want to to trickle it out slowly, you know, and so that's just a concern. But I I mean, you know, I'm going to take your recommendation because you're because you're living this, you know, and that and that's why I'm here because your phone's going to ring just like mine is and and uh and Mr. Hid's phone and Wendy's is going to answer those phone calls. But I mean, it's one of those things where, you know, rest assured that the money is going back to the student athletes to provide those things, you know, that they want. That's all I have. Miss Miller. Hi, Mr. Talbot. I do think messaging is the key here. Um, my question is I have three high schools and the programs that I forget how you describe the
062teams, attractive teams that, you know, have huge crowds. This will benefit them um exponentially. I think why Hillsboro may have a different setup is for the schools who don't have those kinds of crowds who the parents may be more affected by a price change. Um can you talk about you said a little bit earlier about the options to buy tickets early? Is there an incentive to buy things early or buy the season pass? Like there's a break in the price when they do that? Yeah, obviously when we offer a season pass there's going to be obviously a break in the thing. We want to get those tickets out and bring the money in uh and be able to, you know, pay our bills and do those different things. But every school operates in their own
063entity in that thing. They do offer different things. Some offer, you know, season tickets for just sports or they offer what's called a punch card where they can go to different events. It doesn't have to be just for football. I mean, football kind of its own entity. But when you look at all the other team sports, they usually put punch punch cards. So they can go to a soccer game on Tuesday, they can go to a basketball game on Thursday, or they can go to a wrestling match on Saturday, and they can scan the QR code and get the student athletes in. Is that up to each school to market that to their families? Yes. Mhm. Okay. So, it's not done districtwide. Correct. Yes. Okay. I'd be interested in doing um a campaign districtwide so
064people would be of that. Thank you. Thank you. There are no further questions or comments, Mr. Tin. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up, we have Next up, excuse me, we have Katie Ashmore, who's here to speak with us about naming the media center in honor of Miss Irwin. In fact, we have Christopher Roberts who's here to speak with us. Good afternoon, chairman board, school board members, and Mr. Hyde. U Miss Ashmore is is in route. Um, but I'm going to go ahead and do this if that's okay so we don't uh have to prolong this. Uh, Miss Ashmore, I'm I'm going to go ahead and read this letter. Um, I will say that uh Mrs. Miller has written a letter in support of this as well. Um, dear Superintendent Hyde and school board
065members, it is with great honor we ask you to consider this letter as a formal request for consideration in naming Walter Caldwell's media center after our media specialist, Mrs. Tamisia Irwin. Miss Irwin began her teaching career at Caldwell in 1980. She spent the first 14 years of her career as a classroom teacher. She then earned a master's degree in media science and has been Caldwell's media specialist for the past 31 years. Mrs. Irwin has dedicated 45 years of her career to growing readers and leaders at Caldwell. We stand in awe of Miss Irwin because even in her final year of serving, she is retiring this year. She is still creating new ideas and initiatives to get students excited about reading and achieving. Caldwell is a better school because of Mrs. Irwin. The propos the proposal
066for naming the media center after Mrs. Irwin was presented to our sack on Tuesday, February the 11th, 2025. The motion was made by Michelle Bulge to name the media center after Mrs. Irwin and it was seconded by Veronica Colandrris. The motion was approved by all SAC members in attendance. It is our sincere hope for school board. The school board will consider and accept the recommendation to name our media center in honor of Mrs. Irwin and her commitment to Caldwell. Joyfully Katie Ashmore, principal. Miss Miller, thanks for standing in today. Um, I was super impressed. anyone dedicating 45 plus years to students should be recognized. Um, so I'm I gladly supported this and I look forward to that unveiling and renaming um that we'll do there at the school and I'm sure I I know Auburndale
067city pretty well that that I want her honored as there as well and I've talked to the city manager and I'm sure they will be doing that. um anybody who has that kind of service is unbelievable. And I know that they said that she was one that um you know did a lot of parent nights and all the stuff we considered to extra the author's program and it made the kids feel that reason to come to school and feel valued. So I'm excited to do this and thank you for presenting today. Miss Wyatt, thank you. She truly is an incredible educator. For those of you that have not had the opportunity to meet her, um I just wanted to ask and you may or may not know, is this a surprise? Uh, no ma'am, not
068that I'm aware. Yeah, I think she's aware of. Okay. I just, you know, they so often present to us and it's a surprise and we're told to keep it a secret that just felt like I should ask. There are no further questions or comments. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Next item, board members, is our summer learning programs and Mr. Ty Bruner, senior director for high schools here, as well as Miss Tammy Ferren, senior director for school improvement. Good afternoon, board chair Dr. Allen, school board members, Mr. Hyde, the superintendent. We're here. Mr. Hyde asked us um last time at our executive cabinet meeting if we would share about our summer learning programs to the board. We're not sure how often we actually are able to share all the different um summer learning opportunities
069we have for all of our students here in P County. I'm going to let uh Miss Fen start off with some of our elementary sites and different programs we offer in the elementary world. Good afternoon. We have seven elementary programs that we're offering this summer. Uh the from prek all the way to fifth grade. So, two preK programs uh transitioning to kindergarten. The first one is Camp Earlybird. Camp Early Bird helps incoming kindergarteners develop pre-ereading skills through hands-on activities and learning centers based on reading readiness while continuing to support monitor social and cognitive development. So, this program um helps kindergarteners uh four-year-olds transition to kindergarten. They may or may not have had preschool. So, we may have some kids coming in that have never been um in a school setting before. So, it's an opportunity
070for them to get acclimated to a school campus. They eat in the cafeteria um and then they they get social um interactions with other students. So, it helps them get ready for kindergarten on a school campus. Um they utilize the language for learning uh curriculum that we also use in kindergarten and then they participate in math hands-on activities. The program is June 4th through the 26th just like our third grade camp. Um we have 684 seats available at 13 of the 14 summer learning sites and that is Camp Early Bird. Our second um transition to kindergarten program is summer bridge. It's new this year. Um it's um actually in con um coming from uh the state. Um so it's a new opportunity for students who have been in a VP a VPK program who scored
071below the 10th percentile on our PM3 um progress monitoring assessment. So Summerbridge provides additional support to young learners preparing for kindergarten. The program is available to VPK students both private and public. um who scored below the 10th percentile on their third progress monitoring assessment. And um it's 100 hours. So it goes longer than our other summer learning programs. It goes into July. So it's from June 4th to July 16th because the students can only um be in a program a maximum of four hours a day. So it's a a 100 hours and it goes all the way through June. Um the students uh will be you utilizing the explore and learn jump into kindergarten program and also some teacher created materials. So we have approximately 171 seats. Um we'll have a site at um one
072school per per region. So Laughman Oaks will be in the northeast. Uh Pinewood in central Kathleen Elementary in the northwest and R. Bruce Wagner in the south. Okay. Our next elementary program is the third grade summer learning program and that's for our it's a 5-hour program that's available at 14 sites this year. and it's for our third graders who earned an achievement level of one on the spring 2025 ELA FAST assessment and who have not met good cause promotion criteria at this time. So it's to help them get in, you know, get to fourth grade. So um it provides extended year literacy instruction for students who are still working towards meeting promotion requirements. Uh the students engage with a district-designed reading curriculum um through um multiple uh pieces of the literacy uh benchmarks and they
073also spend about an hour also working in math. Um that program is from June 4th through the 26th 14 locations. Last year we had about 1118 students who attended. Um, we're looking around that number this year. It may be a little less, maybe a little more. Over the last four years, the attendance has ranged from 900 to 1,200. So, we're still within that, you know, that range. And it all depends on, you know, this year's cohort of third graders. Our next program is the elementary migrant program. and that th that program will be hosted at Willow Oak and Wanita this year. It's it's designed to support migrant students who can benefit from additional academic instruction. It supports elementary students kindergarten through fifth grade and um there the migrant office um invites those students to attend
074um and it's based on academic needs and availability. So the curriculum that this program uses is teacher created materials, uh, summer scholars, language arts and mathematics along with national inventors hall of fame camp invention STEM activities. And that program also is from June 4th through the 26th. Last year we had about 64 students attend at two locations. This this year we also have two locations and we're estimating about 60 students to attend. Our next program is the um elementary ELLL nees program and it's available to students in grades first, second, fourth, and sixth. and it's offered to students um who are non-English speakers um to help them develop their English language arts skills and um nurture an immers um an immersive environment for them. So as they're still um in that language acquisition phase. So
075the program also fosters cultural integration providing students with opportunities to better understand and adapt to their new surroundings. So we have um eight classrooms that we're offering this uh this program for this summer and it's about 104 students. Um last year we had five classrooms 64 students. So we have an increase this year with that program and the curriculum that they're going to be using is from phonics to reading that has scripted lessons. Imagine Learning and Literacy. That's a program that will continue from the school year. They're already involved in that program um during this regular school year. And then they'll also be working on math benchmark lessons. Okay. And Mr. Bruno is going to go through. All right. So, for the extended school year, the ESY better known, we work handinhand with the ESC
076department and provide extended school year for students who have it on their IEPs. um our three learning centers, they offer um ESY every year. And then we also pick some other schools throughout the um district to offer for the elementary sites. So any student that is a secondary student that has ESY on their IEP, they do attend one of the learning centers either Ginoell, Karen Seal, or Doris Sanders. Um and then obviously you see our other sites, Frost Proof, Ben Hill, Griffin, Pageant, Sand Hill, Southwest, Spessor Holland, and Caldwell. Um there's only two programs that offer transportation. ESY is one of them and third grade reading camp is the other that offers transportation for students. U for that part. One of the biggest curriculum areas that they use that they focus on for ESY is
077they do use Teachtown. All the teachers are trained. If they're not familiar with Teachtown, they do the training two days prior to that before students start on June 4th. It runs the same time as our normal summer school, June 4th through the 26th. Um with that a lot of our sites it's we have quite a bit of staff through ESY because a lot of our classrooms do have three adults. They usually have one teacher and two pairs in those classrooms with the students. Um they are most some of our most um neediest students that we have as far as the district and medical needs and different things like that. They just through their disabilities. Um we approximately have about 325 students attending at 11 sites this year. Every year we usually have more seats than
078we have kids that will show. kids will we we always have that they're showing up and then when we get into it we usually missing about 20 to 30 students who really never attend that. Um so we're always looking for more ways to increase that if we need to as well. Um the magnet enrichments program this is something that the magnet program started several years ago. Um we offer it through Bthoon Academy, Blake Garner and Stevens Academy and it's um just really trying to get some STEM education in front of students. some of the magnet programs that the students will need to um be successful. Um Annne Evers team has really worked on um creating that crosscurriculum experience through all the benchmarks that are coming up. So they're kind of previewing their benchmarks that are
079coming up to the next grade level and using a lot of STEM and through their fabrication labs, things like that for the students. Um it serves incoming fourth and fifth graders. So coming out of third grade, then we invite those students. Last year there was only about 44 students that had participated between two camps. They actually had to close one of the sites down last year. So they are looking to increase that through the four locations and trying to add up to 270 students is what we have capacity for that those sites as well. And a lot of these programs are ran through grant funding. This is one of this ran through some grants that she has as well. And then our last one is the secondary summer learning. So this is where all of
080our secondary students 6 through 12 they have the opportunity if they need to do credit recovery or grade recovery uh for a certain class they need to make up a class in middle school or credit recovery in high school uh we provide egenuity um they they do the virtual option through egeneuity they can do complete a semester they sometimes they even complete a whole year in that class this is a great opportunity that we offer for all our secondary students if they happen to fall behind it's a way for them to get caught back up get ready for graduation especially your high school students or middle school students moving on to high school as well. Uh we've been doing this for a number of years. It's at all secondary sites except for themies. The academy
081students just report back to their zone schools. Uh one thing that we do have with this is that if a parent, let's say a student attends um a school in the northern region of the county and they work in the southern region, we will allow them, we will approve for them to go to that southern so it's closer to the mom or dad's work to be able to provide that opportunity. We want any kid that needs the opportunity to have the opportunity. Um we want to make sure that way. Um last year we had about 3,000 students. Um this year we're approximately about 2,800 students just looking on with numbers of D's and Fs that we've had throughout the district. Uh we will have some of that will decrease when we start doing grade averaging
082at the end of the year. Um so that number but that's about what we had last year for that. And then ob you see the 3,300 courses were completed um through last year as well. So that's we we track it. Teachers are trained in egeneuity on June 3rd, the day before. We do a training for middle school teachers, a training for high school teachers, and then we provide every location. The district pays for three teachers to be able to teach summer learning for the secondary sites. Most schools provide they save some title one money at the end of the year and add additional staff and hire additional staff to help with the numbers. The nice thing about this, once a kid is done, if they finish their class in a week, they're done. they they
083can go about it their summer. They don't need to stay the whole entire 14 days. Um there's some kids that'll complete two or three classes during these 14 days as well. Uh one thing else too is that we have summer testing. So this is something that kind of came up last year. The state we also now allow retake testing in the summer, but students also can take their algebra 1 EOC, geometry, any of their EOCC's um and even middle school civics EOC they can take during the summer. and we offer it July 21st through the 24th at the high schools. So parents by June 6 have to notify the campuses that hey my students wanting to test they um A&E puts them on the list. The high schools know they reach out to the student
084and this helps with a lot of students. Same if a student let's say they took their fast ELA um and they were a sophomore they happen didn't pass they can come back in July and retake this. So it may may be able to keep them. They're already earning their graduation requirements, things like that. So this is a huge um initiative for all of our students if they're needing testing over the summer for them to be able to sign up and we offer that as well. Also, one thing we couldn't um do without for summer learning is our um Captain Sha's team. They really help provide all the support for the summer sites. Last year there was 72 sites that we provided deputies or guardians at. So they're we work hand inand with them as well.
085It's a big undertaking for them as well. So, we do appreciate um their collaboration with us when we do summer learning. Is there any questions? Miss Miller, thank you. That was a lot. Um I have a couple of questions. One, I'm I'm now learning about the magnet enrichment program. I think that's a great opportunity for parents. Um my question is, so I went on the website and it's you have to search summer learning. So, how are we getting this information? I would like to see it on the front page of the website if possible, but how are we getting this information to families? It's such a plethora of programs. So, I know like Camp Early Bird has been out there on the summer website. Um, and in fact on the main websites, Camp Early Bird
086has been on there for them to register for that. The secondary and third grade camp, those are actually letters that kids send home and call outs to parents because those are students that obviously if they need additional support as well. Um, as far as magnet schools, they're sending letters home as well with kids. So, most of it's done through letters. And then we, this is something new that we created that Mr. McNotton created this summer. This year was the summer learning website as well. Is that linked to the district website? Right. You can search summer learning and it'll be there's an actual website that that we created that he created this year that has all the information about all the summer learning programs in it. Do you have to be a magnet student to attend
087the magnet enrichment? It's actually there are students at their own school. So, they're going back to their own sites, right? So, like kids that are at Stevens Academy would attend the Stevens Academy. My last question involves ESY um which has to be on their IEPs. There's been barriers in the past on who qualifies, how do they qualify, how early they have to get on the IEP. Um 325 students is is low, but I do appreciate and I'd like to we can talk further about how this is marketed to parents. Um at one point it it wasn't discouraged, but you had to show the child would regress. Most all of these kids will regress with cognitive disabilities. My question is is this is extended school year just access or are these students who have IEPs not
088on access? So there are students with not access on ESY and those are done usually through tutoring through LRC or something like that through summer through a summer program where it's a one-on-one tutor or even a small group tutoring. The kids that we're talking about for this are all of our access students that are on is Teachtown is access group. Correct. Okay. But yes, I thank you for I appreciate you saying that ESY is not does not have to be housed in a school. It can be done with extended tutoring. Um I also appreciate that it's not just at learning centers that the students um can access these programs through this through the sites listed here. That's not always been and I think that's more than appropriate to put them at different sites. Um I
089I will do a little more research and hopefully we can promote this and um decrease barriers for people that need to add this to their IEPs. Thank you, Mr. Sharpless. Um, I'm wondering from the staff side, um, how do how do we staff these different programs? Do we advertise that or do the specific school sites select who's going to be I mean, because they're receiving a stipend, right? I'm just curious like um you know I I know someone who does uh you know SAT ACT during the school year proctors that kind of stuff but I'm curious on the summer psych how do we handle the selection process? So we start working actually Tammy and I start working probably in November start working through HR and different processes that way it was out this year Mr.
