School Board Meeting | February 25, 2025

001e [Music] man you guys just naturally quieted down before we even started uh I think you're just excited to hear from uh our guest tonight as well so uh basically I'd like to call this meeting to order good evening wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone present tonight um the board the superintendent and I we pleased that you have joined us to celebrate student achievement uh review information we're going to make some policy decisions tonight related to the effective operation of the pole County uh public school board I would like to call the February 25th 2025 regular school board meeting to order so uh we're going to have uh Vice chair sharpless lead us in our invocation tonight so if you could please stand and we have a guest that will lead us in

002the pledge so if you can remain standing please bow our heads dear precious Heavenly Father uh we thank you for the many blessings you give to us uh we ask uh that you give us wisdom and guidance Lord um because it says in your word in james: 15 if any of you lacks wisdom you should ask God who gives it generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you so we ask that all when we're making all our decisions as a board that you give us wisdom and guidance Lord we ask for safety at all of our schools put a hedge of protection around our schools and keep our students and staff safe Lord and we also ask that you give endurance to our staff as we are working in the

003school year Lord and to finish strong when we get close to the end in your precious Heavenly name we pray amen amen amen thank you so miss Carol come lead us tonight to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right thank you so if everybody can be seated except our guest so sorry I didn't get a chance to come over and meet you before um the meeting started we we were pretty busy up until the very start of our meeting uh but we have all had chance to read your bio so impressive uh so excited to hear from you and uh allow us to honor you tonight and your accomplishments so if you could

004just introduce yourself and uh anybody that you have with you tonight um my name is Caroline bat my mother and my principal all right could y'all stand up please all right let's give them a round of applause very nice to have y'all in the boardroom tonight as well uh so I mean introduce yourself a bit give us a little bit of background about who you are maybe your interest what grade you're in um I'm in seventh grade and I've and I've done the and I've Done Band for relle this is my second year and I've been in the plays and musicals wow that's pretty amazing we we've got some individuals on on the board here that love theater um in a big way so hopefully you'll see us in the audience one day um now

005instruments you play multiple instruments I play the trumpet flute and piano wow impressive very impressive okay and your favorite subject probably history history it's amazing um I don't know so okay you're actually going to be performing is what I read too you have something coming up yes um this um April I have um the production of Willie Wonka Jr all right excellent um Miss Griffin when can we get tickets for this yeah all right all right very good excellent um so yeah I mean tell us something um about your school that we should know it's a very it's a very nice school that really furthers the education in arts and academics M very very good indeed and relle is very successful school so we we are so thankful for the leadership there um I don't

006know your your biggest dreams when I read this one I mean it it stuck out to me in a big way but what's your like future your big dreams I mean I could share what I read but yeah so you have big dreams okay maybe you wrote this maybe maybe not but it says that you wanted to be an English Professor English or history Professor English or history wow um I don't I don't think I've ever met anybody that said that's their Pursuit so that is pretty amazing um do you have do you have any favor like what Drew you to that I guess um my history teacher Mr Ries he he helped me show me what he can do to further us and so I want to help other people further them m that's

007awesome thank you for sharing that uh and the the the impact of your teacher um incredible um one I was when I read it I was like okay in in my mind I'm like okay do I have a favorite English Professor I don't know if anybody has favorite U but one is for me is Marshall Mulin he is a media theorist but he was an English Professor first and considered the father of media studies um so you've got an awesome career ahead of you um pretty amazing so um I don't know your favorite thing when you when you arrive on campus at Michelle uh School of the Arts what is like do you have any routines or is there something that you just love to do something I love going to the band room to

008pick up my instrument cuz it it always greets me with the warm welcome I have M that is so awesome so if you could just introduce your principal to us um this is my principal um kolik Griffin all right very good we are so thankful that you are in the boardroom tonight and we appreciate your accomplishments and everything that you're doing to represent po County um so well so um if we could let's give her a round of applause tonight for being here so if we could if y'all would do a group picture in the front there we do have our photographer um ready all right very nice so again thanks for joining us and I hope the rest of the school year goes amazing uh board members the first item on our agenda tonight

009is the uh acceptance of our agenda superintendent do we have any revisions on the agenda as printed yes sir Mr chair several agenda items were revised or updated Item B number one new administrators attachments were added item l number one non-instructional Personnel action items attachments were updated item l number two administrative Personnel actions attachments were updated item S3 inum agreement with Fortress secured LLC item was removed item S3 half cent sales tax oversight committee nominee Sarah Corona item was added that concludes revision sir all right thank you superintendent so at this time the chair will entertain a motion to accept the agenda for February 25th 2025 with the noted revisions do I have a motion and a second so move second all right so the motion was made by Mr Keys and second it by

010Mr sharpless any discussion board members all right all those in favor signified by saying I I any opposed and that motion carries all right moving down on our agenda tonight we have new administrators superintendent would you lead us through our next item my pleasure Mr chair at this time I'd like to introduce Michael Bellow senior manager for Staffing being promoted to director for school budgets and Staffing good this m this m good evening good evening everyone uh so I didn't realize that the rest of the people had prepared speeches so I just want to say really quick thank you to superintendent Hyde U Miss Jenkins Mr Pitts Mr fou uh my amazing team um and also my family obviously who I have my wife and my two kids with me uh Theodore and Eloise and

011then my mom so for those of you who uh know yes I would not be here without her and yes she's doing well and yes she's enjoying retirement and yes I do also miss her so very much here at the district so um yeah thank you everyone please don't go anywhere we got to take [Applause] pictures he's a little guy nice that's when they listen [Music] you guys are a bad [Applause] influence next we have Loro Wilson senior manager Personnel classification and compensation being promoted to director for classification and compensation good evening congratulations oh I'm nervous I thought I'd be okay to say something good evening everyone thank you to the board member superintendent Hyde and our amazing team of leaders here at Pop County Public School I stand before you today with a profound

012sense of gratitude for the opportunity to serve as director of classification and compensation I don't take this moment or opportunity for granted I look forward to continuing to serve in this capacity and any other that I am needed in I'd like to give a special thanks to Jessica mcnamar my senior director of personnel as well as our associate superintendent of Human Resources Brian Warren for seeing more in me and trusting me with our compensation area to Macy Anthony and Laquisha thank you for your encouragement and trusting me as well to my parents Connie and grillin thank you for loving me unconditionally thank you for advising me that in every know it is isn't a failure but it shows that I didn't give up look I didn't give up to my sister and niece I love

013you immensely to my babies Adeline Gabrielle and Marte Jr thank you for your many sacrifices Mommy will continue to owe you the world also Junior I know the Tooth Fairy missed it but I caught the headquarters and they'll be back tonight to my amazing husband thank you thank you for your sacrifices your love and your push it is always appreciated thank you for the encouragement no matter the time day or night no matter how many times I've complained and told the story over you still listened your support over the years means everything to me thank you [Applause] congratulations again next we have capril Jennings acting assistant director for graduation and enhancement being promoted to assistant director of graduation and enhancement good afternoon uh first I would like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

014for this um position I would like to thank the board thank you I to like I would like to thank Mr Hyde uh Mr Green and er yes uh I would like to thank my district based team they're awesome uh an ett again uh Darren Williams Felicia Fletcher young and Susie Wilcox and you guys rock and I would like to thank my amazing family for their unwavering support I love you so much and thank you thanks congratulations okay this is a rare sighting because Mr way is usually operating behind the scenes so this is your opportunity to take a photo while he's out in the wild um but Nathan is our senior coordinator for public relations and he is being promoted to assistant director for Creative Communications congratulations sir thank you superintendent Hyde school board