090Warren, I believe, sent an email out on April 11th um for staff to be able to apply. They actually apply through their staff portal and select what sites they want to work in. Principles have access to that list. They go in and select their staff. Obviously, um they're using a lot of the staff is from their own school at that point in time, but they do, especially for ESY, they hire outside their school. Our learning centers hire staff all over the place because they don't have enough staff members to handle the amount of students coming in. And then they're paid their hourly rate of pay. So, it's not necessarily just a certain style. They're actually paid their way to pay for summer learning. Excellent. And I have one other question. Yes, sir. Um, so like
091for the summer testing and specific specifically um with the EOCC's and different things those I mean I'm assuming we're not just testing at you know all are all the students from across the county that need I don't know the algebra and EOCC are they going to one school site or how how does that work? Each high school is eligible to test. Okay. Okay. So, you'll have some high schools. Last year when we opened it where there was like one high school had two kids come. So, there may be it may shift a little bit to where we make it more sensible to where we at least have 10 kids in a room testing, not two kids at a high school. But currently, right now, all high schools are available to test. Okay. I was just
092curious how how that was distributed because you may if there's only one like one place in the whole county and you know, no, it's a kid from you know, south side of the county having to go way up to the north side or vice versa or whatever could cause a transportation issue. So, I was just curious. Thank you for your Thank you, Miss Fields. Thank you. I had a similar question as Miss Miller. How do you promote and make sure that you are touching the neediest child? I think you kind of answer that a little bit. I think it's going to be very important that we publicize it and make sure that the parents know what's available for them. Uh, also, I wanted to know how do you how do you all evaluate whether or
093not the programs are successful? What tools do you use for that? So currently for our secondary sites, it's the amount of students who actually earn the credit or the grade for that. So that's very easy for us to go in and pull egeneuity reports and pull the reports. And uh Mr. Williams helps us with that as well to verify how successful it was during summer school. Secondary learning is pretty successful as far as students earning their credits and what they need. They know they're there for a reason. They're there for that purpose as well. um third grade camps obviously based upon if they're passing their assessments, things like that or the portfolio. And I can let Miss Farah speak to that a little bit further. Yeah, I think that's a great question, Miss Fields. Um
094we're constantly reviewing and evaluating our processes. So last year we had 118 students attend third grade camp. We had 70 students that were able to move on to fourth grade after camp. And so, um, the literacy department looked at the programs that we were the materials that we were using, the curriculum. And so, this year, we're actually going to have two tracks for our third grade students. So, those students who are identified as s significantly deficient on PM3 um, ELA are going to have an elevate track. So, it's going to focus more on their foundational skills and fill in those those deficits that um they're still missing. And then those students that are not on that um significantly deficient list are going to be in the step up program. So, they'll have two tracks this
095year um so that we can be more um differentiated on how we tackle those students individual deficits for um reading. And thank you for that. And and my other question is how do you how do you gauge the success of the four fouryear-old students that's coming um preparing themselves for kindergarten? Is there a tool that you use for them as well? Yes. So our our prek students are screened um before they go into the program and they're going to have a post assessment assessment when they leave this year. And that's good. And then I would imagine that the uh lunches are provided through the summer feeding program. Yes, ma'am. Breakfast and lunch and there's no transportation. Correct. Uh just for third grade and those will be um hubs. So they'll go to their zone school,
096get on the bus at the zone school and it'll transport them to the summer learning site. Thank you, Mr. Keys. Good afternoon. Thank you. Um I will say that I'm excited about hearing about Summerbridge. you know, um, early childhood education is essential to long-term success. My question is, and and I'm also excited about seeing that's grant funded. My question, first one, is is how long does that grant last? Do we have an is that a year year to year we have to reapply for that? Do we know? We had to. Oh, Mr. Man, honorable board, honorable board members. Um, uh, Mr. keys. Uh with that, this is a for the summer only for this project. So, this is uh the first time the state of Florida has done this grant. So, uh it was based
097off of last year's projection of how many students that Pole County over our overarching. Now, that doesn't mean just our prek providers, but all the private prek providers in the in the uh our district that works the early learning coalition. So, we've been working with Mark and that group with it. So, uh, this is the first year. We'll see how how that part goes. I'm very happy to say last year we had 90 students qualify. That means 90 of our students in the P County Public Schools prek where the below the 10th percentile. Just pulling the numbers as of 10 minutes ago, we only have 44. So, what we're doing is working. So, this is this is a great thing to have less kids. Well, that that answered my next question because I wanted to
098know about early interest in it because I see in the website and thank you Miss Miller for for bringing that up that we see these programs listed on there. My my question next was going to be you know have there's been any any early interest in it? What do we see looking like that? But if you tell me that's it we're actually the need is is smaller. That's that's encouraging, right? Um just let you know we've already had webinars with all the uh opportunities for web uh all the private providers to have webinars. We have how to sign up to work with parents to go ahead and to try to get interest in this program. Well, you're so good because that you actually answered my next question was my final one was how are we
099marketing these to those those early child those VPK providers saying hey if you have a child that's in that you know lower 10th percentile that they're offered the opportunity to engage in this program. I'll tell you the our partnership with the early learning coalition has been great because we've been able to communicate with them and through them and to try to go ahead and I I've been in communication with uh Lori Allen and Victoria McKenzie to go ahead communicate with all the providers let them know had already have had multiple um uh emails but and communications and then but they're calling my cell phone and just asking questions. We had a webinar last Friday on it. So just to make sure everyone is in so no one no child who's has the opportunity to attend
100won't go. That's awesome. Well, I'm excited to hear what the outcome is of the program. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. There are no further questions or comments. Appreciate it. Next item, board members, I have Mr. Rob Davis who's here, assistant superintendent for support services. The item before you is not a new item that the board has seen before. Although some of you uh in newly appointed to your roles may not be familiar with the program, but the district does use a lease agreement process. It is it has resulted in considerable savings for the district over the years. Uh Mr. Davis is proposing that we accelerate our current process um due to several things that are taking place in particular how tariffs and others will are are already starting to impact the cost for
101vehicles and uh parts and machinery parts. Mr. Davis, uh good afternoon. Thank you uh for letting me have this time. Uh hello to the board. Hello to uh Chairman Allen, uh Superintendent Hyde, and all the support people behind the scenes that make this board meeting and work session happen. So, um with that, as Mr. Mr. Hyde led into we we're just going to through go through a quick timeline because some some of the board members weren't here at the at the um time we uh started this pilot program. But we started working with enterprise fleet u management um after a work session that we held in uh September of 2021. Um the work session was held the following month. We had the item go up for a pilot um for 56 vehicles that was approved
102um that 56 vehicles were approved. Um and then we worked with Enterprise to order those vehicles. Uh, as I said, the pilot um started in 2020, September 2021. Um, the agreement approved in 2021, October of 2021. And then we ran into a thing called CO. Um, so COVID hit. We had some stumbling blocks. Nothing to do with enterprise, nothing to do with the district. It is simply parts came to a halt. vehicles orders um just disappeared. And so the pilot that we had hoped to have done in in you know 16 18 24 months uh went out quite a bit further. But I can tell you um 38 units that we had over a 13-year per uh 13-month period um the district had a um return on of investment at $76,354. So, those vehicles, that's
103with every fee payment, lease payment, the sale of the vehicle, um the savings in fuel savings and maintenance, and um we had a $76,354 um return on on the investment. So, the results of the pilot were pretty clear. We we purchased 15 um Nissan Titans. Unfortunately, we had one Nissan Titan that was driven for two days and then was totaled. Um not our fault, but unfortunately, they didn't have enough insurance to cover the cost of the vehicle. But overall if you look at those um the numbers we exceeded every area um that that we had set um to the point that that we receive we exceeded it by 233% above expectations. So after that what um so the program the pilot met and exceeded all of our expectations even with co COVID causing delays um
104experienced in the in the automobile industry. So our next steps was we decided okay let's see if we can continue this because of the um one the vehicles were were we're were meeting our needs two uh they were safer three more efficient and then we brought back to the board um an expansion plan with uh enterprise is so in February of 13th, we brought it as a work session to discuss the pilot and then um discuss the expansion and continued growth of the program. Um, in December 10th of 2024, we brought the agenda item back to the board and the board um approved the expansion of the lease uh agreement with Enterprise. And so why are we here today? Well, for a few reason. the there are significant cost increase that are that are being
105um in the industry that are saying that we are we will receive. So if we do a similar plan like this a year from now that could cost us up to $2.5 million more over that lease period. the um the increase of the vehicles um will help meet the the district's needs. Um I'm sorry, my notes are okay. Uh we did an inventory. We also did an inventory districtwide in in uh July of 2020. Um for during that inventory, our vehicle services sat down with every um um department looked at all of their vehicles and decided that 63 of those vehicles that we had um were surplus that there was not a need for those vehicles and have been pulled out of the numbers of vehicles that our district needs to utilize. And those vehicles
106will be sold at auction. We have um an item that will come to you in um in June to sell 24 of those surplus vehicles at a auction in um in Sebring. So with that, I'd like to turn over to uh Mr. um Sheldon Brown, and he's going to discuss a little bit more about enterprise program. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Davis. Thank you very much for having me here again everyone and uh happy National Teacher Appreciation Day. Very important day in uh this district especially here in this room, huh? Uh so just to talk through a couple of things and as Mr. Davis said, we got a history since 2021 of working with uh the school district here uh providing newer, safer, more efficient vehicles and ultimately providing recommendations along the way to Mr. Davidson
107team who have been absolutely fantastic to work for work through. So you know in terms of kind of an agenda today a lot of that is around the analysis work but I wanted to take a moment and reiterate that enterprises commitment to not only its partners but government entities that we work with. It's not a program where we just say hey this is what you should do and good luck with it. You know we truly believe and one of our founding values is that we strengthen our neighborhoods one community at a time. And again, I've said that before in this room. It's something that we partnered with Sarasota Public Schools last month. Again, the same sort of thing, providing newer, more efficient vehicles at a lower cost that's going to help not only save the
108school district money, but keep people in safe vehicles. So, um, support will continue to be provided throughout to Mr. Davidson team. So, just to give you guys a glimpse again at what the fleet looks like today. So whilst it's come a long way, we've got 131 leased vehicles currently, there are still a significant amount of aged vehicles within the uh the fleet here itself. So average age of 12.2 that is down from 14 on the initial partnership. We made some inroads there. Um with the acquisitions that we've been making, still averages to hold the vehicles roughly 15 years. So while the district does not put a lot of miles on its vehicles, it the vehicles do show significant age that comes with a lot of differences between safety features and then the economics behind maintenance,
109reliability. Uh another thing just to point out is that there's a lot of different classes of vehicles as well that buying vehicles because they're available on lots versus do we standardize and have the exact needs for what's in the fleet itself. So that was another mission that we went through with Mr. Davidson team. Again, most importantly is the safety aspect. So, uh, being in this room before, I believe Mr. Sharpless, you said, uh, quote that stuck with me ever since that, you know, we're able to provide safer vehicles that could prevent an accident, a death. And if it's even net neutral, that's huge. But there's a savings component to this program. And that's exactly why we partner not only with school districts but government entities in general. So as you can see here, I'm just
110going to read just one of the two items in the top left. So Ford collision anti-break came available as a feature in 2018. 62% of the fleet currently in use. The white fleet today does not have that feature. And there is a 50% reduction in frontto rear crashes just by having this feature. So obviously that you guys can read from there on down, but huge safety advantage. We see where technology is going. Uh it's only going to keep moving forward and safer, more efficient vehicles. So you know, with that in mind, uh you guys have seen an analysis before in this room. We've worked with Mr. Davis's team. We worked with the finance team to really make sure that we're putting forth the best product possible. So I I did put in here the assumptions
111that were used for again this analysis today. So um ultimately a lot of numbers uh 131 current vehicles. We're recommending replacing all vehicles 5 years and older. In doing so the uh county here is going to save $1.6 million over 10 years. So, a reduction in cost because utilizing Enterprise to sell vehicles, it's something we do very well. We sell over a million a year. That's how Enterprise as a company makes a lot of its money, right? So, it's something we're extremely efficient at. It's going to reduce the amount of fuel maintenance needed in these vehicles as well. So, overall throughout this 10-year plan, you're going to have at least 5 years or younger aged vehicles and working and operating them at a lower amount than currently today. talk about the I sure can. Yeah.
112So, another another thing that Mr. Davidson team uh tasked us with is what other resources do we have in Pulk County as well. So, one of the programs that we offer is a fixed maintenance program. It was included on the analysis on the last slide. Standardizes maintenance costs and sets it in the lease amount from month one through the end of that 5-year lease. It leverages the private sector. So there are over a 100 shops in Pulk County alone where this program can be utilized to do everything from your routine maintenance to worst case scenario if an engine goes, a transmission goes, it's all covered under that set amount in the monthly lease. So there's a lot of predictability uh within this program. There's not going to be the spikes, the ups and downs of
113maintenance costs. As Mr. Davis alluded to earlier, tariffs obviously is a big hot topic right now. It's not going to just affect vehicle pricing. It's going to affect maintenance parts that are made outside of the states. And we're already short as a country 100,000 maintenance tax. So the cost of maintenance, I'm sure you've all experienced with your own vehicles has gone astronomically through the roof since co and that's something that we continue to expect. So having this amount set on a inflation proof program is going to help create consistency for the county itself. So, just last year over the I'm sorry, over the past five years, we looked at um labor and parts parts and labor maintenance over all the uh departments within the district. In a five-year average, we spent $570,000 each year um
114just maintaining the vehicles that we currently have on the on the road. This will also help free up some technicians to focus more on our school buses um and some of our unique fleets such as um uh a a box truck or um not a box truck but a dump truck, a um boom truck. Um many of our uh technicians take care of um tractors, a equipment um as as much golf carts. They generators. Um so this will help allow the technicians to focus on other things besides the um the support fleet vehicles. Yeah, we we typically find that the support fleet is uh the pieces of equipment that tend to go to the back of the line versus say a school bus, right? And that's typical with any government entity. You know, this is
115not a unique thing to to PK County where um these maintenance shops need to you guys are growing. Every county is growing, right? There's not, it's not unique to where they need to be focusing on the school buses that get the kids to schools that, you know, the bigger pieces of equipment and you you got counties out there that are looking to build bigger maintenance facilities. Well, there's an a huge increase in cost to that versus looking at a program to outsource. And so the next slide, it shows just a snapshot of areas where there are fleet offices or fleet um maintenance near us. So this also gives a opportunity for the service manager to pick certain sites to where they're not driving all the way to Barto or Tener Rock or our Lake Wells
116facilities. Um this also helps us build uh additional business business partners in the school district um by by working with with vendors within the area um with oil changes. if we have a hose that goes out, uh, numerous things. And by the way, the full maintenance package also has a, um, a roadside assistance and free towing. So, it will get you to the location. Um, pay for the parts except for tires and brakes, which I tried to twist our arm to take care of that, but well, I think we're not we're not there yet. The the idea is that these vehicles don't break down and we don't need that. But it is there obviously as a service. I don't know why you looked over here and smiled at me, Mr. Davis, when you said a
117roadside assistance just because I keep driving over nails every other week. I I can I would be lying. I would be lying if I said it didn't happen to me too. So at 11:00 after a uh Lakeland football game. So um so I get it. Um so the there are numerous locations that we can form business relationships with and help uh and help speed up the the process. Also if there is a rush um if we have something that needs to be done take taken care of right away. Um our technicians our site is able to do the warranty work, oil changes and things of that nature on a case-byase basis. So, if we're in a situation where uh Mr. Hyde needs to go to Tallahassee and he's driving, uh he needs an oil change,
118tires rotated, and we can't get him into Barto Ford, we can do it at our location uh in Barto. And then, so as we've talked about, our average fleas is 15. Average fleet age is 15. 62% of uh the fleet is missing key safety features. Um the the replacement plan A will replace uh welding trucks that are 17 to 20 uh2 years old. Um it will also replace um box trucks, eight box trucks with lifts um that are 17 to 25 years of age. Uh there there absolutely were out. Um, and then we asked for we we asked for this to go to the work session and the board meeting back to back simply because one the uh manufacturers closing the ordering windows and two the rising costs that um that we are seeing not
119only in the vehicle itself but in parts to build those vehicles. So, um, so hopefully, uh, this is something that that you will will consider. The board members, uh, Mr. Davis contacted me and I authorized him to bring the item back to back. Um, spoke about it with the chair briefly during the agenda review. Um, the importance is the the price points are increasing for us. We want to get ahead of the curve rather than have to address this issue on, you know, later date and and pass those costs on and have them adversely impact our operations in another way. Um, additionally, this has a proof point. We have adopted this previously. You've seen the savings. This is not just unfortunately a lot of times school districts may enter engage or enter into a contract
120with an entity that says uh and you know, and I'll just I'll pick on energy management. There are a lot of energy management companies that'll come to a school dish saying we can we can we can help you save money. We we promise you we're going to save you million dollars over the course of the next two years in your energy consumption. And and they're right if we increase the set points to 74 degrees and we do other things. And so this did not have that. Um it has proven itself to be effective. This is a second school district that I've had the benefit of using a similar service in. I did this in Illinois. I was pleased when I got here. I immediately asked Mr. Davis when I arrived here if we had considered
121this he was already in the process we brought it I think at some point during that end of that first year and we've had a great deal of success the other thing board members that many of you may not be aware of it allowed us to rightsize our fleet not the number of vehicles but the vehicle type so when you're giving someone who's doing pest control a douly 3500 and they're driving that around the district that's not economical for the school district and so what we've been able to do is put them an appropriate size vehicle. And then especially during that first year, we worked with all of our trades groups to make sure that the toolboxes and the accessory boxes that end up being bolted to the chassis were the ones that were appropriate
122and they didn't have a lot of transfer time moving items back and forth. And so we've done a really good job of that. Um, and the fleet has been very well maintained. In addition, what I liked about the proposal too, just to give you because this comes as part of my recommendation to the board as well, is the number of service facilities. Um, I I don't think people realize how many of our trades techs are on call every single weekend and every night. Those that are on call are allowed to take their vehicles home with them. So, if there's an emergency and their vehicle needs service, we can immediately get that taken care of and then provide them with a supplemental vehicle as needed. But not having to rely solely on our workstations is a
123huge benefit because as we joked before, I had a couple nails in my tire. Um, was not losing air pressure, thank goodness. But I called Mr. Davis to say, "Okay, what's the process for employees who drive a vehicle, where do I take it?" Right? And you can take it to Goodyear, you can take it to other places, but to have that convenience of not having to wait till Monday to bring it into one of our shops was incredibly important. Right? Not just a convenience factor for me, but I think about our trades techs and everyone else who's out there on the road trying to get the work done. It's important for them to have access wherever it's convenient um to their work site or to their home. Um, so I just wanted to say thank
124you to Mr. Davis. Thank you to our representative. Um, they've been great thought partners with us on this. There's been a lot of work that's gone into this and I would encourage the board to think positively and take some action on this this evening. You know, it's rare that I bring an item back to back, but time is of the essence with this so that we don't get locked out and of the available inventory. So, Miss Fields, thank you. Superintendent Hyde, I was basically going to uh downsize it a little bit. um you did a very good summarization, but I remember before we um implemented this program, we were using a lot of old dilapidated vehicles and they weren't safe for our kids and for our employees. So, I think this is a no-brainer. I
125think that uh we definitely need to move forward with it and we want to make sure that uh whenever opportunities comes, it's going to make things better for our students and for our employees that we uh jump on it. So, I am very much in support of this and Mr. Davis, thank you for having the vision and the insight to uh do your research and to bring this forth for us to consider. We appreciate it. Thank you, Miss Fields. And we have a great team that uh helps us get there. So, yes, sir, Mr. Sharpless. I'm going to reiterate what I said before and you quoted me on uh you know this is the financial savings is tremendous and I appreciate that. But even more important to me is the safety of our of our
126students and our staff and the fact that we're going to have safer vehicles. It's a no-brainer. So thank you. And I agree with superintendent time is of the essence. So um I look forward to supporting this tonight and uh thank you both for being here. Thank you gentlemen. Are there no further questions or comments at this time? Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Board members, I'll ask you to hit the refresh button on your websites for uh board docs because I did relocate and reassign one of the topics to old business. Um the board will address the food policy, but that's been addressed by board member Wyatt and Mr. Murphy. That is not something that myself or my staff have been involved in. Um so I will I have moved
127that to old business. So the next item before the board under the workshop agenda is Alta Vista. Board members, you have this attached. It will be provided for the public to see. Um but I have attached it for your view. Uh Alta Vista, as you know, we brought this proposal and recommendation to you previously. I'm providing you an update and also asking the board to provide consensus for my ability to move forward and begin the communication process with our students and our families and our staff. Um, after our last conversation about relocating Alta Vista to the Scenic Terrace location and possibly expanding it to a K8 facility, it was well received by the board. The board asked about the communication process. We held a community forum at Alta Vista. I was there with Mr. Fix.