015members I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight and to be recognized and I'm very grateful that I've been able to have a 28-year career here at P County Public Schools um like many other administrators that come up to this Podium I am a product of P County Public Schools as through that educational experience that actually brought me to this position I was fortunate enough to join with a ITV program when I was a junior in high school um that led me to a part-time job as a senior in in high school and then that grew and as I went to college I continued to work with ITV and I knew that when I graduated I always wanted to come back here and continue to serve and promote that program that had meant so much

016to me and over the years I've had an opportunity to work in uh community relations and then over a decade in in uh Workforce education where I was able to promote career acms and CTE programs and now 10 years back in public relations we able to promote all those programs still but so many more so I'm so grateful for that opportunity um I want to thank my team in public relations um as you're all aware I think I I don't want to speak for them all but I'm pretty sure I can say that we're all content with being behind the scenes people we we're not generally out in front of the camera we're happy to do our job and just you know uh do our best to promote the district and promote our programs but

017they really do an incredible job every day they are true professionals and I'm so grateful to work with them so I want to thank uh Jessica and Matt from our video team and jaceon mey and Jordan from our Graphics team and uh Gus and Richard from our web team I'm truly grateful to work with him every day as well as Jason giri who uh I'm grateful for his wisdom and Leadership that he provides uh I want to thank my family who's here with me tonight my wife Amanda and my sons Ethan and Caleb um you know when you work in a multimedia environment sometimes the schedules can be a little bit strange you know we uh have deadlines that sometimes require you know nights and weekends to make those deadlines happen we have events that

018require us to be the first ones in the last ones to leave and we have times like graduation where I hardly see them for you know a week at a time but they're always very supportive and I appreciate them very much and love them and uh thank you very much for this opportunity you know as a 17-year-old high school kid I never thought that I would be here for almost 30 years now but I'm grateful for that opportunity and I hope to continue to serve PA schools for a long time so thank you very [Applause] much so while Nathan was speaking it made me it actually made me realize we need to come up with another challenge coin for the spouses or significant others of all of our employees who put in all these hours

019so and he and his team you all know this we're going into graduation season soon and and they are they're first thing in the morning before the sun comes up they're there well after the events end um and so we're very grateful for all that they do so thank [Applause] you next we have H Williams Administrative Assistant for stamba Middle School being promoted to acting assistant principal at Lakeland Highlands Middle congratulations thank you very much honorable chairman Allen members of the school board uh superintendent Hyde I wanted to say thank you very much for the opportunity to uh serve in this new role as a former student of P County School Board it was my inspiration to encourage um students and push them and make them to be better for who they are I wanted

020to thank a few people while I'm here uh Mr Drew gainy Denise sharp for pushing me and always be in there when I needed advice or just a listening ear I can never thank you enough for all that both of you have taught me only to hope to become as successful as a leader as both of you I also wanted to thank Mr monelli for my for welcoming me to the team at Lakeland hland Middle School I also wanted to thank my family Brandy uh Kennedy and Sawyer my daughters for all their support my mom and dad for their encouragement with my mom preceding me with having 31 years and retiring from the school board uh my main focus like I said as a teacher academic coach Dean and new administrator has always been building

021relationships and fostering positive learning environment and I'm excited about this opportunity at Lakeland Highland's middle [Applause] congratulations [Applause] next we have Jordan Jones administrative assistant at Lakeland High School being promoted to acting assistant principal 11mth at Lakeland High [Applause] School good evening superintendent Hyde members of the board and everyone here tonight I want to express my gratitude for being named acting assistant principal Lin high school it's a huge honor and I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve our students in the role I want to highlight and thank you for the investment the P County help schools has had in my professional development being a part of the pcps USF leadership cohort aspiring leaders and recent ignite programs Have Been instrumental my growth as a leader I'm blessed to have been trained by some of the

022best people around and in building relationships with them has been an incredible experience I want to give a special shout out to uh Tracy Collins for have you set the standard of Excellence throughout your career as well as for your encouragement and belief in me I also want to thank you and the PCS pcps leadership for for interesting Lon High School Community to the care of Mr Allan du who's not only incredible School leader he's also a wonderful mentor and a man that is truly nully sakas Second To None to my teammates here supporting me tonight Brandy y Jeff bar ingred Ansa Jennifer Hart Thomas Williams I appreciate you guys so much more than you could know and of course I want to thank my wife and kids for my biggest supporters everything I'm a

023firm believer in the life-changing work we do here as Educators and I'm a proud product of Po County public schools I'm committed to continually growing as I work to serve our students parents staff and Community thank you again everybody and I'm looking forward to what's ahead thank [Applause] you face face she is not happy did we get a smile Rick okay good all right and lastly board members we have Lewis Lopez Santiago administrative assistant at mbery high school being promoted to acting assistant principal at Citrus Ridge of civics Academy [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you uh I want to start by thanking the members of the board and superintendent Hyde for this appointment I also like to thank those who place their trust and confidence in me Mr wison uh Mr Livingston Mr Gonzalez Miss Ribera

024thank you for encouraging me and put and to do more and give more to our for our for our students to do better I also want to thank uh Miss Collins Mr Bruno and Dr Bruce Brooks for the the chance to serve as an assistant principal at Citrus reach and talking about Citrus rich I want to thank my admin team Miss Wright Miss willians Miss lanquist thank you for the sh uh experiences that are making me a better assistant principal and a better educator and last but not least I want to thank my family especially my wife and kids for encouraging me and supporting me and being patient with me so thank you and I love you thank you all and have a blessed night congratulations great job congratulations Mr chair board members that concludes

025new administrators for this evening thank you superintendent the next item up is our special recognitions superintendent would you please lead us through our special recognitions my absolute pleasure at this time I'd like to ask board member Kay fields to step down who will be assisting us with this evening's special recognitions I'd also like to invite Dr Adrien senior director for equity and compliance to come forward for the recognition of our 24th annual Dr Martin Luther King Jr sa challenge participants and winners a triumphant Tuesday to superintendent Hyde and uh the school board chair Dr William Allen and to every school board member here thank you for your hardworking dedication to every staff and child in uh pop County School District but most importantly thank you for investing in our students we are excited to Showcase

026a brief video of one of our Scholars who was unable to read their uh their speech so we're going to roll a video for you and I think you guys will love it roll the video my name is Jordan and I in second grade and I will be reading my Martha Luther King essay I could make a difference I could make a difference our world is full of confusion and hate and if I could change the world using nonviolence here are the things I would do I would first start with Myself by not being a bad person to people because the more good people there are the better our world can be next I would pray for good and world peace and ask God to help people with their problems it is good to go

027to God with your problems another important important thing I would do is never steal anything from anyone hurt anyone and respect people's wishes in our world today there was a lot of violence happening and I am hoping that all the things I would do will bring peace to our world and that is my essay Round of Applause so with that same Spirit of Excellence we would like to honor uh our pop County School District students who wrote other life-changing essays uh to honor the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr so what we're going to do is we're going to honor the theme I can make a difference and how can I change the world with nonviolence and so I'm going to call the third place second and first place winners and then the first place

028winners who are here with their parents and their Guardians and their principal and also their family they'll come for and their teachers and so we'll start third place they're not here to first place so the third place winner for for the elementary school grades K to 2 is Leia Kumar from Winston Academy of engineering Round of Applause second place is Carl wolf from Citrus Ridge Civics Academy and first place uh is Jordan Frasier come on down from C all right well you just saw Jordan on the screen all right so for grades three to five for Elementary School third place we have Gia Sanchez from C Citrus Ridge Civ Academy Antonio Welch from Blake Academy and Delanie sire from Willow Oak Elementary School I know the principal is here yes and then we'll we have

029a certificate I will'll hand those out and a wonderful for Middle School third place we have Alisa Bella Petty from Daniel Jenkins Academy second place we have Piper Christian from Magnolia monor Academy and for first place we have Katarina Centron from Discovery Academy and so we'll make sure that everyone gets it y here she go and if you have any parents or guardians or feel free welcome everyone I know come on now so she's also inducted into njhs another round of applause [Applause] and for High School third place winner we have Jordan uh joury Daniel d son excuse me and Lake Lakeland Gateway to College Round of Applause second place we have Eevee Stewart Chain of Lakes cleic High School and first place we have pton James Chain of Lakes Collegiate High School should a

030great say for really quick we do have uh representative for Jordan Frasier so if they can come down really really quick really quick really quick so you saw her speech up there um she could not make it but we do have uh her teacher and principal from Civic Ridge Civics Academy so in conclusion just want to say thank you so much um for all the school board members and all the employees and our collaboration with uh Poke County and also Poke County um employees and also poke uh state for all your love and support it made a difference for the families and we truly appreciate all your support all right have a good night I want to thank our board members again many of you showed up for this event um Mr Keys and Dr

031Allen and and Miss Miller I believe had a private reading for from a student who WR to read their speech but Jordan really stood out because this young lady placed and won in her division but she was too nervous to stand up in front of everyone so we sent the TV crew out to the school and I think we did a great job capturing that allowing her to share her thoughts on this and so it's something that based off tonight watching that we'll probably do with each of our finalists so the board can see these and we can play them on our website through and social media throughout the month uh I think that's important for us to recognize so just wanted to give a little bit of context and again thank each of you

032for taking your time to come to that event as well at this time I'd like to invite Leanne Bennett senior director for Career Technical educ and adult education to recognize our CTE month and C teachers and students of the Year hello thank you so much for letting us join you today superintendent Hyde and board members as you mentioned February is CTE month and I thought there was no better way to celebrate that than to honor our students and teachers first we'd like to recognize um our CTE teachers of the Year these Educators have demonstrated exceptional commitment and excellent in their resp respective pillars so we have six teachers of the Year first we have in the field of Agriculture from Lake Gibson High School Paxton Evans [Applause] in our business wait wait wait sorry if

033her parents are here come down and take the picture way in the back they were gonna hide Mr Van van great job you Le thank you in business and marketing management from George Jenkins High School Academy of digital technology Jessica solace [Applause] if there's family or there you go he was trying to hide one more in the communications and information systems pillar from Harrison School of the Arts digital video Rick Jansen [Applause] in the industrial manufacturing and Engineering pillar from Fort me Senior High School construction Academy Thomas hin [Applause] in the human services and resources pillar from Davenport High School Fashion Academy Jamara Rodriguez [Applause] from the health science pillar from George Jenkins High School Medical Academy iy [Applause] Thomas don't leave Mr van okay we'd like a picture with just all the teachers and

034our staff oh you go ahead yes please elephants are my favorite okay if we could have the teachers back please poor on e [Applause] thank you all so much for all the wonderful work you do for our students so since you're there miss Anderson I'm going to go ahead I had you out of order here so I'd like to introduce Miss Jessica Anderson assistant director for Career Tech Ed to recognize the 36 oh go ahead sorry am I not doing this we still have students to recogniz I apologize go ahead go ahead it's a long I thought you were cleaning up I'm I apologize trying to stop you from leaving okay so next we'd like to honor our students first outstanding CT students of the Year these students have been nominated by their teachers for

035showing remarkable dedication and achievement in their Career and Technical education studies in the field of Agriculture from Davenport High School sah Litas [Applause] is there family here okay [Applause] from our business and marketing management pillar from Lake Region High School Lily Jernigan for marketing imag Academy [Applause] family members this Warner and Mr Lambert the Mr he said no all right thank you good job in Communications and information systems pillar from George Jenkins High School Michaela bford for digital video technology and digital design [Applause] admin's coming in our industrial manufacturing and Engineering pillar from Travis Technical College Dylan mock he's a dual enrolled student in welding [Applause] come on in human services and resources from Fort me middle senior ilila cillo for culinary arts [Applause] St thank you and in our health science pillar from Winter

036Haven High School Danielle Williams she's in the EKG program [Applause] thank you so before we oh sorry go ahead before we take our um student picture I have two final awards for our outstanding CT students with unique abilities these students have demonstrated incredible perseverance and achievement in their Career and Technical courses in the field of Agriculture from Southwest Middle School Danielle Tamayo [Applause] boy going to need to use the steps thank you and lastly in Communications and information systems from Fort mean senior Jayden gal digital media [Applause] if we could have our student winners oh Mr Dent's got to take a picture if we could have our student winners back when he when we finish this last picture all right students she can stay Jaden if you'll stay [Applause] give him some direction Rick sers

037is very tall [Applause] now I can do it thank you Mr ro we're gonna I'm going to take Miss Anderson next since she's already here so next uh and she's already here at our Podium Miss Jessica assistant director of Career Technical education is here to recognize and celebrate the 36th Agra Fest yes so I'm speaking on behalf of P County Farm Bureau for tonight ourselves P County Public Schools P County Farm Bureau and University of Florida IAS work together to pull Agra Fest which is our fourth grade agricultural exploration event um together every year so we're celebrating this is year 36 so we're pretty excited about the sustainability of this program and as many students as that we have had to come through the program so um on your station on your seat there you

038should have had an invitation with the dates and the address of where Agra Fest will be held the first two weeks of March March 3rd through the 7th and the 10th through the 14th at the P County Agra Center um we will have a little over 5,000 P County uh fourth grade students coming through during those two weeks we run about 550 students a day uh March 12th is designated as our homeschool private and Charter day we invite those students as well um but really I'm just here to invite you to come on out we'll have about 240 classes with us and we have six stations that are run by our industry professionals um Mosaic which will do a phosphate unit Florida Farms which would will be our IAS Extension agent um talking about small

039farms and and honeybees and things like that we have a Florida Citrus Station that's run by a different Citrus producer every day the Florida master gardeners Association we'll have a horiculture booth the cattle women we'll have the beef and then this year we're adding a new one in which will be conservation which will be sponsored by a few different agencies all Florida Florida Fish and Wildlife and a few other state agencies um but we're adding in a little bit about what the wildlife Corridor is and what why that's important to Florida so I hope you can come on out 9 to 12 each day you can stop by anytime we'd love to have you thank you thank you Miss Anderson and next I'd like to introduce Miss Carolyn jro director for Recruitment and engagement who's

040here to recognize our recent graduates of the greenhouse project good evening everybody good evening um thank you superintendent Hyde and board members we are excited to introduce another set of graduates our fall graduates for the greenhouse program for those who may not know the greenhouse program it's an opportunity for our uh employees if they want to become teachers and may not have a bachelor's degree in education we do reimburse them for their bachelor degree and 50% of their textbooks um so we have four graduates this fall semester and they are all now teaching with us now so we're going to go ahead and introduce them and give them their presents our first one is Tracy gauze she was a principal secretary at George Jenkins High School and is currently a fourth grade teacher at Wanita

041Elementary schol all right our next graduate is Megan Stinson she was a PA at Gino Del Learning Center and is now a kindergarten teacher at Ben Hill Griffin Elementary [Applause] and then we had two other teachers that could not make it but I do want to recognize them and we'll be sending their information in The Courier um Jenny Seer she was a pair at will Oak Elementary and is now a teacher at will Oak Elementary and Lily feifer was a pair at goell Learning Center and now a third grade teacher at BTO Elementary fantastic thank you thank you Mr Jo and last but not least I'd like to invite Rob Davis assistant superintendent for support services to come to provide recognition for love the bus [Applause] month good evening uh chairman um Allan superintendent Hyde