128Countless other staff were also present. Uh, Mr. Brooks Regional was there. Um, Albert Cummings, the principal, did an amazing job speaking with his community. Um, parents were incredibly receptive. We didn't hear a single uh negative or concern expressed during that meeting. In fact, at one point, a parent stood up, turned his back to us, said, "This isn't about you guys." And he spoke passionately to all the other parents saying, "My kids went to that other site over the last school year for summer school. It's a beautiful campus. We need to do this. How do we do this tomorrow?" Um, and received applause from the audience. We then surveyed staff. We kept the survey open for an incredibly long period of time. Um, overwhelmingly the response from parents was yes, positive for the relocation. And then,
129as you recall, part of that survey also was sent specifically to fifth grade parents to determine whether or not they had an interest in their children attending sixth grade. Should we add sixth grade next starting next school year? Um, as a former principal, I think I expressed at the time that I would not be looking to do that. Clearly not what the community wants and not what Mr. Cummings wants. So, we will be adding sixth grade as part of my recommendation to the board. They want to begin sixth grade next year. Um, should the board give me a nod of approval to move forward, uh, we will begin communicating to both staff and families tomorrow. Those communications are already drafted and ready to go. They'll speak about the board having approved the plan for us
130to move relocate that school to scenic Terrace begins sixth grade. We did provide additional staff right now in the staffing allocation model anticipation of the board's approval. There's one additional school counselor, six additional instructional staff, and other support staff members as needed as determined based off the enrollment. The sec next step would be providing not only parents with a copy of the letter of the board's uh approval of my recommendation to relocate that school and begin the expansion. And remember, it's a rolling expansion. Sixth grade this year, be six, seventh next year, 678 third year, much like we did at Mclofflin. Um, parents would also be asked, fifth grade parents, rising sixth graders would be asked to complete a form indicating that they do intend to attend that school next year. And that way, the
131principal can go ahead and begin the scheduling process for those students and families. It's available in English and in Spanish to make sure that we can capture those families. Those have already been developed and those are already ready to go. So, I just wanted to give the board an update and address any questions that you may have at this time. Mr. Mr. Sharpless. Um what what about students that move into um the district into that zone that are going to be rise that are fifth graders now? Rising sixth graders that wouldn't have currently been at at Alta Vista. H um how are we giving them option? They will attend Alta Vista's new site as an incoming sixth grader. Okay. Now, they always have the opportunity to to approach and apply for school choice options um
132if there's something available at that late time, but we would know the we would know the majority of those at this time. Um but any moveins, it does have still have its attendance zone and so any student within that attendance zone will attend there for sixth grade. Thank you, sir. Mr. Keys. Well, I'm obviously a big fan of this is, you know, being in this area and seeing it every day. Um, I guess my question is is with the rolling enrollment on it, um, long-term, how does that look like for Mr. Limson at Boone? And more specifically, you know, have we projected out with the 19, I think it is 18 or 19 portables that are currently there. Um, what are we seeing as far as relief to him on a long-term basis numbers wise?
133Do we have a projection of that? Yes, we did. And we I believe that's part of the presentation that you have that the impact projected impact for Boone Middle School if I recall correctly was 260 students total. Um once built out M I know Mr. McLemore is here. I don't know if he recalls that number specifically. That's about right. I'm getting the eh you're close Mr. Hyde. Um I do believe I I the number 267 stands in my mind. I'm going through the PowerPoint now to see if that's there. Um but no, yes sir, we did provide that potential impact to you last time. Um that is as Dr. Allen's pointed out previously, it's one of the reasons why we had scenic terrace was to provide some relief to Boone. Um we used it as
134a flex site initially for Elbert that they'll be returning to their natural school zone or school school location. Um even though it's bright yellow and uh but we are ready to to move those students, accept those students. Boon also this will actually have an immediate impact on Boone not necessarily a reduction in student enrollment which it will have but Boone also has student has vacancies um in their instructional staff positions so this will actually help them so they can actually we can reduce their staffing as we increase the staffing at Scenic Terrace based off the students actual enrollment. Yeah, I appreciate that and that's why I asked because I I read the the scope about the the rising enrollment there and the projected enrollment for Boone, but I was wondering the long-term effects as it
135as it as as those Mr. Sharpless kind of pointed to that too. Those that are coming in are are we really really alleviating the problem by doing this? I know it's going to be part of it, but are we putting a bandaid on I guess what I was thinking I I 1600 seats. I mean, it's going to have a pretty significant impact, but I'd be lying to you if I didn't say we don't have plans for another middle school and elementary school out in that area. Uh we do. It's just a it's just a matter of how the growth is happening and a pattern of growth, right? It's not just a growth is occurring. It's where the growth is occurring which is creating the hardship. I appreciate that. Thank you. Yes, sir. Dr. Allen. Yeah.
136I mean it again just I want to keep that conversation rolling around the comprehensive resoning in the midst of this. Um so if we we have 1,600 seats at Scenic Terrace. So in this first year, what's what's uh the capacity that we're putting there in Scenic Terrace in this first year? I'd have to defer to staff. I don't have that number. And I think at the heart of my question is, you know, how much of that school is sitting empty? And then, you know, how do we get to that capacity because I just hate to think that we're not utilizing um that space in its full potential? Well, you can't. So the if you're referring to scenic terrace there there's no way for us to open up a K8 facility in a single year. It's
137not feasible. It's not uh it's not um a responsible way for us to address that need. Um Boone Middle School's capacity is 1272 students. The enrollment as of the time of we first presented this to you was at 1334 students. It's expected that each year they will pull aboutundred and just just under 100 students from that boon enrollment because that's where those students are currently zoned to that'll be able to stay there. So over the next three years now that entire second floor of that building has been vacant for the last two years. Yeah. Um but the reality of it is we built that school as a flex site for a reason. We knew we would have phased growth um and development. So, even if we opened up Scenic Terrace as a K8, my recommendation
138to the board would never have been open it as a K8. You're not going to get seventh and eighth graders to change schools. You're not going to get third, fourth, and fifth graders to change schools by and large because they've already established a friend group. They've already established peer groups and and relationships with faculty and others. So, that's a difficult transition. So, typically what you see is a rolling enrollment, a rolling opening um for these types of schools. Um so, that's what I would say, but Mr. Mr. McLemore, do you have the numbers? So, year one, I guess, is what I'm trying to get at. Like, what's that capacity going to look like at Scenic Terrace with a capacity of 1600? Well, well, capacity is 1,600. The enrollment's going to be Yeah. Okay. Mhm. Okay.
139We won't know the actual number of fifth graders attending there as sixth graders until parents complete those surveys. But assuming that the 94 Where's Mr. Giri? 94 96% response rate that parents were respon were receptive to relocating the school and having their students attend there as sixth graders. If that number persists, you're going to look at about 80 80 probably about 80 to 86 students attending there as sixth graders next year. That would be my best guess. So total enrollment given choice moveins, it would be close to around 900 all said and done with with including kindergarten all the way through sixth grade. Mhm. So, the facility has more than the capacity to support it. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you. I'm assuming again 90% of what their current fifth grade enrollment is. Now, as we address
140and the board had indicated during the retreat, you'd like to see a comprehensive approach to not just reszoning schools, but also program alignment. And that's what we're we're currently working on now to bring back before the board. And I've asked the board for retreat dates. You've all responded to that survey. So, I'll be scheduling those. Mrs. Winchester's already put them as placeholders on my calendar. Um, some we won't get to in time because of graduation and other priorities right now, but we'll try and get that scheduled as quickly as possible so that you can start to have input on that and make an informed decision moving forward. That will then ultimately, Dr. Allen, impact the overall enrollment. Now, we won't get to that number. Um, my recommendation to the board with resoning is never going
141to be forced movement. Um, the board may choose to do that. I will not make that recommendation to the board. I do not believe it's healthy to uproot families from a current site and force them to attend somewhere else. Although I say that at the same time, I also will not support new student enrollment from the same family at that same school because you're actually just you're just kicking the can down the road. And if the point is to reszone a school, resone a community and and address enrollment issues, then you've got to draw the line somewhere. Now, those can be addressed on a case-by case basis. But if you have an outgoing eighth grader, there's no sense to bring a kindergarter into a school that they're not zoned for because essentially you'd be allowed
142to persist there for eight more years and then we assume the responsibility for continuing busing and other things. So there's a lot to discuss there. Um and that those are the things that we're working through before we bring you a comprehensive plan and some recommendations. Miss Wyatt, thank you. As far as expanding to sixth grade, do we need to approve an enrollment zone for that middle school group at some point? You will at some point. Yes, ma'am. At this present time, you do not because those families will be choosing to opt into that school and we'll choose we'll treat it similar to a choice option. But then yes, before the next enrollment year, you will see a modification to the enrollment zone. I believe we have one already developed. Um the the enrollment the attendance
143zone is currently in draft. Correct. Exactly. Right now, the sixth grade enrollment zone is going to mirror what the K5 enrollment zone typically is. That's the same pattern we've used with Bellisa, Citrus Ridge, and u different grade level structure, but with Mclofflin Academy of Excellence. Thank you. I know several of our K8s have additional seats when it gets to the middle school level. Is that something that we would open up for next year if they want to opt into if they're zoned for Boone or zoned to another school in the area and want to opt into going to Alta Vista? Yeah, and I think that gets back to Dr. Allen's question too about how do we maximize the efficiency of the building. But part of that conversation, so the answer is yes. The question that
144I will pose to the board as we go through the resoning and we go through program alignment is are we looking to bring a program to to that school to serve as an attractor for the students that are not currently zoned there? Um because what we don't want to do is adopt a zone and then have it be a rolling zone because we're not getting the enrollment that we anticipated either due to competition with local charter schools or other or other options within that area. Um, so that is something we're also considering is what don't we have to rep that we would want to replicate in that area, but we don't want to be premature with that because we're coming back to the board to work with you on that program alignment, the feeder pattern
145process that you all discussed with me at the retreat that you'd like to see us formalize and and revisit. Thank you. My my thoughts behind the question were more that from a staffing standpoint, obviously 86 kids at a middle school when you look at all of the opportunities that are typically at a middle school is how do you justify an art teacher when there's only 86 kids, which I know we have some itinerate positions where they'll move around and things like that. But I just want to make sure we don't um water down the experience for those students as they're as we're building the program there. And that's really where we work very closely with Miss Cummings because um we just met yesterday to talk about some of this to make sure that our our
146allocation model continues to reflect our investment and our our belief in the arts and it does. Um but at times you know a school we we we have to take steps to prevent someone from saying okay strings for example is not flourishing in P County. Um many of our schools have less than 20 students attend taking a strings class in fifth grade at elementary school. Some have as few as eight. Um and so that becomes a difficult program to sustain. So that we have to start asking deeper questions. Why are we not seeing enrollment in strings? It's not because of teacher quality because we support those through largely itinerant support and flexing those staff. Um, but to your point, one of the concerns that Miss Cummings has and has expressed to me is just because
147you're a music teacher doesn't mean you can teach all things music, right? And I think she said that very well. Um, you could be a great chorus teacher, doesn't mean you can teach piano, doesn't mean you can teach jazz band, doesn't mean you can teach. So, we want to make sure to your point that programmatically it makes sense opportunities there. So having itinerants, but having itinerants that specialize, I think is the more important part so that we can make sure we're covering those courses and those program areas as needed. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Miss Miller, this isn't about really about programming right now, but I in doing that, I think some of our best success stories have been students not exposed to strings or other things and we give them that opportunity. So, I look
148forward to the conversation about programming. Um, with choice, you know, moving our kids who are showing talent already to one school, I'm afraid we're going to lose a Mosart in between. Um, so I look forward to having that conversation about planning. So, Mr. Murphy, I want to turn to you since it's not an official action of the board. Um, so if I can reach consensus of the board or direction that I can go ahead and communicate with the community that I have board support for the recommendation to convert relocate Alta Vista to the Scenic Terrace site and to add sixth grade for the upcoming school year. I think you can have consensus of the board to do that. Does it require a board vote or approval? Um, if it does not, then you're you've got
149what you need, the consensus to move forward. So, do I have consensus or do I need Well, I think you should get a consensus of the board. Um, I'm asking your guidance on Yes. So, I Isn't that what we're doing? Is that what we're doing right now? Yes, sir. If I may. Yes. I just ask for an indication. I would I would I would indicate whether the board members are favorable to that or not. Yes. We're not voting, but we're just drawing a consensus or supporting it. I see no opposition so we are good. Thank you sir. Thank you board members. And to the extent that you need to bring something back for some official action that can be done. Well, we will have to bring back the attendance boundaries. We will have to bring
150back programmatic recommendations. I'll also provide the board with an update. May 23rd or 26th is the due date. Um I'm looking I don't see um 23rd is the due date for parents to respond in writing as to their children's interest in staying at that school. And we have had a handful of families say no, they still want their child to attend Boone. Um, so we will continue to support that. Um, but there's a lot to this, including busing and and whatnot that we'll have to bring back before the board because there are currently students that are not bus that will now have to be busted and Mr. Davis is already working on that through through our our plotting and planning software to make sure that we're prepared for that. Okay. Next item. board members, as
151you know, um when we were talking and we were negotiating, um one of the ways that we were able to come back and provide um a slight increase to the initial offer that the board made um to our teachers collective bargaining unit um was due and in part to the understanding that we would be reviewing program areas and making recommendations for consolidation andor elimination of those programs. And so at this time, I'm going to bring Mr. Pitts. Uh, Mr. Bruno's also here. So, I'll ask him to move to the front. I'll ask Mr. Warren to move to the front. We also have Tracy Collins. So, they're all here um to be able to speak to this to this topic. I answer any questions that you may have. Um, I did receive questions last night from
152a board member. I have the final answers and so I'll be sending that to all board members this afternoon um because Miss Everett had to pull some numbers about one of the particular programs that we'll be discussing. Mr. Pits. Good afternoon, board members. Um, thank you for this opportunity to speak to you today about consolidating um several of our multiple pathway programs. Um, the first program that I'd like to talk about is uh Fresh Start. So, just a little bit of the purpose of Fresh Start. Fresh Start provides an opportunity uh for students to earn a Pennsylvania high school diploma. Um for those students who meet any of the following criteria uh one have a certificate of completion, two have dropped out of school. Three are fifth year seniors who have not earned the necessary
153credits. Um when Fresh Start was first introduced, the district did not have a dropout retrieval program to support students in earning a high school diploma. Currently, multiple dropout retrieval programs are available within the district to assist these students enter in achieving their goals. Um, the Fresh Start program operates across three current locations serving 81 students districtwide. It's supported by two assistant directors, one school counselor, two secretaries, and five teachers. alternative programs uh that could replace Fresh Start. Uh number one is Grad Alliance. That's a district partnership that serves as a dropout retrieval program offering students the opportunity to earn a state of Florida high school diploma. Number two is the graduation enhancement program, GE. Um each high school is provided funding for a dropout prevention initiative known as the graduation enhancement program. This program supports
154students who are behind in their credits and it also allows a fifth year senior to enroll and complete the necessary credits required to earn a high school diploma. New Beginnings, which is a charter school with multiple locations across the district, which is dedicated to dropout retrieval for students seeking to earn their high school diploma. Penn Foster, um, an online dropout retrieval program that allows students uh to independently enroll and earn a Pennsylvania high school diploma uh for a fee of $1,499. Um, second program that we'd like to discuss is Pope Virtual. Um, Pope Virtual offers students the opportunity to complete their K12 education requirement through online classes. These lessons are delivered by PCPS teachers who provide tailor instruction and ongoing support to ensure student success. Poke Virtual School is a franchise of the state sponsored
155Florida virtual school. Uh there is a contract cost associated with accessing the courses and curriculum for each course off offered. When Pope Virtual was established, the district was mandated to provide a virtual option for students in in kindergarten in grades K through 12. However, recent legislative changes have removed this requirement, allowing districts greater flexibility. Uh the current status of POE virtual, um it serves both full-time and part-time enrollment options. Currently, there's 462 full-time students and 502 part-time students. The program is staffed by the following personnel. one principal, three assistant principles, five school counselors, four secretaries, one testing coordinator, one academic coach, one network manager, and 53 teachers. The total cost to run all virtual programs is approximately $6,11,500 per year while earning $2.5 million in FTE revenue for a net loss of approximately 3.4 million
156per per year. The average FTE per um staff member is 8.60 creating a problem with fed federal comparability. Um and what federal comparability looks at is to make sure that we're not supplanting um that we're supplementing and not supplanting. Um and that's sort of how this year Poke Virtual ended up on our immediate radar uh was the problem with comparability. Um and we have to submit a plan to the state here in the next couple weeks on how we're going to meet that federal comparability. Um POE virtual school alternatives. Um, if we close both the part-time and full-time Poke Virtual programs and transition students to the following alternatives. Florida Virtual, which is the globally recognized online learning provider offering engaging and innovative educational experience. This program ensures students have access to a safe, reliable, and
157flexible education in a supportive environment. District zone school provides in-person learning with a traditional school setting offering direct instruction across all subject areas. Also, the family empowerment scholarship which expands educational options for K12 students including the opportunity to attend uh participating private schools. Families can apply and renew annually through approved scholarship funding organizations, SFOs, which manage funding distribution and eligibility terminations. Uh the third program that we'd like to talk about is Real Academy. Real Academy is an alternative public school dedicated to supporting students in grades four through nine who are two or more grade levels behind their peers based on their kindergarten start year. The program's goal is to provide these students with the opportunity to catch up academically, return to their appropriate grade level, and graduate on time. This program supports students in grades
158four through nine us utilizing the egeneuity platform combined with direct instruction to enable students to complete two years in one. Currently, it serves 223 students, the majority of whom are in grades 6 through 8. The program is staffed by the following personnel. one principal, three assistant principles, three school counselors, two secretaries, one testing coordinator, two guardians, two custodians, one network manager, and 27 uh teachers. The total cost per student for the 2324 school year was $14,460 for an average of 10.9 FTE per teacher. By reallocating resources, the district could save up to 2.4 million a year. That 2.4 million is for all three sites. Our recommendation for next year is to reduce from three sites down to two sites, offering a real academy in the east side of the county and offering one in the
159west side of the county. When Real Academy was established in 2015, its primary purpose was to provide students who were two years behind their cohort with the opportunity to complete two school years within one academic year. However, changes in third grade retention policies and expanded opportunities for high school students have contributed to a decline in real academy enrollment over the past several years. By reallocating resources, district could achieve significant cost savings in the amount of $2.3 million a year, which could be redirected to support other critical areas. Additionally, current staff can be reassigned to other schools to help address critical vacancies. Those are our re recommendations for the 2526 school year. I I want to say that we're not talking about anybody losing their job. We're just talking about reallocation of where those jobs will
160be at for next year. Miss Miller, thank you. Um, it's the non- attorney in me, but you said the district can save 2.4 and then you said up to 2.4. So, are you saying it could vary based on the 2.3 if we if we shut down all three programs? We're just recommending reducing the site this next year from 3 to two. So, the recommendations um the followup for students and what that would look like and how we message it to them will begin quickly like if this is decided we'll begin tomorrow. Okay, you receive the I just don't want anybody to be surprised by our changes because we all talk the language every day but not everyone is watching YouTube. Thank you. So the actual recommendations begin on slide 15. For real academy we reduce
161from two location from three locations to two locations. On slide um 16 for egeneuity we would retain that contract for next school year. Grad academy the recommendation is retain the program for the 2526 school year. GRD Alliance. It was retained the contract for the 2526. We really start to get into program alignment and consolidation and or elimination. On slide number 17 for fresh start, it would be close the program and transition students to grad alliance. Reassign staff to other schools across the district. Pulk virtual school close the program and assist students in the transition to other PCPS school sites or Florida virtual and reassign staff to other critical vacancies and schools as needed. K12 recommendation is cancel that contract for the 2526 school year. Transition students to Florida virtual or their zone schools. And then
162proximity learning provides live online instruction. The recommendation is cancel that contract for the 2526 school year and use district created lessons to equip long-term substitutes with scripted materials in critical areas. The final slide shows you the estimated savings. Um, and so back to Miss Miller's question, while consolidating or eliminating all three realmies would could result in up to 2.4, right now the estimated cost savings would be 1.4 and the re ability to reallocate or reassign up to 39 staff um for Real Academy. So fresh start the savings would be about $443,000 for Real Academy 1.4 4 for Pulk virtual 3.1 and then contractual savings by eliminating some of those contracted services we'd save an additional $645,000 which brings us to 5.590 or 5.5 or almost 5.6 million which would be sufficient to cover the cost
163of the increase that the board agreed to bring to the table during bargaining and collective bargaining to provide teachers with that additional raise. Just have one other question. Pulk Virtual, we've we've ran in the red, as they say. Um, so is the 3.1 that we're saving in addition not being out the money that we spent every year on a program that wasn't bringing in the dollars. That is the net. That is the net. Okay. The net. Thank you, Dr. Allen. Thank you, Superintendent. Yeah, I appreciate the response and you being so responsive to that full set of questions that I had. Um, I I was curious on the um fresh start. I could see the savings, but in the presentation I didn't notice um what the revenue was on that one. Like all the other
164ones you had noted like what the revenue option was and and that savings. So uh was it just the 81 FTE count as it is the 81 FTE account. Okay. And then secondly, I mean, a thousand students, that's a lot. And you can see the revenue generation um off of those thousand students. I'm wondering as we communicate with those families, is there a way to enhance our communication around every choice option that we have available within the district? just to really, you know, be very direct and precise um because I'd hate to lose those students and families um to Florida virtual. So, I don't know what our strategy is. I'm sure we we've got something in place, but um maybe we can put a little extra finesse around that um so we don't lose those
165students. Absolutely. and I can bring that back to the board or provide that to the board in between the board meetings. I can provide you a summary. Miss Fields, thank you. This is a lot to chew on. Um, the real academy, you said east and west, and I don't see it here, and I might just be overlooking it, but what what cities are we speaking of? So, the east side is currently located at East Side uh elementary in Hayne City. Uh there's uh Dwight Smith is a current location in Auburndale. Uh Dwight Smith Dwight Smith. Did I say that wrong? It sounded right in my head. So, we have we have Auburnale, we have Dwight Smith in Lakeland, and we have East Side um in in the Hayne City area. And the recommendation is to
166close the Auburndale site and open the west side at Gauze on on a totally new campus next year. Gauze is currently a underutilized campus. So transporting the students from the Lakeland campus to the to the uh Barto location. Yes. And I know you don't have an answer, but how many of those families do you think will uh consider transporting their babies from Lakeland to Barto? Uh, and isn't Lakeland the largest population? It is. No, I believe it is the largest. East side is Oh, east side is the largest. East side is Mr. Brown. East side um campus is the largest. between all three sites and then um Auburndale and Lakeland campus are pretty similar to Can you can you tell me what the enrollment is? You don't have to tell me where I just meant
167it, but um excuse me. Um and then the other question that I have and Mr. pitch. You said something about uh we were going to start working on this like immediately after today's meeting and my question is have the staff of these programs been advised that these are recommendations that's coming before the board. We have met with leadership um of those campuses. We have not met with individual staff. Okay. So today would be the day that they're hearing it for the first time. Okay. most likely. I just want to make sure that I'm understanding. And then my other question is uh and [Music] um the uh timeline as far as when are we going to be expected to vote on this? Superintendent High, is that going to be at the next board meeting or? No,
168ma'am. Okay, those are all the questions that I have right now and once Mr. Bruno can give me those enrollment numbers and so I can be more specific, Miss Fields. I I in all honesty the board's had this information for several weeks. Um I've tried to address any questions in the interim. Um hope hopefully we're using the workshop to address any final questions. So I would be looking for consensus today to move forward with this and communicate this to staff and our families. Um we have met with school administrators. um we have done the due diligence to make sure but if there's remaining questions happy to defer that um to June 10th but that would be the latest but that puts us in a difficult situation with communicating with families um so if the board
169um does not want to reach or does not reach consensus at this time um then I I'm in a position where I must at least inform those families that this will be on the agenda to be discussed but this was an understanding that we had that in order for us to ing that recommendation for a raise to pea that it would come at the cost of programs. We we were very transparent and very clear with that about that. Um unless the board's changing its position about the fund balance and if that's if that's the case then then that's a different conversation. But the only way for us to maintain our fund balance was to eliminate existing programs. In this case, the team has done a great job actually looking at um programs that are not
170necessarily being successful. They're they're programs that are overfunded and the outcomes while in some cases have been beneficial does not necessarily demonstrate um the most or the best possible outcomes for our students in our community nor the district as it as it relates to a cost. Um so that's that's why it's before the board. Um, so again, I would be looking to get consensus to move forward with this, but if the board doesn't reach consensus, then at least I can convey to staff and families that this is on the agenda. I'll be bringing it back on June 10th and the board will can take official action then. Um, but that does put us in a very difficult position with timelines for reassignments, transfers, um, that type of thing. So, and thank you, Superintendent Hard, and
171no disrespect uh to you. I know that we got a list of of uh possible things, but I don't remember seeing specific programs on the list and maybe I just overlooked that. Yeah, this PowerPoint was provided to the board previously. Not the blue version that's on our district template, but you received one. It was green. Um and I can I'll I can resend that to the board so you know the date that you originally received that. Yes, sir. Thank you for that. Uh I still have those questions. uh that I I would like to have answered. And I'm not saying uh neither here nor there, but I want to make sure that I am clear cuz this is a uh a lot to chew on. And it's a big decision for our uh children and
172for our school district. Yes, ma'am. And for employees. And so I want to make sure that if I'm going to be in support of anything that I'm understanding what I'm supporting. So understood, Mr. Bruno. So I do have the numbers for Lakeland campus. They have 51 secondary students and 20 elementary students. The Auburnale campus has 45 secondary and 22 elementary. And the east side campus has 63 secondary and 17 elementary. Thank you. You're welcome, Miss Wyatt. Thank you. And I want to say thank you to the team for really digging in to to find those programs that are not um flourishing as we had hoped that they were or that we had state requirements that we no longer have state requirements for. Um you know, I think Pulk Virtual is a great example of duplicative
173services. and is our money and time and talent best spent on serving a student population that can be served through through Florida Virtual or elsewhere. Um especially as we're looking at teacher shortages and having, you know, can we put those teachers in classrooms that are are right here in PK County. Um I'm happy to support this. My biggest concern is how are we communicating with the staff? I understand we've communicated with leadership, but my expectation as one board member knowing that some of them very well may be watching this meeting. Um, is do we have a letter that's going out to all staff members that would potentially be affected by 5:00 p.m. today to say, "Hey, this happened during the work session and making sure that they're not hearing about it." We're actually doing far
174better than that. So, Mr. Warren, yes, ma'am. We have communications that are drafted and ready to go. Um we have been in communication as well with the union preempting the conversation that we anticipate waiting to see how today's conversation goes. Um we will be out presenting well we there'll be an electronic communication that we would like to send out tomorrow morning um that would go along with the family communication as well. Secondary to that is we will be out this is the part we're working on. We would like to be to everybody's school perhaps by the end of the week as soon as possible as we can get get schedules aligned because we will be out there with our district staff plus representatives from pea uh to talk about uh the displacement process and reappointments
175and everything in that regard. We're trying to be very clear in the messaging that we don't want a miscommunication that somebody's being fired or they're being laid off or they're losing a job. Everybody will have a job when we're done with this. Um, I could go so far as to say we're already working on those plans behind the scenes. So, after we're in front of staff, they'll receive another communication from HR with respect to placement options uh for them for next year. And I can go even a step further that we have additionally planned a second job fair that will be May 13th. So, after these folks receive a placement, if they want another placement that they I mean, if they want to have an option they have control over, they can go apply. and
176if if made the candidate for that position pursue another option beyond their placement. So so the only thing I want to add to that I want to clarify because you said something they have control over. They have initial control. They will be provided and afforded options based off the number of vacancies we have that are available for their position, their specific area of certification. The reason why we're not going to those meetings and handing those to individuals is we don't know, for example, if they want to be closer to home or if they want to be closer to their child's school for drop off purposes. So that's why the in-person meetings and I was really pleased to see that the the team had put this together and trying to get that done by the end
177of the week. But then when that second opportunity opens, if there's another opportunity that they find more interesting or that they that they have a true another passion for, they can actually apply to transition into that as well. So no one's stuck. No one's just simply being assigned someplace beyond their control. So HR, the reason they're going out and meeting with them is they'll have those initial conversations with individuals, find out what their preferences are, show them what options are available, get them placed with the full understanding that other options will present themselves for them to transfer into upon request. Thank you again. And I know you said tomorrow morning my as one board member, the sooner we can send it out 12 hours, you you all are from B County. 12 hours a lot
178of rumors can get spread. So, if you um if it's at all possible to send it out as soon as we have consensus, even if the consensus is we're bringing it back in June, I think the minutes matter sometimes. So, absolutely. Thank you, Miss Miller. I have two questions. One, can someone just share for people who are watching this the Real Academy, the amount of time the students spent there, like your numbers are going to shift because it's not a long-term solution um for students or it shouldn't be. It was never sold that way. Can you talk about the time the time frame that students are at the real academy? We can. Initially when it was um launched, it was for those overage students and it really came about after the third grade net, right?
179When kids were being retained. If they weren't proficient readers, we saw an increase in that. And then if they were retained one more time beyond that, they were really at least two years behind. And so that was introduced many many years ago. What we've what we've been looking at and I I want to stress since multiple pathways um came under the divisions of schools which is now two years. We've been looking at these programs for a few things. Redundancy and effectiveness. So, this just coincides with the charge that we were given as far as reduction of expenditures and and making sure we're getting a return on investment. The issue with Real Academy is we're not seeing the return on investment. Kids go there. Sometimes we don't do what we said we were going to do.
180We don't catch and release and send them back because some of them like it very much there. We have some high achieving kids there that just like it being small. They're operating at fours and fives and they're actually not behind. The other thing is we looked and we pulled data and I believe the kids over time of all the kids we've ever served through Real Academy, I think we have a 18% graduation rate. Part of the problem is we ha we have to do better by this population of kids. If you looked in the slide deck, it says that they're they're we're trying to catch them up really with egeneuity, which is a computer-based program. Mr. Bruno and I, we have gone and visited other counties. Where do they do this really well? They h
181these students have to get time. They have to get direct instruction. We have to invest in them to get what we want, which is to catch them up. Real Academy. Um, I think by consolidate consolidating it down to two sites, Mr. Bruner and I can really start to work with introducing more direct instruction, kind of weaning them away from just getting courses and classwork finished and and actually um building in some some pieces that meet the intent, which is to catch, bring them back up, and then release them with supports for them to be successful. Um, we also looked at a continuum. When Real Academy first started, it served up to 11th grade, which at the time we needed, we no longer need because we have other programs that serve the 912 population. And so
182we in in conjunction with Miss Everett's office who oversees acceleration, innovation, and guidance counseling, we've been trying very hard to establish pathways for students based on student profiles. getting rid of, as Miss Wyatt said, getting rid of some redundancy and duplicative services and also reaching down and figuring out where are we missing because there are gaps in what we're missing. We have spent a lot of time this year um working on um graduation enhancement, really working on our grad rate, which I think you guys have seen in the data and will continue to see in the data. The other arm of that is dropout prevention. That's a whole there's some crossover but there is a whole lane for dropout prevention. And so while we may be reducing we are also looking at just doing better
183in that lane and building out systems and structures to support dropout prevention as well as graduation. That was a long way. Thank you for that detail. Yes. I do want to say I appreciate that you mentioned providing supports when you send them back to their zone schools because without that they fail again um either socially or academically. Um and the fact that you mentioned that some of them like that environment. Our goal is to make independent gainfully employed young adults that won't have four people in your office probably. Um so getting them back to that environment with supports would make them the most successful. My other comment is I learned by the data you've shared in the past that PULK virtual had up to five guidance counselors. That's a hot commodity. Um I can imagine
184that they would have more options, you know, for the need other than that um specific background certifications. There wouldn't be they would have opportunities in the fields the teachers would in the fields that they're certified in. That that that is correct. And HR has already been working on identifying those Okay. Thank you. available opportunities based on their certifications. Dr. Allen, thank you, Superintendent, Miss Collins, thank you for that. Um that um really helped me um not see this as just a number, you know, because obviously we can focus so much on the quantitative data that we overlook um those academic uh goals that we're trying to achieve. So, I appreciate the in-depth analysis that you gave us. So, uh, and, um, just that close look. Appreciate that. Uh, with HR here, I was curious. I
185mean, we've got about 120, uh, staff that this is impacting, right? And was curious about maybe what percentage, this is one question I was that I had posed that I didn't get answered. Um, that was hoping to hear, but um, what percentage do we anticipate that might not have equivalent positions available out of these approximately 120 uh, staff members? I would ask for you to first give me some more idea of what you mean by equivalent. Well, you know, just looking at the presentation, you know, for example, at Pulk Virtual in particular, you know, you've got um uh three APS, you got a principal, um you know, you've got a network manager. So if I look at all these 120 approximately out of this hole, um do we have a place with a similar equivalency
186to the role that they're currently in that you plan to present to them? I'm comfortable with similar equivalency and I can go I want to go farther with the the administrative positions andor the the um non-instructional. We're working with Division of Schools. that's that's on their side and they're working with that. Um, as part of the contractual pieces for the instructional or the non-instructional with the parent, the ESP, um, we're working to place those within the confines of what the contract allows us. That's the reason I asked you the leading question of what what your thought process was because you may be teaching a certain subject for a certain grade, but yet you have a certification that I can plug you in that's within the mileage for your house. So, I I I didn't want
187to mislead. I wanted to address your question that way. I can tell you that we are placing all of them um in positions for which they're certified for and that are within the mileages from their home that they need to be by contract. So, and for those that that will have the volunteer option, you know, with respect to programs, um we'll work with them in that regard as well. Great. Thank you. That's all I have. Superintendent. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Mr. Keys, I just want to say absolutely awesome job. I think a lot of my questions were answer that I had originally in going through this and I I would reiterate that you know um the presentation that we got slideshow back on April 23rd kind of outlined all this and for $5.6 6
188million in savings potentially. You know, that's a substantial thing and we we kind of agreed to, you know, increasing in the salaries and and a promise we made and I would think that going through in this aspect of it is honoring that and, you know, to not dis totally we're displacing potentially, you know, moving but not eliminating any staff positions. I think that's important to to show, but also, you know, especially in the real academy situation, the program is not totally going away, but it it does um at least for me as being a new board member, we talk about efficiency of programs, right? And we're not seeing the results that we really need from that program. So, I think, you know, the conversation going forward too is um finding programs that we can utilize
189that better suit that need. Um, and this is the first step and I think as we go down that road and seeing what the effects are and seeing, you know, possible alternatives, I think this is something that we absolutely need to do and I'm in support of it. I just wanted to say that for the record. Thank you, Mr. Sharpless. Just want to start off by saying, you know, it's never easy, right? Um, these discussions. Um, however, it's vital that we have them. And, uh, I fully support this measure. I want to personally thank each one of you for the hard work you put into this. Um, you know, I know that there's the the dollar and cents of it all and we got to do that, but there's also as educators there's also a
190effective component of this and it's tough, you know, um, we we we care about our staff, but at the end of the day, it's why we also offered the historic raise that we did too, right? I mean, these are business decisions that have to be made. Um, I think we've I think you've done a really good job of finding programs that um could be transitioned to other areas. Um, you know, I I'm curious. The one question I have and um it might have been addressed a little bit earlier. I'm not 100% sure. Um but when we go from uh three sites to two sites and we are having to to bust those students things like that are savings net of all the potential costs that we would increase on that or how are we looking
191at from a financial standpoint um when we look at that number are we including any projections of increased cost from going from three sites to two sites? Th those were just hard costs. Okay. So I I didn't project out. I didn't want to I wanted to be conservative in what we were projecting out as if that answers your question. Yes, sir. I mean, and you're going to find that in any uh you know, when you're having to make, you know, decisions, you're going to have to try to project the best you can, but sometimes, you know, you don't know the data yet. So, and Mr. Bruno, sorry, Mr. Sharpless. I think that um one thing we can realize is like Gauze already has busing that picks students up from around the county and already transports
192them there. Okay. So, there's already hubs created around the Lakeland area when different areas for Gauze that students will be able to ride that same bus that are already going to Gauze for that purpose. And same thing with the east side, the um Real Academy and East Side, they already have stops for that school as well. Excellent. Thank you for that. Um, so anyhow, I fully support this measure. We have to do we have to tighten up the belt and somewhere. So, thank you. Thank you. There are no further questions or comments. Thank you very much. Uh, board members, I believe I have consensus across the board. Um, do I ask if anyone has any comments to the to the opposition or how do I do this? John listening and it appears majority consensus. If
193not, I do have a I do have a majority, not you know a broad consensus. Um you and I and others probably need to work on the implementation of this and making sure that whatever contractual notices and whatever, you know, contract matters arise. This is the first time Yes, sir. seeing this. So, we want to make sure that we walk down that pathway carefully as well so that we do realize the savings that you're projecting. Well, I think to Mr. Sharpless's point, what we could do is once we have actual student ridership because in many instances these students are already receiving transportation, but now we may be transporting them slightly further. So there's going to be an impact, but that that impact and that addition should not eliminate or erode the entirety of the savings
194based off positions and facilities and those types of things. Um, and then ultimately that will become a further conversation for this board. Um, as you know, we're currently working on a proposal to come before the board for vacational trades high schools. Um, and so we have some opportunities for that that will be coming to you this summer so that we can get some direction from the board. And so this also helps us with some of that site relocation and opportunities moving forward. So, thank you. All right, board members. The next item is the superintendent's cabinet reorganization. This is my cabinet's reorganization. I sorry I didn't get anything to that to that effect. So I'll speak for a couple minutes um so the people in the magic room with the cameras can be prepared and transition.