042The Honorable board members uh thank you for allowing us to the opportunity to recognize love the bus month love bus month is a nationwide um opportunity for schools and uh communities to recognize uh school bus um drivers attendants and the support staff so this year we did a um basically a nominee and this is a this is a video that you're going to see here that goes over through all of our areas um um while I speak through this this process uh so we came up with um six criteria uh commitment to safety and efficiency both directly or indirectly reliability and punctuality professionalism and attitude impact on students and transportation um both direct with like bus drivers and bus attendants or indirect such as uh technicians routers managers dispatchers and other support staff um problem

043problem solving and adaptability and then exemplary service Beyond expectations so we had 20 plus um nominees we got a committee together they um looked at all of the nominees and we came up with um we were going to present for we had two ties so we're going to present six this evening um and we have one honorable mention but before we get to that I want to make sure I do a huge shout out to all the schools that are doing things for our bus drivers our bus attendants um throughout the across the district uh I I can't name them all I know there's a bunch of them that that are doing it and are still doing it um through the end of end of the month uh it goes a long ways when the

044schools recognize the the bus drivers and bus attendants so we ranked in in order we had a tie for fourth place um Ayanna Flores um she is a bus driver and a SL trainer um she is always upbeat uh professional positive while on boarding and training those applying to be um bus drivers and bus attendants I can say that um she had a huge lift this this year she did our back to school wind service on her own um and did amazing jobs so um in the essence of time I won't read all of the the bullet points but I just want to make sure that she uh is recognized for one an awesome young human being that's going to um go places in our in our department so the she is definitely going to

045be um one of our leaders um and is a leader as as is now um so a if you thank you you want to stand up there so TI is Daniel sto he's a bus driver in area 7 Daniel um area 7 is the um Point Siana Han City area I have to if I pick one of the the things that stood out um he works at schools as well um so he only transports students to and from school he also assists students with limited Mobility uh to get them um to and from class every day between his routes and we had a report from a school um staff member and this is what they reported I was at a grocery store after work on February 19th and observed the following there was an older

046lady uh who could not afford her groceries the lady was 30 or more short Daniel overheard the conversation between the uh Shopper and the cashier and without hesitation paid for the lady's groceries said God bless and walked away it was the uh most selfish and kind act I have witnessed in a long time so Daniel that's amazing thank you our third place is Amanda Gregory Amanda Gregory is our Support Services analyst Amanda started in the school system as a bus attendant and has worked her way through the district now serving as our um support service analyst and she is a key player in our student ridership program uh reum she is out in the field every day working with drivers attendants School staff students and parents uh she is so so involved in this um

047pushing this safety initiative that she's giving her cell phone number out so that they can call her at any time with any questions they may have uh she she truly puts the motto students first thank you so tied for second is the first one is shemica Davis shemica Davis is our dispatcher she's um one of the the first people that arrive at work in the morning um and that is before 5:30 uh she works until about 9:30 she returns uh to work around 1:30 and then she um she doesn't leave until the last bus clears uh and that's usually between 6:15 and 6:30 on a good night if you have any issues that could be 7:30 uh and often she volunteers for um projects between her routes making a very very long day she never

048leaves the office that I can see so she make [Applause] wow Miss Angela Harris bus driver in area five so area five is the um North Lakeland [Music] area so North Lakeland area um Kathleen High School uh Kathleen Middle School so Angela um truly loves her students uh she she has had her route modified to transport students that have not been successful on o other buses um has and has been able to connect with them uh and have them be successful on her bus and that is a true gift um she is so connected with her students and her families uh that she really realized a family was in need and took her weekend to help a family move and provided the necessary with necess with the necessary items uh to start up the household

049so Mill wow and our number one ranked um is Thomas Cummings III [Music] [Applause] he's a bus driver in area 8 area eight does does um Rich Community the point Siana area right no Davenport area yeah Davenport area uh he has had perfect attendance for all the years he's been employed um that's 13 I think 133 [Applause] hasn't hasn't missed a day um he is so well like the schools ask for him by name and he has been nomin nominated um for employee of the year uh he assist in the area provide extra training to new substitutes making them feel comfortable and a part of the team uh he is willing to move and do any any route uh on any bus he knows all the uh area eight routes um and when his manager

050provides him a run to cover his manager doesn't have to worry uh he also assisted a former cooworker by caring for them providing them food due to a family needing to go out of town um on an emergency so these are are just a few of the The Humble um hardworking transportation bus drivers Transportation Sports staff that we have uh like I said there are 20 plus nominees this was the first time we did it uh in this fashion uh I think this will grow and couldn't ask for a better group of people and we have many many of of um employees just like this across the entire District so thank you all we have all of our hang on don't don't don't go anywhere Rick I I know that Mr Davis was trying to

051be respectful of time but with all due respect they need individual photos with Miss Fields Mr Davis M Scott and the team and then we need to do a a group photo so if you guys go ahead and join now we can do the group photo and then we'll take the time to take individuals you deserve that so thank you Mr H really not really not I had to chat GPT that oh yeah you did thank you good job guys and while they're doing the individual pictures oh yes ma'am congratulations sir great job doing good how about you thank you for that that's amazing that story okay we still need a quum now I need one more oh miss Fields is it here okay we're good what e e not to prolong this but I

052had one honorable mention Mr Jeffrey Davis area eight manager he was also nominated but he nominated um uh Mr Thomas so he's an honorable mention [Applause] um as his supervisor said Jeffrey takes pride in his work um he takes he knows his area um he makes sure it runs smoothly he's up um he's up very early and and um he doesn't look for the recognition he just wants to make sure that the students and his drivers are getting to and from school safely so Jeffrey Davis you are [Applause] amazing Mr chair that concludes special recognition for this evening all right thank you superintendent Mr Davis Mr Davis squared all right Mr Davis thank you thank you thank you all right thanks for being here tonight so next up board members would be public comment on

053agenda items we do not have any cards tonight to speak on agenda items so we're going to move down to the approval of the minutes so uh we need to approve three sets of minutes uh minutes tonight the first set of minutes is for the January 28th 202 Schoolboard meeting uh the chair will entertain a motion to accept the January 28th Schoolboard meeting minutes as written do I have a motion on a second so moved second all right Mr sharpas made the motion and Miss Wyatt second it any discussion on those minutes seeing none I like to call for a vote those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed and that motion carries the second set of minutes is for the January 28 8 2025 work session meeting the chair will entertain

054a motion to accept uh the work session meeting minutes as written do I have a motion and a second Miss Fields made the motion and Miss Wyatt second it any discussion on those work session meeting minutes seeing none I'd like to call for a vote those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed and that motion carries moving down to our third set of minutes uh it's for the February 11th 2025 work session meeting the chair will entertain a motion to accept those meeting minutes move second all right uh Mr keys made the motion and Mr sharpa second it i' like to call for a vote now but if you have any discussion on that all right seeing none we'll call for a vote those in favor signify by saying I I I

055any opposed and that motion carries next up is our consent agenda uh for today's meeting so the chair will now entertain a motion to accept the February 25th 2025 consent agenda as printed do I have a motion and a second second Miss Fields made the motion and Miss Wyatt seconded any discussion on our consent agenda tonight uh these are items we've already work sessioned on uh as well as some other items that we discussed earlier or looked at considered I don't see any any uh discussion items there so I'll call for a vote now those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed very good and our consent agenda for tonight passes next we come to our action agenda for the evening uh our first item on the agenda is S1 and this