195I've had a request for a break, Mr. Chair. Um and others, it is 3:20. Can we come back at 3:35? Is that sufficient? 3:34 or 3:35? 3:35. Thank you. I didn't get a text or anything from [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Good afternoon. Like to call this work session back to order. Is now about 3:36 and we we still have quite a few agenda items to get through. So, I want to make sure we can push on through. So, superintendent, I'm going to pass it back to you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, board members. Um, at this time, the next item before you is the superintendent's cabinet reorganization. Um, this is a reorg that's being um triggered by the
196pending retirement of our deputy superintendent, Mr. Wayne Green. Mr. Green will continue with us till the end of June at which time um I will be making some changes to my cabinet level positions um in talking through with the board. I've provided you with a copy of job descriptions. I've copied provided you a copy of the organizational chart. I provided you with a copy of the executive summary of said proposed changes. But I'll walk you through a few of the highlights of the proposed changes. Essentially what we will be doing is eliminating the position at this time of the deputy superintendent. Um when I first came to P County, just for a reference for for newer board members, there were nine senior administrative vacancies um at some point during my first few months here in
197Pulk County. All but one went to current PCPS candidates and that was Mr. Green. Um, I don't think anyone would question the success that we've seen over the last three years. Um, and that we should continue to see at the end of this school year academically. So, I want to say thank you to him for his time and effort and that of the entire team and our teachers and our administrators who really bought in and have worked very diligently. As you know, there's been a lot of work aligning our interventions, aligning staff supports, transitioning to sitebased budgeting. All those things play into the overall um success that we've seen and the successful outcomes that we've seen. As you've heard me say before, you'd be hardressed to find a district that's seen the level of improvement
198across the board in school performance as P County has in the last three years historically. Um that being said, the reorg uh essentially eliminates the the role of the deputy superintendent. You have a budget analysis here as well. Um that would be cashed in. we would alter uh a current position and transition it to head of schools. That head of schools will act in collaboration with the superintendent's office, the chief academic officer, and with the um and excuse me, with the um chief strategy officer, otherwise known as chief of staff, um to basically facilitate everything on the academic side. So, you were also provided with duties and responsibilities. you were provided with a highlight of key roles and responsibilities for each one of these positions. Um that would create a vacancy um in the current
199regional structure. Um I my proposal is I would move Miss Tracy Collins into that role um of the head of schools. Mr. Bruno would then succeed her as a regional director, regional assistant superintendent. Um, I did ask and in my proposal there are two positions. One of which the board is already aware of which is chief of schools um or chief of staff, excuse me. Chief of staff is currently the title that's assigned to Mr. Pitts. Um although I think you would all recognize anybody who's worked with a traditional chief of staff. Mr. Pitts, his duties and responsibilities have primarily forced him to focus more on being the deputy superintendent of operations. He supervises technology, operations, finance, maintenance, construction, transportation, HR, all of those duties come to him. And so in the traditional sense of
200a chief of staff, it's not the role that he's capable. Not because he's incapable, he just simply doesn't have the time to dedicate to that role. So in the absence of a deputy superintendent and through the restructuring, I'm recommending that we reappoint re retitle Mr. pits to a deputy of operations. Um, and that he would continue with his current duties and responsibilities, but the role and responsibility of chief of staff would be rebrought would be brought back. And again, I've outlined what that person will do. They'll help me coordinate. Um, they'll help me manage and make sure that key deliverables are being submitted. Um, that there's followup in meetings. They're helping with master scheduling and alignment. They'll be working directly with board members on other things, and we'll talk more about that in the future.
201And then lastly, there is a request for a new position and that of a chief negotiator's position. I I have always been uncomfortable with your HR assistant superintendent being your chief negotiator only because and primarily because that person is also responsible for dealing with all grievances and that any disputes that typically take place during negotiations while we hope that there it's water under the bridge, it's typically not and it carries over. And so the duties and responsibilities of HR, um, the way we bargain in Florida in particular on an annual basis, it's a full-time job between negotiating with the non-UN group, which really isn't a negotiation, but they're still responsible to work with us to determine how we're going to support that group, with PA, and with ASME Group. It's important and imperative for us
202to have somebody who's dedicated to that. Um, and so I would be assigning someone to that role and then freeing up a position in HR and then that HR position again would be an internal appointment. Um, so I want to just get feedback on the reorganizational structure and a justification for the structure. Uh, the names at this time are not really relevant and I can address those with you based on your feedback. So um, I'll open it up to any questions or comments that you've had. Mr. Mr. Sharpless. So looking at the financials of this, it basically is um if you take out the chief negotiator, which is the new role, it's basically a wash. That is correct, sir. I mean, it's a little you're saving a little bit of money. Um again, really the
203chief negotiators where the where the cost is coming in. Um, so I just if we're asking other groups to, you know, we're not asking other groups, that's not the right word. Um, you know, we just are eliminating some programs to try to to save money. I'm just I'm just I'm wondering where Okay, so you said the chief negotiator is really is a vital new position. you know, you you you made the case for that. Um, I'm just wondering how we can I don't I don't know if my my thoughts are with me the way I really want them to be right at this moment, but um I'm just concerned that we're adding we're adding additional cost. Um, and really the only thing would be the chief negotiator that is the additional cost. Um, and so
204I'm just wondering, um, have we, do we have any kind of analysis on is this the typical salary range for this? I mean, I just I would like to have some more information on that particular position. All the other ones make sense to me. Yeah, that salary amount is the is the is the projected salary for the individual who's currently serving in another role that would be moved into that role. Okay. Okay. So, it's an actual salary amount, but I can double check that number. Okay. That would just that would just be my only concern is that we're again take that position out. We're we're net neutral on cost here. So, that's fair. Um I just don't know that I can continue to accomplish some of the things that we're accomplishing without expanding the bandwidth
205in certain areas. Okay. But if if it has to come at the cost of me cutting other positions elsewhere, I'll be more than happy to do that. If if that's what the board wants is this for for this to be completely costneutral, then I will go through the entirety of the staffing chart and I will start eliminating vacancies and other positions to the extent that I can to offset that cost. But I think if you take into consideration the prolonged and protracted negotiations that took place, the amount of time that this takes, and the fact that somebody who currently has to perform these duties, Mr. Mr. Warren in particular, also has to manage an HR department, I would challenge the board to show me how that's that continues to be manageable for any individual without
206a dedicated person in that role. Um, and so that's why this helps the organization move forward um, as a whole. and I have been talking about this position for some time now um with individual board members and so I was I was excited to be able to bring it forward. This was going to come forward to the board as part of my proposed reorg regardless. But I'll be happy to go through um departments and other contracted services and eliminate contracted services to help cover the cost because at the end of the day this is going to be beneficial to the district. Well, and I and I'm only one board member. No, I understand. So I just I would like you know ideally to have more of a net neutral um certainly. So anyhow Yes sir.
207Dr. Allen. Thank you superintendent. Looking at your chart that's towards the end with the numeric values. Um where I'm just not seeing the deputy superintendent of operations in that list in the budget analysis because it's an existing cost. So it's cost neutral. I didn't put it in there because there's no increase to the position. There's no decrease to position. and it's simply a title change. So, I could include that, but it's not going to change the numerical value or the outcome. All right. Very good. And I mean, you know, the proposal eliminates the deputy superintendent um and it creates three chief positions uh in essence and it tells me a great deal uh about the work Mr. Green has done for the district that you got to create three um roles for that individual. So,
208um, for for that, you know, I'm just going to say thank you to Mr. Green for his work within the district itself. Um, and then, you know, sort of evaluating here a little bit more, too. You've got the chief of schools position that has, uh, really absorbed, uh, quite a bit of those responsibilities. So, um, just want to make sure that we don't overburden, um, that role. I think there's about 15 different areas of responsibility comparative to the uh like seven or eight in these other uh chief positions. So yes sir, just one observation. Thank you, Miss Miller. Thanks for this explanation. Um there are other districts that have Department of Labor relations that kind of do this. You talked about I would like to see how and I think it's a good idea. I
209I would like to see how the HR what are we calling Mr. Warren's position? HR director. Is that what assistant superintendent? Assistant superintendent of human resources. How that will change that job description because this says the negotiator will also administer and coordinate all grievance processes as defined in the employee contracts. I I didn't know if you want I thought earlier maybe I misunderstood that you wanted that to be different. Um, so he would still be this he or she would still be involved in grievance processes and bargaining. Um, I think I would just like a description of what the assistant superintendent of human resources over other than managing people. Um, because this would change a job description because this was in the original job description for that role like how you your vision for that
210role moving forward taking this piece away. So essentially it's the existing job description with negotiations and grievances removed. um they would still be responsible for helping schools with their staffing, helping with recruitment initiatives, better focusing on retention. There is an expectation that I've already established that HR will be realigned and it will be it will be comprised instead of as a district-wide team, it will be reassigned and realigned to be regional teams and teams will be staffed differently in accordance with historical data on persistent vacancies within certain communities, certain areas, certain regions. And so every regional essentially would have a team that they can work with directly to ensure that their schools are staffed with certified teachers and certified staff to the greatest extent possible. So that that in and of itself is a full-time
211job for the HR director to work with. That doesn't mean HR won't have a touch point with grievances. The grievances still have to involve HR staff, but the primary respondent, the primary individual who help manage the process would be the chief the chief negotiator. um because it makes sense to keep those things aligned, especially if they're at the bargaining table addressing and they're so knowledgeable as to the existing language and requirements within the collective bargaining agreements. So, it just makes sense to align that there um for that individual. But HR would return to its core functions of human resources, certification, endorsements, professional development, training uh and HR would also take back the responsibility of the evaluation instrument. That is something that has over the years has somehow transitioned over to professional development. And while professional
212development has an obligation to train staff on the evaluation instrument and it how to complete it for both administrators and employees, it should not be a responsibility that professional development retains as far as the development of the criterion for the evaluation instrument. That really should be a function and historically has been a function of HR, not of professional development. So hopefully that helped address some of your questions, but I could do a strike through on the existing JD and show where there's some additions or or better clarification on that job if you'd like that. No, I I mean I think it's smart that we're moving that back because that's such tied into that's an HR component of the certifications. The two on here that I thought were interesting that I would see would under an
213HR more than a negotiator is the operation the daily operations of district substitute teacher program and the development of the international teacher recruitment initiatives. I don't the the top three are much are much more in line what I think of negotiating, but I I'll look forward to seeing the JD and maybe seeing that it's you know this would help alleviate some of the time as well if these things are moved under. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. I agree with some of my colleagues comments and the what Miss Miller just mentioned about um the international teacher program and the substitute programs was was something that had caught my eye as well. um as that seems a little bit odd to be under the chief negotiator. Can you give at all kind of the thought behind
214putting that there? So again, it it allow especially the international teachers, it allows them to have a touch point with that process. We're not talking about a large number of staff there, but we've always had concerns. I think since that first year, we've done a great job addressing those concerns to make sure that international teachers that come to Pulk County, we're taking care of them. We're assisting with housing, we're assisting with transportation, we're assisting with other things. So, this would become the point person for that, right? And it helps take that off the HR off that burden off of HR. And since really by and large, substitute services is extension of our Kelly contract. And just for complete transparency, you know, contracts are currently being tiered so that you all I can give come back
215to you about what contracts will go back out for bidding instead of having these legacy contracts persist. But I felt that that would be appropriate for this individual as well. Again, there are certain things where it shows under them, but they're still going to have a dotted line back over to HR because it's going to take collaboration. But the burden, right, would help shift and free up HR to focus on other areas. Um, so hopefully that answered your question, but if again, if the board's uncomfortable with that, again, I want to justify the position level and the requirements. So, I figured the workload would be sufficient to address that. Thank you. And I do just under and maybe I'm not seeing it. Is that position separate from HR and not under No, that is a
216direct report. It'll be a direct report to you. Okay. I don't think that's on the um or it's not placed on the or chart. No, ma'am. I appreciate you saying that because I kind of thought I was going crazy. Yes, ma'am. Um and and Mr. Sharpless, I apologize. This has been updated that cost sheet. Um, it was about $142,000, not $169. Sorry. Sorry, Miss White. You're good. And then, you know, I just the the one comment I had for looking at, you know, one of my colleagues mentioned adding positions at the district level. Um, I think Mr. Wilson probably said it most eloquently when he was on the board that he came in guns ablazing trying to find fat to cut. um and very quickly realized that we were understaffed at the district compared to
217surround many surrounding counties that um you know even as we've gone through our attorney search have have quickly seen that for a district this size for us to only have one attorney. Thankfully now at least one attorney for the superintendent and one attorney for the board um is kind of unheard of that as we continue to grow I think it's important that we realize that while individual school sites maybe and you know, the conversation of we haven't heard from any of the schools that have had gotten additional units as we've moved to the sitebased budgeting, but looking at from a district perspective, we have to be able to support the services as we're adding additional schools. Um, you know, just since I've been on the board, I think we've opened 10 new schools at this
218point, maybe 12. Um, and we really haven't seen a ton of of staff. It's just continuing to ask the same staff to do more and support more schools. So, I think we do have to be cognizant of that at a certain point. Um, the job of HR in this district when we've gone, you know, when I first came on, I think we were a little under 12,000 employees. Now, we're almost to 14,000 employees. Um, that makes HR's job just 2,000 additional to support. So, making sure that we have um the structures in place to truly be able to support our schools, I think, is is critical. Miss Fields. Thank you. I [Music] um I think the idea of the chief negotiator is a is a is a good thing and I think the uh division
219that you have for the HR department is good as well. Thank you. Um, and I am I was I was wanting a a clearer understanding on the chief of staff position and you answered that. Um, but if you could maybe uh repeat the exact title. I know you're going to have to do a job description for that position. Uh, but I want to make sure that if we're going to be uh doing some some movement that we take care of of folks that have been uh committed and and worked hard and did their very best. Yes, ma'am. U based on whatever the situation may be. So, and and thank you for the opportunity to clarify. Everyone needs and this is not directed at the board but this is really directed at anybody else who's who
220may be listening or in the audience who's who's making some assumptions. This has nothing to do with work quality of existing staff. Nothing at all. It simply has to do with the realization that many of them have been overt taxed and if we want to continue to see progression if we want to continue to see innovation in some of these departments it's going to require some restructuring. So, um, I have spoken with all of the individuals involved in this to ensure that they understand why I'm making the recommendation. It has nothing to do with their work performance, has nothing to do with my trust. But if you were to look at the original job description that this board approved that exists for a chief of staff, Mr. Pittz does not fulfill a traditional role of
221a chief of staff. It's just he and it's not because he's not capable from a perspective of professionalism and his abilities. He's not capable because of the workload he currently has. And so I won't I I just won't continue to ignore that. And that's why the recommendation is coming forward to restructure to free that up. And I think the same thing is true for HR. When you look at the volume of work that the assistant superintendent for human resources has to take on on a daily basis, understand every single time we have an employee issue, every single time we have to put somebody on a leave on a on a on a on a paid leave of absence. Every time we have an he has to manage his investigators, he has to manage the process
222throughout the year of employee transfers. He has to ensure that we're abiding by the contract. He has he has to negotiate. He's our chief negotiator as it sits, Mr. Warren. Um, hands down, again, I understand people may take issue with some of the conversations took place. I will tell you in my history, he is hands down the best negotiator I have ever had at the table. Ever. He keeps his composure. He's collected. He's professional. He knows the contract backwards and forwards. He's a problem solver. He can make decisions and recommendations on the fly. So again, this has nothing to do with their work ethic or their abilities. It has everything to do with the fact that we're just not structured properly. And so this creates an opportunity for me, the vacancy creates an opportunity for
223me to restructure. And this was done in collaboration with Mr. Green and the team. Um so that they had a hand in this. These were discussed. Um so that's the point and thank you for the opportunity to clarify that Miss Fields. Um, for these roles, I did provide draft job descriptions or the existing job description as it's already been approved. But yes, ma'am, some of these will have to be revised and brought back before the board for final approval on June 10th. But I wanted to go ahead and get the message out, get your feedback as a board so that I could go ahead and start making some decisions because the next school year is upon us. We haven't even graduated kids, but we're already planning for next year as you know. Um, so thank
224you for the opportunity to to answer those questions and and make that statement because they're an amazing team, but I've got to give them the latitude to be more successful in their roles. And sometimes that means giving them the space to do that. Um, because it's a difficult job as you all know. I think Mr. of the team other than Mr. Green and the regionals, I probably speak to Mr. Warren more often than he'd like on evenings and weekends to deal with issues as they arise. and you you're very much aware of those cuz you get the text messages when we have to deal with those situations. So it it is just one of those things where I want to create the opportunity for them to be more successful in their respective roles. So Mr.