056is entitled policy updates uh so the suggest action is to approve policies as presented during the January 28th 2025 public hearing and previous to that we did work session on those items as well uh we've moved these policies through the extensive rulem process uh the recommended policies for approval would be uh these as listed so we've got 0615 entitled meetings 2421 Career and Technical education 0.01 self-administered medication 5610 removal out of school suspension disciplinary placement and expulsion of students and then lastly we have 5611 uh entitled due process rights um the chair will now entertain a motion to accept these policies so Mo Mr keys made the motion anybody would like to second that second all right I heard Miss Miller oh miss Fields Miss Fields made that second and Miss Wyatt as well all

057right any discussion board members on these policies I do yes I just want to um assure the public this went through a very robust um uh work session as well as uh public had opportunity for comment on this during um our uh special what's it the uh hearing yes we had a hearing on this a public hearing and so I just uh you know if there's any other policies in the future that you want to have discussion about make sure that you sign up for our public hearings but um this did go through a very robust process all right thank you Mr sharess seeing no other comments uh I will now call for a vote those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed closed and that motion carries moving down to S2

058this is Davenport School of the Arts and it's a naming of a building request the recommend action is to approve the naming of the music building after Brian Kier at Davenport School of the Arts uh does anyone wish to make a motion to approve this item so move all right Mr Keys has made the motion do I have a second second Miss Wyatt has seconded board members any discussion on this item all right Mr Keys you are recognized uh thank you chair Alan I just want to say that um I already expressed my pleasure in um this at our when we discussed at the work session but this is long overdue and what a great opportunity to honor Mr Kier thank you Mr Keys Miss Fields you recognized basically just diding what Mr Kea said

059um I remember remember Mr Kier with his sunglasses always uh over his uh his forehead an amazing gentleman every time I think about Davenport School he he he quickly comes to mind so I would say congratulations to him and well deserved thank you Miss fields at this time I just wanted to if there's any family members or anybody present in the audience um that would love to come up and speak this would be now a great opportunity just to share some words before we vote so I just want to thank you I'm Holly here Brian's wife and I just want to thank you so much because I know he would be here tonight but he's not allowed to know about any of this so it was very hard for me and I have to explain

060where I've been all this time but thank you for moving s all the way up so I really appreciate it but the most humble man I've ever met in my entire life we've been together 43 years and um he just devoted his entire life to the school and it still touches my heart so much that kids today still call him and we'll get Merry Christmas everything from from them and I can tell the difference he's really made in somebody's life so for him this is the most humbling thing he would never ever ever want it but I am just so thankful that you guys did this so appreciate it indeed thanks for being here yeah and we love these people right here so we're super excited you guys heard me at the work session but

061this is one of our assistant principles Alicia Hughes she we actually worked alongside him as assistant principles uh for a number of years so I'm going to let her say a few things about Mr Kier and the naming so thank you that's awesome she didn't tell me she was going to do that thank you so just from the bottom of my heart thank you um I don't know that any of you will ever know the depth of his love for uh establishing Davenport School of the Arts as what it is today and um he believed in me 11 years ago and I thank him from the bottom of my heart and I will never be the same I'll only be better because I spent time with him as a leader and uh grew so much

062stronger as a leader so thank you so much thank you for approving this and again don't tell anybody it's a secret it's really a secret okay so one more little funny you know that was mentioned last time the whole secret thing so she was texting me all day going what do I tell Brian I'm like I don't know have your daughter call and invite him to dinner cuz he was like I'll drive you to your meeting I'll drive you can I go with you and she's like no you can't go with me so it's was a big old thing but anyway oh that's amazing indeed indeed thank youall so much for your impact all right board members we will now uh I'll ask for a vote so those in favor signify by saying I I

063I I any opposed on this item indeed all right so that motion has passed congratulations thank [Applause] you all right we are down to S3 this is the half cent sales tax oversight committee nominee uh for Sarah Corona uh the recommended action is to approve Sarah Corona to our oversight committee does anyone wish to make a motion to approve this item I so move Mr sharplus has made the mo motion and Mr Keys has second it any discussion all right great Mr sharpless you were recognized so um Miss Corona reached out to me uh saying she wanted to get involved wanted to um give back to the school district learn more about the school district as a member of inside pcps class three um and so you know whenever a school board get member gets

064that kind of call we want to try to plug them in somewhere right and so I thought this half cent sales tax oversight committee would be a good place for her to get involved I remember doing the same thing to Mr Wilson um many years ago saying I wanted to get involved and try to give back to the school uh community and uh Mr Wilson found a spot for me on the attendance boundary committee where I met Mr Keys um but this is uh an individual that uh does want to get involved so I wanted to make sure to give them that opportunity I do want to read Sarah's um bio real quick a skilled and highly motivated health Services management professional with extensive experience overseeing operations in a fast-paced medical practices with expertise in

065strategic planning budget management team leadership credentialing contract negotiations and compliance she has proven she has appr proven ability to optimize organizational performance and drive efficiency currently serving as the CEO of Florida Behavioral Medicine she leads all aspects of operations including strategic planning financial management accreditation and team development she has successfully Managed multi-site healthc Care practices spearheaded process improvements and overseen significant projects such as launching an outsourced call center and collaborating with Nova University on a preceptor program her background also includes significant leadership roles in health care surgical centers where she improved revenue and operational efficiency across multiple clinics she holds an MBA and master of science and Leadership from Grand Canyon University further enhancing her ability to drive growth and Lead teams effectively Beyond her professional roles she is deeply involved in the in community

066leadership and service she currently serves as vice president of the Kanas Club of Northeast pop County community relations director for the lulac women's Council of Florida 7269 and vice chair of the parish finance committee at St Joseph CA Catholic Church she's also an active member of the affordable housing advisory committee code enforcement committee and the Poke Vision public service leadership program additionally she serves as president of the Poke County Republican Latino club and also and was part of poke Visions inside pcps program class number three fluent in English and Spanish she is committed to fostering effective cross-cultural communication improving patient care and supporting the growth and sustainability of healthc care organizations so she has a a great background and is one I think could add value to the half cent sales tax oversight committee great

067great thank you Mr sharpless seeing no other comments I'd like to call for a vote at this time those in favor of approving Sarah Corona to our half cent sales tax oversight committee uh say I I I any opposed all right and that motion carries we are going to move past letter T our public hearing tonight we do not have any items for that so we'll move right past that and we are now transitioning to the superintendent's report superintendent you're recognized Mr chair the next work session and board meeting will be held on March 25th 2025 the work session will begin at 12:30 p.m. and the board meeting will begin at 5:00 p.m. the meeting will be held at the district office located at 1915 South Floral Avenue in BTO thank you sir thank you

068superintendent uh next we will move to our attorney's report Mr Murphy you are recognized thank you Dr Allen uh appreciate that I would ask for request authority to advertise a public hearing to be held on April 22nd 2025 during the regularly scheduled board meeting for policy updates that it will be presented during the February 25th or are presented during the February 25th 2025 Schoolboard work session for Rural Development the text of all proposed rules scheduled for the public hearing will be available at the time the notice is published for information and as we discussed earlier in our work session meeting policy 9 271 students receiving scholarships policy 754 0.08 artificial intelligence and policy 5505 regarding academic honesty I would also note that we had some conversation at the work session where we would be looking

069at the superintendent and his staff would be looking at maybe uh finding some additional information and some tweaks to the proposed um policy 75 4.08 um pardon me SE policy 550 05 academic honesty but in any event I'd ask uh tonight for a motion authorizing this matter to be advertised for a public hearing on the April 22 2025 school board meeting thank you Mr Murphy board members you've heard the motion and the recommendation so the chair welcomes a motion at this time so move second all right Mr keys made the motion and Mr sharpless seconded any discussion board members all right I'll call for a vote at this time those in favor signify by saying I I I any opposed and that motion carries you authorized thank you Dr Mr thank you so much uh

070we do not have an auditor report you have received several emails from Miss Matthew so again if you have any concerns you can draw those to uh the superintendent's attention and follow up with those as well uh we now move to the board members report uh I will start with the highest number tonight so Miss Miller you are recognized thank you chair luckily I was prepared for that move um I'm Gonna Be Quick tonight I appreciate um all the emails that we've received from staff I can tell you and I think I alerted some of my PA members that the automated emails op and go to spam so the people that reached out by phone or sent their personal stories to me that I got to talk to I um I appreciate you taking the

071time to do that and I want you to know that you're heard and valued and we're we are We Are One at pul or it won't it won't work for any of us so I appreciate the people that reached out especially the ones um who know me personally and shared their life experience um I want to talk about a little bit about where I've got to visit the last couple of weeks and and feature auale High School I usually up here cheering Lake Gibson on but I do have three amazing high schools I don't often hear um a lot of the award ceremonies from all the schools but I was excited to share that Auburn's winter sports went really well we had girls weightlifting finished with five of the girls qualifying for State um and

072four of them earning a medal at state which is amazing I love to see girls involved in all extracurriculars uh the their girl soccer team was District Champions and they reached the regional semi-finals their competitive cheer team competed at State and Nationals um the blood hounds were really busy this this winter girls basketball team reached the regional semi-finals the boys basketball team were District Champions and two out of the three girl wrestlers qualified for regionals one District champion and one R runner up so it's exciting to see the community support at the auale athletic events and we're very proud of those students um I want to thank Mike music again some of us were on those visits and I had a teacher at Caldwell um that was so deserving of the roof that she she

073won Mr music owns a roofing company and he donated five roofs to our teachers that were in need and they were chosen and we got to be there and I felt like that was probably one of the best days I've had to be able to help a family out like that and all I had to do was cheer her on it was Mr music and his team doing all of the work um another event that I thought was really neat was my first time visiting and Mr Keys was with me was the crossing guards luncheon the sheriff recognizes all of the crossing guards and some of them I recognized I had no idea um that I recognize them but I want to especially recognize the 15year crossing guard and 20 years um people have served

074that long Gail mucha for 15 years and Barbara holac for 20 years um it takes those people dedicated every day we talk about you know sometimes those students getting those hugs and high fives you know that's rare for them or it might be the only time they get to interact with an adult in that kind of way in their school day and so keeping them safe and making sure they know they they are feel valued and loved is very important I was also astonished at how many crossing guards had perfect attendance um they had like 16 crossing guards for the entire year of 23 24 did not miss a day and without them you know it puts our kids in danger because you know it's hard to find the people that fill in it's a

075very odd work schedule they work that morning and then they come back that afternoon so they have to be available all day um and if you're looking to be a crossing guard and want to help out please go to the sheriff's website to their HR site because those those positions are available even if you can be a a call-in like a sub they are in need of those but that was a fun afternoon I got to spend with Mr Keys serving lunch to our crossing guards and letting them know how much we appreciate them but that's all in my report thank you so much thank you Miss Miller we are moving to District Six Mr sharpless you're recognized thank you chair Allan um want to uh reiterate something that was talked about earlier tonight uh

076pop County Agra Fest um it's going to be taking place March 3rd through 7th as well as March 10th through 14th uh at the PO County Agriculture Center here in Barto um I every year I volunteer for a day to uh take around a bunch of fourth graders interact with them um you know and and help sherone that experience so I uh I challenge and encourage my fellow board members to reach out to uh uh Carol McKenzie at the Poke County Farm Bureau it's on the little card we have that was given to us and volunteer and spend some time interacting with our students um it's a great experience uh great collaboration between UF ifus extension po County Public Schools and the Poke County Farm Bureau um I just really enjoy it every year um

077also want to thank board chair Allen superintendent Hyde and representative Ken Kart Johnson for um joining me at the Poke County Youth Fair Parade of Champions this year um taking pictures with all the students um you know that come through there uh you know as a uh someone who sits on the board of the pop County Youth Fair it's a organization that um is near and dear to my heart and a lot of our students Excel um and to be able to celebrate them to make them feel seen um and uh just congratulate them uh it was greatly appreciated so thank you um one other event that I I want to highlight um I attended last week with um with board member Keys we went to I'm going to steal a little bit of your

078thunder you're probably talk about it later but um we went to the Northeast Chamber of Commerce um their annual education celebration luncheon where they recognized every teacher and every support staff of the year that is within their service area Northeast pop County um and getting there and seeing them and um you know one thing that really stood out to me uh one of the uh teachers was the national science teacher of the year here in pop County that's a big deal and that's something that should be celebrated um uh speak speaking of our teachers I just want to uh be very clear um since last summer I've received over emails from teachers in our district um asking us to uh do the best we can to increase teacher salaries um I want to tell you

079as a board member I truly care about our teachers I've got a mom who's a 24y year veteran in the classroom I have a wife who's been teaching for 10 years and I've got a brother who's taught for less than 5 years so I it's a wide variety when I sit down at the dinner table a veterans you know middle middle of the road and brand new teachers um and so I I just want you to know from the bottom of my heart um that's something that I'm pretty passionate about is helping our teachers out um and helping them to to receive the best salary that possible that we can offer um and that's all I can say about that right now but thank you teachers for all all you do thank you Mr sharpless

080moving to District 5 Miss Fields you recognized thank you uh Dr Allen I want to Proclaim that this month is Black History Month and I am very thankful and very uh proud of all the people who have gone before me to make sure that I have the opportunities that I have before me and I really uh work hard to educate my grandchildren uh children children that are a part of Girls Inc and the community because so many people died so that we could have the freedoms that we have and I don't take it uh lightly at all and so while we don't do proclamations anymore I'm proclaiming as School Board member K Fields District 5 that we will I will always celebrate and be appreciative of the celebration of Black History Month I also want

081to uh thank superintendent Hyde for the uh hard work that he and his team did to start our board Retreats I know that's a lot of work and I know that um there are a lot of things that uh need to be um covered and taken care of and I know that by the end of the fourth Retreat we will H either have conquered it or we'll continue to work on it so I I want to thank you all for that and I want to uh reiterate what Miss Miller shared about uh Mr Mike music who is one of the City commissioners for the city of blakeland and his company for um awarding five people brand new roofs that's a lot of money you think about it CU we just had our roof replaced and

082I tell you it's not cheap and I want to to congratulate Miss cor rankins who is a teacher at Socrum uh Elementary and she's very actively engaged in our community and very worthy of of being selected so congratulations Miss cor and I think that's it all right Miss Fields thank you so much moving to District Four Miss Wyatt you're recognized thank you I feel like the spring always gets really fun and longer reports because there's so many fun things going on um but several of us had the opportunity to go out to Davenport School of the Heart School of the Arts for their annual leadership day um superintendent Hyde has already heard my request that we bring this program to more schools and that the second graders that sang to us come and sing to

083us again because I think we probably just need it on on Loop some days um about the the leadership skills that we all possess and how to utilize those um but they from you know I was only able to stay for a short time but they do that so well um and it is every single person in their school is involved it's not a one class it's not one teacher heading it out it is every single you know from kindergarten through 8th grade they all know their part and they they do it well um which is really cool to see that cohesion throughout the school um I just want to Echo what some of my colleagues has said about um Mike music and music Roofing and thank them again for recognizing our um School staff