225Keys, thank you superintendent. So I kind of had some of the same concerns that have already been addressed as it relates to the supervision of the substitute teacher program and the international teacher recruitment initiatives. So, thank you for the explanation on that. Um, and I I will say that it was mentioned about the size of our district and being able to manage those effectively. I think that that that definitely that role will will require um some of these, you know, responsibilities be shifted. Um, and and I do like the idea of a regional um approach to HR. I think that makes those individuals more accessible. Um, I do have a couple of comments. Um well and and one more about this this new position and and having to serve in that role and the ramifications
226afterwards. I think it's somebody needs to be set apart from those other responsibilities as it relates to that and that that helps out when you have sort of the intertwining of dealing with negotiations and then also being the head of HR. I think it it can muddy the waters a little bit feeling. So I I am um glad to hear about that. I would ask um one thing and this may seem arguing semantics here but there's it's labeled in the the presentation as chief union negotiator then on the another summary as chief negotiator right um I just feel like if you're walking into a room with the title of chief negotiator it kind of holds a negative connotation can we can we soften that up a little bit I know Mrs. Miller said, you know,
227chief of labor relations, something like that. I think with the title of negotiator, when you go into that, you're I don't know. I And it and and it's it's I'm thinking about it from if if I were in that role and I had to go talk to the chief negotiator, like I was going to the principal's office. Um, I know it sounds kind of funny and we're but seriously, I mean, if if if you're if you're looking to open communications up, right, and you're trying to create a deal or I think it's it's almost like I'm going to sit before the judge, you know. Um, so that was one I just, you know, arguing that. And then another kind of side item I noticed in the list of there was the budget analysis, right? But
228then also in the on the slideshow presentation, but then in the budget analysis on it separate by itself, there was an associate superintendent of HR. Um, and I wondered what the additional cost for that may or not may or may not be because it wasn't on that slideshow when we labeled out existing positions were not added in there. Okay. Only the only positions that were listed in that budget were those that were changing or those that being unfunded um and the new position. So that's a wash. Yes, sir. Okay, that that answered my question. Thank you. Um I I can work on the title. It's the other districts use labor relations, but whatever. Yeah, I am Am I on an island unto myself on that one? If someone has a suggestion, I'm all in. Um
229I not my skill set to come up with other titles, but we can work on that. But I appreciate that, Miss Wyatt. Good PR. Thank you. I um No, I'm glad that you brought that up because it was on my list, but I made my list in my brain and not writing it down, so I forgot to say it. But I I like the idea of labor relations. I think that that's where I was struggling with having um the substitutes and the international program under there is does it make sense for those programs to be under a negotiator? are they negotiating their contracts or why are I think that's where I was struggling a little bit with why are those programs under that person. Um but it would make sense if it's labor relations because
230that is some of our labor. So I'm not married to that. Travis has great ideas so maybe we should ask him for more uh more names. Um but I but I I do like the idea of moving away from negotiator and moving to something more um relationship focused. Certainly easily done. Miss Fields, in the current HR department, is there a a position that already has labor relations in it in some form of fashion? There may be a JD in there, but I don't. Yes, it is. Can you come down to the microphone? There's a director of a labor. I No, I I heard him, but he has to be on the record for the recording and for those watching. Yes, we currently have a director of labor and employee relations director though because so it
231could be a chief. Okay. Okay. Just want to make sure that we knew that. I can pull it. Okay. Say that again, Miss Fields. I just wanted to make sure that we knew that. Yes, ma'am. I see no further questions or comments on that. So, I will make some revisions to this board members. I'll provide it back to you with some updates based off your questions and comments. If I can find a mechanism to make it costneutral, I will certainly do so. Um, or if I can identify an alternate revenue source, I will do the same as well. Mr. Pard, pardon me, Mr. Keys. Mr. Keys, thank you, Mrs. Fields, for that question. And that I guess sparks my interest. That position and its title. We have a title for it. Is it currently filled?
232Yes. according to Mr. Warren. And so we would be shifting responsibilities of that individual or I mean I I hear me out here. They were this new position. Um I we have a name in theory, right? But we're adding additional responsibilities. And I guess from my from my hand when I hear that there's something similar titled that, I'm think, oh, we've already got somebody that does that. Obviously the JD is going to tell them they have different responsibilities and we're proposing. So, we still need a new position. We just need to be cognizant of what we word that that we're not duplicating a position in the wording. Correct. Okay. That's all I wanted to know. Thank you, board members. Um Dr. Allen, board member chair and members of the board. Uh that concludes the superintendent
233portion of the report. You do have um Mr. Pitz, are there? I don't believe there's anything under staff and district updates information items. There are three. donation report, our required Head Start services report, and the November 24th through January 2025 financial statements. Mr. Chair, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you, Superintendent. Board members, if we could at this time, I'd like for us to move forward on our agenda for this evening just to see if you have any questions or comments. So, give you a moment to transition, take a look at your agenda um as you're switching over um to be prepared for that. Uh we've got Vivian Cortez. She'll be with us as our guest uh to lead us in our pledge and our Q&A with her. She attends um JC Stevens um
234which is my Alma from Barto here. So, I'm excited to have her pretty impressive bio um as well. And then Mr. Keys, you're going to leave it lead us in the invocation. And Miss Miller, I believe you're stepping down for recognitions. We have quite a few recognitions tonight. Um, so any questions on sections A through F at this point? All right. And I'm going to just move through these sections. And I'm looking at the speaker list over here. So if anything pops up G through J, sections K through M, sections N through R. Okay. And then that takes us down to our action agenda for this evening. Uh it's clear what we're working through this evening. We've got three appointments, some policies. I think we have three policies and then um two contracts for your
235consideration. U moving beyond that. Uh Miss White, you're recognized. Thank you. I was just going to ask in the future if updates are made after it goes out on Tuesday, can we get an email to if things are added to the agenda? because it appear there's a couple things I've noticed that have been added since I reviewed it last Wednesday. What items were those that were added? I know the Well, and I had asked for my travel to be added because it was not previously, but then also there's an additional charter review team nominee that was not on the agenda when published. So, just in for the future, I'm not questioning any of these items. I'm just saying for the future if something is changed after it's published, if we can get notice of that
236that we need to go back and review. All right. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. Thank you. All right. See seeing no other comments. Uh we'll have superintendent report. Do you have something for us tonight, superintendent? I do, sir. All right. Mr. Murphy, looks like you have something as well. Yes. For the code of conduct. Yes, indeed. All right. Thank you. And then Miss Matthews, um again, I appreciate the uh several audits that we've received since. Uh and then we'll wrap up with our comments and public comments. Any other questions on the agenda at this point? Pretty straightforward tonight, board members. All right. And then um I'll transition now to our old business. And you can see right now it's 10 after 4. So let's just be aware of time because we we do need uh to
237work through quite a few heavy items. Um so if we can uh be timely in our discussion around these next few items to keep things moving forward. So the next one is old business which is uh food policy. Mr. board chair. Sorry. So Mr. Murphy, you are recognized. As the superintendent has so um clearly indicated earlier, this is this is an item that's coming a little bit outside the usual process, but hopefully we'll harmonize that tonight. Um and I believe this was something that Miss Wyatt had suggested and just to set the table for this, it is um there are proposed amendments to two of the noted policies. I'm trying to click on this to get it up and for some reason it's not getting it. It's not letting me do that. And and just
238as you're working through that, uh, Mr. Murphy, this is something that would potentially go through the rule making process. So, correct. We're really just here as a work session to bring it forward. We're going to have two public hearings on it before it would come to us as an action item. Okay. That's correct. In fact, that's part of the reason it's coming before you all is to make sure that there's a majority view of the board to do so. And then we will it will be um implemented if you will through the normal policy process. And this was something that um Mr. Murphy and I worked on after our board meeting I believe in September was the first conversation we had about it. Um there was this is really this has been what practice is
239is that we have uh you know families can choose to send their students with their lunch if there is a a peanut severe peanut allergy or things like that. Classes will get a a note from the school at the beginning of the year saying this classroom is going to be a peanut free zone. It's what has always been done. Um, however, we realized at the start of the school year that that is not in policy, that that has to be done, which um, we had great conversation in September, October about that being a parents rights issue that they can choose to send their child with their own lunch to school. Um, and at that point, I offered to to get with Mr. Murphy to to look at our policy and see where that where that
240would best fit. Um, and the team at Boswell and Dunlap has this is what they have come up with. Again, this is really just codifying what the process has always been. Um, I said it that time and then had a former school board member call me and say, "You're right. I this wasn't in policy because we never realized that it needed to be in policy to make sure it's what was happening." Um, so that's why those are are there. One, um, the first one addresses that students have the right to bring their lunch. Um the second policy addresses the fact that the district um does have have the right to present a list of restrict restricted food items um such as energy drinks or things that are um severe allergies in that in a specific
241school or classroom, those types of things. And that the district can present that list each year. All right, board members. Any comments on that? Mr. Sharless, you're recognized. I don't know if this goes who exactly this question goes to but uh the 5335 of the list of restricted food items. Um I I know superintendent has also emailed some qu answer some questions he had about that. Um, do is that is that list something that we will have to approve at the board level or is that more of a uh is that going to be under your purview, superintendent, if this policy were in place, the procedure and the annual list will be developed by me and my team um by staff in in conjunction with the department of health and with uh the department of
242food nutrition. So, this isn't something that will come before the board. That's what we can the board can request that we bring it before the board once a year, but it's going to be constantly revised. So, that's that's the only thing the board has to keep in mind is, you know, uh, one of the questions I received was, you know, even when we send home a parent notification, the potential enrollment of a new child or a change in a child's medical response to a potential allergen is unknown because it could it could trigger at any time. a child could have contact with something initially first or second time and have no reaction and all of a sudden have an incredible allergic reaction. So um we yes we could provide a list to the board but
243it would be generic and and with the understanding that that that list will be fluid over time. Now it's not going to change on a daily basis and it's not going to change considerably every year but we may become aware of a new allergy that we weren't made aware of before. Um, so I I'll take it to the extreme. Someone's allergic to the classroom pet now. Um, that could happen and and I don't it's not a food allergy, but it's an allergy and that could cause a reaction. So, it's one of those things we have to take into consideration. But by and large, allergies typically fall within nine categories. Um, but the severity of the reaction can vary and that's why in the response I provided, it asked, you know, how do we how do
244we manage this? Um, so typically a student who has a severe food allergy is assigned to an allergy-free table. Um, whether that's in the classroom or whether that's in a cafeteria. The the problem is becomes more serious when the allergy is an airborne allergy. It doesn't require consumption. It could be simple touch or it could be inhaling it. Those are the ones that were most concerned with at the time. So, it's just trying to clarify for you the process, but a list. We could provide a generic list, but I don't know. We could provide you an explicit list every year. I'm okay. I want I want to be clear. I'm not asking for that. I'm I'm just asking if that's something that we need to approve. I actually think it's not really our purview to
245do that. I think it's a school level. Agreed. I just wanted to ask that question, make sure. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Sharpless. Miss Fields, you're recognized. I wanted to see if um Mr. Murphy can help me with the uh the last sentence on the draft language for 8510 wellness. Uh it talks about option not including the delivery of food and it references the Florida statute section 1014. Can you tell me what that Florida statute is please? Consistent with uh I'll have to look at that statute. Okay. and I'll get I'll get with you on that. I don't have do not have that committed to memory. Okay. Thank you. I mean I think the one question I had when I saw the policy I understand the situation that we were in that brought this forward
246um and this would be for you Mr. Murphy. What what does this policy do that the parental rights policy that we currently have doesn't do would be my my only question. And that would be for Mr. Murphy, my general understanding is that this this policy would be subordinate to any, as the superintendent noted, any foodborne or airborne allergies or anything that would be present in the classroom to the extent that there's a right that would be conferred, it would be subordinate to any health issues that would evolve or develop. So, I think that's how I would read that. I I will tell you as a practical matter and we looked at this with the superintendent and with his staff. We we did not Neiola doesn't address this. Um this was we couldn't find this in
247any other district. Certainly we have um you know we have a new attorney potentially that's coming on board. So that's always helpful. But, um, this is this is a a a somewhat of a novel approach or perhaps something that we're I'm I'm not seeing replicated in other districts. So, you know, as we move forward with this, we'll certainly want to harmonize it with appropriate state law and whatever other rules and regulations may apply. Mhm. Does it increase any risk at all for us by I think I think it can. Mhm. Yes. Okay. And more than likely we won't see this until July. Is that correct this when I think through our public hearing process? Correct. Given that today is May 6th. Um and just my general understanding of of the timeline involved that is probably
248likely Mr. Davis apparently has something to say. Mr. Davis, you're recognized. I can speak to the the rule making process. So, we would do a notice of rulem uh for the next for the June work session. At that point, we will have a um a draft of each of the policies with all the underlines and strikethroughs so that you can see how it fits within the policy. And that will be then be considered your first hearing um when we bring it to that work session. And then we would then uh have the permission to notice for public hearing. So it would come in the July uh board meeting with the proper notice for the public hearing. And then in the August board meeting, you would uh take action on that if we were to follow
249the steps all the way through. All right. Thank you, sir. Uh we got a full list here. Um Miss Fields, you're recognized. Oh, that was before. And we have Miss Wyatt and Mr. Sharpless. You're recognized. Did Did you have something else to say? Okay, stand by. Uh, Miss Wyatt, you're recognized. Thank you. I was just going to um clarify that Florida statute that's rep repres that's referenced in 8510 is the bill of parental rights. Um, and it was referenced partially because when we went through the bill of parental rights while we had that conversation that that's definitely that something that should fall under parental rights, it is not explicitly set. Food is not explicitly listed um in the actual state statute. So, but there are many other things that are um which is why we
250reference back to that and in general that statute and getting back to Miss Field's question um specifically uh and correlated to what Miss Wyatt just said, it talks about you may not uh take actions to include the school district to infringe on what they consider fundamental rights of a parent to direct the upbringing, education, healthcare, and mental health of his or her minor child uh without demonstrating that such action is reasonable unnecessary to achieve a compelling state interest and that such action is narrowly tailored and is not otherwise served by less restrictive means. So essentially it sets up a constitutional litmus test with regard to enforcing and making sure that we aren't taking actions here that infringe upon what the state is articulating our fundamental rights that are reposed in the parents of the state
251of Florida. So reading that in Perry materia, uh, we just wanted to make sure that as Miss Wyatt indicated, it does not enumerate anything on food per se, but you could probably articulate a position where that falls within the education, health care, or mental health perhaps, but it doesn't fall within any enumerated position or or or articulated position. And so that section 1014 is and its subp parts are essentially the parental bill of rights. All right. In Florida. Thank you, Mr. Murphy. And Mr. Sharpless, you're recognized. I was going to mention the same thing that is the parental bill of rights. So, but Mr. Murphy eloquently stated it. Great. Thank you, Mr. Sharpless. All right. Seeing no no other comments on that, I'd like to move down to E2. This would be the additional millage
252levy for school operating use discussion. Um, and like to bring this before you as this continual conversation. You can see the timeline where we're at. It's in that agenda item. Um, the other thing that's in there that I'm hoping to nudge a bit more um for us board members, so we can give some direction, superintendent. So, um, again, I would say thank you to each of you for your shared commitment, um, around this discussion as it relates to teacher salaries, but as superintendent mentioned last time as well, that opportunity to consider um, some other academic programs that could be attached to this as well. U, but you'll see again that thorough list of other referendum language from across the state. and just want to open this up. Uh I think the questions that I would
253sort of punt your way would be um what academic or enrichment areas do you believe uh resonate most with our community and how do we ensure that priorities are reflected in the ballot language around that. So, I don't know if y'all had a chance um to look through this list and referendum language from across the state. um to really maybe digest a little bit of some of the themes. Um you've got STEM, arts, career and technical education, early learning literacies. I think St. John's and Franklin counties, they leverage their referendum uh to enhance both instructional quality and then academic programming um as well. Other areas would be workforce readiness, um, student safety, mental health, um, modernizing school technology. So, these are just some of the themes that I was pulling out and looking at some
254of the other referendum language across the state. Miss Fields, you're recognized. I haven't looked at it thoroughly, but I'm looking at Sarasota. And Sarasota is very inclusive because it talks about um retaining and recruiting quality teachers. And you could also expand that to employees in general and talks about uh workforce training, uh improving school safety and security. I don't know if we want that, but preserving the arts, upgrade technology, and we don't probably wouldn't want that either, but I think some of the language here could could be modified to encompass some of the educational program that you were referencing if we were going to do that. All right. Thank you, Miss Fields. Mr. Sharpless, you're recognized. So, I'm going to start out by saying first that um I would like to see as much of
255the referendum language directed towards our um schoolbased staff salaries as possible. One area I feel like that's um that you look at the data, we're consistently lower than the state average is in kindergarten readiness. And so something that I would if we were to add something to this certainly early childhood increasing the options there. I know we we just uh we just approved the Mclofflin uh prek area. Um but you know if we have students consistently coming in at uh you know 5 to 10 percentage points uh less than than the state average in that I think that's something that we we could possibly address in this. That would be my even though I have a lot of passions I would say the early early learning would be something that I would focus on if
256it was me. Perfect. Thank you Mr. Sharpless. Mr. Keys you're recognized. So, I'll just make two small points in looking this is uh number one, we don't want to, I guess, put ourselves in a box where we're limited by that. So, we want to make sure the language that we put in there does um encompass a few needs that are prevalent district, you know, and to Mrs. Field's comments about some of these programs that are in at least one of the languages there. I believe she referenced Sarasota. You know, it is good to identify those specifically, but I would also mention that as we do this that if anybody's been following along that the intent of what we're going to do was directed specifically to an area and that if we get too far into
257the weeds on that, it may hinder upon our success of having this pass. So, I'd just say we should be cautious of that, that we should be laser focused and know that whatever we do include um that we'd be confident that we'd get the support of the taxpayers. That's all I'm saying. So, no particular area in I would and I'm just saying that we we need to be laser focused in that. So, I'm not I would say definitely we need to say, you know, those those instructional positions need to be the highlight of it, right? And if we are going to throw in funding for, you know, again, I think Miss Fields mentioned it, you know, school safety and security, I wouldn't think that'd be in there. We, you know, funding sources outside of that
258is is okay. We get those. But, you know, preserving the arts, obviously, I'm a fan of the arts. It's been well known that I've I've stated that, but I again, I think that we need to what our original intent was that we need to make sure that we define that clearly and try not to add too many other thing. Again, I'm probably seems like I'm talking against myself. We don't want to put ourselves in a box to where we can't act if needed, but we also don't want to make it so broad that we include so much that um we wouldn't get the support from the taxpayer that we need if we make it too broad. All right. Thank you, Mr. Keys. Miss Wyatt, you're recognized. Thank you. I tend to agree with the second
259half of of Mr. Keys and that Well, I agree with all of what Mr. Keys said. However, I I think that I'm more concerned with the I think the community is very supportive right now of how we're um incentivizing our staff at all levels from our bus drivers, custodians, teachers, um and making sure that every that PK County Public Schools is a place that people not only want to work but feel like they can work um based on the current economic environment. Um that I think it's important that we we focus on that. I'm not opposed to wording it more loosely that if there's other things that are, you know, we don't we don't want to put ourselves where we can only pay salary and we can't pay any of the taxes that go along
260with with paying those salaries. Um so making sure that there's there's flexibility in those types of areas, but I think primarily focusing it on um staffing at all levels um and quality staffing at all levels. My other comment was going to be there's several of these that include at the end that continued oversight by an independent citizens committee. I think we're already looking to establish that with the efficiency committee, but I think it would be important to note. Um I think that's something that has continued to allow our um sales tax referendum for facilities to be wellreceived is that there is that oversight um by a local local committee that that really is watching out for the taxpayers's dollars and where those are going. So, I think that's important to to include in the referendum.