084um I know it comes from a a personal place for him as we learned that Caldwell um the principal of Caldwell actually had his dad as a teacher um and she you know shared with him that this the teacher that won from Caldwell is is everything that his dad would have embodied as a teacher so um it was very cool just to to be on that Journey with him and see him um be able to give those out and truly make an impact in teachers lives um and he said while we were there that he's hoping that this program will grow and continue so um that is exciting to hear as well um I also had the opportunity to coach 3de at Lake Region High School Miss Miller it's much less stressful coaching because you

085don't have to pick winners and losers so I would encourage you all to sign up to I know they're looking for some more coaches at both Lake Region and tenac you just have to give feedback you don't have to pick winners and losers so you can also judge and then you pick the winners and losers and some kids they might cry they might cry they're very passionate about their projects and their projects are all really good so it's really hard to choose um but I would encourage you to um visit our 3de programs and engage with them um and then finally I would like to give a huge shout out to Winter Haven High Schools girls basketball team our lady Blue Devils they will be going to the state tournament for 15 out of the

086last 17 years um so I hope you all will join me in cheering them on um over the next couple weeks as I think we're bringing home a State title this year so and that concludes my report thank you Miss White Moving to District Two Mr Keys you're recognized hope somebody brought their pillow and their lawn chair um to EO Miss W says it seems like there's this time of the year that um it gets really busy so um to start out I want to say I Echo uh Mr sharpless and Mrs Miller that um on our recent slew of emails we see those and I will tell you that um I make it a task to look at every single one regardless if it's uh a copy and paste and every time I see

087a personal antidote in there I will take those and put them off to the side and try to spend time each night to go through them and the stories that I hear touching know that um we as a board we hear you and we work diligently to do everything we can to support our teachers so um it's very important to us uh I also got to see go to dsa's annual leadership day and I will I will tell you what an awesome experience and um it was kind of funny as as Mr Hyde and I were walking down the sidewalk we were going in there and um my both of my daughters attend DSA and my youngest one second grader she saw me she wav and she said Daddy and and she came over and

088she to kiss real quick and Mr he say I hope that's your kid um but but to see those kids and and that's and and those of you that don't know that's a seven habit school and even as much so is there was an education Symposium um over happening in Orlando and that was the highest requested school they had three charter bus loads full of Educators that came and wanted to see what was happening at DSA um which is absolutely amazing I was I was blown away and even as much so as the um um son of Steven cvy Shan cvy was there and was just commenting on how well-run the school was and how it was just an example so we should be proud in P County public schools that we have um those

089type of offerings for our students um next I I also got to go to some of those um presentations for the roofs for our Educators and support staff and I will tell you um I don't know if it's because of of me having two young girls now but I've I've my backbone has been removed and tears flow when I see that kind of stuff and um what a great opportunity to honor those who serve in the community and serve our kids um and and and to say that we want to keep doing that and expand the program kudos to Mr music because that is something that's so valuable I put a roof on two years ago and I I'm not ashamed to say it was one of the biggest financial decisions I had to make

090in the last couple years so to be able to support those like that is awesome also went to the Cross guard lunch with Mr Miller that was such a wonderful thing and and um I will tell you that uh you did miss out on um it got kind of ruckus in there because they did Bingo afterwards and uh yeah that that got a little wild but what an awesome opportunity to honor them um and and to those students that starts their day and that can make and break make or break a student's day that interaction they have at the first part of the day and um I was telling the sheriff as he was there you know that's something kind of um it's one of those things you you don't student safety is so important

091and to see on some of these zones the way our county is grown and and the people don't always obey those laws I have actually probably shouldn't say this publicly but chased folks down that speed through those zones when there's kids in the area and say what are you thinking um because these are these are our most precious resources students so kudos to them for that also got to go to Gainesville for two days to F fba's School Finance Forum to be able to speak to other school board members from around the state and know what they're doing as far as school Finance creative things they're doing to um increase um and and kind of look at their finances was encouraging to know their support there um also was here to uh for po Education

092Foundation received the check from HCA the $25,000 for Tak stalking children what an awesome opportunity that is that um to have that and to to have a pulk Education Foundation participate and then finally um I did get to attend also as Mr sh was mentioned Northeast PK chamber lunch and honoring those Educators in the Northeast area um Northeast PK chamber does that every year and what an honor it is to come along umide our community members and businesses and support those students uh or excuse me those teachers uh who ultimately do the the most important job ever and that's taking care of our students so busy busy time but I will tell you um done a lot of things professionally but I I can say very few have been as rewarding as being able to

093serve as a Schoolboard member and to see the awesome things we have going on in P County so that's all I have Mr Keys thank you for sharing your heart um yeah and I'm I'm going to start with Mike music as well uh having having a chance to visit spor Holland and see um lots of Tears pour down our teachers face as they received that nice award uh really interesting to hear about um Mr music's dad and and the impact there but to also hear from Mike that his son Remington Remington was going to the other schools to pass that out as well so you just think about that family tradition uh in a sense of humble service um but what was really interesting to me about this um situation as well is Mike had

094drawn attention to Jen Le's uh work in the school district and her contribution to Southwest Elementary and starting our you know taking part in starting our very first Digital Media Academy in uh the county and that's what actually inspired Mike music to take part and to donate these roofs to our uh teachers which is pretty cool um to just to see our community give back um to our Educators pretty amazing um I just want to say thanks to Scott Franklin Congressman Scott Franklin and his office uh he came out and visited Highlands Grove Elementary and um led a little session with some elementary students and i' I've heard Congressman Scott Franklin's story many times but you you hear so many different facets of his story by the way that our elementary students were asking him

095questions it was so incredible to hear so many different angles that I hadn't heard about his life story um so anyway he collected U Valentine cards from uh our students and then hand delivered those to uh the VA clinic and um had a chance to read those cards with veterans just recently and I just thought that was a pretty sweet um thing to do and I appreciate uh Congressman Franklin being out in our schools and uh celebrating our students and um and then obvious our veterans as well um I was thinking you know Freds or Fogo dechow right both of them are amazing you might have one day of you know comfort food but um I comparing that to our school choice showcase um I would say it's the Fogo toow and you know you

096got the smorgasborg of incredible programs and offerings so had a chance to room around at the Lakeland Mall and just see some great Educators great programs great initiatives that's that's happening there and the students um LED in a big way and I'm sure we all took part in some of the showcases around the county but uh it really is amazing just to sit and hear students talk about what their learning and their passion and just some incredible programs that we have to offer it's the smorgasborg and it's the Fogo to Chow of um opportunities and school choice for our families and students um I don't know there's so many more things yeah it was great to be here in the boardroom and to receive that check for 25,000 um for the pke Education Foundation so

097great work Tracy Porter for doing that I I did want to commend Chad Davis as well uh he was out frost proof I had a chance to join him as well and he shared our legislative platform with the inside pcps group uh that was amazing and I was speaking a little bit about the federal platform uh that we have with fsba and cosba so a lot of other things I I guess lastly um literacy week was amazing you know just being able to celebrate that I just want to say thanks to principal culture and Danielle hippy from Highlands Grove as well for inviting me out to do my pencil reading and I had a chance to pass superintendent on his way out so thank you superintendent for taking part in literacy week I know that

098you um participate every year at Highlands Grove and that means a lot to them on campus there so uh those are my comments for tonight and I will conclude and we will transition now to our public comments addressing items not on today's agenda so as noted earlier um actually we didn't get a chance to note it earlier but to register to speak community members you must fill out the speaker card in the lobby prior to the meeting all speakers will be given three minutes the light will turn yellow when you have one minute left and you'll hear a beep when your time is concluded please note that although uh the board encourages Community participation uh no media action will be taken on items presented during this public comment uh time and this portion so if