261All right. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. Miss Miller, you're recognized. Thank you. And I might need to refer to the board attorney just for a little bit of information on timeline. I do agree with the part that Miss Fields u mentioned as well as the first line of Marian caught my eye because we're talking about retaining high quality teachers and reducing classroom overcrowding which um we have in the non-core classrooms. My question is most of this is done with an agency andor committee andor marketing firm. The timeline on this we're reviewing ideas for what we want it to include but this should go to the professionals to give feedback usually. How do these work? Um I can't imagine that the board comes up with it without outside input that I mean I as we have talked
262around this before my understanding is that the superintendent and his professional staff andor whatever you you know may articulate would certainly assist and facilitate in coming up with the the method the distribution method or what have you that you that you need to do. superintendent has provided information on that and the board chair has provided the ballot titles which articulate that. But yes, uh the one thing that um we just have to be mindful of is that there there is a a limitation on the expenditure of public funds in furtherance of the adoption of methods or things that are going to go before the voters for for a referendum. So we just have to be mindful of that as we navigate through the expenditures for this effort. I think you're perfectly fine to incur expenditures
263for the development of information, the development of process, the development of this distribution method. That's essential in order to lay it out appropriately how you as this school board desire it it to be articulated. But yeah, I think you need you need some help for that. I don't think that's something I don't think the board should I don't know that the board has that expertise and I'm not diminishing any board members areas of expertise, but I think that and I think the superintendent would agree with me that in those districts where this has been successful, bless you. Um I believe that effort is likely undertaken. So I just have a quick question to clarify. If you're talking about tax dollars being spent using board staff or our own PR department is something that we would
264not but to to support or to promote but to create position or to say vote yes or no but to to create the language is what I'm asking. I think that's something that that's aformational thing that you have to develop and articulate and and Mr. Hyde, have you had any experience in this in other districts or in other, you know, with other your colleagues in some of the other school districts? For example, Hillsboro County had a successful effort in the general election in 2024. And I don't, you know, let's not reinvent the wheel here. Well, the if I recall, the question was determining how the funds would be allocated. So, there are actually two steps to this. Well, let me say three. The board first of all has to say yes, they want to support
265a referendum moving forward. The second part would be the board agreeing to a hold back of up to 15% which is something you've seen consistently in the language. The board will then the board in collaboration with my office. I would make recommendations to the board or pursue interest options as Mr. Sharp had shared. I'd like to see a potential investment in early child care or early childhood education. We could explore that come up with the cost analysis that would be that we would spend that up to that 15% on the part where it becomes how is it distributed becomes part of the bargaining process. Um and so there are steps that we would have to take in that regard. Um but the board's priorities would be addressed without you and you could survey families. you
266could I mean the board can do what the board wants to do to inform themselves as to what that set aside would cover. Um but there is already a lengthy list that we would probably articulate and bring forward that our community would supports for the fine arts, athletic expansion, um sustaining, as you heard today, our ticket prices fall well short if it weren't for the fact that the district already invests in athletics. We would operate very much in the negative. Um and but facilities enhancements, those types of things when it comes to athletic fields, these are all things that other districts investments in workforce development, career teched development and expansion, expansion with technology um and instructional technology in particular or software. Those are all things that currently burden the district that are not necessarily funded
267directly. We have to then take that out of the general operating budget. So that creates the flexibility for you as a board. Now, how you want to identify those and ultimately getting feedback from your stakeholders we can do and support. But again, that second part about how the dollars the remaining dollars when they're out when they're generated, how those would be distributed would be is something that must be bargained. That's a requirement um we would have to adhere to. So, we would sit down to collect the bar. We would obviously look at what other school districts have done as far as percentages of allocations. typically that would go to bus drivers and you know trades staff and all the other employees that would be supplemented through this and instructional staff and then to Miss Wyatt's
268point those calculations would include the taxing because that's not something that the district will ignore and simply assume the cost for because we we couldn't do that. Um so all of that's taken into consideration. So hopefully that makes sense. So the first step is approving a referendum. Second step is deciding on a threshold for hold back. Part of that is then determining what you're going to allocate those specific dollars to because then that committee that you approve or that we're that we've been discussing that will start will then be the accountability arm to ensure that those dollars are being spent in those targeted areas. Um so hopefully that makes sense. Hopefully I answered the question. It does. And I I think you know the decision to to determine what those holdback dollars will be allocated
269for to me is the unknown, right? We can all express our interest, but I would love to have that to be a databased decision. And sure, you know, what is it that resonates? Obviously, we we do have our own stakeholders, but what is it that resonates with our community? Mhm. And and I would point out just for um for template or for following the dialogue the the the March 14, 2025 memo that that we prepared. If you look at page five of eight, um it sort of it lays out the first, second, and third initial steps that we are that we understand that the board would need to take and that was between March 10th of 2025 and March 24th of 2026 or earlier. The first staff determines whether the school board's desired mill rate
270is legally permissible. You have to determine what that is. Second, in conjunction with professional assistance and recommendations of the superintendent and his staff, determine the distribution formula for the use of the prospective additional millage funds. They must be used for school operational purposes pursuant to the noted statute. And then you determine thirdly the term for the imposition of the desired additional mill which can be a maximum of four years. Um and it so you've that's the first step and then you ultimately would adopt a formal resolution that articulates all that at a regular meeting that then you would sub transmit on to the board of county commissioners for them to then place the referendum. And I I you know so this memo was was designed to help articulate what it is that you need to
271do initially to get this going. um based on what have other districts have done. No, I appreciate that. I think where I've just I thought we were getting a little bit ahead of I mean I'm glad we're looking at the referenda language, but I agree with Dr. Allen. I there are people in the business of wording things to see what is the most receptive and making sure our community has input on what that is and then using, you know, the executive function that others study to word the referendum language to be most positive in a return is what I would hope for. Well, and as the memo articulates as you go forward and I said before, you could you should develop a communication plan that's an integral part of this using factual information um which
272includes what you project the additional millage will raise in terms of revenue, the distribution formula that you want to develop and maybe factual illustrations of the board's need for the additional school operating funds. Um, but again, condition that or understand that you can't use schoolboard monies to pay for political advertisements or elections communications that could be viewed as promoting a certain point of view. You you can use your public dollars to take certain defined fact-based actions. So that's a little bit getting into the weeds, but but suffice to say that there are there there there things that the board ought to do in a very in a very um logical and progress, you know, develop the facts that will then hopefully, you know, lay the the foundation for the ultimate formal action in the resolution.
273But yeah, part of that is a communication plan. You got to get information, facts. All right. I appreciate that, Mr. Murphy. Uh, just I want to, you know, make sure that we're aware of our time and moving forward. Um, superintendent, you know, as Miss Miller noted and we just looked at this timeline. Um, in the document that Mr. Murphy shared with us, this is what it says. It says second because we've already discussed as a board the millillage amount um that number and I think our last meeting when we discussed this everyone had noted um approximately 1 mil. Mhm. Um but secondly the school board in conjunction with the professional assistance and recommendation of its staff determined the distribution formula for the use of prospective um additional millage revenues. So it is your responsibility superintendent
274um if you can bring that information back to us um for our next meeting. So you know thinking about the distribution formula but also how we want to target to particular areas and give some recommendations to us. Is that possible superintendent for you to address that part two easily? Yes. Part one is going to be the difficult part. I don't believe I have the authority to identify the distribution um of the remaining dollars because that's a bargainable item. It's a it's it's it's it's we're going to be issued to demand a bargain in fact um should the referendum pass. But so we'd like or and even in the planning stages rather than waiting for the referendum to be voted on, we probably want to take action to work with the collective bargaining units to go
275ahead and resolve that now. Um, so we could give you regular updates as to that and what the proposal would be. We could start with initial proposal. I'd be comfortable with that. I just don't want the board to operate under the assumption that that's going to be the final number. I just don't know until we get to the table. But I could easily, Dr. Allen, come back to the board with some recommendations for the holdback dollars and how we would allocate those based off the data and our analysis. Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Thanks, Mr. Warren. I don't believe I'm speaking out of turn there. Correct. Okay. All right, board members. We're going to now move down to new business. I think we have two gentlemen possibly. I'm not sure where this one landed. Um,
276but it's entitled PFM financial adviserss presenting on financing options. I don't know if we can have some context on that one. Good afternoon, superintendent. Good afternoon, Mr. Board. Um today we have Brent Wilder who's a managing director for PFM financial managers. As you financial adviserss, as you know, we've entered into an interim agreement to build a new high school. And you've seen our 5-year capital plan, and we know that we have some different building opportunities um that are coming up we're going to have to take care of. So, we thought it would be a great idea to teach you a little bit about our funding options. So, as we move forward, you'll have a little bit more information when we make decisions. How do I drive, by the way? Yes, sir. This Yep. Good afternoon.
277Brent Wilder, PFM financial advisors. Um, in some ways, we're your chief financial negotiator, but as you pointed out, we don't use that terminology. We we prefer financial advisor. Um, Mr. Superintendent, given the the timing here and and other priorities, your direction on we want to stick with the prepared agenda which would go through the sources and the process or do you want us to to kind of jump towards the end towards the capital plan? What is your direction, sir? I I would ask you to make today's presentation as brief and succinct as possible and then we would more than happy to bring you back for a longer conversation, but this will at least give the board information to tee off their questions and follow-ups and that might be more appropriate for today. We're on the
278elevator. We'll get moving. So, um just a quick refresher for those. These are the general funding sources that are available to school districts uh both at the state level and the local level. um the top ones being the ones that every school district has at their um uh that they can invoke and then the others that require some assistance from either the voters or local. Um again looking at capital the funding sources Pico and CDS the state level those are really uh might as well in some years be non-existent they're bonded on your behalf if you if you choose to participate that so our main focus are really on the capital outlay millillage the up to 1.5 that you can elect to um impose um at the board level and then we have those that
279are other discretionary funding options under the state legislature that all require or some sort of referendum. Um, looking at the bottom spec specifically for capital, those would be your general obligation bonds and then the sales tax bonds that that this community has supported. Um, I think since 2003, this the first time that they um passed the sales sir tax, re-up that and you're taking advantage of that to fund your capital needs today. Um, so we'll skip through the the bonds 101. We can go back again as superintendent said at a later day and we'll focus solely on uh the district. So as we sit here today uh just under 166 million of total outstanding debt um divided into either certificates of participation or sales tax bonds. Uh these are those um debt issues that have
280been directly issued by the district. This does not include, you'll see in the footnote, the 2022 project that were um issued by another authority um not directly by the school district, but you're still obligated to make those lease payments and we have included those. They're not in this, but they'll be included in some other slides. Um from a credit rating perspective, um not surprisingly, the district is extremely highly rated. Um the top ratings you'll see there double A2 that's the equivalent of double A by the other rating agencies. Moody's decided decades ago to put ones twos and threes instead of pluses and evens and minuses. It's their thing. So double A2 equivalent to double A. That's just if if you were issuing geos that would be the rating. Um you don't have geo debt. So
281what we look at between the certificate of participation double A3 by Moody's that's equivalent to a double A minus extremely highly rated and your sales tax uh bonds double A2 um up from a double A3 again extremely high ratings meaning very uh good credit risk in the market and also means importantly you're getting extremely low borrowing rates when you do choose to uh access the capital markets. Uh from a leverage perspective, generally speaking, uh rating agencies like to see districts issu uh spend no more than 50% of their capital at millillage on lease payments. At 31 mills, you're uh less than a third of that. So very low leverage. Um you'll see um what you're currently generating from the 1.5 mil. The bottom is the amount that's allocated to that service with the majority of
282that going away um in just a few years. in 2028. Uh same story with the sales tax. Uh very low leverage. Uh currently utilizing just over 16 million um of the 79 million that was collected in 2024. So much more money going for PGO than is going to debt service out of your sales tax. Um just a quick note that over time uh on your behalf we do monitor refinancing opportunities and the district has taken advantage of those. So just uh in the last several years um you'll see that over $2 million in present value savings have been um acted upon by the board when the markets were accommodative. And as we sit here today, no current opportunities to further reduce your interest payments. So looking at your capital plan, you know these numbers better
283than I do. Just under over 1.4 4 billion over the next five years. It shows this balance because a little over 20 years ago, the legislature mandated that all capital plans be balanced. You were not allowed to show the deferred needs. Um which again, you know this better than than others that not everything that needs to be done can be funded uh in the five years and these are those numbers. So it um requires the difficult decisions that this board has to make when it comes to the capital resources that are available and entrusted to the to the district. So the two um basic ways that we look at this and the decisions you have to make is pay as you go. So only fund the projects that you can with the monies that become
284available um this year or is the the other method we refer to as pay as you use. that's leveraging the dollars borrowing money to advance projects that you would otherwise um uh have to wait on. No different than when people make the decision to buy a house. It's great if you have the cash to do it. Sometimes families need the home before they can uh save all the money to do it and they make the decision to leverage it. So, in your specific situation, we understand that you're contemplating the potential borrowing of up to $250 million to fund some um either points the Points Area High School and up to $50 million of deferred maintenance items. So to assist with the decision making um as you're thinking through the process, no decisions today obviously, we
285ran um five different scenarios that we summarized here today to help orient you around the decisions between pulling projects forward, what that means to you in terms of interest cost, interest payments over the life of those issues. Um, so the shorter term we borrow, obviously the less interest we pay over time, but that requires uh higher payments in the in the near term, you have less PO capital. So just to help frame it, the shortest we um assume would be a 10-year uh structure. When we say wrap, that means it's structured around your existing debt to minimize those payments over a 10-year horizon. Then we also looked at 15 and 20 year structures. Level direct uh debt service means that those would be issued the debt payments would be equal approximately equal each year for
286those terms. Wrap structure means we backload that to minimize the the impacts of those uh in the near term. Um the numbers are there before you you can see um the trade-offs become pretty obvious. The shorter the term, the more aggressive we repay it. that's higher um that's lower interest expense over time but it reduces the amount of um available um capital LA millillage here again not adjusted for inflation these are uh 2025 um and as footnoted does not in um uh include the impact of charter schools which um are course of unknown so uh with that Mr. Superintendent, I would pause here to see if there's questions or anything else we could um provide at this time and otherwise happy to come back at a later date to get into this in more detail
287if you wish. Mr. Chair, it's your it's yours. Yeah, I would definitely want more time u with this one. Okay. Indeed. All right. So, I really appreciate you being here. We'll we'll look to res um no later than June 10th if that will work for your schedule and we'll put you at the front end of the superintendent's workshop so you'll have more time be able to address questions. We serve at your leisure, sir. We'll make that happen. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Thank you, Miss Jenkins. All right, board members, we have two more items to uh tackle before we transition to our board meeting tonight. Uh the first one is our general council proposed contract discussion. Um you can see what the employment agreement is that's before you tonight. This contract really is a culmination
288of our search process which has been a multi-month journey uh and reflects the collaborative work of our current um general counsel John Murphy our search team Doug Thomas uh myself and then acting on the behalf of the board I think this agreement establishes a three-year term from May 6th to June 16th with Mr. Green starting in his position on June 16th, 2025. Uh I would say the contract includes uh a competitive salary within your proposed range. I believe this agreement also properly represents the board's interest while offering a fair and competitive term to Mr. Green. And Miss Winchester, if you could Did you get both the contracts and paper to us? Okay, great. All right. And so that sets the stage and I'm going to throw it to Mr. Murphy if you want to maybe
289establish a little bit more details and then I'll open it to you board members for comments. Sure. Um and we talked about the superintendent's contract in more de previously on your at your meeting on April 30th. So let's let's look at the uh general counsel contract that you've articulated uh Dr. Allen. Um at this point it is uh modeled largely after your previous general counsel's position largely I say because there are some some variances. Um it is a three-year term. The start date for uh Mr. Green is June 16. The initial salary uh is $215,000 per year. Uh there is uh the uh request and the contractual commitment to allow for Mr. green or at the general counsel position to be designated as uh senior service management class um senior management service class level in
290the Florida retirement system which requires the board to make an advertisement designating that which if the board approves this agreement tonight we are immediately prepared to do that in time for you to make that official designation at your meeting on June 10th. Uh this allows for uh there to be some additional compensation in the event that Mr. Green achieves the Florida Bar board certification in education law uh or some other local government uh city county uh uh certification that is um is presently available under the Florida Bar uh certification program. During the term of this contract, it would allow for a $5,000 uh increase in base salary upon the achieving of that as well as uh the board uh including that uh costs and fees associated with that effort. Um there are um professional memberships
291that are articulated um that track the uh the the general memberships that you would think uh that would go along with being general counsel for a school district. Um that's set forth more specifically in paragraph 7. Um there are some additional uh salary supplement opportunities if uh Mr. Green achieves certain certifications in the National School Board, pardon me, in the National Association of Parliamentarians, but again, that's subject to further negotiation uh between Mr. Green and the board. Um there are uh there there is uh in the attorney's offices, um Mr. Green would be furnished as is normal an office here at the district's uh headquarters um which would include you know professional office equipment, a laptop and the like. Um Mr. uh if you'll look on page 9B um Mr. Green has asked that uh
292he be allowed to work under a hybrid schedule which can which consists of primarily on-site work uh with no more than two days per week on a remote basis unless otherwise required by state of emergency or some other state or federal u mandate. and um the specific on-site and remote days as well as daily working hours would be determined flexibility between the attorney and the school board. Um that that's there that's a little bit different than what was previously set forth in the contract. Um there's evaluation language uh a little bit different than the superintendent is that the first six months there's an evaluation of of an more informal nature just to have a discussion between the parties to see where things are and then after that additional six months after the first year there'd
293be another evaluation and then thereafter yearly evaluations that would track um similar to the superintendent. Um other provisions are fairly standard uh for termination with cause or without cause. Um that's a very encapsulated u summary of some of the provisions that are set forth in the contract. My understanding is that this employment agreement is acceptable to Mr. Green. He is here tonight um which is great. And so that's that's all I have to say. All right, Mr. Murphy. Thank you for your work on this and I will now throw it to you board members. So Mr. Sharpless, you were recognized. Um I'll say uh the only problem or the only issue that I see um in this contract is in 9B. I'm I'm not I'm not comfortable with 40% of the work week being remote.