099follow-up board action is required uh superintendent could uh commission his staff members to take care of those uh immediately as well so I have a list of individuals who have signed up to speak today could you please come forward when I call your name state your name and address uh for the record and then you'll have three minutes to speak I'll call the second person as well and if you can stand where the red line is uh as you wait so the first person up is Victor Chandler and then on Deck would be Miss Yokum Eagle Lake Florida now last time I gave you a salary schedule for board members went from $440,000 to $50,000 with 2% steps that would allow board members to get a 2% raise every year without ever changing the salary

100schedule down at the bottom I assume that board members Senior Management and the superintendent got the same 2% raise every year okay what would happen well the first year the Senior Management physician that paid $100,000 would move to 102,000 all board members would get a two% raise but their salary schedule would remain the same same beginning salary same top salary same cost well that sounds okay then you go out 10 years and now the Senior Management phys goes from 100,000 to 122,000 board member might think something's wrong here because they see that their salary schedule is the same as it was 10 years ago when they check the cost it's the same cost as it was 10 years ago something's wrong here now let's step out 50 years when 50 years would occur that Senior

101Management phys would go from $ 100,000 to $270,000 the board member would look at his salary schedule same beginning salary same maximum salary yet every board member every year got a 2% raise yeah step a step is not an increase in your uh cost reoccurring cost doesn't require reoccurring revenues to cover it he would also look and he would find out his uh salary schedule had a massive loss to inflation to the while the one for Senior Management had no loss at all what you should get here and understand what steps represent is steps do not require an increase in reoccurring revenues okay and you cannot use them to just ify salaries for other groups of individuals that is a violation of state law 112. 3173 and you better read what the penalty is for

102it because it is severe and if you think that hasn't been done next time I come I'll show you not what might happen but what did happen thank you very much thank you Mr Chandler Miss Yokum is up and then Nancy Garmin is on Deck Stephanie Yokum president of the P Education Association who represents 9,000 of your employees and 70% of your Workforce and we are currently at negotiations still we are on the eve of negotiating tomorrow and so from some of your comments tonight I am hopeful that we can bring this into the barn um but in order to do that we need more money on the table and so I am hopeful that tomorrow we'll have more money on the table to actually address the cost of living address inflation for our teachers

103and staff who a lot of them qualify for food stamps a lot of them are working second and third jobs because they cannot make ins meet on the wage that they make in their primary job so as a taxpayer of this County as a parent of a student in our school system as a teacher and as the president of this Union we are asking this board to do three things number one while you are in your Retreats dig into your budget you have the power to make your budget that's one of the only things that actually a School Board gets to do is make policy and budget and so take that power lean into that power and prioritize your budget so that staff can see cost of living adjustments can see salary schedules continue to

104be decompressed can see wages to where maybe they can get rid of their third job and maybe only work two jobs or maybe get rid of their second job and maybe only work one job the second thing that this board must do is work with our legislative delegation we need funding mechanisms to change for this County because we are not a rural county yet we are still funded like a rural County we are more of a Suburban Urban County at this point we're the seventh largest District in this whole state we need funding mechanisms to change and you as elected officials must work with the delegation when they're in Tallahassee during committee weeks and we must stand together in that work through our Union Statewide through the school boards Association and through the superintendent Association

105to make these changes necessary so that we do have adequate funding and then third you must go out for a millage in 26 we should have done it in 24 but that's set and under the bridge we must continue to have the conversations to move forward so that we have a millage referendum so that we have money loc Al that we can control so that we can fix to Mr Chandler's point the performance pay salary is ridiculous we need to move to a more traditional step- in Lane again and in order to do that we're going to need millage money to do it unless the state decides to just miraculously give us5 billion dollar into public education which they should they have the money to do it but you as elected officials need to put

106pressure on the delegation to do so thank you thank you Miss Yokum Nancy Garmin is up and then we have Bernard Wells on Deck so no Nancy Garmin all right so we have Bernard Wells up and then next we would have Becky McLaughlin greetings to each of you my name is Bernard Wells from W Haven in March of 2023 there was an article that appeared in the lakelan now newspaper uh stating that poke plans to boost special education funding by $3.1 million with monies coming from increased enrollment and Medicaid reimbursement Miss Castle Williams Tammy Castle Williams who was brought into the district as the assistant superintendent of learning support in that article stated that there were additional ESC staff needed of those positions particularly in the ESC Department a number of them were created uh

107senior director of ESC director of ESC acting director of instruction assistant director of instruction ESC director of compliance assist director and it and it goes on and on and if you go across the board with all of these added directors assistant directors and so forth perhaps that would answer some of the questions that the teachers are having about pay salaries uh two years ago I came before this board and mentioned that this District within two years was going to be so topheavy that they were G to suffer from back problems I think you guys the district is having back problems right about now because they're so topheavy within that same article Miss Williams Castle Williams who came from Sarasota County uh which she had some legal stuff going on down there before she moved here

108to pop County in that article um stated where the money was coming from I think I just said that but also in that article there was a parent that made mention that her child was not receiving Services speech and language I think it was and had not received services from March to October of 23 in December of 22 in January of 23 I filed a systemic State complaint against this district for not following ESC student services it was closed out either the ESC Department lied in or they put a Band-Aid on a cancellor measure of not giving students their services because we are right back at that same issue right now with student not receiving their services and thank you Mr Wells Becky mlin you are up all right first of all I just want

109to say thank you for um mentioning that uh you've heard what the teachers have been sending those emails and um that you are hearing that there's individual stories I'm not I'm just one of them um I sent recently an open letter to P County Schoolboard and district superintendent hopefully you recognize my story as I read it um but I wanted to come here U my husband Joel is diagnosed with cancer three months ago um he's been hospitalized five times due to complications of his surgery um and while he's on short-term disability through the end of this coming next month um I'm keenly aware of his fragile health and the financial impact of my family if he's unable to uh return to work in just one month um as an elementary math teacher I do love

110what I do um but I realize that without significant pay raises for teachers in our County I will be forced to follow thousands of amazing amazing Educators leaving the students and profession that I love so that I can provide for my family um I am just one of many teachers facing similar challenges uh and you can look at the budgets of when we have two incomes in my family as we have in the past um until recently that may very well change and I may be forced to make some really hard decisions in the next month um when we left Seattle for a life that promised safer neighborhoods and lower cost of living we knew that we were going to face lower wages in Florida uh we soon realized that while housing prices were better

111the overall cost of living particularly for insurance property taxes and groceries were was much much higher and we love it here our community our neighborhood our my school um our church they're all amazing but if my husband can't go back to work um the harsh reality is that we could lose our home because I can't afford it on a teacher salary I've been a teacher for five years I've been in education for 10 um and working with kids and families probably since I was a teenager and and moving forward um at at this point our school board and leaders um just from my perspective um are refusing to offer a fair contract and liable wage to the faculty and staff who do the work of educating students and to combat the teacher shortage the district

112employs over 700 unqualified substitutes to fill short and long-term positions and leaders wonder why our students underperform compared to states that retain teachers with a fair and Equitable salaries there's a clear indication that our board our district leaders on board need to prioritize the welfare of students and teachers I'm not asking to be rich I didn't go into teaching for that um but I would put my life on the line to protect my students and that includes their education um and and as well providing for my family uh we live in the fastest growing uh County in this in the United States for the last three years running um our my school is now over 1100 students it um can hold about 535 so we've added all the Portables that we can have our kindergarten

113class from kindergarten to fifth grade where I teach we are busting at the seams um and as the gentleman referred to kids not getting Services I've seen it time and time again um because teachers are leaving we don't have enough staff we have to get these raises in thank you thank you all right board members next order of business is adjournment uh there being no further business at this point all right uh this meeting in the pole County School Board uh is now adjourned for