294I'm just one board member, but I that's a lot and I don't know if maybe that could be changed to, you know, one day per week um rather than two or I know I don't know if we're in the negoti y'all have been negotiating this contract out, but I'm I I have reservations on that. Three days of work in person, two days remote. Um that's a concern of mine. Everything else looks great, but that's just my opinion. All right. Thank you, Mr. Sharpless. Miss Miller, you're recognized. No, I appreciate that, Mr. Sharpless. I had I had hit the button. Um I do have a question. And not a question, and we don't need to decide this now, but another reason that we need to have more times to meet as a board um in retreat
295settings is with the chair after the six-month time frame and the chair going to share any concerns or any, you know, um acknowledgements other than the work sessions, there's no other time for us to discuss um maybe job performance of that attorney. So, I would hope that we could schedule retreats before that before that meeting was held. So, we would have to obviously you can see here today, we can't even get through the work session. were so packed. Um, I would like to have time scheduled in a retreat, even if it's the day of a meeting, just to have more discussion before you before you go report back. Thank you. And and I've I've been one to say if there are systems in place and um things are running smoothly, the type of work that
296this is that this entails, I'm not a stickler to um under roof, but I will defer to my board members on their opinions. Thank you, Miss Miller. And Miss Fields, you're recognized. Thank you. Uh I have the same concern that uh Mr. Sharpas has about the remote uh time. I would say maybe one day out of the week, but definitely not two. And then the other clarity was the evaluation, the six month evaluation. Is that like can you uh Mr. Murphy or Dr. Allen, can you all explain what that looks like? Mhm. Miss Fields, thank you for that comment. And you know, I think the discussion that we had with uh Doug Thomas, Mr. Thomas and Mr. Murphy is trying to get the because he's coming in at that particular time so we can allow
297his annual evaluation to be in congruency to everyone else's. So that that would sort of be the intent of that. And Mr. Murphy, you can probably speak more eloquently around that. And that is exactly correct, Dr. Allen. And and not only that, but it was to allow for there to be at least some placeholder in the contract so that the parties could could have a lookie or could have some dialogue in a more informal nature to see how are things going. Now, I would anticipate that that will happen organically um or it may happen by a board member um at a duly called meeting you know um that that doesn't mean that board members and the and the attorney don't have the opportunity to discuss those things outside the you know that window but this
298was something that we thought as the board chair noted that Doug Thomas suggested to allow for the the the implementation or the transition for the position and the and the attorney to to be congruent for the for the one year. So, it it can look whatever you want it to look like. Um but I think that it will be um something that would be collaborative um between the the employee and the board. Thank you. Anything else, Miss Fields? Yes, sir. Okay. Um Miss Wyatt, you're recognized. Thank you. Well, I was actually on the other side of the the thought process and was going to give you kudos for um the innovation in work schedule because I do think that especially in today's society there there are position and we had this conversation when COVID first
299hit. Obviously, if you're a custodian, you you can't clean your toilets from home. But if you are there are several positions where I think there's there's great opportunities that that's a benefit we can offer that um is you know reviewing contracts and there's much that can be done from from the home environment that there are many of us that are more productive if we're isolated at our house as opposed to if we go into the office and and start chatting with everyone. So I think that that's a great option. Um, I think it's really, you know, that's something that maybe if if there are still concerns about it, we could assess at the six-month mark. Um, of if, you know, it's presenting additional concerns that that's something that we could have a further conversation about.
300But, um, but I just wanted to give kudos to the negotiating team because I think that's a benefit that um, you know, we I don't know that there's any position in the district that we can pay what they truly deserve. um even those that are are among the highest paid if you go into the private sector they're they could make oftentimes double or triple um that being able to be a little more creative with scheduling and things like that I think is always um a benefit that we can offer. Well, and to Mr. Wyatt's point, just so you know, I will concur, that's exactly precisely one of the reasons why we had the six month and the other issue so that you could as a board um you know, contemplate that issue. So, yes, thank
301you. Thank you. Thank you, Miss White. And Mr. Keys, you're recognized. I'll be extremely short. Um, I like the language of being able to work remotely, at least for this term, this point in time, because of the location of Mr. Green, and I I would say that not being under roof does not necessarily mean non-accessible, right? We still have the the ability to call and and send emails. Um, so I think a position of that caliber um doesn't necessarily need to be they're present all the time as long as they're there when we need them and accessible. All right. Thank you, Mr. Keys. And, you know, I appreciate I thought the language was um beneficial where it's no more than two days per week on a remote basis. And uh I I thought that was
302a good balance there. All right. Any other comments, board members? Just so I so we're clear before we go forward tonight. Um it looks like I have a what Miss Miller, what was your what is your consensus on this? You were I'm not I mean on on the remote issue that seems to be the only yeah I'm not um a stickler to under roof but pro like procedures so I understand how we work communication and the ability for technology to be up to date I think is my biggest um and that's for anybody that I employ but um I think it's good to review it at that six-month mark to see if it's been accessible for everyone so you could be supportive of the current version of the contract. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Miss
303Miller. All right, board members. Any other discussion on that? So, this is coming this is coming back to back. Well, and the reason that is because in order to advertise, you have to do that once a week for two consecutive weeks before the board then has to take official action to designate the general counsel position for that senior management service class. So, in order to accommodate the June 16th start date, you only have one meeting that's on June 10th. So you really that this can't be deferred until June 10th because I think that status needs to be up and going on the the day that Mr. Green commences employment and starts working at the district. It's my understanding. Anyway, Mr. Green is here so he can he can inject if he if he if he
304views it in a different light. Okay. So that that's the reason why it's back to back tonight. Thank you, Mr. Murphy. Miss White real quick and not on the contract but more on because he's starting in June. Is there a plan for us to have one-on-one meetings with him after he starts or is that something that that we'll talk about a little? So, Mr. Green, maybe you can ponder that question um and you know address that. I know you just in the hall conversation talking about reworking your first year plan. Um so I don't know if that's a question we want to direct towards you. Um if yeah that's Mr. Green perhaps. Yeah the board chair is willing to yeah please come forward uh Mr. Green and you are recognized. Thanks for the opportunity to
305come tonight. Um yeah so the the plan um assuming the contract is approved this evening is to then start scheduling those those meetings I talked about. Um, I've already been um updating my first year plan, my game plan, and my 30 30-day plan, but um upon approval, I would be talking with the executive assistant to get those scheduled for that that first week to have them on the book so that you don't already book up your schedules and I can you get on the the first review. So, that's the plan at least. Um, and in the meantime, you know, there'll be sharing of cell phone numbers and that sort of thing. So, you can reach out to me and start give me issues to consider and think about um before I actually hit the ground
306running. Thank you. I appreciate it. Sure. All right. Board members, anything else? Now's your opportunity. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. Mr. Green, thank you. Thank you. I I would note there was just uh two minor edits that I made to the version that was uploaded to the agenda and that is uh I u I'm informed that new employees are paid by monthly instead of monthly. So the word buy-monthly was added to the pay and also the title of general counsel position because that's how it would be advertised for the F FRS that that there was no it's not really significant but I did want to point that out to the board. All right. Who knew that people were not paid monthly? They're paid by monthly new employees. Apparently if you were paid monthly you were grandfathered
307in. All right, board members, we're now moving to F3, which is the superintendence contract. Um, you know, we've we've gone through our cycle of evaluations and that process. It came before us um for Superintendent Hyde and then, you know, this is here as well in front of you to honor the parameters within his current contract. Uh, and then I present to you the proposed new agreement for Mr. Hyde. Uh that's before you today. This agreement's been thoughtfully uh prepared with the assistance of our general counsel um based on the board's direction. So Mr. Murphy, if you can give us some context of superintendent's contract. Certainly. Again, this is um a little different in so far as this is contemplating continued employment with the district. And so, as you all discussed at your meeting on April
30830th, um there were a couple uh in paragraph 2 A and B, a couple one-time payments that were designed to allow to catch up the superintendent for previous contractually contemplated payments that that were not done for whatever reason. The superintendent had brought that to our attention as you all noted in the in the schedules that had previously been transmitted. So, there's a $40,000 onetime payment and then a $4,000 contribution to a 403b uh retirement benefit. Um, which I believe you were in consensus that that was appropriate at the board retreat on April 30th. This is a 5-year contract in contemplation of, you know, Mr. Hyde's already, you know, long tenure here, um, or definite tenure here at the district. Um, there are some additional language added in about the board chair working with the assistant
309superintendent for human resources to make sure that automatic increases that are tied to the non-UN group administrators are automatically done after July 1st in this case of 2026. Um, and so that those would be contemplated and done uh without any, you know, that that would be done. That's contractually outlined. There's also some verbiage in this contract that allows or requires the evaluations to be turned in no later than 20 business days after September 30th of each year in either paper or electronic format. That was a request of board member Fields, which seemed to make a lot of seem to help. Um and that would allow for the superintendent's evaluation process to be handled timely and accommodate then whatever pay for performance uh measures which are included as amendment one which again were discussed at the
310board's retreat on April 30th. So the only thing that needs to be decided well there's two things. Number one is what is the superintendent what is your preference to the superintendent's base salary to be commencing when this contract will be approved? Um and the superintendent has has advised that his base salary should have been approximately $283,000. I think I articulated the exact number to you when we transmitted this and that needs to be decided by the board. And then the um the other thing has to do with the percentage of uh performance pay. The superintendent has provided three scenarios either 5%, 6% or 7%. Um and that's on page four of amendment one. So the board will need to decide that. Uh the additional information that's included in the board doc's uh agenda is um
311some information that the board chair had provided to you that was relatively recent information as to what other districts similarly situated are paying superintendent and that was I believe board chair did you in you had already included that um in that information. So that's just there for the board's information. Um, it's also included in the um in the uh in the contract documents. I Isn't that included in the uh in in what's in the board docs? Okay, that's the PDF document. Um, and that that articulates and I guess it's information derived by the Florida Florida School Boards Association Superintendent Search. And it just goes to show you what the other districts um that are similarly situated and sized are are paying as far as base salary is concerned for a superintendent. So the number you
312all need to decide that um it it would be you know at a minimum you know the 200 roughly $283,000 number but you all have you know you can you didn't really get a chance again to talk that much about that at your April 30th board retreat but that does need to be something that that that should be decided discussed and decided. Thank you Mr. Murphy. Board members, you have uh the contract in front of you as well as what the proposed performance pay options would be and you've got the context from Mr. Murphy. So, what is the will of the board at this time? Miss Fields, you are recognized. So, I'm wanting to make sure that I am understanding Mr. Murphy's comment on the salary. If Mr. Hyde had been um given an annual
313increase, which he is not. The amount that it would equate to, you said is $283,000. Is that what you're saying? Yes. Okay. And and superintendent, confirm that just to make sure I'm not misstating that. Staff confirmed that number. Correct. Yes. based off the calculation, the contract stipulates that I receive the same raise as the average NUG group raise um each year of my contract term and that was not done. So essentially if the board were to apply that retroactively, yes, that would be the salary amount that the staff calculated. Yeah. The actual number that the staff calculated was $282,811.93 283 two Yeah. So, you know, 283,000. Anything else at this time, Miss Fields? Not right this minute. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Fields. Mr. Sharpless, you're recognized. I think it would make sense to, you
314know, to write the wrong, so to speak, and to the salary to be the the figure that staff had figured out. I mean, the 283, it makes sense to me. Um, you know, that's we should have been giving him that raise and that's what he deserves. If that's what our other nug and administrators got, so then that's what he gets. Thank you, Mr. Sharpless and Mr. Keys, you're recognized. I'm not opposed to the discussion of the 283. I'm okay with that. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Keys. Miss Fields, you're recognized. Thank you. I was going to circle back and say I think that we need to go with the 283. Okay. Thank you, Miss Fields. And Miss Wyatt, you're recognized. I am also supportive of the 283. And thank you, Miss Wyatt. All right. I don't
315see any other comments. Board members, we we need to discuss the pay for performance and the percentage. Mr. Keys, you're recognized. I'm not opposed. Um or I would suggest the 7% max. Um especially if we consider what the superintendent's comments are on how that's distributed. We had three options, five, six, and seven. I'm not a I'm in support of seven. Thank you, Mr. Keys. And Miss Fields, you're recognized. Uh I'm I'm in support of the 7% and with the understanding and I think we all agree that we would have to have percentages as it relates to the different areas of performance once we get past that. Okay. Thank you, Miss Fields. We did receive today um via email as well some of those performance metrics via um spreadsheet for us to consider and that's superintendent
316you can clarify but um that's for the 2526 school year. Mhm. So So will that be an additional attachment then to this amendment one? I was asked to clarify since the current strategic plan goals were already established that that those would be the metrics applied in the upcoming school year. But as we discussed at the retreat, the board will be establishing new cut scores and threshold expectations for each one of those academic areas to be determined. Um so right now on average it's set at 2% improvement a year in each one of those areas. So Dr. Dr. Allen had asked in particular that I remind the board that those would be the specific metrics for the 2526 school year while we develop new metrics for the next iteration of the four-year strategic plan and and
317we discussed that at the board retreat. So does the board also received and I believe Mr. Murphy, you forwarded this to the board recently, an update of the performance pay metric that does break it out explicitly by by percentage, by area, but also drill down into explicit measurable objectives because that was some feedback from the board as well. Um, was that we make sure that those things are aligned and that they were explicitly stated because some of the terms were too generic. Um, and so I believe I provided that and you've provided that to the board as well. Yeah. And that's what constitutes largely amendment one. Yes sir. That for example student achievement a total of 30%. And then I don't know that my document needs to be attached. It's simply just a reference point
318for the board that that those would be the metrics used for next school year. Well, and that's that's what we had in that's contemplated to be the amendment one. It there may be an amendment two in another year. So this this would be amendment one. Yes, sir. Just making sure we're clear that and and then the discussion is on the percentage. So, I'm hearing Mr. Keys and Miss Fields saying 7%. All right, Miss Fields, anything else? Yes, I do have something else. I know that many of you are electronically uh uh designed, but I am not electronically designed. I am paper designed. And I think that a lots of times because something is given in form of a email that it's assumed that that's the end of the story. Um something to me as important
319as this. Whatever needs to be included that might have been sent by email, we should have a hard copy of it. uh if we're going to be voting on this today. That's just my opinion, but for the most part, it seems like it doesn't uh count, but I'm going to say it anyway. Um so that's that. Thank you, Miss Fields. Miss Wyatt, thank you. I can get on board with the 7% as well. Okay. All right. Thank you, Miss Wyatt. All right, board members. I don't see any other comments at this point. We'll need to flesh out some details then in the motions that are made if there are any at the board meetings. Thank you. All right. Very good. So, it is now 5:20. Um, board members, um, if you can refrain on your
320board member comments at this point. Uh, so that'll allow us to reset. Um, would 15 minutes be enough? to transition for our board meeting tonight. 20 20 minutes. All right. So, that's going to put us at 5:40 that we will reconvene for board meeting tonight. And this meeting is now adjourned.